Postgame notes: “I just couldn’t do it”
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Notes, Podcast on Aug 08, 2011 
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The Yankees had Mariano Rivera on the mound with a one-run lead, three outs away from capping a wildly successful road trip that would put the Yankees back in first place in the American League East.
Had Rivera gotten those three outs, all we’d be talking about this morning would be a gritty series at Fenway and a Yankees team playing incredibly well for a week and a half. Without those three outs, we’re left with this.
“I don’t call it disappointment or frustration, it just happens,” Rivera said. “That’s baseball. We just have to continue playing the baseball we’ve been playing. We’ve been doing great. Yeah, we lost the series, but we’re going home and we’ll play our ball.”
There was something stunning in the finality of it all. Marco Scutaro doubled and scored. Then David Ortiz doubled, the Yankees setup the double play, and Josh Reddick lined a first-pitch curveball into the left-field corner. It was past midnight, and it was over. In the last few minutes of Sunday night, the Yankees were winning a great game. In the early minutes of Monday morning, they were losing a heartbreaker.
Phil Hughes said he had no problem getting loose. In fact, he was ready for it. He started throwing his bullpen — in preparation for Tuesday’s start — as soon as Rivera came into the game. When the Red Sox tied it, he stopped throwing and treated it as a warmup because he figured he would be the next guy in the game. Sure enough, Girardi went to his starter, and Hughes threw all of 13 pitches, four of them intentional balls to Carl Crawford.
“I’ve got to do a better job in that situation,” Hughes said. “We pitched so well all game, and then I’ve got to give us as many innings as we need to score runs, and I just couldn’t do it.”
Here’s Hughes.
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• Joe Girardi said he wasn’t ready to announce a rotation for the upcoming series, but Hughes won’t be available to start Tuesday or Wednesday. Ivan Nova said he’s gone through his regular between-starts routine, so he might be the best bet for Tuesday.
• Hughes said he could start Tuesday if necessary because he threw so few pitches. The fact Girardi didn’t rule him out for Thursday makes me wonder — just a guess — whether that will ultimately be his day. “I felt like I made some good progress in my last start, so if I have to wait around, it won’t be something that’s fun to deal with,” Hughes said. “But I don’t really make these calls.”
• Hughes on his pitch to Reddick: “It was sort of an 0-0 get-me-over curveball, and I kind of saw him think take — everything kind of slows down — and then it seemed like at the last second he was like (swing). He stayed back real well on it and shot it into left. I wasn’t exactly sure where Gardy was playing, but when I saw it tailing away from him, I pretty much figured that was it.”
• Hughes on the Ortiz double: “I haven’t even looked at it on video yet. I made a decent pitch on a 2-1, it was a changeup. I figured we could go in again, that’s usually where we like to go on him. I’m not sure if it was in or not, or in enough, and he put a good swing on it.”
• Rivera was asked whether his inning was a matter of bad pitches or good hitting. I assume his response was about the Scutaro double, but he could also have been talking about the Pedroia sac fly. “It wasn’t the pitch that I wanted it to be,” he said. “It was a little bit down and it should have been a little bit up. I can’t blame nothing but myself. I didn’t get it done.”
• On the sac bunt, Rivera said he didn’t think the Yankees had time to make the play because it wasn’t a force. “It’s a hard play,” he said. “If there’s two guys on base and it’s a force, it’s a little different. You have to tag the guy, so you have to be in position to be there. Even though he bunted it right back at me, I didn’t think we had a chance to get all the way back there and get him out.”
• Carl Crawford is 2-for-15 in his career against Hughes, but Hughes said he was fine with the decision to walk him. “In that situation you want a double play,” Hughes said. “The manager made the call, and that’s what you’ve got to live with. I was fine with it.”
• The Yankees are now 63-3 when leading after eight innings this season.
