Game 77: Leading off by not getting on base
ByJohnny Damon is out. His foot is bothering him. Hideki Matsui is out. As anyone who watched the game on Sunday could see, his knee was bothering him.
So what has Joe Girardi done? Why, he’s installed the Yankee regular with the second lowest OBP to lead off. Brilliant!
With Damon out, the much-maligned Melky draws the one hole tonight. He and his .310 OBP will bat in front of Derek Jeter and his career-low .336 OBP. Robinson Cano is batting third. Just kidding.
Filling in for the two injured outfielders is none other than…..not Brett Gardner! Because the Yankees are facing a whole bunch of lefties over the next few days, Justin Christian, 28, got the call up. He’s hitting .309/.360/.455 with 18 stolen bases. If he produces over the next few days, the pressure will really be on Melky to turn it up a notch. Billy Traber has been exiled to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The Yanks face the Pirates at 7:05 p.m. tonight in Pittsburgh. The NL Central doormats are 36-40 with a -44 run differential. This is the first trip to Pittsburgh for the Yanks since the 1960 World Series. Darrell Rasner is on the mound; hopefully, he won’t have to run the bases either.
And just an FYI: This weekday night game is actually on Channel 9 tonight and not the YES Network.
Cabrera CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi 1B
Posada C
Cano 2B
Christian LF
Rasner P
Why not just slot everybody up one space and push Melky down to the bottom?
Why not lead-off christian?
Why the hell was Jason Lane not called up?????? The one thing he has done in his career is hit lefties, and with power, plus he is pretty good defensively. No point in having him in AAA if he didnt warrant a call-up tonight….
Actually he has a .231 career avg against lefties (.241 overall) plus the fact he’s hitting .174 against lefties in the minors….
if he could hit lefties he’d have been called up awhile ago
Christian’s a more complete player. Not everyone needs to be a HR hitter to win.
If Lane was hitting that poorly at AAA I understand then.
Lane’s hitting .232 with a ~.330 OBPin AAA. How much worse do you need it to be?
I agreed with you when you said he was hitting poorly at AAA!! You didnt need to reply again further mocking me!! I have feelings you know….
My bad, it sounded like you though he was doing well…
I didnt know exactly but when someone else mentioned his poor numbers vs lefties at AAA this season I said if he is hitting that bad this season I understand then why he wasnt called up. Im not offended, I’ve been ripped worse….
I’m starting to hate Derek Jeter.
True, he really is a waste of roster space – let’s cut him
Of all the DP’s Jeter has hit this season, this one mightve been the most embarrassing one. Melky leads off with a walk, Jeter has a 2-0 count, and he hits a tailor-made DP groundball to SS. I think though we should keep him around.
Why? We have a stud in Alberto Gonzalez just wasting away on the bench. Jeter is a pathetic washed up old man
Forgot about the former attorney general, shit your right Jeter’s roster spot might be in jeopardy…
It’s getting a bit ridiculous, isn’t it? Not that I HATE him, but I’m legitimately getting very frustrated.
teflon jeter.
That was a sad, sad inning. Hopefully, by the time I get back from the gym, the Yanks won’t be grounding into double plays on 2-0 counts.
Nate the Great, at it again.
christian sucks balls. Gimme Brett Gardner now.
btw I wonder how shelly likes that hes wearing his number.
I wish Brian Cashman would take the time to look up Gardner’s splits.
Despite the fact that he’s lefthanded, he hits lefties better than righties.
I’m sure it has more to do with making sure Gardner plays everyday than it does with his handedness. They can sit Christian for a week at a time and not have to worry about his development.
Thats certainly part of it, but I’ve also heard Cashman quoted as saying “well, we have too many left handers on this team as it is” in relating to Gardner.
And that just makes no sense.
Still at work… What was Christian’s error?
he bobbled it for like 45 minutes until the man at first safely was at second base.
Awesome. Thanks.
haha in reality though he bobbled it, lost is footing a little bit and by the time he threw the ball in the guy was safe.
He bobbled it once, threw to second, the throw beat Sanchez there, but Cano couldn’t handle the short hop.
Grats for Menky, his 1000th game.
is it DP or DJ for jeter.. the guy is a DP machine, he gets a pass for life but he has been atrocious this yr…
hell with the merit system this is a monarchy…
“So what has Joe Girardi done? Why, he’s installed the Yankee regular with the second lowest OBP to lead off. Brilliant!
