Results tagged ‘ Michael Saunders ’
Garcia Notches 150th By Casting Mariners Adrift
GAME 107
YANKEES 6, MARINERS 2
Watching Freddy Garcia pitch would be kind of like seeing Rosie O’Donnell compete for the Miss America title. It sure is not be pretty but there is plenty of laughter after it’s over.
Garcia allowed only two runs though nine Mariners reached base in his five innings of work, but the 34-year-old right-hander pitched just well enough to win his 150th major-league game, the most for any Venezuelan-born pitcher, as New York took the three-game series with Seattle on Sunday.
Garcia (5-5) gave up five hits and four walks (three singles and all four walks came after two were out) and he struck out two batters to defeat the team in which he earned 76 of those 150 victories.
Meanwhile, another former Mariner, Raul Ibanez, keyed the offense for the Yankees with three RBIs on his 15th home run of he season in the fifth inning and a two-out, two-run single in the sixth inning.
Japanese right-hander Hisashi Iwamura (2-3) pitched a similar game to Garcia but with much less success for Seattle. Iwamura was tagged for four runs on seven hits and two walks and struck out four over five innings.
The Mariners actually took an early 1-0 lead on Garcia in the first inning when former Yankee prize prospect Jesus Montero stroked a one-single to center to score Dustin Ackley from third base. Montero was thrown out at the plate one out later after Nick Swisher fielded a single to right by Kyle Seager and fired a strike to catcher Chris Stewart to end the inning.
The Yankees, however, answered back with a pair of single runs in the first and second innings.
Mark Teixeira singled to right to score Derek Jeter with one out in the first inning. The Yankees added a run in the next frame thanks to a ball off the bat of Curtis Granderson that rolled through the legs of Ackley at first base for an error that scored Stewart.
The Yankees added a run in the fourth off Iwakuma on a two-out single to left by Jeter that scored Stewart from second base.
The Mariners drew to within a run in the top of the fifth when Michael Saunders launched a two-out double off the wall in center and Montero followed with a bloop single to right that plated Saunders.
Ibanez then answered the Mariners’ tally with his one-out blast to the first row in back of the Yankees’ bullpen in right-center.
The Yankees then extended the lead in the sixth off relievers Josh Kinney and Oliver Perez,
Stewart opened the inning with a walk and Granderson followed it with a lined single to right off Kinney. Two outs later, Perez walked Teixeira to load the bases in order to pitch to Ibanez. But Ibanez made the former Mets left-hander pay for that strategy by lining a single into left-center to score two runs.
The Yankees’ bullpen shut down the Mariners the rest of the way. Boone Logan pitched two perfect innings and David Robertson and Rafael Soriano each tossed a scoreless frame to wrap up of the victory for the Yankees.
The Yankees’ season record stands at 63-44 and they also maintained their 6 1/2-game lead in the American League East over the second-place Baltimore Orioles. The Mariners are now 51-59.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- Ibanez was 2-for-4 with three RBIs in the game and over his last eight games he is 8-for-22 (.364) with three home runs and seven RBIs. Ibanez only has 68 hits this season and yet he has driven in 49 runs in his first season with the Yankees.
- Stewart was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, a stolen base and scored three runs on Sunday. Though many Yankee fans still miss backup catcher Francisco Cervelli, Stewart has done his part defensively and he is now hitting a respectable .260 on the season with 12 RBIs in limited play behind starter Russell Martin.
- The Yankees’ bullpen again shined brightly in throwing four innings of scoreless baseball to secure the victory. They allowed no hits and the Mariners’ only only base-runner came on a two out walk to Seager in the eighth issued by Robertson.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
- Swisher’s throw to nail Montero at the plate was a key defensive play but Swisher was a huge drag on the offense, going 0-for-4 and stranding six base-runners. Swisher has no hits in his last nine at-bats and his season average has dipped to .258.
- Jayson Nix, starting at third base in place of a resting Eric Chavez, was 0-for-3 with a sacrifice bunt. Nix had been 10 for his last 25 at-bats (.400) entering the contest.
- Garcia was very fortunate that his four two-out walks did not come back to haunt him. He was able to retire the side in the second, third and fifth innings without giving up any more runs. This kind of pitching may work against the weak-hitting Mariners but it would not have worked against a good-hitting team like the Red Sox or Rangers.
