A New Era: Yanks-Jays Gamer

Gravitas.

This is an historic moment. Let us all take a deep breath. These 70 pitches will forever be etched in our memories. Years from now we will be telling our grandkids, "I was alive at that moment. I even participated in an Internet game thread about the subject. I wrote things such as "LOL", and "So true, Gerbil, so true", and "Michael Kay is truly insufferable", and "Robi Cano is killing me", and "Melky! with the catch!" and "Man, Joba is going to be so good!""

This is your all-important game thread for posterity. It's going in the history books, where Joba (and all of us, even us unknowns) end up. Comment away. 

Per Pete Abe:

Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Giambi 1B
Cano 2B
Molina C
Cabrera CF
Jobamania RHP (Pete's choice. I like.)

Comments

[YF]

The first home run "off" Joba goes to Nick. Bravo.

[LocklandSF]

No pressure kid, but according to Nick these 70 pitches will dictate the future of the Yankees franchise, but yeah, no pressure. :-)

[SF]

This might be the best gamer ever.

[Nick-YF]

Thanks, YF and SF. The occasion is inspiring.

[nettles]

Ugh, not the way he wanted to start.

[Nick-YF]

the Jays are working the count. A walk and a strike out, and now a balk.

[nettles]

Nervous, Joba? Come on, buddy...settle down.

[attackgerbil]

Blame that run on Molina.

[Nick-YF]

the Jays are working the count. A walk and a strike out, and a balk.

Then Molina misses a swinging strike. Runner to third, who is driven in by a ground out to second. Great job Jose

[attackgerbil]

That 1-1 slider to Rolen looked nasty.

[nettles]

Molina did him no favors, but the balk put Stewart into scoring position.

[nettles]

Gonna be a quick night for Joba at this pace. He'll hit 70 pitches in the third inning.

[attackgerbil]

ack. Walked stairs upstairs. I thought the 1-0 was a strike.

[attackgerbil]

Another walk.. okay. That's it. Bring in Kei.

[attackgerbil]

Two really nice breaking pitches to Barajas.

[nettles]

I'll bet Hank has a huge vein throbbing in his forehead right about now.

[attackgerbil]

Punched out Barajas. That's nice.

[attackgerbil]

Well at least that's out of the way.

[Nick-YF]

the strike zone is a bit tight, but Joba is obviously a little amped and off. It looks like it will be a 2 inning start, 3 innings max.

[attackgerbil]

Damon with a sweet triple to lead off!

[Nick-YF]

Damon with the triple off the Doc!

[nettles]

OK, we're right back in this! Nice one, Johnny! Come on Jeets!

[attackgerbil]

Oof.

[Nick-YF]

Jeter doesn't get the job done. Blech

[attackgerbil]

Ugly, Bobby. Fugly, Bobby. Bugly Fugly.

[attackgerbil]

Michael Kay tries to jinx Halladay, who's never given up a dinger to ARod. 1-2 curve nails ARod in the left arm.

[attackgerbil]

GODZILLA!

[nettles]

Banzai!!!

[Nick-YF]

Hideki comes through again!

Michael Kay is truly insufferable.

[attackgerbil]

Love that guy. Tie game.

THE GIAMBI BEATS THE SHIFT! THE GIAMBI BEATS THE SHIFT!

Yankees up 2-1.

[attackgerbil]

Fungo time for Cano. Score it easy 1-3. Blech.

[SF]

Anyone in this thread having Typepad issues? I am getting a weird "comment saved" dialog box but the comment takes like two minutes to post.

Gerb: our administrator control panel shows no funny business, I can't figure it out.

[attackgerbil]

SF: It's on this thread as well. I checked this thread, there's nothing wrong here either. I'll dig deeper and email if I find anything.

[attackgerbil]

Down goes gritter.

[SF]

One other thing, Gerb: I subscribed to comments in NNW for this thread but nothing is showing up. Can you try this and let me know if you have any luck?

[YF]

Almost got home in time.....Nice catch by Abreu and that's it?

How many pitches?

[Nick-YF]

I believe he was yanked after 62

[Nick-YF]

meanwhile Molina's defense is directly linked to the Jays' 2 runs. He's having a lousy night.

[LocklandSF]

He only gave up one hit. Walks could easily just be nerves, as a SF, I wanted to see him give up 8ER in 2IP.

[sf rod]

did kay and cone/lieter (can't tell the difference) watch another game for the first 2 1/3 innings? they keep lauding jobas start. did they miss the two balls hit to the wall by the likes of light hitting marco scutaro and stewart? did they miss the 3 walks in the first? this joba mainia has caused fits of blindness. i don't get it.

[rootbeerfloat]

The Gritster is up with the bases loaded...

[Lar]

So you know, this would've a great time to bring Joba in.. well, before the 6 runs..

[krueg]

I don't know who is more sickening...the Yankees or Hillary Clinton???

