Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Wang, Rivera Back on Track

Chien Ming Wang once again looked like a reliable starter and Mariano Rivera returned to form. The good part about having an up and down season like the Yankees are going through is that almost every bad loss is quickly followed by a quality win.

Joe Girardi continues to dumbfound me, DHing Giambi and sitting Matsui so that he can play Wilson Betemit, who went 0 for 4 and had a fielding error. Joe's constant lineup shuffles are getting a bit tiresome at this point, especially when he sits a star for a defensive liability who can't hit.

Jose Veras finished out the 8th inning but had 2 walks on his way to getting 2 outs, which isn't particularly reassuring. Mariano Rivera gave up a hit but no runs and thankfully doesn't look like the last game bothered him too much.

Morgan Ensberg has been designated. I'm not sure if someone else will pick him up, he's a decent replacement player but not a guy you want starting every day.

The play of the day from last night's game had to be Jason Giambi's baserunning clinic. On a ball hit deep to right, Giambi tagged up at first and made it to second easily. If you haven't watched Giambi run full out, it's a spectacle to behold. If you watched the game you know exactly what I'm talking about, but if you didn't it's hard to explain other than to say it was hilarious. After the play the YES camera crew panned over to the stands where some of Jason's family was watching the game and even they were getting in on the fun, mimicking his running style.

On a serious note, that simple play showed that Jason had his head in the game and was willing to hustle a bit when needed, which is always a good thing.

No comments: