This day in baseball history
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Jun 09, 2009 
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The last time a team from Boston started the season 6-0 against a team from New York was 1912 when the Red Sox won 14 straight against the Highlanders.
In other news from that year, the Titanic sank, Fenway Park opened and Woodrow Wilson beat William Howard Taft in the presidential election.
The Red Sox won the World Series, the Highlanders finished 50-102.
“Tough season for us,” Angel Berroa said.
The postgame was a bit bizarre. Joe Girardi took the bullet for A.J. Burnett, saying he pitched on too much rest. Then Burnett tried to come up with as many ways as he could to say he stinks.
Yeah, A.J. stunk.
Joe has nothing to apologize for
He trusted his $16.5 million dollar man to pitch a big game against a team he dominated in his career and he gagged completely.
That guy who heckled AJ in Baltimore for his contract and performance turned out to be right lol
As much as I hate to say it, Beckett pitched great and the Yankees, well, were off. Not fun.
Yes, the worth of every contract is decided in JUNE. Of the signing year.
Come on!
Usually I’m not crazy about the berroa jokes, but I LOL’d on that one.
Great way to open up a “statement” (in the words of the manager and players) series. Losing 7-0 and getting 2-hit. First shutout of the season for us.
Andy on his worst day > Burnett
well – did the Yanks do it again – AJ can still turn it around but 4 years and Lowe would not have been bad – Berroa saying it is a tough season ? they are still tied for 1st – anyway he won’t be there much longer
Scouting report on Murphy (2nd RD pick).
It seems he can hit:
http://blog.imgacademies.com/2.....an-murphy/
ANOTHER Day tomorrow people,,,,,,,regroup and get them tomorrow night
Derek Lowe would have been a much better investment. He’s 7-3 with a 3.44 ERA on a bad team.
He is a winner and COMPETES unlike A.J. Would have been cheaper too.
Here’s hoping A.J. brings us some second half magic as he had last year. thats where it will really matter
I’m now convinced,,,,the rational & intelligent Yankee baseball people are now in the minority…..The idiots have taken control of the LoHud…..Their IQ’s are just slightly above the number of home runs the Yanks have hit….In a week from now there will be nothing else to compare them with….Maybe the total number of wins for the Washington Nationals……Pete we need a stimulus package here !!!!
I never tire of the “Berroa is old” jokes. This one was particularly funny.
Tomorrow is a new day. We can beat BOS.
There’s no mystery here, folks. AJ can’t handle the pressure of this rivalry.
Nice of Girardi to coddle the overpayed turd. Maybe he can give him a baby bottle and pacifier next.
Well, at least Burnett is a good pie-thrower.
berroa quote best part of the night hands down
I was really about to go back and check the 1912 roster Pete.
AJ’s been lousy, but if you look at his record from 2001-2008, he’s been a better second half pitcher.
35-39 1st Half
45-29 2nd Half
And the past three seasons he has been 22-9 in the second half. So there is some hope that AJ can get things turned around, and I think he will.
“Derek Lowe would have been a much better investment. He’s 7-3 with a 3.44 ERA on a bad team.”
Derek Lowe is pitching in the NL. He would have been eaten alive in the AL.
AJ has a choice
take off the oven mitts or
bake up a pennant
Tough night for A.J., but he has to suck it up and learn from it. Fall down seven times, get up eight. Or however that Dwyane Wade ad went a couple of years back.
At least Girardi took the diplomatic route. You kind of wonder what he was thinking and what he really wanted to say about Burnett’s performance.
Burnett’s best contribution this year has been the whipped cream pies. Sad.
He isin’t built for a big market.
I hope everyone watched Beckett tonight and will compare that performance to what CC gives the Yanks on Thursday. Beckett did everything a number one guy should do. He took that early lead and put a stranglehold on it.
Let’s see just how much of an “ace” Sabathia really is.
Yes showed a great stat in the postgame aj record this year compared to last year at this time. Guess what they are virtually identical. Only big difference
Hr allowed
It actually played out the way a really cohesive team would have the particular situation play out. Nothing bizarre about Joe taking the heat (and believing it) and AJ being stand up and saying it was his fault.
After all, when Torre allowed Midges to conquer the Yankees, Joba, bless him, said he should have done a better job. Never once did he blame the midges or Torre.
