A long game and lost ground
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Sep 22, 2007 
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The Yankees have had their share of walk-off wins this season. They certainly had chances tonight. But 18 batters came to the plate in the final five innings and only three got on base.
Take away the ninth inning and the Yankees had six hits over 13 innings. Their offense has been carrying them lately and it wasn’t there tonight.
UPDATE, 12:34 p.m.: Just heard that Clemens is being pushed back because of a leg issue and that Hughes will start on Saturday.
Here’s an update on the races:
AL East
Boston 91-63
Yanks 88-65 -2.5
Wild card
Yanks 88-65
Tigers 84-70 – 4.5
Games on Saturday
Blue Jays (Marcum) at Yankees (Hughes), 1:05
Royals (Davies) at Tigers (Rogers), 7:05
Red Sox (Matsuzaka) at Devil Rays (Sonnanstine), 7:10
I’ll be at the Stadium tomorrow. Lots of blogging all day.
After Monday Night:
.
NYY 91-65 -
BOS 91-65 -
.
NYY will then have the Magic Number to 6, as WE WILL HOLD THE TIEBREAKER ADVANTAGE…..and DOWN the STRETCH they COME !!!
When is Kennedy pitching. And I heard Clemens won’t pitch tommorrow coz of some bad Hamstring.
Dice-Loser AND Wake-Whiffle back to back for BoSux Idiots ?…BOS is most DEFINITELY going to be 91-65 !…SCHWEET !!!
BREAKING NEWS: Trolls trying to report Clemens with an injury….TOTALLY WRONG MADE UP STUFF…..( it’s so funny, as we are STILL so very close the La-HOO-sers, they find the need to troll over here on the one night that their team played any good recently ) tomorrow silence will rule again as their 100 million dollar BUST will stink it up for them….they only PRAY the the Dice-Dink pulled a hamstring as they would have a much better chance to win the game, calling up some minor league stiff…..OUT !
so anyway good luck to Philip Hughes today .. Roger Clemens will be skipped tomorrow some hamstringinjury is the report from Joe Torre himself on MY9
hamstring stiffness is what I meant sorry
Having a bad hamstring gives Clemens something in common with half of the pitchers on the roster at some point this year. It’s really been a tough go for the Rocket for the past 3 weeks. Maybe Phil will give another good performance tomorrow. I think that he’s getting it together and showing glimpses of that bright, bright future.
Is Phil going on short rest?
Hope he’s ready, and for the love of all that’s holy, please, Phil, let’s get through your first 30 pitches without a run?
I’m staying up just to see if the Mets can blow a 9-6 lead.
Would like some good news today.
Last 4 Extra Inning Games (San Fran, BALT, LAA, DET & TOR) Yanks have 4 hits, 4 walks, ZERO runs in 13 innings. OUCH!
Rebecca,
Hughes pitched 9/17. Tomorrow is normal rest for him. So much for giving our starters some extra rest.
…Better hope we win our games in October in nine innings.
Well, in October should we get there, we’ll have a starter in the pen who can give innings, so hopefully there’ll be no Brian Bruney sightings.
Uncle Vit0
100% total turd,100% wrong again.
Roger Clemens-S-Yankees Sep. 22 – 12:38 am et
Roger Clemens, who was moved up to Saturday because of Ian Kennedy’s sore back, has been scratched from his outing because of a leg problem.
Definitely not a banner day for the Bombers. Phil Hughes, originally expected to go Monday, will start Saturday on four days’ rest.
Source: The Journal News
Related: Phil Hughes
YankeeJosh- Good point, one of the youngsters (Hughes or Kennedy) could be the long man if Torre wants to start Mussina, or he could go the other way around. There is also one more pitcher who could be a long reliever, a lefty by the name of G.B. Igawa. I think that they should ditch Brian Bruney somewhere on the next road trip, or hire a hypnotist to convince him that he’s Joba Chamberlain.
J-Dawg
Plus with all the rest even Moose could be a long man if the series pans out over 8 days.
I actually would like to see Igawa in relief and see if he’s got anything. But Torre seems not to want to give him a look. I just wonder if he could duplicate that success against the Red Sox in the pen. Maybe not, but I’d like a look.
