Let's Play Two: Yanks-Rangers Gamers II & III

Two games. One thread. The Yanks face the Rangers in an afternoon/evening double-bill, making up for last night's rainout. In the first contest, Andy Pettitte (1-1, 3.00) takes on Kevin Millwood (2-3, 5.88). Number two pits Mike Mussina (0-1, 9.00), fresh off the DL, against Robinson Tejeda (3-1, 3.82 ERA), who's been the Ranger's top starter this year. Will Pettitte rebound from a crappy outing against the Sox in which he petered out in the 4th? Does Moose have any life left in that arm? Will Roger show up at the ballpark to cheer on his buddies and fuel speculation as to his plans for the summer? Comment here on what promises to be a long day of action.

Update: Millwood has been bumped due to a hamstring injury (are they contagious?). Righty Mike Wood (0-0, 3.86) takes his place. He's pitched 2.1 innings this year.

Comments

[YF]

Lineups for Game 1:

NY
Damon CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi 1B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Cabrera LF

TEX
Hairston CF
Young SS
Teixeira 1B
Sosa DH
Blalock 3B
Kinsler 2B
Diaz RF
Cruz LF
Laird C

We'll see if Posada plays in game 2. My guess is no, but we'll see. DH is a possibility.

[attackgerbil]

Giambi in the field. Hmm. Might need to sneak out to catch an inning or two.

[Dionysus]

This hamstring thing is getting absurd. Actually there have been ALOT of injuries in general across baseball. ESPN at one point did an "All-Star Injured Team" team list a few days ago. It cedrtainly seems most prominent on the Yankees, btu its everywhere this year.

[Lar]

Dio - maybe it's the weather. I play in one deep legacy fantasy league, and there aren't even any spot starters left on the board - everyone has 5 up (max in our league) on DL. It's kind of out of hand.

[Dionysus]

hmmm.. Why is Matsui DHing for you guys?

[Dionysus]

Either Gameday is screwey or this Ump is because that strikezone is all over the place.

I imagine its gameday thats the screwy one.

[YF]

Gamecast says Giambi reaches on an infield single! First time for everything....

[Dionysus]

Man, this Texas team is so bad its ridiculous. Put it up against the Yankees' Godlike offense and its top two starters and its just a joke.

[Josh SF (D1)]

Boooo, redemote Victor Diaz; Pettitte can't find the strike zone and you swing at the first pitch? Ugh.

Wow. They call that a fielder's choice, no outs made. Kinsler pretended to break for home and A-Rod completely bought it, dancing with him long enough for Cruz to reach first, at which point Kinsler easily scampered back to third. Not a good play.

[Josh SF (D1)]

Can tell you that Andy's real wild...this ump is not the issue. He's missing his spots consistantly; this game looks a lot like his last start against Boston, when let's be honest, he wasn't himself from the very beginning. Got worse in that crazy 5th, but he wasn't hitting his spots earlier, either. Wonder what the problem is.

Yanks get incredibly lucky. Like words cannot express...heh. Terrible pitch, absolutely hammered right at A-Rod who flips to second for the easy DP. Young can't buy a hit right now.

[Lar]

Dion - maybe saving his knees for the nightcap and getting Cabrera some AB's? That's my guess anyhow.

[Dionysus]

Blalock should NOT have swung at that pitch at all.

[Lar]

AP doing what he does best, getting them GB DP's. Or luck, for you SF's.

C'mon, let's hit off this guy, what's his name again?

[Devine]

Well...I'd say some of Texas's best hitters haven't hit their stride (AT ALL!--looking at the Gameday lineup) and will probably do better over the long term. Almost any team at full strength doesn't compare to the Yankee lineup, though.

[Devine]

Say yeah, that's a question I haven't thought much about, who has the second-best offense in the majors/AL? The Mets? Cleveland?

[Dionysus]

No.. this has to be Gameday. In A-Rod's at bat, the 3rd pitch.. the called strike.. looks to be way out of the strike zone, yet a called strike.

This Mike Wood guy isnt very good.

