Aaron Small. Last year, all but invincible at 10-0, with a 3.20 era. This year, as you may well know, he’s 0-1 with an era over 8.00. In other words, highly vincible. What happened? Maybe he pissed off Jobu over the winter. More likely, he’s simply regressed to his mean. Whatever the case, the Yanks could use a decent outing from him tonight, as he gets the start (grrr!) in the finale of this early season subway series. We cringe at the thought of more shenanigans from our makeshift defense in the spacious Shea outfield, but hope for the best. On the hill for the Metropolitans: a rejuvenated Tom Glavine, who has posted a Mussina-esque 6-2, 2.43 mark thus far. The jury-rigged Torre lineup will have its work cut out for it. The good news: the roster, sans Sheff, has a career .315 average against Glavine (Jeets: .333, 2 homers, 31 at bats). We hope they bang away enough for a victory. We’ll see. And we’ll be commenting about the action right here. We hope you’ll join in the fray….
Subway Series Gamer III: Will Small Wonders Never Cease Resume?
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“Whether you root for the Yankees or the Mets, this is your season right now.” Joe Morgan, wasting no time before he busts out the crazy talk
Lineup:
Damon, cf
Jeets, ss
Giambi, 1b
Alex, 3b
Cano, 2b
Bernie, lf
Melkster, rf
Stinnett, c
Small, p
Fortunately, the volume is off and I don’t have to listen to Joe as Damon takes the first pitch for a ball. Game on.
Damon with a broken bat single to center.
Damon drops one in to start things off. On comes Jeets.
Jeets swings through the change, Damon steals.
Damon swipes second easily.
Very close play as Jeter is out by a half-a-beat.
Thought Jeets would beat that out. Damn. Nice play in the hole.
Glavine puts one down the middle here Giambi launches it into the seats.
Damon still on second, one out, Giambi up 2-1 on the count. Big swing to even the count 2-2. Count goes full. Glavine fans Giambi. Good pitch.
Beautiful pitching from Glavine. But any mistake is gonna cost him.
Don’t be a statue, ARod.
Why bother pitching to A-Rod?
ARod walks. First and second, two outs, Cano to the plate.
Chopper to second ends the inning as Cano went down to get a pitch.
Glavine looking like the Atlanta Glavine of old. Nicely done.
Why Willie doesn’t go Reyes, Beltran, Wright…I have no idea. Frankly, even Reyes doesn’t belong at the top of the order. The Mets pay all kinds of money for Sabermetric consultants. Why aren’t they listening?
Let’s got MetsSox.
Looking at Glavine’s numbers, I was surprised. Didn’t realize he was that close to 300 wins. He’s just kept plugging along…
Has El Duce ever pitched against Lo Duca?
Reyes and LoDuca down. Now come the guys who can, you know, hit.
Quick inning for Small.
And Small mows ’em down in order! Is AaronSmall2005 back?
Quick inning for Small.
Bernie! The power stroke is back:)
And Melky moves him over.
Bernie advance to third on Melky’s ground out. Stinnett is up.
Jon Miller: they’re playing the infield in with Small up next, and 1 out. It’s by the book.
And Stinnett watches strike 3.
Glavine gets a timely K.
2 gone.
Stinnett gets rung up on a good pitch by Glavine that was a bit inside but too close to be watching.
Aaron: DONT SWING!
Small is put away easily. Delgado, Wright, Floyd coming up.
Small Ks, Glavine gets out of it again.
And that’s why the NL is annoying.
Maybe that’s Aaron Small’s secret: He’s only effective when he starts…
YF: Tell that to Beckett.
Delgado fouls off at home-run depth.
Delgado hit that ball really well, but fould. Upper deck, just foul in right.
Did I mention yesterday the crazy tock sound the ball makes coming off Delgado’s bat. You could hear it there off that one into the upper deck. Man. That is awesome. In the true sense of the word.
Ks.
Small K’s Delgado. Phew! Playing with fire.
What is that awesome music they play for Wright?
I thought that 0-1 was a strike. Must have been a bit high to Floyd.
Was it, could it have been….Fannypack? They’re awesome.
Floyd triples.
