Liveblog 15: The Yankees Are Boring

I'm only doing this because it's been over two months since I liveblogged a Yankee game. The season is slipping through their fingers, and it's just not that enjoyable to watch them these days. I had high hopes when they stormed out of the All-Star break winning the first eight games they played, but that was only a blip, as they spent the rest of July and most of August playing pathetic baseball. Now they're seven games behind the Red Sox in the Wild Card chase, and hopes for the division have all but vanished. I hate that this had to happen this year, the first in a long time that the team has not been managed by Joe Torre, because it just adds to the argument that he's some mythically great coach that wills his teams to win, although his Dodgers aren't exactly setting the world on fire either. I don't dislike Torre, but he gets canonized for capably running a team with more resources than any other, when I really haven't seen much to say that any manager makes a large impact on his team's success.

The team's makeup has changed quite a bit. Xavier Nady has been a good addition to the outfield, but this team still can't seem to hit enough to get anywhere. Jorge Posada's season ended early, and the team traded for future Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez to replace him, but he's just not the player he used to be and hasn't done squat for the team. Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina are the only remaining members of the original plan for this year's rotation, with the others all being plagued by injury, and in Ian Kennedy's case, suckiness. Carl Pavano returned from one of his eternal DL stints to pitch a decent game, but it's just not the same. While Pettitte has been showing his age this season, Mussina has been great, and is four wins away from his first ever 20-win season, which would be awesome to see, and he has enough chances left to pull it off, which is the only existing storyline at this point that makes the team interesting. This afternoon (Thursday game at 1:00? Weird.) he goes for number 17 against those dastardly Sox, and I'll be chronicling it here.

Top 1 - This is, barring a large comeback, the last Yankee-Red Sox game at the old Yankee Stadium. Let's hope it's a good one. Tacoby Bellsbury steps in to face Mussina, and takes a strike. On the next pitch, he lines out to Damon in center. Five pitches later, Pedroia is called out looking at a fastball on the outside corner. Another six pitches later, Ortiz draws a walk. If there's one player umpires don't like calling close pitches against, it's him. Next up is Kevin Youkilis, an overall irritating human being. He flies out to Abreu, and we're moving to the bottom of the inning.

Bottom 1 - Clay Buchholz had all the hype for the Sox' young pitchers this year, but he's had a bad year bouncing between the bigs and the minors, while Lester's broken out and become the team's best starter. I can't remember if he's faced them since then, but he pitched a complete game shutout against the Yanks earlier in the season. He throws three straight balls to start off Damon, but eventually gets him to fly out to right. Jeter singles up the middle. He'll have to play well to pass Lou Gehrig for most hits at Yankee Stadium before the season ends, but he's certainly capable. Abreu follows Jeter's lead, and A-Rod's up with two runners on. I just checked, and Lester did pitch against the Yankees between now and the shutout, and it was another great start, two runs in seven innings. After getting 1-2 on him, Lester throws his first non-fastball of the inning low, but Alex doesn't bite. Two pitches later though, he swings through another, and is down on strikes. Nady grounds out, and the team blows a solid opportunity against a pitcher that has dominated them recently. Not so good.

Top 2 - Jason Bay grounds out. Both teams in this game acquired solid hitting outfielders from Pittsburgh and both have been happy with the results. Mark Kotsay, recently grabbed from the Braves, doubles in his return to the AL. It's not a problem though, as the next two batters strike out and ground out respectively.

Bottom 2 - Cano pops out to center, and Matsui recently back from another knee problem, strikes out. Cody Ransom, who has had two homers in two big league at-bats this year, takes a ball off the foot, maintaining his perfect On Base Percentage, but Molina pops to left.

Top 3 - I kinda missed this inning. Moose got three straight outs.

Bottom 3 - Damon takes six fastballs, the first three for balls and the last three for strikes. Good job, Johnny. Jeter smacks a single in front of Kotsay, trying to get things going. Unfortunately, he gets caught stealing on a failed hit and run. Abreu flies out, and it's time for the fourth inning.

Top 4 - Ortiz draws another walk. Youkilis just misses a line drive home run, but pops out later in the at bat. Mussina gets Bay to ground into a double play turned nicely by Cano to end the minor threat. Moose is dealing, it's time to score for him.

Bottom 4 - A-Rod strikes out looking at a close pitch, and the crowd boos him. Why? Because they're morons, of course. Nady also strikes out. Wait, why aren't the fans booing him too? Oh yeah. They're morons. Cano grounds out. That's not scoring.