[Dionysus]

Giambi (I will not call him by his Sox nick in a Yankee thread) hits a homerun to put the Yanks ahead. AGain, this Mike Wood is all over the place and not very good at all. Just liek evry other Rangers pitcher. Heck, every other Rangers player at the moment

[Dionysus]

And Jorge catches teh Red Sox Virus and swing sat the first pitch in a RISP situation and makes the out.

[Paul SF]

Interesting question, Devine. By OPS, the Braves and Marlins are tied for first in the bigs with .813. The Blue Jays (fifth in MLB) are first in the AL, at .794. The Yanks (.775) are eighth (third in the AL) and the Sox (.772) are ninth/fourth.

[Lar]

The Mets are damn good, but being an NL team, you have to discount the lack of a DH. DWright hasn't even started hitting yet.

[Josh SF (D1)]

"Or luck, for you SF's."

Dude, not a GIDP the other inning when I called it luck. It was a smoked liner on a terribly hung pitch, but it went right to Alex. That is luck; there is no other word for it. Similar to Tulowizki's triple play the other day; if there hadn't been an out already, they might have been able to turn it. I say the same thing when a Boston pitcher gets away with something like that. He's looked better since, though.

Christ, Texas looks like a worse team then KC to me right now...at least the Royals have Meche and (an inconsistant) Greinke. And yeah, Gameday is highly untrustworthy when it comes to pitch location.

Oh...Kinsler smoked another bad pitch. Right at Alex. Poor Texas :-(

[Lar]

PC update - 72 through 4 for Wood, 62 through 3 and change for AP. AP not being efficient today..

[Lar]

d1 - I don't mean it like that, didn't mean to start anything, just saying it was lucky for AP, since well, he's okay, but not ace-form.. so he's getting lucky.

But I would still like to think it's half-skill! ;)

[Josh SF (D1)]

Tough error there for Cano. Ball came up fairly suddenly on him there and it hit the heal of his glove as he ranged towards first. Definitely can't go as a hit, but still a tough one for the 2nd baseman.

[Lar]

Cano not helping out the defense..

[Lar]

And Laird made him work for that extra out. AP at 73 pitches through 4. The bullpen is going to come out very soon..

[Dionysus]

Its ridiculous how bad the Rangers are. I'm not sayign the Yankee offense isn't very good.. cause its terriyingly good, but the Rangers don't take advantage of any of Pettite's mistakes AT ALL.

I mean.. its just silly.

[Josh SF (D1)]

Heh, no I know you weren't trying to start anything, I was just clarifying what I'd said earlier. Nothing lucky about a DP groundball; that's Pettitte's game.

Pettitte with his 4th K. Ump helped him a little with an extremely generous called strike-2, but he's definitely settled in. Of course, it helps that these f*cking Rangers will swing at f*cking anything...

[Dionysus]

Same with the Rangers, Lar. Both teams are going to have a tired Bullpen for the next game.

[attackgerbil]

Melky! Hairston helps him with a slip in CF.

[Devine]

Paul...can those numbers be counted on over a season? Like...I think the Yankees are going to be 1, 2, or 3 at year's end, no matter how they are doing now (considering past performance and given no injuries)...are the Marlins/Braves levels sustainable or are they outperforming their careers for this first sixth of the season (27 down, 135 to go...God, the season is long)? Anyone obviously underperforming that should be better? (Texas...)

[Dionysus]

If it was a halfway decent team against Pettite today, they'd be takign more pitches and getting more walks. Still might be losing as Pettite's goo deven when he's bad, but still...

[attackgerbil]

Damon flies to shallow right center; Melky tags, but Hairston's throw is off-line up third if it had been at the plate, it would have been close. Yankees up three one. Jeter grounds out to end the NY fifth.

Nice, Leche.

[Dionysus]

I'm wondering if the Brewers are really as good as they've been playing as well, Devine.

[Josh SF (D1)]

Good 3-1 pitch. Cano has 6 walks this season. Basically, no matter how far behind in the count you get, throw it near the plate and he will swing at it.

Cabrera gets a double and the CF kicks it away, so he ends up at 3rd. For some reason it goes as a triple; that's a stupid f*cking call. CF slid to cut it off, then kicked it further away when he tried to pick it up. Stupid. No way that run should have scored, and it certainly shouldn't be earned.