This is a good team that will continue to get better and better. Why make more of it than it is?
And by the way, unless this is your first season watching baseball you undoubtedly know that there are pitchers who absolutely need to go on a regular schedule. Mike Mussina was one of them. Never heard of a pitcher being too strong if he hasn’t pitched in 7 days? Wow.
“I hope everyone watched Beckett tonight and will compare that performance to what CC gives the Yanks on Thursday. Beckett did everything a number one guy should do. He took that early lead and put a stranglehold on it.
Let’s see just how much of an “ace” Sabathia really is.”
I agree. CC needs to step up especially if he is pitching to avoid the sweep.
Even the Mutts and Texas Rangers were able to go into Fenway and win a series.
Brunett was great in the beginning of the season. He is struggling lately with his command, they need figure out whats wrong and fix it. I still think he will go on a run and be lights out for the yanks.
Bottom line if the yanks win the next 2 games it will be a very good series. They can beat Wakefield and Penny.
Boston is just a good, fundamentally sound, hitting team. They take pitches, go the other way, and make contact. Sometimes when the Yankees struggle at the plate, they over think too much. Beckett was lights out tonight, but the old teams knew how to work a pitcher over, this team needs to learn that ability, especially if they reach the playoffs, where there won’t be as many homeruns hit.
Beckett is the best big game pitcher of our generation…. not fair to compare anyone to him.
Unlike AJ, Beckett learned how to become a pitcher and harness his filthy stuff.
i don’t believe what i just saw.
So the Sox took Renfroe as a P ? That I didn’t know. He’s going to college.
We could still win two out of three in this series. We have Wang coming up and this is the confidence builder he needs. And Wakefield’s knuckleball is a coin toss. It works or it doesn’t.
The Angel Berroa jokes never get old.
In that 1912 season, how many at-bats did Angel Berroa have against Jamie Moyer?
“They take pitches, go the other way, and make contact.”
Easier to do when you are 2-0 and 3-1 every AB instead of 0-2. Good pitching will beat good hitting everytime and tonight, Beckett was good.
If you watched the post game on Yes, David Cone had some great comments about AJ. Maybe Cone should give AJ some advice.
We still could have 2 out of 3. Hughes couldn’t go tonight because he is needed for Wang tomorrow. Between the two of them, I predict a probably victory. CC vs. Brad Penny also seems to fall into our favor. Hopefully this was a wake up call for the boys and they are ready to bring on the offense tomorrow night. With Burnett imploding, it made it even hard to get to Beckett because it was so much easier for him to be locked in.
If Wake’s knuckball is on, then we might get 2-hit again, regardless of what Wang does.
How about this offense step up for a change and win a game for us? We can batter around pitching staffs like Texas, Cleveland, Baltimore etc. How about we knock around a good team and give Wang some breathing room?
“And the past three seasons he has been 22-9 in the second half. So there is some hope that AJ can get things turned around, and I think he will.”
I think this is the important point to keep in mind. Lots of people have said that AJ was good last year because it was the walk year of his contract.
That’s really only half true. He was bad the first half of the season – very similar to what he’s doing now.
The second half of the season he locked down his mechanics got control of his curve and was arguably the best pitcher in the AL.
It wouldn’t be surprising at all if that happens this year as well. With AJ it’s going to be something that just “clicks” into place with his mechanics and then he’ll look great.
Again – that doesn’t help the team now – the distribution of how a player performs in important. But it could easily happen.
I blame Posada he is clueless behind the plate and cannot call a good game. Burnett struggles when Jorge is behind the plate. Posada can learn a lot from Varitek. Can we call Kevin Cash back up since Molina is still on the DL.
The Yankees just gotta continue winning series. Win these next 2 games somehow.
Rose
June 9th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
If you watched the post game on Yes, David Cone had some great comments about AJ. Maybe Cone should give AJ some advice.
———————————————————–
FIRE DAVE EILAND AND HIRE DAVID CONE TO BE THE PITCHING COACH.
As the swish says…
” all you can do is shake the etch a sketch “
I give no credit to the Sux hitters
Burnett was behind every hitter and the strikes he did throw, were battered all over the field.
I’ll say AJ sucked and showed no guts, rather than saying the Sux stepped up.
