Game 89: Start the second half off with a bang
ByHoly crap, there’s going to be Yankees baseball soon. There’s some rain in the forecast, but we’ll see how that goes. For now, let’s plan on watching some baseball at 7.
The Yankees come back strong. Over his last five starts, A.J. Burnett has been the Yankees best pitcher, tossing 33.2 innings to a 1.34 ERA. He hasn’t pitched since July 8, which is a shame. Hopefully the long layoff doesn’t affect how he tosses tonight. The Yanks could use a good one.
He’ll be opposed by rookie Lucas French. A 2004 8th-round pick, French made two scoreless relief appearances in May before heading back to Toledo. The team recalled him in early July, and he’s recorded two starts since. The first, against Minnesota, wasn’t very good, as he lasted just 4.2 innings, allowing two runs. The second was much better, as he held the Royals to one run over 6.1 innings. Zack Grienke gave up three runs over six, and the Tigers prevailed.
Lucas was never a strikeout guy in the minors, setting down just a hair under six per nine. We’ve seen plenty of minor leaguers accomplish that feat and see an enormous drop-off when coming to the majors, because their stuff just doesn’t translate. Still, French has kept his walks and home runs in check, and once his hit rate took a dip, he found success at AAA Toledo this year.
It’s tough to get a read on French’s repertoire through pitch f/x. During his start against Kansas City it appears he threw 41 changeups to 21fastballs. Considering the max speed on the change is 87.7 mph, it’s easy to see that some of those are misclassified. He had a similar problem in his first start against Minnesota, where his slider was recorded as a cutter. We do know that he’s a fastball-slider-changeup guy who barely touches 90 with his max velocity.
Yanks trot out the A-lineup tonight (Gardner and Cabrera are interchangeable in the A-lineup, IMO). Pray for no rain.
Lineup:
1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Johnny Damon, LF
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Hideki Matsui, Dh
6. Jorge Posada, C
7. Robinson Cano, 2B
8. Nick Swisher, RF
9. Melky Cabrera, CF
321 Comments
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The Mason Williams Watch
I really hope we win tonight.
Did we win like 8 straight to being the 2nd half and climb within 1 back of the Sox only to go cold later? Well, I hope we can win 8 straight or a bunch and stay hot this year to win the division.
I’ll settle for them playing tonight.
I like Matsui batting 5th
I need this baseball! Is it bad I choose to drink beer, watch the game and eat a whole pizza by myself?
Not only is it not bad, it’s commendable. I’ve already had two Golden Monkeys (9.5% ABV), and am about to order delivery. Life is good.
Ordering delivery sounds like a good idea. I think I might do that.
I landed on Long Island two hours ago and have already consumed three slices of real New York pizza.
It has been, literally, 11 months since last I had good pizza.
Damn, I miss good pizza. The stuff out here in Portland Or doesn’t even qualify as pizza.
3 beers down, pizza in the oven. Life is good.
The posts ought to get really interesting as the night goes on if you’re all going to be drunk
Can’t wait!
If this kid throws the ball over the plate, I predict the Yankees will not score a lot of runs.
Unless they are meatballs right down the middle
mmmmm.. meatballs.
Heh thanks Homer Simpson
are they gonna get this one in or what?
Probably start but not finish.
Well hopefully it’ll have been at least 7 innings by then so AJ wont go to waste
Looks good. I’m 2 miles from the Stadium and the sun is currently blinding me.
Someone needs a visit from Willy the Don’t Stare Directly Into The Sun Worm!
Woohoo! baseball time
So who ended up getting the kybosh down to AAA, Melancon?
no one, mitre wasn’t activated today. its friday and he’s pitching tuesday, so why would he be?
Oh, duh. My bad.
RAB nation, I ask thee this question. Is there anything better then pizza and beer? I don’t think that there is.
A Yankees win?
hookers?
Yeah there’s a few things…
Shit a curtis granderson double is not one of them
Is it ok to go OT in a game thread?
Yep!
