(Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

Pitching, Pitching, And More Pitching

The interweb was up in arms over Joe Girardi’s micromanaging following Nova’s quick exit, which involved the use of six different relievers to cover the final seven innings. The thing that no one seems to want to acknowledge is that it worked. Was it annoying? Hell yes. But it worked. After Nova allowed three hits – all for extra bases, including back-to-back homers by Don Kelly and Delmon Young – and two runs in his two innings of work, the sextet of Phil Hughes, Boone Logan, CC Sabathia, Rafael Soriano, David Robertson, and Mariano Rivera combined to allow just one run on five hits and two walks in seven innings. They struck out ten.

I saw plenty of fans and media members saying that Girardi was managing out of desperation, well guess what? It was a desperate situation. Starter went two innings (and put the team in a two-run hole before they even came to bat) before getting hurt in a win or go home game. How dare the manager express some urgency! It wasn’t a fun process to sit through, but given the circumstances, I thought Girardi (and the pitchers themselves, don’t forget those guys) did about as good a job as possible.

(Nick Laham/Getty Images)

Story of the ALDS: Blown Chances

The story of the Yankees ALDS defeat will focus squarely on their 4-5-6 hitters, and rightfully so. Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, and Nick Swisher went a combined 9-for-55 (.164) with seven walks and one hit-by-pitch (.266 OBP) in the five-game series, and their inability to put the ball in play in a bases loaded, one out situation in the bottom of the seven essentially sealed the Yankees fate (in fairness, Tex did walk to force in a run). A-Rod and Swisher both struck out feebly against a struggling Joaquin Benoit to kill the rally.

Earlier in the game, the Yankees had the bases loaded with one out against Doug Fister in the fourth, but Russell Martin and Brett Gardner couldn’t hit the ball out of the infield. Martin popped up to first, Gardner to third. Fister retired seven of the first eight men he faced, but once the lineup turned over, he allowed five of eight hitters to reach base and I thought the at-bats were noticeably better and the contact noticeably harder. The Yankees scored zero runs until Robinson Cano‘s fifth inning solo homer, though.

New York outscored Detroit 28-17 in the five games, but the distribution of runs was the issue in the five-game series. The Yankees won both of their games by six runs or more, and lost the three games by four runs combined. They went 2-for-9 with men in scoring position and left eleven men on base Thursday, and the two hits didn’t even score runs. The Tigers went 1-for-9 with men in scoring position and stranded just six thanks to the stellar bullpen work, but the two first inning solo homers gave them a lead they’d never surrender.

(Nick Laham/Getty Images)

Leftovers

The bases loaded situation in the seventh was the Yankees last real gasp at a comeback, but Derek Jeter just narrowly missed a go-ahead two run homer in the bottom of the eighth. It looked like Don Kelly caught it right at the top of the wall in right from where I was sitting, but I haven’t seen the replay so don’t take my word for it. Another foot or three, and this is a very different recap.

In what was almost certainly his final game as a Yankee, Jorge Posada with 2-for-4 to raise his ALDS batting line to .329/.579/.571 in the five games. After a brutally ineffective regular season, Posada was far and away the team’s best hitter against the Tigers. Gardner went 2-for-4 on Thursday to raise his ALDS batting line to .412/.444/.471. Safe to say he was their second best hitter. Curtis Granderson went 1-for-4 with a walk, bringing his ALDS batting line to .260/.375/.550. That’s pretty damn close to his .262/.364/.552 regular season performance. Cano’s solo homer and a single later in the game raised his ALDS batting line to .318/.375/.682.

Very nice job by Soriano out of the bullpen this series. He retired 13 of the 14 batters he faced, but unfortunately the one was Young’s game-winning homer in Game Three. Boone faced eight batters in the series, allowed one ground ball single, and struck out six. David Robertson and Mariano Rivera retired all eleven men they faced in the series, and didn’t allow a single ball out of the infield. The pitching staff wasn’t the problem here, the guys combined for a 3.27 ERA with 47 strikeouts and just 36 hits allowed in 44 innings during the five-game set.

WPA Graph & Box Score

MLB.com has the box score and video, FanGraphs some other stuff.

Up Next

Unfortunately, a lot of Yankees-less nights are next. The four-and-a-half month offseason officially begins today, and the Yankees have to deal with Brian Cashman‘s expiring contract before anything else takes place.

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Season Over: Tigers knock Yanks out of ALDS

If you want to talk about the game or how awful the Yankees are, do it here. This thread is about Nova and his forearm. Thanks.

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Nova to have MRI on tight forearm

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That’s all she wrote: Tigers bounce Yanks from ALDS

Huge. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

I Believed In A.J.

Okay, no I didn’t, and I don’t think many of you did either. I don’t blame you, A.J. Burnett has been decidedly awful for two years now, and nothing about having him start a win or go home game sounds appetizing. But then … this. Five-plus innings, one run. That’s all the Tigers got off him. Best case scenario? Absolutely the best case scenario. Funny thing is, it started rather ominously.

I’m going to talk more about this in a bit, but Curtis Granderson saved Burnett’s bacon with a great catch in the very first inning. A.J. walked the bases loaded (one was intentional) and gave up a rocket, but his center fielder bailed him out with a great catch. Like I said, this had to be a total team effort. Bad A.J. was in the building, but the TBS cameras showed Burnett and Larry Rothschild chatting on their way to clubhouse after the inning. Whatever they talked about, it worked. A.J. came out throwing grenades in a perfect, ten-pitch second inning, then tacked on a scoreless third inning on 13 pitches.

