Pettitte, homers carry Yankees to win over Twins
ByThe Yankees had their seven-game winning streak snapped by the Athletics on Sunday, but they got right back on the horse with a 6-3 win over the Twins on Monday. The game wasn’t as close as the final score indicates; the Bombers were in control pretty much from first pitch.
(Hannah Foslien/Getty)
Dandy Results
Andy Pettitte‘s second start off the DL went just as well as the first, it just lasted a little longer. Pettitte still struggled to command his breaking pitches and he did put eight men on-base (six singles, one double, one walk) in six innings, but zero runs crossed the plate. He struck out three, got the Twins to roll into two double plays, and just made pitches when he needed to in typical Andy fashion. It’s cliche, but it’s true.
Other than the win, the most important thing is that Pettitte stretched his pitch count up to 88 after throwing 75 pitches a week ago. Next time out against the Blue Jays — his final start of the regular season — should get him up to 95-100 pitches, then they’ll pretty much be able to turn him loose (if they make it to the postseason, of course). The command still needs to be fine tuned, but as we saw in these last two starts, Andy can get outs even when he’s not locating precisely. You gotta hand it to the guy, he’s a pitching marvel.
(Hannah Foslien/Getty)
All Bombs Everything
The Yankees scored three runs in the first and six runs overall, and only one of them scored on a non-homer. Robinson Cano plate the first run of the game with a ground ball, but it was all about the power after that. Nick Swisher launched a two-run shot off the facing the upper deck in right-center one batter after Cano opened the scoring, giving Pettitte a three-run lead before he even took the mound. Curtis Granderson (fourth inning), Raul Ibanez (seventh), and Eric Chavez (seventh) all followed with solo shots off starter Liam Hendriks. Granderson’s and Ibanez’s were no-doubters but Chavez’s just sneaked over the wall. They all count the same though.
Death By Bullpen
A six-run lead with six outs to go should be a piece of cake, but Cory Wade allowed a solo homer to a guy who had a .093 ISO in Triple-A this season (Pedro Florimon) in the eighth before Justin Thomas and David Robertson combined to allow another two runs in the ninth. Thomas put the two guys on and Robertson allowed Chris Parmalee to drive them in with a triple to dead center with two outs. Granderson deserves an assist for his circuitous route.
With David Aardsma set to be activated tomorrow, there’s a pretty good chance Wade has made his last appearance in pinstripes road grays. He was fantastic last year and again this April and May, but it just hasn’t worked since. I think Thomas will get the benefit of the 40-man roster doubt because a) he’s a lefty, and b) he retired two of the three lefties he faced this game, allowing just a broken bat blooper to Justin Morneau. Since Pedro Feliciano isn’t coming back, keeping the third southpaw just in case someone gets hurt is a good idea.
Leftovers
(Hannah Foslien/Getty)
He waited until his final at-bat to do it, but Derek Jeter did extend his hitting streak to 18 games with (what else?) a single to right with one out in the ninth. It’s the fourth longest hitting streak of his career, and the Cap’n is up to 207 hits on the season. One more and he’ll tie Pete Rose for the most hits ever by a 38-year-old, eleven more and he’ll tie his career-high hit total set in 1999. That is insane.
Big but forgotten moment: Granderson throwing Ryan Doumit out at the plate to end the fourth inning. The Yankees were up 4-0 at the time, but the play prevented Minnesota from getting kind of momentum. Curtis deserves credit for the throw and Russell Martin deserves the same amount of credit for the tag. The play had to be turned perfectly and it was. Well done, fellas.
Granderson’s homer was his 40th of the season, making him the fifth Yankee in history to go deep 40+ times in back-to-back seasons. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, and Jason Giambi have all done it as well. It’s also just the 30th season of 40+ homers by a Yankee. Here’s the list.
Ibanez (two) and Chavez (three) were the only Yankees with multiple hits while Cano and Martin were the only ones without a knock. Jeter (two) and Granderson (one) drew walks. Going 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position is much more tolerable when the balls are flying out of the park.
It’s probably worth noting that Josh Willingham left the game with some kind of shoulder problem, though it’s unclear if he’ll miss any more time. He is the Twins’ huge right-handed bat, so avoiding him these next two days would be sweet.
Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings
MLB.com has the box score and video highlights while ESPN has the updated standings. Big ups to the Blue Jays, who managed to split a doubleheader with the Orioles on Monday. The lead in the division is up to two games in the loss column for the first time in three weeks, and the magic number to clinch the AL East is down to just eight. The magic number to clinch a playoff berth is just five. Almost there.
Source: FanGraphs
Up Next
Same two teams on Tuesday night, when Phil Hughes gives it a go against Esmerling Vazquez. The Yankees are 13-9 against pitchers they’ve never faced before this season, though I don’t think Vazquez counts. They saw him when he was working out of the Diamondbacks bullpen two years ago, hanging five runs on him in zero innings.
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The Tyler Austin Watch
So When I got home from class today my dad told me that the Yankees won and that everyone but A-rod hit a homerun. Also I am expecting the Yankees to sweep this series!
Can someone please perform the Heimlich Maneuver on our $25M per year “slugger”?
You’re such a one-trick pony.
At least stuart a complains about more than one person.
The stench of Arod’s under performance is overpowering.
I hear that stuart a has an extra ticket to the Mets game tomorrow.
Yea, he’s hurting them so badly right now.
Just sit back and enjoy a win. Try that.
Yeah, they beat the Pirates pretty badly tonight.
Arod and Cano made a pack to save it for October when Swish goes into hibernation.
He was hotter than a two-pecker billy goat a week ago…he should return again real soon. Now Andruw, don’t bet of any dead cat bounce.
Err, pact, not pack (thats gross)
..throw a parade…
Who cares? We’re better with him and than without him. Are you playing his salary? No. So just shut up and enjoy the wins.
My,my the Purple Lipped One’s sycophants are testy this morning.
such wit. you tell em.
PLEASE please please ignore him. He’s not even a new troll anymore. He’s just a troll.
Pointing out Arod’s failure to earn his pay = troll.
Pointing out Arod’s failure to earn his pay every day, regardless of what he did the day before, ignoring the fact that his contract is a sunk cost and not something that will change, and talking about literally nothing else = troll.
Go away. You have nothing to contribute here, and apparently nothing better to do. You have never once had anything positive to add, and it is obvious that you are not a Yankee fan. And if, by some miracle, you are a Yankee fan, you’re a shitty fan. And we don’t need you here. Go root for the Red Sox. You’re whining fits in over there.
If Thomas stays over Wade for Aardsma, then who leaves for Gardner, if they want to keep a third lefty around?
Uh……anybody just see the end to that MNF game?
What happened?
Essentially a hail mary to the end zone. Golden Tate, the receiver for Seattle got away with a blatant push off, then he and a Packers defender appeared to come down with the ball together, though I thought the Packer defender actually had it.
Two refs come up, don’t signal for several seconds, and then one signals touchdown while the other signals time out, as if there was a change of possession. They review the play and uphold it as a touchdown, though most of the replays I saw made it seem much clearer that it was an interception.
Now I’m actually happy about this because I’d rather the Packers do worse, but this is getting ridiculous with these refs. Earlier in this game the Packers’ TD drive was aided by a borderline DPI call, and then there was a really questionable roughing the passer call against the Packers on a play where they intercepted a pass and would have likely put away the game as a result.
They didn’t come down with it together. He never had the ball. His arm was touching it.
They appeared to come down with it together when it happened. The replays pretty clearly showed they did not. That’s what I meant.
Yeah, I guess. But with replay the three blind mice could’ve overturned that call.
Meanwhile, I’m actually quite happy about the result though. Method isn’t ideal, but beggars can’t be choosers.
Yea, I’m looking forward to the 1-2 Packers playing the 0-3 Saints next week. Go Saints!
The Giants have to play these teams, of course, but to have them both be 1-3 early would be nice. Now two out of Arizona, Seattle and San Francisco need to start losing.
Wow…that sounds pretty brutal, though I still want to actually see it before forming my own opinion. I guess despite all the complaining we do about umpires, it could be a LOT worse.
I can’t say it holds the single spot for worst blown call I’ve ever seen. But it definitely ties.
This is the first time I’ve come around on the referee fiasco. Come back, real refs!
