Game 54: One-Third
By
(Leon Halip/Getty Images)
The Yankees will play game number 54 tonight (weather permitting) and are exactly one-third of the way through the 2012 season. A win tonight puts them in a tie for first place in the AL East (in the loss column), which is right where you want to be. Well, you’d like to be ten games up everyone, but that’s not realistic in this division. Not at this time of the year, anyway. The Rays are in town for the biggest series of the year to date, and Andy Pettitte will look to set the tone for the rest of the homestand. Here’s the lineup…
SS Derek Jeter
CF Curtis Granderson
3B Alex Rodriguez
2B Robinson Cano
1B Mark Teixeira
LF Raul Ibanez
RF Nick Swisher
DH Eric Chavez
C Russell Martin
LHP Andy Pettitte
Tonight’s game starts a little after 7pm ET and can be seen on YES locally and MLB Network nationally. Enjoy.
David Robertson Update: Robertson (oblique) threw a bullpen session at Yankee Stadium and said he’s pain-free. It’s just a matter of getting back into the swing of things. He hopes to be back in 8-10 days.
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The Tyler Austin Watch
Sox optioned Bard down to AAA, suprised they didnt just put him back in the pen where he belongs.
I guess they want him to be a starter and so are sending him down to work on mechanics.
Im at the Yankees game, and I’m hoping the yanks pound Jamie to a pulp
Im at the Yankees game, and I’m hoping the yanks pound Jamie to a pulp.
First positive day on the Stock Market for me, there’s baseball tonight, life is good.
I hear boys of summer in the background. I wonder if It’s the original or The Ataris cover?
Nice start by Andy, 7 pitches 2outs w/ a K?
Am I the only one here tonight?!
Everyone probably missed the first frame since it was over so quickly
Everyone is waiting with bated breath to see who their 14th round pick is instead…
I like where this is going
Got a ball game AND the draft to start my weekend. Bring it.
Go Andy.
Heh. Take that shift.
Anyone at the game tonight im in left field section 235
there’s your RISP hit everyone.
That’s a hit with runners in scoring position
it counts lol
Well, a hit with RISP!!
But now a runner is on third and we’re doomed. Bases loaded? Double-doomed.
Does that act like a reverse jinx?
We hope
Bases loaded, no out. Oh dear.
1 out
1-1 w/ RISP!!
1-2. damn.
is it me or does teix have drunk eyes when hes at bat?
I see shocked anime eyes.
Here we go
Good it’s not a GIDP, save the AB’s for the clutch bats.
I’ll take it
oh wow lol
Pathetic from the Yankees and Rays.
The Rays play the game the right way!
Yanks need all the help they can get
Rays absolve the RISP failure
Better lucky than good I guess.
Lol shift buster can’t shift an error
I’ll take it EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK.
Whew.
Still a guy on third. The Doomed Song still applies.
Yes it does, Gir. Puny humans.
I’m Gir?
I can handle that I guess.
Haha, well I mean I’m obviously Zim.
That was baseball karma. That was a 2 run single without the shift. Balance!
Slump buster?
Multiple runs with the bases loaded and 1 out. That’s pretty good with the way this club is hitting with RISP. And Shields is up near 30 pitches already.
It’s till an 0-1 with RISP, doesn’t help the stats.
1-4. Alex got a hit, Tex struck out, ibanez reached on an error, Swish struck out. All happened with RISP
Cano got the RISP hit
AROd walked
whoops…my bad.
I meant just Ibanez. Even though 2 runs scored it’s still an 0-1 due to the error.
Who cares about stats though? the Only stat I care about at the end of the day is the team win.
On this site, really? When this subject continues to be covered it will definitely matter!
I know, as soon as i said that I regretted it, because I’m a stat nerd myself. But when it comes down to it, we love stats because it helps us better predict who is going to help us win going forward. If we’re winning, regardless of what the stats say we’re winning.
What’s Swish looking at there?
Don’t know. Don’t know why he argued the strike 2 call either.
so 1-4 with RISP and we scored two runs on an error. That’s the update
And the “1″ didn’t knock in a run.
At least they can score on errors with RISP. 2 K’s looked nice.
Yeah these team is terrible!!! What are we like 10 games out of first?!?! oh wait. that’s right. we’re only one game back in the loss column
Wow Hideki… .188. I love yah bro, but maybe it’s time to ride off into the sunset?
