Pettitte delivers in Yankees return
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Misc on Sep 19, 2012 
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Andy Pettitte is back in every which way. The veteran left-hander delivered five scoreless innings and pitched the Yankees to a 4-2 win in his return from a broken ankle this afternoon. Pettitte left a runner stranded at third base three times and got through five innings despite a 75-pitch limit. The Yankees gave Pettitte an early lead with a three-run first inning – Robinson Cano’s RBI double was the big hit of the inning – and after Dave Robertson let the Blue Jays pull within a run in the eighth, Nick Swisher drove in an insurance run and Rafael Soriano closed out the victory.
Associated Press photo
Where would this team be without Soriano?
Big win. Very nice to see Andy back on the hill.
Here is what the PLAN should have been. Granted… things can change and nothing will go as expect. But..this is what Joe should have had in mind going in to the day.
Game 1
Pettitte 5 innings
Lowe 3+ innings ( depending on score, and how he is doing)
Eppley as a option
Rapada as a option
Soriano as a last case deal
Game 2
You expect 5-6 From your rookie
Garcia 2-3+ innings ( depending on score, and how he is doing)
You have Logan
You have Joba
And Drob can close.
Look at that. You potentially don’t need all of those guys… and no one has to pitch twice.
Henderson Alvarez has struck out more than 4 batters in a game only twice this season. Both those games were against the Yankees.
Henderson Alvarez had 5 strikeouts in September before today’s game.
This was a great win, but it also shows the team’s vulnerability. The offense scores early, but it does not tack on runs like Yanks’ teams have done in years past. That puts tremendous pressure on the starter and bullpen to hold the lead.
That stress is showing in Robertson now. We’ve also seen earlier signs of guys like Eppley and Logan wearing down as the year progressed.
Henderson Alvarez’s 13 strikeouts against the Yankees this season is greater than his monthly total in April, May, and August.
Huge hit by Swisher…..very good game by Ichiro….great to see Nady back on the hill amd he pretty much looked like always…..looked ready to.go.
Jones doesnt need to play tonigt or any other night….Romero has a reverse split and there is absolutely no reason to play Jones instead of Ichiro. Jones runs and maybe the Yanks score more that 9th inning.
Soriano was virtually unhittable. Trying to make it easier for Boras to get him 3 more years at 14M/year.
Now what’s wrong with DRob? I think I only saw one curveball. The rest were mostly batting practice fastball pitches.
I hope we get an answer from Chad during the post game interview with Girardi.
never easy for this team. 3 runs in the first then nothing until the eighth. Could have been a laugher but almost turn into a disaster.
tucker September 19th, 2012 at 3:53 pm
This was a great win, but it also shows the team’s vulnerability. The offense scores early, but it does not tack on runs like Yanks’ teams have done in years past. That puts tremendous pressure on the starter and bullpen to hold the lead.
That stress is showing in Robertson now. We’ve also seen earlier signs of guys like Eppley and Logan wearing down as the year progressed.
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I don’t know if stress is Robertson’s problem… he is either still not completely over some injury or something is wrong. His pitch selection is really, really weird as many on here have mentioned. He’s got such a great curveball but is hardly throwing it. Maybe he can’t for some reason? I just don’t think it’s nerves…. this was the same guy who got out of bases loaded no out jams regularly.
They list Cano at 6 feet tall and Meredith is towering over him.
Henderson Alvarez’s 13 strikeouts against the Yankees are just one less than he has against the entire AL West.
.great to see Nady back on the hill
=====================
Xavier is back? As a pitcher?
And that concludes this session of Henderson Alvarez facts.
O’s troll ? where are you? did your Mommy catch you on the computer again when you were supposed be doing your homework ?
never easy for this team. 3 runs in the first then nothing until the eighth. Could have been a laugher but almost turn into a disaster.
Like quite a few games have this year. I don’t know what it is about this team but they just don’t seem to be able to score any runs in the later innings. My only thought as to why is because they’re so reliant on the home run and can’t build an inning when the pressure is on.
Henderson Alvarez’s 13 strikeouts against the Yankees this season is greater than his monthly total in April, May, and August.”
