At what point is it going to no longer be cool to constantly bean the Yankees with pitches?  Serious question, here.  Because during the Boston series we got plunked a grand total of about six times, and then during this series with the Indians, we’ve gotten hit another three or four times.  That’s about 10 times in five games.  Isn’t that a bit on the overkill side?  I know people hate us, and blah blah blah, but at a certain point, I’m not going to allow pitchers and/or teams to feign ignorance and say they didn’t do it on purpose or with any intent.  That’s not how it works, at least not in my mind.  Moving on however…….

Colon had yet another great start, proving that picking him up over the off-season was a shrewd and calculating move for Cash.  6.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K.  That’s freakin’ phenomenal.  Robertson and Logan pitched the last 2.1 innings, giving up 3 H, 0 ER, and 5 K combined.  With Joba out until sometime mid-next season, we really need what’s left of our bullpen to step up and do their jobs.  We can’t afford to lose anyone else, for any other reason.

We didn’t have the same offensive explosion as we did in yesterday’s game, but with the pitching as good as it was, we didn’t need it to be.  Alex went 1-3 with an RBI, before having to leave the game due to the aforementioned plunking.  Mark went 1-3 with an RBI, Grandy went 1-4 with an RBI, and Gardy went 2-3.  All in all, I’d say it was a damn good game, and I hope I can post the picture of Crazy Stein tomorrow after the game.

You’ll notice my postings have been a bit sporadic the last month or so, the reason for that being I just don’t have the time to update after every game like I used to.  Which sucks, but on the other hand, I am barely getting any feedback from people about what I do right, so it’s more economical this way.  Ah well.

Ivan Nova took the mound last night for the Yankees, hoping to somehow cleanse the smell of putrid from everyone after that delightful sweep at the hands of the Red Sox a few days ago…..and he managed to do it.  7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K.  Our bullpen is basically made up of candy floss and gossamer, so in a game where we saw us leading at one point 11-3, we needed Mo to come in to get the final two outs.  The news of Joba’s Tommy John surgery didn’t exactly fill my heart with gladness and mirth, and I hope at some point next season, he can return to pitching like he did before our pitching staff screwed up his mechanics.

On the offensive side of things, we got a whole of stuff from a whole lot of people.  Derek went 1-5, and he’s now 9 hits away from 3,000.  I’d love for him to get at home, but he’d have to have REAL good games against the Indians this weekend for it to happen, but you never know.  Grandy went 2-5 with an RBI, Mark went 1-2 with 3 RBI, Alex went 2-4 with 2 RBI, Robbie went 3-4 with an RBI, Jorge went 3-5 with an RBI, and Gardy went 2-5 with an RBI. So as you can see, we got production from everyone all night.  Doesn’t get much better than that.

Now, can we please sweep this series?  I don’t normally call for sweeps, just wins…..but damn if we couldn’t use the wins right about now.

Yesterday was my birthday (the big 2-9), and instead of giving me the gift of a Yankees victory over the Red Sox…..I got the exact opposite.  A loss.  Oh joy.  That’s 6 straight losses against the Red Sox this season, which is an even better belated birthday gift.

I hope Mark’s okay though, that was one hell of a HBP he took.  He mentioned on Twitter (yes, I follow him) that he was doing alright, so that’s good to hear.  Derek got a couple more hits last night, so now he’s only 12 away from 3,000.  Garcia didn’t even get out of the 2nd innings, with Noesi doing the longman’s work, pitching 6 relief innings.

Can we please win this series?  I hope it’s not too much to ask.

I don’t care that we beat them in the ALCS in 2009, thereby exorcising some kind of demonic curse the team had put over us……I really, really hate playing them.  They always seem to bring out the worst in the team, no matter how good or bad we might be playing at that time.  It’s annoying.

We didn’t even really play that poorly.  I mean, sure we could have managed a bit more offense than just two runs on three hits, but our pitching was solid.  Very solid.  Nova pitched well, our bullpen was great……we just couldn’t manage any runs off Weaver.  It happens, but I hate when it happens against that team.  Any other team and I’m like whatever, but the Superfluous Acronyms?  No thanks.

CC pitches tonight, and hopefully our offense wakes up.

It’s nice to be able to bring out the Crazy Stein, isn’t it?  There’s just something about seeing the crazed look on his face while he’s wielding the broom like a samurai sword that makes you say, “God, I love this team.”  Only our former owner would be photographed like that, on a WS parade float, no less.

