Archive for Jorge Posada
With A.J. Burnett taking the mound later tonight to try to secure a Fall Classic face-off against the Phillies, his personal caddy, Jose Molina, will be behind the plate. Although the offense suffers, I’ve come to terms with this decision. After all, Burnett is sporting a 2.19 playoff ERA in 12.1 innings and has struck out 10. If he truly does pitch better to Jose Molina, then the Yanks should, by all means, make Burnett comfortable in a potential clinching game.
Were the Burnett start ever so simple. As with every other A.J. Burnett outing, this one is not without controversy. Yesterday, Jorge Posada went 1 for 3 and was on base two other times while Hideki Matsui walked away from a 10-1 win as the other Yankee without a hit. For this short series, Posada is hitting .308/.471/.615 to Matsui’s perfectly respectable if powerless .286/.412/.357. Over the two games in Anaheim, Matsui has not looked particularly comfortable at the dish, but I’d hate to lose either player’s bat in Game 5.
So what are the Yanks to do? Would they DH Matsui behind Alex Rodriguez and prepare Posada for a mid-game pinch-hit appearance? Would they DH Posada, use Matsui to pinch hit and then either burn the DH spot or go with Francisco Cervelli behind the plate for the final few frames?
Marc Carig posed these question to Joe Girardi yesterday, and Girardi was nocommittal. “That’s something we’ll talk about,” the Yanks’ manager said. Posada issued a similar statement: “I don’t know yet. They haven’t said anything yet.”
The Star-Ledger reporter offered up this take on the situation:
Posada has hammered Angels starter John Lackey in the past. In 32 lifetime plate appearances against the Angels right-hander, Posada is 12-for-29 (.414) with three walks, a homer, and three RBI…Matsui hasn’t been bad against Lackey either. Though his .286 average in 32 plate appearance against Lackey pales in comparison, Matsui has two doubles, a homer and seven RBI against Lackey.
Based on some very limited numbers that generally don’t mean too much, Posada should start. He’s the hotter bat right now, and he has more success off of Lackey than Hideki Matsui does. Of course, the easy answer is to start Posada behind the plate. Although Jose Molina said he doesn’t know if he’ll be catching Burnett, I’m not going to mess with a good thing this late into October.
And so we await the lineup card. I predict Posada batting behind A-Rod. Jorge right now gives them the best chance to win, and with the Angels so close to elimination, the Yanks are going to apply as much pressure as they can later tonight.
Game 3 is often the most critical one in a five-game series. In any of the three possible scenarios, a win is important. When up 2-0, winning the third game gives the team the ability to line up their Game 1 starter to start Game 1 of the ALCS. When down 2-0, the season is on the line. When tied 1-1, a win gives the team a decided advantage heading into Game 4. The Yankees went with Andy Pettitte in Game 3 this time, hoping that his strong second half would carry over to the postseason.
The Yanks got everything they could have expected from Pettitte, and might have even left some in the tank. He threw 81 pitches over 6.1 innings, striking out seven and walking just one and limiting the Twins to just one run. That lone run came in the sixth after a bases empty, two outs situation. It was all the Twins would get all night. He exited after striking out Jason Kubel to lead off the seventh, though with his low pitch count and superb results on the night, perhaps he could have finished the inning.
Joba Chamberlain made that a moot point. He made a mistake to the first batter, Delmon Young, who drove one into the gap for a one-out double. But Chamberlain beared down, inducing a soft grounder from Matt Tolbert before striking out Jose Morales to end the inning. It set up the bullpen for Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera in the eighth and ninth.
The Twins threatened in the eighth, and if not for a baserunning blunder would have been in position to tie the game. Nick Punto, who hit over .400 in the series, hit a 2-2 pitch between Melky Cabrera and Johnny Damon for a leadoff double. The next batter, Denard Span, slapped one up the middle, but Jeter cut it off before it could leave the infield. Seeing Punto take a wide turn around third, Jeter fired home. Punto had slipped on his way back, giving Jorge Posada enough time to throw him out at third.
A first and third, no outs situation turned into a runner on first, one out situation, and it seemingly deflated the Twins. Orlando Cabrera flied out to center for the second out. That brought Joe Mauer to the plate, and Girardi did not mess around. He went to Mariano Rivera to get the AL batting champ and presumptive MVP, and the at-bat followed the script. Mauer swung at the second pitch, a cutter in on the hands, breaking his bat and grounding weakly to first. Teixeira fielded, ending the minor threat.
Mo finished off the game in typical fashion, allowing just one hit while retiring the final three batters he faced. He hit his stride after allowing a leadoff single, striking out the next two hitters before inducing a grounder to end the game.
In his first season post-Yankees, Carl Pavano fared well against his former team in the regular season. He faced them twice, pitching 13.1 innings and allowing just four runs, splitting the match-ups. He started off Game 3 even better, striking out eight and allowing just three hits through six innings. It looked like he had control of the game, and when the Twins rallied for a run in the sixth it looked like the Yankees would have a tough road ahead.
The game changed in the seventh. After going down 0-2, Alex Rodriguez took three straight pitches outside the zone to work the count full. After fouling off a pitch, he got a fastball up and on the outside edge. It’s a pitch Alex handles well, and this time was no exception. He went with it, driving it high over the baggie in right for a game-tying home run. It was Rodriguez’s second home run and sixth RBI of the series, and the second time he tied the game with a homer.
With two outs and the bases empty, Jorge Posada stepped up. He took the first pitch, a changeup, well outside for ball one. Pavano then threw a good pitch, a sinker low and away, but Jorge timed it perfectly. Delmon Young gave the ball a chase, but it was just beyond his reach, in the stands for the go-ahead run. Fitting that the Yankees, who led the majors in homers (and homers on the road) this season took the lead on a pair of homers.
Even with Mariano Rivera to pitch the ninth, the Yankees knew insurance runs wouldn’t hurt. They picked up a few of those in the ninth. Ron Gardenhire used four pitchers in the inning, and none did the job satisfactorily. Ron Mahay recorded a strikeout and then walked Teixeira. Jon Rauch walked A-Rod. Jose Mijares walked Hideki Matsui. Joe Nathan then came on to face Jorge Posda, and surrendered and RBI single. Robinson Cano then blooped in a second insurance run.
Andy Pettitte’s contribution should not be understated. Over the past three postseasons, the Yankees couldn’t overcome their pitching problems. They rebuilt the rotation this season, and it’s a big reason why they had the best record in the regular season and then swept their way through the ALDS. Andy used two variations of what he calls his cutter — one a faster pitch that more resembles a fastball, and a slower one that more resembles a slider. That, mixed with his fastball, kept the Twins off-balance. Before their rally started with two outs in the sixth, Pettitte retired 17 of the first 18 batters he faced.
Both the Yankees and Angels will enjoy a four-day vacation before squaring off in Game 1 of the ALCS Friday in the Bronx. Both teams will realign their rotations, meaning we’ll get the best possible match-ups. We’ll have plenty to say over the next few days, but for now I’m just going to enjoy this one. It sure does feel good to have the Yanks past the first round of the playoffs.
For 12 years, the stories about Derek Jeter and Joe Torre told a tale of deference. Jeter, a rookie during Torre’s first year in the Bronx, had a special bond with his manager. He would call him Mr. Torre and rarely, if ever, questioned his decisions in public.
While Torre was managing the Yanks, Jeter played with a back-up catcher named Joe Girardi. Jeter and Girardi captured three rings together, but for Derek, Girardi’s presence on the team and his amount of playing time must have raised an eyebrow or two. After all, the Yankees had Derek’s very good friend Jorge Posada, a far superior offensive catcher to Joe Girardi. In the end, of course, it mattered little, as the Yanks plowed through the opposition during the latter half of the 1990s.
Today, Joe Girardi is Derek’s manager, and for the first time in a while, Jeter is publicly questioning the man who holds the Yanks’ reins. When asked about Girardi’s decision to start Jose Molina in A.J. Burnett’s starts, Jeter had a diplomatically loaded answer. As Jim Baumbach first reported yesterday, Jeter called the situation strange. “It will be kind of awkward not having Jorge in the lineup,” he said.
For Derek, the Yanks’ loyal solider and all around good guy at handling the media, that statement amounts to sheer mutiny. As Baumbach and others have pointed out, Jeter’s statement is also a bit hyperbolic. Posada wasn’t the only catcher during the Yanks’ World Series years, and as recently as 2005, Joe Torre used John Flaherty to catch the ornery Randy Johnson. The Unit lasted just three innings in a disastrous Game 3 start, and Jorge quickly entered the game in the 4th.
