Yankees Thursday night notes from the West Coast

Here are the Yankees postgame notes from Thursday night in Oakland.  It was a late game and the notes are courtesy of the Lohud Yankees Blog with my own thoughts mixed in.

Have the Yankees played a more forgettable game this season? If you didn’t stay up late to watch this one, you really didn’t miss out on much. Freddy Garcia wasn’t good, but he wasn’t exactly horrible. The Yankees couldn’t do much against A.J. Griffin, but their three-runs streak continued. They made it a one-run game in the ninth, but couldn’t finish the rally.  It was a pretty ho hum type of game. 

“It’s difficult because if I can’t hit my spot, I’m not throwing 95,” Garcia said. “I need to find my spot. Base hit, infield hit, whatever. I think those kinds of games, everything’s going wrong. But you know, I was able to keep pitching and pitching. … I was in trouble the whole game, but I was able to keep the game close.”  The A's dont exactly have a great offense, Garcia wasn't very good but he did keep them in the game.  Phelps out of the pen was much better and I am sure it will lead to speculation but for now Garcia will remain in the rotation. 

It was that kind of game. Trouble the whole game. Keeping it close. Scoring a few runs. Giving up a few more. This day was all about Brett Gardner being lost for the season — Joe Girardi said he didn’t find out about the surgery until right after batting practice, just a few minutes before the Yankees announced it — and it really felt like the kind of game that we’ll all forget within a few weeks.

“Freddy kept us in the game,” Girardi said. “We just didn’t get him enough runs.”

 Griffin’s first five big league starts have all been quality starts. “He’s got that equalizer with that 65-mph breaking ball,” Nick Swisher said. “The next time we face him, I think we’ll know a little more about him. He started throwing that breaking ball a lot. … He’s throwing his fastball at 90-91, you’re talking about a 21, 22-mph difference. But you’ve got to give him credit. He did a good job. He didn’t walk any guys. He really mixed his pitches in and out, changing speeds. He did a good job.”  The Yankees don't usually do well against guys they have never seen, and this game was no different. 

It’s always kind of amazing that big league hitters have trouble with pitches thrown slower than normal hitting speed. “You can see it when it comes out (of his hand),” Raul Ibanez said. “But there’s a big difference in the speed.”

Garcia is 7-8 with a 5.27 ERA in 23 career starts against the A’s.

 In relief of Garcia, David Phelps look tremendous. He pitched 2.1 perfect innings with four strikeouts (three on fastballs, one on a curveball). “When I was down there (in the minors) I was really concentrating on throwing pitches that haven’t thrown in different counts,” Phelps said. “I was throwing changeups and curveballs behind in the count, working my way back into the count that way, and I had a lot of success doing that.”  Phelps has pitched well for the Yankees this season, maybe he will be here for good now. 

 Girardi on Phelps: “I thought he looked pretty similar (to earlier in the season). His stuff was really sharp. His fastball and curveball were really good tonight. He threw a few sliders. When we sent him down, we wanted to build him up because he wasn’t’ getting a lot of work. He’s built up, and I think he can really help us.”



Girardi was told about Gardner’s upcoming surgery soon after batting practice. “They made it sound like we probably won’t have him the rest of this year,” Girardi said. “Let’s get it cleaned up and get him healthy.”  The thing about him is he has only played nine games so the Yankees have gotten used to being without him. 

 Robinson Cano’s hitting streak reached a career-high 22 games. It’s the longest active streak in the Majors and the lonest by a Yankee since Derek Jeter had a 25-game streak from August 20 to September 16, 2006.

Jeter tied Eddie Collins for 15th on baseball’s all-time runs scored list. He scored the 1,822nd run of his career.

 Swisher is hitting .321 with 13 walks in his past 10 games. His home run in the ninth kept alive the Yankees streak of 43 consecutive games scoring at least three runs.

Let’s give the last word to Swisher, on Gardner’s injury: “I just talked to him on the phone. It’s a big deal. Gardy was kind of that little spark plug, you know? That guy’s got the ability to lead the league in stolen bases. You lose out on a guy like that, but you know, we’ve been hit with the injury bug pretty hard this year. For us, we’ve just got to pull it all together. Keep doing what we’re doing, keep fighting and just throw our thoughts and prayers out there that it’ll be OK. From what I’ve heard, no one even knows what happened.”

The Mets fight back but lose to the Dodgers on a damp dreary night

The New York Mets were defeated by the Los Angeles Dodgers by the score of 7-6 on Friday night. The game took place at Citi Field in Flushing, New York. Johan Santana started for the Mets and was awful. He hasn’t been the same since throwing his no hitter. The Mets bullpen pitched well and Jordany Valdespin had a good game coming off the bench. Aaron Harang pitched pretty well for the Dodgers and their bullpen wasn’t great in the middle but it was at the end. Matt Kemp as usual led their offense. 
Santana saw his record drop to 6-7 as he pitched three innings giving up seven hits and six runs. He walked three and struck out three. Pedro Beato pitched two perfect innings with a strikeout, Ramon Ramirez pitched two innings giving up two hits and a run with a walk and three strikeouts and Tim Byrdak pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout. Jon Rauch pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out two. Harang earned his seventh win of the season. He pitched five innings giving up four hits and three runs with one of them being earned. He walked three and struck out five, Josh Lindblom pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run with two walks. He struck out one, Shawn Tolleson pitched an inning giving up two hits and two runs with a strikeout, Javy Guerra pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and striking out one and Ronald Belisario pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out one. Kenley Jansen saved his 17^th game of the season pitching an inning giving up a hit and striking out two batters.

