Sticks And Stones May Break My Bones But Last Licks Really Hurt Me

The Yankees are on a roll right now and it's not a good one. Dominated by Jered Weaver, the Yankees managed just three hits against the LA Angels and lost in the bottom of the 9th 2-1. It made the three straight losses for NY, all of them in the opponent's final at-bat.

Jesus Montero's third home run of the season provided the Yankees with their only run and Montero was also the only Yankee to reach second base off of Weaver, who struck out 11. The Angels tied the game when a Derek Jeter error led to an unearned run off Bartolo Colon (7 IP), who had his best start of the second half.

But after David Robertson tossed a scoreless 8th inning, Joe Girardi went to the back end/mop up/garbage part of the bullpen. Aaron Laffey allowed a lead off single to Alberto Callaspo and was pulled in favor of Luis Ayala. The veteran right-hander gave up a single to Vernon Wells and then hit Peter Bourjos to load the bases. Maicer Izturis delivered a pinch-hit sac fly to center to score pinch-runner Jeremy Moore with the game winner.

With the Yankees losses to the Orioles on Wednesday and Thursday in extra innings by identical 5-4 scores, the Bombers have a three game losing streak. But the AL East still remains a 2.5 game lead with Boston having also lost three straight and seven of nine (no, not THAT seven of nine).

The Yankees managed just a walk off Weaver in the first two innings before Montero started off the third with his third home run of the season. After going 0-4 in his debut, the Yankees top prospect is 7-16 (.438) with three home runs and six RBI, all of which have come in the last three games. The only other hits the Yankees managed were a Robinson Cano single in the 4th and a Derek Jeter single in the 7th. Alex Rodriguez drew a one out walk in the 9th off closer Jordan Walden, but pinch-runner Eduardo Nunez was thrown out attempting to steal second base.

Colon scattered six hits, walked just one, and struck out five in the no-decision. Bourjos reached against him with out in the 5th with a bunt single and Jeff Mathis reached on Jeter's throwing error. Colon got Erick Aybar on a fielder's choice, but Howie Kendrick singled to tie the game.

We Liked the Match Up Better

Courtesy of Chad Jennings and LoHud:

“We have all the matchups and all the scouting reports,” Girardi said of the Aceves decision. “And we felt that, you know, it was a better matchup for us.”

“I’m not going to get into specifics of why,” pitching coach Dave Eiland said. “We just liked the matchup better, and Ace had (Howie Kendrick) where he wanted to, he just couldn’t make the pitch to put him away. And still, it was a five-hopper up the middle or a 10-hopper up the middle, but he just wasn’t able to make that one pitch to put him away.”

Lame guys, lame.

Running Scared, Starring Joe Girardi

Nightmare at the Big ‘A’, Part MMIX

Written for Baseball Digest Online

Throughout this current post-season, New York Yankees fans and the metropolitan area media have waited for Joe Girardi to screw up. It’s not that anyone wanted him to, but Girardi’s managerial style during the playoffs, though successful in outcome, were not conducive to good baseball. His use of the bullpen proves he’s managing scared, not aggressively, as some would have you believe. Earlier this evening that style came back to biteGirardi as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim won Game 3 of the ALCS, 5-4, in 12 innings.

Just as he had done in Game 2 and in the series with Minnesota, Girardi countered every move or non-move by the opposing manager with a pitching change. While David Robertson was retiring Kendry Morales for the second out in the bottom of the 12th, Fox TV cameras caught Girardi checking his scouting reports.

No sooner had Howie Kendrick stepped in to face Robertson, then Girardi hop out of the dugout ,despite the fact that Kendrick had faced Robertson just twice. Those match ups had produced one hit and one strikeout. It was also despite the fact that Robertson has been pitching much better over the last several months than the fellow right-hander, Al Aceves, that Girardi opted for.

Kendrick ripped a single back up the middle in his first at-bat against Aceves. Then light-hitting Jeff Mathis ripped a hanging fastball off the wall in left-center to score Kendrick with the game winning run. While there is no question that the Angels may have won the game anyway,Girardi did his best to help shift the momentum away from his ball club. The series now stands at two games to one in favor of the Yankees, with Game 4 scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday) night.

Making the loss all the more painful was the fact that Yankees blew a 3-0 lead, built on solo home runs by Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Johnny Damon. The Halos cut the lead to 3-1 on Kendrick’s solo home run off Andy Pettitte in the 5th and tied the game an inning later when Vlad Guerrero belted a 2-run home run.

The Angels took their first lead of the night off of Joba Chamberlain in the 7th. Kendrick accounted for another run scored when he came home on Maicer Izturis‘ sacrifice fly. The Yankees tied things back up in the top of the 8th when Jorge Posada went deep off hard throwing right-hander Kip Jensen.

The Yankees had a chance to break things open against Angels starter Jered Weaver in the 2nd and 4th innings, but the lower part of the order failed to produce each time. Nick Swisher and Melky Cabrera went 0-9 and left 12 men on base.