It’s great to have all of these options and to not be in a mess like last year when we HAD to turn to an injured Randy Johnson and Jaret Wright in the final two games. I truly believe that something special is waiting for us in the playoffs!
Either Wang or Halladay deserved the win, and I wish Wang had had the win.
something special can happen in the playoffs if they can hit. if you are counting on the arms to lead them you guys are dreaming..
they beter waive Joba rules for the damn playoffs…
Not that I want to get anyone in trouble but this umpire sure wanted to go home according to these photos
*BEFORE*
http://users.erols.com/kcoblen.....Three1.JPG
*AFTER*
http://users.erols.com/kcoblen.....Three2.JPG
thanks Tz for the caps
for motion effect right click and open new tab next to each other , then juck click link 1 and then link 2 , no way Betemit struck out.
For motion effect right click and open new tab next to each other , then just click link 1 and then link 2 , no way and watch the BS–__ strike 3.
Good night everybody.
Oh god, Jaret Wright.. Mr. Leadoff-double-then-walk-every-other-inning. I had the unfortunate experience to see him pitch the three Yankee games I went to last year (two in B-more, the other at the Stadium)
The Yankees lost because JT got stupid again
The game could have been controlled in the 7th 8th and 9th by Joba and Mo. The situation in the 7th 0-0 reuired a stike out which Wang can’t be relied on to get and with lefties coming to the late and Wang pitching in the stretch he is at his worst — Chamberlain maybe gives up no inherited runs — at worst no more than Wang Did
Torre does not get it — the best pitcher has to come in to control the game — if needed lesser pitchers might then control an inning or two strating clean – no one on
In the end he used Joba and Mo — but it may have been too late
Biggest plays of the game — Abreu’s throw not the best hop but maybe Jorge was a little shy from the Hinske hit and Jorge going from third — on the Menkie flair foul out
Nice to see ARod hit th eball hard to the gap in right and then get an important hit
I was hoping for a split with the Blue Jays, since their pitching really is very good. Last night was a fantastic comeback in the 9th against Halladay – and a win would have been real nice. In my mind it would have been an extra win, because not expecting to win against Halladay.
ARod looked much better last night, and while except for the 9th, the offense wasn’t hopping, the first 8 innings of that can be attributed to Halladay, who was dealing. The extra innings, though, the game was theirs for the taking with a couple of timely hits.
Earlier in the game, it’s hard not to feel bad about Damon’s caught stealing – with Jeter following with a double, it certainly would have meant a run scored. And Jorge trying to score on the pop foul was ill-advised. But at least they were trying to play for the one run – sometimes it doesn’t work out. A poor throw on the Posada play, and maybe Posada scores. A typical throw from Zaun, and Damon steals second. A game of inches. And timing.
Also, I think Torre should have PH for Melky with Cano on second in the 9th.
As always, the name of the game is baserunners-baserunners- and more baserunners no matter how they get on but also some run producers to compliment the effort. When Yankee bats go south, they go DEEP south.
Another day – another game. Let’s hope there’s run support for Phil and a little used bullpen.
GO YANKEES !
Bart
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:51 am
The Yankees lost because JT got stupid again
AGREED !!!
Arthur F.
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:36 am
Also, I think Torre should have PH for Melky with Cano on second in the 9th.
AGREED
oh, and genius…YOU’RE NOT !!!
we will be back to 1.5 back bay the end of the day !!!
Melky is in 3 for 38 slump, but not once have I seen him try a drag bunt to get on.
If he won’t do it, where is the coaching? If Melky is leading off an inning today, I’d love to see Torre and Bowa take the bat out of Melky’s hands and give Melky the bunt sign.
If Melky can’t think for himself to try a drag bunt, then Torre and Bowa have to think for him.
Heck, Mantle would drag his way on if he was slumping. Melky needs to take advantage of his speed and try it himself, given the slump he is in.
Well at first I thought I was seeing Ian pitch, than he got scratched than I thought I was seeing Roger pitch for the 20th time this year and he got scratched. Now I get to see Phil pitch! Hopefully the pushing up of his start day doesn’t mess with him.
The only thing that worries me about Hughes (and don’t get me wrong, I like him), but he takes an inning or two to warm up, which tends to drive up the pitch count some. There is also a tendency to allow 1 or 2 early runs. The flip-side of that is that once he warms up, then you see 00000, but at that point, the pitch count is higher than it should be, which makes it difficult to go long. SO, chances are, we’re going to have to dip into our bullpen, BUT I hope not.