While it may indeed be time for him to hang it up that avg is based on a grand total of 16 AB’s
That’s true…for whatever reason I thought he was much worse than a .250 hitter last season.
That looked really close, if Jeter lets the ball get a little deeper, I think he gets him.
Dice-K might be replacing Bard in the rotation. Happy days.
I have no idea why they still think he can start, probably better to stick him back in the bullpen where he can be of some use
I think it’d be really sill for them to give up on him after a handful of starts. I still think the Yankees gave up on joba as a starter way to soon.
Didn’t he already fail as a starter? And while the yankees did give up on Joba to soon, they at least had injury as an excuse.
He’s “failed” after two months?
I meant in the minors, and it was honestly a serious question.
Well he only started one season in the minors (A and High A) and he was terrible. But I mean, who knows, maybe he finds something.
Well if the Sox think Dice-K is a better option, it really says a lot about how he has performed so far.
Its more how much changed between April and May.
Well, either way, it probably is a good thing for the Sox to give him a chance.
I think alot of Dice-K getting another chance is he is their AJ Burnett. He might be terrible, but you know what we payed a boatload of money for him, so we’re going to keep running him out there if he’s healthy.
I think Martin may be starting to get out of his funk
fingers crossed.
that shot of Price checking out Flash’s back should be a gif
damnit derek. stop doing that.
Time to start calling some hit and runs.
Groundball hitter who doesn’t swing and miss a lot, 1-0 count, pitcher who’s around the plate and throws a lot of changeups.
Good Lord. I know its the Rays, who aren’t as bad offensively as advertised, but 4 straight Ks? 5 total?
Whoooo boy.
Make that 5 in a row
Andy is dealing!
Andy Pettitte strikes out the side!
Love watching Andy
Just got home and looking good!!
Please Andy, don’t hurt ‘em.
This is awesome watching Pettitte dealing again.
Andy is rolling.
I missed andy so much.
Following on line… Has Pettitte been as sharp as it seems?
Don’t see how anyone can say no after striking out 5 straight
Pretty sure they were all swinging too
He has. Dude is dealing.
Full on Fantasy draft is tomorrow, every player is available, and the Yankees have the number one pick, who is your first pick RAB? I’m just curious.
Kershaw
Kemp
Hamilton
Wait, seriously?
why are pettitte’s K’s up so much?
It’s obviously because Tampa isn’t a real offensive threat
/following the troll narrative
Made him throw 30 pitches in the 1st inning and 22 since. We need to make him work. Andy’s been brilliant but Hideki has a knack for the big home run.
Worse than that – he was at 38 or 39 pitches with 1 out in the 2nd (4 outs).
He’s got 5 outs on his last 14 pitches.
The first inning was a blip and unexpected. The guy throws strikes.
I thought if it hits your glove it should be an error.
Nice turn by Robbie I’m sure. I’m only listening to the radio, but I can see it in my minds eye.
Interesting discussion with Cone regarding the cutter — including slo-mo of a 4 seam fastball that Andy clearly cut — for all the pitchfx disciples out there.
Trivia: Wade Boggs or Fred McGriff
Its probably McGriff. Boggs retired in 1999
Well done.
I thought it was Boggs too at first, you should give credit to Phelps
Yea, for some reason I thought he played longer.
The radio crew is talking about Wang’s injury. And it still upsets me to this day.
Russel, do well. Just do something positive.
Bases loaded. I have mixed feelings.
I just want to see him hit the ball hard somewhere.
wish granted
Shields did that on purpose. MADDON IS A GENIUS!
Russell delivers!!!!
RUSSEL, SHOWS MUSSEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tasty
Russell!!!!
With the Muscle!!!!
RUSS!
SHE’S GONE! And with the way Andy’s pitching that’s all she wrote!
All aboard the Russ Bus!
Guess he is really committed to ending the night about .200
Yeah baby!
(Dancing and singing “My Boyfriend’s Back”)
Well done, Mussell.
thank you russ god
He’s on the rise….
i came here to say “SUCK IT RISP!!!!!!”
Not so big game James
Chris Stewart’s seeing eye ground ball would have been so much more clutch
There are people here who actually think this but know if they say it they’ll be “persecuted.”