I have to wonder then if Joe Girardi is risking his respect by making an unpopular and questionable decision. Does Derek Jeter think Girardi is off his rocker? What about the other younger players who look to Jeter for leadership? Ken Davidoff claims all was calm at Yankee camp yesterday and offers us some translations of the players’ sound bites. Derek, he claims, is just trying to keep Jorge happy while not offending his manager, and Jorge has accepted it.
In a way, then, this move is certainly an experiment. If Burnett comes out and dominates the Twins and the Yanks handily win as they did on Wednesday, Joe Girardi will look good — or at least he won’t be subject to rampant first- and second-guessing. But if Burnett struggles through a start, those around the club — those whose respect Girardi needs — may wonder about the decision. Ken Davidoff doesn’t expect Molina-gate to “blow up these Yankees.” Here’s to hoping.
After six months of baseball day after day after day, this drawn-out schedule for the post-season seems interminable. The Yanks played last night for the first time since Sunday and do not play again for another 27 hours. The waiting, as Tom Petty said, is the hardest part.
With all of the off-days, we have plenty of time to discuss Joe Girardi’s peculiar decision to start Jose Molina in the ALDS when A.J. Burnett takes the mound. Molina will be behind the dish tomorrow night for Game 2 and unless Girardi’s plan is highly illogical, should be back there again for a potential Game 5. Most assumed this decision was inspired by A.J. Burnett who seemed to be more comfortable on the mound with Jose Molina catching. Based on Burnett’s demonstrative attitude during a terrible Fenway outing in August, this wasn’t an unfounded conclusion.
Burnett, though, threw a wrench into this thinking. Prior to Game 1, he told reporters that he did not ask for Molina to catch. Although Burnett appears to be criticizing Girardi, he continually stressed his support for Posada and did so again this afternoon. “It’s a ‘me’ thing,” Burnett said today when asked about his rhythm with Molina. The pitcher, after all, mostly is in control of his own performance.
Burnett’s responses today followed questions concerning Molina and Posada yesterday. The Game 2 starter tried to distance himself from having a preferred catcher. “It was the manager’s decision,” he said yesterday. “I had no part in it. I’ve thrown good to both. My good games, I’m right. My bad games, it’s not the catcher, it’s me. When I’m good, it doesn’t matter which one is behind the plate.”
During that press conference, he spoke about that Aug. 22 outing. Although Burnett was clearly yelling “Why did you throw that?” on the mound, that frustration, the right-hander said, was directed at himself and not his catcher. “It’s making me out to be a bad guy again,” Burnett said, “and it comes down to Boston when I said, ‘Why? Why? Why?’ Over my career, I’ve done that a handful of times. But if you ask people that I played with, I don’t show guys up. I even went to Joe in the past and said, ‘Hey, give me either one.’ It’s his decision.
Burnett, an 11-year veteran, will be making his post-season debut tomorrow night. Although he was a member of the 2003 Marlins, he missed the playoffs — and much of the season, in fact — with an arm injury. He is looking forward to this start, he says, but the Yankees could do without the circus. “I’m just looking forward to getting out there and getting that first pitch out of the way,” he said.
This afternoon, Girardi again spoke about this decision. “I don’t want to get ahead,” he said when asked if Burnett would pitch to Molina through the playoffs. “We talk about Molina catching him tomorrow. He’s been catching him his last four or five starts. I’m not going to get too far ahead.”
This line of thinking makes nearly as little sense as Girardi’s initial decision. If the Yanks aren’t committing to pairing up Burnett and Molina, why would he do it for the second game of a five-game set? “We’re taking things one day at a time,” he said. Girardi also refused to rule out DHing Posada over Hideki Matsui tomorrow.
Meanwhile, on the other side of this debate is Jorge Posada. The embattled catcher did not have his best game early on last night. He and CC couldn’t get on the same page, and one of the two passed balls Jorge allowed resulted in the Twins’ second and final run of the game. Chris at iYankees though makes a very good point: While CC did not have his best fastball, Jorge still coaxed a very good game out of him. Early-inning defensive struggles aside, Posada had a fine night.
But still we discuss, and everyone has theories. Jonah Keri calls Joe Girardi a sentimentalist in so many words. The Yanks’ skipper was a “good-field, little-hit” catcher and earned his fair share of Yankee playoff ABs. Girardi sees himself in Jose Molina and will give the Yanks’ all-field, no-hit catcher a chance. Even in Girardi’s worst offensive season with the Yanks, his 60 OPS+ was still decidedly better than Molina’s 49 mark this year.