With Damon out, the much-maligned Melky draws the one hole tonight. He and his .310 OBP will bat in front of Derek Jeter and his career-low .336 OBP.”
Dude, sometimes you try to get a guy going. And does it really make any difference after the first inning? He usually bats 9th.
Every game isn’t Game 6 of the World Series. Its June, relax.
I hate these games. Its almost like the yankees didnt show up to play. They should be kicking Pittsburg’s ass right now. Same thing happened with the reds series.
It’s the second inning!
“So what has Joe Girardi done? Why, he’s installed the Yankee regular with the second lowest OBP to lead off. Brilliant!
With Damon out, the much-maligned Melky draws the one hole tonight. He and his .310 OBP will bat in front of Derek Jeter and his career-low .336 OBP.”
Dude, sometimes you try to get a guy going. And does it really make any difference after the first inning? He usually bats 9th anyway.
Every game isn’t Game 6 of the World Series. Its June, relax.
Gorzelanny might pitch around Rasner to get to Melky.
What does he care who he puts on? DJ take care of anyone put on base.
This is true.
Mike, you’re a friggen prophet.
J-Chris is da hooooooooouse. Congrats for making the bigs kid.
steve the guy walked… little late for the whine.. why don’t you whine about king Derek????
or the great D by christian, cano, or posada, take your pick….
I’m pretty sure its against the law to bitch about DJ in the 5 boroughs.
If we lose to a team with fucking Doug Mientkiewicz (screw the spelling) playing RF of all positions, this would truly be ridiculous….
Helluva at-bat Rasner!!!!
D-Ras must be taking lessons from the Large G
Pitching around Rasner and Melky to get to Jeter
Time for Jeter to GITP.
He almost did…he tried so hard.
Melky should lead off every game.
Whats the record for most consecutive balls thrown?
Hmm, two walks. You think Melky got the message?
Uggh, Way to go Jetes. Sigh…
Jeter…seriously. Stop swinging.
Derek tried really hard there, lets give him a hand
…
This is exhibit A in why OBP > AVG. Can’t hit into a double play if you take a walk, and why not take a walk if the pitcher doesn’t want to throw you a strike?
Of course, there are other reasons why OBP > AVG. But watching this game…damn.
You think they’re trying to lose this game on purpose?
It looked like Abreu was not even watching the same game
Its games like this that honestly gives you no fucking hope that these Yankees will do anything this season….
Pa-thetic
That inning just made me really sad
The M’s have scored 10-Runs in the first 12.2-innings in their series with the Mets. Wow.
Who cares? We’re losing to the Buccos
Jamal, you really HATE the Mets huh.
No, actually unlike most Yankee fans I could care less about the Mets. I am just in awe of the spiral they are in currently.
Im tired of Rasner already.
Jeter looking real good. he almost got the ball out of the infield.. complain about the guy making $19 mill not the guy making $650,000………….
Were you one of the idiots booing Jeter at the beginning of ‘04?
Melky only makes some 300K
Poor Fresno State is already down 3-0 with one out in the first.
With that mustache the way it is now, Giambi looks like a LH-hitting version of the Yankees 1B in Major League.
I’m fucking speachless, why are they swinging?
J-Chris gets it.
Thank goodness Michael Kay isn’t the Pirates announcer. Those poor people would have to deal with a terrible team AND Kay saying “he’s going Allegheny” all the damn time.
I have to listen to the Pirates announcers tonight, and I feel sorry for Pirates fans. They might be the 2 most boring announcers I have ever heard in my life.
Haha Kay just said “That one is scooped to left field for a base hit. WTF does that mean!?
Heyyyyyyyyyy!!! Congrats kiddo.
you know, he doesnt have a very comfortable looking swing… no wonder why he doesnt hit for much power.
Darrell Rasner putting Barry Bonds to shame.
I guess the Pirates scouting report says to be careful with Rasner at the plate and dont give him anything good to hit.
hello everyone… same old same old with men in scoring position.
BigBlue, I’ve been saying that to myself about Giambi’s ever since the ’stache grew in. It is really weird how much they look alike.