Victor Martinez led off the fourth inning with a homer, then two batters later Jhonny Peralta doubled. The bullpen was working, just like it was in the first inning, but Burnett got former Yankee Wilson Betemit to swing over top of a curveball at his shoes for strike three to end the inning. A scoreless seven-pitch fifth inning followed, then A.J. came out for the sixth. He got two quick outs before Don Kelly singled, and that was the end of his night. We spent all day talking about the need for a quick hook, and Joe Girardi obliged. After 81 effective pitches, Burnett’s day was done.

Like it always seems to be, the key to the game was A.J.’s curve. Nineteen of the 30 curves he threw went for strikes, four for swing-and-misses. Thirteen of his 14 non-strikeout outs came on the ground, so he had some movement on his fastball and kept the ball down. You can’t say enough about the job Burnett did in this game, facing elimination. He proved basically everyone wrong, keeping a very good lineup in check for far longer than anyone expected. Give that man a round of applause.

Safe. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

The Cap’n Capitalizes

While everyone focuses on the futility of Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, and Nick Swisher, Derek Jeter went a very quiet 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in his last four at-bats with men on base in the series, stranding a total of eleven ducks on the pond. With Jorge Posada on first (hit-by-pitch) and Russell Martin on second (single), Jeter came to the plate with one out in the third after one of the dumbest sacrifice bunt attempts I can remember. Brett Gardner couldn’t get the thing down, not that he should have tried to in the first place (playing for two runs with Burnett on the bump? nope), fell behind in the count, then made an out without even advancing the runners. That brought Jeter to the plate with a chance for redemption.

Rick Porcello was getting the high strike all game long, so I don’t know if it was a conscious decision to go upstairs with the sinker to Derek, but that’s where it went. The Cap’n drove the 1-0 offering basically over Austin Jackson’s head in center for a double, scoring both Jorge and Martin. Russ had to slide around the tag at the plate, showing off some of his sneaky good baserunning skills. The Yankees were up two-zip in the third, but I think we all knew that the score was going to change at some point, and by a whole lot. At +.179 WPA, Jeter’s double was the biggest play of the game.

MVP. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Everything Clicks (Part One)

The Yankees held that 2-0 lead until V-Mart’s solo shot in the fourth, but they responded a half-inning later. Martin led the inning off with a single, then Gardner went the other way for a single. Another stupid bunt attempt followed, except this time Jeter bunted it back to the pitcher who got the force at third. It was truly awful, I have no idea why this team plays for one or two runs with a pair of ~5.00 ERA guys on the mound. And you know Derek did that on his own, he does that all the frickin’ time.

Anyway, up come the super amazing Curtis Granderson, who we’re going to talk about in the next section. Porcello jumped ahead of him 0-2, but the former Tiger hooked one of those upstairs sinkers into the right field corner for a run scoring double. Robinson Cano was intentionally walked to loaded the bases, and all the Yankees needed from A-Rod was a fly ball. He gave them that fly ball, another 0-2 pitch, deep enough to center to score another run and increase the lead to 4-1. That was much more comfortable than 2-1, but the game was hardly over.

Un. Be. Lievable. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

Flyin’ Curtis

As I said a minute ago, Burnett does not last long enough to pitch as well as he did with some help from his defense. After loading the bases on those three walks in the first, Kelly smoked a fastball to dead center that appeared headed for some unoccupied piece of outfield. Granderson seemed to misread the ball hit right at him, first taking a step in before breaking back. Grandy ran for a few steps then lunged, snaring the line drive while in a full extension. He crashed to the ground with the ball in his glove, ending the threat and the inning. Remember how I said that 13 of the 14 non-strikeout outs Burnett record were on the ground? This was the one exception.

Five innings later, Granderson did it again. Burnett was out of the game at this point, having just given way to Rafael Soriano with a man on first and two outs in the sixth. Peralta, who doubled last time up, jumped all over a first pitch cutter and drove it out to left-center. It was ticketed for the gap and would have definitely scored Kelly from first with two outs, but Granderson was on his horse and ran the ball down. He dove, another full extension, and grabbed the ball about a foot off the ground. He seemed to knock the wind out of himself, but the catch was made and the inning was over. The combined WPA of the two catches is +.097 (.071 + .026), but they were far, far bigger in reality.

Everything Clicks (Part Two)

(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

The score remained 4-1 into the eighth inning, when something weird happened. The 3-4-5 hitters started hitting. Crazy, I know. A-Rod opened the inning with a line drive single to second. Teixeira followed that up with a dinky little infield hit that hugged the third base line, but hey, I’m not complaining. Sometimes a little thing that like that can a guy going. Swisher loaded the bases with no outs on a ground ball single through the left side. Tex and Swish were taking their first right-handed at-bats of the series (off former Yankee Phil Coke), so perhaps that helped them out. Both guys are considerably better against lefty pitching.

Posada’s been the team’s most consistent hitter all postseason, but with the bases loaded and a lefty on the mound, Girardi went to the bench and called on Jesus Montero. Jim Leyland countered with the right-hander Al Alburquerque, but since Montero is the backup catcher, Eric Chavez did not replace him to get the platoon advantage. It didn’t matter though; Alburquerque balked in a run (Jesus works in mysterious ways) before Montero singled through the left side for another run. That made him the third youngest player in Yankees history to pick up a postseason hit, behind only a pair of guys named Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. That’s pretty awesome.

