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Yanks Gamers/Postmortems

Large and In Charge: Yanks-Phils WS Gamer IV

The big fellow is on the hill for the Yanks. That usually means good things. Philly counters with Kentucky Joe Blanton. Comment on all the action here.

283 replies on “Large and In Charge: Yanks-Phils WS Gamer IV”

Go Yanks!
It seems like it’s been awhile since they started hitting from the get go.. let’s do it against Blanton!
Tex with a ground out following a single by Jeter and a double by Damon and the score is now 1-0 Yanks!

ARod does not look pleased. There’s some probability of intent, mainly because it sets up the double play.
The bench has been warned, though the Yanks did not hit anyone at all.

Rollins, first-pitch swinging, impatiently makes the first out in the bottom half… Don’t the Phils want to get CC “Three Day’s Rest” Sabathia’s pitch count up?

CC gets out of it. They do get one run back on two doubles, but the Yanks still lead 2-1, and hopefully the Yanks remember they’re hitting against Blanton.

After the initial impatient out, the Phils work Sabathia up to 23 pitches but miss the chance to give Blanton a clean second chance at this start as Ibañez Ks.
2-1 after one.
(Hating having to listen to Joe Morgan on the radio tonight. Morgan is very knowledgeable, but he over-interprets every situation and is so often wrong with his pitch-by-pitch predictions.)

The 2-0 pitch looked like a strike, but Posada did not catch it and the counts goes to 3-0.
3-1 pitch and Ruiz grounds out to Jeter. A good out that time..

CC looks fine to me. He gave up 1 hard hit ball – the Utley double. Victorino’s double was a bloop that fell in.
The ump has already missed 3 calls for him, too, according to Pitch FX. 3 in the zone called balls (1 of those for Blanton so far). So I think CC is fine.

Not too worried abour about running Blanton’s pitch count up…we hit him well anyway. Now, that doesn’t mean we should have stupid Ab’s…you still have to work the count. The pitch count is much more of an issue for CC, obviously on short rest. But he seems to have “settled in” (quatations b/c I don’t thik ke was bad inn the 1st, just unlucky w/ Victorino’s bloop) nicely.

Blanton gets a fly-out from ARod, Ks Posada (unhappy about calls) and Ks Cano; he’s got 11 straight outs since giving up the two first-inning runs. 44 pitches through four, very efficient, especially considering the long 1st inning.

Howard steal averts a double play as Werth grounds out to 3rd (and Howard can’t advance). A sacrifice would have put him on 3rd to be brought home with a sac fly.
Now Ibanez pops out, 2 gone.

Geez, going by the replay, if Posada makes any kind of throw there, Howard is out by 3 feet. And the SB keep them out of the double play.
And Evritt finally gives CC one like he gave Blanton, to Ibanez. This guy is looks awfully damn shaky calling balls and strikes behind the plate, but hey what else is new…

Hip Hip drops the fucking ball…can you be a worse catcher Jorge? Fucking really???
2-2
Never touched home plate and cheap shot to take out a catcher not even covering the plate.
Clusterfuck all around.

Melky with an infield basehit. Utley trying to be clever, as he really had more time than he thought. Men on first and second, no outs, and CC is up at bat.

I heard some idiot commentator on MLB Radio (XM) say today that “The reason there is so much talk about the umpires is just that there are millions of people watching these postseason games.”
No, the reason is that there has been an exceptionally high number of exceptionally bad calls by umps.

Ath – Posada effed up twice – Howard stole second when a decent throw would have nailed him easily, only Jorgie bobbles the exchange. Then Howard would have been out again on a play at home, but he dropped the ball.

Hudson – probably the technology more than anything – with the millions of cameras, you can almost conclusively see what “really” happened on every play, eliminating tons of “maybes”..
If there were 18 replays on the Howard throw, no one really would’ve bitched about it, for example. Posada dropped the ball. But ya.
I don’t blame the umps, per se, just that MLB do not give the umps all the tools they need to make the right call..

Um..Lar, Cano not on second, an extra ump to look at the line and miss a ball bouncing 6 inches in…just bad umpiring. The umpires Union released their study of the 2007 season and claimed they had only made 14 bad calls at first base all season…they just don’t have a good merit system in place.
You see 14 bad calls a first base in a week of baseball.

Not only does MLB not give the umps the right tools to make the call, but they emply a bunch of late-middle aged men who with huge egos and absolutely no accountability to make the calls.

Ath – not with the wealth of cameras and clarity (HDTV!) in recent years! There’s some margin of error. I mean, hell, I was watching a clip from 2002 the other day, and the clarity difference is pretty insane.
There are some glaring examples, and it’s easy to assume we would make the “right” calls, but the limits of human errors being what it is..

Rollins’ single past Cano and Victorino’s walk puts Philly runners on 1st and 2nd with no out for … Utley.
(Right now, Philadelphia’s #1-2-3 hitters are all batting .231.)

