In LA, Hu’s on first. In KC, the Yanks must decide who will be at short, with Derek Jeter, Our Fearless Hero, temporarily sidelined with a strained quad. He’s listed as day-to-day (we hope; another 200 hit season hangs in the balance!). These muscle pulls can linger, and with deleterious effects. We’ll hope for the best. Our expectation is that Wilson Betemit again spells the Captain in the hole, as he did yesterday. On the hill for the Yanks is Phil Hughes, who was excellent in his first showing. Posada will catch. Hughes goes against another fine young righty, Brian Bannister. Hopefully the Yanks will break out the bats. The team still has a negative run differential on the year, and have been outscored by the offensive juggernaut that is the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yipes. Comment away….
There’s a Game Today (Redux)? Yanks-Royals Gamer I
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Such an early game after a late game last night. Tough, tough.
I hope they’ll give the Captain the day off and he’ll rest up.
Go Hughes!
By the way, anyway to update the bar on the right to “upcoming games”? I remember there was something like that last season..
Hughes vs Bannister promises to be a hell of a matchup.
And who knows, missing DJ may be inspirational….(OK, I’m a Sox fan, but I’m trying to look at things in a pro-Yanks light).
Lar: i believe the good Gerb is working to re-activate all of our sidebar features (schedule, scoreboard, etc.), but every year this requires some tinkering under the hood to get things set up properly.
It’s Buckner throwing out the pitch…
EEI let it go.
Ehh, provided it’s nothing serious, DJ might benefit from a few days off. The way he’s hit these few games, I don’t think they’ll miss him terribly.
Again, as long as it’s only a few days. Anymore than that = bad news.
so here’s something to think about yf’s…..if jeter is hurt for an extended amount of time, do you move a-rod to short? keep in mind that lefty masher ensberg could slot right in at 3rd. i think it’s something we’re bound to hear about at some point this year.
The problem sf rod, is that Betemit is probably a better SS at this point and will give just as much thump as Ensberg, especially since they aren’t facing any decent lefties any time soon (who Ensberg has a better chance against). If it’s the DL for Jetes, then bring up Gonzalez for late inning defense.
Alex hasn’t played meaningful innings at ss since 2003. That’s a long time.
BTW: Those unstoppable O’s, already up 2-0. HRs by McNulty and Daniels….
Make that 4-0. Meanwhile, our friend Kenny is up to his old tricks. Apparently he is only unhittable against the Yankees in the postseason.
/still bitter
Maybe he forgot to put whatever it was that he hid in his hands on. It happens, you know.
Woohoo, Yanks game finally about to start..
Some game notes earlier today:
Dice showing everybody he’s worth 100 mil. To me, he’s putting together the things he’s shown at times last season. My only question left is if he will finish the way he did last season.
Oliver Perez pitching a pretty good game, but has some control problem late before leaving the game. Unforunately for him, the Mets bullpen gave it up, and now the Phils are up 4-2.
The O’s are smashing and pitching. Burres pitching a 5+ inning shutout right now, and 6-0 thanks to the hot hitting Huff.
Let’s go Yanks!
Bah, what a bad fantasy day for me thus far. Ortiz not performing, Manny is okay, and Howard hasn’t got a hit. And now with men on second and third they intentionally walk him, a big fantasy growl to that.
And the game starts! Bannister sets JD in with a ball.
Damon leads the game with a 5 pitch walk. A great way to start the game.
And now here’s Jee- err, Cano batting second.
Here’s the Yanks lineup since it hasn’t been posted:
Damon
Cano
Abreu
ARod
Matsui
Posada
Giambi
Betemit
Cabrera
Bannister’s control a little suspect early on. Let’s hope the Yanks get to him before he can settle down.
Got Cano to strike out after behind 2-1. Here’s the hot hitting Abreu.
And Abreu grounds into a double play to end the inning.
So a 5 pitch lead off walk wasted as Bannister only used 12 pitches, and only 6 for strikes to get through the first half of the first inning.
Here’s the Franchise, Phil Hughes.
Joey Gathright breaks up the no hitter with a leadoff single.
