09/26: Too Many Walks Doom Yankees; Lose to Rays, 7-6
Posted by: Patrick
In 10 innings, the Devil Rays had 5 hits. We had 12. So, how'd we lose? 11 walks, that's how. They had 11 walks. While we had a healthy 6, that's not 11. They left 20 runners on base, even - while we left 16 on. But, with that said, the walks that killed us were the ones in the Devil Rays' half of the 6th inning.
Would it surprise you if I said that Kei Igawa had 0 ER in 5 innings? Well, he did. He issued 5 of those 11 walks, but only 2 hits and no one ever came around to score on him. It's just the Devil Rays, but it's always good to see someone have a decent performance.
No, the problems came after he exited the game, at the hands of Edwar Ramirez and Brian Bruney. Edwar entered and walked B.J. Upton. He retired Delmon Young, but then allowed Dioner Navarro to double, scoring Upton. Alright, that's OK, we have a 5-1 lead. Just let people hit the ball. The best hitters get out about 70% of the time. Argh, another walk, to Jonny Gomes. 1st and 2nd, 1 out. That would be the end of Edwar's hand in this and Brian Bruney would then come in and inherit those runners.
He just continued the walk parade, though, issuing one to Greg Norton to load the bases. And then, yes, another walk. This time, it's issued to Akinori Iwamura. That walks in a run. You walk enough guys and it's usually going to bite you. In just his 9th game this year, Jorge Velandia made us pay dearly by hitting a grand slam to seize the lead, 6-5. All 3 runners he drove in reached base on a walk. Before September 13, he had not appeared in the majors since September 28 of 2003. Ron Villone relieved Bruney and retired Carlos Pena to end the inning.
So, you go from having 5-0 lead after 5 and 1/2 innings, to being down 6-5 with 3 to play. In those 3 innings, we were only able to sneak in 1 run - on a Melky sac fly that scored Bronson Sardinha in the 8th. Meanwhile, the combination of Villone, Britton, Farnsworth and Veras pitched a scoreless 3 and 1/3 innings. So, we're headed to extras for the 3rd time in 5 days. After Cano, Molina and Cabrera went down in order in the top of the 10th, Jeff Karstens came in the pitch the bottom. It was over fast. The first batter he faced, the former Yankee Navarro, took him deep for a walk off homer. Game over.
A-Rod had a grand slam in the 3rd, scoring Damon, Jeter and Abreu. For the day, he had that and a walk. Damon was 5 for 5 with 2 R, Jeter was 2 for 5 with 1 2B, 1 R and 1 RBI, Abreu was 0 for 3 with 1 R and 2 BB, Matsui was 0 for 3 with 2 BB, Posada was 1 for 4, Cano was 3 for 5, Mientkiewicz was 0 for 2 with 1 BB and Melky was 0 for 4 with 1 RBI.
Going back to Jeter, it was about 2 weeks ago when I was hearing some people suggest that Jeter needed to sit down because he was hurting the team, playing hurt. I just don't see how you bench Derek Jeter, "slump" or not. He's not the problem. Wasn't even that bad of a slump, really. Not like he was going 3-5 games without reaching base or something. Since September 15 (10 games), he's 19 for 47 (.404) with 8 runs, 5 doubles, 2 home runs, 6 RBIs, 1 walk and 1 stolen base. He's got a 12 game hitting streak.
Yankees didn't win and the Tigers didn't lose, so our magic number for the Wild Card sits at 1. The Red Sox did win, however, and their magic number for the East is now 3. Oh well. Today at 7:10 PM ET, we'll have Wang (18-7, 3.72 ERA) against J.P. Howell (1-5, 6.80 ERA). So, you're telling me there's a chance!
Would it surprise you if I said that Kei Igawa had 0 ER in 5 innings? Well, he did. He issued 5 of those 11 walks, but only 2 hits and no one ever came around to score on him. It's just the Devil Rays, but it's always good to see someone have a decent performance.
No, the problems came after he exited the game, at the hands of Edwar Ramirez and Brian Bruney. Edwar entered and walked B.J. Upton. He retired Delmon Young, but then allowed Dioner Navarro to double, scoring Upton. Alright, that's OK, we have a 5-1 lead. Just let people hit the ball. The best hitters get out about 70% of the time. Argh, another walk, to Jonny Gomes. 1st and 2nd, 1 out. That would be the end of Edwar's hand in this and Brian Bruney would then come in and inherit those runners.
He just continued the walk parade, though, issuing one to Greg Norton to load the bases. And then, yes, another walk. This time, it's issued to Akinori Iwamura. That walks in a run. You walk enough guys and it's usually going to bite you. In just his 9th game this year, Jorge Velandia made us pay dearly by hitting a grand slam to seize the lead, 6-5. All 3 runners he drove in reached base on a walk. Before September 13, he had not appeared in the majors since September 28 of 2003. Ron Villone relieved Bruney and retired Carlos Pena to end the inning.
So, you go from having 5-0 lead after 5 and 1/2 innings, to being down 6-5 with 3 to play. In those 3 innings, we were only able to sneak in 1 run - on a Melky sac fly that scored Bronson Sardinha in the 8th. Meanwhile, the combination of Villone, Britton, Farnsworth and Veras pitched a scoreless 3 and 1/3 innings. So, we're headed to extras for the 3rd time in 5 days. After Cano, Molina and Cabrera went down in order in the top of the 10th, Jeff Karstens came in the pitch the bottom. It was over fast. The first batter he faced, the former Yankee Navarro, took him deep for a walk off homer. Game over.
A-Rod had a grand slam in the 3rd, scoring Damon, Jeter and Abreu. For the day, he had that and a walk. Damon was 5 for 5 with 2 R, Jeter was 2 for 5 with 1 2B, 1 R and 1 RBI, Abreu was 0 for 3 with 1 R and 2 BB, Matsui was 0 for 3 with 2 BB, Posada was 1 for 4, Cano was 3 for 5, Mientkiewicz was 0 for 2 with 1 BB and Melky was 0 for 4 with 1 RBI.
Going back to Jeter, it was about 2 weeks ago when I was hearing some people suggest that Jeter needed to sit down because he was hurting the team, playing hurt. I just don't see how you bench Derek Jeter, "slump" or not. He's not the problem. Wasn't even that bad of a slump, really. Not like he was going 3-5 games without reaching base or something. Since September 15 (10 games), he's 19 for 47 (.404) with 8 runs, 5 doubles, 2 home runs, 6 RBIs, 1 walk and 1 stolen base. He's got a 12 game hitting streak.
Yankees didn't win and the Tigers didn't lose, so our magic number for the Wild Card sits at 1. The Red Sox did win, however, and their magic number for the East is now 3. Oh well. Today at 7:10 PM ET, we'll have Wang (18-7, 3.72 ERA) against J.P. Howell (1-5, 6.80 ERA). So, you're telling me there's a chance!
D827189 wrote: