This is the type of offense Yankee fans envisioned at the beginning of the season.
The Bombers banged out 17 hits and rookie Tyler Clippard chipped in with five solid innings as the Yanks beat the White Sox, 7-3, on the South Side of Chicago Tuesday night. Every Yankee had a least one hit and Mariano Rivera earned his 6th save of the year.
The Good:
Tyler Clippard. Clippard was impressive in his five innings of work. He sometimes struggled with his control, but you can see that he's a gamer. He could have gone longer than the five innings (89 pitches), but Torre has a quick trigger on the starters this season. Clippard improved to 3-1 and is the only starting pitcher on the active roster with a winning record. Guh! His totals: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 4 K.
Miguel Cairo. Cairo started at first for the first time this year and impressed in the field and at the plate. Cairo's single in the fifth tied the score at 1-1 and he also started two nifty 3-6-1 double plays. Miggy finished 2 for 4.
Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod's 21st round-tripper in the top of the ninth was the icing on the cake. He also delivered an RBI single during the Yankees four-run outburst in the sixth. A-Rod finished 3 for 5 with the dinger, 3 RBI and 2 runs scored.
The Bad:
Kyle Farnsworth. Torre has found the perfect situation for Farnsworth: eighth inning, Yanks up by five. Very low pressure. Farnsworth still mucked it up: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB.
Brian Bruney. Bruney couldn't slam the door in the ninth and the Yanks were forced to bring in Rivera. Bruney has been the Yanks best option out of the pen this season, but he needed to close it out tonight and couldn't do it. You're better than this Bruney: .1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 2 BB.
The Ugly:
Catchers and their masks. Bobby Abreu was safe at the plate on Posada's sac fly in the sixth. On the play, catcher A.J. Pierzynski kept his mask on. Why? This is a trend that has been going on for years in the league and I still can't understand it. Posada does the same thing. It didn't factor into this particular play, but the mask has to block the catcher's vision. If you believe it doesn't, tell the catcher to leave his mask on when he's catching a pop up.
The Yanks made some roster moves on Tuesday as outfielder Kevin Thompson and pitcher Matt DeSalvo were optioned to Scranton and lefty reliever Sean Henn and infielder/outfielder Chris Basak were promoted to the big club. Torre is looking to give A-Rod, Jeter and possibly Matsui a turn at DH. Jeter is especially banged up.
Chien-Ming Wang gets the call for Wednesday night and will oppose former Yankee Javier Vazquez.
Hopefully, the Yanks can keep their bats rolling.
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Catchers leave the mask on in case there's a collision at the plate. I've never been a fan of the move. You're right, it limits your vision.
A.J. may also keep his mask on because he's afraid someone's going to punch him in the face again also. Is he hated more than A-Rod?