Who are these people and why are they still here ??? Go away with all this negative bs…
Rose, what did Coney say?
I read that AJ “took his frustrations out” on a water cooler. I didn’t love it when Paulie did it and I don’t love it when AJ does it……and I hope he didn’t pound that thing with his right hand (just incredibly stupid if he did).
Again, I will always support the Yankees and AJ is no different – I’m not giving up on him. However…….though I disagreed with Joe’s decision to shift AJ to tonight, I appreciate the fact that he took the blame upon himself…It looks good to the players. However #2 – I hope AJ took responsibility (would be shocked if he didn’t) for his absolutely lousy performance. Now the only thing to do is try and correct the problem and move on.
Why blame Posada? AJ had no control of any of his pitches tonight. He was all over the place.
I don’t blame Burnett. With Posada’s horrible pitch-calling, all the extra rest, and the antiquated Fenway visitor’s clubhouse facilities unable to accomodate his Blu-Ray version of “300″, I think he manned up pretty well.
Factor in that the season is almost 2 1/2 months old and he hasn’t gone on the DL even once, and I think this is actually shaping up as one of Cashman’s better signings.
So what if D. Lowe won his 7th game and Ted Lilly (who Cash ignored in favor of Igawa) threw 6 2/3 shutout innings in Houston? Neither of them throws near as hard as AJ.
AJ was awful, 3-1 on every batter is not going to cut it especially when the offense is lethal.
It’s not a particularly big deal that they lost – particularly given the fact that boston was supposed to win this game with Beckett going today.
This one game changes nothing. Overall this team is playing the best baseball in the entire league. And that’s what matters.
They’ll get back at it tomorrow. If Wang runs out of gas they still have a fully rested hughes to complete the game.
Tonight the pitching match up favored boston and Burnett was terrible.
Next two nights the yankees should do well, unless Wang really doesn’t have it again.
This loss doesn’t change the fact that the yankees are a very good team and only going to get better as Wang regains strength, Bruney/ Marte come back, and Nady returns and Alex regains his form.
That is a load of talent that is going to be coming back into the mix.
“Beckett on 6-0 vs. NYY: “They were playing with one of their key guys down in the first five (A-Rod), so we’ll start counting after that.”
No need for Joshy to be snarky.
CB – that post is much too logical! The bridge-jumpers won’t like it one bit.
The extra rest is a cop out and excuse.
You think pitchers get to pitch on perfect 4-day schedules in October? What if you sweep a series and have to wait a week to play your next opponent?
You need to adjust and be able to gut it out.
Stat of the night
AJ through 12 games 2008 5-5, 4.57 era, opp .264 hr 4 in 2009 4-3 4.89 era, opp avg .261 hr 12
I believe Burnett will win some our biggest games this year!
He has great stuff…
I think Eiland or Girardi or someone will find some small mechanical thing…and he’ll go on a roll.
I think he’ll HUGE in post-season.
So c’mon…take your shots at me…
“Derek Lowe is pitching in the NL. He would have been eaten alive in the AL.”
Derek Lowe, pitched the majority of his career in the AL East. And for the most part, he pitched well.
And if you look up career stats, you’ll see that Lowe has been a better pitcher along with being a proven postseason performer. See 2004 postseason.
He had one mediocre season which people here seem to harp on.
A.J Burnett’s struggles have nothing to do with pitching in the AL East. He has poor mechanics, self-admitted loss of focus, and walks too many batters.
It’s not about “nasty stuff”. It’s about who is the better pitcher, and by any measure, that is Derek Lowe.
CB,
I completely agree and it’s really been that way with Burnett his entire career. You watch him struggle like tonight and you wonder if he can ever bounce back, maintain his composure and get anybody out.
Then other times, his fastball is humming, his curveball is dropping and unhittable and you see why people rave about how electric that his stuff can be. And why teams line up to offer him his next big contract.
You either see things like tonight, or you see flashes of the guy who no-hit the Padres.
Maybe his issues can be easily fixed and everything falls into place without rhyme or reason.
He’s certainly got the talent and the stuff to be a force for the Yankees.
Here’s hoping that tonight is just a tiny blip on the radar screen and that the A.J. that we see from now on is the one whom we saw in his first two starts of the year.
