Game Seven: What about Morgan?
ByMorgan Ensberg sits on the bench each day after a successful Spring Training wondering what he has to do to get into the lineup. Meanwhile, with Giambi out of the lineup, Wilson Betemit gets another start at first.
Further down the line, with Mike Mussina on the mound, Jose Molina is behind the plate. That’s not a coincidence, but the corresponding move means that Jorge Posada will miss this game. If I’m putting this lineup together, I probably go with Ensberg at first today. In six games, he’s been up to bat just once this season.
On the hill is my favorite Yankee pitcher. Mike Mussina will attempt to blow his 84 mph fastballs past the Tampa Bay hitters. In all seriousness though, today’s start should be one in which we see how Mussina responds to his stuff. Last week, he had a slow fastball and some good breaking pitches. But he spent the game relying on his fastball when it’s not quite good enough to be an out-pitch anymore. Hopefully, Mussina will befuddle and confound the Rays’ hitters with an array of slow, slower, slowest that doesn’t involve 60 percent fastballs.
The Yanks face Jason Hammel today. Maybe Hammel is the cure for what ails them. Hammel, making his first start of the season, does not have much Major League success. Over 129 innings spanning two season, Hammel is 3-11 with a career ERA of 6.70. He’s given up 161 hits — 19 of those home runs — while walking 61 and striking out 96. Opponents are hitting .308/.381/.514 against Hammel, and the Yanks really should tee off against the Rays’ righty tonight.
Yankees
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Cano 2B
Betemit 1B
Cabrera CF
Molina C
Mussina P
Rays
Iwamura 2B
Crawford LF
Pena 1B
Upton CF
Floyd DH
Hinske RF
Aybar 3B
DiFelice C
Bartlett SS
Hammel P
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Countdown to Spring Training
Just 2 months and 5 days 'til pitchers and catchers report!
Also my favorite yankee pitcher, I realy want to win the world series this year for Moose
No love for Ensberg?!
Why in the world would you start Morgan Ensberg over Wilson Betemit tonight? Betemit is good against RHP. Ensberg is awful against them. Case closed.
“. . . Rays’ righty tonight” . . . Isn’t that why Ensgerg sits again? I’d like to see him get some ab’s as well but it’s not likely with a righty starter on the mound. Just a thought.
Weird. I hope this is not a doghousing issue. Perhaps Ensberg is being protected for the purposes of a trade, like for Nick?
I agree on the Ensberg part he needs a game soon. Anyone no if were facing a lefty anytime soon ?
Can someone explain to me why carl Crawford is not the Rays’ leadoff hitter?
I don’t get it either. The three LHB at the top of the order is a little questionable too, why not flip Pena and BJ to mix in a RHB?
Yes Ben! Finally some love for that heater! Don’t be fooled by the radar guns folks, Moose throws nothing but gas!
Ensberg will likely pinch-hit for Betemit if he’s facing a left-hander out of the bullpen. He likely would have started if Kazmir were on the mound. John Bale is a crappy lefty on the Royals’ staff. Jon Lester is a mediocre young lefty on the Sox staff. Adam Loewen is a lefty on Baltimore’s staff. The White Sox have Buehrle and Danks. Cleveland has CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee. Detroit has Robertson, Rogers, and Willis. That’s for April. Ensberg will certainly be getting some at-bats soon enough, the Yankees just haven’t actually faced a lefty yet.
Hideo Nomo is back in the majors.
Does anyone want to predict Mussina’s statline for today’s game?
6.1 IP 6 H 4K 2BB 3ER
5.2 IP 7 H 2 K 3 BB 2 ER
BTW guys, Off topic but still cool,I found out today one of my friends are second cousins with NL Rookie of the year Ryan Braun. My friend is getting free tickets to Brewers vs Sox game this year.
My point about Ensberg is that he should be getting in some ABs whether it’s today or not. He worked hard to make the team, and I would hate to see that progress dashed because he’s been up once since Opening Day.
Yankees enjoy signing people for the sake of it.
Just so other teams can’t have them.
or because they want to waste money so us fans can complain about it.
