Bottom 9th
And he does the job, three-and out.
Final Score 6-4 Yankees
Top 9th
Posada's doing big things tonight. He's now 4-for-5 with three doubles....jeez. Jenks intentionally walks Giambi (Masset also walked him in the 7th). Yankees can't scrounge any runs though, so'll they'll rely on Mo to get things done.
6-4 Yankees
Bottom 8th
LaTroy Hawkins relieves Mussina, who gave 7 solid innings. Morale-boosting outing tonight for Moose. With runners on first and third, Girardi pulls Hawkins in favor of Billy Traber. Critical move for the Yankees. Right away Thome hits a grounder past Giambi for an RBI single. Now Cabrera's at third, and Chicago is threatening. Yanks put Mo in a little earlier than usual. He leads them out of the eighth with a two-run lead after Konerko's sac fly scores Cabrera.
6-4 Yankees
Top 8th
Two quick outs for the Yanks, and then Abreu strikes out swinging. He's cooled off from last night....
6-2 Yankees
Bottom 7th
Two outs and Mussina gives up his second home run to Quintin. 6-2 Yankees. Crede flies out to center as Mussina jumps over the 100-pitch threshold.
6-2 Yankees
Top 7
Nick Masset comes in for Boone Logan. Posada's having a good night. He's 3-for-4 after that double to center. Melky strikes out looking. Masset gets in and works himself out of trouble.
6-1 Yankees
Bottom 6
Another 1-2-3 inning for Mussina, who's still going strong after six.
6-1 Yankees
Top 6th
With Giambi at first, Melky gets an extra-base hit on a double down the right line. Damon's double to center brings Giambi and Cabrera home. After Jeter gets on base with a single, scoring Damon, Boone Logan (gotta be a Newsday favorite) relieves Vazquez. Yankees breaking the game open with some insurance runs....
6-1 Yankees
Bottom 5th
On his first pitch to Crede, Mussina gives up his first run of the night after Crede rips a fastball to left for a home run. 3-1. Mussina bounces back and strikes out Swisher to send it to the sixth.
3-1 Yankees
Top 5th
Juan Uribe can't snag Damon's line drive. Two outs later, and Matsui gets on base with a single to left. Then, with Posada at the plate, he rips a two-tun double to the left gap that gives the Yankees a 3-run lead.
3-0 Yankees
Bottom 4th
Mussina answers back with a 1-2-3 of his own. Holding strong after four.
1-0 Yankees
Top 4th
And a quick 1-2-3 to start the fourth....
1-0 Yankees
Bottom 3rd
Mussina gives up a hit to Cabrera, but no damage done. Mussina's looking pretty decent tonight, at the very least significantly better than against Boston.
1-0 Yankees
Top 3rd
With two outs, Matsui walks and Posada gets a base hit to right to keep the inning alive, but not for long. Next batter and Cano fouls out.
1-0 Yanks
Bottom 2nd
Two ground outs to start, then Mussina gives up a walk to Carlos Quentin. Joe Crede pops up to end the inning and a 9-pitch showdown.
1-0 Yankees
Top 2nd
Orlando Cabrera with an error on Matsui's shot to center. Two away and Cano and Giambi both get to base on balls. Vazquez can't handle Ensberg's liner back to the mound and the bases are loaded. Melky logs an infield single on a full count pitch to score Cano. Damon strikes out with the bases loaded, but the Yanks are on the board.
1-0, Yankees
Bottom 1st
Moose barehands a Nick Swisher-bunt and throws him out. Thome gets on base with a single to third, but he's stranded after Paul Konerko flies out to center.
0-0
Top 1st
Vasquez retires the Yanks in order....three-and-out
0-0
Coming off a feel-good 9-5 win over Chicago last night, thanks to Bobby Abreu's three-run grand slam (Giambi and Damon also homered), the Yankees head into Game 2 of a three-game series against the White Sox. Amidst the Yankee injuries (and the absence of A-Rod), Abreu is someone fans can smile about. He's currently batting .312, with 3 homers, 14 RBI's and 10 runs. Last night in general was a big improvement from the sluggish bats that, compounded with shaky pitching (primarily from the young guns) has been plaguing the Yankees recently.
Mike Mussina (1-3, 5.75) takes the mound tonight for the Yanks. He pitched only 3 innings in his last inning Thursday against Boston, when he gave up 7 hits and 5 runs. Mussina will have to turn out a better performance to avoid his third straight loss, and he'll also be expected to provide more longevity than last week, so as not to much too much pressure on the Yankees 'pen.
Javier Vasquez (3-1, 3.20) will be on the hill tonight for the Sox.
Be back after top of the first....