The other blown call I could think of was that horrible final play in the old Bucs (I think)-Giants playoff game where they made the comeback but the final play was blatant pass interference.
49ers-Giants.
Don’t remind me. I still have nightmares about that and many other Giant playoff losses/epic collapses.
At least we have enough success to wash out the taste.
True, but for me it seems that painful losses linger more than the most joyous success.
I sting from the 1985 playoff loss to the Bears (even though I wasn’t old enough to watch), the entire 1987 season taking away their chance to repeat, the end of the 1988 season where they lost to the Jets on the final game and miss the playoffs, the 1989 playoff OT loss to the Rams, the Ray Handley debacle, the 1993 loss to the 49ers that ended Simms’ and LT’s careers, the 1997 in game collapse to the Vikings and Randall Fucking Cunningham, Super Bowl XXXV, that 2002 loss, the 2005 shutout disgrace against Carolina, Plaxico single-handedly ruining the 2008 season, and the 2010 collapse against the Eagles.
And that’s just the Giants. Wait till you see the Yankees list.
Meh, I try my best to dwell on the wins. I’m still on the high from the 09′ WS!
+1,000
Can’t really say I blame you.
Just speaking since the century turned, the 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2011 Yankees playoff disappointments still linger, as well as the two World Series losses. 2005 and 2007 are a little easier for me to forget about, since they lost to better teams and didn’t have HFA. 2010? That was such a shitty team down the stretch, it was a bit of a miracle they got as far as they did.
As far as football goes, the ’99 NFC Championship, consecutive playoff losses to the Eagles in 2000 and 2001, and then narrowly losing to the Redskins in 2005 remain high on my list.
Let’s see, we had:
1. A Non-Pass Interference Call
2. Clear Interception Called an Offensive TD on LAST PLAY OF THE GAME
3. Meaningless extra point conversion that took about 10-15 minutes to happen
That’s OK. GB gave up nine sacks in the first half, got one score on a b.s. pass interference call against Kam Chancellor, and then got a non-call on Woodson a few plays before the game’s end that would have scored the Seahawks TD then.
Crappy replacement refs giveth, crappy replacement refs taketh away.
Don’t know who you are but the feeling is mutual.
Love it.
Why? Because of the fiasco that is these refs or you don’t like the Packers?
Not enough of an NFL fan to care (I do watch every weekend just because sports!), just rooting for chaos.
Ah, so you’re The Joker.
He’s not crazy, he’s just ahead of the curve.
Mike has always struck me as a bit of a fan of trollerific displays in live sports.
As long as they don’t affect the Yankees.
Actually, me too. When a bad call or ridiculous play screws a team I don’t root for, I find that it makes for fun controversy and disgusting.
Hypocritical? Totally and utterly. But what the Hell, it’s sports, not life or death.
Tell that to the players and coaches.
Dude, I acknowledged it was hypocritical, but since it’s a a freaking game I’m going to enjoy myself.
It’s not life or death, and it’s not as if how I feel about specific calls affects the games. In fact, I want the umpire system overhauled.
Eh, I just felt like interjecting that dickish comment.
In hindsight, I executed that very poorly. Mea culpa.
..throw a parade…
I’m not sure if this goes along with what you’re saying or not, but I was disgusted by, for instance, the Jim Joyce call to blow Armando Gallaraga’s perfect game, and the Jerry Meals call to end the 18 inning Pirates game last year.
I fully hold to the philosophy that if the umpires have done their jobs correctly, we should not know their names.
Why are people more pissed at this, but when Armando Galaragga gets fucked it’s the human element at work?
Just because their replacements? Reality check: real officials suck everywhere.
These refs actually had the benefit of replay and still fucked up the call.
The funny thing is the play cannot be reviewed, they sitll did AND got the wrong call.
Boohoo. This happens in baseball in the World Series and everyone applauds the umpires for adding an extra part of the game.
You know I would jump bandwagon at tunes to complain but this is ridiculous.
Every scoring play is now automatically reviewed, so you’re wrong on that assertion.
I’m not so sure that “everyone applauds the umpires” anymore. I think most every baseball fan realizes it’s time for more replay and that it has to get done soon.
Just because every scoring play is reviewed doesn’t mean all aspects are reviewed.
