Damon Bails Out Gardner

The Yankees earned their 3rd straight walk off win thanks to a 10th inning homer from Johnny Damon. Despite all the cheers from the fans in attendance, you could still hear the sigh of relief coming from Brett Gardner.

In the bottom of the 9th, sitting on 2nd base, Francisco Cervelli dropped one down to the right causing Twins catcher Joe Mauer to come up and field the ball. Cervelli would have beat out the throw and so Mauer held on. Brett made the turn at third and was tagged out by Mauer at home. If Gardner had help up, the Yankees would have had 1st and 3rd with 1 out. Robbie Cano popped deep into left and would have scored a tagging Gardner for the win. Instead, we went to extra innings.

There’s no room for stupid in the bottom of the 9th. Yankees 3rd base coach Rob Thompson clearly called for Brett to hold up at 3rd. You have to love young guys with enthusiasm, but there’s a fine line between being eager for a win and costing your team a victory. In the end, Johnny Damon made it all a moot point, but Girardi still needs to have a talk with Gardner.

That play aside, hats off to the Yankee bullpen. Tomko, Aceves and Rivera all were sharp. Burnett struggled at times, but gave up very few runs and lasted deep in the game. Albaladejo made things interesting, loading up the bases, but afterward Yankees pitching was lights out. In a tie game, late innings, the bullpen pitched extremely well in a high pressure situation. Given enough balls to swing at, the offense is going to produce a run eventually and the bullpen bought the team enough time to do it.

Aceves, Tomko, and Coke are the go-to guys in the bullpen right now in my book. Albaladejo is streaky and Veras and Ramirez are dangerous (Farnsworth type dangerous). Let’s see what Girardi does in the future once Bruney comes back. Hopefully he’ll stick with what’s currently working. I’d like to see Melancon back in the majors also, giving him some more big league experience.

This was another big win for the Yankees, who now have a nice win streak going, and have given the home town fans some memorable moments in the new stadium. Hopefully they can keep it up and do even better once guys start coming off the DL.

Wet and Wild Win

The Yankees scored 19 runs on a rainy Friday night in Boston. It was another game with a lot of young faces, some doing well and others not so well. Cody Ransom went 3 for 3 with 2 home runs and a walk. I like this kid at the plate. Brett Gardner went 2 for 6 and Juan Miranda 1 for 1.

Robinson Cano had another big night and it seems he’s been a superstar ever since his benching. I’ve been very critical of Cano all year but all of a sudden he seems to have found his game again. I don’t like players who can’t be relied on for consistent performance and wonder if his recent output will enhance his trade value.

Pitching wasn’t a pretty sight. Aceves struggled and has work to do before he’s ready for the majors on a permanent basis. Coke and Britton gave up too many hits in too short of a time period but Robinson looked solid.

I’m glad these guys are getting a chance to play at the end. Watching them in real big league games under pressure against a good team can help with next year’s scouting. There is going to be a big debate over how much home grown youth to have on the roster and how many overpriced, over the hill veterans to bring in. This years attempt at a youth movement was a resounding failure, but unfortunately many of the vets didn’t do much better.

Rivera Might Need Surgery

Mariano Rivera returned home early with a sore shoulder and news is starting to come out now about an MRI and possible arthroscopic surgery. Joe Girardi continues his stance of telling the media anything but the truth and invented a story about a “cranky body.” Don’t bother looking that one up in your medical textbooks. When later questioned about the comments, Girardi became annoyed and demonstrated his complete lack of media savvy.

The Carl Pavano era is likely over in NY, finishing with a final season ERA of 5.77. I’ve heard some talk about the Yankees re-signing him for a single year and in a sick way, it almost makes sense as the Yankees will be in desperate need of starting pitching next year. Fortunately, saner and cooler heads will prevail and there is zero chance Carl will be playing for the Pinstripers in the future.

