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"Cano went yard twice today."
"Did you just call to brag about your fantasy team?"
"Crawford almost hit for the cycle."
"That's great, Kris. Good for you."

I had to watch most of this game online, thanks to the 4th consecutive day of madness at the office. Actually, I left work around 9 and by the time I had gotten home, the game was just about over.


After beginning the series with an improbable loss, the Yanks ended up taking 2 of 3 in Baltimore, with tonight's shutou game featuring and outstanding performance from AJ that kept the O's to only 3 hits.

Interestingly, this is the first time in AJ's 11-year career where he started the season 3-0. He went 8 innings, striking out 4 and only letting 2 runners past 1st base. (To be honest, I think this had less to do with his pitching and more to do with the O's understanding fear of coming within 10 feet of Cano, who clearly is swiftly evolving into some semi-human freak of nature. A semi-human freak of nature that's currently batting .407.)

Not only was Cano teeing off (as usual) and knocking in HRs like he's swatting at tennis balls floated his way, but he's also ruining any chance haters had of finding a fault in his player utility. Which means that--mark my words--the most irrational of haters will start giving him the Jeterian treatment, aka dismissing Cano's value on account of him "not having any range."

Fiction CAN be fun! But I find the (video) reference section (of yankees.com) MUCH more enlightening. For example...

2 solo shots (the second 2-ding game of the season) highlighted Robbie's 3 for 4 game.

Guess how many pitches it took him to go yard twice, score 3 times, and bring in 2 ribbies?

SEVEN.

SEVEN PITCHES.

Good move, Robbie. I like the economical mindset during this recession and all. Very forward-thinking of you.

Marcus Thames had a pretty good game. 3 for 3. I'm sorry, but is this normal? Am I a complete idiot for thinking this acquisition was purely for warm body purposes? And to stock up on a few OFs, much like the head-scratching, and seemingly fruitless Randy Winn pick-up?

Marcus Markey Timms is batting .588 and slugging .941 in 17 ABs. That's one of the things I love about this team lately. They don't have this "I'm good because I'm a Yankee" complacency. It's more of a "I need to live up to the Yankees legacy by making myself better" determination.

It's guileless and endearing. Granderson, who went 0 for 3, is justifiably taking a pick-ax to my credibility. I wasn't crazy about this trade at all, but the more I watch him play, even on days where he puts up zeros, the more I like him. He's the type of player you want to fill a team with. I was gonna say "he's a real team player," but I guess baseball analogies don't really work when you're talking about baseball.

Burnett seemed uncharacteristically even tempered this game. Only 1 walk, and he even provided somewhat coherent post-game interviews.

"I was so locked in. I knew I was in a groove," the right-hander said. "I had a good tempo and I repeated myself well tonight."

That's a normal pitcher reaction to a good game. Last year, he gave us this, which just about sent me into arresting hysterics:

"But nothing compares to today. That was the funnest I've ever had on the baseball field."

For the O's, pitcher Matusz--who I feel like is a popular choice for sleeper-addicts--didn't pitch quite as well as AJ. Although Baltimore manager Trembley argues that he did pretty good, I kind of disagree. 9 hits in 6 innings isn't on the "good" half of the spectrum. I'll give you "average." But no, not good.

But Matusz silver lining-ed it up: "One positive thing I take away from this start is that I didn't walk any guys and I battled through a couple jams that I got myself into." Well, good on you, Brian! He's won 6 straight decisions since August 15. That doesn't really impress me too much though, because by the time August 15 had rolled around, the Nats were the only other team putting up a fight against the O's, in a cute little cross town rivalry for who can be DC's biggest failure.

Mo closed it out. Thank God. I was starting to tire of all the wisecracks in the league about how Mo will do nothing for my sister's previously save-less squad. My brief moment of relief is trampled on by the near-cycle-ness of Crawford's night. Not that I'm COMPLAINING, per se, as he is officially now on all 3 of my fantasy teams. The way it should be.

Of course, I also sat Adam LaRoche today (which I really should't be faulted for), who went 3-for-5 with 2 HRs. (Speaking of that game, cheers to Ian Kennedy, who gave up only 1 run in 7 IP. He did give up a salami in the 8th, but whatever, I like the kid. I especially like pitchers who go deep into the game.)

None of the O's offense did anything. So basically, this game, the way it played out etc, is the way I envisioned all 3 games going. I'm glad they're headig back to the Bronx now, and I appreciate their parting gift of validating my imagination.

On a final note, the Wall Street Journal informs us that the Yankees aren't even in the top 3 most hated MLB teams, in possibly the most ill-defined, uncontrolled, variable-riddled study I've ever heard of. Basically, in an effort to determine what team is igniting the most contempt so far in the 2010 season, they did some far-reaching scan of all the available online blogs and forums etc, quantifying the "negative and positive" comments.

This research method yielded the following inane results:

Yes, the Nationals and Yankees are neck and neck. I think they should have cut their losses whenever their calculations revealed the Reds are the 3rd most hated team.

I bet this was done by the same nimrods who retrofitted a bunch of statistical methods into their conclusion that Jeter was the worst SS in the game.

Well, this seemed like a very good use of Internet algorithms and trollings. Though the real takeaway of this article is the fact that clearly this genius brainchild of a research-gathering device, shouldn't be used in any situation that calls for accuracy in its results.

3 Comments:

  1. Unknown said...
    lists and lists, and more lists, I say who cares, even if we were on the top of that list--that means, on some level (even bad)--that the Yankees are being talked about. I personally love that people acknowledge who we are--rough, and and tough, and cannot be "snuffed." em hmm .. ok that used to sound better when I was younger, haha!
    well-played baseball said...
    Nice points about a variety of topics. Marcus Thames, by the way, has the most Home Runs per At Bat of any Tiger in history (more than Greenberg), so expecting good things from his bat is not unreasonable. As for A.J.'s composure last night, which you mention: do you think it has anything to do with the fact that Cervelli was catching him? Please keep writing, it's nice to read your accounts after each game.
    jimm ny said...
    Well played, er."well played", Thames, I liked better than the than the Wynn pick up. Thought someone today would bring up Posada/Cervelli controversy,just
    figured it would be the Sterling/Waldman duo laughing it off, as if there could be one. Cervelli looks good though.

    Cano seems to be the only one hitting, now if A-Rod and Nick the Sick would start getting some hits, along with Tex getting his bats out of the freezer, think how good line-up would be. I know he starts cold but this is getting monotonous.
    CYC, thought the Yanks would have made the Top 3 at least. I kinda get defensive when someone says the Yanks aren't the best at something. Even if it is not a "good" thing, I guess.

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