Tagged: Colin Curtis
Quite Unorthodox
Yanks Win Series Finale in Epic Adventure
Last night’s Yankee game was far from the norm. And if I may be permitted a cliche, you never know what you are going to see on the baseball diamond. A lot happened on the diamond last night that utterly confused me. But it was okay, because the Yankees won 11-4 and won the series.
Pitching Analysis: I was a little ticked off at Girardi for losing faith in Sergio Mitre so quickly – I mean it was 1 bad start. But whatever, I have a heart. That’s why he’s the manager and I’m not (that was harsh, Joe. I apologize). So Dustin Moseley got the start last night, and I have to say: he really impressed me.
I wasn’t too sure at first, though. Moseley got into a quick bases-loaded jam in the 1st inning. I was beginning to think “Would Mitre be any worse?” But unlike Mitre, (I’m sorry baby! I must be honest…), Moseley didn’t unravel. He battled back, and escaped the inning having allowed just 1 run on a sac fly by Austin Kearns. He threw 30 pitches to do so, but he did it.
Dustin Moseley: A beast on the mound 🙂
After that, Moseley was amazing. He really was. That was the only run he allowed in his 6 innings of work. Despite throwing 30 pitches in the 1st inning, Moseley got his pitch count under control. He threw 83 pitches, and 55 were for strikes. With every inning that passed, I was beginning to fall more and more for Moseley. He looked really….really good….kinda like Mitre….if you know what I mean….
Those eyes…Oh baby…
I never thought it would happen this quickly, but I think it did. I mean, I never thought I would like the guy replacing Mitre, who I LOVE. But now…well….OKAY I’LL ADMIT IT!
I LOVE DUSTIN MOSELEY!
Ahh…that’s better 🙂
So the bullpen was one thing that remained normal this game: David Robertson was good, and Chan Ho Park was suckish. Very. And he knew it.
Ooh…he doesn’t look to good…now I can’t help but think about that diarrhea thing….
This poor man…
Defensive Analysis: The defense was good up until the 9th inning. I guess Girardi was so sure that the Yankees were going to win. Otherwise, he would have never put Marcus Thames at 3rd base. MARCUS THAMES HAS NEVER PLAYED THIRD BASE! It’s no wonder he airmailed that throw to 1st into the SEATS. He was throwing like an outfielder. It was the weirdest thing, because he made a great play to get to that ball. But his throw was an epic fail. That 9th inning got a little too interesting. The Indians scored three runs, and I was waiting for Girardi to get Mariano warming.
Offensive Analysis: Once again, the Yankee offense exploded. But it took a long time for the explosion to actually occur. A-Rod had a sac fly in the 3rd to tie the score at 1. And in the 6th, the Yankees finally took the lead on an RBI single by Jeter. But after that, the floodgates opened.
In the 7th:
-Cano hit a solo homer, giving the Yanks a 3-1 lead
-Swish and Gardner walked
-Cervelli got an RBI single, making it 4-1
-Colin Curtis was hit in the butt (poor cutie) to load the bases
Aw.
-Jeter walked with the bases loaded, making it 5-1
-Granderson got a 2-run single, now 7-1
-Alex Rodriguez got a 2-run single. 9-1 Yankees!
The offense had a mini explosion in the 8th when it tacked on 2 more runs. RBI singles by Ramiro Pena and Juan Miranda gave the Yanks an 11-1 lead.
But perhaps the best offensive highlight, was the no offense at all. In the 9th inning, the Indians did what the Yankees did back on April 13th last year: they used a position player to pitch! What! But the best part was that the Yankees didn’t have a 1-2-3 inning since the first. And wouldn’t you know? Little Andy Marte pitched a 1-2-3 inning. AND HE STRUCKOUT NICK SWISHER!
Andy Marte for Cy Young!
I bet Nick Swisher is the only position player to ever have gotten a strikeout as a pitcher, and to have struck out against a position player. I think letting Marte pitch was a good decision by Manny Acta. It was a miserable game for his team, so why not boost their spirits with some humor? The Indians really got a kick out of it. And so did the Yankees! I bet Nick Swisher did.
So the Yankees won the series finale for the 11th time in a row. The heroes for this not-so-regular win are the entire Yankee lineup for their contributions. And for the first time ever, a hero will be from the other team: Andy Marte. It was amazing what he did out there.
Oh, and how could I forget the other hero: Dustin Moseley, my newest love ♥
These two are so cute!
The Yankees start that crucial series with the Rays tonight! I wish them luck.
A Quick One While She’s Away…Or NOT!
