Game 127: Another series, please
ByAs they’ve been so many times this season, the Yankees are in a position to win yet another series. They’ve split the first two with the Rangers, and today’s rubber match finds them with the pitching advantage. For a fuller look at the pitching matchup, you can check out our Rangers series preview.
Beyond the pitching match-up, there’s not much to talk about today. Molina was playing today whether Jorge got hit last night or not. Call it a conspiracy if you will, but Jorge rarely catches day games after night games anyway. He’ll more than likely be behind the dish when Burnett makes his next start Tuesday in Baltimore. He could get a few more days off — with a day game after a night game on Saturday, we could see Molina catch CC tomorrow night.
Looks like Gritt Girtner could be back before long. He took swings off a tee today and hopes to play in a rehab game early next week. With Melky in a slump (though, in his defense, he’s hit some balls hard right at some defenders lately), the Yanks would probably love to go back to their quasi-platoon. It seemed they got the most out of both players that way.
And finally, they’re going to have such beautiful babies.
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. Melky Cabrera, CF
9. Jose Molina, C
And on the mound, number thirty-four, A.J. Burnett.
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The Tyler Austin Watch
I turn on the pregame and the first thing I hear is Lorenz talking about Brett Farve and the Vikings. What the hell.
Brad Penny has been released. The pickups of Penny and Smoltz have been nothing but good for the Sox who have the deepest rotation in baseball. Low risk, high reward indeed. The Yankees washed up lineup is no match.
this is like the 5th pitcher the yankees hitters have set down to the minors or have been let go by their team due to their dominance over them. Thats pretty awesome
Penny and Smoltz will provide a cheap one-two punch to counter the heavily priced Sabathia and Burnett.
Penny can’t be any worse than Sergio Mitre.
No, he’s better. But the Yankees are relying on Mitre to be their fifth starter, not their third starter as the Sox were with Penny.
technically he was their 5th before the season started; Beckett, Lester, DiceK, Wake, as the season went on he was their 3rd
True.
So when do the Yankees sign Penny?
I think Penny could be a great reliever, though he probably would not want to do that.
Eh, I don’t think he could miss enough bats to be an effective reliever; it’s ironic that he’s not more of a strikeout guy considering his stuff.
maybe jeters resurgence wasn’t because he worked hard this offseason or changed his approach at the plate.. maybe it’s all in thanks to minka kelly i mean chicks do dig the long ball.
Maybe this means 20 years from now we’ll have Jeter 2.0 at short. I’m pencilling 2029 in right now.
Gird yourself for the grittygutty Grit Gritner!
Go ahead. Try to say it 5x fast!
Woulda liked to see Hairston rewarded with a start in CF but oh well.
Beautiful babies?
Come on, I thought you guys understood the concept of regression to the mean.
Well, maybe the first two kids will be like 8.0 BARB (Beauty Above Replacement Baby) but then the rest will be like…2.0 BARB.
IETC.
IETC
Just in time! I had to go run some errands and thought I wouldnt make it back until 12 but I hurried back and made it at 11! I hate missing games.
lol “why did I throw that, WHY WHY WHY!”
Cone’s like “Fuck it. Loosen the tie and put up the sleeves before the game even starts.”
Hopefully the good AJ shows up.
A-rod’s in at 3rd? That’s good news for his injury
Peace, Julio.
81 pitches…Steve Nebraska style
79 pitches, Aaron Cook from 2007 (or 2008?) style
Jason Jennings was DFA’d today so thats one more pitcher we have ruined for now.
AJ lookin’ real good.
Too early but yea so far.
And also, it’s ALL thanks to Molina.
My sports history class was canceled today.
I feel watching this thursday day game is an appropriate substitute.
Was “Underwater Basket Weaving 101″ unavailable?
yep.
the sad thing is that it’s one of the last classes i need for my major.
our first test is on “Playing for Keeps: A History of Early Baseball”.
god bless arizona state schools.
Do you go to ASU? Lucky man if you do.
naw. Northern Arizona University.
but I’ve spent a lot of my time in Tempe.
for obvious reasons.
