Baltimore Orioles: 54-77, 5th in the AL East.

Pitching match-ups:

Game 1: Andy Pettitte vs. Jeremy Guthrie

Game 2: A.J. Burnett vs. David Hernandez

Game 3: CC Sabathia vs. Jason Berken

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One of the benefits of a nice long vacation is that you miss some of the daily minutae, especially when covering a game/team on an almost-daily basis. Sometimes it’s good to step away, regroup. Then I had a chance to see a small part of yesterday’s game and I was confused all over again. The Joba Rules must be written in pencil. Lightly, as they seem to be changing after each outing.

We had family over yesterday, helping us celebrate our triumphant return, so my focus was muted. When I looked up in the fourth inning and Joba was out of the game, I started to sweat. What happened? How badly is he hurt? What’d I miss? Evidently nothing, as the Joba Rules now call for him to pitch 3 innings for the next few starts before ramping back up to a whopping 5 innings as the season comes to a close.

He was not injured, nor was he in any particular trouble on the mound. But Manager Joe Girardi has a grand scheme to preserve Chamberlain’s arm for the playoffs a month from now. And on Sunday, that meant pulling him after three innings, regardless of the score.

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After so many mocked the new, safer, helmet a few weeks back, David Wright has agreed to become the first to wear it (even if he planned to wear it anyways).

As David Wright prepares to come off the disabled list Tuesday, he plans to make good on his word. Even before he was struck on the helmet by a Matt Cain fastball on Aug. 8, he said he would wear the new extra-protective S100 helmet from Rawlings, no matter how it looked.

And he shall be… Kazoo!

At least someone’s willing to put his safety and common sense ahead of bravado…

Finishing up their homestand in the Bronx, the Yankees looked to sweep the struggling White Sox. Early on it looked like Ozzie Guillen’s rant may have put some fight back into Chicago, however, it was short-lived. The Yankees completed the sweep, winning 8-3 and outscoring Chicago 23-5 over the weekend.

Podsednik started the game with a triple and scored on a ground out by Beckham, giving the White Sox a 1-0 lead. Jeter did what he does best, getting the Yankees going with yet another first inning hit (I believe he has hits in the first inning in 9 of the last 13 games). A deep fly ball by Teixeira, which missed going over by a couple feet, brought Jeter in from third and the Yankees tied it up. A-Rod followed with a hard single up the middle, but was picked off at first to end the inning. Joba pitched efficiently, only needing 16 pitches to get through the first two innings, however, he struggled in the third. Alexei Ramirez singled and stole second, before moving to third on Nix’s single. Podsednik followed with the third straight single of the inning, plating Ramirez, but Cano pegged Nix out at third. Podsednik stole second, and advanced to third on Beckham second ground out of the game, but Joba got Pierzynski to strike out looking to end the inning.

The Chicago lead was short-lived, as Jeter singled in the third and Damon put a two-run shot into the second deck in right to put the Yankees up 3-2. Aceves relieved Joba in the fourth, as part of the Yankees new plan to keep Joba’s innings down. In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Yankees built on their lead. With Cano and Hinske on, Melky Cabrera hit a screamer off the left field wall for a RBI double. Jeter was intentionally walked and Hairston, hitting for Damon, drilled the ball to the left fielder picking up the sac fly. Teixeira, who narrowly missed a homer to right in the first inning, made up for it by sending a three-run bomb deep, giving the Yankees the 8-2 lead. Jermaine Dye got one run back for Chicago in the ninth, going yard on the first pitch he saw from Phil Coke, but it was not enough as the Pinstripes walked away with the 8-3 victory.

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It’s good to be back. Sort of. It’s always nice returning to your own bed and comforts of home, but it sure was tough leaving Southern California. I won’t bore you with too many photos and family stories, but I did want to share a really fun baseball-related day: Friday, August 21, 2009.

