Holding Serve: Tigers-Yanks Gamer IV

The New York Yankees kept pace with Seattle for the wild card, helping their own cause by taking another game from Detroit.  Last night featured Roger Clemens' working out of jams and finding a way to hold the Tigers to only 2 runs on 10 hits, doing much of the lifting himself with eight Ks.  Rocket also intercepted a throw two second from Jorge Posada on a strikeout, freezing Brandon Inge off third for the double play.  Farnsworth worked a perfect inning, Vizcaino was effective, and Rivera got the save allowing one walk and inducing a game-ending groundout from Gary Sheffield, who says the fact that he is booed "just means I'm special."

The final game of the series against the Tigers as well as last game of the home stand prior to departing on a seven-game road trip features Chien-Ming Wang versus Jeremy Bonderman.  Wang's last start was a six-inning, five-run no-decision against Baltimore August 13th.  Pitching on five days rest, Wang is 5-1 on the season.  Bonderman is winless since July 13th, though he was effective in his last outing against Cleveland, a seven-inning, two-run no decision.

After today's early game the Bombers catch a flight to Anaheim tonight to face the Halos tomorrow at Angel Stadium, a day off, and then on to Detroit for four at Comerica Tiger Stadium before returing to the Bronx to host the Sox.  Interesting times.

Pete Abraham reports that Joe Torre says Jeter is "pretty banged up"; Betemit is at short.  Matsui is drawing DH duty, with Damon in left and Andy Phillips as first sacker.  Lineups follow, comment away.

Detroit
C. Granderson cf	.288
S. Casey 1b	.287
G. Sheffield dh	.283
M. Ordonez rf	.352
C. Guillen ss	.305
R. Raburn 2b	.341
M. Rabelo c	.267
B. Inge 3b	.244
C. Maybin lf	.286
J. Bonderman RHP	4.65
NY Yankees
J. Damon lf	.256
M. Cabrera cf	.297
B. Abreu rf	.285
A. Rodriguez 3b	.304
H. Matsui dh	.299
J. Posada c	.336
R. Cano 2b	.309
W. Betemit ss	.231
A. Phillips 1b	.286
C. Wang RHP	4.09

Comments

[YF]

Nice pitch for the k on granderson go get the game started.

[YF]

And Casey lines a skinking fastball to right. 2 out for sheff, who gets booed, and pops out on pitch 1 to betemit at sss.

[YF]

Damon line leadoff single to center on a fastball down the middle.

[YF]

No dramatic shadows to help Bonderman today.

Melky fouls off pitch 1 with Damon in motion.

[YF]

Melky tops one up the 1b line, he's out 3 unassisted, Damon to 2nd.

[yankeemonkey]

Looks like Bonderman wants no part of Bobby. Can't blame him...though with Alex on deck?

[YF]

4 pitch walk to abreu brings up alex w/ 2 on. Time to get a lead.

[YF]

2-0 to alex. i call homer this pitch.

[YF]

nope. drilled foul down the 3rd base line. so much for sooth.

[yankeemonkey]

Good thing you're not my financial advisor, YF ;-)

[YF]

though he had a good shot at.

now 3-1. another good homer count.

[yankeemonkey]

3-2 to Alex. Do they send the runners?

[YF]

And another one yanked up the line.

Come on Alex!

[yankeemonkey]

Wooo. Alex walks to load 'em up for Matsui.

[YF]

Bonderman doesn't play with fire 3 times in a row. alex walked. bases loaded, 1 down for matsui. serious dp candidate, but also great contact man for the yanks. something likely to happen here....

[yankeemonkey]

Let's hope Groundzilla doesn't rear his head here...

[YF]

granderson runs down a liner to deep left center. 1 run in on the sac. abreu holds at 2nd. 1-0. Let's go Jorge!

[yankeemonkey]

Sacflyzilla instead. Nice.

[YF]

Followed by Jor-k.

1 run out of that is less than ideal, but we'll take it.

[yankeemonkey]

Well, that was suboptimal. Still, Bonderman's pitch count's got to be around 20 already, right?

[yankeemonkey]

Seems like it's just you and me today, YF. Where's everyone lately? It's been lonely in these threads....

[YF]

yes, ym. these weekend games it's hard to get a crowd these days. and i'm only commenting so long as the kid naps.

fly out to abreu leads off the detroit 2nd.

[yankeemonkey]

Hmm. That's 3 FO against 0 GB outs for Wang so far.

[doug YF]

Hey guys, I don't get this game on TV, but rest assured I'm following the thread. :o)

Kill some worms, Wang.

