We Live

A day after Hank basically declared the season over the Yankees got a big win. For a few innings it looked like they would gain a game on Boston. However, Boston came back against Texas and they merely hold their ground at 5 games back. Today is another big game.

Mussina pitched fairly well. Not his usual brilliance but 7 innings of 3 run ball is fine for me. Marte had another dissapointing performance. He`s been a dissapointment. Rivera also blew his first save of the year. He`s been bad lately.A-Rod picked up the team with a game-winning homer. Imagine that, a clutch hit.

Swept

This was an incredibly frustrating series for Yankees fans.

I only caught bits and pieces of this game. I heard about the A-Rod steal later on and judging by the replay he was safe. I agree with the decision to steal. However, I had a big problemwith Marte pitching the 9th. Rivera should have been out there to start the inning. Now Marte is probably unavailable for tomorrow. Girardi has a habit of using Marte for 2 innings that needs to end now. That was clearly a mistake. It seemed like Joe Torre was back managing for a minute there. That ball that won the game should have been fielded by either Cano or Betemit. At least the other Wild Card teams lost. The next series is a big one. Minnesota is ahead in the wild card race and this is the time the Yankees need to step up. On the bright side Pettitte seemed to have pitched well. If he`s okay then it helps them a ton.

Also, Kennedy got sent down for Billy Traber. I wish it had been Melancon that was called up. However, I think it was a good move. I think it`d be nice to see Jarrod Washburn going on Wednesday..... If not I think they`ll end up trying Hughes for 85 pitches.

This is the time they need to step up and go on some sort of winning streak otherwise they`re just not going to make the playoffs. Boston has many of the same problems we do and they can be caught but right now I have to say I doubt they`ll do it.

Kennedy Returns, Hughes close?

I have to say this is not a matchup I`m relishing. Jered Weaver against the newly returned Ian Kennedy. However, anything is possible I suppose. We need Kennedy to pitch solidly down the stretch if we`re going to make the playoffs.

Phil Hughes was apparently brilliant in AAA last night. His next start should be 85 pitches. Should they bring him up to the majors for this one or give him one more start in AAA and give Giese a chance? I`m leaning towards the second one. Apparently Hughes has also replaced his slider with a cutter in the high '80's. I like it. It hads more seperation between his curve and cutter. Also I think its awesome that Rivera is helping the next generation of Yankees pitchers. We`re going to need Hughes down the stretch even more than Kennedy.

Mussina for Cy Young?

The way he`s pitched this year he may deserve it considering the writers hate giving awards to noncompetitive team's players or relievers. He may have a shot at 20 wins which is for some reason worth something in the eyes of the writers. However, his early season struggles may cost him.

Anyway, he bailed out a struggling Yankees offense yet again with a 7 inning shutout. Bruney and Rivera finished the game with two shutout innings. Its getting to the point in the year where sometimes my thoughts drift towards next year and if Mussina keeps doing what he`s doing it should be interesting to see what type of contract he gets. Despite all the injuries we`re only .5 games behind Minnesota and 3 games behind Boston for the wild card.

I`ll have some more posts later.

Sidney=Savior

Yesterday's win was just what the Yankees needed. With the news on Joba that I`ll have a post on later they needed a win. The offense did well, the bullpen shut Texas down (including Rivera), and the starting pitcher went deep into the game. Sidney Ponson has really shocked me that he`s still in the rotation. I had huge doubts when he was signed and wanted him out of the rotation the day he got in. However, he`s hung in their with a few bad starts but mostly good ones. Is he merely still getting lucky or is their actually something left in this guy?

His K/BB is seriously awful. Its 1.27. However, he seems to try to offset this by doing two things. First, both his K/9 and BB/9 are very low. This means he doesn't depend on them very much generally pitching to contact. His GB% has also been high, in the low 50%, and this year is actually a little higher than usual. Even so it would seem like he`s been getting lucky. That GB% can't offset the complete lack of K's.

However, his BABIP is actually well above average. Its .324 and should be expected to come down a little. His HR/FB% is very slightly below the normal 10%. He`s probably actually been a little unlucky.

Its a very strange year for him. In addition, his FIP is a pretty solid 4.50. For now he`s helping the Yankees and has actually been decent while he`s been up here. I hate to say it but they`re counting on Sidney Ponson to help make the playoffs for at least a little while.

Rivera Day to Day

Rivera is day to day with back spasms. He won't be hurt long but every game is critical at this point. It really is a good thing they got Marte now but optimally you don't want him closing a big game. Rivera is hoping to be okay by tomorrow.

