So, this is what it looks like when pitching and hitting come together.
Darrell Rasner continued to open eyes, Alex Rodriguez collected three hits and homered for the second straight night as the
Yankees whitewashed the Orioles 8-0 in the Boogie Down. Every Bomber regular contributed to this win with either a hit or a base on balls. Johnny Damon churned out two hits and broke the game open with a two-run single in the third and Robinson Cano chipped in with two hits and an RBI of his own. This was easily the best the Yanks have looked in at least two weeks.
I only had one problem with Wednesday's game. Joba Chamberlain pitched the final two innings in this blowout on 35 pitches. The guys in the booth speculated that it could signal the beginning of the "stretching out" program to get Chamberlain in the starting rotation. Makes sense -- in fact, it seems like the only reason to have Joba go two innings in this one. I didn't like the plan at the beginning of Spring Training and I don't care for it now. But that's just my opinion and I'm just one man.
The Good:Darrell Rasner. One's a fluke, two's a coincidence and three's a trend. Well, Ranser won his third straight game since being recalled from Scranton. He's making everyone wonder why he was sent down at all. The Lawnmower Man (you know, cause he's mowing down the competition) didn't allow a nine-day rest to break up his mojo. It's amazing how consistent Rasner is -- he works quickly, trusts his stuff and throws strikes. I don't think he registered anything over 88 miles per hour (if the radar gun can be trusted and we all know that it can't), but that didn't stop him from being in complete control. The Orioles best chance to score came when Alex Cintron and Nick Markakis singled to open the fourth. Baltimore would put runners on the corners with one out, but Rasner snuffed out the rally by inducing a pop out and then a strikeout. This could be the start of something beautiful. Rasner registered career highs in innings pitched and K's with this: 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K.
Alex Rodriguez. The perennial All-Star hasn't missed a beat since rejoining the club. A-Rod hit a sky-scraping home run to lead off the third and increase the Yankee lead to 4-0. He followed that up with a nice opposite-field hit in the fourth that he hustled into a double. Rodriguez didn't exactly look like a gazelle as he rounded first, but it looks like his quad is feeling good enough. But it wasn't all peaches and cream for A-Rod. The "Man" robbed him of his second dinger in the sixth (See:
Bad). Still, it was a good night as Rodriguez finished 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored and 2 runs batted in.
Derek Jeter. The Captain showed once again that he's one of the toughest guys in the league as he shrugged off Tuesday night's fastball to the hand. DJ was in the starting lineup and even though his box score isn't anything to write home about, his very presence makes the team better. Jeet also started a pretty 6-4-3 double play in the sixth to stymie a Baltimore mini-rally. And I thought Girardi should have given him the night off. Jeter finished 0 for 3 with a walk, a stolen base, a run scored and an RBI.
The Bad:Bad umping. The Baseball Gods giveth and the Baseball Gods taketh away. Or so the legend goes. The Yanks caught a break Sunday night against the Mets when Carlos Delgado's home run down the left field line was called foul, but things "evened out" when A-Rod's shot in the sixth was incorrectly called a double instead of a round-tripper. I'll admit that I thought the ball hit the wall when I was watching live, but I wasn't on the field. A replay clearly showed that the ball bounced off the yellow staircase over the right centerfield wall, just above the
Modell's sign. The umps huddled and came away with the wrong call. It's easy to second-guess, but two blown calls in less than a week at The Stadium is troubling. Baseball has a tendency to move at a snail's pace when it comes to integrating anything new, but instant replay can't be far away.
The Ugly:Take it easy! Rasner was cruising as he ran to first to record an unassisted putout to end the sixth inning, but there was a moment of trepidation. Since this is 2008, a potential injury hovers over almost every Yankee player at any given moment. Rasner touched the corner of the bag with his left foot and rolled his ankle. He was OK and came back out to pitch the seventh, but it made me shake my head and roll my eyes as I watched the replay. And just to show that I'm not being a nervous nelly,
Chien-Ming Wang had an MRI on Wednesday. Why? Turns out he twinged his right calf covering first against the Mets on Sunday. The calf became irritated and discolored on Wednesday. The test showed a mild strain. The Yankee ace is not expected to miss his next start Saturday against the Seattle Mariners.
Ian Kennedy (0-3, 8.43 ERA) will try and keep the positive vibe flowing as the Yanks take on lefty Brian Burres (4-4, 3.47 ERA) in the rubber game Thursday night. Burres has made eight career appearances against the Bombers. He's 2-2 with a 3.67 ERA in 27 innings. The O's blasted Kennedy for four runs on five hits in only 2 2/3 innings on April 19 in a 6-0 Baltimore victory. I-Kenn has to get off the schnide sometime.
Thursday night is as good a night as any.
Leave a comment
So much for A-Rod being rusty. Maybe he's the spark they need.