Lineups courtesy of Sam Borden of Lohud:
New York Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Johnny Damon LF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jorge Posada C
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Melky Cabrera CF
CC Sabathia P
Philadelphia Phillies
Jimmy Rollins SS
Shane Victorino CF
Chase Utley 2B
Ryan Howard 1B
Jayson Werth RF
Raul Ibanez LF
Pedro Feliz 3B
Carlos Ruiz C
Joe Blanton P
Pitching Matchup: CC Sabathia (3-1 1.57) vs. Joe Blanton (0-0 4.66)
Go get ‘em.
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87 Responses to Game 4 Game Thread
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TIQ IQ
Sabathia goes 7 with 2 ER and gets the win with the same line as in game 1 but I think he will be better tonight stuff wise.
Alex and Mark are going to have big nights tonight!
Here’s hoping that you’re right.
Yeah I hope!!
Terrible picks tonight! Mark 0-4 and Alex 0-3 with a HBP and Sabathia comes up just short of my prediction by going 6.2 IP with 3 ER.
Good start. Let’s keep it coming.
They plunk A-Rod again? Unbelievable.
HE looked pretty pissed too! You are only going to wake that man up and make him start hitting (if they didn’t already after last night).
The warning was a little soon don’t you think?
This ump is squeezing the strike zone pretty small! Even with the small strike zone he struck out Howard!
He has given up a run but he looks pretty strong (throwing 95 in the 1st) and it looks as though Utley just crushes all the pitches Sabathia throws but at the same time all the pitches he hit were down the middle. Something about Utley just makes CC miss location!
CC looked shaky with his command early on but it settled out nicely and he struck out Howard and Ibanez and the Yankees have a 2-1 lead!
Looks like Swisher isn’t as comfortable with his new swing from the left side!
after a 21 pitch inning Sabathia comes back with a 14 pitch inning and it looks like the pitcher spot is really going to help Sabathia in this game a lot! He looks good all in all and he definitely is in control of everyone but Utley! His control still isn’t ideal but it has gotten better with each batter (as usual).
That strike 3 to Tex looked pretty low.
The strike zone has been all over the place tonight!
Alex hit that ball pretty well considering how far down on the bat he hit that ball…
Cano needs to start swinging at the first strike he sees! He is taking the first pitch in almost every at bat not matter what it is and most of the time it’s a strike and then he ends up flailing at pitches out of the zone… You are aggressive all year to a .320 average and now you want to work walks?
That’s pretty bad Posada! I know Howard lost some weight but he isn’t fast by any standards!
Are you F’ing serious! First Howard steals a base and then he scores from 2nd on a hit to LF!
Ryan Howard can’t score from second on a ball hit to left field! That is why Damon has to go! He is killing us with this bullshit in LF he just can’t play the position anymore!
Sabathia shouldn’t have given up a run there! Any left fielder in baseball throws Howard out there except for Damon!
The ball was as slow coming to the plate as he was! Any harder throw gets the ball there in time and Posada doesn’t get a hold of it as soon as Howard hits him!
Back on top! Swisher is really moving well, good to see him trying to run the bases better since he isn’t hitting as much!
I almost thought Melky was going to walk off before going back to home…
With a great change up to Werth Sabathia has to grind but he gets out of the inning with no runs after putting runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs…
Sabathia has good stuff tonight and his control isn’t terrible but this ump is god awful! He is making CC work from behind of every batter! The damn strike zone goes from an inch to a mile every other pitch…
CC getting Utley, Howard, Werth—–1-2-3, in the 5th could be the key point of the game! Great job by CC!
But it’s going to be a race to see if CC can make thru the 7th.
We are going to need a non-Mo pitcher, or two, in the 8th.
I expect CC to go 7, he’s at 88 pitches and he only has to pitch 2 more inning to get to 7 and he should have a 110-120 pitch count so I assume he’s going to finish 7.
Depends on who’s up at that point but I could see Mariano pitching an 1.1, I’m sure they would rather not but he only threw 5 pitches last night and he can get an extra out in the 8th. I wonder if they skip Hughes and bring out Robertson or Joba for the 8th?