Perhaps though it doesn’t matter at all. Tangotiger ran the simulations and found little difference: “With Posada (batting 7th), Yankees score 6.17, allow 4.18 rpg and win 72.15% of the time, in 100,000 games. With Molina (batting 9th), they score 5.85, allow 4.05 rpg and win 71.33% of the time.”
And still we wait for the game to start tomorrow evening.
When A.J. Burnett takes the mound this week, perhaps on Friday in Yankee Stadium but more likely on Sunday in either Detroit or Minneapolis, Jorge Posada will not be behind the plate. Talking to reporters today at Yankee Stadium, the Yanks’ catcher revealed, in a rather terse exchange, that Jose Molina will catch Burnett this week in the ALDS.
During a workout day interview, Posada and the reporters were chatting about the Yanks and their playoff chances when the discussion turned to A.J. Burnett and Jose Molina. “I think Molina’s probably going to catch A.J,” Posada said when the topic was broached. “So that’s it.”
After a minute of awkward silence, questioning shifted away from Molina only to return to this hot topic a few minutes later. “I just hope we win that game. That’s all. That’s all I got to say,” Posada said in a clipped tone. “Not like I didn’t see this coming.”
For the Yankees and Joe Girardi, this is a particularly risky strategy, and already, fans are debating the wisdom of it. On the season, Jose Molina was absolutely awful. In 155 plate appearances, he hit .217/.292/.268. His .560 OPS was third worst among all AL hitters with at least 150 plate appearances. Jorge Posada, meanwhile, hit .285/.363/.522 with 22 home runs and 81 RBI. He was the best hitting catcher in the AL not named Joe Mauer. I don’t need to break out MLVr to show just how more valuable Posada is offensively.
But Girardi is willing to throw that out the window because of A.J. Burnett’s splits by catcher. In 16 games with Posada as Burnett’s catcher, opponents hit .270/.353/.421. In 11 games with a Molina-Burnett battery, opponents hit .221/.307/.352. There is a difference, but there is no way of knowing if Molina is the cause of it. After all, Burnett is the one pitching, and Burnett is the one who has to make his pitches. A.J. has expressed his willingness to work with Posada this year, and he should certainly embrace that when the season has been reduced to a five-game set.
So here we are with a lineup that will either feature no Jorge Posada or no Hideki Matsui. If Girardi is going to insist on sitting Posada for Molina during A.J.’s starts, he shouldn’t further weaken the lineup by benching Matsui. I’d like to think, however, that the Yankee skipper knows this aspect to lineup construction.
As Jorge said, the Yanks better win that game. They have the lineup to overcome this bad decision, but they shouldn’t need to rely on their offense to compensate for a move that reeks of overmanaging. Otherwise, similar to the decisions to avoid bunting against Curt Schilling in 2004, to bat A-Rod 8th in 2006 and and to leave the team on the field while under attack by midges, this one will be second-guessed to no ened.
For half the game, everything went well. The Yankees put up four runs and Chad Gaudin was cruising. Even two outs into the bottom of the fifth, the Yanks looked poised to win their first game in Anaheim this season. But from that point on almost nothing went the Yankees’ way. Gaudin couldn’t finish the fifth, Aceves almost blew the lead in the sixth, and a pair of errors cost the Yankees the lead in the eighth. But a short rally in the ninth put them back on top again, and Mariano Rivera closed the door.
The game started off as a few have recently: the Yanks put a few men on in the first, but failed to score. Ervin Santana kept dropping breaking balls and off-speed pitches, and the Yanks just couldn’t get a feel for him. It was more of the same in the second. Robinson Cano doubled to lead off, but Santana struck out two Yanks to strand him. But then came the third.
Santana, while getting swings and misses on breaking balls out of the zone, was nonetheless missing the zone. A-Rod took advantage of this, working a 3-0 count following a Teixeira single. Then came the BP fastball, and there it went, way out to dead center. It gave the Yanks their first lead of the series, and Posada would add to that with a two-run homer two batters later. Hideki Matsui struck in the fifth, and the Yanks offense had put them on top 5-0.
On the other side of the ball, Chad Gaudin had it going. It took him only nine pitches to retire the Angels in the first, and while the second was a bit longer he still allowed just one hit. A hit, a walk, and six outs later, the Yanks had a decent lead heading into the second half of the game. And that’s when Gaudin broke down.