Full count to Floyd: Takes it to the fence, Melky doesn’t play it well; the wind holds it in the park and he is in to third with a stand-up triple.
More Adventures in Outfielding with Melky! Oy.
CANO!
Xavier Nady hits it over the middle. Great play by Cano fielding behind second and throwing against his direction to get the out.
Nady strands him, 4-3.
The Mets radio play-by-play guys felt that Cabrera should have had that Floyd drive. Agree?
Hudson, it was iffy. I would like to see what kind of jump he got on the ball, and the line he took was a bit off. If he caught it, it would have been a good play, not a great one.
Damon hits a ground ball to Reyes, 6-3 for the first out.
No. It looked that way from the home plate angle, but it wasn’t close on replays showing a side view. If anything, he should have played back and kept it to a double…
Jeter hits a line drive to left for the single.
I don’t think Melky should have caught that ball. But it shouldn’t have been a triple, either. He’s lost out there.
Meanwhile, back to back singles from Jeets and Giambi. And here comes Alex.
Giambi singles to right. First and second with one out as Giambi turns on a fastball inside.
ARod hits a high pop to short left for the second out.
Ugh. Just missed that one.
And Cano FCs to end the inning. They’ve now stranded a runner in scoring position in every inning.
Cano hits into the FC to end the inning. Kaz, Glavine, and Reyes coming up.
Kaz Matsui hits the 1-2 breaking pitch in foul territory in the air off third. ARod catches it for the first out.
Glavine hits a slow roller to the first base side of the mound. 1-3 for the second out.
Reyes grounds out 6-3 to end the inning.
Dave OBrien and a (presumably sober) Rick Sutcliffe tomorrow for ESPN. Ack.
Meanwhile, Small cruises through the very soft underbelly of the Mets.
I hope Sutcliffe is drunk. Much more entertaining.
Bernie popsit up and the wind is blowing fiercely; ends up with the very rare infield double.
Bernie running all out on the supposedly routine infield pop-out. Love it. That’s great stuff.
Is there anyone who’s watching this game who seriously wants to hear “sideline reports” from Sam Ryan instead of Peter Gammons? That’s ridiculous. I know some of the people on this site have issues with Gammons, but he’s a legend for a reason, and brings real knowledge to a broadcast. Anyone watching at this hour on a sunday isn’t tuned in for eye candy.
Stinnett walks. Small comes up with one out. Small, under no condition, swing the bat.
Walking Stinnett with 1 out and a man on 2nd. Horrible.
YF: Sorry, what did you say? I was distracted. :)
Small executes a very good bunt to move the runners over.
Small with the bunt. Fine enough. All on Damon now.
Damon gets hit on the elbow to load the bases.
Damon HBP! Jeets up with the bases loaded.
Ball skips through! 2-0!!!
Jeter hits it on a two hopper that Wright and Reyes misplay. Don’t know how many errors it will count as. Two runs score.
Yanks finally cash in with men on.
Generous not to give Wright the E.
Giambi walks to load the bases for Arod.
Giambi walks. A-Rod with the bases juiced. No margin.
Looked to me like Wright might have been distracted by Damon
Check that: Stinnett.
And A-Rod absolutely drills one to Floyd. UNLUCKY! 5 feet in either direction that’s 3 runs.
Arod lines a pitch right at Floyed to end the inning. NYY 2, NYM 0
Yes, ARod had really good contact on that ball. It got to Floyd in a hurry.
I’m sorry, YF, did you say UNCLUTCHY? ;-)
Base hit from LoDuca to right center.
Lo Duca singles. Grr.
Ahh, here’s Joe Morgan, managing somehow to elicit a response from David Wright, despite talking only about himself…
“I notice… I think that’s…”
Base hit from Beltran over the glove of Jeter. First and second, no outs to Delgado. Fear.
THAT’S Small’s secret. He has to be protecting a lead before he crumbles!
Uh-Oh. Delgado with two on. Cringe. Small better be careful here.
I claim sooth on that, btw.
Delgado hits it 365 feet to right and clears the bases. NYY 2, NYM 3.
Anyone watching this game saw that coming.
Hey, don’t detract from my achievements!
