Results tagged ‘ Blue Jays ’
The Marathon Begins:Happy Baseball New Year!
After 141 years since the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players was established as America’s first professional “major league”, America’s love affair with the sport has been rekindled once again for the start of the 2012 season. And with just a slew of games Thursday, it was great to be reminded once again why the game of baseball is great, especially when the new (old) look Toronto Blue Jays outlast the Cleveland Indians. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to watch this game, but judging from the highlights of the longest Opening Day game in the history of the sport (which is amazing in itself) it was a well played game. Indians ace Justin Masterson pitched like an ace by tossing 8 innings of 2 hit ball, 10 strike outs, while just giving up one earned run. Unfortunately for Masterson, Chris Perez was unable to protect the Indians three run lead as the Blue Jays put together a late game rally to tie the game. After a battle of the bullpens, JP Arencibia blasts a 3 run homer in the top of the 16th inning, giving the angry birds from the Great White North their first victory of the season.
Mets Win!
After all the gloom and doom I heard from Mets fans during the spring, the Mets opening day victory should be a reminder of every fan of the sport, not just Mets fans, that anything is possible this game. Although I don’t consider the Mets to be playoff contenders on the one hand, I don’t believe this team is as bad as some columnists and baseball pundits think it is on the other hand. Johan Santana’s first start since 2010 was encouraging to see. Although not vintage Johan, he was still good enough to hold the Atlanta Braves to only 2 hits in 5 innings of work and the Mets bullpen (which is a solid group) finish the job as Frank Francisco gets his first save as a member of the Metropolitans.
The more things change, the more they stay the same…
It’s a new season and Justin Verlander picks up where he left off by tossing 8 innings and striking out 7 Red Sox batters. Although he didn’t get the decision in the Tigers 3-2 win over the Red Sox, the reigning American League Cy Young Award and MVP winner made it clear that the Tigers will be one of the heavyweights in the American League this season.
As for the Red Sox, well…they pick up right where they left off last September by losing again in the latter stages of the ballgame. Not that I feel sorry for them as a Yankees fan, but I hope that their collapse continues right through June. It’s only fair!
Yankees face off against a desperate Red Sox team.
I’m sure the Red Sox 0-6 start (God I love the sound of that) was not what Theo Epstein, the Red Sox front office, and the rest of Red Sox Nation had in mind when the season began a week ago. But after a week worth of games, the Red Sox are still searching for their first win this season after making big moves over the winter to help this team return to the playoffs. The good news for the Red Sox is that it is still very early in the year and they have the talent to turn things around fast. The bad news for them however is that the American League East is vastly improved. Buck Showalter is performing a miracle down in Baltimore as he has managed his team to a quick 5-1 start to their year; to boot, the Toronto Blue Jays are also playing well as they are off to a 4-2 start to their year. And as far as the Yankees are concerned, so far, the Bombers pitching staff has gotten the job done, a pitching staff that came into the new season facing a lot of question marks. If things do not turn around fast, it could be a very long summer in Boston.
So what now for the Red Sox? Maybe their home opener against the New York Yankees is the type of motivation they need to turn things around. Even though I hate to write this, Boston is still the team to beat in the AL East and I’m sure every player in that Sox club house would like to remind the Bronx Bombers of that simple fact. Therefore, since the season is just a few days old there should be no reason for panic in Red Sox Nation. All the criticism in Boston of Terry Francona and the way he has managed his team so far this season is not ridiculous, it is very unfair. If the armchair managers think they can do a better job, maybe they should send their resumes’ to the Red Sox front office.
As for the series between the Yankees and Red Sox, all that I have to say is thank God is that time of the year again. Nothing is more exciting to me as a baseball fan when both these teams meet during the regular season, especially when the Yankees and Red Sox are favored to compete for a championship during the season. I know it’s April and the are over 156 games left in this baseball marathon, but how can anyone not feel excited when they hear Yankees/Red Sox? Hopefully the Yankees will take care of business and leave Boston with the Red Sox sporting a beautiful 0-9 record to start the year!
