Yankees shutout by A’s, drop series opener 2-0

May 4, 2013 by Mike Axisa 17 Comments

The Yankees have made a bit of a habit of losing series openers lately, as Friday’s shutout loss to the Athletics was their second consecutive series opener loss and third in their last four series. Was that confusing enough for you? Good. Let’s quickly recap…

Shaky Sabathia: CC Sabathia was in trouble all night — six innings, ten base-runners, only one 1-2-3 inning — but it was really just one bad pitch that earned him the loss. Adam Rosales hit the very first pitch of the game out into the left field seats for a leadoff homer and a quick 1-0 lead, and that was all Oakland needed.
Blown Chances: The Yankees had opportunities to put some runs on the board, but they came up empty each time. They left a man on second in the first, men at second and third in the third, a man on first in the fourth, a man on second in the fifth, and a man on second in the seventh. Six scattered hits and one walk usually isn’t enough to win, even when the pitching staff only allows two runs total.
Leftovers: Nice job by Adam Warren to throw three scoreless frames, though they weren’t the cleanest of innings … Brett Gardner and Jayson Nix both had a pair of hits … it’s become pretty obvious the Yankees need another bat. The 5-9 spots are just awful these days … apparently Sabathia had some kind of verbal confrontation with home plate ump Jordan Baker? I was at the game and didn’t see it.

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs some other stats, and ESPN the updated standings. Former Yankee Bartolo Colon and future former Yankee Phil Hughes will be on the bump for Saturday’s matinee. Check out RAB Tickets for some last minute deals.

Minor League Update: No DotF tonight, but I will link you to the box scores: Triple-A Scranton (win), Double-A Trenton (win), High-A Tampa (loss), Low-A Charleston (win). RHP Rafael DePaula was the star of the night, striking out seven in five shutout outings to lower his season strikeout rate to 15.1 K/9. CF Mason Williams and SS Cito Culver both went deep, and it was Mason’s second homer in three games.

forensic

apparently Sabathia had some kind of verbal confrontation with home plate ump Jordan Baker? I was at the game and didn’t see it.

Maybe you had dozed off for a little bit since it was such a blah game. You can even tell from the low number of comments in the game thread. I would say I agree with you on the offense, but apparently that would be too negative based on a couple of nights ago…

Anyway, at least they didn’t really lose any ground tonight, for what it’s worth, since Tampa is the only team in the division who won. In fact, they were the only team in the division to even score. Can’t imagine it’s happened before where four teams in the AL East were shutout on the same night.
WhittakerWalt

Whatever the Yankees’ book is on A.J. Griffin, they should throw it out.
- trr
  
  They did look lost didn’t they? put it behind us…
pat

CC threw a picture perfect slider on the outside corner to Lowrie on a 2-2 count that would have ended the inning. The jabroni replacement ump did what any ump would do, which is act like a complete unprofessional douche bag which made the big bear angry.
forensic

Random thoughts about tonight’s minors since it’s a slow night:

Melky continues to whiff with the best of them. Hopefully Mustelier can get in the groove somwhat quickly and force the organization to consider some sort of move. Montgomery gave up a homer, obviously the front office chose the right guy to call up. Heathcott continues to struggle, gotta wonder if something may have to be done there eventually. Tampa sort of gave up 9 extra/free outs in their game with 3 sacrifices, 3 DP’s, 2 CS’s, and an error, yuck. The strikeouts are crazy for De Paula, but more walks moves him to just a tick under 5 BB/9, that seems way high for someone of his age/skill at that level, despite missing time in the US.
- Bo Knows
  
  8 walks have come in two starts, one of those starts he was pulled after 2 innings so it literally 8 walks in 7 innings. Also The yankees are keeping him on a strict pitch/inning count (it seems to be 75 pitches or 5 innings, which ever comes first) so his bb/9 is going to be skewed anyway.
  - I’m not the droids you’re looking for…
    
    I get the first part of what you’re saying, but as to the second, unless you think that a pitcher is less likely to walk guys later in games, his pitch count and innings limit would have no impact on a rate stat like BB/9.
    - Bo Knows
      
      It affects how his bb/9 is calculated in all of his games, De Paula could have easily pitched pitched at least one more inning if not two more innings because he has never been allowed to throw more than his specified count yet. If he’s pitching more innings and not walking many more people, that number will be lower.
      
      Think of it this way 2 walks in 5 innings is 3.60 bb/9; 3 walks in 5 innings is equal to 5.4 bb per nine but 3 walks in 6 innings is a 4.5 bb/9 its a much lower walk per nine. If you De Paula was allowed to pitch one more inning in his starts, his bb/9 would be significantly lower. Right now because of those 7 innings, his bb/9 says he averages a touch over 3 walks per start, but he has done better than his line says in the bigger picture. I don’t see the walks as a problem in themselves (if he starts walking 4 guys in every start that’s different), it just shows he still has brief moments of inconsistency.
      