Top 5 - Kotsay flies out to Abreu. Lowrie hits a solid single for the Sox' fourth baserunner. They're showing the rules for the newly implemented Instant Replay in MLB. It's only allowed for home run calls and gives sole authority to the umpiring crew chief over its use and making the final decision. It's a small step forward, but at least it's something. Alex Cora takes a ball off the leg. The corpse of Jason Varitek manages a single to score the game's first run. Damn it. Ellsbury grounds into a potential double play, but he's fast enough to beat the return throw and a run scores. There are way too many people cheering. This team is so bad that I'm already considering ending the blog early. Ellsbury gets caught stealing and the inning's over. If he gets the Rookie of the Year award because of the time missed by clearly superior Evan Longoria, I will not be pleased.

Bottom 5 - Matsui weakly grounds out to short. Ransom strikes out weakly on a fastball. So does Molina. Weak. Useless.

Top 6 - Pedroia sneaks a single past Jeter to lead off the sixth. David Ortiz strikes out looking, and argues with the umpire, because he has never taken a legitimate third strike in his life. He knows this and is confident about it. Mussina hits Youkilis. Bay grounds out to A-Rod. Replay shows Pedroia clearly out of the baseline, but the umpires aren't budging. They get worse every year. Screw Instant Replay, just get robots to do it. It's not a problem, as Kotsay swings through a curve for the third strike.

Bottom 6 - A predictive haiku:

Jon Lester pitches
Damon, Jeter, Abreu
They cannot hit him

Damon gets hit by a pitch on the arm. Jeter bloops another single for his third of the game. Abreu flies out to center, and Damon tags and makes it to third. Rodriguez pops out behind the plate. Hey, more boos! Nady pops out too. Again, no boos. Remember kids, if you make more money than someone else, people will like you less than him.

Top 7 - Lowrie pops up for the first out. Cora lines a ball off Mussina's glove for a single. He steals second when Molina bobbles the ball trying to throw him out. Varitek strikes out looking at a perfect pitch. Ellsbury lines it right into Moose's glove, ending the seventh. This is the Yankees' last chance to get him a win today.

Bottom 7 - Lester's still pitching, and gets Cano 0-2. He bloops it to shallow center, but Cora makes a solid running catch to nab it. Matsui is K'd looking. Ransom doubles into the left field corner. Lester's being taken out, and Hideki Okajima is coming in to preserve the lead. Jason Giambi is in to pinch hit for Molina. He hits a bomb of a home run to near-dead center to tie the game. Great job guys, but you still need to score one more this inning for me to give a shit about this game. The dream ends as Damon strikes out. I no longer have reason to continue this post, so I will be back later to wrap up. Mussina likely still has six starts left to get four wins, so that hope lives on.

Wrap-Up - Giambi came through again with a game winning single in the bottom of the ninth off Papelbon to avoid the sweep. Beating the Sox is cool, I guess. You have to take what you can, sometimes.

Liveblog 11: Wang's Making the Leap

After the last game I blogged, the Yankees were one game over .500, 2-1. Now they're... one game over .500, 8-7. Still, they're only one game behind the division leading Boston Red Sox, and have the next two games to try and take the lead for themselves. The team's not in great shape right now. Derek Jeter was injured with a Quadricep strain, Jorge Posada has a bad shoulder, back-up catcher Jose Molina was doing terrifically but is now sitting with a hamstring problem, Wilson Betemit is on the DL with pinkeye, Joba's on family leave after his father collapsed, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy have only had two good games in six combined starts, and Robinson Cano and Jason Giambi have both been slumping horribly. But things aren't all bad. Jeter's come back and hit well, Jorge should be catching again soon, Joba's dad is doing better, and the lineup has shown signs of life in the last couple games.

The biggest bright spot is Chien-Ming Wang, who's been brilliant with a 3-0 record while the rest of the starters have gone 3-6. He's been a bit lucky, still not striking out many and actually not getting as many ground balls either, but he faced the Red Sox last time and pitched a complete game, one run gem. This has been his first good April. In 2005, he was still in the minor leagues. In 2006, he was mediocre. In 2007, he was injured. He still managed to win 19 games the last two years, so it will be interesting to see how well he does with a good start. He was awful in the playoffs and I still don't think he can be a true ace with the way he pitches, but he's still one of the most valuable pitchers in baseball and I hope he can do well again tonight.