It wasn’t the first time Gaudin lost it before the end of the fifth. Girardi pulled him with two outs in the fifth in Oakland, Gaudin’s first start in pinstripes, with the bases loaded. On that night he allowed no runs, and Al Aceves came on to finish the inning without damage. The latter was true again this time. Aceves came in and got Torii Hunter swinging to end the frame, but not before Gaudin allowed a homer, a double, a walk, and a single, putting the Angels on the board for the first time.
Aceves then had his own set of troubles in the sixth. Four of the first five hitters in the inning singled, allowing one run to score and loading the bases with one out. Maicer Izturis popped out, but Aceves couldn’t sneak one past the patient Abreu. Bobby didn’t even take the bat off his shoulder, and the Yanks lead was cut to one. Only a diving stop by and perfect throw to first from Alex Rodriguez saved the lead.
That would be the end of the Yanks’ pitching problems for the evening, though Phil Hughes did escape a mini-jam in the seventh, and pitched pretty well in eighth. It was the defense that failed the team. Howie Kendrick smoked an outside pitch, but right at Robinson Cano. The ball just got away from him, a play that unfolded so fast that the replay couldn’t really capture it. That was the first error.
On an 0-1 count, Kendrick took off for second. Jorge pulled the throw a bit and it went into center field, moving Kendrick to third with none out. There seemed little chance the Yanks could escape without blowing the lead. Hughes got Figgins to pop out weakly, but Izturis punched one into right to tie the game. Just three innings after the Yankees were flying high, they found themselves back at the drawing board.
Thankfully, the drawing board is often a productive place for the Yanks. Brett Gardner started off the ninth with a single, and then he was off to the races. While he was safe by the call, replay showed that he strayed a bit off the bag with the tag on him. Oh well. After the bottom of the eighth, the Yanks needed a break. Jeter ended up walking, and then Johnny Damon bunted the runners over.
Not wanting to face Mark Teixeira with runners on second and third, Mike Scioscia walked him to get to A-Rod. That didn’t work, as Alex lined one into center, just deep enough to score Gardner. That put the game in Mo’s hands, and while Juan Rivera’s at bat was tense, it ended with a great release: a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play. One pitch later and the Yanks were celebrating a playoff berth, though they had locked that up a bit earlier when Texas lost to Oakland.
The Yankees got swept at Fenway in the first half and came back to go two out of three in the second half. They got swept in Anaheim before the All-Star Break, and now have a chance to go two out of three with a win today. A.J. Burnett starts against Scott Kazmir. It’s an afternoon affair, an odd 3:30 start.
In his recent column, SI’s Jon Heyman has three quick bullet points on the Yanks. Nothing big, but there are a few discussion-worthy topics.
Andy Pettitte begged the Yankees to keep pitching through his shoulder fatigue — though it appears he’s going to make almost all his incentives and more than double his $5.5 million salary, anyway. Yankees people realize they need Pettitte in the playoffs.
I doubt Andy wants to pitch just so he can reach his incentives. He knows as well as anyone what’s at stake right now, and if his shoulder really was an issue he wouldn’t be begging into September games when the team has a playoff spot all but locked up.
Andy has a $5.5 million base salary, plus another $6.5 million in incentives. He’s going to get all of the $2 million roster bonus without a doubt. He’s already earned $1.5 million in performance bonuses, and will add another $750K to that with his next start. The one after that should add another three-quarter million. If he starts three more times, it could be yet another bonus. So Pettitte stands to make $10.5 to $11.25 million this season. Not bad.
While Jorge Posada’s feistiness generally makes him a beloved figure around the Yankees, club personnel were not pleased Posada ignited a brawl with the Blue Jays. As Toronto manager Cito Gaston pointed out, the Yankees were the ones with something to lose. The Yankees didn’t fight Posada’s three-game suspension (perhaps they knew he got a break).
The Yankees shouldn’t have been pleased with that. Jorge doesn’t like to be a target at the plate, and was rightly upset when Carlson threw behind his back. But it never should have escalated to that point. The Blue Jays are a fourth place team. The Yankees are headed for the best record in the AL. There’s no need for a petty fight in that situation. Nothing good can come of it.
The Yankees think they may have detected the flaw in Joba Chamberlain’s delivery that’s caused him to be so mediocre lately. Pitching coach Dave Eiland is said to have noticed something was awry.