Young pitching burning the Yankees.
The young pitchers the Yankees have seen since last Tuesday has certainly befuddled a lineup that is built on power. Last Tuesday night, Josh Tomlin of the Cleveland Indians shut down the Yankees for the entire game, a game that the bullpen for the Indians had to finish. On Sunday, a young pitcher, but a vetaran by Major League standards also shut down the Yankees. James Shields, who has great stuff, but like AJ Burnett, doesn’t seem to be a consistent pitcher, put together an incredible, if not dominant start against the Yankees.
Shields had all his breaking pitches working on Sunday afternoon and had the Yankees off balance as they couldn’t guess what pitch would be coming: is it the curve? the change? the two seam fastball? Shields was so good, that he struck out 11 Yankees on his changeup only.
But as good as Shields was against the Yankees on Sunday, Ricky Romero was even better against them last night. It seemed that after he gave up that lead off walk to Jeter and then that blast to Teixeira a batter later, that Romero would have a short night. Instead, Romero does what every pitcher should do after he gives up a homerun, forget about it and continue pitching as if the game were still a scoreless tie. From that point on, Romero retired 24 out of 25 Yankees he would face, only giving up an infield single to Marcus Thames the rest of the way. Certainly a much better performance from his last one at Yankee Stadium.
What does Romero’s performance, however, tell us about his ability to pitch? A lot. It means to me that Romero could shake off a mistake and not let it bother him, something that frankly he has failed to do in his other starts. His last game at Yankee stadium, he made a mistake to the same Mark Teixeira and the roof caved in on the lefty. The same thing could’ve happened last night, but it didn’t, because the guy has such great stuff to pitch out of trouble and more importantly he has the stuff to keep his team in the game. When he loses it however, the roof does indeed cave in and it isn’t pretty.
What does Romero’s performance tell us about the Yankees however? It tells us that the Yankees can be taken out of the game if a pitcher dominates the strike zone and gets ahead of any of the hitters in that lineup. When pitchers fall behind Yankee hitters, New York usually has a good day at the plate. However, when pitchers get ahead in the count, as Tomlin, Shields, and Romero did last night, the Yankees are off balance and can’t hit at all. It is performances like those that usually send the Yankees into a hitting slump.
Girardi and Vazquez spark Yankees.
When Girardi shoved Nick Swisher away from home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman, a shove that seem to suggest a great annoyance at both Swisher and Dreckman, I had a feeling that this was what the Yankees needed to get off the schneid. When Girardi started arguing balls and strikes, he was immediately thrown out of the game, as you would expect, but the Yankees scoring three runs afterwards, to take a 4-2 lead, wasn’t as expected since runs were hard to come by in Toronto. But the runs came, the Yankees took the lead, and hanged on to win a 4-3 game, a much needed win. Yankee pitching was solid in Toronto for the most part. Aside from Burnett, who had a terrible outing on Friday night, Yankee Pitching during the weekend kept the Yankees in the game for the most part by matching Toronto’s young pitching. Yesterday was no exception as Javier Vazquez took a no-hitter into the 6th inning, before losing it. Before his mistake to Vernon Wells, Vazquez was throwing with command, establishing his fastball and finishing batters with his changeup. To mistake to Wells, came on a slider that was up in the plate.
More encouraging for the Yankees is the fact that Vazquez kept his head in the game. After the homerun, he finished the 6th inning, and pitched a one-two-three seventh. In the early part of the season, Vazquez would’ve completely fallen apart after giving up some runs. But now it seems that Vazquez is pitching with more confidence, as he finds ways to work out of mistakes.
When there is a winner, unfortunately, there has to be a loser..