Mooooooooooooooose. Nice first inning.
WOW JOHNNY DAMON TOOK A PITCH, and then hit a single.
btw moose looks nice.
Jeter sucking is completely throwing off the offense, no hit and run, no bunting, oh yeah GIDP.
Abreu hr! 2-0 lead in the first inning, thats already as many runs as yesturday.
It’s nice to finally start a game like this.
yeah it feels great, If anyone is happy its Moose.
Is it just you and I today Mike?
Apparently.
What’s the likelihood of Steve Phillips receiving the pink slip during the broadcast?
The likely hood of him complimenting the yankees.
I’m sticking it out with Kay. Phillips is just too much of an idiot.
Thank God for Orel Hershiser. Otherwise, the mute button would be activated.
Orel is fanstastic. But is he enough to cancel out Phillips’ suckitude?
Joe Morgan or Steve Phillips?? that’s a tough one.
Orel is talking more than Phillips, so I guess that helps.
If I had YES, I’d watch that channel, but I live in Idaho.
I think Orel does make up for Philips’s suckitude if only because listening to Philips makes me feel smarter/ he is hilariously retarded/ makes talking shit about the mets easier. Also Orel is sick..
It’s good to see Abreu get a homerun.
I wonder if Moose and Posada get along.
Joe’s a bit of a personal catcher freak it seems. Matt Treanor was Dontrelle Willis’ and Scott Olsen’s personal catcher in 2006.
I just thought it was a Torre thing. Well, whatever works.
I’m on the Moose train….. Abreu nothing like a guy on his contract year $$$$$
I guess the warm weather will give Moose three ticks on his fastball. 82-84 is as good as it gets in the cold for now.
Huh. Moose getting outs and being economical to boot. Weird.
WTF is wrong with Jeter????????
see what all your pining for ensberg gets you. jeter out… uh oh
The yankees should bring Abreu back
whats up with Jete? Atleast Ensburg is in.
Betemit at short; Ensberg at 1st
Hey Ben,
You got your wish. Hope you’re happy now!!!!
to make things worse, its 2-1.
That was right down the middle.
what happen to Jeter ?????
He was limping running to 1st after his at bat…
It didnt REALLY look like it, he did beat out the throw…
This just in, He trips on Dioner Navarro and grabs a 2 foot Machete to catch himself.
No word from YES on Jeter yet…
this sucks… I’m blacked out of the game on MLB.tv because I’m in Orlando and it’s not on ESPN2 because ESPN2 has ESPNNews on to cover this bullshit march madness crap… bad day just continuing
Edited by Ben K.: Please read Number 3 of the RAB Commenting Guidelines.
Edited by Ben K.: Please read Number 3 of the RAB Commenting Guidelines.
ESPN just showed a replay of Jeter’s AB and busting down to first. Jeter had a painful look on his face when he started running. He might’ve pulled something.
Damn, Orel’s son is 6’8″ 240. He’s a reliever for USC. Orel says his son does mop up duty, lol.
His son is only a freshman, Working mop-up duty is standard for a kid that young pitching for a program like USC, even if his dad was a great pitcher.
Damn, Molina had him by a mile, if only there was some accuracy.
Dont complain, hes been amazing behind the plate.
I’m not complaining.
Michael Kay, master of the predetermined outcome. It’s only a good call if it works…
Is there anyway the Yankees can ship Michael Kay to the Nationals for a securitization of Elijah Dukes’ future bail?
I doubt we could be that lucky
I hope Jeter’s injury isn’t serious. Might we see The Attorney General? Nevermind, Girardi would probably go with Giambi at short.
Molina has been amazing! Jesus christ was he a good pick up.
God damn it damon.
Geez can another Beat Blogger step up and pull his weight when Pete isn’t covering games? I mean none of them right now have an update on Jeter (not even something like, Jeter gets taken out of game. Finding out what happened as I type this)
I love what Pete does on a regular basis, but I mean its not that hard to just update the damn blog. Its almost like the other journalists have conceded the all-access to The Lohud Yankees Blog.
Come on Morgan!
