The Bombers go for the sweep against the O’s today, and they do it with (cringe) Aaron Small on the hill. Just whom Aaron will have to support him is anyone’s guess. Those who aren’t injured seem to be sick with a nasty stomach bug—yuck. At least our dynamic duo of Melky and Andy should be available. Let’s hope they bring home a victory. And this is your place to comment on it….
Bird Flu: Yanks-O’s Gamer III
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Does your Scouts Honor post mean that we can, ahem, express our feelings about Small when the inevitable happens today?
sorry, that should have read “can’t”
Beam has been promoted to AAA Columbus.
There’s freedom of speech here, Sam. We can admit he’s a lousy pitcher. Not his fault he’s being asked to do more than his talent allows.
TLong is back in right field. Need I say more?
After giving up a single to Hernandez and a double to Tejada, Small gives up a homer to Millar. 6-0 Baltimore. Joe looks pensive in the dugout. Small it left out there. This may become a massacre.
Well…it’s probably safe to Aaron Small won’t be on this team for much longer.
Fahey with a homer. 7-0.
Smith comes in and walks Markakis.
*safe to say.
I really should preview my posts :-/
Roberts strikes out swinging to end the bleeding. 5 runs, 5 hits. Small stinks.
ARod grounds out to third. Posada works the count to two/two, then grounds out to second. Two away.
On the plus side, if Smith can hold them down from here, maybe Joe will be impressed enough to actually let him pitch every once in a while (instead of Erickson, for example)….
The Yankees look flat as they go down in order in the top of four.
Seems like they just want to finish the game asap so they can get home, doesn’t it?
Favorite exchange from “Drowning Mona”:
Devito: “When life gives you potatoes, make potato salad.”
Midler: “Yeah, well what do you make when life hands you a pile of sh*t? Huh?”
Midler’s husband: “Sh*t salad?”
Very nice.
Hey, they finally get Tejada out! Progress.
Sam, my takeaway from YF’s “Scout’s Honor” post was that as a fan, it’s acceptable, if sometimes uninformed, to say “NY needs to get rid of Player X,” or “Player Y is playing terribly.” Where it crosses the line is when the attacks become personal. Discussion boards become pointless when everyone is of a like mind, reinforcing each other’s opinions with no real discourse. Preaching to the choir is boring.
Baseball may be a sport, but it’s principally a business sponsored directly and indirectly by the fans who pay for the product offered. The fans are completely within their right to express their opinions, positive and negative.
Otherwise, how far “inside” baseball would one need to be to state one’s mind? What’s the point of sport when everyone wins, and nobody loses, everyone is made to feel happy and self-actualized that they are “on the best team”, and everyone gets what they want?
Erickson is in to relieve Smith. Hits Millar, Patterson singles to center, Lopez homers.
Erickson still stinks.
Ramirez homers for Boston, who is leading the Tigers 5 to 3.
So, there’s a possibility of both Erickson and Small getting the boot. See, there’s a silver lining!
Damon leads off with a double to the right corner.
After falling behind 0-2, Jeter doesn’t chase outside He then gets hit on the the hand. Damn it – it’s on his right wrist. Jeter looks to be in a lot of pain.
Oh. No. DJ!!
Does it look bad? Sterling and Waldman are going nuts.
This is so GD frustrating. Can Erickson be useful and nail somebody in the upper back, at least?
CRAP!!! Crap crap crap.
Jeter is taken to the locker room. Kevin Thompson comes in to run. Son of a butcher!
Un-fricking-believable. We’ll see what the trainers say, I guess.
And they barely have anyone left on the bench, so it’s not like they can take people out to rest and stuff. Damnit.
This is a bloody nightmare.
I’m listening to the radio, too, Y-Monkey. They sure are making it sound horrible, whatever happened to Jeets. Jesus H. F-in’ Christos…how can this keep happening?
Tell Larry Bowa and Gator to start stretching. We’re going to need them tomorrow.
It’s one thing to lose a game, but it would awful it costs them Jeter for any length of time.
Jeter was 2-2 in the count. Lopez came inside with a fastball and hit Jeter directly on the right wrist, which is the one he hurt sliding as you probably know. He immediately started hopping around in pain, and headed straight towards the dugout, and doubled over holding his arm in obvious pain as the coaches came out. He proceeded immediately to the locker room.
Posada grounds out to end the inning. Meanwhile, every Oriole except Roberts has at least one hit today, and he and Markakis are the only ones who haven’t scored.
Jorge Posada rotates to first, Cairo is playing short, and Stinnett is catching.
Erickson throws three balls to Hernandez after Tejada lined out to center.
Erickson works the count full and then Hernandez flies out to straightaway center.
Cano makes a good catch facing out on a ball hit to shallow right-center by Millar. End of the inning.