AJ Burnett took the hill yesterday in the hopes of closing out the series with a sweep, and he accomplished just that.  His final line was 7 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K.  Joba and Mo completed the final two innings, notching Mr. Rivera his 14th save of the season, and bringing him to within 29 of the all-time record.  With 108 games left, I think he can save 29 of them.

It was a rather low-scoring affair for the Yanks, but that’s fine because four runs when the opponent has only two is enough for a win.  Derek got another hit, going 1-4, so he’s 16 hits away from 3,000 now.  Looks more and more like he’ll get it when the team goes to Cincinnati, and considering he was named captain when the Yankees were playing there one time, the significance would be interesting.  Alex went 2-4 with an RBI, and Swish went 1-3 with 3 RBI.  Let’s keep this going for the next series.

 

Stars of the Game™

 

AJ Burnett, Alex Rodriguez, and Nick Swisher!

We had a very good night, no?  Nice to see that after that crappy Seattle series, the Yankees are picking up and doing their business.  After letting the sh!tty Sox get out of the basement, we’re hell bound and determined now to hold on to 1st place for as long and consistently as we can.

Freddy Garcia started the game last night, and turned another great performance by our rotation.  7IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K is not half-bad for a night’s work.  I think he gave up a couple too many hits, but as you can see the A’s weren’t able to do much with what they got.  Ayala and Pendleton pitched the final two innings, giving up no hits, no runs, one walk and one strikeout.  Very well done, fellas!

A “very well done, fellas” goes out to the offense too, which smacked the cover off the ball.  Derek went 2-4, meaning he’s 17 hits away from 3,000 now.  It’s looking more and more like he’ll get 3,000 in Cincinnati, but it would be even cooler if he could get at home.  We’ll have to see.  Alex went 3-4 with 3 RBI, Grandy went 3-5 with 4 RBI, and Robbie went 1-4 with 2 RBI.  We got a lot of production up and down the lineup, with everyone but Gardy and Russell Martin from the starting lineup getting at least one hit.  I hope we see something very similar this afternoon.

 

Stars of the Game™

 

Freddy Garcia, Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson, and Derek Jeter!

I know, I know….I forgot the series against Seattle, but considering how we barely avoided getting swept, I’d like to continue forgetting it and move on to this next west coast horror show against Oakland.  At least we won.  We’re also back in first place, though marginally so.  Thanks Chicago!

We won this game because of Bartolo Colon, mostly.  He threw another stellar game, getting the CG and giving up 0 ER on 4 H.  He also walked none, and struck out six.  I don’t know what’s going on with Colon this season, but damn it if I’m not enjoying every second of it.  I also really enjoy when we don’t need to use our bullpen because our pitcher can go 9 innings, or at the very least 7-8 innings.

As far as the offense goes, five runs on seven hits ain’t too shabby.  Derek went 1-3, so he’s only 19 hits away from 3,000 now.  Steady as she goes, Captain.  Mark went 1-4 with 2 RBI, Robbie went 2-4 with an RBI, and Gazoo went 1-2 with an RBI.  A little more spread out offense would be nice, but beggars can’t be choosers.  I hope this series continues like yesterday’s game was, and not like last series was.

 

Star of the Game™

 

Bartolo Colon!  A complete game, 4-hitter gets him a Star all by himself.

After coming off a great series with the Mets, we went right into a tough series against our division rivals, the Toronto Blue Jays.  After dropping the first game of the series, we came back with a thrilling walk-off victory in the 2nd game, and a nice comfortable win in the 3rd.

Our pitching in the first game wasn’t that stellar, with Colon giving up 6 ER in as many innings.  Noesi came in to pitch the final three innings, and did a decent job, giving up 1 ER and 2 H.  At least we didn’t burn through the pen.  In the second game, CC threw a complete game, giving up 4 ER on 8 H.  I don’t think we’ve had a complete game all season, so it was nice to see Girardi NOT go to the pen after 8 innings.  In the 3rd game, Garcia went 6.1 innings, giving up 3 ER on 10 H.  Robertson, Chamberlain, and Mo came in for relief, and Mo’s appearance marked his 1,000th game pitched — he’s the first relief pitcher in MLB history to reach that milestone.  You the man, Mo!  Here’s to 1,000 more.

Offense-wise during this series, we did reasonably well.  Three runs in the first game, five runs in the second, seven runs in the third.  Derek got one hit in the series, which brings him to within 24 of 3,000.  Mark went 4-12 with 3 RBI, including one very important RBI in the bottom of the 9th in game two.  Robbie went 5-11 with 4 RBI and Grandy went 6-11 with 2 RBI.  Here’s hoping that our next series goes as well as these last two have.