Saturday, July 29, 2006
Our Pitching Sucks
The Yankees have been very happy with the consistency of their top three starting pitchers in recent weeks, but Saturday was not a day to celebrate that point as New York was soundly beaten, 19-6, by the Devil Rays.
Randy Johnson equaled his shortest start of the season, allowing nine runs (six earned) in 3 1/3 innings. The Big Unit, who averaged 115 pitches in his past two starts, allowed six hits and three walks without striking out a single batter.
New York dropped a game in the AL East standings, as Boston came back to defeat Los Angeles at Fenway Park. The Yankees now trail the first-place Red Sox by 1 1/2 games.
The 13-run loss is not the worst suffered by the Yankees this season, as New York dropped a 19-1 decision at Cleveland on July 4. The Yankees followed that game with a four-game winning streak.
Things actually started out well for the Yankees, as Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi ripped back-to-back homers against Jae Seo in the first inning, getting New York out to a quick 2-0 lead.
Johnson, who sat down the first five batters in the game, walked Jonny Gomes with two outs in the second. Damon Hollins followed with a fly ball to left-center, which Johnny Damon appeared to have tracked down. But the ball popped out of Damon's glove, putting runners at second and third. Dioner Navarro singled in a run and Tomas Perez doubled in two, giving Tampa Bay a 3-2 lead on three unearned runs.
Hollins did more damage in the third, crushing a three-run homer off Johnson to make it a 6-2 game. New York answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning on a Jorge Posada double, but that was as close as the game would get.
That's because the Rays drove Johnson from the game in the fourth, scoring three more runs against the Big Unit.
Shawn Chacon, who worked a magic act while getting out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam on Wednesday in Texas, couldn't repeat the task, hitting a batter, walking another and allowing a two-run single, as Tampa Bay took a commanding six-run lead.
The Devil Rays continued to pour it on, scoring a run in both the fifth and sixth before tagging Chacon, Mike Myers and T.J. Beam for six more runs to take a 18-5 lead.
Posted by Steve Kenul at 6:33 PM
posted at 7:16 PM
I heard it on TV today: ALL MLB pitching sucks!
Steve Kenul posted at 7:27 PM
What we need is to play the market and get some quality pitching, if need be, sacrifice.
Barry Zito is an arm we could use and if we have to send off one of our stars to win, then so be it.
I would recommend Barry Zito for Chein-Ming Wang and Bubba Crosby.
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