It’s easy to forget that Andy Pettitte began the 2009 season as the No. 5 starter. After a stellar April he’s put up a few clunkers, causing a rabble among Yankees fans. That’s what No. 5 starters do, though. They’re going to get smacked around here or there. If they didn’t, they’d be billed as a No. 4 starter. So while we groan during games like Andy’s last start, we also get up and cheer when he posts a seven-inning, two-run effort. That was enough for the Yankees tonight, as they relied on the long ball to down the Mariners 4-2, ticking off their seventh straight win.
Pettitte used just 98 pitches in his seven innings, striking out five Mariners while walking just one. Even better, while he allowed six hits, he only faced runners in scoring position in two innings. The Mariners went 0 for 5 in those situations. On a nostalgic note, Ken Griffey Jr. hit career home run No. 621, a line drive to right. It’s a bit strange seeing him back in blue and teal, though he looks quite different than he did in his first Seattle stint.
The rejuvenated bullpen closed out the game with ease, with Aceves and Coke combining for a perfect eighth, and Mariano capping it with career save No. 502. Here’s to June’s magic rubbing off onto July.
Chicks dug Johnny Damon, Melky Cabrera, and especially Alex Rodriguez last night. All three homered, accounting for all four Yankees runs. Johnny Damon got things started with a lazer to right in the third for the first score of the game. The Mariners tied the game in the next frame, but Melky Cabrera came back in the fifth with a contested home run. Apparently this was too close to call at home. From my vantage point, which was perfect, the ball was clearly fair. There was so little question that I was actually a bit ticked when the umps went to review. All ended well, though, and the Yanks took the lead again. It wouldn’t last long, as Ken Griffey worked his magic a half-inning later.
A half-inning after his former teammate tied the game, Alex Rodriguez put one out to center field, far past the reach of Franklin Gutierrez, who gave it a valiant effort. That was a two run shot, and even though it was just the sixth inning at the time it felt like icing on the cake. One more inning from Andy, Hughes, Mo. Of course, we didn’t get Hughes, but it all worked out just the same.
Andy Pettitte is now 8-3 with a 4.25 ERA. If I asked you in February if you’d be happy with that at this point, I’m sure you’d have said yes. I’d say there’s no better fifth starter in the league, but with the way Wang’s been pitching, Andy is certainly the No. 4. Which just goes to show that these No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 assignments are largely meaningless. Pitch well. That’s all. Pettitte did that tonight, and the Yanks tallied yet another win. I’ll take it every time.
Just win baby
On a nostalgic note, Ken Griffey Jr. hit career home run No. 621, a line drive to right. It’s a bit strange seeing him back in blue and teal, though he looks quite different than he did in his first Seattle stint.
Ken Griffey looks old. That’s what I keep thinking when the YES cameras land on his face. When did that happen? I remember the fervor over his rookie card back in 1989. Time flies.
Think he’s done after this year?
The Kid’s hitting .219 with a .332 OBP. That’s a great IsoD, but beyond his power, he’s not offering up much. He can’t really be depending on to play the outfield. Unless the Mariners are treading water next year and Griffey really wants to play, he should probably hang it up. He’ll be 40 come Opening day 2010.
It’s always seemed to me that players who were as ridiculously good as Griffey was have a tough time telling themselves the ride is over, even when all the signs point to retirement. They always seem to feel that they have that one last good season in them and they’re determined to see it, however futile that might be.
It does not get much better than playing baseball for a living. As long as a team wants him, I would play if I were him. He can still be an effective pinch hitter and occasional outfielder. I would have the “you have to tear the uniform off me” attitude if I were a ML player.
I get that, but he’s a HOF player, do you really want the last 2-3 years of your career as a .225 hitter turned part time pinch hitter?
Meh, the HoF is packed to the gills with guys who had a tail end as a .225 batting part time pinch hitter.
The guys who walk away before the decline kicks into serious mode are few and far between, especially amongst Hall members.
Paul O’Neill.
You know when I knew that Griffey is old, after the last 2 days, I notice he had a big ass gut. I was like wow Griffey, the times have come and gone quickly.
621! If only he hadn’t lost those years to injuries we could be witnessing history.
That’s part of the reason why those real records were so special. Ted Williams had a shot at it, too. But he lost a few years in his prime to serve in the WW2 as a fighter pilot.
AND Korea. The Splinter was amazing.
That’s the intriguing thing… say he goes on a mini-tear and hits 15 homers in the second half. Finishes around the 635 mark.
If he’s 25 homers away from Willie Mays at season’s end, and his body feels okay, I could see him coming back for one more run.
Griffeys is the kind of guy not motivated by records or chasing people like Mays. He won’t come back for that.
Says you.
Funny thing about his injuries is how suddenly they transformed him. Second half of his career is sharply demarcated and markedly different from the first. He played an awful lot of baseball as a young guy. I wonder if there should be some kind of Verducci thingie for position players to protect hamstrings.
Yes. The Verducci Rule for position players would be “Don’t run full speed into the outfield wall and then leap and plant your cleats into it and snap your ankle in half.”
addendum: hwile in midair do not try to cushion crash into outfield wall with glove hand at awkward angle.
Ken Griffey is washed up. The real superstar in tonight’s game was Alex Rodriguez who is the better player and hasn’t been injured every other season. As Alex Rodriguez goes, so do the Yankees.
Ah shit, I didn’t notice you said the same thing.
“Ken Griffey is washed up.” I agree. But we’re talking about Ken Griffey junior here.
