Roger made Josh look like a little kid last night, that's for sure. He was throwing a no-hitter through five innings while the Yankees were taking Josh out to the woodshed, running up his pitch count over 100 by the sixth inning and touching him up for 13--yes, 13--hits on the night, though he somehow only surrendered four runs.
This was accomplished, basically, by a series of heart-attack-inducing innings like the bottom of the sixth, in which Josh loaded the bases, reached a 3-2 count on Johnny Damon, and then just barely tagged first before Damon's headfirst slide. So he literally just barely outran that inning.
Between innings they showed him in the dugout with one jacket sleeve on, first spitting out great brown wads of chew, then rinsing out his mouth with water from a Poland Spring bottle. NESN kept us there in vivid, hi-def detail while Josh spewed great quantities of water from his mouth to the dugout floor. I have no idea what we gained from having seen that, but thanks anyway, NESN.
"Joshua," I said with pity in my voice. "You're not going back out there, dear."
Um. Except he was. For a seventh inning that, well, in some ways felt like the worst possible kind of deja vu.
Josh almost hit Jeter with his first pitch, and as the ball was tossed back to him he grinned a sly grin to himself quite openly on the mound. He also looked to be hollering things at teammates, and looked like he was rushing through the inning, like he couldn't wait to throw the next pitch.
He managed to get a lineout from Jeter and a gift strike call on Bobby Abreu before Abreu swung and missed at a pretty bad pitch. "He is just totally horseshit out there," I said out loud as A-Rod came to the plate. Don Orsillo was saying something about how you don't send your ace out there for one out in the inning without giving him a chance to win the game, so apparently this one was about the manly codes of ethics embedded in baseball rather than, you know, actually winning the contest. Because I had a terrible feeling as A-Rod came up. Josh threw him a ball. "We're playing with fire, here," I said, and no sooner had the words left my mouth than Beckett's second pitch to A-Rod left the yard. It wasn't even that spectacular a home run--more like a Vladi Guerrerro style homer, a little flick of the bat and a neat drop into the stands.
Josh walked off the field defeated while Yankee stadium howled.
After that, Okajima was warmed up again for no reason, as Lopez and Timlin were brought in. The Sox plated two more runs on a key Kevin Youkilis homer, but then Mariano Rivera came out of the same time machine they apparently put Roger in and schooled us to put the game on ice. In the end, that stupid, needless, foolish homer to A-Rod is what made the difference in this game.
Anyone who read this blog last season knows I'm about as staunch a Tito apologist as you'll find. But in this case, even I have to quote a great man when I ask, is Tito on peyote? That was a Grady-Little-esque performance on his part last night, and I do not appreciate it.
Lots of people around here have been saying lots of things that make me cringe. Things like, "Even if they sweep us..." The Sox and Yankees were in the precise same place in the standings on this date in 1978. Stranger things have absolutely happened. Personally, I think it's time to be concerned a bit, maybe, by the fact that the Yankees suddenly seem to have sprouted pitching to complement their deadly offense, and the idea that maybe they're for real this year after all. Perhaps at this point at least some sense of urgency would be appropriate.
The thing I'm sick of hearing the most is, "Even if they sweep us, it would be ok." Because it would not. It would not be ok.
It pained me to no end to see Beckett get roughed up out there and I agree completely with you on the stupidity of the Grady Little move that Tito pulled. For a brief moment, I thought Beckett was going to be okay, getting the first two outs in the 7th inning so quickly - but then A-Rod happened. Combined with the fact that our offense went from powerhouse back to pathetic in two days. I was really hoping that Torre was going to have a Grady Little moment himself and leave Farnsworth in for us to feast on, but alas, no.
Highlights/positives, if you can find any:
- Though he struggled, Beckett did manage to make it through 6 2/3 innings, thus saving our bullpen. For what, I'm not sure, but as Remy and Orsillo pointed out last night, his performance was "gutsy".
- Eric Hinske - bless his soul for trying to hold down the fort - pulling a Manny Ramirez-esque move and throwing a cocky A-Rod out at first base.
- Old Man Timlin making his 999th appearance and kicking ass, getting 4 outs in like 16 pitches.
Looking foward to this series being over and getting to the cannon fodder that we can beat up. Tampa Bay, anyone? And to hoping that we can exact some revenge on the MFY when they come to our turf next month.
Posted by: Jai/MoonstarMA | August 30, 2007 at 09:41
Two painful games, now we need Curt to be the stopper we know and love. What a bummer it's a 1:00 start -- I'm in court, dang it all!
Posted by: KLN | August 30, 2007 at 10:23
I personally don't think that Beckett pitched that poorly, it was just the fact that their ground balls found holes, and ours didn't. He obviously didn't have his best stuff, but he minimized the damage. I don't see how anybody can call Clemens' outing 'great.' Anybody that gives up 5 walks in 6 innings isn't pitching great, just lucky. It also helped that the Yankee pitching was getting all the calls. those two called strikes on Coco in the 8th weren't strikes. The one reson why I didn't mind this game was because Hinske and Pedroia made A-rod looks like an idiot!
It's on to the next game, and I think Curt can get us a win. He better be able to, because as much as this series doesn't matter, and we are still going to win the division, it would be nice to avoid a sweep.
btw- how annoying is it that Melky Cabrera can't keep his gum IN his mouth????????? It pisses me off every time I see it, and how many curtain calls do the yankees need? I didn't even see anybody want Slappity McBluelips to give a curtain call!
