Tagged: Jonathan Papelbon
Red Sox Nation conspiracy hunting
Yankees Universe will love this. The American League Division Series started Friday night with the Yankees in and the Red Sox out. According to Red Sox nation, this is all the Yankees’ fault.
That’s right. The Red Sox did not qualify for postseason play because the Yankees conspired to keep Boston out. It is all the fault of Yankees manager Joe Girardi for using 11 pitchers in the final game against Tampa Bay and setting it up for journeyman Scott Proctor to toss a lollipop to Evan Longoria for a game-winning home run in the 12th inning moments after Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon had blown a two-run lead in the bottom of the ninth in Baltimore that jumped the Rays over the Red Sox as the AL’s wild-card entry.
This is how sick the fans of that crybaby team that calls Fenway Park home reacts to everything: the Yankees are to blame. What a joke!
Of the 20 losses the Red Sox had in 27 games in September when they spit up a nine-game lead in the wild card standings, only four were to the Yankees. The same Scott Proctor who gave up that playoff clinching homer to Longoria also gave up a 14th-inning home run to Jacoby Ellsbury in the last regular-season game at Yankee Stadium. How come Red Sox Nation doesn’t think the Yankees were trying to help Boston there?
That the Yankees are responsible for the Red Sox’ failure to make the playoffs is absurd. After all, the Yankees had a 7-0 lead in that last game at Tropicana Field. Girardi paraded a collection of relievers into the game, but the guys that Tampa Bay came back against were not September callups. The Rays tied the score off Boone Logan, Luis Ayala and Cory Wade, all of whom were slated for the postseason roster. Proctor is another story, but Joe had simply run out of arms.
The Red Sox won the season series over the Yankees, 12-6. Where were the conspiracy theorists when the Yankees were losing eight of their first nine games and 10 of 12 to the Red Sox earlier in the season? Please tell me how that is the Yankees’ way of making sure Boston didn’t reach postseason play. The best way to keep opponents from advancing to the playoffs is to beat them as often as you can, which the Yankees certainly did not do for the most part against Boston.
I covered the 2004 AL Championship Series when the Yankees gagged on that 3-0 lead to the Red Sox and became the first baseball team to lose a seven-game postseason series after having won the first three games. The Yankees had a one-run lead in the ninth with Mariano Rivera, the best closer of all time, on the hill in Game 4 three outs from a sweep. Dave Roberts stole second base, and it all went downhill from there.
It was an excruciating period for Yankees Universe. The most successful franchise in sports suffered the most embarrassing postseason collapse. However, I don’t remember Yankees fans blaming anyone else for the team’s failure other than the team itself. The players felt the same way. They were responsible for not putting the Red Sox away.
This is no different. The Red Sox had an entire month to put the Rays out to pasture. That they failed to do so was no one’s fault but their own. Red Sox Nation should not hang Boston’s humiliating ending on the Yankees. Look in your own dugout.
Yanks’ grip on 1st place narrowing
The Yankees are still in first place in the American League East, even after losing to Boston Tuesday night in the opener of a 10-game homestand. Their lead is pretty thin, however, only two percentage points. Look at it this way. The Yankees still have one less loss than the Red Sox, and you know what they say about the loss column – that it is all-important.
The last thing the Yankees needed to happen Tuesday night did, falling behind by a significant margin to Jon Lester, who raised his career record against them to 8-1, including 6-1 at Yankee Stadium. The 3-0, first-inning lead came in handy for Lester, who was not at his sharpest as he toiled through 112 pitches in six innings.
The Yankees let Lester off the hook in the first inning. He was bailed out by a sensational play at third base by Kevin Youkilis to rob Nick Swisher of a bases-loaded hit that might have tied the score. Instead, the Yankees settled for one run that inning, and Freddy Garcia gave it right back as he failed to survive the second inning in the second briefest start of his career.
The biggest loss for the Yankees was that of Mark Teixeira. Lester hit him in the right knee with a pitch in the first inning. Tex had to be assisted off the field, but x-rays were negative. Still, it is doubtful that he will be able to play as early as Wednesday night.