I LOVE that movie..
new strategy, walk the pitcher to get to Melky.
its funny, because its true.
C’mon. Melky has 2 walks already and nearly hit a grand slam before the umpire screwed him by calling the next pitch Strike 2 and putting Melky in a hole before he did like everyone else in this lineup has done today which is hit a grounder to SS.
everyone in this lineup should have two walks the way Gorzelanny is pitching. for some reason, our vaunted lineup is swinging early in the count to screw themselves.
Doug Davis (Arizona) has such a nasty hammer, almost like it pauses in mid-air.
Is this the demise of Rasner and could Derek be starting a Bernie like decline?
the other shoe had to drop for rasner at some point, right?
I guess, but it still sucks, whos next in line?
little early to close the book on him I think
No it’s not
Paging Aceves
C’mon now, no one was expecting him to be a savior. He’s projected at best for a 3rd starter and at worst a back of the rotation filler. And frankly, if they get a 4.50 ERA out the guy, I’m ecstatic.
Every time you think the Yankees have turned the corner, ANOTHER game like tonight, against a pathetic opponent, happens….
Question I’m going to Thursday’s game and there is a 60% chance of scattered showers what the hell do I do with the tickets if the game is rain out and I fly back Friday?
I have no luck missed Joba by a day and then rain in the forecast.
sell them on stubhub?
That’s funny because I got them from stubhub.
ha! love the stubhub.
i was going to get tickets from stubhub for saturday’s game, but it turned out that the mets released upper deck tickets to the general public, so i got in for 4 tickets at face value. nice!
Ghost runner on first for Derek
I’v ebeen saying Jeter’s in a decline since last year’s playoffs.
I might be buying a new tv after tonight. I just missed it with the first remote hurl. This is worse than hemmoroids
Damn, second HR A-Rod just missed.
Jeter is my favorite ballplayer of all time.
That said, everytime he steps to the plate lately, I cringe. WTF has happened to him?
king Derek hit it out of the infield I am going to celebrate..
another give away game.. they are not being dominated but just did not show up and lose to a teeam they should kill.
that is what losing teams do.. the angels less talented then the Yanks hardly ever do this….
blame it on the plain wrap guys; melky, rasner etc.. I blame it on the top shelf guys; arod, abreu, jeter ,etc….
they have scored 1 run against a american version of Oliver Perez the bad day pere….
this offense is incredibly dissapointing…
“plain wrap guys” What the hell are those?
What the hell is happening? Yankees lose 2 out of 3 from CINCY(the same cincinatti losing 11-1 vs the last place Jays) and now they are losing against a pitcher who can barely throw over the plate?
Jamal they do not give you runs for just missing…s
the offense is asleep no excuses yesterday was a off day.. lucky all the fans at the game are seeing the yanks at there best trying there hardest and rasner is getting rocked..
pathetic.. some on people tell me I am wrong……………
I guess Rasner is coming back down to earth.
Ryan Doumit is having a monster season, it’ll be fun to see who gets the starting spot for the NL All-Star squad between him and Brian McCann.
Rasner sure is eating it.
this is brutal, im going to go play mgs4 now.
I just beat it tonight, best game I’ve ever played. Better than Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Better than origanal Zelda?
If you mean the one for the Gameboy with the sleeping fish thing, I never beat it. Too damn hard, screw that game. But give me a break, I was like a toddler when that came out.
I think he means the NES one. Its harder I think.
your a gamer? I just finished act 3(got it on saturday though lol) I still think Zelda beats MGS4 but it is definitely up thereon my favorite games ever played.
MGS Games are like a fucking movie man.
Seriously. Too many cutscenes but still fun as hell.