Martin reloaded the bases with a walk, then Gardner singled in a run and loaded the bases yet again. Jeter and Granderson struck out, but Cano and A-Rod took care of business with a pair of run-scoring singles. It was Alex’s second hit of the inning, two more than he had the entire series up to that point. A 4-1 game was suddenly a 10-1 game, and pretty much all the pressure was gone. It was a comfortable lead, and we all (cautiously) starting making plans for Game Five on Thursday night.

I was smiling too after this one. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images)

Leftovers

Big ups to the bullpen. Soriano recorded four outs on just nine pitches (one thanks to Granderson’s diving catch), Phil Hughes came in throwing darts in the eighth (very 2009-esque, no hyperbole), and Boone Logan wrapped things up by striking out the side in the ninth. Ten up, ten down, and six strikeouts. Great job by these three, especially Soriano, who didn’t have the safety net of a huge league.

A-Rod looked pretty good at the plate, and it wasn’t just the two late singles. He hit three moderate-to-deep fly balls in his first three trips to the plate, so his timing seems to be coming back a bit. Any positive signs, we have to take them. Everyone in the starting lineup had a hit except for Posada, who reached on the hit-by-pitch. A-Rod, Martin, and Gardner all had two hits, as did Montero off the bench. He’s just that damn good. Jeter, Cano, and Martin added walks. The entire team combined to go 6-for-14 with men in scoring position (.429), with most of the damage coming in that six-run eighth inning.

John Smoltz has been very anti-Yankees in this series, though I don’t know if it’s his Detroit roots or just some leftover bitterness from 1996 and 1999. Anyway, during that big eighth inning, he tried to play this game off as a “good loss” for the Tigers, because it allowed them to get ready and focus on Game Five. Yeah, it’s definitely a “good loss” when you put yourself on the brink of elimination. Give me a break.

Play-by-play guy Brian Anderson redeemed Smoltz a bit by talking about the Yankees’ catching depth during Montero’s first at-bat. He obviously mentioned Montero and Austin Romine, but he also dropped Gary Sanchez’s name in there. That was pretty cool.

WPA Graph & Box Score

Those last two stress-free innings were big, my blood pressure needed that. MLB.com has the box score and video, FanGraphs some other neat stuff.

Up Next

Good pitching, good hitting, and good defense, so now the Yankees will play a Game Five. These two clubs have Wednesday off, then will regroup at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night for the right to play the Rangers in the ALDS. That game was supposed to start at 8:37pm ET, but apparently it’s been bumped up to regular old 8pm ET now that the other ALDS has been decided.

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Burnett comes up big, Yanks force Game Five

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Yanks pound Tigers, force Game Five

1. The Yankees got started right when Curtis Granderson tripled over Austin Jackson’s head and gave the Yanks a 1-0 lead. Two batters later Alex Rodriguez brought home Granderson, giving CC Sabathia a two-run lead before throwing a pitch.

2. Problem was, CC was all over the place. From the TV camera angles the umpiring appeared poor, but TV can be deceiving. Still, it appeared that the strike zone grew for left-handed batters, and the Yankees had plenty more of them than the Tigers. Hence, the feeling that the Yankees were getting shafted. But really, it was about CC’s lack of sharpness. It didn’t hurt them in the first two innings, but it would eventually lead to runs.

3. Verlander settled into his normally dominant mode, which bought the Tigers some time to break through against Sabathia. They did that in the third, benefiting from a bottom of the order rally. In fact, Sabathia didn’t record an out in that third inning until Miguel Cabrera grounded into a double play. The world is a strange place.

4. Sabathia eventually put down the Tigers in order, but he resumed his struggles in the fifth. Again the bottom of the order got things going, and Ramon Santiago, who should hit at the bottom of the order, put the Tigers ahead. Sabathia did manage to escape the inning without further trouble.

5. Meanwhile, Verlander continued to cruise.

6. With Don Kelly slated to lead off the sixth, Girardi stuck with Sabathia. There’s little problem with this. Kelly is a light-hitting lefty, lefties were facing a tougher strike zone, and Sabathia is hell on lefties. Kelly threw a wrench into the plans by laying down a bunt, which got by Sabathia. Base hit.

7. Yet Girardi did not remove Sabathia for the righty Jhonny Peralta. Yes, Peralta has something of a reverse split, but the circumstances were a bit different than a typical LHP/RHP situation. A hard-worked and shaky Sabathia stood on the mound, while the well-rested Rafael Soriano waited in the pen. Peralta doubled home a run. Sabathia stayed in for yet another batter, Alex Avila, whom he owned in the previous two at-bats. Even still, the sacrifice was a favorable outcome.

8. After going down 0-2 with two outs in the seventh, Jorge Posada hung in there to draw a walk from Verlander. That kinda changed the game there. Before that he was in complete game mode. Now he had to work a little harder. Things got harder still when he hit Russ Martin with a 100 mph fastball in the ribs. But that put the tying runner on, which came in handy when Brett Gardner split the outfielders. On Sunday Girardi pinch hit for Gardner in a similar situation. Last night he decided to stay with Gardner, and it paid off. Tie ballgame.

9. But not for long! On the first pitch of his at-bat Delmon Young took a fastball to the opposite field, just clearing the fence. Tigers back up. Valverde looming.