Jorge Posada, who ran for Teixeira and stayed in the game at first base, may have earned himself another start if Tex cannot play. Posada had three hits, two of them off Lester ending a 0-for-27 run from the right side, and drove in a run. Swisher came back to knock in two runs with a two-out double off Lester in the fifth inning.
The Yankees were none too happy in a lot of ways about David Ortiz’s two-run home run in the fifth, which as it turned out proved the margin of victory. Ortiz may have thought that Yankees rookie Hector Noesi came a little too close with an earlier pitch in the at-bat. After clearing the fence with his drive, Ortiz tossed his bat a bit too flippantly for the Yankees’ tastes.
Despite the homer, Noesi was a bright spot in the game for the Yankees. For one thing, he ate up six innings to spare the bullpen. For another, after the Ortiz homer Noesi retired 13 consecutive batters, a stretch that ended when Jacoby Ellsbury doubled only to get greedy and was thrown out trying for a triple.
The Yankees even put a scare into closer Jonathan Papelbon by scoring one run off him on Posada’s third hit and getting the potential tying run to the plate before Alex Rodriguez struck out.
Of starters and newcomers
The Yankees aren’t the only American League East team with concerns about their rotation. The Red Sox were thought to have the most top-heavy starting unit in the division, but it has gotten off to an atrocious start.
Boston’s slumping offense has been considered chiefly responsible for the team’s 1-7 start, but the pitchers are not doing their jobs, either. Clay Buchholz got battered again Saturday by the Yankees (3 2/3 innings, 8 hits, 5 runs, 4 earned runs, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts, 1 home run) and watched his ERA bloat to 7.20.
That is not the highest ERA in the rotation. That dubious distinction belongs to John Lackey, who has the only victory among the starters (Friday night against the Yankees) and an ERA of 15.58.
Red Sox relievers are a combined 1-5 with a 7.46 ERA. They have allowed 35 runs (34 earned), 50 hits, 20 walks and 12 home runs in 41 innings with 25 strikeouts. The other two Boston losses were charged to setup reliever Daniel Bard, who has a 12.27 ERA and has not looked like the heir to Jonathan Papelbon’s closer role that everyone in Boston expects if Papelbon bolts to free agency after this season.
The Yankees’ rotation has actually done better, although it is nothing to write home about. Starters have combined for a 3-1 record despite a 5.58 ERA. Due mainly to two weak outings from Phil Hughes, Yankees starters have allowed more hits (43) than innings pitched (40 1/3), but only four home runs, and their walk to strikeout ratio of 14:31 is superior to Boston’s 20:25.
The best effort by a Yankees starter, the seven-inning, two-hit, shutout work by CC Sabathia Tuesday night, was not rewarded with a victory as the bullpen blew a four-run lead.
Both staffs have new catchers, Russell Martin for the Yankees and Jarrod Saltalamacchia for the Red Sox. Martin has drawn raves from Yankees manager Joe Girardi, himself a former catcher, for his work behind the plate.
In Saturday’s 9-4 victory over the Red Sox, Martin had his work cut dealing with an erratic Ivan Nova, but the catcher then coaxed 4 2/3 scoreless innings combined from David Robertson, Joba Chamberlain and Luis Ayala.
Martin also combined with fellow newcomer Eric Chavez and center fielder Curtis Granderson to power the Yankees’ offense from the bottom of the lineup. They combined for six hits, five runs and seven RBI in 12 at-bats.
Martin drove in four runs with two home runs and is batting .321 with 3 homers and 8 RBI. Chavez, whose first start was rained out at Yankee Stadium, finally made his Yanks debut (as the designated hitter) with two doubles and a single. Granderson hit his second home run (both have come off lefthanders, a good sign) and walked twice.
Since the game was at Fenway Park, Robinson Cano was a major contributor. He homered, doubled and singled in five at-bats. Cano is a .367 hitter in 229 career at-bats at Fenway with 21 doubles, 1 triple, 11 home runs and 48 RBI. Over this season and last, Cano has hit .455 with 3 homers and 10 RBI in 44 at-bats in Boston.
Hughes helps Red Sox wake up
Concern continues to grow around Phil Hughes as well it should. The pitcher who won 10 of his first 11 decisions in 2010 is winless after two starts in 2011 and continues to perplex the Yankees for the curious falloff in the speed of his fastball.
