Thursday, June 4, 2009

Melky Delivers in 8-6 Yanks Win

(REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine)


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
R H E
TEX 0 0 2 2 1 1 0 0 0
6 11 1
NYY 1 0 0 0 5 0 0 2 X
8 10 1

Winning pitcher - David Robertson (1-0)
Losing pitcher - C.J. Wilson (3-3)
SV - Mariano Rivera (12)

After jumping out to an early 1-0 lead on a Johnny Damon solo homer in the first, things quickly went south for the Yanks and starter Chein-Ming Wang. Wang threw two scoreless innings but then allowed two runs in the third, two more in the fourth, and another in the fifth before leaving the game with the Yankees trailing 5-1. He had good velocity on the sinker today throwing it consistenly at 93-94 mph, and also show pretty good command of his pitches, throwing 47 of his 69 pitches for strikes. In the first two innings the sinker was sinking too, but as the game when on he started leaving a few pitches up, and his sinkers started tailing instead of sinking, and that's when things got rough. In 4.2 innings Wang allowed five runs on seven hits, walked one and struck out five, of the other nine men he retired, eight came via the groundball.

It wasn't what the Yankees were looking for but strangely Joe Girardi, Dave Eiland, and today's catcher Francisco Cervelli all spoke very highly of Wang's performance after the game, and it looks like the Yankees are going to keep him in the rotation for his next scheduled start against the Red Sox. I can't say I think that's a good idea, but we'll see what happens. Hopefully he proves me wrong.

Luckily, the Yankees had another comeback in their bones today. With the score still 5-1 in the bottom of the fifth, Rangers' starter Brandon McCarthy, who had been very good since Damon's leadoff homer, began to fall apart. Cervelli and Ramiro Pena hit back-to-back singles to start the inning. That was followed by walks to Damon and Nick Swisher and the Yanks had cut the lead to 5-2 with Mark Teixeira up with the bases loaded. Tex hit one off the end of his bat and somehow it squirted past Michael Young and down the third baseline for a bases clearly three-run double and the game was tied. Jason Jennings then replaced McCarthy and Alex Rodriguez greeted him with an RBI single and the Yanks led 6-5.

The lead would be short-lived, though, because Alfredo Aceves, who had relieved Wang, gave up a solo homer to the red-hot Ian Kinsler in the sixth to tie the score.

That's how the score would stay until the bottom of the eighth. The Rangers brought in left-handed fireballer C.J. Wilson, but he did not have the same kind of fastball or success he had in yesterday's game. Robinson Cano led off with a walk, Hideki Matsui flew out to center, and then Melky Cabrera came to the plate. He's made a habit out of getting big hits for this team so it should not have come as a surprise to any of us when he took a 1-1 changeup and deposited it into the left field seats for what turned out to be a game winning two-run homer.

After Aceves, the rest of the bullpen did a very good job. Phil Coke had his best outing in weeks, retiring all four batters he faced, including two via the strikeout. David Robertson needed just one pitch to retire the only batter he faced, getting Elvis Andrus to fly out to end the eighth. The one pitch was good enough for him to record his first win of the year thanks to Melky's heroics. Mariano Rivera came on for his 12th save of the year, although it wasn't an easy one. He allowed two hits and needed 24 pitches to get out of the jam, but in the end he did what he usually does and got the job done.

The Yankees open up a four-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays starting tomorrow night at the new stadium. It will be a battle of two hard throwing lefties tomorrow as CC Sabathia will square off against Rays phenom David Price.


AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Damon, LF 3 2 1 1 1 0 1 .297
Swisher, RF 3 1 2 1 1 1 0 .251
1-Gardner, PR-CF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .265
Teixeira, 1B 4 1 2 3 0 0 1 .284
Rodriguez, A, 3B 4 0 1 1 0 0 3 .250
Cano, 2B 3 1 1 0 1 0 2 .305
Matsui, DH 3 0 0 0 1 0 3 .256
Cabrera, M, CF-RF 4 1 1 2 0 1 3 .311
Cervelli, C 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 .283
Pena, SS 3 1 1 0 1 1 0 .243
Totals 31 8 10 8 5 4 13

1-Ran for Swisher in the 7th.

BATTING
2B: Swisher (13, McCarthy), Teixeira 2 (14, McCarthy, McCarthy).
HR: Damon (11, 1st inning off McCarthy, 0 on, 0 out), Cabrera, M (6, 8th inning off Wilson, 1 on, 1 out).
TB: Damon 4; Swisher 3; Teixeira 4; Rodriguez, A; Cano; Cabrera, M 4; Cervelli; Pena.
RBI: Damon (33), Swisher (32), Teixeira 3 (47), Rodriguez, A (22), Cabrera, M 2 (22).
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cano; Cabrera, M 2.
GIDP: Teixeira.
Team RISP: 2-for-10.
Team LOB: 4.

BASERUNNING
SB: Cano (3, 2nd base off Jennings/Teagarden).
CS: Pena (1, 2nd base by Jennings/Teagarden).

FIELDING
E: Cervelli (1, throw).


IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Wang 4.2 7 5 5 1 5 1 14.46
Aceves, A 1.2 2 1 1 2 2 1 2.95
Coke 1.1 0 0 0 0 2 0 4.50
Robertson (W, 1-0) 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.08
Rivera (S, 12) 1.0 2 0 0 0 2 0 2.38

RANGERS STATS

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Mark Teixeira (2-for-4, 2 doubles, 3 RBI, R)

HONORABLE MENTION: Melky Cabrera (1-for-4, 2-run HR in the 8th to give Yanks a 8-6 lead)

Tomorrow's Game

Yankees vs. Rays
Game Time: 7:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS 880
LHP CC Sabathia (5-3, 3.46 ERA) vs. LHP David Price (1-0, 3.00 ERA)

9 Comments:

crossfire said...

Great win today.

I have tix for tomorrow nights game and I'm hoping it doesn't get rained out.

Mario said...

I totally agree, Wang vs the Red Sox, these games are critical, especially after starting 0-5 vs them, Wang needs more work...

Anonymous said...

What a joke. The pirates trade Nate Mclouth for 3 average prospects. Why didn't Cashman trade for Mclouth.

Melky is not a everyday starting centerfielder. Get rid of the bum.

Greg Cohen said...

Crossfire,

I've got tickets too, but as of now the forecast doesn't look too good. Things can obviously change, though.

Anon,

What are you talking about? Melky has been great on both sides of the ball all year.

Greg Cohen said...

Oh, and Melky is still just 24.

Anonymous said...

comment on your post game writeup...aceves gave up home run to Kinsler no cruz to tie the game

Greg Cohen said...

Good call Anon. Cruz hit his off Wang. Thanks for the heads up.

Anonymous said...

what do you think Cervell said to Mo when he called time and went to the mound. I found that very interesting and showed alot of confidence by the young man. Go Yanks

Greg Cohen said...

Not sure Anon, but it's not the first time he's done something like that. He's definitely and natural leader on the field, which is great to see from a young guy.