Results tagged ‘ Chad Gaudin ’
Inevitable
After the way the Yankees have played the past two weeks, I am not even a little bit surprised that Boston knocked them out of first place last night. Another game, another questionable managerial decision and another loss. Jonathan Albaladejo has been a closer all season long at AAA. On top of that Girardi has rarely used him since he was called up. So what in the world was he doing in the game in the 4th innning and pitching multiple innings? He is not and never has been a long man. Some of the things Girardi does, I just cannot understand. Chad Gaudin in a one run game? Jonathan Albaladejo in the fourth inning? I just don’t get it. Is it really Joe Girardi managing or has Joe Torre snuck back into the dugout? Many of the games the Yankees have lost over the past couple weeks were winnable. Granted, last night was a blowout, but take away the runs Albaladejo allowed and it was a tie game. I understand that it is not the end of the world if the Yankees do not win the division, but right now it looks like they are consciously trying to give it away. I’m sure that they will make the playoffs, and maybe even make some noise in the post season, but they are going to have to do a lot better than they have in the past two weeks or they are going nowhere fast.
Still not good enough
After a brutal road trip in which they 3-6 against Texas, Tampa and Baltimore, the Yanks returned home on Monday. Although they have beaten Tampa both Monday and Tuesday evenings, the disturbing trend of blowing leads has continued. Monday they blew a four run lead before coming back to win, and last night a 5-0 lead went to 5-3 before they managed to plate a couple more runs late for an 8-3 win. Much of this trend, I believe can be attributed to Girardi. He made some questionable moves on that road trip that ultimately cost them and it has continued on the homestand. Monday, he removed Nova, who had thrown only 80 some odd pitches with a 4-2 lead, two outs and a man on third. Boone Logan failed to get out any of the three lefties he faced and then who does he bring in with the bases loaded and the score 4-3? Chad Gaudin! Gaudin promptly walked in the tieing run. Personally, I would have liked to have seen what Nova would have done in that situation. The worst case would be a tie game if the next hitter put one out and that is where we ended up anyway. Best case is he gets the next hitter and you can start the seventh with a new pitcher and nobody on. Girardi must do a better job of managing if this team is to succeed in the post season. Last year, every decision he made turned out right. This year, I believe he needs to be a bit more careful with his matching up and playing every situation “by the book”.
This won’t do
A lot will be written today about Joba Chaimberlain blowing the save, but the story of this game lies with the 15 strikeouts by the Yankees and the 18 men left on base. I watched this one and the Yankees just couldn’t put it away. They had numerous chances and could not come through with a hit to increase that one run lead. When they went up 5-3 it was by means of a bases loaded walk and then A-Rod promptly struck out. That was just one of many instances where they just couldn’t get a clutch hit and they paid for it. They over worked their bullpen by mixing and matching from the 6th inning on of a 13 inning game and that is why they had Gaudin pithcing in the 13th. Terrible loss and my guess is that they will pay for it the rest of this series. They have got to find ways to win games like this down the stretch if they are going to have sucess. Not expecting much from them the rest of this series as this was a huge win for Texas and like I said the bullpen is now shot. Let’s hope that they can find a way to bounce back today.
Chan Ho Park and Olympic Hockey
I woke up this morning to the news that the Yankees had signed Chan Ho Park. At first glance, I love this signing. Watching Park out of the Philly bullpen in the WS last year, I thought his stuff was nasty. He should be a nice addition as a seventh inning kind of guy. He had great numbers out of the pen in Philly last year and I think he makes the Yankees bullpen that much stronger. Of course this probably means that either Chad Gaudin or Sergio Mitre is headed out the door. At this stage, my bet is on Mitre as Gaudin pitched much better last season. It adds another bit of intrigue to spring baseball and it will be fun to see how it plays out.
On another note, it was a pleasure watching the U.S. Men’s Olympic Hockey team humiliate Canada on their home ice last night. I am an American living in Newfoundland and I take a tremendous amount of heat for being American. Hockey in Canada is like a religion and my guess is that about 90% of the country watched that game here. The stadium was full of red Team Canada jerseys and the crowd was extremely hostile, booing the Americans at every turn and cheering every move the Canadians made, particularly the hard body checks. The Canadians outshot the Americans by almost 2 to 1, but Ryan Miller was tremendous in net all night long. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed watching this because the Canadians are very arrogant about hockey being “their” game. They tend to be very smug about it and in general they detest anything American, mostly out of jealousy I think. Great game by the U.S. and too bad it was relegated to standard definition on MSNBC in the states. It was on CTV in High Def here in primetime and drew a huge audience.