And Wright makes it back-to-back. Now that’s the Small we’ve come to know and love…
Back to back for Wright who absolutely KILLED it. 4-2, Mets.
And Wright follows.
Back to AaronSmall2006. And time to end this experiment.
Hey, if you called it, so did I.
What was Small thinking on that pitch to Wright? Fastball straight down the pipe? Is he totally insane?
BULLPEN!!!!
Floyed gets under it and Damon records the out in center. That’s only the first out. Pain.
Morgan: “how long can he go because he’s not a starter?” The issue isn’t “running out of gas,” it’s that he’s not good. He wasn’t good in the first, either. Or the second, when Delgado put one into the upper deck just foul. He wasn’t tired then. Just skating on thin ice. Now the ice broke.
YF/Paul, like you both, I was totally expecting Delgado to go yard there. I did not expect Wright to follow it up though.. And Nady hits it very well to left for the fifth hit of the inning. Is anyone up yet? Why not?
“Delgado’s a winning player. He plays the game to win.”
Much better than all those players who are in it to lose, Joe…
Cano with a very clean 4-3 DP to end the inning. Okay, let’s see if we can actually produce if we continue to get men on base against Glavine.
Thank you Matsui. The only reason Small is getting through this game is because the Mets have some really terrible hitters.
I am trying to develop selective hearing so I only hear the call, not the commentary, from ESPN.
Once again the Mets prove that they totally have Aaron Small’s number.
I was surprised they didn’t just deide to walk Delgado for the rest of his ABs after that first towering foul.
Morgan and Delgado are sitting in a tree right now.
Me too, AG. I looked up at the wrong time and was assaulted unexpectedly. I’ll never get those IQ points back…
It is really a shame that Jon Miller, a great voice, has been stuck with the ignoramus Morgan for so long.
Cano with an out identical to his last plate appearance as he goes down to get a breaking pitch that he grounds out weakly to second. One away.
Joe Morgan recongnizes Patrick but not the guy next to him…Mike Bloomberg!!!!!
Maybe the Yanks can get to Wagner. Either that or try to score Bernie maybe once this game in 8 cahnces.
Bernie walks on a full-count pitch in the dirt. One out to Melky.
I guess the Mets were reading this site yesterday. They’ve switched to their traditional (and excellent) orange-on-blue caps. No more of that black cap crap. Yuck.
It says a lot about ESPN that they consider Morgan among their A-Team … and that they hire failed GMs and apparently any former player looking for a job as analysts, regardless of talent or intelligence (Orel Hersheiser excepted).
Very nifty DP from the Mets as Reyes makes a great play on a ball that skipped over the rubber.
Torre with the shout-out to the Waltermans. He’s good people.
Hersheiser is great. Tino makes me want to stick knitting needles in my ears. Krukker makes me laugh from time to time. Harold Reynolds doesn’t bother me much. Gammons, meh. Steve Phillips, can’t stand him.
Torre says Sheff needs one, maybe two rehab games before he returns.
I don’t like those in-game interviews with the managers, especially in the playoffs, when it’s obvious they have 3 quadrillion better things to do than listen to Joe Morgan/Joe Buck pontificate.
Tony LaRussa was deliciously surly during the 04 Series, IIRC.
Even Glavine giving Small trouble. Joe can’t let him go past Lo Duca.
Glavine makes the first out on the easy 4-3.
Yeah, Harold Reynolds has remade his legacy. He’s such a great analyst, it’s easy to forget he used to play…
Sheff, though, says he needs one, two more years on his contract before he returns ;-)
Call it the homer in me, but I’ve been loving Tino. He’s not much of an analyst, and he’s an unrepentant Yankee booster, but it seems to me he gives you some insight into the personality and thinking process of your everyday ballplayer (not that he always does this on purpose).
He was out!!!
He was out by a foot.
It;s just that Tino’s so nervous when he talks. It drives me crazy…
The play at second wasn’t *that* obvious. The question is whether he actually applied the tag…
Lo Duca walks. Joe finally out to Yank Small. Villone comes in.
Whoops. It’s Myers.
Finally…Shea stadium is playing that American Idol song about having a bad day…uggghhhh…sometimes I wish they just let the fans say it.
