The next time the Yanks want to mail it in, please tell us, ok?
That way we won’t have to watch, listen or attend.
Who would have thought that the first game in the new Yankee Stadium without a HR would come against the worst team in baseball (granted the (g)Nats have some good guys…Guzman, Dunn, Zimmerman and Nick Johnson aren’t chopped liver)? One with one of the worst staffs in baseball?
Who would have thought that the Yankees would score a total of six runs against the worst team in baseball?
Yes, it’s a shame. The Yanks SHOULD
be ashamed.
The Yanks should be ashamed. Losing two of three to the Nats. Being shut out by them. It’s like the bags were packed and ready to go before the game started.
Pathetic.
This game had all the makings of “mailing it in.” Yes, there was a 5 1/2 hour rain delay, but you wonder if the Yanks were succumbing to that “siren song” of the short fences. This thing about not hitting pitchers they haven’t seen before has been going on for a number of years and is getting tired.
If I remember correctly, Joba had troubles once before when a game was delayed by rain and it happened again. Granted Joba is just 23, but in order to be a professional, you have to deal with it. Of course, Mussina was a grizzled vet and still had problems with it.
Gardner was taken off the field after a good catch. Hopefully he is ok and won’t need the DL. If he does need it, the Yanks best be served by bringing up A-Jax.
Joba wasn’t bad, but 3 R in 6 IP in the Yanks 3-0 loss. What really ticked me off is that the walks killed him again. You may recall the game where he hit two batters and walked five and gave up just one hit. The lack of control killed him. Sure enough, tonight he gave up a run where in the inning he gave up just one hit…but three walks.
Aceves (2.54), Coke (3.45) and Robertson (2.08) each pitched a scoreless inning. Together with Hughes, Bruney and Mo, maybe the Yanks finally have a bullpen.
I do disagree with my buddy, Josh “the Yankee Truth” who wants Joba back in the bullpen. Joba wasn’t great tonight but not bad. (3-2, 3.89). Joba does have four pitches. Hughes is still working on #3. Hughes has been great out of the pen. One guy has four pitches, the other two. Wouldn’t it make more sense to keep the guy with two in the bullpen? Maybe the guy for that bullpen role in front of Mo isn’t Joba after all. Maybe it’s Hughes. Just saying.
A-Rod is down to .212. I don’t mean to second-guess Girardi here, but I will. Since coming back from hip surgery, A-Rod hasn’t had a day off. Berroa is on this team why. In case A-Rod’s hip acts up? Meanwhile the guy hasn’t had a day off. Hip surgery. Turning 34 in July. And you keep a guy on the team who NEVER plays while a guy coming off hip surgery hasn’t had a day off. Tell me that makes sense.
6 responses so far ↓
1 yankeemza781 // Jun 18, 2009 at 10:33 pm
I was never one of the people who said to put Joba in the bullpen but if that is all he has as a starter pull him out. His guts and heart, rears back and hits 92! 92 fucking m.p.h. I thought that he would lose some velocity but almost 10 miles off of his fastball. Pitches against Texas hitting 96 plus consistantly. Averaging 94 on his fastball. Turns around thowing 91-92 with no movement. You would think all that lost velocity and he could throw with a little fucking accuracy. I watched last year and thought we had our version of Josh Beckett, instead Jamie Moyer was a closer comparision. If Dave Eiland is holding him back he should be immediately fired. If this is what to expect I’d rather have Aceves in the rotation. Bullpen: 96-100 mile per hour fastball nasty slider. Starter: Average fastball 90-94, good slider, good curve, decent change, Oh yeah and absolutely no fucking control.
2 Jason // Jun 18, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Boy oh boy, Mike, was tonight ever mailed in. The stamp wasn’t dry before the game started. What a stinking disgrace.
I couldn’t agree more about sitting A-Rod, Mike. I genuinely don’t get how it is that he hasn’t had a day off yet, and they should have sat him for so-called half-days off when he could have been the DH in AL parks before heading to the NL for inter-league. Terrible calls by Girardi and Cashman. Terrible.
