http://www.metro.us/us/article/2010/06/17/03/4944-82/index.xml
The matchup between Roy Halladay and CC Sabathia was billed as a regular-season high stakes duel between the aces.
From the Philadelphia standpoint it was a high card kind of night at the poker table and from the New York viewpoint, it was a royal flush type of evening.
The cards or pitches did not fall Halladay’s way last night and he allowed three home runs for the ninth time in 301 starts. That means it occurs once every 33 starts though it seems to happen more frequently against the Yankees, who have done it three times since last July 4.
The home runs by Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira were the difference last night as the Yankees claimed an 8-3 victory over the Phillies.
CC Sabathia contributed and won his first game against someone not named the Orioles since beating Texas in a rain-shortened game April 16. He turned in seven innings, allowing three runs and five hits while suffering from the commonly known affliction of the one bad inning.
“We've got a good offense," Sabathia said. "He has pitched well against us a lot in the past, but guys have been swinging the bat well. Alex (Rodriguez) is out, but Swish has picked up the slack. Curtis hit a big home run. We've got a pretty good team."
Even facing a pretty good team in his final five years in Toronto, Halladay rarely had bad innings and certainly not too often in his first two months with Philadelphia.
So what caused the unfavorable hand for Doc?
Leaving too many pitches over the plate definitely did not help, especially when the Yankees took the approach of see the ball and hit it. When the Yankees made those guesses they were correct, which explains how they scored six times off Halladay for the first time in a decade.
"Against a tough guy like that, all you're really doing is looking for a pitch in the middle of the plate," Swisher said. "We didn't swing at a lot of balls out of the zone today. I think that's a big key. If we can swing at balls on the plate, we do a pretty good job."
Doing a pretty good job is what the Yankees have been doing for the last three weeks. Since a 5-10 stretch in mid-May they are 15-5 and a season-high 18 games over .500 (41-23).
The first indication that things might be different against Halladay occurred in the second inning when Brett Gardner lined a 2-1 belt-level cutter that stayed over the plate into center field for a two-run triple.
“We’ve faced him a good bit. We know what to expect,” Gardner said. “He pounds the zone and tonight he left some pitches over the middle of the plate and we were able to take advantage of it.”
Gardner’s triple merely foreshadowed the next inning.
Granderson turned a 2-2 changeup that hung right at the knees into a second-deck home run and three batters later, Swisher saw another cutter that did not move and sent it to right field for a two-run blast and a 5-0 lead.
The capper was another flat cutter that Teixeira sent just inside the right field foul pole for a solo shot and left Halladay in a state of disbelief.
As for Sabathia, he forgot to get his bare hands out of the way in the fourth on consecutive hits by Chase Utley and Placido Polanco. While Sabathia did not use that as an excuse, it hardly seemed coincidental that the Phillies immediately scored three runs.
“The first three innings he was as sharp as we've seen him all year, and then he gets hit in the hand and I always wonder how that affects a guy,'' Girardi said. "I can tell him and tell him again, 'Keep your big mitts out of the way,' but it's instinctual and you wonder if that had something to do with it.''
Before that, Sabathia mowed through the Phillies but then after bare-handing those, he plunked Ryan Howard on a 1-2 fastball. Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez followed with RBI singles and then Sabathia made a mental miscue that allowed a third run when he did not cover first base on a sure double play grounder by Ben Francisco.
That was the extent of Sabathia’s bending. He gave up one more hit the rest of the night and won his third straight and showed a sign that this is the time of year when he heats up just like 2009 and 2008.
“I think it's getting a lot better,'' Sabathia said. “My bullpen sessions have been a lot better and I feel like I have better command of my pitches.''
And now the Yankees have better command over the opponents.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
I even came up with the headline...
http://www.metro.us/us/article/2010/05/26/04/1808-82/index.xml -
Regrets, they've had a few - Mets 6, Yankees 4 - May 23 though uploaded for some reason two days later..
Regardless of the final score, CC Sabathia’s mistake pitch to Jason Bay was regrettable. When the Yankees nearly pulled off a ninth-inning comeback, the pitch became even more lamentable.
The pitch in question was a 2-1 changeup that Bay sent over the left field wall during a four-run second inning. It was among the more frustrating contributors to a 6-4 loss to the Mets, especially when the Yankees nearly had a chance to steal a victory.
Bay homered twice off Sabathia, who has allowed at least one home run in seven straight starts. The initial blast eventually came back to burn the Yankees when a late rally fell just short and sent them to Minnesota with 10 losses in their last 15 games.
The attempted rally turned a 6-1 game into a manageable deficit but a nine-pitch confrontation between Alex Rodriguez and Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez ended with a strikeout and the Yankees were left pondering their mistakes.
