Hurts, doesn't it? (Frank Franklin II/AP)
First we had an earthquake in New York City. Then all sorts of panic about a possible hurricane this weekend. And now, following their 6-4 victory last night, the A’s have won two games in a row and earned a series victory against the Yankees for the first time since 2007. I’ll let you decide which of these three is the truest sign of the apocalypse.
Kidding aside, this was a rather unfortunate game for the Yankees, as Trevor Cahill and his sinker finally figured them out, limiting the damage to two runs over six for his first-ever quality start against the Bombers. CC Sabathia was good too — ultimately going 7 1/3 innings and giving up three while striking out seven — but neither he nor the Yankee bullpen could retire Coco Crisp or Scott Sizemore, who combined to go 8 for 8 with a walk and all six of Oakland’s RBIs.
Truth be told, the Yankees didn’t even really lose to the Athletics in this one; they lost to Crisp — who hit two home runs in this game for only the second time in his career, and whose second jack broke a 3-all tie in the tenth to seal the win for Oakland — and Sizemore, who both had career games (this was Sizemore’s first-ever four-hit night), and were also once again stymied by Brian Fuentes and taken to school by flamethrowing rookie Fautino De Los Santos.
Speaking of De Los Santos, wow — that dude can throw a baseball. The average speed on his four-seamer was 97mph, and it took him all of 10 pitches to retire the Yankees in order in the bottom of the 9th, including two three-pitch strikeouts. Shades of 2007 Joba Chamberlain were dancing through my head.
Making this game that much more frustrating was the fact that the Yankees battled back to tie it twice. Derek Jeter drive Brett Gardner in in the third inning, while the first of Nick Swisher‘s two home runs on the night gave the Yankees a 2-1 edge that they kept through the seventh inning. Ordinarily you’d like the team’s chances with Sabathia on the mound that late in the game and a lead, but he coughed up a game-tying RBI double to (who else) Sizemore, one pitch after assuring Joe Girardi he could retire the righty. I have zero problem whatsoever with Sabathia staying in there, and if you replay that at-bat nine times out of ten he probably gets Sizemore, but he just got way too much of the plate on an 0-2 slider that probably should’ve been a curve buried in the dirt. A walk and a single later and David Robertson had let Sabathia’s inherited runner score, completing Sabathia’s line.
Mark Teixeira then gave us all hope that we might get to see the Yankees’ fourth walkoff of the season, tying it up with a solo shot off Grant Balfour in the eighth. Mariano Rivera set the A’s down in order in the ninth, but Rafael Soriano — so good since returning from the DL — put two runners on before surrendering the aforementioned three-run bomb to Crisp on a first-pitch slider right down the middle with two out.
Alas, despite yet another solo home run off A’s closer Andrew Bailey — this time courtesy of Swisher — the Yankees were once again in too deep a hole, having let the A’s (who average 3.88 runs per game) score six for the second consecutive game. This also marked the Yankees’ first series loss at home since that second straight ignominious sweep by the Red Sox back in early June, and just the fourth series they’ve lost at home all year (Kansas City, Boston, Boston, Oakland).
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11 Responses to Crisp, Sizemore beat Yankees 6-4 in extras as Yanks lose first series at home since early June
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TIQ IQ
A “solo shit”? you meant shot, i guess…
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/1851/screenshot2011082505441.png
Whoops, sorry about that; that’s a rough typo and has been fixed. I’m actually kind of amazed that hasn’t happened before given the fact that “i” and “o” reside next to each other on the keyboard.
Apologies to anyone who may have been offended; we don’t condone the use of foul language at TYA.
When are the Yanks gonna smack around a #3 or better starter besides Gavin Floyd this month?
They didn’t smack around Peavy or face Buerhle (Chi-Sox series.)
They didn’t smack around Lester, Lackey, or Beckett (Red Sox series.)
They didn’t smack around Haren or Chatwood, and they missed Weaver and Santana (Angels series.)
