Tagged: John Danks

Hughes Gets His ‘Phil’ By Whitewashing Chisox

GAME 108

YANKEES 6, WHITE SOX 0 (7 Innings, Rain)

Phil Hughes knew going into his start on Tuesday that he would have to pitch well to remain a starter with the Yankees. As the night the unfolded, Hughes answered all the doubters by pitching his best game of the season.

Only the rain in the bottom of the seventh inning at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago could stop him.

Hughes (2-3) shut out Chicago on just three hits over six innings as New York blanked the White Sox for their fifth victory in a row and their ninth in their last 12 contests in a game shortened to seven innings due to rain.

Coming into the game with a bloated 8.24 ERA and rookie right-hander Ivan Nova breathing down his neck after his great performance against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday, Hughes needed to show some sign he could regain the form that made him 18-8 with 4.19 ERA last season. Hughes did that and more.

He allowed no White Sox runner reach second base, he walked none and he needed only 65 pitches in six innings for his first shutout (albeit an abbreviated one) since May 12, 2010. Of more comfort to manager Joe Girardi was that Hughes reached up to 95 miles per hour on his fastball, one of the missing ingredients in Hughes’ arsenal all season long when he spent two months on the disabled list with right shoulder inflammation.

The Yankees provided Hughes with plenty of run support off left-hander John Danks (4-9)

Mark Teixeira, who entered the game 5-for-9 in his career against Danks, blasted a pair of home runs, one from each side of the plate, to lead the 11-hit attack.

He connected on a two-run shot hitting right-handed for his 30th home run of the season in the third inning off Danks to extend the lead to 4-0. He added a solo blast hitting left-handed in the seventh off reliever Jason Frasor hitting to make it a 5-0 game. Teixiera has now connected for home runs from both sides of the plate in 12 games in his career, which establishes a major-league record.

Robinson Cano got the Yankees on the board in the first inning with a two-out double that scored Derek Jeter.

Russell Martin added a run in the second inning with a one-out solo home run, his 11th of the season and his first home run since June 29.

Andruw Jones closed out the scoring for the Yankees with a two-out RBI single off Frasor in the seventh.

Even though rain delayed the start of the game 45 minutes and then ended it 57 minutes after what would have been the bottom of the seventh, nothing could dampen Hughes’ mood. In addition, Hughes’ effort poses a vexing decision on what the Yankees will do with their six starters.

“Maybe we stay with the six-man rotation,” Girardi told reporters, “I don’t know what we are going to do at this moment. But I was happy with what I saw tonight.”

The Yankees ran their season mark to 66-42 and they remain just a game behind the first-place Red Sox in the American League with a three-game showdown scheduled for the weekend at Fenway Park. The Yankees, more importantly, are seven games up in the Wild Card chase. The White Sox fell to 52-56.

PINSTRIPE POSITIVES

  • It was obvious from the first inning that Hughes was pitching at his best. He struck out Carlos Quentin looking to end the inning, the first of his four strikeouts on the night. He also was able to limit his pitch count by getting the White Sox to swing early in the count. Of his 65 pitches, 48 were strikes (74%) and Hughes avoided the long at-bats extended by foul tips that have plagued him this season. With another poor outing, Hughes would most likely have been relegated to the bullpen. Instead, he may have re-established himself as the Yankees’ No. 2 starter.
  • Teixeira is blazing hot at the plate. In his last 10 games, he is 16-for-39 (.410) with five home runs and 10 RBIs. Teixiera has 31 homers on the season, which trails only Toronto’s Jose Bautista by one for the major-league lead. It also is the eighth consecutive season in which Teixeira has hit at least 30 home runs.
  • Jeter collected two hits in the game and he now has 3,022 in his career, passing Rafael Palmeiro (3,020) for 24th place on the all-time hits list. He needs two more hits to pass Lou Brock for the 23rd spot.

NAGGING NEGATIVES

Hughes was magnificent, the offense scored early and often and the team did not allow a run. No negatives here. The Yankees are looking the best they have looked all season and it is just in time for their weekend battle with the Bosox.

BOMBER BANTER

The Yankees did not make a trade deadline move to add a left-hander to the bullpen to help Boone Logan. It now appears the reason why may be they are considering calling up 20-year-old phenom Manny Banuelos to fill that role. Banuelos was promoted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this weekend and he made his first start on Tuesday. Banuelos gave up two runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out eight over five innings. Banuelos is rated as the Yankees’ No. 2 prospect behind catcher Jesus Montero and he is rated as the No. 16 prospect overall.

ON DECK

The Yankees can actually clinch their four-game series with the White Sox on Wednesday.

The Yankees send to the hill right-hander A.J. Burnett (8-9, 4.23 ERA). Burnett struck out a season-high 10 batters over eight innings on Friday against the Orioles but he also gave up four runs and lost to drop below the .500 mark. He is 2-5 with a 4.84 ERA in his career against the White Sox.

The White Sox are counting on right-hander Gavin Floyd (9-9, 3.96 ERA). Floyd has won his three starts after the All-Star break, beating the Indians, Tigers and Red Sox. He has allowed only two earned runs in his last 22 1/3 innings. He is 2-1 with a 3.99 ERA lifetime against the Yankees.

