05/26: Yankees vs. the Mariners; 5/25/08
Posted by: James
Heck of a game yesterday...Of course, without the furious rally in the bottom of the 8th, I would be in a far worse mood this morning.
Anyway, quick recap before I get to grilling! Chien-Ming Wang clearly did not have his good stuff going yesterday (or as the TBS announcers called it, his strikeout stuff...though I don't remember getting the memo that Wanger had became a strikeout pitcher...). Wang gave up a solo shot to Ichiro (who really looks like he would like to be somewhere else) in the third, 2 more runs in the fourth and finally 2 more in the 7th before he left the game in the 7th. Edwar Ramirez came on and you have to give the kid credit. One man on, one out and he gets Raul Ibanez and Adrian Beltre to fly out to end the inning and staunch the damage. He then came back out for the 8th and pitched around a couple of singles to keep the Mariners at 5. At the time, it didn't seem like much but it set the stage for the Yankees to be able to rally.
The Yankees had scored runs in the third and fifth to go into the bottom of the eighth down 5-2. They did have some chances earlier in the game but some very good defense on the part of Adrian Beltre saved a run or at least longer innings. Still, with the score 5-2, the Yankees lead off with a Derek Jeter walk. Arthur Rhodes came in and promptly gave up a RBI double to Bobby Abreu before giving way to J.J. Putz (I love this guy's name). Putz walked A-Rod to put men on first and second before striking out the mustachioed Jason Giambi. Godzilla came up as a pinch hitter and hit a squibber that Putz had to came off the mound to field and in doing so, lost his footing, did a face plant and ended up tossing the ball pretty much into the dugout. On that play, Abreu scored (5-4) and A-Rod moved to third. Robbie Cano stepped up to the plate and golfed a low pitch out to deep center to score A-Rod with the winning run and on a very heads-up play, allowed Matsui to tag and head to second. Up stepped the much maligned (for his hitting this year) Jose Molina who DRILLED the first pitch he saw to deep right center. When I was watching it, I really thought that ball should have been caught...but Ichiro and Balentin didn't track it very well and it fell in for a double and Matsui scored the go-ahead run.
At that point, Enter Sandman...(which is tough on Rock Band...but I always pretend I'm playing it at the Stadium) and a goround and 2Ks later, the game was over and the Yankees had hit .500 again.
Of course, while the Yankees were sweeping the Mariners, the Rays moved ahead of the Red Sox Sunday with a sweep of the Orioles while Boston was being swept by Oakland. Ladies and gentlemen, your first place Rays...wow.
Anyway, quick recap before I get to grilling! Chien-Ming Wang clearly did not have his good stuff going yesterday (or as the TBS announcers called it, his strikeout stuff...though I don't remember getting the memo that Wanger had became a strikeout pitcher...). Wang gave up a solo shot to Ichiro (who really looks like he would like to be somewhere else) in the third, 2 more runs in the fourth and finally 2 more in the 7th before he left the game in the 7th. Edwar Ramirez came on and you have to give the kid credit. One man on, one out and he gets Raul Ibanez and Adrian Beltre to fly out to end the inning and staunch the damage. He then came back out for the 8th and pitched around a couple of singles to keep the Mariners at 5. At the time, it didn't seem like much but it set the stage for the Yankees to be able to rally.
The Yankees had scored runs in the third and fifth to go into the bottom of the eighth down 5-2. They did have some chances earlier in the game but some very good defense on the part of Adrian Beltre saved a run or at least longer innings. Still, with the score 5-2, the Yankees lead off with a Derek Jeter walk. Arthur Rhodes came in and promptly gave up a RBI double to Bobby Abreu before giving way to J.J. Putz (I love this guy's name). Putz walked A-Rod to put men on first and second before striking out the mustachioed Jason Giambi. Godzilla came up as a pinch hitter and hit a squibber that Putz had to came off the mound to field and in doing so, lost his footing, did a face plant and ended up tossing the ball pretty much into the dugout. On that play, Abreu scored (5-4) and A-Rod moved to third. Robbie Cano stepped up to the plate and golfed a low pitch out to deep center to score A-Rod with the winning run and on a very heads-up play, allowed Matsui to tag and head to second. Up stepped the much maligned (for his hitting this year) Jose Molina who DRILLED the first pitch he saw to deep right center. When I was watching it, I really thought that ball should have been caught...but Ichiro and Balentin didn't track it very well and it fell in for a double and Matsui scored the go-ahead run.
At that point, Enter Sandman...(which is tough on Rock Band...but I always pretend I'm playing it at the Stadium) and a goround and 2Ks later, the game was over and the Yankees had hit .500 again.
Of course, while the Yankees were sweeping the Mariners, the Rays moved ahead of the Red Sox Sunday with a sweep of the Orioles while Boston was being swept by Oakland. Ladies and gentlemen, your first place Rays...wow.
