Game 75: Missing Wang

June 21, 2008 by Benjamin Kabak 146 Comments

So today’s the big day for Dan Giese, and we’ll see what life is like without Chien-Ming Wang for the Yankees.

The Yankees are starting the post-Wang’s Injury Era with 31-year-old Dan Giese. He is making his first Major League start. In 7.3 innings in long relief this year for the Bombers, Giese has allowed six hits and one run while walking one and striking out four. On the other side of the ball, the Reds are tossing Daryl Thompson, a 22-year-old righty with just 18 innings of AAA experience.

How about a win?

Game time is 1:05 p.m, and I’ll be enjoying this one from section 6 in the Tier Reserve.

Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Giambi 1B
Posada C
Cano 2B
Cabrera CF

Giese P

Craig

What are the expectations for Giese today? I would think 5 IP and anything less than 4 runs would be fantastic.
- whozat
  
  I’d sign up for that.
  
  I am, as ever, concerned that the Yankees won’t get to this guy unless he has a hard time throwing strikes. It seems like, with guys they’ve not seen before, the pitcher just has to lay it in there and they’ll happily get behind in the count and then get themselves out all day. I can understand taking pitches the first time through the order, but when it comes around again, you’ve GOTTA hit these chumps.
  - dave
    
    I am really getting frustrated with this offense which is scoring 2 or less runs in over 30 % of their games.
    
    There inability to hit with men in scoring posion is disgraceful. Bases loaded no outs and do not score. How many games are they going to keep losing before someone puts a fire under them.
BillyBall

A little off this subject but I just went to the Yankee home page and read about the all star balloting. It appears that the Red Sox are just about leading in every category. A real joke seeing that it is the last year of the old ballpark and the last All Star game. It is a joke that you are able to vote 25 times and than use a fictitious name while keeping the same e-mail and continue to vote. I voted 25 times and left it at that but why should we have the entire Sox team start first and represent the American League on our Home Field. You realize in Boston they are eating this up.
It is my opinion that this website that has more than 1000 loyal viewers needs to step up and promote voting for Yankees more so than they have been doing with a small posting. I hope everyone takes the time to vote. We have until July 2nd. Believe me it will put a nice dent in the voting if all the loyal RAB bloggers voted!
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  We really should do that. Not necessarily vote for all Yankees like those morons in Boston, but vote for the players that actually deserve it.
http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.

Nice clean inning by Miami Giese.
http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.

The only player in baseball that breaks more bats than Johnny Damon is Mariano Rivera. This is getting ridiculous.
A.D.

Jeter grounding into DP is getting rediculous
TurnTwo

between the yankees game and stanford’s cws game, would seem to be a busy afternoon of baseball ahead.
A.D.

Cano called him off to up his fielding % after last nights error
TurnTwo

why, why, why are they playing the double header on friday against the mets? awful decision.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  FOX has the Saturday game at 4pm, and ESPN has the Sunday game at 8pm. MLB can’t screw around with their TV deals.
  - TurnTwo
    
    they couldnt play that first game at 1pm on Sunday?
    
    not that i blame them, cash rules everything around me (word to the Wu), but it sucks most of us will have to follow the game on our computers rather than get to watch it on TV.
    - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
      
      They could play the game at 1pm on Sunday, but it couldn’t be televised by YES or SNY or MY9 or whatever. ESPN has exclusive broadcast rights. It’s retarded, I know. I’ll be watching on Gamecast from the office as well.
TurnTwo

wow, babe’s grandson is pretty jacked for an older dude.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  I was thinking that myself.
TurnTwo

wow, Votto looks exactly like the 1B the yankees need.

bad play by Thompson, though.

gotta make it hurt, now.
- Chip
  
  I’d take him no question about it
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  Yeah seriously, Votto’s a stud. He was originally a catcher, but moved to first base in the minors. He took off once Cincy got rid of that retarded “no batter can swing until they take a strike” requirement they had in the minors. He’s even got a perfect Roll Call name, “Jo-ey Vot-to, clap clap clapclapclap.”
  