Yankees Play All 9 Frames Despite the Rain…and Win!
My little brother is as obsessed with The Who as I am with the Yankees. I sit there listening to my Michelle Branch music, and he’s next to me listening to The Who. Then I begin to hear The Who more clearly than I do Michelle Branch. We don’t say anything, but then we begin competing with each other: I put my volume up, he puts his up. The Who plays louder than Michelle Branch to begin with, so he always wins.
Yesterday I was out and missed the beginning of the game. I heard the Yankees 4 run 3rd inning on the radio, which was nice. Curtis Granderson homered, Ramiro Pena singled, Jeter knocked him in with a double, Tex got an RBI single, and A-Rod hit an RBI double. All that added up to a 4-2 Yankee lead.
By the time I got home, it was already the bottom of the 4th inning. I had the pleasure of seeing Curtis Granderson go deep again to give the Yanks a 5-3 lead.
The GrandyMan can? Yes! I hope this is a start of your hot-streak, Curtis!!!
Then in the 5th, the rain came down, and I figured “Oh man…I missed 4 innings and now it’s raining and this game is going to be a quick 5-inning rain-shortened game.”
My little brother made this song get stuck in my head for the LONGEST time.
I was WRONG!!!!!!!!!! And I’m glad I was 🙂
Sure, the umpires signaled for a rain delay, but they were determined to get the game in – even though the Yankees had the lead and it was an official ballgame. After a long 2 hour and 30 minute rain delay, baseball was resumed! And I was there to see it all!
Pitching Analysis: Phil Hughes wasn’t great yesterday, and he didn’t come out again after the rain delay. So once again, the Yankees had to use their bullpen for multiple MULTIPLE innings. Boone Logan did a nice job once again, pitching 1.2 scoreless innings. Since Marte is hurt, he is the specialty lefty in the bullpen. I gain confidence in him each time I see him throw.
Boone throws hard. And when he locates, he is pretty dominant.
As for Joba and Chan Ho? They were their usual cruddy selves. I wonder why Park is still on the team, and I wonder why Joba still sucks. They should’ve traded him when they had the chance, because no one is going to want him now. We’re stuck with him!
Offensive Analysis: Once again, the Yankee offense exploded. The 3rd inning was a pretty big run outburst, but the 8th inning rally was even larger. In the 8th:
-Curtis Granderson led off with a walk, stole 2nd, and advanced to 3rd on the stinky throw.
-Brett Gardner reached on an error and stole 2nd. I’m glad he’s feeling better 🙂
-Jeter was intentionally walked to load the bases with 1 out.
-Nick Swisher (who I am also glad is feeling better) drove in 2 with a single!
-Tex singled to re-load the bases for…..A-Rod.
This is the part that I wasn’t too fond of. This is the censored version of what my notebook says:
“A-ROD HBP UP & IN. F*** BLAKE WOOD. A-Rod out, Colin Curtis in. 10-5 Yanks.”
NO!
Blake Wood…I don’t care if it wasn’t intentional. I hate him. Who does he think he is? “Hi! My name is Blake Wood and I’m sure you’ve never heard of me! But I’m gonna be cool and tough and back Alex off the plate – it’s good baseball! Oh no! I missed my location because I suck! Now I hit Alex in the forearm and hand and he might be hurt! Oopsy!”
Oh God…
I was beyond angry. Oh, A-Rod….you poor baby…I’m glad you aren’t hurt too bad. That was scary. I’m so sorry Wood destroyed your chances of getting #600 at home.
But at least I was able to see another milestone in that 8th inning yesterday.
-With loaded bases, Robinson Cano drove the first pitch of his at-bat into the seats in right after 1 bounce. Ground rule double! 12-5 Yankees! And for Robbie, it was his 1000th career hit. Aw, Robbie…you have come so far!
Okay…he’s still a goofball, but I love him ♥
So the Yankees take 3 of 4 from KC, and all of their wins were of the offensive explosion variety. The heroes for yesterday’s 12-6 finale win are Boone Logan, for relieving Hughes nicely (since he’s the only one who pitched well yesterday!), and the entire Yankee lineup, for banging out 12 runs on 14 hits, and especially Curtis Granderson for finally living up to his potential.
I hope Curtis can stay hot, and I hope the Yankees keep on winning.
GO YANKEES!
Aren’t Offensive Explosions Delightful?
Yanks Score 10 Runs in 2nd Straight Game
Colin Curtis made me giddy with his dramatic 3-run home run to give the Yankees 10 runs in the Angels finale. And last night, the offense exploded once again. It was quite a hitting frenzy for both teams, but my Yankees came out on top. The Bombers took the first of four against KC by the score of 10-4.
