Nice to finally be able to use a photo like this again (c/o The AP)
Alex Rodriguez hit two home runs off James Shields, and the Yankee offense finally broke through the five-run ceiling it had been operating under for much of the last few weeks, beating the Rays 6-2 to snap a six-game losing streak.
Ivan Nova was decent, only giving up one run — a solo shot to Elliot Johnson — but he didn’t give the team length, departing after 5.1 innings. David Robertson came on in relief of Nova and managed to escape a bases loaded one-out jam for seemingly the thousandth time in his short career. Robertson and Joba were able to combine to toss up a couple of zeroes, until Amaury Sanit came on in the ninth with the Yanks up by five. After a Ben Zobrist RBI double, Joe Girardi needlessly called on Mariano Rivera to record the final out with a four-run lead, and that was the ballgame.
I know the Yankees were in desperate need of a win, but sheesh, if Joe can’t trust whoever was left in the bullpen to record one measly out,who can he trust? At least Mariano hasn’t exactly been overworked of late, but still, it seems silly to deploy those bullets unless you absolutely require them.
And so the Yankees finally put the losing to an end, although they’ll have their work cut out tonight in Baltimore against Zach Britton, who’s not only awesome, but who they’ve also never faced. We all know how that usually goes for our beloved Bombers.
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7 Responses to A-Rod’s first two-home-run game of season paces first Yankee win in a week
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TIQ IQ
I know Nova wasn’t great last night, But being able to hold TB to one run and end a 6 game losing streak was great. As a rookie, you expect him to have days when he is going to have high pitch counts. As he dvelops, I expect him to become a good if not great pitcher for the Yankees.
I probably gave Nova a bit of short shrift in the recap, as holding TB to only one run over 5.1 is still pretty good work, although he did leave a pretty big mess following his departure from the game. Thankfully D-Rob and his escalating BB/9 were magically able to work out of it.
Girardi’s an overmanaging or undermanaging jackass, depending on the game. Last night he was an overmanaging jackass.
He’s also one who likes to antagonize and showup players (like general manager like manager) because him taking out Sanit with two outs in the bottom of the ninth with only one man on and the Yanks up 6-2 is telling Sanit he isn’t good enough to get that final out, and that must’ve irked Sanit.
Asshole.
Nova ia a nice, young, promising, cheap, solid fifth starter with potential to be better.
Sabathia/Burnett/Hughes/Nova/Betances or Banuelos for 2012 has a nice ring to it.
You’ve been pretty quick to crush just about anyone on the team who’s experienced any sort of slump at any point this season. Out of curiosity, what makes you high on Nova? I don’t dislike Nova, but I’m still not sure I see a guy who can hold down a slot in an MLB rotation long-term…
Don’t expect a response Larry. He’s busy figuring out how to accuse a manager of over and under managing at the same time…
I really can’t blame Joe for bringing Mariano in that situation. For one he had already fully warmed up in expectation of a save, so it’s not like he rushed up him and out just for that situation. I know a lot of times pitches thrown in the pen get overlook by the viewer, but those count as pitching, not putting him in the game doesn’t erase the fact that he was fully warmed up and ready to go. The other reason I can’t blame him is Damon had just hit a late inning 2 run bomb off Burnett the game before, he could have made it a 1 run game with another HR.