Results tagged ‘ Nick Markakis ’
Umpire’s blown call stalls Yankees’ comeback
You did not need a high-definition television to see that the Yankees got jobbed Saturday night at Baltimore in a game that could have repercussions down the line. The call by first base umpire Jerry Meals that completed a game-ending double play that hung the Yankees with a 5-4 defeat was so blatantly wrong that it would turn a baseball purist into an avid campaigner for instant replay.
Trailing by two runs entering the ninth inning, the Yankees staged a rally against Orioles closer Jim Johnson, who has had a lights-out season. Ichiro Suzuki and Eric Chavez both singled to left field, and Derek Jeter dumped a beauty of a bunt toward a hesitating Manny Machado, the Birds’ rookie third baseman, that filled the bases with none out.
Nick Swisher, mired in a 0-for-24 slump, grounded into a fielder’s choice but averted a double play as Ichiro scored to make it a one-run game and pinch runner Chris Dickerson moved up to third base.
That brought up Mark Teixeira, who returned to duty after missing 10 games because of a left calf strain (the Yankees were 4-6 in those games). He doubled in his first at-bat and ran at less than full strength throughout the game. A double play was certainly feared if he hit the ball on the ground, which he did to the second baseman, Robert Andino.
But Tex ran full throttle down the line and dived head-first into first base, a maneuver usually frowned on but in this case understandable considering the circumstances and the health of the runner. With the naked eye, Teixeira appeared safe, but Meals rung him up. DP. Game over.
Replays clearly showed that Teixeira’s left hand was on the bag before first baseman Mark Reynolds caught the relay from shortstop J.J. Hardy. Teixeira, already hot from the previous inning on a called third strike by plate umpire Cory Blaser, was furious with Meals’ call, as was first base coach Mick Kelleher, not a regular griper.
Michael Kay on YES overstated the situation by saying the call “cost the Yankees a game.” Well, no. Had Teixeira been ruled safe, which he should have been, Dickerson would have scored, but that would have only tied the game. The Yankees would have had two outs and a runner on first with Alex Rodriguez at the plate, a good situation but no guarantee that they were going to take the lead.
Nevertheless, it was a lousy way for a game to end.
The Yankees were counting on an ace-like performance from CC Sabathia to create distance between them and the Orioles in the American League East standings. The lefthander had the same problem other Yankees pitchers have had against Baltimore, however, in failing to defuse its power.
The Orioles slugged three home runs off Sabathia, who has now yielded 21 dingers, the most he has allowed in any one season. For the third straight start, Sabathia was unable to hold a lead. He was given a 1-0 lead before he took the mound on a Rodriguez sacrifice fly in the top of the first and was up, 2-0, courtesy of an RBI double by Ichiro in the second.
Just as quickly, the edge was gone as Sabathia allowed back-to-back home runs by Reynolds and Lew Ford in the bottom of the second. It was Reynolds’ seventh home run in his past six games against the Yankees. The Orioles took the lead for good on a double by Hardy in the third. Hardy also took CC deep in the sixth, and Ford struck again with an RBI single.
Camden Yards was something of a comfort zone in his career. Entering this season, CC was 10-1 with a 2.73 ERA in 85 2/3 innings there. This season has been a different story. In three starts at the Yards this year, he is 0-2 with a 6.38 ERA. Sabathia did not have his best fastball and hung some sliders in his uneven outing.
One fastball was definitely powerful, the one that struck Nick Markakis in the fifth inning and broke his left hand, which will finish him for the regular season, a major blow for the Orioles.
A-Rod’s 646th career home run, a two-out solo shot off Pedro Strop in the eighth, kept the Yanks close enough to make a late-game run at it, which the blatantly blown call stifled.
“Sometimes I think the umpires just want to go home,” Teixeira said afterward, a comment that could warrant his being fined.
He probably won’t play in today’s series finale as he surely aggravated his physical condition. Manager Joe Girardi was not as fierce in his postgame comments, which was smart. He is well aware that the same umpire who blew it at first base will be working the plate Sunday.
Record of Yanks’ rotation falls under .500
The disease of ineffectiveness that has infected the Yankees’ rotation all season finally hit on Ivan Nova. The righthander’s 15-game winning streak came to an abrupt halt Wednesday night as the Orioles won the rubber game of the series, 5-0.
Nova did his usual dance act for six innings by allowing a couple of runs but preventing really big innings by limiting Baltimore hitters to two hits in 11 at-bats (.182) with runners in scoring position. His luck ran out in the seventh inning, however, as the Orioles poured across three runs to pull away.
After Nick Markakis led off with a home run to right, Nova hit Adam Jones with a pitch and moments later watched him score on a double off the top of the fence in right-center by Matt Wieters, who had homered earlier. Nick Johnson’s single up the middle off reliever Clay Rapada brought in the third run of the inning.