10. In the ninth Valverde came in, and he was wild from the start. Nick Swisher helped him out by popping up a 2-0 pitch, but after he homered yesterday it’s understandable why he went after the pitch. It was hittable, but he just missed it. Posada waited out Valverde, drawing another walk. Russ Martin then nearly put one out, flying one deep to the track. Like Curtis Granderson’s fly the previous inning, it would have been out at most parks, no less Yankee Stadium.

11. Gardner drew a walk, and Jeter did a good job to run the count full. But he couldn’t get the job done, or even pass the baton. He swung through one and ended the game.

12. See you back here tomorrow night, when the season rests in A.J. Burnett‘s hands. That terrifies everyone. Maybe the pressure will bring out the best in him. It’s really the only hope the Yankees have of extending their season.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

The official Vent About Game 3 thread

(Chris Trotman/Getty Images)mmm

The Ninth Inning

We’ll start at the end of the game, because that’s really the only part of the game that got Yankees fans off their feet. Down 5-1 to start the frame, Nick Swisher hit a solo homer on Jose Valverde’s very first pitch. Pretty good start. Jorge Posada worked the count full then hit a triple (!!!) to almost dead center. It was a legit triple too, over the head of Austin Jackson and off the wall. No one fell down, nothing like that. The Yankees had one run in with a man on third with no outs already, so they were definitely in business.

Russell Martin came to the plate, and his at-bat really defined the Yankees brand of offense. Martin saw eight pitches total, including a) two fouls on tough fastballs just off the outside corner, and b) a take of a similar pitch for a ball to put men on the corners with none out after the walk. You can point to his batting average all you want, but at-bats like that are part of makes him so valuable. Martin stood his ground and fought off tough pitcher’s pitchers until he got something to hit. When he didn’t get something to hit, he took his base and brought the tying run to the plate. Just a monster at-bat, I can’t say enough about it.

That brought Andruw Jones to the plate, who took over in left after Eric Chavez pinch-hit for Brett Gardner earlier in the game. We’ll talk more about that decision later on, don’t worry. A fastball hitter against a fastball pitcher, Andrew ripped a line drove to right that Don Kelly caught for the first out. Very hard hit ball, just not in the right spot. Posada scored to make it a 5-3 game, but there was one out. The second out came one batter later, when Jeter swung through an inside fastball for strike three. The Cap’n also ended the fifth and seventh innings, both times with two men on base.

The Yankees were down to two outs, but they had the right guy at the plate. Curtis Granderson crushes fastballs and hit the second most homers in all of baseball this year, and one swing of the bat could have tied the game. He got ahead in the count 2-0, but fouled the third pitch back. Alex Avila should have made the catch near the Tigers dugout, but he slipped on the Yankees logo in the on-deck circle and the ball fell harmlessly. It was a huge break, giving the Yankees more life when they had no business having it. Three pitches later, Granderson was on first base via a walk, representing the tying run. That brought Robinson Cano to the plate, who is exactly who we all wanted to see up in that spot.

Already 29 pitches into what was supposed to be an easy outing, Valverde was one mistake away from losing the game. He went after Cano with the hard stuff, and Robinson was pretty late on a few of them. The first pitch was a called strike and it might have been his best one to hit, the next three fouled off. With the rain starting to come down, Valverde went to the splitter and got Cano to ground out weakly to second. Inning over, game over. The Yankees fought hard to put themselves in a position to win, but it wasn’t meant to be. On the bright side, Valverde had to throw 34 high stress pitches, which could have an impact in the next game or even the one after that.

(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Freddy Sez: Why Am I Pitching To Miggy?

Freddy Garcia‘s afternoon didn’t start all that well, but there’s really no shame in giving up a two-run homer to Miguel Cabrera. He’s one of the best hitters in the world, and it was a bit of a Yankee Stadium special to boot. Bad job letting Magglio Ordonez (3-for-3 in the game, really?) be on base when Miggy did his thing. It was a bad start, but that’s all it was. Garcia retired 13 of the next 14 men he faced, taking the ball into the sixth inning without breaking a sweat. Okay, that last part probably isn’t true. I’m sure Sweaty Freddy was sweating.

Anyway, things unraveled in that sixth inning, all thanks to an error by Jeter. Austin Jackson hit a grounder to short, but the throw was in the dirt and Mark Teixeira was unable to make the scoop. The leadoff man was on and the heart of the order was looming, but the bullpen was not yet doing anything. Ordonez picked up his third hit after that, putting men on the corners with none out. Now it was a real mess, but in stayed Garcia. It was the right move for at least one batter, because Delmon Young struck out to setup a potential rally-ending double play. The problem? Cabrera was due up.

Why Garcia was allowed to pitch to him, I’ll never quite understand. The Walk Bonds Chart says to not walk him in that spot, but if they didn’t want to intentionally load the bases, that’s at least a spot for a strikeout reliever. Instead, Miggy hooked a hanging changeup back up the middle, scoring Jackson from third to increase his team’s lead to three-zip. Still in there, Garcia then allowed a single to Victor Martinez to make it four-zip. That ended his day, and Boone Logan managed to escape the inning with two strikeouts.

In between the first inning homer and the sixth inning, error-induced rally, Freddy pitched really well. Four runs in 5.1 IP doesn’t really do his performance justice; he walked zero and whiffed six guys, getting nine of his remaining eleven outs on the ground. It’s the postseason, I think Joe Girardi should have been a little more liberal with the bullpen in that spot. Freddy gets some applause from me, he gave the Yankees a chance to win.

(Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

Where’s The Offense?

Freddy gave the Yankees a chance to win, but the offense definitely did not. Max Scherzer, he of the 5.23 ERA on the road this season, took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Cano broke it up with a bloop single to left with one out. It tied the longest no-hit bid against the Yankees in playoff history, matching the 5.1 IP that Paul Abbot and Norm Charlton held New York hitless in Game Four of the 2001 ALDS. They were late on Scherzer’s fastball and behind on his offspeed pitches, which is why they hit basically nothing hard.

Granderson got them on the board with a solo homer to leadoff the eighth, but it wasn’t until that ninth inning that the Yankees mustered any kind of quality rally. Everything else seemed to die before it even got going. Scherzer was very good (just two hits and four walks in six innings), but the offense didn’t exactly put up much of a fight. After throwing 27 pitches in the first inning, the Tigers’ right-hander needed just 36 over the next three innings.

Girardi’s Decisions

(AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

Lots of talk about two moves made by Girardi in this one. First, he pinch-hit Chavez for Gardner in that seventh inning, only to watch Joaquin Benoit strike him out on three pitches. I liked the move, but apparently I’m in the extreme minority. The Yankees hadn’t put a damn thing together all game, so I figured the change of pace was worth a shot with the most powerless hitter on the team at the plate. I didn’t expect a homer, just something more than Gardner looking at some fastballs down the middle before rolling over for a ground out. Yes, I know Benoit has good numbers against lefties because of his changeup and all that, but we’re talking about one at-bat. The past X number of lefties not getting hits does not make it less likely that Player Y will get a hit next time up.

The second decision was using Luis Ayala in the ninth, which is completely indefensible. I don’t like to talk in absolutes, but this was clearly the wrong move as soon as he jogged out of the bullpen. Ayala was completely ineffective in Game One and also in the final game of the regular season, and sure enough he allowed a run that seems pretty big considering how the ninth inning played out. Girardi talked about being able to use his top relievers for three days in a row before the game, well where were they? He managed that inning like it was some meaningless regular season game, not the playoffs.

No good vibes from Andy's first pitch, unfortunately. (Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

Leftovers

It’s pretty obvious that Alex Rodriguez can’t bat cleanup tomorrow. He went 0-for-3 with a walk in this game and is 0-for-8 in the series, and he just hasn’t been right since the knee and thumb problems. Bat Teixeira cleanup, move A-Rod to fifth, that’s it. Otherwise Detroit will pitch around Cano all series and not pay for it. Also, you gotta love the boos coming back. Alex is such an easy target, everyone just piles on and uses him as an outlet for their frustration. Jeter (-.206 WPA, by far the worst in the game) plays a major role in the death of three rallies and commits an error that leads to a multi-run inning, but hey, let’s boo A-Rod!

Ayala was pretty awful, but Logan did his job to escape that sixth inning. He did balk the two runners over before getting his two strikeouts though, a gentle little reminder that it’s never easy with Boone. Cory Wade threw 37 pitches across two scoreless innings to kinda keep things in order. You can argue that someone better, Rafael Soriano or David Robertson maybe, should have been pitching those innings, but I don’t have the energy to argue it anymore.

Granderson, Cano, Swisher, and Posada were the only Yankees with hits. You know what the first three did already, and Jorge added a single back up to the middle to his ninth inning triple. Granderson, Cano, A-Rod, Swisher, Posada, and Martin all drew walks as well, and Russ even took a pitch to the hands to reach base. Jeter, Teixeira, and the Gardner/Chavez/Jones spot did not reach base. Unlike Game One, Cano came to the plate just once with men on base, and that was the game-ending at-bat. In fairness, Granderson did hit a homerun in front of him in one of the four baserunner-less at-bats.

Gardner slid head first into first base (again), so naturally he was out. That’s an epidemic with this team, it goes back to Melky Cabrera, but no one seems to care. The entire organization seems to think that it actually helps you get to the base faster. One of these days someone will break a wrist, maybe even someone important like Martin, and I guess that’s what it’ll take wake everyone up, or least someone with some pull in the organization.

Box Score & WPA Graph

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs some other stuff.

Up Next

Like I said, it’s a best-of-three series now, and both teams have their ace going on Monday. CC Sabathia and Justin Verlander will each make their second start of the series following the Game One rain suspension,  and although it’s not a true “must win” for either team, it sure is a game neither can afford to lose with A.J. Burnett and Rick Porcello lined up for Game Four.

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Scherzer shuts Yanks down to even up ALDS

(Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

Before The Rain

As you know, this game really started on Friday night. The Yankees and Tigers got just an inning and a half in before rain forced the game to be suspended until Saturday, throwing a wrench into everyone’s pitching plans. CC Sabathia struck out four in his two innings of work, the only blemish a Yankee Stadium special solo homer from Delmon Young. Justin Verlander walked two and allowed a run without letting a ball out of the infield in his inning. It’s a shame, it looked like CC was on and Verlander was struggling. Alas, the skies opened up and we’ll see these two aces in Game Three on Monday.

He hit that one to Alburquerque. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

Have Yourself A Night, Robinson

Just before the playoffs, the Yankees decided to switch up their lineup just a little bit, installing Robinson Cano as the number three hitter against righties while Mark Teixiera slid down to fifth. One game into the playoffs, the move has been a smashing success.

The score was still tied at one in the bottom of the fifth, and Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter combined for two quick outs. Two outs is the perfect time for a go-ahead rally, so Curtis Granderson did the honors of singling to right to extend the inning. Doug Fister, who we’ll talk about in a little while, caught just enough of the plate with a 1-1 fastball, and Cano smashed it out to left. I thought it was gone off the bat, but the ball hit off the table top of the left field wall and bounced back into the field of play. Umpires reviewed the play and (correctly) ruled it a double, but Granderson scored from first anyway. Cano had given the Yankees a 2-1 lead, and he wasn’t close to being done.

Just one inning later, the Yankees really had something cooking. Gardner singled in a pair of runs after Tex doubled (to the opposite field!), Jorge Posada walked, and Russell Martin moved them up with a ground ball. Jeter singled to put runners on the corners, stole second uncontested to put men at second and third, then Granderson drew a walk to load the bases. That was the end of Fister’s day, and in came strikeout machine Al Alburquerque. Alburquerque misses a ton of bats with his slider, but Cano doesn’t miss many sliders when they hang up in the zone. Robbie hit a no-doubt grand slam into the second deck to right, blowing the game open and giving the Yankees a nice seven-run cushion. In 43.1 regular season innings, Alburquerque allowed zero homeruns. That changed two pitches into his postseason career.

Cano added another run-scoring double in the eighth, stretching the lead to 9-1 and allowing him to finish the day 3-for-5 with two doubles and the salami. It was the Yankees first postseason grand slam since Ricky Ledee victimized Rod Beck of the Red Sox in Game Four of the 1999 ALCS. Cano’s six runs driven in are a new Yankees LDS record, and the most by someone wearing pinstripes since Hideki Matsui went off on the Phillies in Game Six of the 2009 World Series. I think he’ll be just fine hitting third, just fine.

Super Duper Nova

(Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

It technically wasn’t a start, but who cares? Ivan Nova was absolute money in “relief” of Sabathia, taking the ball to start the third inning and leading the Yankees right to the ninth. He ran into one real jam in the fifth (more on that in a bit), but otherwise did not allow more than one runner on base in an inning until things were all but decided in the ninth. New York’s number two starter struck out five and it seemed like every one came in a big spot, and he got six other outs on the ground.

The two runs Nova allowed came when he was out of the game, otherwise known as garbage time. A Delmon line drive to the foot in the ninth seemed to slow him a bit, but there’s no shame in that. Nova came up huge against a pitcher that came into the game with much more hype, and he’s the reason the Yankees have a one-game lead in the series right now. Cano’s contributions were obviously huge, but Nova really carried the team on his back.

(AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

This Ain’t The AL Central, Doug

The Yankees are now 3-0 in the three games they faced Verlander this year, but this isn’t about him. It’s about the job the Yankees did against Fister, who the MSM would have liked you to believe was second coming of Roy Halladay because of his September performance. He allowed the first two batters he faced to reach base, but then retired eleven men in the row. The Yankees showed no mercy the second and third time thought the order; seven of the next ten men they sent to the plate reached base. Fister’s final line was six runs on seven hits and two walks in just 4.2 IP, the first time he allowed more than two runs in an outing since August 14th, his third start as a Tigers. It’s almost like facing seven AL Central teams in your last eight regular season outings can skew your performance.

Cano was obviously the highlight on offense, but this was a total team effort. Gardner’s two-run single in the fifth (in an 0-2 count, no less) was big because it gave the Yankees some breathing room before Cano broke it open. Granderson reached base three times in five plate appearances (the single and two walks), and he saw a total of 30 pitches. That’s huge. Jeter had a pair of hits, and the five through nine hitters all had one hit. Teixeira and Posada added walks. Alex Rodriguez was the only Yankees not to reach base, going 0-for-5 with two strikeouts and the RBI groundout on Friday.

(Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

Leftovers

Underrated moment sure to be forgotten because of the blowout: Alex Avila getting thrown out at the plate fifth inning. Nova started to show some kinks in the armor that inning, allowing a walk and two straight singles. Avila chugged around third on the second single, but Jeter’s relay throw from Granderson to home was picture perfect. Martin had plenty of time to apply the tag, the second out of what would be a scoreless inning. If that run scores, all of a sudden the Tigers are up one with men on the corners and just one out. Who knows what happens then.

Gotta mention Posada’s latest stupid baserunning blunder. The Yankees had runners on second and third with no outs against Fister in the second inning, and for whatever reason, Posada broke for home on Gardner’s ground ball to third. He got hung up on the bases and was tagged out. The out completely changed the inning, because instead of second and third with one out, it was first and second with one out. Yes, Fister balked the runners over, but Derek Jeter was already behind in the count by then. Didn’t come back to hurt, but good grief.

In my series preview, I said that the only way to contain the great Miguel Cabrera was by keeping runners off base in front of him. Miggy went 0-for-3 with a walk, but more importantly, he came to the plate just once with men on base, and that wasn’t until the game was all but decided in the ninth inning. Cano, his three-hole hitter counterpart, had runners on base in four of his five plate appearances. Story of the game right there.

Unfortunately, Mariano Rivera was pressed into action when Luis Ayala couldn’t record the final two outs of the game after Nova exited. He only threw three pitches (a strikeout, of course), but these two clubs will play three games in the next three days. Wasting some of those bullets with a six-run lead, even if the bases were loaded, is not inconsequential*.

