Tagged: Brian O’Nora

Re – Dempster – tion:

Hit By Pitch Early, A-Rod Spurs 4-Run Rally With Homer 

GAME 123

YANKEES 9, RED SOX 6

Revenge may be a dish best served cold. But when Alex Rodriguez is the chef, the pot somehow boils over from a steaming cauldron.

After being deliberately hit with the fourth of four inside pitches from right-hander Ryan Dempster as he led off the second inning, Rodriguez blasted a 400-plus-foot rocket to the deepest part of centerfield at Fenway Park to lead off the sixth as part of a four-run rally that led New York to a victory over Boston on Sunday.

After Rodriguez’s second home run of the season the Yankees loaded the bases and chased Dempster from the premises. Left-hander Drake Britton came on and Brett Gardner greeted him with a three-run triple to center that turned what had been a 6-4 deficit into a 7-6 lead.

With a national television audience watching via ESPN, the sellout crowd of 37,917 that had cheered loudly when Rodriguez was hit in the second inning suddenly became eerily quiet, perhaps realizing that when their team is holding an 8 1/2 lead on the Yankees it might not have been too prudent for Dempster to awakened a sleeping lion.

Dempster (6-9) faced 22 batters after he purposely plunked A-Rod  –  seemingly to show his displeasure at Rodriguez’s legal right to appeal his 211-game suspension through an agreement long ago reached by the Major League Players’ Association  –  and he gave up seven runs on eight hits and a walk in that span before departing after pitching 5 1/3 innings.

“Whether you like me or hate me, that was wrong. It was unprofessional and silly. Kind of a silly way to get somebody hurt on your team as well. Today kind of brought us together.”

                                                                                                                                                                                            – Alex Rodriguez 

Sleeping lion no more.

The Red Sox stormed out to an early 2-0 lead against CC Sabathia (11-10) in the first inning after Sabathia walked David Ortiz to load the bases.  Jonny Gomes drove in Jacoby Ellsbury with a sacrifice fly and Jarrod Saltalamacchia scored Shane Victorino with a lined single to center.

But Dempster opened the second frame by tossing his first pitch so far inside at Rodriguez it sailed behind him. Dempster then followed with two pitches that backed Rodriguez from the plate. His fourth pitch was a hard fastball that grazed Rodriguez’s left elbow and struck his ribs.

As both benches and bullpens began to empty, home-plate umpire Brian O’Nora immediately leaped from behind the plate to warn both both benches. However, Yankees manager Joe Girardi disputed O’Nora’s failure to toss Dempster from the game since all four pitches were thrown inside. But O’Nora rejected his argument and ejected an irate Girardi from the game.

The Yankees immediately got even.

Curtis Granderson slapped a double down the right-field line and Eduardo Nunez followed with an RBI single to left-center that scored Rodriguez. Lyle Overbay then plated Granderson with a sacrifice fly to left.

The Yankees added a run in the third off Dempster thanks to Rodriguez.

Ichiro Suzuki and Robinson Cano opened the frame with consecutive singles and Suzuki was able to move up third on a flyout to right by Alfonso Soriano.

Rodriguez then got his first measure of revenge off Dempster on the night when he rolled a ball to short that scored Suzuki on the groundout to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead.

However, Sabathia was unable to hold the lead.

Victorino lead off the third inning with a double and he advanced to third on a flyout off the bat of Dustin Pedroia and scored on a rollout to first by Ortiz.

The Red Sox added a pair of runs in the fourth on a sacrifice fly from Stephen Drew and a solo home run by Will Middlebrooks. They added another run in the fifth when Sabathia issued an Intentional walk to Saltalamacchia to load the bases with two out only to have Sabathia throw low on a 3-1 pitch to Daniel Nava to score the Bosox’s sixth run.

But Sabathia ended the inning by striking out Drew on three pitches to leave the bases loaded. That turned out to be THE key out of the game.

Rodriguez then opened the sixth with what proved to be the longest home run hit by a Yankee all season. Rodriguez made sure he gave a little grief back to Dempster and the booing crowd by throwing up his right fist as the ball cleared the centerfield wall and he stopped at home plate to look up and point his two index fingers skyward.

One out later, Nunez slammed a long single off the Green Monster in left. Overbay then dumped a single into right and Chris Stewart drew a four-pitch walk to end Dempster’s evening.

Britton, who was tagged for three runs on five hits in one inning by the Yankees on Friday, then was greeted by Gardner’s high-arcing drive to center that just missed landing over the wall, ending up as a bases-clearing triple that turned the game to the Yankees favor for the rest of the evening.