Here’s the setup: A few days prior to leaving for San Diego, I emailed my friend, Matt. Matt, an agent, has been a long time FOTB. In my email to Matt, I asked him if there was any way that I could get my boys to meet Kyle Blanks, a client of his, since we were going to be at the game. In a way that is typical Matt, he responded a few hours later with a “Call me asap” email. I gave him a call and he let me know that he not only arranged for us to meet Blanks, but that Kyle suggested that we meet him for lunch before the game. I was giddy, to say the least, as I knew this would be a tremendous experience for my boys…meeting a pro ballplayer and having lunch with him right before he played! Nevermind the fact that he hit a GW HR a few days prior, followed up the next day with the first inside-the-park HR in Petco history.

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Chicago White Sox: 64-64, 2nd place AL Central.

Pitching Match-ups:

Tonight: Mark Buehrle vs. CC Sabathia

Saturday: TBD vs. Sergio Mitre

Sunday: Freddy Garcia vs. Joba Chamberlain

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AJ Burnett was looking for a little redemption and the Yankees were hoping to pick up the series win, as they took on the Texas Rangers in the final game of the series this afternoon. Burnett’s control was much better than it has been of late, however, the Yankees’ offense was unable to capitalize on their many opportunities and the Rangers walked away with the series, winning 7-2. This is just the second series, since the All-Star Break, that New York has dropped.

Burnett came out dealing, striking out two in the top of the first and pitching eleven of his twelve pitches for strikes. The Yankee offense looked aggressive as Damon walked and stole second. Teixeira connected with an RBI single to center and the Yankees had the 1-0 lead. The Yankees had runners on in the second and managed to load the bases in the third, but failed to score. Meanwhile, AJ piled up the Ks and kept the Rangers from reaching base.

In the fourth, AJ struck out the first two batters he faced. On the 2-2 pitch to Hamilton, Burnett appeared to catch him looking, but the pitch at the knees was called a ball and the next pitch landed in the dirt giving Texas their first baserunner. AJ seemed to lose his focus and walked the next batter before giving up a three-run bomb to Ian Kinsler, putting Texas on the board and in front 3-1. In the bottom of the fourth, the Yankees got a run back after Jeter and Damon both walked. The Captain distracted Nibbert by stealing third and Teixeira sent the next pitch into right for another RBI single. AJ pitched 1-2-3 fifth and sixth innings, but the Pinstripes’ offense failed to bail him out.

Coke relieved Burnett in the top of the seventh and immediately gave up a ground-rule double to Murphy. The next batter put down a nice bunt towards third. Alex should have called Coke off, but the pitcher grabbed the ball and sent a throw to first that pulled Cano off the bag. Unfortunately, that was not the last mistake Coke would make, as he gave up a three-run homer to Davis, giving the Rangers the 6-2 edge. In the bottom of the seventh, the Bombers threatened. Damon and Teix both got on base, but A-Rod, Matsui and Swisher each struck out. Ian Kinsler sent his second homerun out of the park in the eighth, to cap off the Rangers’ rout of New York.

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There are many ways of making a statistical generality to say someone is a good hitter. Examples include ‘he’s a forty homer guy’ or ‘ he’s a 30-30 kind of player.’ One of the more meaningful ones is to say that a player is hitting or has the ability to post a .300/.400/.500 slash line. That means, of course, that a batter hits three hundred, gets on base forty percent of the time, and is slugging five hundred. It isn’t the best way of measuring hitting ability, but it is a quick indicator to see how good a hitter is at the three basic hitting qualities: hitting for average, getting on base, and hitting for power. Entering today, there were only eight players in the entire major leagues posting a 3/4/5 line (min. 360 PA’s.) A couple others are percentage points from earning the distinction, but coming in to today, there were only eight. Seven of those players you would expect, or at least not be surprised to know were on this list: Hanley, Pujols, Cabrera, Utley, Fielder, Mauer, and Youkilis. The eighth was a huge surprise to me. I mean, did anyone not watching Nationals baseball on a near daily basis know that Josh Willingham was posting a .300/.407/.578 slash line?

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During the past week the Yankees’ starting pitching has been disappointing, giving up 39 runs in the last four games. Andy Pettitte looked to give the Yankees a solid outing as the offense battled the Rangers’ young rookie, Derek Holland.