Comments (27)
So this is from Peter Gammons today on Baseball Tonight:
When Andy Pettitte told the Yankees he was coming back, Brian Cashman was told that the Yankees could sign EITHER Andy or trade for Santana - could not do both. So Cashman and the Yankee baseball decision makers had to decide if they were better off with:
Santana vs. Hughes, Marquez, Melky, Andy, A-Jax or
Santana vs. Wang, Kennedy, A-Jax, Andy
IF that's the case (and I'm fully willing to admit I've said Gammons is pretty often full of BS so I have no way of knowing if it is true or not) then I think the Yankees made the right choice.
Chip: I'm shocked you didn't correct the "three-run grand slam" comment by our blogger.
Who's doing the live-blogging tonight?
Dead blog tonight?
sorry - was otherwise occupied. Interesting rally there for the Yankees
By the way, did anyone catch Ozzie Guillen's comments about Hank? He essentially said that Hank is why he would never be the Yankee manager - that the two of them would probably never be able to get along. That "it would be like having two tigers in the same cage"
Well, at least they made Vazquez work that inning.
Moose looks okay so far.
Giambi should take notice of that check swing smash off the bat of Thome and recognize how easy it can be to get a base hit if he just goes to the opposite field.
I think seeing the Yankees is bring back all the bad memories of NY for Javy...
For what it's worth, I always thought he got a raw deal here. We talked about it a little last night - Vaz, to me, was another case of a guy that didn't fit into Mel's idea of what a pitcher should be and so he had no use for him.
Off to the gym, should be back for the late innings.
How many first pitch pop outs is Cano going to have this year? Does he have any first pitch hits this season?
Larry of Fla fame LOVES Crede!
He must be enraptured watching. He wanted the Yanks to get Crede to replace A-Rod. I wanted Chavez! I like Chavez on the A's. He is a good guy.
I remember when Vazquez came with with the Expos. He was a very good pitcher. Even dominant and you could see that attitude on the mound. But not once he got to New YOrk.
What happens to all of these good pitchers when they get to the Yankees? Whitson, Hawkins, Irabu ... they fall apart. Some like Kevin Brown, get hurt. Pavano comes to mind. I am sure Igawa wasn't THAT bad in Japan.
Others do well when they leave. Lilly's across the body motion was totally changed in Oakland. Westbrook made the All Star team, as did Lilly. Contreras did pretty well for a while. He made the All Star team as well I think. Does that really matter? Every team needs a selection ...
It is hard to pinpoint the reasons why someone like Vazquez decayed in New York. Maybe he was hurt? Missing his family? Depressed? Unsure? Afraid of the media and the big crowds? None of the above?
Even though Johan Santana is a great pitcher and I like him, it is good the Yanks did not sign him. With a 9 Trillion fiscal debt, 5 (borrowed) Trillion for the two lost wars, 500 Trillion in global derivatives and another 50 - 65 in unfunded US retirement/health liabilities, all U.S. sports teams, and businesses should tighten their belts. The global GPN for ONE YEAR is US$ 50 Trillion. So if my math is right, we are looking at 20 years (if all 7 Billion people on Earth were to devote all their earnings) to settle the above accounts. How can such numbers be understood? Nevertheless, there they are.
That said, cheap is not good for the Yanks. Frugal is a better word. Colorado has a much better team than the Yankees for far, far, far less money. And if you take away the low salaries of Joba and Wang, the team would be even more cost-ineffective.
Anyway, hopefully we can win this game and get some momentum going!
In the end it's just baseball!
If Mussina had given up 5 runs and got taken out before the 6th this Blog would be full of posts tonight.
Very efficient so far and has anyone noticed that Moose seems to have decided to slow down his curve rather than try to muscle up on the fastball? I saw him hitting about 67 MPH on his curve earlier, which is a big difference when he's hitting 83 MPH on his fast ball. He's very stubborn and he would still try to throw his curve at about 77 MPH, which was too close to his fastball so that even if hitters guessed wrong they still hit the ball.....hard.
Nice outing tonight so far.
You can tell Baumbach is not around because he would have been typing like a mad fool when Giambi was intentionally walked.
Please visit Jim Baumbach and Anthony Rieber's great blog "The Final Score".
I just plugged their blog so we could pretend they are here :)
Thank you Moose another great outing lets see if the kids can follow YOUR lead
man giradi is making some awful moves so far, Mariano in the 8th inning with 1 out? IT'S ONLY THE 22nd game of the year!!
Hummh lets say joba started this game and left with a 6-2 lead and now yo u see the mess happening now, You have to bring in Mo in the 8th !!! this would not be possible all season so spare me with the Pen is not important crap
chris it's called momentum and basically the cards is falling in the right places showing hank and others he is here to WIN so what it's just the 22nd game of the season Girardi is a new manager and he is not playing nothing lite and will not be intangled in the politics web
Hold on a second! If Joe Torre puts Mo in for the eighth inning, he's blasted for working him like a dog, but Girardi does it and he's just showing how much he wants to win? Come on, that's a weak argument.
no it's called showing off the weak pen and it was something he did not want to do on a normal night Joba does the Job. but if girardi has to do this every so often then it;s a problem plus mo was not in the game yesturday Torre used Mo multiple inning on the regular
Hawkins and Traber fail once again.Tip my hat to Mussina pitched well against a good lineup .
The circumstances will be different when Joba moves to the rotation as opposed to now.
Girardi has at least a good two months to figure out who he trusts in that role and who he doesn't. Plus, there's a decent chance one of the other young arms from the minors will be able to help out by then.
I can assure you that the arms they have in that pen now will not be the same ones they have in August or September.
It does go to show you that starting pitching is still the name of the game. The team is now 11-0 on the season when starter goes at least 6.0 IP (as opposed to 1-10 when they don't).
Pettitte, Wang, and Moose have done it three straight games and the team has a 3-game win streak.
That's not a coincidence.
BTW, great outing by Moose tonight. As I said recently, if you take away the Manny Ramirez ABs - Moose has done a decent job this season.
Of course, we can't take away those ABs but it does put things in perspective a bit. A lot of pitchers have had bad nights against Manny Ramirez and we can't really frown on Moose for it.
Sean Henn anyone? I'm telling you, he'll be replacing Traber soon.
No thanks on Sean Henn. He's no upgrade over Traber right now.
Give Traber some time before you throw him to the scrap yard.
Henn has had many chances and hasn't been the least bit impressive.
Good Point Viper but I aligned myself with moose and pointed out that his bad outings was not really such if you take Away a manny at bat and add some O, and even with that a 5.era is not disgusting bad wihich probally lowered tonight.
The bottom line is to find that set up guy and put him in action and show results! not to speculate on some minor leaguer and assume that he is the guy that is not smart thinking and it is proven that this pen is vital and right now i am not saying forever but right now the best one two punch in baseball is with the yankees.
You move Joba ONLY when you have the answer on his replacement. However I am open to experimenting somewhat if Hughes or kennedy continues to fail then you can have them miss a start and have Joba do a "emergency start".
What people seem to fail at is we are only fans , something tells me that the powers that be noticed something in ST with Joba and did not feel confident that he can be a n effective starter in the LONG HAUL maybe they noticed his stamina after 6 innings and decided to safe bet it and place him back in his strength zone who knows? Becasue a friend of mine who is involved with MLB stated that if he (Joba) was lights out dominant and provided that he caould last 7 effective innings then he would be inserted they probally coaught on too something and was slighty worried so they safe bet it. With Gardners rise this makes things intresting for the yanks as other players become expendable . If players like Oswalt caliber becomes avail , then a package of the weakest link of the trio Kennedy along with a OF prospect could be used to obtain such type players
Traber
lefties are now hitting .375 off him 6-16
in addition:
3 BB
2 HBP
1 WP
the Nationals didn't want him and suddenly now he's w/ NY everyone thinks he's this side of special.Nothing on Traber's resume stands out other than he's just another mediocre lefty reliever trying to hang on.
Ruse -
I'm not saying Traber is anything special but just because the Nationals gave up on him doesn't mean he's useless - I'll direct your attention to Darrell Rasner - also a Nats reject.
CHIP
Traber currently sucks his splits show this maybe he improves maybe not.
Rasner ? What has he accomplished on the MLB level ?
Anon - the only reason Joba is in the pen is not because the yanks thought he couldnt get it done in the rotation, its because of the innings cap. If you start him in April, you would have to shut him down by August. The Yanks want to limit him to 140 innings this year, putting him in the pen was the only way to do that. That was the plan they had back in the fall, and that’s the plan they are rolling with now. Why is everyone so surprised about this????
I will agree with you that we just dont know which minor league RP can get the job done in the 8th, but we have to find out. Maybe Ohlendorf or Albaladejo are those guys? Maybe Britton, or Edwar, or Patterson or someone else nobody is talking about are those guys? You act like the Yanks cant win a game if Joba is not in the pen. Rewind just 12 months ago and I bet you never even heard the name Joba ( aside from Star Wars ). The point being that maybe there is another Joba in the minors right now ( Robertson anyone? ), there is only one way to find out, bring them up, put them in the 7th and 8th and see if they sink or swim. If that means losing a game or two so be it. You can't find that out in ST or at Scranton, you find that out against the Blue Jays in Toronto, with a 1 run lead in the 8th, Rios up and Wells on deck. Ever hear the term, lose the battle but win the war? That applies here. Finding the right combo is going to take some time and will look ugly at times. Viper nailed it, the pen now will not be the same pen in 2 months. Patience is required.