Back to Grinding: Yanks-Rays Gamer III

It was an ugly weekend in Boston, but at least the Yankees come away knowing that even in a vastly depleted state they could easily have taken any one (or all three) of the games against their rivals, and that Boston's big three are at least vulnerable. Or perhaps that just makes the weekend more frustrating. Either way, the Yanks now find themselves four back in April, an uncomfortable but not unusual position. Tonight they try to narrow that gap down in Tampa, home away from home, against a team of young sluggers. Kei Igawa's on the hill for the Yanks, and he'll have his countryman Hideki Matsui behind him, as well as Jorge Posada as a backstop. (Alas, Johnny Damon is out again). Casey Fossum on the hill for the Rays. Lineups after the jump.

Yanks
Cabrera CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi DH
Matsui LF
Posada C
Cano 2B
Phelps 1B
Igawa LHP

Rays
Baldelli DH
Harris SS
Crawford LF
Wigginton 1B
Young RF
Iwamura 3B
Dukes CF
Paul C
Upton 2B
Fossum LHP

Comments

[Andrew]

Alright! Maybe Leche isn't toast after all.

And just as I write that, Jeter grounds into a doubleplay. Bah.

[attackgerbil]

Lechetostada..

[YF]

Web gem from A-Rod ends the first. Onward!

[Andrew]

Milquetoast. Heh.

A-Rod flashes his supposedly lead glove.

[attackgerbil]

Arod down 0-2, then a ball in the dirt. The 1-2: way in and low. Deuces: GONE!!!

[YF]

ALEX ALEX ALEX

The onslaught continues.

[Andrew]

A-Rod does everything! So far, he's worth at least 2 runs in this game.

[attackgerbil]

Line drive that went out over the left field wall. Wowza.

Giambi follows with a double to left center. Almost got the fleet-footed *snark* Giambi at second.

[Nick-YF]

A-Rod is ridiculous.

[YF]

Welcome back Hideki.

[attackgerbil]

My gosh, you can't pitch anything to Alex that even sniffs the plate right now. Amazing.

[attackgerbil]

Oh my goodness. ESPN just broke in. David Halberstam was killed in a car crash today.

[Andrew]

I now plan to read Summer of '49 after looking it up on Amazon, sounds like a great baseball book.

Igawa inexplicably falling apart.

[attackgerbil]

Igawa walks Iwamura in the highly anticipated meeting.

[attackgerbil]

B2B IBBs. yuck.

[attackgerbil]

Josh Paul singles to left past a diving Jeter (yeah, I know). Tie game.

[Tyrel SF]

"I now plan to read Summer of '49 after looking it up on Amazon, sounds like a great baseball book."

It was, right up until the end.

[attackgerbil]

Upton fouls out to Phelps. Then, with two outs, Rocco Baldelli homers to left. TB 4, NYY 1. Ugh.

[sam YF]

hmm maybe hughes will need to stay up after moose comes back and replace this guy.

[attackgerbil]

Full count to Harris; Igawa almost throws it to the backstop. #@#(*$&

[YF]

"Summer of '49" is a beautiful book. If there's a patron saint of this site it's probably Halberstam. That's terribly upsetting news.

[attackgerbil]

YF: I hope the merchandising pays off, 'cause right now his money as a starter looks poorly spent.

Harris swipes second. Good throw but late.

[SF]

That's just terrible news about Halberstam. Jeez.

[attackgerbil]

Crawford flies out to end the inning.

Regarding Halberstam, yes, that is a tragic, horrible, loss.

[attackgerbil]

Phelps with a double, and Melky pushes him over on the groundout. Jetes up.

[attackgerbil]

Jeter strokes a 2-2 to shallow right center; Dukes makes the catch and rifles home. Phelps is safe on a collision at the plate when Paul can't apply the tag. Great throw, great play. Wow.

[attackgerbil]

Dukes has a GUN.

Two away to Abreu after the sac fly from Jeter; bases empty. He flies to shallow right center; Young makes the catch to end the inning.

[attackgerbil]

Wigginton flies out to right, then Delmon down swinging. Iwamura singles a roller in the 5-6 hole, and Dukes is down on a swinging K. Not a bad inning from Igawa there.

[attackgerbil]

ARod rips a letter-pitch to left for a single to lead off the fourth. Wired.

[attackgerbil]

Giambi singles to right; good throw from Young, and Arod slides around the tag at third. Arod slid past the bag and got back before Iwamura could tag him. ARod and Giambi are both 2-2. Matsui up, first and third, nobody out.

[attackgerbil]

Matsui flies out to center; Dukes comes in a bit to catch it, but its deep enough for an advance ; ARod scores on the sacrifice. NYY 3, TB 4. One away with Giambi on first to Posada.

Posada grounds into a 543 to end the inning. Damn, Iwamura is a slick fielder.

[attackgerbil]

While I look away, Upton homers and Baldelli doubles. Kei I-GAH-wa. 5-3, DevilFish.

[attackgerbil]

Crawford grounds out 6-3 to end the inning. After four, it's DevilFish 5, Yankees 3. Stepping away for a bit.