There are three letters the internet has invented to describe this game: W-T-F!. Gorzelany has walked our pitcher twice, we’ve loaded the bases twice and scored 0 runs in those situations. Derek Jeter continues to be an offensive black hole, I wish his last name started with a “P” so his initials matched his favorite play to hit into. The question now lingers in my mind…should the Yankees give Derek Jeter another contract? At this point, honestly, they probably shouldn’t. Meanwhile, the wheels are falling off the Darrell Rasner bus, this is the Yankees so of course he’ll get another few starts and no one, Rasner included, will even remember that his bus had wheels at any point in time. This is a very, very ugly game to this point. The Yankees look like a minor league team compared to the pirates. They are taking terrible swings early in the count, giving away outs and at bats thus making league average pitchers look like hall of famers. This brings me to my next question: Is Joe Girardi actually a good manager? Yes he pays attention to details and is very intense, but this offense looks more disjointed than it ever has. You watch a team that can hit, like the Red Sox, and all of their guys go up there with the same idea. They all buy into the philosophy. They don’t seem to have an approach at the plate that anyone who watches baseball on a regular basis can discern. The sluggers are swinging for the fences almost every at bat and the people who should just be looking to turn the line-up over are doing the same. The season isn’t lost, there’s plenty of time left, but at this point…the team looks lost. Maybe they are just as stunned as I am that they are performing as poorly as they are…but they need to stop being stunned and start making adjustments because the series against the Reds looked bad…this looks down right awful.
Rasner hasn’t looked good the last couple starts. And jeter looks terrible right now at the plate and his bat just look slow right now.
7-1? How the hell did that happen.
Son, sit down and pass me that bottle this could take a bit
Rasner is not for real. Thats what happened. I think C.C should come to NY ASAP
Yo Rasner is making the 08 Pirates look like the 79 Pirates.
they are mocking Derek and the millionaires…. good effort tonight from the boys….
nah blame it on Melky
Jeter has been especially stellar tonight,.
can he pas on his all star game nimination?/ he should decline. He does not even deserve to be in the top 8 AL SS..WOW>>>>
Nah let’s discuss the Melky Gardner issue, hell with our SS and 2B sucks and the yanks are 12th in the AL in BA with RISP…….
Holy fuck and please noone say its only june because we look like worse than an atlantic city hookers minge.
It is only June, in fact after tonight there are 85-games left, relax. Do you not remember 2005 and 2007?
In June Derek Jeter is hitting .301/.370/.410 and in the past week his vital line is .333/.407/.375. Where is all this crap coming from? He’s been swinging his way out of it of late, relax.
We should really trade for Bronson Arroyo. He has the guts to pitch in New York. He doesn’t have the guts to pitch in Toronto, but he has the guts to pitch in New York.
are you channeling the other mike from the NY sports media? look at arroyo’s line from tonight. he lasted less than one inning, 11 HA, and 10 ER. absolutely terrible and he’s been far from consistent.
I take it you didn’t pick up on the sarcasm.
THANK YOU Jamal, someone with some common sense…J-Chrizzles gettin the rally started
Just-in Chris-tian clap clap clapclapclap
Fuck this, just have Dan Giese and Mike Mussina pitch every game.In March, bet you would never think those words would come out of a Yankee fans mouth.
Andy’s been fine.
God damn it, why didn’t I leave. They dragged me in again. Maybe J-chris was a good idea…
LoL, you sound like a Red Sox fan in October of 2004. Heh, I still can’t believe (like literally don’t believe) that happened.
Oh I do. Living with all these Red Sox idiots drives me crazy.
Four runs to makeup with eleven outs remaining is very possible against this Prates pitching staff.
Why pinch hit Molina? Why not just leave Rasner in there to hit? You’ll probably get the same result, but you’ll save a bench player.
You mean save Molina so in case both Posada and Moehler go down we have a catcher?
Yeah, that made no sense. At least send Moeller out there, I mean, he’s actually shown some patience at the plate this year.
Wow Molina pinch hitting? Matsui and Damon REALLY must not be available
Or fingers.
Why didnt Eiland come out and talk to Razz about how his pitches were up?
Jamal I see jeter with my own eyes. the guy cannot hit the ball out of the infield. look at his power, slugging, etc.. he stinks, your yes do not lie…
why dont you stay at lohud? thats a better place for this schtick.
Dude go root for another team, if you can’t appreciate Derek Jeter and you’re willing to write his career off through 3 months of a season after all he has done, then what the hell is the point of being a Yankee fan?
I don’t care what you see, I’ll take a shortstop that gives me a .350 OBP and normally stays away from DPs and can get a bunt down. He’s slumping right now, it happens
BTW, how many shortstops have power? Jeter is a gap hitter and he’s one of the best of all time
Arod. Oh wait…
Yeah, I still dream of the possibility of that man at SS.