“I just made some wrong decisions in some tough spots,” Sabathia said. “I probably wouldn’t have thrown a changeup 2-1 to Bay right there. I probably would have thrown him something hard.”
"He just didn't make the pitches that he wanted to," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "He struggled a little bit tonight. It all comes down to location. When you don't locate and you make mistakes, you're going to get beat. That's what happened tonight."
Bay’s previous history with the lefty was not pleasant. He was 1-for-9 lifetime off Sabathia before the game. Bay last faced Sabathia August 23 in Fenway Park and twice struck out on fastballs while getting a single off the curveball.
Sabathia had that knowledge on the scouting report but in the opening inning did not successfully use his fastball against Bay, who walked. After starting him with two fastballs, Sabathia threw two straight changeups and the last one hung right over the plate and sailed over the wall putting the Mets up 4-0.
“I didn’t follow the game plan,” Sabathia said. “I’m staying out there (over the plate) too much. I went soft. They put some good swings on pitches out over the plate.”
In five innings, Sabathia allowed six runs (five earned) and 10 hits – his most as a Yankee. Sabathia allowed 10 hits August 2 in Chicago but then the Yankees had enough offense to overcome it.
Now the Yankees are slumping to the point where these little mistakes become major ones and ultimately regrettable, especially when they could barely touch Johan Santana.
Santana last faced the Yankees June 14 and was torched for nine runs and nine hits in three innings but this time around the lefty was virtually flawless, holding the Yankees to a Francisco Cervelli single among six hits in 7 2/3 innings.
Cervelli’s hit could have been a home run if it climbed a few inches higher and visibly gone over the orange stripe in left field but it did not and the Yankees had to live with it just like they had to live with Bay’s home runs.
Bay’s first blast meant two runs that the Yankees would have liked back. At the worst, their comeback would have required another inning when A-Rod struck out on K-Rod’s changeup but instead it dropped the Bombers another game in the standings.
Many times over the last year, Yankee opponents are left expressing regrets but the combination of injuries and inconsistent play have those sounds coming from the defending champions, who scored just nine times this weekend.
"There is a lot of frustration because we know we're capable of doing a lot more," Rodriguez said. "Collectively, we're just not getting it done."
Rodriguez was hitless in four at-bats and he was among the better Yankee hitters this weekend. His eighth-inning walk knocked out Santana and loaded the bases but that only turned into another opportunity that left the visiting clubhouse lamenting.
That was because Robinson Cano saw three straight Pedro Feliciano sliders and meekly popped out to first base. Had Cano been able to prolong the inning, the Yankees might have been with two and scoring three in the ninth would have meant a tie ballgame as opposed to a close one.
“I'd like to have those back,” Rodriguez said. “That was a good sign, those last two innings. We put some pressure on them and had some opportunities. For a game that was 6-0 to come down to the last at-bat with two men on base, I'll take my chances.”
Good signs are nice for teams struggling to find their way. But these are the Yankees and they do not count unless the result is a victory.
NOTES:
Cervelli was another Yankees, who expressed regret about last night’s events. He admitted to making a mistake in not running hard, especially when his potential home run to left field was a ruled a single by umpires.
“I made a mistake running the bases,” Cervelli said. “Running hard all the time, that’s what I do all the time. I don’t know what happened. I made a mistake.”
The umpires reviewed it after third base coach Rob Thomson told Girardi he thought hit the base of the foul pole.
“The ball hit the line and stayed in the ballpark," crew chief Derryl Cousins said. "That's why we were out there so quick -- it wasn't worth looking at a second time."
Javier Vazquez will likely make his next scheduled start Thursday in Minnesota. The Yankees will definitely give him the start once they see him successfully get through Tuesday’s bullpen session. Vazquez injured his right index finger trying to lay down a bunt Friday and was still taped up.
"I expect to make it, unless it really feels bad," Vazquez said. "Right now, I don't think it will, because I don't feel that bad. I think there's a good chance I'm going to make it."
Curtis Granderson played two rehab games over the weekend for Scranton-Wilkes Barre. He was the DH Saturday and went 0-for-4 but played the field for the first time yesterday and was 1-for-2 with a walk.
Regrets, they've had a few - Mets 6, Yankees 4 - May 23 though uploaded for some reason two days later..
Regardless of the final score, CC Sabathia’s mistake pitch to Jason Bay was regrettable. When the Yankees nearly pulled off a ninth-inning comeback, the pitch became even more lamentable.
The pitch in question was a 2-1 changeup that Bay sent over the left field wall during a four-run second inning. It was among the more frustrating contributors to a 6-4 loss to the Mets, especially when the Yankees nearly had a chance to steal a victory.
Bay homered twice off Sabathia, who has allowed at least one home run in seven straight starts. The initial blast eventually came back to burn the Yankees when a late rally fell just short and sent them to Minnesota with 10 losses in their last 15 games.
The attempted rally turned a 6-1 game into a manageable deficit but a nine-pitch confrontation between Alex Rodriguez and Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez ended with a strikeout and the Yankees were left pondering their mistakes.
“I just made some wrong decisions in some tough spots,” Sabathia said. “I probably wouldn’t have thrown a changeup 2-1 to Bay right there. I probably would have thrown him something hard.”
"He just didn't make the pitches that he wanted to," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "He struggled a little bit tonight. It all comes down to location. When you don't locate and you make mistakes, you're going to get beat. That's what happened tonight."
Bay’s previous history with the lefty was not pleasant. He was 1-for-9 lifetime off Sabathia before the game. Bay last faced Sabathia August 23 in Fenway Park and twice struck out on fastballs while getting a single off the curveball.
Sabathia had that knowledge on the scouting report but in the opening inning did not successfully use his fastball against Bay, who walked. After starting him with two fastballs, Sabathia threw two straight changeups and the last one hung right over the plate and sailed over the wall putting the Mets up 4-0.
“I didn’t follow the game plan,” Sabathia said. “I’m staying out there (over the plate) too much. I went soft. They put some good swings on pitches out over the plate.”
In five innings, Sabathia allowed six runs (five earned) and 10 hits – his most as a Yankee. Sabathia allowed 10 hits August 2 in Chicago but then the Yankees had enough offense to overcome it.
Now the Yankees are slumping to the point where these little mistakes become major ones and ultimately regrettable, especially when they could barely touch Johan Santana.
Santana last faced the Yankees June 14 and was torched for nine runs and nine hits in three innings but this time around the lefty was virtually flawless, holding the Yankees to a Francisco Cervelli single among six hits in 7 2/3 innings.
Cervelli’s hit could have been a home run if it climbed a few inches higher and visibly gone over the orange stripe in left field but it did not and the Yankees had to live with it just like they had to live with Bay’s home runs.
Bay’s first blast meant two runs that the Yankees would have liked back. At the worst, their comeback would have required another inning when A-Rod struck out on K-Rod’s changeup but instead it dropped the Bombers another game in the standings.
Many times over the last year, Yankee opponents are left expressing regrets but the combination of injuries and inconsistent play have those sounds coming from the defending champions, who scored just nine times this weekend.
"There is a lot of frustration because we know we're capable of doing a lot more," Rodriguez said. "Collectively, we're just not getting it done."
Rodriguez was hitless in four at-bats and he was among the better Yankee hitters this weekend. His eighth-inning walk knocked out Santana and loaded the bases but that only turned into another opportunity that left the visiting clubhouse lamenting.
That was because Robinson Cano saw three straight Pedro Feliciano sliders and meekly popped out to first base. Had Cano been able to prolong the inning, the Yankees might have been with two and scoring three in the ninth would have meant a tie ballgame as opposed to a close one.
“I'd like to have those back,” Rodriguez said. “That was a good sign, those last two innings. We put some pressure on them and had some opportunities. For a game that was 6-0 to come down to the last at-bat with two men on base, I'll take my chances.”
Good signs are nice for teams struggling to find their way. But these are the Yankees and they do not count unless the result is a victory.
NOTES:
Cervelli was another Yankees, who expressed regret about last night’s events. He admitted to making a mistake in not running hard, especially when his potential home run to left field was a ruled a single by umpires.
“I made a mistake running the bases,” Cervelli said. “Running hard all the time, that’s what I do all the time. I don’t know what happened. I made a mistake.”
The umpires reviewed it after third base coach Rob Thomson told Girardi he thought hit the base of the foul pole.
“The ball hit the line and stayed in the ballpark," crew chief Derryl Cousins said. "That's why we were out there so quick -- it wasn't worth looking at a second time."
Javier Vazquez will likely make his next scheduled start Thursday in Minnesota. The Yankees will definitely give him the start once they see him successfully get through Tuesday’s bullpen session. Vazquez injured his right index finger trying to lay down a bunt Friday and was still taped up.
"I expect to make it, unless it really feels bad," Vazquez said. "Right now, I don't think it will, because I don't feel that bad. I think there's a good chance I'm going to make it."
Curtis Granderson played two rehab games over the weekend for Scranton-Wilkes Barre. He was the DH Saturday and went 0-for-4 but played the field for the first time yesterday and was 1-for-2 with a walk.
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