Results tagged “tomgordon”

The Yankees imploded last night with shoddy defense and poor relief pitching, falling to the A’s 9-4. Jaret Wright was the loser while Joe Kennedy got the win.

The Yankees head into the season hoping to capture their 27th World Championship. Once again they have the highest payroll in baseball and once again anything less than total victory will be a failure in the eyes of their bombastic owner.

It was a season of lows and highs from an 11-19 start to 95 wins and a playoff spot the Yankees gave their fans a story with many twists and turns in 2005. There was the emergence of Robinson Cano and Chien-Ming Wang and the painful decline of Bernie Williams. In the end, the Yankees couldn’t keep the momentum they had built in September going and fell to the Angels in five games.

Most people were not expecting the Yankees to recover from their 11-19 start, so it is no surprise that most experts are picking the Angels to win their ALDS matchup, which starts tonight. After all, the Yankees are opening up a postseason series on the road for the first time since 2001 and the lack of home field advantage might tip the balance in a series where both teams are fairly evenly matched.

The loss last night went to Randy Johnson, who seems to have finally come around. Despite the loss, Johnson had a respectable performance, allowing 3 runs in 6 and 1/3 innings. The bullpen blew the game when Tom Gordon allowed the tying run to score in the 7th inning and Mariano Rivera picked up the loss after a 9th inning error by Robinson Cano.

The Mets started the weekend with promise that quickly disappeared. After beating the Marlins 7-6 on Friday, behind the clutch hitting of Chris Woodward, the Mets returned to their inconsistent ways. On Saturday they jumped out to a 3-1 lead before collapsing down the stretch in a 7-3 loss. The only thing that drives Gothamist crazier than Jose Reyes leading off is the sight of Jose Offerman playing first base. His inability to handle a throw from Marlin Anderson proved costly as Florida went ahead for good in the sixth inning. On Sunday, the erratic Mets’ offense botched a golden opportunity as they loaded the bases with one out in the first but failed to score when David Wright and Chris Woodward struck out. That was all Florida ace, Dontrelle Willis, needed as he pitched a complete game shutout, scattering three hits.

Both teams had shoddy defense, but the Yankees', which has been dreadful all year, imploded again. Robinson Cano booted what should have been an inning-ending ground out, and Jason Giambi couldn't flip the ball to Tom Gordon on another routine play. Both happened after Tony Womack's poorly-traveled field trip in center field on a Chris Woodward double. By the time the inning ended, the Yankees had handed the Mets three runs.

Every Yankee starter contributed a hit or an RBI in the victory and Tanyon Sturtze added two innings of spotless relief while the outcome was still in question. Tom Gordon pitched into and out of trouble in the ninth to close the door on the Red Sox. The Yankees took the lead in the third inning when Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui drove in runs and David Wells balked in one. Matsui added a two-run homer in the eighth to pad the Yankee lead.

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.

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.

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.

Last night, Mike Mussina took the hill against Cliff Lee. Lee started the season 10-1 but has been hit hard of late. Bernie Williams lead off with a double and quickly scored on a Derek Jeter single. In the second inning, the Yankees scored twice more on a Tony Clark home run. Mussina had a 30 cushion going into the second inning. That lead was reduced rather quickly with a Travis Hafner walk, a Casey Blake double and a Ronnie Belliard two RBI single.

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.

In the bottom of the ninth with one runner on and one out, Gary Sheffield (hands down the Yankee MVP) launched an Octavio Dotel pitch into the Left field seats tying the game 6-6. In the Bottom of the 11th it was A-Rod's turn to play hero, hitting, what looked like a lazy fly ball to left field, that carried over the left field wall. The home run may be viewed as the moment that A-Rod officially became a Yankee. He had been mired in a slump this entire season with runners in scoring position, but last night that all changed with his walk-off home run.

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.

Victor Zambrano took the hill for Tampa Bay and he has beaten the Yankees three times this year. The fourth win would not e in the cards for Victor on this day. Zambrano struck out seven in five and two-thirds innings and gave up three earned runs. Zambrano ran his record to 9-6 on the year.

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.

The All-Star game is tonight at 8 on Fox. Lest you think that this game is as meaningless as the All-Star games of other sports, the two leagues are playing for home field in the World Series. Whether or not home field should come down to some players that may not care, or if home field actually matters in the World Series at all, is open to debate.

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.

In last night's victory against the Orioles (box score), Jeter went 4-5 with a double and two solo home runs. Despite leading by 5 runs when entering the 9th inning, the Yankees bullpen made the game more exciting than it needed to be. Tom Gordon gave up 3 runs and Mariano Rivera gave up 1 run. The tying run for Baltimore was on 3rd when B.J. Surhoff flied out to end the game, giving Rivera his 19th save of the season.