Heading for a showdown in Tampa Bay
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Misc on Sep 13, 2010 
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Based on the group gathered around Gate C27, roughly half of the 8:15 flight to Tampa is going to be filled with Yankees beat writers. Not among us is Mark Feinsand, who last night wore a Redskins jersey into a Dallas restaurant for the Skins-Cowboys game. I was there to witness it. He made it out alive.
After an ugly series here in Texas, the Yankees are heading for a showdown against the Rays, with first-place up for grabs. One week ago, the Yankees seemed to be playing their best baseball. This week, they seem to be stumbling.
No better place to find their stride than in Tampa.
We’re about to board, but here are some of the comments from last night about what’s ahead in the next three days.
Joe Girardi: “I feel good about this team. This team has worked hard to get to this point, where we are in the season. We still have some baseball left. I still believe that we are going to play extremely well down the stretch.”
Derek Jeter: “I don’t know how those half (game) things work. We’re basically tied, and that’s the team we’re tied with. You don’t have to worry about what another team is doing. You don’t have to look at a scoreboard. We control what happens. This is the situation you want to be in.”
Jorge Posada: “It happens in baseball. It’s just part of the game. Sometimes you have it all figured out and sometimes you can’t figure it out… It’s not going to get any easier tomorrow. We just have to go and forget about this series and look forward to tomorrow.”
CC Sabathia: “You get a chance to settle it on the field. You don’t have to depend on anybody else, no help from anybody else. I think to win the division you’ve got to beat the teams in your division. This is the team that’s trailing us, so it’s in our hands.”
Winning 2 of 3 at Cowbell Field will help to get the Yankees back on their feet again.
Haha Cowbell field. That is so true. The most annoying stadium ever too. I’m bringing earplugs tomorrow. And advil.
tyanksfan – see ya there. I’ll be the one with the custom Red Sox jersey with the name “R O I D Ortiz” on the back.
Who else but a Red Sox fan would wear a Sox jersey to a Yankee-Rays game???
The stadium is going to be to rocking tonight.
I don’t feel bad or good about this series. Both these teams are making the playoffs anyways. The yanks will be in the playoffs, unless something happens out of nowhere and the teams stops winning.
2 of 3 would be great in this series but winning 1 game is a must. Should be a great one tonight.
blake September 13th, 2010 at 9:45 am
2 of 3 would be great in this series but winning 1 game is a must. Should be a great one tonight.
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I don’t really agree with the “must win” concept unless its a playoff. But in the case of this series, I agree. Winning at least one game is essential
Get it going again guys!
CC will pitch well tonight. Make Price work and get into their Pen.
Win 2 of 3 in Tampa and at least 2 of 3 against the Os.
Christ, talk about your contrived blurbs. What the heck else are they supposed to say? “God our team sucks major dog poo right now!” ?? I suppose writers have to ask and these guys have to answer, but what a waste of ink/pixels. I mean they are one Swishy homer away from a 6 game losing streak and being in second place. This past weekend still leaves a sour taste in my mouth as it could just as easily (and probably should have) been a sweep in the Yankees’ favor. It’s been a long year and of course, nothing is guaranteed, but how can anyone not feel squeamish about the Yankees and the playoffs (or even winning the division) considering the craptastic play they put on the field this past weekend? Just god awful. There’s nothing like losing a close game to really put a spotlight on Girardi’s tendencies to overanalyze, micromanage, and play the stupid numbers game based on ridiculously small sample sizes.
Also, Girardi and his loyalty to the team I think is also playing a part in making this team play worse than it should. I am as big a Jeter fan as you’ll ever find, but his struggles of late (whether it be due to injury, age, or a combination of the two) should be addressed accordingly and not just dismissed because he’s “Jeter”. If Girardi was managing the Marlins still and it was Hanley Ramirez or Uggla or Tracy playing like this, putting up these numbers, you can bet they’d be batting 7th, 8th or 9th. Unfortunately, Jeter is an instant out now or a GIDP. With the offensive struggles that are already apparent, why is he not a candidate to move down the order?
Big question tonight seems to be which regulars Girardi will rest each game in this series since he seems to be that’s more important than actually fielding a full lineup and win games.
He seems to playing for the WC. Why? No idea.
Hope he knows what he is doing this week because this past week was his worst week as Yankee manager and mo amount of pom pom waving can escape that reality.
This is so strange. I never imagined it would be like this.
My consciousness this morning. The need to wash, and shave. It looked like my bathroom in my old home. I found myself drinking coffee. I sensed myself moving, with what looked like cars, with people in them, on streets. Old fashioned traffic.
And then, I found myself besided beings that looked like my old coworkers. And they were all asking me about my weekend, like it was my previous life.
No supreme being, no sense of lightness, no bright lights shining.
I never imagined the afterlife would be like this. I never that, after the world ended after the Yankees lost a series in Texas in early September, which left them tied for first place, best record in baseball, that things would be so similar to my previous life.
So very strange.
I find this quite ironic:
During the offseason I saw a few people on this board suggest the Yankees should get Vlad as their DH.
They were pretty much attacked by everyone else claiming Vlad’s career was done and he would be of no use anywhere. This was after Guerrero had a single sub-par, injury plagued season after many productive seasons.
Vlad has put together a very, very good year and to that I say: Good for him. I’ve always liked Vlad as a player and I’m glad he stuck it to every single one of his critics. He may not be able to play the outfield effectively anymore, but damn can he still swing the lumber.
With 18 runners left in scoring position this past weekend particularly friday and more on saturday, I found myself missing…..oh I don’t know…lets see…….maybe the bats of damon and matsui !!!!!
Vlad has put together a great year in part thanks to the incredible cavernous Rangers Stadium.
matsui has not been all that great this year. I don’t miss him at all. Damon would have been a great addition had the Sox not pulled their antics. But this team as it is, has enough to win and be a great offensive team… but man, are they ridiculously streaky. Rearranging the lineup (starting with Jeter) would seem like the most logical choice at the moment.
OK, I know everyone here has been critical of everything, but let’s get some perspective and look at 10 key things…in no particular order:
1) Girardi is good with the bullpen and average everyplace else. He is not an idiot and does have some backing to his decisions, but he misses a lot and the worst thing is his absolutely BS comments that he must think we are stupid. Overall, he will be OK and it will be the players that make the difference.
2) Cano has been getting into his old habit of swinging at anything. There are a few players I would like to see get some rest AFTER the TB series and he is one of them.
3) Jeter – Girardi has already blown this as Jeter should have been moved or rested for a few days in a row, but perhaps after the TB series we could still do this. ALL the starting players should get some rest but play the last few games of the year to try and get back into a rhythm. the playoff schedule screws up all the players schedules as more days are open than at any other time of the year (kind of dumb to have the most important games under a different scenario than the 162 games of the regular season)
4) ARod will be fine; I am more concerned with Swisher and Gardner and those guys get rest to get 100% by the playoffs.
5) It is imperative this team gets a 2nd lefty in the pen and it must be one that is good against lefties. I can’t stress this enough.
6) I don’t want Hughes in the pen. I would rather he be in the rotation with CC and Pettitte and we will see if Nova can be the other person used. I don’t have faith in Javy or Burnett. Burnett’s fastball is 3+ mph less than it should be and you can’t afford the possible blowup he could have. Moseley pitched well the other night and is another possibility, but I don’t trust that either. my hope is Nova becomes the other guy.
7) I still have faith in Joba and Wood has been very good. Robertson is my 3rd righty out of the pen.
9) Those of you who don’t value defense, should realize how many runs Gardner has saved us in LF. I was not a big fan of signing Kearns; he is not a bad player, but he was not what the Yanks needed and that was a lefty killer. kearns is more of an average 4th OF who isn’t really good at any one thing.
10) Robby Thompson is not a good 3rd base coach. I hope he doesn’t hurt is in the playoffs. he has had more guys thrown out at home with nobody out than any 3rd base coach I can remember. I miss Bowa as our 3rd base coach
It also helped that Vlad lost almost 30 pounds, which took pressure off his back.
SJ44 September 13th, 2010 at 10:21 am
It also helped that Vlad lost almost 30 pounds, which took pressure off his back.
=-=-=-=-
funny what free agency will do to a player.
with 7 games in 11 days against the Rays coming up not only will the AL East most likely be determined by who wins more games but it will also be a good indication of how they will do in the playoffs. It’s time for them to put the best lineup in the field for the next 3 games and make a statement about which team is the defending World Champions.
And, for those of you who constantly criticize the Yankees, why are you even fans? The beauty of baseball is that the differences between teams are very slight, that’s why 30% success at the plate gets you in the Hall of Fame and a 60% winning percentage almost always wins the pennant. You criticize virtually everything about this team on a daily basis yet they still have the best record in baseball. I can only imagine what you would do if they were 10 games over .500 instead of 30. I truly feel sorry for all of you who think this way, you are missing out on the enjoyment of a great sport.
the Yankees have plenty of players capable of hitting w/ RISP…they just didn’t this series…it happens
continuing to wish for players no longer here doesn’t change that…it has been almost a full season…time to move on
Vlad did look finished last season…he could barely get around the bases. The Rangers took a flyer on him and it paid off big time.