• Freddy Garcia walked his usual tightrope and regularly got out of trouble. He wasn’t great, but he gave the Yankees enough to get the win. He still hasn’t allowed a home run in 64.2 innings, the longest streak of his career.
• Random historic stat of the night: Eduardo Nunez, at 24 years and 53 days old, became the youngest Yankees third baseman to homer at Fenway Park since Clete Boyer did it at 23 years and 191 days old back in 1960. But you probably already knew that.
• Nunez hadn’t homered in 22 games. He’d gone 75 at-bats since his home run against the Mets.
• This was Brett Gardner’s first career game that included a home run and multiple stolen bases. He was 3-for-5 and is now 30-for-34 on stolen base attempts since May 20. He’s swiped 21 in a row without being caught, the longest such streak by a Yankee sing Derek Jeter stole 22 in a row from July 20, 2001 to June 2, 2002.
• Dave Robertson hasn’t allowed a run in 23.2 road innings this season. That’s a span of 23 outings.
• Rivera has blown 14 saves against the Red Sox, his most against any team (Baltimore and Anaheim are second with eight). This was his fifth blown save of the season, matching last year’s total.
• The Yankees were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Those numbers pretty much speak for themselves.
Associated Press photos
I think this bears repeating.
In games started by Josh Beckett this season the New York Yankees are 0-30 with RISP.
That’s 14 blown saves, but Mo also has 6 losses. You can’t tell me that they’re not in his head…
Disappointing ending to what would have been a great game.
Left too many on base, and Mo and Hughes couldn’t slam the barn door.
In the short term, it doesn’t mean much. At some point, though, we need to lay some wood to the Red Sox.
New streak starts on Tuesday.
I hate to beat this to death but why can’t Hughes start on Tuesday? This was basically a throw day. He only wasn’t supposed to start if he had to go multiple innings today. But he didn’t.
I miss the old Beckett with the bad back…
Wang IS Taiwan August 8th, 2011 at 2:06 am
That’s 14 blown saves, but Mo also has 6 losses. You can’t tell me that they’re not in his head…
Mo has more losses, and a higher ERA against the O’s.
You can’t tell me they are not in his head!
By the way, Chad.
I like how you used Hughes’ quote with Mo’s picture. Neither one could do it. It stung at the moment, but like Mo says, you forget about it and move on.
The thing is, Carlo, I don’t care about the Orioles.
“I miss the old Beckett with the bad back…”
Me too…and I miss pounding their pitching staff as a whole. Their starters have thrown how many quality starts against us now?
The same formula worked on Friday. We are capable of beating them in 1-run games. As for Scutaro, I still remember that walkoff HR off Mariano in Oakland.
The inabilityof CC and Rivera to perform against the Red Sox does not bode well for the playoffs.
Garcia pitched well and did not have much luck with some IF hits and bloopers boosting his pitch count. Thats encouraging. The other encouraging sign is the Yankees showed signs of figuring out Beckett. Had some bad luck on a few hard hit balls.
Swisher continues to show he does not perform in the big games though.
“I haven’t even looked at it on video yet. I made a decent pitch on a 2-1, it was a changeup. I figured we could go in again, that’s usually where we like to go on him.”
That says it all. You do not throw inside offspeed stuff to Ortiz over the plate. It has to be off the plate inside or in the dirt. Same thing with Crawford who beat the Yankees up the entire series despite looking awful against the Indians (who leared from their mistakes in May). Both can be had with good a FB inside over the plate up in the zone. The approach to Red Sox hitters and the quality of the advance scouts who help determine that approach should be looked at.
Big opportunity lost here. Not the end of the world though. I like the fact Girardi figured out Posada should not be his DH even against RHP’ers. Too bad Chavez had such an awful game, but it was still a good move.
“The thing is, Carlo, I don’t care about the Orioles.”
He’s just pointing out that the issue isn’t a mental thing, but rather a factor of facing a great offense for 15 years and having them accumulate enough AB’s where they may have an edge compared to other teams. Mo can’t be perfect against everyone, so it makes sense that his struggles will come against the team that has the best lineup and has seen him the most, even if we don’t like to see it.
