Tagged: Dustin Moseley is adorable
A Week of Winning!
But I guess it could be worse. I am not taking science or math this year because my math teacher scarred me for life last year. And this year, I actually like all my teachers. I’ve had them all before. Some of them are very fun to talk baseball with. And, oh yeah: IT’S SENIOR YEAR. I should enjoy this.
Even though I haven’t blogged recently, I have watched all the games. My boys are making me so proud. So far, the heroes for this winning streak are Curtis Granderson and Marcus Thames for their hot-hitting, and the bullpen, which has done an absolutely fantastic job.
Yesterday’s 7-5 win over the Blue Jays was the typical win of this winning streak.
Pitching Analysis: After beasting in the bullpen, Javier Vazquez was inserted back into the starting rotation. I had a feeling he would be….suckish. Javy tends to give up the longball. The Blue Jays tend to hit the longball. The wind was making it easier to hit the longball. Add all that up, and it wasn’t going to be a pretty day for Javy.
Weather-wise, it was a beautiful day…but not for Javy.
Javy did give up the longball. Homers by Overbay and McDonald gave the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead. Vazquez didn’t even get through 5 innings, and he allowed 5 runs.
The bullpen again had a lot of outs to get, and they did another amazing job. The combo of Dustin Moseley, Boone Logan, Joba Chamberlain, Kerry Wood, and Mariano Rivera shut the door on the Blue Jay batters’s faces. They allowed 0 runs on 3 hits, and struckout 5. THEY ARE BEASTS!!!
Offensive Analysis: Despite being down 3-0, the Yankee bats weren’t ready to give up. They had that rally in them. And the rally all started thanks to my sweet Francisco Cervelli ♥ In the 3rd with 1 out, Cervelli hit a ball in the left-center gap. And he hustled. And because he hustled, Francisco Cervelli had himself a double. That ball never made it to the wall. Many guys would have just settled for a single. But not my Cervelli. And that’s why I love him.
Then Brett Gardner walked (the 9th straight game he did that!), and Derek Jeter ripped a double, scoring Cervelli. Inching closer, it was now a 3-1 game.
After Mark Teixeira walked to load the bases, a struggling Robinson Cano stepped up to the plate. He hit a ball back up the middle, and it found grass! 2 runs scored on Robbie’s game-tying single.
The Yankees went ahead in the 4th. Cervelli doubled with a man on and 1 out, then Gardner drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI groundout. A wild pitch let another score, making it 5-3.
And finally, in the 7th, the Yankees had their share of the longball. With 2 outs, Cano singled, bringing up Hank Aaron Marcus Thames. He had a few good swings earlier in the game, but didn’t have a hit to show for it. Until this:
I love my Marcus Thames!!!!!
That made it 7-5 Yankees. And that’s the final 🙂
Another win, another series win, and another game gained on those Pesky Rays. The heroes for this victory, the 8th in a row, are the bullpen, for cleanly eating up all those innings. And Marcus Thames, for turning into the Home Run King. Hank Aaron who? Hahaa…The other hero is my Francisco Cervelli, because he started the rally. And just cuz I love him ♥
Oh, Francisco….too cute for words.
The Somebody Needs a Hug goes to Javier Vazquez. Javy, your confidence has taken a rollercoaster ride throughout the entire season. I don’t want you to lose it after 1 icky start. You were great out of the bullpen, and that was no fluke. Believe in yourself!
Yankees, the season is winding down. And you are still leading the AL East! Congrats on everything you have done so far. Please just keep it up. Go as far as you can this season, because I need to keep seeing you.
I love you! GO YANKEES!!!
The Best Yet!
Yanks Win Series Opener
Last night’s 11-5 win over the A’s was a HUGE win for the Yankees this season. Why? It brought them to a new high-water mark of 31 games over .500 for the year! They are 81-50, still tied for first with those Pesky Rays. The Yankees hovered at around 30 games over .500 for so long – and finally, they broke through! The Yankees played a great game last night, and I see signs of an even brighter future for 2010. No more .500 baseball this month!
Pitching Analysis: Dustin Moseley toed the rubber for the Yanks, coming off two very good starts in a row. At first I was optimistic, thinking, “Well maybe he could string three good ones together!” But after seeing him allow three runs in the first inning alone, my hopes were seemingly gone. I thought there was no way the Yankees or Moseley would win after those three runs – especially because the Yankee bats were going up against one of the toughest pitchers in the league, Mr. Trevor Cahil.
Moseley’s outing wasn’t too long, and he wasn’t horribly awful either. In 4.1 innings, Dustin allowed 4 runs on 5 hits, and 4 walks (that’s bad). But Moseley gave the team a chance to win the game. And thanks to a certain someone who shut the door on the A’s batters’s faces, the Yankees did win.
