May
20

Yanks, Sabathia in seventh heaven

By Benjamin Kabak

I made it home today shortly before 7 p.m. and turned on the game just in time for the top of the first. As I got dressed for the gym, I witnessed what would be CC Sabathia’s worst inning. Two singles, a stolen base and a ground out led to a 1-0 Baltimore lead. Little did I realize that the O’s wouldn’t get much of anything for the rest of the evening.

I walked into the gym just in time for A-Rod’s at bat. As he drilled that 3-2 pitch into left field for another no-doubt home run, I walked away smiling. Everything was clicking for the Yankees recently, and tonight would be no exception as the Yanks trampled the Orioles 9-1 for their seventh straight victory.

For the next five and a half innings, the game would look nothing like the first. In his six frames after the rocky start, CC Sabathia utterly dominated the Orioles. He allowed just two more baserunners on one hit and one walk, both in the fifth inning, and struck out seven. He walked away with his fourth victory and his ERA is now down to a Sabathia-like 3.43.

For the last few turns through the rotation, Sabathia has been utterly dominant. In 25 innings, he has allowed 12 hits and nine walks while striking out 20 and giving up just three earned runs. That’s a 1.08 ERA for those keeping score at home.

As Sabathia was dealing, so was Brad Bergesen. The Orioles’ youngster kept the Yankees’ bat in check through six innings. In fact, the Yanks managed just one hit after A-Rod’s home run until the seventh. In that inning though, the Orioles just fell apart.

Hideki Matsui, mired in a slump, grounded out to the start the inning. Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano both walked, and Chris Ray came in to try to get the next two outs. He wouldn’t get any as a single, error, double, error, single and a home run would give the Yanks seven runs in the inning and an insurmountable 9-1 lead. By then, the rest of the game was simply a formality, and Brian Bruney and Brett Tomko closed it out.

It was a perfect seventh consecutive win for the Yanks. Sabathia cruised through seven innings. A-Rod and Mark Teixeira both homered, and the team went 4-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Two hours and forty nine minutes after it began, the Yanks walked away with their 22nd win. A-Rod has homered in four straight games. Mark Teixeira has hit six over his last ten games, and the Yankees are 9-2 since Alex returned to the Bronx. Life is good right now for Yankee fans indeed.

Posted on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 at 12:02 am in Game Stories.

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79 Comments »

You know what’s even more fun?

The knowledge that we have a perfectly good shot at winning tomorrow’s game, too. Even with Hughes on the mound.

 

Aaaaw, SHIT!

Get your towels ready, it’s about to go down!
Everybody in the place hit the f$%#ing deck! But stay on your motherf#$%ing toes… we runnin’ this, let’s go.

Random. Funny, but random.

ledarthisrael/ledavidisrael/thisisthedavid says:

Hardly random, he is clearly talking about the state of the empire.

We’re going to fly this boat to the moon somehow.

FL Yank says:

I’ve got a nautical themed, pashmina, afghan.

 
 
 
ledarthdavidisrael says:

Shout out to SB!! TEX AROD AND DAMON RUN Newyork

 
 
Drew says:

Al is Ridin’ dolphins, doin flips and shit.

 

Believe me when I say…

 
 

This is awesome.

Did Phillips really say the Yanks havent brought up a good position player since Berra?

Berra as in Yogi?

This is just a question of incredulity. I can’t imagine it being a different Berra really.

It’s Steve Phillips, after all.

He’s like the king of OAKTAG

 
 
Chris says:

Please tell me you’re joking…

 
 
AndrewYF says:

22nd win in a row?

That would be something, wouldn’t it?

 

Whoops! Ben, looks like you accidentally posted the game recap you had in the can for Wednesday, June 3rd.

I know you’re going to Jamaica and all for a month and pre-writing your posts in advance, but you’ve got to keep a lid on this stuff. Don’t let everybody know you can see the future.

I’d hate to spoil the surprise of us finishing off the WS sweep of the Dodgers with that 4 HR performance in game 4 by ARod. OH CRAP I SAID WHAT YOU TOLD ME NOT TO SAY.

You jinxed us. Now it won’t happen.

I don’t believe in jinxes.

Jinxes are the hobgoblins of foolish minds and Red Sox Fans*.

(*Department of Redundancy Department)

 
 
 
 
Some call me...tim says:

We really won 22 in a row? :)

Life is good indeed…

Can we bring up a big bat for the Philly weekend? I can’t wait to see Joe G PH for Wang in the 8th…

No need. The Yanks and Phillies are playing in the Bronx. Thus, everyone gets to use a DH.

