Game 108: Taking it to the Sox
ByWhat better way to forget about those first eight games against the Red Sox than to beat them in the opener of this four-game series? It’s what the Yankees need at this point. Not only to put those earlier games behind them, but to continue rolling. They enter the game winners of three straight, and other than a three-game blip against the White Sox over the weekend have been playing incredibly since the All-Star Break.
The Yanks will take their hacks against John Smoltz, who has not lived up to expectations so far. What the expectations were for a 42-year-old coming off major shoulder I have no idea, but the Sox — their fans, at least — were talking it up like they were getting a bona fide ace in June. It hasn’t quite worked out that way, as Smoltz has allowed 50 hits and 29 runs in 36.2 innings. Smoltz’s peripherals, including a 6:1 K/BB ratio, have been good, but he allows too many hits. Worse for the Sox, he’s prone to the big inning. That’s a good thing for the Yanks.
Smoltz has gone six innings just twice this year, each time allowing five runs. His best start was a five-inning, one-run performance against the Royals in which he struck out seven. But those are the Royals. These are the Yankees, with arguably the best offense in baseball. We all know what they should do. If they can put it together, they should be able to hit Smolz.
On the other end is Joba, who has had a mixed bag against Boston this season. He allowed nine hits and walked four in his first outing against them, lasting just 5.1 innings. He limited the damages to two runs, one earned, but the Yankees would lose the game late. I need not recount that one.
The next time out Joba got off to a horrible start, allowing the first five men to reach base without recording an out, staking the Red Sox to a 4-0 lead. To say he settled down would be an understatement. Joba went nuts after that, striking out 12 Red Sox in the innings two through six, though he only lasted two outs into the last frame. That’s understandable: those strikeouts take a lot of pitches to attain. Yet the Yankees could not come back from that initial four-run deficit.
After a shaky few starts leading up to the break, Joba has been tremendous over his three post-break starts, going 3-0 with just two runs allowed over 21.2 innings. That includes just eight hits, though he has also walked eight in that span. Still, it’s a WHIP under 1.00. The Yankees need him to set the tone for this series. It’s a lot to ask from a young pitcher, but Joba is no ordinary 23-year-old.
There are a lot of things I want to see tonight: Joba throwing a chest-high fastball inside to Youkilis, Teixeira and A-Rod going back-to-back off Smoltz, the Yanks running all over Jason Varitek, and plenty more. But what I want to see the most — really, hear the most — is the Yankee Stadium crowd going crazy. I’ve been to a bunch of games this year, and yet to have the same feeling as I did in the old Stadium. In big games against the Sox in August, September, and October, that place was rocking. When Jorge Posada hit that double off Pedro in the 2003 ALCS, the place shook. That would make this really feel like the home park.
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
And on the mound, number sixty-two, Joba Chamberlain.
332 Comments
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The Mason Williams Watch
Tex and A-Rod going back-to-back would be so incredibly incredible that it’d be incredibly awesome and incredible.
Incredible.
lefites are hitting over .390 against Smoltz. and he has to face
Damon, Tex, Matsui, Posada, Cano, Swish, Melky, damn
Even though they’ve been scuffling Boston always plays us tough. I’d be fine with a split, anything more than that is gravy baby.
Ditto.
In Addition to that Damon and Tex are next to eachother in the lineup and then Matsui, Posada, Cano, Swisher and Melky are are bunched up together. That is MURDER!
whoops I fail, replied to wrong post.
Pulling a Mike Pop.
Dick
Who wins tonight? I’m going with 4-2 Yanks.
If we don’t put up at least 6 on Smoltz I’ll be surprised.
I just hope this isn’t the start where Smoltz starts to right himself.
Ditto.
It is true that many of his peripherals suggest he’s a victim of bad luck, but I’m hoping that it’s really just that he’s giving up screaming liners all over the field.