Sweet, Ok, fantasy baseball
Guy offered me Matt Capps and Cole Hamels for Nick Markakis.
I countered with Josh Johnson and Lidge for Markakis.
Thoughts on both, thanks
Rule #1: Don’t be giving up the best player in the deal.
I’m not so sure I am the way Markakis has been playing. I have an abundance of OFers too.
No it’s beating you know whoooooooooooooooooo big!
but we never beat any of the (you know whos)
So what do you guys think of my Joba theory? I promise this is the absolute last time I’ll mention it–till, uh, Joba starts, anyway.
I think it has some merit. But while we might think we know something the Yankees have guys who live this stuff 24/7 and has seen a lot more then us.
Indeed.
I like your theory.
Damnit Granderson
Bad start
Hmmm a lot of the Tigers are really good against AJ except Granderson
I love watching the local coverage for Tigers games when they play the Yanks because the announcers spend most of their time crushing on Jeter.
Example being: Granderson scores and they spend two minutes discussing Jeter’s brilliant throw to Tex. *amused*
96 mph breaking ball…impressive =)
Ok where did Ball 3 miss
Little wild AJ.
Awesome, AJ. Walk the vaunted Clete Thomas on four straight pitches.
AJ:
“Tigers that can’t be tamed”
A.J. walked a man in Reno.
Just to watch his teammates let him die.
wtf?
Johnny Cash reference.
Oh teix, how old are you?
19 =)
No johnny cash in your life?
haha nah
Which is really amazing, since Teix’s real name is “Sue”.
http://www.webdesign.org/img_a.....ice_21.gif
I have Johnny Cash on the brain.
A.J. is a badass even when he’s off.
Watching baseball again after so long is making me loopy.
Just keep where it is
Lazy.
He actually fell asleep in midair.
Robbie!
Nice play robbie, you almost jumped past that one.
nice play robbie
I want to be a Visigoth.
Ok hopefully AJ settles down next inning
Nice velocity for AJ, 96-98, wonder if he’s just had too much rest and overthrowing a bit.
The buck stops here Frenchy. Now prepare to get shellacked.
Jete has like .400+ AVG against lefties right?
Yep, .444 with a 1.164 OPS
That can’t be right, that would mean he’s hitting .200 against righties.
It sounds right, actually
Ah, you mean this year.
The samples are skewed; you see more righties than lefties, so you can be hitting .400 against lefties and .270 against righties if the ratio of ABs is right.
I thought he meant career wise. This year it is skewed like you said. Career wise he’s hitting 336 vs. lhp and .310 vs rhp.
“Not overpowering”
“Mixes his pitches”
“Rookie”
“Never faced the Yankees”
“Filling in for regulars”
Do these scare anyone else to death?
where is michael kay? he hasn’t broadcasted a game in a while….doesnt he usually just take a game off or a series off for vacation?
is he no longer our announcer?? have my prayers been answered????
Hahah, i like that “Anderson.. and one step above that is a Granderson” Kay would be patting himself on the back for the next 10 games if he said that. Singy is the man.
Tex should be starting his 2nd half hot streak anytime now, so should Robbie
Tex—1.000 in the second half
Great.
Strike one was ticketed for the moon if arod made contact.
You know, I have to say the Detroit old English “D” logo is all sorts of awesome.
I agree – I’ve always like it.
well a 9 pitch out is kinda productive
Okay, Matsui, not K’ing on three pitches would be ideal…
That works =D!
good throw and Damon is out by 20 feet
on second look, that was Laird’s fault
Tex, you are a very very underrated base runner.
Yea, he’s slow but is very smart
+42
MATSUI!
Should have traded Matsui when they had the chance. He’s TOAST.
pfft, no one would have traded him. Should have DFA’s him and A-rod that other 1st baseman/DH
Yeah, then we could have Cody Ransom and Shelley Duncan up here and playing every day. Man, that would be a winning team.
