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!

Will the Real NY Yankees Please Stand Up

Joe Girardi had a closed door meeting after yesterday's game and dressed the team down and called people out. Joe refused to give details, but the consensus was it was ugly.

Ugly and ineffective. Joe hasn't had an easy first year as manager. He's had to deal with a slew of injuries, a host of young pitchers who weren't quite ready. Would Joe Torre have done any better? Who knows. I've been critical of a lot of Joe Girardi's moves and play calls, but until now I haven't really questioned his ability to handle players. At this point, I'm starting to wonder.

This is the second time Girardi has had a meeting and called out the team, and once again, there hasn't been any sign that the message got through or did anything.

A few bloggers have said that the team looked a little sharper today, that they played with some purpose but I say hogwash. Today the Yankees lost to the Red Sox. They fell further out of first place and further away from a wild card. Almost beating the other team doesn't count in baseball.

Johnny Damon is injured and will miss a few days at least. Alex Rodriguez is spending time with Madonna while his wife has left him for a rock star. Joe Torre is famous for being able to handle distraction and getting a team to perform. So far, Joe G hasn't filled those shoes particularly well.

Yankees Win Wild One

Sir Sidney Ponson got shellacked. Things looked fine early on then the wheels came off. Given the Pinstripers recent offensive performances, all looked lost. In the end, Rangers manager Ron Washington (ironic isn't it, considering the Rangers used to be the Washington Senators) turned his pitching situation into an utter fiasco, bringing in a rookie to face off against some of the Yankees' best hitters.

The Bomber bats took off and plenty of walks helped run up the score. Not even Kyle Farnsworth and LaTroy Hawkins combined could blow this lead. Brett Gardner finally got a hit and added another stolen base. Melky Cabrera had the night off and was unable to further his hitting slump.

The numbers on Sidney Ponson were bad, 5.0 innings, 9 hits and 7 earned runs. Is Giese available to jump back into the starting rotation?

Earlier in the day, Hank Steinbrenner was complaining that the offense wasn't living up to it's potential, and implied that some of the players were getting a bit soft. At this point in the season, I have to agree. Injuries continue to take their toll on the team, however, and the loss of Matsui hurts dearly.

Another Ugly Loss

The Yankees couldn't get anything going at the plate. Melky Cabrera has turned into another Robinson Cano with a bat. He never could bunt, and it hurt the Yankees in the ninth inning when he grounded into a double play.

Internet minor league phenom Brett Gardner remains hitless in the big leagues this year, but was able to lay down a sacrifice bunt.

Derek Jeter sat out the game, and wasn't even called in to pinch hit in the ninth, when the Pinstripers had a man on first.

To confuse things even more, Girardi pulled Joba Chamberlain after 4.0 innings. Joba was pitching reasonably well, but had a 91 pitch count. In his last outing, the pitch count was well over 100 and it seems as if Girardi wanted to keep it lower today.

Long reliever Dan Giese was brought in again to pitch one inning. That's right, one inning. Girardi clearly doesn't believe in the concept of a long reliever. Except perhaps Ross Ohlendorf, who had a proven track record of failure with long outings.

Does this make sense to anyone? The purpose of a long reliever is especially for those instances when your starter comes out early and you now have a guy who can go three or four innings.

Instead Dave Robertson came in, pitched two solid innings followed by Veras, who threw a scoreless eighth.

Unforunately, Mariano Rivera had a bad night, giving up 3 hits and 1 run and giving Texas the go-ahead run.

Girardi baffles me sometimes with his roster moves (no Derek Jeter) his in game calls (leaving the slumping Melky in in the ninth) and his handling of pitchers. Despite all of that, I expect better from the offense. These guys need to score more runs plain and simple. They're just not getting the job done these days.

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.