Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Winning Ways
(The Continuation)
The Yankees have done it to the Orioles again in the late stages of a close game. One night after plating seven in the bottom of the 8th to blow open a 2-1 contest, they've pushed across five in the same frame and have turned a two-run game into a 10-3 lead.
Make it 11-3.
New York will push their record to 23-17, and extend their win streak to eight games. It's hard to believe the team that I legitimately thought was teetering on the brink after the loss to Hallady on May 12 hasn't loss since.
In other A.L. East news, Boston continues to right its ship at home vs. Toronto. Not they had been pushed too far off-course, but a 2-4 West Cost trip is enough to panic the denizens of New England.
And why in the world is Mariano Rivera still in a 10-3 game? And of course he gives up a home run.
Game over.
Sure, Rivera only threw 14 pitches in 1.3 so I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest he's available for tomorrow. And this won't prevent him from being able to throw for a third consecutive day on Friday if the opportunity arose. But why take that chance? To pad a statistic that no one (outside of players & agents) take that seriously anyway? I know I'm quibbling, but so be it.
The biggest news of the night: he finally hit one. Yes, David Ortiz hit his first home run of 2009. It occurred in the 5th inning at Fenway off left-hander Brett Cecil of the Jays. I just watched the highlight. The quintessential monkey being taken off a back.
I'm not reading too much in the Sox grabbing the first two games of this series with Toronto. However, I don't think it should go unnoticed that the Blue Jays are now 1-4 vs. New York & Boston. And despite their excellent start, they're now even with the Sox in the loss column and the Yanks are only one behind. The Jays have shown some resourcefulness already this year, but when the two super powers in the division are firing on all cylinders, they're going to leave teams like Toronto in the dust.
Starting to flip around to watch the end of the early slate of games. Tampa's down 7-6 in the 9th, on the verge of losing another game to a bad Oakland team at home. A loss here would drop them to 20-22, and while they've been hanging in there, their division foes' play of late is putting early pressure on them to step it up.
I haven't written too much during the Yanks' current hot streak. Outside of being pleased with the overall results (those three consecutive walk-off wins were special just terms of being a rarity; they hadn't done that since '72), I'm glad to see Teixeira starting to settle in offensively, and to see A-Rod make such a definitive & immediate impact.
Jose Reyes is back in the line-up for the Mets tonight. Now that's a strange team. They looked like they were set-up for a huge road trip after taking the first three games in San Francisco. Since then they've lost three in a row, none worse than the much publicized debacle on Monday night in Los Angeles. Rob Neyer writing after the game that saw Ryan Church miss 3rd base negating what would've been the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th and then the errors that doomed them in the bottom of the inning:
Ol' Livan is on the mound tonight in L.A. opposite Jeff Weaver, in a truly hideous pitching match-up.
With two outs and the tying run on 1st in the 9th, Oakland centerfielder Ryan Sweeney just made a spectacular diving catch in the gap in left-center to rob B.J. Upton of a certain extra base hit that would've tied the game. Final: 7-6 Oakland.
With the Mets game on the tube, I put on this record for some reason . . .
I've been on a huge Robert Pollard kick of late, specifically the latest Boston Spaceships CD, so everything else is paling in comparison. However, CCR sounds a bit like background music tonight; haven't listened to it in ages and it's not making much of an impact. As if getting any value out of Creedence necessitates a stronger beverage than a half-decaf Hazelnut coffee. You know what I'm saying?
The Royals and Indians are tied 4-4 in the 7th in Kansas City. The Royals will have to win to keep pace with the Tigers, winners of five in a row now, who beat Texas 5-3. The Tigers remind me of the Mets a bit in the sense that just when you're ready to anoint them as the team to beat in their respective divisions, something happens to make me reassess my opinions of them. In the Mets' case their inability to play consistent, good baseball. In the Tigers', getting swept by Minnesota last week for example.