I’m looking for Marte to pitch the 8th inning… If CC goes in order for the 7th then the 8th will start with Howard, Werth and Ibanez and that is exactly who Marte faced in his inning of work last night. That would take you from CC to Marte and from Damaso right to Mo.
What’s up with the brown stuff on Blanton’s hat, is that pine tar? Isn’t it illegal? Can Girardi do something?
If it is pine tar then yet it’s illegal because he could be throwing spitballish pitches but I haven’t paid attention… I’ll if he comes out for the 7th.
Did Melky just grab his hammy?
Dman it! I knew he did when he grabbed the hammy!
Well, it’s not bad to have Gardy in for defense anyway, but it would be better to have Melky in right instead of Swisher.
I was thinking it would be better to have Melky in LF rather than Damon late in the game… Usually Swish gets pinch ran for so Melky takes over in RF but ideally you want Swisher in RF and Melky in LF… If we need to go that route though then we still have Hairston.
95 pitches through 6 innings and he has 6 Ks, it wasn’t his easiest start so far but he is grinding out a great game like an ace should and I fully expect him to finish the 7th.
You would never know CC was on short rest looking at his breaking ball or velocity!
Let’s hope CC gets an efficient 7th inning so that he can pitch into the 8th.
Not going to happen! Even if he leaves after 110 pitches he is done for the night! I have no problem with it at all either!
Howard, Werth and Ibanez were all sat down last night by Marte and that is who will start the 8th inning as long as CC can sit down Utley right here!
So if Gardner takes over for Melky tomorrow in CF then this is our lineup… Either way Melky or Gardner it’s god awful!
SS Jeter
LF Damon
1B Tex
3B Arod
2B Cano
RF Swisher
CF Gardner
C Molina
P Burnett
After Arod you have literally nothing to look forward too!
Damn you Utley! If you had just decided to strike out I would have gotten my prediction for CC’s line right! 6.2 with 3 ER and I had 7 IP with 2 ER.
I guess Girardi didn’t think that Utley had CC’s number yet. He only hit 2 HR’s off him last game, and has 7 AB’s against him in 4 days.
Come on don’t bring that BS around! Girardi gave them a HR BS! Who would you rather face Utley win or lose Marte or Sabathia? If you say Marte your lying or dumb… Even with those HRs you have to stick with CC in that situation!
Im just saying, Girardi likes to play the numbers. And the numbers in the CC vs. Utley situation are obviously not good. Not to mention that CC had already thrown 108 pitches and was done after that inning anyways. Marte was ready in the bullpen, so don’t tell me Girardi wasn’t considering doing it.
CC Vs Utley in the regular season is 0-3 with a K…
I don’t care who was considering what, I don’t read minds so I can’t tell you what he was thinking but the right move was to leave in Sabathia… his 107th pitch was the HR and he just hung a slider, it happens to everyone Marte was ready but he has worse stuff than Sabathia and the same kinds of pitches a fastball and slider why go to him over Sabathia who also has a change?
Man, Utley with 2 strikes against CC is unreal!!
We are entering a danger zone now.
This Phillies team has been murder to late relief this postseason.
They will be trying hard to come from behind.
Need insurance runs!!
Calm down! It’s not a danger zone when your leading and 1 inning away from Mariano… He should let Marte go back out for the 8th and if he has someone on with 2 outs I would go to Mo.
…
If your trying to make fun of me I didn’t throw anything around…
get owned!
Insurance runs would be nice, but I trust Marte against the lefties.
If Joba comes out and pitches to Werth I am calling the game tying HR off Werth’s bat… It’s to good a match up for Werth, Joba is only going to throw fastballs 93-95 and Werth is going to sit dead red and spank him!
Don’t bring that BS around here!!! Have some faith !!!!
Dude go KYS!
I was right though! Chamberlain just allowed the tying HR!
I also never said have faith A Hole! I just don’t want to read you bitching about Girardi not pulling Sabathia for Marte! It would be dumb to pull a Sabathia for a lesser version of Sabathia!