First hard-hit ball I've seen Melky have this season; only his second extra-base hit in 81 ab's, and the first was a popup double that bounced into the stands. Heh.

[attackgerbil]

Hairston leads off the Texas fifth. Takes ball one in, and then a strike over the middle. The 1-1 is a fly to Abreu for the first out.

[Devine]

Yeah, I picked the Brewers to break out (like I did last year...), but that seems a bit excessive, Dio.

[attackgerbil]

Pettitte made Young look absolutely horrible on the 2-1 and 2-2 to retire him swinging.

[Dionysus]

Young strikes out.

Hey anyone remember that Michael Young was a freakin All Star last year? He has fallen mightily.

[attackgerbil]

Teix singles back up the middle to keep the Rangers alive. It was a good pitch; low and on the corner but Teixeira did a great job with it. Sammy time.

[Lar]

84 pitches. If he gets Sosa out quick, let's hope he can give us a full 6th.

[Dionysus]

GameDay is INSANE. In Teixera's AB it had a pitch, literalyl almost in the middle of the strike zone.. but called a ball. The need to fix the program, badly.

[Josh SF (D1)]

Game over. Texas had a chance to knock Andy out back in the second, and really, they hit the ball hard enough to put up 3-4 runs with normal luck. But that's not good enough. And now Andy's in a groove.

I too picked the Brewers. And the Indians, and the Angels, and (hesitantly) the Sox. Season ended today, I'd look pretty smart. :-)

[Paul SF]

Since everyone's discussing how bad the Rangers are, I feel bad for 'em. So here's a nugget: They're the best in the AL at getting hits with RISP/2 outs. (31 for 104, .298). It's so early, though, that the Sox have five fewer hits in one more at bat and have a ninth-best .238.

[attackgerbil]

Sammy v.3 swings under a 2-1 pitch that Sammy v.2 would have sent to Fort Worth.

[attackgerbil]

Passed ball advances Teixeira and makes the count full. Don't see Posada blow that very often.

[Josh SF (D1)]

Say it with me folks: "Regression to the mean."

Posada had a better-then-usual year with the glove last year, and he's been pretty mediocre this season. Looks like he has trouble with Andy's cutter.

[attackgerbil]

After a check swing foul, Sammy hits a double the other way to score Teixeira.

[Lar]

Sosa battling it out - an 8 pitch at-bat, and finally drives Teixeira in. Bah.

[Josh SF (D1)]

Very nice piece of hitting by Sosa. Young Sammy might hit it out, but a 2-out RBI double is almost as good. Blalock's up, so the inning's as good as over.

[Devine]

Dio...standings at MLB.com have Milwaukee's expected W-L at 15-12 (133 RS, 116 RA, still leading their division if they have that record, and winning their division in expected W-L). That's more like what I imagine the Brewers being...a 92, 93, 94 win team.

[attackgerbil]

Blalock hits one _hard_ but right at Abreu to end the Texas fifth. Yankees 3, Rangers 2. Abreu, ARod, and Giambi due up for NY.

[Josh SF (D1)]

Hank actually hits it pretty good, but at Abreu. AP at 94 pitches; I'd be a little surprised if he's back out for the sixth...since this is Joe Torre we're talking about.

[Lar]

Blalock with a quick out. Maybe AP will come out to pitch to a batter or two, but long bullpen night! Wood actually only has 83 pitches, so maybe the Yanks got to get to him a bit too, if nothing else, it'll help against the second game..

[Lar]

When it rains, it pours. Abreu cannot even see more pitches..

[Lar]

And ARod's out before I fill in the captcha. Grumbles.

[Josh SF (D1)]

"That's more like what I imagine the Brewers being...a 92, 93, 94 win team."

Agreed. That should be enough to win the division by a good 6-8 games...

[attackgerbil]

Abreu grounds to second, then ARod with a roller up third; Blalock makes a very nice play for the second out.

I've had the Brewers in the central for the last couple years and am still punching that ticket. It's a muddy division with no true powerhouse team. Let's see if this squirrel finds a nut, not to mix rodent metaphors.

Shift happens as Giambi grounds out to the rover 4-3 to end the inning.

[Brad]

Are the Yankees trying to help this kid earn a spot in that vaunted rotation? Holy crap...take some pitches.

