Tampa Bay has been a destination where Yankees go to die lately, losing seven straight there including getting swept in three games to begin the 2012 season. The dimmed lighting, the fast surface, the bandbox dimensions, the funky catwalk obstructions, and the half-empty stands usually spells doom-n-gloom for the Bombers.
With CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte still on the absentee list, the spot start of the first game was awarded to Freddy Garcia who has been solid out of the bullpen lately and has worked his way out detention.
Opposing Freddy and his 84 mph fastball was the hard-throwing Matt Moore and his 98 mph stuff, but in a contrast of pitching styles Freddy was able to bravely keep the game at 2-2 all the way into the 6th inning. Garcia's runs resulted from surrendering two solo homers to Carlos Pena and B.J. Upton. Thanks to some ABC baseball in the top of the 7th, the Yanks were able to plate Chris Stewart for the 3-2 after Jeter moved the runner to third and then Granderson got him in on a sacrifice fly. Then in the bottom of the 7th, more Tropicana Field misfortune fell upon the Yanks. Boone Logan walked Sean Rodriguez with one out in the inning, and then let him get to second base on a wild through. Although Logan was able to retire the next batter, a runner was still in scoring position and Girardi elected to bring out his trusty David Robertson to get the last out. In the usual manner of Joe Maddon getting one up on Joe Girardi, Maddon went to pinch-hitter Brooks Conrad (who?) and he delivered an RBI double off the wall in right to tie the game 3-3. Then the next hitter, the 9th place hitter, Elliot Johnson, cued a groundball to first which Gold Glove caliber first baseman Mark Teixeira misjudged the hop and let the ball go by him. Conrad scored to give the Rays the 4-3 lead and that was it for the Yankees. Fernando Rodney, who the Yanks can never touch, came on to close out the Tampa victory.
The Yankees were able to toss one of their "realer" starters for the next game in Ivan Nova with his 9 wins on the season. He looked like he was on his way to his 10th win when by the 3rd inning the Yanks had a three-run lead against Tampa's James Shields, capped off by a 3rd inning solo homer from the increasingly impressive Dewayne Wise. Then Tropicana Field struck again against Nova in the form of a barrage of singles, a stolen base, with a walk mixed in and Tampa had tied the game at 3 in the bottom of the 3rd. Although an inning later the Yanks briefly recaptured the lead at 4-3 thanks to an RBI hit from Eric Chavez, Tampa answered right back in the form of a 2-run homer from Sean Rodriguez. Nova went 6 innings and gave up 5 earned runs. Tampa Bay added 2 more runs in the 7th to make it 7-4, which ruined the Yankee debut of Chad Qualls who was charged with one of them. Once again Fernando Rodney was called in the top of the 9th to put the Yankees away and he did for his 24th save of the season and increased the Yankee losing streak at Tropicana Field to a painful nine games!!
Another loss against the Rays and getting swept again in 2012 in Tampa seemed to be how the Yankees were going to spend their 4th of July holiday with the featured starting match-up of the tough lefty David Price against rookie David Phelps, making the spot start for the Yankees. Surprisingly, Phelps was able to go toe-to-toe with the annual Cy Young candidate Price and only gave up one run in his 4.1 innings of work. Joe Girardi pieced together the bullpen from there and the game was tied in the bottom of the 7th due to a solo homerun off of Price by Mark Teixeira. Anytime the Yanks scored in this series, Tampa was always able to return the favor, and they did it again. Lefty reliever Boone Logan misfired again and served up a 2-run homer to Carlos Pena which gave the Rays a 3-1 lead and it looked like the Yanks were done. Then something strange happened, two moves made by Joe Maddon turned out to not work (odd isn't?). He had old friend Kyle Farnsworth start the 8th inning and he ended up walking four batters, including A-Rod with the bases loaded on a close 3-2 pitch which made the score 3-2 as well. With lefty hitter Robinson Cano due up next, Maddon called on lefty reliever Jake McGee to get out of the jam, but he instead served up a 2 RBI single to the hot-hitting Cano which gave the Yanks the 4-3 lead and provided the Rays with a taste of their own Tropicana medicine. Although he didn't do his job, with the lead Logan was in line for the win. David Robertson redeemed himself from the poor outing two nights before with a scoreless 8th that included two strikeouts, looking very Robertsonish as he regains his armstrength after being on the DL. Former Rays closer and now $14 million dollar Yankee, Rafael Soriano, worked the 9th to seal the stolen 4-3 victory for the Yanks.
