last night's game
Tough to decide whether a tight loss is harder to take when your team plays well and deserves the win or whent hey play badly and give it away. Last night the Yankees did something unusual for them. They played quite well and lost anyway. And whenI say they played quite well, I mean in all phases of the game. Posada gunned down all 4 men attempting to steal, while the Yankees stole 2 or 3 of their own without losing a runner. AROD went 3 for 3, hustled out an infield hit, hit in the clutch with 2 strikes on him, and made a number of nice plays in the field. Cano came back and got three hits, all in the late innings. Abreu had a couple of hits and a walk. They survived a lackluster outing form Wang to take the lead in the 8th and they looked likely to win when Mo took the mound in the 9th with a one run lead. But they were bitten by the LOB bug, just once but it was crucial. In the 8th they loaded the bases with one out and Cotts plunked Giambi to force in the go-ahead run. Now was tht time, with Jorge coming up, to break the game open or at least get an insurance run.But he hit into the DP and the Chicagom fans seemed to know, with the middle of their line-up coming to bat in the ninth, that they were still in the game.
Once Konerko tied it, oone sensed the Yanks were going to lose. the game had set up for them to win it in classic fashion, with a late inning run and the call to Rivera. Once that opporutunity slips away, its tough to recoup, especially against a good team like chicago. Everyone in their lineup from the 3 to the 8 hitter was batting over three hundred. they have 4 players with 25 or more home runs and each of them has 80 or so RBI's. If they straighten their pitching out, even a little bit, they are still the best team in the AL.
One of the reasons it was tough to come back was that torre had used his entire bullpen, in brief stints, on the way to Rivera. wang was done (100 pitches) after 5. Villone gave them a real good inning. Veras was okay, Meyers was used, then Fahrnsworth, who gave them a perfect 8th, and then Mo. I can't blame Torre; he played the percentages and he played them right. since Mo got hit a bit even after Konerko, there was no reason to bring him out for the 10th. and that left Scott Proctor, who as Chris has insisted is overused. Proctor was the best pitcher they threw out all night in the 10th, when he struck out all 3 batters he faced. but he lost it in the 11th, understandably given his work load. What are you going to do though, pitch Ponson? It was one of those games that remind you that the Yankees entire approach depends upon rivera being for all intents perfect. When he's not, you can only be thankful that he usually is.
On the bright side, Boston manged to lose to KC, and with one of their 3 decent starters going, while Toronto was losing to the Orioles. Safe to say the Yankees didn't have the worst night in the division. It'll be interesting to see how Lidle fairs tonight against a quality line-up.
Once Konerko tied it, oone sensed the Yanks were going to lose. the game had set up for them to win it in classic fashion, with a late inning run and the call to Rivera. Once that opporutunity slips away, its tough to recoup, especially against a good team like chicago. Everyone in their lineup from the 3 to the 8 hitter was batting over three hundred. they have 4 players with 25 or more home runs and each of them has 80 or so RBI's. If they straighten their pitching out, even a little bit, they are still the best team in the AL.
One of the reasons it was tough to come back was that torre had used his entire bullpen, in brief stints, on the way to Rivera. wang was done (100 pitches) after 5. Villone gave them a real good inning. Veras was okay, Meyers was used, then Fahrnsworth, who gave them a perfect 8th, and then Mo. I can't blame Torre; he played the percentages and he played them right. since Mo got hit a bit even after Konerko, there was no reason to bring him out for the 10th. and that left Scott Proctor, who as Chris has insisted is overused. Proctor was the best pitcher they threw out all night in the 10th, when he struck out all 3 batters he faced. but he lost it in the 11th, understandably given his work load. What are you going to do though, pitch Ponson? It was one of those games that remind you that the Yankees entire approach depends upon rivera being for all intents perfect. When he's not, you can only be thankful that he usually is.
On the bright side, Boston manged to lose to KC, and with one of their 3 decent starters going, while Toronto was losing to the Orioles. Safe to say the Yankees didn't have the worst night in the division. It'll be interesting to see how Lidle fairs tonight against a quality line-up.
posted by joe valente | 5:09 PM
3 Comments:
Scary win tonight, after Johnson's no-hit bid was broken up. The usual shaky bullpen. Still, it's a win. And I just listened to the thrilling conclusion of the Boston/KC game. The Sox are done.
I watched the game here. Check the next post for a point of analysis
I think that's a great point about Procter, although truth be told Mo didn't exectly handle their big guns either. Chicago's big guns are, to be fair, really big. That Dye is a pain in the ass.
I had forgotten (repressed?) the lost opportunity in the ninth.
Post a Comment
<< Home