What’s interesting is that his LD% (17.1) is below his career number (20.1). His FB%, however, is at 38.2 (33.5 for his career) and as a result, his HR/FB is up from 8.9% to 12.8%.
16-12 Sox.
i’m a masochist…i keep coming back for this shit…
Youklis in LF? Interesting.
As much as it would hurt to see him rob a homerun to LF, I think it would be fucking funny to see him attempt to jump and grab one over the wall.
I feel so honored that the Yankees get to face the unbelievably classy John Smoltz. I can only imagine that the Yankees, themselves, feel like they are better people because of it. I’m actually hoping that punk “Joba”, gets his just desserts and gets knocked around tonight. After all, John Smoltz is so classy that he shits textbooks.
/Jason at IIATMS’d
I think we really underestimate how awesome it is to have four solid switch hitters in our line up: Tex, Posada, Swisher, Melky.
What’s more, with Melky hitting well from the right side this year, they can both do damage from both sides of the plate.
The lineup tonight is a tough one for a righty pitcher. But if they were to bring in a lefty, you’re looking at a lineup that would be just as tough.
Finally, there are no back to back lefties or back to back righties in the lineup. Another huge plus.
This lineup is like a reversible Starter jacket. (Kickin’ it old school for those from my generation).
So Jeets is only 51 hits away from tying Lou Gehrig for #1 on the Yankees’ all-time hit list.
Crazy, huh?
Will Carroll asked me earlier why is it that Yankee fans are so quick to equate Mo with G-d but not Jeter…
You know what? That’s a fantastic question.
Because Jeter is the G-d of GIDP’s.
Just joking… kind of.
Because there are times when you watch Mo, that you realize he’s simply on a higher level than everyone.
I had no idea he was that close; I thought, before looking up the numbers, that he’d need another season to do it. He can definitely do it this year. He’d need to end up with 186 hits and that’s totally doable for the Cap’n.
he wins game five of the WS against the Cubs with that hit…
If we don’t win tonight We could be in trouble with Beckett going Friday and then if we are down 0-2 Clay Pots will pitch the game of his life because we’ll be so demoralized after being 0-10 that we’ll fall apart and then by the time Lester comes on Sunday we’ll be out for the count. God I hope I’m wrong!
Arod is definitely going to snap his homerless streak tonight. No I’m not jinxing him, I just know it to be true.
Play today, win today, das it.
That’s really all there is to it. Tonight might be the biggest game of the season, and it’s okay for me to day it b/c I’m just a fan….
papi will address his situation on saturday before the game, according to espn
No habla ingles?
Tainted Chicken to go along with his rice and beans.
Rocco Baldelli on the DL again. Remember when people wanted him to play CF for the Yanks full time?
SOB. I’ve been waiting all day for the game and I find out it’s on My9…Damn you Verizon and your lack of My9! Words cannot express how disappointed I am.
It’s on MLB Network too.
I feel your pain I am at work until 9 with no way of getting my infor other than here Pete Abe or the painfully slow yahoo sports my POS cpu at work can’t even run mlb gameday
Yay.
Whoa. A sign in the stadium!
Ellsbury sure can move. Of course, that doesn’t help when you hit a grounder directly at Cano.
Joe P, were you at the 2003 Game 7 ALCS? Thats awesome if so.
dammit – the ump looks like he’s gonna be squeezing joba tonight…
really..
Damon played that horribly
I hate that little fuck. Also, the Johnny Damon adventures on defense.
I can’t tweet this, but Pedroia’s cup–or, um, you know–looks artificially huge.
His crotchal region?
Yeah, that.
he’s a small guy give him a break ; )
C’mon Joba, strikes.
Unintentional, intentional walk to get to youkilis? Me no think so.
Strikes would be nice.
Thought that was 3-0.
your bat is way too slow for joba, papi
Nice and easy. There you go Jobber.
cmon Jobber
You did steroids
CLAP CLAP CLAP!!!
SO DID OUR THIRD BASEMAN! AND EX FIRST BASEMAN AND A COUPLE PITCHERS!!
That post
_____
Your head
apparently.
Alright boys, time for some hate crimes against an old person.
IETC(IMP)
Stop complaining you juiced up tard
Nice. Now let’s make John Smoltz wish he was on a golf course somewhere in Arizona.
Agreed.
No Ks? DFA.
Are you mad! Put him in the bullpen to sort him out!
there ya go but more strikes and efficiency please
Strike Youk out on my berfday Jobber
Happy day kiddo.
Happy B-day yo.
sorry they don’t offer that anymore…would you take a win as a substitution instead?
…with a side order of brush back Youk no matter what all those people said in the previous article!
Prediction (ok more of a wish) Joba’s last time against Youk or Papi, he drills one of them. YEAH!!!!!
What was Ortiz gabbing about to the umpire?
Umpire said every pitch is a strike because he used roids.
“hey…they put something in my beans…i’m on your side…i said ban them for a year…no habla ingles…”
Yeah, that’s definitely not a vintage John Smoltz slider.
HOW CAN WE WIN?? Joba throws teh same velocity as a 42 year old!!!!
HERE COME THE LEFTIES!!!!!!
is o’neill saying shmoltz?
Yes – LOL
Shmoke and a pancake?
Bong and a blintz?
damn, at least Damon worked a long AB
smoltz has nothing
That slider looks more like a cutter.
Smoltz is so good he could throw multiple pitches at once. Its an ability only Boston pitchers can have.
A-Rod, what’s the deal. Looking at two flat-ass sliders.
why is a-rod a guess hitter?
Smoltz has hung a couple of sliders this inning… time to blast that soon?
Just feeling him out. Yanks always seem to just take take take when they see a guy for the first time, then pounce next time through the order.
Man, that was a hanger A-Rod.
So Gameday has a fairly high amount of these balls as strikes, on both sides. Seems that the zone is about an inch or two up and outside, depending on the lefty, righty. But it seems consistent on both sides, oddly enough.
What the hell are you looking for. Cmon ARod.
Oy.
Nice pitch. Should have swung.
Damnit A-Rod
Ugh!
…. fastballs and hanging sliders down the middle equals K’s today.
damnit, swing Alex. He’s been K’ing looking a lot lately
Guess-hitting at it’s worst…
Atleast that inning took Smoltz 24 pitches to get through
there’s a big positive. It’d be nice to get him out around the 5th or so.
That was not the ten-run inning I was looking for.
this better not be one of those games where we take a guy who has been throwing BP all year make him CY Young and restore his season I just might break my TV if he goes 7 strong tonight and I have to hear Gammons and company
He threw 24 pitches that inning and the Yanks didn’t even get a hit. It’s going to be a long night for Shmoltz. I guarantee.
Joba, how about you relax on that whole giving up extra base hits business.
Joba’s fastball coming in at a Smoltz-like 92mph
It’s “Shmoltz” with an ‘H’.
Ahh, you can’t spell your own name either Paul O’Neill?
damnit…I Joba can give us some innings today
Ugh. Umpire.
The umpire is doing a terrible job calling strikes.
Come on Joba.
Why are they treating Mike Lowell like he’s a good hitter?
Your guess is as good as mine.
Maybe because he’s batting .296.
Joba painted the corner on 2 of those 3 balls
he is missing by centimeters! (still in Toronto/metric mode)
Joba getting squeezed big-time
Wow wtf, where are these pitches missing?
they arent
Im watching the gamecast along with the tv and 4 of the 6 pitches to Lowell were in the strikezone…not even borderline balls.
Each of those four balls could/should have been called strikes. Makes me sick.
Only a matter of time before the homeplate umpire is not allowed to call balls and strikes anymore. Automated machines will take over. Their failure rate is way more than it should be.
5 strikes in that at bat according to game day. 5.
