Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Going Quietly Into That Good Night
(The Bats Take a Night Off Edition)
The Yanks clearly had one of their more favorable pitching match-ups of the season last night, as Brett "don't let the door hit you on the way out" Tomko took the hill for the A's against A.J. Burnett.
From the outset, the Yankees had no trouble centering Tomko's pitches, as the first three batters in the game (Jeter/Damon/Teixeira) all had good swings. However, only Teixeira's AB resulted in a baserunner, as he ripped a double into the right field corner, but was left stranded after an A-Rod pop-up. Unfortunately, more good swings would be hard to come by for the next eight innings.
Burnett came out dealing in the bottom of the opening frame with two K's, one looking.
The A's hit A.J. relatively hard in the bottom of the 2nd, but New York was aided by a Posada caught stealing (on a pitchout), and a fine play by Johnny Damon on a hard hit ball to left.
The Yanks blew a golden opportunity in the 3rd, after lead-off singles by Ramiro Pena and Derek Jeter, and a one-out walk to Teixeira to load the bases, A-Rod hit a weak come-backer to Tomko that resulted in a 1-2-3 double play. At this point (3 IP, 0 R), the veteran was more than holding his own.
After another zero on the board for Tomko in the top of the 4th, Oakland broke through for the first run of the game after a double by Davis and single up the middle by Kurt Suzuki. A two-out balk (Burnett was in his wind-up, stopped and did a half-stumble off the mound) plated a second run, and double up the right field gap by Mark Ellis knocked in another run for a 3-0 Oakland lead through four.
Meanwhile, Tomko continued to pitch his "dream" game, exacting revenge on the franchise that he thought treated him unfairly earlier in the season. One weak pop-up or fly ball after another, the Yanks' offense exhibited a malaise from the middle innings onward that we've seldom seen this year.
The A's went to the Pen in the 6th, bringing in lefty Craig Breslow and it was more of the same: 1-2-3 inning, two pop-ups and a strikeout.
Burnett (10-6), while far from being lights-out (5 Ks), gutted out eight innings, with the only blemish being the messy 4th. His line: 99 pitches, 8/6/3/3/2/5. If not the most frustrating loss he's had this season (in terms of pitching well and still getting hung with the "L"), it was probably the most surprising considering his counterpart. But as John Sterling has said once or twice, "Hey, that's baseball. It's not like the other sports."
The Yanks' offense, meanwhile, remained in "sleep" mode for the rest of the game. They mounted a quiet rally in the 8th, putting two runners on with two outs, but Posada struck out, and in the 9th they went down 1-2-3.
No panic buttons on this end, by any stretch of the imagination. But New York has blown a chance to add 1.5 games to their division lead in the past two days, and with the Angels beating Baltimore last night both teams are even in the loss column at 45.
The Sox start a series tonight in Toronto, while Tampa hosts Baltimore and Texas continues its series against the Twins, of which they won the opener last night, going up 1 full game in the Wild Card chase.
Other late action that has playoff implications: The Cards won the series opener in Los Angeles last night 3-2, with Chris Carpenter going to 13-3 (2.27 ERA) on the season. Pujols hit his 39th homer of the season, and with the win St. Louis is now a robust six games up on the Cubs, 4-1 losers in San Diego. The gap between the two midwestern rivals has widened quickly, reminiscent of how fast the Yanks were able to build a sizable lead against Boston. In the last 10 games, St. Louis has gone 9-1, while the Cubbies have gone 3-7. Although I'm not giving the N.L. West race much credence, Colorado is now a manageable 4.5 games behind the Dodgers, picking up three games in the last 10.
Th Cards are showing more punch in the heat of August than I ever would've expected earlier in the season, and are starting to elbow their way at the same table as the heretofore N.L. favorites, Philadelphia and the Dodgers. I don't think they're quite there yet (they've needed a great two- or three-week run just to get into the discussion), but their stellar play of late has added one more interesting aspect when thinking about potential playoff match-ups.