Ycch, Montero isn’t playing tonight
Understandable. He’s been running around all week with the Futures Game and what not.
geez, AJ is going to be gone by the 4th at this rate
Come ONNN AJ!!!!!!
Ow AJ.
meanwhile, Brackman’s line thus far:
2.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.83
Damn AJ, get your shit straight.
At least one of those pitches was a strike, but still.
Maybe it’s long layoff.
That’s a great excuse for walking a shitty hitter on four pitches and then throwing the ball into CF.
Well, it has been nine days.
It’s really not AJ’s night…
Maybe A.J.’s distracted by the Halladay rumors…
almost there…
97 mph curveball from AJ. I’m convinced YES’s gun is just a guy guessing speeds before the pitch is thrown.
Maybe he learned from Wii Baseball, where it’s possible to throw 98-99 mph Curveballs
Imagine a 99 mph knuckleball with insane videogame movement (like those crazy MLB 09 The Show knuckleballs) HOLY SHI7!
Yea those would be insane. A 99 mph Curve/Screwball = you get 200 mil signing bonus
He must hate Joba then…
Moose and Gooden added to old timers game.
Gosh darn it.
It’s gonna be one of those games, isn’t it?
I just got home from picking up sushi at the supermarket…it’s terrible I know, but in central NC they are the only ones that get fresh fish….anyone on MLB.tv having trouble getting on the feed?
My brother was
It is frustrating as hell. At least I’m not alone with this crap!
First 3 times I got an error. 4th time it worked. Keep trying and hopefully you get through.
My urge to kill is rising with each attempt. But it’s not like they have an customer service people I can call on the phone and cuss out….
ah man. Fuckin Polanco
Damn, he almost got away with runner on 3rd no out
moral of the story–don’t walk the speedy leadoff man
…or hit them with a pitch
He’s having trouble getting it close to the plate so you think he he wouldn’t at least try to throw one strike to him?
Frustrating game.
I hope Robbie went home to his Dad in the Dominican over the break
French’s stuff doesnt look all that impressive. It feels like the Yankees are on the verge of crushing him..
yea I think so too so hopefully
Second & third time through the lineup is going to be painful for French.
is it just me or is French 0-2 on everyone
In another life, Swisher was an umpire.
A really, really good umpire.
Well, at least he’s not walking anyone
Brackman 3.0 3 3 3 0 0 1 6.09
That strike 3 called to Swish has been given to French 4 times at least no yet AJ hasn’t gotten the same call 3 times now.
*now
they showed the overhead view, it was a strike. I don’t remember seeing an overhead of any of AJ’s close ones
Idk but Gameday has shown 3 similar calls but AJ didn’t get it.
Rest of the bullpen for the text poll, easy.
Damon looks so pleased to have caught that ball.
I noticed that,he almost looked a little too pleased like he wasn’t expecting to catch it.
Well, I always wonder what’s going to happen when a ball is put into play in LF if Damon is there.
Maybe it’s just as suspenseful for Damon.
Adam Warren doing dominating through 4 innings so far.
nice inning there
And there you have it…
Jason Bay 0-2 with 2 strikeouts (.259 avg) BUST!
Is it wrong that I blame Selig for all of my issues with MLB.tv?
Yes it is. You’re supposed to blame A-rod
cody ransom?
Shit, I forgot about that meme. I prefer blaming Selig for everything that deals with the central MLB, and ARod for everything else, including global warming, AIDS, asteroids, and bears.
I don’t like this frenchy.
I hope Damon gets hot again
Mike is Medchill a guy who might make your top 30 prospects?
RANDY JOHNSON!
haha whoops.
Unlikely. Too many younger guys with more upside in the system.
Was that over the fence?
nope warning track
Damn, I meant at the fence but thanks
Hah, Arod is like 3 years older than ryan howard but 370 homeruns ahead of him.
Why that amuses me I don’t know, but it does. Arod is goooood.
That stuff that he used from DR must of been some good shit. j/k
ARod is the man.
Ryan Howard also debuted later than A-Rod. I believe at the age of 24, maybe 25.