Cano gets things going in the top of the seventh, hitting a single to right.
Andy Phillips singles to left between short and third. T-Long coming up.
Wild pitch advances the runners. Second and third, no outs. Long hits the 2-0 weakly to short left. He’s 0-3 on the day. Cairo is up with one away.
Cairo hits a flare to right, scoring Cano, and advancing Phillips to third.
Stinnett strikes out swinging.
Cabrera is up as Cairo takes second on indifference.
Lopez’ 2-1 to Cabrera is way outside but gets called a strike. Lopez then comes in at the knees to make the count full. Payoff: Cabrera fouls a breaking pitch at the knees. Another payoff: outside, ball four. Bases loaded to Thompson. Great selectivity by Cabrera there.
Thompson looks at a borderline first strike and then takes strike 2 right down the middle. Very close 0-2 is called low. Looked good. 1-2: low and away. 2-2: Thompson goes the other way.
Whoohoo! Bases-clearing double to right for Thompson. 3 rbis on the play. ARod coming up with two outs.
Lopez comes out of the game.
Do they have another amazing comeback in them? Maybe they’ll do it for the captain?
Probably not, but at least there’s a very faint hope….
Here’s hoping, YM…
Britton is in for Baltimore. ARod is up. Takes a strike then looks at two balls.
2-1 is way outside. 3-1; ARod is looking for a fastball and gets it, but swings through it for a full count.
ARod k’s to end the inning.
Gerbil, any word on DJ?
Oooooh Waldman has a DJ update:
Bruised right thumb, Xrays negative.
Rejoice.
Bruised right thumb. X-rays…negative. Thank God.
PHEW!!
Still not great, but could have been much worse.
Thanks Spidey.
Patterson, Lopez, Fahey up for Baltimore. Erickson still in there for NY. Jorge misplays the groundball for an error.
Yah, I guess we were typing the news flash at the same time, Y-Monkey. :)
Thanks, Spidey. That’s good news. Hopefully it’s not a deep bone bruise, they can be long to heal. Patterson promptly steals second as one would expect.
Thanks YM too.. no audio here.
Erickson fans Lopez. Fahey up.
Patterson swipes third easily on a a 2-1 pitch called for a ball.
Fahey with a single past an outstretched Cairo up the middle to score Patterson. Markakis up, with Baltimore now at 11 runs.
Erickson, with 5 hits, four runs, (three earned) and 1 k in 2.1 innings so far.
Inning over on a nifty 4-3 DP as Fahey is called out for leaving the path I believe.
Meanwhile, Boston is clobbering Detroit 8-3 and is threatening again with bases loaded and one away in the eighth.
Posada with a rip to deep right for a single. Could have been two but Posada isn’t pushing it right now.
Birkins hits Cano (sloppy inside pitches are ticking me off…). First and second with no outs to Andy Phillips.
Phillips extends his bat to hit a low, away pitch to left center to load the bases. Nice bat control on a very tough pitch to hit. Long is coming up with no outs.
Joe does the unthinkable and pinch hits Bernie for Long.
First and second pitch were high and outside. The 2-0 is called a strike on the outside corner. Looked a bit away I thought. The 2-1: Change at the knees. Bernie’s in front of it and misses for strike two. Two-two: low and outside but Bernie can’t hold up and is called out swinging. One away to Cairo.
Todd Williams is coming in to face Cairo.
Cairo hits a comebacker barehanded by Williams and converted into the nifty and rare 123 DP.
Ugh. Get this heinous game over with…
Ron Villone comes on for NY.
Roberts is the only Oriole without a hit today. He flies out to shallow right for the first out.
Villone walks Mora which brings up Tejada.
Tejada grounds into the 543 DP to end the eighth. Top of the order for NY coming up, which means Stinnett, Cabrera, and Thompson. What Yankee fan would have predicted that this is what we would be seeing in early June?
Stinnett behind 0-2 very quickly. He struck out in his last at bat. Takes a ball, then barely fouls off a pitch to stay alive.
Stinnett ropes a single to the left field corner.
Melky takes the first two pitches. Williams gets a gift strike on the 2-0. Cabrera then fouls of the 2-1. 2-2: inside and low for ball 3. Lopez comes out to talk about it with Williams. Full count: Melky hits a low inside pitch on the ground at second; Roberts to Tejada to Millar for the DP. Two away to Thompson.
Two-two to Thompson with two outs is fouled off. The fans are on their feet. Next is low and away, full count. Low and away, ball four. ARod is coming up and is 0-3 today.
Thompson takes second on indifference on a swinging 2-1 strikie. Weak grounder to Roberts who throws to first and ends the game.
Sweet Jeebus, that was painful to watch all the way through.
Thanks for the play-by-play, AG. Let’s hope tomorrow’s game is a little more palatable.
Indeed, YM.