Here’s something else: Bard has a 4.43 ERA lifetime against the Yankees, and Papelbon is at 4.23. These ERA’s are much higher than Mo’s numbers against the Sox, and also much higher than their career averages. Are the Yankees in their heads, or is it just really hard to face a great hitting team 5-6 times a year without getting hit hard once or twice?
yanks hit at all they win the game.
mo’s stats are over 15 years and you are saying they are in his head, unreal…………..
tex and cano did jack sh-t for the series. nothing at all. cano is a mental case…….
Freddie Garcia wasn’t great, Chad?
What game were you watching? Because you must have been watching cartoons or something, not the game. Garcia was great. He pitched a great game. Just because he didn’t do it with 95 mph fastballs and strikeouts doesn’t mean he didn’t pitch a great game. You know who he pitched better than? Rivera. And Hughes. He pitched a lot better than Sabathia in this series.
It’s amazing how the writers of this blog try to paint happy faces with rose-colored glasses on steaming piles of **** all the time, yet with someone like Garcia they refuse to give the guy his due.
RS/Carlo,
Agreed. You can only “surprise” batters so many times as pitchers. I still don’t care about the Orioles, though.
Would like to see our middle-of-the-lineup guys come through much better than they have. They gave us almost nothing in this series. And for those counting on Arod to make a huge difference, you need to calm down a bit. His swing does not always work for him and I expect him to be out-of-wack for a while.
Garcia was a magician out there.
At some point, you do not just forget about it and move on. Sometimes, you have learn from your mistakes. And although the game was blown due to a popup double, chances were there to tack on runs and as LGY points out, 0 for 30 with RISP against Beckett on the season. Unacceptable. Guys need to learn to adjust their approaches at the plate. Namely, Tex. He’s home run or bust. Swings for the fences every time, and its either home run or pop up.
if they meet the Sox in the playoffs they are going to have a very hard time (understatement) beating them…they are going to need a LHRP
The focus will be on Rivera and Hughes, but I blame this loss more on the offense. The middle of the order failed miserably, and the complete lack of situational hitting is inexplicable.
The line up badly needs Alex back. It’s also time for the Montero era to begin.
Better team won. It’s as easy as that.
RSM August 8th, 2011 at 6:11 am
The focus will be on Rivera and Hughes, but I blame this loss more on the offense. The middle of the order failed miserably, and the complete lack of situational hitting is inexplicable.
The line up badly needs Alex back. It’s also time for the Montero era to begin.
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I would have liked to have had more offense, but the bottom line is we had enough. I think the only thing you can say is we let this one get away in the late innings. I’m happy we came back Friday against Lester, else it would have been another sweep. Getting out of there losing just one game in the standings was a victory of sorts at this point in the season.
Gary August 8th, 2011 at 6:57 am
RSM August 8th, 2011 at 6:11 am
The focus will be on Rivera and Hughes, but I blame this loss more on the offense. The middle of the order failed miserably, and the complete lack of situational hitting is inexplicable.
The line up badly needs Alex back. It’s also time for the Montero era to begin.
___________________________________________________________________________
I would have liked to have had more offense, but the bottom line is we had enough. I think the only thing you can say is we let this one get away in the late innings. I’m happy we came back Friday against Lester, else it would have been another sweep. Getting out of there losing just one game in the standings was a victory of sorts at this point in the season.
==================
I disagree. They had plenty of scoring opportunities (over the entire weekend), and failed to capitalize. The Yanks can’t keep leaving their pitching little or no margin for error, and expect to have good results, especially against the Red Sox. I think getting Alex back will help a lot.
Despite last night’s loss, it was still a very successful road trip. The Yanks made up ground in the AL East, and demonstrated that they can beat the Sox and Lester in Fenway.