That’s the point. A-rod, PEDs or not, has been playing exceptional baseball from a very early age and Howard was definitely late to the party. So, he is the quickest to 200 because he played with a more mature body.
19 games at 24 years old, 88 games at 25 years old, 159 games at 26 years old. So Arod had what 8 year head start?
Even Kevin Youkilis debuted at 24-25, guys like LaPorta and Wood all came up late. In NY if they are 24 and not in the majors, they are busts!
In NY if they are 24 and havent won a Cy Young or MVP they are busts!
Walter Cronkite just died.
Bye bye journals :’(
Really? I thought he was going to live forever. That is sad.
As insensitive as this may come across, I honestly didn’t know he was still alive til this special report :/
I’m old enough to remember when he retired, which was like a spazillion years ago.
Is it clemens?
randy
Damn I guess it was RJ. They ask this question every year.
Cano should have let that drop and thrown out anderson so the slow footed laird is on. That’s probably a bad idea though.
I’m hoping for a DP ball
Heh there it is
Huzzah!
I always want SS/2b to do that on popups with slow runners at the plate, but yeah, it’s probably a bad strategy.
too many variables for me personally, id rather take the pop up and avoid the potential bad throw to 2nd, or the bad throw to first.
That was fun to watch
Nicely done gentlemen.
HORN ME!
Could one say Arod/Cano have the strongest arms at their respective positions?
I would say that
When I played baseball, I was a 2B/SS who occasionally played RF, as well as C in the bullpen when guys were warming up on days I didn’t play. When I threw out my arm and was forced to play 1B I HATED WHEN THE SECOND BASEMAN THROUGH BULLETS AT ME FROM LIKE 5 FEET AWAY!
Cano I think you could say that.
ARod has a cannon, and I’d say he’s in the conversation with Betre, Zimmerman, and I’m drawing a blank…
I know rolen is ridic with the glove, is his arm strength crazy though? I think but I’m not sure.
Hahah Singy and leiter with the hitter/pitcher argument.
THAT was good banter
You know who’s due to start hitting at YSIII? Nick Swisher. He definitely needs to start taking advantage of it, he is overdue for a HR there..
WARREN!
what he do?
can’t say “it”
look up the SI Yankee box scores so far.
gotcha
Hey Mike or anyone…I’ve noticed that on several plays this year the Yanks have been burned by having A-Rod play well off the bag. Now, I’m sure it’s benefited the team on several occasions where A-Rod has gotten to grounders between he and Jeter he might not have had he been playing closer to the line. Is there a higher percentage of groundballs hit between 3rd and short as compared to closer to the bag?
Oh Swisher..
Why can’t this team hit with risp?
Because all they do is pass teh baton!
That stunk…
Anyone else buy the NoMaas theory, that the Hinske trade signals a Yankee desire to move Melky in a deal of some sort?
http://nomaas.org/
Its a good time to sell high on him, but I honestly think Hinske was just a depth move. They had zero bench.
I do however, believe that the Red Sox are showcasing Bucholtz. I think they will be in on Halladay, I’ve never thought they had enough starting pitching this year.
I’ll drive to Canada myself and murder riccardi if he trades halladay for a package headlined by effing clay bucholz and lars anderson.
(forwarding to local police station)
I wouldn’t trade him now. I would trade/let him walk when he hits FA though in a few years. Seems like we got some talent in the OF in the minors, not including Ajax. Especially at the lower levels.
Really? I would if I was JP. They won’t compete this year or next, his value will never be higher, and his comments at the All Star Game make it almost a fait accompli. Best thing for the Jays would be to sell.
Man, Deadspin is Exhibit A in what happens when you fuck with commenters. That place is a ghost town nowadays.
What did Deadspin do to piss off the commenters?
They de-starred a bunch and kicked a bunch out without a warning. Back in the day you used to have to try out to become a commenter because they wanted only the funniest people making jokes and stuff. They then made a deal with facebook where anybody could come in as long as you had a fb account. That diluted the humor and privilege and such, it was a rapid descent from there. They used to average hundreds of comments a post now its like 30 if they’re lucky.
