The Captain is out after fouling a ball off his foot last night. This brings us to a worst-case scenario which could have been avoided. Right before the trade deadline the Yanks dealt Alberto Gonzalez to the Washington Nationals for a minor league pitcher. At the time, I thought it was a horrible move for one simple reason, if Jeter gets hurt, Wilson Betemit is our only option at short. If Jeter's injury lingers, we're going to see a whole lot of Betemit out there, which is not a good thing.
Anyway, here's the Yankee lineup, first pitch is about an hour away and I'll be updating this post after the jump as I can.
- Damon (LF)
- Abreu (DH)
- A-Rod (3B)
- Giambi (1B)
- Nady (RF)
- Cano (2B)
- I-Rod (C)
- Betemit (SS)
- Melky (CF)
Not a very deep lineup. The Yanks will face Kevin Slowey, the Ras is on the hill for the Bombers. Thoughts in the comments, as usual.
Sterling just announced that if Rasner pitches a perfect game a guy named Pedro Cruz will win $1M. That has to be the safest $1M ever put on the line by a sponsor. They probably didn't even insure it.
Peter Abraham is saying Hughes will make his next start in Trenton on Sunday, meaning Geise will get another start for the Bombers, and the soonest we'll see Hughes back in NY would be the following Sunday, at Baltimore. Might be good for him to get his first start back on the road.
- Yanks 1, Twins 0 - A-Rod with a two-out double, Giambo hits a single off the baggy to score him. A-Rod must've run through Meacham's stop sign.
- The Ras works through Giambi's glove malfunction. Strikes out Mauer and Morneau to end the inning.
- One two three for the (what's the opposite of meat, vegetables?) vegetables of the Yankee order. Cano, Pudge, Betemit looking strong.
- The Ras gets a DP to end the bottom of the second.
- Damon shatters a bat!
- Yanks go down 1,2,3 in the top of the third.
- Ruiz leads off with a single. Melky runs down a fly ball in center on a hit-and-run, doubles Ruiz off first. Ras gets lucky, Harris hits a ball off him, then runs out of the baseline on his way to first, blocking Rasner's lane to make the throw to first.
- 1,2,3 for the Yanks.
- Walk, error, three-run bomb for Delmon Young. Yankees 1, Twins 3. No more damage, but that was probably enough to seal this one. Funny, I really thought Rasner would make that one-run lead stand up, that's baseball.
- Betemit closed his eyes and got a two-out single. Melky stranded him. Yanks are really battling out there.
- Sterling, Waldman and Fiesand are ripping Cano to shreds over that error. Anyone see it? How bad was it?
- Ras sits 'em down 1,2,3. Through five, Twins 3, Yanks lifeless.
- Pop out, walk, pop out, caught stealing. Awesome work.
- Geise in for the Ras. Bases juiced, no one out. Looks like Geise is hurt to boot. Wonderful. Geise is out, and I'd bet that means the Ras will get the start on Tuesday. They could still go with Hughes, but I doubt it. Robertson is in, maybe the kid will come up huge. Probably won't matter either way, though. Robertson Ks Delmon Young. Bases still juiced, one out. Sac fly. Twins 4, Yanks hopeless.
- Ground out, pop out, ground out. The Yanks sure seem like they're in a hurry to get this road trip over.
- Single, caught stealing, fly out, fly out.
- I-Rod singles to lead off the eighth for the Yanks. No choice but to let Betemit hit righty. Single by Betemit, Sexson coming up to face a lefty after Gardenhire made a mistake in signaling the pen for a lefty.
Well, it looks like my meeting couldn't have come at a better time.
4-2 is the final, this season is done.
Player of The Game: Rasner.
Team Record: 64-57
I believe the opposite of meat should either be like jello of the lineup (would work if Molina was in) or the fiber of the lineup (because you can flush any chances of a rally down the drain).
Good one, Alex!
Five freaking ESPN channels, and I can't get this game! This sucks.
Wow, make a note of this. The first time that Suzyn Waldman has made me appreciate her presence. If not for her, we wouldn't have found out about that mistake Gardenhire made until after the commercial, when Sterling would've had time to be uploaded via floppy disk with the info.
Haha, did you hear that guy yell "You're a loser!" to some player loud enough to hear over Sterling? Sterling then goes "Hmm, sounds like some guy doesn't like [players name]."
On another note, anyoen ever see someone miss as many pitches as Sexson does when he swings? It just blows my mind. Apparent fastball right down the middle and he can't even foul it off. Bring Shelley back up, what's the point?
According to fangraphs.com, Sexson is #5 in the majors at swinging and missing, among all players with 300 plate appearances or more. The only people who swung and missed at a higher rate than him this year have been Mark Reynolds, Jack Cust, Ryan Howard, and Justin Upton
He's too big and lanky to get around on a good fastball, especially now that he's in his 30's
Wow, Tom, that's very informative, really. I knew it appeared that way and that just makes me feel better. Problem is, I'd totally take Howard or Upton and day. Thanks!
2009 here we come
Sexson is useless.
A huge hole in his swing on inside pitches.
We could see Pavano in a week....