I always, always hate that “I see with my own eyes” argument because 99.9% of the time people who say that don’t know what they are seeing. They remember a couple moments here and there and base their entire argument on those few moments. You have seen Jeter with your own eyes and what you have seen is him having a good month of June at the plate and a damn good past week. Now what you remember is a whole different story. Stats don’t lie, they record everything you see, just they actually remember EVERYTHING that happens.
I’ve always been a huge Jeter fan but I’ve soured on him. I think he could bring more leadership to this club than he does. I think he could do more with /for the fans and I think he gets too many free passes when he’s slumping.
I’m negative on him and I know that it colors everything so I admit that my Jeter view is not objective.
SS is thin this year. Nobody is doing much of anything outside of Hanley or J-Roll.
And Jose Reyes, best offensive SS in baseball outside of Mr. Hanley Ramirez.
Any other RAB bloggers going to Bar A in Belmar on Saturday for ESPN 1050’s Mets-Yankees BBQ??
Ivan, if you think MGS games were like movies before you have to play MGS4, it is basically an interactive movie. I mean that in no way to knock the game, they do it so well the final battle is like something out of a movie.
Spoilers for the game
seriously, the whole scene when Liquid Ocelot was owning snake and then when he took control of the Central AI of the Patriots was EPIC
You nerds.
If you need me I’ll be playing D&D…
I was trying to say it in a good way.
My9’s camera angles are so weird.
The Yankees start the inning with a leadoff double, and now with 2 outs the runner is still at 2nd base, hmmm this looks familiar….
WTF happened? It’s was 5-0 Georgia 2 mins ago, and now it’s 6-5 Fresno State!
Damn! Marte looked good. I have one of those in pinstripes please.
Jamal, (or anyone else)
Just wondering: What are your thoughts on what you want to do when Jeter’s contract comes up? There is a serious problem brewing there…
If he does not switch to LF or even 1B I will let him walk and hopefully gain the compensation of a Type-A Free Agent. I’m not into that sentimental crap when it comes to personnel decisions.
Sorry, I lost my sanity for a second…at least the Red Sox are losing too. Hopefully the Rays will go down too so everyone can just shrug this off as an ugly day for anyone not playing in Toronto.
This just in, I am going to Toronto to watch a 1:07 game. Its the game before the all star break I believe.
Just pack this one up, forget about it, and come back tomorrow.
These games happen, but for some reason a lot of Yankee fans feel the team is impervious, or rather should be impervious to these games which is utter stupidity.
And Joe Nelson (Florida) just walked in the tying and go-ahead runs to give Tampa a 4-3 lead in the 8th.
Also, what the hell is D&D?
I assumed he meant Dungeons and Dragons…
Isn’t that a movie?
Hawkins sucks, but he gets some brownie points for sticking it out. He was really laboring near the end.
Yeah we’re throwing in the towel when we let Hawkins pitch
Whats the point of bringing Edwar in, Hawkins will eventually get the last out
Two reasons. Health of Hawkins because he has not been stretched to go this long and you don’t just want to let him stay out there and get knocked the fuck out.
Yeah you gotta give the guy some credit, and you don’t want him to hurt himself
Or we could let Edwar do that, he went this far, one more out won’t kill him
Could be worse, Reds are down 14-1 to the Jays
J.P. Riccardi is still a tool.
As bad as the Mets have been, anyone else shitting in their pants about the fact that this weekend the Yankees will have Ponson, Giese and Rasner start 3 out of the 4 games????
The Mets are being shutout by R.A. Dickey, I have no fear good sir.
You have a biased opinion, you hate the Mets….
LoL, seriously I don’t.
Well now if they want Ponson to start they’ll have to DFA Moeller…but yes, though a few more good starts from Aceves and Rasners back will be against the wall
Mike,
When do you think Robertson might get a callup? He’s pretty much dominating at AAA and its pretty evident how badly we need pen help
I think the Yankees will like to see him put a nice stretch of games with better control before they call him up. That said I do believe he is definitely on the clock.
Probably after the All-Star Break sometime.
Haha, remember when the City of Miami made Shaq an honorary police officer? They stripped him of his badge because of his rap about Kobe. Hysterical.
Fuck Shaq, he took a shot at Patrick Ewing as well….
Actually it was Phoenix that revoked it. They were worried about his appearence. This coming from the last state to begin celebrating MLK day
Wow, that’s just classic.