Aw, Javy ♥
I felt bad when Javy Vazquez was demoted to the bullpen. I knew his confidence was shot, and I thought his demotion was the last straw. But no. Javy, unlike me, didn’t melt. He embraced his new role. And last night, Javy really made me proud. Oh, he was brilliant. The best I’ve seen him in a long time. Javy shut down the opposition, and for his efforts, picked up the win. In 4.2 innings, Javy allowed 1 little run on just 2 hits, stirking out 6 along the way. Javy was the only reliever the Yankees used last night. His command was back, and he survived with that 89 mph fastball. I hope he can keep this confidence, because if he does, he’ll keep getting these results. Oh, Javy…maybe you can go back into the rotation now?
Defensive Analysis: Jeter hasn’t been doing much (anything) with the bat lately, but that hasn’t affected him in the field at all. He proved this in the 5th inning last night, with his patendted Jetarian jump-and-throw to nail Kouzmanoff at 1st. Good job, Derek. Oh, and Jorge and Moseley’s strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play was nice, too.
Offensive Analysis: The Bronx Bombers showed up last night, and the offense exploded multiple times. The Yankees pounded out 11 runs on 13 hits. So many guys had great nights at the plate, especially those in the middle of the order. Tex, Cano, Swish, and Thames were almost impossible to get out. Three Yankees went deep last night.
Tex was first.
And Robbie went back-to-back with him.
Thames’s 3-run blast gave the Yanks an 11-4 lead.
Last night’s game had so many positives, and it had the desired result. The heroes for the victory are the homer boys Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, and Marcus Thames, as well as Javy Vazquez for pitching over 4 stellar innings of relief. I think the Yankees should keep playing Marcus Thames – even when Berkman comes back. Don’t mess with success, right? And Javy…I hope and pray that he keeps this up. We need another guy to trust.
The Somebody Needs a Hug goes to Derek Jeter. The poor guy was 0-4 once again last night, and his average has dipped to an un-Jeter like .268. He’s still trying so hard, maybe too hard. Jeet, we love you no matter what. But still, you need to fix yourself, because we need you. The Yankees need their Captain 🙂
GO YANKEEEES!!!!!!!!
A Taste of Their Own Medicine
Offense Explodes and Power Surges
Well, it’s not really fair to say that home runs are the Jays’s medicine. After all, the Yankees are the Bronx Bombers. So the Blue Jays lead the Bigs in home runs…big deal. Bautista has 40, when his previous career high was 16. Take away half of Bautista’s homers, because their is no way they are legit, and then the Yanks and Jays are neck-and-neck in the home run count. The Yankees had 5 homers last night. Combine that with solid starting pitching, and you have a win. The Yanks evened the series last night with their 11-5 victory.
Pitching Analysis: Ken Singleton pointed out during the broadcast that Dustin Moseley had alternated wins and losses in all of his Yankee starts. He won his last start, so according to the trend, Moseley was going to lose last night. But after Moseley struckout the steroid monster Bautista to end the 1st inning, I had a feeling the trend would end. And I was right.
Dustin’s game face
Moseley pitched beautifully again last night, tossing 6 innings of 2-run ball. He didn’t allow a home run. The other three Blue Jay runs were given up by Chad Gaudin.
Offensive Analysis: The 11 Yankee runs came mostly off the longball. And it was so fun to watch. Homer after homer, the Yankee attitudes remained the same. Each Yankee who homered rounded the bases in the most modest and classy manner – perfectly Yankee. There was no bat-flipping, staring, trotting, or fist pumping right in the catcher’s face as they crossed the plate (ahem, Jose Bautista). They just put their adorable faces down and ran. God I love these men.
The 3rd inning alone contained 3 of the Yankees’s 5 home runs. First was Mark Teixeira, whose solo home run gave the Yanks a 3-0 lead.
After a Robinson Cano walk, Marcus Thames went deep with a 2-run shot.
And Jorge Posada went back to back with Marcus.
In the 5th, after a Marcus Thames single and an Austin Kearns walk, Curtis Granderson decided it was his turn to go deep. His 3-run shot gave the Yanks a 9-1 lead.
Then, it was the Captain’s turn. It was Jeet’s first home run since….jeez, I don’t even remember! That made it 10-1. And the Yanks went on to win it 11-5.
Overall, it was a great win for the Yankees. They pounded out 11 runs on 17 hits, and got contributions from guys up and down the lineup. The heroes for the victory are the Homer Boys Tex, Thames, Jo-Po, GrandyMan, and Jeet, as well as starter Dustin Moseley.
The Somebody Needs a Hug recipient is Nick Swisher. In the 7th inning last night, Swish fouled a ball off his knee, and he went down. He yelped in pain…which really hurts me. It’s sad to see Nick Swisher not smiling. The part that made me yell, “AWWWW” was when Swish insisted that he stay in the game. But two pitches later in to the at bat, Girardi pulled him. Swish again put up a fight, but it was no use: Girardi won. Then Brett Gardner had to finish the at bat. It was his birthday, and he didn’t even think he was going to play. He didn’t even have his high socks. Brett struckout. I’m sure he, and Swish, were not too thrilled.
