(AP Photo/Gail Burton)| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
| NYY | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 0 | |
| BAL | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | X | 10 | 14 | 0 |
There is no denying how bad the team looked today. They were bad on the defense end, bad on the mound, and they came up short in clutch spots with the bat. In fact, it was just about as bad as it could have been barring a major injury, one of those Murphy's Law games.
With that said, it's just the first game of the year; there are 161 games left, so it's really no big deal. Unless of course you thought they were going 162 - 0.
CC Sabathia made his Yankees debut and I'm sure he'd like to forget it. In 4.1 innings pitched he allowed six runs on eight hits and five walks. He also did not strike out a batter for the first time since July 25, 2005 at Oakland. A game that he lasted just 2.1 innings and allowed eight runs. He threw 96 pitches on the day, just 50 for strikes. His main problem was locating his fastball, which he was unable to do for most... OK all of the game. He couldn't throw a first pitch strike, and also threw two wild pitches on the day. It's safe to say he didn't have anywhere near his best stuff.
As of now I'm not too concerned about his pitching, what did concern me was that he kept putting a heating pad on his rib cage in between innings. Hopefully he's not hurt or anything, because that would be a big deal. He said he was "just trying to stay warm" so hopefully that's all that was about.
Besides a solid inning and two-thirds from Jonathan Albaladejo the rest of the pitching staff wasn't very good either. Phil Coke, who was probably kept in the game too long, allowed two runs on a big two-run homer by Cesar Izturis that turned 6-5 game into an 8-5 game. By the way, Izturis hit one home run in 414 at-bats last year. The home run maybe shouldn't have counted since it appeared that a fan interfered with Damon as he tried to make the catch, but the umpires decided that Damon's glove was above the wall and counted the homer.
Brian Bruney also pitched poorly, allowed two runs on a hit and two walks in one-third of an inning. Bruney's two runs came in on an Aubrey Huff two-run double allowed by Damaso Marte, and yes Huff is a lefty. Marte is here for one reason; to get left-handed hitter out in the late innings, if he can't do that the Yankees pen will suffer for the entire year because his salary says he's going to be on the roster for the long haul.
On the offense side of the ball it was a game of missed opportunities. As Johnny Damon said after the game, “It seemed like there were a bunch of times we were about to take the lead.” One perfect example of this was the top of the seventh. After cutting the Orioles lead from 6-3 to 6-5 on a Hideki Matsui two-run homer, Jorge Posada walked and Robinson Cano singled to put the tying and go-ahead runs on base. But Xavier Nady couldn't keep the inning going and grounded into a double play.
With the Yankees still trailing by a run Nick Swisher led off the eight inning with a double. He moved to third on a Brett Gardner sac bunt - he probably should have been swining away. But the Yankees could not bring the run in when Derek Jeter grounded out, and following a Damon walk, Mark Teixeira popped out to end the inning. The big at-bat of the inning was Jeter's, that's a spot where he has to get that run in.
Speaking of Teixeira, he had an awful day at the plate. He went 0-for-4 with a walk and left five men on base. There were a couple spots where the Yankees really needed a big hit from him and he didn't come through. Hopefully that's not a sign of things to come. Honestly, I don't think it is. But speaking about terrible games, how about Cody Ransom? Not only did he do nothing at the plate (0-for-3 with a strikeout), but he also looked lost in the field as he made two misplays, in one inning, that cost the Yankees a couple very important runs.
On the bright side, Jeter picked up three hits on the day. Damon went 2-for-3 with a triple a walk, an RBI and a run scored. Matsui and Posada, who are both coming off injuries, homered. And Gardner showed what his speed can do for this team when he helped manufacture a run in the third. Gardner also threw out Melvin Mora trying to score on a sac fly.
Before I go, let me clear up something that happened in the sixth inning of today's game. With Nady on second base Jeter hit a grounder up the middle. Izturis knocked the ball down and threw out Nady who was caught trying to score, it looked like he thought the ball had gone through the middle into center. Well, there's a good reason he thought that. According to Peter Abraham, third base coach Rob Thompson also thought the ball went through and waved Nady home. So as I said in the game thread all the blame for that one goes on Thompson.
Again, I know there are a lot of complaints in this post, and with the way they played there should be, but it is only game one of 162 so there is absolutely no reason to panic or worry, unless of course there's something wrong with CC's ribs.