I really hate this game

This is probably the worst thing that culd have possibly happened for the Yankees. All of our competitors won and Rivera blew the game in the 9th. Not only this but Ponson really didn't pitch that well. He only struck out one and walked four. His defense saved him a number of times as well. If we`d gotten a win it would`ve been fine but we didn't. So now Ponson will get another start before Kennedy or Aceves gets called up. The offense was totally shut down as well despite Cashman's changes.

We desperately need the offense to come alive today. The odds are against it with Lackey pitching but they`ll need to score some runs. Rasner may be pitching for his job again and it would be a crime to send him down and have Ponson stay up.

Now that hurt

Now that was a tough one to lose. Rasner pitched well which probably means Ponson will lose his spot in the rotation if they get another pitcher or decide to call up Kennedy. Other than that this was a rough game to watch.

Early on they repeatedly failed to hit with runners on and ultimately it ended up costing them. Then Girardi left Rasner in one inning to long. I think that when you`re 4th starter gives you 6 innings of 2 run ball and is nearing 100 pitches you should just hand the game over to your very good bullpen. Instead Marte came into a jam and struggled. Although, it sent me memories of Eric Gagne and the Red Sox last year I`m hoping this won't be a problem. The offense stayed asleep until the 8th and 9th. Nady also struck out in a big spot. Surprisingly, Rivera ended up making the difference. In a game where he was expected to just be getting work in he ended up giving up the run that made the difference in the game.

Thankfully, Boston lost to to a dominating John Lackey. Still, this was an excellent opportunity to move up in the standings.

7 Straight

Joba has really been everything anyone could have hoped for. He shut out Boston's great offense for 7 innings. He matched Beckett pitch for pitch. If he`s still a rookie than he could be the rookie of the year. When was the last time you could argue that a starter on the Yankees had the best stuff in the league? Joba could very well be the ace of the staff for years to come.

Rivera is still amazing. he`s really earning his contract. Although, the concern was more for the later part of it. The offense was more dissapointing. However, it was against a great pitcher in Beckett so I`m willing to give them a pass. Still, they`re lucky the Boston infield was playing in. Today is another big day. I`d be surprised to see them win tomorrow so they better get one today. I`ll have more on the Nady/Marte trade later.

Another One...

Score:

Yanks- 5
Indians- 2

Mussina was actually pretty decent today. He got a little lucky but was still pretty decent. That`s two starts in a row. Maybe he`s learned how to pitch without a fastball. The bullpen was also brilliant. Rivera is just unbelievable. Offense hit well to. However, A-Rod hurt his quadriceps again. We don't know how bad it is this time.

A Quick One

Score:

Yankees- 6
White Sox- 4

I have a little bit of time here but I`ll have to make this a quick one. Mussina started and shockingly, actually gave a good start. His control was perfect. He gave up 2 runs in 7 innings. He K'ed three and walked only one. Billy Traber and Latroy Hawkins weren`t very good though. Traber gave up a hit to the one batter he faced. Latroy Hawkins continued his struggles and almost gave up the game. He gave up 2 runs in less than an inning. Rivera had to come in for the 8th and the 9th and he shut them down. Melky drove in Robinson Cano as the first run of the game but after him Damon struck out with the bases loaded. Posada drove in the next two with a double. Posada had a great day. He also had 4 hits in 5 at bats. Damon and Jeter drove in the remaining runs later on. Ultimately, the offense scored 6 and had a good enough day to pick up the middle relief.

Wang pulls through

Score:

Yankees- 2
Rays- 0

Again, sorry for the lateness my computer has not been working at all lately. Wang was brilliant for 6 innings shutting out the Rays before getting in trouble in the 7th he let runners get on the corners with nobody. Girardi made the right move next in going to Joba who K'ed the first guy he faced and then got lucky with a LD double play to get out of the inning. Joba had an easy 8th and then handed it over to Rivera in the 9th. Rivera closed the door then.

The offense was again less than brilliant but were backed by sick pitching. They got only two runs on a Hideki Matsui HR. A-Rod also had a double. Looks like A-Rod`s going to have another great year which is something they`re going to need. Its still early in the year but unless we suddenly turn out to have incredible pitching which I would say is pretty unlikely. Still not even close to being worried yet though.

Enter Sandman

The New York post is reporting that Mariano Rivera is expected to take the Yankees 3 year, 45 million dollar offer. I guess its a good deal. It keep Joba in the rotation. Now go out and get some middle relievers. I`d still pursue Cordero though as a setup man.