April 9th Yankees @ Twins

[yankees228]

Melky really looks lost right now. Not to make this look like a knee jerk reaction to the first few games on this season, but maybe they should have traded him when his stock was high.

[See Red]

A-Rod will be MVP. If I'm him, I'm opting out just to spite the front running Yankee fans.

 

edit: And he may just carry me to Fantasy Baseball supremacy in one of my leagues.

[HeadOfSoxNation]

I'm opting out just to spite the front running Yankee fans.

 

I'm opting out to turn my $70 million into $140 million.

[jacksonianmarch]

Bottom 6th

 

Pavano dealing...wait, did I really just say that? 56 pitches through 5IP, and Pavano is entering uncharted territory for a yankee starter.

 

As for ARod, if he continues to play like this, Cashman will negotiate with him. He is amazing right now.

 

Bartlett leading it off, fastball hits the outside corner, 0-1. 2 seamer misses away, 1-1. 4 seamer stung hard by Bartlett, right to Damon, 1 down.

 

Nobody on, 1 down, Castillo to the dish. Changeup placed well on the outside corner. 0-1. Castillo with a baltimore chopper to Jeter who shorthops it and throws him out on the run. That is a GREAT play. 2 down.

 

Punto to the dish. 2 down, nobody on. Punto squares around, but takes the curve outside, ball 1. Curve grounded to Minky, 1-2-3 inning.

 

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 men left.

 

End of 6, Yankees lead 8-1.

[yankees228]

How many pitches has Carl thrown so far?

[See Red]

I'm opting out to turn my $70 million into $140 million.

 

Yeah, that's what I meant...

 

There's plenty of things you can do with that extra $70 million to spite Yankees fans...

[jacksonianmarch]

Top 7th

 

The yankees offense is in rare form. ARod looks fantastic. Abreu has stung the ball hard, Jeter is making good contact. Damon is on fire, and even better, Pavano is earning some of that bank.

 

Posada to lead off. Guerrier stays in. Yankees up 8-1. Posada check swings, but went around on the curve, 0-1. Big loopy curve misses low, 1-1. Loopy curve misses away, 2-1. 4 seam fastball on the outside corner, called a ball. 3-1. Posada swings through a 91 mph sinker down and in, full count. Posada just misses the heat down the middle, flies out to Hunter, 1 away.

 

1 down, nobody on, Cano to the dish. Guerrier misses away. 1-0. Guerrier misses in, 2-0. Cano took 2 pitches?? Wow. Cano swings at a 2-0 pitch at his ankles and fouls it off. 2-1. Cmon Robby. Robby hits a hard grounder to Castillo who makes a nice sliding play to gun him down. 2 down.

 

2 down, nobody on and Minky has a chance to end 4 innings with his scalding hot bat. Loopy curve in there, 0-1. Minky chases a curve in the dirt, 0-2. One more strike and he can be in elite company. Minky pulls an outside pitch to Morneau who flips to Guerrier, end of the inning.

 

0 runs, 0 hits, nobody left. Middle of the 7th, Yankees lead 8-1.

[jacksonianmarch]

Bottom 7th

 

Pavano dealing at 63 pitches through 6 innings. 4 hits, no walks, 1 K. Throwing strikes and getting results is the way to go. EVERYONE ELSE IN OUR ROTATION, WATCH AND f***ING LEARN!!!

 

Mauer, Cuddyer, and Morneau set to hit.

 

Mauer leads it off. 4 seamer hits the outside corner at the knees, good pitch, 0-1. 2 seamer misses inside. 1-1. Does Torre know that with this lead, Proctor doesnt have to come in??? Carl misses outside, 2-1. 4 seamer misses the outside corner. STOP ABUSING OUR RELIEVERS JOE!!!. Mauer laces one over Damon's head for a leadoff double.