  The Reds just drafted Yonder, who’s clearly a better player than Votto. Maybe the Yanks can swing a deal for him in the future.
  - TurnTwo
    
    ha! you know i thought the same thing about Votto, and of course my mets-fan friend goes “oh, of course, because every great young player will obviously be given to the yankees for nothing. you just expect to get whoever you want.”
    
    he’s such a bitter, bitter man.
    - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
      
      Yeah sure, Yankee fans are the only ones that do that. How’s Johan working out for them?
TurnTwo

that was just a digusting display of an attempt at offense.
- daneptizl
  
  Was it really an attempt?
Jersey

Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. The 8 and 9 slots are where rallies go to die.
- TurnTwo
  
  and we’re not even playing this game in a NL ballpark.
http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.

Melky striking out on balls over his head is really starting to bug me.
- Jersey
  
  Agreed, emphatically. I was a Melky defender but he’s really been bad this year, no way around it.
- Jersey
  
  Oh gawd. Another rally.
Jersey

On the bright side, Thompson has thrown 47 pitches through two innings.
BillyBall

Robbie C-A-N-O. I don’t know!
Will

Anybody got any ideas for a device or implant of some sort to prevent Robbie from swinging at the first pitch of every at-bat?

Seriously, though, that was just painful to watch.
- TurnTwo
  
  you would think Girardi would have had this talk with him, just like the “conversation” he had with melky about not sliding into 1B.
- whozat
  
  I was actually noting back in the Houston series (didn’t watch much of the padres series) that he WAS taking some first pitches.
  
  Posada just did it too…this kid’s walked a bunch of guys, what’s with that? Posada should know better.
TurnTwo

Chien Ming Who??
Pingback: River Ave. Blues | Jeremy Bleich takes on Georgia
TurnTwo

ugh… just ugh.
Jersey

Yankees are bringing the A-game today! Watch out!
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  They’re trying to give the kid a false sense of confidence by helping get out of no out rallies like this. They’re pounce later, you watch.
  
  Yeah, that’s it…
http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.

Jeremy Bleich on ESPN now.
- TurnTwo
  
  you’re killing me with the split posts!
  - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
    
    Yeah, but trying to watch 2 games at the same time sucks even more. Just open the Bleich thread in a separate tab. That’s what I did.
Will

Well, on the plus side, at least the offense (for the most part, *cough cough*) is making Thompson really work, while Giese has been extremely efficient up to this point. Maybe the bullpen won’t have to work quite so hard today, which would certainly be a pleasant surprise.
http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.

Dan Giese in the house.
TurnTwo

Griffey still has that sweet swing, but he looks awful at the plate.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  It’s no accident his 600th homer came on a breaking ball. He can’t hit good fastballs anymore.
daneptizl

He should cheat.
http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.

Nice 1-2-3 inning for Bleich.
- TurnTwo
  
  so i opened another tab for the new post for nothing?
  - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
    
    No, I made a mistake and posted that in the wrong thread.Keep the posts separate, it’ll get confusing/cluttered.
pete

can somebody pleaaase tell robbie to hold his hands still and keep his back elbow up? it’s like watching robert redford pretend to be good at hitting
LiveFromNewYork

What happened in the second? Arod got a double, Matsui was at first, no outs and then no score. I was listening to the radio and figured they’d score and then nothing.
- TurnTwo
  
  yeah, you dont really want to know.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  Posada K’ed (I think), Cano popped up behind the plate, Melky struck out on 3 pitches, the 3rd pitch was over his head.
- Chip
  
  Strikeout, infield fly, strikeout
E-ROC

Anxious much, Cabrera?
E-ROC

I don’t think Cabrera got cheated in that AB.
E-ROC

Don’t waste this start by Giese!
- LiveFromNewYork
  
  This is the chance Giese has waited for for a long time. I think he’s got to be pretty happy with it and the Yankees have to be happy with him.
  - TurnTwo
    
    who knows if he can keep this up. but you gotta think this is the best moment of his professional life right now.
LiveFromNewYork

Giese looks good. Offense looks bad.
http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.

The Reds’ pitching coach is named Dick Pole? Hah.
- TurnTwo
  
  doesnt get much better than that.
  
  sometimes, you really have to wonder wtf his parents were thinking.
- E-ROC
  
  I bet his first name is actually Richard, but wants to be called Dick.
  - TurnTwo
    
    how could anyone really voluntarily want to be called ‘dick’?
    - E-ROC
      
      LOL, idk.
http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.