Posada run you slow MF’er!
Looks like Mariano is doing what Sabathia does and keeping a heating pad on his ribs… CC does it for starts so maybe Mo is doing it in preparation for coming in?
Marte for Werth and Ibanez, then Joba for Feliz?
Feliz is in a huge slump against left handed batters right now… 4 for his last 45 or something…
So like I said you don’t bring in Joba in this situation you stick with Marte through Werth, Ibanez and Feliz (who is slumping Vs lefties but not righties).
Joba looked good for the first 2 guys, hard to 2nd-guess having him pitch to Feliz.
No it’s not because I first guessed it!
Feliz has been 4 for his last 40 something against lefties and Joba only has a fastball! You shouldn’t bring Joba in there anyway!
He had a good fastball to the first two guys but his slider still wasn’t anything to write home about…
I said earlier I would have gone to Mo for 1.1 tonight anyway…
Werth is a Righty, you don’t leave in Marte to pitch to a Right handed batter.
Marte struck out Werth last night! Learn baseball! Marte has been a closer in his career, have you never seen him pitch before he was here? He can pitch to both!
Sorry I missed that Marte pitched to Werth last night. I was out partying drunk with a bunch of half naked girls on Halloween. You were probably sitting home on your computer touching yourself between innings on Saturday night.
Regardless, Girardi is not going to leave Marte in to pitch an inning and two-thirds. Joba was the right move.
Well that ends your night talking to me because you are obviously 5…
Also it would have been 1.1 IP not 1.2… but you don’t know baseball which I expect from a bandwagon Yankee fan such as yourself!
Ha Ha.
You are obviously bandwagon because you used to root for the Astro’s at one point?? Now your a Yanks fan? What a GEEK!
I live on 138 Crosby Avenue in Pelham Bay, Bronx NY Baby! Born and bred, come and get me whenever you want!!!
No I didn’t! If you knew how to read you would realize that I live in Houston and because of that I watch all the teams in this area… Because those are the games we get! I got the baseball package now but I still watch them because it’s my home town…
I have been a Yankee fan my whole life but it really doesn’t matter because you only ever joined this site once the Yankees made the series… Who’s a bandwagon fan?
OK… You can pretend to live wherever you want “ghetto nigga” You are real hard “my dawg”
Lidge blows! We are getting a run right here!
Yup! Lidge blows! As someone who had to watch him play for the Astros I saw that coming a mile away!
Add some more to that total! Mariano coming in with a 3 run lead? I like our chances!
YeeeeHah!!!!
You called it, Chris. (But, Lidge has done this, how many times this yr–like 15 or 20–haha)
On a serious note, you see why I like Damon on this team. This veteran guy wasn’t the least bit flustered, with 2 out and 2 strikes, nobody on–how many guys would have crumbled here? a lot. Yet Damon put together a quality AB (9 or 10 pitches)—and then he lines a base hit!! And then he steals second!! And then he is alert enough to go to 3rd on a Phillies goof!!
Damon is a HOFer (when he gets his 3,000th hit). He has done this so many times for us this yr.
Damon made this whole inning happen. He is now a real Yankee WS hero!!
Yeeeeehah!!!!
I had to watch the guy pitch in Houston man… Albert Pujols killed all his confidence in that game he smashed lidge for the out of the park HR to blow the game 6 save in Houston!
I’m glad Damon got one because he isn’t a Yankee after this world series!
Lidge is a real enigma–he’s either totally off or totally on.
He’s sort of like Gagne was with the Sox, only Lidge does it all yr long–except for last yr–who would have expected that he would be perfect? I watched that homer off Lidge that bounced them out of the playoffs. He was pretty good for the Astro’s before that crushing blast. I sort of felt bad for him, because things like that have destroyed people’s total lives. (I wonder how Papalbon will deal with this yr’s ending.)
I think if Damon’s superagent tries to get alot of money, he will be gone from the Yankees. But, some of his comments indicate that he is willing to take less ( a big pay cut)to stay with the Yankees. If this turns out to be true, I think Cashman may go for it and negotiate a 1 or 2 yr deal, with a club option.
