It hasn’t been too impressive a year for Randy Johnson, who’s somehow managed to rack up 11 wins despite inconsistent, uninspired, and uninspiring play. Tonight he’s got another good shot at a win so long as he can get through 5 innings, as the Yanks face Bruce Chen, the man who puts the O in Orioles. Chen, who has caused the Yanks grief in the past, comes in to the game with six losses against zero wins, and all this with a 7.07 era. (Maybe it was Javy Lopez’s fault?) Chen’s heater couldn’t chip a Dale Chihuly chandelier, nevermind a pane of glass. Hopefully the Yanks can turn a few of those offerings into a dazzling spectrum of offensive production. Or whatever it takes to get the Unit another win. Your comments go here….
Gone South: Yanks-O’s Gamer I
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Lineup:
Johnny Damon CF
Derek Jeter SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jason Giambi DH
Jorge Posada C
Craig Wilson 1B
Melky Cabrera LF
Miguel Cairo 2B
Also, rumor has it that Bubba was DFA’ed and Veras was called up. Will wonders never cease?
Poor Singleton is stuck in the booth all by himself tonight. Should be interesting to see how he does…
He’s solo? No one else? What happened to everyone?
Apparently O’Neill was supposed to be with him, but he got derailed by travel problems and is stuck in Cincy.
Damon leads off with a BOMB into right-field bleachers.
Hopefully Randy pitches like his normal self (last start) for the Sox tonight.
DJ gets rung up looking after working the count full. Close pitch, but it was in the zone.
“Apparently O’Neill was supposed to be with him, but he got derailed by travel problems and is stuck in Cincy.”
translated he punched his hand through a wall after his son struck out during a little league game. He’s spending time in a local jail in Cincy cooling off. Ah, Paulie. You were a card.
Go Damon
Abreu with a deep fly to left for the second out.
LOL, Nick!
ARod with a 2-out single to keep the inning going for Giambi…
A-Rod is quietly getting back his groove.
Giambi walks on 5 pitches. 2 on, 2 out for Posada.
This line-up will wear a pitcher down.
Posada steps in: first pitch is low. 1-0 is fouled off. 1-1 is a curve that drops in for a strike. 1-2 is a breaking ball that Posada swings over to end the inning and strand 2. 1-0 NYY, O’s coming to bat.
Posada k’s. bummer. Hopefully Randy is Good Randy tonight.
Roberts grounds out to Alex. 1 pitch, 1 out.
Let’s go Randy…bring the meat!!
Tatis (who?) takes a called strike. 0-1 is fouled off. 0-2 is fouled off. Next pitch is airmailed all the way to the backstop, 1-2. Holds up on the slider, 2-2. 2-2 is a fly ball to fairly deep right that Abreu hauls in for the second out.
Mora takes a called strike. 0-1 is inside, 1-1. Next pitch is hit to left and caught by Melky. Easy 1-2-3 for Randy, let’s hope it’s a sign of things to come tonight!
Wilson steps in and takes a called strike. Next pitch is driven into the LF corner for a leadoff double.
Melky attempting to bunt is one of the saddest sights ever…Pops the bunt foul that the catcher just barely missed catching. Next pitch is a changeup that he kind of pokes at and hits right back through the middle for a single. That’s why you don’t bunt, kid!!! 1st and 3rd, no outs for Cairo.
no more bunt signs for the Melkster.
Nick: you would hope he’d learned…
Schill gives up a leadoff homer to Hollins. That would be the same guy who tagged Randy. He must hate former D-Back players.
2-2 to Cairo is low, 3-2. Chen has…almost nothing.
Miggy!!!!
Cairo drives a 3-2 pitch into the gap in left-center to score 2. 3-0 NYY.
Is Cairo the Big Papi of bad hitters? He seems to get a lot of big hits for such a bad hitter.
JD barely misses driving another one out of the park…Fly ball to right, Miggy tags and advances to 3rd.