Next time out, do we see great A.J. or bad A.J.?
A healthy Pavano > a healthy Burnett
“The extra rest is a cop out and excuse.”
Puh-lease. Mussina was never able to make that adjustment and nobody (unless they didn’t know their butts from a hole in the wall) called it a cop out and an excuse. Andy also has had difficulty going on anything but a regular schedule.
Try reading up on what it means if they say a pitcher was too strong. Or don’t. Continue to sound uninformed.
“It’s not about “nasty stuff”. It’s about who is the better pitcher, and by any measure, that is Derek Lowe.”
Check out Lowe’s last season in the AL. His body of work over the season was terrible, and he has only gotten older since.
It changes things, CB, because AJ’s performance casts serious doubts about his potential for the rest of the season. I think he’ll have a string of good performances at some point, but I can’t blame anyone for not trusting him at this point. I would have been relatively satisfied had AJ pitched well, but he just fell apart again. The Yankees are a very good team, but their SP just isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. I think Wang will probably eventually be fine, but tomorrow? I don’t see it. Wake is tough – if his knuckler is knuckling, he’s going to be hard to hit. If they get swept, it’s not the end of the world – same if they lose 2/3. However, the Sox always bring out the Yankees flaws….
CB, Thank You for bring a sense of reasoning to the LoHud….Man this place gets weird more often than not lately….Yanks are in first place and we get this lunacy…Yanks are a very good baseball club, and are going only to get better…..
“A.J Burnett’s struggles have nothing to do with pitching in the AL East. He has poor mechanics, self-admitted loss of focus, and walks too many batters.”
This sums it up perfectly
Lowe is also older then Burnett. Not sure I want to sign a 36 y/o pitcher to a 4 year contract.
Night. I know that the most critical posters usually show up and hang around after a loss. I leave it to those of you with the energy to try to combat any over the top posting.
Homer,
Thank you for that. In the playoffs, you are going to be pitching on all kinds of crazy schedules.
In 2007, Jeff Francis of the Rockies pitched on 13 days rest from one start to the next.
Josh Beckett, the postseason hero himself, had 9 days rest between his ALDS and ALCS start in 07. He didn’t start on 4 days rest that entire postseason thst year.
Again, stop making excuses for him. Pitchers in October do this all the time.
“Check out Lowe’s last season in the AL. His body of work over the season was terrible, and he has only gotten older since.”
Again, you’re cherrypicking one season. One. Lowe has been the better pitcher over the course of his career. It’s that simple.
And A.J. Burnett isn’t young. He’s 32.
Are people forgetting that CC pitched on the same weeks rest that AJ did?
Except he battled. 4 ERs in 8 innings. One bad inning but was lights out the rest of the time.
Hey Trisha, the Yankees swept the Red Sox 5 games in 2006, not 2007. You’re wrong, look it up. I wouldn’t even bring it up but you’ve posted how we swept them 5 games in 2007 about 2 dozen times already this year, and the only thing more annoying than being reminded about a meaningless sweep over and over is when someone can’t even get their facts straight. If we had swept the Red Sox 5 games in 2007 I think it’s fair to say they’d care even less because, you know, they won the world series that year.
“IT IS HIGH! IT IS FAR! IT IS… THONG!!!”
Cast doubt on his potential this season? Come on now.
Burnett is 32. He is what he is and is not getting better.
Infact, as he ages, he is going to get worse. His FB velocity will decrease and he still has no change-up.
If you think his contract is bad now, just wait a couple more years
All this loss means is that we’re not as good as Boston is.
Nothing more than that. We’re still the 2nd best team in the AL and are a good team. Maybe not as good as we thought, but still a good one.
If we had Lowe you all would want Burnett. We got embarrassed. We can redeem ourselves tomorrow.
“…but their SP isn’t what it’s cracked up to be”
Alot of that is Wang. He’s basically been a non factor this year thus far. This is suppose to be the number 2 starter.
Can’t complain about CC he’s bee very good.
The rest of the rotation is performing like their slotted to. Burnett even though his stuff reads number 1 type of pitcher, he doesn’t pitch like one.
He pitches like a number 3 starter does. Which is average.
Pettitte looks like your typical back end of the rotation started. He’s been more bad then good.
I’m one of the few that wanted Hughes in the rotation in the off-season and let Pettitte retire.
Joba is the only starter that’s actually pitching better then where he’s slotted in the rotation.
Well, My Lakers plus 4 just was washed away with .2 seconds left…….Ouch
Carl, AJ has collapsed twice now against the Sox. I firmly believe he is better than that, but he has yet to prove that. Kicking the water cooler? I like players who have emotion, but I think AJ needs to get his under control. My real point is that he has a lot of work to do to get back to being the pitcher he was in the 2nd half of last year. Right now, the Yanks can’t really trust him……
Right on cue, here’s Klapisch with an article about how there is a huge gap between the Sox and Yanks. I believe the Sox are better………but a huge gap? No sports radio tomorrow for me, lol
BS. 6 wins in a row will redeem, nothing less. BS again. Can’t hit, Can’t pitch, Can’t win. First place won’t mean anything in a beat down in the play-offs.
i meannnn….it’s funny and all…..but he’s only 31. he’s one of the youngest guys on the team.
Move AJ to the pen and use Hughes in the rotation
AJ’s stuff would be dynamite coming out of the pen
Today is also the date of Ted William’s longest home run at Fenway Park where he hit a ball over 500 feet landing on a Yankee fan’s head.
the only starter with more walks then the pie man is fausto carmona.
the guy is all bark and no bite. maybe he can get another tattoo to show how tough he is.
he cannot throw strikes. the guy has been pitching probably for 18 years and still cannot throw strikes… he is nothing…………
Trevor, CC is a stud……no doubt. He hasn’t pitched GREAT thus far (except in a few starts), but he’s a horse. The other comments…….true enough. I do think the Sox’ rotation is better, which is a problem when you combine it with their outstanding pen.
Phil wasn’t (and still isn’t) ready for a full time role in the rotation, but he’s getting very close…..He just needs to go down to AAA after Bruney returns so we can (a) get innings and (b) work on putting together a good 3rd pitch. He has made tremendous progress this year – I’m as excited about him as I’ve ever been.
hahahahaha! Nice jab at Angel. That was really funny!
AJ was cursing on the mound in that Angels start I think it was
Nor surprising he is kicking water coolers. He has always been a hot-head. I guess now we know he can’t channel his emotions in a positive way.
Pat M: another push? I did a Lakers/over teaser to hedge my hedge.
Sox have a better rotation and a MUCH better bullpen than us.
And head-to-head, our offense has disappeared in all but one game. They have crushed all of our pitchers, our HOF closer, and our bullpen.
So, yes the gap is pretty wide at the present time.
Betsy
Cone basically said that a good pitcher has to make adjustments during the game and AJ made none.
The blind spot so many (including our decision-makers) have for Burnett is maddening.
This bum has won more than 12 games exactly one time in his 10-year career. He’s made more than 30 starts exactly twice. He pitched to a 4 ERA last year and inexplicably was gifted a king’s ransom of a contract.
He doesn’t compete, on or off the mound, and he’s made a career of sailing along with dominant stuff for 4 or so innings only to melt into a puddle of flop sweat at the first sign of trouble. He generally follows that up with a phantom injury and a six week sabbatical.
Worst of all, he’s 32 years old, not 22. A life-changing contract isn’t going to magically alter his mindset, no matter how much we’d like it to be so.
How anyone could think bringing a guy like this to a team that plans to compete for a title I’ll never understand. In a career defined by horrible pitching decisions, this will go down as Cashman’s all-time worst.
Interestingly, prior to last season, the most wins Burnett had ever recorded was 12…
If you look over his stats for the last 3 years, you’ll find many games where he gave up more runs than you’d think from someone with his kind of stuff…
Last year alone, by my count, he gave up 4 or more runs in 11 of his 35 starts–that’s almost 1/3 of his starts…
Perhaps we just expect too much from the pie maker…
stuart,
Rarely agree with you, but you are 100% right.
Pie Man has no control at all. And when he does throw strikes, the other team gets extra base hits of it.
He is a headcase. Million dollar arm, 10 cent head.
“Cone basically said that a good pitcher has to make adjustments during the game and AJ made none.”
He adjusted his cup after the Papi homer. That was it.
