Monday, April 13, 2009

Yankees Embarras Themselves in 8th Inning

The Good

Joba went 6 innings allowing 3 runs (only 1 earned) in his first start of the season. The Yankees showed some grit as they came back from a 3-1 deficit against Royals starter Gil Meche, and put themselves up 4-3. Bruney pitched a good inning of relief.

The Bad

Overmanaging the bullpen cost us this game. Peter Abraham does not fault Girardi for taking out Marte for Veras since Royals hitter, Billy Butler kills lefties. He does fault him for removing Veras for Coke to pitch to a switch hitting backup catcher whose had 132 at bats in his entire career. I, however, fault him for both decisions. The thought is that Billy Butler kills lefties, sure, but he hit .275 with 11 homeruns all last season. He's not really killing anyone. He has one hit in 17 at bats on the season. He's faced left handed pitching this season, and shockingly has little to show for it. But what really bothers me about the decision is that we paid Marte $3.75 million this season as part of a 3 year $12 million deal to be our setup guy. If they don't trust him to pitch the 8th then why did they sign him in the first place?

The Ugly

Though they eventually reversed the ruling, the fact that the ball that went through Swishers legs was ever called a hit has to be one of the most absurd calls in baseball. Here's a quick and easy guide for you Kansas City ruling officials that read our blog: if a baseball goes between an infielders legs, its an error. Don't over think it, its an error. Oh, and by the way, Joakim Soria is nasty.

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. No homeruns yesterday, but does anyone else feel bad for Cody Ransom? He's now batting .050 on the season.

Jorge Posada 1hr = $1.00
Hideki Matsui 1hr = $1.00
Derek Jeter 1hr = $1.00
Mark Teixeira 1hr = $1.00
Nick Swisher 2hr = $2.00
Robinson Cano 1hr = $1.00
Total = $7.00

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.

7 comments:

She-Fan said...

Let's hope "the good Wang" shows up at the Trop tonight.

Quinn said...

is anyone else getting giddy.. yes i just used the word giddy... that arod is coming back soon!?

Fernando Alejandro said...

I hope so too Jane! Wang's sinker needs to be on full throttle tonight.

Quinn, Ransom has been awful thus far. Girardi says that he's having good at bats and hitting the ball hard, but has nothing to show for it. He thinks that eventually the luck will turn around. I do agree with that. Ransom has had some decent at bats, but still. A-Rod should be a welcome sight in the lineup.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

A-Rod significantly changes the dynamic of that line up. Teixeira is going to see some meatballs, because teams do not want to pitch to Alex. Even when Alex is cold pitchers avoid him. That also takes pressure off Matsui from putting the ball in play and running to first. He's really old.

TribeGirl said...

OMG - I just checked my fantasy baseball and Wang pitched ONE inning for EIGHT earned runs!!!! This is after he only pitched 3.2 innings last game for seven earned runs!?!?!??! WTF?????

Last year I dropped CC when he was this horrible this soon, and I lived to regret it....what do I do people, what do I do???

At least he's only on one of my teams...I have five, and yes, AROD is on all of them. Hmmmmm - I love how you guys miss him so much when he's gone. I wonder who is going to boo him first when he's back!

TribeGirl said...

OK - this game gets even better. Swisher PITCHED and it was a scoreless inning!!! Is there nothing this young man cannot do??? He's outperforming EVERYBODY so far! Looks like we got him for a steal!!!

Fernando Alejandro said...

Tribegirl, I think Wang will recover, the question is when. We have to understand that before his first start this season, he hadn't thrown in a big league game since last July. And since he relies so heavily on one pitch, if that pitch is off he's going to get crushed. I'd give him at least one outing to see if he takes a step forward or continues like this, before you make a decision.