I think fact that Felix Hernadez is his idle makes him unhittable against the Yanks.
Has Joel Sherman been allowed in the post game presser?
Idol
The reason, as Robertson himself said earlier this year, is that sometimes he falls in love with his fastball and just likes it a lot more. So he throws it more. He really needs to get rid of Hughes’ disease before it spreads and infects him beyond control.
USE THE CURVE! (and don’t you dare use that changeup again)
bruce-
They actually played small ball pretty well today and have done it pretty well recently. I’m going to blame it some on Kevin Long. I think the pitcher is making adjustments 2nd time through the order and the Yanks aren’t catching on.
http://www.bronxgoblin.com/con.....ks-yankees
Found out who the O’s fan in here is.
I only got to watch the first half of the game from pitch by pitch on my phone. How did Andy look? The numbers look good, but I’m thinking about picking him up for my fantasy playoffs that are going on right now lol
I hope the game tonight is really close and either:
A. Phelps doesn’t dominate for 7+ innings or
B. the offense doesn’t score around 10 runs.
I sure wouldn’t want all the worrying about how the pen was used in the first game to go to waste.
Pettitte’s now has a 2.82 ERA over his past two seasons.
That guys a rapper?
all the 2nd guessing after a win?
he got the ball to roso with a 3 run lead….jeez.
UnKnown September 19th, 2012 at 4:01 pm
http://www.bronxgoblin.com/con…..ks-yankees
Found out who the O’s fan in here is.
—
is that a man or women
LOL. Who knows. Just thought it was funny.
mick September 19th, 2012 at 4:05 pm
all the 2nd guessing after a win?
he got the ball to roso with a 3 run lead….jeez.
———
All I can do is SMH.
Don Vito A. Bellamo September 19th, 2012 at 3:59 pm
O’s troll ? where are you? did your Mommy catch you on the computer again when you were supposed be doing your homework ?
_________________________________________
Please, don’t even give him the satisfaction of acknowledging him. Ignore him and he will go away, like the rest of the attention starved trolls
Well, they won. And Andy looked as good as we could have expected. But other than Soriano, nobody that came out of the pen did a good job today. A ton of hard hit balls.
Man, can they please win 12-3 tonight? Pretty please???
Pen is probably rusty!!! When did they last have two days off in a row? If DRob is going to continue pitching like he did today, Soriano is going to be the last man standing in terms of reliable relievers.
Tackelberry, 10-4
I agree kevin Long is to blame are not makeing adjustment 2n time around picture are not afraid of this all or nothing kevin long philosphy he got to go maybe bring in bernie william hitting coach
Dating back to that final game at the Trop the Yanks have managed to win 8 of 12
I say Pettitte returns next season.
What say you ?
In fact I say Mo and Pettitte both come back.
Girardi manage this game against toronto like they were 1927 yankees
Drob’s era creeping towards the 3′s (its 2.98 now) Not terrible but he’s beginning to make me nervous.
Anyone else think that their might be a physical reason why D-Rob is not using his curve more ?
the yanks problem for next year is that they need the old guys to come back. what happened to developing young talent? the way the yanks are going the only way to be competitive year after year is by spending money on old men and getting lucky.
What AP brings:
L-e-a-d-e-r-s-h-i-p
“Girardi manage this game against toronto like they were 1927 yankees”
He has to manage every game from here on that way…..
“Anyone else think that their might be a physical reason why D-Rob is not using his curve more ?”
I cant really thinknof one…..but there has to be some reason.
What happened on Andruw Jones’ at bat? Jones wanted it foul – but Chad said he popped out – why would that matter?
The reason he has to manage that way no confidense in the hitting its awful
Spell check is your friend.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy with any W right now, but when you look at that Jays lineup (no Bautista, no Encarnacion, no Arenciibia, missing most of their starting pitchers) it doesn’t say much for the Yanks that we need to call on Soriano for a four-out save. This over-reliance on Robertson and Soriano is reaching ridiculous proportions.