Seeing eye groundballs are much more sustainable against good pitchers.
And clutch. Don’t forget clutch.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good God, that’s Russell Martin’s music!!
Too many HR’s! (would have been better had they strung 4 run scoring singles together)
/narrative’d
Okay….he’s not a genius???
Rays’ fielding is atrocious for a team with their reputation
It doesn’t count as clutch though, because it’s a home run. This team hits to many homers, they aren’t sustainable against good pitchers. hahahahahaha I can’t say it with a straight face.
Definitely not a post-season team.
There’s know way they can hit homers like this off of guys…like…James…Shields…or Justin…Verlander…god this narrative just falls apart with even the smallest bit of scrutiny.
Yankees have crushed James Shields three times now.
Hope they can cruise for an easy W for the rest of this game.
Cant see why they can’t. andy’s on cruise control, they’re already up six runs. I don’t want to guarantee a win..but it’s a pretty sure bet that we should win this game.
I’m really enjoying this Devil Rays flashback.
OK. I was in the bathroom taking a whiz when Martin jacked that. I guess that means every time the Yanks load the bases, I need to go take a whiz.
Until it doesn’t work, yes.
Just saw the highlight. James Shields should be scolded for delivering that pitch in an 0-2 count.
Didn’t see it. Did he miss his spot, or bad selection?
according to Gameday it was just a cutter high and down the middle. Probably a location mistake.
It looked like either a flat changeup or a flat slider that was up in the zone.
It was a 2 seam fastball – I imagine he was trying to get him on a GIDP.
Looked like Molina wanted it down and in.
The highlight is on MLB.com
0-2 fastball that was supposed to be down and in, ended up belt high and out over the plate
Yeah that was pretty bad.
It’s one thing to go after people 0-2, 1-2 to keep the pitch count down, but with bases loaded that is way too good a pitch.
Ehhhh. It was well away, breaking back over the corner….that wasn’t too bad a pitch except in hindsight.
Thanks, Mark.
This doesn’t belong here.
The problem was that it was high. Martin has been unable to hit the lowball this season so the height of the pitch worked in our favor
Very true.
I CANT BELIEVE I MISSED THE GRAND SLAM ARRRGGGGGG
and Pena just got their first real hit. I’m not saying stop watching Erica…but…
Shut yo mouf. I was watching when they scored those two unearned runs. Harrumph.
hahaha. yada yada yada, all I hear is I’m an oppotroll, I’m only seen when the teams doing well =P
Nooooo!!!!!! No. I wasn’t around all weekend and all the West Coast games were on when I was sleeping. Lamesauce.
GO TEAM GO
Yeah, i can see westcoast swings sucking for noninsomniacs. I loved it though. All the games were when I was feeling most awake.
Yes! Good games for zombies and such.
…are you saying I partake in bath salts. http://thecarsboneblog.tumblr......g-too-soon
No other way to explain the sector of late night RAB posters.
Hey now….don’t rope me into this.
This year the Yankees have gotten:
6 runs in 5 innings vs Shields
5 runs in 7 innings vs Verlander
3 runs in 6 innings vs Shields
11 hits and 4 runs in 6.2 innings vs Felix
3 runs without making an out against Weaver (OK that doesn’t count)
5 runs in 5 innings against Ervin Santana
5 runs in 6.1 innings against Verlander
6 runs in 4 innings against Shields (and counting)
Also several shellackings of rookie lefties.
All wins and every time they hit a homer which they can’t do against good pitchers.
haha is there anyway I can save this. and break it out when ever somebody uses that line.
I already copy-pasted it into a text document.
Heh.
Lovely numbers, just lovely.
Also 5 runs in 7 innings vs Price!
I was gonna say, you missed one.
Perfectly natural for Andy to lose a bit of his command here because he has had a couple of long waits between innings
Who remembers the Jose Molina one-out AB against the Yanks, where Kay or Flaherty or Cone was all like, “Oh, look. It’s Jose Molina. He’s a double-play waiting to happen”, and then BOOM-homer! Hilarious.
This seems like the first multi hit game for Cano in sometime. I’m sure he had one recently and I just don’t remember…but it feels like a while.
I didn’t notice this until now, but who is hurt that Matsui is playing in right field?