Top 1 - First pitch strike starts the game. Jacoby Ellsbury, speedy center fielder and earner of free tacos, grounds out to Wang on the second. Pedroia walks on the next four pitches. David Ortiz, who has been terrible so far, checks his swing but grounds out to Alex Rodriguez, moving Pedroia to second base for Manny Ramirez, who almost won the game against Mike Mussina by himself a few days ago. He doubles, easily driving in Pedroia, equaling his team's offensive output against Wang last time around. Wang works Youkilis down and away, striking him out on four pitches. That inning raised his ERA to a whopping 1.57.

Bottom 1 - Clay Buchholz is the pitcher for the Sox. He somewhat-infamously fell to them in the draft because of character questions after he helped steal and sell his classmates' laptops, but he has pretty impressive stuff, especially the curve and change. A debate this off-season was whether he or Joba is the best pitching prospect in the game right now. I'd take either, although I like Joba more because of the fastball. Melky pops out to the shortstop. I read that there's been an overly high percentage of infield flies this season, although you can chalk that up to the sample size. Jeter lines a single off Sean Casey's glove at first base. Clay's fastball isn't as good as it was last time out. On a 2-0 count, Abreu hits the third heater he sees to right center for a no doubt homer, Yanks lead 2-1. A-Rod follows it with a monster shot of his own, passing the Sox' own Ted Williams for 15th place all-time. Too bad he couldn't do it in Fenway. I'm glad I say Buchholz on my fantasy team tonight. Matsui works a full count but flies out to center. Posada, DHing, grounds out, ending the inning.

Top 2 - JD Drew lines a single over Jeter's head. The only real music my roommate listens to is from Rock Band. It doesn't make any sense. We hear those songs all the time anyway because we play the game constantly, why do you need to hear the song normally too? Wang walks Varitek despite him being hitless in his last 18 at bats against him. Figures I'd say something good about Wang and he'd look kinda crappy in his next start. He walks Casey to load the bases, no outs. Jesus, Wang. Lugo hits an RBI groundout, and the runners move up. John Flaherty in the booth just said something about sinkerballers being one pitch away from getting out of it. Except he got the one pitch and there's still two outs left to get with no force double play available. Lucky play, Ellsbury squibs a grounder to Wang who flips to the catcher, allowing them to run down Varitek for the second out, runners on first and second. Pedroia grounds out to Cano, and the inning ends without too much damage, but Wang's ERA has grown to a behemoth 1.88.

Bottom 2 - Despite working on hitting to the opposite field in Spring, Giambi grounds out thanks to the shift once again. He had a nice at bat though, a bunch of pitches. Cano also grounds out weakly. He is so frustrating to watch when he isn't hitting. Backup-for-the-backup-catcher Chad Moeller singles off Pedroia's glove. Or it's an error, whatever. Cabrera strikes out and the inning's over.

Top 3 - Ortiz falls victim to the same shift as Cano, one out. That was a strange play. Full count, Wang strikes out Ramirez on a fastball that was quite obviously in the zone. But Manny was convinced it was ball four, running down the line before hearing the call and yelling at the umpire, sticking his finger at him. I'm surprised he wasn't thrown out. Youkilis flies out to Melky, three outs.

Bottom 3 - I'm distracted right now. Jeter grounded out. Abreu lines out to Pedroia, who could have easily stepped to his left to catch it, but instead elected to half dive, half fall over for it. Rodriguez strikes out, on to the fourth.

Top 4 - Matsui actually just made a decent play in left field, making a catch against the wall. Varitek doubles down the right-field line, beating out a strong throw by Abreu. The play was really close. Casey singles, Varitek scores as the throw by Melky was up the line, tie ball game. Lugo grounds out to A-Rod, who is able to hold Casey at second. Kind of a funny play, Wang looked back at Casey who stumbled and basically crawled back to second, but no one was there. Ellsbury lines out to center to end the threat. Wang's ERA has exploded to an unfathomable 2.08.

Bottom 4 - Matsui singles up the middle. He's been quietly pretty good with the bat so far. Posada flies out, Giambi's up. He dinks a single to short right, first and second for Cano. He can only fly out to deep center, moving Matsui to third base. After a long at bat, Moeller gets a double to drive in the run. He's two for two and seen fourteen pitches. Very good night. Cabrera walks on five pitches, the bases are loaded for Jeter. Time to break it open. Jeter comes through, singling to right and driving in two runs. That knocks Buchholz out of the game. He really couldn't command the fastball effectively and that led to his downfall. Julian Tavarez is in to relieve him. He's not doing a very good job of it, letting Cabrera score on a wild pitch to Abreu. He does strike him out, though. On to the fifth.