[attackgerbil]

I only really get bothered by the Captcha when I'm drinking. I'm always bothered by the Captcha. Kinsler almost lays down a perfect bunt up third but it rolls foul to lead off the Texas sixth. He flies away to deep left center as Johnny settles under it for the first out.

[Dionysus]

I imagine Mussina is on a pitch count tommorrow, so the Yanks bring out Andy for another inning to save the bullpen, actually a very intellegent move.

[Dionysus]

An dby tommorrow, I mean later today.

[Josh SF (D1)]

Also...if Andy Laroche starts actually, uhh, hitting the ball...I think the Bucs will finish above 5th this year. Snell's been great until his last start, and with him, Gorzelanny, and Duke (if he turns things around), there's the beginnings of a very nice rotation there.

And why the f*ck is Ian Kinsler still batting sixth against a lefty? Makes more sense to put the pathetic Hank Blalock fifth? What? And why, after crushing AP his first two ab's, does he try bunting? I HATE this Texas team!!

[attackgerbil]

Diaz barely gets a piece of a sweet breaking pitch on the 1-2 to tip it and stay alive. He then grounds out 6-3. Two away to Cruz.

[attackgerbil]

Cruz retired on the 6-3 to end the inning.

Heading to seven with the Yankees leading the Rangers, three to two. Matsui, Posada and Cano due up for NY.

Did anyone see the Cano error? Was it fielding or throw?

[Lar]

107 pitches. I hope there's no way they bring in back out.

Now the Yanks need to score a few more insurance run..

[attackgerbil]

Nevermind.. just read the thread (which I should have done first) and saw d1's comment on the play.

[Dionysus]

Texas decides they dont want the gaem to be even CLOSE adn sends Whatshisname out for another inning

[Lar]

I just read this somewhere:

"Director of Performance Enhancement". What is the acronym for that?

It's funny. They really should send this guy to the Sox though! ;)

[attackgerbil]

Ron Washington has seen enough of Mike Wood after he gets a flyout from Matsui but then walks Posada.

[Lar]

Here comes Wilson!

[attackgerbil]

What the hell was that? That's one of the strangest two pitch sequences I've seen.

[Josh SF (D1)]

I know it's early, but can we stick Texas into the KC/Seattle/Baltimore tier of suckitude now?

MLB.tv is crapping out on me, so apparently I'm done watching the game. Though it might be my school's inability to properly maintain a f*cking network for more then 24 hours at a time, because everything seems to be going pretty slowly right now...

[attackgerbil]

Melky flies out to right; Jorge holds at second. Damon up with two away, and takes ball one. The 1-0 is a strike on the inside corner. The 1-1 is up, as is the next pitch. It's 3 and 1 to Johnny as Mark Conner comes out to say WTFF?

[attackgerbil]

If you can't say something nice...

I can't say anything about MLB Radio or TV.

Whatever candles or dinnerware they recommended to CJ works as Damon weakly pops to second.

[attackgerbil]

Luis Vizcaino brings his 5.40 era, 1.40 whip to face Laird in the bottom of seven.

Andy's final line: 6 innings, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, 5 ks. Very respectable.

[Josh SF (D1)]

So...I ask this partly because it makes me smile to watch him struggle, and partly because I'm genuinely curious. How long do you leave Damon in the leadoff spot? His power seems to be back to his 05 level--%5.6 HR/F so far this season--we know his back is extremely sore, we know his legs have been sore in the recent past, and we know his shoulder is ALWAYS messed up. He's batting .222, and while he's still walking enough to be an OK leadoff guy...

Have to wonder if Jeter or even Abreu would be better leading off at this point.

[Lar]

That was a nice, quick cough-up.

[attackgerbil]

Vizcaino gets ahead 0-2, then throws a couple balls, and then Hairston rips the 2-2 into the left field stands to tie the game at three.

Andy Pettitte is no longer the pitcher of record.

[Dionysus]

And the game is tied. I honestly didn't see that comign at all. Unfortunatley (fortunatley for YFs), Texas' bullpenb is a joke and will be eaten alive by the Yankees.

[Brad]

House of What?

[Lar]

Flying Daggers?