* Just be clear, I’m not complaining about Mo being used, just that Ayala was so awful that Rivera had to be used. This one’s on Luis.

With 50,940 fans in attendance, this was the largest paid attendance in New Yankee Stadium history, regular season or playoffs. I’m guessing the suspension had something to do with that, I’m sure a few people hit up the secondary market Saturday morning.

Box Score & WPA Graph

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs some other stats.

Up Next

Sunday was supposed to be an off day, but these two teams will play Game Two of the series because of the rain. That one starts at 3:07pm ET, and will feature Freddy Garcia and Max Scherzer.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Nova, Cano lead Yanks to Game One win

(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Baseball achieved perfection on September 28th, 2011. Just shut down MLB. We’re never going to top this.

One Strike

I mentioned this the other day, but when we sat down a few weeks ago to figure out what series would be a good one to attend, we picked this one because it had the potential to be meaningful. Then the Yankees went and clinched everything within a matter of days, and as far as they’re concerned, this series meant nothing. Just don’t get hurt, that was the goal. I flew down Monday morning expecting three Spring Training games, but holy smokes. This was the most amazing trip ever.

I can’t even put this into words. This one had total laugher written all over it (more on that in a bit), but then the comeback. Oh my goodness that comeback. Boone Logan got it started with his general awfulness, and Luis Ayala continued it by allowing a huge, enormous three-run homer to Evan Longoria to cut the deficit to one in the eighth inning. Then Dan Johnson. My word. I mean, you do realize the Rays were down to their final strike of the season, right? Down a run, two outs, 2-2 count, and Cory Wade left an 83mph changeup right over the plate to his teammate with Tampa’s Triple-A affiliate earlier this year. Solo homer, tie  game. This place was nuts. Completely deafening.

Johnson has a knack for this stuff, you know. He hit a monster pinch-hit homer off Jonathan Papelbon in September 2008, keeping the Rays in first place during their run to the World Series. He hit a walk-off homer against the Sox late last season as well, keeping them within striking distance of the division crown, the division crown they eventually won. There’s a reason Jonah Keri calls Johnson the Great Pumpkin, the guy rises up once a year to do this. Simply amazing.

(AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

Just One More Strike

At some point during the bottom of the 12th inning, half the televisions in the press box tuned into the Red Sox-Orioles game. The Sox were still winning at that point, but when I turned my head to look at the screen, all I saw was outfielders running for a ball. The crowd erupted. I have no idea how they knew, but they knew. The Orioles had just tied the game. The cheers were so loud that B.J. Upton had to step out of the batter’s box. Papelbon had Nolan Reimold down to the final strike of Baltimore’s season when he gave up that game-tying  double, the same final strike of the season that Johnson was down to against Wade. Just one more strike. That’s how close each team was to the end of their season. One strike.

A few moment later, Robert Andino – surely Robert effin’ Andino by now – singled to left. Reimold chugged around third. The cheers started about halfway between third and home, and they somehow got even louder when he slide in safely with the winning run. One more strike, that was it. That close to winning the game, and Boston couldn’t get it done.

Not even a minute later (apparently it was eight minutes later according to the announcement here, but I don’t buy it), Longoria hit Scott Proctor’s 56th pitch out of the yard on a line drive to left. Game over, season over. For the Red Sox, anyway. The Rays completed the comeback from seven runs down and nine games back, and are headed to the postseason as the wildcard team. Boston goes home, home to answer questions about a historic September collapse. This place just exploded. I thought the building was loud after Johnson’s  homer, but that was nothing. The fans were just warming up their vocal cords. I can’t believe that just a few days ago, I came down here expecting boring games. This was absolutely  incredible. The very  reason I love this game. No other sport can top this.

(AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

Save Some For The ALDS

As you already know, things started very poorly for the Rays right in the very first inning. What should have been a scoreless, 19-pitch inning for David Price turned into a one-run, 29-pitch inning when Ben Zobrist booted what should have been an inning-ending ground ball by Robinson Cano. Completely routine play, Zobrist just straight up botched it. Just like that, the pressure was on Tampa.

The game was decided (or so we thought) after Mark Teixeira hit a grand slam on a 3-2 fastball with two outs in the second, a shot that took the wind right out of the sails of pretty much everyone at Tropicana Field. Price completely missed his spot, but that wasn’t the problem. You know what the problem was? It’s that Price allowed a double to Eduardo Nunez, a single to Brandon Laird, and a walk to Derek Jeter. You’re just asking for trouble when you do that, and Tex was happy  to oblige.

It was 5-0 after the grand  slam, the Yankees tacked on two more runs when Teixeira hit a solo homer in the fourth and Andruw Jones hit a solo homer in the fifth. This was Tex’s fourth multi-homer game of the season, and the 33rd of his career. Just think, he came in with just seven hits in 31 career at-bats against Price (.226).

(J. Meric/Getty Images)

Leftovers

Jeter needed to go 1-for-1 or 2-for-4 to finish the season at exactly .300, but he went 0-for-3 with a walk to finish at .297. Considering where he was earlier this season, just getting up to .297 is a minor miracle.

The Yankees had runners on the corners with no outs in the top of the 12th, but got out of it when Greg Golson got caught too far off third base and Chris Dickerson struck out ahead of Brett Gardner‘s ground out. Pretty amazing how close we were to a very, very different story.

