What Happened
AJ Burnett did not have his best stuff and allowed 3 runs in the first two innings. However, he settled down and ended up tossing 7 innings of 4 run, 8 hit, 5 strikeout ball. He left with score tied at 4 on the strength of an RBI single from Matsui, a HR from Johnny Damon, and an RBI single from Derek Jeter that scored a second run when the ball was booted by Bobby Abreu. Phil Coke pitched a perfect 8th, marking his 6th straight inning without allowing a run, and the Yankees then scored 3 runs on a Melky RBI single and a 2-run double from Ramiro Pena. Mariano Rivera closed out the 7-4 victory.
What I Liked
1) AJ Burnett battling- AJ’s fastball command was way off, and his allowing 3 runs in the first 2 innings seemed like an ominous sign for the rest of the game. But he battled through his issues and gave the Yankees quality length, allowing just 1 run in his remaining 5 innings. The Yankees were able to use just two relievers, continuing a trend over the last few games of the starters going deep into the game and avoiding overexposure for the pen. The rap on AJ was that when he does not have his best stuff, he is going to get rocked. However, thus far this season, that has not been the case. It seems that AJ really has morphed from a thrower into a pitcher.
2) Phil Coke- Coke has looked very good over the last week, prompting Joe Girardi to give him a more prominent role. Coke entered a tie game in the 8th to face the top of the Angels order. He looked dominant, as he retired the side without allowing a ball to leave the infield, including a strikeout of Bobby Abreu. The Yankees need to find the right mix of guys to use in high leverage spots, and Coke seems to be settling back into the comfort zone that he was in at the end of last season.
3) Melky Cabrera- It took him about 15 games to wrest his job back from Brett Gardner. Although he has failed in some notable spots thus far, Melky has had a number of clutch hits as well. He is at .327/.400/.571 and shows no signs of slowing down. While we have seen this before from Melky and I am unsure about his ability to keep it up, I will gladly admit that I was wrong about him if he finds a way to sustain some of this production over a full season.
4) Ramiro Pena- Pena notched his first MLB RBI’s last night, and has been a lot more effective at the plate than most expected. Although his power is non-existent (.308 SLG), he has reached base at a .345 clip, a perfectly reasonable rate for a utility infielder who can really flash the leather.
What I Didn’t Like
1) Mark Teixeira- Tex seemed to be breaking out over the last few days, hitting the ball with authority but finding no luck as to where it fell. When he doubled and walked in his first two plate appearances last night, I thought that a hot streak was imminent. However, Tex went 0-3 for the rest of the game, and more importantly left 5 runners stranded. He received boos from the Stadium faithful, as some in the crowd finally noticed his poor start. Tex is at .200/.367/.361, reaching base at a solid clip but failing to hit at all. Might people be pitching around him? If so, the return of A-Rod should do wonders for Mark.
I just wanted to add as an aside, because I do not want to dedicate a full post to it, that Jonathan Van Every pitched for the Red Sox last night in their blowout loss. Where is the outrage, Peter Gammons? Why isn’t ESPN covering this like they did the “embarrassment” that was the Nick Swisher pitching experience? The Sox may never recover.
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9 Responses to Recap: Yankees Beat Angels As Melky Comes Through
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TIQ IQ
Moshe, you’re just too young to understand the tradition and stately, serious beauty of this timeless game. It’s not that Swisher pitched that is so offensive, it’s that he seemed to have FUN doing it (the gall of the man)!!! I’m sure that Van Every, being a gritty, gutty, traditionalist and respectful student of the game, the way all Red Sox are, made sure not to have even a little bit of fun while he was pitching last night. Don’t you understand, Moshe? Baseball is not a place for fun and jocularity, it’s for serene and respectful enjoyment, uh, gosh no, not enjoyment (sounds too much like fun), ummm… appreciation, yes appreciation of the pastoral esthetics of this institution of American culture. Why do you think they call some stadiums CATHEDRALS, Moshe? Players should behave as if they’re in church or temple or any serious, religious observation.
This I like!
Lol. Yeah, I’m sorry for even being tongue in cheek about the whole thing.
AJ seems to have gotten the message (as most very hard throwers) learn how to pitch, not just throw. I was impressed with his ball being so low in the zone, most throwers are up in the zone. Now, if Joba can get his FB down in the zone more….nice tandem.
As for Coke, he is no more then the pitcher I have said he was…better in the BP (7/8 inning) then as a starter. Robertson is the right handed Coke, good stuff.
Melky, well hell, right now we need his hot bat and power (that Brett– don’t got), as long as he is hitting well, keep him in there. I still think Brett is the better of the two, last year Melky started out like this and then fell flat. If Brett wants the CF job, he will have to win it back.
Off topic but why does Girardi dislike Shelly Duncan so much.
He has had limited chances, he’s too good for triple A and we lost Nadi who was an important RH bat.
With the starting Pitching better, we have one too many Relievers IMO and Ducnan deserves to be in the majors.
He can DH play some left and give Matsui or Damon a day off against tough lefties.
A couple things with this, Larry. They originally only kept that many outfielders because Melky was out of options, so just because Nady goes down, doesn’t mean that they’re automatically going to bring up and OF. In fact, with A-Rod and Ransom going down, the depth issue is clearly IF. Joe also likes to keep extra pitchers around for long games, etc, esp since he doesn’t have a long reliever.
I doubt Joe dislikes Shelley. Calling guys up is an organizational decision. Joe is often going to say, “I need a middle infielder – who’s going good?” and Newman, Cashman, etc. will advise and they’ll make a decision. Not sure if they’re collectively down on Shelley but many feel he has Pedro Cerrano disease (heet fasball berry good, but curveball make bats scared). I’m not sure if he’s corrected that or not.
Its good to see Melky and Cano smiling again. So far, so good.
Amen!
They do throw some curve balls in Triple A, I think it’s unfair to label him until he gets a real chance.Not sure he was over matched up here either.
Surpised the other Duncan, Eric didn’t get a chance to play some 3rd up here too.