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Yanks Gamers/Postmortems

Yanks-Halos ALCS Gamer V

NL Pennant-winning Philadelphia is waiting to defend their Championship. I see no reason why the Yankees should not oblige them.

AJ Burnett and John Lackey man the mound for their respective staffs. B-R preview. Comment away.

New York Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Johnny Damon LF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Hideki Matsui DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Melky Cabrera CF
Jose Molina C
A.J. Burnett RHP

Los Angeles Angels
Chone Figgins 3B
Bobby Abreu RF
Torii Hunter CF
Vladimir Guerrero DH
Kendry Morales 1B
Maicer Izturis 2B
Juan Rivera LF
Jeff Mathis C
Erick Aybar SS
John Lackey RHP

309 replies on “Yanks-Halos ALCS Gamer V”

FIRST PITCH LEADOFF SINGLE FOR CAPTAIN CLUTCH!!!! Great start…jump on their ass early and often boys…FINISH THEM!!!

DAMON!!!! 1st and 2nd for Tex….COME ON TEX!!!! Now is the time brother. Do something. Now.

ok, so you’re going to have to provide descriptions if you can with the updates for the time being. No feed for me yet!

Bad call for strike 3…come on asshole. Outside. F-cking outside.
ARod time.

The breaking ball was outside Nick…not close. Rung him up though…
ARod fouls out to Morales.
2 outs. F-ck.

Godzilla chokes too…that was horrible. 0-3 with RISP already. F-ck.
It’s up to you AJ.

The FOX feed is so bad I have to mute it, literally cannot take it…
Going to listen to my Yankees ALCS playlist on the computer…I’m in an Empire State of Mind with Jigga!!!!

Um…AJ looking erratic…3-0 to FIggy.
Nightmare scenario in the beginning stages…

Fat Bobby doubles…2nd and 3rd, no outs…AJ blows, we all knew it. Looks like it’s up to Andy back in NY…

This is what worried me all year…when it’s all on the line, does this team have the killer instinct to be champs? You have to win your elimination games, period.

0-3. Get AJ the fuck out of the game…
AJ is the absolute worst. I’m just mad at myself for actually believing he could handle this type of game. This bodes poorly for all our aspirations now…

Go back to sleep Nick…AJ is a fucking joke. He looks like a scared little bitch out there…unbelievable.

Took LA how long to get it together about time but iots still to late today or saturday its all good

Is this the part where they beat us by about 12 runs and we completely fall apart and lose the series???

Nothing good will happen until AJ can get a fucking out…which he still can’t do. Pull his ass, go to Chad. Fuck it. Like pulling your goalie in hockey to send a message to your team…
This is ridiculous.

Brutal. Hopefully this ends the AJ feels more comfortable with Jose Molina thing. As most of us know, and as the numbers show, AJ Burnett has the mind of a 12 year old and sometimes he’s great and sometimes he blames somebody else for sucking super badly.

every one of Burnett’s strikes is catching a good part of the plate. He’s thrown exactly 2 good pitches so far. The Angels will score more.
I pinch hit for Molina this inning.

They are all going to press now…forget what makes them good…and blow it. Hopefully, they don’t blow the fucking series.

Damon was safe by a fucking mile. But wait, we’re paying off the umps so how can that be?????

wow, that half inning was shorter than my first time.
That’s right, I’m making immature jokes now.

By the way, today’s game was the first time the Yanks finished their inning and they did not lead/tie.

what exactly is mr. overmanager waiting for? 6-0, 7-0? chad gaudin looked good in the ninth inning on tuesday. get him in there and stop fucking around.

Burnett is completely out of it. Must be thinking about something Kevin Brown once told him about money.

My first instinct was to say the same thing, bring in Gaudin. But after thinking about it, leave AJ out there. He’s done in this series after today, so get what you can out of him. You use Gaudin here and chances are good if he went 2, 3, 4, innings then he’s done until game 7.
Also, Lackey isn’t sharp, they will start hitting him. Now, it might be 8-0 by that point but he’s not his normal self.

Good point John…hopefully he’s settled down now. Next two games are at home.

Why does he take that pitch???? How can he not know it’s coming???
No chance we are coming back in this game…f-ck it.

How fucking slow is Godzilla…fucking get off your turtle!!!! Christ. 2 outs. No rally. Game over.

whew, that was close…perhaps we will score some runs now? finally?

Rally Killers up…this should be quick. Like Nick’s first time…

This should have happened after the first inning. 4 Runs AJ? Sorry, no more personal catcher who cannot hit. Plus, 14-36 lifetime Posada against Lackey? This is a f-ing joke!