Top 5 - Pedroia doubled and Ortiz singled him in, score's 7-4. Wang's lucky the offense is backing him up tonight. Another single by Ramirez, Ortiz almost got picked off rounding second. Wang really doesn't have it tonight. You have to wonder how much of it is his unfamiliarity with Moeller. Youkilis singles to left field, and this is getting retarded. Drew singles under his glove, two runs score, and Wang's been forced out of the game. Completely inexplicable. This is why I don't think he's an ace. Ross Ohlendorf's coming in to put out the fire. In my experience he's not great at preventing inherited runners from scoring, so Wang's possibly looking at eight earned in just four innings. He strikes out Varitek looking on a quite delayed call. The umpire's messing with the Sox hitters' heads. Casey singles again, driving in Youkilis, tie game. Shucks. He strikes out Lugo looking too. Too bad he couldn't do that to Casey. Ellsbury walks on four pitches. Pedroia singles, two runs score, 9-7 game. Unbelievable. Ortiz struck out, but I don't really have it in me anymore to keep blogging. I'll come back if things change significantly for the better.

Wrap-up - The Yankees game back the very next half-inning, scoring four runs to make it 11-9. They scored four more in the eighth to produce the final score, 15-9. Hawkins and Bruney did well in relief. Ugly win, but it's still a win. Mike Mussina gets a chance to redeem himself tomorrow, pitching against Josh Beckett.

Playoffs and the Divison

This post would have been more relevant a couple days ago, but I'm writing it now. When Ian Kennedy won his first game, the Yankees were in decent shape. They were still five games back in the division but held a two game lead in the wild card race over Seattle. Since then, after stumbling for two games, they won 13 out of 16, virtually securing a playoff birth and actually getting within one and a half games of Boston for the division title. They're back to two and a half behind, but it's still not too much of a reach to say they could do it. They only have two more losses than Boston and would win the tiebreaker since they won the season series, so if Boston went, say, 4-3 in their last seven games, the Yankees could go 6-2 (not unreasonable with how bad Baltimore and Tampa have been) and squeak past them. I feel good about a potential battle with the Red Sox in the ALCS. The Yankees started terribly against them, losing five of their first six games this season, but won nine of the last twelve. They have been able to hit all of Boston's big pitchers and don't seem scared at all.

The question is if it's really worth it. All the division really means is pride. There's no real penalty for being the wild card, in fact, half of the World Series winners since 2000 were wild card teams. It shouldn't be a problem for the Yankees to line up their starting pitchers with the delayed start of the postseason, but it does make some sense to give regulars and potentially overworked relievers some extra rest while they prepare. Also, Cleveland and Los Angeles are still competing for the better record. The Yankees should want no part of the Angels, they are the only AL team with a record over .500 against them in the Joe Torre era and New York has played the Indians well this season. If they fight tooth and nail for the division and Los Angeles ends up with a worse record and goes on to bump them in the first round again, they're going to look rather silly.

Another topic is who makes the playoff roster. Jorge Posada has been unbelievable this year. He's fourth in the batting title race in the AL and has 20 homers and 41 doubles. He's had one of the best seasons ever for a catcher at an age where he should be declining rapidly. He's earned himself definite Hall of Fame consideration and a huge paycheck for next year. Alex Rodriguez will also be Mr. Moneybags, whether it's with New York or someone else. Hopefully Cashman does what he has to to keep him on the team, because that bat is irreplaceable. He hasn't homered in a while but he's just set a personal best for RBI in a season and hitting ridiculously. Jeter has come back on of late, starting to get out of his funk that seems to be stemming from leg issues he's had. Robinson Cano's found the power many thought he had in him. Jason Giambi isn't quite who he used to be, but he should still be playing in most games. In the outfield, Melky's regressed, but had some big hits yesterday and still has great defense. Abreu's been doing his thing and Matsui has also appeared to come out of his funk. Johnny Damon has been serviceable and has many uses even if he isn't starting. I like Jose Molina as the backup catcher. He's not amazing anyone, but he plays good defense and appears to actually know what a baseball bat is for. He could be a good backup until one of the couple of promising prospects the Yankees have gets higher up.

Let's see, that's ten position players. Doug Mientkiewicz has been good since coming off the DL with the glove and the bat. Normally, I'd put Giambi at 1B, Matsui at DH, Johnny in LF, and Melky in CF. But Doug should start at first with Wang on the mound or a starter who's bad against lefties opposing them, shifting Giambi to DH, Matsui to LF, and Damon to CF, sitting Cabrera. I like Wilson Betemit and Shelley Duncan as PH for IF and OF respectively. That's 13 positional guys, and you shouldn't really have 12 pitchers on your playoff roster, so we'll throw Alberto Gonzalez (the player, not the former Attorney General) in as a PR and defensive infield replacement.

