Postgame notes: “Nobody’s going well”
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Notes on Aug 21, 2012 
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Through much of the season’s first half, the Yankees kept plugging bullpen holes and found the perfect piece every time. Need a rookie long man out of spring training? David Phelps. Mariano Rivera lost for the season? Rafael Soriano. Dave Robertson out for a month? Cory Wade. Wade’s magic worn thin? Cody Eppley. Phelps has to step into the rotation? Derek Lowe.
Thing is, we all know bullpens don’t always work like that. Relievers are a notoriously inconsistent group, and now the Yankees bullpen is starting to show some of those inconsistencies.
“It’s tough to swallow,” Boone Logan said after tonight’s letdown. “We’ve been scuffling as a whole down there lately. You can’t go in there and do your job all year long, you’re going to hit a couple rough patches. You’ve got to grind through it and get through it. We all know that,and talk about it. We’re doing the best we can, it’s just nobody’s going well.”
It was Logan who gave up tonight’s Alexei Ramirez game-winner. It was Logan’s second loss in five days, coming less than a week after he was part of another collective bullpen letdown at home against Texas. Robertson and Soriano are still pitching well in the late innings, but the bridge to the eighth and ninth no longer has that can’t-miss feeling.
“We get the groundball and we’re not quite able to turn the double play,” Joe Girardi said. “It’s a tough double play to turn in that fifth inning, and it just kind of got worse after that, in a sense. The bullpen struggled tonight. It hasn’t been something they’ve done very often this year, so they’ll bounce back.”
One thing about relievers: They’ve all been through something like this. Right or wrong, they all seem to believe they’ll get things straightened out eventually. The Yankees need that to happen, because games like this seem especially hard to follow down the stretch and into the postseason.
“We know it’s part of the game,” Logan said. “That’s the way it works. We’re still a good bullpen. It’s funny how when someone struggles, we all struggle. It seems like we all struggle at the same time. Once we all start getting on a roll, we’ll all get on a roll, and get back to where we need to be.”
• Joba Chamberlain is among the worst bullpen offenders recently, but Girardi once again vowed to keep Chamberlain in the big leagues. Is he concerned? “Long-term, no,”Girardi said. “But short-term, yeah. We have to try to get him right. … He’s got to help us.”
• Here’s Chamberlain: “If I was throwing 90 miles per hour we would have a concern. Obviously the strength and stuff (are good). My slider is 86 to 88 (mph), right where it should be. Fastball is at 95. You know it’s there, now it’s just trying to figure out what in the delivery or what we can do to change things or work on in between and go from there.”
• The good news from tonight, Derek Jeter had another four-hit game, moving into a tie with Eddie Murray for 11th on the all-time hits list. Jeter has 3,255 hits. He also move into sole possession of 13th on the all-time runs scored list, passing Craig Biggio.
• Jeter also homered tonight. It was the 251st of his career, passing Graig Nettles on the Yankees all-time list.
• One last Jeter note: He has a hit in 15 of his last 16 games, batting .403 in that span. He’s also a career .360 hitter against White Sox starter Gavin Floyd (who looked pretty bad tonight).
• Speaking of struggling starters, Freddy Garcia got out of trouble in the first, got out of trouble in the second and got on a terrific roll before letting everything fall apart in the fifth. He’d struck out seven of nine before the last five batters he faced all reached base. “I cannot throw strike after I gave one in the fifth and base hit and whatever, man,” Garcia said. “I cannot make the pitch I needed when I need it. Was at 100 pitch and they decide to take me out. And it’s really frustrating for me because you’ve got a lead, 3-0. And that’s the game, you know. Gavin Floyd pitched two innings or whatever and I was feeling good, man. I don’t know. Something happened. I could not find the strike zone.”
• Garcia said he honestly had no idea what went wrong. “I’ve got command of my fastball, my slider, my split. At that point, I was really comfortable,” he said. “Something happened and I could not find the zone. That’s crazy, but that’s the way it is.”