Ruben Tejada had a hit, Daniel Murphy had four hits and an RBI and David Wright had an RBI and drew a walk. Ike Davis had a hit and an RBI, Lucas Duda drew a walk and Valdespin had two hits and two RBI. Jason Bay had a hit and drew a walk, Andres Torres drew a walk and Josh Thole drew a walk. Scott Hairston had a hit and an RBI, Murphy hit two doubles and Valdespin hit a homerun. The Mets were 1-9 with runners in scoring position and they left ten men on base.

Bobby Abreu had a hit and drew a walk, Mark Ellis had a hit and Kemp had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk. Andre Ethier had a hit, an RBI and drew two walks, Juan Rivera had a hit and an RBI and Jerry Hairston Jr. had two hits and an RBI. Luis Cruz had a hit and two RBI and Tony Gwynn Jr. had a hit. Ethier and Gwynn each hit a double, Kemp and Cruz each hit a homerun. The Dodgers were 2-8 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base. Gwynn and Ethier each had a stolen base and Hairston committed an error.

In the first Kemp hit a two run homerun to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead. Hairston had an RBI single and it was 3-0 Dodgers. The Mets answered back with two runs in the bottom of the first. Wright and Davis each had a sacrifice fly. In the second Ethier walked and a run scored to make it 4-2 Dodgers. Cruz hit a two run homerun in the third and it was 6-2 Dodgers. In the fifth Murphy had an RBI double to cut the lead to 6-3. Hairston hit an RBI single in the sixth to make it a 6-4 game. The Dodgers scored their final run in the seventh on a Rivera RBI single to make it 7-4. The Mets would get a two run homerun from Valdespin in the seventh to make it 7-6 and that would be the final score.

The Mets record dropped to 47-46 on the season and the Dodgers improved their record to 50-44. The Mets and Dodgers will play the second of three on Saturday afternoon.

The Yankees win streak in Oakland is snapped in a 4-3 loss

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Oakland Athletics by the score of 4-3 on Thursday night. The game took place at Mcafee Coliseum in Oakland, California. Freddy Garcia started for the Yankees and wasn’t very good. David Phelps was great in relief for the Yankees. The Yankees offense was led by Nick Swisher. Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez also had good games. A.J. Griffin a rookie pitcher pitched very well for the Athletics. Their bullpen was very good other then giving up a late homerun. Yoenis Cespedes led the Athletics offense. 
Garcia pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up four runs on nine hits. He walked two and struck out six. Garcia lost his third game of the season. Phelps pitched 2 1/3 perfect innings and had four strikeouts. Griffin improved to 2-0 pitching six innings and giving up seven hits and two runs. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out four. Sean Doolittle pitched a perfect inning, Grant Balfour pitched a perfect inning and Ryan Cook earned his tenth save of the season. Cook pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run and struck out a batter.

Jeter had a couple of hits, Rodriguez had a couple of hits and Cano had a hit. The hit by Cano extended his hitting streak to 23 games which is the longest by a Yankee since 2006. Mark Teixeira had an RBI, Swisher had two hits and two RBI and Raul Ibanez had a hit. Swisher hit a homerun, the Yankees were 2-5 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base.

Coco Crisp had three hits, Jemile Weeks had two hits and Josh Reddick drew a walk. Cespedes had two hits and two RBI and drew a walk, Seth Smith had a hit and two RBI and Brandon Moss had a hit. Moss had a double and Cespedes hit a homerun. The Athletics were 2-11 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base. Weeks had a stolen base and Cespedes had an outfield assist.

Cespedes hit a two run homerun in the first to give Oakland a 2-0 lead. Oakland took a 4-0 lead in the third on a Smith two run single. The Yankees cut the lead in half in the sixth inning. Teixeira hit a sacrifice fly and Swisher had an RBI single. Swisher hit a solo homerun in the ninth to make it a 4-3 game which was the final. The three runs was the 43^rd straight game that the Yankees have scored three or more runs.

The Yankees and Athletics will play a four game series in Oakland. The Yankees record dropped to 57-35 and the Athletics improved their record to 48-44. It is the first time that the Athletics are at least four games over 500 in two years. They have been a surprise team so far this season, they are right in the wild card hunt.

