2009 Yankees Game Thread

[TheKilo]

Why should Beckett be suspended?

[Gom]

Why should Beckett be suspended?

 

For throwing a ball over Abreu's head, which initiated a bench-clearing incident.

 

Question: Do you think Joba should have been suspended the first time he did it to Youk?

 

If the answer is yes, then this also has to be yes. If the answer is no, then this should also be no.

 

To say yes to one and no to the other shows zero credibility. I say [and said] yes to both.

 

Brushbacks are one thing. When you take someone's career and potential life in your hands, you should sit down. Period.

[TheKilo]

Did you f***ing watch the game or are you going off secondhand accounts?

[BoSox21]

Question: Do you think Joba should have been suspended the first time he did it to Youk?

 

Was timeout called during Joba's windup the first time he threw at Youk's head?

[Mr Crunchy]

1 thing is for certain

nothing is easy for anyone in the american league after week 1.

the balance of power is still top heavy in the east, anaheim still looks the part of the west champ, the central should be another s*** fight but the bottom of the wrung teams all seem to be better from seattle to kc and baltimore.

the better pitching and deeper 9 will come to the top as the season progresses but after week 1 there are more questions than answers in the american league.

Why did NY dump yesterdays game?

That f***ing lineup couldnt start for the Milford Legion, honest to God.

Cody Ransome?Melky""5 tool perennial allstar"" cabrerra, Ephram Molina and Wes Gardner??

Who spent 450M in the offseason, raised tix prices 75% and put these douchebags on the field?

Jesus Christ, give the kid some confidence and shot to win, dont saddle him with the s*** bag end of the roster.

[jacksonianmarch]

I agree Crunchy. The reason why we blew it, is well Phil Coke. His velocity is down early in the yr, hopefully he proves that last yrs velocity of low to mid 90s is no fluke. But when you have essentially a rookie starter giving it his all in s*** conditions, you have to at least put a lineup out there that can play. Having Ransom, Molina, Melky as the last 3 hitters in the lineup along with Gardner is a recipe for disaster. Gardner surrounded by run producers works well because he gets on base and has speed. But he gets exposed in a lineup surrounded by scrubs. And yesterday, 4 of the 9 hitters in the lineup had no punch in the bat. That makes it extremely difficult to beat a guy like Meche, especially when he's backed by a 1-2 punch of Cruz and Soria.

[jacksonianmarch]

But Girardi has been asked about this before. And he says that he'd rather field the lineup he wants 5 out of every 6 games and have one day a week that is kinda a backup roster than field a solid lineup every day with one starter missing.

[jacksonianmarch]

Joba looked good, especially in the rain. That slider was nasty aside from one hanger to Buck. The heater, although about 3-4 mph slower than his pen days, was on point and commanded rather well. His line should have been 6IP 1ER, but the KC official scorer has a difficult time pulling the E button, even when the ball goes through 2 players' legs. We were able to take advantage of a Royal mistake to take the lead. And Coke didnt have it once again. What are you gonna do?

 

I couldnt be happier with this team 6 games in. Yeah, the record is meh, but look at the games.

Game 1- we hit pretty well, CC just didnt have it

Game 2- Wang didnt have it, we hit pretty well again

Game 3- Burnett was on point and we hit well

Game 4- Pettitte was on point and we hit well

Game 5- CC was on point and we hit well

Game 6- we didnt hit well, Joba was solid, Coke blew it.

 

The first two games were first starts of the season for CC (new team) and Wang (first start post injury). CC has rectified that start. Wang will try tonight. Other than the first 2 games, we got solid starts in all 4 since. Aside from Coke, our pen has allowed only 3ER in 11IP. And, our offense has been pretty good, even though we have played 2 games sans Tex, one game sans Damon, and 6 games sans ARod. If the starting pitching can keep throwing innings and if the offense can keep hitting, then we'll be fine. We're just gonna have to make a decision soon if Coke needs some minor league time. Hell, Melancon is knockin on the door.

[yankees228]

Not that it really matters, but the KC scorer changed his decision on the ball that went through Swisher and Cano's legs. So Joba's line was only 1 earned run.