• Garcia is 1-4 with a 6.81 ERA in his past seven starts against the White Sox.
• Mark Teixeira has a hit in 10 of his past 11 games. He had two hits tonight in his return from a sore wrist.
• Why did Girardi mix and match so much in the fifth rather than give the ball to a long man? “I’m thinking that I’m going for the double play with Eppley,” Girardi said. “We get the ground ball, it’s just not quite at Chavy enough. That’s what I’m trying to do. If he gets the double play, I probably leave him in there to start the sixth and see the right handers. When he doesn’t, you start mixing and matching a little bit. It didn’t work.”
• Logan on his home run pitch to Ramirez: “I threw it right in his bat swing. Those are the balls he hits. I threw him nothing but heaters. Stew wanted to go back in there. I knew he was probably looking slider at one point anyway. It was a bad pitch either way, but I was looking to throw it low in the dirt maybe. I knew he was hacking, I thought he might be looking for it, so I was going to show it to him, but throw it in the dirt. If I walked him, get the next guy. If he swings at it, strike him out. So that was my approach on that pitch.”
• There really wasn’t a good final word on this one, I’ll just go with the obvious from Girardi: “We had some opportunities.”
Associated Press photos
It’s hard to stomach the losses where all you have to do is pitch and not throw meatballs (or Joba) out there. Where the offense shows up and beats down the starter in the first 3 innings. meh.
Yanks middle relief has been a problem for a little while now…..not sure what you can do about it right now though aside from just hoping thy pitch better…..getting Freddy and Phelps back in thr pen would help for sure….but then CC and Pettite have to get back first.
Morning blake -
It’s getting a lot uncomfortable, what with the Rays having a burst of energy here. Hated last night’s game result. It all turned so quickly. It was encouraging when they came back right away to re-take the lead. And then, pow. Like a slap in the face.
Joba’s a conundrum. The only way he gets better is to keep pitching. And you don’t find out anything, really, working in the bullpen, so they won’t know he’s right until he has a good outing. If they can hang on and hang in, I do think he’ll come around.
They have to win games when the offense produces. There’s always going to be some games where the offense gets shut down – you shrug it off and move on. But when the offense scores 5, 6 or more runs, you can’t squander any more of those opportunities. You count on a bullpen that has for the most part been the backbone of the club – it’s going to have some stumbles because all bullpens do. There’s no crystal ball. But it sure seems as though every time the bullpen fails, it is a total failure. You can look at it that it usually means they get it all out of their system in one lousy game and then bounce back (positive), or you can look at it at if the first guy doesn’t get it done, the next guy should. It shouldn’t be all or nothing. Fortunately, the Yankees have had more “all” out of the bullpen than “nothing,” but that doesn’t take the sting out of each individual loss.
they need to go on a roll and get over that 25-over-.500 hump.
Morning Villa,
The Rays are like an annoying gnat that you just cant smush against a brick wall……theyll cool off though surely. They have been winning litterally every day and the Yanks have managed to keep them at a distance …..
4 games is getting a bit narrow though so need to win tonight…..chance for Nova and Hughes to step up…..especially Nova cause Sale is going tomorrow and they need tonights game.
You have to keep throwing Joba….they just need to try and do it in lower leverage spot if they can…..the big hit he gave up last night was 95 on the black and just a good piece of hitting.
Getting CC and Andy back will help the pen just as much as the rotation Id say…..I hate to see Phelps leave the rotation but I bet they win that game last night if hes in the bullpen…..
Anyone else concerned about Girardi’s mental fatigue? IMHO Joe needs a mental break, either a few days off or a phantom injury and a 15 day DL stint should do the trick. Pena will fill in fine as team brain genious.
We now have a pennant race. Since the pen is a mess, I suspect Phelps will return there when CC returns. Joba needs to go to AAA to get some command. He is giving up more than two hits per inning. Eppley never has done much for me. He is a one trick pony. If the batters lay off pitches below the knees, he has no way to get outs with his 88 mph fastball.
