Game #3 Sunday
A-Rod's Revenge!
The Yanks took a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the 5th behind the hitting of red-hot Jorge Posada. Andy was tossing a 2-hit shutout before he loaded the bases with nobody out. It appeared that Pettitte was fighting off an injury, or he became fatigued. But POOF! The lead was whistled away in a flash. After a bases-clearing double by Dustin Pedroia, Bobby Abreu butchered a single by Ortiz. Abreu let the single scoot by him and he loafed to the wall to casually retrieve the ball, allowing Ortiz to thunder to 3rd.
By the time the dust settled, it was 5-4 Red Sox. Torre choose his least effective relief pitcher, Luis Vizcaino, to serve up the go-ahead sacrifice fly.
In the top of the 7th, Damon walked, Jeter skied to right and Abreu singled to center. On a 3-2 pitch, A-Rod popped to 2nd amidst a clankering of cat calls from the Fenway faithful.
April seems like a real long time ago, doesn't it? The fat pitch that Donnelly served up would have been on Lansdowne Street in April, now it's a pop-up. Posada ended the frame with a long fly to center. The fly ball came a batter too late, such goes the Yankee season.
Or does it?
After Farnsworth got out of the bottom of the 7th, Matsui singled sharply to right off Hideki Okajima, then Robby Cano blasted a triple to the triangle in left-center. (Hate him one inning, love him the next.) With a man on 3rd and no one out, of course the Yanks would take the lead, right? Nope. Phelps K'd, Melky grounded out to Lowell, and Damon grounded out softly. The failure to get that run in from third with no one out pretty well summarizes the 2007 Yankees.
Or does it?
In the Red Sox 8th, Brian Bruney got the first two men out, then walked Crisp, allowed a bad hop single to Lugo and then the pesky Dustin Pedroia smoked a liner in the right field gap that Abreu-yes the same Abreu that I have dissing for his defense all season-reached out at the last moment to make a miraculous catch, keeping the game tied. He looked a tad awkward making the grab, but it was marvelous nonetheless.
As John Sterling always says, "You can't figure out this game."
On to the 9th, with two outs, A-Rod drove an 0-2 pitch over the right field fence. The Yanks led 6-5, and the Fenway crowd went silent.
Silence at Fenway, what a sweet sound.
No one deserves the verbal abuse that A-Rod has taken all weekend at the hands of the Boston fans. Many of them have serious psychological issues, but I will save my comments on them for a later article. Suffice to say it's hard to image A-Rod ever feeling better after a homer than he did Sunday night.
In the bottom of the 9th, in a driving rain, Mariano got Ortiz to fly to deep right on the 8th pitch of a tough at bat. He then struck out Manny. Youkilis was hit by a pitch and then Mo struck out Mike Lowell.
Rivera is really starting to come around. He's sawing off bats and is looking like the old Rivera.
The disappointment on the faces of the Fenway faithful could only be rivaled at ESPN studios. No doubt the flags will be at half-mast at the Bristol campus. But on this side of the rivalry, that was one thrilling victory.
Stay tuned. The schedule will soon get very favorable for the Yanks and Wild Card winners have a way of making a lot of noise in the playoffs. Just ask the Red Sox.
Game #2 Saturday; Red Sox 11, Yanks 6
The sloppy 7th inning was a true microcosm of the Yankee season so far. The Yanks battled to a 6-5 lead going into the bottom of the frame before the damn burst. Bobby Abreu showed once again why the Gold Glove is a meaningless award. Abreu has a fear of the wall that is so palpable, it's an embarrassment to the team. Quite frankly, he should be in Vienna surrounded by a team of psychiatrists to work on this phobia, as long as his therapy is in an open air arena, away from any office walls. Abreu started things off in the 7th by butchering a deep fly that any competent major league outfielder should catch. Abreu is not a competent major league outfielder. The Red Sox were on their way.