The Yankees added a run in the seventh when pinch-hitter Mark Reynolds blooped a single to center off left-hander Franklin Morales to score Granderson.

They added another run n the ninth off wild right-hander Rubby De La Rosa after he hit Jayson Nix to open the frame. He later uncorked a wild pitch to advance Nix to second, Nix stole third and he scored on Stewart’s one-out single to left.

Despite not pitching at his best, Sabathia got credit for the victory. He gave up six runs on seven hits and five walks while he fanned five in 5 1/3 innings.

The Yankees’ vaunted bullpen  – which has been a source of strength all season  –  behind Shawn Kelley, Boone Logan, David Robertson and Mariano Rivera kept the Red Sox scoreless over the final 3 2/3 innings on two hits and two walks while they punched out five batters to preserve the victory.

Rivera, who entered the game after blowing his past three saves opportunities for the first time in his 17-season major-league career, pitched around a two-out single by Ortiz and a walk to Gomes to retire the tying run in Saltalamacchia on a fly ball to left to earn his 36th save in 41 chances this season.

Dempster ended up a bigger loser than he already was in the second inning. He  gave up a whopping seven runs on nine hits and one walk while he struck out three in 5 1/3 innings.

But the bigger loss is that he perhaps awoke the Yankees from a slumbering state and allowed then to rally around their controversial teammate to win a very important three-game series at Fenway.

The Yankees are now 64-59 and they are in fourth place in the American League East, 7 1/2 games behind the first-place Red Sox, who are 73-53. The Yankees are just six games behind in the wild-card standings.

PINSTRIPE POSITIVES

  • Opposing fans and even some Yankee fans can hate Rodriguez all they like, but the man is helping this team’s offense in a big way. He finished the game 3-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored and two RBIs. Since his return from the disabled list on Aug. 5, Rodriguez is hitting .319 with two home runs and six RBIs in 12 games.
  • When both benches emptied in the second inning, Gardner had to be physically restrained by Cano from storming out to the mound to get Dempster. However, Gardner paid Dempster back the best way he could with that triple off Britton that added three more runs to Dempster’s ERA and turned him from a potential winning pitcher to what he really is now   –  a loser. Dempster’s ERA would have been 4.58 without the three-run triple. As it is, Dempster’s ERA rose to 4.77. Gardner was 2-for-5 with three RBIs and he is now hitting .315 with runners in scoring position and is .429 with the bases loaded.
  • Nunez was having himself a very good game until he had to leave in the sixth inning with a tight right hamstring. Nunez was 3-for-3 with two lined shots off the left-field wall, two stolen bases and an RBI. In his past nine games, Nunez is 12-for-34 (.353) with six runs scored and six RBIs. But if Nunez is placed on the disabled list it would be the third time this season he would have missed significant time due to injury.

NAGGING NEGATIVES

The only true negative is that the Yankees needed to win the game so badly that they were unable to take the opportunity to get some retribution for Dempster’s cowardly act. If you think Dempster was standing up for his fellow major-league players, he wasn’t because those same players agreed to the rules that allowed Rodriguez to appeal his suspension. If Dempster had a beef, he should have taken it up with Commissioner Bud Selig for not issuing a ban through the Collective Bargaining Agreement or the Players’ Association. Dempster made himself look like a fool, lost the game, rallied the Yankees around their embattled teammate and woke them up enough to beat the Red Sox. I can’t see any positives for Dempster or the Red Sox in it. It was stupid decision.

BOMBER BANTER

On the same day his manager and his teammates rallied around him, Rodriguez will not be hearing much from general manager Brian Cashman and other members of the Yankees’ front office. Cashman said on Sunday that he does not feel comfortable talking with Rodriguez other to say hello or goodbye because of Rodriguez’s lawyers intentions to file a grievance with the Players’ Association alleging the Yankees knew Rodriguez was seriously injured during the end of the 2012 season and played him anyway. One of Rodriguez’s attorney, Joseph Tacopina, told The New York Times on Saturday that the Yankees concealed MRI results that would have shown Rodriguez’s left hip was injured during the 2012 playoffs. Yankees president Randy Levine said the claim was inaccurate, adding that Tacopina “needs to put up or shut up.”  . . .  Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter took batting practice and fielded ground balls at the team’s minor-league complex in Tampa, FL, but he will not be activated when he is eligible to come off the disabled list on Tuesday. Jeter, who is recovering from a strained right calf, still has not run the bases or participated in a simulated game, which he needs to do before he will be activated.

ON DECK

The Yankees will have Monday off before opening a four-game homestand on Tuesday with a day-night doubleheader against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The doubleheader was scheduled as a result of a rainout on May 19.

Ivan Nova (6-4, 2.99 ERA) will start the day game and Phil Hughes (4-12, 4.97 ERA) will pitch in the nightcap. Right-hander Esmil Rogers (3-7, 4.91 ERA) will pitch in the afternoon contest for the Blue Jays while Mark Buehrle (9-7, 4.29 ERA) will pitch the late game.

Game-time for the opener is 1:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be telecast by the YES Network. The night game will begin at 7:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be telecast by MY9.

 

Tigers Take Out Claws On Hughes, Yanks’ Bullpen

GAME 5

TIGERS 8, YANKEES 4

The Yankees might be decimated by injuries but manager Joe Girardi figures that in the five seasons he has managed the team that he can always count on his strong bullpen. That is until now.

For a second straight day in Detroit the bullpen imploded in the late innings as Detroit downed New York on a chilly, windy day in front of a paid crowd of 42,453 at Comerica Park.

Phil Hughes (0-1) held the Tigers to one unearned run over the first four innings in his first start of the season after missing all of spring training with a bulging disk in his upper back. However, the Tigers broke a 1-1 tie by batting around against Hughes, Boone Logan and David Phelps, scoring four runs on six hits in the fifth inning.

The injury-depleted Yankee offense responded in the top of the sixth against starter Max Scherzer (1-0) and reliever Al Alburquerque   –  taking advantage of four walks  –  scoring three runs Travis Hafner ended Scherzer’s day with an RBI single and Lyle Overbay slapped a hanging slider from Alburquerque for a two-run double.

The Yankees could have scored more runs but after Vernon Wells was initially called safe at first base by umpire Brian O’Nora on a potential line-drive double play off the bat of Brennan Boesch, but home-plate umpire and crew chief Jerry Layne overruled the call.

The Yankees’ real downfall actually began in the bottom of the sixth when Phelps remained in the game.

Austin Jackson and Torii Hunter opened the frame with singles and Miguel Cabrera drew a walk to load the bases. Prince Fielder scored Jackson on a fielder’s choice grounder and Andy Dirks later scored Hunter on a two-out RBI single.

Dirks added a run in the bottom of the eighth on an sacrifice fly that scored Cabrera off Joba Chamberlain, who helped Cabrera reach third by walking Fielder after Cabrera had singled and then uncorking a wild pitch to allow Cabrera to reach third.

The Yankees’ bullpen has now pitched 20 innings in the first five games and they have given up 18 runs (17 earned) on 28 hits and 12 walks for an ERA of 7.65 and a WHIP of 2.00.

Wit the loss the Yankees drop to 1-4. The Tigers are 3-2.

PINSTRIPE POSITIVES

  • Vernon Wells drew the Yankees even with a solo home run to left-field leading off the second inning. It was his second home run of the season and Wells is showing that he rediscovered the stroke that saw him hit 32 home runs and drive in 106 runs in 2006 when he was an All-Star outfielder with the Toronto Blue Jays.
  • Overbay is proving to a valuable pickup as well. In the first five games, Overbay, 35, was 2-for-4 in the game and is hitting .267 with a pair of two-out, two-run hits this week and he is fielding first base flawlessly in place of 2013 Gold Glove winner Mark Teixeira.
  • Though he had a horrible spring, Hafner is also picking it up as the season starts. He was 1-for-3 with an RBI and he is hitting .313. I guess you have to give general manager Brian Cashman credit for picking up some key replacements for the Yankees’ depleted lineup. They seem to be paying early dividends.

NAGGING NEGATIVES

  • The Yankee bullpen has been a shambles in the early going and it is the real reason why the Yankees are 1-4. Granted, Hiroki Kuroda, Ivan Nova and Hughes did not pitch far enough into the first starts but the bullpen has to do much better than it is doing now. The odd thing is that it not just one guy. One day it is Cody Eppley, the next it is Joba Chamberlain and the day after that it is Shawn Kelley. They have to pitch better, period!
  • Brett Gardner is 0-for-8 in the first two games of the series and that kind of kills the offense a bit when he can’t get on base to use his legs and disrupt the pitcher. He is hitting .150 and the Yankees need for him to get going with the bat like he did in spring training. Gardner did make a diving catch on a sinking liner off the bat of Victor Martinez that saved two runs in the third inning. So his defense is still great.
  • Phelps was excellent last season as a spot starter and reliever but he was awful on Saturday. He gave up two runs on six hits and a walk in 2 2/3 innings of work. His ERA has ballooned to 6.75 and it is hard to figure out why quality pitchers like him in the bullpen are failing.