The de-starring and executions were of alot of their regulars and for stupid reasons. It would be the equivalent of a regular here getting booted for oaktagging or any one of the silly memes we have here.
We definitely need to start hitting better with RISP in the 2nd half
Meatball.
I thought you were eating pizza.
After enough beers, the sausage toppings always look bigger to me too.
Granderson has mad power for such a small dude.
He was ready for that FB
Ahh motherfucker, why’d they take Warren out? Pc?
Detroit’s booth is talking about how they could feel the jet stream out in RF.
/shakes head
Well that just made a shitty friday worse. Fuck!
Bad M-Cab throws out Good M-Cab.
Perfectly played off the wall. That was a very fortuitous bounce.
Melky: In case anyone forgot how strong my arm is…
Now he just needs to find his bat.
Finally a missed tag going the Yankees way. Cabrera was safe.
Shhhhhhh!
Warren got taken out from his no hitter
AJ’s putting on a Brackmanian (brackmanesque) performance
Brackman actually pitched well today, considering how crapola his season has been since coming back from that injury. He is in line for a win as well.
Looks like five and fly for AJ.
Game is on the verge. Joe should have seen this coming.
FIRE EILAND!
This guy sucks and the Yanks can’t hit him.
SAY WHAT
Say ‘what’ again. Say ‘what’ again, I dare you, I double dare you mother@#$%@er, say what one more God#$@% time!
Keep posting that, please.
Nice break there.
BAHAHA ERRORS GALOR
e
SAFE! lol Tigers defense!
Lovin that new and improved defense for the tigers!
laughed too soon. Yankes jut ran themselves out of inning with the bad baserunning and famouse rollover swing by Granpazilla.
That should be an error on Cabrera.
Bah, where was A-Rod going? I guess it’s karma.
A-Rod’s head is not the same as years back.
/Onley’d
But if his head has grown from steroids, it shouldn’t fit up his ass?
That was nice.
Wow how many errors have we seen at yankee stadium? ichiro dropped a fly ball recently, castillos dropped ball, etc. It’s crazy.
They have mounted laser pointers in this stadium that they shine into the opponent’s eyes.
Derek Jeter-”The ghosts have moved next door”
It’s nice the Toronto is already mailing in the rest of the year….
1:5 K:BB and he still has a shot at a Quality Start, amazing.
That is pretty crazy.
Seeing Aceves in the bullpen again makes the world feel like a safer place.
That’s Range Holmes.
I can’t believe he caught that.
Melky being Clutchy.
Uh, guys? I live in central Jersey, and uh, it’s starting to storm pretty bad. Just an FYI :s.
So you’re saying they better score here?
How is the Detroit ‘pen?
That dude just got hit in the gut.
HAHAHA that guy in the green shirt got DRILLED.
2007 Joba in bullpen
IP-24 H-12 SO-34 ERA-0.38
2009 Phil Hughes in Bullpen
IP-18.1 H-7 SO-19 ERA-0.98
So you’re saying the Yankees should move Joba to pitch the 7th, and Phil the 8th? Once Mo retires, Phil closes and Joba the 8th?
No, what I’m saying is ANDY PETTITTE IS A STARTING PITCHAH!!!
2011 Melvin Croussett in Bullpen
IP-59 H-1 SO-175 ERA-0.00
Terrible AB Cano, that was a cookie.
Cano is trash with risp. Lazy? No but very unclutch.
Probably the only time Jeter loses a text poll this year.
Does Swisher do anything besides walk?
He sucks in the field, is a terrible baserunner,has a weak arm and can’t hit.
Ugh.
A) He’s a bit above average in the field
B) He’s an average baserunner who made a couple of bonehead moves in a row, so you remember it
C) His arm is not weak; it’s just not Melky-esque
D) He hits for power.