I think Joe needs a couple od relievers that can actually get somebody out more than a mental break….Girardi has made the most of this pen this year…..its starting to get over exposed though Im afraid as really Robertson and Soriano are the only two plus arms out there until Joba gets right (well and Logan when hes not sucking)
Im surprised Cashman didnt make a move for a reliever at the deadline…….prices must have been sky high and he just opted to roll the dice and hope Joba coukd do the job…..so far he hasnt…..but hes kinda their best shot right now at a plus arm…..hopefully he can find it…..only way is to pitch…..
Big game tonight…..Price is going for the Rays and Sale is going for the ChiSox tomorrow……really hope good Nova and bad Liriano show up cause I really dont want to go into tomorrow night facing Chris Sale with the lead down to 3 games.
Need this one…..step up Nova
Good morning-
Didn’t see the game last night, but it looked like a team effort in the loss.
Garcia-wiggles out of jams lately until it always seems to catch up to him.
Bullpen-This was my biggest concern. Without innings eaters Sabathia and Pettitte, the bullpen is now exposed. Which BP arms have options if the Yankees want to try lefty Juan Cedeno[no runs allowed in last 7 appearances]? Cory Wade has been rocked in his last two appearances. There doesn’t seem to be much help at AAA.
Phelps is a #5 and only decent now because hitters haven’t seen enough film on him. They’ll readjust come next year. I’m not sold on Phelps yet. Outside of DRob and Sori, there’s no sure thing anymore. I’m beginning to believe they’re pretty fatigued – which would be a bad thing – but when rosters expand, it could/should spell some relief for them in blowout wins/losses. (hopefully more of the former than the latter).
Nova and Hughes… used to be ok with them during the summer… now… not so much. They both seem to have hit a wall. Loss of confidence and location. Hughes giving up fly balls like crazy (he needs to stop getting up so high and hopefully learn a sinker of sorts – keep the ball on the ground). Nova… kinda the same thing. They both seem to be getting hit hard. I hope they recover because it’ll be a short fall if they don’t.
hard to believe that this team at one point had a 10 game lead. Shades of Sox 2011???
Cashman did get Derek Lowe. And Lowe’s first outing was a gem. Chicago is a good hitting team.
Did anyone else absolutely know that DeWise would do something big last night??
I do agree that Nova and Hughes have to go back to getting into the 7th inning (at least). That will do more to help the bullpen than anything else.
Fingers crossed that CC comes back strong. Not counting on Pettitte.
Lost in the lousy bullpen work were all the blown opportunities early in the game offensively.
Did Cano run thru a stop sign or did Thomson really send him on a one-hop rocket right at a very strong armed RF (Rios) ??? that was one of the worst blunders of the year by one of them.
8 LOB in first 5 innings plus the Cano play and a DP. Shouldn’t have been close.
Joba has been lousy, but the “stuff” looks good. what’s really hurting is that the lefties have been absolutely miserable.
Blake-
Good morning. When I raised concerns about the bullpen over a month ago, you told me that wasn’t a big concern since Joba would be back soon. Joba clearly is not ready to pitch with the parent club. I don’t have the stats as to who has the best bullpens in the AL, but I feel that the Yankees are no longer in the top 5.
This team has not won a single game in which they trailed in the ninth. I realize doing so is uncommon, but that says something. I’m not sure what, but it is a far cry from 2009 regular pie events. The same was essentially true last year as well.
I agree Blake, Phelps will have to go back into the pen once CC is back in the roation … no brainer. There is basically no bridge right now between the starters and Robertson/Soriano.
The time for experimenting is over … unless they can push lead back up to 7 or 8 games again.
I fear that unless the Yankees can win these next 2 games against the ChiSox they will head into the weekend with a lead that is 3 games or less … all of a sudden the thought of being overtaken after cruising all summer in first place is becoming more and more of reality each day.
And the irony is that its not as if the Yankees are falling apart … they have actually been playing well all things considered … they havent lost a series since losing 2 out of 3 to the Orioles to open August.
Lowe had an ERA vs the CWS this year before last night of > 36.00.
Perhaps Joe was uncomfortable bringing him in when Garcia loaded the bases.
86w183,
I agree on the blown opportunities. They should have led far more than three runs. That often comes back to bite one in the derrière.
Remember what Francisco Rodriguez did for the Angels when they brought him up? Could Mark Montgomery do the same?
“Rodríguez signed as an undrafted amateur free agent in 1998. Originally a starting pitcher, Rodríguez moved to relief pitching in 2002 after elbow and shoulder injuries shortened his 2001 minor league season with the Lake Elsinore Storm. In 2002, he made his major league debut. At the time, he was the youngest pitcher in the American League. Because of the multiple injuries to the Angels bullpen, the club brought him up during the middle of September. He emerged as a postseason relief hero, winning five postseason games despite never having won a Major League game before.”
86w183 -
Absolutely true. They needed to put the game out of reach early, because they did have the opportunity to do so.
I have not been satisified with the 3rd base coaching most of the year. Too many times runners have been either held when they could have been sent, or vice versa.
I didn’t see him send Cano, but the announcers seemed to indicate that he had been sent. I mean, you don’t know for sure whether the next guy would get a hit, but you do know that Cano’s not the best baserunner on the team and the guy in right had a good arm. At least the inning would have continued.
Tex had a nice at-bat before hitting in to the DP. I saw the at-bat up until the DP (had to attend to something out of the room), so I don’t know – did he make good contact, just place it poorly?
Cano also just missed a HR early in the game.
“Good morning. When I raised concerns about the bullpen over a month ago, you told me that wasn’t a big concern since Joba would be back soon. ”
At the time I thought theyd be getting Joba and Aardsma and figured one of them could help….so far it looks like I may have been too optimistic about Joba but its still early…he may get it together…..they coukd use another arm….dont know if any waiver deals are out there.
They should give Montgomery a look in September
“Did Cano run thru a stop sign or did Thomson really send him on a one-hop rocket right at a very strong armed RF (Rios) ???”
I didnt see but Thompson is terrible…..he costs them lots if runs over the course of the season IMO…
Yankee Trader -
That’s interesting, but he’s only at AA so far.
I had the opportunity to see him pitch last weekend. He pitched two innings, ended up striking out the side in the 8th and another 2 in the 9th, for 5 total. He gave up a lead off hit in the 8th, but then looked pretty comfortable. The 9th was a little shakier. Threw a lot of pitches. Hitters fouled off a lot of pitches. He had some deep counts (walked two in the 9th).
It was exciting to watch him. But to bring him from AA to the majors in a pennant race? Hmmm.
I believe the Yankees were 0 for 9 with RISP against Boston and could never take advantage of Beckett’s early struggles. Luckily our Ace was on the mound.
Last night 4 for 13 and couldn’t build a huge lead off Floyd who couldn’t find the plate.
What is the Yankees record when they don’t hit a homerun? When they hit one homer, but it’s a solo shot?
Any bad teams have good relievers that could slip through waivers? I cant think of anybody off hand…..
On a positive note…..how awesome is Derek Jeter.
blake August 21st, 2012 at 8:47 am
Any bad teams have good relievers that could slip through waivers? I cant think of anybody off hand…..
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Maybe we can get Qualls back!
Villa-
It worked for the Angels. These were Rodriguez’ stats before the Angels brought him up mid September. Time to promote Montgomery to AAA now and prepare him for a call-up?
http://www.baseball-reference......drig009fra
YT-
Seems like you’re clutching at straws.
New thread —–>
blake August 21st, 2012 at 8:51 am
On a positive note…..how awesome is Derek Jeter.
—————-
SO awesome!!
Blake-
Here are some that might be available:
Carlos Marmol cleared waivers
Shawn Camp of the Cubs
Heath Bell and old non-reliable Chad Gaudin of the Marlins
Brian Duensing of the Twins
Can anyone think of any others that might be available?
None of the above would be an upgrade.