Big moment here: Phils down two runs, two runners on, heart of the order up, CC at 80 pitches.
And Howard pops out to Jeter.
If CC gets out of this with his pitch count under 85, the Phillies are in big trouble, IMHO.

I like Howard as a baseball persobnality and I feel bad for him…but lucky for him his name isn’t AROD and McCarver and Buck are doing thegame. Also, that first pitch shuld have been a strike call to werth.

2-2 count, Werth backs out, Posada back to the mound. Crowd boos.
Ks him on a change. Inning over. 87 pitches for Sabathia. He’s got a chance to get through seven and avoid the non-Rivera bullpen.
The Phillies’ odds are rapidly plunging not just in this game, but in this series.

Just noted that Teix/ARod have even worse WS batting averages than Utley/Howard, and yet the Yanks are up 2-1 and are cruising toward a possible 3-1 advantage.
…
Now Blanton walks Swisher again. WTF? He can go after the big guys, but can’t throw strikes to Swisher?

Pinch-hitting Francisco does nothing but erase Blanton, as the Phillies help Sabathia to stay in the game (and Girardi to go straight to Mo in the 8th) by seeing only 7 pitches across 4 hitters.

Joba warming as well now, but it’s unlikely we’ll see either him or Marte…
Philly 1-2-3 hitters now all at .214 …
CC up 1-2 on Utley.
And he hits another home run. 4-3 game.

Cano with a bloop single. Awful read by Posada and only gets a base out of that one. Probably could’ve got to third with a better runner..
Now is Swisher with two on and one out.

The tricky question is when to throw him in. Can’t worry about tomorrow though.. unless you discount Mo’s pitching to overuse, but either way, it’s the World Series!

I’m not familiar with how Mo is utilized normally, so it’s a little foreign to me. Let’s not forget that he’s about to turn 40, and reliever over-use in the postseason is well documented ;-)
But yeah, it does seem like a no-brainer now that I think about it. Especially since it’s a 1-run game now.

Ath – I agree, I mean, in a “normal” situation, say, regular season, you know, you can debate it.
But ya, 1 run game, World Series, you’re not going to go to Hughes..

>>>Yanks really should’ve a bigger lead coming to this
Except that Philly really should have more runs, in that they’ve had more baserunners than the Yankees tonight.
And Ibañez Ks.

Now the Yankee Captain:
… Slider, swinging strike, 0-1
… Slider, ball, 1-1
… Fastball, swinging strike, 1-2
… Low-ish fastball, crowd groans, 2-2
… Slider, foul, still 2-2
… Slider, in the dirt, count full
… Slider, swinging strike
Two out in the top of the ninth.

Next up, Johnny the former Caveman:
… Inside, tight, 1-0
… Slider, foul, 1-1
… Slider, foul, 1-2
… [Ruiz to the mound]
… Slider, foul tip, still 1-2
… Fastball high, 2-2
… Fastball outside, full count
… Fastball, foul, still full
… Fastball, foul, still full
… Fastball, single
20 pitches already for Lidge.

Damon steals, Ruiz throws though he had no chance, nobody there to get it, Damon to third with Teix batting. Big mental error by the Phils there. Coke and Rivera warming.
Teix HBP.
1st and 3rd with two out for ARod.

Posada:
… 0-2 to Posada
… Fastball up and away, 1-2
… Lidge at 28 pitches
… Fastball very inside, 2-2
… Swing, base hit, two runs, Posada thrown out though
7-4 Yankees, Rivera will lock this up.

Shit, everything in this game happened with two outs. Utley’s homer, Pedro Happy’s homer, and then the most epic slaughter of Brad Lidge.
God, baseball, you are a cruel and unforgiving mistress, but I love you so.

krueg,
I found myself rooting for the Yankees in the first game – I think it was because, besides the Red Sox, they’re the players I am most familiar with, plus they looked sort of underdog-ish against Lee.
I came to my senses after the game and I’ve been rooting for the Phillies for the past three games.
But, now I think I am going to be loyal to the AL-East, and am going to start rooting for the NYY to win the whole thing.
What do you think? ;-)
-A

krueg – whatever made you think I wanted to jinx you?! I really honestly (cross-my-heart ye baseball gods!)* am going to be rooting for the NYY to win the whole thing! I really feel sorry for all you guys for being not having won this millenium! It is time to get over it and start catching up to your nemesis up north . . . ;-)
* – think the gods believe me? worth a shot . . .
-AM

I think so too actually. Damon’s steal, even though it hurts to say it as a Red Sox fan, sealed the deal.
– am-SF (not a random stranger, we’ve been introduced before during an early season Bos-NYY series ;-) – just not a frequent poster since I don’t have a TV anymore and have to listen to the games on radio due to our no TV rule since our kid was born!)

You people with your priorities!!! Well, sorry I didn’t recognize you AM…welcome back!!!
I still cannot believe that play by Damon…unreal.
GO YANKEES!!!

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