Joba’s walks were bad, especially in the fourth when he again handed the opponent a rally, as he did with the Mets.
I’m with you, Mike–NO to Joba in the bullpen. I’ll add this: watching him, there becomes a predictability to his slider which, in the right situations and started at the right spot, is devastating to batters. However, when thrown to a righty and already starting at the outer half, it’s something batters can lay off, and they do. Joba needs to locate his slider on the inner half or down the middle to let it tail outside late. Unless he does that, he’s effectively killing an out-pitch, and a great one at that. Location, location, location.
3 yankeemza781 // Jun 19, 2009 at 7:04 am
Maybe it’s because you can recognize the slider because he’s has no fastball. Those were sliders that they couldn’t hold up on because they were getting ready for the 96-98 fastball. When Joba became a starter you were expecting a budding star. You would expect the inconsistanty, but when you what him pitch he looks ok, but not great. Only game when I was impressed was when he pitched against the Rangers and brought his fastball. What your looking at is a average pitcher with average stuff. Maybe it’s a stamina issue, but right now Aceves is the better option, throws strikes has the same amount of pitches. And unbelievebly has almost the same pace on his fastball as Chamberlain. If it stays the same it’s pretty simple Joba bullpen = dominant. Joba starter=average.
4 Jason // Jun 19, 2009 at 8:52 am
I know his fastball is down a bit Mark, but I think you’re overstating things a bit here. Yesterday it was in the low 90s, but he’s pitched games this year in which his fastball gained strength and topped out at 97 during starts. It seems to come and go. Maybe it’s stamina, which is something I’ve wondered–that with his pitch count limitations, he’s hitting the wall slowly and over time.
But picking Aceves over Joba? I don’t agree with that. I like Aceves, but Joba is a very good young pitcher, both as a starter and reliever. This year he’s been inefficient, yet is still 3-2, 3.89 ERA. For his career, he’s 6-3, 3.34 ERA, 9.2 K/IP. Those are pretty strong numbers, Mark. Those are not average starting pitcher numbers, not for his career, not for this year.
He’s well above average, and he’s young. You need to be patient. Not every young pitcher arrives like Doc Gooden. They all need to learn to pitch, and Joba is doing that. Sometimes there are pains in the process. It can’t all be peaches and cream.
5 poloni // Jun 19, 2009 at 11:10 am
Mike, I like your Spinners analogy. By the way, I have that 45 rpm of “It’s a Shame” here at home. As bad as the Phillies looked against Toronto, their pitchers are completely overworked and worn out because of injuries and/or the lack of quality starts.
It’s one thing to lose to Toronto as the Phillies did. They’re not bad at all. But to only score six runs against a minor league pitching staff (Washington) is inexcusable.
At our next LVYFC meeting, ask Joe and Doris to see their sports collection in their basement in Allentown. It’s like a sports museum. I never saw anything like it in my life.
Joe P.
6 Mike Sommer // Jun 19, 2009 at 2:33 pm
I thought of a Freddie Hutchinson story today.
Hutchinson was a former major league pitcher who became a manager. He led the 1961 Reds to the NL pennant.
In 1964 Hutchinson developed lung cancer and died. He was only in his mid-40s or so.
But one story goes like this, and I’d have loved it to have been Girardi last evening.
As you probably know, the Mets played their first two seasons in the Polo Grounds, where the clubhouse was located in CF, 483 feet from home plate (the distance had different markers through the years, but the 483 was more or less accepted). So after games both teams would trudge out to CF to the clubhouse from the dugouts behind the plate. One team up the left set of stairs (I believe that led to the visitor’s clubhouse)
and the other up the right set of stairs (home).
In one of those years, the Reds suffered an embarrassing loss to the Mets at the Polo Grounds. In the last inning, Hutchinson turned to his team and said, “I’m going to stay here for a while, and when I get to the clubhouse, I want to shower and change ALONE.”
You can imagine what happened. Some of the quickest showers in history.
Too bad Girardi didn’t say that last night.
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