August 10, 2006: Baltimore Orioles 12, N.Y. Yankees 2
The Birds! Auggghhhhhhhhhh!
A truly nightmarish game. I guess I should have known, when leadoff hitter Brian Roberts (Bubba's friend and former roommate) led off with a homer. Roberts is a good player, but he is not a home run hitter. He averages something like 4 homers a year. So this was not a good sign.
Still, when Johnny Damon hit a leadoff homer of his own, and Robby Cano hit one in the 2nd, it seemed the Yanks would prevail.
But it was not to be. Wright imploded on the mound. He left the game early (even for him!), after only three innings. Torre then burned the bullpen, rather than going with longman Ponson (who is the tentative starter for tomorrow).
Dotel and Myers, who came in in relief, didn't help. The game seemed out of reach early, and truly was by the 6th, with the Yanks down 12-2. The scrubs went in in the 7th - Torre waving the white flag.
It was a downright goofy game. Abreu got an error in RF. Bobbled a single or made a bad throw; it wasn't clear, because they didn't actually show him fielding the ball. A-Rod and Jeter collided in the infield, botching an easy popup. Initially, A-Rod got the error; it was later switched to Jeter. (Jim Kaat speculated that Jeter asked them to change it.) And Andy Phillips hurt himself in his final at-bat.
That last is particularly interesting. Torre said it's a rib cage injury, from swinging the bat. Andy did seem to be really hurt, but boy, is the timing convenient. Many were expecting Andy to be DFA'd before the weekend, to make room for another pitcher. Andy is the least-used player on the roster, and the obvious candidate to be cut.
But if he goes on the DL, the Yanks can call up another player without DFA'ing Andy. Who? Well, for the weekend, it's likely to be a pitcher. Playing five games in four days with the bullpen already spent, another arm would be useful. Karstens or Beam, maybe.
But after this weekend, 13 pitchers would probably be overkill, even by Joe's standards. They're likely to send down a pitcher and replace him with a position player. Who? Aaron Guiel, who is playing 1B in Columbus? Or maybe they'd sign recently DFA'd Jose Vizcaino. A former Yankee, he was rumored to be a possible replacement for Nick Green. Perhaps he'd replace Andy instead.
Or dare I hope...Bubba? Joe has surely missed his best defensive OFer and speediest pinch-runner. Bubba's really the best CFer in the entire Yankees system. And Cairo, the other pinch-runner, is on the DL.
Bubba is not in the lineup for Columbus tonight. Dunno if it means anything. Probably not, except they have more OFers than they know what to do with in Columbus.
Aaron Small is starting, so I guess they aren't planning to call him up.
