Yanks can’t get anything on offense, drop to Sox 2-0

April 26, 2011 by Joe Pawlikowski 66 Comments

AP110425128268 — AP photographer Kathy Willens captures last night's game in a single image.

A few times every year there’s a game that is so straight forward that no one wants to relive it. If you saw it, you don’t want to see it described. If you didn’t see it, you’re better off without the frustrating facts. If, for some reason, you chose to skip this one, well done. You will live a less stressful existence for the next 20-odd hours. But considering the frequency of off-days, I’m not sure many of you missed this one.

The Yankees did have some decent at-bats: five, six, seven pitches. They just never amounted to anything. It took them 19 outs before they finally got a hit and finished with just three singles on the day. Two of their precious five base runners were erased via the double play, including Curtis Granderson after a single to lead off the ninth. They weren’t facing the most formidable of foes in Philip Humber, which raises the frustration level. If you believe that the Yankees somehow can’t hit pitchers they haven’t seen previously, you have that to gripe about, too.

It’s not every night that a Yankees pitcher goes into the seventh, and even rarer for him to see the eighth. Yet for the second time in three game that’s what the Yankees got. A.J. Burnett pitched what was easily the best game of his season, lasting eight full innings and needing just 108 pitches to dispatch of 24 White Sox. He didn’t have the swing and miss thing working, as he struck out only two. But he got 11 ground balls and allowed just three hits all evening. It’s a shame to fall so flat in support of such a stellar start.

Then there are the usual gripes. Robinson Cano swings at everything. Jorge Posada looks like he’s 50, Nick Swisher can’t hit from the left side, Rafael Soriano hangs too many sliders and is too smug to catch a pop up, etc. There are plenty to choose from.

Baseball might break your heart and make you tear out your hair, but it always comes back the next day. The Yanks will again trot out their guys to face the White Sox tomorrow evening. Just a hunch, but I’m feeling that they’ll get a few more hits and maybe score a couple’a runs.

http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside the Elder

And the worst part of it all?

Roger Maris is still stuck on zero.
- jim p
  
  Time to trade him for some pitching. Or maybe Al Kaline. Put Berra in RF, let Howard and Blanchard do all the catching. There’s no way we win this season with Maris out there.
- Nedro
  
  50 years ago today Maris hit his first jack of the season.
- Klemy
  
  The worst part for me is knowing that Hawk Harrelson was enjoying this whole game.
Snake Plissken

I completely forgot how the Yanks can hit pitchers they’ve never seen before.

Last year it was with Burlington in KC and Josh Tomlim (making his first career start) in CLE.

It’s like kryptonite.

It’s madding.
- Snake Plissken
  
  should read: “…can’t hit pitchers…”
- Freddy Garcia’s 86 mph Heat
  
  There was Also Jake Arrieta’s MLB debut in Baltimore and Hisinori Takahashi in that Subway Series game, though I think that they’d seen Takahashi before. But still, it always makes me want to throw something at my TV when the Yanks get shut down by a nobody pitcher
  - Snake Plissken
    
    and it happens every year.
    
    it doesn’t matter who we add and subtract from the line-up.
- Nick
  
  dont forget sean o’sullivan
  - Snake Plissken
    
    great example.
    
    the first time they faced him, the Yanks could only manage 2 hits in 6 innings at home. The next two times the Yanks pounded him for a combined 9 runs in 10 innings.
    
    http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.cgi?id=osullse01&t=p&year=2010
http://facebook.com/andrewjcalagna Drew

I was at the game tonight and it was just frustrating as hell, though my brother was a little excited that we might see a no hitter, I then argued that it was Humber pitching and it would probably worse than when the Yankees were no hit by Houston and 3 relievers.
- http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside the Elder
  
  Again, Phil Humber was the 3rd pick in the draft the year he came out. Go look at his numbers at Rice to remember why. (Baseball Cube)
  
  He was a good pitcher with skill and talent, he just got abused at Rice (like several other guys did). Guys who were once good pitchers can always have a night where everything is working and he becomes a good pitcher again, even if only for a night. That raw talent/velocity/stuff is probably gone with the various injuries and diminishment, but some of that skill might still be there.
  
  Getting no-hit (or nearly no-hit) sucks, and Phil Humber probably isn’t a real good pitcher anymore, but I personally don’t think it’s the great ignominy that others think it is. Humber isn’t as bad as some are portraying him, and even if he was, it’s one single baseball game. Crazy shit happens (like Freddy Garcia crafty-rightying a lineup into submission with a cavalcade of mid-80s slop, for example).
  - Gonzo
    
    He played with our very own Lance Pendleton at Rice. Judging from his innings pitched, he didn’t sign up for the Dr. James Andrews Scholarship.
  - radnom
    
    and he becomes a good pitcher again, even if only for a night
    
    This is complete nonsense narrative. What is that based on? He was not physically or skills-wise a good major league pitcher back in his Rice days so in reality h isn’t magically transforming for one day only into his former self who never existed.
    
