Yanks go down quietly

Posted by: vmercogliano - Posted in Misc on May 02, 2012

With each passing day that the Yankees fail to get any production out of their big boppers, the scrutiny intensifies. After Wednesday’s 5-0 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in which the Yankees managed just five hits, the questions aren’t going away.

Orioles starter Jake Arrieta kept the Yankees’ bats quiet and didn’t allow a base runner to get past second base. The right-hander allowed five hits and no walks while striking out nine in eight innings pitched.

Ivan Nova walked the tightrope throughout the game, but finally gave in the seventh. He gave up a deep homer to right field to Nick Markakis and then a long RBI double to Matt Wieters, which chased him from the game. Clay Rapada came in and gave up an RBI single to Nick Johnson, which extended the Baltimore’s lead to 5-0.

Making matters worse, Eric Chavez had to be helped off of the field during the fifth inning in the middle of his at-bat. He suffered a whiplash injury and possible concussion while diving for a ball in the top of inning.

Associated Press photo

May 2, 2012 -- 10:21PM, BigGuy wrote:

Yankees fall 5-0 to Baltimore Orioles as Ivan Nova's 15-game winning streak ends

Wednesday, May 02, 2012, 10:13 PM

By Marc Carig/The Star-Ledger

Jim McIsaac/Getty ImagesIvan Nova lost for the first time since June 3, 2011, ending a 15-game winning streak.

NEW YORK – Following his latest failure, Mark Teixeira shook his head, a look of resignation plastered across his face. Soon, Robinson Cano followed suit, shortly after looking befuddled after his second strikeout.

Alex Rodriguez dispensed with any attempt at hiding his frustration. After his double play grounder capped off another quiet inning for the Yankees, the slugger pulled a piece of gum out of his mouth, and slammed it into the turf. He muttered all the way back to the dugout.

The Yankees’ 5-0 loss to the Orioles offered up plenty of opportunities to groan.

All through April, the Yankees leaned upon its offense to salvage lackluster pitching performances. But in taking a series loss to the Orioles, the Yankees managed just three runs in three games.

The much maligned middle of the order — home to the underachieving bats of Teixeira, Cano and Rodriguez — provided three singles and three strikeouts. The rest of the lineup accounted for little else.

As a group, the Yankees struck out nine times while failing to draw a single walk against Orioles starter Jake Arrieta, who dominated in his eight shutout innings. They failed to advance a runner into scoring position, offering no support to right-hander Ivan Nova, whose 15-game winning streak came to an end.

Nova allowed five runs on nine hits in 6 1/3 innings though he had dodged trouble while working into the seventh. He had allowed just two runs to that point, good enough for manager Joe Girardi to leave him in the game despite a pitch count nearing 100.

Nick Markakis made the Yankees pay for the decision. His solo shot triggered a three-run outburst that eventually knocked out Nova. He took the mound looking to tie Rogers Clemens’ franchise record 16-game win streak set in 2001. But with no help from his offense, Nova left the mound in line to take his first loss since June 3, 2011.

Thanks for all the updates, BG, outstanding as usual! I'm surprised they got the game in here, I live 10 minutes from the stadium and it was pouring at my house for quite a while.

Got some more minor league notes than usual, so let’s break out the bullet points…

• Remember Juan Carlos Paniagua? The Yankees signed him for $1.1M last year but the deal was later voided due to falsified documents. The 22-year-old will be eligible to sign again this July, and Conor Glassey got a fresh look at his live arm yesterday. Paniagua will be subject to the new spending restrictions and it’ll be interesting to see if the Yanks pursue a new deal.
• Local columnist Gene Sapakoff says the current Low-A Charleston team is the best in franchise history. The River Dogs came into today leading their division with a 16-7 record.
• D.J. Mitchell’s two-hit gem last month was the second best pitching performance in all of Triple-A during April. By Game Score (84), it was the sixth best performance in all of minor league baseball during the season’s first month.
• Pat Venditte was placed on the DL with right arm soreness, which explains why he had been pitching exclusively left-handed of late. Triple-A Empire State also activated two players following last night’s game: OF Cole Garner (DL) and RHP Cody Eppley (demotion).