Hughes lasted merely two innings Friday at Fenway Park in the Red Sox’ home opener and blew leads of 2-0 and 3-1. The Yankees were able to take him off the hook by coming back to tie the score off equally erratic John Lackey, but Hughes’ ineffectiveness remained the most negative aspect of the 9-6 loss.
Hughes faced 14 batters, nine of whom reached base, six of whom scored and none of whom struck out. His ERA is an unsightly 16.50. Perhaps the dip in velocity is the result of Hughes falling in love with the cut fastball. Two-thirds of his offerings Friday were cutters. A couple of Yankees pitchers in the past I can remember who lost muscle in their fastball through overuse of the cutter were Jim Abbott and Andy Pettitte.
As Pettitte proved when velocity falls off, a pitcher can remain a winner by mixing pitches and locating. Yankee manager Joe Girardi is convinced that location is Hughes’ main problem.
Right from the beginning, Hughes was in trouble. He hung a slider to the second hitter, Dustin Pedroia, who hit his first home run of the season. A Boston lineup that entered the game batting .181 was able to bat around in the order against Hughes in the second inning and put up a five-spot on six hits with two of the outs made on the bases.
Girardi had seen enough at that point and brought in Bartolo Colon, who provided 4 1/3 decent innings but was stuck with the loss because of an unearned run. A rare error by first baseman Mark Teixeira gave the Red Sox runners on first and third with one out in the fifth, and catcher Jarrod Saltalamaccchia doubled off the Green Monster to drive in the go-ahead run.
Boone Logan was right up there with Hughes as a disappointment. He came into the game in the seventh with one out and a runner on first base to face left-handed hitters David Ortiz and J.D. Drew. Ortiz doubled, and Drew followed with a two-run single. With Jose Feliciano, the free agent pickup, on the disabled list, Logan is the only lefty in the Yanks’ bullpen. His job is to get out left-handed hitters, which he has not done yet. Logan has faced five of them and given up three hits and two walks.
On the plus side for the Yankees, there was a lot of activity at the top of the lineup with Brett Gardner reaching base four times (triple, double, two walks, stolen base) and Derek Jeter driving in a run with his 2,932nd career hit. Alex Rodriguez tied Junior Griffey for 13th place on the all-time RBI list with his 1,836th on his 616th home run. Robinson Cano doubled twice and drove in two runs.
On the negative side for the Yankees, they managed only one hit combined in four innings off Red Sox relievers Alfredo Aceves, Bobby Jenks, Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon.
Another Boston marathon
It was a strange outing Saturday at Fenway Park for Andy Pettitte in his playoff tune-up. At this point, it is uncertain whether Andy will start the second or third game of the American League Division Series, but the lefthander appears to be healthy, which had been a concern.
In his third start since returning from a left groin strain, Pettitte was strong enough to throw 88 pitches and strike out eight hitters. That was the good stuff. What was not so good was his failing to get past one batter into the fifth inning and allowing nine hits. Pettitte has given up 19 hits in his past 7 1/3 innings, all against the Red Sox, who these days are not exactly sending out a powerhouse lineup.
Pettitte’s uneven performance set the tone for the game, which was another of those Boston marathons (4 hours, 18 minutes) between these clubs that drew harsh criticism earlier this season from umpire Joe West. There was not a 1-2-3 inning until the ninth when Boston’s Daniel Bard and the Yankees’ Phil Hughes each set down the side in order.
Maybe hitters were just worn out from all the swinging and base running. In regulation, each team had seven innings in which they had runners in scoring position but did not take full advantage. The Yankees left 11 runners on base by getting only two hits in 18 at-bats with runners in scoring position. The Red Sox were 3-for-16 in those situations and stranded 12 runners.
The Yankees helped the Red Sox tie the score by giving Boston two runs without a hit, on wild pitches by Joba Chamberlain in the seventh and Kerry Wood in the eighth. Wood redeemed himself by making a fine play at the plate in handling a short-hop throw from third baseman Ramiro Pena to cut down a second runner trying to score after catcher Jorge Posada had thrown the ball past Wood covering.