Posted by: Mary | August 30, 2007 at 11:12
It is never ok to lose to the Yankees. Not even a single game. Anybody suggesting that a sweep is no big deal should be tarred, feathered, and paraded down Yawkey Way wearing wearing nothing but a Yankees hat.
Or worse.
Posted by: COD | August 30, 2007 at 11:45
//I don't see how anybody can call Clemens' outing 'great.' Anybody that gives up 5 walks in 6 innings isn't pitching great, just lucky. //
let's put it this way, if josh had pitched the exact same line as clemens last night, would we be talking about the walks? or would we be gloating about the two-hit, one-run, near-no-hitter? judging by the fact that his 13 hit 4-run performance is being euphemized as "gutsy", i'd venture to guess it'd be the latter.
so just to continue my rhetoric here a little bit further--and *not* meaning to refer to you with this, specifically, mary--
i have to say it's been quite a swing over the last four or so years. we used to be the fan base that was always waiting for the other shoe to drop, and now we're apparently (at least partially) the fan base that rationalizes clearly bad shit?
i'm with COD. even if both teams are out of contention, there is no way losing to the yankees is ok. period.
but worse, this team has had a chance to bury the yankees and all but lock up their first division title in more than a decade, and they blew it. this is a team we think is going to go deep into the postseason? this is a team that could come back with its back against the wall the way they did in 04? i've been feeling like the answer to those questions is "no" since about the All-Star Break. and this week, with a chance to put a boot on the Yankees' necks once and for all, they've let them right back in the race.
our team is complacent, our manager has made shitty moves, there are holes in our lineup all over the place, we've suffered injuries to key players, it is at least still mathematically possible for them to lose the division, and the one team that could take the division from them has just taken two out of three games. i personally don't see how this could be much worse short of actually losing the lead.
this series has allowed the yankees to recover at least some mental momentum after being crushed by detroit. it has tied the season series between the two teams when it had been entirely one sided, it means the yankees have won the last three straight series against the Sox, and it has shown that the reported demise of Yankees pitching may have been greatly exaggerated this year.
in other words, whether luck or skill or some combination, so far this series has had the worst outcome imaginable for our team, and there's a high likelihood that the ultimate worst-case scenario will have unfolded after today. i, for one, am not okay with that.
Posted by: beth | August 30, 2007 at 12:07
About my earlier post, I guess I was still mad about the game, and was just blowing off steam. Clemens was the better pitcher.
Even though we have teh best record in the MLB, I don't think that our team is all that good. I know we have the best pitching, but our hitting is horrible. I am hoping for this game to be like the July 24th, 2004 game. We are playing uninspired baseball right now, and seem to have no desire to win, like we're not playing for anything.
I was hopinf to come in and sweep the Yankees, but knew that we weren't going to do that because they actually have something to play for, something to prove, and we don't.
I would almost prefer to be in the Yankees place, just to see if fighting for something would awaken this team. We need somebody to step up and be the Millar of '04.
Posted by: Mary | August 30, 2007 at 12:56
WTF? As I type this, it is the 4th inning of the Schilling/Wong game, and I have to ask, was Giambi bitten by a radioactive spider recently?
Posted by: maxwell horse | August 30, 2007 at 14:08
ugh. right now, i don't even WANT to know.
Posted by: beth | August 30, 2007 at 14:10
Bitten by a radioactive spider...probably not.
Injected something that came from a radioactive spider...much more likely!
Posted by: COD | August 30, 2007 at 14:47
I'm starting to despise Don and Jerry. What the hell? They've been practically fawning over the entire Yankee team/empire for the entire series. They're getting all excited about the Yanks' defensive plays, pitching, the no-hitter Wong currently has going, etc, etc. Even the friggin NESN music montage BEFORE yesterday's Clemens game, wasn't about the impending Beckett/Clemens matchup--but rather to showcase how Jesus-like Roger Clemens is.
Posted by: maxwell horse | August 30, 2007 at 14:58
i like to believe that if they're talking about the no-hitter, it's in an effort to jinx it any way they can.
Posted by: beth | August 30, 2007 at 15:01
And now the self-proclaimed "classy" Yankee fans giving a standing ovation to Joba because they think he tried to bean Youk twice. At least we got treated to a few shots of Beckett cursing from the Sox dugout. Otherwise this entire game has been a piece of crap.
Posted by: maxwell horse | August 30, 2007 at 16:06
yes, yankees fans apparently have overcome their classy aversion to boston sucks chants as well.
Posted by: beth | August 30, 2007 at 16:27
What I heard in the stands on Wednesday night was a hell of a lot worse than "Boston Sucks". It was more like, "F*ck you Pedroia! I hate you!" and "Fuck you Coco! F*CK YOU!" and "You suck, Beckett- you're a c*cksucker!" CLASSY, indeed.
Who the heck hates Dustin Pedroia to cuss him out that bad? I mean, I understand the cussing out of Beckett and booing Papi and even the Coco heckling. But Dustin? He hasn't even been around long enough to hate.
Posted by: Texas Gal | August 31, 2007 at 02:12
Oh- and feel free to edit my comment to add more asterisks or other nicer characters to clean that language up. You can't take Yankees fans anywhere.
Posted by: Texas Gal | August 31, 2007 at 02:13