[jacksonianmarch]

Interestingly enough, Coke's lack of velocity is being talked about a lot on Yankee forums. That was the big buzz around him this time last yr was that he came out of MiLB ST throwing smoke. He typically sat 88-90 prior to 08. Last yr, he was sitting 91-93 as a starter and by the time he converted to relief, he was 93-95. I didnt see him much in ST, but thus far in his 3 BP stints, he hasnt broken 90 all that much. If he indeed is experiencing a drop in velocity, then his utility as a lefty specialist drops significantly.

[BoSox21]

Before this gets too far away, I still wanna hear why Gom thinks Joba throwing at Youk's head is the same as Beckett throwing at Abreu's head

[ORS]

Joba looked good, especially in the rain. That slider was nasty aside from one hanger to Buck. The heater, although about 3-4 mph slower than his pen days, was on point and commanded rather well. His line should have been 6IP 1ER, but the KC official scorer has a difficult time pulling the E button, even when the ball goes through 2 players' legs. We were able to take advantage of a Royal mistake to take the lead. And Coke didnt have it once again. What are you gonna do?

 

I couldnt be happier with this team 6 games in. Yeah, the record is meh, but look at the games.

Game 1- we hit pretty well, CC just didnt have it

Game 2- Wang didnt have it, we hit pretty well again

Game 3- Burnett was on point and we hit well

Game 4- Pettitte was on point and we hit well

Game 5- CC was on point and we hit well

Game 6- we didnt hit well, Joba was solid, Coke blew it.

 

The first two games were first starts of the season for CC (new team) and Wang (first start post injury). CC has rectified that start. Wang will try tonight. Other than the first 2 games, we got solid starts in all 4 since. Aside from Coke, our pen has allowed only 3ER in 11IP. And, our offense has been pretty good, even though we have played 2 games sans Tex, one game sans Damon, and 6 games sans ARod. If the starting pitching can keep throwing innings and if the offense can keep hitting, then we'll be fine. We're just gonna have to make a decision soon if Coke needs some minor league time. Hell, Melancon is knockin on the door.

You've faced one decent pitcher. Not saying your offense isn't one of the better ones in the league, but that does play into how well they've hit.

[Dojji]

Which was the "one decent pitcher," Meche or Guthrie? Both of them have been pretty danged decent over the last 2 years.

[jacksonianmarch]

Meche and Guthrie are quality. Uehara might also be quality. He was tough.

[ORS]

Which was the "one decent pitcher' date='" Meche or Guthrie? Both of them have been pretty danged decent over the last 2 years.[/quote']

Meche. Guthrie's last two years might be the luckiest stretch seen for a pitcher. His career minors BABIP is .301 and it's complemented by a 4.40 MiLB ERA. Then he gets cubically transformed into the .268 BABIP and 3.66 pitcher he's been the last two years. This improvement is not supported by any marked improvement in K/9, BB/9, or HR/9. He's on borrowed time.

[yankees228]

You've faced one decent pitcher. Not saying your offense isn't one of the better ones in the league' date=' but that does play into how well they've hit.[/quote']

 

I'm not defending Jackson's point, just simply making my own...

 

Considering they don't have A-Rod and they only had Teixeira for four of the six games, I'm pretty happy with their offensive output up to this point. Obviously they haven't faced too much quality pitching, but considering the guys they've been missing, I'll take it.

 

Yesterday's loss really bothered me for a couple of reasons. First off, they were so close to a win. One more out in the eighth, and then you get Rivera against the bottom of the Royals' order. There's a good chance that he would have been able to close the door. I really don't understand why they wouldn't go to Rivera once Veras walked Butler. That seemed like the obvious move at the time (he wasn't even warming up so obviously they couldn't have done it at the moment and they would have needed to anticipate using him for more than three outs). In my opinion, and I know a lot of people are probably going to disagree with me, but when you have a closer like Rivera you cannot hesitate to use him for more than three outs.

