Results tagged ‘ Carlos Quentin ’
Nova bright spot in tough loss
Ivan Nova worked himself back into the good graces of the Yankees rotation Tuesday night with a solid performance. Too bad he couldn’t get credit for a victory. The Yankees couldn’t, either, as they lost consecutive games for the first time this season, the last team in the majors to do so.
Nova was cuffed around in his previous two starts covering only 8 2/3 innings (9.35 ERA) and exhibited a tendency to falter the second time through batting orders. Not this time, however. The righthander nearly made it through the White Sox order three times before departing in the seventh after having walked A.J. Pierzynski with one out.
David Robertson picked Nova up by completing the seventh without incident. Alas, the same could not be said for Rafael Soriano, who continues to struggle in the early going. Soriano came on in the eighth inning and hit Carlos Quentin with a pitch before giving up a home run to Paul Konerko that shaped a 3-2 White Sox victory.
Brent Lillibridge, who stayed in the game after having pinch run for Quentin in the eighth, saved the game for Chicago more than its bullpen by making two consecutive circus catches in right field in the bottom of the ninth. He banged against the fence to glove a drive by Alex Rodriguez and followed it with a diving grab of a low liner by Robinson Cano.
“Well, I think that I have found my new closer,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said of Lillibridge.
What has been troublesome about Soriano is that he was known to be a control pitcher, but he has gotten himself in trouble this year by letting hitters reach base without earning their way on. The righthander has walked nine batters and hit one in 10 1/3 innings.
“He has had trouble with his command,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi conceded. “You have to fight your way out of it. I haven’t lost any confidence in Soriano.”
Nova was a bright spot for the Yankees. He scattered five singles and two walks. The only run he allowed was a bit tainted. Alex Rios led off the fifth inning with a liner to center that glanced off a charging Curtis Granderson’s glove for a single, which seemed a generous scoring decision by Howie Karpin. Rios stole second with one out and scored on a single to by Gordon Beckham.
Had Granderson been charged with an error, which might have been the appropriate call, the run against Nova would have been unearned. Thanks to solo home runs by Cano and Brett Gardner, Nova was in a position to win the game as he came out with the Yankees up, 2-1. As he walked off the mound, the Yankee Stadium crowd of 40,785 gave Nova a standing ovation.
“I remember Damaso [Marte] told me they will do that here if you do good, so you have to tip your cap or waive or something,” Nova said. “I told him it’s the first time that has happened for me!”
And he deserved it.
Garcia’s Chisox replacement stymies Yanks
Freddy Garcia has pitched so well for the Yankees it makes one wonder why the White Sox did not re-sign him. Phil Humber may have supplied the answer Monday night in the opener of the four-game set between the Yankees and Chicago at Yankee Stadium.
Humber, the pitcher who replaced Garcia in the White Sox rotation, was every bit as good against the Yankees as Garcia has been for the Yankees. It is hard to imagine a batting order as potent as that of the Yankees going six innings without a hit, but that’s what happened Monday night in the 2-0 loss.
The Yankees did not have a base runner until the fourth inning when Curtis Granderson walked with one out. Nick Swisher was hit by a pitch in the fifth but was erased on a double play. The Yankees got only two balls into the outfield against Humber until Alex Rodriguez made it three with a single through the middle with one out in the seventh following a walk to Mark Teixeira.
Humber put down the threat, however, by striking out Robinson Cano on a high fastball and retiring Swisher on a ground ball to first. If Humber’s name sounds slightly familiar, it should. He was the Mets’ first-round draft choice in 2004 and went to the Twins in the Johan Santana trade two years later. He was released by both the Royals and the Athletics within a month’s time after the 2010 season before signing with the White Sox.
The Yankees were happy to see him go after the seventh inning and still had a chance to pull this one out because A.J. Burnett was being nearly as stingy as Humber. This might have been A.J.’s best outing thus far of what has been a good start for him this year. He held Chicago to three hits and two walks over eight innings. Burnett did not throw a wild pitch nor allow a stolen base, two areas of concern when he is on the mound.
