Disappointing Loss To Boston In An Otherwise Outstanding Ballgame

I concur with everything my father said about putting Rivera in too early.  You gotta have faith in your middle and 8^th inning setup guys.  And you can’t take a 3-out closer like Rivera, make him pitch more than one inning in the opener against your biggest rival, and call this good managing.  If you win, great, but then your best closer won’t be available until the third game; and if you lose, same thing.  While Girardi is responsible for this blunder, this was something Torre used to do all the time – most notably in 2001, and we all know how that ended (let’s not go there).

At any rate, now that I’m over my initial disappointment and agitation at another blown April ballgame against the BoSox, I think it definitely would be remiss to not say a few words about what an awesome baseball game that was last night.

Both starters threw lotsa heat.  Both Joba and Lester were hurling fastballs in the high-90s (Joba even broke 101 mph a few times).  And while they gave up only 2 runs through 6 innings, both struggled.  Lester reached the 100-pitch mark by the 5^th inning.  And Joba was repeatedly bailed out by his defense, as one Boston rally after another was killed by a timely 6-4-3 double play.  Still, for the Yankees, Joba’s performance is encouraging.  While Joba wasn’t as awesome as he was last year when he outdueled Boston’s best, Josh Beckett, in a pitcher’s battle in Fenway, Joba proved once again that he is a gamer.  He throws hard, he battles hard, and he is fearless.  He is not yet the Yankees’ ace; but I think last night’s game will be one of those games we’ll look back on as being yet another early indicator of how Joba, despite an off-day, is rapidly becoming one of the best pitchers in baseball. 

Yet while the starters struggled, neither team really capitalized.  There were 23 hits in the game by the 7^th inning, but only 6 runs total.  The Yankees turned no fewer than 4 doubleplays to get out of jams.  While the Red Sox pitchers continued to pitch into, and then out of, jams for the duration of the game.  While this may have been annoying from an offensive standpoint, it made for great tension and a great baseball game. 

Jason Varitek was superb defensively, and gets my vote for player of the game because of it.  Varitek stopped several balls in the dirt and otherwise wild pitches, particularly late in the game and with runners in scoring position.  This robbed the Yankees of at least 1 run, which would have made the difference.  Moreover, as baseball is about the little things that signal shifts – or accelerations – in momentum, a passed ball or two could have created a free-fall feeling for the BoSox defensively that could have turned any of the Yankees’ rallies into a rout and blown the game wide open.  So in that respect, Varitek as much as anyone won the game. 

Finally, last night’s game was outstanding because the baseball gods didn’t tip off who was going to win until the top of the 9^th inning.  Every baseball fan knows that baseball is a game replete with harbingers of what the ultimate outcome will be, and that rally-killing double plays do not just happen at random.  With this in mind, how could the Yanks possibly expect to win when they go 4 for 17 with runners in scoring position, have a shaky start from Joba, and a 1^st inning balk (?!?) that leads to the game’s first run?   At the same time, how could the Red Sox possibly expect to win when they hit into 4 rally-killing double plays, their starting pitcher reaches the 100-pitch mark by the early 5^th inning, and their pitchers constantly working themselves into jams, even as late as the 10^th inning?  Last night’s game was filled with mixed messages for the superstitious baseball fan that kept the dramatic tension high throughout. 

Anyway, with the bases loaded and nobody out in the top of the 9^th, a 2-run lead and Rivera poised to get the final 3 outs, the Yanks had every reason to believe they were going to win.  But when they failed to score in the top of the 9^th, it was clear that disaster was on its way, and the gods had spoken.  Even though the Sox did not win in the 9^th, anybody who knows baseball knows that the walk-off game-winning homerun (ultimately hit by Youkilis) was only a matter of time. 

In short, great game, disappointing outcome.  Hopefully Burnett will continue his strong start this afternoon against Beckett in what may be another tight ballgame. 

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