BOMBER BANTER
Ichiro Suzuki tied a Yankee record by extending his hitting streak to 12 games on Sunday, though the hit was a bit tainted. Suzuki hit a fly ball to center to lead off the seventh inning that Saunders lost in the sun and it dropped at his feet in what was scored a double. Suzuki ties Don Slaught for beginning his Yankee career with a 12-game hitting streak. . . . X-rays taken of Andy Pettitte’s left ankle on Sunday indicated that the veteran left-hander is coming along fine in his recovery from the fracture he suffered on June 27. The Yankees were concerned a week ago when Pettitte had swelling from overuse during his workouts but the X-rays show the swelling has subsided. Pettitte, 40, hopes to be able to return to the rotation in September. . . . Manager Joe Girardi said on Sunday that outfielder Brett Gardner may be able to play for the Yankees in a limited role when the roster expands in September. Girardi said Gardner, who has played only nine games this season due to recurring soreness in his right elbow, could be used as a pinch-runner or defensive replacement and still not jeopardize his rehab from surgery on the elbow.
ON DECK
The Yankees are off to Detroit to open a four-game series with the Tigers that begins on Monday.
Right-hander Ivan Nova (10-5, 4.53 ERA) will open the series for the Yankees. Nova has not won a game since July 8 against the Red Sox. In his last outing he was handed an early 5-0 lead but he promptly coughed up nine runs on 10 hits and a walk in five innings in a loss to the Orioles. He is 0-0 with a 7.36 ERA in his career against the Tigers.
The Tigers will call on ace right-hander Justin Verlander (11-7, 2.63 ERA). Verlander failed to go at least six innings for the first time in 63 starts in his last time out. He gave up four runs (three earned) on six hits and four walks in five innings and he took the loss from the Red Sox. He is 4-4 with a 4.17 ERA lifetime against the Yankees.
Game-time will be 7:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be telecast nationally by ESPN and locally by the YES Network.
Pettitte Returns To Stare Down M’s And History
In the long and celebrated history of the New York Yankees, there have been only three legendary left-handed pitchers who have come out their minor-league system to attain greatness: Whitey Ford in the 50′s, Ron Guidry in the 70′s and Andrew Eugene Pettitte in the 90′s.
And it is Pettitte, who will be making history again on Sunday when he puts on his pinstriped No. 46 after 573 days in retirement. Yankee Stadium is sold out, the Bronx and the Tri-State area is abuzz and his Yankee teammates can’t wait to see him peer over his glove in that iconic stare into Russell Martin’s glove at about 1:07 p.m. before his first major-league pitch since the 2010 playoffs.
This would all seem like an exercise in futility for a 39-year-old pitcher who had been out of the game this long. After all, it does not happen often and it does not always end up successfully when it does happen.
But something about this time. Something about this man. Something about Pettitte has always been special.
For one thing, Pettitte left baseball after recording an 11-3 mark with a 3.28 ERA in 21 starts in 2010, a season that was truncated by a groin injury that sidelined Pettitte for over a month. But Pettitte recovered from that injury and he pitched twice in the 2010 playoffs and was 1-1 with a 2.57 ERA in those games.
So it wasn’t like Andy left baseball with nothing left in the tank. In fact, Pettitte was running on some premium high-test when he decided being home with his family in Deer Park, TX, was more important to him than trying to get a 3-2 slider past Josh Hamilton.
When the competitive juices started flowing in Pettitte this winter and he got a chance to come to the Yankees’ spring training complex in Tampa, FL, the lure of the game was just to much for him to resist. Once the announcement was made that Pettitte was coming back to the Yankees no one really laughed. It was only cheers and smiles.
That is because everyone who knows Pettitte knows that the harshest critic in his life has always been himself. If Andy did not believe he could do it he would not have wasted his or the Yankees’ time by even trying to fool them he could still pitch when he couldn’t. But Andy can still pitch and we will find out just how well on Sunday.
In four minor-league starts, Pettitte was 0-2 with a 3.71 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 19 innings. But those are just numbers because Pettitte was not concerned with numbers. He was focused only on getting his arm and his legs in shape to pitch for the Yankees for the rest of the 2012 season.
So today Pettitte just takes one step of a long journey back. It will not end with a loss or a victory. It is just the beginning for him.
In the Mariners he is facing a roster almost completely made up of players who were in elementary school or in diapers when Pettitte broke into the majors in 1995. In the end, they will tell Pettitte just how much he has left in the game. It is, after all, the hitters who tell a pitcher when he it is time to hang up the cleats. Pettitte hopes that will not be for some time to come.
Yankee fans second that emotion.
ON DECK
Pettitte will face a familiar mound opponent on Sunday.
The Mariners are starting 37-year-old right-hander Kevin Millwood (0-4, 5.88 ERA). Millwood is coming off a game on Tuesday in which he gave up five runs on eight hits and five walks and struck out three in five innings in a loss to the Detroit Tigers. In the last 10 seasons, Millwood is 2-4 with a 4.74 ERA against the Yankees.
Of the Mariners on the roster, Pettitte has only faced Chone Figgins, Ichiro Suzuki and Michael Saunders because most of their players are so young. In the last 10 seasons, Pettitte is 7-8 with a 3.94 ERA against the M’s.
Game-time will be 1:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be telecast by the YES Network.
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