I think the Tigers are going to win the Central when all is said & done, but I don't see any reason why at least Minny and K.C. can't stick with them all season long. All season I've kept looking for reasons to make the Mets the favorite in the East . . . and nothing sticks. It's Philly -- now, tomorrow and for the foreseeable future.
Daniel Murphy is playing first base tonight for the Mets, and got anything but a ringing endorsement from his manager during a radio interview this afternoon. To paraphrase Manuel, "I have no idea how he's going to play over there." He just made a routine, unassisted play at the bag. Dodgers are already threatening to score in the bottom of the 1st . . . and do so with a sacrifice fly.
I know I wrote a lot about the Celtics-Bulls series in this space earlier this month. And that's fine; that was one of the great playoff series in the history of the league. But how out of the NBA loop am I? I haven't turned on, not even for a fraction of a second, either Game 1s in the conference finals. I can't imagine doing that for an LCS or any other sports equivalent. I don't think it's a case if having Celtics Hangover, either. The match-ups are just . . . bleh. I'll tune for the Kobe/LeBron show in the Finals, but even that it's more of a shrug-of-the-shoulders "sure," than a true anticipation.
Indians just took a lead in the 8th in K.C.
I've never, ever thought this before, but John Fogarty's vocal in "Long as I Can See the Light" bears a passing resemblance to one W. Axl Rose. And now time for the interminable "I Heard it Through the Grapevine."
Livan Hernandez: The King of Hittable Pitches
Remember when Scott Kazmir started off the season 2-0 by beating the Red Sox and Yankees? He looked to be on the verge of a huge season. 12.2 innings of work 10 Ks and only 3 walks.
Since then, these are his BB:K numbers per start, including tonight:
6:5
3:2
4:4
2:7
3:2
4:2
4:3
In one start since April 18 has he whiffed more batters than free passes given up. Amazing. And what started out as a potential breakthrough season is winding up in the toilet.
After a 4.1/8/7/7/4/3 line against the punchless A's tonight, Kazmir's ERA stands at 7.69 for the season. I haven't been following his path closely enough to now exactly how this is happening, but it's clear things are falling apart right now for the left-hander.
K.C. is hanging in there, cutting the Cleveland lead to 6-5 in the 8th with the tying run at first with one out.
I'll stick with this game to the end and then call it a night.
Mets on the board thanks to a ringing double down the right-field line by Beltran. 1-1.
Alright, the Royals have 1st & 2nd, two outs here in the 8th. Crisp up against Betancourt.
K.C. is turning into my "niche" team of the season: the team I want to see do well outside of the Yanks.
Strikeout swinging to end the inning.
Onto the 9th and the last baseball action of the night.
Hopefully the holiday weekend will afford me a chance to write a little about the two big series taking place in the East: Mets-Red Sox and Phillies-Yankees.
(The Continuation)
The Yankees have done it to the Orioles again in the late stages of a close game. One night after plating seven in the bottom of the 8th to blow open a 2-1 contest, they've pushed across five in the same frame and have turned a two-run game into a 10-3 lead.
Make it 11-3.
New York will push their record to 23-17, and extend their win streak to eight games. It's hard to believe the team that I legitimately thought was teetering on the brink after the loss to Hallady on May 12 hasn't loss since.
In other A.L. East news, Boston continues to right its ship at home vs. Toronto. Not they had been pushed too far off-course, but a 2-4 West Cost trip is enough to panic the denizens of New England.
And why in the world is Mariano Rivera still in a 10-3 game? And of course he gives up a home run.
Game over.
Sure, Rivera only threw 14 pitches in 1.3 so I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest he's available for tomorrow. And this won't prevent him from being able to throw for a third consecutive day on Friday if the opportunity arose. But why take that chance? To pad a statistic that no one (outside of players & agents) take that seriously anyway? I know I'm quibbling, but so be it.
