Sunday, August 16, 2009

Big 7th Inning Costly In Yanks' 10-3 Loss

(AP Photo/John Froschauer)


123456789
R H E
NYY 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0
3 8 0
SEA 0 0 2 0 2 0 5 1 X
10 15 0

WP - Doug Fister (1-0)
LP - Joba Chamberlain (8-3)

Joe Girardi decided to put Nick Swisher at 1st and start Jerry Hairston Jr. in center today to rest Melky Cabrera and give Mark Teixeira a half-day off. And while Swish delivered early knocking a 2-run blast to dead center, the defense by both players were costly in a big 5-run 7th inning for the Mariners as the Yanks lost 10-3. They still won 3 of 4 though.

Joba Chamberlain started for the Yanks and returned to his 1st-half form, struggling with command and not locating his pitches. He lasted 5 innings and allowed four runs on seven hits, walking three and striking out two. Like most of the pitchers today he was killed by 2-out RBIs. This is his last start for 8 days as he will be skipped his next go-around in the rotation. Hopefully he goes back to Nebraska again, he certainly needs to clear his head of his last three starts.

The Yankees got on the board first when Derek Jeter made history with an RBI double in the 3rd. It was his 2,674th hit of his career, to break Luis Aparicio's record for most hits by a shortstop all-time. The M's then took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning, which led it up to Nick Swisher, who, as I said, slammed a 2-run homer for the 2nd consecutive night, this one to dead center, and it gave the Bombers a 3-2 lead, a lead that would soon be gone.

Alfredo Aceves was responsible for 4 of the 5 Mariners' runs in the 7th. It all started with a misplayed single by Ken Griffey Jr. After Griffey hit it, Hairston went back as if it was hit to the warning track, he then realized it was a ball than wasn't even hit that hard. He ran in but it was too late and Jr. was on with a cheap bloop single. If Melky was in there he probably would have realized it from the start and made the catch. Anyway, Ace allowed a double afterwards and the Mariners had runners on 2nd and 3rd with no out. Jack Hannahan grounded out to Robinson Cano who threw to Swisher at 1st. Swish then threw to 2nd to trie to double up Franklin Gutierrez, who got back safely and avoided Derek Jeter's "tag". Ace then got a big out by striking out Ryan Langerhans, and it looked like the Yankees may get out of this inning alive. But Ace then lost control and hit Josh Wilson, to load the bases. Then hit after hit, after hit, after hit came and after the inning was over it wass 9-3 Mariners, the last run coming with Chad Gaudin on the hill. He ended up allowing the 10th run in the 8th as well.

Joe really should have started Teix at 1st today and Melky in center. Both of them haven't been asking for a day off as far as we know. Teix may have DH'd today and could have helped us with his bat, but half of the balls that got by Swisher today would definitely have been snared by Tex, and that would have taken half of the Mariners' runs off the board, literally.

Well we could have taken an 8.5 game lead today as the Red Sox lost today 4-3, but you know what they say - you can't win them all, but most of the time we have. We played a good series taking 3 of 4, and gained a game in the East. We start a 3-game set tomorrow with the A's, and we should be able to win that series as well, considering the fact they are one of the worst teams in the American League. Then we head to Fenway for a 3-game set versus the rival Red Sox, and if we win the series, that will be the nail in the coffin for Boston.


ABRHRBIBBSOLOBAVG
Jeter, SS 4031000.323
Damon, LF 4000014.283
Teixeira, DH 4000012.285
Rodriguez, A, 3B 4110021.258
Posada, C 4000011.273
Swisher, 1B 4112010.242
Hinske, RF 4010010.250
Hairston, J, CF 4000001.258
Pena, R, 2B 2110001.272
a-Cano, PH-2B 1010000.321
Totals353830710

a-Singled for Pena, R in the 7th.
BATTING
2B: Jeter (21, Fister).
HR: Swisher (20, 4th inning off Fister, 1 on, 1 out).
TB: Jeter 4; Rodriguez, A; Swisher 4; Hinske; Pena, R; Cano.
RBI: Jeter (53), Swisher 2 (64).
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Teixeira; Damon.
Team RISP: 0-for-3.
Team LOB: 5.

