Was That An Unraveling Or What?
I was watching the game at home until I had to leave for an appointment. The score was 10-4. “No problem,” I said to myself. “This one’s in the bag.” STUPID ME! Apparently, the bag was crumpled.
Never mind that CC wasn’t his sharpest and coughed up the first lead. We had offense – lots and lots of offense. Swisher is proving what a perfect #2 hitter he is, and Cano continues to amaze. And A-Rod….Well, it was horrible to watch his liner hit Huff in the head. I’m so relieved to know the guy is OK. Sheesh. Scary. Anyhow, I left my house thinking I’d be celebrating back-to-back wins this weekend – only to get in my car and turn on John and Suzyn…and be forced to listen to the Yankees’ complete and utter meltdown.
The horror:
* Dave Robertson doesn’t get it done and leaves with back pain.
* Mitre walks a batter and Joe removes him.
* Marte retires his one batter and Joe comes back out to remove him too.
* Joba can’t retire anybody, because he’s absolutely, positively terrible.
* Chad gives up yet another run. Great pickup, so far.
My question is: Do we have a bullpen or not? It was supposed to be a strength coming out of spring training, but now it’s in shambles. Losing 13-11 to the Cleveland Indians is an embarrassment, but it’s not the problem. The state of the bullpen is.
On a more upbeat note, want to win tickets to the August 7th Yankees-Red Sox game? Of course you do. So check out this link to one of my fave blogs, Respect Jeter’s Gangster. They’re running a raffle with the Children’s Health Fund. If you donate to the fun and say you were referred by the RSJ blog, you’ll automatically be entered in the raffle. What are you waiting for? It’s Yankees-Red Sox and a good cause too.
Here’s to a better Yankees day tomorrow.
Confessions of a She-Fan 
The Luxury came through for us tonight in the form of the perfect game, I couldn’t believe the Tribe came back on you guys…
-peter
Phillies Outside
Yeah Jane, sure was nice of Cashman to get the worst pitcher he could find (Vasqueeze), the worst “#2” hitter who always gets hurt (Johnson), the 50 year old reliever off the junk pile (Ho Park), get rid of our fun loving guys (Damon, Matsui, Melky), and do nothing to help the bullpen (I don’t remember people saying it was their strength.) You can’t predict injuries. But even so, the bullpen was pretty bad even before that. Aceves got hurt, he wasn’t exactly lights out. Hughes became a starter, which was a great idea, but this leaves a major hole from the 6th to the 9th. Joba doesn’t have it. They ruined him. Anyway, I’ll keep it short. Girardi still doesn’t know how to manage a bullpen. There’s not much left to say except, maybe Cano can win AL player of the month again…. 😦 The tickets thing would make me more upbeat if I didn’t think the bosox would be in 2nd place by then and the yanks in 4th. 😛
This was just a disaster today. First of all I couldn’t believe the team scored 11 runs and lost–I wasn’t aware that was possible. And why is Joba so bad??? he’s supposed to be our 8th inning guy, he needs to get one out with a lead and he can’t even do it. As you said Jane, pathetic. They put the “IC” in “pathetIC,” as Steve Urkel would say.
Ironically enough, I can remember Steve Phillips saying last summer that the Yankees should trade Joba for Halladay, or at least try to. I despise Steve Phillips and disagreed. Now look at today: Joba blows (another) game for us and Roy is perfect vs. the Marlins. Unreal.
http://martelli.mlblogs.com/archives/2010/05/unacceptable.html
Jane,
Got one word for all the migraines and sleepless nights for Pitching Coaches’…video has over taken the physical.
Video in essence is killing the 8-inning/Bullpen guy.
The experimentation and inventive nature of the game has brought video prediction to a place where you could almost guess with a greatd degree of accuracy the pitch, its location and even the expected speed. With the mountains of data out there in research blogs and MLB statistic banks, they are the truthtellers now.
Remember video did kill the radio star.
Rays Renegade
http://raysrenegade.mlblogs.com
It’s kind of amazing that The Luxury had never pitched a perfect game before now, Peter. His stuff has been that good for that long. He was so due for one, and you must be so excited.
OK, seindsfeld. I see I need to talk you off the ledge. I’m mad about today too and the bullpen is a mess. But we’re still among the best teams in the majors and days like today haven’t happened very often. And yes, the bullpen was being talked about as our strength, because everybody thought Robertson would be as good as last season and Marte would be as good as the postseason and Joba would be lights-out Joba from 2007, plus Aceves, Mitre, Park. On paper, not too shabby. I don’t know what’s wrong with Joba, but I hope Eiland figures it out. I disagree that he’s “ruined.” We’ve seen otherwise. So cheer up!
Very ironic, A.J., about the Halladay/Joba thing. But then we could have traded Joba or Hughes for Santana the year before and we didn’t. I’m all for hanging on to our homegrown talent, but Eiland/Girardi need to figure out what’s up with Joba and fix it. When a team scores 11 runs, they should win the game.
Hey! Keep your darn hands off of Doc. He belongs to the Phightin’s. LOL Hey, Jane? When are you going to debut your new little friend in the red cap? Seems like maybe y’all could use some levity right about now. Think about it…
Hello Jane, Have not blogged in a while, good to see you are keeping us laughing and informed, I did not think there could be a worse game than the debacle in Mn with the MO -GS or then the botched game with Boston and the Thames drop, UNTIL today, we essentially have no Bullpen, none zilch, zero and CC was not good either, props to the offense for finally appearing these last 2 games, I thought Teixeira should have started to pay his salary back, he might be able to keep this week, anyway, just too many easy games have already been lost this season, Dare I say I miss Hideki, Johnny, Melky and even Phil Choke I mean Coke……I miss the big turtle too (Eric Hinske) please formulate a plan to pass on to Cashman to get some relievers, Up for grabs, MARTE, Park, Robertson, Joba, Thames, Nick Johnson, there could be more after tomorrow’s game, Keep smilin, but it is hard……Jane
Renegade, so you think video is making it easier for hitters to read pitchers? In particular, relievers? If that’s the problem, then why are some effective and others not? I don’t think that was Joba’s problem today. I think it was throwing fat pitches over the plate!