Pitching-wise, your starters are Wang, Pettitte, Clemens, and Mussina. I'm not that confident in Moose's ability to shut down a good offense, but you can't really ask much from the rookies, and Torre's going with the experienced guy whether I agree with it or not. Wang is much better at home, so if the Yankees don't end up with homefield advantage I'd like to start him Game 3 at Yankee Stadium, but I don't know how likely that plan is to happen either. The Yankees have two other guys who can realistically start for them, Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes. Ian Kennedy has pitched better, with two of his three starts going for 7 innings, 2/3 of an inning longer than any of Hughes' starts. Phil definitely has the edge for long-term potential, but if you put a gun to my head and tell me to pick one to pitch right now, Ian's the guy. Four things though:

1) Phil probably has greater ability to get a strikeout when absolutely needed.
2) If either of them gets used, it won't be in a situation where they'll be required to go more than a few innings.
3) Phil lost a lot of time with his hamstring (and then ankle) injury, and needs all the innings he can get this season.
4) They really don't have that many good pitchers so I'd put both them both on the roster for mop-up/extra innings purposes anyway.

Anyway, 14 positional players, 4 starters, and the two kids leaves 5 spots, three of which go to Mariano Rivera, Joba Chamberlain, and Jose Vizcaino, after which, the last two get dicey. There are a lot of options and none are very enticing. Kyle Farnsworth was very good for a stretch, but has reverted back to terribleness. Brian Bruney gets strike outs but still gives up a lot of walks and lost an extra innings game with a home run to Greg freakin' Zaun. Chris Britton has given innings but doesn't show shutdown potential. Edwar Ramirez gets a ton of K's, but has an ERA over 7 that can no longer be justified by his sample size which is now up to 19 innings. Jose Veras also has good stuff but looked really ugly yesterday. Ross Ohlendorf has been pretty decent, but has only had a couple appearances. Ron Villone, who I was amazed to learn has thrown nearly 40 innings this season (No wonder, his Leverage Index is 0.32), really isn't that great but IS left handed and not named Sean Henn. Personally, I would use Ron to pitch against lefties assuming he doesn't stink up the join the last 8 games, and try to give Ross some more chances to prove he can utilize his good stuff well enough to help them in the playoffs. I'm not sure all of the guys I picked would be eligible based on the new rules for that stuff, and Farnsworth will probably end up sneaking on the team anyway because of his veteran status. As long as he doesn't get used, that's okay with me.

Update: I think my roster could work. You pick 25 players from those active or on the disabled list on August 31, and can replace those who are still disabled with anyone from your organization. I think Pavano, Sanchez, and Rasner were all on the DL then and still are now, so they should be replaceable, giving spots to Gonzalez, Kennedy, and Ohlendorf. I'm not sure though because the usually trustworthy Pete Abraham at LoHud did a post on the subject a while ago and didn't include Rasner on the list of DL guys for some reason.

Liveblog 1: A-Rod and the Red Sox

Alex Rodriguez has been ridiculously good this year. Historically good. But people still find ways to attack him, insulting the way he trots around the bases after a big home run or calling him Mr. April. It doesn't matter, he's not walking much and he's striking out a lot, but 12 of his 25 hits have gone for home runs. His OPS is through the roof. It's not even surprising when he hits one these days. In the last five games, he's hit five more homers, including two in one game against the Sox and another walk-off one against the Indians.

The Yankees won three straight against the Indians and are on the verge of losing three straight against the Red Sox, showing how much of baseball just depends on pitching. The Red Sox bullpen held up and the Indians didn't. The Walk-off Alex hit against the Indians was the last blow of a long, comeback with two outs in the ninth. Their closer is a guy who relies more on deception than raw ability, and that's the kind of guy the Yankees can definitely hit. I'll admit, I didn't want Alex to come up. I hoped Abreu would end the game with either a hit or an out, because I thought there was no way Alex could come up big again, that there was some sort of limit, and he'd be unfairly blamed for another loss. But he came through, and I have to wonder if he really has turned a corner, and if so, how much the Yankees will have to pay him to stay in New York, which they should. Watching the junk the other guy was throwing, I probably should have figured he'd hit it over the wall.