Nova, whose record fell to 3-1 and ERA rose to 5.58, had a little bit of everything in this one. He allowed five earned runs and nine hits, struck a batter and threw a wild pitch in 6 1/3 innings. The loss was his first since June 3, 2011 and kept intact Roger Clemens’ franchise record of 16 consecutive victories in 2001.
The loss also dipped the rotation’s winning percentage below .500 for the first time this year at 9-10 with a 5.89 ERA. Yankees starters have allowed 161 hits, including 25 home runs, in 133 innings. A lot of those numbers belong to Freddy Garcia, who made his first relief appearance of the season in the eighth and ninth innings and perhaps for the first time all year was the Yankees’ most effective pitcher in a game.
The Yankees’ offense could not rescue Nova this time as they were shut down by Orioles righthander Jake Arietta, who had allowed nine runs in 10 innings over his previous two starts. The Yankees managed five singles off Arietta, who walked none and struck out nine in eight innings. They were limited to three runs in 26 innings against Baltimore pitchers in the series. The Yankees had only five runners in scoring position in the three games, none in the finale.
Already hurting with Brett Gardner disabled because of a bruised right wrist and Nick Swisher nursing a tender left hamstring, the Yankees lost infielder Eric Chavez to whiplash and a possible concussion. He was forced from the game amid an at-bat in the fifth inning because of dizziness. In the top of that inning, Chavez at third base dived for a ball that became a double by J.J. Hardy and may have injured his neck.
The Orioles gave the Yankees a collective pain in the neck, which will need some soothing in the upcoming series in Kansas City.
Starters’ work improving
Things are looking up for a change in the Yankees’ rotation. One night after CC Sabathia lent eight strong innings to a victory, Hiroki Kuroda provided seven solid innings of his own in a 2-1, nip-and-tuck battle with the Orioles.
Kuroda not only displayed effectiveness on the mound Monday night but also agility off it as he combined with catcher Russell Martin for the defensive play of the game that cut down the potential tying run in the seventh inning.
The Japanese righthander got himself in trouble that inning by giving up a leadoff single to Nick Markakis, hitting Matt Wieters with a pitch and throwing a wild pitch that put runners on second and third with one out. Kuroda recovered nicely to strike out Chris Davis on a splitter.
The next hitter was left-handed-swinging Wilson Betemit. Kuroda had a base open and strikeout machine Mark Reynolds on deck, but the Yankees decided to go after Betemit. A 1-0 splitter bounced off Martin and rolled a few feet to the left of the plate. Markakis made a dash off third base, and so did Kuroda off the mound. Martin retrieved the ball and made a back-handed throw to Kuroda, who blocked the plate and applied a sweeping tag on Markakis in one motion for a stylish third out.
“That was an outstanding play on both sides,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “You get a little worried about the pitcher there because his knees are exposed, but Hiroki was fine. As for Russell, he is as athletic as anyone I have ever seen behind the plate.”
“Tenacity pays off in the end,” Kuroda said. “I have complete faith in Russell.”
The relationship between Kuroda and Martin dates to their time together as teammates with the Dodgers. Kuroda’s comfort level was evident in how trusting he was of Martin in throwing split-fingered fastballs with runners on base.
“He pitched effectively inside,” Girardi said. “He attacked the zone all night.”
Kuroda, who improved his record to 2-3 with a 3.69 ERA, allowed one run, four hits, a walk and a hit batter with three strikeouts in seven innings. David Robertson came on the eighth and struck out the side, and Mariano Rivera finished it off in the ninth for his fifth save. It was Mo’s 1,051st career appearance, moving past Kent Tekulve into eighth place on the all-time games list.
Yankees struggle against Orioles’ bullpen
The Yankees are finally finished with the Orioles – and good riddance. I don’t think there was a single game among the 18 the teams played this year where they didn’t get their shoes wet. Rain followed them wherever they went, especially two weeks ago in Baltimore when Hurricane Irene hit and this week in New York when the heavens opened again causing one game’s starting time pushed to past 11 p.m.
The Yankees didn’t even want to go to Camden Yards Thursday, which they had to do because one of the games during the Baltimore series Aug. 26-29 was lost to the storm. The Yankees had wanted to play two games on the first day of that series, but the Orioles refused, so the game was made up Thursday, which originally was an open date before starting a trip to the West Coast.
So the taste in the Yankees’ mouths was pretty sour, particularly after losing a game, 5-4, to a Baltimore team that seemed to be handing it to them. The Orioles made three outs on the bases, two on sensational throws to the plate by Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson and sturdy play from catcher Francisco Cervelli, who withstood hard-charging runners and later threw out Robert Andino on a foolish attempt to steal third base with two out.
Ironically, it was Andino who got the game-winning hit, a single off Scott Proctor, the Yankees’ seventh pitcher, in the 10th inning. The Orioles had tied the score in the eighth on Andino’s RBI single off Rafael Soriano. Andino took second on the throw home before making the dumb move of trying to swipe third.