Pitching Analysis: CC Sabathia really wasn’t very good last night. And this time, he made that customary flustered face of his because he got into a ton of jams.
That’s the face. Aw, CC….
Despite the struggles, CC got the win. And rightfully so. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t the usual C “Cy” performance we have become accustomed to, but it was good enough to keep the Yankees in the game with a chance to win it. In 6.1 innings, CC allowed 4 runs on a jaw-dropping 11 hits. He gave it his all, throwing 120 pitches. David Robertson inherited CC’s mess in the 7th, and got out of it unscathed.
One thing I love about offensive explosions is that the Yankees have the luxury of using their stinky pitchers. But last night, they did this before the game reached blowout status. In the 8th inning, when it was 6-4 Yankees, they put in Joba. He loaded the bases, but managed to get Jose Guillen to ground out to end the inning. Crisis averted.
In the 9th, the Yankees had a 6-run lead, so they turned it over to Chan Ho Park to close it out. He did so fairly easily. I wonder why he is still on the team. Every time I see him, my mind plays a montage of him blowing leads and talking about diarrhea. It’s not pretty.
Nightmares….
Offensive Analysis: I had a feeling this game was going to be a slugfest. The starter for the Royals was Bruce Chen, who, to put it nicely, hasn’t seen much success against the Yankee hitters. This trend continued last night. Let’s take a look at the Yankees’s numbers against Chen and the rest of the Royal hurlers from last night:
NY Yankees | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jeter, SS | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .274 |
Swisher, RF | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .303 |
Teixeira, 1B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .261 |
Rodriguez, A, 3B | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .275 |
2-Pena, R, PR-3B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .193 |
Cano, 2B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .332 |
Posada, C | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .268 |
Thames, DH | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .289 |
1-Curtis, PR-DH | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .259 |
Granderson, CF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .239 |
Gardner, LF | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .296 |
Totals | 36 | 10 | 14 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 14 | .273 |
Ooh. That’s not pretty. Offensive explosions are so exciting. But last night, there were certain swings that really made me cheer. One of these came in the 3rd inning off the bat of Derek Jeter:
Connection…
It’s deep….
A valient effort by DeJesus, but no catch!
Jeet rounds third, and breaks for home….
He slides….
HE’S SAFE! INSIDE THE PARK HOME RUN BY DEREK JETER!!!!!!!
It was pretty cool seeing Jeter fly around the bases like that. But I was upset that DeJesus got hurt. I was looking forward to seeing him play this series because he is my favorite Royal, but he’s going to miss the remainder of this series. I wish him a speedy recovery. Anway, Jeet’s home run tied the game at 3.
The other swing that genuinely excited me came in the 7th inning off the bat of the Drama King, Alex Rodriguez. He’s such a beast. It was an opposite-field blast…
Oh boy! Oh boy oh boy oh boy! You know what’s next…HISTORY! #600! I can’t wait….I hope he gets it this weekend in the Bronx!
The heroes for this Game 1 win are Jeet and A-Rod, as well as everyone else in the lineup who beasted last night. I would love to see more offensive explosions this weekend, but if I can’t, then I’ll just settle for 1 bomb from A-Rod.
Good luck, Alex. And Go Yankees!!!!
“Jav” A Day
Vazquez Fabulous in Yankee Win
Last season in the West Coast Trip before the All-Star Break, the Yankees got swept and lost all three games to the Angels. When I noticed te schedule for this year had a West Coast trip right before the All-Star Break, I couldn’t help but to panic. But after last night/this morning’s game, I no longer have to worry about a sweep. The Yankees beat the Athletics 3-1, and start off the road trip with a “W.”
Pitching Analysis: Javier Vazquez recorded his first win of the season against the A’s back in April, so I hoped that maybe he’d have similar luck last night. Eh. I was wrong. JAVY WAS EVEN BETTER! Oh, he was fabulous. In 7 innings, Javy allowed just 1 run (a sac fly) on 3 hits. He really pitched an amazing game. That’s my boy! And to think in the beginning of the year, everyone was ready to give up on him. His ERA is back to respectability at 4.81. Since mid May, Javy has the BEST ERA out of every Yankee starter. And I believed in him ♥
Oh Javy! Way to have a day, my little cutie 😉
The bullpen was actually good! Joba Chamberlain, with help of Francisco Cervelli, threw a perfect 8th. The Great Mariano is back to his normal self as he saved the game last night.