 

Mauer at second, nobody out, Cuddyer at the dish. JOE, HOLD YOUR HORSES, WE HAVE A LEAD, STOP THE PEN ABUSE!!! Guidry to the mound, no doubt to tell Carl to stop being a pussy. Dirrty sinker swung on and missed. 0-1. 89 mph sinker fouled off down the 3rd base line. He is losing his velocity a bit. 0-2 count. FILTHY splitter, swung on and missed.

 

1 down, Mauer at 2nd, Morneau to the plate. Curveball over for a strike, 0-1. 4 seamer in on the fists, popped up to Minky, 2 away.

 

Mauer at 2nd, 2 down, Torii to the plate. Pavano at 73 pitches. Hunter hits a missile off the wall, RBI double. Yankees lead 8-2

 

Melky fell on the warning track and looks a bit gimpy.

 

Hunter at 2nd, 2 down, Kubel to the dish. Filthy split, swung on and missed. 0-1. Curve misses down and in, 1-1. Pavano misses badly down and in, maybe it is time to pull Pavano. 2-1. Pavano misses in with the curve, 3-1. 4FB down the middle, Kubel scalds it right to Damon. end of inning.

 

1 run, 2 hits, 1 runner left on. After 7, Yankees lead 8-2.

[jacksonianmarch]

Top 8th

 

If that was it for Pavano, what a game. 7 great innings pitched, he wasnt spectacular, but he pitched to contact and avoided the walk. Standing O for Carla.

 

PITCHING CHANGE: Dennys Reyes replaces Gurrier. Gurrier threw 1.1IP, 0ER, 0H, 0BB, 0K

 

Yankees at the dish, Melky then the top. Melky chops the first pitch into the ground. 1 down.

 

Damon to the dish. Fastball high, ball 1. Fastball down the middle, 1-1. Breaking ball down and away, 2-1. 1 down, nobody on base. Damon's bat explodes, grounder to 2nd, 2 down.

 

2 down, nobody on base, Jeter to the dish against the lefty Reyes. Jeter takes a fastball down the heart of the plate. Fastball misses inside. 1-1. Jeter singles up the middle, that is 3 hits for the captain.

 

2 outs, Jeter on first, Abreu at the dish. 4RBI for Bobby on the day with 3 hits and a homer. 4FB in the dirt, nice block by Mauer. 1-0. Change misses away. 2-0. Cutter misses away, 3-0. Fastball at the knees, 3-1. Fastball gets the inside corner, Abreu nearly walked to 1st. Abreu chases a ball in the dirt, Mauer throws out Abreu.

 

0 runs, 1 hit, 1 man left.

 

Yankees lead 8-2

[jacksonianmarch]

Bottom 8th

 

PITCHING CHANGE: Brian Bruney replaces Carl Pavano

 

Pavano's final line. 7IP 6H 2ER 2K 0BB. Stellar game and much needed from the rotation.

 

Bruney will face Redmond, Bartlett, and Castillo in the 8th.

 

Bruney misses high to Redmond with the ched. 1-0. redmond late on the ched, 1-1. Redmond late on it again, fouled back. 1-2. Bruney with the 94mph cheese, fouled back. Bruney is speeding his bat up. Time for the junk. 95mph heat misses low. 94 mph heat off the corner, Redmond couldnt hold up. 1 down.

 

1 down, nobody on. Bartlett to the dish. 94 mph cheese fouled off. Thus far, no breaking stuff. 88 mph slider just misses low. Bruney bounces the heat, 2-1. 94 mph heat grounded to Cano, 2 down.

 

2 down, nobody on base. Bruney throwing hard. Castillo to the dish. 3 choppers today, 1 he beat out for a hit. 94 mph heat on the inside corner. 0-1. 94 mph fastball grounded up the middle, Cano makes one hell of a play throwing the ball as his body is going away from 1st and gets Castillo by a step.

 

Bruney dominates the 8th. 0 runs, 0 hits, nobody left. Going to the 9th, Yankees lead 8-2.