The run ended Wood’s scoreless string of 24 1/3 innings over 22 appearances since Aug. 3. The righthander has lowered his ERA from 6.30 to 3.13 in his 24 relief outings with the Yankees. The only negative about Wood’s work with the Yankees has been the tendency to walk batters. He loaded the bases on walks in the eighth and has given up 18 walks in 26 innings.
The base on balls came to the Yankees’ aid in the 10th as they pulled out a 6-5 victory. Jonathan Papelbon walked Brett Gardner to open the 10th. Pena bunted Gardner to second, and second baseman Bill Hall’s error trying to bare-hand a single by Derek Jeter allowed Gardner to score.
Last Sunday, Papelbon and Mariano Rivera blew saves in the same game at Yankee Stadium. Papelbon wasn’t in a save situation in the top of the 10th, but Rivera was in the bottom half. The extra side work Mo did in Toronto paid off as he worked a perfect inning for his 33rd save. Hughes, who pitched well in his last start that Sunday but got a no-decision, picked up his 18th victory for his stainless inning of relief.
One goal achieved, one to go
Okay, now Yankees manager Joe Girardi can rest all the regulars he wants and not have to hear any questions about it. The American League East title is still the Yankees’ ultimate goal, but they have clinched a playoff spot, which is the first step.
Now it’s strictly between them and the Rays, who also clinched a post-season berth and remained a half-game ahead of the Yankees in first place, to determine the division championship. The Red Sox are officially out of the picture after having threatened to get back into the wild-card mix as recently as last Saturday night.
All year long, Girardi has said the Yankees and Tampa Bay would take this race down to the wire, so here they are. The Yankees placed their foot on the accelerator Sunday night by starting Phil Hughes over Dustin Moseley and overcoming a blown save opportunity by the normally invincible Mariano Rivera by returning the favor to Boston’s Jonathan Papelbon.
After hitting a pothole Monday night in Toronto, the Yankees rode the reliable left arm of AL Cy Young Award candidate CC Sabathia Tuesday night to win handily against the Blue Jays with Rivera returning to form by nailing down the final two outs.
An indication of how much the Yankees wanted to erase that magic number came in the third inning when Nick Swisher, who has whacked 28 home runs this season, laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved Derek Jeter to third base. The captain led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Kyle Drabek. Swish’s bunt made it possible for Mark Teixeira to score Jeter with a fly ball.
Up by four runs in the ninth and with runners on first and second with none out, Brett Gardner bunted down the third base line for a single that loaded the bases. It led to a score on Greg Golson’s first career run batted in.
This was 1960s National League stuff. The Yankees were not going to rely on the long ball, not against a Toronto club that leads the majors in home runs. In fact, the Yankees did not have an RBI hit in the game. Their six runs were the result of three sacrifice flies (Teixeria, Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano), a fielder’s choice (Jeter), an infield out (Golson) and a bases-loaded walk (Rodriguez).
Sabathia personified the staff ace with 8 1/3 innings of one-run, three-hit, eight-strikeout pitching to improve his record to 21-7 with a 3.18 ERA. Travis Snider’s 12th home run was the lone blemish. No other Blue Jays hitter got to second base until the ninth inning when Snider singled and Yunel Escobar walked. CC kept Juan Bautista in the yard for the first out before Girardi brought in Mo to finish it off.
Rivera had said last week that he didn’t think the Yankees would overdo it celebrating clinching a post-season berth. Wrong. The champagne and beer were spraying in the visitors’ clubhouse at Rogers Centre after the game. It was only a sip, however. The rest of the week will determine whether the Yankees will be able to gulp by taking the AL East title.
Posada condition dampens walk-off win
This was going to be an uplifting post about a walk-off home run that prevented a disastrous end to what began as a very promising homestand for the Yankees. On precisely one year to the date of his previous game-winning home run, Nick Swisher squared up a 2-and-0 fastball from Orioles closer Koji Uehara and turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 victory.
This was the fourth walk-off victory of the year for the Yankees, who made a habit of these finishes in 2009 with 15. A.J. Burnett got the whipped-cream pie out and delighted the remains of a Yankee Stadium crowd of 44,163 who had not witnessed a scene so familiar last year since May 17 when Marcus Thames clocked Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon.