K’s on a fastball right down the middle…unreal. 2 outs. No rally, no nothin’…

Even Jeter looks a little lost…Lackey is making us look like a bunch of amateurs.

Oh don’t get me wrong, he’s not right, I am just pointing it out…
Seriously, I am not being bitter but those sticks are just stupid. Make noise with your hands, bang your seat, do you really need to bang to sticks together?

Another inning of nothingness.
How long until they put us out of our misery? This inning? Next inning?

AJ not pitching awful – except for the whole “big inning” thing. Yanks can get back into this with a good inning or two.. let’s go!

Get out of this inning AJ…then let’s get it together. This sucks. Come on.

That’s always been AJs thing Lar. Looks great and then loses his fucking mind for about 20 minutes and that’s why alot of us didn’t want the long contract.

AJ at 80 pitches through 6. At least he’s still giving the Yanks some chance to catch up, if they can ever hit..

It’s Swisher, Melky, Posada. The “best #9 hitter in baseball” is pretty bad at being the #6 hitter.

Ah, Swisher with a flyout. Then again, it’s not like they score the lead off hitter anyhow.
Melky with a double though. Maybe he’s warming up? Still moot unless they can hit with men on. Would’ve been sweet.
Posada and Jeter with a chance to drive Melky in. Chip away!

Well, 4 straight balls and Jeter walks.
Damon will come up now, and this is obviously a huge huge moment in the game right now.

Damon could bring in even one run.
Tex has not been hitting much lately, but it’ll be forgiven if..

Darren Oliver against Tex. Oliver has not been bad this series so far. Tex has been awful so far.
The stage is set.

Warm up someone in the bullpen – if Joba loses it, he loses it. If Hughes loses it, he loses it. I don’t want to see AJ lose it.

@snowballa
thanks! I still have no idea what happened, but I guess I don’t need to know! woo hoo!

ok, now if we don’t win this game, i will be upset. cano, this is where you redeem yourself. act accordingly.

Nick:
bases loaded, 1st pitch Tex sees he blasts into the gap in left center…3-4
IBB to AROD, 1st and 2nd, 2 outs
Godzilla rips a single to right center…4-4
1st and 2nd, 2 outs for Cano

6-4 YANKEES TAKE THE LEAD!!!! CANO COMES THROUGH!!!! 2 OUT, 2 RBI DOUBLE!!!!!
YEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAWWWWWWW!!!!

Nick: Melky doubles a low inside curve up the RF line. Jorge walks; ball four nearly made Lackey blow a vein and almost got him tossed for jawing. Jeter walked on four pitches, none of which were close. Oliver comes in for Lackey, who did NOT want to come out. Damon doubled to left center, Matsui singled to right. Tie game.

Swisher, pad that run.
Yes, take out AJ.
Swisher hits a fly ball that’s deep enough. Unfortunately there were two outs.
Still, obviously I will take it.

Scosia might be thinking just about now that he should have given Lackey the chance to win or lose his own game.

Hudson – I was surprised actually. If he had given up the Tex double, fine, but ya.
Easy to second guess him now, and hell if I mind, haha.. but whatever. Go Yanks!

sorry nick, here is the play by play:
melky doubled
posada walked on a controversial 3-2 pitch
jeter walked
damon popped up
sosh takes lackey out who mouthed “i got this sosh”. sosh, channeling grady little, disagrees and puts oliver in.
first pitch, tex hits a 3-run double
a-rod intentionally walked
matsui hits 2-run single
jespen relieves oliver
cano hits 2-run triple
swisher pops up
YANKS, 6 ANGELS, 4

walein – I haven’t seen AJ too much until this year, but he’s been on my dynasty fantasy team for the last 4-5 years, and it’s always feast or famine with him.. haha..
I can laugh about it now.. at least for now.
Joba warming up, I think. AJ does go back out there for some reason. I think they got to take him out..

I think few people would fault Joe for taking AJ out right now. Screw his confidence or whatever he’s trying to save him. There’s no game tomorrow, throw the pen at it.
That said, Joba has been shaky at best, which might be why.
C’mon, a DP will ease my concern a bit.

for the love of god a.j. we gave you a lead, don’t fucking blow it. are you kidding me? and is that marte warming up? does joe want to lose this game for us?!

What the hell is wrong with Joe? You let the tying run get on? I would’ve took him out before the inning, and again with one on.
Of course, he brings in Marte? Is he trying to lose the game?

i feel sick all of a sudden. fuck you a.j. you blow up and then settle down and you chose the inning AFTER we give you the lead to blow up again.

Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb….why on earth did you put him back out there??? WHY JOE??? 2 run lead going into the f-cking 7th? USE YOUR BULLPEN ASS!!!!
Instead now the bullpen has to start with 2 on and no outs…setting them up to f-cking fail.