So, is it going to be Myers for the lefties and then Scott “America’s Next Top Model” Erickson?
Give Tino a chance. There’s potential there. I feel like he’s not aggressively closed-minded (like Kruk or Morgan).
If I figure Myers’ ERA right, that HR to Ortiz is the only run he’s allowed this season…
This, btw, is a disaster: Myers should not be facing a righty with men on.
Myers gets the grounder from Beltran! I can’t be right all the time….
Reynolds just strikes me as a genuinely nice guy, and his insight is appreciated. He has really improved over the last couple years and I enjoy watching him on BT.
Kruk annoys me, and I’m not sure why… But he’s not as bad as frat-boy Rob Dibble on the worst damn sports show, period.
Beltran is too fast as Jeter gets the force at second but can’t turn two. First and third to Delgado.
Myers gets the K. That is huge.
Joe Morgan talking nonsense again, ignoring the arguments why Wagner shouldn’t have been brought in last night…
Stinnett doesn’t have a clue against Glavine.
Beltran’s numbers against lefties (small sample) are bad, YF.
Morgasn is so crazy wrong regarding the usage of Wagner vs. Mo, it’s ridiculous. You only bring in your ace in, as Cliff Corcoran calls it, a high leverage situation. Up 4 is not high leverage. Tie game is.
Reese gets pinch-hit.
Does joe morgan EVER shut up?!
As you say, SF, small sample. And Myers has a big sample against righties, and it’s not pretty.
Meanwhile, 2 on for the Yanks.
Single for Damon on a line to right that Floyd plays extremely well to catch on one hop off the turf while diving. NICE play.
Mr. Bean in the pen for the Yanks… They must really be desperate for pitching…
Jeets hits into the DP on 2-2. Grr.
Jeter grounds into the DP to waste 3 more base runners. We can not produce tonight. This is painful.
Becca: Yes, Joe Morgan shuts up. Unfortunately, it’s only when they go to commercial.
Coltor almost drills Wright to lead off the bottom of the sixth.
What is all that nonsense from Joe Morgan?? Is he drinking or just an idiot?
I wish it was the former, suspect it’s the latter…
Bean is full against Wright: first payoff pitch is a foul. Then he rings him up on a very nice slider.
Has anybody seen the “South Park” episode about Scientology. Well, whenever Joe Morgan is broadcasting, I want them to have a disclaimer in the bottom saying “This is What Joe Morgan Actually Believes.”
That last pitch made Wright look silly. Who is this Bean guy? I’ve never heard of him…
Bernie makes the grab in left for the second out.
lol, Hunter
Colter 45 locked and loaded! Already starting fueds with the likes of Xavier Nady.
Bean was up in NY at the end of last year.
Bean hits Nady in the leg.
Bean pegs Nady, who then nabs second. Let’s go CB!
Nady swipes second easily.
Jeets! Colter rolling. Let’s get this shit back…..
Matsui 6-3 on a good play with the runner directly in front of him while fielding the ball; end of the inning.
Jeter gets Matsui that is.
Paul– there’s a website freecolterbean.com
seriously…it’s informative…and amusing…informusing.
C’mon Giambi! Let’s get this going.
Giambi against Aaron Hellman, takes the count full. Center field to Beltran, one away.
Hellman plays the comebacker 1-3 to get Arod. Good reflexes.
Cano quickly on first with the single to left off Heilman, whose name I seem to confuse with mayonnaise.
Past ball puts Cano on second as Bernie is up 2-0.
Bernie walks. Cabrera up with two men on, two out.
Change up is low, bases are loaded. Time to pinch for Stinnett.
Stinnett stands in. (??!!) Reyes gets the force at second to end the inning.
WHY?
Valentin walks as a PH for Heilman
Torre is going to make a mid-appearance change after he is not impressed with Bean’s first pitch to Reyes.
Cairo as catcher? I don’t know what they’d do about replacing Stinnett. If Posada had been available he woud have hit I’m guessing.
Personally, since Torre has already said there’s no way Mo is appearing in tonight’s game, I think he should have left Colter in.
Yankees Management: Just because we had to bring up young talent, doesn’t mean we have to allow them to play.
Villone is in. Push bunt went foul.
Another push bunt foul.