Two balls in the Lowell at bat were actually strikes.
wow! I hate umpires this year!
The ump is rattling Joba…
Strike zone’s a Pringles can.
This umpire is making no sense as far as consistency now. Those last two strikes were called balls in the previous at bat. Same place.
Sox acquire — another white guy with a beard. Go figure.
Before VMart, every single starting position player, every single starting pitcher and their closer were white guys with scruff or a beard.
Funny.
Ughhhhhhhhhh. Stop joking around right now Kay Singy and Pauly, Joba is having some minor issues that should be discussed. I’m so tired of the bullshitting.
wow. its the 2nd inning. i think youre gonna blow a gasket by the 7th.
heh. if we get some runs. I may make it.
talk about pitch count, joba needs some outs
DP right here baby. Let’s go.
K Girardi get ejected now. Then we’ll get our 10 run inning while you insult this disgrace of an ump.
So happy to show off that arm, that Melky!
Or as Flaherty would say, “Melky is proud of his fastball”
DP is in order, and Jed Lowrie is up. Hopefully Joba can settle down.
Hope Joba picks up the slug-like pace.
they are trying to convince him hes the Joba of old, he’ll realize he’s not soon
That ball was just gunned by Melk
Stupid My9 poll question. Yankees-Dodgers, easy.
Agreed.
Haha melky was very proud of himself.
need a DP for Joba’s pitch count here…
The good Joba is starting to appear!
This is the easy out. Get it done Joba.
Froze ‘em!
Dialing it up…
96 on the black. Go back on the DL, Lowrie. Whiplash.
Take a seat Jed.
Nice pitch.
HELL YEAH STRIKE OUT.
LET’S HAVE 20 MORE.
Do my eyes deceive me? The ump called someone out on a borderline pitch? He must be mistaken, he must think the Red Sox are pitching.
I’ve never seen a player with batting globes on, have a pair in his pocket.
gonna be a loong night all arond
Good grief, strikeout Lowrie on three pitches, 3-0 count to freaking Ellsbury.
It’s crap though, should have been 2-2 after four pitches. I give Joba credit for battling back with a bs strikezone.
I think our bullpen has more innnings in it than their’s.
3-2 slider. Calling it.
Told ya. Go Jobber.
Correct.
Get this dude out.
Ugh lets walk Ellsbury to load them up for PEDroia. Great idea!
Full count? I call a slider down and in.
Please let Ellsbury wave at it.
Right about the pitch, wrong about the location. 8 pitch inning for the 3rd?
Yes!
BEASTTTTT
JOBA MANIA JOBA MANIA
Sit down prettyboy
Joba likes to fuck with our minds
It’s his Job-a.
Fuck yeah Joba!
Yeah Joba!
Nice! That’s the way you take down a motherfuck&r!
You are invited to my next birthday party lol
Thanks! But let it be known, I give crappy gifts…
Awesome crowd tonight as well
there ya go Jobber…but consistency please! I would like 7 strong but now 6 would be OK too
Joba pumped up, Jorge pumped, Me pumped. Let’s send Schmoley to the showas.
Considering Joba’s pitch count, Smoltz’s meatballs, and the zone, let’s put some digits on the board!
Joba got the early foibles out of the way without damage. It’s trouble for them here on out.
Yes, Joba. Just like that. Again and again and again.
Let’s get a bit of breathing room here and score a couple 3 runs
NY getting generous check swing strike calls.
I don’t like Joba’s strike-zone seems a little big
I bet I can predict how the top of the 3rd will play out.
We should be winning by 2 runs
——
BoSox Message Board
They have no right to complain about bad umps. The “ball beat you but the tag didn’t” sums it up perfectly.
cmon offense break out!
needs more hot chicks.
MOTHERFUCKER Twitter went down again.
hackers.
Went down for me, too. Rat bastard hackers.
Working for me.
Spoke too soon.