    Bad pitchers have good starts. Sometimes even against good offenses. It happens.
    - Joe Cowley
      
      Remember me…I threw a no hitter once.
Snake Plissken

“Jorge Posada looks like he’s 50,”
————————————
Well, he’s only 10 yrs and 3 mths away from 50.
bonestock94

At least they weren’t no hit.
http://twitter.com/Carlosological Carlosologist

The outing we got from Burnett was spectacular. Not worried at all about the offense, it’s one bad game out of 162, who cares. Burnett’s early performance is highly encouraging. Let’s hope the wheels don’t come off as we enter May and June.
- http://www.twitter.com/NJ_Andy NJ_Andy
  
  Agreed, but let’s not get TOO excited. Remember, last April AJ was awesome. Let’s see how long he keeps going, yea?
  
  He’s certainly off to a promising start, but SSS and all of that.
  - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa
    
    And he didn’t exactly face a powerhouse offense either.
    - http://facebook.com/andrewjcalagna Drew
      
      Well he did face Quinten, Konerko, Dunn who are pretty great players and you have your lesser players of Rios, Alexi Ramirez and Beckham who are still dangerous. Is Dunn struggling? Sure but I wouldn’t call the White Sox lineup a walk in the park ala Kanas City or Oakland.
BigBlueAL

Im waiting for the day Soriano goes Jack McDowell on the fans lol.
- Snake Plissken
  
  more like the day he goes Ed Whitson and curls up into the fetal position in his bathroom.
Sleepykarl

Man I still love IPK, 9 innings, 0 ER, 3 hits, and 10k’s outdueling Lee.
- Rivera Venue Blues
  
  Sad to say, but he might be the Big Three member with the brightest future ahead of him…
  - jim p
    
    He was my favorite of the 3, because he was already working on being a pitcher, ala Mussina. Hard throwers get by for awhile until they can’t throw hard, then they start learning how to pitch. So IPK, if he had pitching smarts, was the most likely to endure.
- http://www.twitter.com/deanezag Zack
  
  No offento you and Jin, but i find it hilarious that all of a sudden fans always liked IPK the best, come on.
  - http://www.twitter.com/deanezag Zack
    
    Jim*
  - Zack
    
    Blah damn phone messed up the begininning. Anyways it’s directed more towards Jim than karl
  - Sleepykarl
    
    I’m not saying I liked him the best of the three, but I still have a soft spot for the guy and am happy to see him do well.
radnom

too smug to catch a pop up

lol wut. I was one of the lucky ones not to catch the game, what the hell does that mean? haha the mental image I have is pretty funny.
- A-Rod’s Wingman
  
  It’s pretty much that same image, but when you realize that allowed a run to score the image goes from funny to inducing domestic violence.
- jayd808
  
  It means there is no such thing as a “Perfectly Placed Pop-up.”
Snake Plissken

There was a lot great writing on this blog today.

You probably don’t hear this enough: big props to the staff.
Dr. O

Congrats Humber, tonight you were Milos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUaMzsNKR7Q
http://www.twitter.com/tomzig Tom Zig

Believe it or not the Yankees do not lead the league in GIDPs (the Cardinals do with 29). They are in 4th with 25.

LAAAAAA and Tex both have 26.
- Monteroisdinero
  
  Jeter’s hit into 25 already?
  - Ted Nelson
    
    Cano and A-Rod actually lead the team, and Russell Martin is tied with Jeter at 3.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Joe Pawlikowski
  
  Yanks have also played fewer games than any other team.
Kiko Jones

Hats off to AJ; to say he didn’t deserve to lose this one is quite an understatement.
- SteveD
  
  Game was a snoozer. AJ pitched well and the White Sox do have some respectable hitters. Posada looks sooooooooooo bad. granted nobody looked good at the plate. As far as the pop up. Im asking a serious ? How many other pitchers really go after that? It would seem to me one of the infielders should catch that. IMO Jeter first then A Rod and then maybe Cano. Although he prob is too fr away.
  And true Im playing this game from my recliner.
  - Rivera Venue Blues
    
    If the ball gets lofted more in the air and there’s time for an infielder to get under it, absolutely it’s their jobs to figure it out. But when there’s a good chance an infielder won’t get to it, like yesterday, the pitcher should at least make an effort to track it until he’s called off by someone.
Buck

You need to add a fourth possible outcome with Jorge – the double play. This guy is starting to look like Dave Kingman out there.
Will

Eh, I don’t really blame Soriano for not catching that popup. Backpedaling down the back of the mound is something pitchers almost never do, and it’s almost always an infielder that catches those. I was amazed it was scored a hit and not an error.
- Rivera Venue Blues
  
  Who would the error be on?
- Doug
  
  never an error unless someone touches it
Monteroisdinero

Maybe Andy P knew when to get out? Paying Jorge and Jeets 27M this year is going to be painful. Down the road the Phillies (Lee) and Red Sox (Crawford) will be feeling the same pain. Does anybody really think we would be worse with Nunez everyday at SS and Montero DHing (the 2 of them costing less than 1M ) with Chavez/Jones/Martin DH’ing when Jesus catches?