[krueg]

Rod: His first outing was just that...his first outing. Relax big guy, the Sox are well ahead of us. What should they do, rip him for being a nervous and not getting a few calls in the first? How about Molina dropping a third strike tip or allowing a past ball to keep the inning going. Did you even watch???

[sf rod]

what did i miss krueg....besides the balk? what did you, kay and lieter see that i missed? he threw half his pitches for strikes, was hit hard on several occasions, and looked nothing like his dominating unhittable self. i'm sure you saw a silver lining somewhere, so tell me about it.

this has nothing to do with sox being well ahead of you. this has everything to do with unreal expectations and fable of "this is how we had it drawn up all along".

[Nick-YF]

I am not trying to be pollyannish here, but I wasn't discouraged by Joba's performance. Actually, it was what I expected. I thought he was around the strike zone for the most part--even if the strikes and balls count says otherwise. The ump was pretty stingy. Add Molina's poor play behind the plate, and it looks worse than it was.

When he settled down--the 2nd inning--he was very good. Unfortunately there was the first inning, which was prolonged for the reasons stated above and Joba being a tad off.

[krueg]

Does it really matter what I say? You are a Sox fan and a hater...plain and simple. Of course the broadcasters on the YANKEES ENTERTAINMENT AND SPORTS NETWORK are not going to rip our young, star pitcher after his first EVER start. Was he perfect? No. Was he great? No. Would he have gotten out of the first if Molina did his job? Probably. Does this first start mean anyone's expectations were/are "unreal"? No.

What, per se, did you expect? The kid made it through his first start...I expect the next will be better. I'm just not sure why you care? Aren't the Sox playing tonight? I say again, why do you care? Why were you watching the YES Network when there was a Sox game on. Were you sitting in your house, just itching with anticipation to see Joba fail? Just hoping and praying that he tripped up so you could come on here and write some clever post? Maybe even rip on the Yankee fans you know at work?

Congrats dude. You rule.

[krueg]

{insert SF ripping me here, even though Rods first post could not possible be construed as anything but flamebait}

[LocklandSF]

For my part, I was watching the Red Sox game and loved every minute of it, checked the Yankees box online every half hour or so to see what was going on, but I also check all the MLB boxes.

But...

"Were you sitting in your house, just itching with anticipation to see Joba fail?"

Yes, that's part of the fun of the rivalry, that's why we are all here to begin with.

I think Joba did fine though, if I'm a Yankee fan I would be encouraged, for all the reasons you listed Krueg.

[sf rod]

cool. he looked good. molina/umpires fault.

i watch the strikezone channel on direct tv. they drop into all the games at crucial times. joba's start was hyped so they showed a bunch of it. sorry to comment.

[Paul SF]

Wait, a Sox fan rooting for Joba to fail? The ignominy!

In all, I don't care if Joba ends up with a 0.00 ERA for his 35-year Hall of Fame career, as long as every one of his starts ends like tonight -- with a Yankee loss.

[Paul SF]

Oh, game's not over. My bad. Heh, saw the score and given the lateness of the hour, just figured it was a final.

[rootbeerfloat]

Of course I was itching with anticipation that Joba would fail. I've got a bet with a local YF for lunch based on who is ahead in the ranking at the All Star Break. And those Yankees are like Freddy Krueger... whenever you think they're no longer a problem, they come popping out of nowhere and eat somebody.

[SF]

Michael Kay just said that pitchers are approximately 50' away from home plate when they actually release the ball to the plate. I am having a hard time figuring out his geometric calculations. If you stride approximately 4' towards home and release the ball approximately parallel with your shoulder while your foot is still on (or just off) the rubber but your hand is ten feet away from that rubber, then you are either on stilts or the tallest man in the world by about 5'. I realize announcers have a lot of time to fill, but come on, this was ridiculous.

And Krueg, thanks for thinking so little of me. I have nothing to add to your comment about sf rod, it doesn't have much to argue with in it - I see no reason to overcritique Joba or the announcers (other than for their lack of math skills as per the above paragraph) since the outing was certainly not a disaster by any stretch. If you want to make a blanket accusation of bias against me I think that's unfair - I was the only person at this site calling out DW (a SF) for his flamethrowing here recently. More often than not we let people hang themselves, and rod's comments don't have much to defend in them; I wish that you could have just left me out of it frankly.

[Nick-YF]

would somebody write something I can write LOL to so that my post comes true.

And by the way, turns out history was made today in the political world. So yes, this is an historical moment, indeed!

[SF]

A man and his wife are doing yard work. Husband says to wife, "Your butt is as wide as the grill." She ignores the remark.
A little later the husband takes his measuring tape and goes over to his wife while she is bending over working in a flower bed. He measures her rear end and gasps, "Geez, it IS as wide as the grill!"
Later that night while in bed her husband starts to feel frisky. She calmly responds, "If you think I'm gonna fire up the grill for one little wiener, you ARE mistaken."