IPHRERBBSOHRERA
Chamberlain (L, 8-3) 5.07443203.98
Aceves, A 1.24440203.66
Gaudin 1.14220115.13

Pitches-strikes: Chamberlain 90-52, Aceves, A 48-31, Gaudin 30-21.

MARINERS STATS

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Doug Fister (W, 7 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K)

HONORABLE MENTION: Jose Lopez (3-for-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI, R)

GOATS OF THE GAME: Any Yankee who threw a pitch.

Tomorrow's Game

Yankees @ Athletics
Game Time: 10:05 p.m. TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
RHP A.J. Burnett (10-5, 3.71) vs. RHP Brett Tomko (1-2, 5.23)

15 Comments:

Anonymous said...

HAHAHAHAHHA TOMORROW WE FACE TOMKO HAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHA

Teejay said...

Joba left a couple of hanging sliders that hurt him today. He is still inconsistent which is the sign of a young inexperieced pitcher same thing that David Price, Clay Buchholz, Phil Hughes etc etc go through.
Joba will be a great starter he just has to iron out his mechanics and learn to repeat his delivery every pitch during the offseason. Justin Verlander went through the same thing last year were his mechanics were off.

Aceves didn't look too good either it was only a 1 run game when he cam in he turned it into a blowout. Oh well cant really complain that yanks have been playing great baseball since the allstar game.

Anonymous said...

Also please no more Jerry Hairston in centerfield. Melky has to suck it up and play everyday until Gardner comes back.

Vinsanity13 said...

Let's send Joba to Nebraska againfor a couple days so he can have the best 2 days of his life and deliver 3 good starts after that.

If he needs a trip to his hometown every 3-4 starts to have a 0.something ERA, I'm all for it.

Go Bombers.

Brian said...

Can’t win em all. As far as Melky & Teix getting a rest, when you play 162 games within a 182-day span, you have to give every starter an occasional day off. Unfortunately their replacements didn’t come through defensively.

Jeff said...

People need a day off every once in a while, but I've always thought Girardi over-manages. Switches subbing position players and relief pitchers in and out with way too much frequency.

Anonymous said...

A better performance from Joba would have helped a lot.

JoeV said...

You said it Jeff, JoeG loves to over-manage to show just how smart he is. Was there really a need to play THREE bench players in the same game? Was it really necessary to bench your hottest hitter? Especially with Matsui out?

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Greg Cohen said...

Brian, like YB i have an issue with Girardi's lineup decisions yesterday. I can understand putting one defensive liability in the lineup, but not two on the same day. You don't need to give everyone an off day at the same time.

Why does Cano, Tex and Melky need a day on the same Sunday when they're trying to close out a sweep?

Mike said...

I think Joba is trying too hard to pace himself. Sometimes i feel that when Joba is pitching the 1st inning that he already thinking about how he is going to get to the 6th or 7th inning instead of just consentrating on the batter he is facing. I don't think it has anything to do with the number of innings hes pitched. Also you guys notice that last year when he became a starter he was consistently 94-97 with his fastball. This year he has mostly been 91-93. Girardi can say all he want that its been 91-95,96 but everyone knows the guns is juiced. Personally i haven't seen much improvement from him this year. He was pitching the same way in those 3 good starts after the break only difference is that those teams don't work the count thats why he went deep in the game. One interesting thing is I was listening to Marc Malusis earlier this morning on wfan and he was agree with what i said here. In fact, Malusis thinks if he is still pitching this way by all-star break next year it will have been long a enough to prove he is not a big time starter.

Greg Cohen said...

Joba hasn't had that kind of velocity since walking off the mound in Texas with shoulder tendinitis. I don't even know if he can still throw that hard at all.

JoeV said...

To me, unless Joba can hit 95-97, he's just another pitcher. Nothing special.

Brian said...

You have a point. There’s no need to rest all three of them on the same day. I did not realize that Cano was rested as well. If you put that in your article, I must have overlooked it. With Oakland coming up, Girardi could have rested one of the players on each of the first two games. Perhaps with a 7 ½ game lead, his thinking might have been that there is a little bit of room for error.

Anonymous said...

Joba was hitting 96, 97 in that bat to Gutierrez and he hit an rbi single.

There plenty of pitchers that dont hit 96, 97 and are very sucussful. Joba doesn't need to throw 97 to be a great starting pitcher.