The next pitcher set to come out of the bullpen for Tampa was Jamie Shields, who threw 117 pitches on Monday. Furthermore, Joe Maddon said after the game that Upton had some cramping (I believe in his leg, but don’t hold me to that), and was going to have to come out of the game if there was a 13th inning. They were out of position players,  so they would have lost the DH.

Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings

Oh baby. MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs some other stats, and ESPN the updated standings.

Special Bonus WPA Graph

Up Next

Hard to believe it, but the regular season is over. The Yankees are off on Thursday in the sense that they don’t have a game to play, but they are holding a workout at Yankee Stadium in the afternoon. The ALDS kicks off on Friday night, when CC Sabathia takes on Justin Verlander and the rest of the Tigers in Game One.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Rays clinch wildcard on walk-off homer

As Michael Kay would say: that was UUUGE. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Helping His Former Team

The Yankees were playing spoiler for the first six and a half innings, recovering from an early 2-0 hole to take a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh. Joe Girardi said before the game that his top three relievers were going to pitch in this game no matter what, their final tune-up before the playoffs begin on Friday. That meant former Ray Rafael Soriano in the seventh.

Like many other multi-run innings, this one started with a walk. Bossman Jr. took four wide ones, then stole second base to put the tying run in scoring position with no outs and the heart of the order up. Soriano was feeling generous, so he walked Evan Longoria too, putting two on with no outs. After throwing another ball to Matt Joyce, the seventh inning guy essentially saved Tampa’s season by catching way too much of the plate with a  pitch. Joyce hit it into orbit, it was obvious th e ball was  gone off the bat from where I was sitting, and the Trop went nuts when the one-run deficit turned into a two-run lead on one swing. It was actually a pretty awesome moment, the moment Matt Joyce became a True Ray™.

TrueRays™ are a thing, right? Or is that only reserved for the Yankees?

(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

A High And A Low For Martin

What’s the best thing a player can do in an at-bat? Hit a homer. Russell Martin took care of that with a solo shot in the third inning, his first homer since that three grand slam game against Oakland on August 25th. It was also his 18th of the season, one behind the career high he set in 2007, when he came to plate 620 times. He has just 476 PA in 2011.

Now what’s the worst thing a player can do in an at-bat? Hit into a triple play. That’s exactly what Martin did his next time up, clanking into an around the horn 5-4-3 triple play with the bases loaded and (obviously) no one out. It was a rather aesthetically pleasing play, the Rays really did a nice job turning it. Of course,  Martin helped them out by stupidly sliding head first into first, slowing himself down. What’s the matter, a triple play wasn’t bad enough so you had to risk some broken fingers on the next to last day of the season? Playing smart > playing hard.

(J. Meric/Getty Images)

The End Of The  Line

Bartolo Colon‘s season came to an end in this game, long after we all figured he be released or hurt. He gave up just two runs in 5.1 IP, ending his season with exactly a 4.00 ERA in 164.1 IP. The three strikeouts put his season strikeout rate at 7.4 K/9, and the two walks putting his walk rate at 2.2 BB/9. Bart’s 3.34 K/BB ratio is the tenth best in the AL, which is amazing. The only way I see him making the playoff  roster is if there’s an injury, but damn yo, give this man some props. Colon’s been a godsend this season.

Leftovers

(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Soriano easily retired the next three batters he faced after the homer, so I assume the two baserunners and three-run dinger were intentional. That will make me feel better before Friday. David Robertson got two outs and his 100th  strikeout of the  season, then Mariano Rivera struck out the only runner he faced. This could be wrong, but someone here said that was the first time Rivera has entered a game with the Yankees losing in the eighth inning since Game  Six of the 2003 World Series. That’s unconfirmed, but it doesn’t seem unreasonable.

Aside from Martin’s homer, the Yankees scored another run when Curtis Granderson grounded into a double play with men on the corners fifth, and again when Nick Swisher doubled with two on in the sixth. How Mark Teixiera didn’t score from second on a double, I’ll never know. I guess he thought it  had a chance to be caught, but that seems unlikely. It was a shot, I thought it had a chance to get out. The Yankees drew five walks (two by Alex Rodriguez) and struck out only four times (two by A-Rod), but one of the walks  was intentional to Jorge Posada immediately before Martin’s GITP. As soon as they turned it, you just knew they’d win. The narrative would not be denied.

There was very little to talk about after the game, hence the lack of postgame notes. Joe Girardi said Wednesday’s starter was still to be determined, but it won’t be a regular. Expect an inning or two of Phil Hughes and a little Boone Logan among various Triple-A arms. Otherwise, a  few Yankees  (Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, Posada, Robertson … a few others as well) hung around to watch the end of the Red Sox game. Oh yeah, the Sox won, so Tampa and Boston remain tied for the wildcard heading into the final game of the season. That’s why Wednesday will be awesome.

The Tigers won and the Rangers are winning at the moment (follow that game here), so the Yankees are still on track to face Detroit in the ALDS. Assuming the Texas score doesn’t change, the only way the Yankees would play the Rangers in the ALDS is if the Rangers lose and the Tigers win on Wednesday. Anything else means Yanks-Tigers.

Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs the other stats, and ESPN the updated standings.

Up Next

Hard to believe it, but there’s just one regular season game left in the 2011 season. The Yankees and Rays will wrap the year up on Wednesday night,  when David Price starts the biggest game of his life against Johnny Wholestaff.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Yanks lose heartbreaker meaningless game to Rays