Results tagged “jonlieber”

-Phillies 3 Mets 0: For the first time since they went to Philadelphia, the Mets got a good pitching performance. Tom Glavine pitched well, surrendering only three runs over seven innings, but Jon Lieber was better. Lieber held the Mets to only five hits and did not allow a runner past second base as he pitched his first shutout in five years. New York will try and avoid being swept tomorrow afternoon.

- Mets 4, Phillies 3: Since June 23rd, Tom Glavine was stuck on career win number 286, but thanks to Philly starter Jon Lieber, he was finally able to move one win closer to #300. Glavine and the Mets trailed the Phillies by two runs after one inning but took the lead in the 6th inning when Lieber threw away what should have been the third out of the inning. Prior to the error, Lieber retired 17 straight batters. Aaron Heilman pitched a perfect 8th inning and Billy Wagner picked up his 24th save.

For Yankee fans, Opening Night 2005 could not have come soon enough. A brutal winter, the anticipation of seeing Randy Johnson in pinstripes and the disappointment left over from last year’s collapse, have created an urgency among the fans to see their team play ball.

So much for going to bed early. Sixteen hours after the end of their last game, the Yankees and Red Sox met up again for game 5 of the AL Championship Series and for the second night in a row, it went to extra innings. Last night, however, the game ran into the 14th inning and was the longest game time-wise in postseason baseball history at 5 hours 49 minutes.

Clearly, we were looking to work in some homonyms today. Too bad they aren't playing the Twins anymore. Anyway, last night, the Yankees defeated the Red Sox, 31 (box score). The Yankees now lead the best of seven series two games to none. While Pedro Martinez has proclaimed the Yankees are his daddies, his performance last night wasn't all that bad. He threw for six innings, giving up four hits and three runs. His counterpart on the Yankees pitched superbly.

The aforementioned offense was led by Hideki Matsui, who went 3-5 with 5 RBI (tying an ALCS record) and 2 runs scored. Gary Sheffield went 3-4 with 4 runs scored. The 2-3-4 hitters for the Yankees (Alex Rodriguez, Sheffield, and Matsui) were 8-14 with 5 RBI and 8 runs scored. Those hitters along with the hitting of Bernie Williams - 2-5 and 3 RBI - were enough to do in the Red Sox.

In the 7th inning, the Yankees had a two run lead, with Tom Gordon relieving Jon Lieber. In the 8th, however, the Yankee bullpen unraveled ever so slightly, allowing the Twins to tie the game. Mariano Rivera relieved Gordon and promptly blew the save, allowing two inherited runners to score. It could have been worse for the Yankees though. Corey Koskey doubled to left, but the ball bounced over the wall, preventing the go ahead run from scoring. As it was, the score remained tied at five a piece.

Johan Santana, who has not lost since the All-Star break, gave up nine hits in seven innings, but had plenty of defense behind him. Three of the double plays were your "standard" GIDP, one was a strike em out, throw em out, and another came on a fly ball to center with a play at the plate. Squandered opportunities by the Yankees as they left seven on base; the Twins only left four runners on base. Mike Mussina picked up his fourth loss in his fourth game one start, leading Gothamist to wonder why they bother starting him in game one of any series - oh, right, he's their best pitcher. While Mussina only allowed seven hits, the Twins were able to score with some small ball in the 3rd and a home run by Jacque Jones in the 6th inning.

Seems like the issue for the Yankees is their starting pitching. Mike Mussina and Jon Lieber are the probable starters for games one and two, but the other two starters remains a question until the Yankees officially file their post season roster and Joe Torre makes a decision on Orlando Hernandez's status. The NY Times reports that Jason Giambi will be left off the post-season roster and Javier Vazquez will pitch in long relief. Torre has yet to make an announcement as to who he will pitch in game three, but Brian Cashman says the Yankees are going to have 11 pitchers on the post-season roster. As they say, pitching wins the post-season. The Twins will start Johan Santana, a solid candidate for the Cy Young award, in game one followed by Brad Radke in game two. MLB.com is reporting that Hernandez is the tentative starter for game three, which considering his performance in recent outings is rather surprising. In his past two starts, both against Toronto, Hernandez has given up 10 total runs in 9.1 innings of total work. His surgically repaired shoulder has been acting up, but the Yankees may not have anywhere else to turn. Then again, the Yankees have had poor pitching all year and they've managed to win 100+ games.