(The Bats Take a Night Off Edition)
The Yanks clearly had one of their more favorable pitching match-ups of the season last night, as Brett "don't let the door hit you on the way out" Tomko took the hill for the A's against A.J. Burnett.
From the outset, the Yankees had no trouble centering Tomko's pitches, as the first three batters in the game (Jeter/Damon/Teixeira) all had good swings. However, only Teixeira's AB resulted in a baserunner, as he ripped a double into the right field corner, but was left stranded after an A-Rod pop-up. Unfortunately, more good swings would be hard to come by for the next eight innings.
Burnett came out dealing in the bottom of the opening frame with two K's, one looking.
The A's hit A.J. relatively hard in the bottom of the 2nd, but New York was aided by a Posada caught stealing (on a pitchout), and a fine play by Johnny Damon on a hard hit ball to left.
The Yanks blew a golden opportunity in the 3rd, after lead-off singles by Ramiro Pena and Derek Jeter, and a one-out walk to Teixeira to load the bases, A-Rod hit a weak come-backer to Tomko that resulted in a 1-2-3 double play. At this point (3 IP, 0 R), the veteran was more than holding his own.
After another zero on the board for Tomko in the top of the 4th, Oakland broke through for the first run of the game after a double by Davis and single up the middle by Kurt Suzuki. A two-out balk (Burnett was in his wind-up, stopped and did a half-stumble off the mound) plated a second run, and double up the right field gap by Mark Ellis knocked in another run for a 3-0 Oakland lead through four.
Meanwhile, Tomko continued to pitch his "dream" game, exacting revenge on the franchise that he thought treated him unfairly earlier in the season. One weak pop-up or fly ball after another, the Yanks' offense exhibited a malaise from the middle innings onward that we've seldom seen this year.
The A's went to the Pen in the 6th, bringing in lefty Craig Breslow and it was more of the same: 1-2-3 inning, two pop-ups and a strikeout.
Burnett (10-6), while far from being lights-out (5 Ks), gutted out eight innings, with the only blemish being the messy 4th. His line: 99 pitches, 8/6/3/3/2/5. If not the most frustrating loss he's had this season (in terms of pitching well and still getting hung with the "L"), it was probably the most surprising considering his counterpart. But as John Sterling has said once or twice, "Hey, that's baseball. It's not like the other sports."
The Yanks' offense, meanwhile, remained in "sleep" mode for the rest of the game. They mounted a quiet rally in the 8th, putting two runners on with two outs, but Posada struck out, and in the 9th they went down 1-2-3.
No panic buttons on this end, by any stretch of the imagination. But New York has blown a chance to add 1.5 games to their division lead in the past two days, and with the Angels beating Baltimore last night both teams are even in the loss column at 45.
The Sox start a series tonight in Toronto, while Tampa hosts Baltimore and Texas continues its series against the Twins, of which they won the opener last night, going up 1 full game in the Wild Card chase.
Other late action that has playoff implications: The Cards won the series opener in Los Angeles last night 3-2, with Chris Carpenter going to 13-3 (2.27 ERA) on the season. Pujols hit his 39th homer of the season, and with the win St. Louis is now a robust six games up on the Cubs, 4-1 losers in San Diego. The gap between the two midwestern rivals has widened quickly, reminiscent of how fast the Yanks were able to build a sizable lead against Boston. In the last 10 games, St. Louis has gone 9-1, while the Cubbies have gone 3-7. Although I'm not giving the N.L. West race much credence, Colorado is now a manageable 4.5 games behind the Dodgers, picking up three games in the last 10.
Th Cards are showing more punch in the heat of August than I ever would've expected earlier in the season, and are starting to elbow their way at the same table as the heretofore N.L. favorites, Philadelphia and the Dodgers. I don't think they're quite there yet (they've needed a great two- or three-week run just to get into the discussion), but their stellar play of late has added one more interesting aspect when thinking about potential playoff match-ups.