This always sounds dubious to me, no matter what pitcher it regards. We heard stories earlier this year about how John Smoltz was tipping pitches with the Sox. Ditto Luke Hochevar. Sure, there might have been a hitch in Joba’s delivery, and getting into the rhythm of pitching every five days might have helped him work it out. To me, it sounds more like a confidence booster than anything. If it works, hats off. An effective Joba gives the Yankees a distinct advantage in the playoffs.
For Yanks’ fans, the most entertaining part of last night’s game came in the eighth inning, when the benches cleared twice. First came when reliever Jesse Carlson threw behind Jorge Posada, clearly in retaliation for Mark Melancon beaning Aaron Hill a frame earlier. The second was the more violent escapade. Posada instigated it when he bumped Carlson after scoring, and Carlson escalated it with verbal abuse he hurled at Posada (one would think Jorge’s wife a popular target).
Both benches cleared, and the bullpens ran in for reinforcement. No one appeared seriously hurt, though apparently one umpire couldn’t go on. Joe Girardi got caught on the ear and on the eye, and Carlson had a decent bruise on his forehead. Posada appeared to escape unscathed, carried off the battlefield by CC Sabathia in what was easily the most amusing image of the scrum. The umps tossed Posada and Carlson, and the game went on.
The situation was ripe for a grand narrative. Brett Gardner had just doubled in a run, and the Yankees had runners on second and third with two outs and Derek Jeter at the plate. Had Jeter slapped one to right, driving in those two runs, perhaps the Yankees would have rallied back from down 9-2. Even then, it was a long shot. Even with those two runs, the score still would have been 9-5 with just four outs left. But that’s what grand narratives are made of: improbable events following high-intensity moments.
That didn’t happen, though the Yanks did manage another run in the ninth. Mark Teixeira tripled for the second time in two days, and Hideki Matsui singled him home after a hard-fought at-bat. They didn’t go down without a fight, both figuratively and literally. Maybe that will power them in tomorrow’s contest. After all, you know what Paul O’Neill says about teams that score late in blowouts.
The game came down to two frustrations:
Timely hits
For the game, the Yankees went 5 for 16 with runners in scoring position, a more-than-respectable .313 average. Yet despite those five hits, they plated only four runs. How many times do you see a team that has more hits with RISP than runs scored? Not many. The problem was that of their five extra-base hits, only one drove in a run. That was Gardner’s double in the eighth. Nick Swisher hit two doubles off Roy Halladay, but neither came with runners in scoring position.
Even more frustrating was that the Yankees outhit the Blue Jays 15 to 13 and were on base more, 18 to 15. How a team like the Yankees puts 18 runners on base and scores just four of them is beyond my comprehension. That’s just 22 percent. Thankfully, that’s an anomaly. Most nights the Yanks put this many guys on base, they plate at least a few more runners.
That this came against Halladay is the topper. It was clear from the beginning that Halladay wasn’t at his best, and the Yanks didn’t take advantage. They managed 12 baserunners against him, but scored only two. It has to be disheartening when you have a pitcher like Halladay on the ropes and don’t deliver the knockout blow.
Sergio Mitre
Through the first two innings, it appeared Sergio Mitre might make it through this one. He had allowed no runs on just one hit, a Marco Scutaro single to lead off the game. There was little chance he would finish with a shutout, but a six-inning, three run performance seemed within reach. But then the third inning happened, and there was no recovery.
Walking the No. 8 hitter, especially when it’s the .226-hitting Jose Bautista, is unacceptable. It can come back to bite you, especially when the No. 9 hitter is a highly regarded rookie with power. Mitre left a pitch waist high and right over the plate, and Travis Snider did with it what any respectable hitter would do: deposited it in the second deck in right for a two-run shot. Adam Lind followed later in the inning with a shot of his own, giving the Blue Jays the lead.
Edwin Encarnacion struck the next blow, destroying another high and over the plate pitch to give the Jays a 4-2 lead. Three batters later, Mitre left another pitch right over the plate to Snider, and again he put it in the second deck. The 3-2 deficit was fine; the Yankees come back from those all the time. The 4-2 deficit was a bit disheartening, especially because Encarnacion hit the homer. But a 5-2 deficit? That became a bit hard to handle. Yes, the Yanks have made up more than three runs in a few games this season, but the Blue Jays just weren’t letting up.