[yankeemonkey]

And there goes the first worm! Wang and I must have a telepathic connection.

[YF]

harrumph, couple of 2 out singles bring up inge.

[yankeemonkey]

Followed by a solid linedrive single to left from Rayburn...and an infield single from Rabelo that Betemit makes a nice play on going to his left but can't get the runner.

Something tells me Jeter might've waved at that ball as it went through into center. Ie, Flaherty is spouting BS when he says Jeter would've made that play.

[YF]

K! inges swings over a fastball tailing in.

[yankeemonkey]

Wang gets out of further trouble with a K!

[YF]

Cano out on a grounder to the right side.

[yankeemonkey]

Pfft. Betemit down swinging.

[YF]

Betemit waves at the heater outside.

Kay doing everything possible to provide a reductionary interpretation of moneyball.

[YF]

4 pitch walk to philips.

[yankeemonkey]

A 4-pitch walk to Phillips. That's gotta be a first, no?

[YF]

reductive. ahem.

[yankeemonkey]

Jeebus. Now he walks Damon on 5 pitches.

[YF]

Damon with another bb.

Leche!

[YF]

2-0 melkster. bonderman's lost the plate.

should be a good pitch to hit here.

[yankeemonkey]

Time for Melk to smack one rilly rilly hard. Hopefully where they can't catch it.

[yankeemonkey]

Gah. Guess he forgot the "where they can't catch it" part.

[YF]

Ugh. Melkster lines a high fastball to Ordonez. Good pitch to hit.

[yankeemonkey]

OK, I've got to go for a bit. Go Wang and Yanks!

[YF]

Maybin fishing, Ks.

[yankeemonkey]

Back for just a moment to point out how much I enjoy Leiter and Flaherty in the booth (most of the time).

Really gone now!

[attackgerbil]

Matsui's third rib of the game erases Wang's WP that gave Detroit the lead. Tie game after five.

[attackgerbil]

Wang's sinker doesn't, and Rabelo leads of the Tigers sixth with a single.

[yankeemonkey]

Huh. Looks like Wang fell apart for a while there. And the Yank offense is still slumbering somewhat...2nd and 3rd w/no outs and they only manage a sac fly? Feh.

[attackgerbil]

Cano makes a nice play on Maybin's grounder; they get Rabelo at second but Maybin is speedy and avoids the 463. Betemit looked good turning that play at short.

[yankeemonkey]

Here's a question: when Tiggers IBB'd Cano to get to Betemit, why not pinch-hit Giambi? I know it's early in the game, blah blah, but that could've knocked Bonderman out of the game. Unless Jeter absolutely can't play?

[attackgerbil]

Wang falls behind 2-0 to Granderson and is paying a lot of attention to Maybin, leading off of first.

[attackgerbil]

Granderson walks on two more pitches floating up and out of the zone. Credit Maybin with the distraction assist.

YM: I think Joe must really want to rest Jeter this game.

[AndrewYF]

Damn, it's very obvious this isn't the Wang we're used to. It's not because the league has 'adjusted' or because he's not actually good and Brad was right all along - his sinker just isn't working, and it's probably due to his finger.

It's a testament to Wang, though, that he's able to at least grind out some innings. Take away any pitcher's best pitch and you have yourself Josh Beckett of 2006 - or worse.

[attackgerbil]

Another WP pushes the runners to 2nd-3rd. Gator's on the phone to the pen, because Wang is off right now.

[yankeemonkey]

Guess so, AG. But, doesn't Phillips also play SS? Or am I imagining?

Of course they could also shift Alex to SS, put Phillips at 3rd and let Giambino play 1B. Obviously a moot point, but...

[attackgerbil]

Casey takes a sinker at the knees on the 3-1 to bring the count full.

Sean Casey's plate ritual annoys the heck out of me for no good reason.

Now hits a sharp grounder fielded 43 to end the jam.

[AndrewYF]

Phew. Damage avoided, good play by Cano. He has really turned himself into a very good defensive player this year.

[yankeemonkey]

Phew.

[yankeemonkey]

So who pitches the 7th? Do you let Wang go batter by batter? Or bring in Joba/Edwar?

[attackgerbil]

YM: AP has never played short in the bigs to my knowledge, but I like your creative thinking in the second paragraph. It'll probably never happen in the first nine innings. Maybe in extras. If that's the case, why wouldn't they rotate ARod to short _every_ time Jeter is on the bench?

[yankeemonkey]

Perhaps it's politics more than anything else, gerb? Who knows... It's also possible that Alex can't play SS as well as he used to. But certainly it would be cool to try it. Unfortunately, Joe isn't really an out-of-the-box thinker.