The gut-wrenching play, of course, was when Mike Lowell crashed his knee into the back of Doug Mientkiewicz' s head. Unlike a few innings before, when Lowell lowered his shoulder and body-blocked Robinson Cano, this was not a dirty play.
So how did this happen? The untrained eye says a bad throw by Jeter, but once again it was Robby Cano who hung Jeter out to dry with his slow, looping throw to second.
Yes, Cano is a fine talent. But his inconsistent play costs the team wins and also put his teammate in the hospital. And because of his utter lack of plate discipline, he needs to hit .320 or higher just to have an average On Base percentage.
Uncle Joe did his requisite contribution to the Yanks' loss by leaving Proctor in too long. He's pitched in 6 of the last 8 games. He was fried. Torre lets him give up 3 walks and 5 runs. Where is Brian Bruney? Where is Chris Britton? Why was Britton called up if Torre isn't going to use him?
As a side note: I know Johnny Damon is a gamer. He wants to win as much as anyone, but he is so banged up with the back and thighs and God knows what else, he'd be helping the team more if he took 15 days on the DL. Right now he's not the Damon the team thought they'd be getting. If he gives his body a chance to heal, he might get back to some percentage of his true ability.
Game #1 Friday; Yanks 9, Red Sox 5
The highlight of the 2007 Yankee season so far, for me, was when Joe Torre decided to argue a blown call Friday night. When 3rd base umpire Jerry Crawford called Bobby Abreu out on an attempted steal on which he was clearly safe, Torre reached his tipping point.
Torre has seen an unprecedented array of bad calls go against the Yanks this year, so much so that the team was granted a meeting at the Commissioner's office this week to discuss it.
So far this year, Torre has remained in the dugout, calmly absorbing the sting of poor officiating. But Friday he blew some steam, protected his player, and showed his team that he still has the fire the belly.
Kudos to Joe Torre. He is here to stay this year, so he might as well join the fight.
Friday night's game was long and ugly, but the Yanks took advantage of Tim Wakefield's errant knuckleball, walked around the bases, advanced on wild pitches, and generally had some fun. Jorge Posada continued his hot hitting with a bases clearing double in the left field gap. Posada continues to lead the league with a .358 batting average.
Posada just seems to keep getting better. And why not, he is one of the best offensive catcher in baseball history:
Top 10 all-time catchers in slugging percentage (4,000 at at bats)
SLG
1 Mike Piazza .559
2 Roy Campanella .500
3 Javier Lopez .495
4 Gabby Hartnett .489
5 Bill Dickey .486
6 Ivan Rodriguez .483
7 Yogi Berra .483
8 Johnny Bench .482
9 Mickey Cochrane .478
10 Jorge Posada .472
Unfortunately, the game also deteriorated into a bean ball war. Chien-Ming Wang plunked Mike Lowell on the elbow, Robby Cano got belted in the back, A-Rod and Josh Phelps were hit, and then in the 9th, Scott Proctor threw at Kevin Youkilis' head.
In general the Yanks have to do a better job of protecting their players. In the past few years, it has been open season on Yankee hitters. But Proctor should have followed the unwritten understanding that the head is off limits. He should have thrown at Youkilis' back or feet. Of course, to give Proctor the benefit of the doubt here, we've all seen how bad his control has been lately. Either way, it's hard to blame Kevin for being angry.
Another tidbit went unnoticed last night: Mariano Rivera throw his 900th inning in the major leagues. Rivera now ranks #1 for all pitchers with 900 or more innings since 1920 in career ERA:
Congrats to the Sandman:
CAREER
1920-2007
ERA
1 Mariano Rivera 2.35
2 Hoyt Wilhelm 2.52
3 Trevor Hoffman 2.71
4 Whitey Ford 2.74
5 Bob Locker 2.76
6 Sandy Koufax 2.76
7 Dan Quisenberry 2.76
8 Ron Perranoski 2.79
9 Pedro Martinez 2.81
10 Bruce Sutter 2.83
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