[sam YF]

The wind must be blowing out tonite there in the dome. Shot to deep center for Cano!

[SF]

No margin for error for Wakefield, and the Jays go ahead on a Thomas 2-run bomb. Brutal pitch, brutally treated.

This game is all on the Sox' bats right now, Wake's done just fine, only 2 earned into the 6th.

[sam YF]

another quality start for the yanks. good going Kei. Enter bean....

[Lar]

Ah, we must keep giving a run back. Ah well.

[Andrew]

Looks like we have this year's Jaret Wright.

Heck, with the exception of Pettitte, we have a rotation of Wrights. Har.

It's fine, as long as Bean pitches till the 8th and we get Mo in the game. And then Wang comes back, and then Pettitte pitches...it'll be nice to have two major league starters back to back. Then we get to see Hughes. I guess winning this game'll be a bonus, seeing how Igawa pitched.

[Lar]

Bah, ARod with another meaningless home run against mediocore pitching..

[Nick-YF]

Man, Igawa has stunk. I think I've already given up on him. Frankly, I'm not sure what the Yanks saw in him.

[attackgerbil]

ARod just stroked an offspeed on the outside of the plate to left. Amazing.

[Lar]

The Yanks are smoking. Yes, against bad pitching, but hey, we need everything when we can't pitch!

[attackgerbil]

AMAZING throw by Dukes on a fly to straightaway center from Matsui that should have not been a play at third, but was because Dukes threw a strike to Iwamura. Wow. Anyway, ARod is safe at third on the advance.

[attackgerbil]

Fossum comes high and tight and hits Cano on the hands. Ouch. Looked painful. Juiced to Phelps, who will face a new pitcher.

[Triskaidekaphobia]

Just went to buy tickets for Thursday's game....realized it's supposed to pour. Anyone think he would go Friday???

[Lar]

Cano HBP. I have Cano on my fantasy, so I wished he did something, but this is working great!

[Rob SF]

Arod strikes out swinging with the team down by a run

[Lar]

Ya, well, it would've been another meaningless home run anyhow, because the Yanks can't pitch for their lives.

[Nick-YF]

This pitching is something awful. I'm done with checking in on the Yanks for the night.

[Lar]

It's nice to know that the Yanks don't give up. Unforunately, neither does the Tampa Bay..

[Lar]

Some unclutch pop outs..

[Lar]

ARod with his 14th. Gah, I'm in a H2H league against someone with ARod. It's going to be a long week.

[Josh SF (D1)]

A-Rod explains to Reyes why it's a bad idea to try and throw the same exact 91 MPH fastball by him three times in a row.

[Andrew]

Ugly, ugly, ugly baseball. Both teams deserved to lose this game. Unfortunately, the Yankees deserved it more.

Well, ugly except for A-Rod. He is very, very pretty.

I guess we can only hope for some long outings by Wang and Pettitte (a reasonable request), and I'm not even sure that will save the bullpen. They need a week off. Except for Bean, Mo, Myers and Farnsworth. Those better be the only relievers we see in the next couple of games, I don't care what the situation is. Make Farnsy throw 3.

[Brad]

Hey, at least they came out of this game knowing that they can hit one of Tampa's top three pitchers on any given night, right? I mean, they were more than capable of winning this, or any given game in this series, but as long as they know they put up runs on a team, putting up the most runs, and winning, isn't all that important.

[Brad]

and, let's be real here, it's only APRIL!!

[Josh SF (D1)]

Just to point out, Andrew...Bean's thrown 3 innings the last two days. So he may not be available tomorrow.

[Andrew]

Bean's thrown 3 innings in the majors so far this year. He's fine.

People who I don't want to see tomorrow under any circumstances: Vizcaino. Don't use him for the next three days. Bruney. He was terrible tonight, and has pitched every other day dating back to the 17th. Proctor. Terrible two nights ago, and when you pitch three days in a row you should get more than two days to recover.

Okay, so that leaves, from bottom to top, Bean, Myers, Farnsworth, Henn, Rivera. Hell, use Karstens for an inning if disaster strikes, it's his throw day anyway.

I don't want to see Proctor, Bruney or Vizcaino until Friday. Or Thursday. Proctor and Bruney are okay for Thursday. You listening, Torre?

[sam YF]

Hey Brad good point. I remember all those Rays fans telling us for days how lights out their top 3 starting pitchers were gonna be for this series on the Yanksfan vs. Raysfan website. We showed them. Fossum = Beckett?

[Brad]

Sam, take it how you want to, but the result is the same. And, if you mean that Fossum = Beckett inasmuch that his team won, then yes, I agree whole heartedly. And no, you didn't show them at all. Again.

[Lar]

=P Who else is excited that Wang is finally back?

[jm]

hey brad, shouldn't you be worried about the blue jays? they're going to be your main competition for second place, AGAIN. cling as you might to the early standings, we all know how this story ends. with the sox in second or third, and you not getting laid.

[Brad]

wow. I guess you've shown me.