Again, game 2 saw two brilliant starting pitching performances where one guy gives up two solo home runs and it turns out to be the difference. Pedro Martinez and his afro turned back the clocks as he has done down the stretch all year throwing the bugs bunny change that fooled hitters all night. Unfortunately for him, he left one up a bit to Texeria and just as Manny Ramirez did in a previous game, sitting on that change, blasted it out of the park. He then gave up a home run to Matsui who golfed a ball about three inches off the ground down the left field line 320' for a stadium special.6 innings, 6 hits, 8 k's, 2 bb's, 3 runs was Pedro's line. His last run scored after Manuel brought him out for the 7th inning and he allowed a two-strike bloop by Hairston Jr. and then a single to Melky Cabrera on a hit-and-run before being pulled. Chan Ho Park limited the damage in large thanks to Derek Jeter trying to bunt with two strikes, two on and no outs and a bit more of bad umpiring resulting in a double-play on Johnny Damon. Where do I begin?
First, Joe Girardi did a terrible job making this lineup. The 7-8-9 hitters were Jerry Hairston Jr. (because he's 10-27 off Pedro lifetime, yipppie), Melky, Jose Molina. If you're starting Molina over Posada there is no way you choose that game to start a guy like Hairston over Swisher. Yes, Swisher is slumping but he gives you a ton more power and a much greater ability to get on base. Since Hairston hit a cue shot down the line with two strikes (after looking hideous at the plate all night) in the 7th in what ended up being a big hit most will call Girardi a genius for the move. He wasn't, he was an idiot and got bailed out. By the way, the bottom of the lineup killed a few rallies and the Yanks may have gotten to Pedro real good with a better back-end, but we will never know.
In what was a brilliant move after Hairston gets on, Girardi pinch-runs Gardner, Melky shows bunt first pitch, they go to the hit-and-run on the following pitch. It's not clear if Melky was just showing bunt to confuse the Phils or not, but if-so that's brilliant by him or Girardi. That is the type of thing a good baseball manager will come up to you and say before an inning "hey look, if jerry gets on here we're going to run for him, show bunt first pitch and if its a strike we'll have gardner steal, if its a ball we may put the hit and run on, so be aware." And that is my guess to what happened, so kudos to Girardi there.
But this idea McCarver was promoting that Girardi is a genius for then pinch-hitting Posada there? Are you kidding me? Of course he's going to pinch-hit Posada there. It's 1st and 3rd no one out in a 2-1 ballgame bottom 7. Personally, I would've pinch-hit Posada for Molina the last time he got up (right before the Jeter double) and told Burnett to man up and throw to Jorge like he should anyway.Next came Jeter bunting. Usually when Jeter bunts it's on his own. It's a nice thought Derek but come on, you're the hottest hitter in the lineup...give yourself a bit of credit and swing the stick. You're hitting .500 on the series and that's after fouling out. Great announcing by the way, "no way he bunts here (bunt) no way this happens (it happens)." We know for certain that Girardi, if he did have the bunt sign on, would have taken it off with two strikes. If he ever put it on it's a ridiculously bad call, but I'd bet it was Jeter all the way. I'm sure everyone has seen the next play as Damon hits it to Howard and it is incorrectly ruled a catch and resulted in a double-play. Not sure what Howard was doing there as the play would have resulted in everyone safe, bases chucked, 1 out for Tex/A-Rod..so this was a big play (and if the Yankees lost last night people would be calling for the umps heads..as is this is maybe the perfect play that would call for instant replay, though it's tricky in baseball and would slow down already slow games, more to come on this after the series)...all Howard had to do was step on first base for the double-play and even if he was playing it like a ground ball after you run to within a step of first base, step on it, sucker. **Editing in a note - Should mention this is a tough call to make and going to instant replay ruins the flow of the play, much like the difficulty of dealing with fumbles and whistling plays dead in football.
The next inning (8th) Mo comes in and the Phils have Rollins and Victorino on 1st and 2nd with 1 out and Utley batting. Count goes full and again McCarver is promoting a ridiculous idea that "You have to send the runners here." Manuel pretty much shut it down in the press conference after saying "Check the stats, I'll bet you Utley has hit into less than 5 double plays all year. So I wasn't worried about that. On top of that I don't want him lining out and if he strikes out, he's a lefty and Posada would have had a straight shot to third there. And I want Howard to hit." The fact is, McCarver, if you send the runners there and Utley makes an out, it's 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs and 1st base is open so they're either walking Howard or making him chase a pitch. Werth with the bases stacked is nice there, but you want Howard to hit. It was just a freak play, Utley hit it taylor made, Cano and Jeter made a ridiculously sweet turn and in the words of Charlie Manuel, stopping mid-answer to about the third question after that and turning back to the reporter who asked why he didn't send the runners "And another thing Jim, check the replay, Utley didn't hit into a double-play, he was safe!" Classic.
Fox track is terrible. DJ Hero is terrible. And Fox, you're the worst. When we have Chase Utley squaring off with Marino Rivera in the 8th inning of a 3-1 game with two guys on, DO NOT SHOW ME THE BASE-RUNNERS. They missed the beginning of three pitches including the double play showing us a ridiculous angle. No one cares about the base-runners. What ever happened to the announcers? Can Joe Buck let us know if the runners are on the move? K Thanks.
A-Rod is now 0-8 with 6 k's and what should have been an error.
Ryan Howard went 0-4 with 4 k's last night, though he did have that big double in game 1, might be struggling.
Wonder who will take more heat if it continues?
Raul Ibanez is quietly putting together a brilliant series.
I know there was more I wanted to say, but I think my brain is burned out now. Games Saturday/Sunday/Monday/Wednesday/Thursday. Some huge decisions on pitching and such. I fully expect Hamels to "surprise" everyone and out-pitch Pettitte in game 3, but that shouldn't come as a surprise if you've been paying attention.