Last night wasn’t review able on that field goal. It was a scoring play. The NFL defines what can be reviewed. Dual possession is NOT one of those things.
Hate to defend JobaWockeeZ but he’s right. On scoring plays you can review whether both feet were in, whether the ball was or wasn’t on the ground before the end of the play, did the ball break the plane, etc. But you can’t review whether possession was joint, or who among opposing simultaneous possessors was the first to establish possession.
You’re talking to the wrong guys-I do NOT applaud the umpires for adding an extra part of the game, since that’s bullshit and makes no sense.
You never watched MLB Network I take it.
By “guys” I’m referring to what seems to be the consensus of the blog posters.
I agreed with you completely up until this call. Not to mention, don’t talk to me about the umpires, they need to be held way more accountable.
Because in a vacuum, every NFL game is more important than one single game in baseball. It sucks that Galarraga doesn’t get recognized as pitching the perfect game, but everybody knows that he did and he’ll be eternally famous for pitching what I call “The Imperfect Game.”
We know that all refs suck, but with these replacements it’s become a laughing stock situation. They let way too much shit happen after the whistle, they have made tons of questionable calls, and they seem to struggle to perform basic actions, like marking off penalty yardage.
Yep, well said.
Really? One affected who won or lost the game and the other had no bearing on it. kind of a big difference.
Priceless
https://twitter.com/Rachel__Nichols/status/250446414621052928/photo/1/large
THE END OF THE REPLACEMENTS.
you were watching. elite team got hosed on national television
Nah, Eli wasn’t playing.
Off topic but if anyone just saw that packers seahawks game please sign my petition
http://www.change.org/petition.....to-the-nfl
When all is said and done, there is still no way I’m following Francesa’s asinine call to boycott the NFL. Yeah, no.
I get his point, but I’m not going to stop watching right now. If the Giants start to suck, that’s a different story.
He’s right in that if people did not watch or not go to the games it would have an impact, but there’s a better chance of a 3rd party candidate being elected president than people in this country not watching football on Sundays.
I wonder if it counts that I will continue not watching football, as I have always done?
What a disgrace.
I saw something where Packers fans may flood NFL offices with phone calls tomorrow – something like that may work if it brings the phone system down – I am not sure petitions or letters work.
They figure people will still watch on TV or buy season tickets.
That’s gotta be the worst call I have ever seen.
These replacement referees are bringing total disgrace to the National Football League. And the NFL is allowing themselves to be a total laughing stock as a result of it. This game directly affects the NFC playoff race, and a brutally bad call determined the winner.
Sham. Total fucking sham.
A sham?
http://tinyurl.com/9lu3bde
Real refs fuck up easy calls like that. That was ruled an incomplete pass. People are just on the bandwagon because it’s cool to blame the replacements.
The refs are clearly underqualified. This is just as much a reflection on the NFL as it is on the referees.
It’s more of a reflection on the NFL.
The refs are humans and they’ve been given an impossible task. They’re just not qualified for what they’re being asked to do.
But once again the 32 rich white men and their puppet are pleading poverty and saying that the working stiff refs, no matter how part time their job might be, don’t deserve the things they want.
It’s not a matter of “deserving” but that they provide a commodity service, like gas station attendants or sanitation workers. If they don’t like what the owners deem “the market rate” for officiating, then new cost-effective officiating services can be sourced somewhere else, given a week of training, and declared ready for action.
It’s the same shit happening in every industry. When the bottom line is more important than the quality of the results, then public school teachers can be replaced by charter school teachers, phone support jobs can be done out of India, pet food can be manufactured in China, anything can be subcontracted or outsourced.
Time for the line to be drawn somewhere.
Like what this guy says:
cough nerd cough.
And damned proud of it!
Charter school teachers are better so that example is irrelevant.
Completely untrue. Literally pulled out of your ass.
(My wife looking over my shoulder: “How can that be literally pulled out of his ass? That’s impossible. It’s not poop.”)
utterly, completely and DEMONSTRABLY false. At best you. can find poorly done studies to demonstrate that they arent any worse but really most reliwble studies say theyre significantly less effective while offering literally zero of the mythical promised financial savings.