BOMBER BANTER

A day after being struck in the right arm by a pitch from Tigers right-hander Doug Fister, Eduardo Nunez was held out Saturday’s game. But Nunez said it is possible that he could return to the lineup on Sunday. Nunez was helped off the field in the fourth inning but X-rays showed only a bruised right bicep. Jayson Nix started at shortstop on Saturday and was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and he committed an error in the first inning that led to the Tigers scoring an unearned run.  . . .  Derek Jeter fielded 41 ground balls hit directly to him, took some batting practice and played long toss on Saturday at the team’s minor-league complex in Tampa, FL. Jeter, 38, has been trying to recover from off-season surgery on a fractured left ankle. After suffering a setback in his rehab on March 23 the Yankees have not established a timetable for his return.  . . .  When the Yankees activated Hughes from the 15-day disabled list on Saturday they optioned right-hander Eppley to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

ON DECK

The Yankees will try to salvage the final game of the series against the Tigers on Sunday.

If so, they are going to need for ace left-hander CC Sabathia (0-1, 7.20 ERA) to pitch better than he did in his first start. Sabathia allowed four runs in five innings in a loss against the Red Sox. He is 18-12 with a 4.43 ERA in his career against the Tigers.

He will be opposed by American League Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander (1-0, 0.00 ERA). Verlander pitched five shutout innings against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field to earn his first Opening Day victory in six tries. He is 5-4 with a 3.74 ERA lifetime against the Yankees.

Game-time will be 1:08 p.m. EDT and the game will be telecast nationally by TBS and locally by the YES Network.

 

CC Wins No. 17 As Yankees Power Past Twins

GAME 122

YANKEES 8, TWINS 4

CC Sabathia came to Target Field on Thursday to get his pitches back on target.

After the first two innings it looked as if he hadn’t. But the ace left-hander settled down and he left the game after seven innings with a lead to pick up his 17th victory as New York defeated Minnesota.

Sabathia, who entered the game having given up 12 runs over 14 innings in his last two starts, was handed an early 1-0 lead in the second inning on a Brett Gardner sacrifice fly. However, Sabathia handed it right back to the Twins by giving up two runs in the second.

Up to that point Sabathia had been tagged for four hits and a walk. It could have been even worse if a first-inning home run call in favor of Justin Morneau had not been reversed by the umpiring crew on replay as a foul ball. Joe Mauer was on first and it would have been a two-run home run if the call had stood.

But home-plate umpire Brian O’Nora reviewed the call, determined the ball was foul and sent Mauer back to first. Twins manager Ron Gardnehire immediately argued the reversal and O’Nora ejected him from the game. It is the second straight night the Yankees have been involved in controversial home run reviewed by the umpires.

Sabathia (17-7) settled down to retire the last two batters in the second and then 12 of the next 15 batters he faced before he was touched for two runs in the seventh inning. Sabathia ended up surrendering four runs (three earned) on nine hits and a walk and he fanned nine batters.

The Yankees, meanwhile, were much more effective in roughing up Twins left-hander Brian Duensing (8-12).

They reclaimed the 1-0 lead Sabthia gave up in the second when Curtis Granderson led off the third inning with a triple to left-center. He scored when Mark Teixeira blasted his 33rd home run of the season into the left-field bleachers.

The Yankees then again used the long ball to extend their lead in the fifth. Teixera opened the inning with a double down the left-field line. One out later, Nick Swisher blasted his 15th home run of the season into the left-field seats. Andruw Jones followed that with a titanic solo shot, his eighth of the season, into the second deck in the left-field bleachers to give the Yankees a 6-2 edge.

Duensing gave up six runs on 10 hits and a walk and fanned one over five innings.

Sabathia opened the seventh by giving up a single Tsuyoshi Nishioka and Drew Butera moved Nishioka to third with a single to left. Ben Revere plated Nishioka with a single to right and then Eduardo Nunez botched an infield grounder by Trevor Plouffe to load the bases with no outs.

Sabathia gave up a sac fly to Mauer that scored Butera and drew the Twins to within two runs. However, Morneau flew out to right and Robinson Cano saved Sabathia a run — and possibly the game — by making a diving stop of Jim Thome’s hard-hit grounder. Cano was playing deep but had to dive headlong to stop the ball. He got up and threw out Thome to end the Twins’ threat.