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

 

Yankees Lose Granderson To DL, Bullpen Blows Game

GAME 23
WHITE SOX 7, YANKEES 6

The New York Yankees, despite their sterling April 15-7 record, have had some problems: Mark Teixeira and Nick Johnson not hitting, Javier Vazquez not pitching well and Alex Rodriguez not hitting many home runs.
But the biggest problem of all surfaced on May 1: The bullpen.
Handed a hard-fought 6-5 lead in the seventh inning, David Robertson and Damaso Marte handed it right back to the Chicago White Sox as the Yankees dropped a 7-6 decision on Saturday at Yankee Stadium.
Despite being the culprit who gave up four runs in the sixth inning to the Yankees, White Sox reliever Scott Linebrink (1-0) saw the baseball gods shine its good favor upon him to deliver him a win he did not deserve. Closer Bobby Jenks pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his fifth save of the season.
David Robertson (0-2) was tagged with the loss. It was his second loss within the past five days and lefty specialist Damaso Marte helped him by allowing A.J. Pierzynski to hit a two-run double with two outs in the seventh inning.
Girardi had called for Robertson to walk right-handed hitting Carlos Quentin intentionally with Paul Konerko at second and two outs so Marte could pitch to the left-handed hitting Pierzynski but the strategy backfired.
The Yankees fell to 15-8 but stayed within 1 1/2 games of first place in the A.L. East because the Tampa Rays lost also. The White Sox improved to 10-14 in the A.L. Central.
YANKEE POSITIVES

  • Nick Swisher hit a long two-run home run to right-center off Linebrink with two out in the sixth inning to cap a four-run rally that gave the Yankees their first lead of the day at 6-5. The Yankees had trailed by as much as 5-1. It was Swisher’s third home run of the season and it had to feel great coming off the team led by Swisher’s infamous former manager Ozzie Guillen.
  • Mark Teixeira had 11 hits in April and three of them came in one game. In his first game in May, Teixeira collected two hits and a walk and he drove in the Yankees first run of the game with a two-out single in the third inning.
  • Brett Gardner continues to shine with a 2-for-4 game, two runs scored, a stolen base (his league-leading 11th of the season) and he drove in a big run on a line-drive single in the sixth inning. He raised his batting average to .333.
  • Derek Jeter also drove in a run in the sixth inning on a groundout. The RBI was his 19th of the season and he now leads the team in RBIs from the leadoff spot.
  • Sergio Mitre came in to rescue beleaguered right-hander Javier Vazquez after he had stunk up the place in three-plus innings and Mitre pitched exceptionally well. Mitre threw three scoreless innings of relief to allow the Yankees to take the lead. However, Robertson and Marte rendered that effort useless.
THE NEGATIVES

  • Though Girardi did not want to address the issue after the game, Vazquez and his 9.78 ERA are a looming problem. Scheduled to start Friday at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox, Vazquez has given up 25 runs on 32 hits and 15 walks in 23 innings over five starts. With an off-day on Thursday the Yankees could skip his turn but Girardi would not comment about it after the game.
  • On top of the shoddy relief work by Robertson and Marte, the Yankees also may have suffered a more significant loss. Curtis Granderson pulled up lame rounding second base on Gardner’s single in the sixth inning and had to be replaced by Randy Winn. Granderson suffered a strained left groin and he was taken to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital for an MRI. The result of the MRI showed a Grade 2 strain and he will be placed on the 15-day disabled list. Gardner will take over in center field while Granderson is out and Winn and Thames likely will share left field. The Yankees plan to recall right-hand reliever Mark Melancon from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he is 3-0 with a 1.76 ERA in 10 games.
  • Robinson Cano was 0-for-4 in the game and he made the last out in the fifth inning by flying out to right with the bases loaded. He also struck out with two on and two out in the third inning. 
  • Robertson’s season totals: 0-2, 12.71 ERA, 8 games, 5 2/3 innings, 11 hits, 2 walks and 8 earned runs allowed. 
  • Marte is also having a week of which he can’t be proud. He gave up the grand slam home run to Kendry Morales on Sunday and the two-run double to Pierzynski on Saturday. 
DIAMOND NOTES

Girardi not only allowed Gardner to hit against lefty reliever Matt Thornton on Friday night, he also opted to start Gardner against left-hander John Danks on Saturday. Gardner was 1-for-2 off Danks and he is now 6-for-17 against lefties this season (.353).  . . .  Robertson agrees that he has not been pitching well this season. “I’m falling behind every hitter. I’ve got to get ahead with fastballs and get strike one. When you’re ahead on the count it is a lot easier to pitch,” he told reporters after the game.  . . .  Jorge Posada, who had not started behind the plate since Wednesday was inserted back into the lineup on Saturday. Posada was hobbled by a bruised right knee after he was hit by a pitch from the Orioles’ Jeremy Guthrie. Posada caught all nine innings of the game but was 0-for-4 at the plate.  . . . MLB needs to revise its decision not to pick up radio feeds from local radio affiliates until the first pitch. WCBS does not provide the pre-game show to online listeners because MLB has the rights for it. But the radio feed did not begin until White Sox cleanup hitter Paul Konerko was up in the first inning after Andruw Jones hit his first of two home runs off Vazquez. MLB either needs to allow WCBS to broadcast the pre-game show or start their broadcast with the pre-game as they did last season. This is n
ot progress MLB. Not by a longshot!
THE NEXT GAME

Despite the bullpen woes and the Granderson injury, hope for May springs eternal as the Yankees will try to win the three-game series against the White Sox on Sunday. They will send to the mound Phil Hughes (2-0, 2.00 ERA). Hughes did not have his usual command but still held the Orioles to one run on two hits in 5 2/3 innings. Hughes has no record and 1.50 ERA in two career starts against the White Sox.
Hughes will be opposed by veteran left-hander Mark Buehrle (2-3. 4.68 ERA), who is coming off the 100th loss of his career, a 4-2 loss to the Texas Rangers. Buehrle is 1-6 with a 6.43 ERA in his career against the Yankees.
Game-time is 1:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast nationally by TBS and locally by the YES Network.