The Yankees send Hector Noesi to the mound at the Trop and face James Shields as the Rays battle for their playoff life. Lineups follow, comment away.
| NY Yankees | |
| D. Jeter ss | .300 |
| C. Granderson cf | .266 |
| R. Cano 2b | .304 |
| A. Rodriguez dh | .278 |
| J. Posada 1b | .242 |
| E. Chavez 3b | .265 |
| R. Martin c | .236 |
| E. Nunez rf | .261 |
| B. Gardner lf | .258 |
| H. Noesi | 4.14 |
| Tampa Bay | |
| D. Jennings lf | .275 |
| B.J. Upton cf | .242 |
| E. Longoria 3b | .240 |
| B. Zobrist 2b | .269 |
| J. Damon dh | .261 |
| M. Joyce rf | .277 |
| C. Kotchman 1b | .305 |
| K. Shoppach c | .180 |
| R. Brignac ss | .187 |
| J. Shields | 2.84 |
31 replies on “All Comers: Bring It, Tampa: Yanks-Rays Gamer”
Cano BLASTS one to CF…
1-0 off non-earned nickname James.
I just have no idea how to root in this series??????
Just win I guess. Always.
Krueg: Yep. Just win.
Jorge! Awesome play.
Mr. Martin, please do not slide into first.
RBI single for Cano off “no game” james…
2-0.
Gorgeous swing.
It would be nice if ARod would get going at some point…
2-2.
Yay?
2-3.
No comment.
What an IDIOT…
Tries to steal 2nd with 1st and 3rd and 1 out and gets caught in a rundown…
Jorge tags him and throws home to get Eva at home.
Double play.
Idiots.
Jennings makes one of the better catches I’ve ever seen to rob Jeter of a double.
What the hell was that? Crash Martin must have called him a cocksucker.
Gift-wrapped 643 from Jorge.
This just appeared on GameDay for the Sox game:
V Guerrero stole second
Hell hath frozen over.
Gonna be tied with TB at the end of the night. Balls.
What happened ag??? I missed it…
Schadenfreude resides in a September 2011 SOSH gamethread.
Martin got ejected ostensibly arguing balls and strikes while catching after a walk. But the weird thing was the ump came around from behind Martin to confront him, then ejected him. Martin was still in the crouch waiting for the next batter.
And now that the moment is here, I feel strangely calm/apathetic. They deserve to lose anyway.
RE: Martin getting ejected:
Just read on Twitter that Martin asked the ump if he stretched before the game, then he said “You seem kinda tight” – now that’s funny right there
I love Russell.
I really, really, really hope there’s a one-game playoff.
That would be incredible.
The Sox don’t deserve to make the playoffs. Ugh.
Having said that… come on Yankees, you couldn’t send out a few known pitchers? Hughes and Ayala are the only ones I’ve heard of.
Dude, the Yanks took 3 of 4 from Tampa Bay last week and then opted against pinch hitting Jeter or A-Rod for Romine with the bases loaded in extra innings vs. the Sox. If the Sox hadn’t pushed them to 14 innings the night before maybe they would have had more/better arms to throw at the Rays, but the way it was, I think they did all they could be expected to do under the circumstances.
Very curious to see which Bartolo Colon shows up tonight. With how AJ and Garcia have pitched in their last outings – and how Colon imploded in his start last week – I assume he is already headed for the pen or has this game to supplant AJ in the starting rotation, which I would very much like. I’d bet Garcia is in. Not only based on his last outing but, as Girardi said in the post-game over the weekend, he is the only pitcher who really gives hitters a different look from the other starters. I suspect it is CC; Nova; Garcia; Burnett right now with Bartolo having a shot to bump AJ and possibly slide into 3rd in front of Garcia depending on how he looks tonight.
Incidentally, I looke dbut couldn’t find any highlight of the Guerrero stolen base vs. Boston. Given the game situation it could not have been a defensive indifference thing. Was there actually a throw? What happened there???
To me, this describes perfectly Girardi’s dilemma:
http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/7023981/new-york-yankees-joe-girardi-irked-quick-turnaround-playoffs
I agree that he should have PH Jeter or A-Rod in that spot. Girardi mentioned them being tight, but they didn’t even need to run. All they needed was a walk or HBP or clear basehit. Pena still could have gone in for defense. He probably right though. They get hurt in that spot and there’s no excuse.
The real problem is: I want the Sox at this point. They’d already be in the playoffs if Beckett or Lester were right. If neither are, they have no chance now or in round one. Bring ’em on! :)
Speaking of which, where are all the smack talkers from March?
James, if the Sox are as weak as you say (and I’m not arguing the point – they look horrible) then why would you want them to get into the playoffs? So Texas or Detroit (that’s another down to the wire situation by the way – still don’t know who NY will face) can walk all over them and come into an ALCS (that the Yanks sill have no assurance of making) nicely set up? Eiher the Sox turn it around – like now – and then I don’t particulraly want to see them inan ostensible ALCS, or they don’t, in which case someone else will be there and probably without much difficulty.
I don’t know. My fandom has me wanting the Yankees to stay healthy right now, and to hopefully not get shelled with their starting pitching in October. Vis-a-vis the Sox, yes, I would love to see the collapse completed. I am sure every Sox fan would feel the same if the shoe were on the other foot. And I am taking guilty pleasure at the spectacle. It has really been unbelievable to me and even moreso than what I’ve witnessed the Mets do in this city in recent years because those collapses seemed to be more sudden – with both them falling apart and their chasers getting on fire. The Sox collapse has been going on for a month now and Tampa has only been playing 15-10 baseball over that time. Pretty brutal stuff.
“Brutal” is definitely the word. What a nightmare. If it ends in the next 36 hours or so, at least it will be over. God.
I don’t think any SF’s really talked that much smack per se…more like they had very high expectations that were voiced.
I don’t care who we play. We are either good enough to win it all, or we aren’t. I think most YF’s, due to the starting pitching situation, would agree we are not.
BUT, you never know and that’s why they play the games. If CSN can continue to NOT look like a rookie, then we have a shot. We won in ’09 with essentially 2 pitchers and 2 decent starts by AJ. Who is going to be the AJ of ’11. AJ? Freddy? Bartolo? I have little confidence in any of them. Sadly, AJ is our best chance. But he can erase all the hatred with a couple decent starts over the next few weeks.
Lets.
Go.
Yankees.
I still view this post-season as a race to the slaughterhouse known as the Philadelphia Phillies, but yeah, I’d love it if they got there and had a shot at pulling a rabbit out of the hat.
It’s not a perfect comparison, but if the Yanks and Phils do get to face off, I see it like the ’96 Yanks vs the unstoppable trio of Maddux, Smoltz and Glavine of the ’96 Braves.
Then again, since the Yankees already beat the Phillies in ’09, maybe it would be more like the ’99 team, tho’ the ’96 Braves were a much more formidable foe.
If we get there. We win.
The smack talking was based on how great the Sox were going to be. Even when I tried to point out the questions with Crawford and the rotation I was shouted down. Where’s the guy who kept saying how great Lackey would be? And Crawford’s “defense”? There was also the problem with Youk staying healthy at 3B. I mean, didn’t someone here predict 103 wins for the Sox? Whoops!