Game 19 Recap – BAL 6, NYY 0

It’s hard to win games when you don’t score a run. It’s also hard when your starter goes 2.2 innings.

Right now the Yankees are horrible and there is little good coming from the team. They are currently riding a three game losing streak, digging themselves a nice hole in the East while the offense tries to find their bats and the youngsters try to find the strike zone.

Will the Yankees ever get a hit with RISP and two outs? I’m really not sure. It has become automatic for Alex Rodriguez and rest of the middle of the order to fold with ducks on the pond and a chance to damage the opposing pitcher.

Not scoring in the first inning of a game where a rookie pitcher is pitching when you have a walk, single, and triple is a problem. Johnny Damon’s idiotic base running to start the game led to a double play, a missed opportunity with Derek Jeter hitting a triple, and a missed attempt to run Brian Burress’ pitch count through the roof. Instead the Yankees were set down in the inning and Ian Kennedy did a disappearing act in the bottom of the first and the second before getting tattooed in the third, leaving the game to the bullpen with 19 outs left to get.

The Yankees have won two series so far this season. And for that, they have a 9-10 record and are lucky they don’t have a 5-14 record or worse. They have a 2-3-2 record in series this year and are looking at a possible sweep at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles, whose cleanup hitter is Kevin Millar.

Joe Girardi has run out 19 different lineup in 19 games and obviously he has had to deal with injuries to Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Jason Giambi, and Jose Molina as well as suspensions to Melky Cabrera and Shelley Duncan, but there is no reason there can’t be some consistency in the lineup. Tonight, Bobby Abreu was not batting third nor in right field. All of a sudden Bobby can’t play vs lefties?

Andy Pettitte will once again try to do tomorrow what he has done his whole career: be the stopper. Instead of trying to continue a winning streak for the Bombers, he will try to stop a losing one. The Yankees will be facing Steve Trachsel, who works slow and throws a lot of pitches. If they can’t find a way to beat Steve Trachsel, then the 2008 New York Yankees are in serious trouble.

The Bullpen

I am sick of watching Kyle Farnsworth and LaTroy Hawkins come into games and just prolong innings, unable to get outs and put away the opposing hitters.

Here is what these two overpaid relievers have combined to do so far this season:

17.2 IP, 25 H, 14 R, 14 ER, 5 BB, 13 K, 3 HR

I am pretty sure there are plenty of pitchers in Wilkes-Barre Scranton and Trenton who are capable of putting those types of numbers for a lot less money. And I am even more sure that there are plenty of pitchers in AAA and AA for the Yankees who could do a better job than these two.

I understand that you don’t want to waste the $8 million+ that it cost for these two clowns and Michael Kay will always be the one to say “you don’t want to let players like them go because they might put it together somewhere else,” but I am pretty confident that Farnsworth and Hawkins are not putting “it” together anytime soon. Considering Farnsworth throws straight fastballs down the heart of the plate and Hawkins doesn’t even look at the catcher when he releases the ball, it is time to give up on these two bananas.

So, if Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi ever get the balls to once and for all cut these two and remove Jason Giambi from the lineup (and the team), then maybe the bullpen could look something like this.

Mariano Rivera
Joba Chamberlain
Brian Bruney
Jonathan Albaladejo
Edwar Ramirez
Billy Traber
Ross Ohlendorf

There is nothing wrong with that bullpen and I would even like to see Scott Patterson in there if one of the others gets shelled.

At this point, anything is better than Farnsworth and Hawkins.

Game 18 Recap – BAL 8, NYY 2

Nothing like getting blown out by the Orioles at Camden Yards, a place where the Yankees supposedly dominate.

The line for Phil Hughes isn’t very telling because he was a lot better than the boxscore will indicate. He pitched great for five innings, was given no run support, and no defensive help and for that he gets tagged with his third loss in four starts this season.

What a waste of money LaTroy Hawkins was, huh? I don’t care if the guy had pitched seven prior scoreless innings or 77, he is flat out awful and there is no place for him on this team, considering we already have his mirror image in Kyle Farnsworth.

A-Rod and Jason Giambi better figure out fast how they are going to drive in runners in scoring position and Johnny Damon needs to figure out how the hell he is going to get on base as the leadoff man and have an average higher than the Mendoza Line.

Meanwhile the Yankees are back to .500, their favorite place to be. Something needs to change with this lineup and it needs to change very quickly. Word is that Jorge Posada will be at first tonight and Jose Molina will catch, that is all fine and dandy, but there needs to be a switch with the leadoff spot very soon if Johnny Damon is going to continue to be an easy out at the top of the order.

Papelbon’s Big Mouth

 

Jonathan Papelbon
March 5, 2008 -
“I feel like with me being at the top of my position, I feel like that standard needs to be set and I’m the one to set that standard. And I don’t think that the Red Sox are really necessarily seeing eye to eye with me on that subject right now. Hopefully, we can get somewhere.