      One thing that has really impressed me, is that he is capable of self correcting and buckling down when he messes up rather than letting it snowball.
- Kosmo
  
  Melky Mesa is a .240 MiLB hitter, frankly I never expected much from him. Heathcott as well as some other top prospects are all struggling of late. Maybe demoting Heathcott for a spell to Tampa might be the best medicine. Montgomery will be in the Bronx at some point this season. I´m not at all concerned about DePaula, he´ll probably make it all the way to Trenton by seasons end.
Robert

Was at the Charleston game last nite and these are my impressions.DePaula was impressive though very raw,Since I saw the Jose Ramirez last week in Trenton you could see the that the difference between the two was Jose was much more polished. Given that it was very cold last nite and that could have caused him to be a little wild.Also on a picthing note put Charlie Short on the radar 4k in 2 inn and and 21K in 12innings made me take notice,
Now position players Greg Bird is a stud he mashed the ball every time up.Easily the best player on the team.Pete O’Brien the catcher also stood out at bat and behind plate.Culver had a good game and even with a HR did not give me that ML vibe.And finally I know he is still young but Bichette looks lost at the plate taking big swings and misses, can we get a batting coach please. Heard but did not see Gene Michael was at the game.
- Bo Knows
  
  I was looking forward to hearing your assessment as well since you said you were going to see the Riverdogs. You think the fact he has only pitched in the DR until this point (which is warm and pretty weather-wise year round) could be sensations he’s not used to yet, and affected him?
  
  I’ve seen him before and he’s been pretty sharp; with the ump just being bad (for both sides)
Brandon

Dont feel to bad, Red Sox , Blue Jays, and Orioles all got shut out as well.
Robinson Tilapia

Glad they saved this performance for a Friday night, when less folks are watching. Glad I missed the game. There are not many things less fun than watching your team flail away badly at some 60 MPH clown curveball.

Today is a new day.

CC? Yeah, we repeat the same thing about being “off” over and over, but the results are still good, even if he didn’t give the team typical length last night. Should we be worried? I don’t think so, but knowing what this will look like on the other end (COMMENTER FROM THE FUTURE!) would be nice.
nsalem

After giving up his second ER in 12 innings why is he obviously not ready for MLB. I don’t understand how you can make this statement based on 1 game and 1 HR. The player who hit the HR against him has homered twice against David Robertson in two AB’s in the majors. So maybe Robertson isn’t a good choice to pitch in the major leagues either. He has hit 3 Hrs off of Johnny Cueto, Santana and Cole Hammels. and also against Strasburg, Pedro, Maddux, Schilling and many other quality pitchers. How did you come to this conclusion???? Maybe Montgomery may not be MLB ready but I don’t think it is based on your statement. Maybe the Yankee’s also think that Claiborne may not be pitching that much anyway and think more highly of Montgomery and decided he needed to work regularly, rather than throwing one or two innings a week in very low leverage situations. I don’t know, do you?
Melky I , agree and think he will be off the 40 man quite soon. This is based on an LSS. He may make the major leagues one day as a spare outfielder but I doubt it will be with the Yankee’s.
Heathcott Demote based on 90 AB’? . We know he can hit High A pitching and he must adjust to a new level. From what I have heard this is the toughest level to adjust to. If his performance has not improved after 250 AB’s or so I may agree with your suggestion. Let’s give him a chance.
DePaula Quite possibly he is learning something new and has been told not to worry about BB’s. The organizations aim is for him to learn to pitch on higher levels and try new things. I don’t think our quick glances at box scores has any relevancy to his development. If you have any more info on him other than box scores, please share. I love to get as much info as I can on these guys.
- Darren
  
  Welcome to RAB, Montgomery!
  
  (j/k)
I’m not the droids you’re looking for…

Boo for no dotf.

Thanks for the impressions above from guys at the games. Too lazy to click through to box scores!
nsalem

CC sort of reminds me of Juan Marichal in the sense that they had games where they seemed to be getting beat around, but more than often they came out with a wins because of their ability to come up with important outs on a consistent level. When I think of these two, I think that WP to some level has at least some relevancy (In the case of these two anyway). Though you can attribute theire high WP’s with the good fortune of often being on good teams. Their WHIP and Era+ numbers are also remarkably similar also. CatFish was also the same (bulldog) mentality maybe to a lesser degree. Both Catfish and Juan were pretty much toast by their mid 30’s when their stuff started to diminish and they started getting hurt except for the last 2 months of Hunter’s career in 1978. He finished with a nice little hot streak. I think 1978 was his last year anyway. Might be wrong on that. Not implying at all that this will be CC’s fate.