I think you play Gardner and Granderson in all 3 games of this series….DH thames tonight and Berkman the rest and let Posada catch two of the 3. A lineup all three games hopefully. I’m all for resting people and believe the physical condition of the team to be more important than winning the division….but this is a big series and one the Yanks need to play well in.
many games this offense has been shut down, by some well known pitchers and then those no name rookies who come up and befuddle our “capable” lineup. damon or matsui would’ve taken them out of the park ! cashman was wrong letting both of them go for Nick Johnson !
Granderson was supposed to be clutch ! He’s horrible !
At this point I’d rather our players get healthy than win the division.
Given the Yanks’ health and the schedule difference between the Yanks and Tampa, the odds of winning the division clearly favor the Rays.
I’d rather not go all out now, which strategy has a very real chance of both having a less healthy and rested team for the playoffs and losing the division race anyway.
The Yanks won 8 in a row and then loast 6 of the next 7. I’ll take 9-6 over the next 15 no problem…
I am sure Cashman, like the rest of us, would much rather have had Damon/Sui rather than NJ…however, there is no way of knowing that either of them would made a difference in any of these games.
Many teams, not just the Yankees, have trouble w/ pitchers they haven’t seen before.
I think Berkman and Thames are providing pretty good production in the DH spot of late. Berkman has looked much much better since coming back and could be huge down the stretch. The Yankees are the best team….they just have to play like it for 3 weeks a month from now.
yes, I agree Blake, Thames and Berkman are doing a good job as DH.
The people that expect the 7 games between the Yankees-Rays to decide the division are very likely going to end up disappointed at the end of them.
When two teams are this evenly matched and play this amount of games they tend to end up very close to splitting at the end of it all. 4-3 on other side is probably going to be the outcome.
A 1 game separation can easily be made up, especially since the Rays have such an easy schedule towards the end of the season. If Girardi was banking on these games to decide the division and that is why he took the past two series so lightly, he is going to end up letting his team down at the end of the season and the Yankees are going to have to overcome that poor decision.
LGY,
You are probably right…it may turn out that way. However the chance is there to either take a strangle hold on the division if you play well or fall significany behind if you play poorly…..there are no other teams factoring in the equation.
Joe from Long Island September 13th, 2010 at 10:13 am
This is so strange. I never imagined it would be like this……
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Actually Joe…This is the afterlife. The lack of bright lights, supreme being etc. etc. is only because unfortunately, you didn’t make the cut.
This is hell. And in hell the Yanks lose…a lot.
But you must have done something good in your life because you’re still in your old life.
The really bad ones wake up alone at Fenway… Yankees vs. Red Sox… and AJ’s pitching.
Joe had better play the best players he’s got these next 3 games. No resting anyone that is not hurt.
I give Gardy the night off against Price hopefully Swish is in there for at least 3 ABs.\
Jeter
Swish
Tex
Arod
Cano
Thames
Posada
Kears
Granderson
I agree with a lineup like Patrick from CT’s ,but Joe has other ideas. He’ll likely rest up some of his players so they will be fresh for this weekend at Camden Yards. Tonight’s lineup will more likely look like
Jeter ss
Nunez 2b
Tex 1B
ARod 3b
Thames RF
Posada DH
Kearns LF
Granderson CF
Cervelli C
haha Drive 4-6
nice to see you here
Bronx Jeers – that was a good one.
Anyone going to the Stadium today or tomorrow night?
Which would be worse…alone at Fenway with AJ pitching or a continuous loop of Joba throwing 3-2 sliders for ball 4…..
new thread
Pitching matchups
I am really looking forward to tonight’s game. CC vs. Price is a great pitching matchup. It is too bad that they are playing in that stupid dome. I wonder if the Rays will even sell out? The place is so pathetic.
As others have said, but for Swisher’s walk-off homer vs. the O’s, Yankee fans would be in full panic mode right now.
I would love to see them bring back Andy on Tuesday. Forget about the rehab start. Limit him to 75 or 80 pitches if necessary, but let him face a big league lineup. The Rays lineup is not that good. Andy can handle them with less than his best stuff. Longoria and Upton are the only righties in the lineup who pose a threat.
Forget about the division. If the Yankees continue to struggle they are going to be in a fight for the wildcard. The Red Sox and White Sox have not given up yet. The math may say no chance, but look at the remaining schedule. 7 with Tampa. 6 with Boston. 3 each with Baltimore (very good record since Showalter took over) and Toronto (giving the Yankees a lot of trouble this year).
I have been all for resting guys, but after losing 6 out of 7 Girardi needs to act as if there is no wild card. Treat it like an old fashioned pennant race. Continuing to toss out half baked lineups is a mistake at this point. Go with the big guns, get a few series wins and win the wild card mathematically. From there I would say rest a few regulars and see what happens.