The Angels had a chance to win it in the 10th when Mathis led off with a double against Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera made an errant throw of Eric Aybar’s bunt. With runners on the corners and no one out, the Yankees brought the infield and outfield in. Mark Teixeira made a diving stop of a Chone Figgins‘ grounder for the first out and froze the runner at third in the process.

Rivera issued an intentional walk to Bobby Abreu to load the bases. With the infield still in, Torii Hunter hit a bullet to Teixeira, who threw home for the force out. Rivera then got Guerrero to ground out to Teixeira unassisted for the final out of the inning.

Game Notes

Due to all of the substitutions by the time the game was over, the Yankees had no DH, Jerry Hairston Jr. was in left field and batting 5th, and the pitcher’s spot was hitting second. Girardi also wasted another roster spot when he used Brett Gardner to pinch-run for DH Hideki Matsui, but later pinch-hit for Gardner.

Bobby Abreu had his first two hits of the series, but is just 2-13 overall. Kendry Morales (1-13, 3-23 in post-season), Mark Teixeira (1-13, 3-25) and Nick Swisher (2-10, 3-22) are among those slumping in October.

Deja Lose

Friday and Saturday blended together as the Yankees blew another game to the Angels.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
NY Yankees	2	1	0	1	0	0	2	2	0		8	9	1
LA Angels	0	0	0	1	7	1	1	4	X		14	16	1

WP - Weaver (10-3) LP - Pettitte (8-5)

Take a decent sized early lead, have your starting pitcher give it away, and then have your bullpen put the game out of reach. Such has been the recipe for disaster that the Yankees have put together the last 2 days.

Less than 24 hours after an ineffective Joba Chamberlain and his reinforcements turned a 5-1 lead into a 10-6 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, Andy Pettitte and company saw a 4-0 lead become a 14-8 defeat. The latter happened despite five home runs by the Yankees, including a pair by Alex Rodriguez, who passed Rafael Palmeiero for sole possession of 10th place on the all-time home run list.

Read the rest of my recap at Baseball Digest Online.

Angels Weave Another Victory

Yankees vs. Angels. Who do you think won? The Yankees preferred to keep Ian Kennedy in the minors, but injuries forced them to bring him up for last night's game. Only two innings in, the front office was probably already ruing their decision. Kennedy did no better than his previous starts this season, getting hammered for 5 runs in two official innings. He actually faced five batters in the third inning, but retired none of them and the Angels went on to a 10-5 victory.

The Yankees closed the gap to within 6-5, but Darrell Rasner and Brian Bruney let the game get out of reach again and there would be no comeback like last Sunday's improbable Yankees win over the Angels.

Kennedy remains a conundrum. He rocketed through the Yankees farm system last year, and perhaps that was the problem- getting to the majors too quickly. This year he's been like an amateur golfer who can't put two good shots in a row together.

Singles by Eric Aybar and Vlad Guerrero put two men aboard with two outs in the first inning and both runners scored on a Torii Hunter double. Hunter's career numbers against the Yankees are mediocre, but this season he's homered twice and driven in 8 runs in just three games.

The Yankees managed to briefly hold the lead, 3-2 after Alex Rodriguez belted a solo home run, his 25th, in the second inning, and the Yankees loaded the bases in the third. Jason Giambi drew a bases-loaded walk from Jered Weaver and Xavier Nady reached on an infield single. With a chance to do more damage, Robinson Cano continued his poor hitting with the bases loaded by bouncing into an inning-ending ground out.

The lead would be short lived as the Angels jumped on Kennedy in the third, sending him to an early shower. A Mark Teixeira double followed by a Guerrero single tied the game, and consecutive singles by Hunter, Garrett Anderson, and Howie Kendrick brought home two more for a 5-3 lead. None of the balls were hard hit, but they were hits nonetheless.

Trailing 6-3 in the sixth, the Yankees made it a game again when Nady hit his 5th home run in 13 games in Pinstripes. It was also his 13th RBI as a Yankee. Cano followed with a triple and scored on a Melky Cabrera ground out to cut the Angels lead to 6-5. But there would be no more joy in Anaheim for the Yankees.

Hunter opened the seventh inning with a home run off of Rasner and the Angels piled 3 more runs on in the inning to finish off the Bombers. But really they were finished off when Ian Kennedy took the mound.


News and Notes

Howie Kendrick, 4-5 last night, is batting .507 (36-71) in 18 career games against the Yankees. He's also sporting a 1.263 OPS.

Joba Chamberlain said he'd be ready to go the first week of September, but Joe Girardi is taking a much more conservative approach, mainly so Chamberlain doesn't try to rush back.

Alex Rodriguez's home run was the 548th of his career.

The Yankees dropped to 6.5 games back in the AL East after Tampa beat Seattle 5-3. Boston lost to Chicago, so the Yankees remain 3 back in the Wild Card.

Angels Weave Another Victory

Yankees vs. Angels. Who do you think won? The Yankees preferred to keep Ian Kennedy in the minors, but injuries forced them to bring him up for last night's game. Only two innings in, the front office was probably already ruing their decision. Kennedy did no better than his previous starts this season, getting hammered for 5 runs in two official innings. He actually faced five batters in the third inning, but retired none of them and the Angels went on to a 10-5 victory.