Andy struggled in the first inning when Young reached on an error by Alex Rodriguez and Hamilton singled. Pettitte walked Nelson Cruz to load the bases with only one out, but got out of trouble when Pudge Rodriguez grounded into a double play. Pettitte settled down and pitched well as the Yankees offense took off. A-Rod singled to start the second inning and Matsui followed with a base hit. The Texas pitching coach went out to calm the young Holland, but Posada followed with a deep fly ball to center field giving the Yankees the 3-0 lead. In the fourth, Jerry Hairston, Jr., who gave Johnny Damon a day off from left field, hit a solo shot to left, extending the Yankee lead.

In the top of the fifth, Chris Davis got the Rangers rolling with a single to Jeter. Teagarden struck out, but a long double by David Murphy scored Davis and the Rangers were on the board. Pettitte walked Andrus, but got Kinsler to pop up and Young to strike out to end the inning and keep the damage to a minimum. Murphy struck again in the seventh, sending the ball over the wall in right center field with two outs. The Rangers had pulled within two, but the Yankees’ offense was not finished. Cano started the bottom of the seventh with a double to left. Hairston walked and Cabrera put down a sac bunt that Jason Jennings, the relief pitcher, mishandled, allowing Melky to load the bases on the error. Derek Jeter came through with his first hit of the night, driving the ball to left and scoring Cano and Hairston. Swisher followed with a double to right, plating Melky. Teixeira capped off the Yankees’ rally by sending Jeter and Swisher home on a single to right, giving the Bombers the 9-2 lead at the end of seven.

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The Yankees return to the Bronx was not the homecoming they had hoped for as the Bombers’ pitching appeared allergic to third outs and a late rally left them just short of a victory. An extra-rested Joba struggled against the Rangers, who were able to stay 1.5 games behind Boston in the wild card race, as the Yankees lost 10-9.

In the first inning the Yankees looked like they were in control. With two outs Teixeira walked and moved to second on Alex Rodriguez’s single. Matsui doubled, plating Teix and A-Rod and Posada followed with a two-run shot to give New York an early 4-0 lead. Joba got a quick two outs in the second, but (as would be the theme) the third out eluded him. Pudge Rodriguez singled and then stole second base. Chris Davis walked and then Andrus doubled to left, getting the Rangers on the board as both Pudge and Davis scored.

The bottom fell out for Joba in the fourth. Once again, he got a quick two outs and once again Pudge started a rally for Texas. Joba walked the Rangers’ backstop, Davis singled and Andrus followed with another single which scored Pudge. At the end of the inning Texas rattled off five straight singles, resulting in five runs and giving the Rangers a 7-4 lead. Robbie Cano did his best to get the Yankees back in it, starting the bottom of the fourth, with a homerun that barely stayed fair, but that would be it for the Yankee bats until the ninth.

Joba was relieved early and Chad Gaudin came out at the top of the fifth. With one out he gave up a home run to Nelson Cruz and the Rangers increased their lead to 8-5. Gaudin made it through the sixth without allowing any more runs, but after two quick outs in the seventh he walked Borbon and gave up a two-run shot to Michael Young, putting the Rangers on top 10-5. The Yankees, however, were not going down without a fight. Johnny Damon got things started with a single to right. Teixeira walked and Texas brought went to their closer, despite the large lead, who walked A-Rod to load the bases. Matsui sent a line drive into right, scoring Damon and keeping the bases juiced with no outs. Posada then sent a dribbler down the third baseline, scoring Teix with the infield single. Cano sent a nice line drive to left, scoring A-Rod and Matsui, pulling the Bombers within one with no outs in the ninth. Then (and I will get back to this later) Swisher failed to move the runners, popping up a bunt to Michael Young for the first out of the inning. Melky attempted another walk-off thriller for the Pinstripes, but lined out to second and Hairston (running for Posada) failed to get back in time as Andrus completed the unassisted double play, ending the game.

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