And the loser of yesterday’s game was Brandon Morrow. Morrow frankly deserved a better fate, as he did a great job in 7 plus innings keeping the Yankees off the scoreboard, while the Jays were hitless. Morrow fell behind a lot in yesterday’s game, yet he found a way to retire Yankee batters, never giving in to the pressure New York’s lineup puts on an opposing pitcher. Even worse, his bullpen, a bullpen that did an incredible job in Saturday’s extra inning game, came up short once again as they couldn’t get the job done with a two run lead. Although Morrow got a no decision, his performance yesterday, and the performance of Romero and Cecil during the weekend sends a very strong message to the league that the Jays will compete in the American League east. Will they contend? I have no way of knowing, but I truly hope that they do.
Pettitte strong but Yankees still fall…
Tough game yesterday for the Yankees to lose, after an outstanding outing by Andy Pettitte. Yankees had their chances, unfortunately, the inexperience of some of their baserunners showed, as they were unable to get the job done in key situations. More importantly, the Yankees couldn’t take advantage of the fact that the Rays lost down in Texas 6-1 to the Rangers. As of now, the Yankees are 2 games behind Tampa, and just 1 and half behind the Red Sox and Blue Jays.
But, it isn’t all bad news for the Yankees. As I wrote above, Andy Pettitte once again gave the Yankees a quality start by striking out 10 Jays in just 7.2 innings of work. At times during the game it seemed that Pettitte was about to lose control, only to have him throw a pitch that got him out of trouble. The defense behind him was also solid, as Nick Swisher, not known for his defense, made to good catches in right field. For Pettitte everything went right, except his run support.
The same unfortunately can’t be said about the Yankees lineup. In two games, Jays pitching, which has been very good all year (as I said, this team can pitch just as well as they hit homeruns), and yesterday, although Romero wasn’t as sharp as he has been in earlier starts this year, he still found a way to hold the Yankees down to two runs. The Yankee that had the most difficulty with Romero was Mark Teixeira, as he was literally owned by Romero’s nasty changeup. Teixeira’s struggles continue as he struck out 5 times in a row, earning him the olympic rings. The rest of the lineup wasn’t good either, so I’m not going to lose sleep over the fact that Teixeira is still struggling.
But, I did lose sleep over one thing, and that is Francisco Cervelli’s boneheaded baserunning mistake. With less than two outs, every player is taught from little league on up to freeze on a linedrive. So I was surprised that in the 7th or 8th inning of the game, when the Yankees had two runners in scoring position with one out, that Cervelli took off for home plate after a Derek Jeter lined out to a drawn in infielder. Seriously, I like Cervelli, but as a Major Leaguer he should know better. It’s mistakes like those that drives me nuts (what drives my really insane is when major leaguers can’t bunt the ball in play) and after that inning, I knew the Yankees would lose the game.
Give Credit to the Jays…
Ricky Romero (not to be confused with JC Romero) did a heck of a job, even if he was struggling. He got out of a bases loaded jam in the second inning, and held down the Yankees offense during his 8 innings of work. His only mistake came on a fastball that had “hit me” all over it to Derek Jeter, who certainly hit it to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Other than that, Cito Gaston should be happy with his pitching, as Romero and the bullpen got the job done. More over, the Jays, unlike the Yankees, cashed in with their situational hitting. With the way the Jays are playing, I wonder if Gaston is having flashbacks to the early 90′s…I know I am :-\
Blue Jays are also pitching….I told you so.
I’m not going to write that the Blue Jays are contenders in the American League East, however, they are surely making a very strong case after they beat the Yankees last night. As I have written before, there has been a lot of focus on the fact that the Blue Jays are hitting a lot of homeruns–and it doesn’t help that Jose Bautista launched two last night off A.J Burnett–which is great and all, but unfortunately it is overshadowing the great job the Jays’ pitching staff has done this season. Last month, the top two starters for the Toronto had ten quality starts, as Rickey Romero and Shaun Marcum averaged at least 7 plus innings pitched. And last night’s performance by Brett Cecil was his fourth consecutive win. In 8 innings of work, Cecil held the Yankees to just 5 hits, allowing 1 earned run and striking out 5 batters. With all the hitting and pitching that the Jays are doing this season, imagine how good this team would be if they had kept Roy Halladay…yikes!