Sports history class?
/jealous
Doesnt NYU have a class about the Yankees?
I’m not sure, but it’s probable since they have a good sports management program.
Matt Leinart is that you?
IETC, ballroom dancer.
Peace, Josh. That breaking ball is looking real sharp.
Nasty.
Gimme 8 more of those AJ…9 strikes 2 balls
AJ proving he doesnt like Posada
/MSM making up news
Oh, you know that if he runs off 7 or 8 scoreless innings, it’s coming. Never mind the fact that he was actually putting up some stellar numbers with Posada over the last 2 months.
Sure, there seemed to be some issues, but it was completely blown out of proportion.
Does his stuff look as good as Gameday is showing?
Very much so.
It’s even better.
Good to hear.
This other guy has pretty good stuff, too. Anyone know the knock on him? I’d assume it’s control.
That was a very nice changeup to Tex.
cant do it back to back though
nice Damon
Damon’s out in wiffleball.
Going a little blimp happy there, aren’t you YES?
It’s actually Hank on a hanglider.
You guys should have seen the game on ESPN2 last night. It was brutal. 2 runners on and no outs for Posada…the announcers going “here’s a double play candidate…he’s extremely slow. Holland has the man he wants up right here” (not verbatim but very close) Posada followed that up by launching a bomb to straight away center field. Then there was a similar situation (2 on, no out) for Elvis Andrus who’s batting average is not that good…and they go “Pettitte is in some trouble here…Andrus could put 3 on the board with one swing of the bat”
Unbelievable. Not to mention they were talking about how great Holland pitched (4 earned runs) while insinuating that Andy was struggling “doesn’t have as good of stuff as he has of late.”
It was just horrible.
But you have to admit, it made it that much sweeter when they couldn’t wish the Sox, um, sorry, Rangers to victory.
Well then, thank God for YES. It’s best to avoid ESPN as often as possible. I do occasionally indulge and watch Sportscenter but for the most part, they make a crappy product.
Tex!!!!
No DP A-rod
Way to hook it, Tex. Good coverage.
Heh heh heh. Oh, and Damon almost got Beltre’d.
how was strike 2 to Alex a strike? oh well, as long as AJ gets that too
well alex will have to hit that change next time up
Any predictions, Dela?
i say the alex goes 2-4 today
You’re on! I say he gets 5 ABs, and ends up with one hit. He’ll hit a single to left-center.
let’s hope that single comes with RBI!
matsui, take the change
Is the strike zone as big as GameDay is making it seem?
Gamecast’s showing about the same.
Quality at-bat by Matsui. Shoulda traded him for a bag of balls or Jonathan Sanchez when they had the chance.
i would’ve preferred to trade him for his translator earlier in the season
i heard he had a “smoak type” bat
[/never gets old
Should’ve DFA’d him.
/Ace’d
Actually Ace went ahead and apologized for saying that and admitted he was wrong.
Ah, word.
I’ll admit – he’s having a much better season than I thought he would, mainly because he’s actually been able to stay relatively healthy. Sure, DHing has helped, but I wondered if even that would keep him healthy. He has 80 year-old man knees. Which is fine, if you crush the crap out of the ball.
Swisher only 4 more HRs to 25. Come on bring that # down to 3
He’s a machine. His plate appearances have become must see TV.
Best 4th OFer EVER
if alex rios was performing to his before contract abilities, i would grade him better, but swisher is the best
by far
damn it swisher, you can’t pass the baton to cano!
Yankees have only 1 grandslam this year. Come on Cano, make it 2
Who was it? Because I honestly don’t remember that granny…
Baseball-reference says it was Jose Molina…
I must be mistaken
I think it was JoMo
Nope, you’re right. He hit one April 28th against the Tigers. It is also his only HR on the year. It was in the Phil Hughes start during that series.
another bases loaded chance for Robbie! Cmon come through this time please and no DP.
2 outs.
oh yea heh
Guarantee no Dp.
Not even Robbie could hit into a DP with the bases loaded and 2 outs. Just messing with you.
Man, Robbie always seems to be up w/ RISP
That’s what happens with a lineup with this. Everyone comes up with RISP all the time. Even Melky.
Cano with RISP and two outs: .185 .224 .284
Nippert really likes to try to get ahead with that 4 seamer and then go right to the change from the look of Gameday. lol
damn, i thought cano had that
same here
Yeah I thought that one was going to drop in.
Pete Abraham’s next blog post:
“Robbie Cano hit another lazy fly ball to LF and can’t get it done with RSIP yet again.”
ah damn bad luck for Robbie again
we made Nippert throw 36 pitches though.
We desearved a lot more than we got from that inning.
He already threw 36 pitches.
Yeah, that’s nice. But Robbie hit that ball well…
damn, AJ not getting that outside corner
This is for AJ
http://www.anthromodernity.com.....esh010.jpg
HAHA! IETC
http://aumsri.sulekha.com/msto.....Ganesh.jpg
AJ looks nastay
HAHA!
wow AJ is on a mission today
I am at work and cant watch the game but is AJ’s curve really having the type of movement Gameday is showing? If so, that’s straight filthy…
It is moving like crazy.
He’s on today. Just filthy.
Wow, Burnett looks fantastic today.
where did that ball 2 miss???
who cares! got him out!
Stack and Tilt swing is all about you body weight being on the front side, not back.
/finally knowing something relevant’d
He lists the best second basemen but omits Utley in favor of Brian Roberts? Maybe he was talking about AL-only.
I hope so. Utley is (again) an MVP candidate this year. It’s ridiculous that people think Howard is more valuable to that team than Utley is.
He lists the best second basemen but omits Utley in favor of Brian Roberts? Maybe he was talking about AL-only.
Sorry about the trigger finger.
AJ getting squeezed a bit this inning because those are calls Nippert was getting
It certainly looks like that on Gameday.
Ok, I think that most here are very sane Yankee fans, even if they attack their own for getting too emotional.
Last night I was at the Rockies/Dodgers game to support the famed Mr. Torre and because I can’t stand these band wagon Rockies fans who bitch on talk radio about how poorly the team is doing and then only 37,000 show up when they are 1st in the WC and 2 games back.
So there is a 14 yr kid wearing his Sox jersey and cheering on Manny. Some dumb ass in a Yankee hat starts jawing with the kid, but after 2 exchanges, tells the kid he is going to come down there and kick his ass or if the kid wants he can meet him out on the concourse.
Now, I love a good Yanks/Sox back and forth, but seriously, threatening a 14 year old that most of us could knock over with a good belch, utterly disgusting. Thankfully, myself and another Yankee fan stood up and told the tool to shut up, turn in his Yankee fan card, as he was a disgrace.
Makes you think of “You stay classy, Mr. Yankee fan.”
There are assholes of every team affiliation. It’s unfortunate that our asshole Yankee fans seem to be publicized more than others.
i like this AJ
Give Melky a hit, he needs all the help he can get.
amen for that
BABIP luck for Melk!
Not to sound as random as Larry King, but Ranch flavored sunflower seeds are awesome.
I always preferred BBQ.
Nipperts keeps getting that inside call to righties/outside to lefties but AJ didnt last inning
annoys the eff outta me
great steal!
Gardner who?
Maybe we’ve found Good Melky.
Or lucky Melky.
Good point. Any timetable on Gardy’s return that you know of?
Rehab games next work, or so they hope. The minor league season ends in a week and a half, so they’re running out of time.
So hopefully less than two weeks. That’s not bad. Thanks, Mike.
But Melky’s been unlucky too.
That’s two stolen bags today. And people say this team relies on the homer.
nice Melky
Cabrera certainly isn’t the most graceful athlete on the field. He always looks so awkward out there.
Yea, he’s kinda chubby/thick too
Mary Careysayswhat?