I wonder how much time Mr. daletroll up there has spent in either a public or charter school. I was social worker from 2001 to 2005 in a building housing BOTH public and charter schools, know administrators at both around the country, and have had plenty of conversations with other parents on the topic and, oh yeah, I work in child welfare. If he’d like to engage in a conversation on the topic, I’d be glad to oblige. Of course, since he’s a troll, he won’t.
Eh… the worst call of the night – Jon Gruden
“This is one of the best Seattle defenses in team history, statistically”
Yes Seattle had played 2 games coming in to this game for this fine “statistical” analysis. (of course he needed some way to explain why GB and Rodgers couldn’t do crap early on)
This guy is the football equivalent of Mitch Williams with some of the dumb stuff that comes out of his mouth; when he’s not fawning over everyone as “one of the best [insert player's position here]“
So, I just read through the game thread…JJ, Erica, R-Tils…I’m pretty sure you spoke more about me during the thread that the actual game. Erica, I understand you won’t accept my FIP, but saying you don’t care about me hurts =P JJ, I really now wish I had a bong to cry into after I had read that. Also…dusting shelves fucking sucks balls.
Also, star trek is not better than star wars. and I have no idea what erica was talking about when she said episode 1. I remember hearing about them making one but as far as I know my childhood wasn’t raped. And, after jj and erica’s epic beer pong match, i challenge the winner to flip cup.
Your absence sure was noticeable.
right? I thought maybe once or twice there might be an unnoticed plouffe joke made by jj or R-Tills…but jeez I miss one game thread and it’s all they talk about.
I think there were a few comments about how you were avoiding it because of the Plouffe-iness of the whole situation.
He was busy playing 3B.
There were, I wasn’t…today the boss decided it was time for the biyearly (twice a year, not once every 2 years) dusting of the shelves that hold our merchandise. I told him “no problem, I got this, you can go home if you want.” (I get to listen to good music/the yankee game while he’s gone, plus he hogs the computer while he’s there) Little did I know removing all the merch and cleaning each shelf one at a time would take literally 6 hours.
I really hope you’re not allergic to dust.
Well of course Star Trek is better than Star Wars. In fact, Spock sent episode 1 back through time to mortally wound the Star Wars franchise.
I think this conversation needs to end quickly.
Spock did do that, but he missed and mortally wounded the Star Trek franchise instead. Screw the “new” Star Trek.
I’m not going to lie, I never got into the old star trek, however based on it’s merits alone the 2009 Star Trek was a very good Sci Fi movie.
Michael Kay hasn’t see that movie either.
I guess there’s little chance he’d go see a science fiction movie named “Condiments: The Movie” if Hollywood was ever to make it.
You know what the Packers should do now?
They should (puts on sunglasses)
..throw a parade…
Speaking of which/whom, anybody gone to see a show on the Who’s latest tour and can give an honest review? I realize they are geriatric at this point, but I figured I’d give them a look/see before they’re completely through playing arenas.
And liking the vibe around the Yanks these days – between Swisher’s golly-gee-it’s-all-so-great’edness and Ichiro’s eccentricities and Pettitte’s be-cool-I-got-this ‘tude and Arod’s I’m-a-multi-multi-millionaire-so-eph-you thing going on, this team is fun to watch.
aaron rodgers 228 yds 86.1 qb rating give him a raise and throw a parade…andy friggin dalton had a qb rating of 132.9…rogers sucks hes one of the best quarterbacks in the league but thats not saying much…
Meanwhile, it takes a fucking lot to beat the Mysterious Force that somehow aids the O’s to victory. It’s like pulling teeth.
Toronto had to fight tooth and nail to overcome the force, and I applaud them. A lesser effort would not have been enough.
Seriously, the O’s are down by 2, get bases loaded nobody out, and only score one because dude is thrown out at the plate. Next half inning, bases loaded nobody out and they somehow get the first two outs with NO RUNS scoring until the pitcher serves up a meatball that was apparently such a bad pitch it caught the Mysterious Force off guard.
You’d think the game is over, right? Not if the Mysterious Force has something to say about it. Bases loaded, no outs in the ninth for the O’s until the big double play (I guess the Mysterious Force aimed the hit incorrectly somehow).
I mean, fuck. It’s amazing what it takes to beat this fucking team.
dude im rolling with laughter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIEVvAHoLIg
What would win in a one-on-one battle? The Mysterious Force or The Force? How about The Mysterious Force vs. The Schwartz?
