46 times in the history of baseball a starting pitcher has completed 7 innings with fewer than 68 pitches. Tonight's start by Bartolo Colon at Camden Yards makes # 47.
Colon is hitting 96 on the radar gun, his fastball is moving wickedly, the strike zone has been generous, and the O's are impatient. A perfect storm.
But the Yanks are still only clinging to a 1-run lead due to the excellent performance of O's rookie phenom Zack Britton. Having thrown 61 of his 87 pitches for strikes (83%) over 8 innings, it looks like Colon may nevertheless be yanked for Mo in the 9th.
Pitching duels are the best.
43 replies on “Absolutely Pounding the Strike Zone: Yanks-Os Gamer VII”
I would never argue against bringing in Mo in a save situation. And given that Bartolo has a historical weakness for the long ball, whereas Mo rarely gives up anything other than squibbers and bloops, it makes sense. But I would have liked to see Colon get a chance to close this one out. In under 100 pithces no less.
1 quick out for Mo…
And Adam Jones – who has had a good night, fights off a high cutter for a single. Markakis due up representing the winning run.
Markakis with a single and it’s 1st and 3rd with one out. Drama. And Guerrero sac flies him in. I gotta say, as bummed as I am for the Yanks as a team, I seriously feel for Bartolo. That was a masterpiece he twirled.
Well, back to the game to see if the Yanks can at least keep it tied.
Pop-out. But damage is done. What a gut-puncher. Let’s go O (not O’s).
Uehara pitching for O’s, Ayala for the Yanks. 1 out in the top of the 10th.
Russell Martin singles. Jeter up.
Jeter K’s. he and A-Rod had 5 of the Yankees’ 6 hits before that single by Martin. Curtis up with 2 outs, man on first.
Even Mo now…we’re done.
Did you watch this one though Krueg? That start by Bartolo was insane. Seriously a joy to watch. Such a bummer that he couldn’t close it out.
Leadoff single. Slipping away fast.
1 out…
2 outs…winning run still on 1st.
Nice job Ayala. I take back what I was thinking. Top of the 11th.
Mark Teixeira may be the blackest hole in our line-up right now. Don’t know. he and Swisher are vying…
Johnson hurling 97-mph fastballs and 88-mph changes gets A-Rod to ground out on the 8th pitch of the AB. Cano up.
And Cano down.
Ayala still in. Leadoff single. Again. This time to Pie. The night might end with the wrong kind of Pie in the Yankees’ faces.
sac bunt – winning run in scoring position
Vlad singles – bases loaded only one out. Wheels almost completely off now…
Oh good…Boone Logan comes in. I feel safe now.
Big K of Scott there. But not out of the woods by long shot…Wieters can be a hero. To Baltimore’s five fans.
Wow. He gets him. I apologize for what I was thinking about you too Boone. Sort of.
And the Yankee order in the top of the 12th? Dickerson, Gardner, Nunez. Fearsome.
1st pitch leadoff single for Dickerson. Sorry to you to man…
Gardner. Girardi will have him bunt for sure.
And he does. Nunez up with Dickerson on 2nd. OK – enough talking to myself…
Man on 3rd base…no outs…cannot score 1 fucking run. Wow. Sums up this team. Fucking pathetic. 4th place at the end of the year?
Man on 3rd, no outs for A-Rod, Cano, Dickerson. Accardo K’s all 3. O’s deserve this game. There has been some beautiful pitching all around, but when your two best hitters cannot muster a fly ball or even a groundball to the right side of the infield, you deserve to lose.
Yanks stranding baserunners like…well…like the 2011 Yanks. Pie’s warning track shot here in the 14th looked like a walk-off HR to everyone everywhere. Phew. And Hector Noesi’s arm will be lying on the mound before the night is out. At 51 pitches now.
Game now officially the longest game in the majors this season.
Teixeira leadoff single. That’s two in his last two ABs. Maybe he is finally waking up. A-Rod who did well in the first 3 hours of this game, not so well in the last 2…
A-Rod singles. Two men on and no outs. Again. And that drives Accardo out so the O’s bring in their LAST pitcher – Mike Gonzalez. Can we bring Bartolo back? He barely warmed up in those first 8 innings…
Cano POUNCES on the first pitch from Gonzalez for a 2-run triple. Please add another 5 runs fellas. I don’t know who will be taking the hill for the Yanks in the bottom half…
Oh my God. Gonzalez beans Dickerson in the head with a 91-mph heater. Oh God that looked and sounded absolutely horrible. Gonzalez is booted immediately (no idea who the O’s will pitch now since Gonzalez was their last arm). Dickerson has a big welt just outdside of the left eye. His helmet cracked. The Yankees have bench players to take his place. So he stays in the game with Monahan escorting him to 1st. WTF.
So Girardi puts in AJ Burnett to pinch run so he won’t lose his DH by pinch running Posada – his only other available player. Nunez to the outfield and Jeter – who was the DH – to SS.
Gardner up, no outs still. Gonzalez pulled form the game looking OK.
And Guthrie is the pitcher – his first relief appearance in 4 years. And Gardner hits the sac fly to right. Cano scores and AJ stays firmly planted at 1st base.
Nunez popout. Martin grounds out. Evenful half-inning over. Wild game.
This is insane.
Noeci. Again. And Markakis with the leadoff single. Lord. My wish: Yankees win now. But if they don’t, I’d rather have them lose in this inning than see more innings of tie baseball. I can’t take this any more.
Walks him. Tying run brought up. Horrible. Rothschild buying time for Robertson to warm up.
Luke Scott. Power hitter. Representing the tying run. In a 1-for-21 slide. LINES it to Gardner. BABIP-luck there for the Yanks. Wieters up.
A baserunner hit with the ball for the 2nd out???
I don’t think I have ever seen that in a game before. Wow.
Victory. I still feel sick.
Absolutely EVERY-F’ING-THING is happening in this game. Snyder, who was running form 1st to 2nd on what should have been a single, gets HIT by the ground ball, so he is out. And with men on 1st and 2nd, Noeci induces the pop-up. And the game is over.
Thank God. Hope Dickerson is OK – looks like he was. I threw this post up in the beginning of the 8th. Turns out that was just in time for 8 innings of crazy baseball.