Well, don't forget the gift run the Tigers got courtesy of that gaffe by Tim Welke with his "foul" signal that made Ibanez give up on the ball before it landed on the line, fair. I wanted to give Girardi a standing ovation for the argument he put up that got him tossed.
The Tigers had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th with the lead-off double and single that gave them first and third with no one out, but Soriano then suddenly beared down and got two popouts and a flyout to Granderson to end the game. I was listening to this on the radio headed down to the shore for an evening concert and it was a very nailbiting experience! But all in all, a game the Yankees needed since the last two weeks their biggest problem was losing all the close games. A game like this does have the potential to be a long-term momentum changer, and I hope that's the case.
Three in a row with a 10-4 drubbing of the Blue Jays. Their late rally in pulling away from a 3-2 game was triggered in part by a freak play where the Jays shortstop I think it was tried to race for a catch hit to the outfield but the ball struck him in the head and bounded away!
Six solid innings from Garcia and Joba was used for the first time in a pressure situation getting the final out of the 7th when it was still a one run game.
Nova has a good outing for the first time in a long while, going into the 8th as the Yankees prevail 5-2 for their fourth in a row. Recent arrival Casey McGhee provided a three run blast in a four run 4th inning.
The last game of the Detroit series is so far giving them some much needed momentum.
This was Sabathia's turn in the rotation so as a replacement we got David Phelps for five innings and then Derek Lowe for four innings. The ex-Boston hurler who was part of their 2004 team, delivered four shutout innings and the Yankees had a big eruption earlier against Ryan Dempster for an 8-2 rout of the Rangers, who chase them for the best record in the league.
Dempster was the late pickup at the deadline by the Rangers, and so far he's not delivering for them.
Complete game shutout from Kuroda as he beats the Rangers 3-0! All the scoring comes on back to back HRs from Swisher (with Jeter on) and then Teixeira. Good to make a statement against the team vying with the Yankees for best record in the league.
I don't think I have ever seen a manager fail so miserably in his first year with a team the way Valentine has with Boston, and this story makes the bygone days of Billy and Reggie seem like small potatoes by comparison.
Leave it to Doug Fister to stop the losing streak for the Tigers. Miggy gets RBI 100 and 101. Makes him only the third Tiger in the team's history to have five consecutive 100 RBI seasons. Harry Heilmann did it in seven straight seasons (1923-29) and Charlie Gehringer did it in five straight (1932-36). Tigers remain 2 games behind the White Sox.
The best of times, the worst of times for MLB today. Felix Hernandez throws a perfect game for the Mariners over the Rays, the third one this year I think, which is certainly a record. And then on the same day, All Star Game MVP Melky Cabrera gets suspended for the rest of the season due to flunking a steroids test.
Melky was having a dream season on all levels that surprised me a bit since I saw nothing like this from Melky when he was a Yankee, but I wouldn't have suspected this.
Good outing from Garcia again who only allows two monster solo homers to Josh Hamilton as the Yankees win 3-2. This is the kind of game they weren't winning during their streak and they had to overcome an error on what would have been the game-ending play in the ninth to finally get it locked down.
If Sabathia and Pettitte return and they continue to play this well on the fundamental level, I'll start to believe in them as a team that can do deep into the playoffs again.
The best of times, the worst of times for MLB today. Felix Hernandez throws a perfect game for the Mariners over the Rays, the third one this year I think, which is certainly a record. And then on the same day, All Star Game MVP Melky Cabrera gets suspended for the rest of the season due to flunking a steroids test.
Melky was having a dream season on all levels that surprised me a bit since I saw nothing like this from Melky when he was a Yankee, but I wouldn't have suspected this.
That's the problem. Nobody suspects it. Then there's the lying and the twisting of the truth when they are found out but at least Cabrera owned up to it.
Cabrera's career was floundering after he left the Yankees until just recently when he turned into Superman wearing a San Francisco Giants uniform.
All the good feelings about his success this season, all the hopes of reviving his career are now up in the air. Did he think HE'D be the one to somehow get away with it?
Not to mention his contract is up and he was no doubt expecting to cash in on having a comeback year. He can forget about all that now.
Phil Hughes had one bad inning where he threw away a DP grounder that eventually allowed the Red Sox four unearned runs (odd how an error by the pitcher helps him keep his ERA down!) but the Yankees overcame that with more solo HRs and a lights out ninth from Soriano to preserve the 6-4 win. Valentine's reaction as the final out was caught said it all for what kind of year it's been for him.
Santana getting pummeled again down in Washington (if the Nats weren't dealing with this absurd decision to shut down Strasburg, they'd be hands-down the NL favorites to go all the way) makes one wonder more if staying in to throw a no-hitter ultimately did more harm than good.
