Game 34: Let’s take two out of three
BySince the inception of baseball blogs sometime in 2001 or 2002, perhaps no recording artist has been quoted as frequently as Meatloaf. Writers and bloggers invoke his second hit single, “Two out of Three Ain’t Bad,” before nearly every rubber match. Hey, two out of three is a .667 winning percentage, which extrapolates to a 108-win season. We haven’t seen one of those in quite a while.
The cliche could be no more true than for the Yanks today. Not only can they take two out of three from the Jays, and thereby their second straight series, but they can do it in the most acceptable of ways. Hey, if you face Roy Halladay in the series opener and can come back to win the next two, that’s all right in anybody’s book. The Yanks get their chance against reliever-turned-starter Brian Tallet.
Yanks fans will recognize Tallet’s name because he’s been with the Jays since 2006, pitching mostly in relief. This will be his sixth start of the season, and his seventh since becoming a Blue Jay. He entered the Jays’ rotation amid injuries to most of their starters: Dustin McGowan, Shaun Marcum, Rickey Romero, and Jesse Litsch are all on the DL. Tallet has filled in admirably, allowing 16 runs, 15 earned, in 29 innings so far as a starter. He’s having a bit of trouble with the walks, which the Yanks will surely try to exploit tonight.
As a reliever, Tallet has given the Yanks some trouble. He’s faced them 20 times in his career, spanning 28.1 innings, in which he has allowed 9 runs. The walks are still an issue, as he’s issued 12 through those 29 innings — almost the exact rate he’s showing as a starter so far. Hopefully the Yanks can catch up to Tallet in an extended viewing.
The Yanks send their guy to the mound tonight, the behemoth that is CC Sabathia. He was masterful his last time out, pitching like the guy the Yanks signed to a $161 million contract this winter. As Pettitte did last night, he’ll face a righty-heavy Blue Jays lineup tonight. It’s even more extreme tonight, with John McDonald entering the lineup. That makes it righties or switch hitters one through nine. Something tells me this will not bother Sabathia one bit.
Both Jeter and Matsui make their return to the lineup tonight. Jeter is a bit more concerning at this point. Obliques are tricky muscles, and the last thing the Yanks want is for Jeter to try to play through a small strain and turn it into a considerable tear. Missing 15 days now is obviously better than missing two months. We just have to put our faith in the Yanks training staff at this point.
Lineup:
1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Johnny Damon, LF
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Hideki Matsui, DH
6. Nick Swisher, RF
7. Robinson Cano, 2B
8. Brett Gardner, CF
9. Francisco Cervelli, C
And on the mound, number fifty-two, CC Sabathia.
242 Comments
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Putting faith in the Yankees training people has not had much reward the last three years.
Now that doesn’t seem very optimistic.
.500 here we come!
Hey, I’m with you! Let’s hit .500 for once and, you know, not go below it again.
F*cking Cor Shep. You think you’re so great, being all quick on the “add comment” button.
i do what i gots to do
And THAT’S coming from Optimist Prime.
Am I wrong?
Never let right/wrong get in the way of optimism/pessimism.
Jeter is a very selfish player putting his playing time ahead of the team’s interest. He needs to be 100% to be of real value at this point of his career. Jeter at 80% is not going to help the team. At his age and loss of range he should sit 1-2 games every week and allow Pena to develop as his replacement. Last year, playing through his injured hand really hurt us. Let’s not make the same mistake anymore.
A) Ramiro Pena is not going to be Jeter’s replacement for the long term. If he is…the Yankees will have to make do with a very light-hitting SS in the years to come.
B) That said…you’re right that the team would be better off if the trainers and coaches stopped taking Jeter at his word and started making him sit down or take a DL stint instead of sucking for six weeks because he’s “leading by example”
“Jeter is a very selfish player” — hahahahahahahahahah
I mean. i can’t even respond to that. Knock his D if you want. Say that he is getting older if you want. But call Derek Jeter selfish. That is blasphemy
*FacePalm* much..
That is a “facepalm” (whatever that means) because I don’t think Jeter is selfish. Wow. I didn’t realize so many Yankee fans had such bad feelings towards Jeter. I’m speechless
I see from your comment below that you may not have been talking about my comment, but the one above.
I am agreeing with your comment. If I replied to the other one it would just make me feel.. “dirty.”
hahah … i know exactly what you mean. Jeter haters should not even be acknowledged as real people
Keep it going, CC!
I have no idea how to feel about Jeter back in the lineup. Sure our offensive improves but I loved watched Pena at SS. Plus he is 12 of his last 27 with three extra-base hits.
At first looking at this, I thought a face palm moment was coming. But hey, it’s got to have that insurance on the bench is it not? Turn that frown upside down!
