It was definitely not CC Sabathia’s night. And it hasn’t been for his last 4 starts. And tonight wasn’t going to be pretty, despite the beautiful weather in San Diego; sometimes you just know. Sabathia got into a huge jam right in the 1st inning, loading the bases with 2 singles and a walk, with 1 out. He proceeded to walk the next batter, walking in the Padres first run of the evening. A ground out scores the 2nd run. In the 4th inning, a solo home run (the first of three this evening) and an RBI triple add two more runs to their score. An RBI single in the 6th adds another, and force Girardi to make a pitching change. Sabathia’s 105 pitches in just 5.2 innings allowed 11 hits, 5 runs, 3 walks, and just 4 strikeouts.
Claiborne got the last out of the 6th inning. Then Chamberlain’s outing in the 7th and Warren’s in the 8th each allowed solo home runs to add to the Padres total. Except Claiborne, the others seemed to follow Sabathia’s lead tonight and not have the kind of control I think we’re used to seeing from the bullpen crew.
Now, this isn’t to say the Yankees weren’t hitting. They got all their 7 hits off the starting pitcher. And their only 2 runs came in the 2nd inning. Ichiro Suzuki singled and stole 2nd, scoring on Eduardo Nunez’s double. Chris Stewart advanced Nunez to 3rd on his ground out, and Sabathia scored him on his ground out. (The Padres are in the NL, so no DH tonight.) So the final score was 7-2 San Diego tonight.
I don’t want to get into the umpire issues from tonight, but let’s just say that three of the four umpires missed some really obvious calls for the Yankees — a blown call at 1st, a roving strike zone, and a dropped ball by 2nd base all accumulated to rack up some ire in both the dugout and in Yankee fan-dom.
Not that any of these would have made that much of a difference, but it’s certainly thrown the importance of instant replay into the conversation once again. They have replay in every other professional sport but will only use replay in baseball on home runs, and only after a unanimous umpire consensus. And if the manager questions a call, on a whim, the questioned umpire can toss the questioning manager. I don’t really know what the right answer would be, but it’s certainly not “as is”.
But I’m guessing MLB has something else currently occupying their conversations that something as relatively insignificant like replay isn’t on the forefront of their minds. I mean, it’s not like it affects players’ careers… oh wait…
Other interesting game news: Derek Jeter earned his first error of the season tonight on a really high overthrow on what should have been an easy out to 1st base in the 2nd inning. But my favorite play of the night came from the dynamic duo of Chris Stewart and Brett Gardner. A batter singles out to Gardner at center field, who promptly fires it into Stewart at home, who is ready and waiting for the runner and gets him out at the plate to close the 3rd inning. And Curtis Granderson is back off the DL, in the roster, and running around in the outfield again. (To make room for him, Thomas Neal was designated for assignment, and Melky Mesa was sent back to AAA Scranton.)
I can’t imagine many Yankees are headed to bed happy tonight, but that’s the wonderful thing about sleep — it’s the reset button. Tomorrow is a new day, a new game, time to start over and learn from the yesterdays. Sometimes after a big loss, whining, pouting, worrying, denying, or rehashing isn’t your best therapy, but rather a good sleep. So if you screw up today, in the morning, you can push for something better, something new. And who knows? Maybe tomorrow’s sleep will be preceded by your best effort, something daring and challenging, maybe even a win.
Go Yankees!
Yankees Life 