Results tagged ‘ Derak Jeter ’

Rays End Late Rally, Ruin Kuroda’s Yankee Debut

GAME 2

RAYS 8, YANKEES 6

Luke Scott slapped a two-out bases-loaded single to drive in two runs in the first inning as Tampa Bay built a 8-2 lead and held on late to edge New York on Saturday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL.

David Price (1-0) gave up two runs on five hits and four walks and he struck out five in 6 1/3 innings to pick up the win. Hiroki Kuroda (0-1) surrendered six runs (four earned) on eight hits and four walks and he fanned two in 5 2/3 innings to lose in his Yankee debut.

Fernando Rodney came in to face Alex Rodriguez as the tying run with two out in the ninth and he retired him on an infield grounder to pick up a save.

The Yankees rallied to put four runs on the board in the ninth, including a three-run home run by Nick Swisher off Joel Peralta, only to ultimately come up shorr.

The Yankees are 0-2 on the young season and the Rays are 2-0.

PINSTRIPE POSITIVES

  • Not much was positive on this night though Swisher’s first home run of the season did bring the Yankees back from a 8-3 deficit to an within two runs in the ninth. He guessed fastball on an 1-0 count and got it from  Peralta and deposited the ball deep into the right-field bleachers. Swisher was 1-for-3 with two walks on the night.
  • Pinch-hitting for Andruw Jones in the ninth, Raul Ibanez hit a line drive to center-fielder Desmond Jennings to score Curtis Granderson, who had begun the inning with a triple off reliever Josh Lueke. Ibanez now has five RBIs in the first two games of the season.
  • Cory Wade was the only pitcher who seemed to know what he was doing on Saturday. He faced five batters and retired all of them, three by strikeout. Wade had struggled a lot during spring training and it was unclear if it would carry over to the regular season. But based on his first appearance, it looks as if Wade has straightened himself out.

NAGGING NEGATIVES

  • Kuroda was very disappointing after having an exceptional spring. His command was off (four walks) and he looked to be pitching tentatively all night. After Scott’s two-run single in the first, the Rays added a RBI single by Carlos Pena in the second, a solo home run by Matt Joyce in the third and RBI hits by Scott and Jennings in the sixth, which finally chased the 37-year-old right-hander.
  • Lefty specialist Clay Rapada, who drew raves all spring when he recorded an 0.90 ERA, was ineffective in his Yankee debut also. He walked the lefty-swinging Pena to open the seventh. Then he gave up a disputed home run to Evan Longoria that the umpires used TV replays to change into a double. However, the ruling did not matter when the lefty-swinging Joyce slapped a bloop single to left to score both Pena and Longoria. In the long run, those runs really hurt the most.
  • The Yankees are getting frustrated by the Rays’ defensive shifts, which have taken away hit after hit in the series. Rodriguez’s game-ending groundout was stopped by second baseman Sean Rodriguez, who was positioned up the middle, right where A-Rod hit it. A fitting end to a frustrating night.

BOMBER BANTER

Manager Joe Girardi opted to shift his lineup against the left-handed Price. He slotted Swisher in the No. 2 spot and moved Granderson into Swisher’s No. 6 spot. He also played Jones in left and benched Brett Gardner. Girardi said Swisher has a high on-base percentage against lefties and he might be used as the No. 2 hitter against lefties this season. He also said Gardner will still get playing time against lefties this season.  . . .  Girardi is considering giving Rodriguez a day off on Sunday after Derek Jeter was used as the DH on Saturday and Eduardo Nunez played shortstop. Girardi said Eric Chavez would replace Rodriguez in the lineup. Russell Martin also could sit in favor of new backup catcher Chris Stewart.

ON DECK

The Yankees look to salvage a game on Sunday in their finale with the Rays.

Phil Hughes will get the start for the Yankees. Hughes, 25, is looking to rebound from an injury-plagued 2011 campaign. Hughes is 403 with a 4.01 ERA lifetime against the Rays.

The Rays will counter with second-year right-hander Jeremy Hellickson, who was 13-10 in his rookie season. Hellickson is 2-1 with a 4.10 ERA against the Yankees in his career.

Game-time will be 1:40 p.m. and the game will be telecast by the YES Network.

 

MLB To Determine If Yankees Let Fish Get Away

MARLINS 6, YANKEES 5 (Under Protest)

The New York Yankees lost their ace starting pitcher, later they lost their 3-1 lead in the game, then their furious ninth inning rally fell short on Sunday but they may have not lost to the Florida Marlins 6-5 — not just yet anyway.

