Sunday, May 17, 2009

Damon Is Magic

The Good

Another walk-off victory for the Yankees, this time courtesy of Johnny Damon. Damon hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the tenth to clinch a series victory over the Twins. Burnett threw seven innings, giving up only two runs. A-Rod hit a solo shot in the seventh to bring the Yanks within one. Mariano, a day after pitching two scoreless innings for the Yankees, shut down the ninth inning with a fifteen pitch performance. AJ Burnett shaving cream pied his third player in a row as Damon tried to give an interview after the game.

The Bad

Girardi let Burnett throw 123 pitches, which seems like an awful lot this time of year for a guy with Burnett's injury history. Perhaps the unreliable bullpen has forced Girardi's hand, but some of our starters seem to be throwing an excessive amount of pitches. This is the second start in a row in which Burnett has been asked to throw way too many pitches. At the same time, Girardi does seem to have his team playing a full nine, ten, and even eleven innings of baseball. WTF?

The Ugly

Burnett should have gotten a win today, but didn't, because the Yankees hate scoring runs in the early innings. Burnett has pitched well for us, his record should be better than 2-1. Our starters, particularly the young guys, need to start receiving earlier run support.

Respect Jeter's Gangster Is for the Children

RJG is donating $1 for every home run hit by a Yankee to Johnny Damon's Home Run Club, benefiting the Children's Health Fund. A-Rod and Damon both went yard today, helping the Yankees defeat the Minnesota Twins, who are in the running for the Yankees' greatest rival.

Jorge Posada 5hr = $5.00
Hideki Matsui 4hr = $4.00
Derek Jeter 5hr = $5.00
Mark Teixeira 8hr = $8.00
Nick Swisher 8hr = $8.00
Robinson Cano 6hr = $6.00
Johnny Damon 10hr = $10.00
Melky Cabrera 4hr = $4.00
Jose Molina 1hr = $1.00
Alex Rodriguez 3hr = $3.00
Brett Gardner 2hr = $2.00
Total = $55.00

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:

TribeGirl said...

My ARod is back...I heart him!

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

A-Rod has had a good couple of days, no doubt about it.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

YES Network has video of Damon getting pied and Burnett answering questions about it. It does seem that it is whipped cream, at least that's what Damon said.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

sorry, YESnetwork.com that is.

Pranav K said...

couple of things -
first, allowing the starters to throw up to 135 pitches is fine by me. Especially since we burned through the bullpen yesterday. I know Burnett's past, but still - baseball as a whole needs to start stretching its starters again. 123 pitches should not kill a starter in the big leagues.

second, wins are a stupid stat. Yeah, Burnett probably cares about getting wins in the long run, but the important thing is that the team got the win today. I agree fully that Burnett deserved it, but the way the stat works makes it pretty irrelevant. Hey, at least his FIP probably decreased.

Damon is the man. Thank god for contract years. And a congrats to A-rod for his A-bomb today - that was clutch.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

I think the game has changed too much to have these guys pitching that much. 162 game season, and guys throwing in the mid 90s just doesn't bode well for pitching longevity if guys throw 135 pitches per start. Too much wear on arms.

Fred Trigger said...

I agree. For every bob gibson and Nolan Ryan. You have your Mark Fydrich and countless other guys getting their arms blown out.

Fernando Alejandro said...

Yeah, Tommy John is almost a requisite for young pitchers.