Steve Phillips didn’t like Damon bunting because Ensberg hasn’t played in a while.
2-0 count … hopefully he turns on the upcoming meatball.
At least you guys get to watch the game, I have to listen to Ster&Sus all the way here in Bolivia,..can´t even watch it on mlb.tv cause internet too slow!! this REALLY sucks
What does that tell you? Move to America!
i live in ny, here for 15 days..and on a side note i´ve seen a bunch of yankee hats and t´s and NO red sox hats!
Strained left quad! NO!
Just a side note on why I just said what I said… I work in the Press Box for the Baltimore Ravens in the PR Department.. and we know why a player comes out of a game within 1-3 minutes after he comes off the field….this info is then announced out loud to the entire press box simultaneously…
Thats pretty cool.
Upton has a hose
He still kinda throws like an infielder, with a little bit of sidearm action. His throws from the outfield have a little armside run.
Manimal.. did they say that on YES?
Yeah, they even showed him on first stretching it.
Lets see if arod is going to try for an hr or line drives.
Or a ground ball to third.
They gave him right field! Why didnt Abreu steal with that nonsensical shift and then Arod can swing away.
Is A-Rod pulling off the ball?
Orel will be doing a piece on the evolution of Mike Mussina when they return to commercial break; in case anyone wanted to know.
Gameday is reporting that Jeter came out of the game due to an injured leg
shit, here we go again…
if Jeter’s on the DL… who do we call up? Alberto? Green?(yuck)
Albie or Gardner is my guess. We dont need another infielder.
Gardner’s hurt, bum foot. Nothing major, but he’s missing his second straight game today. Plus they’d need to clear a 40-man spot for him.
Call up Gonzalez. Then we can watch him play everyday and realize that great D at short is nice, but having Jeter hit .320-15-80 each year is alot nicer.
strained quad … anyone know days to recover? ive never personally done it
Depends on how bad. Could be a few days, could be months.
Thanks Mike.. Can we start feeding Angelini HGH and have him up here by the Red Sox series this weekend?
Sprained quad for Jeter
You cant sprain a muscle. You can strain it however.
Yup – confirmed by my bleeding ears from John Sterling and Susan Whoaman.
i would assume that when they heard the news they must be wailing like a banshee
what’s with Yankees getting hurt during ESPN broadcast?
Strained left quad.
ok strain
Since when was Hinske a freaking ballerina.
Man Cano’s gotta start taking some pitches!
While I don’t like seeing the offense struggle (4 pitch inning … whaaaaa???), I’m loving these crisp, 2 hour and 30 minute games.
That had to be the shortest inning of the year. Moose had 6 pitches and Rays had 4.
This is not the way I wanted Ensberg to get ab’s.
If it was bad he couldnt walk. Id say 2 games is optimistic. 5 games at most.
Moose’s curve is hysterical. It looks like a whiffle ball pitch.
You havent seen my whiffle Curve, have you.
Moose is one K away from tieing Cone.
since I can’t watch the game right now I have to ask– is Hammels really pitching that good or is our offense really looking that bad? and how is Mussina doing with his location and velocity and all?
impatient hitting and Moose is dominant. One mistake and that ended up in the right field seats.
Go to gameday or something…
This is not how I envisioned Morgan Ensberg receiving more at bats.
NVM, tied Cone.
Moose needs to develop a funky motion, he’d be a pretty effective junkballer ala paul byrd
Only 20 people in the history of the universe have struck out more batters than Moose. That’s impressive.
I’m at gameday, but I’m not paying that much attention to it, watching TV more
Completely OT, but I’m laughing hysterically…
Since I was at work I missed out on the Hughes post, but what a BEATING you guys gave He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. It’s like a chain reaction. Actually, it’s like the wave. One person started what most people were reluctant to do…then another jumped in…and another…next thing you know BAM! We’ve got a wave going…
Anyway back to your regularly scheduled program..
Doesn’t it seem like whenever someone’s 0-fer is mentioned, the next pitch is always hammered?
fast ball in the middle of the plate for a double, his second mistake.
Why does Michael Kay think that everyone who watches a game on TV is a total nitwit?
seriously, were not dumb.
So here’s the million dollar question. If this game says 2-1, how do you work the set-up situation? Joba not only worked the 2 innings yesterday, he also warmed up in the pen the day before. Do you make it three days in a row?
I say go with Ohlendrof, Traber and Bruney, in that order.
Bruney and Olendorf can be interchangable and bring in Traber for lefties.
according to gameday moose hasn’t thrown 1 fastball. anything between 82-88 is a slider for him. lol
Thats actually funny lol
I hope Joe doesnt leave Moose in too long like last time and waste a good effort by Moose.
Ensburg has had the greatest at bats besides Abreu and Arod.
Pena is still amazing me with his leather.
F*cking Pena.
I’d go with Farns, Bruney, Ohlendorf. Maybe bring in Traber for a tough lefty. I know Farnsdearth has been sucking, I just think the free swinging Rays will make him look good.
FARNS?! Did you forget the moonshot he gave up to Pena the other day??
You HAD to remind me. I think Traber would face Pena, if it came to that.
Starting to feel like a hex or something.
The Martini Glass Defense? Good grief.
The hell? The Martini glass defense? Someone take the microphone away from Kay.
Ugh, nice throw Cano.
The ever casual CANO!!!!!
Crap – error. 2 run hr coming up.
2R HR inc
To be fair, Moose was pretty darn good up until a few years ago.
Oops, replied to wrong comment.
Yay, Alex!
Robinson Cano, ladies and gentlemen.
On the bright side I’m pretty sure Moose is going to have a stroke on the mound one day after all these errors.
Good outing so far for Mussina *knocks on wood*
GJ Moose.
Maybe he’s turning a corner. It only took what? 18 years? Better late than never right?
A triple by Abreu.
When is Abreu’s contract up? does anyone know?
Man Abreu’s on fire!
this season is his last, I don’t think there’s another club option
it is high it is far!! oh wait off the wall!!! classic sterlin
Finally, A-Rod goes to the opposite field for a base hit.
Thank you A-Rod for not swinging for the fences.
Moose pitching well and getting run support? My head hurts…
Abreu’s contract up this year. He is on his walk year why do you think he so hot $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Godzilla!
4-1 Yanks.
Wow, that bat exploded.
LOL @ Betemit.
IBB??? I wonder if Joe Maddon knows that the good M. Cabrera plays in Detroit.
Stop your Melky hatin’. lol. They know he kicks ass!
well it worked…
why pull mussina after only 82 pitches? couldn’t they at least have brought him out for the seventh and gone batter by batter?
They need to get Hawkins back up there to erase that nasty outing on Friday.
Sorry – don’t know how that got under here.
wtf did Bruney just spit out of his mouth??? That was not your standard baseball player spit…
I like this move: taking moose out with 82 pitches. While he prob could have pitched a couple more outs, he leaves with a good outing and prob feel better for his next start.
Gotta love Mike Kay – “we predicted this earlier in the series, the better these guys pitch, the more they’ll see important late-game innings.” Kay’s crystal ball expired in 1983 apparently.
Thats probably all Moose is good for at this point in the season at this point in his career- though I would’ve gone batter by batter also. Maybe Girardi didn’t want Moose to show him up and tell him to sit back down in the middle of the inning.
I think it’s better to take him out on a high note – the relievers need to work and its early in the season.
I hate to put this out there, but does anyone thinking Moose is loading the ball. Because man those breaking balls were of the hook.
If he is please keep doing it and don’t get caught. LOL
Farnsworth is warming up. Girardi must want his team to improve their record in 1 run games.
Farnsworth Warming up. Surprise he didn’t use Traber with the three lefties.
Traber has already been warming up since the 6th. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him come in.
YES!!!!!! BABY Morgan Ensberg !!!!!!
A double here would be nice to see.
MORGAN….. MORGAN….. MORGAN !!!!!
Verryy Random question… maybe Mike or Ben would know… but has there ever been a study done on the Best Hitter(s) against the Best Pitcher(s) over.. say a 10 year span or something?
It would be interesting to see where guys like A-Rod, Manny and the like would rank
No idea. Sorry.