The Yankees were still celebrating among each other when word came out during manager Joe Girardi’s post-game news conference that catcher Jorge Posada was undergoing tests at New York Presbyterian Hospital for concussion symptoms. That he was not in the lineup set off no signals because Posada is often rested in day games that follow night games.
It was not until the seventh inning when Francisco Cervelli batted for himself with two out and runners on first and third and the Yankees trailing by one run that some of us in the press box suspected that Posada was not available at all because this was an obvious pinch-hitting situation.
Jorgie took a foul ball by Nick Markakis off the left side of his mask Tuesday night. He mentioned it after the game to Girardi but did not seem overly concerned until he reported to the Stadium Wednesday and told the manager that he had trouble sleeping because of severe headaches. That’s when alarms sounded, and Posada went through a battery of tests and was sent off to see a neurologist.
This is no Sissy Mary. This is Jorge Posada, who is probably the toughest guy in the room. When he gets hurt, it is usually something pretty serious. Jorgie played a game with a bone fracture in his right foot before going on the disabled list in mid-May.
Concussions are nothing to fool with. The Mets have been without left fielder Jason Bay since July 25 when he collided into a wall at Dodger Stadium. Twins first baseman Justin Morneau suffered a concussion July 7 when he got hit in the head by a knee while sliding into second base and may not play again this season.
At this point, it would appear unlikely that Posada would make the 3 ½-hour flight from New York to Dallas that the Yankees have scheduled Thursday night even if the test results are in his favor. Air travel is one of the worst things for a person with concussion symptoms. The Mets made that mistake last year with outfielder Ryan Church, who never fully recovered from two concussions.
Yankees players were unaware of the Posada situation after Wednesday’s game. It was sobering news to all as well it should be.
“Obviously, we don’t want to lose anyone, and Jorge’s a crucial part of this team,” said Alex Rodriguez, who started the ninth-inning comeback with a leadoff single. “So we have to hope for the best right now.”
The Yankees embark on a 10-day, nine-game trip through Texas, Tampa Bay and Baltimore. The Rangers and Rays are playoff-bound teams, and the Yankees discovered that under Buck Showalter the Orioles have gotten tougher.
“This was an important win for us,” A-Rod said. “To get swept at home is unacceptable.”
Yet it very nearly happened. After sweeping a four-game set from the Athletics and taking two of three games from the Blue Jays, the Yankees needed Swisher’s 26th home run, a jolt over the left-center field fence, to avoid losing three in a row to the last-place Orioles.
Impressive ensemble pitching by the young Orioles staff quieted Yankees bats until Swisher’s blow kept the broom in the closet. Post-game merriment was muted once Posada’s condition became known. The Yankees are headed for the backstretch of their season having to rely on Cervelli and fellow backup Chad Moeller, who a week ago was in the minor leagues.
“If I got to do it, I got to do it,” Cervelli said. “I have been learning a lot here.”
The Yankees are skipping Phil Hughes for a turn in the rotation and will go with Javier Vazquez, Burnett and Dustin Moseley in Texas. They were clinging to the hope that they would not have to skip their catcher as well.
Red Sox are conceding nothing
As the Yankees went into a four-game series against the hated Red Sox Friday night, I couldn’t help thinking about what Boston did in the 2004 post-season. Down 3-0 in the American League Championship Series, they followed their manager’s mantra of winning the next night’s game. Don’t think about anything else, Terry Francona told his players, but that night’s game.
The Red Sox did this, of course, for eight straight games, knocking off the Yankees and then sweeping the Cardinals in the World Series for their first championship since Babe Ruth was in their rotation. That always stayed with me about Francona, who is probably the best manager never to win a Manager of the Year Award. The stakes aren’t so high in this series, but dire consequences could set in if the Yankees push Boston around.
“We’re at a point of the season where every game is meaningful,” Francona said. “We have to embrace the challenge rather than whine about it.”
Boston is pretty beat up. The Red Sox have been without 2008 Most Valuable Player Dustin Pedroia for a month and just lost first baseman Kevin Youkilis, the team’s spine, for the rest of the season. The Sox came to Yankee Stadium in third place trailing the Yankees by six games. After Friday night’s 6-3 victory, Boston is five games behind the Yankees. Francona is back to one game after the next.