 

If they had won yesterday it would have put them at 4-2, and it would have been very realistic for them to start out the season 8-5. I would have been very happy with that, especially after losing the first two to Baltimore. They would have just needed to take one in Tampa, and then take three of four from Cleveland at home. Instead they would need to also take the series in Tampa to reach that mark. I don't see that as likely. I see them losing the first two games, and then salvaging the last one with Pettitte against Sonnanstine. Obviously, I could be wrong and I hope I'm wrong, but it's just what I think is going to happen considering the pitching match-ups and being without your best offensive player (he's out for tonight and who knows about the next two games).

 

Starting 7-6 (which is what I'm predicting at this point) is fine, and it's not a big deal at all not to be 8-5. I'm just slightly disappointed because this team has not been able to get off to past starts lately, and it would have been nice to see them put three games between themselves and the .500 mark two weeks into the season. At this point I see that as unlikely.

[yankees228]

Yankees lineup:

 

Jeter SS

Damon LF

Swisher 1B

Posada C

Nady RF

Cano 2B

Matsui DH

Ransom 3B

Cabrera CF

 

Rays Lineup:

 

Upton CF

Crawford LF

Longoria 3B

Pena 1B

Burrell DH

Navarro C

Gross RF

Iwamura 2B

Bartlett SS

 

Pitching Matchup:

 

Wang vs. Kazmir

 

All things considered, I really do not see Wang having much success tonight. I hope I'm wrong, but considering the outing he's coming off, and the Rays lineup, I find it hard to believe he'll be able to navigate through all those left handed hitters. I hope I'm wrong.

 

Also, I understand wanting to sit Gardner against the lefty, but Cabrera from the right side of the plate does not seem like much, if any, of an improvement.

[TheKilo]

Meche. Guthrie's last two years might be the luckiest stretch seen for a pitcher. His career minors BABIP is .301 and it's complemented by a 4.40 MiLB ERA. Then he gets cubically transformed into the .268 BABIP and 3.66 pitcher he's been the last two years. This improvement is not supported by any marked improvement in K/9' date=' BB/9, or HR/9. He's on borrowed time.[/quote']

 

Joe Saunders

[Dipre]

Joe Saunders

 

What's real funny about this is that they have virtually identical stats.

 

Even worse, Guthrie has a better WHIP, SO/9, SO/BB, GO/AO ratio with a higher LD%, and nearly identical BABIP, so in fact, Joe Saunder is luckier than Guthrie, but they are BOTH on borrowed time, because there's no way they'll sustain that kind of success with SO/BB ratios below 2 AND the fluky HR/FB percentage, low GO percentage, low SO/9 ratio and below average BABIP, IMHO, with such high Fly ball and contact rates those two are gonna start getiing pounded sooner rather than later.

[Cocos Disciples]

34 pitches with 1 out for Wang. Ouch.

[ORS]

Early returns suggest CMW will have scoreboard operators working overtime this season.

[Cocos Disciples]

Do the Yanks have a mop up man?

[yankees228]

Great play by Upton.

 

I really dislike Wang to be honest with you. I called this. I have no faith in him against any decent offensive team, especially on the road. I started a thread in 2007, I think, about how I thought he is vastly overrated, especially by Yankee fans. All of the Yankee fans on this site called me crazy, but I think he's the worst pitcher on the staff, or maybe just in front of Pettitte.

[yankees228]

Do the Yanks have a mop up man?

 

No.

[redsoxrules]

so why does girardi have wang as the #2 starter ?

[Cocos Disciples]

so why does girardi have wang as the #2 starter ?

 

He pitched 2nd but he's definitely not the 2nd best. I agree with y228, I'd put CC, AJ and Joba ahead of him easily.

[Gom]

Wang has been outright terrible. Oh well...just hope you come back strong tomorrow. Girardi has to realize that putting Posada with Wang will make this a merry go round on the bases.

[redsoxrules]

2 straight pitchout? LOL

[Cocos Disciples]

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk212/Krams706/Picture2.jpg?t=1239667768

 

Where was pitch 4?

[redsoxrules]

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk212/Krams706/Picture2.jpg?t=1239667768

 

Where was pitch 4?

 

outside