[jacksonianmarch]

Top 9th

 

ARod, Giambi, and Posada to hit in the 9th. Cano bats 4th and is 0 for 4 thus far. Right now he is sitting on an 18 game hitting streak.

 

PITCHING CHANGE Pat Neshek replaces Dennys Reyes

 

Reyes final line: 1IP 0ER 1H 0BB 1K

 

ARod to the dish to lead off the 9th. First pitch misses, 1-0. Slider misses up and away. 2-0. Sidearmer Neshek slinging frisbees. He misses away with the heat. 3-0. Sidenote, ARod has set a new record with 5HR in his first 6 games, no yankee has ever done that. Neshek hits his spot with the heat 3-1. Neshek misses away with the slider, Ball 4.

 

ARod on 1st, nobody out, Giambi to the dish. Giambi is 1 for 3 with a walk. Giambi fouls it off down the 1st base line. 0-1. Giambi late on the heat, fouls it away into the LF stands. 0-2 count on Giambi. Giambi takes a pitch that should have been strike 3 on the corner, but the ump missed it. 1-2. Neshek misses high with the heat, 2-2. Giambi fouls off the high heat, stays at 2-2. Giambi pops one up, Punto makes the catch in foul territory. 1 down

 

ARod on 1st, Posada at the dish. 1 down. Nice pitch on the inside corner. 0-1. Frisbee misses away. 1-1. Posada just got under it, Hunter catches is short of the track, 2 away.

 

2 down, ARod on 1st, Cano at the dish. Can he extend the hitting streak? First pitch fouled away. 0-1. Cano fouls another fastball away. He is late on Neshek. 0-2. Cano takes high and away with the heat, 1-2. Cano fouls one off down the left field line. 1-2 again. Cano fouls another away, the frisbee this time. Cano fouls another frisbee away. Nice AB from Robby. Cano fists one to 2b, his streak is likely over.

 

0 runs, 0 hits, 1 man left. Last licks for the twins, Yankees lead 8-2.

[jacksonianmarch]

Bottom 9th

 

PITCHING CHANGE Kyle Farnsworth replaces Brian Bruney

 

Bruney's line: 1IP 0ER 0H 0BB 1K

 

Farns to close this one out against Punto, Mauer and Cuddyer.

 

Punto leads it off. Farns hasnt worked much to this point. 2IP 1H 1BB 1K 0ER. First pitch fastball misses away. 1-0. Second pitch misses away 2-0. Farns may not like this small zone. Fastball misses 3-0. This guy sucks. Farns misses wildly, ball 4. Fanf***ingtastic.

 

Punto on 1st, 0 outs. Mauer to the dish. Can Farnsy blow it? We shall see. Farns hits the outside corner with 92 mph heat, slow for him. What gives? 0-1 count. Farns misses low and away with the heat, 1-1. Farns misses in, 2-1. CMON GODDAMNIT! Fastball chopped to Cano slowly, only play is to 1st. 1 down, Punto to 2nd.

 

Punto on 2nd, 1 away, Cuddyer to the dish. Cuddyer is 1 for 3 with a double. 94 mph heat down the middle, 0-1. 95 mph 2 seamer (wow, btw) misses in. 1-1. 94mph 2 seamer misses down and in, 2-1. 97 mph 4 seamer fouled back. 2-2. 98 mph fastball fouled away. On a side note, Farns is trying a 2 seamer right now, and it is sitting at 92-95. 92 mph 2 seamer fouled away. 98 mph heater scalded to Minky who knocks it down with his chest and flips to Farns. Punto to 3rd.

 

Punto at 3rd, 2 down, Morneau to the dish. 94 mph 2 seamer misses away. 1-0. 95 mph fastball fisted out to Minky, takes it to the bag by himself and the yankees win.

 

YANKEES WIN 8-2

[riverside sluggers]

Jacko were you really stressing about the bullpen in the 9th inning vs the Twins?