Hacker!
Please someone break up Smoltz’s no-hitter. lol
nice mouth :0
Why does it seem like the Yankees are aimed at fouling off pitches all night. Lets get Swisher up so someone can start swinging like it’s Ortiz Ballroom Dancing Night
Surprised Smoltz didn’t get that call.
Squeeze going both ways.
Let’s be fair, he is calling a tiny zone for both teams.
Yep, definitely.
Absolutely. Fair is fair. Posada should have Ked on 5th pitch.
Posada needed that.
“Jorge Posada singles on a line drive to left fielder Kevin Youkilis” Should be seeing a few more of those.
Damn, just checked 42 pitches for Joba already
Thank Mo that Posada didn’t double there or Cano wouldn’t have been able to get a hit to save his life
Dave Roberts is bitching on NESN that ‘players around the league believe Yankees get a different strike zone just because they wear pinstripes”
Hate NESN now w/o Remy doing the games. Although Eck is pretty good and fair.
MLB Network for me tonight since no My9 broadcast on package. Nice to listen to Jim Kaat again since he is doing game on MLB Network.
this is one of the main reasons i hate the red sox, those cry babies. by players he means people he made up
Slide?
Reason 1,000,000,000 why NESN sucks.
he’s right…it’s 2″ smaller on all sides…
Too bad it’s Posada on first — VMart doesn’t exactly have a cannon.
Nomaas’ twitter post: “Eat Joba’s arse.”
love these at-bats
so demoralizing for a pitcher
Clearly Smoltz isn’t right, since he just walked Cano (!) on a 3-2 pitch.
Everytime Cano BB, a cancer patient is saved.
Holy shit. YES/My9 bought a radar gun that actually works.
Swish, punish him.
Cano walks! It’s a miracle!
39 pitches for Smoltz. 4 outs… the Yankees must realize how taxed Boston’s bullpen was from that game in Tampa Bay.
FYI, still at work so listening on mlb radio. This pair is tough to listen to.
I feel your pain. Im home but cant watch on TV because my blood pressure will rise too high.
SLIDE!
what the hell was that?????
Really?
What the hell???? Slide Jorge SLIDE!!!
POSADA WHY THE FUCK DID YOU NOT SLIDE?!?!
What the hell was that, Jorge? Get down!
POSADA ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??????????
WHY DIDN”T HE SLIDE?!?!?!
jesus
Slide much?
Why would you send him with one out?
Sending him was the right call. Not sliding…rookie mistake from a guy like Posada.
It took two great throws and he STILL would have been safe if had only slid into home.
WOW… SLIDE!
39 pitches through first 7 batters, and only 4 outs.
WTF!
you gotta slide jorge!
WTF Posada!!! You fuckin pussy.
Jorge, WTF! No slide?
Wow Posada. If im Girardi, I gotta bark on Posada.
Did Melky tell him to slide?
Terrible.
What was that!?!?
Melky, looks like it’s up to you.
Since when is Jeremy Giambi catching for us?
You have to be kidding me.
This is going to turn into a battle of the bullpens rather quickly. Not very ideal considering Hughes isn’t available. Hopefully Melancon can give us some great stuff tonight
And that’s why they’re 0-8 against the Sox.
waaay too many mental mistakes…
Swisher hasn’t done anything dumb yet… yet.
Now come on now.
Unbelievable. Melky even said get down! WTF. Posada is too seasoned to do something like. So frustrating.
Posada… IM DONE!!!!
we better not lose 1-0
Thanks Jorge.
OK. I’m about sick of Posada, these days. Hip-Hip…chirp chirp
Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!
Smolz is fucking lucky yo.