Did his job
Oh god..the rays broadcasters are trying to promote an AfroJack concert. It’s just fun to listen to.
Big F U to Swish? Make em pay, boss.
Ohhhhh. The challenged has been issued to Swish.
IBB in a 6-0 game…. make them pay Swish!
Maddon’s a genius!
(so long as you only look at the moves that work)
Garbage time!
technically, yes
Love it, love it, love it.
Swisheroo!
Hooray for statistical regression!!
When was the last time the Yanks had 3 hits with RISP in a game?
June 12th 1987.
a fine day for the Yankees, but they were only 2-7 with RISP
http://www.baseball-reference......6120.shtml
Haha, I was really hoping somebody would look up the random date I picked. Let’s see how we did on random date in Yankee history…
too many HR’s
We have a new rain delay game.
Good game for Phelps to get in.
We’ll probably see Freddy
Still fought through the AB. I’ll take it, Chavy.
still waiting on his first RISP hit of the year …
Chavez led the Yankees with a .415 AVG in 47 RISP PA last year
This year he has a .000 AVG in 21 RISP PA.
Regression is a bitch.
This is the right kind of game after that horrible draft format through the 10th Round.
Just keep it up, boys.
alright time to leave work and take the bus home. Game will probably be over by the time I get home. So here’s to hoping and expecting 2-3 more good innings from Andy, and a good inning or two from Phelps/Garcia.
Lemme say it right now. Andy Pettitte 2012 Comeback Player of the Year.
(although they did snub Bart last year…)
No Ellsbury deserved it last year. Especially when Colon faded down the stretch.
at this rate, Ellsbury can get it next year as well
YESSSSS
Andy it totally dealing! I think the slight drop in velocity actually helps the movement on most of his pitches as long as the control is there. I hope he completes this game even though I would like to see Phelps more!
WTF are none of the gamecasts updating for me?!?!?
seems to be busted. Was watching another game on mlb.tv and that died as well
Pettite has been a demigod this season. Tonight is proof positive… Love this dude
Cardboard Hideki is kinda funny.
Holy crap Andy.
So many swinging strikes.
Funny, I don’t remember Pettite in his prime getting swinging strikes like this…
I was only around for the Andy Pettitte “Welcome Home” tour, but I sure as heck don’t remember it.
Matsui looks goofy in the Rays’ pajama uniforms.
Don’t know if we mentioned this already, but srsly? Matsuis knees in the field? Recipe for disaster.
I said it earlier. Who the heck is hurt that he’s out there? And have they been playing him on the turf in Tampa? Because if so, that’s more or less inexcusable.
For real, talk about ticking time bombs.
Always good when the Yankees score early and don’t give up single runs here and there where the game becomes somewhat close late.
Andy was impressive. While he probably could have gone deeper, I think it’s good that Girardi took him out with the game out of hand to keep him as fresh as possible.
The bullpen now has had 3 days off and it looks like Robertson will be back in a little over a week.
Cy Pettitte
Rays defense is awesome
/fundamentallysound
Pitching and defense, boys… Pitching and defense.
Joe Maddon can blow me
Wow, I walk away for an hour and the Yankees score 5 runs – and still haven’t given up any?!
God, Russell hit a grand slam? AWESOME.
I know. It was great. And Andy has looked as good as his line. Straight dealing. And sooooo many swinging strikes.
Yeah, I caught the part where he struck out five in a row, and I think a lot of them were swinging.
This is better than vintage Andy Pettitte.
Another one!
Another what?
Swinging strikeout.
Ha, yup. Susyn nearly cried over the standing ovation.
Russel stole a strike there.
Pitch framing for the win.
Hate Luke Scott and that facial hair with a fucking passion
I still say if he decides to go with this, all he’s done will be forgiven.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.....ouched.jpg
Completely agree… Make it happen Luke.
pettitte is just flat out dominant this year. i know its a big if, but if he can even remotely keep this up, hes coming back next year
That’s pretty impressive Mr. Pettite
Andy=phenomenal…he really is making a Xooperstown case this season
Ok try Cooperstown
If he gets to 250 wins, its going to be very interesting
Xooperstown is nice too….
XXXooperstown is where the Rusty Kuntz and Dick Pole displays are.
I will be vacationing there… But bringing my own linens.