Last night's 6-4 victory against the Twins came on a 9th inning on 2-run home run by the most senior member of the Yankees, Bernie Williams. Javier Vazquez was less than stellar in his final start before the playoffs, giving up four runs in 7.2 innings, including two home runs. Lucky for him, his teammates really know how to hit. Hideki Matsui hit his 31st home run of the season (he had 16 last year - talk about adjustment!).

In game one, Mike Mussina gave up three runs in the first inning and the Yankees managed only one run and three hits off Johan Santana. Lucky for the Yankees, the Twins have already clinched. Santana was pulled after five innings to rest for the playoffs which begin next week. After Santana left, the Yankees were free to have their way with them - okay, not really, but they notched four runs in the 7th inning and went on to win 5-3 (box score).

Game one of the series came down to the 9th inning, where Mariano Rivera failed to close the game and the Red Sox eked out a 3-2 win. Rivera's performance Friday, was very un-Rivera like, and was his 4th blown save of the season. Saturday afternoon, Jon Lieber nearly no-hit the Red Sox as the Yankees rolled 14-4. Derek Lowe was horrendous, giving up seven runs in less than two innings of work. Lieber didn't give up his first hit until David Ortiz's home run in the 7th inning. Mike Mussina, not to be outdone, was also lights during his start on Sunday. In his 7 innings on the mound, Mussina only allowed 1 run and 7 hits. Pedro Martinez was hit by the Yankees, and hit often, continuing his team's losing ways against the Yankees when he pitches. After yesterday's performance, the Red Sox are a mere 11-18, including the playoffs, with Pedro on the mound.

Mussina tossed eight shutout innings while scattering three hits and one walk and striking out eleven. Mussina had it all going and looked unhittable. The Yankees will need Mussina in the postseason if they are to have any chance of advancing and last nights game was a huge lift in a positive direction.

The Yankees had every right for being upset that the Devil Rays did not show up on Monday in time for the double-header, but asking for a forfeit is not the Yankee way. It shows signs of frustration and worst of all desperation.

It was the worst loss in the history of Baseball. Let that sink in. In over 100 years of baseball there has never been a loss as bad as the one the Yankees suffered from the hands of the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night. 22-0. It was the low point of the Yankee season. But, it only counted as one game in the standings. The next day the Yankees put it behind them and came out with a 5-4 win and then clinched the series with a 9-1 win last night.

On Friday night the Yankees bats exploded for eleven runs. Bernie Williams continued his hot hitting, launching his 15th homerun of the year. Ruben Sierra hit a grand slam and Jorge Posada added a solo shot. The game was 10-0 going into the bottom of the fourth inning. Jon Lieber was able to hold on to the ten run cushion and go eight innings for his ninth win of the year. Lieber allowed seven hits, 3 earned runs and zero walks while striking out 4 in the 11-3 win.

Orlando Hernandez looks flat-out amazing these days. He may be the best pitcher on the Yankees pitching staff and right now is the only one that you can count on for a solid start. Last night Hernandez took his record to 5-0 with a 5-1 win over the hard-hitting Texas Rangers.

Even though the Yankees are crushing the Red Sox in the standings and can seemingly cruise into October, I have a bone to pick with Mr. Torre. First let me say that I think he is a terrific baseball man, and a great manager. However, when the Yankees got to within one run of tying the game in the bottom of the ninth, Jorge Posada drew a walk with no one out and the Yankees down by one. The next batter, Bernie Williams, who has been on fire of late, did not sacrifice Bubba Crosby (the pinch runner for Posada) to second base. I don't understand this. Why not sacrifice? What is the logic?