I don't think I have ever seen a manager fail so miserably in his first year with a team the way Valentine has with Boston, and this story makes the bygone days of Billy and Reggie seem like small potatoes by comparison.
The Red Sox are awful this year. Whatever expectations they had for this season crashed and burned months ago. Gone are the days when a Yankees vs. Red Sox weekend series matchup actually meant something.
I don't know if it's the chemistry, the underperforming or what, but I think Bobby V probably gets at least the beginning of 2013 to turn it around and if they stink out the joint up there in Boston again next year I think he'll be through. He may just walk away from it. There was a bad vibe and bad blood from the start.
Bobby had a cushy network baseball broadcasting job and has other business ventures away from the game. At this point he has to be wondering how he wound up in Red Sox Nation hell.
Now former Red Sox manager Terry Francona has the cushy baseball broadcasting job, two World Championship rings, the appreciation of adoring Red Sox fans, and no agita.
Santana getting pummeled again down in Washington (if the Nats weren't dealing with this absurd decision to shut down Strasburg, they'd be hands-down the NL favorites to go all the way) makes one wonder more if staying in to throw a no-hitter ultimately did more harm than good.
Santana should be shut down for the rest of the season. It's obvious something is very wrong and it's not just mechanical. He's never been the type of pitcher to be lit up as badly as he has been lately, and the warning bells were already there. There's no point to risking another injury and with the Mets season basically over other than playing out the string it would be a wise move on the organization's part to sit him.
Did the extended pitch count (during the no-hitter) have an effect? Nobody knows right now because Santana is not saying. Only recently he's spoken of having a tired arm, and he was immediately pulled from the rotation. But the fact remains that he had a splendid start to this season up until after that game against St. Louis. He had a bad outing against the Yankees the following start, had a few decent efforts sprinkled in shortly after that, and it went downhill from there.
Every athlete in recovery is different, and he may have come back too soon with too much of a workload to begin with on a creaky surgically repaired pitching shoulder.
The shoulder surgery Santana had was career threatening, and the fact that he made it all the way back after a year off to start on opening day this year was remarkable in itself. But the writing is indeed on the wall, and as uncomfortable as that is the Mets are going to have to sit down this winter and ponder a future beyond Santana.
The Yankees are looking absolutely awful against the White Sox and the weak link being exposed more and more is pitching. Nova is terrible and the middle relievers demonstrated again last night that they don't know how to protect a lead in the 6th inning.
On top of that, Tampa Bay is on fire and making the likelihood of a division win far from a slam dunk for the Yankees at this rate.
The Yankees end their losing streak and get their lead back to 3.5 games over Tampa Bay but not in convincing fashion. This win against Cleveland tonight was more notable for the fact that THREE times in the first four innings, the Yankees had a runner on third and one out situation and in each instance, they failed with strikeout, double play and strikeout respectively. I have never seen a team with a mental block about bringing in runners in that situation like this one and it's why I really don't have much expectations for them to go far at this point. They are giving off too much of a 2005-2007 vibe at this point.
Those runs they didn't score almost cost them big in the ninth as Soriano had second and third and none out protecting a 3-1 lead. But amazingly he got out of the jam and preserved the victory. It was a pure relief victory emotionally and little excitement on my part.
The biggest story now is the rumored blockbuster deal between the Red Sox and Dodgers which if it comes off would result in the Red Sox unloading all of their deadweight in Crawford, Gonzalez and Beckett. If they do this, then their GM deserves Executive of the Year honors since this will enable the Red Sox to turn around much sooner.
Boston is now having another tea party. It's called the big money player salary dump.
The Dodgers certainly can't complain about not having money NOW, can they. That's a lot of money and unfulfilled promise moving west.
Magic Johnson and the new ownership out there in LA are hungry to get folks talking about the Dodgers again. I guess part of it is that not enough hot Hollywood celebrities are showing up to be seen for a few innings at Chavez Ravine when the camera pans the stands.
I don't think Beckett has a lot left, and the oft injured Crawford as good as he was several years ago in Florida was a bust signing of the first order by Boston. The Red Sox are finally closing the book on that horrid move. Those two alone are still owed a boatload of money.
Perhaps while they're at it, the Dodgers might even take Jason Bay and his lopsided contract off the Mets hands too. (Fred Wilpon, are you reading this??)
What is not clear are the details of this trade. Is LA prepared to swallow all that money at once or is Boston going to pay a portion of it to get rid of these guys?
It's a ol' fashioned baseball blockbuster trade. We don't see many of them anymore because of the sheer weight of the bloated contracts and this one came as a surprise.
The Dodgers may have also been influenced by all the high profile signings and trades done by the Angels the last year. Not to mention the fact that the Dodgers are in the longest pennant drought in franchise history including even their futility in Brooklyn days. With that history, a new ownership group that's willing to spend would take risks no other ownership group would dare do.
