07/19: Yanks vs. Toronto Blue Jays, July 19th
Posted by: James
I'm sort of trying to liveblog this game. I want to get as much of it down while it's happening but it's hard to do when they keep trying to make me do "work". Something about the Yankees not paying my salary...
Anyway, we've got Obi-Wang vs. Dustin McGowan today as the Yankees go for the 4 game sweep and Wang goes for win #11. He hasn't actually lost a decision since May 26th. He'll be opposed by Dustin McGowan who has been alternating great and bad starts for the Jays for the last month (he had a bad one last time out so I guess it's time for a good one?). He's got decent stuff and his peripherals and FIP would suggest that he's been better than his 5.05 ERA.
-Top of the first - Wang mows them down - two fly balls (how quaint) and a K.
-Bottom of the first - Johnny Damon leads off the game with a walk. What's that Steve? A walk is as good as a hit? Well, it works out well here as Damon takes second on a passed ball and after a Jeter walk, comes home (along with Jeter) on an Abreu double. Bobby is stranded on second though as A-Rod and Hideki ground out and Melky pops out. 2-0 Yankees.
-Top of the second - another fly out, ground out (that's better), K. Moving along...
-Bottom of the second - Cano, Phliips & Nieves: groundouts times 3.
-Top of the third - 3 more groundouts...Hmm, I'm sensing a pattern here.
-Bottom of the third. Johnny Damon Ks to start of the inning (man, when he doesn't walk...he's just about useless. Any way we can get Shelley Duncan up to play as DH? Please?). Jeter gets on with a single though and Bobby Abreu follows up with a walk to set up runners on first and second with one out for A-Rod. Nuts - Alex hits into a double play - there goes that opportunity. McGowan's at 53 pitches through 3 (28 for strikes - 52.8%) while Wang has thrown 30. Still, a little more cushion never hurt anyone...especially when there's a Farnsworth lurking in the pen.
-Top of the fourth - 2 quick groundouts to start the inning but after going to a 3-0 count on Vernon Wells, Wang gives up his first hit of the game as Wells bangs out a double. Wang gets out of it though with a groundout from Troy Glaus.
-Bottom of the fourth - after a Godzilla ground out, Melky singles but is left stranded on groundouts by Cano and Andy Phillips.
-Top of the fifth - The Big Hurt lines out to start off and is followed by a single from Aaron Hill. Gregg Zaun lines in to the second out and Aaron Hill is thrown out on the basepaths for the third out.
-Bottom of the fifth - after a Wil Nieves K, Damon reaches on a throwing error and then takes second on another error on an ensuing pickoff throw. So, man on second, one man out...and he doesn't come around to score. Jeter grounds out and Bobby Abreu follows him up with a fly out to end the inning. The Yanks can't keep wasting opportunities like this - look what happened to the Jays last night.
-Top of the sixth - three more groundouts by Wang. Ho-hum. He's cruising along but a two-run lead isn't exactly a huge cushion.
-Bottom of the sixth - man, McGowan is making my prediction come true. He has def. followed up his awful start with a very good one so far. He sits down A-Rod on strikes and, after giving up a single to Hideki, gets the inning-ending double play from Melky to get out of the inning. That should be all for McGowan and he did a heck of a job for the Jays today - 6 IP, 2 ER, 105 pitches and 13-2 GB-FB ratio (he's outwanged Wang!)
-Top of the seventh - Wang's run into his first trouble of the day. Matt Stairs leads off the inning with a double and is followed up by an infield single from Vernon Wells (who, along with Alex Rios seems to be killing the Yankees so far this year - heck, Wells does it every year). First and second, no one out and it looks like Wang might work out of it. A fly-out from Glaus that moves the runners up and a groundout from Frank Thomas that didn't score any one puts runners at first and second with two out for Aaron Hill. Hill makes up for his earlier mistake by tripling and bringing home two runs. Hill follows them home on a RBI single off the bat of Zaun. Howie Clark grounds out to end the inning but the damage has been done - 3-2 Blue Jays.
