After a nail-biting 5-3 victory last night that saw David Robertson work out of a 9th-inning jam, the Yankees go back to work tonight against the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays. David Phelps will take the hill for the Yankees, making his second career start. It may also be his last start for a little while, as Andy Pettitte will be making his season debut on Sunday, and seems likely to take Phelps’ rotation spot.
Phelps will square off against towering righty Jeff Niemann, who is 2-3 with a 4.05 ERA on the season, and a 3.39 FIP. Niemann is only averaging about 90 mph on his fastball this season, but he supplements the pitch with a big-breaking curveball, a slider, and the occasional splitter.
Dewayne Wise will be starting in left field tonight, which no doubt will do wonders for the blood pressure of Yankee fans who have been watching Eduardo Nunez and Raul Ibanez man that position of late.
In other news, Mariano Rivera revealed that his mystery complication was a blood clot in his leg, which has been treated. Everything should be ok, but it gave him a bit of a scare. Mark Teixeira also announced that he has been sick for the past month with what is being termed a “severely inflamed airway.” He is getting treatment, which will hopefully help resolve his recent breathing problems, and hopefully help his performance.
While the Yankees are in action tonight, the Knicks will be fighting for their playoff lives in Game 5 against the Miami Heat, while the Rangers will look to close out their series against Washington Capitals. Enjoy the game, and feel free to chat it up in the comments section as always. Mike, Mike, Steve, and Matt will be at the game tonight, so feel free to give them a holler. Lineups are below. There is rain in the forecast, but hopefully they can get this in.
Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Nick Swisher RF
Raul Ibanez DH
Russell Martin C
Dewayne Wise LF
Rays
Ben Zobrist rf
Carlos Pena 1b
BJ Upton cf
Matt Joyce lf
Luke Scott dh
Will Rhymes 2b
Elliott Johnson ss
Sean Rodriguez 3b
Chris Gimenez c
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38 Responses to May 9 Game Thread
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TIQ IQ
Hey, Mike, Mike, Steve and Matt, where are you sitting?
My mistake, I think only Mike E. is there (the other 3 were discussing going on Friday).
Well, that was a long top of the first. His FB sure does have some movement.
He’s got some stuff. Just needs to get it over consistently.
He’s negotiating with his nerve. His confidence was dented by the Twins or the Angels. He is on the rebound, tho. I’d like to see more starts, now, or after some more bullpen work.
Already 0 for 4 RISP!
Gonna be one of those games with 25 baserunners and no runs.
52 pitches through 3 innings (28 in 1st), I wonder how many Phelps is allowed tonight>
Phelps settled down nicely these last 2 innings.
Yes, he did. But you always hold your breath waiting for the blow-up inning.
Looks like the only shift needed on A-Rod tonight is the catcher.
Didn’t Martin get the memo about how to hit during a contract year?
Yes, but he can’t read.
Maybe he needs it in French.
we all know what he’s capable of doing in a month, I’m just hoping he has one of those soon.
Boone Logan just pitched his butt off. That was some of the best pitching i’ve ever seen from him.
Overall, a decent outing by Phelps. With Pettitte coming back, it may be his last start for awhile, but he showed some promise. Nice job by Logan.
I just with the Yankees let pitcher pitch more in the minors. They put very strict pitch limits on them, that only prepares arms to not be able to throw more than 85-90 pitches in a game. You don’t have to blow them out but I think they take it too far.
I think it’s more that during the early part of the season he wasn’t throwing all that many pitches in a game. If Phelps didn’t walk 2 and have lefties coming up, Girardi probably would have left him in longer.
He clearly was getting tired too, he was clearly missing a good deal more than he was happy with. I just think if they throw more in the minor leagues when they are rolling they won’t hit that wall as quick in the major leagues. The whole league just about does it, guys should be ready to throw 100 pitches in most cases.
I can’t disagree with that.
Shame they couldn’t push Alex in. He made quite a display, hitting into the hole, getting to 2cd to prevent the dp, and stealing 3rd.
I still think Girardi needs to shake up this lineup. Watching the game on ESPN, they pointed out that the 3-4-5 hitters have 11 HRs and 35 RBIs compared to Hamilton’s 14 and 38.
TB has 3-4-5 hitters due in the 8th, I wish Girardi would use Robertson.
After his save, the postgame interview with Meredith on the field, his mouth was really dry. He sweated those runners and hitters, even more than we did. He took that responsibility so seriously that it would be a shame to jerk him away.
I just like using the best pitcher in the highest leverage situation.
Houdini – who needs him? No, I get the idea, and I too value his firefighting.
whew. Luke Scott almost gave us the dirty business down the left field line.
What a play by Tex! Good pitching by Soriano under pressure.
Exciting inning: Robbie had the right idea, to cut down the runner at 2cd, with that great pivot, but his throw was oh so rarely and regrettably wide. Jeter’s emergency snag was comical. Tex’ snag of that screamer-short hop, got the runner by a hair. Soriano came back to look pretty masterful.
Usually, I don’t expect 1-0 games to stay 1-0 games. But with the Yankees now, there’s a good chance.
we are pitching them tough.
damn! Tex hit that on the button into the squished infield. His timing is on, but he cannot bunt or swing easy that way.
Other than 5, 4 has hit several hard ones v. Niemann, and 3 has demonstrated his oppo plunk. Nieman has been tough on their power approaches, even Grandy’s.
Damn, Damn, Damn
That saving stuff was tense business for Houdini. Damn.
Diddly damn! This was again tense, good tense, till the bottom fell out.
Now Robertson has his biggest test. Can he forget about today like a closer has to. Since MLBN is carrying the game tomorrow I’ll see y’all then!
night, Phil