And now to the games…

Triple-A Empire State (2-1 win over Rochester)
LF Kevin Russo, CF Dewayne Wise & DH Jack Cust: all 0-4 — Wise and Cust each struck out twice
2B Jayson Nix: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 K
1B Steve Pearce: 2-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K — 16 for his last 33 (.485) with six doubles and three homers
C Frankie Cervelli: 2-3, 1 R — 13 for his last 38 (.342)
3B Brandon Laird, RF Cole Garner & SS Ramiro Pena: all 1-3 — Laird doubled … Garner struck out … Pena doubled, drove in a run, and struck out
LHP Manny Banuelos: 3.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 1 WP, 3/2 GB/FB — 38 of 60 pitches were strikes (63.3%) and he was up to 94 on the stadium gun … very nice first start back from the lat problem, and he should get it up to 75 or so pitches next time out
RHP Jason Bulger: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 4/2 GB/FB — 26 of 39 pitches were strikes (66.7%)
RHP Cody Eppley: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 2/0 GB/FB — 20 of 38 pitches were strikes (52.6%)

Double-A Trenton (4-3 win over Portland)
RF Abe Almonte, 1B Luke Murton & SS Yadil Mujica: all 0-4 — Almonte walked, struck out thrice, and threw a runner out at the plate … Mujica struck out once, Murton three times
LF Dan Brewer: 2-5, 1 R, 1 K, 1 SB
3B Ronnie Mustelier: 1-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K – 15 for his last 43 (.349)
DH Cody Johnson: 2-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB
CF Melky Mesa & 2B Kevin Mahoney: both 1-3 — Mesa doubled, walked, stole a base, and struck out … Mahoney tripled, drove in a run, and scored another
C Jose Gil: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 E (throwing) — doubled in the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth
RHP Craig Heyer: 6 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 8/1 GB/FB — 58 of 88 pitches were strikes (28.4%) … hooray for strikeouts and grounders
LHP Lee Hyde: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K — 12 pitches, seven strikes (58.3%)
RHP Preston Claiborne: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K — 20 of 33 pitches were strikes (60.6%)
RHP Ryan Flannery: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1/0 GB/FB – 12 of 21 pitches were strikes (57.1%)

High-A Tampa is currently in extra innings. I’ll update this post once the game is over.

Low-A Charleston (5-3 win over Lakewood)
2B Angelo Gumbs & SS Anderson Feliz: both 1-3, 1 2B, 1 BB – Gumbs stole a base and scored a run … Feliz struck out
3B Dante Bichette Jr.: 0-3, 1 BB — boy those few days on the shelf really took the wind out of his sails
RF Tyler Austin: 1-2, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 BB — 11 for his last 38 (.289) with three doubles and six homers
C Gary Sanchez: 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 K — 12 for his last 38 (.316) with seven doubles
1BRey Nunez & DH Casey Stevenson: both 1-4, 1 K
CF Ben Gamel: 0-2, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 SB — no Mason Williams today, he’s a little banged up after making a diving catch three days ago
LF Kelvin DeLeon: 1-3, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 1 E (fielding) — doubled in the two go-ahead runs in the bottom of the eighth
RHP Scottie Allen: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 4 K, 6/2 GB/FB — 49 of 88 pitches were strikes (55.7%)
LHP Fred Lewis: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K — 11 of 21 pitches were strikes (52.4%)
RHP Pedro Guerra: 2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HB, 2/1 GB/FB – 23 of 39 pitches were strikes (59.0%) … picked a runner off second
RHP Phil Wetherell: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1/1 GB/FB — 16 pitches, 12 strikes

May 2, 2012 -- 10:14PM, BigGuy wrote:

Roster Nonsense

by jetanumba2 on May 2, 2012 4:10 PM EDT

That's all you can call it. Since the 2012 season began the New York Yankees have been plagued by bizarre roster management. It is becoming harder and harder to comprehend, forget about trying to defend them. Some of it is to be expected. If you've been following the Yankees in the post-George Steinbrenner/Rise of Brian Cashman era, you know how the Yankees handle their roster. That is not the surprising part. The surprising part is new to 2012 and it needs calling out like Russell Martin needs an extra base hit.

