Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Bronx Bombers Bomb This One

The Good

At least Johnny Damon showed up to play. He went 2-4 with 2 homeruns. If there was any doubt about Damon and his Red Sox roots, I think they should be gone now. Robertson-Ramirez-Britton combined for 3 innings of scoreless relief. Jeter and Abreu both had a pair of hits.

The Bad

Andy Pettitte lasted 4.2 innings and gave up 6 runs off 10 hits and 3 walks. It wasn't all his fault as outlined in the ugly. The offense was also bad reverting to not-hitting with runners in scoring position as they've done for the majority of the season.

The Ugly

I'm not sure what was uglier, so I'll let you decide. First, there's Alex Rodriguez. The man went 0-5 and grounded into 2 double plays including a bases loaded situation, and struck out in the 9th with one on to end the game. He has been absolutely horrible in the clutch this season. Giambi was equally bad going 0-4. I think its time the Yankees move Nady to the 4 spot. He's been the most consistant hitter of late and with Damon, Jeter, and Abreu getting regular hits, we need someone who won't strikeout or ground out every at bat.

Also ugly was homeplate umpire Jim Reynolds. The man's strikezone was inconsistant all game. If I had to venture a guess, I would either say he had money on the game or was intoxicated. Low strikes and corners were regularly given to Wakefield and called outside or low for Pettitte. You can't argue balls and strikes with umpires but I hope there's some sort of committee that looks into this crap. If someone can't call a game they should be back in the minors harrassing 18 year olds about their strikezone.

Respect Jeter's Gangster is for the Children

The "Respect Jeter's Gangster" blog joined Johnny Damon's home run 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 home runs hit and the money donated throughout the season. Damon hit 2 homeruns against his former team. Too bad other Yankees didn't share his ethusiasm for beating the Red Sox.

Melky Cabrera 8hr = $8.00
Alex Rodriguez 28hr = $28.00
Hideki Matsui 9 hr = $9.00
Bobby Abreu 15hr = $15.00
Jorge Posada 3hr = $3.00
Jason Giambi 25hr = $25.00
Johnny Damon 11hr = $11.00
Morgan Ensberg 1hr = $1.00
Robinson Cano 12hr = $12.00
Chad Moeller 1hr = $1.00
Wilson Betemit 5hr = $5.00
Derek Jeter 8hr = $8.00
Shelley Duncan 1hr = $1.00
Xavier Nady 8hr = $8.00
Jose Molina 2 hr = $2.00
Ivan Rodriguez 1hr = $1.00
Richie Sexson 1hr = $1.00
Cody Ransom 2hr= $2.00
Total = $140.00

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.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

damon and x man did well. a rod look so bad last night that i think melky might have done better.. need to win the next two. stay gangster

Go yanks

Anonymous said...

You can't argue balls and strikes, but you can argue an inconsitent strikezone. Girardi did that last night, along with Molina and Pettitte, and the zone did improve a little, but it was too little too late. Then A-Rod and Giambi made it so that we didn't have a chance. Games like last night remind me of why Torre batted him eigth. Giambi's OBP in August is .309! Cano's is .352 (same as what he did in July). Giambi needs to be moved down. This is no time to take care of egos, and Giambi is one foot out the door anyway.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

That strike zone was pretty horrid, but you gotta be able to deal with it. I guess its tough for some vets because they are a little more established in terms of what they do on the mound. It's one thing to adjust to a hitter. It's another to suddenly have to throw pitches in a dif. strike zone.

A-Rod was terrible. No way around it. But so was just about everyone else. Nady's a gamer. Damon showed up. That's about it.

Anonymous said...

roberto:

Jeter and Abreu both had 2 hits, so the top 3 in the lineup were hitting, then A-Rod and Giambi killed it. Everyone in the lineup had a hit last night, except for A-Rod, Giambi, and Pudge. The lineup, as we've seen most of the season, set up every chance to win, daresay even blow it open, but the big blow just never happened, thanks in large part to those two double plays, especially with the bases loaded.

As for the strikezone, pitchers go into the game with a certain plan on how to pitch to certain batters. They count on establishing where the corners are early on so that they can adjust. Most umpires are similar enough, giving or taking a little, but the better umpires maintain a consistent zone. You couldn't figure out last night whether a pitch on the corner was going to be called a strike or not, and that makes things so much tougher for someone who depends on hitting the corners, like Pettitte does at this point. It didn't affect Wakefield so much (though he should've been lit up) because he doesn't depend on location, he doesn't even know where it's going.

Fernando Alejandro said...

I agree. The consistancy is what killed it. Pettitte was hitting his corners and they were called balls. I didn't like it, but I figured as long as he calls it the same for Wakefield I'm okay. Wakefield's first two pitches were called strikes and they were both on the corners where Pettitte had been throwing. It was incredible. Then Pettitte couldn't get the strike at the knees, which Wakefield was getting consistantly. Then from inning to inning the strike zone would shift. It was awful.

And the thing with the offense is that with Giambi, he's batting under .200 against Wakefield so I didn't expect much from him, but knowing that, wouldn't you bat him lower in the lineup? And A-Rod needs to get out of the 4 spot. Nady's earned his shot there.

Chris Quinn said...

i personally think that the ump was squeezing the plate bad. but it happens. sox just got kotsay. i dont think he is as good as nady. they NEED to win these next two. if not then i will probably just cry myself to sleep at night in october.

Fernando Alejandro said...

Yeah, Kotsay's serviceable but not much more than that. Not a threat.

They do gotta take these games. I would love it if they would turn things around and play good baseball, but if they haven't done it all season why would they start now? If they come back to take the wild card, it will be an amazing story.

Steve said...

I hate to blame the umps but last night was awful. The plate was squeezed and the play at third was blown. When Sept 1 comes around and the roster is expanded I hope they plan on sitting the old guys and playing some youth.