The Sommer Frieze

Rasner hopes the
Yanks offense is
mean tonight. Just
like…well, you know.

Recap: Well, I got some sleep, turning in once the A’s made it 8-1 in the 5th. MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch notes that the Yanks are back at .500 for the 23rd time this season, tying a record for 66 games set by the 1959 Cubs, who had MVP Ernie Banks (the Cubs finished 74-80 that year). Jeter calls the Yanks “consistently inconsistent.” Baltimore and Toronto lost, so all three teams are at an even .500, 7 GB. Although the Yanks made a move in 2005 at about this stage, and at a later stage last year, I don’t get the feeling that they will this year.

As for the game, Raz went 3 1/3, giving up 7 R, 6 ER (3-4, 3.64). Ohlendorf gave up a run in 1 1/3, then Hawkins, Farnsworth and Edwar each pitched a scoreless inning. The Yanks made the game seem closer than it was by putting up a three-spot in the 9th. The first Yankee run came on the Big G’s 15th HR of the year. #192 as a Yankee tied Tino on that list, and it was also #379 of his career, which tied Tony Perez and Orlando Cepeda on that one. The big G got another RBI in the 9th. A-Rod was 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts. Cano’s collar drops him to .224.

YANKEES 33-32, 1 gm. better than Pythag.
OPS+109, ERA+ 94

Damon LF .325-6-31-11-143
Jeter SS .271-3-27-4-91 (see prev. post)
Abreu RF .294-8-42-5-125
Rodriguez 3B .321-10-32-6-165
Matsui DH .323-6-29-0-136
Giambi 1B .257-14-35-1-157
Posada C .299-2-13-0-132 (23 for 77)
Cano 2B .227-4-20-1-63 (Tough love continues as long as necessary)
Cabrera CF .269-7-28-3-95
Rasner RHP (3-3, 2.58; ERA+ 160)

Some notes from Pete Abraham: The Yankees are trying to get to two games over .500 for the first time since Apeil 23 when they were 12-10. … Mariano Rivera has worked four straight days and likely will be unavailable tonight. … Bullpen last 7 games: 17.1 innings, 11 hits, 3 runs, 5 walks, 19 strikeouts. … Kyle Farnsworth threw in the bullpen this afternoon. Presumably he’s available. (My note….ugh.)

1st. 2 outs, single by Abreu, a-rod K’s.
Scoreless 1st for Raz.

2nd. HR! The big G hits #379 of his career. Ties Orlando Cepeda and Tony Perez on the all-time list.
Scoreless 2nd for Rasner

3rd. Damon and Jeter reach. 1st and 3rd, one out. Abreu and Alex strand them. Rasner must be going nuts.
Bunt hit. RBI double. Single. 3 runs for Oakland. Ok, Raz gotta settle down, but it would have helped if Abreu and/or Alex would have helped last inning. Another hit. Seems like Raz doesn’t have it. After the E, Raz lost it. 4-1 A’s. Ohlie up. 2 more runs. 6-1 A’s. Looks like I’ll be leaving the post and having a half-decent bedtime. After 3, 6-1 A’s

4th. Nada.

At 8-1 A’s in the 5th, I turned in. Didn’t miss much. It stayed that way until the 9th, when the Yanks put up 3 runs.