River Avenue Blues

Yanks robbed of game-tying run, fall to Orioles

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It’s entirely possible the Yankees would have lost this game in extra innings given their bullpen anyway, but man if they lose the division by one game…

  • Blown Call: You all know what happened and can see it above if you don’t. First base ump Jerry Meals said the throw beat Mark Teixeira to the bag for the final out of the game as the game-tying run was scoring from third. He was completely and indisputably wrong. Bad calls happen, but I just hate that such an egregious mistake decided a game of this magnitude.
  • SuCCks: The blown call wouldn’t have mattered if CC Sabathia had been able to keep the Orioles in the park, as they tagged him for three dingers in 6.1 innings. He blew a two-run lead in the second, the fourth lead he’s blown in three games back from the DL. Sabathia hasn’t been himself pretty much all season but especially of late, and the Yankees simply needed him to pitch much better in a game this important. I don’t know if the elbow is still bothering him or what, but this nonsense is not good enough for the supposed ace of a contender.
  • Eighth Inning Non-Rally: The Yankees scored a run in the first (Teixeira sac fly) and a run in the second (Ichiro Suzuki double), but the bats went into hibernation against Joe Saunders and various relievers until the eighth. Alex Rodriguez homered for the second time in as many games in the eighth, but the Bombers were unable to capitalize further when Curtis Granderson popped up to end the inning with men on corners. I love Curtis as much as anyone, but Joe Girardi had to pinch-hit for him in that spot with the left-hander just entering the game (and thus unable to be replaced). Granderson hasn’t been hitting for far too long to be left in in that spot.
  • Ninth Inning Rally: Single to left (Ichiro), single to left (Eric Chavez), bunt single to third (Derek Jeter). Boom, just like that the Yankees had the bases loaded with no outs against Jim Johnson in the span of six pitches. They needed to score two runs to tie and they did … until the blown call. Swisher grounded into a fielder’s choice to short to score the first run, a ball hit too softly for a double play thankfully. You know what happened on Teixeira’s slow grounder to second. With a scorching hot A-Rod on deck, the call hurts even more.
  • Leftovers: Scott Proctor Cody Eppley did a fine job after Sabathia, retiring five of the six men he faced … Granderson didn’t start the game but he still managed to kill two big rallies (sixth and eighth innings), both with two men on-base … Swisher went 0-for-5 and is still hitless on the road trip, though he did have the homer robbed a night ago. I’m sure that helps him sleep well at night … Jeter had three more hits while Ichiro had two, so the two most veteran of veterans deserve props for having huge series this weekend … Nick Markakis will miss six weeks after Sabathia broke his thumb with that hit by pitch, which really sucks. Don’t want to see anyone get hurt like that … the Orioles have out-homered the Yankees 12-4 in the series, which sucks for them because little do they know you can’t win with homers in the postseason!

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights while ESPN has the updated standings. If you want to see the (depressing) WPA Graph, check out FanGraphs. The Yankees and Orioles are tied atop the AL East again, though the Rays lost to the Rangers and remain two back in the loss column. This nightmare series and road trip will conclude on Sunday afternoon, when Freddy Garcia gives it a go against Zach Britton.

[Photo via @JimmyTraina]

Nuno rocked as Triple-A season comes to an end

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Triple-A Empire State (7-1 loss to Pawtucket) Pawtucket wins the first round best-of-five series three games to one … salt in the wound: they were two-hit by Nelson Figueroa, who spent a few weeks with Empire State earlier this season … still, great season for a team who played on the road all summer
3B Kevin Russo, LF Ronnie Mustelier & 1B Luke Murton: all 0-4 — Mustelier and Murton struck out once, Russo twice
2B Corban Joseph: 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI — wonder if he’ll come up for the next few weeks now, though I’m guessing no
CF Melky Mesa, RF Cole Garner, DH Darnell McDonald: all 0-3 — Mesa and Garner struck out
C Austin Romine: 0-2, 1 BB, 2 K
SS Ramiro Pena: 1-3
LHP Vidal Nuno: 1.2 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 1/0 GB/FB — 29 of 49 pitches were strikes (59%) … rough way to start your Triple-A career
RHP Kelvin Perez: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 5/1 GB/FB — 26 of 41 pitches were strikes (63%) … nice job out of the bullpen, giving the team a chance to get back in the game
RHP Jon Meloan: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 3/0 GB/FB — 14 of 26 pitches were strikes (54%)
LHP Francisco Rondon: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 2/1 GB/FB — half of his 20 pitches were strikes

Double-A Trenton was rained out. The Thunder lead the first round best-of-five series two games to one. Game Four will be played tomorrow afternoon while Game Five will now be played on Monday (if necessary).

The season is over for High-A Tampa, Low-A Charleston, Short Season Staten Island, and the Rookie GCL Yanks. None of the four qualified for the postseason.