“We’re chugging away at this thing and we want to get it done, believe me, and we can move on. At the same time, I feel a certain obligation to not only myself and my family to make the money that I deserve, but for the game of baseball.Mariano Rivera has been doing it for the past 10 years. With me coming up behind him, I feel a certain obligation to do the same.”

It has been over a month since Papelbon whined and ran his mouth to a new contract that will pay him $750,000, and boy has Paps lived up to his new deal.

8 IP,  7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 HR, 1 BB, 16 K, 3.38 ERA

If you are going to go out and say that you are the “best” at your position, and that you are the next coming of Mariano Rivera then you need to go out and perform.

What is the standard you are trying to set and what makes you the one who should set that standard? Because I’m pretty sure a 3.38 ERA should not be the bar future closers look to get to. 

 

Game 17 Recap – BOS 7, NYY 5

Mike Mussina was Mike Mussina once again and Yankees fell to one game over .500 once again as the Red Sox had their way with #35.

It is evident that Mike Mussina can’t hang with the offensive juggernauts of the AL (Boston, Toronto, etc.) and that the only way he will picks up wins this season or give the Yankees quality starts will be against the lesser team of the league, and as of right now there aren’t that many.

Manny Ramirez is about as hot as you can get right now in the majors and he is simply destroying anything in the strikezone. He hurt the Yankees last night with two absolute bombs off the Moose, one to straight away center, and one to left field that looked like it might reach the upper deck in left before falling just short.

The offense was there and produced three runs off Josh Beckett and two of Jonathan Papelbon and had the Yankees gotten any pitching over the first five innings, they could have won this game.

The pitch Kyle Farnsworth threw at the head of Manny Ramirez was uncalled for, but hitting Ramirez was not. If Farnsworth can’t even hit a batter when needed to or hit the strike zone when needed to, then why is this man still wearing pinstripes and how is he still earning a living playing baseball? Oh, that’s right because he throws 99mph straight fastballs.

 

Game 16 Recap – NYY 15, BOS 9

What a mess. The Yankees had this game wrapped up numerous times and couldn’t put zeros on the board until LaTroy Hawkins came in and put the fire out with his new No. 22 jersey.

Chien-Ming Wang is still the team’s ace and one bad start doesn’t take that away from him, but wow could he not get an out once the Yankees gave him a 7-3 lead. However, I could not believe what it took to get Joe Girardi out of the dugout to pull Wang from the game. After he loaded the bases and continued to give up hits, there was still no movement in the pen. Lucky for Joe the offense came back for the Bombers or he would have more questions to answer in another managerial blunder against Boston.

Now at 9-7, the Yankees are tied for first with the Red Sox and with a win tonight can be three over .500 with a three game set against at Baltimore, which could boost their record nicely as they try to separate themselves from the pack in the East. The Yankees will finally get an off day on Monday an they could be a nice 12-8 (.600) or possibly better by then.

Notes: Jason Giambi had his first multi-hit game of the season last night and has five hits on the season, three of which are against Mike Timlin including two home runs. Every Yankees starter last night had at least one hit and one run scored. The Yankees bullpen pitched five innings last night giving up only one run on five hits.

WWYTKFF

Would what you trade Kyle Farnsworth for?

I would trade Kyle Farnsworth for one box of used batting practice balls.

Game 15 Recap – NYY 5, TB 3

Good win for the Yanks as they were able to hold on today even without Joba Chamberlain as Mariano Rivera looked lights out once again, keeping his perfect save streak in tact.

The Yankees are now 4-2 against Tampa Bay and a game above .500 with a chance to start building up the Ws as the Red Sox come to town.

Game 14 Recap – NYY 8, TB 7

After this game I need to rethink my position on what type of pitcher Joba Chamberlain should be. Without Chamberlain in the pen, there was nowhere to turn to get the six outs leading up to Mariano and that is a major problem. At this point in time Chamberlain HAS to be in the pen and I think anyone who watched the game last night would agree.

What a clutch hit for Robinson Cano who has been awful to this point in the season. That home run was his first of the season and his first run scored of the season (wow), but hopefully he will go on a nice tear here after gaining some confidence.

Ian Kennedy pitched the way everyone thought he would entering the season and looks to not be hurt after hit by a line drive. If he can pitch this same way against Baltimore this weekend, then the critics will lay off of him for a while. But they might turn to Phil Hughes if he can’t find his groove sometime soon.

Game 13 Recap – BOS 7, NYY 5

Was there anyone who didn’t think that A-Rod’s at bat in the first inning of this game would come back to haunt the Yankees in this game.

With Daisuke Matsuzaka already laboring in the first, having walked two people, Alex came up, swung at the first pitch (which was a ball) and grounded into a double play, ending what could have rattled Matsuzaka and given Philip Hughes a lead. Instead Hughes was terrible from the get go and has put together back to back awful starts.

It is clear that the Yankees are the better club as of right now compared to the Red Sox and there is no reason that they couldn’t have swept this weekend series. Had the Yankees not had to be running out their “B” team with all the injuries, the 1-2 weekend could have easily been a lot different.

How about Jason Giambi? Three hits this season, and two of them are home runs off Mike Timlin.