Yankees v Twins Game 1 Ruminations
Of course today I have some jack off Red Sox fan friend of mine come up to me and say, hey you guys gotta hoold up your end of the bargain, the Sox did their part. Last time I checked it was still a 5 game series correct? I hate when people start saying ridiculous things after the first game.
As for the game itself, first off I would like to say all praise be to Johan. He pitched another terrific game, in a string of many. He was effective at getting and staying ahead of the hitters. Show me a pitcher who does not walk people and I will show you a pitcher with a good record. But what most concerns me about the Yankees is how similar this game was to all of their playoff loses last year. They seemed to get a lot of baserunners on..........firt base that is. Nine hits and only two of them for extra bases. And then they grounded into 3 traditional double plays and got caught in a 9-2 double play and a 1-2-5 Strike em out Throw em out. This was a disturbing trend that happened last year, failure to move runners along, either by extra base hits or sacrifices. Miguel Cairo failed miserably in trying to move John Olerud and Bernie Williams took a called strike three on a hit and run with a 3-2 count. Just some little things that championship teams do, the Yankees seem to be fallin short on. However, if anyone knows that this thing is a grind and needs to be taken game by game it is Joe Torre and Derek Jeter and they will have the team ready for tonite.
If the Yankees do lose tonite because of a poor pitching performance by Jon Leiber I am going to blame George M. Steinbrenner. He was the asshole who decided he did not want to resign Andy Pettitte. Pettitte's record in these must win game situations was incredible as a Yankee. He knew how to bear down and pitch the best game that his team needed. It takes a special kind of pitcher to win these games and the Yankees had that pitcher until Steinbrenner perceived him to be too soft and let him go without even offering him a contract.
As for the game itself, first off I would like to say all praise be to Johan. He pitched another terrific game, in a string of many. He was effective at getting and staying ahead of the hitters. Show me a pitcher who does not walk people and I will show you a pitcher with a good record. But what most concerns me about the Yankees is how similar this game was to all of their playoff loses last year. They seemed to get a lot of baserunners on..........firt base that is. Nine hits and only two of them for extra bases. And then they grounded into 3 traditional double plays and got caught in a 9-2 double play and a 1-2-5 Strike em out Throw em out. This was a disturbing trend that happened last year, failure to move runners along, either by extra base hits or sacrifices. Miguel Cairo failed miserably in trying to move John Olerud and Bernie Williams took a called strike three on a hit and run with a 3-2 count. Just some little things that championship teams do, the Yankees seem to be fallin short on. However, if anyone knows that this thing is a grind and needs to be taken game by game it is Joe Torre and Derek Jeter and they will have the team ready for tonite.
If the Yankees do lose tonite because of a poor pitching performance by Jon Leiber I am going to blame George M. Steinbrenner. He was the asshole who decided he did not want to resign Andy Pettitte. Pettitte's record in these must win game situations was incredible as a Yankee. He knew how to bear down and pitch the best game that his team needed. It takes a special kind of pitcher to win these games and the Yankees had that pitcher until Steinbrenner perceived him to be too soft and let him go without even offering him a contract.
1 Comments:
First off, Johan threw the greatest changeup I've ever seen in my life, quite possibly the best one this year, to Gary Sheffield in either the 5th or 6th inning.
It was going 77 mph, but Sheff swung like it was thrown by Roger Rocket.
The Yanks failure to sign Pettite is one thing, but it's really the failures of Javier Vasquez that you should be jumping on. He was the young stud pitcher that everyone wanted to sign in the off season, but the Boss has the cash, so you knew where he was going.
I'm still not sold on the Cardinals because Marquis is expected to shine for them to have success and I just can't see that happening and the Dodgers will be a different team once they get back to the coast.
Red Sox, Smed Lox - Who's pitching Games 3 & 4 and tell me why, even if Pedro throws 7 shutout innings tonight, the Angels can't win two in Boston?
Oh, you mean Vlad continues not to hit? OK then, fine.
Mike "I killed the Mets in 1988" Sciocsia OUT
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