The Yankees tacked on two runs in the ninth off reliever Matt Capps. Capps entered the game with two outs in the inning and walked Jones. Nunez doubled to left-center to advance Jones to third. Francisco Cervelli then hit a 2-2 pitch down the line and off third baseman Danny Valencia’s glove to score Jones and Nunez to pad the Yankees’ lead to four.

With the victory, the Yankees improved their season record to 75-47 and they maintained their half-game lead in the American League East over the Boston Red Sox. The Twins fell to 54-69.

PINSTRIPE POSITIVES

  • Teixeira reached base four times with a home run, a double and two walks. His home run drew him to within one of teammate Curtis Granderson for second place in the major leagues at 34. Teixeira’s two RBIs on the night give him 91 for the season. Teixeira has not failed to hit 30 home runs and drive in 100 runs in a season since his rookie season in 2003. With nine more RBIs he will have eight straight seasons of hitting those benchmarks.
  • Swisher’s home run was his first since he hit a home run in each part of a day-night doubleheader against the Orioles on July 30. Though Swisher hit a robust .323 in July, He has cooled off considerably in August, hitting .263 with one home run and five RBIs.
  • Granderson was 3-for-5 in the game with a triple and two singles. He also scored his major-league-leading 112th run. He also leads the American League in triples with 10. But Granderson also displayed some fielding prowess with two outfield assists in the first two innings. In the first he cut off a drive in left-center by Plouffe and threw Plouffe out at second base trying to stretch a single into a double. The next inning Granderson had a line drive off the bat of Butera hit off the bottom of his glove, which scored the Twins’ second run of the inning. But, Granderson picked up the ball and fired to Derek Jeter to retire Nishioka, who ran back to first thinking Granderson had caught the ball. Butera was robbed of a hit because the play was scored a fielder’s choice.

NAGGING NEGATIVES

  • Despite Sabathia’s victory, he did not pitch well for the third straight game. In his last three starts, Sabathia has given up 16 runs (15 earned) on 29 hits and two walks in 22 innings. That is an ERA of 6.14 and a walks-to-innings-pitched ratio (WHIP) of 1.41. Command of the fastball seems to be biggest issue. Sabathia is leaving pitches up in the strike zone or missing altogether. It is a concern because the Yankees have just 40 games left in the regular season.
  • Gardner was the only starter without a hit in the game but he did contribute the sac fly in the second that started the scoring for the Yankees. Though he is hitting .295 for the month, Gardner is suddenly hitless in his last nine at-bats.
  • Nunez made yet another error. This one was pretty inexplicable. He caught the bouncer off the bat of Plouffe but dropped the ball as he moved to third to force out Butera. It is his 16th error of the season and he leads the Yankees by far in that category.

BOMBER BANTER

Former Yankee manager and current executive vice president of baseball operations Joe Torre said Thursday that an umpire misinterpreted the ground rules at Kauffman Stadium in awarding a home run to Billy Butler of the Royals the previous nigh in a game against the Yankees. Butler lined a ball that hit off the left-field wall and was ruled a home run. Girardi disputed the home run and the umpires reviewed the call by use of instant replay. But crew chief Dana DeMuth misunderstood the ground rules in awarding the home run to Kansas City, who ended up winning the game 5-4. Girardi did not protest the game before a pitch was made to the next batter and therefore the call will stand, Torre said. Of course, had Girardi protested the game it still would be a moot point and the Yankees would have just received an apology letter from Major League Baseball.  . . .   Freddy Garcia had his bullpen session pushed back a day to Friday. Garcia, who has a cut on a finger of his right hand, will throw on Friday and it is looking unlikely he will be able to start in the series against the Twins this weekend.  . . .  Alex Rodriguez rejoined the Yankees on Thursday but he was not activated and looks as if he will not play until at least Saturday. Rodriguez has been sidelined since having surgery on July 11 to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee.

ON DECK

The Yankees continue their four-game series with the Twins on Friday.

Right-hander Phil Hughes (3-4, 6.55 ERA) will start for the Yankees. Hughes pitched his best game of the season against the Rays last week, allowing two runs in six innings. He is 3-3 with a 4.28 ERA since returning from the disabled list in July. He is 0-0 with a 3.68 ERA in his career against the Twins.

The Twins will counter with right-hander Kevin Slowey (0-0, 4.91 ERA). Slowey will be making his first start of season because his scheduled start Sunday against the Indians was rained out. He is 1-1 with a 4.56 ERA in his career against the Yankees.

Game-time will be at 8:10 p.m EDT and the game will be telecast by the YES Network.