Game 139: Tex Returns

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(AP)

After ten games on the shelf with a left calf strain, Mark Teixeira is back in the Yankees lineup tonight … assuming they actually play. The weather forecast in Baltimore is abysmal, though there may be a two or three hour window to get the game in at some point. If the game is postponed for whatever reason, expect them to play a doubleheader tomorrow despite Monday’s mutual off-day — the Ravens are hosting Monday Night Football and the two stadiums share parking facilities. Anyway, here’s the tentative starting nine…

SS Derek Jeter
RF Nick Swisher
1B Mark Teixeira
DH Alex Rodriguez
2B Robinson Cano
C  Russell Martin
LF Andruw Jones
CF Ichiro Suzuki
3B Jayson Nix

LHP CC Sabathia

Tonight’s game is scheduled to start a little after 7pm ET, but who knows. If they play, you can watch on YES locally and MLB Network nationally. Enjoy.

Ivan Nova Update: Nova (shoulder) has been activated off the DL and will be available out of the bullpen today and tomorrow. Barring extra innings or something like that tonight, I’m guessing Joe Girardi will have a quick hook with Freddy Garcia tomorrow and use Nova as his caddy.

Pettitte doing “good, very good, super” after latest simulated game

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Via Joel Sherman, left-hander Andy Pettitte (fractured left leg) threw three innings and 46 pitches during his latest simulated game this afternoon. Pitching coach Larry Rothschild said it went “good, very good, super.” I suppose that’s a positive review.

Pettitte will getting checked out by the team doctors on Monday, and if all goes well he will start ramping up his workouts in advance of rejoining the team later this month. Rothschild said Andy will not make any minor league rehab starts — the Triple-A and Double-A clubs are the only affiliates still playing and they could be eliminated from the postseason as soon as this weekend — and instead do all his work in simulated games. I guess this means Pettitte could return to the rotation within two weeks, which would be neat.

Mailbag: Preemptive Offseason Plans

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(Rob Carr/Getty)

Mark asks: Given how the last four weeks of the season tend to warp perception of player value, would you want to preemptively take a crack at which offseason moves need to be made this winter?

Sure, this kinda sounds fun. I’ll start with what I think is the most pressing offseason issue, Nick Swisher’s free agency. I’ve said a number of times already that I’d like to see the Yankees re-sign him, but there is a limit. Ideally he’d re-up for a pricier version of Michael Cuddyer’s contract (three years, $31.5M) but I can’t imagine going any higher than the four-year, $52M deal the club gave to Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, and Jorge Posada way back when. That’s my absolute limit right there.

If Swisher comes back, then great, the outfield is already addressed — exercising Curtis Granderson’s $15M player option is a no-brainer despite his extended slump. If he doesn’t come back, then I’d look to sign a one-year free agent stopgap or trade for Justin Upton. The latter seems unlikely — even if he becomes available, the Yankees just don’t match-up well for a trade with the Diamondbacks — so I’d dig through the Torii Hunter/Ryan Ludwick free agent bin. It’ll be a significant drop-off from Swisher, but I’d prefer that to giving up prospects for player who probably won’t perform any better.

The other pressing issue is the pitching staff as a whole. The Yankees should make a strong effort to retain both Hiroki Kuroda and Andy Pettitte for next year, assuming they want to keep pitching. Getting one back would be fine but losing both would be real tough. They’d have to look at a guy like (yuck) Francisco Liriano as a stop-gap starter or spend big on someone like Edwin Jackson. I love Carlos Villanueva and think he’d be a perfect fit for the team, but someone is going to give that guy multiple years and guarantee him a rotation spot. Plus expected 200 innings out of him next year is unrealistic. Either way, adding another veteran arm behind CC Sabathia and ahead of Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova will be imperative. Don’t count on Michael Pineda being that guy at all next year. Anything they get out of him is a bonus.

The bullpen needs a bit of an overhaul, especially if Rafael Soriano opts out of his contract and tries to parlay his big season into a larger guaranteed deal. Even if he sticks around and Mariano Rivera returns, the Yankees should still look into adding one or really two one-year arms to fill out the middle innings. No offense to Cody Eppley, but they need to do better. Jason Grilli, Brandon Lyon, Shawn Camp, even Luis Ayala again. Just guys to soak up some middle innings without the need to matchup all the damn time. Adding bullpen depth before handing things off to the Mark Montgomerys and Chase Whitleys of the world seems obvious. The middle relief has completely collapsed in the second half.

I suppose that leaves the catching situation as the other major issue. The free agent options aren’t great, as Russell Martin joins Mike Napoli, Kelly Shoppach, and A.J. Pierzynski as the headliners. I’d prefer to bring Martin back or replace him with Shoppach, both on short-term deals. That’s kind of the motto of the offseason for me, short-term deals. There are no standout free agents that fit the Yankees’ needs — other than Zack Greinke, who they’ll never sign — so don’t force it. Add the stopgap guys rather than try to shoehorn a bigger-named player into a role that doesn’t fit. As I said in the mailbag yesterday, the catching situation is a total mystery to me.

