Weird Win by the Yanks

First I would
like to start off by thanking Mike Carver, 1240am and his show Sports
Radio New York for inviting me to call into to talk Yankees last night!
Mike you have a great show and thanks for letting me come on to talk
and give my thoughts on the New York Yankees!…even though I was in some
hot water when I got back to the wedding :-/…LOL…anywho what a wacky,
wild and overall GREAT win by the Yanks yesterday…I can’t remember the
last time, actually any time for that matter, when a team won a game by
way of a bases loaded walk, followed by an error at 3rd, with the bases
loaded, and a fielder’s choice…in which Matsui must’ve ran his butt off
because he got down the line pretty quickly! What a great and exciting
win, and one that proves that this year is a whole lot different…calls
are going the Yankees way and they are making sure to take advantage of
them…I am very impressed by yesterday’s win and it just goes to show
you that you don’t always need the longball to win games. I would also
like to say that my prediction was right this
game ended up being, for the most part, a pitchers duel with both
starters pitching beyond their years…getting into tight situations and
working their way out of them by way of outsmarting the hitter. Joba
showed some fatigue and loss of command in the 6th and got nicked up a
little bit…but the truth of the matter is that those hits fell in the
perfect places, just out of the reach of Cano both times…Gross came
up….Yeah that’s right Gabe Gross, hit a 2 run single that if Cano
wasn’t shaded in the hole probably would have still been a hit but
Robinson might have got to it before it reached the outfield…but that’s
neither here nor there and what happened, happened…back to the point.
Joba had a very good quality start yesterday and like I said worked out
of tough situations and had his slider working amazingly. People might
be yelling that he gave up 3 earned…hey guys, he’s Joba, he’s still
young and actually didn’t pitch bad in that inning it was just a
product of perfectly placed balls.  I was impressed by his poise and
confidence as well, especially when he was shaking off Posada to go to
the slider in situations where he knew it would work…AND IT DID!! That
slider spun for, what seemed to be, 63 ft then fell off the
table…hitter’s were fooled and didn’t know what to expect from
him…hmmmm I guess they haven’t realized that his fastball is going to
set up that devastating slider…but that’s even better, make the batters
keep guessing! I’ll get back to Joba in a second…

Matt Garza pitched an equally good game…he made only one mistake…AND
IT WAS A BIG ONE!!! Swisher…or Swishalicious…REALLY STERLING???
REALLY??? Side Track: I have shown my distaste for John Sterling in
posts past but really man? You invented “A Bomb for A Rod!”…sorry that
was sarcasm…you really couldn’t think of something better for Swisher?
Better yet maybe you should drop those stttttttttuuuuuppppppiiiiidddd
calls!!!…I’m sorry but it had to be said Swishalicious is the WORST!!!
nickname I have ever heard! Sorry about that…a little angry
hahahaha…but I don’t like to praise opposing pitching but I do have a
mini man crush on Garza…yes for real..the kid is good!! But he did
pitch good yesterday…getting ground balls and getting his first pitches
over for strikes…the Yankees tried to rattle him by calling time…he was
taking extremely long between pitches yesterday…and taking him deep
into counts…but it didn’t phase him whatsoever. The only good thing
about Garza…for the Yankees…was the fact that they knocked him out in
the 6th and got to that abysmal bullpen. Wait, there is something
wrong…they are pitching good today!! Ummmmm what’s going on? That’s
what most Yankee fans…at least the avid fan…was thinking…but don’t
worry the showed up in the 8th…PHEW!!! Side Track: Two quick
points…both teams only got 6 hits yesterday…these guys pitched
extremely well…sorry was just counting the Yankees hit and were
surprised they didn’t get a few more…back on track…The dominating Grant
Balfour…what? that was last year?…just isn’t where he was last year
when he busted onto the scene to head the great Rays bullpen of
2008…but wait? this year is really more like his career path…he has a
4.28 career ERA so last year is seeming to be more of a
fluke…anyway…Balfour has struggled for 2 straight days, yesterday he
came in to relieve Joe Nelson and trouble started right away…after a
quick put away of Jeter the wheels fell off the bus…after 2 singles, by
Damon and Tex, Balfour walked A Rod to load the bases…putting 3 batters
on is inexcusable…The dominate J.P. Howell comes in, probably the
bright part of this horrible Rays bullpen, and walks Cano!!! with the
score being 3-2 the rays fell apart with an error by Aybar, allowing
Tex to score, then he got what seemed to be a double play ball by the
lumbering Matsui but he beat out the throw to first to allow A Rod to
score and give the Yanks the lead at 4-3. Mo came in and shut the door,
maybe the day before was a fluke but I still think we should explore
other people in non-save situations, but he did prove why he is still a
dominate closer and will be for a few more years to come.

I really think Joba is proving more and more why he is a reliable
starter and why he needs to be in the rotation…I have the feeling that
people are going to point to yesterday’s game as a reason why he should
be in the pen…but really? he had a quality start and showed poise in
tight situations along with not allowing many baserunners and walking
only 1 batter…to me it’s NO CONTEST! I don’t see why you would want to
keep him in for 1 inning when you can get 6 – 7 innings of dominate
pitching…HE’S ONLY GUNNA GET BETTER!!! He’s 23 and shaking off Posada
because he knows he can get people out…it’s not young cockiness it’s
his skill level and trust in command that is allowing him to do that…I
know I’m some people are sooo against him starting but I really don’t
see why…our bullpen isn’t bad and if Veras learned how to pitch he can
be a great 8th inning guy or for now Aceves has been great and we
should give him some looks as well…JOBA should be a starter no doubt
about it.

On to tonite…”The battle of the Andy’s”…or atleast that’s what
Michael Kay called it yesterday…I had to slap my head for that one too.
Sonnanstine vs. Pettitte two guys who are having less than stellar
years right now…well Pettitte is a product of pitching poorly at home
on the road he is flat out pitching great. This matchup is really one
sided in my opinion and the Yankees shouldn’t have a problem with a
struggling Sonnanstine, who has to go at least 7 innings for the
bullpens sake. Sonnanstine, who is an average at best pitcher, has
posted a robust 7.07 ERA this year over 11 starts and needs to get back
on track if the Rays want to make a run for any type of playoff hopes.
Like I said the Yanks should handle him fine, after yesterdays loss the
Rays might be fired up but I don’t think it will last long, the Yanks
have been jumping on horrible pitching all year and with their bats
right now they should jump all over Sonnanstine…case closed…Key to the
game is definitely Pettitte…if he pitches well and keeps the Rays at
bay the Yanks should run away with this one and take the series. Over
his last 3 home starts Pettitte has given up 4 earned in each one…he
MUST pitch better today and get back on track…the Yankees score a ton
but Pettitte has to start pitching better for his own sake…yes I said
‘sake’ twice…like I said I can’t see the Yankees losing this game, I’m
sure the bookies can’t either…LET’S GO YANKEES!!!

Other Notes:

Red Wings: They win tomorrow…can’t see how they don’t, at home with the cup on the line…no doubt about it in my mind.

Lakers vs Magic: Not a surprise…wish I could’ve seen more of the
game…but I thought the Lakers would win this series in 5 and it’s
looking like it might not even get that far.

That’s it!! late!