Get used to batting 9th Brett
Over the past few seasons, beating the Royals had all the drama and sense of accomplishment of stealing candy from a fish in a barrel. Or something like that. But this Royals team is not the collection of pushovers they’ve been in recent years. They’re 6th in the AL in Runs scored, have a bunch of big prospects they’ve just recently promoted and quite a few more on the way. They still can’t pitch a lick (14th in team ERA) but a lineup featuring Hosmer, Moustakas, Gordon and yes, Melky Cabrera might look a lot better in retrospect a few years down the road. Many of us thought the 2003 Marlins had a bunch of no names, and looking back it’s practically an All Star team. They’re definitely a team to watch as a breakout candidate in the coming years, particularly in that division.
Here’s your lineup, courtesy of Chad Jennings over at LoHud:
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Andruw Jones DH
Russell Martin C
Eduardo Nunez 3B
Brett Gardner LF
It appears that we should get used to seeing Gardner down at the #9 spot of the lineup. He’s been there the past three games, facing both a righty and a hard throwing lefty. Girardi will often lead Gardner off facing a Righthander and drop him down facing a tough lefty. But Bruce Chen is anything but tough, he averages 87 MPH with his fastball and the Yanks have a history (9.62 ERA past 10 games) of destroying him. With Alex due to come back this weekend, batting Gardner 9th allows Girardi to slide A-Rod right back into the cleanup spot without rearranging the lineup any further. I don’t love it, the best Yankee lineup has Gardner leading off and Derek batting 7th, but we all know that’s just not going to happen. Matt covered this the other day, and I agree wholeheartedly with his assessment. It shouldn’t matter much anyway, at least not tonight.
Big Bart on the mound, which is always fun to watch. GO YANKS!!!!!
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
38 Responses to Game 121-Royals Flush
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
I finally have gas and hot water again. Yay.
I had no idea ConEd does service 24/7. Had I known that, I wouldn’t have been taking cold showers for the past 3 days.
I didn’t know fish ate candy.
Granderson still behind Bautista by one. Bautista is hot again.
Nice pitch, Bart.
Dang–Jeter could have taken them out of a big inning. Oh, well. They should have one sooner or later against Chen.
Hmm. I get the feeling Teixeira doesn’t trust Colon to take the throw and get to first.
Nah, he always takes it if he can. Smart play, bad things can happen on the transfer.
Yeah, but he had to dive to tag the runner. That makes it a difficult play, too.
Maybe Tex thought it was Sabathia out there.
Two-out ribbie from Swish. Nice.
Oh.
OMG!!! Whose pitching tonight? Did AJ gain 100 lbs?
I don’t like that HR by Billy Butler call by the umps. Took them 5 minutes to make the wrong call.
nobody did, especially Mariano, Kim Jones and Frank White. Hope they entered a protest; the way we have schnoozed thru Chen’s hypnotic flurry, it may be the best hope.
Got a hypothesis for what’s ailing Bartolo: he can’t get the call on high strikes. His success before the AllStar Break was marked by a”four corners” approach, implemented with four and two-seamers. This ump has been calling anything over the belt buckle a ball.
His two seamer doesn’t have the same sweeping break, either, which may be an alternative explanation. Bob Lorenz described Bartolo’s earlier approach a “scissors action,” cutting the batters apart. ‘Twas glorious, wish he could bring it back.
Hmm. Sounds reasonable.
Way to go, Russell. He must have been many more times frustrated than I was with his prior strike three, a “fastball” at the knees, down the middle, with two men on, two out. Ooouch.
Like Hector’s slider to the outside corner: he got two swing and misses, and two rolled-over grounders out of it.
Bloop: check.
Blast?
Nice bunt line drive by our expert leadoff hitter. Now a walk. (Coleman looks good, but he didn’t really want any part of Curtis.)
Got something brewing…
Now we lay a little Cano on ‘em…
wide strike, ump. Not a Yankee lover?
Umpires hate the Yankees because they play such long games.
Man, I saw Aces Aceves pitch Boston’s eigth today v. the Rays. He took the veritable minute to deliver a few times, in the heat of battle. Think there was a runner on. Think a little, move a little, signals, think some more…
I swear, I felt the breeze from Swish’s swish.
Coooooool.
But it needed a sweet sound effect to complete the coolness: that wooden knock-tone.
YES should get a Foley artist.
hunh? who’s Foley?
I’m only half here, today. Did I mention last night that I found two unopened bottles of whiskey by the dumpster yesterday? Been a long time, last night was fun, but today…
I’ve got a touch of the flu–or something–and may pack it in soon.
Hey, Prof, what happened to Jeter at the start of the game? Hit and caught stealing? I know he wasn’t there when Grandy blasted, but heard he got a hit.
Hey, did you see the clip of Luis Ayala modelling the bushel-basket glove? Reminds me of “my” first glove, a hand-me-down from my seven years older brother. Second, really, the three fingered old one in the garage wasn’t decent for official baseball. But that bushel-basket Robert Shaw model, weighed more than my arm!
Sweet hit, Jete! With an equally enjoyable attempt to catch by the Melkman.
Now, Mr. Granderson…
okay, baby steps, tension builds. Now, if only Tex could get it going…
Wow! Bases loaded! Hope you didn’t go already, Prof.
Ho, ho. Cano…
Shucks, one run.. Up to Swish – walked. Bases loaded for Jorge! Hip, hip?
Bogus! That was high and wide!
And our favorite ump’s rump rang him up! ahhhrrrgggg!
Damn, I hate that Jorge went down looking. But 2 of 3 is a good road series.
One run difference! Protest!