Name: Mike
Age: 32
Location: Morris Plains, NJ
Teams: New York Jets, New York Yankees
Players (then): Don Mattingly, Dave Winfield, Al Toon, Joe Klecko
Players (now): Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Chad Pennington, Laveranues Coles
What I read: Newark Star Ledger, ESPN, Yardbarker, Ballbug, New York Times
Purpose of this blog: To make every fan think like me.
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Recent Entries
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The offensive firepower lasted roughly 24 hours. Andy Pettitte didn't have it for the first time in weeks, Derek Jeter made a costly error and Jon Lester spun a complete game five-hitter as the Red Sox whipped the Yanks 7-0 in the Bronx. The BoSox jumped ahead with two runs in the first and two more in the second and coasted to their first victory in six games. The Bombers reverted to their punchless offensive ways just one night removed from an 18-run outburst. The closest the Yanks had to a rally came in the first when they put runners on first and second with nobody out. But Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi both struck out with runners on the corners to end the threat.  The Good:Dan Giese. A Yankee comeback never materialized, but Giese kept the dream alive with some fine relief work. Giese probably won't get another shot in the starting rotation (barring another injury), but he's pitched well coming out of the pen. Giese sports an impressive 0.80 ERA when coming in from behind the center field wall. Giese's night: 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K. The Bad:Andy Pettitte. Jeter's error in the first didn't help matters, but the old lefty was off Thursday night. Pettitte labored and had trouble throwing strikes. The Red Sox had at least one runner on base in every inning and Kevin Youkilis' double in the fifth finally knocked Pettitte out of the ballgame. Pettitte has a tendency to follow up a string of great starts with a string of not so-great starts. Let's hope that trend doesn't continue. Pettitte lost for the first time in 10 starts with this: 4.2 IP, 9 H, 6 R (5 earned), 3 BB, 2 K. Derek Jeter. It was a tough night for the Yankee captain. Manny Ramirez hit a ground ball to short in the opening frame for what should have been an inning-ending double play, but DJ's relay throw to first was off the mark. The miscue allowed Dustin Pedroia to score and gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. Mike Lowell followed with an RBI-single to left and things quickly degenerated from there. Jeter also banged into a double play to snuff out a potential rally in the third. Mama said there'd be days like this. Jeter finished 1 for 3 with a walk. The Ugly:Are things that different? At this point last season, the Yanks were 40-41 and 10.5 games behind the first-place Red Sox. Things looked bleak in 2007, but the Yanks managed to get themselves together and made the playoffs for the 13th straight year. I've been more positive about the Yankees this season, but is my sunny outlook justified? True, three-fifths of the opening day starting rotation is missing (Chien-Ming Wang, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy) and Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada and now Hideki Matsui have spent time on the disabled list, and still the Yanks are four games over .500. But they now find themselves 8 games back of Tampa, in third-place and have been playing the kind of baseball usually reserved for mediocre teams. Maybe it's their recent inability to score runs that has given me pause, but I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this team for the first time this season. Darrell Rasner (4-6, 4.42 ERA) and Josh Beckett (7-5, 3.65 ERA) will do battle on Independence Day. Beckett defeated the Yanks twice in April and had a splendid June (2-1, 2.38 ERA in five starts). He's 3-2 with a 5.90 ERA in five career regular season starts at Yankee Stadium. Rasner pitched well in his last start against the Mets, but was tagged with the loss. The Ras is coming off a bumpy June (1-5, 6.47 ERA) and will be making his first appearance against the BoSox. The Yanks need to regain their Powersurge so here's Overkill's classic to help them get back on track. Enjoy!
