Rodriguez picks up the Yankees in Baltimore
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Misc on Sep 17, 2010 
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On the verge of another disappointing loss, the Yankees were down to their last strike when Alex Rodriguez hit his second home run of the night for a 4-3 Yankees win tonight in Baltimore. Rodriguez also hit a solo home run in the second inning, accounting for all of the Yankees offense. The Yankees had stranded 10 runners in the game, and Rodriguez had a 2-2 count with two outs in the ninth when he hit his game-winner.
Associated Press photo of Derek Jeter
The Yankees Magic Number to clinch the division is now 16!
alex is clutch….. the only one who brings it regularly.
Thanks Arod.
i think tex may need to sit and rest up. last time they gave him a day to rest he went on a tear.
# CR9 September 17th, 2010 at 9:50 pm
Ken – Over. 38 pitches and the Yankees take the lead.
_____
Keep the faith, and faith shall carry you home! Or Alex will carry you home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ALEX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alex is just incredible – oh, and the Rays just lost.
He is carrying the team – literally carrying this team on his shoulders, something VERY hard for a baseball player to do.
One thing – can some of you just STOP complaining about those of us who are concerned about the Yankees?
Girardi should grab a mike and reenact Gehrig’s ‘Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth’ speech..
Pepitone September 17th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Wow, you talk about a turnaround!
Yankees were dead, but then one swing of the bat, then the best closer in the history of baseball steps to the mound, and voila, the Yanks are back in first place and all is well with the world.
In baseball, you never count the other team out, especially when they happen to be the New York Friggin Yankees!
*********
You just can’t predict baseball
I don’t do this often anymore, but, repost:
Gee,
Based on what Alex just said, sounds like the players are behind the way Girardi is working things right now – trying to get healthy. Gee. Imagine that.
Alex Rodriguez
Mariano Rivera
Feathers in their caps
Alex’s homer does not erase the offensive struggles for the past two weeks. Nor does it solve it going forward. The offense still has problems.
Alex’s HR in Baltimore last year was the best moment, by far, of the year…………..This might have been the best thus far.
I’m speechless.
The Cash Man deserves the win.
CB,
Yea it seems like resting the bat on his shoulder is working for him…at first it seemed like occasionally he had a tough time finding the timing for his trigger with it but now he seems very fluid and short to the ball. You and I have discussed this before but when he’s covering the inside pitch like that then he’s nearly impossible to pitch to. Its good to see because they are going to need him to be great.
# Betsy September 17th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Alex’s HR in Baltimore last year was the best moment, by far, of the year…………..This might have been the best thus far.
________
AGREED!
# ac1 September 17th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
i think tex may need to sit and rest up. last time they gave him a day to rest he went on a tear.
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They just had a day off.
I think the broken toe is what has Tex swinging poorly. That can’t feel all that good when you twist through the swing of the bat. Resting Tex isn’t going to do much unless its for weeks. They can’t do that.
Ruby Tuesday September 17th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
I’m speechless.
The Cash Man deserves the win.
———————————————————————————-
No Ruby. You deserve the win for calling the sweep. Thank you.
Small steps. 2 out of 3 this weekend, split with TB. That would be fine.
CR9 September 17th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
# CR9 September 17th, 2010 at 9:50 pm
Ken – Over. 38 pitches and the Yankees take the lead.
_____
Keep the faith, and faith shall carry you home! Or Alex will carry you home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ALEX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
——
You called it
Isn’t Tex playing with a broken toe? It’s painful and pain can cause a player to alter his swing despite his best intentions.
I think Alex’ s. 2 HRs in 1 inning vs Rays was tops last year..
Can’t say enough about what Alex did tonight. He was the offensive production this evening.
At the same time how incredible is Posada? What an absolutely great at bat.
Posada in that at bat did what the yankees just stopped doing after those first two innings other than Berkman – he had a disciplined, controlled at bat and just refused to give in to the pitcher. Eventually he won the battle.
He set up the dynamics for that entire inning.
Same thing for Granderson – Curtis also just had a huge at bat because after Jeter makes out Curtis must get on base to make sure that Alex has an potential opportunity to get to the plate. And Curtis getting on base not only gave them another base runner, but by not making an out he gave Alex his chance.
Hard to believe the club is back in first place given how ugly this game looked.
Also, good job by AJ. He pitched well tonight and did his job.
Thanks Al for putting a nice end to a pathetic evening. Maybe the rest of the team will show up and help one of these nights.
My favorite photoshop creation. Our savior.
http://i378.photobucket.com/al.....e/Alex.gif
Thanks Ken! I was wrong on the 38 pitches though
Doc, that was close…………….but the HR in Baltimore was beyond surreal; it was something that even Hollywood couldn’t dream up.
