The Yankees lost for the third time in four games yesterday, falling to the Angels 8-4. Things started out well enough, and dreams of a 4-2 west coast road trip (along with a 4-2 record vs. the Los Annoying Annoyings of Annoyanceland) started dancing in my head after the Yankees jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the early going.
Of course, as he has been wont to do for the most part this young season, Home Run Javy Vazquez gave it all back and then some, failing the Yankees yet again. While I don’t believe you can bury a guy after four starts, it would seem that something is wrong with Vazquez–while
some inconsistency is to be expected, Vazquez really isn’t this bad (at least one would hope).
I tend to take Yankee losses harder than I should, though I’m trying to readjust my expectations after the torrid start, and so I didn’t quite feel crushed by Sunday’s game–the Angels are a great team, and the Yankees have a history of playing like shit in Anaheim.
That being said, I hate seeing winnable games get flushed down the toilet. While 3-0 is by no means insurmountable, I find it incredibly frustrating when the team loses a game it held a lead in, even if the lead was early in the ballgame.
The Yankees have actually held a lead in every single game they’ve played this year except for two, which means that hypothetically they could be 16-2 had their pitching not betrayed them. For as much as I was ragging on the offense last week, the only games the bats have not put the team in a position to win this season was last Thursday’s loss to Baby Braden and Pineiro’s first outing against the team back at the Stadium.
I was out to dinner during the Morales-Marte showdown, so I didn’t see the at-bat but read about the intentional walk fiasco. I’m not going to get terribly up in arms over it given that those extra runs didn’t end up mattering, but I imagine Marte and Cervelli got their asses torched by Girardi for that debacle.
Overall, another lousy performance from Home Run Javy dropped the Bombers to 12-6 on the year and also destroyed the team’s chances of winning its first six series of the season for the first time in franchise history.
About the only good thing to come out of yesterday was that a gaggle of flying pigs was seen passing over the Citgo sign at Fenway Park late yesterday afternoon after the Orioles shockingly put an end to their 10-game losing streak vs. Boston (although in tue Orioles-Red Sox fashion, they almost blew it again). Baltimore is now 3-18 vs. Boston during the last two seasons. Bravo, gentlemen. Bravo.
The other bonus relating to the Oriole victory is that they now won’t be “due” for one as the Yanks head down to Baltimore for a three-game set against the worst team in the Majors. As bad as the O’s have been, they feature a lineup that should, on paper, score some runs (what’s going on with Luke Scott, Adam Jones and Noland Reimold thus far?). Of course, the pitching has been rather abhorrent (13th in the AL). So even though the Yankees should sweep the O’s, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Baltimore steal a win. However, anything less than two wins will qualify the series as an absolute disaster and question my faith in humanity.
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4 Responses to Home Run Javy continues to party like it’s 2004 as Yankees drop first series of the season
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TIQ IQ
What bugs me is that we are the Yankees, which means they are all "winnable games." Remember that 2006 game where the Texas Strangers led us 9-0 after 2 innings? We won it 14-13. There was a game in the Kingdome in 1986 when so many guys were hurt that Lou Piniella, managing at the time, put Donnie Regular Season Baseball, a lefty thrower, at third base, and he fielded the Mariners' bunts just fine, and we came back from 12-5 to win 13-12.
They are ALL winnable games. Except, apparently, when Vazquez pitches, then it's anybody's guess.
Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Deviled Eggs continue to win, and the Sorryoles go into the tank against the Red Sox. The last time someone in Massachusetts went that much into a tank, Mike Dukakis lost to Daddy Bush — you talk about losing a winnable game!
Yankeeist posts brought on the stats during the off season – can we see a write up on Javy? I'm particularly interested in the decrease in his fastball velocity.
in the mean time, can Mike Mussina give this guy a call and tell him about his 2008 story? But more than Javy's inability to attack, I feel like he tires out on the mound quickly. he's not a fatty… does the dude have mono or something?
Thanks for the compliment/request — it's typically been Mike's forte to delve into a bit deeper statistical analysis, at least on the pitching side. He's been off the grid today, but perhaps when he resurfaces he'll attack this one.
In the interim, SG from RLYW unsurprisingly has the best statistical analysis of Vazquez's struggles that I've read thus far:
http://www.rlyw.net/index.php/RLYW/direct/what_to_make_of_javier_vazquez
Here's another solid statistical analysis of Javy from NoMaas.