Pena did not exactly play at gold glove caliber level last night. He had a good hitting night, but that was one night. Are people really calling for Pena over Jeter? I would rather have Jeter playing short in a wheelchair then have Pena out there, ever.
Gotta love how everyone has a hard-on for Pena now that he had a career night at the plate. Like you said. Blasphemy.
I want you.
I need you,
but there ain’t no way I’m ever gonna love you, but don’t be sad…..
IETLyric
Whoa! Out did yourself there Joe. Finally a break out win that they needed and you write a memoir? WRITE AWAY!
Man, I hate arguing with idiot fans.
So then stay away from LoHud.
It wasn’t LoHud.
What a surprise.
Stop going there Rebecca, you’re going to have a stroke. It’s an evil place.
Not LoHud
You’ll have better luck arguing with a genius than an idiot. A genius will at least know when they’re wrong.
“The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits”-Albert Einstien
Holy shit, Brian Tallet the 70′s called they want their AWESOME back.
Ouch. Slow Jeter.. Slow..
Double for damon!
Ok. Extension time for Damon Huh?
Nah, let him grow his hair back naturally.
Way to be, Johnny!
I <3 Damon so much.
Damon has a record for consecutive XBH games
Johnny Damon, so hot right now, Johnny Damon.
go Johnny go!
It’s funny how good it is to have a switch hitting lineup. I was looking at Tallet. I said Oh no. LHP. Last year that was a concern.
Thank Mo those stupid umpire assholes aren’t behind the plate tonight.
those guys made me piss in my pants
They blew their wad on the sweet umpiring gear, they can only afford to go to one game a year.
Those tickets are only $210 each and about $400 on stubhub.
I stand by my statement.
Being a jizzmopper at the nudie booth does not come with a large salary, you know.
Damon’s on fire!!
Tex walks!
A-Rod seems to be more crouched in his stance. No?
A bit
He’s tipping the catcher to what pitch he thinks is coming.
Maybe his bitch tits are weighing him down.
Does that get out in the Stadium?
Anyone going to the game Saturday?
For a moment I was worried the bases were loaded for Canó.
Bases loaded for Nick swisher!
Come on, Nick! Break out of it!
get out of this slump swisher!
Walking in a run two wouldn’t be bad
3-1 count on Swisher
Is Swisher rocking a mohawk?
He’s calling it a “Swish-hawk”, per Kim Jones.
No. A Swishhawk
See, this is why you don’t walk three batters in an inning.
Wait, wait, wait…you’re not supposed to walk three batters in an inning? Someone should tell our bullpen.
1-0 Yankees!
That’s how you do it, Smalls.
man that waitress is a treat..she is prescious.
Let’s go Robbie cano
that first pitch was not a strike
Man that looked dead on.
damnit cano
Oh well CC will hopefully dominate.
I already know the umpires are going to call our guys out on every single close play. I don’t know why I bother to get my hopes up.
Sooner or later, Cano will figure out that it’s OK to hit with the bases loaded, right?
CC:
6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
zOMG.
CC with the fielding!
Yikes, that was scary.
Nice job CC.
Triangle of death there
Wow. I thought these guys are supposed to be GOOD at defense?
Yeah, they totally should have gotten that ball in no mans land.
Funny you should say that because the ball before that was absolutely drilled and CC turned it into an out. That’s baseball dude.
Well, the Angels decided to give the Red Sox another win, it looks like.
keep the faith, lets go angels
It comes down to Ortiz.
And he fails… He is 0 for 7 with 3 strikeouts and 12 LOB.
YAY! The Pedroia K was huge.
CAUGHT BY DAMON
GO YANKEES
I need some more info/pictures of the Rogers Centre waitresses behind home plate. For years they’ve been tempting me by looking hot and serving Canadian beer (essentially moonshine) and now I demand more. We need names, a fan site, something. How has this not become a bigger thing in the internet age? Is she good from afar, but far from good? Anyone know?
Gardner… You do realize this is turf, right? A little slower please.
[...] Confidence Poll « Game 34: Let’s take two out of three May [...]
3 pitches, 2 outs. bottom of our lineup is brutal
That was a horribly unproductive inning.
Three pitch strikeouts from CC are kinda cool.
big papi 0 for 7 so far today
with 3Ks and 12 LOB, how the mighty have fallen
How his syringes have gone dry.
I’m worried about when he starts to progress to the mean. He’s not going to go homer-less all year.
Blasphemy…
He’s not going to go homer-less all year.
No, he might. Guys like Big Sloppy tend to fall off a cliff when it’s all over.
Remember Mo Vaughn?
meh. Even he hit 26 in his last full season…
Ortiz already had 7 home runs 34 games into last year. This year, he has 0.