I don’t blame AJ. I blame Joe. What the hell is wrong with you? Tilted on all the questioning by the media? Ignore them and do your thing and don’t overcompensate.

i agree with a statement that someone once said: if the yankees win this postseason it will be in spite of joe girardi, not because of him

Bunt, 2nd and 3rd with one out…one hit away from a tie game. Thanks Joe you fucking moron.

6-5. 3rd, 2 outs…i am incensed. Joe gave them AT LEAST 1 run…just handed it to them…

that run should not have come in because a.j. should not have been in to pitch to another runner. my god

Hughes will come in in a huge spot right now.
MLB Postseason baseball – made exciting by Joe G, who will keep games close, so you will see Mo every single game.

Motherf-cker. He sucks now. Great. Mike hands us the game, Joe hands it right back…
This game is a clusterf-ck of stupidity.

YFs may be upset, and understandably so, but I could easily see the Yankees coming back in this one.

I know we are where we are and all, but seriously Joe? Your decision making ability is about the same as Flusher’s hitting ability…god awful.

robertson and rivera. the only two people worth giving the ball to right now. and girardi, again if we win, i don’t know if i can take him all of next year. he has been HORRIBLE this entire postseason. his players have been winning despite his actions. if we make it past here, who knows what bullshit he’ll decide in the world series.

posada called curve balls BOTH TIMES…and Hughes shook him off BOTH TIMES for meatballs. finally he listens to POsada and lo and behold…strikeout

Swisher with two outs in the last inning. Killer.
Still, it’s a close game, but really should’ve had the lead.
Weaver strikes out a chasing Melky. One away.

whimpering 1-2-3 inning…this game is over. All they have to do is win Game 6 and we are finished.

Wow, Weaver did a brilliant job there… Scoscia looks like a genius. (As for me, I’m still experimenting with how to spell the Angels’ manager’s name.)

Can we fire a manager mid-game, mid-ALCS? He has essentially blown two games for us in this series. 2 fucking games plus the 2 we won equals 4 for anyone who’s keeping track…
Leadoff double. Fuck this, I’m out.
Drawing the warm bath, got the radio and razors ready. Nice knowing you guys…

so Mo’s in. maybe he should have come in against Hunter and Vlad. But alas, the save stat rules the day.

joe girardi should hire an assistant of common sense. pay him $12 an hour to sit there and scream at joe during postseason games.

Rivera gets the job done per usual and keeps the Yanks within one run… The attempted sacrifice backfired, and I am kind of surprised the Halos didn’t send the runner on that line drive — it definitely would have been a risk, but the pressure would have been on for the throw to be on target.

MTei pops up, first pitch swinging. Two out. ARod up.
Aaaand they’re intentionally walking him. Wow. Puts the go-ahead run at the plate (Matsui). Dicey.

Have to wonder about pinch running for A-Rod there, considering this game has the potential to go into extras. Is he running not running well?

And Cano.. takes one for the team with Swisher up. Are you kidding me? Might’ve hit him on purpose to face Swisher. Bases loaded, winning run on second, tying run on third, but with two outs, they still need a base hit.
Or Swisher can take one for the team somehow..

Switch-hitting Switcher (0-4 tonight) will bat righty to Fuentes… Two outs, bases loaded, at-bat:
First pitch swinging, Figgins steps on third… Halos radio calls game over… Angels started celebrating… Then called a foul ball!

Heart attack time in L.A. …
So, after two walks and a hit batter:
1st pitch: Foul near 3rd, 0-1.
2nd pitch: Foul near 3rd, 0-2.
3rd pitch: Ball way outside, 1-2.
4th pitch: Swing, foul tip off mitt, still 1-2.
[– 21 pitches for Fuentes –]
5th pitch: Ball high, 2-2.
[– Suspense killing even those with no dog in this fight –]
6th pitch: Ball outside, 3-2.
[– Is Krueg still among the living? –]
7th pitch: Popped up, Aybar catches it, game over.
Geezus. This may be the first time in my life I’ve felt even a smidgen of sympathy for Yankee fans.

Joe GIrardi has singled handedly cost us 2 games…in the ALCS. I am sick to my stomach. Certainly won’t sleep at all tonight.

