Sunday, August 14, 2005

Yanks Beat Up on AAA Pitchers

Well, to be fair, the Red Sox did the same a few days ago, so I can't go too crazy.

What else happened this weekend ... Mariano finally blew a save! When that happens, that's got to be the most satisfying thing to see. Just a day before, I saw a chart in the paper of longest streaks of saves converted. Well, he's got to start all over now. But to me, it's more of the psychological boost that Mariano does not mean game over. Most of the time, yes, but not always.

I hope Bernie keeps his hot streak going long enough for the Junkees to sign him for next year, so he could stink up the joint again.

Leiter was very shaky on Friday, but he got the win, so in Snorre's book, he's better than Small (can't wait for Jaret Wright to come back and get lit up), so that's good.

Has anyone noticed that John Flaherty is hitting .165 this year?

All in all, you can't be too happy because the bottom line is that they did win four games and gain a little ground in the playoff race, and as much as Tampa Bay has owned them this year, you know that the $208 million team always has a better chance against a $30 million payroll club, so everyone pray.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Poor Texas. You could kind of see it coming, since the Rangers have to have the worst pitching in the AL (that Boston scored 9 runs in one inning off their bullpen is pretty convincing evidence). But on the plus side, the Yankee bullpen was just as shakey. Rivera actually blew a save, Sturtz and Gordon are showing signs of exhaustion ("Quantrillization"), and they still lost two games to Chicago.

And the Yankees didn't have to face Buerhle or Garland. But Boston did and completely manhandled them, and might have been able to sweep if the last game hadn't been cancelled. The Yankees can't stand up to good pitching.

Manny Ortiz said...

Yeah, at least Boston won both games against Chicago (although between the rainout and thursday's off-day, the Junkees did pick up a game on the Sox.)

And the Yanks next face two teams they've had trouble with: Tampa Bay and Chicago.


-- poor Pedro. The guy should've known that these kinda things happen when you put on the Mets uniform. Gotta be the curse of Davey Johnson or something.

PizzaBagel said...

Apropos of nothing, I've noticed that it's been a while since Juice-on Giambaby has hit a dinger. For a stretch he had been hitting them out on a regular basis, but he hasn't had a homer since August 4, on which he belted out two. Since that game, he has gone 2-for-29 over a span of 11 games, including one in which he had no at-bats (last Saturday) - that's .069!

Here are my two theories why he suddenly has had this power loss:

1. On August 1, Raffy Palmeiro was suspended for violating baseball's joint drug prevention and treatment program. At that time, Giambaby's agent told him to lay off the juice or the clear or whatever. It took a few days for the drop-off to occur.

2. Giambaby has tested positive for a banned substance. As with Palmeiro - and others in that situation - there is much behind-the-scenes wangling to determine actual culpability before a suspension is announced. Again, he was advised to stay clean - or maybe just was scared into doing so.

PizzaBagel said...

Mea culpa: That should have been 4-for-29, for a .138 average over those 11 games. Still nothing to write home about.

Manny Ortiz said...

pizzabagel: excellent points; it'll be interesting to see if any word comes out about the Juice man in the coming weeks.