You have got to be kidding me…..WOW no way was that a strike
Godzilla x 2!
betemit looks terrible at the plate.
Hat trick for Bet, yikes
Betemit bad spring training and right into the season.
Calling Mr. Gonzalez……
Farnsworth with a 1-2-3 inning. Something like that could only happen at Yankee Stadium.
Whoa – Farnsworth got out unscathed.
If someone gets on, Bobby will get another shot at the cycle…
Two people need to get on, I assumed Melk was batting 9th.
I’ll gladly take a scoreless 9th and a win instead.
or the first shot at the REAL cycle (aka BB 1B 2B 3B HR)
Or the good ol’ Bobby Abreu hat trick: walk, double, stolen base.
I’m amazed by Michael Kay right now. He actually made a rational thought. Two of them.
1. The Gold Glove has nothing to do with your glove
2. Rafael Palmeiro won the Gold Glove in 1999 with 28(!!!!) games at first base. How the hell is that even possible?
Lol, Paul O’neill chants in the background. Poor LaTroy, all he wants to do is get some outs!
I never thought a “Paul O’Neill … Paul O’Neill” chant would be annoying. Get the fuck over it people.
it’s beyond idiotic
Charleston up 3-2 in the 7th. nothing to write home about.
So because a new guy has O’Neill’s number, let’s do our best to get in his head so our team can lose games. Yeah that makes a lot of sense.
Yankees fans are real dicks for that, Its getting into his head now.
I think Hawkins is a great teammate but a 3 ERA at Coors Field is not going to translate well to the AL. I’d be very surprised if he’s on the postseason roster.
Whew – good SO!
A 3 ERA at Coors is very impressive, humidor or not,
True – it’s just a gut feeling. From everything I’ve read I really like him a lot and hope he kicks ass this year…but I still got that nagging gut feeling.
Dude. You do realize that Coors is an extreme hitters park don’t you?
Game over.
That was nasty pitch for a K.
i dont know why mariano had to get up no need to waist him there. we had a 5 run lead
Conditioned response
Always a good night when you hear Frank Sinatra singing at the end! Nice win.
OK, I know Matsui did great but the Star? Really? How about Moose or Abreu?
the stadium looked half empty today.
It’s been like that all season. The fucking corporate types by loads of tickets, then don;t bother to show it. It’s terrible.
Not so sure. I went to the box office to pick up a ticket for last Friday – they told me they were all sold out. I checked the tickets before leaving and told them which section to look at, then all of a sudden they were like, “oh yeah – I missed that one, sorry.” Worse part was a group of kids next to me trying to buy tickets (looked like they were in Jr. High) and they told them the same thing. Way to build the fan base.
Friend of mine said you used to have to bribe them to get a ticket – apparently they’ve gone back to that figuring there would be lots of desperate fans. That and they are REALLY socking it to anyone buying tix online – criminal. $6-8 surcharge for each ticket. Fuck them.
it’s a shame. the girlfriend and i have been looking to go to our first baseball game together. the games are all sold out for the most part, and look at the stadium today – virtually no one there. i hate that it’s become an issue of have’s and have nots when it comes to seeing a freakin’ baseball game.
so Moose has definitely looked NOT BAD so far this season.
interesting…
Doesn’t Sinatra sing at the end of every game?
no, when they lose they play Liza Minelli’s “NY NY”
You jinxed Jeter by saying that Ensberg should be in the line-up! I’m disowning you.
That comment by Ken Singleton yesterday is still in my head, “Isn’t there such a thing as shortening the game from the beginning?” in response to the Joba debate.
It’s a truth. He put it beautifully.
4-2 Charleston over Savannah final.
Update on Jeter. The leg pulled – he’s day to day but probably out for at least a week and they’ll take it easy. When Girardi was asked about moving A-Rod to SS he didn’t dismiss the idea.
Girardi says no DL for Jeter but they’re thinking a few days.
love to a-rod at ss he is much better at the position than jeter. may be a blessing in disguise, jeter comes back and has to play 3rd! would be nice -but doubt it will happen