Sunday, April 27, 2008

Ace Rematch Ends in Win

The Good

Wang pitched 7 shutout innings with 9 strikeouts. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Wang has been striking out a lot more batters than usual. The Chamberlain-Rivera Express pitched another 2 perfect innings and each struck out 2. I'm really hurting on the bullpen/rotation debate with Chamberlain. I think long term he should be in the rotation, but right now, we have no one we can give the ball to in close games. Is that game won with Latroy Hawkins, Kyle Farnsworth, or Jonathan Albaladejo pitching the 8th?

Anyway, more good....Melky hit another homerun, which puts him in a tie for the team league with Jason Giambi. If you see them standing next to each other, it looks like Giambi could eat Melky. Jeter hit a double in the game, but they couldn't do anything with it.

The Bad

Although they were facing a tough pitcher, this Yankee lineup produced 4 hits, 2 for extra bases. You won't win a lot of games like that. Cano was ugly on the base paths too. Shelley went 0-4 with 2 strikeouts bringing him below .100 for the season.

The Ugly

Sabathia yelled at Cabrera for looking at his homerun too long. That's the second time this season an ace pitcher has given up a homerun to Cabrera and then yelled at him for looking at it. That's also two homeruns for Cabrera off two team aces that have won games for the Yankees. But big boys don't cry Sabathia. Instead, they hit homeruns off ace pitchers. Also, Posada is heading to the DL with a tear in his shoulder. There's no indication how long he'll be out, but its expected he'll be out long.


Respect Jeter's Gangster is for the Children

The "Respect Jeter's Gangster" blog joined Johnny Damon's homerun club, which raises money for the Children's Health Fund. We are pledged to donate $1.00 for every homerun the Yankees hit this season. We will keep a running tally of the homeruns hit and the money donated throughout the season. Melky Cabrera hit yet another homerun today as he continues his pursuit of the hallowed Derek Jeter single season homerun record, set by Derek Jeter. That was all the offense the Yankees needed:

Melky Cabrera 5hr = $5.00
Alex Rodriguez 4hr = $4.00
Hideki Matsui 3 hr = $3.00
Bobby Abreu 3hr = $3.00
Jorge Posada 1hr = $1.00
Jason Giambi 5hr = $5.00
Johnny Damon 3hr = $3.00
Morgan Ensberg 1hr = $1.00
Robinson Cano 1hr = $1.00
Chad Moeller 1hr = $1.00
Total = $27.00

If you are interested in Johnny Damon's Homerun Club or the Children's Health Fund you can find links to both at the top right hand corner of our page.

6 comments:

michael kei said...

Melky has been ridiculous so far this season. I really hope he does not slow down at all... He's looking more and more like 5-tool player.

Fred Trigger said...

I bet if that was MANRAM that hit that homerun and watched it, Sabathia wouldnt have had much to say. Honestly, I think its dumb to sit there and admire a homerun, but then, if I ever hit a ball that far off of a major league pitcher, I guess i would do the same thing. He probably didnt like a young player showing him up, but, if you dont want to get shown up, dont give up the home run. Does anyone find it weird that, in Wangs first couple of seasons he pitched to contanct and didnt strike out anyone, but now hes striking out 9 in one outing. I mean, WTF, he still looks like hes pitching the same way to me. its just kind of weird, because I remember him being towards the bottom of the pack in K/9in. Now hes like a strikeout machine (maybe slightly exaggerating). Whatevs, Red Sox need to get there shit together.

michael kei said...

Wang is getting off of his sinker more and mixing in those other pitches, hence the major K/9 difference. Check out these stats:

6.23 K/9
2.45 K/BB
1.37 GO/AO

Compared to last year...

4.70 K/9
1.76 K/BB
2.36 GO/AO

Fernando Alejandro said...

Wang's been using his slider and splitter more, which get more swing and misses.

And I agree, he wouldn't have said anything had it been Manny. I don't care if someone stops to look to see if they got enough of it, but its when they slam their bat down and stand their for a second before slowly starting to jog to first when it becomes classless.

Fernando Alejandro said...

Man, Michael Kei, after all this time, you never bothered to tell us you had a blog? I just added you to our blog list.

michael kei said...

Oh yea sorry. It's with a bunch of other fellahs. Never bothered pushing it on anyone.