Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Yankees Hurt Oakland's Feelings

The Good

Javier Vazquez notched his first win of the season, and he did it without infertility drugs. While he only pitched 5.1 innings, and his fastball is still his change-up, he managed to hold the As to only three runs. A-Rod hit a home run, Swisher had a 2 RBI single, Teixeira had a hit, and Cano walked THREE times. I wouldn't go outside if I were you, there's probably four horsemen riding around out there.

The Bad

The three runs by Oakland all came on home runs. While the damage was obviously limited, you have to worry about a pitcher given to the long ball, especially after what happened in 2004. Hopefully, once Javy has his fastball and mechanics sorted out, this will be less of an issue.

The Ugly

The Yankees, a veteran team, laid a seven run beat down on the younger Oakland Athletics. "It wasn't fair," explained one distraught member of the Athletics. "They're older than us, and they used that to their advantage. We don't like playing with the bigger kids."

Examples of the Yankees using their age to their advantage included several instances of Yankees players holding As at bay by placing their hand on the A's player's head while the poor A's player swung away wildly, unable to make contact. The Yankees also ate ice cream in the presence of the As, refusing to share. The As, who have enjoyed a recent run of success, left the field hurt and whimpering.

One of A-Rod's Non-Blonde Bombshells

A-Rod was the only player with a home run in last night's game. He know has a lot of them in his career.

Posada 3hr = $3
Granderson 2hr = $2
Cano 4hr = $4
Swisher 1hr = $1
Jeter 3hr = $3
Johnson 1hr = $1
Rodriguez 2hr = $2
Teixeira 1hr = $1
Total = $17

11 comments:

Rich Mahogany said...

RJG is now the first place I go for game recaps. RJG provides much better recaps than my original first choice, www.rachelray.com. Keep up the good work guys.

cheshirecat9 said...

I noticed that that umpire getting hit in the face really delayed the game and caused it to be longer then necessary.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

I'm sure Joe West called him to complain as soon as he heard about it.

Thank you, Rich. We've been competing with Rachel Ray for years, and to know we've finally one-upped her is quite satisfying.

lady gaganonymous said...

That game seemed way more stress-inducing than a 7-3 game should be. Maybe it was the late night, the umpire dying, the fact that Oakland actually got the tying run to the plate...

Also, Javy really should have gone 5.2 innings with 2 runs. Not catching that fly ball was bad, but won't happen very often. Weird that he didn't give up any HRs in Yankee Stadium but he gave up two in Oakland. That's what happens when you're a flyball pitcher, though, I guess.

A-Rod's home run wasn't a home run, it was A FREAKING BOMB. Good lord.

At one point in the game, I think when Oakland couldn't complete the double play on Posada in maybe the seventh? because the 1B bobbled the ball or the 2B threw wide or something (this wasn't the first inning error/non-error that gave Jorge an infield hit), and they showed Jorge "busting down the line." OH MY GOD. I could not stop laughing. HE IS SO SLOW.

Word verification: "asshorper"

lady gaganonymous said...

Oh, and Joba looked the best he's looked in like forever and I would have sent him out for the ninth. But noooo, Joe had to for some reason paranoid-edly use Mo in a four-run game. Between that and Ron Washington (who used cocaine) sending out the awful Frank Francisco to pitch the bottom of the ninth in Fenway, I have to wonder if any manager anywhere knows how to use a closer properly.

Rich Mahogany said...

But Javy also managed to catch and turn a double play on a ball that was ticketed for CF and could have taken his head off.

The Barton error that allowed Posada to reach was especially terrible considering Posada's glacial speed. Barton tried to make the play as if Ichiro was the batter. It's Jorge, you can take your time.

Girardi can engage in Torre-esque mixing and matching, but it hasn't become a problem yet. RAB observes that the Yankees have made 33 relief appearances so far, good for fewest in the league, and Yankee relievers record about a league-average number of outs per appearance.

Ron Washington just fell victim to the inexplicable fact that Red Sox callups and scrub replacements turn into Jimmie Foxx when they reach Fenway. Remember Nick Green batting .350 as Lugo's replacement?

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

Watching that Vazquez play in real time is insane. Everything happens so fast, it's just not the Yankee way.

The BoSox sure do find a way of getting as much out of their replacement players as possible. Granted, the Rangers are sloppy enough to make almost anyone look much more competent than they actually are.

Dylan said...

It really is remarkable how slow Posada is. I understand he's old and he plays catcher, but seriously. I'm a little embarrassed for him every time I see him run.

lady gaganonymous said...

Rich - I saw that post on RAB. It was good, as their content generally is. I think so far Girardi's had a reallllyyyyy quick hook to go to Mo, but I've gotta believe that later in the season when the Yankees have a tremendous lead in the division ;) he'll let the old guy get some rest.

Meanwhile, over on NYYFans they're already saying Girardi is Proctoring Mo. And they've blamed it all on Dave Eiland. What is "it"? I don't quite know. But it's Dave Eiland's fault!!!!!!

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

There's no way that the Yanks are 'proctoring' Mo. He hasn't been used on consecutive days and I'm pretty sure he's thrown like 34 pitches this season. These guys are particularly cautious with their pitchers and do not have a history of abusing relievers (Girardi does have a history of abusing starters but he seems to have learned from that. Case in point, CCs no-no).

Rob B said...

It only seems that Girardi is Proctoring Mo because the Yankees are actually managing to win in April for once.

Also, Girardi does a lot of mixing and matching; but he does it with everybody in the 'pen. Torre always had his guys that he would pitch until their arm fell off, while the other half of the 'pen were ignored.