Felix goes the distance ...
9IP - 10H - 1ER - 2BB - 9K
The only Yankee run came on Swisher's solo shot in the 3rd and their only other extra base hit was Granderson's double in the 9th - in which Felix would end up striking out the side.
Getty Images/Otto Greule Jr.)
Lopey with the big "O" blow ...Grand Slam in the eighth inning
JOHN FROSCHAUER/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vazquez was stellar, but...
M's first hit didn't come till the 6th and then the M's had their first real scoring opportunity in the 7th - with the bases loaded a couple singles and a walk, Milton pinch hit and sent a shot up the middle that Pena made a great leap to snare. Then Chamberlain came in for the 8th and promptly gave up two singles, threw a wild pitch and intentionally walked Russell before giving up the salami to Jose (wow - bullpen implosions happen to other teams, too?)
Justin received a very nice ovation when he stepped to the plate for the first time. He had a rough debut though (3K's) but he didn't even get to the ballpark until 1pm and undoubtedly had a few jitters after what must have been a whirl-wind 24 hours for him.
Despite the position the M's find themselves in, with one win not making a difference, victory still tastes sweeter when it happens amongst throngs of interlocking NY's
Vazquez has really rebounded. I'll give him credit.
ReplyDeleteI really believe Felix would have made the All Star team if he didn't throw 126 pitches last night, but I'm guessing he doesn't really care about that.
Folks in Da Bronx are still wanting to trade Javy... [right now, the prevailing thought is to Philly, for Jayson Werth]. Terribly, terribly short-sighted, as far as I am concerned.
ReplyDeleteDaniel ~
ReplyDeleteoh, I think Felix cares. You are probably right about the number of pitches he threw on Saturday being a factor. I heard Girardi probably wouldn't have used Felix in the game because of that and didn't feel right selecting him if he wasn't going to use him.
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Charles ~
I'm with you (not that I'm one to give the Yanks advice, I think they do pretty well on their own ;-) but you can never have too much pitching and Javy seems to be turning things around quite nicely.
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Question for anyone who wants to chime in...
Do you think Jack Z acted in "bad faith"?
Not surprisingly, not many M's fans feel too sorry...
http://tinyurl.com/28rrf2h
I believe he did. He shopped around and got the best deal - more power to him on that.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the Yankees [apparently] believed a deal was reached in the evening, deal including David Adams. Then, in the morning, after reviewing medicals, the Mariners requested swapping out Adams for a pitcher [can't think of the name, not a huge prospect]. At this point, again, the Yanks apparently thought the deal was finalized. Events proved that not to be the case.
That's my understanding of the situation. Could things have occurred differently? Sure. Based on what I have read, Jackie Z chumped the Ca$hman. Not vindictive at all, but wary, now, and word does get around.
No worries from here in any event. Yanks have a good set of starters anyway, and Cliff Lee went to Texas. Texas, of all places. Pretty good chance Yanks will win the East and not face Texas until the ALCS, if both teams make it that far. Like they proved last year, they can beat a team consisting of Cliff Lee and 24 other guys. The real happiness lies in keeping Jesus Montero. If he keeps improving behind the plate, man oh man!! If not, trade chip and that young Romine fellow sure looked good in the Futures Game, didn't he?
I didn't see the Futures Game ...
ReplyDeleteattended the M's/Yanks game and then went across the street to the xBox pitch to take in the Sounders/Dallas soccer match (ended in a draw, argh!). I had heard a Mariners minor league "expert" earlier in the day speaking of the prospects that the M's sent to the game ... supposedly they weren't anywhere near the top ones, so I don't think I missed much from that respect. I'm pretty lucky though, in that I'm only 20 miles from where the AAA club plays and about 40 miles from the A club - so, I can get a first hand look at some of the young ones pretty easily. So far, I've only been to the opener at AAA Tacoma - need to get to some more games....
As for "the deal that wasn't"....
From most accounts in these parts - Smoak was the player that Jack Z had been targeting from the get-go but the Rangers weren't offering him up. So, as any GM would do, he went after what was, in his opinion, the next best thing (the Yankee deal). Well, when word got out about the M's/Yanks talks, apparently Texas changed their tune and decided to get into the fray at the last minute. As many have said (including current and former GM's) a deal isn't a deal until it is signed by all parties - and all parties involved have their teams' (and their job's) best interest at heart.
I don't worry too much that the Yanks would hesitate to do business with Jack again. If the M's have something the Yanks really want, I would think Mr. Cashman would offer whatever he thinks is fair in order to get what he wants, regardless of previous deals or "no deals" ;-)
Wow! What a day o' sports! [We watched the World Cup Final, and later on watched the Futures Game].
ReplyDeleteThe WC Final had bad reception, so most of the time we caught in on Univision. Got to hear Andres Cantor bellow his patented "Gooooooooal!" when Spain finally scored ;-)
Futures Game was really poorly produced, concentrated on gabbing with talking heads. I especially wanted to see Austin Romine [yet another blue chip Yankee farmhand catcher]. For his first at-bat, the announcers completely talked over it, didn't even say who was batting. Flying out on the first pitch did not help matters any. Doubled on a nice stroke his second time up, and that was good.
I dunno, guess ESPN thinks people would not have a long enough attention span to actually watch the prospects, so they feel the need to inject filler. No filler for me, thanx [aye, and Hebrew National hotdogs, too, same reason!]. Best bet: see the kids live, at the local ballyard. Waterfront Park here in Norfolk is pretty nice, and both the Yanks and Braves AAA teams come by occasionally [sadly, I was on the road this year when they did =:-0 ]. Kinda cool to sit behind home plate, gauging the movement on each pitch, and sneaking peeks at the radar guns the scouts employ.
The trade? No worries here :-)
Looking forward to 28, and Cliff Lee in the offseason ;-)