The biggest news of the night: he finally hit one. Yes, David Ortiz hit his first home run of 2009. It occurred in the 5th inning at Fenway off left-hander Brett Cecil of the Jays. I just watched the highlight. The quintessential monkey being taken off a back.
I'm not reading too much in the Sox grabbing the first two games of this series with Toronto. However, I don't think it should go unnoticed that the Blue Jays are now 1-4 vs. New York & Boston. And despite their excellent start, they're now even with the Sox in the loss column and the Yanks are only one behind. The Jays have shown some resourcefulness already this year, but when the two super powers in the division are firing on all cylinders, they're going to leave teams like Toronto in the dust.
Starting to flip around to watch the end of the early slate of games. Tampa's down 7-6 in the 9th, on the verge of losing another game to a bad Oakland team at home. A loss here would drop them to 20-22, and while they've been hanging in there, their division foes' play of late is putting early pressure on them to step it up.
I haven't written too much during the Yanks' current hot streak. Outside of being pleased with the overall results (those three consecutive walk-off wins were special just terms of being a rarity; they hadn't done that since '72), I'm glad to see Teixeira starting to settle in offensively, and to see A-Rod make such a definitive & immediate impact.
Jose Reyes is back in the line-up for the Mets tonight. Now that's a strange team. They looked like they were set-up for a huge road trip after taking the first three games in San Francisco. Since then they've lost three in a row, none worse than the much publicized debacle on Monday night in Los Angeles. Rob Neyer writing after the game that saw Ryan Church miss 3rd base negating what would've been the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th and then the errors that doomed them in the bottom of the inning:
I don't know how many Mets fans were still up when the game ended. I was, though, and yeah, I can't say it was disheartening because my heart doesn't care about the Mets, but man was it ever ugly. I don't know that I've seen a good team make more obvious mistakes in the late stages of a close game.
You know what's worse, though? When Tim Redding is your fifth starter. Because you know what that means, don't you? It means that Livan Hernandez is your fourth starter. I happened to be at the ballpark in San Francisco last Friday night, and I just sat there in the first inning, dumbfounded, as Hernandez gave up hit after hit after hit. I can't say that I exactly felt sorry for Hernandez -- after all, nobody forced him to take the Mets' money this spring -- but I couldn't quite help myself.
More, though, I felt sorry for Mets fans who have to put up with a pitcher like Livan Hernandez every five days (particularly if he really is the club's fourth starter, and really will pitch every five days). Frankly, there's simply no excuse for a team with a new ballpark and a $150 million payroll to trot Hernandez out there regularly, and wind up with Jeremy Reed at first base in a close game, and Angel Pagan in left field at the same moment, and ... well, you get the idea. I can't feel sorry for the Mets, and I can't feel too sorry for their fans. Not with that payroll. As a guy who just likes to watch good baseball, though, I find this odd collection of talent just a little bit offensive.
You know what's worse, though? When Tim Redding is your fifth starter. Because you know what that means, don't you? It means that Livan Hernandez is your fourth starter. I happened to be at the ballpark in San Francisco last Friday night, and I just sat there in the first inning, dumbfounded, as Hernandez gave up hit after hit after hit. I can't say that I exactly felt sorry for Hernandez -- after all, nobody forced him to take the Mets' money this spring -- but I couldn't quite help myself.
More, though, I felt sorry for Mets fans who have to put up with a pitcher like Livan Hernandez every five days (particularly if he really is the club's fourth starter, and really will pitch every five days). Frankly, there's simply no excuse for a team with a new ballpark and a $150 million payroll to trot Hernandez out there regularly, and wind up with Jeremy Reed at first base in a close game, and Angel Pagan in left field at the same moment, and ... well, you get the idea. I can't feel sorry for the Mets, and I can't feel too sorry for their fans. Not with that payroll. As a guy who just likes to watch good baseball, though, I find this odd collection of talent just a little bit offensive.
Ol' Livan is on the mound tonight in L.A. opposite Jeff Weaver, in a truly hideous pitching match-up.