Dill Pickler August 8th, 2011 at 2:48 am
Freddie Garcia wasn’t great, Chad?
What game were you watching? Because you must have been watching cartoons or something, not the game. Garcia was great. He pitched a great game. Just because he didn’t do it with 95 mph fastballs and strikeouts doesn’t mean he didn’t pitch a great game. You know who he pitched better than? Rivera. And Hughes. He pitched a lot better than Sabathia in this series.
It’s amazing how the writers of this blog try to paint happy faces with rose-colored glasses on steaming piles of **** all the time, yet with someone like Garcia they refuse to give the guy his due.
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Nice post. I didn’t understand how Chad could say that Freddy wasn’t great last night.
Chavez really starred at DH, didn’t he? Another great move by Binder Joe, the moron robot.
The loss was on Mo, even though Houghes gets the L. Mo is still very good, but, not the same guy we’ve seen in the past. Soriano and D-Rob went through the heart of the order, leaving Mo to close it out against 9-1-2, and failed once more.
What the heck is going on with Cano? Last night, for the second time in the series, he cuts in front of Jeter, turning an easy play by Jeter, into an additional base runner for the Sux.
The fact the big guns in the middle of the order took a vacation with RISP, was the difference.
Perhaps it’s a mental thing, but, the Red Sux have shown they own this Yankees team. Some how the Yankees must win the division, and hope the Rangers beat the Sux.
Freddie Garcia wasn’t great, Chad?
==========================
He wasn’t anywhere close to great. Great outings don’t last 5 innings. 5 innings don’t require 100 pitches in a great outing. He got some big outs when he had to and he once again survived having his ordinary stuff, which is to his credit. He kept his team in the game. But he was miles from great.
Mlb radio led off the morning talking about the Red Sox lovefest that was the ESPN broadcast last night……calling it a “Red Sox bias” and “uncomfortable to listen to”……it was embarrassing.
As for the game…..the Yanks were 5-2 on the road trip and were a Rivera save away from being 6-1……it was a pretty good trip and they are a game out of first place heading back to the stadium.
The offense lost the game last night for me…..they had Beckett on the ropes the whole game and just couldn’t find grass with a big hit…..some of it was bad luck (Jeter hit the ball hard 3 times and Swisher hit two drives to the deep part of the park…..that’s Fenway…Scutero hits a 300 foot double and Swisher hits a 410 foot out……but they have to do better and they miss Arods presence badly. Beckett was dominant in that first start of the year in April……he’s been much more hittable in the rest and especially the last two and the Yanks just haven’t done anything against him.for whatever reason.
They need Arod back…..and they need to see what Montero can do at this point.
The biggest development this weekend may have been Soriano and how he looked…..that’s a big big addition if he’s now right.
The Yanks have a pretty light schedule the rest of this month…..rest up today then start to make hay.
This is all lipstick on a pig. Being 2-10 against Boston this year shows that our best chance to make the World Series is that we don’t have to beat Boston in the playoffs to get there. That, my friends, is a fact. Admitting that the BoSux are a better team than the Yankees is the last thing I ever want to admit, but 2-10 ? Terrible, absolutely awful.
Garcia wasn’t great……but he did what he’s done all year and actually showed that be coukd be effective against Boston. He gave them a good chance to win the game.
Mariano cannot seem to get good righties out with diminished velocity and movement on his pitches.
. “Admitting that the BoSux are a better team than the Yankees is the last thing I ever want to admit,”
The playoffs are a whole different animal…..everything from the Reg season doesn’t matter anymore. The Yankees have the best run differential in baseball……they haven’t played well against Boston but they still have two more chances to turn that around before October…..they were in a position to take 2 of 3 from them at Fenway without Arod.. things really aren’t that bad.