Above average in the the field ??? Then the average RF just plain sucks. His arm is weak, do you watch the games or do you listen to Sterling and Waldman? Please, Swisher sucks and the fans at the stadium are letting him have it finally.
Do you do anything other than complain?
This coming from the guy who thought that the lefty would face Jeter with Zumaya in the pen warmed up.LOL>
z0MG the Yankees don’t have 9 All Stars!! z0MG!
fucker
Swish makes me more mad than any other yankee
That wasn’t even close.
Wow, that was a wimpy slide.
Yikes, bad send with Posada running and Jeter due up vs the lefty.
Zumaya would of came in to strike out ummm I mean try to strike out Jeter anyway.
Yep.
Didn’t y’all just say the other day that he was an upgrade over meacham?
Even with Zumaya ready to come in to face Jeter? Like I said below, I can’t get MLB.tv to work, so I didn’t see the play. I’m just curious.
Yes. It required the fielder to actively screw up in order for the run to score. I’d rather have Jeter at the plate with the opportunity to drive the run in than him leading off the next inning.
Well that sure is frustrating as hell.
posada is so slow.
Sending Posada? Really? I think this team is still on their all star break.
If by team you mean 3b coach.
No I meant team. ARod with his head up his ass. AJ walking everyone from the Tiger players to the person selling garlic fries. Cano …..well being Cano…
AJ walked 9 guys when he threw a no hitter, so walks from AJ mean nothing
Anybody who can actually watch the game able to tell me if it was a good call to send Jorge?
it was a perfect throw. Posada was out by a mile. They probably should have held him up.
Actually, it was up the first base line a bit.
It didn’t take a perfect throw to get him…it was not a good idea. When it takes a poor throw or a dropped catch to ensure that the runner will score, you made a bad decision.
Terrible call.
Considering he was out by at least 10 feet, no. Especially when you have Jeter coming up.
bad call. Posada touched third as anderson threw in short left.
Posada is so freaking slow…
That was terrible baserunning. Sending Posada, should have picked a slower guy. Terrible Terrible.
Yanks are working themselves out of a win. Looks like LA all over again,
I HATE GETTING THROWN OUT AT HOME!
Dammit
Can we please not lose another game due to Posada’s crawl?
Oh, come the fuck on. You’re going to blame having a slow catcher for this game? Really??
Yes, horrible roster building by Cashman for not having a starting catcher with quick feet
Hah, no.
It’s a poorly worded expression of frustration. I’m not blaming Posada–I’m blaming fate for putting him on second base for Jeter’s single against the Angels on Sunday and for him not being held up tonight.
PHRANCHISE!!!!!!!!
GO HUGHES!!! SHOW WHY THE COACHING STAFF IS A BUNCH OF ‘TARDS!
And Coke is already up. Wouldn’t want to use Hughes for more than one batter!
Mariel Checo is now my new favorite Yankee prospect.
por que?
I SWEAR TO GOD GIRARDI. SIT COKE THE FUCK DOWN
But they have a LEFTY!!!!!!
And Bruney can totally pitch well now, right?
Susyn is talking about the late life on Hughes’ fastball…I’m pretty sure he throws a straight fastball, that was one of the complaints with him.
I hate Susyn and John….so much…..
He doesn’t throw a straight fastball.
That was one of the manufactured knocks on him when he was throwing 89MPH meatballs and nibbling all the time.
Wrong. He has some nice cut action on his fastball (it’s not VERY noticeable on TV). That’s why he gets a LOT of foul balls.
Last year, ‘Phil Hughes syndrome’ was the ability to get into a 2 strike count but not finish a hitter off. Hitters were fouling off his fastball but NOT putting it into play.
97 ?? damn.
Lightning in the Bronx
Um, wow, Phil 97 on Gameday…
Damn, acccording to gameday, Hughes just threw a 97mph fastball to Polanco.
wow, way too slow.
Why Girardi must you waste such a talent in Hughes. I want this kid in the rotation NOW!
DAMMIT GO INSIDE
Wow Phil Hughes.