With the next day off, the 49-32 Yankees head up to Fenway Park to try and beat down the sluggish Red Sox who will likely be without Dustin Pedrioa who will likely be on the DL with a thumb issue.....
With CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte still on the absentee list, the spot start of the first game was awarded to Freddy Garcia who has been solid out of the bullpen lately and has worked his way out detention.
Opposing Freddy and his 84 mph fastball was the hard-throwing Matt Moore and his 98 mph stuff, but in a contrast of pitching styles Freddy was able to bravely keep the game at 2-2 all the way into the 6th inning. Garcia's runs resulted from surrendering two solo homers to Carlos Pena and B.J. Upton. Thanks to some ABC baseball in the top of the 7th, the Yanks were able to plate Chris Stewart for the 3-2 after Jeter moved the runner to third and then Granderson got him in on a sacrifice fly. Then in the bottom of the 7th, more Tropicana Field misfortune fell upon the Yanks. Boone Logan walked Sean Rodriguez with one out in the inning, and then let him get to second base on a wild through. Although Logan was able to retire the next batter, a runner was still in scoring position and Girardi elected to bring out his trusty David Robertson to get the last out. In the usual manner of Joe Maddon getting one up on Joe Girardi, Maddon went to pinch-hitter Brooks Conrad (who?) and he delivered an RBI double off the wall in right to tie the game 3-3. Then the next hitter, the 9th place hitter, Elliot Johnson, cued a groundball to first which Gold Glove caliber first baseman Mark Teixeira misjudged the hop and let the ball go by him. Conrad scored to give the Rays the 4-3 lead and that was it for the Yankees. Fernando Rodney, who the Yanks can never touch, came on to close out the Tampa victory.
The Yankees were able to toss one of their "realer" starters for the next game in Ivan Nova with his 9 wins on the season. He looked like he was on his way to his 10th win when by the 3rd inning the Yanks had a three-run lead against Tampa's James Shields, capped off by a 3rd inning solo homer from the increasingly impressive Dewayne Wise. Then Tropicana Field struck again against Nova in the form of a barrage of singles, a stolen base, with a walk mixed in and Tampa had tied the game at 3 in the bottom of the 3rd. Although an inning later the Yanks briefly recaptured the lead at 4-3 thanks to an RBI hit from Eric Chavez, Tampa answered right back in the form of a 2-run homer from Sean Rodriguez. Nova went 6 innings and gave up 5 earned runs. Tampa Bay added 2 more runs in the 7th to make it 7-4, which ruined the Yankee debut of Chad Qualls who was charged with one of them. Once again Fernando Rodney was called in the top of the 9th to put the Yankees away and he did for his 24th save of the season and increased the Yankee losing streak at Tropicana Field to a painful nine games!!
Another loss against the Rays and getting swept again in 2012 in Tampa seemed to be how the Yankees were going to spend their 4th of July holiday with the featured starting match-up of the tough lefty David Price against rookie David Phelps, making the spot start for the Yankees. Surprisingly, Phelps was able to go toe-to-toe with the annual Cy Young candidate Price and only gave up one run in his 4.1 innings of work. Joe Girardi pieced together the bullpen from there and the game was tied in the bottom of the 7th due to a solo homerun off of Price by Mark Teixeira. Anytime the Yanks scored in this series, Tampa was always able to return the favor, and they did it again. Lefty reliever Boone Logan misfired again and served up a 2-run homer to Carlos Pena which gave the Rays a 3-1 lead and it looked like the Yanks were done. Then something strange happened, two moves made by Joe Maddon turned out to not work (odd isn't?). He had old friend Kyle Farnsworth start the 8th inning and he ended up walking four batters, including A-Rod with the bases loaded on a close 3-2 pitch which made the score 3-2 as well. With lefty hitter Robinson Cano due up next, Maddon called on lefty reliever Jake McGee to get out of the jam, but he instead served up a 2 RBI single to the hot-hitting Cano which gave the Yanks the 4-3 lead and provided the Rays with a taste of their own Tropicana medicine. Although he didn't do his job, with the lead Logan was in line for the win. David Robertson redeemed himself from the poor outing two nights before with a scoreless 8th that included two strikeouts, looking very Robertsonish as he regains his armstrength after being on the DL. Former Rays closer and now $14 million dollar Yankee, Rafael Soriano, worked the 9th to seal the stolen 4-3 victory for the Yanks.
With the next day off, the 49-32 Yankees head up to Fenway Park to try and beat down the sluggish Red Sox who will likely be without Dustin Pedrioa who will likely be on the DL with a thumb issue.....
No comments:
Post a Comment