Brett Gardner has been reading my blog and comments about his batting skills apparently. Last night he started proving me wrong by going 3 for 4 at the plate. I’d love to see Gardner emerge as a starter if he can bring his batting average up a bit. Last night was a good start. Keep it up Brett!

Yankees Close Gap to 9

The Bronx Bombers are on a two game win streak and have closed the lead in the AL East to only 9 games, thanks to a gutsy extra innings win yesterday and a blowout today.

Brett Gardner has actually showed a little mettle the last two days, getting some key hits and helping the team. Melky hasn't been missed much since getting sent down. Cody Ransom had a pinch hit 2 run homer in his only appearance.

Billy Traber gave up one run in two innings of work and Chris Britton gave up two runs in one inning. Britton just doesn't seem to quite be able to play at the level the Yanks need him to, but he's awful close and gets repeatedly called up. He is still leaps and bounds better than Damaso Marte, who has been awful in pinstripes.

It's hard to get excited about two wins when you are this far back and the up and down season makes me think that after a few wins we'll quickly fall back into another slump. Still, it's good to see a win. It's also good to see some of the guys just brought up doing well and getting some experience.

Gardner Comes Through in Clutch

The Yankees moved another game closer to Boston in the wild card chase, but are still in 4th place behind Boston, Minnesota and Oakland. Tampa Bay has a nine game lead on the Yanks.

Despite carrying a meager .143 average, Brett Gardner did his best to endure himself to Yankee fans last night, hitting the game winning RBI single in the tenth inning of Jonathan Papelbom. Gardner was 2 for 5 and showed his speed early on. After his first hit, he quickly stole second base of the slow-throwing tim Wakefield. When Derek Jeter hit a single to the outfield right afterward, Garder dashed home to tack on a run. The Bombers definitely could use more of this run manufacturing, doing the little things to tack on a few extra each game. Let's just hope that Gardner can continue to play like he did last night.

Joba Chamberlain pitched fairly well for six innings, but was the victim of an umpire with an erratic strike zone. Joe Girardi finally came out and gave it to the ump, earning himself an ejection but watching the game on TV, I couldn't make heads or tails of the strike zone yesterday.

Despite coming in with a tie game (and not a lead), Mariano Rivera was impressive. In the ninth inning he went after the Sox best hitters and shut them down. Watching Manny Ramirez go down looking without ever swinging the bat was a thing of beauty.

Johnny Damon is heading to the DL and the Pinstripers will definitely miss his bat. Matsui, Damon, Rodriguez, Jeter, Posada - the Yankees have certainly had quite a few injuries hampering their offense at different times during this season. Let's just hope that JD isn't out too long.

Mussina is the Rock Upon Which We Stand

It's hard to believe this is the same Mike Mussina we saw get absolutely shelled earlier in the season. The same Mussina that the Steinbrenners had to call out to the media.

Mike pitched like an all star, until he started feeling a little light headed, which is why Girardi went to the bullpen as soon as he did. Joba is pitching OK, Andy Pettitte has his good and not-so-good days, Ponson looks like he had one good game left in him and the glory days of Darrel Rasner are over. Thank god for Mussina.

Seriously, all it shows is how baseball is a game of streaks. Mussina was on a down streak earlier and now is on a tear. The key factor is that he tried to improve his game, tried to change his mechanics a bit and tried to make himself better. It's painful watching some guys do the same old thing day in and day out and fail. It's refreshing to see a guy who puts some time and effort into adapting and evolving his game.

Edwar Ramirez take some notes here. Everyone who's been in the league a while has you figured out. Lots of people say you've got talent but need to work on some of your other pitches and turn yourself into the all-star that you've the potential for.

In an ironic twist, Mariano Rivera came pretty close to blowing things, loading up the bases. Krazy Kyle, on the other hand, had his A game.