I mean that he isnt in the best shape either. It’s not bad at all but he could be in better shape.
damn damon, even i knew the fastball was coming…
53 pitches are good atleast…hopefully hits with RISP come too
Well with ownage AJ we may not need it. But more runs is always preferred.
With the way Burnett is throwing, we may not need more runs!
Wow, I should hit the refresh button more often. Sorry, JWZ.
Does that “Bob’s Furniture” couch come with 911 support for heart attacks too?
this ump is making me mad, making AJ waste bullets
It definitely seems like Nippert’s zone is bigger than Burnett’s.
Pop is so not wearing pants right now.
Anyone else find it weird that we have only 1 grandslam this year (should be two but a-rod got robbed in the hefty bag)
HEY! If you were a hot dog, would you eat yourself?! ‘Cause I know I sure would!
Is that like the jr. high joke where the kid asks you if you’d suck your own dick if you could, and if you respond affirmatively, they scream, “You’re gay!”?
They mentioned Harry Cary so…
If you had said no I would’ve bitten your ear off.
Damn if only AJ was like this every start…
And I just noticed no Michael Kay to jinx whatever possible thing AJ may get.
amen
this strike zone is complete bs
Still cant believe you guys advocated for signing D Lowe over AJ and passing on Andy P.
All time backfires
i never advocated that
If Ozzie Smith is a Hall of Famer, Vizquel damn well better get in as well.
don’t worry, he will be there
Ozzie Smith was a feared hitter in a major motion picture. I don’t see that on Visquel’s resume!
No, no, no a thousand time No. Just because there are some questionable players in the Hall now, doesn’t mean there should be more in the future.
My point is Ozzie is in for his defense–as he should be; he’s one of the, if not the best defensive shortstop of all time. Omar is similar offensively and was just bout as good defensively.
Ozzie played for winners.
/irrelevancy FTW’d
Blyleven was never an “it” guy.
/DBHOF’d
C’mon!
For all you Ganesh lovers. (we should all be)
http://theumpi.com/images/ganesh_symbol_f7vo.gif
wasnt his birthday or some holiday related to him recently?
it’s going on now until Sept. 3rd.
yea, I thought so as I saw it on TV
AJ says fuck you ump
day games during the week = no trolls
They’re not losing yet.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but that hasn’t stopped people before.
Bo’s here.
You’re good for nothing, Zack. Just tie a rope around your neck and do your thing.
It’s a testament to AJ’s filthiness that he’s got 5 k’s with this ump. I count like four strikes low and outside that he aint calling.
Cano’s BABIP with RISP is .217 this year.
hey JMK, there is a-rod’s first hit! let’s hope for more
Of course he hits it when I leave to toast a bagel and find a beer (job doesn’t start for a few days, might as well get my drinking in while I can).
A bagel and a beer?
There’s cream cheese too…And I’m baking banana bread.
i am still on summer vacation, so it’s all good
enjoying a beer and the yankees.
School starts monday, so i can’t really do that anymore…
This time any other year, I’d be readying myself to go back up to no more YES and only NESN. Glad I don’t have to do that again.
I know what you mean. I went to college in Vermont and it’s absolutely horrible to deal with. My guess is you probably went to Mass, Matt. I can’t imagine the trauma.
Nah, UConn. All the areas around the campus had YES on their cable packages but not UConn. Uncool.
Considering it’s still Big East territory and in the tri-state area, I’m really surprised. Found a job yet?
Well, I’m going to grad school come January so I applied to a Learning Center and to substitute teach here in town.
Nice, where you going for Grad?
University of Bridgeport.
Where are you starting for work?
I’m at work, just wait until your slave labor days that last into your 70′s
I’ve heard that life is all toil and death. I’ll find out if that’s true. First real job starts Monday!
You’re almost done, though. Buckle down and get your stuff done. Must be a weird job market in Texas, although I’d bet there are jobs in hunting down foreigners, shooting retarded people, grilling steaks, petrochemicals ( know it’s not really like that). I support their death penalty initiatives. Why? Less Texans!