The only run A.J. allowed came in the fourth inning. Carlos Quentin doubled to center on a ball on which Granderson tried for a diving catch. Quentin came around to score on two groundouts.
That was it. Burnett was pretty strong all game long. He put two runners on in the second and seventh innings but worked out of trouble each time. Burnett still had a chance for a winning decision or at least a no-decision if the Yankees could have taken advantage of a White Sox bullpen that has been vulnerable. Chicago relievers were 1-for-7 in save opportunities before Monday night.
After lefthander Chris Sale got the first two outs in the eighth, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen switched to righthander Sergio Santos after Andruw Jones had been announced as a pinch hitter for Brett Gardner. Yankees manager Joe Girardi trumped the move by sending up Eric Chavez, who singled to right. Pinch runner Eduardo Nunez got into scoring position by stealing second, but Derek Jeter could not a ground ball past Santos.
The White Sox added an insurance run – a somewhat tainted one at that – in the ninth. An infield pop by Alexei Ramirez fell among Rodriguez, Jeter and reliever Rafael Soriano for a single. One out later, pinch runner Brent Lillibridge swiped second, which allowed him to score on a single by Paul Konerko.
Granderson tried to get the Yankees going with a leadoff single in the ninth, but another double play defused the potential rally. In the end, it came down to Burnett losing for the first time in April as a Yankee in a pitching duel with the guy that replaced Freddy Garcia in Chicago.
Another rescue mission for Mo
U.S. Cellular Field played like Wrigley Field Saturday night. Illinois native Joe Girardi knows all about nights like this, which should give him pause if he is tempted to go home next year and manage the Cubs. Remember, Joe, you can’t bring Mariano Rivera with you.
Such games as Saturday night’s 12-9 slugfest are why Yankees fans celebrate having Rivera as their closer. He should have been cooling his heels in the bullpen, but relievers Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson had their first off nights in quite a while as the White Sox kept creeping back into the game. Mo was summoned in the ninth after Robertson gave up a home run, a triple and a single to the first three batters.
Rivera got two quick outs inducing a grounder from Carlos Quentin that was turned into a double play. Ramon Castro kept the inning alive with a single, and Andruw Jones, who turned back the clock with a perfect night (home run, double, single, two bases on balls, two RBI) worked out a walk, which brought the potential tying run to the plate. That was Mark Teahen, who finally ended it with a soft liner to second baseman Robinson Cano.
In the middle of the eighth inning, this looked like a piece of cake for the Yankees, who had an 11-5 lead with CC Sabathia becoming the first Yankees starter in eight games to pitch beyond the sixth inning. Sabathia almost let all of a 6-1, third-inning lead get away as a pair of two-run home runs by Paul Konerko and Jones got the White Sox to 6-5 in the fourth.
Two-run homers by Nick Swisher in the first, Eduardo Nunez (career No. 1) in the second and Marcus Thames (the first of two bombs for him in the game) in the third fashioned the early lead. For all that power, the biggest hit of the game for the Yankees was a two-out, two-run double by Jorge Posada in the fifth. It unnerved reliever Tony Pena, who walked the next two hitters and gave up a two-run single to Nunez, the rookie third baseman who had a game worthy of Alex Rodriguez.
Sabathia sort of sauntered his way over the first four innings, but after Jones’ home run CC struck out seven of the next 11 hitters and got through the seventh without yielding another run. His fifth straight victory raised his season mark to 18-5 with a 3.14 ERA, which are surely Cy Young Award numbers. Other impressive figures for Sabathia are a 38-10 career mark in August with a 3.14 ERA, a 16-4 lifetime record against the White Sox with a 3.72 ERA, including 9-1 with a 3.33 ERA at the Cell.
Still, he had to sweat through the later innings as the bullpen struggled until you know who did what he does best.
Jack O'Connell
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