As for the Yankees…
Bad night, be ready to play around 12:30 pm today.
Other stories..
There is still outrage in the world of baseball over the perfect mistake from Jim Joyce and the calls for the Commissioner to reverse his decision not to reverse the call are getting louder. I understand the anger, but as Lady Macbeth said, “what’s done is done.” It is time that baseball fans moved on and recognize the fact that the play will stand.
Blue Jays can pitch as well…
For all the attention that the Blue Jays are getting for launching bombs left and right this season, many are ignoring the fact that the Jays also have two very impressive young pitchers that have pitched very well for them. Shaun Marcum and Ricky Romero (not to be confused with JC Romero of the Phillies) have posted a 10-3 record collectively. Romero yesterday pitched his second complete game this month, and on three of his last four starts, has given the Jays a quality start by pitching past the 6th inning. In 41.1 innings of work this month, Romero has struckout 48 batters, while posting a 3-1 mark with a 3.92 ERA. Romero is clearly taking the lead as Toronto’s ace and has certainly filled the role that Roy Halladay left.
Shaun Marcum is also making a name for himself this month, as he has won five games on six starts. Like Romero, Marcum has also given the Jays quality starts this months, pitching past the 6 innings in five of those six starts. In 39 innings of work this month, Marcum has struck out 32 batters, and has posted an incredible 1.89 ERA.
I know Marcum and Romero are just two pitchers, but if you ad Brett Cecil to the mix, the Jays have three starters with a combined record of 15-5. Like Romero and Marcum, Cecil has also given the Jays 4 quality starts this month, as he has posted a 4-1 record with a 3.89 ERA.
While the media focuses on the homeruns the Jays are hitting, I also suggest they should start to focus on the young pitchers Toronto has, because they are doing a superb job so far this season.
Vernon Wells is heating up again!
After a mini-slump of sorts, Vernon Wells is once again heating up and continuing his impressive start to the year. On Monday, Wells went 3-for-4 against the Twins and yesterday afternoon, hit his 11th homerun of the year. Wells stats are impressive in the early going. He is batting .316 with an on base percentage of .375 and a staggering slugging percentage of .627, which translate into a 1.006 OPS.
If the Blue Jays are indeed contenders and not pretenders, as they clearly were last year, then Vernon Wells must be the leader of this lineup, which is first in the league in homeruns with 65, and third in runs scored with 212. The Jays can hit and score runs, and so far this season, Shaun Marcum and Ricky Romero have been solid on the mound. Are they contenders or pretenders? Time will tell.
Under protest
The last four innings of last night’s game between the Red Sox and Yankees was played under protest, as the Yankees felt that the Sox staff took Josh Beckett (who was dreadful again last night) out of the game last night without informing the umpire that he was hurt. Under rule 8.03, a pitcher is only allowed one minute, or eight warm up pitches before the beginning of each inning, unless there is an injury at which time the umpire-in-chief (that would be the home plate umpire) shall give the pitcher ample time to warm up.
I think Girardi has a point in raising this issue if Beckett was indeed taken out for another reason other than an injury. But this protest, like other protests in the past (except the Royals protest of the pine tar on George Brett’s bat) will likely be dismissed. If anything, I think Girardi should have protest the way his bullpen has been performing the last three games because it has been downright abysmal. This bullpen once again blew the lead, which was, like Monday night’s game, 5 runs.