Defensive Analysis: The Yankees have the best defense in the Bigs. They’ve made the least amount of errors. But last night, their gloves really shined. Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson, and Colin Curtis all made amazing web-gem-worthy plays to save Javy the stress of baserunners. GO D!!!
Offensive Analysis: When you have good pitching, you don’t need a boatload of runs. Javier Vazquez has had bad luck with offensive support, having the least run support of all Yankee starters. But this time, 3 runs were enough.
In the 2nd inning after 2 quick outs, I didn’t expect the Yankees to score any runs. Why do I always do things like that? Nick Swisher, who really needs our help to be an All-Star, (SEND SWISH!!!!) got himself aboard with a 2-out double.
GO TO YANKEES.COM AND VOTE NICK SWISHER! BE SURE TO SPREAD THE WORD!
Curtis Granderson then followed with a triple down the line to score NickySwish. Then, my sweet Franciso Cervelli, just looked to put the bat on the ball. He’s got the BEST hitting approach I’ve ever seen. Cervelli hit the ball on the ground right back up the middle, for an RBI single. 2-0 Yankees!
Mark Teixeria must feel left out. The rest of the Yankee infield (execpt catcher) is headed to California for the All-Star Game, but Mark is not. He must think he still has a chance, because he has really turned it on these past few days. Last night in the 6th, Tex hit a monster solo homer to centerfield to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead. And that was the final score.
TEX!
Last night’s win was very comforting for me. The heroes for the victory are Javy Vazquez and Mark Teixeira for proving they can do it, and that all we needed was to be patient and believe!
Have a day, Yankees! Keep up the good baseball 🙂
It Wasn’t A Mirage
Yanks Take Finale to Win Series in the Desert
I’ve seen a lot of bizarre things on the baseball diamond before, but I think last night is worthy of the title of one of the most bizarre baseball games ever. I think the players weren’t all their last night – on both sides. Last night’s game was not played well, and was incredibly sloppy. I was beginning to think I was seeing things, but then I remembered that I wasn’t the one in the desert. Nope, it wasn’t a mirage. It wasn’t a gorgeous win, but I’ll take it. The Yankees won 6-5, and won the series.
Pitching Analysis: After watching and pitying Dontrelle Willis, who just could not throw a stike, it was Javy Vazquez’s turn. I panicked, because he walked the leadoff man Kelly Johnson. I was beginning to worry, “Oh no! It’s contagious! Javy has the virus! He can’t throw strikes!” It was a pretty messy inning, but Javier did catch a break when the defense threw out a runner trying to score. Later on, with the bases loaded, he surrendered a 2-run single to Adam Laroche. That pest. He had 5 RBI last night.
Javier really struggled last night. He went just 5 innings, and allowed 4 runs on 6 hits. He really didn’t have good stuff on the mound. But to his credit, he kept the Yankees in the game, and didn’t unravel to the point of no return. He prevented the opposition from having the Big inning. And for that, Javy deserves a pat on the back.
Look at you…so cute 😉
The bullpen did a lot of work last night, and most of it was done well. Damaso Marte allowed a run in te 6th, but it’s not like they hit him. He kind of screwed himself up. Chris Young walked, moved to second on a balk, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a groundout. That gave the D-Backs a 5-4 lead.
The rest of the ‘pen was fabulous: Joba, Robertson, and Mo. Oh, Mo! Mo, Mo, Mo…what else can we say about Mo? He’s amazing.
Mariano knew what he was in for last night: 2 innings to pitch, and 1 shot at the plate. He tossed a 1-2-3 9th, and in the 10th, he got a chance to hit. That was pretty funny. He put a good swing on the ball, but grounded out. The best part was that the whole team was at leaning on the dugout railing, laughing and just having fun with it. I don’t know how Mo focused at the plate with the whole team joking about him like that.
LOL!
More importantly, I don’t know how Mo focused in the 10th! It was a miracle…Stephen Drew led off with a single. Then Justin Upton doubled, and Miguel Montero was intentionally walked to load the bases with none out. NONE out. Yikes. But Mo stayed cool – he got Chris Young to pop out to Cervelli, and got the dangerous Adam Laroche to pop out to A-Rod. That left it up to Mark Reynolds: the guy that either strikes out, or goes deep. Like in the rest of the inning, I bravely watched through the tiny opening between my fingers as I covered the rest of my face. Reynolds tried, but there was no way he was going to hit The Great Mariano. With a valiant effort, Reynolds swung at that back door cutter, but came up empty. Strike three! Crisis averted! YANKEES WIN!
Oh, thank you Mariano!