A-rod is so selfish, getting a 1st pitch hit instead of working nippert!
Teagarden fears A-Rod’s base stealing skills.
Droppin’ the soulder, Nick.
Why does it seem Cano is ALWAYS up with 2 outs and RISP…
The baseball gods are punishing him for being a lazy Dominican.
Thats the beauty of our lineup that hits a lot and walks a lot
cmon Swish, only 2 pitches?
2nd chance for Robbie…
Let’s go Cano!!!!!
ah damn cmon with RISP guys
cano is SOOOOOOOOO BAD with RISP
its almost like you have the pitcher at bat
We should’ve have been up by at least 4 runs now.. Nippert is getting lucky.
Burnett got lucky with that call!
JoMo to the rescue!
I didn’t see it, but gameday says that one was a gift
it was a gift for sure
burnett finally got a bs call on his side
A pitcher’s duel! A battle between two great pitchers….
The Mighty AJ Burnett VS. the one and only….Dustin Nippert???? Wait a minute here…
it wouldnt be a pitcher’s duel if cano could hit with RISP both times
anyone batting and this is a 4-0 game prolly
I love this booth. Cone is hilarious.
…that one was a lot closer than the K call
goddayyum !! ! ! !
Kingman?
Soriano, arod, tex
WHERE DID THAT MISS???!!!??
Where was that last pitch?
Apparently low…
Karma for the gift earlier in the inning?
good god burnett got squeezed there
BS that 5th pitch was a strike!!
i hate to say it but AJ is really good when Posada isn’t back there..
ill be happy to say it, you’re wrong
i’m wrong? can u clear that up please?
http://www.nydailynews.com/blo.....tt-po.html
you are dead wrong my friend
I hate to say it but AJ is really good when Molina isn’t back there…
Oh, yeah. I went there.
He’s also really good when Posada is back there most of the time.
I’ve read that the umps are graded on their game calling at the conclusion of the game. I know I’m not the only one who feels we often draw shitty umpires. Is this something that persists across all of MLB, despite the grading? I’m not saying there’s any conspiracy theory against us, but it seems odd that we always seem to draw umps with weird (and unfair) zones.
i’m sure if you watched 162 ranger games, or royals, or whoever you’d say that your team always gets screwed
I don’t necessarily disagree. So, I guess my question is this: Are the umpires any good, or are they consistently bad across the board?
I’d probably go with consistenetly bad, because how they treat starts v rookies/unproven/scrubs.
We all love Mo, and yes he has outstanding comand- but he also gets a wider strike zone than anyone else. Imagine if you’re a fan of the opposing team, you’re going to bitch at every strike thats 4 inches off the plate.
Plus there there should be more umps on the field and more replay.
just throw a strike down the pipe
He just did. Fuck.
There’s your strike down the pipe.
u got ur wish
C’mon AJ, settle down.
AJ wanted to get back to the windup.
And there it is. The 2 walks, AJ probably being pissed (I’m watching on Gameday) and the pissed off fastball down the middle clubbed for a HR.
fuck man
What the fuck!
Wow, epic fail.
FUCKING A
Regain your control AJ!!!
God damn, two out walks and two out runs.
The call of that last high FB came directly from Jorge Posada.
its just that i get tired of AJ shaking Posada off and the game vs Boston was frustrating and i just think that Molina calls a better game for AJ
I don’t know if that’s just luck or what, he just totally lost it with 2 outs.
Not really, the walk to Hamilton was questionable. He didn’t just lose it and walk him on four pitches.
agreed. He def could’ve gotten outta that with a nice call from the ump like nippert got
AJ the enigma.
wow that escalated quickly
It really jumped up a notch.
damn. the best and worst of AJ in the same game
The same inning!
ha even worse
Sterling on the radio says AJ is throwing a perfect game – AJ promptly gives up walk, walk, HR.
I hate Sterling
well, that’s baseball Suzyn
Not Sterling’s fault. AJ shouldn’t have lost it there, but I can understand the frustration; that first walk was a strikeout, although I suppose AJ can’t complain since he got a questionable call earlier in the inning.