Swisher says he is okay. He was his jolly smiley self in his postgame interview. I hope he can play today ♥
GO YANKEES!!!
Split, But I’m Still Upset
Lose 1st, Win 2, Lost Last
After that upsetting loss in Game 1, I knew it would be difficult for my Yanks to pull off a series win. They were close..so close…but they, and I, will have to settle for a split.
Game 2 was a nice bounce-back win for the Yankees. CC Sabathia gave it his all and proved once again why I call him “C Cy.” My Hefty-Lefty allowed just 2 runs in 8 innings. The offense was clutch, with the 4 consecutive 2-out singles in the 5th inning by Swisher, Teixeira, Cano, and Posada. The Yanks went on to win it 5-2.
CC should win the Cy Young if he keeps this up.
Game 3 was the Yankees typical offensive explosion off Josh Beckett. And unlike the last time Beckett pitched, he only hit 1 Yankee batter: Robinson Cano. Last time, he angered me…but let’s not go there again. The Yankee offense pushed across 7 runs off Beckett. Lance Berkman finally found his stroke, going 3-4 with a run and an RBI. It was nice to see him start to hit. He was one of many Yankees who had a nice day at the dish.
But perhaps the most pleasantly surprising aspect of Game 3 was the starter, spot starter, Mr. Dustin Moseley. He wooed me in his first start, but didn’t pitch too well in his second start as a Yankee. This time, he was called upon on short notice to make the start for the injured A.J. Burnett. And this time, he shined. Oh, how he shined! In the field he made 3 exceptional plays, and he pitched pretty well, too. Moseley pitched 6.1 innings, and allowed just 2 runs. What a night for this little cutie! The Yankees went on to win this one 7-2.
Moseley is a beeeeast ♥
That brings us to the finale. I was hoping that since the Yanks won 2 in a row, and since the offense wasn’t scuffling, that they would have a good day. And I hoped that Phil Hughes would be his Philthy old self. I was right about half of it, the pitching half. But as everyone knows, getting a 50 on a test isn’t going to cut it.
Hughes allowed 2 runs in the 2nd inning. Maybe Jorge Posada’s throwing error had something to do with it? Maybe. But that’s not why the Yankees lost. Like I said the other day, don’t blame things on one guy – this is a team effort! And the team couldn’t hit for their life today.
The Yankees had bases loaded with none out in the 7th, and FAILED to score a run. Talk about frustrating…
In the 8th, Mark Teixeira provided a spark of hope with his big fly off Daniel Bard, which made the score 2-1.
Jonathan Papelbon, who is #1 on my “If I could kick someone in the balls list,” came in for the 4 out save today. I figured, “Hey! This is good. The more opportunities the Yanks have against Papelbon, the better. He sucks.”
So in the 9th, Curtis Granderson leads off with a strikeout. Very productive…Then Jeter walks, and I begin to get a little excited. I wanted to see some pie today…but from there, it went downhill.
Nick Swisher struckout for the 2nd out, and then Tex….he put up such a tough at bat…but of course, it ended in a K. I somewhat expected this, but still – when I saw it happen, I exploded.
A little background info on what was going on in my living room during the 9th: My dog was eating his dinner in the living room and he tends to make a mess; dropping kibble from his flews, spewing water when he shakes and his drool goes flying, typical dog stuff. So we put a towel under his bowl so the customary mess would be easier to clean up. He was eating “Turducken,” which sounds gross, but actually smells quite tasty. My mother was also in the room, and I told her to get out because I thought she was a jinx (she listened). My older brother was watching the game with me.
Words cannot describe my hatred for you…
Okay, back to the game: the microsecond after Tex struckout, I lost it. I just went berserk. The throwing of my shoes at the TV is normal for me, and of course I did that. But that didn’t make me feel better: that intense hatred of losing, and that hatred for Papelbon, lingered on. In anger mode, I scanned the room for something else to violently thrust at the screen. Then I saw it: the towel. My dog finished eating, leaving a trail of Turducken embedded into the towel.
Papelbon was going his little fist pump, when SPLAT!
The Turducken-covered towel hit him square in the face, thanks to my powerful throw, and I screamed:
“HAVE SOME F****N’ TURDUCKEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Then, still enraged, I jumped off the couch, picked up the towel, and began whipping Papelbon’s stupid face through the TV.
For some reason, my brother found this funny. And he told me to write this here for the world to see. Why? Well, now that the game has been over for a little while, and my anger is slowly subsiding, I guess it is kind of funny. Kind of. He sure thought so. He’s still laughing at it.
So the Yankees lost the finale 2-1, and I clearly was not thrilled. Any time the Yankees can ruin Papelbon’s day, I’m happy. But that didn’t happen today. I really wanted to win this series, but you can’t win ’em all.
I’ll have to get over it. These random bursts of animosity really are not healthy.
Although they are kind of funny.
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.
Live, Eat, and Breathe Yankees 