To cut to the chase, the Yankees need to call up an outfielder, yet they still haven't. Gardner is on the DL, Swisher is hurt and Raul Ibanez is Raul Ibanez. Solution? More pitchers! The problem is having to get someone like DeWayne Wise onto the 40 and then onto the 25. Lets look at how the Yankees have gotten into this predicament in the first place.

40-Man Forever: The Yankee Way. You make it to the 40 and you pretty much have baseball tenure. It's how we had such Roster Greats as mystery man, Reegie Corona and depth chart champ, Ryan Pope. Other useful players can be put on the roster, but because he got there first he's staying. Here is a list of current 40-Man roster reserve players:

• Pitchers: Cody Eppley, Brad Meyers
• Infielders: David Adams, Corban Joseph, Brandon Laird, Ramiro Pena
• Catchers: Austin Romine, Francisco Cervelli
• Outfielder: Melky Mesa, Zoilo Almonte

Who is Brad Meyers. He's on the DL and he's on the 40. I don't even think this man threw a pitch in spring training. Do we really need two light hitting middle infielders, whatever Brandon Laird is and the corpse of David Adams on the roster? I feel like we'd be ok with just two of them on there. Pena and Laird I suppose. Do we need two catchers? Francisco Cervelli is a major league backup catcher and Austin Romine is a broke back Chris Stewart. One is fine. Clearly the Yankees found Cody Eppley more valuable than Melky Mesa, so what is the point of Melky Mesa? I just made room for 5 DeWayne Wises. We only need 1 DeWayne Wise.

DL-itis: The Yankees are allergic to the Disabled List. Remember that time in 2011 when Russell Martin was hurt, but not hurt enough to help the team and then Francisco Cervelli was trotted out for what felt like forever? That's what the Yankee current outfield situation is like. Brett Gardner was put on the DL. Ok. We need another outfielder. Nope. Nick Swisher goes down. We REALLY need an outfielder. No. I can understand the need for another reliever, I can understand trying to get by until Gardner gets back, but I do not understand being ok with having just one real outfielder. If Brett Gardner is going to need more time before he gets back then the Yankees need to put Nick Swisher on the Disabled List. I know we want to get him back ASAP, but we also need someone who can catch a ball. We'll get Brett Gardner back and everything will suddenly get much better, then a healthy Swisher and we're back to normal.

The way they handle the 60-Day DL is just as bad. Cesar Cabral and Joba Chamberlain can both be put onto the 60-Day DL. Cabral has a broken elbow. Joba Chamberlain is Joba chamberlain. They think Joba will be back by July, but last i checked that is more than 60 days away. I have no idea what is going on with Cesar Cabral.

Inefficient Bullpen: We might have one of the best bullpens in baseball, but that doesn't mean it's economical. Two LOOGYs are not the most efficient way to run a bullpen. Now that we have 8 arms in the pen, those two lefties seem to be clogging up the works. There are more clogs. Freddy Garcia is a clog. Rafael Soriano is also a clog. What is he doing on this team?

I understand collecting depth and conserving your options in which to use it, but if you're never actually going to use that depth then what is the point of collecting it? Woah. Yes, DeWayne Wise would have to go through waivers if he's sent back down, but wasn't this what we brought him in for? The New York Yankees would rather DH Russell Martin than call up Jack Cust. The New York Yankees would rather have 13 pitchers than three outfielders. They take a chance and they pay for it and they will continue to pay.

Mind numbing stupidity.  Put an outfielder in the outfield.