Bottom of the seventh - I was wrong - McGowan comes right back out for another inning and mows down the bottom third of the Yankee order. Groundouts from Cano and Nieves and a fly out from Phillips. 7 IP, 15-3 GB-FB ratio.
Top of the eighth - Wang strikes out John McDonald but gives up a single to Alex Rios...and that's the end of the day for Wang. He gets pulled for Mike Myers who faces Lyle Overbay (pinch-hitting for Matt Stairs). Myers pulls a Wang himself and induces a DP that gets the Yankees out of the inning.
-Bottom of the 8th. Johnny Damon needs to be DL'd or something. Outside of the walk - he brings nothing to the table and he is hurting the team. Put him on the DL and let him rest up or something. This is just not working. Damon flies out to right, Jeter strikes out looking and Abreu grounds out to second - inning over.
-Top of the ninth. Luiz Vizcaino comes in to keep the deficit at one and does a nice job of it by striking out Vernon Wells abd getting Troy Glaus and Frank Thomas to fly out to first and right, respectively.
-Bottom of the ninth - last three outs in a game where early on, it looked like the Yankees had it in the bag. Jeremy Accardo in (is this guy really the closer? 6.23 ERA in June - 4.76 ERA so far in July - 11 walks to 15 Ks since June began). In any case, first man up - Alex Rodriguez and facing a 1-2 count, the man delivers a single to right. With A-Rod's speed/baserunning smarts and Gregg Zaun behind the plate, I wonder how aggressive Rodriguez/Torre might be. Well, Hideki Matsui comes up and it doesn't result in a productive out as he pops out to the shortstop. El Leche's up next and he ends up grounding out to third - two away and A-Rod moves to second. Here comes Robbie Cano in a big spot and so far this season, he's come up...horribly: .217/.605 OPS. He doesn't help those stats this time around either as he flies out to left. Game over - 3-2 Blue Jays.
Well, I guess you can't win 'em all...but this was an eminently winnable game and it's disappointing that the Yankees couldn't capitalize on it. For all the good feelings going around, there's still a heck of a ways to go to make it to the postseason and every loss hurts. Let's go White Sox and Rangers.
Anyway, we've got Obi-Wang vs. Dustin McGowan today as the Yankees go for the 4 game sweep and Wang goes for win #11. He hasn't actually lost a decision since May 26th. He'll be opposed by Dustin McGowan who has been alternating great and bad starts for the Jays for the last month (he had a bad one last time out so I guess it's time for a good one?). He's got decent stuff and his peripherals and FIP would suggest that he's been better than his 5.05 ERA.
-Top of the first - Wang mows them down - two fly balls (how quaint) and a K.
-Bottom of the first - Johnny Damon leads off the game with a walk. What's that Steve? A walk is as good as a hit? Well, it works out well here as Damon takes second on a passed ball and after a Jeter walk, comes home (along with Jeter) on an Abreu double. Bobby is stranded on second though as A-Rod and Hideki ground out and Melky pops out. 2-0 Yankees.
-Top of the second - another fly out, ground out (that's better), K. Moving along...
-Bottom of the second - Cano, Phliips & Nieves: groundouts times 3.
-Top of the third - 3 more groundouts...Hmm, I'm sensing a pattern here.
-Bottom of the third. Johnny Damon Ks to start of the inning (man, when he doesn't walk...he's just about useless. Any way we can get Shelley Duncan up to play as DH? Please?). Jeter gets on with a single though and Bobby Abreu follows up with a walk to set up runners on first and second with one out for A-Rod. Nuts - Alex hits into a double play - there goes that opportunity. McGowan's at 53 pitches through 3 (28 for strikes - 52.8%) while Wang has thrown 30. Still, a little more cushion never hurt anyone...especially when there's a Farnsworth lurking in the pen.
-Top of the fourth - 2 quick groundouts to start the inning but after going to a 3-0 count on Vernon Wells, Wang gives up his first hit of the game as Wells bangs out a double. Wang gets out of it though with a groundout from Troy Glaus.
