Postgame notes: Early runs and late losses
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Notes, Podcast on May 29, 2011 
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These first two games in Seattle, the Mariners starters seemed to be the greatest concern for the Yankees. But in two straight Yankees losses, Michael Pineda and Felix Hernandez have not been the problem. The Yankees haven’t been able to beat the Mariners bullpen.
“We had leads in both of the games,” manager Joe Girardi said. “That’s the frustrating part.”
Tonight brought was some redemption for Boone Logan and Luis Ayala, and Hector Noesi, Dave Robertson and Joba Chamberlain gave the Yankees all they could ask for, but a couple of bloop hits off Mariano Rivera decided the game in the 12th inning. The Mariners hit the ball hard once that inning, but it was enough to setup Adam Kennedy’s looping game-winner into no-man’s land.
“You can’t describe that,” Rivera said. “To me it’s a hit, period. We lost the game. Made good pitches and the ball finds places. You can’t do nothing against that. I wish we would still be playing, but it’s done.”
Good as the Seattle bullpen has been, it’s certainly hurt the Yankees that they haven’t been able to get any significant distance out of their starters. Back-to-back nights the Yankees have taken a lead against terrific Mariners starters, only to see their own starters bow out after a total of 8.2 innings. Last night it was A.J. Burnett lasting only five innings, failing to create his own bridge to the the Robertson-Chamberlain-Rivera trio. Tonight it was Ivan Nova, leaving the Yankees bullpen to pitch eight innings before the Mariners finally got their big, little hit.
“I feel like I was the one to lose the game,” Nova said. “Because I should have stayed more in the game. I just threw three innings and two thirds. It looked like a long game for me.”
Here’s Girardi postgame. He was clearly frustrated (obviously).
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• If you’re curious, Girardi really had little choice but to give Rivera the ball in that 12th inning. It was either that or stick with Ayala for a second straight night of multiple innings. The only pitchers available were Rivera and Lance Pendleton, and Girardi couldn’t put himself in a situation where Rivera was the only pitcher left. The last guy standing has to be a long man who can pitch deep into the night if necessary.
• The only well-hit ball in that final inning was Jack Cust’s double, but Rivera said he was happy with the pitch. He said it was the right pitch, Cust just hit it well down the line.
• Nova’s problem was all about command, especially with his offspeed stuff. Girardi said it wasn’t there from the very beginning, but Nova managed to sneak through those first three innings. When Girardi saw it finally unraveling in the fourth, he went to Noesi who once again gave the Yankees all they could have asked for.
• Derek Jeter set the Yankees franchise record for stolen bases with his fourth steal of the season. It was the 327th of his career, moving him ahead of Rickey Henderson on the Yankees’ list.
• The offensive bright spot for the Yankees had to be Robinson Cano, who actually had some good at-bats tonight and showed a little bit of patience. He had three hits and said his second-inning home run against Hernandez might have been his best swing and best at-bat of the year. “I laid of some pitches that I’ve been swinging at all year,” he said.
• Cano’s home run was his first since May 12 and only his second of this month. He’s the third Yankee to reach double digit home runs this season after Granderson and Teixeira.
• Speaking of Mark Teixeira, he went deep again tonight. He has eight home runs in his past 17 games at Safeco Field and now has 14 career homers at the Seattle ballpark. Among opposing players, only Eric Chavez has more (15).
• Teixeira has homered in three straight games.
• The Yankees are 3-4 in extra-inning games this season.
• The Yankees were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
• Four fans ran onto the field tonight, including one of them who was completely naked and ran through the infield before being tackled near the shortstop position. Joba Chamberlain was on the mound at the time and said there were fans waving the guy’s clothes in the stands. Girardi said he’d seen a streaker only once before, during a game in Chicago.