[krueg]

I just don't really care about the Sox or what they do. It's not about the "other" team for me and I certainly don't wish for players to fail. Guess that's just me.

SF: I always have to bring you into things. You started it all those months ago! Should I let it go now?

[krueg]

*rimshot*

[attackgerbil]

> somebody write something.

A man asked his wife, "Honey, tell me something that will make me both happy and sad," to which she replied, "You're the most well-endowed of all your friends."

[sf rod]

nice to be compared to DW. sf and i don't converse here because he finds my comments useless and inane, where i find his self important and concieted. some more rope for the hanging.

krueg- if you don't want to hear peoples critical thoughts on joba's start, avoid the papers tomorrow. i'm sorry that i felt the YES network was doing some snowblowing and commented on it. not sure that warranted a "flamethrowing" tag.

[krueg]

Rod: I repeat...what did you expect. It's the YES Network bro. They're homers. Not sure why this is news to you???

For the record, I have no problem with people giving opinions of his start. But yours was the thinly veiled shot of a hater...plain and simple. "The Yankees broadcast team tried to find a silver lining to a tough first start for the most promising Y

[krueg]

Rod: I repeat...what did you expect. It's the YES Network bro. They're homers. Not sure why this is news to you???

For the record, I have no problem with people giving opinions of his start. But yours was the thinly veiled shot of a hater...plain and simple.

"The Yankees broadcast team tried to find a silver lining to a tough first start for the most promising Yankee pitching prospect in a decade....SCANDILOUS AND UNACCEPTABLE!!!!"

[krueg]

sorry for the double...the old mac is acting up. I think Rod pissed off my laptop too?

[SF]

rod:

We've been through this a lot. What is the point of showing up in a Yankees game thread surgically? Based on your comments, it was to antagonize. If someone came into a Sox thread and called out Remy for ballwashing Masterson we'd probably get annoyed too.

This isn't personal, this has to do with our site etiquette.

[attackgerbil]

I'll call it what it was: One Bad Start.

But that's all it was. It means nothing going forward, nothing looking backward. It was just one outing.

There was plenty of good stuff in what Joba threw, but there were also many, many misses (yes, the ump squeezed a bit, but not that much) that made him look unlike the confident 22 year old reliever that made himself early legend. Instead, he who was hyped to a farcical point looked like the 22 year old rookie starter that he is: flashes of brilliance and a big bag of nerves from the mountain of pressure constant coverage and expectation has placed upon him.

I would hope against hope that the press may back the fuck off. But they won't. And he'll recover anyway. That slider/fastball combo, when he figures it out for multiple innings, will work out just fine.

[krueg]

He still got the K's...some of the walks were off of some real close calls that other umps may have given him and, Molina made two HUGE mistakes. Basically, with all that happened...he only gave up a couple runs. Not like he got hammered like Hughes and IPK. That's what I'll take from it. He'll be much better in the next start and I fully expect him to be a top 3 starter for us in the next few weeks barring injuries...

[krueg]

P.S. Obama for President!!! Go away Hillary!!!

[sf rod]

joba's first start was a bit more than just a yankee game thread. if i was regularly taunting on yf game threads after a loss i'd understand. i don't. i've never piled on after kennedy or hughes starts. listening to kay and al embellish joba's start irked me. so i commented. my apologies to whomever i offended.

-thinly veiled hater / big guy

[Nick-YF]

LOL

[Sam-YF]

I was at the game tonight and watched the first inning from directly behind home plate. Joba certainly looked damn good to me from that angle. There is little question that his nerves got to him and we saw the walks and the balk as a result. Overall his stuff looked good and he settled down decently after the first. By no means would i call it a bad start. It did leave room for improvement. Beyond that, I think that over analyzing his game is more or less pointless. It was essentially a relief appearance at the start of a game.

As far as this gamer goes, there has certainly been a pattern this season of SFs coming over to yankee gamers when our young pitchers had less than stellar starts. YFs around here have reason to be a bit touchy. Ive yet to see the reverse case (the sox have had their share of bad starts from youngsters too) although I dont read all of the sox gamers. If this were occurring, it would piss SFs off too. Give us our space, we dont have much to root for this year beyond the development of our youth. We dont need our noses rubbed in it each time we have growing pains.

[attackgerbil]

I'm glad to hear your first-hand account Sam. On the toob he looked incredible at moments. But six batters reached out of 11 faced. If I can't call it bad, I guess I'll just call it far from optimal. I reiterate: the upside looks fantastic.

[SF]

We all know the "upside is fantastic" already, right? There's no point in using last night's start as evidence of anything, good or bad. Joba has already done more than enough, at all levels, to prove he has tons of upside. The focus on last night is silly, at least to me.

[SF]

and that's not to say Yankee fans shouldn't have been über-excited about the start: they should have been - it was a big moment. But analyzing the start isn't really useful, not to me.