-Bottom of the fourth - after a Godzilla ground out, Melky singles but is left stranded on groundouts by Cano and Andy Phillips.
-Top of the fifth - The Big Hurt lines out to start off and is followed by a single from Aaron Hill. Gregg Zaun lines in to the second out and Aaron Hill is thrown out on the basepaths for the third out.
-Bottom of the fifth - after a Wil Nieves K, Damon reaches on a throwing error and then takes second on another error on an ensuing pickoff throw. So, man on second, one man out...and he doesn't come around to score. Jeter grounds out and Bobby Abreu follows him up with a fly out to end the inning. The Yanks can't keep wasting opportunities like this - look what happened to the Jays last night.
-Top of the sixth - three more groundouts by Wang. Ho-hum. He's cruising along but a two-run lead isn't exactly a huge cushion.
-Bottom of the sixth - man, McGowan is making my prediction come true. He has def. followed up his awful start with a very good one so far. He sits down A-Rod on strikes and, after giving up a single to Hideki, gets the inning-ending double play from Melky to get out of the inning. That should be all for McGowan and he did a heck of a job for the Jays today - 6 IP, 2 ER, 105 pitches and 13-2 GB-FB ratio (he's outwanged Wang!)
-Top of the seventh - Wang's run into his first trouble of the day. Matt Stairs leads off the inning with a double and is followed up by an infield single from Vernon Wells (who, along with Alex Rios seems to be killing the Yankees so far this year - heck, Wells does it every year). First and second, no one out and it looks like Wang might work out of it. A fly-out from Glaus that moves the runners up and a groundout from Frank Thomas that didn't score any one puts runners at first and second with two out for Aaron Hill. Hill makes up for his earlier mistake by tripling and bringing home two runs. Hill follows them home on a RBI single off the bat of Zaun. Howie Clark grounds out to end the inning but the damage has been done - 3-2 Blue Jays.
Bottom of the seventh - I was wrong - McGowan comes right back out for another inning and mows down the bottom third of the Yankee order. Groundouts from Cano and Nieves and a fly out from Phillips. 7 IP, 15-3 GB-FB ratio.
Top of the eighth - Wang strikes out John McDonald but gives up a single to Alex Rios...and that's the end of the day for Wang. He gets pulled for Mike Myers who faces Lyle Overbay (pinch-hitting for Matt Stairs). Myers pulls a Wang himself and induces a DP that gets the Yankees out of the inning.
-Bottom of the 8th. Johnny Damon needs to be DL'd or something. Outside of the walk - he brings nothing to the table and he is hurting the team. Put him on the DL and let him rest up or something. This is just not working. Damon flies out to right, Jeter strikes out looking and Abreu grounds out to second - inning over.
-Top of the ninth. Luiz Vizcaino comes in to keep the deficit at one and does a nice job of it by striking out Vernon Wells abd getting Troy Glaus and Frank Thomas to fly out to first and right, respectively.
-Bottom of the ninth - last three outs in a game where early on, it looked like the Yankees had it in the bag. Jeremy Accardo in (is this guy really the closer? 6.23 ERA in June - 4.76 ERA so far in July - 11 walks to 15 Ks since June began). In any case, first man up - Alex Rodriguez and facing a 1-2 count, the man delivers a single to right. With A-Rod's speed/baserunning smarts and Gregg Zaun behind the plate, I wonder how aggressive Rodriguez/Torre might be. Well, Hideki Matsui comes up and it doesn't result in a productive out as he pops out to the shortstop. El Leche's up next and he ends up grounding out to third - two away and A-Rod moves to second. Here comes Robbie Cano in a big spot and so far this season, he's come up...horribly: .217/.605 OPS. He doesn't help those stats this time around either as he flies out to left. Game over - 3-2 Blue Jays.
Well, I guess you can't win 'em all...but this was an eminently winnable game and it's disappointing that the Yankees couldn't capitalize on it. For all the good feelings going around, there's still a heck of a ways to go to make it to the postseason and every loss hurts. Let's go White Sox and Rangers.