Alex – Most clutch player in baseball.
That’s why Alex makes the big dough…
AJ pitched acceptable tonight. No Chernobyl meltdowns, even though the runs he gave up were tough to see. He hasn’t pitched great, but he did decent.
AJ has quietly been pitching a little better of late. He was actually pretty good tonight….just made a few mistakes but his stuff looked better. Best life on his fastball and bite on his curve that I’ve seen in awhile. Good to see….hope he can continue to improve and find something down the stretch.
I wonder why A-Rod sort of took his time rounding the bases that time…
AJ did pitch well………………I still want to see more from him, but for tonight at least, he did his job. People killing him for giving up 3 runs were unfair.
# RhapsodyInBlue September 17th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
My favorite photoshop creation. Our savior.
http://i378.photobucket.com/al…..e/Alex.gif
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Alex Moses? Is he parting the sea? lol.
Yep, I remember the HR in Baltimore….right off the DL and boom!!!
repost:
Wow, you talk about a turnaround!
Yankees were dead, but then one swing of the bat, then the best closer in the history of baseball steps to the mound, and voila, the Yanks are back in first place and all is well with the world.
In baseball, you never count the other team out, especially when they happen to be the New York Friggin Yankees!
I also said there would be a lot of red faces if the Yankees came back to win this game and Anaheim beat the Tampas … before the A-Rod home run.
I see a lot of red out there tonight!
That was a close call.
Sit down Kalish! That K was delish!
Posada’s AB helped a lot. Having that many pitches thrown to him might have helped set it up for Alex. (Aside from getting on base.)
“I wonder why A-Rod sort of took his time rounding the bases that time…”
I noticed that too. He might get some chin music tomorrow.
“Based on what Alex just said, sounds like the players are behind the way Girardi is working things right now – trying to get healthy. Gee. Imagine that.”
Well said Doreen.
I am sure SJ is reading/read your comment.
The other day he was writing how A-Rod was upset with Girardi, blah blah, blah.
Some folks here relly love hallucianting and spew that junk here
Since 9/5, 3-8 with all three wins coming on homeruns in the final at-bat. That close to 0-11. OTOH, 5 losses by one run. Just crazy.
Now you know why Alex has a painting of himself as a centurion..
Amazing – the whole evening turned on a dime with one swing.
Oh be quiet Michael Kay………
Arod bailed the Yankees out tonight but they still have some work to do offensively.
As a team, they weren’t very good tonight against a pretty bad pitcher (and one they have seen a lot of times). Hopefully this game will boost the team and they can get on a roll and start swinging the bats better as a team.
In addition, I think tonight reiterates that fact that Jorge Posada HAS to catch every postseason game….rest him down the stretch as need be so that he’s ready to go come October, but when the 2nd season starts then he has to catch…..every game.
Alex deserved to style around the bases. And it was nowhere near as styling as Nelson Cruz. Nowhere Near. Good for Alex styling. He’s a bad man! :YES:
If AJ even pitches like this the rest of the way its a big improvement from what we had been seeing from him lately.
He’s had a couple of decent outings, yet no wins to show for it.
A friend of mine, a RS fan, was at the Baltimore game tonight (he’s there all weekend) and he said he knew the RS were out of it, so he was rooting for the Yankees. (He HATES the Rays)
Talk of a topsy-turvy world.
Since 9/5, 3-8 with all three wins coming on homeruns in the final at-bat. That close to 0-11. OTOH, 5 losses by one run. Just crazy.
__
yeah but its also close to 8-3 since 5 of those losses were 1 run games that could have been won.
# DocTodd September 17th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
Now you know why Alex has a painting of himself as a centurion..
———————————————-
It’s a centaur, but we get your point.
I still can’t stomach A-Rod, but no longer will I call him A-choke.
Mr. A-Rod is a genius.
“One thing – can some of you just STOP complaining about those of us who are concerned about the Yankees?”
Well, being concerned is OK given how they played last few days.
But filling the blog with litter and make totally not enjoyable is NOT ok.
And then when the Yanks win most of them become homers.
whats the playoff magic number? 11?
Posada is resting now so he CAN play in all of the postseason games.
Arod is batting .500, 7 for 14, with RISP in the 9th inning this year. Whoa
Scott Downs imploding..
Blake, I agree……………I’m certainly well aware of the team’s flaws, but I’m so happy right now that I just want to enjoy the glow of the win.
I wasn’t kidding when I said playing Cervelli over Po in the playoffs is a fireable offense.