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Hank sure knows how to motivate. Sidney Ponson was awful in his second start, but Jason Giambi drove in six and Alex Rodriguez scored four runs as the Yankees thrashed the Rangers 18-7 at The Stadium. The Bombers unloaded with nine runs in the seventh and followed that with a three-run eighth to bury Texas. It was an orgy of singles, doubles, homers and walks as every Yankee regular finished with at least one hit. Even rookie Brett Gardner got in on the act, picking up his first Major League hit and run batted in with a single to right in the seventh.  The offensive outburst snapped the Yankees mini-malaise at three games. The Good:Jason Giambi. The legend of the mustache continues. The Giambino stepped up to the plate in the third with the bases loaded and the Yanks down 3-1. Not for long. Giambi drilled a 2-1 pitch into the upper deck to give the Bombers a 5-3 lead. With one swing of the bat, Jay Jay equaled the Yankees offensive output in the past three games. But Giambi wasn't done. The Yanks blew a 6-3 lead and trailed 7-6 when Giambi batted with runners on first and second in the seventh. The Giambino laced a double into the left field gap to give the Yanks a lead they would never relinquish. I think it's time the Yanks waive their obviously discriminatory "no beard or long hair" rule and allow Giambi to grow his locks and chops. I'm tellin ya -- he would be an unstoppable offensive force! Giambi finished 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored and 6 ribbies. Alex Rodriguez. The game was already out of hand, but A-Rod launched career homer No. 535 to cap the Yankees nine-run seventh. It wasn't one of the typical, high-arching boomers that Rodriguez usually hits -- it was a line-shot to the short porch in right. I guess that shows that A-Rod is completely locked in right now. Rodriguez finished 2 for 3 with 2 walks, 4 runs scored and 3 RBIs. Edwar Ramirez. It may get lost in the shuffle of all the runs scored, but Ramirez really gave the Yanks a chance to rally back with two innings of shutdown relief. Edwar had a rough month of June (7.36 ERA), but he looked great in his first July appearance. Keep it up, Urkel. Ramirez picked up the win and upped his record to 2-0 with this: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K.  The Bad:Sidney Ponson. I guess lightning doesn't strike twice. Ponson wiggled out of trouble in his first Yankee start against the Mets and finished with six shutout innings and the victory. That wasn't the case Wednesday night. Ponson zipped through the first two innings, but then the wheels started to fall off. The Arubian Knight couldn't hold on to an early 1-0 lead and then blew a 6-3 lead by giving up two homers in the sixth. Shake it off, Sidney. Ponson was fortunate to pick up a no-decision with this: 5 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 3 BB, 1 K, 2 HR. The Ugly:The end for Godzilla and Frankenstein? Hideki Matsui will be out until at least the All-Star break with that sore left knee. The Yanks had hoped to have Godzilla take batting practice this weekend, but that's not going to happen. "He did some work with the physical therapist and he hasn't
gotten cleared to do anything," Cashman said. "Once the knee calms down, the
swelling gets out of there, he'll start doing some work. But he's not there
yet." Maybe I'm just being a nervous Nancy, but I get the feeling Matsui's season is sitting on a razor's edge. And the season may be over for Shelley Duncan. The Yankee sparkplug separated his shoulder making a diving catch Tuesday night for Scranton. "We're going to deal with some timeframe, it's just a
matter of how long," Cashman said. "That's a lengthy injury. That's all I got right
now." The Red Sox head into the Bronx for a four-game set starting Thursday night. Andy Pettitte (9-5, 3.98 ERA) will go against Jon Lester (6-3, 3.48 ERA). Lester is 3-0 in his past five starts and hasn't lost since May 25 against the Oakland A's. But the young lefty was rocked for six runs and allowed two homers in his last start against the Houston Astros. Lester has had one career start against the Yanks and was ripped for seven runs in 3 2/3 innings. Pettitte was super in June, going 4-0 in six starts with a 3.76 ERA. Andy was won four straight starts and hasn't been on the losing side of the ledger in six weeks. Pettitte is 15-6 with a 3.45 ERA in 27 lifetime appearances against the BoSox. First place may not be on the line this holiday weekend (damn Rays), but I don't think that will diminish the intensity. Do you?
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This is madness! Joba Chamberlain, Dan Giese, David Robertson and Jose Veras combined for eight solid innings, but Ian Kinsler doubled off Mariano Rivera to open the ninth, swiped third and then scored on a Michael Young RBI-single as the Rangers outlasted the Yanks 3-2 at The Stadium. Kinsler was a one-man wrecking crew Tuesday night: he banged out two hits, worked out two walks, stole three bases and scored the winning run. The Bomber offense continued to sputter, even though they doubled their run total from Monday night and managed more hits than in their previous two games combined.  This game was also a second-guesser's dream. Chamberlain labored through his four innings and threw 91 pitches, but you could have made an argument for him to go out for the fifth. But the pen pitched well, so that's a moot point. Also, Joe Girardi left David Robertson in to pitch the seventh against the heart of the Ranger offense after the Yanks tied the score in the bottom of the sixth. It was a bit sweaty, but the rookie rewarded his manager's faith in him by putting up a zero. But the biggest head scratcher came in the bottom of the ninth. Wilson Betemit led off with a walk and Alberto Gonzalez came in to pinch-run. Melky Cabrera was up next and I assumed the bunt was on. It wasn't. Melky has been stinking it up at the plate and it was a situation that screamed for a sacrifice. Instead, Melky fell behind 0-2 and eventually bounced into a double play. Frustrating. The Yanks have now dropped three straight and trail the first-place Tampa Rays by 7.5 games. The Good:
David Robertson. When Michael Kay asked Ken Singleton if he was surprised Robertson was in to pitch the seventh, I responded with a "Yes!" out loud to no one. Well, Robertson shut me up by maneuvering through the meat of the Ranger order. It wasn't a clean inning -- in fact, Robertson dodged a few land mines -- but he struck out Young on a nasty curveball, got Josh Hamilton to line out to left and retired David Murphy on a fly ball to center. The performance should give D-Rob confidence the next time he's in a jam. Robertson's night: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB (1 intentional), 3 K. The Bad:Melky Cabrera. The Melk-Man is behind on his deliveries. Cabrera twice came up during Yankee rallies and both times made the final out of the inning. Melky flew out to left with runners on first and second in the fourth and flew out to center with runners on first and second in the sixth. True, both of those situations came with two outs, but sometimes you have to come through with a clutch hit. And Cabrera has been due. He's 0 for his last 18 at-bats and his average has plummeted to .240 on the season. At least there's nothing wrong with Melky's arm -- he gunned out Chris Davis at third in the second inning. Cabrera finished 0 for 4. The Ugly:The Bronx is no place for the wave. Here's the situation: Seventh inning, tie game, Rangers have a runner on second with one and Hamilton, the league's RBI leader, at the plate. The count is 1-2 and the crowd is on their feet. Are they cheering for the strikeout? Negative. They're doing the wave! It was a disgraceful display. I'm ashamed to be a Yankee fan today. Sidney Ponson (5-1, 3.50) will try and avert the sweep and will match up against Luis Mendoza (1-2, 5.40 ERA). Mendoza has worked as both a starter and reliever for the Rangers this season. He's holding right-handers to a .194 average, but southpaws are hitting a robust .417 against him. This is his first look at the Yankees. Ponson started the season as a Ranger, but was let go for disciplinary reasons. The Arubian Knight spun six innings of shutout ball against the Mets in his first start as a Yank last week. Ponson is 8-2 with a 4.82 ERA in 17 career appearances against Texas. Let's see if Ponson can deliver another shocker.
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Holding a team to two runs, with this offense, should be enough to win on most nights. Monday wasn't one of those nights. Mike Mussina was a strikeout machine, Alex Rodriguez hit one of the longest home runs you'll ever see from a right-handed batter at The Stadium and Jason Giambi legged out his first triple of the year, but Scott Feldman and friends put the clamps on as the Rangers squeezed by the Yanks 2-1 in the Bronx. The closest the Yanks came to an honest-to-goodness rally came in the second when they put runners on first and second with nobody out. But Jorge Posada flew out and Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera grounded out to end the threat.  Baseball is a game of numbers and here are some to chew on. In the past three games, the Bombers: - have scored five runs
- have a team average of .138
- have four extra-base hits
- are hitting .167 with runners in scoring position
Add it up and they Yanks are lucky to be 1-2 in those games. On a side note: the Yanks sent outfielder Justin Christian to Scranton and called up the speedy Brett Gardner. Brian
has been high on Gardner for a while and even though he went 0 for 3,
he swiped his first Major League base in the fifth inning. The Good:Alex Rodriguez. Yankee Stadium isn't really conducive to right-handed power hitters, but A-Rod is no ordinary power hitter. Rodriguez blasted a shot that bounced deep into Monument Park and went into the left-center field bleachers. The only player that I can remember actually hitting a ball into those bleachers was Juan Encarnacion (off Ramiro Mendoza in, I believe, 1998). I was watching that game with my brother and our jaws nearly hit the floor after his tater. But what was most impressive about A-Rod's shot was that it came on a 74-mile-an-hour curveball. The power generated was all No. 13. Anyway, the dinger was No. 534 for A-Rod, tying him with Jimmie Foxx for 14th place on the all-time home run list. It was also all the offense the Yanks would muster on the night. Rodriguez finished 1 for 3 with a walk, a stolen base, a run scored and an RBI. The Bad:1 through 8. The Rangers came into Monday's action with the American League's worst ERA (4.89), the highest batting average against (.280) and tied for the most hits allowed (822). And what did the Yanks do against this staff? They managed four hits and scored one run for the second straight game. Unacceptable! A-Rod gets a pass since he provided the run, but I'm holding everyone else in the lineup accountable for this loss.  The Ugly:Always wear a cup. Jose Veras entered the game in the eighth and gave up a leadoff double to Michael Young. Josh Hamilton was up next for the Rangers and Jose Molina flashed the signs behind the plate. Nothing out of the ordinary, right? Well, someone didn't remember the progression with a runner on second. Veras threw a fastball and Molina was expecting, well, he was expecting something else. The heater hit him square in the nads. Molina fell like a sack of potatoes as Young advanced to third. But give Molina credit, he went after the ball even though he was in obvious pain. I'm sure he'll be pissing blood tonight. Joba Chamberlain (2-2, 2.03) will try and put the brakes on this mini two-game skid Tuesday night and will battle Kevin Millwood (5-4, 5.08 ERA). Millwood was a disaster in June, giving up 44 hits in 31 innings with a 6.10 ERA, but somehow finished 2-1. But I suppose that's an improvement since his ERA in May was 7.45. Millwood is 1-4 in six career starts against the Yanks. Chamberlain earned his first win as a stater in his last game against the Pirates in Pittsburgh. Joba is 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in his five starts this season and is holding righties to a .194 average. Time to get that first win in front of the home folks.
