Sunday, June 14, 2009

Yanks Take Series With 15-0 Beatdown

(REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine)


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
R H E
NYM 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 6 0
NYY 0 4 0 9 0 0 2 0 X
15 17 1

Winning pitcher - A.J. Burnett (5-3)
Losing pitcher - Johan Santana (8-4)

I wrote this in yesterday's game summary: Now they have to face Johan Santana tomorrow with A.J. Burnett getting the start for the Yanks. The way Burnett has been pitching the game could be over by the third.

Well, I was right about one thing, the game was pretty much over by the third. It started with a big four-run bottom of the second for the Yanks. Robinson Cano led off with a double. Nick Swisher then moved Cano over with a sac-fly and Hideki Matsui walked to put runners on the corners with one out. Santana then struck out Melky Cabrera for the second out and got ahead of Francisco Cervelli no balls and two strikes. After taking a ball Cervelli somehow hit a changeup away and blooped it into right field for an RBI single. It was the first of three straight two out, two strike RBI hits for the Yanks. Derek Jeter followed Cervelli's single with an RBI single of his own, and then Johnny Damon lined a two-run single to left-center to extend the Yanks lead to 4-0.

Cervelli's hit was one turning point, the next came in the top of the third. After being handed a 4-0 lead A.J. Burnett - who had been brilliant over the first two innings - lost the strike zone. He walked Daniel Murphy to start the inning. Then Brian Schneider singled to put runners on first and third. Burnett then walked Luis Castillo to load the bases with nobody out. Burnett then went 2-0 on Alex Cora, but then out of nowhere he regained the stuff and command he had over the first two innings. He struck out Cora on a nasty curveball, then threw three more to put away Fernando Martinez for the second out, and completed the Houdini act by getting Carlos Beltran to line out to Jeter.

An inning later the Yanks put the game away for good with a nine run outburst. Swisher led off with a walk and Matsui followed with a two-run homer, and the Yanks took off from there. Santana did not record an out in the inning and when the dust settled the Yankees had handed the Mets' ace the worst performance of his career. In 3+ innings, he allowed 9 runs on 9 hits, walked 2, struck out 3, and his ERA jumped from 2.39 to 3.29.

The Yankees ended up scoring four more runs in the inning off Mets reliever Brian Stokes. Two runs came on a Robinson Cano two-run homer, and two more on a Cabrera two-run double. The Yanks ended up pounding out 15 runs and 17 hits today, and did it with just one hit from Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez combined, and Jorge Posada on the bench. To me that's pretty impressive. Another impressive stat of the day was that the Yanks went 9-for-20 with RISP.

Burnett cruised after getting out of that jam in the third. He pitched seven shutout innings, allowing just 4 hits, 4 walked, and struck out 8. Of his 111 pitches, 66 were strikes. It was a very good start for Burnett, especially coming off the round outing in Boston. I think Cervelli should be his personal catcher from now on, not only because of today, but also because opponents are hitting .330 against him with Posada behind the plate.

This was their most impressive win of the year, and if Burnett was telling the truth in the postgame the Yankees were pretty pumped about it. He was asked by Kim Jones if they felt they "needed a win like this", and he said "yea you should have heard us in there. It was pretty wild" But when Jones tried to get him to say more he said "No."

Either way, thanks to a dropped pop up round one of the Subway Series goes to the Yankees. Now the Yanks head into tomorrow's off day on a high note before opening a three-game series with the Nationals on Tuesday in the Bronx. CC Sabathia will be on the mound for the Yanks in the opener, wtih right-hander Shairon Martis starting for Washington.


AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Jeter, SS 4 2 4 2 0 0 0 .310
Berroa, 3B 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 .125
Damon, LF 4 1 2 3 1 2 3 .284
Teixeira, 1B 4 0 1 0 0 1 3 .284
Gardner, CF 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .276
Rodriguez, A, 3B 4 1 0 0 0 1 5 .230
Pena, 3B-SS 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 .254
Cano, 2B 4 2 3 3 0 0 0 .298
Swisher, RF-1B 3 2 0 0 2 0 4 .247
Matsui, DH 3 3 1 2 2 1 1 .257
Cabrera, M, CF-RF 4 1 2 2 1 1 3 .294
Cervelli, C 5 2 3 1 0 0 1 .298
Totals 37 15 17 14 7 6 21

BATTING
2B: Cano 2 (15, Santana, Switzer), Cabrera, M 2 (9, Santana, Stokes), Damon (15, Stokes).
HR: Matsui (10, 4th inning off Santana, 1 on, 0 out), Cano (11, 4th inning off Stokes, 1 on, 2 out).
TB: Jeter 4; Damon 3; Teixeira; Pena; Cano 8; Matsui 4; Cabrera, M 4; Cervelli 3.
RBI: Cervelli (6), Jeter 2 (30), Damon 3 (38), Matsui 2 (28), Cano 3 (39), Cabrera, M 2 (26), Pena (5).
2-out RBI: Cervelli; Jeter; Damon 2; Cano 2; Cabrera, M 2.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Rodriguez, A; Cabrera, M; Swisher; Berroa.
SF: Cano.
GIDP: Rodriguez, A.
Team RISP: 9-for-20.
Team LOB: 7.

FIELDING
E: Burnett (1, throw).
DP: 2 (Cano-Jeter-Teixeira, Pena-Cano-Swisher).


IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Burnett (W, 5-3) 7.0 4 0 0 4 8 0 4.46
Robertson 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2.25
Hughes, P 1.0 2 0 0 0 2 0 5.13

METS STATS

PLAYER OF THE GAME: A.J. Burnett (W, 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 8 K)

HONORABLE MENTION: Robinson Cano (3-for-4, HR, 2 doubles, 3 RBI, 2 R)

Tomorrow's Game

Off Day

14 Comments:

Anonymous said...

What were AJ's post game comments? I missed them.

Greg Cohen said...

Sorry, I probably should have included that. Kim Jones asked him if he thought this was a big win and he said yea you should have heard us in the other room. I don't know what other room he was talking about, maybe the players lounge, but he made it seem like they were pretty pumped.

Bentton said...

why can't we play like this every night?

Greg Cohen said...

That would be nice, wouldn't it?

Anonymous said...

Cervelli deserves a lot of credit. Once again showing why he belong in the bigs.

Anonymous said...

Ken Rosenthal writing that the yankees are showing interest in Huston Stret. Finally Cashman is eyeing the right bullpen arm.

Greg Cohen said...

Anon, I posted something about the Rosenthal article on Friday. The only problem now is that Colorado has won 11 in a row and are in the wild card race. So until they fall off I don't think they'll make a trade.

crossfire said...

Here is a great stat that I got from MLB.com. (sorry if it was posted somewhere else already.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If only Jeter could play against the Mets every day. The Yankees captain is hitting .385 (109-for-283) in 69 career contests with his cross-town rivals. He finished his latest Subway Series with a ridiculous .538 average with four runs and four RBIs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anonymous said...

I am a little dissapointed we dont have any player with a 400 OBP. Swisher and Teixeira need to step it up.

However very nice job by Brett Gardner is OBP is higher than Matsui, Cano and Melky. Gardner OBP is only 4 points lower than Johnny Damon.

Anonymous said...

anyone think that Cervelli should be doing a majority of the catching???? he seems to call a better game. and he definetly has a much better arm then posada...i know you are not supposed to have both of your catchers playing but they should have posada DH and have Cervelli catch

Anonymous said...

cervelli has been a pleasant surprise and thats probably the right decision in my mind, but Posada is the veteran and i doubt girardi would do it. at least have cervelli catch AJ his next start. also, Yanks should trade for Juan Pierre. His defense and speed are just like Melky & Gardner, but he is more of a threat in the lineup.

Greg Cohen said...

I like Cervelli a lot and when you look at the catcher's ERA it really looks bad for Posada. I know he's a great offensive player, but if pitchers are allowing two runs more a game when he catches then he's gonna have to drive in two runs a game just to offset the difference.

Anonymous said...

anyone notice when the pitcher shakes off Posada a few times it usally end s up being the right pitch to throw?

-G

Anonymous said...

I have noticed that lately.