The umpire giveth, and the umpire taketh away.
Yeah, it’s all Sterling’s fault AJ can’t find the zone and when he does, he throws it right down the middle.
Have you ever listened to Sterling? Everything is his fault…
Burnett has now thrown more pitches the Nippert
Can we bail out AJ?
he also has thrown 1 more inning than Nippert
He’s also pitched one more inning than Nippert.
Yeah I know, but he was wayy behind him in terms of pitch count, that was an awfully long inning.
He’s pitched more innings.
Okay offense time to go to work.
Time to hit with RISP, hopefully.
All eyes diverge on Cano.
oh well, the yankees now know they need to get their offense going and can’t sit back
Nice going, AJ.
I’m at work, but that HR was Molina’s fault, right?
Nope, Posada called it from the dugout. He also made sure that AJ lost his focus and grooved a first pitch fastball.
We need to fix that 1-6 with RISP. We’ve been pretty good recently.
DAMMIT POSADA! Stop calling pitches from the dugout!!
Anyone who is watching gamecast or gameday I have a question for you. How close was that 2-2 on Hamilton that looked at the knees and over the plate?
It looked like a strike on Gameday. Especially when you see what Nippert has gotten.
Pretty standard…
We have 1 run on 3 hits…they have 3 runs on 1 hit.
Pretty standard indeed…
Texas radio guys say there is no way he went around there–truth?
He went. It was close, but he went.
haha you and i saw two diff things
yeah he did not go around at all
not even close
bad call
Will Posada haters now point their fingers at Molina?
The entire staff walks too many batters.
They were instructed to keep their hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times. So, yes, they probably will.
It’s okay, the Yankees can live with the slight offensive downgrade in Molina as long as he improves the pitching staff, right?
+1
Pretty sure if we had Molina get 500-600 ABs he’d have more GIDPs than 2008 Jeter and 2009 Cano combined
Yep. 100%. Right? Jorge Posada is so overrated. I would much rather have Molina and his .600 OPS and cement shoes in the lineup. Jose Molina also cures cancer.
Lance Armstrong says “hi”.
Wrong.
Why hasn’t Joe started the runner with Molina? Hit in run with a guy who hits into DP all the time.
who didn’t see that coming? HAHAHA
Nippert’s asking for it. Just give it to him already.
sounds kind of dirty
6 walks in 4 innings and 1 run. Brutal.
Make that 7
Alright guys, let’s knock Dusty Nipples out of the game.
And you know that there will still be people calling for Posada not to catch.
Molina is so much better than Posada..
A Hand Sanitizer Keychain???? Somebody book me a flight now!!
Done! If you play your cards right, you might even get a calculator on the 29th!
Can Molina not lay down a good bunt?
Psh, tell us his wOBAs if you wanna impress us, David.
I’m hoping he escalates to VORP or WARP next inning.
David Cone throwing OPS some love.
the one great thing is that AJ has 8ks i believe through 4
incredible amount of Ks
Damn, nice 2-0 change to Damon.
And that is why Molina can’t play everyday.
Press the “live TV” button on your remote
Let’s get serious guys, stop teasing their Nippert…
That was a little high to be a strike
It’s not often you see a letter-high changeup called a strike, but Nippert got one on the 5th pitch. His strike zone is pretty big, which makes it all the more impressive that he has managed to walk SEVEN guys.
Tex is gonna give us the lead back
3 RUN HR IM CALLING IT
Comon Tex, please don’t fail with RISP. Pretty please.
Nippert wants to walk more batters than AJ strikes out
Jeter is such a stat padder.
why didnt Johnny follow?
MARKY T!!!
Jeter likes stealing 3rd with 2 outs! Takes the force away from 3rd base I guess. As long as he makes it.
and Tex is the man
ill take that
My wish is being granted. Dusty Nipples has been getting lucky all day. No longer! You shall feel the wrath!
Tex hit that with authority.
oh yay, jason grilli!
i remember him from tuesday