Johnny!

[doug YF]

Joba!

[yankeemonkey]

Meanwhile in Boston, it's a good tight game...I was kinda hoping Sox would smack the Halos 'pen around some. Dang it.

[yankeemonkey]

Ya know, a couple more runs here would be *rilly* nice.

[yankeemonkey]

Holy moly, Joba gets the heart of the Tiger lineup in order, strikes out 2 and throws all of 9 pitches in the inning. Just filthy.

[yankeemonkey]

Haha, Kay and Leiter arguing over whether the Chamberlain rules are too strict. I can't believe I'm agreeing with Kay here, you can't risk his arm by pitching him too much now. Leiter is right in that *a* reliever can go two days in a row, whatever; he's just forgetting that this kid is only 21 and has been a starter up until a few weeks ago.

[attackgerbil]

ARod the thief on IRod. LOVE it.

[attackgerbil]

Oh.. it's Rabelo. Never mind.

[yankeemonkey]

Still a good job by Alex on the theft. Now if only they can cash in...

[yankeemonkey]

See, here again with letting Betemit bat after a Cano IBB. Ugh.

[yankeemonkey]

YAY! Betemit says "Pinch-hit this!" A biiiig insurance RBI single to drive in Alex.

[yankeemonkey]

Excellent! Andy "I'm better than Mientkiewitz" Phillips drives in Cano, 6-3 Yankees.

[yankeemonkey]

This is weird: the Sox-Halos game, which started a full hour after this one, is already in the top of the 7th. So much for the Yankees playing a nice quick one...

[attackgerbil]

Johnny loads them with a swinging bunt.

[yankeemonkey]

Damon with a little bleeder that Inge can't get to, bases loaded for the Melkster.

[doug YF]

Here come the Yankees, right on time.

[yankeemonkey]

Booo. A meek groundout for Melk strands the runners. Still, 2 big insurance runs ain't nothing to sneeze at.

[yankeemonkey]

With a 3-run lead, do they let Edwar pitch the 9th? Or do they burn Rivera again?

[yankeemonkey]

Oops. I thought it was the 8th for some reason...

[doug YF]

Ramirez's gameday picture is the goofiest thing ever. I love it. He looks like a bespectacled chicken. And he K's Raburn to start the inning.

[attackgerbil]

Edwar is sick.

[yankeemonkey]

WOW. Edwar gets the side swinging in order!!

[attackgerbil]

Edwar's gameday reminds me of the Church lady.

[yankeemonkey]

I'd leave him in there for the 9th. Especially since the alternative is apparently Villone, yuck.

[yankeemonkey]

Looks like he's done though. Joe can't get through a game without using less than 4 pitchers, it seems.

Argh, Mo IS warming. Grrrrrrrrrrr.

[yankeemonkey]

Ahahahhaha, loaded for Betemit *again*.

And he makes them pay! A bases-clearing double deep to CF. 9-3 Yanks and Mo sits back down!

[yankeemonkey]

Edwar still in. Excellent.

[doug YF]

Here comes "Chicken Little" Ramirez... that has to be one of most unflattering gameday pictures ever.

Maybin flies out, Granderson pops out. Two!

[yankeemonkey]

WOOT!! Yankees win!!!

[doug YF]

Casey flies out to Damon.

Yankees win!

[yankeemonkey]

Right on cue, the Halo meltdown commences.

[AndrewYF]

3 perfect innings for the Yankee bullpen, complete with 5 strikeouts.

Now the starting pitching can take the helm as the biggest 'weakness' of the team. Used to be the bench, then it was the bullpen, now it's the starting pitching, and the starting pitching is as strong as it's been all year.

This team is as strong as it's going to be, heading into the toughest series it will likely play on the year. I am excited.

[yankeemonkey]

Indeed. I have some hope for the Angels series, though. Hughes seems to pitch better on the road, at least so far and Pettitte looked great the last couple of outings. The Moose vs. Lackey game could be ugly, but Lackey did get slapped around by the Sox so we'll just have to wait and see. Sure is exciting to watch right, though.

[AndrewYF]

I predict the Yankees lose Pettitte's start, but eke one out vs. Escobar (Moose faces Escobar, not Lackey), because that's just baseball.

[yankeemonkey]

Oh my God, why is this man getting paid and why am I even paying attention to him? This is Steve Phillips on tonight's SC, talking about the keys to success for the Yankees going forward:

"...Rookie Joba Chamberlain has done a terrific job so far, but we'll only know whether he can succeed in October once he fails...." Um, what?!