(Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)
First Bartolo Colon. Then Freddy Garcia. Less than a week after putting together back-to-back mediocre starts against the Blue Jays and prompting a fresh round of questioning as to whether the Yankees will be able to continue to count on their improbable contributions, Garcia followed Colon’s lead with a beauty of his own against the Rays, throwing 6 2/3 innings of shutout ball and striking out seven. David Robertson came on and did what K-Rob does, adding two more Ks to his AL reliever-leading total, and Mariano Rivera closed it out with two Ks of his own as the Yankees beat the Rays 4-0. This marked the Yankees’ 5th shutout of the opposition this season.
The Yankees scored early — with first inning runs coming off the bat of Curtis Granderson, who once again took David Price deep — and late, as Eduardo Nunez cashed in two baserunners in the eighth with a big two-out hit.
Despite the team’s less-than-prolific offensive output of late (.312 wOBA in July, 93 wRC+), they’re stilling winning games (9-7), and I look forward to watching the Yankees really go to town once several of the lineup’s slumping players — Mark Teixeira (73 wRC+, .302 SLG in July), Russell Martin (32 wRC+, .220 SLG) and Nick Swisher (88 wRC+, .340 SLG) in particular – inevitably get their acts together and also start hitting for power again. I’d also call out Jorge Posada (-5(!) wRC+, .162 SLG), but at this point he looks pretty much cooked.
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11 Responses to Grandy, Nuney, Freddy help Yanks top Rays 4-0
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TIQ IQ
I don’t believe Mo got or gets credit for a save for this game. Sorry, but nevertheless it’s still was a very good performance by all the Yankees pitchers.
Ha, you’re absolutely right. That’s what I get for drafting the recap when it was still 2-0.
But I was told that the Yankees could not beat pitchers like Price with the home run ball.
I’m starting to think about a contract for Garcia and Colon. Let’s not let these guys hit the open market. Could be an excellent means to test and ease guys from the minors into the starting rotation.
There is no reason Garcia should break down, and he throws excellent jukey junk. No reason young guys shouldn’t learn a bit about pitching from both the senior Senors.
I would consider offering them both another one year deal with a bunch of incentives based on how they finish the year.
I wouldn’t be surprised if someone out there offered them two- or even three-year deals if they finish the season strong.
I think I would offer each a $8 mil one year deal, with a team option on a second year, which could be scaled to performance in 2012. (I would probably wait till Sept 10th to spring it.)
Works for me. But I still would like to see the Yankee pursue Jimenez (if the cost is reasonable). Then he would be available for the 2012 season. Then just maybe because he is under contract for both the 2012 and 2013 seasons at a very reasonable salary the Yankees might be able to move AJ to a NL team if the are willing to eat a portion of his salary. Just my hope and opinion. If it were to play out like that there would be no need to bring whichever Killer B isn’t part of a reasonable trade for Jimenez up to the Big League team until 2013. He could get his seasoning and innings up in Triple A for 2012. It never hurts to speculate or dream.
.372 or .322….which is greater? Apparently simple math is lost on Yankee management. *sigh*
/beating a dead horse
What are you referring to??
I think the OBPs of Gardner and Jeter. If Jetes really heats up, he can get his “Slugging” Percentage up to Gardy’s OBP.