I turned this one off in the 4th and hit the sack after Javier Vazquez gave up the lead as a result of yet another Adam LaRoche RBI base hit (speaking of which, I am totally on board with NoMaas' plot to bring LaRoche to New York. Make it happen, Cash!).Not that I didn't think the Yankees couldn't come back from a mere 4-2 deficit against the Diamondbacks' putrid bullpen, but moreso because (a) I was exhausted and didn't have the patience for another see-saw contest, (b) I figured if the Yankees did come back they didn't need me to do so, and (c) if they did battle back I'd have a nice present to wake up to upon checking my BlackBerry for the score during my usual 3am bathroom trip. As it so happens, the Yankees did come all the way back, beating Arizona 6-5 in 10 innings, for a huge extra-inning road win.
Despite the late-inning heroics of Alex Rodriguez (game-tying sacrifice fly), Curtis Granderson (go-ahead solo home run) and of course, Mariano Rivera (escaping a bases-loaded no-out jam in the bottom of the 10th!!!), I'm still happy with my decision, as I'm pretty sure I would've destroyed my television at some point during the remainder of this game.
As an aside, I sure hope people aren't still upset about the Granderson trade. I know his overall line (.246/.321/.455) is a bit down from where we'd like it to be (although how about that SLG?), but so far this season he's sure had a penchant for timely home runs -- the go-ahead solo shot against Boston in the third game of the year, the go-ahead bomb against the Mets last Saturday, and now last night -- not to mention the fact that Austin Jackson (.307/.353/.413) has finally cooled down and likely still has even more cooling to do (Jackson's ZIPS ROS projected wOBA is a mere .304, which would have him finishing the season at .322).
And so, in the immortal words of RAB's Mike Axisa, the Yankees won a game they had no business winning, and managed to take the series 2-1 over Arizona. That the Yankees walked 13 times in this game and only scored six runs is mind-boggling, not to mention the fact that Dontrelle Willis issued seven(!) free passes in his 2 1/3 innings of work. Speaking of which, how do you knock the opposing starter out in under three innings and somehow manage to trail the game after four?
Perhaps even more important than the Yankees stealing a game were the late-inning heroics of former Yankee Jason Giambi up in Colorado. Much to my chagrin, presumptive Cy Young Ubaldo Jimenez completely unsurprisingly had his worst start of the season against the Red Sox, and I figured Boston was a lock for a victory. But the Rockies would have none of that, as they hit two home runs off Jonathan Papelbon -- including Giambi's walk-off two-run bomb -- to send Boston to a second straight loss for the first time in nearly two weeks. THANK YOU, GIAMBINO!
Not only that, but the Rays continued their downward spiral, losing for the 11th time in their last 19 games. There's still so much baseball left, and I fully expect the Yanks, Sox and Rays to be battling it out until the bitter end, but it's still nice to see Tampa Bay in particular stumble a bit.
THE GIAMBINO!!! Ian Stewart's bomb was huge.
ReplyDeleteThough I've ripped Sox fans many times in the past for being more excited about Yankee losses than Red Sox wins, I can't help but be ridiculously jazzed about this Sox loss. What wonderful news to wake up to.
ReplyDeleteyou're the worst kind of tool, the kind that doesn't realize he's a tool
ReplyDeleteJason Giambi's biggest home run since the 2 he hit in the Aaron Boone Game. And while these last 2 games, bombing out the Arizona bullpen and last night's 10th inning, isn't full revenge for the 2001 World Series (we'll need steroid testing on Curt Schilling and Luis Gonzalez for that, we've already caught Matt Williams), it sure does feel good.
ReplyDeleteOooh Anonymous, burn! You really got me good! I feel so insulted by someone who can't even be bothered to identify themselves.
ReplyDeleteIf you can't play nice, don't bother coming back here.
Uncle Mike, I'm a Yankee fan and I find the suggestion that we lost the 2001 Series because of steroids to be appalling. That bloop was one of the most painful moments of my sports life but you have to be a complete moron to even bring up steroids. Please let sleeping dogs lie already. Half the Yankees of the dynasty era have been implicated. As a Yankee fan, consider that fact and just let it go.
ReplyDeletePlay THIS, toolbox
ReplyDeleteBURN !!! HHAHAHAHA
ReplyDeleteHook, line, sinker. Tool.