The Yankees offense was pretty poor despite eeking out the win. Brett Gardner sacrificed and the internet pundits are already singing his praises on high. With Johnny Damon out, the Pinstripers will need Gardner to step up but I'm not buying into the hype. Pete Abraham over at LoHud does a fantastic job of blogging the Bombers, but I'm just not on the same page with him (and many others) when it comes to Gardner. I hope he turns out to be the player many think he is, but somehow I'm seeing another guy who tries hard, shows good hustle, but just can't hit at the major league level. Please, Brett, prove me wrong!

Despite all of my criticisms, a win is a win. A win is just what the Yankees needed, especially against the Red Sox. At the end of the day, the team did exactly what it needed to do. Sure, Rivera struggled, but he stayed on top of things, threw strikes and got 3 outs. I don't care if every win is ugly, or just barely a win, as long as it's a win. Good job guys!

No Hitting = No Winning

A decent outting by Mike Mussina was wasted by the Yankee bats last night. Moose threw 6 innings giving up only two runs and the rest of the bullpen, including recently roughed up Veras, Ramirez and Giese, all threw scoreless innings.

The Yankees only put together 4 hits on the night. Brett Gardner went 0 for 3 and wasn't exactly smashing in his debut.

Here's the problem with this year's Yankee team. They just don't have it. Whatever "it" is, the Yankees are lacking. Some days it's pitching, other days it's hitting. They just can't put together the total package for more than a few days in a row. Their last big win streak had people thinking that maybe the team could make a late season charge. With Joba moving up to the rotation, starting pitching suddenly looked a lot better. The fact is, this year's team just stinks. They haven't found themselves, found a good team chemistry and they haven't found a way to win.

Starting pitching is decent. Wang, Pettitte, Mussina, Chamberlain, Ponson, Rasner and Giese are all capable of quality outings. That's 7 guys who, when healthy, are capable of pitching at a decent level. Relief pitching is a roll of the dice, with just about every reliever you never know who is going to show up on the mound. Hitting is the same way. Guys are capable of hitting .300 and sometimes will go on a tear for a game or two, then you won't see any offensive production for days.

It all comes down to a lack of consistency and an inability to string hits together for runs.

Giese pitched as a closer today, but if he's not going to start, I hope Girardi can manage to use his long reliever as, well, a long reliever. Don't expect Joe to do anything the conventional way, however.

The team could use another decent set up man. I've been thinking Veras and Ramirez could fit the bill but they just can't be counted on. Farnsworth and Hawkins are way too prone to blow ups and Veras and Ramirez seem to be learning their ways. Ohlendorf looked good at times but looked bad more often and earned his demotion back down to AAA. I don't think there are going to be any answers on the market, as quality relievers are rare these days. Look for promotion within, but not until next year. I think management realizes the guys need a little time to develop and the team isn't going anywhere this year.

Yankee Hitters Can't Handle Perez

Darrel Rasner got saddled with another loss, but he didn't pitch all that badly. Sure, giving up 8 hits over 5.0 innings is a lot, but he only allowed 2 runs. Oliver Perez had no problems manhandling the Bomber bats and only gave up 1 run on 3 hits over 7.0 innings.

Justin Christian filling in over in right field didn't do much and David Robertson didn't inspire too much confidence in his relief appearance.

Joe Girardi has said that Ian Kennedy, who was activated off the disabled list, has his work cut out for him. Kennedy has been optioned (to Tampa) and isn't scheduled to return to the big leagues any time soon. Girardi has said that he likes the way the guys he has are throwing at the moment. It's an interesting statement from Girardi. Obviously he thinks Rasner, Giese and possibly even Ponson are doing a decent job.

Pete Abraham reports today that the Yankees have called up Brett Gardner. He seems to be an internet favorite, getting lots of blog fans clamoring for his call to the big leagues. Well, we'll finally get a chance to see what he can do. Also, it will be interesting to see who gets sent down in his place. Gardner's speed could be useful to the Yanks, who need to play a little more small ball and start manufacturing runs. Losing low scoring games gets tough to take after a while.