Bet Terry Collins looks forward to his weekly grilling by Francesa on WFAN. A Yankees fan interviewing the manager of the miserable Mets.
umbrelladoc-
Jones hit a low fly to the 1st baseman that hit off his glove in fair territory and rolled foul.
Initially Jones thought he caught it and then he saw that the 1st baseman dropped it and Jones thought that it was then a foul ball.
Throughout all of this Jones stood there, as Jones likes to do, and the first baseman grabbed the ball and touched the 1st base bag.
It was still a fair ball even though it wasn’t caught on the fly and Jones was out for not hustling.
Without looking up the numbers, it seems like D-Rob’s velocity is down a bit from last year. He was consistently 95 or so on the Stadium gun last year, now he settles around 92 for his four seamer … My guess is he’s going to the change more to offset his decreased velocity from a year ago.
Why doesn’t he use his curve more? Good question, because that is a lethal pitch. Wouldn’t surprise me if he has some elbow or forearm soreness of some sort.
It seems that he was rushed back to the 8th inning following his injury, never really had a change to ease back to that role. With all the 1- and 2-run games, they could not afford that luxury.
Team really needs to beef up the offense this off season,
That’s what I was saying the yanking were playing a depleted lineup an toront could easily one that game the yankees hitters for a long time brutal very bad
The teams that are out of contention right now are just as dangerous. They’ve got nothing to lose and playing the spoiler role is their incentive. Heck, it took playing an equivalent of 2 full games for the O’s to beat the M’s once. There’s no style points for wins at this time of year. Win and move on to the next game.
Speaking of wins, it’s not smart to bet against Pettitte.
If the yankees don’t win the division who is confident that the yankees could win a one game playoff an in cc starting that game
I only saw a couple of Andy’s innings on replay but he thew the ball great and has a presence on the mound that just inspires confidence.
He is always in control out there and upgrades the Yankees chances to win both the division (you have to give the O’s some props, they are playing tough baseball) and in the playoffs.
On the other hand, I have no clue what Girardi was thinking about with his use of the bullpen. You have a guy (Lowe) getting outs, what is the problem with him pitching to more batters in the 7th and why do you have to matchup hitters in the 7th with a 3 run lead anyway?
I doubt he uses either Soriano or Robertson (who needs to junk his change for the rest of the year) tonight, that leaves a really short bullpen-they better score lots of runs early and make it a laugher.
OsOWNtheEAST September 19th, 2012 at 4:53 pm
Lucky win for the Yanks, doesn’t matter though cuz after tonight we will be up a 1/2 game.
Oakland is going to SPANK the Yanks in the WC playoff.
OsOWNtheEAST , Good Luck tonight when the lucky horsehoe falls out of your a@@ and you get 2-hit by King Felix. Bask in the glow of “tied for first place”… it will be a fleeting emotion as the Yanks are about to breeze past your O’s.
Great game by Pettitte. He is pretty amazing. I hope and think he will come back. Let’s hope a new, larger contract meets the all important budget consideration test. If he and Kuroda come back, work on the offense and deal with the pen after Soriano makes his decision.
Girardi finally benches Jones facing a Lefty.
Whatever will we do now….
It was still a fair ball even though it wasn’t caught on the fly and Jones was out for not hustling.
===============
Can you be called out for not hustling?
He would lead the league..
Girardi finally benches Jones facing a Lefty.
=========
where is this lineup you speak of?
New York Yankees ?@Yankees
The Captain is back atop the #Yankees lineup for Game 2: pic.twitter.com/1u4SnM4k
http://twitter.com/Yankees/sta.....05/photo/1
never knew the dh was listed as 0.
UnKnown September 19th, 2012 at 5:41 pm
Girardi finally benches Jones facing a Lefty.
Whatever will we do now….
//
LOL
Let’s go Blue Jays!!!!!!!!
mick -
these are the symbols you use, but without the quotation marks: “”
I am going to write a sentence where I want to emphasize words. I will put quotation marks around the symbols so they don’t disappear. But you need to just use them without the quotes to make it work.
I “” really “” like Rafael Soriano. – italics
I “” really “” like Rafael Soriano. – bold
“<"
“/>”