Check out this Dan Giese character. Another horrible Cashman pickup.
- TurnTwo
  
  but he had no backup plan.
E-ROC

62 pitches through 6 frames for Giese. WTF is going on with the Yanks offense?
A.D.

6ip 62 pitches, pretty economical
Jersey

Giese has thrown 43 of 62 pitches for strikes. Impressive.
A.D.

Classic Yankees against a rookie no one has seen before
- Jersey
  
  What’s funny is that there are TWO guys making their first big-league starts today. Go figure nobody scores.
  - TurnTwo
    
    heard on the radio before that this is the first time its happened since like the 1920’s.
A.D.

Defense could loose 2 in a row for us
LiveFromNewYork

Was that Cano again?
Ivan

great D by yanks.
Ivan

very interesting spot here for the yanks.
Jersey

give i’m another curve!
Chip

Well it’s good to see that we’re not the only ones who can’t get a runner in from third with less than 2 outs
Ivan

Why would you throw a fastball in that situation?
Adam B.

A-Rod deserves the blame here. I’m a big defender of him, but he should’ve just gone straight to second to try and get a DP rather than try and tag Griffey. Either that or run straight to third.
- Ivan
  
  or we could just blame Dan geise for making bad throw to second.
- Chip
  
  I agree
E-ROC

Hopefully, the Yanks can keep it at 2 runs.
Ivan

I mean Geise best pitch has beeen that breaking ball and it seem that Posada called for a fastball inside to a dead FB hitter who struggles with breaking pitches. That was a bad call there.
Jersey

That really sucks. A razor-thin line here between 0-2 and 2-0.
E-ROC

With the Yanks luck, I bet Corey Patterson hits a homerun.
- Adam B.
  
  Nice call
- Ivan
  
  ya right.
- Jersey
  
  Quiet you!! lol
Chip

Wow, why bring in Veras here when Giese was still cruising and only at 75 pitches?
http://riveraveblues.com Ben K

That was a fantastic 0-2 pitch. Way to pitch smart, Dan Giese.

This HOUR is just icing on the cake
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  I take it you mean HR.
- Ivan
  
  You also got to put some blame on Posada as well.
E-ROC

I’m all for throwing strikes, but don’t put the ball in the middle of the plate. And why throw a fastball to fastball hitters?
Chip

Well time for the offense to try to prevent him from being a hard luck loser
- TurnTwo
  
  dont hold your breath.
Mark B

Can’t see the game here in Chicago (thank you, Fox), but noticed Giradi’s move to take out Giese totally backfired….why take Giese out after so few pitches and bring in a guy (Veras) that I thought was our new 7th/8th inning guy when we have a lead?
E-ROC

The pitching change doesn’t bother me that much. The reliever still has to make his pitches and Veras gave Patterson a fat one.
E-ROC

Maybe a double here by Jeter?
- E-ROC
  
  Nevermind.
Mark B

You would think Girardi would save Veras for games when we have a lead……
- Chip
  
  Yeah, that was a Farsworth spot there IMO. Maybe he was warming to come in a protect the lead and Girardi figured I might as well use him since he’s warm?
  - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
    
    It was one of those “high leverage” situations everyone talks about. He used his best non-closing reliever in that situation like many believe is the best thing to do. Just didn’t work out this time.
Jersey

This offense is really unwatchable sometimes.
- claybeez
  
  The way they can just be so utterly dominated, so often puzzles me. OK, truth – it pisses me off. To me it often feels like 2004 all over again. Maybe the numbers don’t back it up. They did score a lot of runs last year, but are they shutout or limited to 1 or 2 runs more than other teams that are in the upper echelon in scoring? Do those games come in bunches? Is it a 2004 hangover? Is it approach, pressing or age? Or is it just misperception?
Chip

Man, this just isn’t our weekend
Mark B

Just when you thought we were a playoff contender…..
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  Chill out, it’ll be 2 losses in a row if the score stays the same. It’s not the end of the world.
Chip

Did Ohlendorf shoot Girardi’s dog or something? I can’t remember the last time he worked
- Mark B
  
  My thoughts exactly….that was a perfect time to use Ohlendorf (and not Veras) Veras I thought pitched his way (prior to today) into the 8th inning set-up spot in front of Mo.
E-ROC

Billy Traber is a joke. Be gone, please!
- TurnTwo
  
  i dont think you have to worry about this call. imo, his callup was more a tryout foir his 40 man spot than anything else.
Chip

I think Girardi heard me
http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.