The Yankees took three games over the weekend from a struggling Toronto team to increase their record to 71-39 overall and expand their lead over the Red Sox to 10.5 games. In the first three games of the four game series the Yankees outscored Toronto 25-6. Friday 11-4, Saturday 6-0 and Sunday 8-2

Kevin Brown struck out seven and allowed only four hits over the 8 innings. Barry Zito got into trouble in the second inning and that lead to 3 runs. It wasn't entirely Zito's fault as Alex Rodriguez reached base on left fielder Eric Byrnes error. Jorge Posada flied out to center for the first out of the inning. Then Hideki Matsui singled to right, A-rod to second. Ruben Sierra then doubled to left field and A-rod scored moving Matsui to third. Newly acquired John Olerud then doubled to deep left scoring Matsui and Sierra.

Getting four runs off Mulder is like getting a date with Carmen Electra, it just doesn't happen that often. The Yankees pitching continues to be a problem. The offense has been consistent all year, but the pitching is another story. The Yankees are not worried about losing a few games in the regular season to the Oakland A's, but the signs are there for a mediocre off-season, due to the poor pitching. In the playoffs you win games 3-2 or 2-1, not 10-9. That is what concerns the Yankee fan, what is going to happen in October when we match up aagainst three top notch pitchers.

It was a good and busy weekend at the Stadium for the Yankees. the Yankees managed to take three out of four games from Baltimore and increase their lead over the Red Sox to 9.5 games. The big trade that everyone wanted to see (Randy Johnson coming to the big Apple) did not happen, but Cashman was able to unload the inconsistent Jose Contreras for the steady Esteban Loaiza.

Jon Lieber pitched his best game as a Yankee. Lieber went seven and two-thirds innings, scattering seven hits, and allowing two earned runs (the game tying run that Heredia allowed to score was charged to Lieber). Scott Proctor, who has pitched wonderfully in the last week, retired one batter before allowing the home run to Vernon Wells.

The Yankees most consistent pitcher of late, Orlando Hernandez, officially became a Yankee pitcher yesterday when he pulled up lame in the 3rd inning. Hernandez suffered from a tight hamstring. No word yet on whether this will affect his next start. Somehow the likes of Juan Padilla, Bret Prinz, Scott Proctor, and Tom Gordon held the Blue Jays in check long enough for the Yankee offense to score 4 in the 8th inning and 2 in the ninth inning for their fourth straight win over the Blue Jays this year. (Box Score 7-4)

Ted Lilly pitched six and two-thirds of three hit, shutout baseball. Lilly struck out six and walked only two. Lilly was relieved by Terry Adams. Adams pitched his way out of the seventh inning. Vinny Chulk relieved Adams and Struck out three in an inning and two-thirds before giving up the home run to Ruben Sierra. Chulk took the loss to move his record to 0-2 with a 3.07 ERA.

The Yankees entered the four game series in Detroit on Thursday with a spectacular performance by Jose Contreras and Mariano Rivera. The pitching problems were solved right? Not even close. Mike Mussina is now on the DL and will miss at least three starts. Kevin Brown is still not off the DL and Randy Johnson is still pitching in Arizona. Pitching was the reason the Yanks split (2-2) with the Tigers this weekend.

If your favorite team was 55-31, 7 games ahead in their division and had the best record in baseball, would you be worried? Or would you be enjoying a great season? That is the huge difference between the Yankee fan and the rest of the baseball world. Yankees fans are worried, even though right now they are the best team in baseball.

Contreras pitched well in Thursday's 7-1 win (see our post on that game here). On Friday it was newly named All-Star, Javier Vasquez, notching his 10th win of the year. Vasquez pitched five and two-thirds innings, struck out nine and held the Devil rays to three runs. Derek Jeter, Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada each had two hits to provide the offense for the Yanks.

After a disappointing Subway Series for the Bronx Bombers, the Yankees came home to face the Detroit Tigers in a three games series. The Yanks won the opening game in the series 10-3, with the long ball and solid pitching. The game was 7-0 after two innings, but that did not keep things from getting interesting.