[jacksonianmarch]

2 hours and 37 minute game. WOW.

 

My thoughts...

 

Carl Pavano was very good, although he wasnt perfect. He did make some early mistakes that the twins did not take advantage of, but seemed to get stronger as the game went along. He pitched to contact, had good location, and had both the curve and splitty working well. And he had a David Wells type day. Had an early 3-0 and 5-0 lead, and went right after the hitters. Great game for our starter, it was needed.

 

Once again, the pen was filthy. Bruney must be sneaky as well as throw gas, cause they didnt have much of a chance even though he was throwing a little slower than he usually does (he was around 93-95 today). Farns is working on a 2 seamer and boy does it move. 92-95 with a nice bite, but he hasnt perfected it yet. Had to go to the 4 seamer when he got in trouble. Once again, 1 baserunner in 2 innings and no runs for the pen. I'll take it.

 

The top of the order was great. Damon leads off the game with a double, Bobby with 4RBI, Jeter with 3 hits and ARod with the kill shot over the baggy. Everything clicked today. The bottom of the order was poor, going 0 for 13, but Cano is a quality hitter who will be fine. The same may not be said for Minky and Melky has looked very poor thus far this season.

 

The defense was great on the carpet, Jeter, Cano and Minky making some really nice plays.

 

Overall, everything worked well and they come away with a win that was never really in doubt. Hopefully they can carry the pitching over into tomorrow with Pettitte taking the hill against Bonser.

[jacksonianmarch]

Jacko were you really stressing about the bullpen in the 9th inning vs the Twins?

 

not stressing, I just hate it when a reliever has a big lead in a s*** spot and cannot locate. It is a pet peeve of mine. I have funny pet peeves. Not advancing runners and not pitching to contact when you have a lead are 2 of them.

[jacksonianmarch]

BTW, doing the gameday was fun. I started it and when the yankees jumped out to the big lead, the superstition in me couldnt get me to stop.

[riverside sluggers]

Next test for Pavano, do it against a top 5 lineup

[jacksonianmarch]

Next test for Pavano' date=' do it against a top 5 lineup[/quote']

 

Minny is an average MLB lineup (13th last season in runs scored in the MLB ). He pitched decent, even though he gave innings and the line was great, I'd go with a B+. He pitched the big boys very tough, but to the other guys he made a bunch of mistakes in the zone that would be crushed by better hitters. He tailored his game well to this team though.

[yankees228]

Next test for Pavano' date=' do it against a top 5 lineup[/quote']

 

Top to bottom, the Twins lineup isn't up there with the best of them, but it's not too bad either. The really a really good 3-5 and they have these pesky hitters who do a good job, especially in the Metrodome. It was a very nice performance, and Minnesota does not have a horrible offensive team.

[riverside sluggers]

I did not say that Minnesota's lineup was horrible. But it doesnt rank up with Boston, Baltimore, Toronto, Cleveland, Chicago, Detrot, Anaheim in the AL. Not because he's a Yankee... but its hard for me to see him as a guy to trust with the ball every 5th day who hasnt pitched since June 05 from an array of injuries. Also including not even informing his team of a car accident he was in

[VA Sox Fan]

Ponson blows. The longer hair makes him look less fat....ha ha ha ha...... Pavano had a good outing. The offense was there for the NYY (duh).....I fk'n hate it!!

[jacksonianmarch]

I did not say that Minnesota's lineup was horrible. But it doesnt rank up with Boston' date=' Baltimore, Toronto, Cleveland, Chicago, Detrot, Anaheim in the AL. Not because he's a Yankee... but its hard for me to see him as a guy to trust with the ball every 5th day who hasnt pitched since June 05 from an array of injuries. Also including not even informing his team of a car accident he was in[/quote']

 

Matsuzaka's start against the royals gets everyone up and excited, but Pavano against the twins is useless? Last I checked, the royals offense sucks worse.