2-10 against Boston is pretty bad, period. As is stands right now, Boston is 15-6, .714, against the other likely AL playoff teams ( NY, TEX & Det ) and the Yankees stand at 12 – 16, .429, ( against BOS, Det & TEX ). Bottom line, is that Boston TOTALLY has our number this year, with CC and MO struggling against them, too. It does not look good.
Looks like a good day to stay away from here seeing the Debbie Downers will be here all day.
as usual nothing in the papers or talk radio about Tex. But I’m sure people will keep on defending him because of his counting stats and defense
MaineYankee,
So you are happy with the way they have played against the Red Sox this year?
Boston had our number in 2009 as well……it ended up not mattering much
Triple Short of a Cycle August 8th, 2011 at 8:07 am
MaineYankee,
So you are happy with the way they have played against the Red Sox this year?
——————————————————————
Of course not.
I just have no desire to read all the woe is me posts.
People can moan all they want but it’s just a game.
I have no desire to dwell on a loss as if it’s the end of the world.
MaineYankee -
There are those that fit your description, but, those being honest about the play of our team against the Red Sux are not being negative, but, looking at the situation with open eyes, and not with blinders on, or rose colored glasses – there is a difference.
Momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher. The Red Sawx have momentum against the Yankees as long as their next starting pitcher is as good or better than the Yanks pitcher is.
A 2-10 record so far this year means absolutely nothing come October, nothing.
blake, I hope 2011 mirrors 2009 then. Have a great day!
Im not happy about how they’ve played against Boston…..because if they were .500 against them they’d have a 5 game lead right now. I just don’t think that them being 2-10 or whatever really makes that much difference……these are veteran teams……they know its starts 0-0 in the 2nd season.
blake,
2009 they were 500 against them. This is not 2009
In 2009 the Yanks lost their first 9 games against the Sawx. All same nonsense that’s being spewed today was being spewed then.
There is no reason for Hughes not to make his next start on Tuesday since only through 13 pitches, so this is a sign that clearly the Yankees want Nova making as many starts as possible and that he’s their preferred choice (as it should be). I didn’t think it was a good idea at all to have Hughes pitch out of the pen, but he has to do a better job – so for all those who think that putting him in the pen is going to make him lights out again, that’s not happening. He was apparently topping out at 93 for those into velocity.
Mo? I never get upset at him – and now that he’s 40, we just have to assume he’s going to show some signs of being human. It happens
excuse me – he only THREW, not through
Boston is a better team, but we may not even get to face them in the ALCS, so it really doesn’t matter how we match up. It’s not like they are on some other level, though, as I read on Saturday night
Time to get over it. On the upside, the Yankees are away from that stinking, poor excuse for a major league venue and there’s no injuries.
Full focus on the Angels series beginning tomorrow. One day closer to the return of Alex and the possible call up of Montero.
The pitching is intact but pushing runs across at opportune times needs to be addressed sooner than later.
Betsy,
A 30 run differential. The fact that we haven’t had 1 quality start against them this year. The fact that we can hardly ever score against their 1 and 2 guys even when they don’t have their best stuff doesn’t scream being on another level?
Must’ve been an organizational problem yesterday.
Bullpen took losses in Scranton and Trenton too.
BIG AL August 8th, 2011 at 8:14 am
MaineYankee -
There are those that fit your description, but, those being honest about the play of our team against the Red Sux are not being negative, but, looking at the situation with open eyes, and not with blinders on, or rose colored glasses – there is a difference.
——————————————————————————————————————
Not sure I’d call it open eyes.
Or rose colored glasses.
Because it’s against the RS some want to make a big deal out of it.
Could they have played better? Of course.
I think you’ve followed enough baseball to not get caught up in the hype of a series against the RS.
If the Yankees get as paranoid about a series against the RS as some fans do they have no chance anyway.
Do you think they are saying this morning, we have no chance to win this year because of their record against Boston?
As proven by what they did with Posada they will make changes.
Triple, take a look at the standings. Another level? I don’t think so. I don’t care about all that crap people are spouting – the Sox are exactly one game ahead of us. If they are so great and all that, they should be running away with the division. Why aren’t they?
