Hideki Matsui wasted no time making his presence known in the Yankee lineup, going 4-4 with a walk yesterday as Bobby Abreu hit six RBIs in an inning, something not done by any Yankee since Gil McDougald in the ninth on May 3, 1951 against the St. Louis Browns. Abreu finished 2-3 with seven RBIs on the day, nearly missing a grand slam in the fourth inning.
Mike Mussina finally notched another win and Derek Jeter is still up to something, though some are justifiably dubious as to whether baseball’s rules regarding the “something” are well-conceived. Regardless, the Captain reached base in every plate appearance and currently is two points behind Joe Mauer in the batting race and is fourth in the American League in on-base percentage.
The New York Yankees victory last night was their fourth in a row, maintaining a two-game lead over Detroit in the loss column for the best record in the American League. A sort of congratulations are in order to the Mets, as their victory yesterday mathematically eliminated Atlanta from playoff contention, ending a streak of 14 consecutive post season appearances by Bobby Cox’s Braves.
There is more good news in that Gary Sheffield took batting practice with the team today. He may rejoin the lineup later this week.
Corey Lidle looks to rebound from a disappointing start, taking the mound for the Yankees against Jason Hammel and Tampa Bay. With one of our intrepid leaders of the masthead in attendance at The Stadium tonight, we shall see if he decides to go on a streak of his own. Hide the children. Lineups are in the extended. Comment away.
Tampa Bay
R. Baldelli cf .303
D. Young rf .396
C. Crawford lf .305
G. Norton dh .303
T. Wigginton 1b .262
J. Cantu 2b .247
B.J. Upton 3b .246
B. Zobrist ss .242
J. Paul c .267
NY Yankees
J. Damon cf .297
D. Jeter ss .346
B. Abreu rf .344
A. Rodriguez 3b .286
J. Giambi 1b .249
R. Cano 2b .335
H. Matsui dh .285
M. Cabrera lf .286
S. Fasano c .176
Baldelli gets it started for the Devil Fish, 1-0.
Lidle: not unhittable. The boobirds were out fast. What a bunch of spoiled…
Aw forget it.
E-Rod! That ball bounced off Giambi and landed four seats away: we are in the second row behind first base. Amazing seats.
Effing jerks, booing Alex. That was a lonngggg throw, and Giambi should have had the ball. It hopped but the throw was on line.
Looked to me like Giambi should’ve handled that throw. In any case, a great catch by A-Rod in the first place, definitely saved a double and a run…and the error didn’t matter in the end anyway.
hmm..well i guess jarrett wright has begun to cement his spot as the fourth starter in the post season.
The Captain remains up to something. Rule 10.24, you rule!
come one Alex
on, rather
not pretty, but a run’s a run
nice hard slide by A-rod, giambi beats the throw to first….cano sac-fly. 3-2 yanks
Brutal scoring on A-Rod. Very, very difficult play either at home or at first.
Good break-up slide by ARod on the attempted DP. Giambi hustling is really a sight.
Cano hits one deep to the left field corner; Crawford makes a really good grab; Abreu scores on the tag. Godzilla up.
i’m very interested to see what matsui does this game. i’m wondering if any of the power is still there. last night most of his hits were blooped. and this last at-bat was a pop-up. or maybe his timing is a little off.
Young almost singles up the third base line. Lidle is scaring me.
I have a feeling he’ll go 0-4 tonight for the reasons you mention. Adrenaline probably played a big role, too.
thank you lidle…the bat-thrower goes down swinging
Fasano didn’t even flinch on that pitch inside. He looks like he would have gladly taken a plunk for the base. Reminded me of Don Baylor. Sal pops out behind home plate.
I just realized we are witnessing the unholy reunion of Doug Eddings and Josh Paul.
Great catch, YM. I forgot all about that.
man, lidle is such a weird pitcher..sometimes he looks absolutely terrible, and other times his stuff looks real good.
wow, nice grab by a-rod.
MG: Yes, and good job by Giambi to hold the throw.
Fire Doug Eddings.
!!!! The strike three to Jeter was borderline, but that first pitch to Abreu was definitely low. Arrgh.
Um…could they please start hitting this guy’s junk?
….OK, that came out decidedly wrong. The point stands, however.
Wheeee!
A-ROD!! huge homer to the black seats. he crushed that one
Cross-posted the ARod home run in the Sox thread. I feel shame. But what a MONSTER shot into the black.
YM: heh. That’s funny.
Jeez. Not sure I’ve ever seen one go over the tunnel in the black, Monster shot. Hope SF enjoyed that!
GONE! CANO!!!!! ROBI!!!! WOW!
CANO! he got all of that one. yanks up 6-2
And Cano finds the short way out. 6-2. SF now headed for the concession stand.
All this with 2 outs, no less. Me likey.
Can we arrange to play the Rays in the first round?
YF: I thought you were at the game too. Sorry about the confusion.
I’m stuck here writing a damn paper. Any word on the distance on that A-Rod homer. Sounds unbelievable.
Nick, it was about 450-ish a bit right of dead center.
speaking of the first round, i guess i can stop fearing the twins who lost liriano today. although, they might not even make it if the white sox get quality pitching like they did today. from freddy garcia..who almost ruined my fantasy teams ERA.
Nick, all I can say with certainty is that it went rilly, rilly far. Like, about halfway up into the black seats.
MG: Yes, Liriano is done for the year. Twins are still scary. Santana by himself could easily tilt a short series.
Joe Torre appears to be wearing a pair of Gene Simmons’ shoes.
MG:
Yeah, even though they still have Santana, he can (thankfully) pitch only a couple of games.
Is he doing the long tongue thing, SF?
Doug Eddings’ low strike calls continue, but Lidle’s pitching right now, so I don’t mind as much. I’m such a hypocrite.
Real shame about Liriano…I was watching the game this afternoon and he was absolutely dominating the A’s. Now they’re talking Tommy John surgery.
Second foul ball screaming right towards us, hits the wall.
YM: yeah, i’m kind of split. as a yankee fan i’m glad that this team won’t have to face him, but as a baseball fan it’s a shame to see such a talented player go down.
Yay for Doug Eddings?
Rough call on Baldelli – we have almost a better angle thank the first base ump, who wasn’t even appealed to. Didn’t look like he went around at all.
lidle gets out of trouble with a pop-up by the bat thrower.
also of note, a-rod’s 38 homers from 500. oh yeah, definetly trade him…
Sal Fasano from 10 feet away: not handsome. At all.
Effing Young…
giambi hits through the shift. nice to see jason getting on base again.