I know alot of Knicks fans used to rip Ewing, and some still do, but after what Knicks fans have had to go through since Van Gundy resigned on Dec 8th 2001, Patrick Ewing should be considered a God after seeing what this franchise has become since he left. I for one am PROUD as hell of Ewing for making the HOF and am probably one of the fewest people around who consider Ewing to be their favorite player of all-time.
Bronson Arroyo’s line may be the ugliest I’ve ever seen:
1ip 11H 10ER, wow
And someone is going to pay him 9.5 million dollars next year
He’s got the guts to pitch in New York.
Am I alone in considering Jeter one of the goats today? In the top of the first, he swings after the G guy had thrown six straight out of the K zone and hits into a DP. Then in the third, he swings again after eleven of twelve (!) out of the K zone and grounds out. The Yankees seemed unable to take pitches with runners on base tonight.
I had a bad feeling about this game from the moment he hit into the first-inning dp.
Considering what the score is the whole team were goats tonight.
BTW, no surprise but the Red Sox are coming back….
NOW Jeter works a walk, jeez
good effort by the guys tonight…
the pirate announcers are taunting the yanks, ouch…
good effort, jeter great game, abreu down in the 270’s, clutch hitting continuing, hawkins still terrible, what a nice crisp game…
Yeah
Yes, because without clutch hitting they were not able to overcome THE TWELVE FUCKING RUNS the pitching staff gave up
Come on dammit, I want to see one more A-Rod AB.
Maybe Abreu is getting out of that Nick Blackburn funk
Hopefully because the way A-Rod and Giambi are raking that could be very special.
Yes it could, plus this year’s scoring runs late in a game they loose stat, believe they’re undefeated the next game
By-By Hawk and possibly Raz too. When the big guys are ready down in AAA, these two will bite the dust.
Justin isn’t looking to bad, better then Melky did his 1st time up. Oh well, it’s only JUNE@#$%$#@! There, I said it. 27/08?
Melky was 21 his first time up, Christian is 28 i believe from what ive read….
Boston manned up and tied the game but let’s talk about the Mets.. I do not understand that logic!!!!!
good effort a lot of positives to carry into Weds. game.. They let a guy off the hook who threw more balls then strikes, Abreu hit a clutch HR and Hawkins only gave up a few runs.. Yeah alot of good things happened tonight…
It is June 23rd, please calm down, please.
Its June 24th!!!!
It is June 24th, please calm down, please.
Red Sox took the lead in the 8th inning, so BOTH Boston and Tampa have come from behind and lead going into the 9th inning. Remember when the Yankees used to do that……
Rasner has definitely regressed to his mean.
has not been looking good lately
Ive noticed its alot more fun in here when the Yankees lose.
Losses are to be expected. Embarrassments like this game, not so much.
I have the feeling that after the all star game this Yankee team will have a whole new look to it. Hawkins and Ramirez will be sent packing via trade or whatever. 2 of the 3 in Robertson, Melancon, and Cox will be up. Rasner or Karstens will be gone as well. Maybe they will bring in a veteran reliable starter, not named Arroyo, but I have a feeling it will be him. And lastly Melky will either be traded or be designated the 4th OF. Gardner will be in a platoon with a right handed hitter. Lots of changes. I think it will help but I don’t think they want to rush this since Cashman likes his pitches to pitch at least 50 innings in AAA.
Chad Jennings is the best. Have to read his notes each day to appreciate what this guy does. Hopefully he gets a chance, and gets called up to the big team in the near future. An excerpt from the Chad.
“No sooner had I written all of this than a visiting scout randomly started raving about Aceves. I didn’t bring up Aceves, but apparently the scout saw him pitch last week in Harrisburg. In the scouts words, he was a “man pitching to boys.” Said he wouldn’t be surprised to see Aceves in New York by the end of the season. Amazing how many people keep saying that.
The same scout loves Gardner. Compared him to Brett Butler, which sounds about right to me.”
Regardless of the loss to the Pirates, this gets you excited for what this team may be in the second half. Aceves is the Mexican signing this past year and he may be ready sooner than later to unseat Rasner or Geise or Ponson, whichever one is holding up that 5th spot. Hopefully Hughes and Kennedy come back soon and make some kind of impact as well.