Who else is out in the pen? Ohlendorf, Mo, Veras, Traber, Farns, Edwar…I’m missing someone, right?
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  Oh, duh, Hawkins. No wonder why I forgot.
  - TurnTwo
    
    that makes two of us.
- TurnTwo
  
  it was Geise, but obviously he started today.
  
  oh yeah, and mariano.
TurnTwo

i was an Ohlendorf guy, but you wonder if at this point he’s better off working on a regular basis at Scranton and finally making one of those callups.
- claybeez
  
  With his numbers I’m pretty certain the big league team would be better off.
  - dave
    
    Offense looks bad. You mean PATHETIC! They are scoring 2 or less runs in over 30% of there games!
    - claybeez
      
      Wow! Thanks for answering my post above.
Yankees=warriors

Does anyone know how Britton is? Haven’t heard anything about him since he went on the DL.
Mark B

I think we’re looking at the soft underbelly that is the 2008 NY Yankees…
- dave
  
  How many times must you see Ohlendorf get hammered and continue to keep putting him in the game?
Mark B

Just when we thought Cano was showing signs of breaking out of his slump, he comes up short again……
E-ROC

Not the best day at the office for the Yanks. Getting shutout by the Reds no less.
http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.

Did David Cone just say a ML team will go thru 25-30 pitchers a season?
- TurnTwo
  
  yes. i also heard something about “40” but not sure what that was about.
  
  maybe he means between bullpen pieces and starters?
  - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
    
    I think he was referring to the 40 man roster. But 25-30 pitchers a season? Maybe he’s including the Jim Brower’s and Alex Graman’s of the world, the one and done guys.
http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.

Ah good, we’re going to get a look at both Burton and Affeldt this series, the two guys Steve Phillips says we should trade Phil Hughes for.
Rich

(It’s long past the) time to revamp the low end set up relievers and let Gardner at least compete with Melky.
- Mark B
  
  Amen to that! Tomorrow would be nice….
- TurnTwo
  
  ugh. Gardner is in the middle of like a 4-20+ slump in Scranton. now is exactly not the time to talk about making that switch.
  
  id be more in the camp of looking around the league for a veteran CF who maybe has a bad contract, or can play the 4th OF role.
  - Rich
    
    20 ABs don’t concern me. He brings speed on the bases and better range in the OF.
    
    Melky in 68 June ABs (before today):
    
    .221 .293 .294 .587
    
    94 ABs in May:
    
    .234 .270 .319 .589
    
    The time is now.
    - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
      
      I just stuck Melky’s stats in the MLE calculator. He’d hit .295-.370-.447 in AAA, which is a lower OPS than what Gardner has down there this season.
    - TurnTwo
      
      “speed on the bases and better range in the OF.”
      
      but less power, and a weaker arm.
      
      i’m as intrigued as most yanks fans about Brett Gardner, but this team is not winning or losing games based on Melky’s numbers.
      
      upgrade the bullpen, and hope that this team can hit better with runners in scoring position when it counts.
      - A.D.
        
        Yeah but Melk isn’t really hitting for power, and Gardner has a good arm, not as good as melky, but its way better than Damon or Matsui
BigBlueAL

Hey Mike have u checked the Hardball Times today??? Interesting analysis on Phil Hughes.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  Yeah, but it doesn’t tell us anything we haven’t heard before though. Really all it did was collect everything in one place.
  - BigBlueAL
    
    I know I didnt mean it was anything earth-shattering or anything, just saying it was a nice read done by a very good website.
    - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
      
      Agreed.
claybeez

I understand the Yankees will likely lose their 60+ this season. Still, do they have to do it so pathetically. I think I can handle losing. I just expect the team to battle and do the little things: patience, moving runners, sac flies, etc.
- BigBlueAL
  
  Yeah these last 2 losses, along with the 2 to the Royals at home, really are tough to watch because they were against a couple of horrible teams who actually played and did the little things to win unlike the Yankees.
http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.

Good to see Dice-K is back and sucking.
- BigBlueAL
  
  Forgot they were on Fox, believe it or not I have been watching Russia-Netherlands on ABC. Someone shoot me.