Associated Press photos
How much longer does Cashman/Hal Steinbrenner, who’s ever making personnel decisons these days, go with the woefully underachieving Posada/Swisher/Cervelli/Dickerson, how much longer? If this turns into a 2-7 or 1-8, or even 3-6 roadtrip which it appears the Yanks are headed for, how long before some heads roll?
You can also add Jones to the above list.
timmyb72 May 29th, 2011 at 5:25 am
How much longer does Cashman/Hal Steinbrenner, who’s ever making personnel decisons these days, go with the woefully underachieving Posada/Swisher/Cervelli/Dickerson, how much longer? If this turns into a 2-7 or 1-8, or even 3-6 roadtrip which it appears the Yanks are headed for, how long before some heads roll?
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Morning, another frustrating one. At 3-1 I thought we had something going except all the runs came again on the long ball and when they took the lead back at 4-3 I could sense it was going to be another tough game for them.
In answer to this poster, I think the matter is under constant discussion. The hitters aren’t getting it done and I don’t think behind the scenes outside of public consumption that there isn’t much denial about that. What to do about it thought must be very difficult because you don’t see much or anything in the way of actions. I can’t see somebody(s) being brought up soon if this continues.
I guess I’m just thankful that Garcia and Colon and AJ have pitched so well. Bad SP coupled with this anemic hitting could really have put us a lot more games down then we are already.
can’t > can’t imagine somebody NOT being brought up
Gary-
Too bad you can’t go night fishing with the way the Yankees have been playing.
You can, night fishing is the best. Not a bad idea.
Ugh. Another bad loss. These kinds are worse than blowouts. These two games are on the offense. Or lack thereof. I guess swisher is going to keep grinding it out until the yanks are deep into third place.
Rhapsody-
Or you could just listen to Gershwin.
Unfortunately we are stuck with the line up we have. We have no options on the bench and Yanks are not deep with hitters in minors. They are resisting bringing Montero up, which I do not understand. Vazquez can rake but he is also a swing and miss guy, and in terms of available outfielders in minors, the options are thin – MAxwell probably deserves a shot.
Trade market will not open up yet and speculation has been that we would look for a starter. Now we need to consider a hitter and a lefty for the pen.
the type of hitter we need is an Adam Kennnedy type hitter — pure contact hitter.
Wow-read what Ozzie Guillen has to say about his teams offense in the Chicago papers:
http://www.suntimes.com/sports.....stink.html
Justin Upton’s price tag coming down to Earth a little?
He’s batting .241
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/.....stin-upton
Another buy-low option is David DeJesus. He struggled early but has been coming on of late.
Last 14 days: ..383/.535/.918
YT-
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
The guy is certifiable.
When I say buy-low I mean another buy-low option in line with Swisher and Granderson. I don’t think of Justin Upton as a buy-low candidate obviously.
One thing we can do is bring up Montero. Let him do some catching and make him the DH. Posada can get a few at bats from left side and also relegate Posada to a back up catcher role. Cervelli is odd man out but Yanks need to get a big bat and Montero’s bat may be the spark we need.
Yes I know the Yanks believe that Montero needs more time in AAA learning his craft. Well I think we need to do some force feeding here. He can learn from Girardi and Pena both of whom knew how to be a catcher. HE certainly does not need much more seasoning at AAA for his hitting. He is major league ready with his bat and that is what we desperately need.
Cervelli either gets sent back to AAA or we package him with Vazquez and an arm for other help – perhaps an outfielder who replace Jones and platoon with Swisher.
Justin Upton would be an interesting option. I suspect that Towers would want Montero. Perhaps we can get him with Romaine and some arms from system
We desperately need consistency in this lineup. It’s hard to get that from rookies. I think the pressure is on Cashman to make a move or two to replace Gardner and Swisher out there in LF and RF.
Towers said he likes Betances more than all Yankees pitching prospects. He’d definitely want him. He knows the minor league system. Juan Miranda has a .900 OPS for AZ. Towers plucked him away, first order of business.