Great comeback. Hope this gets them to press a little less, and maybe start hitting a bit better. That, really, is the only downer tonight, the missed opportunities. AJ, Alex, Granderson and Berkman continuing to do their things, DRob and Mo, all that was fine. Just a couple of lost opportunities. Kearns and Cisco are cold with men on base. And we’re going to need them for the next 6 weeks.
If Alex stays locked in, anything’s possible for him. Including his five more dingers this season.
blake, the thing is, this Yankee offense has been doing some decent things. They are leaving tons on base, so its not like they aren’t hitting, they just aren’t driving in the runs. Sometimes a player doing like Alex did tonight can turn that around.
You know the team was playing tight, probably starting to really press in key situations. Alex driving in the runs tonight might be enough to lighten things up just enough to let the offense produce again.
It has been somewhat streaky this season.
Centaur….thanks!
“Best life on his fastball and bite on his curve that I’ve seen in awhile.”
Agree, particularly on his fastball. That was very encouraging. The life on his fastball was amongst it’s been all season. He’s been missing that all year.
The yankees business model is such that if AJ can just pitch like he did tonight for the remainder of this season and the post season he will have done his job for the season and been well worth the 16M he was paid.
Let’s hope that after one of the worst seasons of an erratic career AJ’s peaking now and can keep it together long enough to help this team win another world series.
“He might get some chin music tomorrow.”
Guthrie on the mound tomorrow. Everyone may get some chin music.
I can’t imagine how tough this press conference would be if they had lost tonight. Girardi was looking half ill during the game.
With CC, followed by Andy, they could get on a roll…
BBFan, the thing I do have a problem with is “fans” proclaiming a game over or the season over…………….that drives me crazy. However, there’s nothing wrong with wondering about the team and how good it is or criticizing the manager or just overall being frustrated. This is a blog – it bothers me when people try to tell people how to feel or that their feelings are wrong.
Repost:
My computer froze and had to be rebooted during Alex’s at-bat, but after he hit the homerun, all I could think is maybe the contract is too long like everyone says, Hank overpaid, how will it be five years from now, and he’s WORTH EVERY PENNY. Just like CC. They would not be the defending World Champs, and they can’t repeat, without him. Every single penny. Wow.
Sox lose….ha!
GAME OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Red Sox lose!!!! Magic Number 9!!!!!!!!!!!
Girardi won’t comment on AJs black eye.
Guthrie on the mound tomorrow. Everyone may get some chin music.
__
which means someone on our team will likely leave with an injury after HBP.
Red sox lose 11-9
yogi,
That’s what I’m hoping.
We can only hope with AJ…………….I felt that his game 2 WS win erased whatever disappointments people had with him last year- or should have. That game should have bought him a lot of “currency” (as Francesca would say) with fans, but it didn’t because all they remembered were his game 5 performances.
I still don’t trust him and he has a long way to go, but it’s a start.
My Swisher shirt must be good luck or something. I wore it to the game on tuesday and they won. I didn’t wear it wednesday because I was out all day and they lose. After Tex hit that popup I ran to my room and put on my swisher shirt and boom. Arod delivers. Glad someone was able to get things done tonight. Maybe he will make it to 30 after all.
“Girardi won’t comment on AJs black eye.”
Which tells me that there must be a juicy back story to it. A bar brawl perhaps.
“In addition, I think tonight reiterates that fact that Jorge Posada HAS to catch every postseason game….rest him down the stretch as need be so that he’s ready to go come October, but when the 2nd season starts then he has to catch…..every game.”
This may be the most important long term lesson from this game.
Let’s just hope Girardi understands this and does plays Posada everday.
Cervelli cannot start even one game in the post season unless Posada is injured.
Girardi cannot provide AJ with his own personal catcher. There’s no way this team can afford to give AJ that luxury.
blake – Millwood looked like he was mixing pitches well tonight. The biggest problem was Kearns, Cisco, and Tex being cold as can be. I was hoping Brett could have delivered there in the 8th, but he’d not been playing lately, or hitting, so maybe that played into it.
But, Tex, especially, needs to get hot again. He is markedly streaky this year. But when hot, look out….
Laura – I Bleed Blue September 17th, 2010 at 10:31 pm
“I wonder why A-Rod sort of took his time rounding the bases that time…”
I noticed that too. He might get some chin music tomorrow.
—
Buck is old school, I’d say there is a high probability A-Rod gets plunked tomorrow, especially with Guthrie pitching. Then CC will retaliate.
“Buck is old school, I’d say there is a high probability A-Rod gets plunked tomorrow, especially with Guthrie pitching. Then CC will retaliate.”
