June 9, 2006: Oakland 6, N.Y. Yankees 5
Perhaps there's something to Randy Johnson's claim that he pitches best when the weather is hot. He was the Randy Johnson of old in Detroit a couple of weeks ago, when the weather was 94F and humid as a sauna. But on this chilly, rainy night in the Bronx, he was unbelievably bad. Oakland's far from fearsome lineup spanked the Big Unit - including a homer by Antonio Perez, who was batting .030 until then. (Later in the game, Aaron Small struck him out on three pitches.)
After a rain delay of an hour and a half, the Yankees got back in it when Jason Giambi knocked the second pitch he saw into the bleachers, scoring Cabrera and Jeter, who each worked walks before the rain delay. Posada walked, and Cano plated him with a triple. The Yanks were back in the game.
But they couldn't make up that last run. The game ended on a fly out by A-Rod (giving yet more ammo to the "not clutch" complainers).
Already there are people saying that if we had bigger bats, we could have won the game. I'm not convinced. The A's have good pitching, and our big bats often come up dry against good pitching. With a slugger in the lineup and Melky Cabrera out of it, maybe there would have been one less man on base when Giambi hit his homer.
We might have won this one with better defense. If Kevin Thompson (or Bubba!) was in RF instead of Bernie, he might have been able to make the throw home in the 4th and get Rouse out. One run was the difference in this game.
Tampa 2, Dunedin 1
And if you're wondering how Bubba's game went last night, he was 1 for 3, with a single and a hit by pitch. (The kid seems to get hit by pitches an awful lot.) He reportedly played all three outfield positions. (Not all at once, I assume, though with Bubba, you never know. ;-)
Torre says he could be back as soon as tomorrow, and definitely by Tuesday.