Jeter grounds to 3rd, Cairo out in a rundown, Jeter moves to 2nd.
Chen gets caught napping, Jeter steals third..
Chen walks Abreu on 4 pitches….2 on for A-Rod who gets ahead on the count 2-0. Yanks could put this game on ice early if they can get another couple of hits.
Mazzone looks mildly stressed in the dugout…Count full to A-Rod. Hit to Mora who throws out Alex to end the carnage.
Game Note: Mirabelli hurts knee tagging Crawford out at home plate.
Ouch, Rob. Is he out of the game?
Not sure yet YM.
He isn’t due to hit for a few more batters.
I’m surprised Miggy let himself get frozen off of third like that. Nasty blunder.
on Yahoo, it’s saying that he left the game.
Tejada is just dogged himself out of a double.
Sorry to hear that, Rob. I hate to see players get hurt, no matter who they play for…
Tejada hits a flare that Abreu tries to dive for and can’t get; it falls in for a single…Would’ve been a double had Miggy not loafed it down the line.
The injury bug is flying around us again.
Millahhhh runs the count to 2-2
Mirabelli is catching in the bottom of the 2nd.
Millahhhh flies out to Damon for the first out. Conine swings and misses for strike one.
Randy leaves one right in the middle of the plate, Conine with a line-drive single.
yahoo is wrong.
Catchers are another breed.
RJ is trying to make things interesting…falls behind Hernandez 3-0. 3-0 is taken for a strike, 3-1. Next pitch is popped up to Abreu for the second out.
Markakis grounds out 4-3 to strand 2 and end the inning…
Lopez hit for Mirabelli in the top of the third.
I’m out for a bit. Go Yankees!
Giambi gets shifted.
Melky singles to left.
First and second to Cairo. (Posada singled prior to Melky)
Cairo strikes out looking stranding two.
AG, I made a similar comment about catchers in the Sox thread without noticing yours. Not copying, I swear.
Hmm…Randy is getting hit. I have a bad feeling about this.
Crawford homers for DF.
praying for the triple play here.
Johnny really doesn’t have much of an arm, does he? 2-hop throw home form short-mid center. At least it was on line. O’s 1, Y’s 3.
well, this is starting to suck.
*continues to have a bad feeling about this*
Jeter with a great throw to get the play at second. Plates a run though.
I was telling a yankee fan sitting next to me who remarked on Johnson looking good in the first two, “Don’t let Johnson lull you into a false sense of confidence. He will serenade you for two, then stick a shiv in your ribs in the third.”
I was trying to be funny. Now I am sad.
Replacement Level Yankees’ preview of tonight’s game:
”
Friday 8/4
R. Johnson (11-9, 5.07) vs. B. Chen (0-6, 7.07)
An exciting battle of two soft-tossing, junkballing lefties.”
Hit it on the head, didn’t he….
LOL AG….prison yard humor.
Nick, I just read your comment about the catcher thing. No worries, I didn’t take it that way at all. It’s true what you and I both said. I can’t believe Doug came back out and caught the bottom of the second.
just wanted to clarify that I wasn’t going all Jayson Blair there.
Abreu hits a gapper and pushes JD to third.
:) you guys are too literate for me.
C’mon A-Rod. Give us some breathing room.
Baltimore pulls a keystone cops but makes the catch anyway.
or not. sigh.
damn.
First pitch to Giambi was a very questionable strike. Then Giambi pops to right. Yankees are _wasting_ baserunners tonight.
*bad feeling intensifies*
The strike zone is floating tonight. Not good.
have to get those runners in.
Johnson with a nice slider to go up 0-2 on Conine. Misses low and away, then a check swing to Wilson who plays it unassisted for the first out.
Slider for a strike, then a foul to Hernandez to make it 0-2. Breaking pitch fouled to stay 0-2. The next pitch is a slider hung over the middle of the plate that is fouled up third, just off the line. Johnson got away with a mistake there.