Man, that’s like about the 10th time I’ve heard someone on here indicate something about pitchers hitting or needing to be pinch hit for for the Phillies series. Like, how do you have the wherewithal to look at the schedule and see we’re playing the Philadelphia but not take the time to see whether it’s a home or an away series?

jon says:

I think it would be cool to see the NL rules used in AL stadiums during interleague play and vise verse

It doesnt really matter that much to yankee fans since they can just go to a met game but a lot of cities dont have 2 teams and they never get to see a pitcher bat

 
 
 
 
Jamal G. says:

… he Yanks walked away with their 22nd win a row.

Heh, one can only hope that you’re taking a page out of the book of RAB’s own Nostradamus, Matt-Pitt.

Jamal G. says:

Bah, I’m all late and shit.

If you on the sho’, then you sho’ not me-o.

 
 
 

Oh, and:

Anthony Carter’s inbound pass throwing skills EPIC FAIL.

Isn’t he supposed to be the savvy vet? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Chris says:

The Nuggets would have had a better chance if he had just handed the ball to the guy defending him.

kSturnz says:

they should have got it to JR more, so much skill

 
 
 

So this is what it feels like to be on a boat

 
stuart says:

all is well in yankee land. in the 7th the yanks had on base cano, melky, cerevelli and jeter at bat. 4 homegrown players.

all I can say is they have some homegrown talent here and some on the way we have not seen that in many years.

cc is the stud pitcher they have been looking for the last 7 years.. on occassion he can simply dominate….

 
putt says:

So the Yanks are 9-2 since A-Rod’s return. Where are all those a-holes who said the team would be better off without him? Now, I know it’s not all thanks to his presence (CC’s return to dominance helps), but come on…I think they owe us a couple of “my bads.”

Drew says:

You can find them and their ring leader at yankees.lhblogs.com

 

PeteAbe’s off this week.

(I keed, I keed)

 
jonathan says:

I think we need to send Manny a fruit basket and David Ortiz a Rascle Power chair. All the A-roid talk has been lost in the Manny PED talk and the David Ortiz sucking/possible PED use talk. You are right though lots of people thought A-rod was gonna be a disaster here, but he has kept his mouth shut his head down and just player baseball.

 
 

The Padres are not going anywhere. Could we get Bell if we took Giles off their hands?

Probably, but we’d have to take on something in return. It’s not worth it. Give this whole Coke/Bruney/Rivera thing some time.

I dont mean tomorrow, more like a deadline deal if they still need bullpen help. He seems like a good target.

 
 

I don’t think they want to get rid of Giles’ salary that badly. Heath Bell is one of the few things that franchise has going right for them.

 
whozat says:

I didn’t realize Giles was such a disaster. He was still solid last year, but holy crap…he got old FAST.

He had such a great last year and has been so good in his career that I refuse to believe the wheels have fallen off the bus this quickly. .182 BABIP points to bad luck, and he’s still drawing a ton of walks. I think he’ll turn it around eventually, not that it’ll be enough to help the Padres.

Conan says:

Another victim of steroid testing?

 
whozat says:

In that case…hey, I’d really not mind taking him in a salary dump. Great source of OBP. Say Nady can’t really come back, or Matsui needs DL time…

Yeah, that’s part of why I brought it up. He’s not useless, and Bell is excellent.

Bo says:

Bell is one of the few marketable guys they have. They are going to be asking for a ton for him since it will be a sellers market with quality relievers.

 
 
 
 
 
 

This is fun from Feinsand:

“Wednesday, the entire roster will assemble in the bowels of Yankee Stadium for a Kangaroo Court, a long-standing tradition in baseball that allows teammates to put each other on trial for a variety of reasons. Court will be in session at 3:15 p.m. sharp (late arrivals will be fined $100, no exceptions), with Judge Mariano Rivera presiding over the hearings.

CC Sabathia said he’s had a Kangaroo Court on every team he’s ever been on, but in my nine years covering the Yankees, I can’t remember hearing of one taking place. That’s not to say it hasn’t, but it certainly hasn’t been quite as public as this one, which was advertised by a sign hanging on the front door of the clubhouse.”

This team has great chemistry.

Indeed. And, in case you didn’t get it, thanks for the link =)

No, I actually do not mean that the welcome belongs to you. So let me correct that.

You’re welcome.

I’m so glad you corrected that. After snapping at you in the other thread, I wasn’t going to say anything…

Lol. I figured I would correct it myself before getting called on it.

(Comments wont nest below this level)
 
 
 
 
 
 
whozat says:

They should try Carl Pavano in absentia for grand larceny. And sucking.