MTU-
Imagine what Guillen would say about the Yankees offense, and it wouldn’t be it stinks after the ninth, rather it #@*%@#& stinks after the third.
I’m all for calling up Montero and starting to give Martin some days off or DH duties, as he’s beginning to tire.
Hey troops, you’re in Safeco field and the wind is blowing in. All the runs were scored on the long ball again. How’s that working for you?
Man on third and Martin is taking mighty hacks into the wind at Safeco. Teixeira rolling over on a 3 and 0 outside pitch. The big three in the BP are getting worn down.
I get the impression that the team needs a reality check. As the saying goes “You learn by failing not by succeeding”.
The Montero mantra is on a down spiral. He is currently OPSing 750 at AAA. All that is, is desparation.
YT-
Guillen is from the Fred Wilpon, Hank Steinbrenner school of throwing your players under a bus.
Maybe he should look in the mirror ?
Montero has not been hitting well this past Month.
Change is coming but maybe not as soon as all of us would like.
As some have said, “it’s a long season”.
The BP has cost us quite a few games too.
I didn’t really agree with Joe’s comments ie We had leads in both games but we failed to hold them.
I don’t think the pitching staff is the problem. Asking the staff to hold the other team to 2 or 3 runs a game on a consistent basis isn’t going to happen.
This offense has to wake up and take the pressure off the pitching staff. Our pitchers aren’t good enough to go out there game after game and throw a staff ERA of 2 or 3. I do agree with Yankee Clipper, we maybe just stuck and I don’t see many teams of a mindset to help us. Help may well have to come through the farm system. Also if we are after another starter we are potentially going to have to fight Boston who are now saddled with this Dice K injury.
Last night’s loss is NOT on the pen. How long were they expected to go without giving up a run.
Lame comment from Girardi.
Mo lost this game to get back at those that said he was not one of the most important people during the dynasty years. He showed that he can either save the game or give it to the other team. He is muy importante in my book.
The BP has cost us. I suspect we might see lefty Randy Flores up soon. Whelan and Kontos are pitching well. Also see Silva possibly called up before the June deadline where he can ask for his release.
YT-
It doesn’t help your pen when your starters only go less than 5 innings 2 nights in a row.
I’m sure the Yankees are evaluating their options right now.
Lucky for us that nobody in running away with it so far.
There is plenty of blame to go around right now.
My concern is losing so many close games in the easy part of the schedule.
It only gets harder in the 2nd half.
I wake up to another disappointing loss as the RedSox extend their lead. Even Mo can’t be counted on to preserve a win now.. Where does this end??????
Yankee Trader May 29th, 2011 at 9:22 am
The BP has cost us. I suspect we might see lefty Randy Flores up soon. Whelan and Kontos are pitching well. Also see Silva possibly called up before the June deadline where he can ask for his release.
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Respectfully the batting has hurt us worst. Team hardly ever scores after the 4th or 5th. Lot of innings to hold them scoreless.
New thread ==>
Agree with Wang, that loss is not on the pen. They threw 7.1 innings of scoreless ball. What more do you want? (I guess maybe they could have picked up a bat and scored the runs too since the position players didn’t have a mind to do it.)
Montero is not coming up until September and then only for a look. Vasquez as a DH and the rare start at first to spell Texiera might help a little but this team has long term problems.
Jeter is Ok but he is no longer the .300 hitter he once was.
Will Texiera ever see the numbers he put up in the past?
A-Rod like Jeter is on the downside of his career.
Gardener who should have 50 steals a season can’t quite figure that out.
Swisher who had a career year last year and is in a contract year has returned to the player he was when Chicago let him go.
Posada………………………
A lot of holes in this line up that aren’t going away any time soon.
I am following the Scranton and Trenton teams a lot more closely now. It’s just too hard to watch the big leagues. Better to look into the future. I hope they don’t trade it all away.
BTW It doesn’t get any easier when they get home. Boston and Cleveland are waiting for them.