He would get at max a 1 year deal and it would have to be for less than Matsui will ask for because I think they will both get an offer and whoever takes it first stays and Matsui doesn’t want to leave! Besides Japan this is the only home (as far as baseball goes) he has ever known! He isn’t that tight with Ichiro and he wants to stay and thinks he can “play some outfield and maybe some first base next year”. If he can play a handful of games in LF or RF next year then Matsui is the clear choice! He hits lefties better! He hits lefties with more power! He is more clutch! He has more power! He has proven he can hit 5th and give Alex some protection while Damon hits 2nd and Cano could do a better job in the 2 hole than Damon, Matsui is just a batter candidate to DH and if either one should come back based on numbers and not what kind of person they are it’s Matsui!
Oh, I want Matsui to stay, too. I agree with everything you pointed out. Its not easy to find a LH batter who can hit LH pitchers the way that Matsui can. He is a national hero in Japan and the yankees better keep on treating him right. I’ve read where he doesn’t get along with Ichiro.
On Damon, his biggest negative is his arm, but there are a lot of MLB outfielders who have weak arms, but play regular. Do you remember Raul Mondesi, who the yankees traded for to play right field after O’neill left? He had a real strong arm, was a fast runner, had power,etc. but was a cancer on the team until Torre got rid of him. So, a strong arm isn’t the end all or be all. Damon is an integral part of these Yankees teams, he fits in, he bats No.2 now, leadoff before. He is still productive. Yes, I worry that 2 or 3 yrs from now, he will be only a DH, but, you know, his hitting may be better if he just hits. I could go on and on about Johnny’s career stats, etc. but I am getting tired, and I still want to read how they are writing up tonight’s win.
So, let’s just see what Cashman does this winter. If I had to bet, I’d say (based on what i observed thru the yrs) that based on the Steinbrenner Way, they will not break up a winner. We are not the red sox, who jetison their declining stars to save a few bucks. (Not since the 1960′s anyway)
It’ll be fun to see how it all works out. The Yanks will still be powerfull no matter what, I’d bet.
PS–I think that Cashman’s plan is to cut the salaries of both, so he can keep both and add pitching, with the savings. Let’s see if these 2 proud guys will go for that or not. He’ll do to these two what he did with Pettitte and Abreu last yr.
good night–great game today
Dude you don’t get it, it’s not just his arm, it’s also the fact he drops balls, can’t reach a lot of balls anymore because his range has decreased dramatically and he has always been a terrible fielder who has only gotten worse! If you think Damon should play for us next year in the field then you overrate the guy because you like him!
Dude in 2 or 3 years be only a DH? He is only a DH now! The guy can’t field, he gives up runs! Today he should have not let Howard score and he did anyway because 1. he has a weak arm! 2. he has limited range 3. he let the ball take a bad hop instead of playing it into his glove for a quicker throw! The guy is a liability and he his hitting isn’t that great anymore! He hit 24 HRs all of them to RF and most of them in Yankee stadium, he went through 2 huge power outages and a huge slump to end the season and he didn’t hit a Hr in the last half of the month! He always cools down late in the season! Johnny Damon isn’t worth bringing back! You’re delusional if you think he has a spot on this team…
It’s not “breaking up a winner” it’s not being stupid! You can only have 1 DH and Matsui is the better hitter all around at this point so he stays and Damon goes!
You are so wrong on that! He will not bring back both! Even if both took less he wouldn’t bring both back because neither is playing the field everyday and only 1 will be the DH! You love Damon so much you have blinded yourself to reality!
HE didn’t want Bobby back last year! He refused to give him arbitration and he only offered him the contract he did so he would so good bye… Only 1 will be back and that will be Matsui, you seriously can’t be willing to start Damon in LF everyday again can you? You didn’t watch a whole lot of the regular season huh? Damon was god awful all year!
WOW!! What a ending!!
This goes into the annals of Yankees history with the passed ball on strike 3 against the Dodgers!
I can not believe Damon just pulled that!
How big was the steal of 2nd and 3rd by Damon?
Huge! Talk about a heads-up play. Not something I would expect from Damon.
When he started for 3rd I was like WTF are you doing and then I realize the third baseman is running to the bag and I just started laughing!
Eric, Why would you say that about Damon. He has always been a clutch batter for us. He had just that one partially injured season. He has been real productive for us.
He is set on playing 4 more yrs to get to the HOF. (3,000 hits)
I’d love for him to go as a Yankee. I think that he wants that too.
Tonight was just an outstanding performance by an often overlooked veteran star player, when the chips were down.
The world will know about him now.
He would have to play those 4 years as a Yankee and I don’t want him for any more years and I think most agree! I really don’t even know if Damon is a Hall of Fame worthy player and his skills are on the decline!
He’s good don’t get me wrong but he is on the back end of his career and he never really dominated…
Right now he is borderline HOF. Going just from memory, he has over 1500 runs, and could end with 1700-1800–that is HOF. He wants to go to get 3,000 hits. His endurance is already HOF. Considering games played (it’s either 140, 145, or 150 games played for consecutive yrs. He is in a group with only 4 other guys–all HOFers like Willie Mays. His combination of SB’s and HR’s, when he is done, will put him into another special category of HOFers. His average will be .285-.290. He will have played on 2 world Champions, and maybe more.
Anyway, go 3 or 4 more yrs, do good in post season, and its HOF. Maybe not first ballot (depends on his class, etc.), but eventually for sure.
You’re right that most Yankee fans seem to be on the bandwagon to run Damon out of town. I don’t understand this (might it be the red sox yrs, and that grand slam against us in game 7?) I’m over that–this is the way it is in baseball. He’s been our guy for 4 yrs. He’s won a lot of games for us.
Last yr it was the run Cano out of town bandwagon. I didn’t understand that either. Run a young, cheap, lifetime .315 2nd baseman out of town for an off yr?
Thank God that Cashman didn’t do it.
Before that it was the run Arod out of town bandwagon. I didn’t understand that either.
I liked Arod from the moment he became a Yankee.
Also, there was the change Jeter to 3B, or 1B, LF, or CF bandwagon. Ain’t going to happen anytime soon.
On and on it goes.
Are you serious??? It’s not because he was a Red Sox player or because he hit a GS it’s because he is at the end of his career and at a point he can barley play!
The guy is a complete negative in LF… He simply can not play the field anymore! He is way to awful to even watch! He barley catches balls, he drops a lot, he looks scared of the ball half the time! Any ball hit to LF is a double and any ball to LF with a runner on 2nd scores the runner… It’s not acceptable! His defense is so bad it detracts from his offense! His offense is dropping, his average is dropping and his abiltity to make contact is dropping! He hit a lot of little HRs to RF in Yankee stadium and he matched his career high in HRs (in a contract year) he will never duplicate these numbers again and you want to re-sign him?
No one who knows baseball wanted to run Cano out of town or Alex for that matter… This isn’t foolish mad fans wanted to vent frustration this is realizing when a man is no good to you and cutting him loose! It’s a lot better to get rid of a man a year to soon than a year to late!
If you can’t see that Damon is not a player worth bringing back I’m tired of explaining it! You have some out there ideas and you seem to put him on a pedestal but if that works for you have fun on fantasy island!
I’m just messing with you but I do think you WAY overrate Damon and of you really look at it and put your bias aside you will see that!
Alright AJ lets go wrap this thing up tomorrow! Get Lee out early and score on the pen! Yankee baseball baby!
Right now CC has a ND and a loss… Alex on has 2 hits… Mariano is the only guy who could be MVP at this point huh?
You couldn’t me more proud of this team or more proud to be a Yankee fan right now! They battled, they fought and they pitched! It takes a lot of guts to not get down on yourself after Joba let the game get tied up and to come out right after that and get the runs they got is huge!
Right on!
You know what?
I am really enjoying this series!
Each game is getting better than the one before!!