Too many people ragged on Torre for not managing with urgency and that’s exactly what he did last night and will do for the next 9 games or until something is decided. He saw the scoreboard and knew what he had to do. The quiet bats prevented any right move.
The all important loss column takes top priority the rest of the way. Any loss in the next 9 games hurts deeply. All help from Tampa Bay, Oakland, and Minnesota will be appreciated.
Sherri -
Steps have been taken with the bullpen/warmup routine of Phil Hughes to try and correct his early inning woes. We’ll see how the adjustment pans out and hopefully it makes a difference.
D train – Good news! Let’s hope it works! I’ll be pulling for Hughes!
Was at the game last night….from painful to amazing to painful again…
I hope they hung a naked Brian Bruney from a lightpost at Concourse Plaza after the game. Once the Viz was used up, there were no great options sitting out there in the bullpen. It was a matter of “could we hit their guy before they hit ours” and they won that battle. I was rooting to see me some Yankee Clippard in the 15th or 16th, though. Miss that guy.
Not lookin’ easy these next three. Then again, losing a 4 1/2 game lead isn’t exactly looking easy to accomplish lately. GO YANKS.
So Igawa or Desalvo for Monday….Peter brings us bad news
Good God, how can anyone blame the game on Torre last night?
Its like some of you are robots. If they don’t win, its Torre’s fault. Even when it isn’t….like last night.
They didn’t hit until the 9th inning. They ran the bases horribly. That’s on the players, not Torre.
Geez, he used Mo and Joba for 3 innings. What else do you want him to do?
When you get to the 14th inning, you run out of viable pitching options. At some point, you have to hit. They didn’t for 13 of the 14 innings in the game. That’s the way it goes sometimes.
Melky doesn’t drag bunt because he can’t do it. In today’s game, not many players can drag bunt effectively. Its not easily taught and, in the AL, aside from Ichiro, name me 3 guys who can do it?
The best part about last night was Arod. He looked better at the plate than he has the last 10 days. That means, another hot streak is coming.
With the pitching they will face this weekend, if they can split this series, they are getting the job done.
Let’s not lose sight of the big picture. Its about making the playoffs, not winning the division.
The magic number is 4. Once they hit that, they can begin resting the guys that really need a break.
Ideally, they have a playoff spot wrapped up by the time they leave Tampa. This way, they can rest guys the final weekend of the year in Baltimore and get ready for the playoffs.
Considering they have been playing playoff-type baseball for almost 100 games now, its better they get refreshed rather than making an ill-fated charge for a division title.
Last night reminded me of a game the Yankees would have played in 1996. A late inning rally using small ball. The only bad part was they couldn’t get the win but by the time you get to the 14th inning, it’s going to be craps shoot. I know people want to kill Bruney but they did get 13 innings of good pitching and the homerun ball wasn’t a terrible pitch. Wang was matching 0′s with Halladay, Joba looked great, Villone even looked great. Ramirez was inconsistent but that’s going to be part of a learning curve we need to deal with.
We play today, we win today!
how anyone can blame joe for the loss last night is beyond me.
Needs to learn, SJ44. Needs to learn. With his speed, a waste, and there is no excuse for not knowing how.
Fundamentals. Anyone with speed should work on bunting their way on.
The magic # is not 4, it’s 5.
what is this blaming Torre BS
Yesterday night Roy Holliday had a 2 – 0 lead into the 8th, that’s the best pitcher in the league when he is on. This Toroonto team isn’t no push over remeber they lost Burnett, Ryan and couple of others for the season.
K-Ram came in he threw a 0-0 fastball Georgy can’t start Rios w/ that pitch he is a damn good low ball hitter, K-Ram can still pitch important innings. As for the come back seriously no one thought they would come back, they did & instead we had Rivera for 1 and Joba for 2 IP, the issue w/ Torre should have been if anything why Abreu didn’t bunt Jetes to 2B instead we wasted an out.
Everything was last night stop crying & yapping, we won 15 of our last 20 series and so far we only are down 0-1 in this one alot of baseball to play and no sense in wasting pitchers for 1 game when we have a 3 more game in this series.