They didn’t smack around Price or face Shields (Rays series.)
The one game they lost to the Royals was one the Royals’ best starter Chen started.
The one game they lost to the Twins was one the Twins’ best starter Liriano started.
They didn’t smack around McCarthy or Cahill, and they will miss Gonzalez (this series.)
They draw Harden today. I’d say Harden is a #3 or pitching like one (4-2, 3.91 in 9 GS.)
They have the Os after this series. Well, the Os best starter Guthrie shut them down last time he faced them.
All this team has done is beat up #4s and #5s and mostly lay down for #3 or betters this month and that has to stop!!! So does them trailing through 6 or 7 IP where the other team scores only 1, 2, or 3 runs. So many quality or near quality starts pissed away by the offense.
They will probably face the following #3 or betters from hereonin: Hernandez and/or Pineda (Seattle), any two or three from Weaver, Haren, Santana, and Chatwood (Angels), Romero (Blue Jays), Guthrie once or twice (Baltimore), Price and/or Shields (Rays), Beckett, Lester, Lackey (Red Sox.) If they hit like shit against these pitchers, it does not bode well for them in the ALDS. You’d have to say Sabathia would have to win Games 1 and 5 and someone has to step up and be CC-like in Game 2, 3, or 4 for the Yanks to get to the ALCS. Even if they do that, they will have a tough ALCS esp. if they draw Boston.
They better figure out a way to hit Detroit’s or Cleveland’s front three, too.
Verlander is alot better than the 4.50 ERA he’s posted vs. the Yanks this year. Scherzer is 2-1 in 3 GS starts vs. the Yanks. Porcello is 2-1 in 3 GS vs. the Yanks since last year / he got smacked around by them in his fourth career start in April 2009. Penny could be a problem.
Cleveland’s Masterson mastered the Yanks in his lone 2011 start vs. them while his teammate Tomlin did the same in his last start vs. the Yanks after the Yanks smacked him around in his first start against them. Who knows what Jimenez could do vs.the Yanks? The pressure would be on the Yanks to beat him not vice versa cuz they failed to land him. Carmona could be a pain in the neck.
It’s true, the Yankees can’t hit any quality pitchers. They probably shouldn’t even bother playing the rest of the season.
I was at the game last night and it felt like Sabathia gave up a lot more fly balls than ground balls. Has this been a trend? Has Sabathia’s FB/GB swung in favor of flyballs since he’s gone from total beast into merely very good pitcher. It would be interesting to see whether that’s maybe playing a role and whether that has to do with pitch selection or location.
That’s a good question.
Sabathia’s batted ball breakdown from the beginning of the season prior to his August 6 start v. Boston is as follows:
GB: 48%
LD: 20%
FB: 32%
From August 6 on its:
GB: 41%
LD: 23%
FB: 36%
So yes, he is getting fewer grounders and surrendering more fly balls.
Here’s pitch selection pre-August 6:
FF: 41.7%
SL: 24.7%
SI: 18.5%
CH: 14.3%
CU: 0.8%
And after:
FF: 42.8%
SL: 32.9%
SI: 14.1%
CH: 9.4%
CU: 0.7%
So he’s been throwing more sliders and fewer changeups. Perhaps the relative lack of offspeed stuff is partially responsible for the slightly-less-desirable results we’ve been seeing.
Interesting. I was seated high above home plate, so I saw speed and some horizontal break but not necessarily vertical break. My guess as to the slider usage increase might be that before August 6 his slider was just a wipeout pitch and he started to rely on it more than his power change, but that’s just shooting in the dark.
De Los Santos made them look silly. Dude can bring it.
[...] reading here: Crisp, Sizemore beat Yankees 6-3 in extras as Yanks lose first … AKPC_IDS += "31386,"; AKPC_IDS += [...]
[...] by commenter Russ, who in the Thursday morning game recap thread asked whether CC was giving up more fly balls of late than he’d been, I turned up with the following [...]