The New York Mets avoid the sweep and defeat the Washington Nationals

The New York Mets defeated the Washington Nationals by the score of 9-5 on Thursday afternoon. The game took place at Nationals Park in Washington D.C. R.A. Dickey started for the Mets and wasn’t great but he wasn’t bad either. The Mets bullpen was pretty good and David Wright led their offense. Gio Gonzalez started for the Nationals and did not pitch well at all. Their bullpen wasn’t very good either and their offense was spread around. 
Dickey pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up 10 hits and four runs with three of them being earned. He walked one and struck out five. Tim Byrdak struck out the only batter that he faced, Ramon Ramirez gave up a hit without recording an out and Josh Edgin pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit. Bobby Parnell pitched an inning giving up two hits and a run and struck out two. Dickey improved his record to 13-1. Gonzalez is now 12-5 on the season, he pitched 3 1/3 innings giving up six hits and six runs with three walks and two strikeouts. Craig Stammen pitched 3 1/3 innings giving up five hits and three runs with a walk and two strikeouts and Henry Rodriguez pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings. Drew Storen pitched a perfect inning.

Ruben Tejada had two hits and an RBI, Andres Torres had two hits and drew a walk and Wright had two hits, five RBI and drew a walk. Jason Bay drew a walk, Ike Davis had two hits and two RBI and Justin Turner had two hits. Josh Thole had a hit and drew a walk. Torres, Thole and Turner each had a double and Wright hit two homeruns. Davis also hit a homerun. The Mets were 3-8 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Dickey and Wright each had a throwing error. Thole had a passed ball.

Steve Lombardozzi had two hits, Ryan Zimmerman had two hits and an RBI and Mark DeRosa had a couple of hits. Adam LaRoche drew a walk, Ian Desmond had a hit and Michael Morse had a hit and two RBI. Espinosa had a hit, Roger Bernadina had two hits and an RBI and Sandy Leon had a hit. Moore had two hits, DeRosa and Morse each had a double. Zimmerman had a homerun and the Nationals were 2-14 with runners in scoring position and they left 12 men on base.

Wright hit a two run homerun in the first to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. Zimmerman hit a solo homerun in the bottom of the first to make it a 2-1 game. Davis hit a solo homerun in the top of the second and it was 3-1 Mets. In the third Hairston grounded into a double play but a run scored and Davis had an RBI single to make it 5-1 Mets. Tejada had an RBI single and Wright hit a three run homerun in the fourth inning and the Mets had a 9-1 lead. Morse hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth to make it a 9-2 game. In the eighth Morse hit an RBI double and Leon reached on a throwing error and a run scored to make it 9-4. In the ninth the Nationals scored the last run on a Bernadina RBI single. The final score was 9-5 Mets.

The Mets lost two out of three in the series. The Mets record improved to 47-45 and the Nationals record fell to 53-37. The Mets will return home to open up a three game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The New York Mets continue their slide

The New York Mets were defeated by the Washington Nationals by the score of 4-3 on Wednesday night. The game took place at Nationals Park in Washington D.C. Chris Young started for the Mets and pitched pretty well but not good enough. Miguel Batista did not pitch well out of the bullpen, David Wright led the Mets offense. Jordan Zimmerman pitched well for the Nationals and Tyler Clippard struggled to close out the game but he did eventually close it out. Bryce Harper led the Nationals offense. 
Young pitched six innings giving up six hits and two runs. He walked one and struck out two. Young lost his fourth game of the season. Batista pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three hits and two runs with a strikeout, Josh Edgin faced one batter and retired him and Jon Rauch pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts. Zimmerman improved his record to 7-6 on the season pitching six shutout innings. He gave up four hits and struck out four. Tom Gorzelanny pitched an inning giving up two hits and a run, Sean Burnett pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out one and Clippard saved his 15^th game of the season. He gave up a couple of runs and two hits in one inning. He did strike out the side.

Wright had three hits and an RBI, Lucas Duda had a hit and Jason Bay had two hits and an RBI. Andres Torres had a hit and an RBI, Young had a hit and Scott Hairston had a hit. Wright, Young, Duda and Hairston each had a double. Wright and Bay each hit a homerun. The Mets were 1-8 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base. Torres had an outfield assist.

Steve Lombardozzi had a hit and two RBI, Harper had two hits and Ryan Zimmerman had a hit. Adam LaRoche had a hit, two RBI and drew a walk, Michael Morse had a hit and Danny Espinosa had a hit. Jesus Flores and Roger Bernadina each had a hit. Zimmerman and Lombardozzi each had a double. LaRoche hit a homerun and the Nationals were 1-3 with five men left on base. Espinosa was caught stealing. Morse had an outfield assist.

LaRoche hit a two run homerun in the sixth to give the Nationals a 2-0 lead. Torres hit an RBI single in the seventh to make it a 2-1 game. Lombardozzi hit a two run double in the eighth to make it 4-1 Nationals. The Mets would try to fight back in the ninth inning. Wright and Bay each hit a solo homerun and the final would be 4-3.

The Mets have now lost six straight games. The Mets record dropped to 46-45 on the season. The Nationals improved their record to 53-36. The Mets will try to avoid the sweep on Thursday afternoon.