The game better be in hand when he does… he needs to get his 20th win… that is the most important part of tomorrow……..
That’s a legit black eye
Have anyone here ever experienced a broken toe ?? You just don’t quite understand how painful that can be just on an everyday basis no less playing baseball everyday after playing 130 games already……I’m just taken back by the absurdity that some posters have displayed tonight and as of late, not only on Texeria, but Jeter, Alex, AJ and the entire club…..I’m out of here, see you die hard Yankee fans in October
Omg is aj ok? Insane black eye
Maybe AJ fell down the stairs again?
Fact of the matter is that someone with a rod’s talent can carry a team for weeks at a time if the team gets decent pitching as they did tonight. They must have posada in the lineup though. Posada showed what he is made of tonight. Team on the ropes and in deep trouble and he grinds out a great at bat. Sox and Tampa lose and things all of a sudden look a lot better. Bridge jumpers go home.
Wow, that black eye is awful looking………………I’m not going to bother speculating about it, though.
He looks bad….like an addict or something
CB,
agree, if AJ can just pitch like today then that would be fine. He kept them in the ballgame and aside from a couple mistake pitches he was pretty good. Would love for him to get ahead more often and when ahead to be less careless….(not hit guys in the foot with 0-2 curveballs) and clean up some of the avoidable mistakes that he makes. All in all though today was a good day for AJ Burnett and as it turns out the Yankees as well.
After tonight’s performance, maybe AJ should get punched in the eye more often…
Posada has to play every post season game
Blake-
Well that wasn’t exactly azz kicking we talked about earlier in the evening but we’ll take it.
Best game out of AJ in a while. He did his job.
The offense still looks like it needs a vitamin B shot.
Let’s hope we see that smackdown tomorrow.
“Maybe AJ fell down the stairs again?”
LMAO
How could the eye be such a secret?? Story will leak by Sunday
Girardi will look at this game as affirmation that cervelli plays. He’ll look at AJs line
AJ says on the postgame that he thought it was “cool pitching to Jorgie again.” so why does he need a personal catcher who cannot hit again?
I wonder who punched AJ? For him to not comment on his eye only brings up tons of speculation.
AJ Burnett’s eye looks terrible. He got rocked by somebody. If it’s his wife he definitely got the Tiger Woods treatment
I’m sure AJ did not ask to have a personal catcher. Let’s face it – Girardi is a weird dude and he has some VERY strange notions.
“But, Tex, especially, needs to get hot again. He is markedly streaky this year. But when hot, look out….”
I’ve been waiting all season for Tex, Arod, and Cano to all get healthy and hot at the same time. Its yet to happen so far but I’m still hopeful….maybe 3 weeks from now?
Still offense is scuffling.
But they still have number of base runners though not bringing them home.
Once lineup becomes full with Swisher and Posada those runners will be driven home.
I think the team is very close to reaching that point.
Then people will understand the merits of what Girardi did last few days resting number of players.
No question, today it was puzzling that Girardi did not start Posada.
My guess is Joe is being very conservative and did not want to take any chances given the mild concussion.
It’s obvious to me how AJ got the black eye…Cash kicked his arse, and told him if he didn’t start pitching better, he’d get another whooping….
It looks swollen around his cheek area, its been there for a little while, being that there is that greenish tone to the skin.
By the way, Manny Banuelos is going to pitch in the AFL per RAB. Apparently the Yanks were able to convince the Mexican team that controls his rights to let him pitch there. He’ll go 35-40 innings and then be shut down.
Yogi Mantle September 17th, 2010 at 10:48 pm
I wonder who punched AJ? For him to not comment on his eye only brings up tons of speculation.
—-
Teammate…that’s why it is such a secret
http://riveraveblues.com/2010/.....ree-35481/
And Betances is going to instructional league to work on his fielding……
Oh come on, a teammate? I don’t think so.
Someone will dig up the AJ Black Eye story. All we have to do is wait…
I REALLY want to know who hit AJ. Someone has GOT to know! ah
I’m surprised someone here hasn’t suggested that one of his teammates hit him in the eye.
I was going to say one of his wild pitches hit him, but that’s not funny in light of what I heard today. Someone told me that the girl who was attacked with acid did it to herself.
“Teammate…that’s why it is such a secret”
Teammate or wife. That’s my guess.
Did anyone watcht the game or did u all just blog ferverishly for 3+ hours? The black eye was obvious to me in the first inning.
Laura – I Bleed Blue September 17th, 2010 at 10:50 pm
Someone will dig up the AJ Black Eye story. All we have to do is wait…
——
By Sunday..if not tomorrow..where is tmz??
Am I remembering wrong, or didn’t AJ have some discoloration on his ear in his last start?