The Sox lineup had some unfamiliar faces, none more so than left fielder Ryan Kalish. The recent callup has been tearing it up, batting .471 entering the game. WCBS radio’s Suzyn Waldman made him the subject of her pre-game interview and went on at length about him over dinner with Lee Mazzilli, John Sterling and me. She mentioned that Kalish grew up in Red Bank, N.J., and had left six passes for friends and relatives. He said he was too embarrassed to ask for more.
Kalish struck out in his first two at-bats, but he gave his people in the sellout crowd of 49,555, the largest gate at the Stadium this year, a moment to remember with his first major-league home run, a two-run shot in the sixth off Javier Vazquez, who had a rough outing and lost for the first time in six starts since June 30.
Vazquez, who was skipped over in the rotation twice earlier in the season to avoid pitching against the Red Sox, gave up a first-inning home run to David Ortiz, which was trumped by Mark Teixeira’s two-run blow in the bottom of the first. It marked the fourth straight game in which the Yankees had a two-run homer in the opening frame, but they have lost three of those games.
A player who scored ahead of the homer hitter in each of those games was Derek Jeter, whose first-inning single tied him with the Babe on the career hit list with 2,873. Unlike Jeter, not all of Ruth’s hits were with the Yankees. Jeter had the most impressive at-bat of the game, with two out and nobody on in the ninth. He outdueled Red Sox closer Jonathan Paplebon for 12 pitches, including six straight fouls on two-strike pitches, before drawing a walk. It went for naught.
The Red Sox are playing for relevance, trying to get back into the AL East mix with the Yankees and Rays. The Yanks maintained their half-game lead in the division over Tampa, which lost at Toronto. Vazquez and his catcher helped the Red Sox in the second inning when Boston scored three unearned runs to regain the lead. One out after a leadoff double to Adrian Beltre, Cervelli dropped a popup by Mike Lowell, who sauntered up the line and was lucky the ball fell far enough away from Cervelli to get to first base safely.
Vazquez was on the verge of working out of trouble as he struck out Kalish, who swung at a ball around his ears for strike three. Vazquez then did the unthinkable, walking 9-hole hitter Jed Lowrie to load the bases. Jacoby Ellsbury walked as well, forcing in a run, before Marco Scutaro doubled in two more runs.
Okay, so it wasn’t like giving up that grand slam to Johnny Damon in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS, but it was a chance to put the Red Sox away wasted.
Messy doings
Yankees manager Joe Girardi’s comment the other night that his bullpen is “a mess” would have to be considered an understatement. Sloppy fielding by the Yankees contributed just as much to their 7-6 loss to the Red Sox Tuesday night as ineffective relief, yet Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera could not overcome the defensive breakdown.
For the second straight night, the Yankees blew a 5-0 lead. They were able to take back Monday night’s game on the ninth-inning heroics of Alex Rodriguez and Marcus Thames with dramatic two-run home runs. Ironically, errors by those same two players doomed the Yankees in a game that played into the early minutes of Wednesday morning.
The Red Sox were equally sluggish afield. Two errors by shortstop Marco Scutaro led directly to three runs for the Yankees, including one in the bottom of the ninth before Jonathan Papelbon doused the rally for his 10th save. The conditions were not ideal. It rained heavily most of the day, forcing back the starting time of the game for 59 minutes. After that came 4 hours, 9 minutes of less than crisp baseball.
Yankees starter CC Sabathia gutted through seven innings. He left the game with a 5-1 lead, the only blemish being the 100th career home run of Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis. Then the bullpen faltered again as it has during the homestand. Yankees relievers have combined to allow 17 runs (14 earned), 25 hits and 7 walks in 15 innings for an 8.40 ERA. The bullpen was involved in four decisions, winning two, but one of those victories went to Javier Vazquez, who is actually a starter that got one out Monday night before the Yankees rallied to win.
