Forgive me if I keep this one short, but it’s no fun recapping boring games. And that’s exactly what this was, if you were a Yankee fan. The Tigers won the game handily, 4-0, led by Max Scherzer and his lights out stuff. Scherzer pitched eight innings of shutout ball on 109 pitches. He allowed only four hits, while walking just two and striking out nine. In fact, Scherzer struck out every Yankee starter at least once except Curtis Granderson, who managed one of those four hits.
For the Yankees, Freddy Garcia was serviceable. Freddy pitched into the eighth inning, allowing four runs on ten hits. That’s actually precisely the kind of performance the Yankees wanted to get when they signed Garcia. It only seems disappointing after the flashes of brilliance he’d been showing recently. On the whole, he wasn’t that bad. His only mistake was a mistake was a pitch he let Magglio Ordonez deposit into the people.
I am now convinced that the Yankees are uncomfortable playing these early season series’ in Detroit. For those who don’t know, I attended the entire four game set the Bombers played in Comerica last season. That series was eerily similar to the first three games of this series. The weather was brutal (I’ve seen a lot of sleaves on the players so far this year) and the Yankee bats died entirely. My gut tells me that the combination of the bad weather and Comerica puts the Yankee bats into a funk.
The Yankees look to fight to a draw in this series tomorrow, in a day game. A.J. Burnett toes the rubber for the good guys, while Rick Porcello is on the stump for the Tigers. A.J. and Porcello have similar numbers on the season to date, but in a push it’s hard not to favor the home team, especially given the silence we’ve seen from the Yankee offense. Game time is one pm.
On a final note, Joe Girardi said in his post game interview that he took Derek Jeter out late in the game because Jeter’s hip was bothering him. According to Joe, it’s nothing serious and Jeter is day-to-day, so his quest to get to 3,000 hits entirely with infield singles is not threatened.
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3 Responses to Max Scherzer goes eight, dominates Yankee bats
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TIQ IQ
Your recap echoes my sentiments exactly, Mike. This was one of the most boring Yankee games I can recall watching in a long, long time. On the flip side, as a fan of great pitching, Scherzer was a lot of fun to watch, but it’s only so enjoyable to watch your offense look utterly pathetic at the plate.
I couldn’t decide if the Yankee offense was that bad last night or if Scherzer was that good. I guess a little bit of both? For one reason or another, they really do not seem to enjoy playing at Comerica at all.
I also want to know who we have to sacrifice to the BABIP gods at this point. I know the team struck out 11 times, but still, in a park as spacious as Comerica you’d think a few more of those balls would’ve fallen for hits, whereas seemingly every ball the Tigers put in play dropped in or found a way to zip out to the massive outfield.
I still expect them to split this series. I know Porcello can be tough, but the bats have now been quiet for two straight days, and the Yankee offense is better than this.
In any sport I follow I find it hard to appreciate the finer nuances, if those nuances are being executed against my team. Scherzer was unhittable. If was unhittable in an ESPN game against the Red Sox then I’m making popcorn. Because he was unhittable against the Yankees I’m squirming in agony, and flicking back and forth to the NBA playoffs.
I think the answer the offensive woes is a little bit of both. Scherzer is good, but so far the offense has taken its foot off the pedal in 2011 at just about the same time it did in 2010. If you recall, the Yankees were shutout in 2010 for the first time when they went to Comerica.
I find myself more pescimistic about today’s game. All the key Yankees are slumping except Tex. I don’t think Porcello will be all that good. I’m just not convinced the Yankees will be all that good either.
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