I know what he’s done this year, I’m just saying, Mo Vaughn (the comparison that was made), had 26 home runs in his last full season. So even “falling off a cliff,” isn’t 0.
I thought you meant Ortiz had 26 home runs last year.
As shocking as this statement seems, Mo Vaughn was a better athlete than David Ortiz.
Bingo. Throw in the bad wrist from last year.
Thanks for the help, Scottie. Get that BABIP up, Tex.
Sox lose..
Think we can get this game in in under 2hrs?
nope. 3 innings have taken nearly an hour… pitching changes will come eventually (not for CC of course, but for Tallet.
I like them shorties. too bad.
agreed… nice clean crisp ball games. but considering the Yankees average the longest game in the league, anything under 3 hours for them is pretty quick; 2 is just ridiculous.
CC has only thrown half as many pitches as Tallet.
3. Definiltey OBP.
SLG for me.
Can they stop with the goddamn Orc horn up there? This isn’t Mordor, you jackasses.
IETC
LotR reference FTW.
Matt: 1
Toronto: 0
I played a freakin’ sweet LOtR game on PS3 at Best Buy today.
Dude I hear you, my friend and I beat the last one for xbox 360, they’re mad fun.
I miss the umpires behind the plate.
I feel another complete game for CC.
I feel another complete game shutout for CC.
Fixed.
I’m very aroused.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/4452.....e-sproingo
Of course now Robbie gets a hit.
Never enough for you, huh?
Good piece of hitting, Robbie.
Over/Under: 20 walks for Robbie this year.
Over.
Over.
Under for the Yuni Bomber and Benjie Molina, though.
He’s got 7 so far… it would be embarrassing if he couldn’t get to 20 at this point.
Cervelli’s got like the nicest eyes, ever.
Except for me, of course.
i dunno he looks creepy in the batters box.
I’d drink a Pepsi throwback.
They’re a nickel for a bottle, right?
Fuck.
Dammit.
Eh, what can you do? Rios is a good hitter, he was bound to crank one at some point.
At least nobody was on base. Don’t worry, CC is still totally going to win this shizz.
Word. I predicted a run anyway. CC’s just making me look smart.
CC come on, you can’t leave that in the middle of the plate.
Man, Rios has a personal vendetta against the Yankees, or something.
Oof.
I do not like rios.
Hey, guys. It’s Brian Tallet. Feel free to hit him.
I like Rios, just not when he plays against the Yankees.
Okay, some runs now would be kinda nice.
This cant be right.
Tallet’s fb registers at 89 and his change up at 86
His slider is at 83.
Ok, it is 1-1 but CC is dealing. Bats need to come alive to give CC some support but dare I say we are seeing a “glimmer of hope”.
Things must be turning around, didn’t get laid off this time around = glimmer of hope.
Andy threw well last night, bats woke up = glimmer of hope.
CC is dealing, save the HR, which makes 2 consecutive starts = glimmer of hope.
And as many starters are still part of the AARP club, the Yanks and make it 2 series in a row and move to 4.5 out of first = definate glimmer of hope.
Cmon Yanks…..
All I see is Oaktag
I like the fact that I haven’t seen any evidence at all of Jeter favoring his oblique. He looks fine.
Jeter’s making my head hurt.
Was Jeter actually arguing that called strike? It was a strike.
Jeter hasn’t looked great at the plate lately, especially on inside pitches. Hopefully he turns it around soon.
Come on, Tex, earn some money.
Maybe not.
Weak inning. Teix hadda pitch to drive, got underneath it. Come on CC, do what you do.
Teixeira, I love what you’re going to bring to the team eventually, but good, God. It’s time for the pop-ups to end, especially in 3-1 counts against Brian Tallet.
if you are making as much as tex is that is pitch you should not pop up at least hit it hard.
Totally correct, Tex should never again pop over over the next 7 years
I would not be shocked at all if you told me that Babe Ruth lead the majors in pop-outs.
If CC can hold them here, I think ARod-Garner plate at least 2 runs. Swisher HR maybe? Yankees have an inning in them somewhere, we just need to find it.
Lead off walks = so not cool.
Blah. 60% of the time, lead-off walks score every time.
Fuck.
Sit down, Kevin.
Cowbow DOWN.
Cow ‘Boy’ down.
Leadoff walks = trouble
Gotta get outta this inning with just that run scoring.
Rod freaking Barajas???? Really???
Rod Barajas has 17 RBI in his last 17 games.
:: head explodes ::
Rod Barajas once hit a home run.
Rod Barajas and Brian Tallet. Johnny Bench and Sandy Koufax they are not.
does this seem like typical yankees to anyone else?