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG | |
| Jeter, SS | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .600 |
| Damon, LF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .667 |
| Teixeira, 1B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | .000 |
| Matsui, DH | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .200 |
| Posada, C | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .333 |
| Cano, 2B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .333 |
| Nady, RF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | .250 |
| Ransom, 3B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .000 |
| a-Swisher, PH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
| 1-Pena, PR-3B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Gardner, CF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .333 |
| Totals | 34 | 5 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 20 | |
| a-Doubled for Ransom in the 8th. 1-Ran for Swisher in the 8th. | ||||||||
| BATTING 2B: Nady (1, Guthrie), Swisher (1, Johnson). 3B: Damon (1, Guthrie). HR: Posada (1, 6th inning off Guthrie, 0 on, 0 out), Matsui (1, 7th inning off Ray, 1 on, 1 out). TB: Jeter 3; Damon 4; Matsui 4; Posada 4; Cano; Nady 2; Swisher 2; Gardner. RBI: Damon (1), Posada (1), Nady (1), Matsui 2 (2). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Matsui 2; Teixeira. S: Gardner. SF: Damon. GIDP: Nady. Team LOB: 11. | ||||||||
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
| Sabathia (L, 0-1) | 4.1 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 12.46 |
| Albaladejo | 1.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Coke | 1.2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 10.80 |
| Bruney | 0.1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 54.00 |
| Marte | 0.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
Game two of this three game set is Wednesday night at Camden Yards. Chien-Ming Wang gets the start for the Yankees, with former Yomiuri Giants pitcher Koji Uehara going for the O's. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m., and the game can be seen on YES and heard on WCBS 880.
15 Comments:
I saw the post game, CC said he put the pad on between innings because he was just cold.
I actually just saw that myself and added it to the post.
Good summary Greg. I was expecting a doom and gloom post. And even though you did point out the bad things at least you're being reasonable and realize that there's a lot of baseball left. This team will be fine.
Thanks Anon.
Tough to win games when the starter cant get through five. But anyway its only 1 game not a big deal.
Did see some good things though, Gardner & Damon looked good. Posada and Matsui looked healthy. Cano had 2 walks. Also Nick Swisher proves he can pinch hit, Swisher will be important player for the yankees this year.
But when A-Rod gets back this lineup will be sick. I mean Nady will be the 8th hitter.
it's good they got some pretty shitty baseball out of the way
lol true, as long as they don't need the entire month to get all that shitty baseball out of their system. They cannot afford another bad start.
And to the other anon, thanks for reminding me about Damon, I just added his game to the "bright side" paragraph.
@ Greg
I disagree I thought it was right move having Gardner sac bunt Pena to third. I mean with 1 out with runner on third with Jeter batting I think those are pretty good odds Jeter gets that run in to tie the game.
You're are right about Jeter up with a man on third, but I just don't think they needed to have Gardner bunt there, especially since he's left-handed.
It's not a bone-headed move or anything like that, and I don't think Girardi should get ripped for it. I just think that swinging away would have been the better move.
With regards to the Nady-Thompson incident, Thompson indeed may have waved Nady around, which is his fault. My problem is that Nady gave up on the play: he just stood there and waited for Mora to tag him. In fact he walked toward Mora so to save him a few steps. He should have kept the play alive. 99% chance he's out anyway. But this is baseball, you don't assume anything. It's entirely possible that Mora would have gotten a bad angle throwing home and hit Nady in the baseline. That really bothered me. Then he hit into the DP. And then Swisher comes in for Ransom and rips a double to left. Not a good start X, not when you've got competition.
That's a good point jmas, he really did do nothing to avoid being tagged out. I hope it was out of frustration or something and not just laziness. Not that it's an excuse but at least it makes it a little more reasonable.
And you're absolutely right, when you take that play, his other poor at-bats, and Swisher's hit it was overall a pretty bad day for Nady.
Can't wait for the back pages of the daily rags in the morning. I'm sure they'll have a positive spin on this game. *smirks
I give Nady a pass on that play it was more Thompson fault.
But I think Swisher is more valuable off the bench than Nady is. Swisher is a switch hitter and he could play LF, RF,
1B, DH or Center in an emergency. He gives Girardi more options off the bench than Nady would.
Nady is what he is he will hit 260-275 and hit 20-25 hrs and drive in 80 rbis and will strike out alot and not have a high on base. And defensively is he an upgrade than Abreu.
Yea the papers should be a blast tomorrow. I just hope CC doesn't read them.
Too many runners left on base. Sigh.
Is it that hard to find a 3rd base coach who knows what he's doing? Seems like the Yankees have struggled there for a while.
Pitching was downright awful today. You have to wonder if we had a long reliever on the roster if CC might have left a little sooner.
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