David DeJesus
Actually, I have thought about the Yankees pursuing David DeJesus as their left field solution for some time. http://pinstripespublished.blogspot.com/2009/12/left-field-possibility-david-dejesus.html discusses this very thing. Although I disagree with the players mentioned, I think maybe Chad Guadin and a prospect might get it done. Gaudin would offer a solid starter to a rotation desperately in need of one. Combine him with one of the catching prospects mentioned and I think KC would be crazy not to be interested. DeJesus would be a solid contributor in left and is under team control for three more years. Also, he is a native New Yorker, who I believe would fit well into this clubhouse. This sounds like a win/win for both teams.
Another Loss on the Road
Well so much for my predictions. The blown save on Friday night looms larger than ever. Then there was Joba’s stinker and now this. Although Pettite looked good and says his shoulder didn’t hurt, the Angels scored two off him early and the Yankees never recovered. They are now 1-3 on the roadtrip with Chad Gaudin taking the mound tonight. At this point 2-4 on the trip is looking pretty good. No real cause for concern, the Yankees had been playing so well, they were due for a little slump. These things happen over the course of the season, but the timing for this one couldn’t be worse. Let’s get the playoffs clinched, then try and get back on some kind of a roll. The Angels love beating the Yankees and for some reason, they seem to play better against NY than against other teams. Not sure why that is, but they look like world beaters against us. They are a good team, no doubt about that, but they are not this much better than the Yankees. They absolutely own us, particularly in LA.
Blowout
Great job by Sergio Mitre. One hit into the seventh inning is a great performance for anyone. For Mitre, it may signal a turning point in his recovery. He has always had good movement, it’s location that has been the problem with him. Not so yesterday. He was dominant and very effective. Chad Gaudin did the right thing by taking his time warming up. He was equally impressive in relief. And what can you say about the offense? When you put up a ten spot, you are going to win most of the time. Let’s hope Mitre isn’t hurt too badly as it would be a shame for him to miss his next start after his performance in this one. This team just keeps chugging along, winning games and winning series. Can”t wait to see them in the post season. Game three today as they try to break out the brooms and sweep Ozzie Guillen and the Sox out of town. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Guillen is buddies with Hugo Chavez and most Venezualans hate him.
Clunker Against Texas
Not exactly a stirring opening to the homestand. Joba was horrible again. They need to get him straightened out and quickly. He has looked absolutely terrible three times out in a row. Having said that the Yankees had a chance to win this one in the ninth until they mysteriously had Nick Swisher attempt to bunt with runners on first and second and no outs. He popped up, then Melky quickly lined into a double play and it was all over. What in the world was Girardi thinking? Swisher has an OBP of almost .400 and almost never grounds into a double play. Let the guy hit for crying out loud. There were no outs! Having said that, it was a nice attempt at a comeback after Joba dug them a big hole. Gaudin pitched well enough in relief and Marte looked pretty good as well. Not the end of the world here. I fully expect that they will bounce back and win tonight and tomorrow.
5-2 Out West and More from LoHud
Well this is the kind of game that good teams win. The Yankees got a good effort from Chad Gaudin and just enough offense to squeak out a win on the road. Now it’s a well earned day off and 3 in Beantown. I look for the Yankees to take two of three for a 7-3 roadtrip. I predicted 6-4 at the start, but I definetly hope they win this series in Boston. After the way they started the year against the Sawx, they need to let them know who the better team is now before the playoffs. Meanwhile over at LoHud, Captain Obvious, Pete Abraham thinks there may be something wrong with Alfredo Aceves shoulder. I stated in one of my first posts two or three weeks ago that Aceves didn’t look right. Pete is actually at the games and it took him this long to figure this out. Also, guess I am not the only one of his readers that doesn’t like Pete. They are having an outing in Scranton and one guy wrote that it will be “fun to hear Pete telling everyone how great he is”. Another questioned whether Pete played High School baseball, stating “Pete was the fat kid that noone wanted on their team.” Wonder if those guys got banned too. Regardless, I believe all of our opinions are worth just as much as the so called “experts”. Pete actually e-mailed me once stating that he knows more about baseball than me because he “sometimes has dinner with the players on the road.” What a crock. Anyone who has played baseball or watched the game regularly can for an educated opinion. I welcome yours, but alas, noone reads this but me.
Nice Start to the Road Trip
Well you can’t ask for much better than that. A long flight to the West Coast after an extra inning game and what a result. Nicely pitched game by CC and 11-1 without A-Rod or Posada in the lineup. On top of that, Mo gets an extra day’s rest. This team is playing great right now and they certainly look like they can match up with anyone in the League. Still a long ways to go, but certainly Yankees fans can’t have anything to complain about at this point. So it’s Pettitte tonight and he’s been pitching lights out for about a month. Hopefully that trend can continue, because the starters for Saturday and Sunday could be a bit shaky with Mitre and Gaudin scheduled to go.
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