And promptly steals second base. Grudziesomething moves him up, despite hitting to the left side of the infield. Grumbles.
So now, 1 out, man on third, here’s Teahan.
Teahan doubles Gathright in. Hughes not looking good today with his control – he’s all over the place, but without the benefit of a double play.
3 straight inside fastballs to Guillen, all missing. This is going to be a long game if Hughes doesn’t get it together..
Guillen pops out on a 3-2 pitch on a nice curveball after 5 straight fastballs.
Butler strikes out to end the threat.
At the end of 1, it’s 1-0 Royals.
Blech.
Hughes, through 1, threw 22 pitches, only 12 for strikes.
ARod strikes out without swinging, on 5 pitches. Bannister is looking tough.
Matsui is putting together a good at bat. Result aside, I love to see Bannister work.
A 9 pitch at bat for Matsui. Even though Bannister won the battle, it was a great at bat.
Here’s Posada with two outs.
Good news: Long at bat.
Bad news: 4-3.
Posada singles to the right field. Go Giambi!
Betemit comes through with a single, scoring Posada.
Seems like I skipped a post, probably got distracted.
Giambi worked a great 6 pitch walk. Betemit singles, scoring Posada, and Giambi did what he said he would do – be aggressive on the basepaths and went to third. This is good.
Melky then walks on 4 pitches, bringing up Damon with bases loaded, 2 outs.
Bannister starts JD with three straight balls..
A strike and two fouls later, the count is full, and the bases are juiced.. let’s go JD..
JD walks on the 7th pitch, and now the Yanks are up 2-1.
Would love to have Jeter hit in this position, but we have Cano instead. Let’s go Cano!
Full count to Cano, as Cano is practicing some patience on some borderline pitches..
Unforunately he strikes out swinging on a pitch that really should’ve been hit, and Bannister escapes further trouble.
Bannister, after 2, with 54 pitches, 27 for strikes. If my math is right, he threw 42 pitches this inning, but the Yanks have only two runs to show for.
After 1 and a half, it’s 2-1 Yanks.
The hyper-hyped Gordon singles, and goes to second on an Abreu error. Hughes still not throwing enough strikes.
Gload grounds out to Giambi – moving Gordon to third.
So again, we have a man on third, with one out, but this time, the slightly less dangerous Buck is at the plate.
I’m following on GameDay – what did Abreu do on the error?
Well, all the same, Buck quickly ties the game with a sac fly, bringing in Gordon. Two outs.
Error comes back to hurt us – Gordon scores on sac fly…is that an earned or unearned run?
Nice job manny and crips. Two more innings
Pena walks on 9 pitches, and promptly steals 2nd. Sigh. Here’s Gathright.
sorry wrogn thread. Stupid tabs on vista. Still not used to them
Hughes is all over the place. Gathright hit by pitch, so now men at first and second, still two outs.
And a 2-0 count to Grudziesomething isn’t going to help either..
Now a 4 pitch walk to Grud. Not a good outing for Hughes.
I hate following on Gameday – how bad is Hughes missing?
I ask cuz Gameday says he’s really getting squeezed on the corners
For what it’s worth, the Royals are fighting off some pitches, and not giving in to Hughes too easily.
Whew! A fortutious K to get out of further trouble – Phil needs to settle down.
He doesn’t look too good, just seem all over the place. There were some pitches that he might’ve gotten though..
After 2 for Hughes, he’s matching Bannister pitch for pitch, which is a bad thing, as he’s now up to 56 pitches, 31 for strikes through 2.
After 2, the score is tied at 2.
Ya, even that last strike out, you can say Teahan bailed him out a bit.
Anyhoo, he’s Abreu, let’s see how Bannister look this inning.
Abreu singles to lead off the inning. A good 5 pitch at bat, and now here’s your defending MVP, ARod.
The only saving grace is that Bannister look just as awful.
By the looks of gamecast, Hughes is having some kind of outing.
What’s his velocity at? Concerns me that he seems to be topping out in the 91 range.
Ya, according to gamecast, he’s topping out in that range.
ARod strikes out looking. Matsui will try to give the lead back to the Yanks..
Matsui singles, Abreu to second. One out.