Betsy,
I’m talking about head to head against them. I could care less about the standings because both teams are going to the playoffs and there is a good chance that we see them there if we advance. Maybe Boston just gets up more to face the Yankees then the Yankees do
Triple, it doesn’t matter how they do against them head to head unless it comes down to the tie breaker for the division. If the Yankees get to meet the Sox and the Sox win, so be it. I’m not expecting a deep run from this Yankees team in any case.
MaineYankee -
My comments were addressed to how they played this weekend. I fully expect this team to make a strong run at the division, dispite the tough schedule being on the road for a majority of the games. With 2 more series left against Boston, it’s at least in their own hands to finish strong, and on top.
Bottom line, this year they have NO PROBLEM beating us. When you are 10-2 against the New York Yankees, your players have lots of confidence that, no matter what, you can find a way to beat them. When you are 2-10 against the Red Sox, when CC can’t pitch worth a crap against them and Mo continues to struggle against them, there is NO way anyone will convince me that the Yankees players don’t remember that kind of stuff. Can that be a motivator for the Yankees ? Of course. Has it, so far, this year. Absolutely NOT.
Betsy,
Neither am I also with all the crap Arod used to go through about not being “clutch” I find it amazing how Tex gets no heat at all
I find myself yearning for a Beckett blister.
this question is directed to anyone on this board that has any VINTAGE – can you recall another 12-18 month period where our top hitters came up so small against our main rivals? Maybe vs. Toronto in ’85? Balt ’80?
Betsy (in case you missed it last night)
Hughes is the empty cereal box that you bang upside down in search of the 2 cent toy (Made in China) that they forgot to put in the package.
Bang away but the most you’re going to get out of it is a 2 cent toy.
Saw this as the first comment:
# LGY August 8th, 2011 at 2:00 am
I think this bears repeating.
In games started by Josh Beckett this season the New York Yankees are 0-30 with RISP.
———————–
UGH.
The playoffs are a whole different animal…..everything from the Reg season doesn’t matter anymore
===============
True
The Yankees have the best run differential in baseball
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But this matters even less
Some people confuse their blood lust for the Sux with the importance of each individual game.
We’re one game out.
We may or may not even face the Sux in the playoffs.
And I agree with 86 who said that happens here stays here.
In other words, the playoffs totally reset the clock.
Just because we lose a season series to the Sux does not mean we cannot rise to the ocassion and beat them if we should happen to meet in October.
On to the Angels.
MTU,
DId you feel that way all the years we used to face the Twins or did you feel confident we would beat them based on our dominace of them?
Waking up to a sick feeling in my stomach from the end of last nights game. For Mo to say “this is baseball, it happens!” Where’s accountability?? You want to get to the WS again then you have to beat the Sox (that’s if they can get past Texas/Angels) Just an ugly, ugly loss last night. Glad they have the day off so I can rid my system of baseball for a day!!
I love when people start talking about accountability in here.
0-30 with RISP off Beckett is troubling.
Mell: “He (Garcia) wasn’t anywhere close to great. Great outings don’t last 5 innings. 5 innings don’t require 100 pitches in a great outing. He got some big outs when he had to and he once again survived having his ordinary stuff, which is to his credit. He kept his team in the game. But he was miles from great.”
It’s all relative, Mell. If it were Sabathia, no, not great. If Garcia were pitching against the Orioles or the Mariners, no, not great. Garcia is basically our #5 starter. For him to go out there and go 5 innings, give up 5 hits and 1 run to that lineup in that shoebox they call a park, is great. You can’t ask for more than that from Garcia. And yet if Hughes touches 93 on the gun one time, despite giving up a boatload of hits and runs, or after one of AJ’s stinkeroos, the writers of this blog are stumbling all over themselves trying to paint it as a positive outing. It’s b.s. that was a great outing.