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On Saturday, the Yanks made the most out of their hits. They couldn't repeat that feat Sunday afternoon. Darrell Rasner held the fort for five innings and Wilson Betemit hit a gargantuan tater in the seventh, but Oliver Perez dominated in his seven innings and the pen finished it off as the Mets snipped the Yanks 3-1 at Shea Stadium. The Bombers managed only four hits on the day, but still had a chance in the ninth. Derek Jeter opened the frame with a single off of closer Billy Wagner with the heart of the order coming up. But Alex Rodriguez just missed a game-tying jack with a fly out to left. Jorge Posada followed with a groundout and Betemit went down looking for the final out of the ballgame.  But the story of the game was Perez. Ollie upped his career mark against the Yanks to 5-1 with seven shutout innings, including eight strikeouts and zero walks. How is this guy just 6-5 with an ERA hovering around 5.00 this season? The Good:Wilson Betemit. Hits and runs were at a premium for the Yanks and Betemit was the offense. Betemit got his first start at second base against the lefty Perez and responded by hitting a titanic solo shot that cleared the bleachers in left. Wil entered the game with a .235 career average from the right side, but he's batting a more respectable .260 this season. It was also his second homer off a left-hander this year. Betetmit finished 1 for 4 with a run scored and the lone RBI. The Bad:David Robertson. I don't want to dump on the newest Yankee reliever (after all, it was his first big-league game), but the rookie gave up a big run in the sixth. Actually, I question why Joe Girardi would go to Robertson in a 2-0 game in the sixth. I guess he wanted to get the kid's feet wet. In any event, Robertson managed to control his fear for the most part, but his wild pitch with runners on first and second was key and turned into a David Wright sacrifice fly. That put the Mets up 3-0. That meant a bloop and blast wouldn't get the job done. Yes, the Yanks managed to move back to that scenario after Betemit's home run, but it still was an important run. Or maybe I'm just being too critical. Robertson's Major League debut went like this: 2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 WP. Melky Cabrera. Another day, another poor offensive showing for Melky. Sure, the Yanks managed only four hits on the day, but Cabrera's struggles at the plate continued. The Melk-Man finished 0 for 11 this weekend at Shea and has seen his average dip to .246 on the season. Melky finished 0 for 3, but reached on an error in the seventh.  The Ugly:Fits and tantrums. Speaking of errors, Jose Reyes continues to show errors in judgment on the field. Melky hit a routine grounder to Reyes for what looked like the final out of the seventh, but Reyes was a bit lazy with his throw and Carlos Delgado had to come off the bag to make the catch. He didn't. The ball tipped off his glove and went into the Mets dugout for a two-base error. The miscue was charged to Reyes, but it was a play Delgado should have made. Reyes' reaction? He stomped around the infield and eventually slammed his glove to the dirt in disgust. Maybe he was upset with his throw (unlikely) or with Delgado's effort. Either way, his behavior was uncalled for and ridiculous. I was watching the game on YES (surprise, surprise) and Michael Kay and Ken Singleton ripped into Reyes. Singleton went as far as saying that that type of reaction wouldn't stand back when he was playing. I wonder if the guys on SNY were as critical. I also wonder how things will go down in the Mets locker room. The Yanks head back to the Bronx for their final homestand before the All-Star break and welcome in the Texas Rangers for a three-game set beginning Monday night. Mike Mussina (10-5, 3.93 ERA) will go on three days rest and locks up against Scott Feldman (1-3, 4.60 ERA). Feldman has been Mr. No Decision lately -- he's 0-2 in his past eight starts. In fact, he hasn't won since spinning six shutout innings in a 4-0 victory over the Oakland A's on May 9. Feldman has made one career appearance against the Yanks and it wasn't a good one. He pitched 1/3 of an inning and gave up three runs on three hits for an 81.00 ERA. The Moose's last start in Pittsburgh was cut short after two innings because of the rainout so he'll get the call instead of Joba Chamberlain. Mussina is a creature of habit and hasn't enjoyed pitching on short rest in the past (4-4 with a 4.95 ERA in 10 starts), but this is the new, improved Mike Mussina. Moose is 4-1 in his past six starts and is 17-12 with a 3.76 ERA in 35 career starts against the Rangers. The second half of the season has officially begun for the Yanks. Let's see what they're made of.
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