Nice game. I’m still in a bad mood. I went into the game with a little “hey I can’t lose – if the Yanks win,they win and if they lose I get to see them on Saturday”…but I got so pumped when they came back that I would much much much rather have lost out on the Saturday game so that this could be over. Who are the Angels pitchng, Kazmir? They threw Weaver for an inning but it was so efficient it might have just been lilke a throw day for him. Anyone know the starter?
THIS and EXACTLY THIS is why AJ is so infuriating. “Hey, I shut a team down for 6 innings! Oh yeah, but I gave up 50 runs in one inning.” He is the ULTIMATE one-horrid-inning pitcher and it is frustrating as hell. And not to pile on, but I think it is entirely likely that Molina might have been able to milk him through that first inning with less damage.
And to load the bases in the 9th and fail. Blech. Putrid.

Err – forget the Posada crack – a brainfart. Molina was catching wild thing. And he still stunk.

Well, I got to sleep on it and I’ve come to a very simple conclusion…
FIRE JOE GIRARDI NOW! Get rid of his sorry-ass, period. How on earth can your manager lose 2 games for you, in the ALCS??? Let Pena manage the rest of the playoffs. (all two games when we choke again) I seriously hate Joe Girardi, hate him so much right now…

p.s. Basically Pettitte is going to have to pitch 8 innings tomorrow for us to have a chance and he is due for a shit start…
We lose Game 6 and it’s over. Thanks Joe you fucking moron.

If AJ could pitch when the game were either tied or the Yanks had the lead, they would have been just fine. Unfortunately, he only pitched well when the team was in a hole last night. It’s the first bad performance by a Yankee starter in these playoffs. But it certainly was bad – twice over.
Add to which, our regular-season-stellar-pen has come up very short in October. Hughes is giving up hits left and right. Joba is all or nothing. Aceves has been touched up. Our only consistently effective relievers are the cyborg known as Mo and the kid, Robertson.
Girardi’s highly questionable moves earlier in this series and in the ALDS with that pen (yanking guys early, demonstrating little confidence in guys he trusted all year) may have contributed to or even created some of this problem which has now taken on a larger dimension than any individual game-decisions in m view.
Put another way: who other than Mo does he trust coming out of the pen? It would seem to be no one. And I feel a bit like he lost that trust before he had reason to. And now he has reason to. ALCS clinchers or World Series games are not the time to regain it that confidence gradually. We need some pen arms to step up and do the job no matter how Girardi calls on them.

A number of dopey sportswriters (such as the geniuses over at the Times) are writing that Scoscia had a “Grady Little moment” last night.
Uh, do these guys actually remember the details of Little’s infamous move? Because technically Scoscia had the exact opposite of a Grady moment.
Grady Little left Pedro Martinez *in* the gam* too long. Scoscia took Lackey *out* of the game too soon.
In 2003, Pedro had shown all season that he became ineffective after 80-85 pitches and prone to imploding in the late innings. Yet Little infamously decided to “go with his gut,” caving in to Pedro’s assurances that he was still feeling fine.
Scoscia did the exact opposite: With Lackey well over 100 pitches, he decided to do things by the book and lift his ace when he showed signs of flagging. He ignored Lackey’s emphatic (and profane) protests to be left in.
So while the result may have been similar, the decisions were completely different and opposite in their details.
Sportswriters.

Talk about overreacting to a slump, krueg. I know that frothing rage is your thing during games, so I guess this is just krueg being krueg.
Nick Swisher is good at baseball. Nick Swisher is in a nasty slump. This happens. It has happened to ARod, it has happened to Jeter, it has happened to Teixiera, etc. You do not bench a player of that quality because they’re in a slump. Not unless you’re a panicky fool, anyway.
This loss is primarily on AJ Burnett. After that, Phil Hughes (pitch selection, pitch location). After that, you can argue between Swisher and Girardi (for starting the 7th with Burnett, for not pulling him after the Mathis hit). Girardi did some other odd things, but they didn’t hurt (pinch running for ARod but not sending the runner).
Losses suck. Playoff losses really suck. Playoff loses with late bullpen failure and a so-close-but-comes-up-short rally suck even more. That said, the Yankees have a 3-2 lead and are coming home. Pettitte and, if necessary, CC lined up against Saunders and Weaver. I like their chances.

I have to really turn up the intensity…I have been neglecting my duty to keep the team in check with negative reinforcement. I hold myself personally responsible for each and every loss…I just didn’t do enough, I just didn’t do enough…
;)

p.s. Rob, I really do like the idea of starting Gardner over Swish though. If nothing else he would be an big upgrade on defense and even he couldn’t bat .100 I think?
Not a good idea?

Hey K – Damon turned it around, I’m sure Swisher will too. Of course, Gardner is a better defensive player, but then you have not secret bench running weapong for late game over-managing heroics!

Yeah, but Damon had something to begin with, to “turn it around”…Flusher has done nothing, ever. Much different players in terms of ceilings…
…that being said, I hope you are right in this case! ;)

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