[rimshot]
I’m going tomorrow night, hopefully to see a sweep
Yet, alex never hits a clutch HR lol
go ahead home run two nights in a row? please, anyone could do that. where was he back in that game they lost, huh?
he only hit clutch HRs now to get his name in the paper, selfish if you ask me
He only gets clutch hits against crap teams. He turns off his clutchness when facing Boston or during the playoffs when it’s tougher to pad his stats… :rolleyes:
Yeah, against Boston he only hits clutch doubles.
yeah but then he lets the bullpen blow it. selfish prick.
As Alex goes, so do the Yanks. We’ve seen that many times. He was cold, we had a bad record. He’s hitting well, we are winning.
This what I mean:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/07.....t_alex.jpg
Alex is so damn selfish. He didn’t get much credit the game before for putting us up by 2 as Bruney blew it and Melky got the attention for putting us ahead. Today, Melky puts us ahead but Andy blows and Alex put us up by 2 again so the headline is all about him. And he padded his stats by scoring and getting 2 RBIs with the HR inctead hitting like a double or triple or something. SO DAMN SELFISH!!!
Here’s to June’s magic rubbing off onto July.
Eh, I don’t know. We didn’t have a GREAT June. It just ended really well. However, here’s hoping our streak and end of June magic rubbing off into July and beyond.
Meant the bullpen.
I would have thought Hughes would have pitched the 8th. Wasn’t he warming up in the pen?
A-Rod is such a selfish player. If he were a true Yankee, he would have pitched the 8th inning in a close game…
He started warming when Aceves went in. He was “break glass in case of emergency.”
Girardi said in the post game he didn’t use Hughes or Bruney because he wanted to match-up.
I think what’s impressing me about Melky so far this year is that a lot of his HR’s are LOOOONG, it’s not like he’s getting by on cheapies. in fact, the SECOND longest HR hit this year for the team is by Melky, a 432 feet bomb off Brett Anderson. from the right side too.
He has 3 HR over 400 feet this year and 2 more at 390 ish. that’s pretty impressive. and kinda what I was hoping for in the good case development of Cabrera. that his power will come out more. We know he can make pretty decent contact. if the powers come, he’ll be a more legit player.
in comparason. he’s showing around the same / a bit more pop than Damon this year if we look at the distances of the HR. Damon’s longest is 422, and he has a bout 6 past 390 mark.
But yeah, I can’t complain about Damon really learning how to use that porch there
Really rooting for Melky. I want the guy who was able to hit .280 with an OPS+ of 95 at age 21 playing full time in the majors, not the imposter who has been in his uniform the last 2 years. He’s OPS+’ing over 100 now. With good D, he’s a legit full time player.
Just be happy hes doing what hes doing right now. he’ll never be an all star and hes a corner outfielder without the huge bat. You have a good team if hes your 4th OF.
I hope Gardy has a good year.
Alex has been awesome since getting some time off. Hopefully Girardi sees this and sticks to the plant his time.
Coincidence? He got a whopping 2 days of rest, I think. More likely he just is coming out of a slump.
Probably both.
Three cheers for Russell Branyan. Or four?
Dammit! I forgot to mention the Golden Sombrero.
Heh. Jason Bay’s line yesterday:
0-5, 5K
so 3 strike outs is the hat trick, and 4 is the golden sombrero
what do we call 5? Platinum Yarmulke?
Diamond-encrusted Fez?
Emerald Royal Canadian Mountie Stetson?
Palladium Qeleshe?
Plutonium Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat
What is Turd Bergesen’s favorite drink? A BAYbreeze. Get it Baybreeze. hahahahah Because he swung and missed..so..many..times that he created a lot of wind…..hahahaha…I slay me.
It’s an oversized hat. It’s funny.
yeah that’s my name. turd ferguson. get it. heh thats funny
http://www.instantcrickets.com/
What’s crazy is that ARod has a .401 OBP despite having a .215 BABIP and he has a .324 career BABIP so he could get a lot better.
The Seattle lineup may be worse than the Mets at this point. The only sad part about this streak is that it really should be in double digits right now because we did play the Nats and Fish before.
marlins are a second place team with one of the best starters in the nl. ppl keep sleepin on the fish yo, like, fo real.
I say fish win the NL East.
i would LOVE to see that
florida team era – 4.39
yankees team era – 4.44
florida marlins’ division – nl east
yankees division – al east
Florida home stadium – grand canyon
Yankee home stadium – the biggest disgrace in baseball /Gammons
Don’t complain now.
I love how you pooh-pooh every single Yankee opponent when we’re victorious. In Bo’s eyes, every time the Yankees win, it’s some sort of lucky miracle because the other team sucks/was hurt/isn’t a legit measuring stick.
Do you have a template for this stuff, Bo? Just insert team name here, cut, paste, click “Add comment” button?
Bo doesn’t know.
jack cause bo can’t rap
I just checked the game thread and didn’t see anything about this, but did anyone notice that asian kid who got clocked in the face by Melky’s HR ball last night? I was out during the game and was watching the rerun last night when I got home and noticed it. Right after he hit the bomb they showed where it landed and I saw this asian guy touching what appeared to be a cut under his left eye. Then when they showed the replays of the HR, you could clearly see him reach up to catch the ball and completely miss and hit him in the face! The ball literally would’ve landed in his seat if he wasn’t sitting there. But instead of going home with the ball, he has a nice shiner for the 4th.
At least it was a home run ball and not a foul ball.
That ball Melky hit was CRUSHED. I couldn’t believe ‘lil Melk hit that.
It was hooked. Has alot to do with it.
off-subject: All-Star voting ends today. Youkilis is leading Teix…vote now!