This one could be a doozy. Recently cold Yankee bats (except ARod/Shelley) meet the live arm of Justin Verlander at the Stadium. It’s a four game set with Moose trying to get the Yankees back on track. What reception will Sheff get on his first visit back to the Bronx? Lineups follow, comment away.
| Detroit | |
| C. Granderson cf | .294 |
| M. Thames lf | .257 |
| G. Sheffield dh | .284 |
| M. Ordonez rf | .357 |
| C. Guillen ss | .304 |
| I. Rodriguez c | .278 |
| S. Casey 1b | .291 |
| R. Raburn 2b | .333 |
| B. Inge 3b | .240 |
| NY Yankees | |
| J. Damon lf | .259 |
| D. Jeter ss | .324 |
| B. Abreu rf | .280 |
| A. Rodriguez 3b | .307 |
| H. Matsui dh | .299 |
| J. Posada c | .333 |
| J. Giambi 1b | .270 |
| R. Cano 2b | .310 |
| M. Cabrera cf | .297 |
Giambi playing first base. hooboy.
They asked Torre prior to the game if he would shake Sheffield’s hand if the opportunity presented itself, he said No. He was then asked why, he said I don’t have to answer that you asked me if I would and I said no. On the flip side he complimented Sheff as a player saying that he played hurt, played hard and only wanted to win.
Never very confident with Moose – will he be painting or pouting…
Torre also said he and Gator decided they would give Mo off the next day or so.
Am still at work and can not watch or hear game – curious about reception Sheffield gets if anyone can comment…
Boooooooos it is.
Mostly boos for Sheff.
ARod flubs a grounder to his left. Sheff reaches on the E5.
Everytime Moose pitches I feel like singing I Walk the Line. Let’s see him get out of this without a run, come on Moosey.
Bases loaded Magglio walks.
ag – you didn’t put the starters up there! =P
Bases loaded one out. Moose already at 19 pitches, let’s hope he gets a DP to get out of it.
yeah, I was in a rush. ;)
I always liked Carlos Guillen. Not exceptional, but undervalued, at least.
Undervalued refers to fantasy baseball, though he’s probably underrated too. No clue about his defense though (since I know him through fantasy baseball..)
Grand Salami! Going to be one of those nights.
How do ya like him now, Lar?
That sucks.
Guillen fouled off enough pitch to get one to crushed for a grand slam. Ouch.
This isn’t the 2nd best offense in baseball for no reason.
I liked him better when he’s not playing against the Yanks. This is a very big ouchie.
4-0 Yanks as Moose is labouring today.
The error by ARod costing the Yanks a run, but might not come to play anyhow..
As a sidenote, Verlander’s ERA’s at 3.58 – that’s pretty good. I thought it was higher for some reason, or am I thinking of Robertson who burnt out?
IRod strikes out for the second out.
Since we have no game tonite are sox fans welcome on this thread ;)
Casey ends the inning, with Moose at 29 pitches, only 16 for strikes. Here come the Yanks, and they’ll need to smash like they did last few weeks minus the series against the O’s.
Of course, especially now that we are down 4-0.
Heading out for the gym + bar soon. Yet another reason to drink tonight!
The assembled Sox fans here are still marveling in that Guillen GS.
Go Detroit!
By the way, this Detroit offense is a lot more fun to watch in the Bronx than in the Back Bay
Damon not sparking anything.
Captain Clutch does single though.
Verlander doesn’t appear to have sparkling controls yet. Hopefully this holds up.
I have such a love-hate relationship with Moose.
I mostly love Moose. Just that he’s not what he’s used to be.
I guess everyone has to grow old sometime..
Jeter to second on a wild pitch. ARod can slash the lead a little bit here.
The Yanks making Verlander earn it. 20 pitches on a seemingly harmless inning.
ARod gets plucked again.. is it just me or he’s getting hit a lot lately? Hrmm, with first base open too..
Well, here’s Matsui trying to make him pay for that.
Nice job by the Yankee fan to break up the foul ball in the stands.
Matsui at 81 RBI’s, by the way. Almost a lock to hit 100 RBI’s again. Knock on wood, of course.
Nice at bat for Matsui. single the other way plates Jeets.
82 now. =) 4-1 Tigers as Matsui singles the other way.
The always dangerous (this year) Posada is now up.
Matsui gets the ball rolling on that lead-cutting. Single makes it 4-1.
Oh ya, playoffs or not, I love this offense lineup. Not only are they scoring, they’re scoring the way I like.
By making the pitcher really work. Even if Matsui had just lined out, that would’ve been 26 pitches for 5 batters in one inning. That’s sick.
Matsui!
Verlander leads the league in wild pitches and hit batsmen, with 15 in each category.
Lar,
He has had his moments (ALCS ’03 and near perfect in Boston) and is a good #3 or #4 now for sure…part of my aversion is attitude – he’s too fussy/pouty/prima-donna-ish for me. Very smug in postgame interviews with a thinly-veiled “I am smarter than you reporters asking me these questions” front. Also, unlike Pettitte who is also aging, when he has an off-night, I don’t think he is able to bear down and limit damage.
Actually, make that 16 each, counting today.
Posada couldn’t continue the inning. At the end of 1, it’s 4-1 Tigers.
The only difference? A grand slam.
Verlander actually used more pitches that inning at 30. Moose at “only” 29 despite that.
Flash’s commentary kind of annoying tonite. Yanks “are planting a seed” with this first inning, even though they only got 1?
Earlier, claimed that hitters are so locked in they barely even notice a brush back. Right.
IronHorse – part of my baseball infatuation with Moose got to be that in “Hardball 5”, if anyone remember that game, he was probably the best pitcher. I used to play that nonstop, and I “cheated” and traded him to the Yanks. Imagine my joy when he finally signed with the Yanks a few years later!
Though ya, he isn’t what he used to be. I don’t know though, I mean, smug or not, he doesn’t appear to be the slacking off type, so I’m not sure what’s with the decline. Maybe I don’t watch enough Maddux to *really* know what’s going on, but I would’ve took a Maddux (at this age) type of year from him, and even then he’s not doing that this year.
Raburn, the #8 hitter, doubles on a 7 pitch at bat. They’re really working Moose tonight too.
Oy. Some guy named Raburn now on 2nd.
Inge singles him home.
Paging Ian Kennedy….
5-1 as Inge singles. Ya, this isn’t bearing down. The Yanks can come back, maybe, but not if he keeps on going at this.
SB for Inge. This sucks.
And Inge, I don’t know how fast he could be, but he just stole second.
And Inge tags to go to third on a deep enough fly ball to Abreu.
Moose at 24 strikes out of 41 pitches. That’s not going to cut it.
Thames lines out. 2 outs.
Shef walks on 4 pitches as they kind of pitched around him, but the possibly more dangerous Ordonez is now up.
Ordonez with an rbi single as Leiter tells us what a lovely teammate Shef is.
Mags drives in yet another run. It’s now 6-1.
Okay, I’ve seen enough for now, gym + bar time for me. Good night and goooo Yanks!
Oh boy! Maybe the Yankees can knock out Verlander early and we get to see the meat of the Tigers’ bullpen. Jason Grilli, I’m looking at you.
bobby!
Abreu! Dinger! Yeah!
Shit. We’re still down 3.
Fastball out to the deepest part of left center
Woohoo! Two scoreless innings for Mussina!
Now let’s destroy Verlander, he isn’t throwing well and that displeases me.
JD! Verlander throwing a lot of pitches here. Don’t see him going toooo much longer.
Ugh. Jeter robbed by Inge.
Damn! Game-changing play right there, I think. Had the chance to become a huge inning and knock Verlander out of the game (he’s at 91 pitches through 4), but a great grab by Inge takes a hit and a 1st-and-3rd situation away from the Yankees.
Ugh. Reminiscences of the 2006 ALDS.
IRod homer makes it 8-3.
To answer a question posed much earlier, Guillen’s D at short is pretty much unacceptable.
BP: Rate2 of 86 with -14 RAA this season, 91 and -13 all of last season. 28 errors last year to go with 23 errors this year (thusfar).
THT: .801 RZR, has gotten to only 30 balls O(ut) O(f) Z(one) (tied for worst among ML shortstops with 656+ innings at the position, with Hanley, A-Gon, and some fellow named Jeter).
Reportedly, the Tigers were exploring a deal for Jack Wilson of the Pirates, with the intention of making him a supersub the remained of the year and then punting offense at SS for the next couple, moving Guillen to 1B. Think his offense doesn’t play over there? Most of their PAs at 1B this season have gone to Sean Casey: .291/.352/.388.