Bo says:

Every team has great chemistry when they’re winning. Winning cures all.

jsbrendog says:

except they still seemed to have a good overall team chemistry even when they were having issues before arod came back and blowing games

 
 
 
Whitey14 says:

Drat!
That’s the sign of a team that is loose, relaxed and comfortable with each other. I’d prefer they were tight, on edge and hated each other for obvious reasons.

 
 
A.D. says:

Annnd Bruney came back and looked solid.

 
stuart says:

the pen is the easiest are ato fix.. if veras or abeledajo do not start throwing strikes release veras and send down Abeledajo and try melancon, robertson or others.

maybe marte gets healthy and contributes…

swisher needs a day off, hope gardner can go tuesday and put melky in right. swisher has 40 k’s………

Agreed, Swisher could use a night off, but i was very glad to see him walk tonight.

 
 
V says:

Btw – so far this season:

Runs	Count
0	0
1	2
2	2
3	4
4	8
5	7
6	4
7	4
8	2
9	2
10	1
11	3

They’ve scored more than 9 just as many times as they’ve scored fewer than 3. Wow.

V says:

My formatting = fail.

I think my favorite part of that is 0 0.

And that 1 and 2 are outnumbered by everything else.

 

Like magic, I fixed the formatting for you.

 
 
 
dkidd says:

cc’s change-up = total domination. forget about it.

pat says:
 
 
My Name Ain't Kelvin says:

So this is how it feels to have an aCCe. And our 3-4 combo is just scary good. Hope everything continues to be good. Let’s go for the series win tomorrow.

The Lodge says:

Remember back in December how sick everyone was saying this Lineup + Rotation was going to be? Now we’re finally witnessing it in it’s full glory.

Actually seeing the Winter’s upgrades all together and working as planned = awesome.

 
 
jonathan says:

Man it was good to see Bruney come out of the pen and get his work in. I think the combination of Hughes and Aceves will get the job done tonite. I think that Girardi is going to have a short leash on Hughes…and he will be ready to yank him for Aceves who is pitching very well. I think that Hughes has a problem with contact, he is scared of contact…successful pitchers pitch to bad contact.
If he did that and got his changeup/curve going he would be lights out…a groundball machine that gets Ks.

 
Whizzo The Wize says:

Whizzo would like to shake the hand of every “The team will be better off without Arod” writer, reporter, blogger, and radio hack.

Whizzo’s never met a large group of the hopelessly insane. Whizzo thinks it’d be a grand time.

Nady Nation says:

Nady Nation’s a big fan of Whizzo.

Bo says:

The News would be better without Bill Madden. A million could replace him. Few could replace A-Rod.

 
jsbrendog says:

jsbrendog universe also approves

Mike Pop says:

Whizzo – commenter of the year.

 
 
 
 
Mike Pop says:

Just another awesome game.

It’s a good thing to get the Brune man back, needless to say he is needed. Ha, sounds funny.

If the offense keeps clicking, I have no worries about this team. They are doing all of this without Posada.. that’s the funny thing. Maybe he’s a clubhouse cancer!11!!!

I’m worried about when the league catches up to Frankie, though. However, with a hot Tex and A-Rod sporting a .189 IsoD and a .417 (!!) IsoP, those fears are slightly mitigated. Swisher should heat up soon. Sure, he’s not as god as his April numbers suggest, but he’s also not as bad as his May numbers suggest.

 
YankeeScribe says:

The Yanks seem to win more when Posada isn’t behind the plate at catcher. Cervelli is awesome. Let Posada DH and become the part-time catcher/1st baseman.

Rob in CT says:

Cervelli is solid defensively, and can run a bit, which is nice. Cervelli will not, however, seem awesome when he’s no longer hitting .375. Overexpose him and you will get sub-Varitekian production.

YankeeScribe says:

Of course he’s not going to stay at .375 but I’m sure our pitchers feel more comfortable with Cervelli at catcher than Posada. Teams have been and will continue to be more aggressive on the basepaths when Posada is catching.

Rob in CT says:

All of that can be true, and still starting Cervelli over Posada at C is probably a mistake.

 
 
 
 
 
Rob in CT says:

CC was great. Nice to see the Yankees get extra runs because of the other side’s defensive mistakes for a change. ARod & Tex hit more HRs. Bruney came back and looked good. Things are clicking nicely. Swish probably could use a day off, but I think he’s gonna be fine. The bottom of the lineup continues to avoid being a black hole of suck, which is nice (if probably unsustainable). Posada should be back fairly soon.

Confidence level back up to 8.

 
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