Steve Pearce with a RBI single to put the O’s up 6-4 over the Sox
Axisa’s embedded Yankees (tm pending)
exactly
I love it.
Until the Orioles stage a major rebound or the Sox collapse completely (again), I’m rooting for Baltimore over Tampa/Boston.
Definitely. Let them beat up on the real threats before they collapse.
Duh Innings is probably going out of his mind since he didn’t replace Teix.
I need to go back and bookmark that thread.
Hooray for a reason to throw Freddy out there!
I’m unable to watch this game, dammit! Can anyone tell me what kinda stuff Andy’s throwing?
Str8 fucking gemstones. Hitting spots, swing &miss stuff, contact has been weak.
Thanks. His curveball on? Fastball hitting the spots w movement? BTW, Freddy sucks. I mean I like the guy but…
Everything is on. He’s been throwing first pitch curveballs for called strikes all night.
He’s been dealing. Swinging strikes all over the place. He’s looked as good as his line. Better, since one of those hits was a play Jeter should make.
Is Gameday frozen for anyone else?
All of ESPN seems to be. Their pages aren’t updating properly even after refreshing.
mlb.com isn’t updating any scores, gameday and gamecast not either
somebody accidently unplugged something somewhere
You have reached the end of the Internet…
Does that mean we can break out the Doomed Song again?
yes
I don’t even want to think where we’d be right now without Andy. He’s our 2nd best pitcher. Hughes and Kuroda have been inconsistent. Nova has slumped thus far. Phelps would be starting. Andy is our game 2 starter if we make the playoffs.
I wasn’t too happy with Kuroda in the beginning of the season, but I don’t think it’s fair to label him as inconsistent anymore. He’s been really good lately, and he’s lost games because he got no run support.
Nova hasn’t been last-season Nova, but at least he’s mostly given up less runs than the opposing pitcher.
This…. Is exactly what we said about Bart on June 6, 2011. Let’s make sure he has the gas to get to October before we give him a seat at the table
Tyler Clippard. Another horrible trade that the Yankees made
Off topic or legit gripe?
Just saw him come up for the Nats in the ninth and remembered we traded him for Albaladejo.
Game Thread = Off Topic Thread. No big deal.
I know, was more wondering if Clippard did something that i missed or idle musings. The latter…
What are the others?
Oh no….don’t poke the bears.
Why, Melky Cabrera and mike Lowell, of course
Steven Pearce probably, too.
Saltalamacchia bails out the Sox again.
Was it Russell’s grand slam that broke MLB.TV? If so. It was worth it.
Is this what it was like when you used to read about the game in the next day’s paper?
Sort of what it was like. Of course, there was evening news/sports in the 1950s. My father recalled ticker tape reports of some sort from the 1920s.
Hee. By the time I got the game on my iPad it was over. Still no MLB on Apple TV. I am terribly spoiled.
Wow Russ. Go you.
Jeter not having a very good night.
Ty Hensley… Kinda excited to see what he’s got
I’m enjoying them talking draft, even it its only for half an inning.
Wow, remember when a rod was worth $30M? those were fun times
On a different note, the Cs threatening to make it a game vs El Heat…. Cannot decide which team is less likable.
YEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a beautiful win!!
Man this was a fun win. And a fun thread.
Thrilled with the win. All warm fuzzies.
Everyone’s probably gone, but did I miss anything interesting over the past hour on my commute home? My phone was dying so I couldn’t risk checking the score of a game we had basically gift wrapped and loosing my music. i might have had to interact with people on the bus if that had happened.
Just Andy looking awesome. Oh, and did you get to see Nick Swisher’s double? That was cool.
The one Cano scored on? Yeah, I heard it shortly before I left work.
Other than that, not much happened. Freddy looked like 2012 Freddy again after Andy left.
I’m sure Freddy is a great guy. And I’m grateful for what he did for us last season. But there has to be a more deserving person in the organization that deserves that roster spot.
Meh.
/\ that’s me not caring about the 25th man who gets in 1 out of every 8 games.
Andy making his HoF bid.
Salty hits a 2 run homer of Jim Johnson to tie the game at 6
Hmmm.
Although I prefer a Baltimore win, I’m at the point with those two teams that either way, I come out ahead.
I hope they play 15 more innings.
And then Aceves gives up a run instantly in the tenth