With two outs and the tying run on 1st in the 9th, Oakland centerfielder Ryan Sweeney just made a spectacular diving catch in the gap in left-center to rob B.J. Upton of a certain extra base hit that would've tied the game. Final: 7-6 Oakland.
With the Mets game on the tube, I put on this record for some reason . . .
I've been on a huge Robert Pollard kick of late, specifically the latest Boston Spaceships CD, so everything else is paling in comparison. However, CCR sounds a bit like background music tonight; haven't listened to it in ages and it's not making much of an impact. As if getting any value out of Creedence necessitates a stronger beverage than a half-decaf Hazelnut coffee. You know what I'm saying?
The Royals and Indians are tied 4-4 in the 7th in Kansas City. The Royals will have to win to keep pace with the Tigers, winners of five in a row now, who beat Texas 5-3. The Tigers remind me of the Mets a bit in the sense that just when you're ready to anoint them as the team to beat in their respective divisions, something happens to make me reassess my opinions of them. In the Mets' case their inability to play consistent, good baseball. In the Tigers', getting swept by Minnesota last week for example.
I think the Tigers are going to win the Central when all is said & done, but I don't see any reason why at least Minny and K.C. can't stick with them all season long. All season I've kept looking for reasons to make the Mets the favorite in the East . . . and nothing sticks. It's Philly -- now, tomorrow and for the foreseeable future.
Daniel Murphy is playing first base tonight for the Mets, and got anything but a ringing endorsement from his manager during a radio interview this afternoon. To paraphrase Manuel, "I have no idea how he's going to play over there." He just made a routine, unassisted play at the bag. Dodgers are already threatening to score in the bottom of the 1st . . . and do so with a sacrifice fly.
I know I wrote a lot about the Celtics-Bulls series in this space earlier this month. And that's fine; that was one of the great playoff series in the history of the league. But how out of the NBA loop am I? I haven't turned on, not even for a fraction of a second, either Game 1s in the conference finals. I can't imagine doing that for an LCS or any other sports equivalent. I don't think it's a case if having Celtics Hangover, either. The match-ups are just . . . bleh. I'll tune for the Kobe/LeBron show in the Finals, but even that it's more of a shrug-of-the-shoulders "sure," than a true anticipation.
Indians just took a lead in the 8th in K.C.
I've never, ever thought this before, but John Fogarty's vocal in "Long as I Can See the Light" bears a passing resemblance to one W. Axl Rose. And now time for the interminable "I Heard it Through the Grapevine."
Livan Hernandez: The King of Hittable Pitches
Remember when Scott Kazmir started off the season 2-0 by beating the Red Sox and Yankees? He looked to be on the verge of a huge season. 12.2 innings of work 10 Ks and only 3 walks.
Since then, these are his BB:K numbers per start, including tonight:
6:5
3:2
4:4
2:7
3:2
4:2
4:3
In one start since April 18 has he whiffed more batters than free passes given up. Amazing. And what started out as a potential breakthrough season is winding up in the toilet.
After a 4.1/8/7/7/4/3 line against the punchless A's tonight, Kazmir's ERA stands at 7.69 for the season. I haven't been following his path closely enough to now exactly how this is happening, but it's clear things are falling apart right now for the left-hander.
K.C. is hanging in there, cutting the Cleveland lead to 6-5 in the 8th with the tying run at first with one out.
I'll stick with this game to the end and then call it a night.
Mets on the board thanks to a ringing double down the right-field line by Beltran. 1-1.
Alright, the Royals have 1st & 2nd, two outs here in the 8th. Crisp up against Betancourt.
K.C. is turning into my "niche" team of the season: the team I want to see do well outside of the Yanks.
Strikeout swinging to end the inning.
Onto the 9th and the last baseball action of the night.
Hopefully the holiday weekend will afford me a chance to write a little about the two big series taking place in the East: Mets-Red Sox and Phillies-Yankees.