[schillingouttheks]

Matsuzaka's start against the royals gets everyone up and excited' date=' but Pavano against the twins is useless? Last I checked, the royals offense sucks worse.[/quote']

 

I was going to say the same thing. You can't praise Matsuzaka and say he'll be fine and then turn around and disregard Pavano's outing. Come on guys, you're better than that.

[jacksonianmarch]

My favorite line of the night from rotoworld.

 

Bobby Abreu went 3-for-5 with a two-run homer and four RBI in the Yankees' victory on Monday night.

 

Abreu's first homer of the year came on a Sidney Ponson curveball, but it will probably count in the official stats anyway.

[Gom]

I was going to say the same thing. You can't praise Matsuzaka and say he'll be fine and then turn around and disregard Pavano's outing. Come on guys' date=' you're better than that.[/quote']

 

No they're not. You're an exception.

 

If we can get another 7 innings tomorrow, the pen is back to where it needs to be.

 

Clemens must be thinking he can win 90% of his starts with this kind of pen. Hurry up and come to the Bronx, Roger!

[riverside sluggers]

Matsuzaka's start against the royals gets everyone up and excited' date=' but Pavano against the twins is useless? Last I checked, the royals offense sucks worse.[/quote']

 

No doubt he just had a great outing, Im just taking it with a grain of salt... it is Carl Pavano after all, the same one who actually hurt his ass in spring training of 05 that I can recall :dunno:

 

EDIT: I just saw that Pavano needed just 79 pitches through 7, why was he pulled with such a low count for that time of the game?

[jacksonianmarch]

No doubt he just had a great outing, Im just taking it with a grain of salt... it is Carl Pavano after all, the same one who actually hurt his ass in spring training of 05 that I can recall :dunno:

 

EDIT: I just saw that Pavano needed just 79 pitches through 7, why was he pulled with such a low count for that time of the game?

 

 

It is Carla Pavano, no doubt, but it was a very strong performance.

 

As for why he was pulled, could be the fact that he can get injured drinking a glass of water and they wanted to limit his water consumption? Actually, it was obvious he needed to come out. The velocity in the 7th was down to the high 80s and he got hit hard twice in that inning.

 

And if Pavano can keep this up to some degree, we will be in a quandry and a conundrum wrapped in an enigma. We may have every intention to trade Carla, but we may also lean on him. Do we deal him while the market is hot?

[riverside sluggers]

I didnt realize, I was just watching a movie and just had yahoo box score to go on. Hmm the velocity was dropping to the high 80s after 79 pitches? For Yankees sake hope thats not a warning in any way whatsoever. Agreed if Pavano continues to deal, the Yankees will be stronger than I thought

[jacksonianmarch]

No they're not. You're an exception.

 

If we can get another 7 innings tomorrow, the pen is back to where it needs to be.

 

Clemens must be thinking he can win 90% of his starts with this kind of pen. Hurry up and come to the Bronx, Roger!

 

It is one hell of a difference from watching Boston's pen, I'll tell you that much. Boston has one guy in that pen who can locate mid 90s power stuff, and he just so happens to be their closer. The yankees have Vizcaino, Proctor, Bruney, Henn, Farns and Rivera who can all get the heat into the mid 90s. When you have that kind of power out there and 2 guys with power stuff waiting in the wings, it can only help. I really do like our pen.

[jacksonianmarch]

I didnt realize' date=' I was just watching a movie and just had yahoo box score to go on. Hmm the velocity was dropping to the high 80s after 79 pitches? For Yankees sake hope thats not a warning in any way whatsoever. Agreed if Pavano continues to deal, the Yankees will be stronger than I thought[/quote']

 

It was in the 7th inning, you have to remember and it isnt like he throws that much harder than high 80s anyway. His velocity was in the 90-92 range all night. Also, his stamina has been a factor early on as he lost it in the 5th last outing. He needs to build it up, but he'll get there, assuming his arm doesnt fall off.