I don’t.
- SteveD
  
  The Jeter situation sucks. How do you sit a guy making that kind of money? and the Captain no less. Not that I dont think Nunez would be any worse. I also like the Montero idea. or if not him at least chavez at DH more often.
  - Tim
    
    Easy. You point a bony finger at him and tell him to put his butt on the bench. The contract is a sunk cost – there is no sense in Girardi essentially throwing “good money after bad” by running him out there just because the front office made a bad decision. The hard part is putting someone in his place that is actually better – unfortunately, that person isn’t on the roster right now.
    
    Here’s a hypothetical. I know Chavez had already been used as a pinch hitter in the inning, but let’s say that Gardner had stayed in the game and was the runner on second in the eighth last night. Jeter up, runner on second, down 1-0, hard-throwing righty on the mound, Chavez available on the bench. You can’t let Jeter hit there, right? I know Girardi would get killed for doing it, but PH for Jeter with Chavez is the absolute right thing to do to try and win the game, isn’t it? The fallout in the clubhouse would be huge, you’d have to imagine…
    - SteveD
      
      Well the first prob easier said then done. Totally agree with ur second point. But who knows as far as the fall out. Maybe some guys see it the way we do. But obviously keep it to them self.
      - Ted Nelson
        
        I’m as much an Eduardo Nunez supporter as anyone, but even I don’t think it’s clear that Nunez would outperform Jeter between now and the end of the season.
        It’s still really early in the season. Too small a sample to make rash decisions. Fun fact: Hanley Ramirez’s wOBA is lower than Jeter’s this season in only 8 fewer PAs.
        You can’t make all your managerial decisions based on the season to date. Like Jeter’s contract, those PAs are a sunk cost. It’s about what you project going forward. No one is projecting Nunez to set the world on fire and few people are projecting Jeter to finish the season with a .257 wOBA.
        
        Jeter plays a position that is light-hitting league wide. The Yankees aren’t losing a ton by having a SS who can’t hit in their line-up. (Though one who can’t hit and can’t field sucks…) Jeter was still a 2.5 WAR player last season.
- Ted Nelson
  
  I didn’t realize that you were writing the Yankees paychecks… who cares what they’re paying those guys? There’s no salary cap and no real limit on what they’ll spend (or at least we’re probably $20 mill shy of it).
  
  They can still play Jesus if Jorge continues to struggle. It’s not an either/or situation.
  
  Andy Pettitte knew when to get out my ass. The Yankees are on a 102 win pace right now.
paul c

Coming into this year, you just had to know it was going to be with lots of frustration…SP-the biggest ?, then which players would actually show age…From last nights game-huge props to AJ –keep it up…#2 stuff for sure. Time to give Chavez, A Jones some more at bats, hell even Nunez (or send him back down to develop him some more) Thank God for 162 game season…Keep winning 2 of 3 and I am a happy camper…
- Ted Nelson
  
  Keep winning 2 of 3 and they’ll be a 107 win team…
Wil Nieves Number 1 Fan

Fire Spoelstra Girardi!!! Season’s over, folks.
- Wil Nieves Number 1 Fan
  
  Strike fail. pwn3d.
theyankeewarrior

Robinson Cano has ONE walk.

Wow.
- Tim
  
  And he loves him some shoulder-high fastball, too.
  - theyankeewarrior
    
    And some first pitch sinkers/cutters. I swear he would raise his OBP by 50 points if he actually waited for his pitch once every three PA.
Mike HC

In his two years as a Yankee, AJ has pitched considerably better at Yankee Stadium than on the road. You have to be encouraged by AJ’s start to the season either way, but he has had 4 home starts and only one on the road. With the road start being his worst BB/K ratio on the season, 5 walks and six K’s.
- Ted Nelson
  
  This is largely what you’d expect. There are studies showing that umpires give the home team calls, not because of some bias but because subconsciously they don’t want to be jeered by thousands of fans… they want social acceptance. (Why we don’t let computers call balls and strikes in this day and age… I don’t know…)
Yank the Frank

This is another game that we had no business losing between AJ’s pitching and the potential of our offense. We need to start winning a few games we have no business winning to even things out.
- Joe Cowley
  
  sometimes there are games where the yanks have no business winning…they even out.
- Evan3457
  
  You mean like Sunday, when the O’s actually scored the winning run (or so it looked to me) off Mo in the bottom of the 9th, but the Yanks got a “ball beat runner, runner out” call on Andino?
  
  That sort of “winning a game they had no business winning”?
CS Yankee

Soriano bashing is not just, well coach pitchers are told anything behind you is for the MIF as you don’t want them going backwards over the mound with the all the sh!t thats put on the backside (cleat scrappers, sprinkler valve box, etc).

The old-n-deep Jete didn’t react correctly nor did the young-n-gun Cano, don’t put this one on Soriano no matter how smug he looks.
- Rob
  
  What are the chances that Joe DH’s Chavez tonight, that would be awesome, he definitely deserves it. Or at least play Chavez at 3B and DH Arod