Joba Chamberlain…
I still believe that Joba Chamberlain should stay in the bullpen and be the heir apparent to Mariano Rivera as the Yankees closer, but his performance on Sunday and last night has shaken my confidence in Chamberlain to get the job done when it matters most. Last night Joba was incredibly wild; he had a hard time finding the strike zone and as a result, what was a 5 run lead heading into the top of the 8th, was down to one run by the end of the half inning. That type of performance is unacceptable and now, I think, there should be serious questions about Joba’s role with the Yankees in the days and weeks to come, especially if he continues his poor play.
As for Mariano Rivera..
I’m not going to be tough on Rivera because frankly, his defense let him down. There was absolutely no reason for Rivera to throw 24 pitches and give up a double to Jeremy Hermida in the 9th. Marcus Themes’s error made the difference in that inning. I know this type of reasoning leads to the fallacy of the predetermine outcome, so let me say that I don’t believe that Rivera could have gotten out of the inning had Themes made the catch; however, when a defense makes a pitcher work harder than he has to, clutch hits like Hermida’s will happen.
Rivera did his job, the defense let him down.
As for the Red Sox..
Frankly I don’t want to praise them, ugh. But they did battle in both games and you have to give them credit. After Monday night’s devestating loss, the Red Sox could have simply mailed it in last night, but they didn’t. The Red Sox might be at .500 at the moment, but sooner or later their play will improve and they will be in the playoff hunt in the summer. If the Blue Jays continue to play well, this American League East could be a tight race to the finish if the Rays hit a speed bump on the road (that ain’t gonna happen) and wouldn’t that be great?!
Will 2010 be remembered as the other year of the pitcher?
For those that love reading baseball history, and for those that love watching Baseball Seasons on the MLB Network, now that 1968 will always be remembered as the Year of the Pitcher. That season was the culmination of advantages that the pitchers began to receive after the offensive explosion at the beginning of the decade that saw, among many other things, the fall of Babe Ruth’s single season homerun record to Roger Maris.
That season, Bob Gibson set a modern season ERA record of 1.12 and a World Series record of 17 strike outs. The last 30 game winner in baseball pitched in 1968 as Denny McLain won 31 games for the Detriot Tigers, and was the first 30 game winner in baseball since Dizzy Dean last did it for the St. Louis Cardinals. The rised mound, the wider strike zone helped the pitchers and curbed hitter’s offensive production. After that season the trend began to reverse itself and the hitters were once again given the advantage as the mound was lowered, and strikes zone began to shrink.
During the 70′s all the way through the Steroid Era, there has been a renewed offensive explosion. People have blamed everything from baseball expansion, new friendly hitter ball-parks, a smaller strike zone, juiced baseballs to juiced players. All these factors could explain why there was an offensive explosion since the late 60′s, but in no way could they explain why all of the sudden the tide is once again turning to in the pitcher favor.
In 2010 there has been…
five or six near no hitters or perfect games that were broken up in the late innings. It all started with CC Sabathia in Tampa Bay when he threw 7.2 innings of no hit baseball against the Rays. Later that week, Ricky Romero, of the Blue Jays, took a no hitter into the 7th inning against the White Sox before giving up a two run homer. Phil Hughes of the Yankees had a no hitter in the 7th inning before losing it in Oakland. Last week, both Jared Weaver and Scott Olsen almost achieved baseball immortality before giving up late hits. And I know there has to be more near-no-hitters that I have certainly missed.
In 2010 there has also been a no-hitter and a perfect game thrown. Ubaldo Jimenez of the Rockies pitched a no-hitter against against the Braves and Dallas “Get of his mound” Braden threw a perfect game.
In 2010, the best top 5 pitchers (includes both starters and relievers) in the league have ERA’s below 2. The top 13 pitchers in baseball have an ERA between 1.45 and 1.98. At the same time period last year, 2009 the top 13 had ERA’s of 2.15 and above.
Clearly pitchers have done well in the early part of the season. Even if it is too early in the year to say that 2010 could turn out to be the ”other year of the pitcher,” the pitching around the league has certainly improved from the past.
David Veloz
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