Contributed by austro
Friday, June 11, 2010
Yankess 4
Astros 3
WP: Pettitte (S: Rivera) | LP: Myers
Alkie let us all down and stayed at home to study World Cup highlights, so the Astros were without any fans in the stands. In the end, that was the missing advantage, as the Astros fell to the Yanquis 4-3.
I left the office late, so I listened to the 1st inning on XM. In addition to a Mr. Sterling, the Yankees have a female announcer whose voice won’t make anybody forget the Body Heat-era Kathleen Turner. In addition to the lineups, that dynamic duo also provided us with the remarkable observation that spacious Yankee Stadium is 408 to CF, while MinuteMaid Park is a small park, particularly in LF. I guess they didn’t make the road trip last year. And as it turns out, the Yankees’ announcers are also apparently contractually obligated to hawk some sponsor or another after each batter.
The top of the order picked up where they left off yesterday, going down 1-2-3 to start the game. But a milestone of sorts was reached when Pettitte retired Keppinger for the second out of the inning: that was his 3000th inning pitched, second only to Methuselah Moyer among active pitchers. That’s pretty impressive for somebody who’s been pumping Fix-A-Flat into his elbow for the last five or six years.
Myers had his traditional shaky start. He got Jeter to lead off with a ground out, but then gave up a double to Granderson, a walk to Texeira, an RBI single to Cano, and a walk to Swisher to load the bases. But then he struck out Posada and got to an 0-2 count on Cervelli, and it looked like he might escape with only the one run allowed. Alas, he gave up a single on the 0-2 pitch, and the Yankees went up 3-0. He retired the next batter for the third out, but the damage was done.
The top of the second began with Lee popping up, but then Pence walked, Michaels popped up, and Feliz flared a single down the RF line, moving Pence to third. Up next was the only RBI threat the Astros have right now, Tommy Manzella, and he smacked a two-run double down the LF line to pull within 3-2. Unfortunately, Cash couldn’t drive him in, so that’s how the top of the second ended.
And that was really pretty much the story. Both pitchers settled in and started mowing down the hitters. In the bottom of the fifth, Russo led off with a walk, stole second, and then scored on a two-out dink to RF by Texeira, making it 4-2. In the top of the eighth, Manzella led off with a single and was safe at second when Jeter screwed up a sure DP off the bat of Quintero. Bourn sacrificed the runners up, and Manzella scored on a Keppinger sac fly to pull to 4-3. That brought up Berkman with Q on third and two outs, but in keeping with this year’s theme, Lance struck out, and that was effectively the end of the game.
After his rough start, Myers did the same thing he’s done all year: settle down and grind out the innings, and give the Astros a chance to win. Tonight he went 7 innings with 4 ER; not bad at all. Chacin pitched an effective eighth inning. But Pettitte was a little bit better or luckier or something, going 7.1 innings and giving up 3 runs (2 earned). Chamberlain pitched 2/3 to finish the eighth, and Rivera closed things out with a scoreless ninth. In addition to breaking the 3,000 inning mark, the victory was Pettitte’s 200th as a Yankee.
Probably the most telling and depressing stat of the night was another oh-fer by the top of the lineup, this time 0-14 by the top four (Bourn, Keppinger, Berkman, and Lee). Hell, the entire team only had 4 hits in 30 AB, and two of those were by Manzella. That’s not going to get it done. Coming on the heels of yesterday’s 4-hit effort (1-15 from the top four), the offense suddenly looks frighteningly like April’s.
Oh well, tomorrow’s another day. Go get ‘em, Wandy!