Valentin swipes second.
Bad throw from Stinnett. Reyes swings at a pitch way out of the zone to K.
Valentine hasn’t seen this much action since he was acting in Spaghetti Westerns as “Bar Patron # 4.”
Why is Tom Glavine doing interviews while the game is going on? I hate that. The fact that they’d start split screening during the actual game.
Two down after the pop out to Jeter, Beltran coming up.
And if only to upset every Mets fan watching the broadcast, ESPN has to bring out Scott Kazmir’s pitching line. Not cool. That’s like when you keep showing game seven of the ’03 ALCS to us SFs every possible game. Not cool at all.
At least they didn’t follow it up with the Victor Zambrano surgery update.
I don’t know if you can say how bad that deal was often enough, though. Putting Kasmir in the AL East didn’t do the Yanks any favors either.
Miggy walks! Let’s go Yanks!
Scott erickson in the bullpen…maybe it’s part of the tv contract?
Small ball? Off the side of the bat ball?
Damon with a trickler up the third base line that isn’t playable. First and second.
It’s not like it helps the Sox either, Kazmir OWNS us.
Not the BUNT—-YES THE BUNT!!!
Sanchez dives for the bunt from Jeter and catches it on a hop off the turf. Everybody is safe, no outs. Sanchez might have gotten rattled on that play.
Giambi sac. 4-3. Let’s go Alex!
Well, folks, it’s official. The Mets are overrated.
The way Giambi swung at that pitch, I thought it was going to go. Sac fly scores a run.
ARod hits into the third double play in the last four innings. Feck.
MR. CLUTCH!
Crap. Another DP. And now we’ve got the back of the order coming up in the 9th.
Very valuable, A-Rod…
YF, I replied to your email.
Joe 2x switches with A-Rod? That’s ridiculous.
But leaves Cairo in the game. Wha..?
Yeah, DPs aside, of all the players on the field, Jeter might be the only player I’d least want to be replaced in the 8th…
I still can’t believe he did that. So what happens when the Yanks tie it? Then he’s got the MVP benched for Miguel Cabrera?
Cano!!!
Cano!!!
What a catch from Cano. Strangest grab I have seen in a while.
What a catch from Cano. Strangest grab I have seen in a while.
As long as the Yankees lose it, I’ll be fine with Erickson shutting everybody down this inning.
Because that’ll convince Torre to use him more.
Don’t you sometimes wish arod would just strike out?
Wagner comes in for Cano, Williams and Cabrera to the strains of Metallica.
Well, I always wish A-Rod would just strike out. But you probably weren’t talking to me…
If he walks the first guy on four pitches, I predict Randolph will do nothing.
Both those pitches outside! Wagner not getting squeezed tonight. And then the K. Well. Give him 2 and it’s not that hard.
He threw three balls to Cano and got three strikes.
Come on. 2 more balls called strikes on Bernie.
SINGLE!!!! Take that ump!
No catch! Bernie on first! Go Melky.
Is it just me or does the Mets defense seem entirely unable to actually catch fly balls before they hit the ground…
Bernie’s got a few four leaf clovers in his pockets today.
Melky! Yes!
Melky slips one through!!!
I thought for sure the RF was gonna get to that last one… Another hit, and two men on…
After KS goes down, all gonna be on AP again.
Here we go. Cairo. GOD FORFEND.
Cairo is a statue. I die inside.
Why is Wagner hanging sliders down the middle here?
Wagner…you not-so-lame $%&#.
Crap. Wagner gets out of it with a little help from the ump and despite some dumb pitches.
Crap. Wagner gets out of it with a little help from the ump and despite some dumb pitches.
Expected result when you look at the Small v. Glavine matchup, but much closer. ESPN just said the Yanks were 2-for-17 with RISP. Ouch.
Eighteen stranded runners. I am sick. See you all tomorrow for the Fenway series.
Good night, everybody! I’m sure we’ll all be back tomorrow…
The depleted Yankee roster just kills them in the NL, when they need to be pinching. Blame that for the loss here. And Aaron Small.
You mean we shouldn’t blame the players, who couldn’t get a hit with about 479 men in scoring position? Another lame excuse: those damn rules!