If Jorge doesnt kill us with the DP he kills us with the baserunning…
Those are the kinds of mistakes that the Yankees dont need to make in this series.
wow… speechlessly yelling at the TV…
Since I can’t remember Jorge doing something that boneheaded before, I’m gonna give him a pass for a brain fart. But that was in fact awful…
posada continues to show why hes the worst baserunner in baseball
He graduated with honors from the Jeremy Giambi School of Scoring-at-Home
slowest game ever
Sheesh … Posada knows better than not to slide there. Just tuned into MLB network as they were showing the replay. Fail.
wtf
There is no excuse for not sliding. He is turning into a full blown Pu**y. I always said he was half but now he is a whole.
Is he scared of getting hurt? What the hell is it? You can’t make mistakes like that against the Red Sox. Its hard enough to score runs against this team. Fcuk.
that was incredible.
Imagine if Swisher did that
if it’s 1-0 yankees only 2 outs, First and Second, Jeter’s up… and the HOT Johnny Damon is up next… i don’t want to think about it.
only 1 out
Posada got his big contract, now why bother sliding.
he better hit a HR to make up for that brainfart next time he comes up…jerkoff
can someone please give me a detailed description of Posada’s play?
And according to LoHud this is all Melky’s fault!
Melky did absolutely nothing to signal to posada to slide. If we lose this game by one run I’m going to be so heated.
i’m pretty sure melky signaled the slide
Blaming the wrong guy here, manimal. Posada looked over his shoulder at Pedroia and didn’t slide despite Melky’s motions.
just like that redsox 1-0. thanks jorge…
wtf here come’s the flood
Are you kidding me?
I read last week that Pedroia had never hit one out to right. And on 0-2 no less. Argh.
god dammit
Fuck this shit. I fucking hate pedroia
LOL.
MVP. Throws out the pu**y at the plate and now hits a HR.
The only stadium where Pedroia can hit an opposite field homer.
And that’s a 2 run swing rite there.
Great… love how momentum works… Posada is a bonehead and Boston comes right up with a homerun.
Why am I not surprised….
Baserunning looks like we’re still in May.
damnit! I just saying to my friend that I hope PEdroia doesnt HR after 0-2 there and he did…damn me for thinking that!
Don’t get rattled Joba. No worries. Its a cheapie HR. Keep the fast pace up and keep throwing strikes. We’ll get some runs against graybeard.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say this game won’t end 1-0.
Pedroia better watch his ass next AB
0-10 tomorrow means I can’t listen to 660AM tomorrow at work. It will be unbearable to listen to. What’s there to do then?
They’re playing two tonight?
…work?
If we lose due to one bonehead baserunning error and letting little ole pedroia go yard opposite field i will be so p.o.
God damn I hate these games
Regain your composer Joba.
Joba’s song writer too?
Blood pressure rising. Even gameday is getting me mad. Calling it a night with no baseball.
Dude, this crowd better not get out of the game. There’s something to be said about home field advantage. Its only 1-0. They should start putting cocaine in people’s drinks as soon as the Yankees are down.
Close one. Get a DP.
Wow, Joba not gonna make 5 innings at this rate
STFU Youkilis.
FAKE IT!!! JUST LIKE ORTIZ DOES WITH HIS WORDS!!
Cheater
nice to see bruce willis in the crowd he’s beem filming his new movie right near my house the past few weeks
This contact is killing me.
Simmer down, Joba.
As Zach Galifianakis would say, Kevin Youkilis is a “rah-tard”
This is getting scary…
Come on Joba seriously.
Can’t get RAB to load on firefox.
Working fine for me.
Joba is a mess. 60 pitches already.
in my nightmare last night it was better than this
…what is it about these games? I’m ready to beat my brains out in the third inning.
nice DP
GIDPED.
Oh.
Thank you, Papi!
shutup about steroids…..
we’re winning this game
confidence level high
how unexpected. joba gets into a rut. fucking a. anyone have directtv wtf is this… signals out
Anyone else having trouble with this site tonight? My computer is taking FOREVER to refresh.
Okay…time for them to clear the first 2.5 innings from their minds and put some ABs together