Another grind type of game. Granderson got us on the board with a 2 run dinger and then the Yanks tacked on another 2 runs, but blew a big chance to blow the game open. The AB I was really annoyed with was Berkman's. You have an umpire with a very tight strike zone (who was also missing real strikes for us - The Kerry Wood breaking ball was a joke that he missed that strike out) and he had a 3-1 count and Berk swung at a high inside pitch (probably a ball) and did nothing with it. You have to be real selective in that spot and only swing at a specific zone. Bad job by Berkman, but we still led 4-0 with Nova cruising.
Nova had really been creamed in the 5th inning in his outings, so you have to keep an eye on him especially after a long inning. After falling behind 3-0 to the 1st batter and allowing him to get on and then walking the next guy, I would have had Logan in the game to face 4 lefties in 5 batters. As it turned out it wasn't bad to leave Nova in even though the lefty got on, he did get the next guy to hit into a DP. Then Girardi went to Logan...who stunk. This is VERY important. TB has a huge hole on their team with a lot of lefties who can be exploited, unfortunately, we only have 1 lefty(which is just mind boggling to me that the Yankees can't get 2 lefties in the pen - Cashman deserves a lot of criticism for this) and if he is bad, we are SOL. At he end of the inning the score was tied in an ugly inning showcasing the tight strike zone by McLelland (the ump). I just want to say he was tight for both sides and was fairly consistent, however, of the 5 noticeable missed pitches in the game, 4 of them were against us.
The Yanks offense kept coming back as Granderson showed why I was excited to have him hit against righties as he hit a monster 3 run home toward the top of the right field fair pole.
The Yanks led 8-5 going into the 9th, but Mo was uncomfortable to watch as he struggled with his control...we better hope he can give us enough in the postseason as he didn't look good tonight (and it was not the umps fault). Even so, he did break 3 bats, which is pretty hilarious, and he did save the 3 run lead with an 8-6 victory and a 1.5 game lead.
Gardner needs to work on his bunting...a guy that fast better bunt with more consistently. He came up with 1st and 2nd and nobody out, a clear bunting spot and he pushed the bat into a pop up DP.
Cano, ARod and Tex did nothing. Jeter, Granderson,Cervelli and of course Granderson had good offensive games to carry us.
Last point on Logan, he was trowing 91 and I hope that was just a off day...being our only lefty (still don't get it), he better be ON!
It was a grind...but a win
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I was moved by the ceremonies last night, but I don't think that Steinbrenner's monument should be larger than all the others.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I agree 100% on the fact that Logan should have been in there two batters earlier. I was chatting on-line live with another Yankee fan (Gunner) and said as much.
ReplyDeleteGunner's counter was that we should be giving Nova a chance to get out of these problems he seems to face from the 5th inning on, or else he'll never learn. With the playoffs all but clinched, this is a good time to do it.
I think that's a valid point, but I'd still like to have home field throughout the playoffs all other things being equal, and these games against the Rays count as 2 on the magic number. Not only that, but we like to take it easy on the arms our young pitchers, right? He hasn't pitched out of a jam in the 5th or 6th inning yet, correct? Let's use him for what he's good for and have a quick hook on him, particularly when it is exactly the right time to go to the lefty.
I would be less worried about him learning how to get out of the 5th and focus more on why he is getting hit around the 5th. While I did not pick up anything on TV, I am sure his arm angle may be dropping every so slightly with fatigue or he is under/over striding. It is not that he can't pitch out of jams, he just hits a wall of fatigue in my opinion
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