Girardi let Mitre come out for the sixth, and that proved to be a mistake. Lyle Overbay dribbled one down the third base line for an easy infield single. Mitre then hit Encarnacion and surrendered a double to Rod Barajas. That put runners on second and third with none out, and put the Jays up 6-2. Enter Edwar Ramirez, which is code for “we’re giving up on this game.”
From the third inning on, the game was nothing but frustration. If it wasn’t the homers, it was A-Rod getting thrown out at the plate — on a great throw by Bautista, no less. If it wasn’t the likes of Edwin Encarnacion and Rod Barajas driving in runs, it was Mark Melancon showing few, if any, signs that he’s going to turn it around and start pitching well this season.
The short series closes tomorrow night with Chad Gaudin taking on Brian Tallet. The Yanks could use a win in this one heading into the off-day. If MLB issues a suspension tomorrow, look for Jorge to appeal. I wonder if it would even be heard before the end of the season.
Where would the Yankees be right now without Jorge Posada? He’s been among the top catchers in the league since 1998. Back then Pudge and Piazza were the best. Now it’s Mauer. Posada’s always played second fiddle, but that’s just fine by him and the Yanks. To have a catcher who hits so well, for such a long period of time, is all the Yankees could have asked for when they selected Posada in the 24th round of the 1990 draft.
Apparently, the Jays had just as good a shot at him, according to Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun. Jorge’s father was a scout with the Jays, and the team “helped place his son at Calhoun Community College in Decatur, Ala.” Yet they did not draft him. Not in 1989, and not in 1990. The Yankees jumped in, and that was that. Twenty years later, the Jays can’t really rue the decision — who knows if he was anywhere near their draft boards. Still, one can only imagine how history would have played out had the Blue Jays drafted their scout’s son.
Not even a poor start from Allan James Burnett could hold back the Yankees last night. They put on their typical offensive showing, smacking 12 hits off Orioles pitching, six of which were for extra bases. That included five home runs, accounting for eight of the Yanks nine runs. The bullpen did its usual lights out job, and the Yanks ticked off another victory.
It was clear from the start that Burnett didn’t have his best stuff. This seems to happen from time to time. Last time out against the Rangers he definitely did have his best stuff, but seemingly lost focus at a critical moment. This time against Baltimore he wasn’t hitting spots at all. The O’s hit him hard right from the start, including a Felix Pie homer.
After an uneventful second, A.J. faced considerable trouble in the third. It took him 32 pitches to get through the inning, and two of the batters he faced put the first pitch into play. The inning featured two walks, the only two Burnett would issue in the game. Two of them would come around to score, erasing the lead to which Jorge Posada and Robinson had staked them.
The Orioles went down without a peep in the fourth, but again that wasn’t a sign of things to come. Burnett made his own bed in the fifth by failing to cover first base on a hard liner which Mark Teixeira knocked down. Two batters later Luke Scott laid into a pitch, sending it out onto Eutaw Street. The Yanks had scored five runs for their No. 2 starter, and he’d blown it.
It’s quite good, then, that the Yankees have the most high-powered offense in baseball. Alex Rodriguez drove in the tying run in the top of the sixth, and then a double-homer-homer string by Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher, and Eric Hinske put the Yanks back out in front for good. It’s just another instance in a season full of late-inning scoring by the Yanks. In innings seven through nine, the team was hitting .293/.380/.512 entering play. They added to it last night.
The late-inning offensive heroics are amplified because of the capable arms in the Yanks pen. Four of them pitched 3.2 innings, allowing two hits and striking out two. Damaso Marte was the first man on the scene, finishing off the sixth inning and recording the first out of the seventh. David Robertson followed by doing the same in the seventh and eighth, which Phil Coke perfectly finished. Then came Mo, who allowed a hit but got a double play ball to end the game.
Certainly that’s not the start anyone wants to see from Burnett. The good news is that he still has five or six more tune-ups before the playoffs. As they’ve done plenty of times before, the Yanks offense masked this one. They can do that. It’s quite the advantage when the pitchers aren’t going right. We’ve seen A.J. pitch brilliantly this year, and we’ve also seen starts like this from him. As long as he’s not doing this in October, I’ll refrain from too much complaint. (Though it’s tough to not complain when he loses a winnable game.)
Getaway day? Who’s ever heard of that? With the series in hand, the Yanks will go for the sweep tomorrow night, as CC Sabathia toes the rubber against Jason Berken. Now, if only the Red Sox would lose a game at some point.