Abreu tags and goes to third on a Posada fly out.
Unforunately, Giambi can’t make that hold up
by grounding out. Giambi hasn’t been hitting at all thus far.
After 3 innings, Bannister is at 71 pitches, 39 for strikes. Go Hughes!
This has all the makings of a frustrating game. Haha.
For the first time today, Hughes gets the leadoff man out – Jose Guillen flies out on 2 pitches.
Quick out = crazy delicious.
Butler being tough again by singling on 6 pitches. Grumbles.
Back to back walks and the Royals are threatening again..
Melky on the run makes the grab! Whew. I can breathe again.
74 pitches after 3 innings – ugh.
Pena flies out to end the threat. Still not quite settling down for Hughes, he’s at 79 pitches, 43 for strikes after 3, but keeping it close at 2-2.
Might not even get 5 innings in unless he can command a bit.
Seriously, the only thing that’s keep me from going even more nuts is that Bannister is almost just as awful.
Betemit did strike out on 6 pitches though. Let’s go Melky!
Or, let JD do it, I guess. Go JD!
or not.
JD did get on with 2 outs though. Let’s go Cano!
Cano ends the inning.
Bannister with a more reasonable inning, now up to 84 pitches after 4 innings.
After 3.5, score tied at 2.
Hughes’ line is at an awful 3 IP, 4 hits, 4 walks, 2 ER, and only 2 K’s. Yuck.
Gathright slaps a baseball to the left side. Which prompts attention from Hughes, mostly deserved.
4 bb? not good at all. too much nibbling. need to refind the dominant fastball.
Gathright makes it safely despite the pitchout, but looks liek he got banged up pretty good
Gright is a pain in the bottom. That’s practically a 2b.
A pitchout, but Gathright takes it anyhow. So man in scoring position to lead off the inning once again.
Stole on a pitchout. Gathright’s got wheels.
Holy crap. Gathright now steals third. No throw as Im sure Posada didnt want to risk it gettign away and letting Joey score
And then Gathright steals third anyhow, with the count at 2-2. That’s rough.
And he steals third too. Yeesh. That’s three stolen bases today.
Gathright runs at will. and now a perfect quail up the right field line to make it 3-2. That wasn’t a bad pitch; just a great piece of hitting.
That would have scored Gathright even from second.
Grudziesomething singles to give the Royals the 3-2 lead.
This game is beyond frustrating.
Finally, Joe pulls Hughes.
Hiughes out. Who are the Yanks bringing in?
Ohlendorf in to replace Hughes. A double play here would be nice.
Even though it wouldn’t affect Hughes, I wonder how much the night-day affected the Yanks hitters. They need to take advantage of Bannister..
Ohlendorf doing his best impression of Hughes by throwing three straight balls. But at least they’re hitting 95 according to GameDay.
5 straight 95 fastballs and Teahen grounds into the pitcher’s best friend, double play for Ohlendorf.
Here’s Guillen.
The Yanks still should be able to win this game, if only the hitters will it..
Ohlendorf strikes out Guillen to retire the side. That was a wonderful change in pace.
At the end of 4, it’s 3-2 Royals.
Abreu up.
Abreu grounds out. Let’s go ARod!
ARod strikes out on a borderline call. 2 outs.
Matsui pops out to end the inning. The game is official, and after 4.5, it’s 3-2 Royals.
Its disgusting that Bannister has made it through 5. I’m annoyed despite wanting the Yankees to lose.
Just got home. WTF happened????
Ohlendorf happened, ym. Also Hughes had a massive pitch count.
Nice play, even though he couldnt get the Melky at first, but he kept Giambi at second instead fo third.
No, I mean what happened to Phil?
Did he get squeezed? Or just had nothing today?
He’s not hurt or nothing, ym. He just couldnt fin the plate and wracked up a MASSIVE pitch count. Didn’t make it through the 4th.
Not squeezed, just had nothing at all. Really, it was a minor miracle the outing wasn’t worse.
Nice run by abreu to get the foul ball at the wall.
The Royals are very good at baserunning. Nice.
I’m done. Haha. Yanks really should’ve hit Bannister for much worse..