Congrats to you about Doc, Gloria. So impressed that he got the perfecto, but as I said to Peter I’m surprised he hasn’t had one before. He’s that good. No little friends with red caps on this blog. It’s strictly pinstripes around here!
Hey, Jane. Always fun when you stop by, even though I wish we could celebrate instead of commiserate. The other games you mentioned were awful too (I’m still recovering from the grand slam off Mo), but this one was just dumb. It’s funny how people are missing Melky. He’s done nothing in Atlanta and Cano is playing much better without him. I loved his playfulness but not his work ethic. So you’re ready to trade Joba? Not me. Not yet. And yes, keep smiling. This is a great team that just needs some bullpen help.
ok, I’ll try not to mention the three key missing pieces to the World Series win. I don’t want to sound like a broken record either XD. But sure Melky never hit very often, but he was an ace in the outfield with his bazooka arm. Plus, he’s a young fun loving guy who puts people at ease. He’s the one who brought Arod out of his “I’m not a good teammate to anyone” phase (sort of). Now it just feels like the clubhouse is full of old guys again. Anyway, I won’t jump off the cliff yet. Maybe in a month or two. 😀
The clubhouse is full of old guys, seindsfeld? Check out Gardner, Cano, Cisco, Russo, Hughes, Joba (ok, he sucked yesterday but still), Robertson, CC, Tex, Grandy. None of them is OLD! Glad you’re not jumping just yet. 🙂
The BBQ was probably much more fun than the game, Melissa, so good move! LOL. I’m with you on the Huff thing. I cannot imagine getting right back out there after being hit like that. Or even stepping into the batter’s box after getting hit. But I guess these athletes are braver than we are. And yes, baseball is one amazing sport!
Maybe, Paul. I honestly don’t know what to make of him right now. He can look so dominant one minute and so lost the next.
I wasn’t able to watch the game because we had a huge BBQ yesterday. Just watched the replay of ARod hitting Huff and it made me cry. At least I knew he was okay physically. I could see this being a career-ending incident. I would NEVER be able to get back on the mound without hitting the deck after each pitch.
I’m not giving up on these Yankees yet. Still a long way to go.
And no, I didn’t have to watch the agony, and yes, I wish the Yankees had won, but you gotta love baseball and the way a team can come back from so far and we can be in a game with 24 runs and Halladay can win a perfect game 1-0.
Melissa
It may be time to look at Chamberlain as Chamberlain and not as Joba, the creation of the media and organization.
http://www.paullebowitz.com/
http://princeofny.blogspot.com/
Jane, it’s time for you to visit your mama. Friday June 11 is “Mariano Rivera Figurine Night” at the new Yankee Stadium.
Melissa
I wish I could go to that game, Melissa – and see my mother – but a trip east isn’t in the cards in June. Maybe they’ll be having Mariano Rivera bobble head night in July?
I’m sorry but I gotta call out seindsfeld myself… Vazquez was a Cy Young candidate last year… hardly the ‘worst’ pitcher Cashman could find. HARDLY. I love baseball and I love to dog the Yankees, but I know baseball would suck without the Yankees. We need the Yankees. But Yankees fans tend to be SPOILED and don’t quite get what it’s like following a team that isn’t the Yankees. Come on. Being the winningest franchise in sports ain’t enough for ya? Jane, I know you talked him off the ledge but I had to stick my nose in there. Thanks for letting me 🙂
–Jeff
http://redstatebluestate.mlblogs.com/
http://mtrredstatebluestate.com
😦 i’m sorry. Well bullpen troubles… you can say that again! I know exactly what you’re going through when you say that
it’s never fun when you give up a lead 😦 especially one you could have won!
http://mimi.mlblogs.com
so friday and today were yankee baseball that i’m used to. great pitching, the hitting finally gets going so the final score looks like it was an easy game but really we just feast on poor bullpens. it’s why i shouldn’t be so upset when we are losing. it’s why i should have confidence that we will come back in the end. but i still worry each time. now saturday reminded me of the horrible loss in fenway. when joba is bad, he is really bad and should have a short leash. he can’t get himself out of trouble. i tried not to freak but it wasn’t pleasant. if we don’t make the playoffs those two games in particular will haunt me. nice to see aj pitch so well. nice to see jeter get a key hit to make up for his poor throw. nice to see swisher hit and granderson hit the lefty and especially nice to see tex send a tex message.
i like the yankee smiley dude. i got it as an antenna topper for my dad’s car. first thought each morning is usually if we won or lost so hopefully when i wake up tomorrow i will look like that.
barbara
I love your passion, Jeff, even if it’s to root for the Cardinals or call out Yankee fans.:) We are a spoiled lot, for the most part. And I guess Vazquez is still a goat because of the Yankees’ meltdown in ’04, which certainly wasn’t all him but still causes a sting. Well, that and the fact that he hasn’t pitched well in the AL. But stick your nose in any time!
Nope, it’s never fun, Mimi. But I think everybody goes throw the bullpen blues at some point or another. Just part of baseball.
I just got through writing tonight’s post and saying almost word for word what you did, Barbara. We had all cylinders firing today. I love that your dad rides around with the Yankee smiley face on his antenna! LOL. Let’s hope we finish off this series against the Indians with a BIG smiley face.