The first loss against the Sox was pretty bad. It was the only game in the series the Yanks would throw a pitcher with any real big league experience, and they had a nice lead into the eighth inning. But the wheels fell off, and Mariano Rivera lost the game. He's blown two of his chances to save a game this season without making any, since all the wins have been with big leads or walk-offs. It's definitely too early to become concerned, since Mo has had things like this happen before and he had a great spring, but I have to wonder how much longer the greatest closer of all time can still be good. I'd like for him to stay as the go-to guy in the bullpen until at least they've played in the new stadium like he wants, but you never know what can happen. The second loss wasn't as bad, it was just a poorly pitched game by a rookie.

The Yankees managed to score well off both starters in the first two games, so hopefully they can continue that trend tonight against Daisuke Matsuzaka, the most-hyped player to ever come from Japan. The Yankees are throwing another rookie out there to start tonight, so they're probably going to need offense to win. Even if they do get swept, it won't be a big deal. They'll be behind the Red Sox by four games, but it's early, and they are pretty much at full strength while more than half our rotation is injured. I'll be blogging the whole game, so hopefully it doesn't get so ugly I want to turn it off.

Top 1 - I find it odd how many people think the Red Sox bid a lot of money on Matsuzaka to keep him off the Yankees. I think they did it because they think he's a good pitcher. He has a lot of great pitches, but he also goes deep into counts, and the Yankees tend to be able to work guys like that into throwing a lot, so even if they don't hit him well they may get to the bullpen early.

Damon takes a few pitches before popping out. Jeter flies out to right after taking a couple low. Man, I wish we got this guy, it's just fun to watch. Abreu works a nice walk. If you had to pick one current Yankee to do well against Dice-K it's him. He hits A-Rod with the first pitch. Probably didn't want to try actually pitching to him, which is understandable. And Jason Giambi hits a double into the opposite gap on a pitch way outside, driving in two runs. Welcome to a real offense, Daisuke. Cano grounds out to end the inning. He's the opposite of Abreu, someone easily toyed with by a guy who's a little wild. He's a great hitter, but when he's not right on, he's pretty bad.

Bottom 1 - Chase Wright is someone I never heard of before this year. He's a middling youngish prospect who did okay in first big league start, but he could get smacked around tonight. He walks Lugo, but I think he got squeezed. He's throwing over to first too much. Just concentrate on the hitter. Lugo steals the base anyway without a throw. Good job. He started Youkilis 0-2 but can't put him away and walks him, and here comes the clutchiest clutch god to ever clutch a baseball, who flies out. It was a very clutch fly ball. Ramirez is a copycat, flying out to the same fielder in the same favorable count. Is Chase lucky or good? Probably lucky. He strikes out Drew after getting squeezed again, but he's thrown 843 pitches already and probably won't go deep in the game. The umpires really do seem rougher on him than usual in his first two starts so far.

Top 2 - Mientkiewicz usually gets out before you can finish typing his name, but Matsuzaka takes a while between pitches. Harmless ground out. Cabrera flies out on a decent catch by Pena. I think Melky should have to actually prove he's better than Kevin Thompson before he automatically gets to start before him. Nieves hits it hard right at Lowell and the inning is over before it started. That's the problem with this game for the Yanks, the good part of the lineup will make Dice-K work but he'll tear through the last three hitters in seconds with two of our good players missing.

Bottom 2 - Wright strikes out Lowell. Varitek pops out. He gets ahead of Pena but walks him. Gosh darn it. He refuses to have a quick inning. He gives up a double to Pedroida who was 1 for his last 23. That's not good. Ground out to Jeter, but Wright should have put Pena away when he had him 0-2.

Top 3 - Single by Damon, let's see how D-Mat fares the second time through. I'm glad that's not his nickname, it's a fun format but Dice-K is too good. He hits Jeter, that's the second batter. I guess he's kind of wild. Or maybe a headhunter who hates right-handers that can hit. Nice strikeout on Abreu, but no way Wright gets that call. I didn't notice it before, but the fans cheered when A-Rod got hit. Douche bags. Wow, he has 18 runs batted in with runners in scoring position on only seven hits, five of which were homers. But he strikes out, so poop. Giambi bloops a single that Pedroida, positioned there because of the shift, just misses, and the Yankees score another run. Cano misses a hit down the line by about an inch. He strikes out, making the just-miss more frustrating. At least we got one, it would have sucked to get two on with no outs and not score with Chase's two potential futures being rocked or taken out after a maximum of five innings.

Bottom 3 - Nice running catch by Abreu. Joe Morgan gives young pitchers the advice to let his fielders help him. Awesome. He also says pitchers sometimes fall in love with their changeup (or whatever their best pitch is) and throw it too much. Good advice: stop using your best pitch so much and let hitters make contact. Ortiz does him another favor, flying out on the first pitch. Manny homers, and I can stop wondering when the other shoe will drop. I guess it hadn't dropped yet, as Drew hits one too. Morgan: "I guess he DOES have to do more than just throw strikes!" Really, Joe? Your brilliant advice of just pouring your mediocre fastball down the middle of the plate wasn't actually that good? What? Lowell just hit a third home run? Oh my. And Varitek with a fourth. This is getting heinous now. Joe comments that he's never seen four home runs in a row before. I guess he missed when the Dodgers did it in the ninth inning last year to tie the game in a ridiculous come from behind victory. It was kind of big news. Wright strikes out Pena to end the pain.

Top 4 - The good news is that they're only down by one after four home runs, but it could easily get much worse. Mientkiewicz hits a ground-rule double to center. If he can hit Dice-K, anything can happen in this game. They've acknowledged the Dodger game but resort to the last time four homers happened in the American League to make it still seem historically impressive, but I don't think it is. It's unlikely, but doesn't seem that improbable when the pitcher is in his fourth start above A-ball in his life. Melky grounds out to get Mientkiewicz to third. It would be a big boost if the bottom of the order can get this run in themselves. Nieves gets robbed for the second time, and it's pretty annoying. He's still looking for his first hit this season. Damon grounds out to end it, and I am disappointed.

Bottom 4 - Colter Bean is pitching now, and Joe still claims to have never seen four home runs in a row. Did he really not see the replay from the Dodger game? Isn't this guy getting paid to follow baseball? On further listening, he's saying he's never seen a single pitcher give up four in a row, which is true, so I'll lay off, but I think that would be less amazing than off multiple pitchers. Think about it, who's more likely to give up home runs, a guy who just gave up one already, or a fresh reliever coming into the game for his first batter? Nice running catch by Melky. He's not hitting this year but he's got a great glove. Nieves hurt his hand somehow, and we came close to needing Phelps to catch, who hasn't done it in a game in years. I'm sure that wouldn't be a disaster. Lugo walks and Youkilis just beats out grounding into a double play. I didn't know this, but when a hit ball bounces over the fence and they get an automatic two bases, it's actually called an automatic double and not a ground-rule double which is commonly used. Anyway, Ortiz hits one and the Yankees are spared a run as Youkilis can't advance past third. Manny checks his swing and weakly grounds out. With a little less luck this would be a blowout.

Top 5 - They just showed a poster someone made that said "Dice-K" with a drawing of two dice, but one of them was showing 8 dots, which didn't make sense until I realized it's his uniform number, 18. Jeter hits his first home run of the year, tie game. Abreu strikes out for the second time, looking at a fastball. So much for working the count. He also gets Rodriguez to strike out swinging on three breaking balls. He shouldn't have swung at any of them. Giambi takes a called strike that would have been called a ball for Wright 100 times out of 100. He pops out foul. It sure doesn't seem like a tie game, but the pitching situation favors the Red Sox.

Bottom 5 - I wonder who's starting against the Sox on Friday, because I don't think it will be Chase. Colter walks Drew and gets Lowell to fly out. Drew steals a base pointlessly before Varitek walks too. Pena strikes out, who'd be the Boston player I'd bet on to do so against Bean. Pedroida grounds out, and Bean's walked three but pitched two scoreless innings, so I'll take it.

Top 6 - Cano tags a nice single. He has one of the best swings in baseball, in my opinion. Mientkiewicz shockingly gets another hit that falls right in front of Drew. Cano ran to third on that, and that would have been an annoying double play if Drew caught it. The Yankees retake the lead on a double play ball from Melky. The run is nice, but two outs when Dice-K hasn't looked good this inning is a bit annoying. Nieves finally gets out the way he's used to, easily, and the inning's over.

Bottom 6 - Despite a ton of luck (Sox inabilty to hit with RISP, Ortiz' auto-double, that ball falling in), the Yanks have only a one run lead. Let's hope the bullpen can stay as good as they've mostly been this year. Andy Pettitte takes the mound, and this is already his second relief appearance this year. He gets Lugo to fly out to Abreu on the first pitch. I'm enjoying the second coming so far. Youkilis walks and Ortiz is up. Double play on the first pitch, and I feel a lot better. He could even pitch another inning.

