(Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
The Yankees rode a Mark Teixeira double, a Nick Swisher two-run home run and six innings of one-run ball (4 Ks, 1 BB) from Freddy Garcia in a crisp 3-2 win over Baltimore Monday night, splitting the weekend’s four-game set. Alfredo Simon was the tough-luck loser, going seven and only giving up three (while striking out six), and the win improved the Yankees’ record in one-run games to 16-18.
Down 3-1, the Orioles threatened to make things interesting in the eighth, as J.J. Hardy took David Robertson deep to cut the lead to 3-2. This was the first home run D-Rob surrendered all season. It’ll be interesting to see how fractionally his American League relief-pitcher-leading 1.60 FIP increases after Fangraphs updates overnight. Rafael Soriano pitched a dominant seventh, striking Mark Reynolds and Ryan Adams out on six straight pitches (five swinging strikes!), and Mariano Rivera closed things out with a perfect 9th.
Speaking of Swisher — who blasted three home runs in this set against the Orioles — his turnaround has been nothing short of remarkable. On May 26 I took an in-depth look at what at that point was a two-month slump (clearly I’m overdue for a follow-up post), and Swish was hitting .204/.321/.289. Since then, he’s hit .301/.417/.549, not including tonight’s game. Needless to say, that’s outrageous production.
And thank goodness Swish brought his clubbing stick with him to Baltimore, as the Yankee offense went into a mini-coma over the last four games, scoring only 16 total runs. But more importantly, the Yankees’ starting pitching appears to be coming back around — sans A.J. Burnett — as their starters combined for 20.2 innings of six-run ball (2.61 ERA) over the last three games. That’s more like it.
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7 Responses to Yanks edge O’s 3-2 behind Steady Freddy
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On the post-game show, Bob and Jack were praising Freddie’s performance, but Jack finished by saying,”the one knock on Freddie is, can he beat a team like the Red Sox?” He did, convincingly, vs. Beckett on a Sunday, around August 1, in Fenway. He foxed ‘em good.
Indeed, 5 innings of one-run ball on August 7. That’s about as good as you could hope for from Freddy against a team like Boston.
That’s actually not so good when Garcia is supposed to be the Yankees #2 starter or #3 if you consider Nova to be the #2 now like I do. I’d say it’s good when he draws Lackey or Bedard, but Beckett or Lester? Either could match or better Garcia and then what? Then it’s Wade or Ayala vs. Beckett or Lester in the sixth, advantage Red Sox.
If 5 IP 0-2 ER is the best the Yankees #2 can do vs. the Red Sox, Red Sox over the Yanks in 5 maybe 6 games in the ALCS cuz you’re implying that the 3-4 can’t go 5 and if they do it’s a crappy 5 or certainly not an 0-2 ER five.
The Yanks are getting swept and unofficially ending their chance to win the division thus homefield advantage in the ALDS and/or ALCS if Sabathia pisses in his pants again against the Red Sox tomorrow night. If they lose tomorrow night, the only way I see the Yanks taking a game is if Beckett or Lester completely suck. I’d be shocked if the Yanks took the middle and rubber games if they lost the first game.
Giving up one run over five to a team like Boston is always a good thing, especially considering the quality of the Yankee bullpen.
Duh,
I have a serious question for you — do you actually enjoy anything about following the Yankees and/or watching them play? You manage to find the negative in literally everything. It’s quite exhausting.
Yes, in an ideal world the Yankees would have a #2 starter that one could count on for seven strong innings against the Red Sox, but that’s just not reality. However, there’s always a chance that one of Garcia or Colon could do that on any given day. That’s the beauty of baseball — you can’t predict it.
The idea is to recalibrate expectations. I would never expect Freddy to be able to throw 7 innings of one-run ball against a team with an offense as good as the Yankees’ is. Therefore, I think 5 IP, 1 ER out of Freddy is pretty stellar work, for him.
Think about how frequently you get irritated when the Yankees don’t score a boatload of runs against a pitcher you think they should be tarring and feathering, which, in the world of Duh! Innings, seems to be every single day. Then put yourself in a Boston fan’s shoes, and think about how annoyed they’d be if Freddy Garcia shut them down. It works both ways.
That’s a little harsh. One run is pretty good, and I’m sure he would have pitched longer if they asked. Think that was in a very hot stretch, and Joe must have given the geezer a break.
Poor ol’ Chief.
On D-Rob, listening to Kay and Ken gloat about his record, I was thinking,”He can’t go spotless forever.” So, I was glad he let a little air out of the balloon.