Another 0-2: way outside running away with the fastball. Then Johnson hangs another pitch over the middle and gives up the single. Ugh.
DP ends the inning.
DP gets Randy out of trouble. Just saw that he hasn’t struck out a soul yet tonight…yet his pitch count is at 65 after 4. Not so good.
Yahoo’s gameday isn’t even close to being accurate. they have hernandez lining out
Markakis with a good running catch in left center.
First 2 innings = offense good, Chen bad.
Last 2.2 innings = offense horrible, Chen Cy-worthy.
Melky pops to right to end the inning
F***
Randy has a way of stoping a streak.
stopping*
No kidding. I hope Torre has him on shooooooort leash.
Good throw by Abreu to nail Tejada, but Oreos take the lead. Damnit.
Damn.
I don’t even know if I can be angry at Randy at this point. He’s freaking 400 years old. It was bound to happen, but it sucks that we have him for another year at this price.
Man, Johnson continues to suck…Offense has to take its share of the blame though, 8 LOB after 5. Blergh. Way to make crappy pitchers look good, guys!
Man, Johnson continues to suck…Offense has to take its share of the blame though, 8 LOB after 5. Blergh. Way to make crappy pitchers look good, guys!
Sorry for the double post
We need a little strike back by the Yanks.
Meanwhile, the SatanFish employ an interesting strategy walking the bases loaded with 1 out for Youkilis. What could possibly go wrong?
And Youk promptly ties the game with a sac fly.
Another runner stranded by the Yanks. *cries*
Hopefully Randy can get thru the 6th with no issue and give the Yankees a chance to be within striking distance and Baltimore’s immortal bullpen from another victory.
Ask and ye shall receive….Now let’s get some runs, dang it.
Btiyyon looke like he’d overthrowing….worked with Alex. Full to Giambi….
Whoa. Britton.
Bye-bye win streak…
Walk.
Gotta like the O’s old-school unis. Not too many jerseys out there that go with lettering without a keyline. On the otherhand, it looks like the numbers are silkscreened in some shiny surface, and not sewn on. Cheap-O.
Posada with the single. First and second….
Check that. I think all the lettering is sewn. Nice.
And Wilson with the rbi double! Tie!
Wilson!!!! Can we start putting up statues for Cashman yet?
Leche IBB’ed! Bernie hits for Miggy. Saberites might prefer to have seen Guiel still around. No dice.
Wow, IBB to Melky. That’s gotta be the first time, no?
YF: I might prefer AP in this situation…
GOB pops out. Definitely would’ve preferred AP. Oh well…
Bernie pops to third. Mora (what is he thinking?) tries to catch Posada napping. Not happening.
I believe Leche was IBB’ed during interleague, but you’d have to check.
ANOTHER pitcher. How many have the Yanks seen in the last 2 days? Yeesh.
This one with a 15+ ERA, too. Yikes.
AP: 481 ops vs. righties
BW: 686 ops vs righties
i’ll take bernie.
That was me, by the way.
ARRRRRRRRRGHH!!!!
Damon robbed. Yanks strand 3. Not good.
Sounds like Cano had a good night in rehab game…hopefully coming back soon.
Villone in to pitch. Nick Green replaces Miggy.
Markakis down on a heater inside and low. Nice pitch.
Team LOB: 12. OUCH.
Fly to Damon. 2 down.
Proctologist up.
Crap. Just got back in front of the set. Time to go read the play-by-play and see how RJ blew it tonight. 12 hits?? How many have we left stranded tonight?
Meanwhile in Minnesota, Santana has walked 3 Royals in 3+ innings….How do you do that?
Quick clean inning for Villone…
Gerbil: 12. Avert your eyes.
To be fair, RJ wasn’t *awful* tonight. The offense was, however.