Burnett just does not have pitching aptitude. Hughes and Joba have more than him and are 10 years younger. They can probably offer him more tangible advice than Burnett can offer them.
If Boston is so much better in the pitching department, then how is it they are tied with the Yanks ???
The funny part is that he sacrificed velocity so he could get command, and his command has considerably gotten worse.
His fastball hasn’t been overpowering at all in weeks, and he can’t throw strikes with it either. It may help him stay healthy, but it sure as hell ain’t helping him pitch like he used to.
Doc Halladay can do it because he has 5 different pitches, pinpoint control, and sick movement. I really don’t see what advice Halladay can give AJ. Halladay is a pitcher, Burnett is a thrower… now a thrower who decided to stop throwing. So what is he now exactly?
Thanks, Rose…………
If you had to win 1 game, which of these 3 pitchers would you trust the most right now?
Wang
Burnett
Aceves
Whom do you start?
What adjustments can Burnett make?
He is a 2-pitch pitcher. His fastball isin’t what it used to be either. If one pitch isin’t working, he is dead. Where else does he go?
Until he throws a change-up or something, this is what AJ is.
Dynasty,
Aceves
Wang
Burnett
In that order.
Aceves had a bull-dog mentality. You know he will battle.
Gates,
My thinking exactly…I don’t know if Aceves will continue to excel at this level, but my gut says he will…
Isn’t it typical though?
Burnett dominated the Sox as a Blue Jay, then he comes here and now he can’t get them out at all. That’s what happens when you chase guys for the wrong reasons.
Nice to see us make an error in 7 straight games after the errorless streak ended.
When they see the Sux, they can’t pitch, hit, or field. The one game they did hit (Beckett last time), they gave up 16 runs.
Burnett’s next assignment?
Sunday vs. Santana and the Mets
Yippy! Another big game for him to gag in.
Even Joba knows how to battle. Hughes has also gotten much better in that department after that Baltimore game.
AJ has no idea how to. When he doesn’t have his command or his CB working, he is dead.
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.....id=3336424
2nd half Burnett last year.
I can’t give up on him yet I’m sorry.
I hope Burnett serves his suspension for that game and we get the Hughes vs. Santana matchup that LoHud has been demanding for two years!
Yanks are 7-5 in games started by Burnett.
They are 6-6 in games started by CC.
What are these off the field issues that mlb.com mentioned about Heathcott? I hope that laptops aren’t involved.
His Dad is in jail, and he doesn’t talk to his Mom anymore because of drug related problems.
mark h,
Thanks. As long as they’re not character issues.
Although we have to look past the Boston fan thing.
http://riveraveblues.com/2009/.....ick-12830/
Nice write up about Slade, and mentions the problems.
Heathcott has to be a signy new toy before he can be a shiny new toy.
Nick in SF….Young Master Hughes vs. Johan Santana would be fitting on so many levels……I needed that Laker game to wash the Yankee loss……2/10 of a second on the clock and they blow the whistle…….
Yeah, AJ stunk
Yeah Becket was on
Yeah Ding Dong Wang may be going tomorrow
but….
Even if we get swept we will only be 2 games back. And if we win 1 game we will be even and if we win the next two games, we will be 2 games ahead.
“Tough season for us,” Angel Berroa said.
Thanks, Pete! I needed that.
Still chuckling…
hahahaha the angel berroa comments always kill me. You sneak em in there and its hilarious every time haha
Pete,
I love the Angel Berroa jokes, this one was the funniest though. What are we going to do when he gets cut? Who is the next subject of all the jokes?
Keep up the good work, at least you gave me a reason to smile, I HATE losing to the Red Sox, especially Josh Prickett.
Im tired of reading people saying last nite was OK, we were supposed to lose to Beckett…Its only one game…AJ will be better the 2nd half. Screw that. Hes getting paid way too much money to lay eggs on the mound with Boston. We havent even one a game against Boston yet. Its not acceptable and shouldnt be to any die hard Yankees fan. AJ should be booed next time hes at the stadium. Its not OK to lose to Boston, let alone 6 straight games. Yankees hitters need to find a way to get some hits too, but it starts with your pitchers. I think AJ is a mental midget.
AJ: Once a Yankee killer, always a Yankee killer.