Get an early lead, starting pitcher looks dominant
Offense shuts down, starting pitcher gives up a couple of runs
Offense presses, and loses a game that had the feeling like they were in complete control…
ANNOYING!!
Back away from the ledge, dude.
OAKTAG
Poor Cervelli. The Yanks are making him work for free.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....erId=29273
Whatever, I’d play for the Yankees for free.
You think that’s funny…
The Red Sox are paying David Ortiz to play for them.
http://www.instantrimshot.com
…Brett Gardner and Francisco Cervilli?
YESS!!!!!
GRITTY GUTTY BRETT GRITNER!
Oh PEACE, Barajas!
Jeter should buy Gardner an ice cream after the game.
Gardner should buy Cervelli an ice cream after the game also.
Dont forget, no ice cream in the clubhouse
CC should buy Gardner and Cervelli hookers and blow after the game also.
And CC and Jeter buy both Gardner and Cervelli dinner.
Oh please, no shortstop gets that ball on the turf. Every time a ball goes up the middle, the reaction is that Jetes should have got it.
That ball was rolled up the middle. Jeter is the man, but the dude can’t move 2 steps to his left.
Ah, the magic of going back and watching it again via DVR.
That ball was hit hard and passed CC on the mound no more that 2 feet left of center. Jeter would have needed to cover 10 yards in about a second and a half to get there.
Jose Reyes and Elvis Andrus wouldn’t have cut that ball off and kept in in the infield.
I’ll take it. Could have been worse.
haha wheres the “Gardner has a terrible arm” crew?
Ooh…he bounced a throw to the catcher from short CF…what a gun!
No one said he couldn’t throw accurately, but that he can’t throw that hard.
Hey, guys…can we maybe get some baserunners?
He bounced it on purpose so it didn’t hit Cervelli full force and explode him back to venezuela.
I thought that was obvious.
My first thought after seeing that… Posada would not have made the play at the plate. And no, I am not saying that I would rather have Cervelli as the catcher than Posada.
WHAT THE HELL YOU TRYING TO SAY YOUD RATHER HAVE CERVELLI THAN POSADA YOU TEH DUMBASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, but we might’ve scored more than one run in the first inning if Posada was batting 5th or 6th.
Hey Gardner, don’t play too good.. I might lose my playing time.
Fuckin Rolen
Fuck Scott Rolen. What’s he ever done for humanity?
(j/k. sorta.)
http://www.enisfurley.com/eff/...../frame.htm
He named the foundation for kids and the affiliated summer camp… after his dogs.
OAKTAG
good to know. When I have something vaguely resembling spare cash, I’ll donate.
Swish A beast. Who said Nady = Swish? Fuckoutta here. One has always been a part time player and one should been one, only last season
A better fielder as well…
Swisher = OBP machine.
Swishis a beast.*
I heard nike is changing there logo its now the nike Swishhhh
http://www.instantcrickets.com
Quite the pathetic hitting display thusfar.
We hit last night, what the hell else do you want? Us to hit two nights in a row?
In a word – yes.
Tallet looks like he should be delivering my mail
Tallet looks like the guy who works at my local fish market. I’m sure he smells terrible just like the fish guy.
Tallet looks like a thin Zach Galifinakis.
http://www.wma.com/0/cta/comed.....nakis_.jpg
He looks like a leftover porn star from the 70′s
Tallet looks like he should be jumping on some bangwagons.
C’mon! He’s just holding out the ball, take it!!
The Yanks haven’t scored more than one run tonight because of age.
Sooo wonder when their offense is gonna have that inning where they score 3-5 runs… Orrrr was that suppose to happen in the 1st when they had their chance? Lets hope they get another one and that CC holds it to a run.
I have never had a greater love/hate relationship with a Yankee than Robbie Cano.
Man, what’s this?
I watch the first innings at home feeling good about this game, and an hour later at school I find them losing, and the offense gone again?!
Ken Singleton is talking as though it’s only a matter of time before the Yanks win tonight.
He’s channeling his inner Joe Torre.
He’s channeling his inner Optimist Prime.
ICWUDT.
i agree with ken
Come on, DP ball.
(3… 2… 1…)
TWSS!
OH CRAP JETER WITH THE LATERAL RANGE TO HIS LEFT
Jeter? range? huh?
But Jeter has no range!!!!!
Hey — shortstop who just made that play — what have you done with Derek Jeter?
OMG Jeter made a play to his left
Jeter plays defense? Since when?
That was almost as surprising as Gardner’s homer yesterday. Hat tip to you, Cap’n.
And you said Jeter doesn’t have good range!
Pure grit bottom of the line-up needs to set the table.
The Yankees are the only team that can make a scrub like Brian Talent look like a Cy Young winner.