Top 7 - I doubt he will though, that would be a little weird. This will probably be Matsuzaka's last inning. I hoped the Yankees would make him throw more pitches and get him out earlier, but they got five runs so it's alright. Damon rips one just foul, and thinking about it now, the Yanks have had their share of bad luck too, with lineouts and missed doubles, so I guess it's been a pretty neutral game. Dice-K still looks pretty good, striking Damon out. Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hide game, good strikeout total and yet five runs on the board. Jeter grounds out. Varitek is great at framing the ball. A lot of catchers try to jerk their glove back over the plate for a called strike and it's obvious they're doing it, but he can make a ball that's well out of the zone appear very close with almost no apparent movement. Abreu strikes out for the third time, which I would not have predicted.

Bottom 7 - Scott Proctor's in. He gets Manny 0-2, but gives up a single. That's Ramirez's fourth hit off Proctor, but it's the first that wasn't a home run. Drew doubles off the monster, and Scott's about to blow the save, which would make the team 0 for 6 in opportunities, which is weird considering the bullpen's general success. And there's a home run, Sox lead 7 to 5. God damn it. Vizcaino's coming in. They take the opportunity to show the four home runs again, and Morgan definitely said he had never seen four in a row before, so he's still an idiot or just very forgetful. Maybe both. Vizcaino gets two quick outs. I'll really be glad when the Yankees' starting pitchers come back and everyone in the bullpen can stop coming in to every game. Pedroida singles to center and Lugo walks. Joe and Jon Miller are going on about how the Yankees have given up eight walks and how that hurts you. I'm more concerned with the five home runs. Fun fact: all of those home runs scored runs, and none of the walks did. Youkilis grounds out.

Top 8 - Matsuzaka is surprisingly still pitching. I guess I'm just used to a manager that treats relievers like they're toilet paper. It'd be be funny if he won this game, since he's lost two straight starts before that were both better in runs allowed if not length. A-Rod gets another hit, and I'm concerned, because that's four in a row that weren't homers. I guess he had to cool down some time. Matsuzaka comes out and he's relieved by fellow Japanese import Hideki Okajima. It's too bad Matsui's not coming back until tomorrow, because we'd be seeing a Hideki vs. Hideki battle right about now. This is Okajima's third game this series, maybe the Yankees will finally hit him. Giambi pops out. Another hit from Cano. Jorge Posada pinch-hits for Mientkiewicz. Or pinch-walks, whatever. Can Melky do it against Brendan Donnelly? Not really, he grounds out, and the double play is avoided by some weird, violent baserunning by pinch runner Miguel Cairo. He touched the base, but he reached out and actually touched the shortstop with his hands. Josh Phelps is pinch-hitting, and now he's going to have to catch. Oh my. Son of a bitch. He hits it well, but Pedroida makes a nice play to snag it, and I'm gonna go ahead and say the Yankees have actually been unlucky. Now we have to use the emergency catcher despite him failing to get a hit. A run scored, but a comeback is still unlikely.

Bottom 8 - I'll be genuinely surprised if there's not a passed ball this inning. Sean Henn's in against Ortiz. Another fly out. Manny makes Henn work before scalding a single to center. Drew grounds out to third. I hate it when they get those graphics wrong. They showed the last five Yankees starters, with the result and career games started. They showed Rasner as getting the win, when he didn't. The team won, but they showed Pettitte as having a No Decision, so you know they were talking about just the starters. Check your facts, ESPN. Lowell draws the walk. He's a very irritating player. He's supposed to be washed up by now, but he gets hits and plays great defense. Just look at him. He looks totally washed up. Varitek grounds out, and it's up to the top of the order against Jon Papelbon.

Top 9 - I guess I underrated Phelps' catching. He hadn't done it in the bigs since 2001, but I guess it's like riding a bicycle. Except instead of riding a bicycle, you're squatting on the ground and catching balls thrown at high speeds and often with strange, irregular movements. Ok, here we go. Papelbon has never blown a save in April. This would be more impressive if he'd pitched in more than two Aprils. Damon flies out after a nice, long at bat. Ya tired, Papelbon? Eh? Maybe? Please? He strikes out Jeter with ease. Abreu's the last hope. He draws a walk, and here's Alex again. Something's going to give. And it's A-Rod, who grounds to third to end the game.

Wrap-up - The bad: they got swept, they're four games back and back under .500. The good: they hit the Red Sox' starters, the Sox are looking as good as they probably will all season, and the Yankees are as weak as they'll probably be all season. Time to shrug it off and get back on the right track with Igawa against the Devil-Rays tomorrow. There'll be a rematch next weekend, we'll see what happens then.