[Dionysus]

Let's not start that, Brad. Come on. If we can't be at least respectful (I'm tryign to be) we should stay out of their thread. I know we'd ask the same of them.

[Lar]

Woot, Jeter continued his streak. The quietest streak ever!

[Dionysus]

Texas brings ina guy with a 6.57 era to say "Sorry we scored on you guys, here.. take the run back"

[attackgerbil]

d1, I wouldn't pull that trigger yet, but I see where you are going.

Later tonight

*** Andy Pettitte picks up his cell phone, dials Roger.***

Andy: "Hey Roger, you coming to NY or what?"

Rocket: "I don't know. I like it here in Houston. I just wish they could score some runs for me."

Andy: "Oh, don't worry about that. We score _plenty_ of runs."

Rocket: "Yeah, I remember. That's always been the way. So how'd the game go today?"

Andy: "Oh, fine I guess."

Rocket: "Whaddya mean?"

Andy: "*Sigh*. It's just that I threw another QS, but the pen blew it again. It's not that I care about my record, but come on. I threw six full and left with the lead, and they bring in a guy who has thrown every day since March 3rd and is giving it up like candy, and this time to a guy who hasn't seen the other side of the fence since.. man I gotta google it. It's kind of frustrating, kind of like I'm back at a bizarro version Minute Maid."

Rocket: "Yeah, I know whatcha mean. Hey Andy, gotta go. Catcha later."

*click*

***Rocket dials furiously***

Rocket: "Randy, get Theo on the line for me."

[Josh SF (D1)]

"Woot, Jeter continued his streak. The quietest streak ever!"

Heh, I was trying to curse and say something to the effect of, "This streak needs to f*cking end because it went from being underdiscussed to WAY over-discussed..."

But then typepad messed up. My God Abreu is struggling.

[Dionysus]

attackgerbil, please please not to be so funny. Its not fair to the sick guy (me) when it sends him into a coughing fit so hard he can't breath for like 2 minutes, ok?

[Josh SF (D1)]

Ahh. Benoit gets a tough K to put himself a DP away from getting out of the inning, then promptly throws a wild pitch.

Then he gets the GB that would have ended the inning. Instead, Matsui will undoubtedly bloop a single over the SS head into LF to plate the (eventual) game winning run. Brilliant.

[attackgerbil]

Texas issues an Intentional to Giambi with two away to pitch to Matsui? Interesting decision. I thought they must be doing a pitching swap but no.

[Paul SF]

Adding to Damon's passel of injuries is the fact that he continues to suffer from migraines from that '03 collision with Damian Jackson. It's a wonder that he has NEVER been to the DL in his career. At this point, he may be officially hurting his team for it, though.

[Dionysus]

Intenting Giambi to get to Matsui.

Now, Giambi is insanely hot right now.. but I bet Matsui homers just to say "so THERE!"

[Lar]

ARod, ARod, where are you?

[Dionysus]

Really, Paul? Migranes still? I never knew that... wow, that sucks. My friend Sarah gets migranes.. they are nasty. I'd worry that migranes as a result of a collision years ago might be a sign of somethign far more serious.

[attackgerbil]

Matsui ropes a double to right center.

Jason Giambi makes one of the ugliest base-running (and I am being _very_ generous by calling it running) decisions I have ever seen.

I have no idea why they pitched around Giambi to get to a disciplined contact hitter, but the decision paid off. Pardon me while I go throw up about something completely different.

[Michael]

Why didn't Torre pinch run for Giambi?

(Just kidding of course but I can't believe he can't score on that.)

[Lar]

Matsui doubles in the leading run, at least. Giambi is sooooo slow.

I remember during the Hughes game, he should've had 2 doubles, but one he got gunned out at second, the other he didn't try for it (since he just got gunned out at second..)

[Paul SF]

Me too, Dion. And I regret now not remembering where I read that. But yeah, you'd think that migraines from a FOUR-year-old injury might be something worth checking out...

[Lar]

And.. here comes Farns. Ah, joy!

[Dionysus]

Yankees pull ahead. Its Farnsworth in: he kidna sucks, Texas really sucks. I predict Farnsworth wins the battle, unfortunatly.