Photo: Getty Images
Actually, the entire Yankees bullpen was the hero of tonight’s wild, wild game that lasted nearly five hours. Whew, what a crazy one. I’m exhausted.
Sweaty Freddy got the start and did his best impersonation of this guy.
Photo: Nathan Denette/Associated Press
Five wild pitches and a bunch of hit batsmen? Not good. Not good at all.
But the Yanks played catch-up and clawed their way back to tie the game, and the bullpen was tremendous in shutting the Orioles down until Ibanez could knock in the winning run.
I’m talking about David Phelps….David Robertson…Cory Wade…Clay Rapada…and Mo looking like Mo. Great job by all of them.
Jeter has been hitting so well and A-Rod has been so not hitting well that I’m thinking Jeter should hit cleanup and A-Rod should spend more time with Kevin Long.
But the fact is that despite all the stranded runners – and there were way too many of them tonight – the team showed a lot of heart, coming back and getting the “W” in extras.
A very enjoyable evening, although I was a nervous wreck from the sixth inning on!
A quick P.S. about Ozzie Guillen’s suspension.
He was incredibly stupid in making his Castro remark, given his team’s market. But I’m not the speech police and I’d say to the Marlins: “You hired Ozzie Guillen. Did you really expect him not to say crazy stuff?” Still, they’re a private organization and they can hire, fire or suspend anybody they want – and should. What puzzled me the most was Ozzie’s “apology,” in which he said it was all a misunderstanding because of his poor grasp of English. Yeah, uh-huh.
Tags: Clay Rapada, Cory Wade, David Phelps. Freddy Garcia, Orioles, Ozzie Guillen, Raul Ibanez, Yankees
Don;t get me wrong, I’m glad they won. But can we please not go this again too often? My nerves will be shot before the end of the month!
Well, NY won and Boston lost, so that’s a good day.
Great job by the bullpen. But what in the name of Yogi Berra was up with all those wild pitches? Three more innings the bullpen had to pitch because of TWO WP’s that let runs in. If the bullpen has to pitch 6-7 innings per game they’ll be shot by mid-June.
Well, I shouldn’t be such a pessimist. It could have been worse — they could have LOST in 12 innings. Then I’d really be a wreck.
Let’s try for the good kind of sweep tomorrow!
I love the MLB network. I probably love it even more today because we won. I get to watch Yankee games with Yankee announcers and when I can’t stay up for the whole game, I get to watch the end in the morning. It was torturous that we couldn’t score withrunners on and swisher out at the plate but it had a happy ending. Oh the day feels so much better after a Yankee win.
Gotta love Jeter! Our bullpen seems second to none! Hopefully the rest of the team gets the kinks out soon.
I agree with you about Ozzie. When I heard there was controversy I giggled and thought, ” what did he say this time?” The man’s talent to stick his foot in his mouth is amazing. Unfortunately, that is the ONE thing you don’t say in Miami. If he were still in Chicago, no one would have noticed. I also don’t buy the language barrier thing. But actually, his excuse was he was speaking English but thinking in Spanish. Maybe that explains all of his misquotes!
My son was texting me updates of the game as we were traveling home from Boston last night. We were going to get home around midnight and for a while I thought we might catch the end of this game after all! As we neared home we were able to get the game on the radio and were on hand for the win – yay! Glad I missed all the Freddy drama – I would have been going crazy.
I agree with you about Ozzie, Jane – people are entitled to their thoughts and opinions, no matter how stupid I may think they are. I saw our local ESPN guy wrote a similar opinion, talking about how we as Americans are so easily offended and free speech is taing it on the chin. I realize Miami is a dumb place to express those thoughts but wouldn’t it be better to use that opportunity to educate Ozzie and others about some of the evils inflicted on the Cuban people by Castro and his cronies? Shutting down conversation also shuts down learning.
I’m not worried about the bullpen being shot, Sean K. When Andy comes back (assuming he will fairly soon), somebody will move to the pen and we’ll have a true “long man.” Plus, Garcia’s not likely to be so wild on a regular basis, although I do wonder about his durability. It’s kind of weird; the guys who had good springs haven’t be good so far and the guys who didn’t have good springs have been very good. That’s baseball.
Swisher was aggravating, Barbara. He’s been terrible with RISP. Maybe batting him second isn’t such a hot idea.
Right, Kathleen, Ozzie did give the English-to-Spanish excuse. So let me get this straight: he was thinking in Spanish that he hated Castro but he said in English that he loved Castro? Sure, Ozzie. Sure.
Glad you got to hear the end of the game, Audrey. Nerves and all, it really was entertaining once Freddy was out of the picture. I agree that the Castro thing could have been a teachable moment. But from the Marlins’ point of view, they’d probably like to forget the whole thing ever happened for fear of losing community support and, of course, ticket sales.
