The daily rainfall we’ve been getting lately is an appropriate backdrop for the dour mood among Yankee fans these days. In a game where Chein Ming Wang was pitching for his spot in the rotation, the Yanks could generate little run support against the unknown but talented lefty John Lannan. Local boy Lannan dominated, throwing strikes, keeping the Yankee hitters off balance all night and taking a 1 hitter with him into the 9th.
Wang did enough to get another start, but color me unimpressed. He threw first pitch strikes to 12 of the 23 batters he faced (52%) 54 of his 91 pitches for strikes (59%) and allowed 3 Runs, 6 Hits and 2 BB, totaling 8 base runners in 5 IP (1.60 WHIP). It was a step forward considering how bad he’s been, but wasn’t anything to get excited about. Girardi was measured in his post game comments on Wang, putting the blame for the loss on the inability to score runs but stopping short of declaring him the starter in his next turn in the rotation (Tuesday vs the Braves). Girardi wanted to watch the tape of yesterday’s game before making any decisions, which tells you he still has some doubts based on what he saw last night.
Phil Hughes on the other hand, continued his stellar work out of the bullpen. Allowing only 1 hit and striking out 2 in his 2 innings of work. He threw 16 of his 24 pitches for strikes, giving him the magic 66% B/S ratio we all look for. Michael Kay said something that caught my attention on the post game wrap, he thinks that Veras getting DFA’d means there’s a permanent spot open in the bullpen for Hughes. Cashman had tied Phil’s fate to Bruney’s return, but now with Veras gone there is the 7th inning spot open. I don’t think the Yanks view Aceves as an everyday setup man, rather more as a swing man who can fill multiple roles ala Ramiro Mendoza. Tomko and D-Rob are low leverage guys and Coke is your lefty specialist. That leaves the 7th inning open, and Phil has certainly done enough to win the job. Over the next few weeks, Phil should still stick around to back up Wang and make sure Bruney doesn’t wind up back on the DL as he did previously, but he may have pitched well enough to keep a spot in the bigs.
For the Yanks, it was a continuation of the sub par Baseball they’ve been playing since heading to Boston last week with a head of steam. Even in the games they’ve won lately, other teams have handed us the game due to errors (Castillo) or poor defensive play (Dukes) on balls that should have been outs. The only solid win was Sunday’s Santana game against the Mets. A wins a win, but they’re just not playing good Baseball lately.
NOTE: If you’re an I-Phone user, check out the new At Bat App for your phone. You can now access live, streaming video of a two daily scheduled games from anywhere you are. Sounds very cool, and if anyone has it already I’d love to hear some reviews on it.
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0 Responses to Game Wrap: Yanks fall to lowly Nats
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TIQ IQ
“The only solid win was Sunday’s Santana game against the Mets.”
I’d say Tuesday was a solid win as well. Sure they trailed at one point, but they rallied back to take the lead and closed it out easily.
Regarding Wang the important thing is he has improved in each start. Now he just needs to shoot for length, but I think last night was a positive sign in his rehab.
The ending was frustrating, but they didn’t quit and unfortunately Macdougal’s best pitch to Cano was the one that ended the game. Oh well, lets move on, and just take the series today (if the rain ever stops!)
Robertson should not be a low leverage guy. Hughes has to be in a rotation either here or Scranton at some point to get his innings.
No, Hughes just has to help the team win.The rest falls into place.
Wang will get back and next year Hughes replaces Pettitte.
He can’t fully replace Pettitte if he doesn’t get his innings this year.
Put Hugheser in the Pen, he’s dominate! He can be the next Rivera!!!!!!
Does anyone think Gardner gets to the triple past Melky?
Hughes in the pen is just fine for now. Every good game appearance helps improve his confidence.
No, I don’t think Gardner gets to that ball. Gardner is faster than Melky, but I don’t think he’s a better CF.
As for Hughes, I am in favor of whatever option they go with, provided that it is at the major league level. I don’t think Phil Hughes will learn anything in the minors anymore, he needs to stay up and pitch wherever he’s needed most.
As for Wang….he only did make a coupla mistakes, and if the Yanks had gotten the W there’d be more people looking on the bright side.
Absolutely.
Melky is a very slow CF who gets a good jump often.
Worst case Gardner holds it to a single.
Melky has reverted back to form of late just like last June.Time to put Gardner out there.He’s such a game changer on the basepaths and Melky has become the old melky at bat.Looks to be a .250-270 hitter with warning track power.
Melky would have been the man if he played in the 90s with all that juice floating around, lol.
/just a joke
I dont understand why Joe isnt getting any heat for not having Arod attempt to steal second. Gardner had just stolen second and third. First off Arod while not the fastest guy around has the ability to steal second on his own. But say the catcher decides to try and throw him out. By the time the ball gets to second and then back home Gardner is home easily and the game is tied. If they dont try to throw him out (the more likely scenario in my opinion) then you take out the double play possibility. To me its a win win situation and I havent heard anyone talk about that.
It is the wrong move. The double steal works maybe twice a season in all of baseball. A-Rod is not looking great on the bases these days. The chances of making an out on the bases are higher than the odds of Robbie hitting a DP ball.
Plus, Cano’s the hottest hitter on the team. So if A-Rod (with a bad hip) steals 2nd, now you’ve vacated 1B. That forces the Nats to walk your hottest hitter, and pitch to Posada, who is far more likely to ground into a DP with his lack of speed.
You also close the hole that Alex standing at 1B creates with the First baseman holding him on, making Cano less likely to get a hit.
Joe is getting killed on talk radio for that exact reason.
It was a no-brainer.
Actually, Francesa spent all day defending Girardi, and if you heard the show, he was 100% right.