This game is frustrating. Randy–let’s face it, there’s just not that much left in the tank (0 ks vs. the Os?!), but he managed to get through 6 with minimal damage. The Yanks have had so many opportunities to cash in, yet they still sit here tied. Grrr.
Hey, another pitcher! Welcome LaTroy!
Gah! ANOTHER pitching change for the O’s!
LaTroy Hawkins in for the O’s. Big Cub prospect gone bust from what I recall.
YF: great minds…
LaTroy does his job as DJ’s avg plummets to 352. For shame!
For the record, Hawkins is pitcher no. 11 the Yanks have seen in the last 24 hrs.
Jeter grounds out 1-3.
Another grounder. Abreu down 3 unassisted. Here comes Alex, who took a big K in his last ab. Clutch time?
Nah…
Feh. Alex has his shot on a pitch right down Bway. Grounds it to 3rd. 5-3.
As great as the past few games have been, this one has been the complete opposite.
SatanFish give up another dinger to Ortiz. Sigh…
Tatis Ks looking at what appeared to be a ball outside. Thanks!
Villione is done. Guess who’s coming on!
Heh.
Could it be…Everyday Scotty? *wild guess*
White Sox also winning late. Need a win fellahs!
Memo to Proctor: when coming into a tie game late, throw strikes!!
Proctologist looking VERY not sharp with 4 straight balls to Mora.
Tired arm?
He’s been getting knocked around quite a bit lately…could be tired arm, I guess.
Wheeee! 543 DP!
ARod almost made it onto ESPN highlights with the bobble. Whew!
5-4-3 DP! Alex bobbles but they turn it anyhow. Proctologist escapes trouble.
A few runs would be nice….
Why couldn’t Torre have left Villone in to finish the inning? ESP threw almost 30 pitches yesterday, and who’s pitching the 9th if Yanks don’t score here?
Welcome, new O’s pitcher! Join the party!
Enter Chris Ray. He deals.
Good point YM.
Giambi almost came out of his shoes on that swing.
Brian Roberts: Yankee killer.
ARGH! Another robbery. No luck tonight…
JORGE!!!
But Roberts will not catch that. JORGE.
Get Mo warm!
JORGIE!!!!!!!!!!!
You gotta love switch hitting Puerto Rican catchers who don’t use batting gloves. =)
Guess that makes it easier to decide who pitches the 9th. Yay!
Ump Kerwin Dantley takes one square in the facemask. Ouch.
Wilson on the screws to Tejada. 2 down.
Some random fans screaming ‘we’ve got Melky’. LOL!
Melky walks.
BoSox still up in Tampa. ChiSox are winners. Twinkies losing to KC.
Terrific play by Mora to nab Nick Green at first, after the diving stop.
Inning ovah, enter Mo.
Kevin Millar pinches. Millar as close to kryptonite as there is for Mo.
Pinches? Who said pinches. Pardonez moi.
Ick. Just foul. Nice try by Bobby though…
1 down.
Millar flies to shortcenter.
Mo hitting his spots, and looks fresh.
Last chance for the Devil Fish in the 9th against Paps….
1-out single for Conine.
Conine solid single through the left side on 3-2. Brandon Fahey runs for Conine.
Where was that??
Sox just won.
YES!!! Thank you, Mariano!
DP ends it.
4-6-3. Yanks win. Ugly win, but a win nonetheless.
Kudos to Jorge for the big homer. Yanks hold onto first as Sox win, too.
Update from Shea: Utley just struck out in the 9th, so barring something truly bizarre, the streak is over.
Toronto picked the wrong week to go into free fall. 9 back now. Gonna be tough for them to work back into things.
YF: I, for one, don’t feel sorry for the :-)
*them
Randy Johnson is looking horrible. & I love the attitude he has when the call does not go his way. The Big Ugly Baby!
Yankee pitching is clear:
#1 Mussina, #2 Wang, #3 Jonhson, #4 Lidle & #5 Wright.