The New York Yankees, behind a complete game shutout by Hiroki Kuroda, and a three-run fifth inning by the Yankees’ makeshift lineup, took the series from the Baltimore Orioles, two games to one. Jayson Nix drove in the first run in the fifth inning off of Orioles’ starter Wei-Yin Chen with a sacrifice fly and then Brett Gardner hit a booming two-run homer to round out the scoring.
Kuroda was magnificent. He had all of his pitches working and induced 21 ground balls in 25 batted balls by the Orioles, allowing only five hits and no walks. Kuroda struck out five and even worked around two errors by the left side of his infield. The Yankees’ starter threw 70% of his 113 pitches for strikes and it was not until the ninth inning when a runner got to second on defensive indifference, did the Orioles get a runner into scoring position.
Wei-Yin Chen matched Kuroda for the first four innings though he was not as sharp as Kuroda. It seemed like Chen was in the middle of the strike zone most of the time and the Yankees could not square him up. Kevin Youkilis just missed a homer in his first at bat. In Brett Gardner’s second at bat, the center fielder fouled off six straight down-the-middle pitches before hitting into a double play.
But the Yankees broke through in the fifth. Brennan Boesch, a surprise starter in place of Ichiro Suzuki, hit his second straight single to lead off the inning. Francisco Cervelli followed with another single to left. Lyle Overbay hit a deep drive to right that allowed Boesch to tag up and go to third. Then Nix hit his sacrifice fly to deep right to score Boesch. Gardner then turned on an inside fastball and hit it a mile. The only question was if the drive would stay fair. It just barely did by bouncing off the top of the foul pole. The Yankees took a 3-0 lead and that is how the score ended.
Robinson Cano did not do much at the plate on this night, but he was terrific in the field and converted a double play in the eighth inning that was spectacular.
This win was all Kuroda. He exploited the Orioles weakness of not being patient a the plate to perfection and never gave them a chance. Kuroda improved his record to 2-1. Chen took the loss and dropped his record to, 0-2.
After a very troubling first week of the season, the New York Yankees will continue on the road for the first four days of the week with a four game set with the Cleveland Indians before coming back home to play the Baltimore Orioles for the weekend. Many expected the banged up offense to be a problem for the Yankees but the pitching was expected to hold up the injury-riddled team to at least make them competitive. With the exception of Andy Pettitte, both the starting pitching and the bullpen has not been sharp and has not held up anything. So what lies ahead and is this team as in trouble as it looks? Let’s take a look.
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Writing for a New York Yankees site and maintaining a somewhat journalistic objectivity is already difficult enough after spending a lifetime watching this team. Last night’s win over the Boston Red Sox threw that objectivity about as far off the cliff as a pumpkin chunkin.
Andy Pettitte made his 409th start for the Yankees and won his 209th game for the team with eight glorious innings. According to one stat I read this morning, Andy Pettitte is now 18-3 lifetime in helping the Yankees avoid a sweep. Mariano Rivera then gave his fans a bit of heartburn, but in the end, froze Jackie Bradley Jr. for his 609th career save–all for the Yankees. It was a combination that will never again be matched in baseball as two pitchers who started their careers together nineteen years ago. According to some of the game recaps I read, this was the 69th time that Rivera has saved a win for Andy Pettitte, an all time record. According to my count, that is a lot of nines in there: 409, 209, 609 and 69. There is a poetic side to all of this. And it is an epic poem that will end after this season, so enjoy every last stanza. But where did it all start? When was the first time that Mariano Rivera saved an Andy Pettite win?
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After all the discussion following a spring full of injuries to key players, the season opens this week and we will get our first real glimpse of what the 2013 season will bring for the New York Yankees. Right off the bat (pun intended), the Yankees will open the season with a series against old rivals, the Boston Red Sox. After three games with the beantowners, the Yankees will finish off the week with a series in Detroit, the place where last season ended.
Every week for the season, Monday morning will bring you a preview of the week to come. Early in the season, the preview will not only talk about the pitching match ups and the games scheduled, but also the weather, which is always a dicey proposition in April. Pour yourself a cup of coffee and let’s play ball!
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The season starts in a few days and predictions are like opinions–everybody has one. Now is the time to poll our top notch panel of IIATMS / YA writers to see who is on the money when it comes to predictions. Each one of us was asked to name the division winners, the wild cards, the post season awards and make one additional bold prediction. The only thing we forgot was to predict which league will win the All Star game.
Did any of us predict the Yankees to win the American League East? It should be in the bag now that Juan Rivera was jettisoned, right?
Let’s start with the founders and emeritus types:
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No one knows how much longer Derek Jeter will be wearing the pinstripes’ number two for the New York Yankees. But one thing we know for sure is that no one will ever wear that uniform for the Yankees again. A comment from Hawaiian Dave mentioned Jerry Kenney, another Yankee who wore number two for the Yankees back in the late 1960s and early 1970s. That got me thinking about all those Yankees who wore number two before the Captain entered the scene. So what follows is a list of them all from 1929 until the Captain himself.
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Many Yankee experts were less than thrilled when the Yankees acquired Ichiro Suzuki from the Seattle Mariners on July 23, 2012. And yet, despite a year and a half of far diminished results prior to joining the Yankees, Suzuki had a bit of a renaissance in pinstripes. In 67 games for the Yankees, Ichiro put together a triple slash line of .322/.340/.454. He then was one of the few bright spots in the debacle of an ALCS and has been (cliche alert) tearing the cover off the ball this spring. The interesting question for a 39 year old Ichiro is whether we are to believe his last year and a half as a Mariner or his few months with the Yankees.
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A year ago, I took a look at April’s schedule and thought about what a good outcome would be for that first month of the 2012 season. It was also a look based on the opponents and the location of the games without rose colored glasses. The post was about the least scientific “projection” you could possibly write. After considering last April’s schedule, I predicted the Yankees would go 14-9 in their opening month and such a record would be a good outcome and start to the season. There was one postponement during April of 2012 and the Yankees went 13-9. Rather than quitting when ahead or perhaps because such a close outcome gives me a false sense of security, I figured I would do the same thing this season.
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Have you ever seen a left-handed throwing third baseman in the Major Leagues? I have not. And generations have not. Apparently in the early 1900s, Wee Willie Keeler, normally a left-handed throwing outfielder, played 44 games at third base, 19 games at second base and even played two games at shortstop. According to the Sabr Bio Project, nobody did it again until Don Mattingly played three games at third in 1986. The first thought that came to my mind was the four players (Tovar, Campinaris, Sheldon and Halter) that played all nine positions in a game. But, nope, they were all right-handed throwers. The Sabr Bio Project mentioned earlier talks about Mattingly’s feat in passing as part of his larger biography. Here is the rest of the story.
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IIATMS MASTHEAD
Co-Founders and Editors Emeritus
Jason Rosenberg, Larry Koestler,
Moshe Mandel, Brien Jackson
Editors-in-Chief
Michael Eder, Stacey Gotsulias, Matt Imbrogno
Writers
Tamar Chalker, William Tasker, EJ Fagan, Mike Jaggers-Radolf, Brad Vietrogoski, Domenic Lanza
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