Offensive Analysis: Despite being given 13 walks by D-back pitchers, the offense struggled. They could not take advantage of the Diamondback mistakes. Instead, they made mistakes of their own. The basepaths were not friendly to the Yankees last night. There were three baserunning blunders that I would rather not summarize. It was ugly.
As for the runs, the Yankees got one in the first on a Nick Swisher RBI single. A-Rod drew an RBI walk in the 2nd. But the Yankees failed to really put a rally together. Until the 6th.
In the 6th, my darling Francisco Cervelli led off with a double, and eventually scored on a Brett Gardner RBI groundout. Cutie Colin Curtis came off the bench to pinch hit for Javy Vazquez. Once again, Curtis hit the ball hard, almost knocking over Adam Laroche, for an game tying RBI single! That made it 4-4. The Yanks re-tied the game in the 9th, thanks to an sac fly by A-Rod.
In the 10th, I was beginning to get restless. I began to think about the longball as a quick way to score a run. Curtis Granderson stepped up to the plate. While he was up, I was looking through my notebook to see if the Yanks had a homer that game. It was such a long, stressful game, that I forgot. I didn’t see any “HR!” in my notebook. Right when I realized this, I heard the crack of Grandy’s bat. I looked up, and there it went! HOME RUN, CURTIS GRANDERSON! Why didn’t I think this before? Whatever. The Yankees had a 6-5 lead, thanks to my sweet little Curtis. And that was the final score.
Thank you, Curtis!
A lot of things happened last night that I didn’t believe. One of these was that the Yankees won! They didn’t play particularly well, but hey: they played well enough. A win is a win is a win. I’ll take it – especially since the Yankees gained a game on every team in the AL East! The heroes for this bizarre victory are Curtis Granderson for his clutch HR, and Mariano Rivera, for his miracle on the mound. He truly is amazing.
Things Are Changing
Spring Training has been a blast, but real baseball is right around the corner! I don’t really have a topic for this entry, but I’m too excited not to write. Let’s see…what’s new with me since last time I blogged. I hate this “limiting blogging” thing I’ve been doing lately. Blame calculus and APUSH, please. They have been occupying too much of my valuable time. Also, my brother Bobby turned 18 yesterday! That’s so weird.
Things are changing over there at the Yankees’ camp in Tampa. People have left, some of which won’t be on the team anymore. Like Chad Gaudin. Aw, Chaddy-waddy. For some reason, I really really feel bad about this departure. Chad did everything and anything the Yankees asked of him last season, and he did it well. Because of his icky Spring, with an 8.68 ERA, Chaddy was released. He is now free to sign with any team. He said he was disappointed, but he knew it was bound to happen. Yankee fans will miss you, Chad. Don’t feel shy to use that Key to the City 🙂
I’ll miss you ♥
Also, Jamie Hoffmann, the guy the Yankees got in the Rule 5 draft, was released. I think he’s going back to the Dodgers. This poor cutie really never got a chance. Oh well.
I’m going to miss seeing Jesus Montero, Austin Romine, Reegie Corona (♥), Colin Curtis, and all the other little cuties who were sent back to Minor League Camp. A lot changes during the course of a season; you don’t know which guys you will see again. Especially Minor Leaguers, because a lot of times you don’t even know they got traded.
Speaking of Montero and Romine, that reminds me of Mauer. He’s going to be a Twin for a LONG time, and will earn quite a few bucks doing it thanks to that hefty contract he received. I’m thrilled about this for a number of reasons:
1) First of all, he deserves this. He is the Twins.
2) Mauer is safe from the Red Sox! I was worried that they would sign him after this season!
3) Most importantly, the Yankees won’t have to give up any of their adorable catcher cuties to make room for him. So for now, Cervelli, Montero, and Romine are safe.
I have to admit, I my perception of Jesus Montero is beginning to change. I’m starting to fall for him. He’s adorable. I had it in my mind that I would hate Montero, because he was supposed to be better than Cervelli and I though Cervelli would be traded only to have Montero take his place. But when I actually saw the cutie in action, I changed my mind. He’s friggin’ adorable! And he’s not much older than me…at age 20, he’s just 4 years older than me…
That’s hot…
Oh, and Austin Romine is pretty charming as well.
Cute!
I’ve loved Spring Training so far, but something has beem lacking…and it makes me feel a little bit empty inside…I love the team so much, but I just miss him….
MelkyBaby…
I know he had to go away, but still…I loved Melky and I always will. I wish he was here.
To all the Yankees who are no longer Yankees, this is for you:
I’ll miss you all.
♥