IMO - I'm glad the AL East continued to hit Ubaldo. He had 6ER last night and his 2nd worst outing was 3ER against Toronto, interestingly enough...granted 3ER is not a bad outing and he got the W. Even better is the final outcome of last night's game and Huston Street finally coming off the shelf for my Fantasy team!
ReplyDeleteAlso of note. The young Colin Curtis was 2-2 in pinch hit appearances these last 2 games on this NL road trip, both times knocking in some big runs.
It's big to get that monkey off your back, also important to not rely on Marcus Thames as your only bat off the bench. I would love to see us develop a young bat (finally) that can get a big hit when called on.
Larry you look like a real jackass shooing away someone on an open forum, even if that person is making fun of you. Besides you should feel lucky that even one person is reading what you think. This is the internet, people like you are a dime a dozen. And what difference does it make if the other poster "identifies" himself? I'm "identifying" myself and you still don't know me from Adam. Get off yer high horse !! Agree with Anonymous, you're a tool.
ReplyDeleteDefinition of a bad trade is watching a mediocre ball player have a big game against a mediocre pitcher than seek him in a trade. LaRoche is terrible and he had 2 good games against AJ Burnett who is pitching like crap and Vasquez who actually is crap. The Yanks have been getting crushed on trades in the past 5 seasons and they need to stop trading and bring up their prospects. Why not bring up Laird and play him at 3rd and DH AROD? Seems to me the problem would be solved w/o getting a another clown who bats .250 with OBP below .350.
ReplyDeleteI'd certainly be interested in seeing what Laird could do, although that'd be a pretty aggressive and unlikely promotion.
ReplyDeleteYou're right; trading for a guy on the basis of three good games doesn't make sense and is the kind of thinking that has hurt the Yankees in the past, but in this case I think you're undervaluing LaRoche a bit.
Not saying he's the one piece that sends the team over the edge, but he'd still provide more production out of DH than the team is currently getting. LaRoche's .354 wOBA would be 5th-best among full-time AL DHs.
If you can get LaRoche for a fringe prospect, I don't see many drawbacks. And if Johnson ever returns you've added some pop to what is presently a very thin bench, and maybe LaRoche becomes this year's Hinske.
Hi Larry,
ReplyDeleteYou aren't getting up EVERY NIGHT to hit the head at 3 AM, are you? I'm not a doctor, but that sounds like an issue.
I have a problem with folks posting on forums as 'Anonymous,' particularly when they're going to call people names. Stand up and be accountable. In my view, posting as 'Anonymous' doesn't make you a tool - it makes you the whole tool box. You're such a tremendous tool that other tools gravitate toward you. Identifying yourself is about being consistently accountable for your comments and gaining a reputation, for good or ill. Like that guy Butcher on NoMaas - all the other users hate him (why, I'm not sure) and rip apart everything he says. But, he takes it like a man. He doesn't hide under a rock. I respect that.
~j
Looks like I got "burned by Anonymous," too. Yeah, some Yankees have been implicated. And what's been proven? Only that no team has been in more postseasons AGAINST steroid-ridden teams.
ReplyDeleteAs for LaRoche, remember the Danny Cater Rule: Just because a player does well against you, doesn't mean he'll do well for you. That's how the Red Sox got Cater in '72, and we got Sparky Lyle. Yet another brilliant trade by old Tom Yawkey and his drinking buddies.
It worked for us with Chili Davis, who used to clobber us, but Chili was already an established star.
Maybe people post "Anonymous" because they are at work in the middle of the day and would prefer not having evidence of their presence on a website that they shouldn't be on. To call them the whole tool box shows the range of your education as being inside the tool box.
ReplyDelete"Maybe people post "Anonymous" because they are at work in the middle of the day and would prefer not having evidence of their presence on a website that they shouldn't be on."
ReplyDeleteDid it ever occur to you that your place of work could be monitoring your IP and what sites you go to? believe me, leaving your name in a comment on the web is the least of your worries. They can already prove you were goofing off, trust me - unless you're using a proxy...
"To call them the whole tool box shows the range of your education as being inside the tool box."
but after reading this sentence, I'm sure you don't know what a proxy is. what does that even mean? range of my education? that is a fantastic sentence! as a display of my education, i'll drop this: Anonymous comes from the Greek anonymos, meaning without a name,which comes from from an, meaning without
~jamie