Thursday, June 4, 2009

Yankees Take the Series

The Good

The Yankees, off of some timely hitting by Teixeira, A-Rod (yeah, that A-Rod), and Melky, won the rubber match and took the series from Texas. Wang, in an extended spring training game, went 4.2 innings, giving up 7 hits and 5 runs, all earned. He threw 69 (stop snickering) pitches and built up arm strength. He will next face the Red Sox this coming Tuesday.

The Bad

Wang had all of two innings in him today. After that, he tired and his pitches ended up higher in the zone as a result. That's what the Yankees get for mismanaging his return from the DL. Bronny Cash has some 'splainin to do.

The Ugly

MLB suspended AJ Burnett for six games for throwing at Nelson Cruz, after Vicente Padilla had hit Teixeira twice. Burnett will appeal, and the prevailing wisdom holds that the suspension will be knocked down one game. The umpire handled this situation correctly, choosing not to warn the benches until the Yanks had had a chance to send a message. That's baseball. MLB has handled this situation poorly. Burnett was apparently suspended for violating MLB rule 702(c)(3), which states players are not allowed to have testicles.

The Bombs

The RJG blog has joined Johnny Damon's Home Run Club, pledging $1 for every home run hit by a Yankee this season. Today, Johnny Damon led off the first with a home run (way to get on base so someone could drive you in @$$#*%!), and Melky put the team ahead for good in some other inning with a two run shot of his own.

Jorge Posada 8hr = $8.00
Hideki Matsui 8hr = $8.00
Derek Jeter 7hr = $7.00
Mark Teixeira 16hr = $16.00
Nick Swisher 10hr = $10.00
Robinson Cano 9hr = $9.00
Johnny Damon 11hr = $11.00
Melky Cabrera 6hr = $6.00
Jose Molina 1hr = $1.00
Alex Rodriguez 7hr = $7.00
Brett Gardner 2hr = $2.00
Total = $85.00

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:

Raven King said...

Wang was left hung out to dry in the bullpen.
He needs more time to regain a starting pitcher's stamina.

Fernando Alejandro said...

I agree. It'll probably take him a couple starts just to get his legs under him, but he should get better with each start.

Anonymous said...

Hey! Wang knocked, I believe, 2 runs off his ERA with that gem.
We be gettin' there!

Joe

Anonymous said...

Oh, and...

Congrats to RJ!
He was a disappointment as a Yankee, but he's been one hell of a pitcher through his career.
glad he got the milestone.

Joe

Fernando Alejandro said...

Yeah, Randy Johnson is probably the last 300 game winner we'll see for a while so congrats to him. I didn't much like him as a Yankee, but he's been good and there's no doubting that.

Jon Roberts said...

Your explaination of Burnett's suspension also explains Manny's drug test.

Seriously though, I know it was at his head level, but what was he supposed to do not throw at him? If they're going to suspend pitchers so easily they shouldn't let batters wear so much arm padding. Totally unrelated to A.J.'s situation, but it burns me a little.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

The padding is an issue, though we've seen how being hit by pitches has affected some of our own guys in the past (Jeter last year, Swish this year), so I'm kind of in-between on this one.

Raven King said...

I'm dead against pitchers throwing at hitters' heads.
Unless that particular hitter happens to be a troll whose last name starts with a Y.