George A. King III,
Post:
Forget the blather about the Yankees struggling against pitchers they aren't familiar with. These days they couldn't hit their fathers in the backyard hard enough to crack a window. ...
It was the Yankees' fifth defeat in six games to NL East also-rans (Nationals, Marlins and Braves) and the common thread running through it all is the lack of hitting. ...
The loss dropped the Yankees five games behind the AL East-leading Red Sox, and it seems a lot longer than 22 days ago the Yankees had a one-game lead on their blood rivals. ...
Girardi said possible changes in the batting order could be in store, but if it's the same names, what difference will the order make? ...
Right now the Yankees are fighting a nuclear war with pocket knives.
Mark Feinsand,
Daily News:
Alex Rodriguez continues to look like a shell of his former self, taking another 0-for-4 to extend his latest slump to 1-for-23 and drop his average to .207. A-Rod is hitting .143 (9-for-63) in June, struggling as he works his way back from his March hip surgery. ...
As bad as A-Rod has been lately, he was hardly the only goat last night, as the Yankees went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, stranding 11 runners, including eight between the second and fourth innings.
Jorge Posada struck out four times for only the fifth time in his career, combining with Nick Swisher, Mark Teixeira, A-Rod and Robinson Cano to go 1-for-19 in the No. 2-6 spots in the lineup. ...
Despite the offseason spending spree - $423.5 million for Teixeira, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett - the results have been largely the same as last season.
A year ago, the Yankees were 37-33 after 70 games, a third-place team sitting six games behind the Red Sox in the AL East. Last night's loss - their ninth in the past 13 games - dropped the Yankees to 38-32, five games behind the Sox, who have won 10 of 13.
W L PCT GB RS RA DIF
Red Sox 43 27 .614 --- 376 305 + 71
Yankees 38 32 .543 5.0 378 346 + 32
Blue Jays 39 33 .542 5.0 366 323 + 43
Rays 37 35 .514 7.0 402 335 + 67
Orioles 32 38 .457 11.0 324 373 - 49
George A. King III, Post:
Mark Feinsand, Daily News:
18 comments:
Any idea who was the last Sox player before Ellsbury last night to have two triples in one game? Seems like more of a rarity than the cycle for Boston players.
Man, with that run differential, how does Tampa Bay have that record? They should be a game or two back. Do they just win by whopping amounts but all their losses are squeakers?
Can't wait for Schadenfreude 100 - we'll need to have a virtual party.
Go Sox Go!
The Rays are 8-14 in one runs games, so Westcoatsox is pretty spot on with his "win by a lot/lose in close games" assessment.
I can't believe the Yanks are in basically the same spot as last year after shoveling all that money into those top players.
Of course, I am sporting a devilish grin as I type this ;D
Let's Go Red Sox!
This is kind of crazy, but the last player to hit 2 triples was Ortiz in 04. I don't remember it specifically but I'm guessing the OF misplayed the ball and it could have been a double with and error.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200407221.shtml
Can't wait for Schadenfreude 100 - we'll need to have a virtual party.
I was wondering when someone would mention this. I have something planned!
Just checked my scoresheet for July 22, 2004. First game of a DH against Baltimore at Fenway.
Ortiz in 1st: (ccb) triple to left center. "shot lcf, off wall, bounce past 8, roll to rcf"; looks like it took a crazy carom off the wall. where was the rf? the cf chased the ball into rcf and threw it in. birds appealed at 2b, but the ump says flo touched it.
Ortiz in 3rd: (cbfbf) triple to rf. "lined into corner, hit wall and carom by 9 back into rf grass, head first into 3b!"
He also singled in the 5th.
It was the major league debut for Sox starter Abe Alvarez (5-8-5-4-2, 94). Note: "sox on bench wearing caps askew like alvarez does on mound"!
Sox lost 8-3.
Expected W-L based on RS/RA
RSox 42-28
Rays 42-30
Jays 40-32
MFY 38-32
Balt 31-39
Rays "should" be 1 GB.
I was wondering where Abe ended up, and he's pitching in the Italian pro league this year; quite a comedown from that 2004 debut.
This is kind of crazy, but the last player to hit 2 triples was Ortiz in 04.
Awesome - thanks, guys! Ortiz might have been the LAST player I would have expected - or perhaps Doug Mirabelli.
Just checked my scoresheet for July 22, 2004. First game of a DH against Baltimore at Fenway.
Wow, do you keep score sheets for all games? Major props!
The MFY pitching (exacerbated, probably, by the new park effects) is just dreadful. They're fourth in the AL East in team ERA, runs against, and team WHIP, and worst in HR against, SLG against, and walks.
The blather about their recent hitting woes misses this larger point entirely; the Yankees are the second highest scoring team in MLB, behind the Rays. Of course, I'm not sad to see the NY media misdiagnose the problem yet again.
Here's hoping for continued regression to the mean and fourth place MFY.
I can't believe the Yanks are in basically the same spot as last year after shoveling all that money into those top players.
Of course, I am sporting a devilish grin as I type this ;D
Let's Go Red Sox!
I think it's dangerous to throw a *ton* of money at pitchers. I think Teixeira will put up big numbers -- especially in that ballpark -- for years, but $39.8 million a year for two pitchers is a lot -- two pitchers who are a combined 11-8, and combined ERAs right around 4.00 -- near midseason. That's also a lot of money to throw at a couple of rotator cuffs that could tear at any time. The Yankees spend, but those massive contracts they dole out seem so hit-and-miss to me.
Jay should petition to switch to the NL East. They would kick ass over there.
Wow, do you keep score sheets for all games?
Yeah. I have kept score of every Red Sox game at least since the start of 2003. Games/innings I miss, I fill in later from GDGD. (The sheets start out looking like this.)
Before EI existed, I kept score via internet/radio, but that was back when I was doing my Pedro website, so I typed those right into a webpage to be uploaded. Now I *really* wish I had paper copies of those games.
Back further, I have sheets for whenever the Red Sox were on TV or I was at a game -- dating back to 1986.
Unfortunately, the programs from Fenway from the late 70s and all my scoring pads from the games I watched/listened to from 76-80 or so are long gone.
(Game 1 of the 1986 ALCS is the oldest one I have.)
Don't mean to repeat myself from yesterday, but these first couple years are supposed to be the good ones from the contracts of Sabathia and Burnett, unlike their potentially injury-plagued last two or three years.
So there's a nugget of Schadenfreude to savor there as well.
That RA/RS info makes one think Red Sock was right, and that it will be the Rays we end up against this season.
From Replacement Level:
"...as most Yankee fans know, June has been a pretty ugly month. The Yankees entered June with a record of 29-21 and a half game lead in the AL East. They were averaging 5.4 runs per game offensively, although the pitching had been disappointing with an RA of 4.94 per game.
In June they've only won nine of 20 games, and are scoring 4.7 runs per game. The pitching has been much improved, with an RA of 4.29, but the offense going MIA has been the big problem. They've lost 5.5 games in the standings, although they are still in the wild card lead (tied with Toronto) and 0.5 games ahead of Texas and LA of A."
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