Results tagged ‘ Mariano Rivera ’
Mo Done for the Season and This Team Could Be As Well
It was a freak accident and it would be terrible if this is the way Mo’s career ends. I wouldn’t bet against him coming back next year though. The real problem though is that this team is flawed. The middle of the order sucks right now. Texeira in particular looks putrid at the plate. They had a chance to win this game last night with runners on first and second and no outs. What did Texeira do? Grounded into a double play to end the rally. He does this regularly and it is getting old. Robbie Cano looks lost at the plate as well and A-Rod isn’t exactly setting things on fire either. This is a flawed team. They don’t hit with RISP, the Starting Pitching has been bad and their defense is bad as well. If this trend continues, I don’t see them making the playoffs, let alone making any noise when they get there. There is still time to turn things around as it is only May, but thus far, this team has been less than impressive. And now they won’t have Mo for the rest of the year.
Thoughts on Opening Day Loss
Well it wasn’t their best effort to start the season. A lot will be written about Mo Rivera blowing the save in the 9th inning, but this game was lost by the manager in the first inning. Walking Sean Rodriguez to load the bases with two outs in the first inning to face Carlos Pena was asinine. It was the FIRST inning for crying out loud. The dumb move by Girardi backfired and cost the Yankees four runs. It was over managing at its finest. There were two outs and a not so stellar hitter at the plate. Worst case he singles in a couple of runs. Best case, you get him out and no runs. By loading the bases, you put a pitcher into a bad situation. And did I mention that it was the FIRST inning of a scoreless game. Result? Grand Slam home run and a 4-0 deficit. In a game they lost by one run, that was the difference. Absolutely ridiculous. Girardi does this several time each year where he outsmarts himself and costs his team the game. It didn’t take him long this year. He did it in the first inning of the first game. Congratulations Joe.
Nice win
This one was a pleasure to watch. A well pitched 3-1 win with no Yankee HR’s, just two timely hits. All of the “experts” make me laugh. They have repeatedly criticized the Yankees for hitting too many HR’s. What? It makes no difference how you score runs, as long as you score them. Today I read an article that criticized the win last night because the Yankees didn’t get enough hits other than the two decisive ones by Jeter and A-Rod. What a load of bull. Again folks, the team is in first place. That’s all that matters. Wins and losses are what counts. Everything else, at this point is just drivel. Freddy Garcia pitched great again, Joba was awesome as was David Robertson and Mo was Mo. Celebrate the win, don’t find reasons why it wasn’t good enough.
Another one that got away
Although you can expect that Mo will blow a save from time to time, that is not the reason the Yankees lost this game. Again, I believe that Joe Girardi mis-managed his bullpen. Why was Ivan Nova the choice in the 10th? He is a starting pitcher who is scheduled to start on Sunday. Girardi had at least two so-called long men in the bullpen in Hector Noesi and Lance Pendleton. If you’re not going to use them, why waste the roster space on them? And why was Nova left in to face Travis Snyder? You had Boone Logan warming up. He was good the last time out, so why not bring him in to get out the lefty? That is what he’s there for. It’s these kinds of decision that in my opinion have cost the Yankees 4 of their 6 losses. It will be their undoing if Girardi doesn’t change the way he manages the bullpen.
The Formula
You can’t really complain too much about a 3-1 start. The Yankees offense kind of petered out after the second inning yesterday, but Nova and the bullpen were stellar. Looks like the early Joe Torre years. If they have the lead after six, they will be tough to beat. Great job all the way around from Nova, Joba, Soriano and Mariano. And no, Michael Kay you will not hear me refer to them as JoSoMo. Still early, but overall, this team has looked pretty good. I firmly believe this team will win at least 95 games again this year. There will be ups and downs, but right now, things look pretty good,
One in the books, 161 more to go
So finally, something real to write about. I have refrained from writing for several weeks, because there was really nothing to write about. All of the spring speculation that I read in the newspapers and online seemed like drivel to me. Most of it was nonsense about how Jesus Montero failed to win the backup catcher’s job and other BS written by people who seem to have no understanding of what spring training is for. The fact is, Montero hit well enough to win the job and his defense was certainly as good as Jorge Posada has been the past few years. The reality is that the Yankees thought he could use some more seasoning at Triple A and in the end, that’s what he’ll get.
As for the first game, you could not have asked for a better ballgame. Curtis Granderson was huge with his defense and that game winning home run. I think there may have been a bit of extra incentive since they were playing the Tigers and he hit the home run off Phil Coke, who was part of the deal when he was traded. Once the Yanks got the lead, Joba, Soriano and Mariano did exactly what they are supposed to do and that is to shut the opposition down. It was a perfect blueprint for a win and I believe we will see many more like this one this year. That Yankees bullpen is going to be incredible. Sure they will have bad days, but I believe that most of the time, it will be like today. If they have a lead after six, it will be all over. Today it was tied after six, but you get the idea. So buckle up folks and enjoy the ride. It will be a long season full of ups and downs, but I for one am sure glad Yankee baseball is back.
Hey Arizona, It ain’t 2001 anymore
I was watching these games on the Fox feed from Arizona and for three straight days they did nothing but talk about beating the Yankees in the 2001 World Series. It didn’t help that Mark Grace is the D’backs announcer and he was on that team. At one point, they even had Tony Womak on the phone talking about his hit in the ninth inning of game seven. They even had Luis Gonzales in the booth talking about his walk off hit. It was pathetic. That was almost a decade ago and this team hasn’t won much of anything since. In fact with Schilling and Randy Johnson on the payroll MLB had to subsidize Arizona that year because they couldn’t meet their payroll. Everyone talks about how much the Yankees spend, but at least they pay their players out of their own budget.
So needless to say, I was happy to see Mo come through and get the win in the 10th inning. I think maybe he exorcised some deamons there. Make no mistake, this is a bad Arizona team, but after Monday’s win, they were 18-16 at home. They just can’t win on the road. For me, taking two of three was sweet, only because they wouldn’t shut up about that 2001 World Series. News flash to Mark Grace. It’s 2010, not 2001. Dyslexia is a terrible disease.
Oh Mo!
Well how can you feel bad about Mo blowing a save? It is bound to happen once in awhile. The guy is a machine when it comes to closing games. This time he had a bit of bad luck. It was a windy day with the “wind tunnel effect” in full force yesterday. Everything in the air was being blown towards right and that wasn’t exactly a monster shot that Kubel hit. This was just an unlucky outing for Mo. The count on Thome should have been 3-2 as one of the pitches called a ball was right down broadway. Who knows if he would’ve gotten him out instead of walking in that first run? Like I said, just a bit of bad luck and nothing you can do about it. No reason to even feel bad about it really. Minnestota was due to beat the Yankees eventually and luck was definitely on their side this day.
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