Chamberlain suffered his second poor outing in a row in allowing four runs (three earned) in the eighth, an inning that began with a throwing error by Rodriguez. Three of the next four batters got hits off Chamberlain, who has given up six earned runs and six hits in his past 1 2/3 innings watching his ERA rise from 2.30 to 4.91. It might have been worse for Chamberlain, but David Ortiz did him a favor by going into his Cadillac trot on his drive to right that he obviously thought was over the fence. What is the problem with running out of the box hard? Ortiz, who runs like a tree anyway, tried to speed himself and make it to second but was thrown out. He would have made it if he had run hard from the get-go, but he decided to “style” instead, a very satisfying out to witness.
Girardi called on Rivera to pitch the ninth, a good move at home. The idea is to use your closer to shut down the other team for an inning and give yours a chance to pull the game out in last licks. A one-out single by Darnell McDonald seemed harmless until a fly to shallow right by Scutaro was dropped by Thames, who never seemed to have the ball lined up but called off second baseman Robinson Cano anyway.
The error put runners on second and third. Rivera, stung by a grand slam in his previous outing Sunday, got Dustin Pedroia on a grounder to first, and the runners had to hold. Jeremy Hermida then doubled over left fielder Randy Winn, who was playing very shallow, to send home both runners. Another point of irony is that Hermida was a late entry as a right fielder for J.D. Drew, who pulled up lame running out a double in the eighth.
Winn’s positioning is not really a major issue. Left-handed hitters rarely hit the ball with authority against Rivera. They are more inclined to hit flares to the opposite field, so a shallow left fielder is almost a prerequisite for Mo.
What is more disturbing is the recent shallowness of the bullpen.
Lightning strikes twice
The Yankees’ 11-9 victory over the Red Sox Monday night was not only exciting but also historic. The Elias Sports Bureau reported to ESPN that it was only the second time in history that the Yankees scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning and four runs in the bottom of the ninth.
The other time was Sept. 10, 1929 in the 10-9 victory over the Tigers in the second game of a doubleheader. Not surprisingly, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig figured prominently in the game. The fifth of the Iron Horse’s record 23 grand slams highlighted the Yankees’ five-run first. Detroit fought back and took a 9-6 lead into the ninth, but the Babe tied the score with a three-run home run.
The ending was by no means as thrilling as Monday night when Marcus Thames earned the first pie in the face of the season with a two-run homer off Jonathan Papelbon. The Yankees won the 1929 game on a bases-loaded walk to Bob Meusel.
The Yankees’ treatment of Papelbon was a continuation of a pattern that does not bode well for the Red Sox. He is 0-5 with a 4.73 ERA in his career against the Yankees, but the numbers are even worse recently. In an 18-outing stretch that dates to June 2007, Papelbon is 0-5 with a 7.85 ERA. This season alone, Papelbon’s record against the Yankees is 0-2 with an 18.00 ERA.
He has allowed three home runs in three innings, two of them game-winners. In addition to Thames’ walkoff Monday night, Curtis Granderson’s 10th-inning shot April 7 at Fenway Park unlocked a 1-1 score in a game the Yankees won, 3-1. The other home run yielded by Papelbon was the two-run bomb by Alex Rodriguez that tied the score Monday night.
Such is the lot of the closer. Just ask Mariano Rivera, who was beaten by the Twins Sunday on a bases-loaded walk and a grand slam.
What should delight Yankees Universe is that there is plenty of rumbling going on in Red Sox Nation. Manager Terry Francona had a pre-game meeting Tuesday night with pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka and catcher Victor Martinez to settle differences between them. Matsuzaka, who gave up the first-inning five-spot, told reporters that Martinez called too many fastballs. Martinez pointed out, correctly in my view, that the pitcher could have shaken him off.
Matsuzaka has a lot of crust to blame his awful performance (seven earned runs, nine hits, three walks, a wild pitch in 4 2/3 innings) on Martinez, who blasted two home runs, the second of which put Boston ahead in the eighth and removed a losing decision that the Japanese righthander had clearly earned.
Think of how it must grate on classy Tim Wakefield that Matsuzaka and his 7.89 ERA keeps getting the ball every five days while the knuckleballer pitches long relief. Wakefield’s 2 1/3 scoreless innings of one-hit relief went for naught, thanks to Papelbon.
The Cutoff Man 