Alright, gym time.
Ahh, I see. Thanks, Dio! I guess we’ll have to live through some rough patches…
Yeah. Really it was sucky starting pitching all around in this game
You and us both, yankeemonkey.
Ohlendorf looking better this inning. I wonder how long Girardi plans to ride him
Wow. Freaky bloop to get Cano on. Bleck. Thats how it starts
Nice job by Joe G, leaving Ohlie in for 3 innings (at least). Save that pen.
Not to beat a dead horse, but Torre would’ve been on his 5th reliever by now…
Not that I disagree, ym, but it surprises me how quick you guy are on Torre. I figured more fond memories, less vitrol.
Of course, who am I to criticize consider my, and all other Sox fans, deep bitter resentment of Grady Little.
Still, Little <<<<<<<< Torre
We do have lots of fond memories, and we love what he did over the years. However, certain aspects of his managing have become increasingly atrocious over the last few years, including his bullpen management. So we can appreciate, yet be critical :)
In other news, Proctor’s been in 4 of 7 Dodger games so far and got absolutely bombed last night. And Vizcaino is on the DL with a strained shoulder. And Tom Gordon has been abysmal for the Phillies.
My friend Ben (die-hard Yankee fan) and I have been having a Scott Proctor Arm Watch and considered setting up a Scott Proctor Bionic Arm fund to help with his inevitable need for a replacement. I felt terribly, terribly sorry for him when I learned Torre was going to L.A.
*hopes Gagne has continued to get shelled. Hasnt been checking.*
Man, that Royals crowd is REALLY into this at bat. Its awesome.
And that’s a Golden Sombrero for Alex. Not a good day to have it – they had some good opportunities to break this thing open in the early innings.
Isnt there a whole blog entitled Scott Proctor’s Arm? I remember reading it and thinking it was hilarious.
Just an ugly, ugly game on all counts. I remember Yanks getting whooped in KC a couple of years ago – they came back with a vengeance the next few games. Let’s hope this will be the case here.
There is, indeed, Dio.
This Traber guy has some nasty stuff. Where’d he come from?
There is, Dionysus! Thank you, I somehow had no idea.
YM: If not, I’m sure you’ll pound them in the middle of the season once the bats have woken up and they’ve remembered they’re the Royals.
Non roster invitee, made team out of ST.
Really? Wow. Nice story then.
Got greedy there. Tut tut.
Royals tried to repeat Gathright’s earlier achievement, no go.
I wonder if Traber is gonna be the ’08 Yanks version of Hideki Okajima. The lefty who surprised everyone by being insanely good and crushign EVERY one.
If so it would enable him to set up for Rivera and move Joba to the rotation.
Note: I hope he gets lit up liek a christmas tree ;-)
Haha Dio, I understand the sentiment :)
Man, Royals were getting way too frisky on the basepaths. Molina did a good job with that throw.
What happened to Posada?
Im not sure, I just noticed Molina’s catching too (with hsi getting bruised). When did that happen?
Not sure about Posada, YES guys haven’t said anything.
WTF now it’s *not* a strike?! Who is this moronic ump??
ROyals announcer “Now its Jose Guillen, and he is due for a big hit”
*sigh* Thats not how it works…
Games like this make me cry. Can’t believe I was in a hurry to get home for this one.
Sob.
I, for one, am goign to enjoy this Yankee bat shortage while it lasts, for I fear it wont last long
Fucking Guillen.
Ovah. Man, that was terrible.
Posada is having issues with his throwing shoulder again. That’s scary.
I was concerned about Hughes’s velocity, even wehen he looked good in his first outing. As YF and a couple others mentioned, he’s been sitting at 89-91 with his fastball instead of the 92-95 he is reported to throw. He was efefctive in his first start because his control was great – but as we saw yesterday, he has lkittle margin for error when it slips.
Then I saw a link to this article that says his mechanics are screwed up right now, which is causing the drop in velo:
http://www.dugoutcentral.com/blog/?p=1215.
It’s an interesting read. Seems to me he probably lapsed on his mechanics during his DL stint last year. The good news is its coachable and correctable, assuming the Yanks’ staff can identify the error.