Game 37: NYY vs. KC — Okay, Apathy, you win this Friday night. Whatever…

You know it’s not going to be a good night in baseball when the most interesting thing of the game is watching your Twitter feed compete for the wittiest comment on the awfulness that is the display on the field.

I did mention yesterday that the Royals are currently on the same kind of streak this month that the Yankees hit last month at this time. Though I don’t think anyone predicted the Yankee crumble as much as tonight’s game.

Actually, the game certainly wasn’t terrible until the latter half of the game. It wasn’t a memorable game until then either. Michael Pineda started tonight’s game for the Yankees, and despite not having the usual sharpness of his slider, still threw a decent game — 104 pitches over 5.1 innings, giving up 10 hits (off that bad slider mostly), no walks, and 5 runs, striking out just 1 Royals batter.

In the 1st, back-to-back doubles scored the Royals first run. And a 1-out triple scored on a sacrifice fly. The Yankees offense answered back in the top of the 4th inning. Rodriguez hit a lead-off double, moved to 3rd on Teixeira’s single, and then scored on Brian McCann’s sacrifice fly to slice the Royals early lead in half.

Like I said, standard baseball stuff for the first half of the game. Both starters struggled in their own ways, and both ducked out in their own 6th innings. And that’s when things got weird.

So Pineda comes back for the 6th inning. A batter led-off with a double, moved to 3rd on a ground out, and then scored on a triple. That runner easily scored on a single, and that’s when Pineda got pulled in favor of reliever David Carpenter. Carpenter’s lone batter reached on an unsuccessful fielder’s choice — runners safe at 1st and 2nd.

And onto Justin Wilson we go. A ground out moved the runners to scoring position, before they both scored on a deep single. A walk put runners on 1st and 2nd again. Then two back-to-back singles scored 2 more runs. And finally, it was time to call on newly recalled (more later) Jose Ramirez to get a pop out to mercifully end the inning.

But were the Royals content with an 8-1 lead? Of course not!

So onto the 7th inning… where 2 quick outs look promising for Ramirez. And then he can’t get an out to save his life — a walk, an RBI double, an RBI single, a wild pitch, another walk, and a 2-RBI double. And then it’s Branden Pinder to the rescue with a strikeout. Pinder’s 8th inning kept those pesky Royals from adding to their bloated score.

Final score: 12-1 Royals. (And I wish with all of my being that was a typo.)

When I look at both the Rays and the Royals and hold them in comparison to other recent opponents, the biggest difference I see is that the Rays and Royals are technically a “good team” and their pitching staff isn’t really their best quality. Especially when I think of recent teams like the Tigers, the Orioles, the Blue Jays, even the Mets — all have pretty good offense and pretty good pitching (with some glaring exceptions). The Royals are still riding their AL Championship high, and the Rays get an early season thrill of being the perpetual underdogs.

I don’t know. It’s still too early in the season to be making these kinds of conclusions and assumptions about how things will end up. I mean, there’s 125 more games to play until the postseason. That’s a lot of streaks to break, pitches to throw, bases to run, runs to score.

Whatever…

Chase Whitley’s MRI came back and showed a partial tear of his UCL, usually a direct line into the surgeon for Tommy John surgery. But he stayed behind in Tampa to confirm the tear with the Yankees’ medical staff there and will see the team head doctor in New York on Monday to make plans. This places him on the 15-day DL until more a permanent treatment plan is in place.

In his place, the Yankees recalled Jose Ramirez from AAA Scranton, but Ramirez is a bullpen guy. Whitley’s starting spot will be filled by Chris Capuano, beginning with Sunday’s game against the Royals. Hopefully, I’ll have written a much more positive post by then. Maybe even 2.

Tonight, I’m rather apathetic. So whatever…

Go Yankees!

Spring Game 32: NYY vs. BAL — Revenge on the birds

Let’s call this some late revenge for all the trouble they gave us last year. Showalter’s starting Orioles stars just couldn’t compete with the Yankees’ minor leaguers and bench players/injury substitutes (plus Brett Gardner, who went 1-for-4 with 2 strikeouts). For all the talk about how amazing the O’s are and will be this season, they certainly didn’t bring their A-game to tonight’s game, losing to the Yankees 11-8 and committing 5 fielding errors.

So let’s talk about how the Yankees were awesome tonight. David Phelps threw 5 innings, striking out 9 batters and only allowing 4 hits, 3 runs, and 2 walks. Bobby Wilson, Mason Williams, and Melky Mesa all notched doubles of 3 different Orioles pitchers. Brennan Boesch, and Ben Francisco each swung for the fences with home runs in the 1st and 3rd innings, respectively. And RBIs were in abundance by Eduardo Nunez and Boesch (each with one) and Wilson, Williams, and Addison Maruszak (each with two).

Speaking of Maruszak, a last-minute replacement for Ronnier Mustelier who was scratched due to a sore knee, but really another excellent job again, this time at 3rd base. He had some nifty defensive moves including a nice scooping grab and toss to 1st for the out. He’s really turning into something of a utility player, and his offense was excellent tonight getting a nice RBI single and scoring a run himself. For someone who’ll be starting in AA/AAA this year, he’s certainly showing marketed improvement in recent years and is really becoming a player that could make a mark on a future starting roster, with that future being much sooner than previous estimations.

And again, this is what’s so awesome about Spring Training — we get to see player development and prospects firsthand. I know last year, it was tonight’s starter (Phelps) that really took people by surprise and look where he is now — in competition for the 5th starters position, probably settling into a nice long-relief bullpen during the healthy season, covering Phil Hughes while he recovers from his back injury at the beginning of the season. Did anyone see Phelps coming in 2012? Maybe a handful of people, but it was last Spring that brought him to the forefront for everyone, especially Girardi.

So who is this year’s Phelps? There are many possibilities, like Vidal Nuno (who is now contending for a bullpen job), Mustelier (an excellent infielder with a power bat), and Juan Rivera (who is really finding a home over at 1st covering for Teixeira). And there are so many player contributions to the progress of the 2013 team already, who will probably find their 2013 home in Tampa, Trenton, or Scranton. I guess that’s part of the fun of Spring — you never know who’s going to be the next necessary cog in the Yankees machine, and really, it can be anyone, from the superstar high-contract veteran players right on down to the young non-roster invitees. It’s what makes it all about the team and not just the superstar high-contract veterans.

Go Yankees!