Live Lament
Considering the pounding Burnett keeps taking before anyone has gotten to their seats, maybe the Yanks should just bring in Rivera for the first inning, then go to their starter for the 2nd.
Must make Cliff Lee work and try to get to the bullpen. Hopefully Burnett can hold it together. The fact that Lee looked mortal in the first inning makes it all the more unsettling Burnett got pounded.
Swisher is protecting Arod in the lineup? Oh boy... Good sign that he took a walk though. It is a massive black hole in the Yanks lineup and it's disheartening to know when you get past the meat of their order, it will be two innings before they have another chance to score.
The upside to getting Burnett out of there nice and early - the black hole of the lineup that features Molina can be filled in slightly with Posada. Burnett is perfectly capable of getting clobbered on full rest, but oh boy has this decision by Girardi not worked out so far. Even going into this game it looks like it'll come down to seeing what Sabathia has left for a
game 7 if they plan to win this series.
The fanny-kicking Burnett has prompted is probably better for the Yankee bullpen so the important guys can be rested for game 6. Get Robertson some work. We'll see Phil Coke in there. Maybe Gaudin, unless he is the protection in case Pettitte starts game 6 and is bounced early. If the Yanks come back to make this close, it could backfire on them. I repeat my comments from the conclusion of game four: the pitching match-ups seem to
be setting things up for a game 7. The "momentum" from game four was nice, but that disappears in a heartbeat against a pitcher like Cliff Lee. And it disappears so fast it practically goes back in time when your high priced righthanded horse is sent to the showers before he even had a chance to sweat. Since you never know what you're going to get from this guy it'd be a heck of a gamble, but he can probably pitch a couple innings of game 7
if such a situation calls for it. But for tonight, his final line: 2 IP, 4H, 4BB , 6ER.
This is too much agita. To paraphrase Cole Hamels, let's just get this thing over with.
Best thing the Yanks can do tonight (short of winning) is have their offense show signs of life. If they face Pedro on Wednesday, it'd be nice to think they don't have to wait until he's at the 100 pitch mark before making a dent against him.
They just turned a PH for Robertson into a run with a walk by Hinske. Again, Lee looks slightly human tonight, so AJ's performance feels particularly brutal.
Yanks are making some slight noise in the top of the 5th. If they miraculously score 6 runs and take a lead, I think Girardi will go to Rivera for the final five innings.
Teixeira's batting .063 in the Series. Maybe he's waiting for a dramatic moment in game 7 before breaking out.
I'm repeating myself, but the thought keeps circulating around my head: Can CC muster just one more winning performance this year? I don't even want to see him on the bench before then. I'd like to think he's spending every hour of every day leading up to game 7 in a hot tub or getting a rub down so he's loose, limber and ready to go on Thursday.
Utley's HRs have become so expected, I might start a pool at work to pick which inning he launches one next game.
I don't mean this in quite the ominous manner in which it may sound, but this series reminds me of the 2004 ALCS. With the Yanks up 3-0, I still felt the Sox should have won each of the four remaining games when looking at it as each game individually. But I figured the Yanks would still win the series simply because weird things happen. In this series, games 5 and 6 clearly have the Phillies favored -- I'm just hoping for something goofy to happen to win it for the Yanks. The curious managerial move, the ball that hits a bird and drops in between three fielders, the star player accidentally scratching his cornea with a salad fork...
Coke is Hit. Well, at least he got some work in that did not have to go to Rivera. I would like to see Hughes get some work in tonight to see if he can be observed not through fingers being screened over ones eyes. Ah, thank you Skip, Hughes is a-comin' in.
Wait a sec... Why is Charlie Manuel running Cliff Lee out there with a 6 run lead over 100 pitches if Lee is someone who can be hugely valuable to them in game 7?
Arod just doubled in two runs on a ball a better outfield than Ibanez comes up with. This all makes Burnett's performance sting all the more. Lee ends up giving up four runs in seven innings. Tough time for AJ to not show up. Am I belaboring this?
Observation: lost in all the comically bad umpiring this post-season is how mostly bad the home plate umpiring has been. Bipartisan, of course, but I think of how a guy like Swisher in particular is doomed when he and the ump have a different idea of the strike zone.
I keep hearing how Cano is going to win a batting title some day. Indeed he has the sweetest swing by someone when going after balls that are closer to the press box than they are to home plate. Rodriguez just stole a run for the Yanks on a shallow pop up to CF by Cano.
Well, so far it's playing out nicely, even if results in a loss. The Yanks avoided going to overused relievers and they are showing offensive signs of life. Small victory, though this isn't over just yet.
Oh, and with Jeter up representing the tying run in the 9th, I'm just praying against a DP. Teixeira, his struggles aside, must come up representing the tying run.
Oooohhhhhh nuts.
Well that last comment following Jeter's DP kind of sums it up for the night. But wait... Damon got a hit, bringing Tex up as the tying run. Well, this is what you want. Just a chance for the long ball, and Teixeira won't get cheated.
Well, he got nothing he could hit and only one pitch was even in the strike zone, neatly hitting the outside corner. This guy is starting to remind me of Soriano.
Like the game wasn't galling enough, it is immediately punctuated by a Ken Rosenthal interview where he asks Chase Utley "How cool is that?" referring to Utley hitting his 5th HR of the series to tie Reggie's record, then Rosenthal follows up with "Can you win this series in 7?"
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