Adding bench players is always tough for the Yankees, and I figure they’ll let Andruw Jones and Raul Ibanez walk. They should, anyway. Eric Chavez might stick around but that’s far from certain. There’s nothing wrong with low-average guys who hit for power, but I’d like to see the Yankees add some players who can make more contact and hit for average when plugging the bench holes. As we saw when A-Rod went down and Robinson Cano started slumping, the offense becomes one-dimensional in a hurry. Derek Jeter can’t be your only contact guy at his age. At the same time, you can’t go too far in the other direction and be powerless when some of the big bats go down. There’s a balance they have to maintain, and right now they lean a little too far to the power side.

This is sort of the Cliff Notes version of the upcoming offseason, and it’s not even a plan really. Just some general ideas. Swisher’s free agency and figuring out the catching situation will be of paramount importance, and as always there is the pitching staff to reinforce. The class of free agents isn’t deep in players who would fill needs for the Yankees, so perhaps they end up going out on the trade market again. We’re going to discuss this from every angle ad nauseum after the season ends (whenever that happens), but I think the important thing is that the Yankees don’t sucker themselves into any unwanted contracts just to plug a hole for 2013 with the 2014 payroll plan looming. If they’re going to stick to it, they have to be smart about it.

Sanchez tops MLB.com’s top 20 Yankees prospects lists

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MLB.com recently rolled out their team top 20 prospects lists, and they have C Gary Sanchez claiming the top spot for the Yankees. OF Mason Williams and OF Tyler Austin round out the top three. Those are the names you’re going to see at the top of the club’s prospect lists all offseason, just not necessarily in that order. A healthy OF Slade Heathcott and an unhealthy LHP Manny Banuelos occupy the four and five slots, respectively.

The feature includes write-ups on all 20 players and in some cases, video as well. The MLB.com lists are always off the beaten path a bit — both UTIL Jose Pirela (#15) and RHP Zach Nuding (#19) cracked the top 20 over RHP Brett Marshall — which I enjoy just for the change of pace. Only two of the club’s top ten prospects are pitchers compared to three top ten position players from the 2010 draft alone. That’s a major difference compared to the last few seasons, when the top-end of the list was dominated by the guys on the mound.

Homers rule the night as Yankees hold on for win over O’s

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Source: FanGraphs

At this point, I’m surprised when someone on the Yankees and Orioles doesn’t hit a homer. The two clubs combined for six homers on Friday, including a seventh that was robbed by Nate McLouth. The Yankees had men on-base for each of their three dingers though (plus the would-be fourth homer), so they came out on top and regained sole possession of the AL East for at least another night. Let’s recap…

  • Bombs Away: After hitting just five homers in their last nine games, the Yankees swatted three in the span of nine batters in the middle innings of Friday’s win. Russell Martin got it all started with a three-run shot off Wei-Yin Chen, then a few batters later Steve Pearce hit a two-run shot to stretch the lead to five-zip. It was his first as a Yankee. One inning later, Alex Rodriguez launched his first homer since coming off the DL, sending the two-run shot over the home bullpen in left-center. He’s got three extra-base hits in his last three games, so I guess my concerns about the strength in his hand following the injury were a waste of time. The three dingers accounted for seven runs.
  • Sixth Inning Blues: In his last two starts (both against the Orioles), Phil Hughes has pitched pretty well … up until the sixth inning. On Friday he allowed just three hits across his first five innings before a Nick Swisher error at first — it was a tough error but an error nonetheless — opened the floodgates a bit in the sixth. McLouth followed up with a double to right and Adam Jones then drove a three-run dinger to left, his 29th of the year. Hughes retired the next three men in order to end the inning and his night, a six-inning start with three runs (two earned) and five strikeouts against zero walks. The homers are maddening, but I think we all would have signed up for three runs in six innings coming into the game. I know I would have.
  • Nine Outs: Squeezing three innings out of the bullpen is no easy task these days. Joe Girardi had to use four relievers to get those last nine outs, including Cody Eppley (one out, one homer), Boone Logan (three outs), David Robertson (two outs), and Rafael Soriano (three outs, one homer). Robertson threw three curveballs to Jones for a three-pitch strikeout, including two swings and misses. See? Good things happen when you throw that pitch, David. Keep doin’ it. The two homers were solo shots, but otherwise good job by the relief corps.
  • Leftovers: A-Rod’s homer was his 300th as a Yankee, if you can believe that … Swisher is hitless on the road trip and had the homer robbed in the ninth … Derek Jeter had three hits while A-Rod had two, the only Yankees to reach base more than once … Curtis Granderson went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, unable to build on his two hits from Thursday … props to Joe Girardi for emptying his bench and using a number of timely pinch-hitters … the Yankees have now scored 20 runs in their last three games after scoring 20 runs in the previous seven games, so hooray for the offense coming back to life.

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights while ESPN has the updated standings. As I said earlier, the Bombers are back on top of the AL East by one game with 24 left to the play. The Rays remain two games back after walking off against the Rangers. The magic number to clinch the division is down to 24. Still a lone way to go. CC Sabathia will need to soak up some serious innings on Saturday night after the recent bullpen work, and he’s usually up to the task. Fellow southpaw Joe Saunders will be on the bump for Baltimore.