Stick with the eye AJ, stick with the eye.
Someone obviously didn’t like his pie….
Chad:
Please get info if Swish is likely to start. If not, I guarantee Stump has Kearns in the lineup again.
Ken, that’s my thought as well. But it could be his wife smacked him, or maybe Girardi let off
some steam…
You know it will come out sooner or later.
That black eye is a KAren Burnett special
If you people think AJ looks bad you should have seen the other guy.
I suggested m…drunk teammate thats why it is such a secret, or domestic thing
# I Like Inge September 17th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
That black eye is a KAren Burnett special
Exactly what I thought lol
They all look terrible…Girardi, ARod, Burnett. Dark circles under their eyes. The pressure must be intense. They make it through the next week in good shape and once the prssure ends I think they’ll be fine.
I obviously agree that Jorgie needs to start every damn PS game, but will he, even if he doesn’t catch AJ the last 2 weeks? I just don’t know if Joe does that, when’s the last time he caught him, before the ASB?
Drunk teamate during off day
Maybe Michael Kay put him in his place?
Girardi and Burnett are so naive. When are celebs going to realize that saying you aren’t going to talk about something only makes it an even bigger story. It clearly is something significant – if he got hit by a ball in practice he would just say it and the story would be over.
Now the speculation, even if unwarranted, will be rampant about domestic violence or a fist fight. How could it not?
Counting the rain shortened outing, AJ has pitched well recently.
Today he gave quality inning.
Hopefully he will continue this thru playoffs.
Because it’s not about a personal catcher. It’s about Posada doesn’t catch everyday and it’s set up a certain way to give Jorge his days off. It’s about Jorge not about AJ.
Pat M brings up a very good point about Tex’ broken toe.
*** quality outing ****
Losing like they have been, putting the division and even the WC in some jeopardy will take its toll on everyone.
If there was a fight in the clubhouse, it could also be some of the tension they were playing with.
And if AJ can pitch like he did tonite with one black eye then I say someone should blacken his other eye before his next start, and just keep doing it until the PS is over.
Forget the pies blacken the eyes. That’s my new motto.
Erica in NY September 17th, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Doreen September 17th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
More than half the fans there are Yankee fans. Does Michael Kay realize this? All night he was talking about how the Orioles are finally filling the stands (thanks to Showalter) and when ARod hit his HR (caught by a Yankee fan), more than half the fans were up with raised arms.
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For a minute I thought he was going to give them a curtain call
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Me too
Berkman is hitting .433 with a 1.028 OPS in September.
I asked this earlier but have the Yankees played a game this season where Arod, Berkman, Gardner, Swisher, and Posada all started?
Ken Phelps,
That was a sardonic rhetorical question. People here hate AJ.
I hope the Big Guy gets the monkey off his back and gets his 20th tomorrow….
On Wednesday, one of the beat writers Tweeted that Girardi told the beat writers AJ wasn’t flying ahead of the team to Baltimore but when they were looking for him Wednesday, they were he had flown ahead.
Black eye happened before Wednesday in Tampa would be my guess and AJ was putting off the inevitable questions by staying out of sight.
Pat M. September 17th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
Have anyone here ever experienced a broken toe ?? You just don’t quite understand how painful that can be just on an everyday basis no less playing baseball.
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Actually, I hiked 80 miles with multiple broken bones in both of my feet. I said earlier that Tex is probably having trouble swinging the bat well due to his toe. Even if you can play through it, it can create some hesitation as you anticipate the pain to come. Rest isn’t going to help it, though, as he will need weeks to heal. They don’t have weeks.
Maybe a shot of some non-banned numbing substance before each game would help.
Who is the most likely Yankee to have gotten into it with AJ?
Dave Eiland?
Mike Harkey?
I’m going with Gardner. He does have a sore wrist.
I have heard that pro teams are able to settle many issues internally. Perhaps someone was able to settle some issues with AJ. A team is like a family. They don’t talk about stuff like this with the media. I doubt that we will hear the truth at least not until the season is over.
If Teixeira’s toe is bothering him, which it very well could be, why the heck is Lance Berkman not playing 1b?
That just makes no sense. Tex himself has said that the toe is primarily bothering defensively more than when he’s at the plate.
If it’s his toe they should be playing Berkman at 1b and DH’ing Tex. There is no way Tex should be playing if his toe is what’s driving how he’s hitting.
If it’s the toe then playing in the field is only going to make that toe worse and hamper his hitting even more.
Berkman should be at 1b if that’s the case. Against a RH pitcher in particular there’s no reason for Tex to be playing defensively while Berkman DH’s.