Well, Raul came through, huh? Every time a player we have little faith in does something great, my dad and I always quote Rookie of the Year, when the manager says “I NEVER DOUBTED HIM FOR A MINUTE!!!!” hahaha. By the way, Jane, I told my dad about your nickname for Nunez (scissorhands) and he could not stop laughing. He thinks it’s the best nickname! He calls him “Eduardo Scissorhands” now.
The runners in scoring position failures left me banging my head all night but a win is a win. Let’s hope the next win is a little bit more less stressful. The bullpen overall was great and Jeter looked really good but A-Rod, Tex, and Granderson, essentially the core of the offense, not so much. I wonder why Showalter didn’t call to have Ibanez intentionally walked too to get to Stewart. He’s a defensive catcher with no bat so their chances would’ve been better but I’m glad they didn’t! I would love to see Phelps get a shot at the rotation should the time come that someone else turns out to be ineffective (Garcia the most likely one). I hope he’s getting his work in to be stretched out just in case.
Yes, I know this is a Yankee blog – and I love the Yankees – always have, always will. I could talk about them all day every day. But I’m “befuddled” this morning. . . . .what are these guys thinking??????
The Marlins should have never hired Guillen – he’s a loud mouth jerk, always has been, always will be. Chicago should have fired him long before that relationship ended.
Just like Arkansas should no way have ever hired Petrino – he’s got a long consistent track record of bad judgement, being a bleep, doing harmful things.
Just the kind of people I want on my team – NOT!!!! NEVER!!!!!
Watched the game on MLB extra innings last night. Had to listen to Gary Thorne and Jim Palmer, which isn’t horrible, much better than dealing with the Boston accented idiots on NESN. I was a nervous wreck the entire game. Hate the Freddy to A. J. comparison, but spot on.
I have watched many different games in many different markets this year and it seems that the umpires have been brutal across the board. Has anyone else noticed this. It almost seems as if they are doing poor jobs so that baseball uses the automated strike zone, lets hope not. I have seen my fair share on those things be wrong.
As far as Ozzie goes, growing up in the Chicago area I liked Ozzie as a player. When he was first hired I didn’t mind him. After they won the World Series and he said “this one for B(V)enezuala, I lost all respect for him. It seems the man who, in my opinion, owes his successes to the United States is in love with all countries other than this one. I was happy to see the man shipped to Miami, and I hope his fails miserably in all of his endeavors.
Jane, I think that Ozzie is getting a bad rap. let me explain. It’s obvious that Ozzie is prescient and knew that a guy named Raul would soon be a hero. Ozzie is so intelligent and thinks so fast, that when he talks, his mouth can’t keep up with his brain. Fidel Castro’s brother is named Raul. His brain had it right, but his tongue tripped over itself and got the names all mixed up. He really meant he loves Raul Ibanez. And who among us doesn’t?
“Wild Thing…tighten my gut-string…you miss ev-ry-thing…really…”
Glad they pulled it out. Nice gradual comeback, but it’s RISPy business at 3 for 18. Gracias, Raul.
Ozzie is entertaining. Six pounds of caca in a 5-lb. bag. Oh, lo siento…he thought it was a 5-KILO bag! Let’s see how their attendance holds up.
I hope Eduardo Scissorhands makes me eat my nickname for him, Andie. He’ll be getting a lot of at bats this year so he needs to work out the kinks (or the scissor hands).
The RISP situation has been a concern so far, Leo. Not just last night but in the previous games too. The good news is we’re scoring enough runs to win ballgames, but those wasted opportunities were head bangers for sure. I’m not ready to write off Garcia after one outing, because he’s not usually so wild. Let’s see how he does the next time out.
I guess the Marlins figured Ozzie would shake things up in Miami, Christy. They were right – just not the way they wanted things to be shaken up! The Yankees have been smart with their managerial hires in recent years relative to controversies. Torre and Girardi are nothing if not media savvy pros. Billy Martin was the last firebrand that I can remember.
I had the Thorne-Palmer feed too, Spaz. They’re not the worst by any means. Thorne is a very good broadcaster, although Palmer can put me to sleep. Palmer, especially, has been angry about the umpiring. I agree that it’s been bad and you can see managers on both sides shaking their heads.
Interesting take on the Ozzie mess, Rob! Of course he meant Raul Ibanez. LOL.
Yes, let’s see how the Marlins’ attendance holds up, Dave. I hope they can get back to baseball. It’s all such a pity with the good feelings surrounding the new players and the new stadium.
Garcia messed up big but at least he managed to escape this game with a ND. Jeter still awesome.
I <3 our bullpen. Everyone pitched exactly what we wanted them to including Mike Muss-err…David Phelps. Although its a happy ending with Raul's double, I'm a bit concerned about the core offense of A-Rod, Tex, and Granderson. Hell even Russ and Swish. God love them but cmon! The Angels are right around the corner.
About Ozzie, should I be surprised at all about him at this point. It feels that people just woke up and saw who he is. But sayin something about Castro in Florida of all places is just plain stupid.
You don’t have to worry about Granderson, SBlue. He hit a homer in the first tonight, so hopefully he’s on the right track.