If you haven’t heard by now, Derek Jeter tied Lou Gehrig for the all time hits record as a Yankee tonight.
Jeter started the night with a bunt single to end an 0-12 skid, and then the hits came after that: a ground ruled double that BJ Upton probably had a play one (not that we’re complaining) and a “Jeterian” single to the right side that tied the record.
After that hit, as you might expect, Yankee Stadium gave Jeter a tremendous ovation, and the Tampa Bay Rays applauded as well.
For someone that grew up a Yankee fan, tonight’s got to be a pretty cool thing.
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Now, about the game…
Tonight’s game started as many a Joba Chamberlain 2009 start has: with much frustration and, well, frustration.
Chamberlain allowed a lead-off home run in the first inning and went on to throw over 30 pitches in that inning. He looked, again, tentative and uncomfortable–and given that he seemed to respond to a tongue-lashing from his teammates, it seems the only one to blame here is Chamberlain himself.
Chamberlain recovered and was excellent in the second and third innings, but he threw too many pitches and Alfredo Aceves was again called in to piggyback and provide long relief.
It should be mentioned here that the Yankee bullpen was stellar: the first inning was the only one in which the Rays scored, and also the only inning in which they had a base hit.
Aceves, Jonathan Albaladejo, Brian Bruney and Phil Coke combined to provide excellent relief, and give the Yankees the chance they needed to win.
The Yankee offense didn’t do much of anything until after Jeter tied Gehrig’s record–make of that what you will–but they scored four in the bottom of the eighth, including three on a Jorge Posada pinch-hit home run.
The Yankees sweep of the Tampa Rays did more than just reduce the Yankees magic number to 14th; it all but squashed Tampa’s postseason hopes.
At the start of the year, many analysts had picked the AL East to be a dogfight, but on September 9th, the Yankees have 91 wins and have effectively run-and-hid from everyone else.
Derek Jeter would like that.
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4 Responses to Some dude ties some other dude by doing some stuff
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TIQ IQ
Ha, awesome post title.
Really glad to see the old fire balling Chamberlain if only for the second inning and it real nice job by Ace again and the whole pen… If Albaladejo pitches this well for the rest of the year and Robertson is out could he take his spot on the playoff roster, I don’ trust him but he has pitched pretty well since being called back up and since right before he was sent down last time.
Alfredo Aceves deserves a shot to become a starter. He’s been consistent all season long and if Girardi is looking for an answer to fill out the 4th starter spot, He should get rewarded. It’s getting to a point that Joba’s outings are becoming a big question mark.
They stretching Joba out they haven’t gotten to the point where he is going 10 pitches yet that will be against Boston last start of the season for him. As far as Aceves he would be killed in the playoffs as a starter, heck he got killed by the Twins this year when he started that one game because he just isn’t a starter, he has much more value in the pen than starting as some mediocre 5th starter. His stuff is less than average, he throws 88 or 89 sometimes hitting 90 as a starter and his other pitches don’t get by as much when someone sees him more than once or twice. As a starter he would never be able to give you more than 5 inning maybe 6 sometimes based off his stuff the amount of contact he pitches too and the even further decrease in number of strike outs he has as a starter, he just can’t make people miss the ball with his fastball so he will never be able to be more than an average 5th starter because of it.