Mike Carlson / AP
Sean Rodriguez is one of the worst offensive players in baseball. You could describe his bat as atrocious, horrendous, appalling, putrid, or dreadful, but somehow he hits the Yankees. There are certain ballparks with certain feelings, and Tropicana Field feels like another dimension, where the Yankees play like a $63 million team, and the Rays play like a $209 million team. In the dimension of Tropicana Field, Sean Rodriguez kills the Yankees, in this dimension, the Yankees have now lost 9 straight games, and in this dimension, we no longer call them the Yankees, we call them the Bizzaro-Yankees.
The Bizzaro-Yankees started today’s game by jumping out to an early 2-0 lead in the first, thanks to a lead-off double by Derek Jeter, a double by Curtis Granderson, and a single by Robinson Cano. Instead of the early lead setting the stage for an offensive powered victory, the last out, a freak fly ball double play, set the stage for terrible defense and base running. Terrible defense and base running is not normal for the Yankees, but for the Bizzaro-Yankees it is.
Ivan Nova mostly cruised through the Ray’s lineup until the bottom of the 3rd inning with two outs, when two groundballs and an error by Russell Martin allowed the Rays to rally for for three runs. Sean Rodriguez was nice enough to strikeout leading off this inning, but in the fourth, he hit his sixth homerun of the year to deep left field for two additional runs. Sean Rodriguez hitting homeruns is not normal, but against the Bizzaro-Yankees it is.
The game cruised in to the sixth inning, 5-4 in favor of the Rays, without much of anything, until Robinson Cano singled and Raul Ibanez doubled. On the play, Cano, who was running from first base, was given the go to head home by third base coach Robbie Thompson. The ball reached catcher Jose Molina about 15 feet before Cano reached home plate. Despite the terrible send by Thompson, Cano actually made an incredible slide that appeared to hit homeplate milliseconds before Molina tagged him. Regardless, homeplate umpire Sam Holbrook called Cano out. It isn’t normal for the Yankees to have Robbie Thompson making this send, the umpire blowing this call, and Robinson Cano making brilliant base running maneuvers, but for the Bizzaro-Yankees it is.
It took three pitches, and a throwing error by Russell Martin for the Rays to put this game over the top in the 7th inning, by scoring three more runs off Ivan Nova and Chad Qualls. The Yankees didn’t make a peep the rest of the game, only earning one more base runner following the catastrophe in the 6th inning.
All in all, Ivan Nova didn’t pitch terribly, despite giving up 6 runs, only 3 were earned. Jeter, Cano, Raul Ibanez, and Dewayne Wise each had multi-hit games. One of Wise’s hits included a homerun, which means he now has 3 homeruns and 9 hits (.500) in his last 8 games. Who needs Gardner?
On the Rays side of things, Sean Rodriguez killed the Yankees, going 3 for 4, and missing only the triple of the cycle. His triple slash coming into the game was .211/.264/.326, I hate this guy. James Shields was interesting out there, allowing 10 hits, but no walks, and only 5 strikeouts, in 7.0 inning. He somehow survived the night with only 4 earned runs. And of course, Fernando Rodney was incredible in relief, striking out two, and earning his 24th save of the year.
It all adds up to a 7-4 loss for the Bizzaro-Yankees, and I can’t wait to get out of Tropicana Field.
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