Sweeping in Seattle

Tanaka looked excellent tonight!  He had command of all of his pitches and he used the entire strike zone.  I felt like you could randomly choose a pitch at any time to any batter and he would deliver the pitch pretty close to wear he wanted it.  The impressive thing about Tanaka is that he seems to make adjustments with his pitches and the speeds he throws them.  He will run his fastball at 91 and then throw a 95 MPH fastball but he can still get movement on it.  He also will mix up his splitters speed much like a knuckleballer can change speeds.  On an 80 pitch limit he got us through 7 innings without a walk while striking out 9!  VERY encouraging.

The Yankees offense was Tex hitting his 16^th and Jones giving us back to back homers as he hit a 2 run HR on a fastball that was supposed to be outside but their pitcher missed badly and got it more inside.  Good job by Jones supplying most of our offense the last two nights.

Girardi almost messed up this game in the 8^th.  For some reason he brought in Capuano.  Capuano only allowed a single and struck out a guy, but I didn’t understand the thought process at all.  It was as if the plan was to go to Capuano when Tanaka came out in the 6^th inning (or so) and then Girardi just stuck with the plan.   My take is Capuano has no business being in a 3-1 game in the 8^th inning, unless you are desperate to get a lefty out.     Joe then went to Miller to get 5 outs after a shaky outing last night.  Now, I am OK with this, but it makes me think back to what I wrote two nights ago and why in the world was Betances in the 8^th inning of a 7-2 game???  Because of that stupidity, Miller was called on to extend himself.  He really struggled finding the strike zone, especially with his breaking ball or his 97 MPH fastball.  In fact, Miller had to throw 94 MPH just to throw strikes.  First, Miller hit Weeks on his slider, and then he walked Zunino on 4 pitches to load the bases with 1 out.  He then fell behind Morrison 3-0 before just getting a 94 MPH fastball for a strike.  On 3-1 he gave Morrison a very hittable fastball and we were fortunate he swung through it to make the count full.  Miller then threw his slider and Morrison swung at ball 4 for the 2^nd out.  Miller then pitched ahead of Austin Jackson and got him to ground to 3^rd and escape the bases loaded one out jam.  He looked good in the 9^th allowing a 2 strike hit through the shift but ended the inning on his 35^th pitch.   

JR Murphy is 1-9 on this west coast trip and has looked awful.  He has swung at some awful pitches.  If McCann is out for any time we need JR to get his strike zone fixed quickly.  McCann will have an MRI tomorrow I believe?

I was a little surprised they designated Carpenter for assignment.  I know he has not pitched well, but only having two righties doesn’t make sense and is Lindgren that much better.  Carpenter throws 96 so you have something to work with and while he is 29, he was extremely good 2 years ago with Atlanta and was respectable last year.  I didn’t like his command and I am sure that is what the Yankees saw as well, but I would have more confidence in him then some of the guys we have? 

Didi made an outstanding dive to his right (up the middle because he was shifted to the right side of 2^nd base) and made a good throw to first.  Headley also made an excellent diving stop to his left.

Nice sweep!