The Yankees closed the gap to within 6-5, but Darrell Rasner and Brian Bruney let the game get out of reach again and there would be no comeback like last Sunday's improbable Yankees win over the Angels.

Kennedy remains a conundrum. He rocketed through the Yankees farm system last year, and perhaps that was the problem- getting to the majors too quickly. This year he's been like an amateur golfer who can't put two good shots in a row together.

Singles by Eric Aybar and Vlad Guerrero put two men aboard with two outs in the first inning and both runners scored on a Torii Hunter double. Hunter's career numbers against the Yankees are mediocre, but this season he's homered twice and driven in 8 runs in just three games.

The Yankees managed to briefly hold the lead, 3-2 after Alex Rodriguez belted a solo home run, his 25th, in the second inning, and the Yankees loaded the bases in the third. Jason Giambi drew a bases-loaded walk from Jered Weaver and Xavier Nady reached on an infield single. With a chance to do more damage, Robinson Cano continued his poor hitting with the bases loaded by bouncing into an inning-ending ground out.

The lead would be short lived as the Angels jumped on Kennedy in the third, sending him to an early shower. A Mark Teixeira double followed by a Guerrero single tied the game, and consecutive singles by Hunter, Garrett Anderson, and Howie Kendrick brought home two more for a 5-3 lead. None of the balls were hard hit, but they were hits nonetheless.

Trailing 6-3 in the sixth, the Yankees made it a game again when Nady hit his 5th home run in 13 games in Pinstripes. It was also his 13th RBI as a Yankee. Cano followed with a triple and scored on a Melky Cabrera ground out to cut the Angels lead to 6-5. But there would be no more joy in Anaheim for the Yankees.

Hunter opened the seventh inning with a home run off of Rasner and the Angels piled 3 more runs on in the inning to finish off the Bombers. But really they were finished off when Ian Kennedy took the mound.


News and Notes

Howie Kendrick, 4-5 last night, is batting .507 (36-71) in 18 career games against the Yankees. He's also sporting a 1.263 OPS.

Joba Chamberlain said he'd be ready to go the first week of September, but Joe Girardi is taking a much more conservative approach, mainly so Chamberlain doesn't try to rush back.

Alex Rodriguez's home run was the 548th of his career.

The Yankees dropped to 6.5 games back in the AL East after Tampa beat Seattle 5-3. Boston lost to Chicago, so the Yankees remain 3 back in the Wild Card.

Short Stops - 4/18 Night Time Edition

The Mariners have to be worried after "The King", Felix Hernandez had to leave tonight's game in the 1st inning with elbow stiffness. Hernandez retired just 1 hitter, while allowing 2 hits and 2 walks. 3 of those runners came into score. Hernandez had allowed just 1 run in his 1st two starts.

The Phillies are spiraling out of control and are 2-10 after losing to Washington tonight. Manager Charlie Manuel nearly came to blows with Phils radio man Howard Eskin last night. With a struggling rotation, Brett Myers was moved to the bullpen. Early panic move? You bet! John Lieber will take his place.

David Wright extended his hitting streak to 25 games in the Mets win over the D-Train and the Marlins. John Maine tossed 6 no-hit innings for the Mets.

Things keep getting worse for the Angels. They lost Chone Figgins in spring training to 2 broken fingers. Vlad Guerrero has a badly bruised wrist after being plunked by Josh Beckett on Monday, and now Howie Kendrick is on the DL with a broken finger (I have both Figgins and Kendrick on my roto team - is this a bad trend?). On top of that, they were blanked by the A's 3-0 today to extend their losing streak to 6 games. They've scored just 6 runs in those 6 games, and have scored just 44 runs in 15 games to date.

Short Stops - 4/18 Night Time Edition

The Mariners have to be worried after "The King", Felix Hernandez had to leave tonight's game in the 1st inning with elbow stiffness. Hernandez retired just 1 hitter, while allowing 2 hits and 2 walks. 3 of those runners came into score. Hernandez had allowed just 1 run in his 1st two starts.

The Phillies are spiraling out of control and are 2-10 after losing to Washington tonight. Manager Charlie Manuel nearly came to blows with Phils radio man Howard Eskin last night. With a struggling rotation, Brett Myers was moved to the bullpen. Early panic move? You bet! John Lieber will take his place.

David Wright extended his hitting streak to 25 games in the Mets win over the D-Train and the Marlins. John Maine tossed 6 no-hit innings for the Mets.

Things keep getting worse for the Angels. They lost Chone Figgins in spring training to 2 broken fingers. Vlad Guerrero has a badly bruised wrist after being plunked by Josh Beckett on Monday, and now Howie Kendrick is on the DL with a broken finger (I have both Figgins and Kendrick on my roto team - is this a bad trend?). On top of that, they were blanked by the A's 3-0 today to extend their losing streak to 6 games. They've scored just 6 runs in those 6 games, and have scored just 44 runs in 15 games to date.