Also, can The Mysterious Force kill The Grimace?
I’m imagining a potential O’s walkoff HR being stopped in midair as Yoda tries to use the Force to keep it in the park and the Mysterious Force tries its best to push it out.
(As for The Shwartz, I refuse to address it since “Spaceballs” was such a terrible movie.)
Well, we disagree on Spaceballs, but the question remains: Can The Mysterious Force kill The Grimace?
For reference sake:
Well, I am in an area where I can’t use sound and have no headphones with me unfortunately, but my first thought is that it could only kill the Grimace if it negatively affects the O’s in a baseball game. Otherwise the Mysterious Force and The Grimace could probably coexist in peace.
Whenever you can play sound again, I encourage you to watch this clip just so you can get an idea of what I mean.
ESPN play-by-play initially had that 9th inning double play as a triple play. And then, suddenly they’re still playing…
It was like the Orioles don’t only get 3 outs anymore, it keeps going until they win…
The Mysterious Force strikes again.
He put eight men on base. Seven singles, one double, one walk…
That one threw me for a loop too!
This is is barely an exaggeration. http://zipmeme.com/uploads/gen.....520778.jpg
Just imagine if MLB had a league full of Jerry Meals. That’s what the NFL has right now, a bunch of clowns. One calls touchback, another calls touchdown. Roger Goodell trying his best to take worst commissioner title from Bud.
Yea, but, there’s also Gary Bettman, who’s about to allow his league to have a second completely cancelled season.
Yeah, NO commissioner is worse than Bettman. What a disaster.
pretty much everything you say is crazy but i’m stealing your jerrry meals line.
oh, and daniel stern is THE WORST COMMISSIONER.
‘
That’s David Stern. Daniel Stern is one of the crooks from Home Alone and the narrator of The Wonder Years.
And these days, Stern actually looks like the best commissioner due to how shitty the other 3 are.
Why all you mad over the Packers getting screwed? Are they not a bigger threat to a playoff spot than the Seahawks?
I’m not mad about the Packers losing.
But I don’t want the Giants potentially losing because of bad calls made by these unqualified, in-over-their-heads replacements.
I personally love it. The Packers already were gifted a win last year, it’s their just desserts.
This outrage is hilarious considering worse has happened many times without a word being spoken.
That list of Yankee 40 HR seasons is amazing. Ruth Gehri Ruth Ruth Gehrig, etc etc. Joe D.
And a bunch of ARods. is he a 40 HR player without steroids? Probably right? But 54? uh no. i doubt it
one of these things is not like the others
babe ruth, lou gehrig, mickey mantle, and jason giambi
one of these things just doesn’t belong
can you tell which thing is not like the others
by the time I finish my song?
love juice giambi madly: but forreals? you too, grandy.
fuck whip.
ERA! ERA!
andy pettitte is why the terrorists hate us.
This is why I’ll never bet against Andy. People doubted him before his 1st return and he had a 3.22 ERA before he got hurt. They doubted him again for this return and he’s thrown up 11 innings of scoreless ball and his ERA is down to 2.71.
2 game lead in the loss column. If we can get it up to 3 that’ll be all she wrote. The Twins are pitching nobodies and next up is the Jays for a 4 game set. Even at a 2 game lead we could go 5-3 and the Os would have to go 7-1 to force a playoff. A 3 game lead will seal it.
Like the math
Funny thing is, if one of the NY teams would have lost a game that way, the NY media (and national media too) would have written articles saying “don’t blame the refs cause you lost the game. It neve should have come down to that” Just like Joel Sherman of the NY post wrote after Jerry Meals bad call, “Blaming umps is for losers”
Kind of funny then that Sherman didn’t blame the umps.
And I actually think going through this adversity to hold onto the division will benefit the team for the playoffs. The intensity and fight is already there as we saw in the Oakland series. Teams that coast in have to turn it on come playoff time. We’ve seen in the past that teams fighting to get in have a lot of success in the playoffs. I think I want the White Sox to hold on. Last year it wasn’t Verlander that killed us, it was Scherzer and Fister.
Good to see the 16 inch guns at work or were those howitzers booming last night?