A bizarre late afternoon game got even stranger in the top of the eighth inning and opened the door for a Yankees protest. Manager Fredi Gonzalez had just used pinch-hitter Alejandro De Aza in the bottom of the seventh inning for reliever Ranyel Pinto. On his lineup card he put De Aza in left field to replace Chris Coghlan and wanted his new relief pitcher Leo Nunez to bat in Coghlan’s leadoff spot.
After Nunez threw a strike to leadoff batter Derek Jeter, Yankees manager Joe Girardi went to plate umpire Tim Timmons to alert him that Coghlan was still in leftfield.
Oops!
Gonzalez immediately realized his mistake and he dispatched De Aza out to leftfield to replace Coghlan. However, Girardi claimed that was not the proper remedy. He argued the Marlins should lose both De Aza and Nunez and that the game should resume with a 0-0 count on Jeter.
The umpiring crew, after a long discussion, sent De Aza to the bench in favor of outfielder Jeremy Hermida but allowed Nunez to stay in the game with the 0-1 count on Jeter.
Girardi, still claiming the pitch should not count, advised Timmons the Yankees would play the remainder of the game under protest. 

“We’re going to file an incident report, and all that,” umpire Jeff Kellogg told MLB.com. “The protest is over the pitcher should have been removed from the game, or the pitch should not have counted. That’s the protest. Either or. One or the other should have happened.

“It goes to the league, and they will review everything. They will make a determination after that.”

The Yankees started the game with ace lefty CC Sabathia. However, after a shaky first inning when he surrendered a run, catcher Jorge Posada insisted to Girardi and trainer Gene Monaghan that something was wrong with Sabathia.

On a second visit to the mound, after Sabathia had surrendered a one-out double to Brett Carroll, he finally admitted to Girardi that he had some tightness in his left bicep. After the game, Sabathia said it was not serious and he intended to make his next start. The Yankees said he will be reevaluated on Tuesday.

The early call to the bullpen, however, forced Girardi to play a game of musical relievers to make up for the loss of Sabathia and the innings he had been giving the Yankees. Fortunately, Alfredo Aceves was up to the task. He kept the Marlins bats quiet for 2 2/3 innings. He gave up only a harmless single and struck out two.

That allowed the Yankees offense to get cooking in the 95-degree, 104 heat index day at Land Shark Stadium. 

After two outs in the third inning, Jeter singled off 22-year-old righty Chris Volstad. A wild pitch got him to second and Volstad then walked Nick Swisher. Jeter then stole third. Mark Teixeira then pounded a high ground ball over the head of first baseman Jorge Cantu for a double that scored Jeter easily.

Alex Rodriguez, back in the starting Yankee lineup after being given two days to overcome what he called “fatigue,” then fought off an inside fastball for a bloop single to left that scored Swisher and Teixeira to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead.

But Girardi elected to replace Aceves with Brett Tomko in the fifth inning and Tomko promptly coughed up the lead by giving up a one-out single to Coghlan and two-out home run to All-Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez, his ninth homer of the season.

Tomko then surrendered another run in the sixth inning on a two-out home run by Cody Ross, his 12th of the season, making the score 4-3 Marlins.

“I’ve been a bit of a wreck the last three or four times out,” Tomko said to MLB.com. “It just seems like when I make a mistake, it’s getting hit. It’s a frustrating thing.”

The Yankees, meanwhile, allowed Volstad to recover. After Brett Gardner’s single in the fourth inning, the Yankees did not get a hit or put a runner on base until their were two out in the ninth inning — a run of 15 consecutive outs and only two balls even left the infield.

The Marlins added to their lead in the seventh inning on a single by Jorge Cantu that brought in Coghlan. Ramirez scored from first on the same play when Melky Cabrera’s throw from left field skipped past Posada for an error. The Marlins now lead 6-3.

But, just when it seemed the Yankees would become Fish food for the second game in a row, Posada sent a 1-1 pitch off closer Matt Lindstrom just past a diving Cantu into rightfield for a single. Cabrera followed with a single up the middle that just eluded second baseman Dan Uggla. 

Gardner then brought the Yankees to within one run on a single swing — a ringing triple to deep center to score Posada and Cabrera. Lindstrom, obviously laboring and having control problems, then walked pinch-hitter Johnny Damon.

But Lindtsrom induced Derek Jeter into hitting a weak grounder to short on the first pitch and Yankees threat was quashed. 

Volstad (5-7), yet another young starter the Yankees have never faced in a regular season game, got the victory. Tomko (0-2) very much earned the loss. Lindstrom picked up his 14th save, though he did put some doubt into the contest.

Will the victory hold up, however? If Major League Baseball sides with Girardi’s protest, the Yankees would have to return to Miami at a date to be determined and the game would resume in the top of the eighth inning with the Marlins leading 6-3.

“I’d like to keep the two runs I got in the ninth and just play the eighth over,” Giradi said to MLB.com.

The Yankees have today to lick their wounds in Atlanta awaiting their three-game series with the Braves. The Yankees will send Chien-Ming Wang (0-5, 12.30 ERA) to the mound and the Braves will counter with rookie phenom Tommy Hanson (2-0, 4.08 ERA), yet another pitcher the Yankees have not faced.

The Yankees have now lost six of the past eight games in which they have faced a starter they have never seen during the regular season.  That hardly inspires much confidence for the Yankees on Tuesday.

In the meantime, the Yankees have fallen to four games back of the Boston Red Sox in the American League East standings. Toronto is just one game back of the Yankees and the Rays have climbed to within two games.

So a win Tuesday may be a necessity. Gametime is 7:05 p.m. EDT.


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