But where the Yankees really lost the game was after the fourth inning when the Orioles’ bullpen shut them down over six innings. The Yankees didn’t get a hit during that stretch and had only two base runners. Granderson was hit by a pitch leading off the seventh inning but was erased on a double play. Alex Rodriguez walked with two out in the 10th and was stranded. Four Orioles relievers combined to hold the Yankees scoreless and hitless with one walk and eight strikeouts.
The Yankees had similar problems with the Birds’ pen the day before at Yankee Stadium when they had no runs and three hits against Baltimore’s relief corps over the last six innings of the 5-4, 11-inning loss.
In a way, the Yankees were lucky to have scored at all Thursday. Andino, who had a weird day, failed to cover second base on a potential force play as a run scored in the second. After Brett Gardner walked on a very close 3-2 pitch, Derek Jeter singled in two more runs. Eric Chavez pushed the Yanks’ lead to 4-1 in the fourth with a two-out single, but the offense went stagnant after that.
Ivan Nova did not have his Rookie of the Year candidate stuff and labored through 5 1/3 innings but was still in position for a winning decision, thanks to the Yankees’ defense. The relay from Granderson to Cano to Cervelli on a double by Vlad Guerrero in the seventh that cut down Nick Markakis at the plate was poetry in motion. Cervelli got his bell rung on Markakis’ hard slide but stayed in the game and made two more splendid plays.
That the Yankees’ bats were silenced two days in a row by a bullpen that has been torched all year may say something about the fatigue factor that comes with playing three games in 42 hours under hostile weather conditions. The Yankees were on their way to Anaheim, Calif., where it hardly ever rains and then continue the trip to Seattle and Toronto, cities that have domed parks. It will feel nice playing with dry cleats.
Yanks recover on 3-1 trip prior to Subway Series
One night after it took the Yankees 15 innings to score four runs, they put up a five-spot in the very first inning Thursday night at Baltimore. Of their 15 hits Wednesday night into Thursday morning in the 4-1, 15-inning victory, the Yankees had 14 singles, but they didn’t have a single in their first-inning assault in the series finale.
The Yankees used three extra-base hits, two walks and a hit batter to jump out to the 5-0 lead. A lot of people at Camden Yards were still looking for their seats while the Yankees scored two runs quickly on a double by Derek Jeter, a triple by Curtis Granderson and an infield out by Mark Teixeira.
Orioles starter Brad Bergesen caught Alex Rodriguez looking at a third strike for the second out but allowed the Yankees to fill the bases by hitting Robinson Cano with a pitch and walking Russell Martin and Jorge Posada. Nick Swisher, who had not driven in a run with a two-out hit all year, made up for lost time with a double off left fielder Felix Pie’s glove to clear the bases.
CC Sabathia, who usually pitches well against the Orioles, must have loved going to the mound with a five-run lead, especially since the Yankees averaged 3.2 runs per game in the lefthander’s starts. The big lead made it easy for CC to take care of business by planting a pitch in the back of Nick Markakis with two out and none on in the first.
Now I am not suggesting that Sabathia did that on purpose, but Cano had been hit in the top of that inning and the night before Chris Dickerson took one off the helmet from Mike Gonzalez, who was ejected and before Thursday night’s game apologized to Dickerson. Yankees pitchers have to make sure opposing pitchers don’t take target practice against Yankees hitters is all I am saying.
Bergesen started in place of Jeremy Guthrie, who was originally scheduled to start but had to pitch in relief in the 15th inning in the previous game after Gonzalez was ejected because the Orioles had run out of relievers. The Yanks knocked Bergesen out of the game in the fourth with two more triples – by Brett Gardner and Jeter – and Teixeira belted his 10th home run off Chris Jakubauskas.
Teixeira was the designated hitter as Posada put on a glove for the first time this year and started at first base for the first time since July 10, 2008 in an inter-league game at Pittsburgh. Jorgie had a good night at the plate with an RBI double and two walks.
The Yankees didn’t have a single until the fifth when Cano led off with one and scored on two more by Martin and Swisher.
The only question for Sabathia at this point was whether the game would continue as a steady drizzle turned conditions slippery. The umpires kept the game going, which was good news for the Yankees, who certainly did not want to lose Sabathia to a lengthy rain delay. Once CC got through the fifth with the Yankees’ lead swollen to 10-0, the game was official.
Sabathia kept putting up zeroes against the Orioles and extended the string of scoreless innings by Yankees starters to 19 1/3. CC struck out nine batters and walked none in eight innings and improving his career record against the Orioles to 16-2 with a 2.74 ERA in 157 2/3 innings and 10-1 with a 2.73 ERA at Camden Yards in 85 2/3 innings.
A 13-2 blowout to complete a 3-1 trip was just what the Yankees needed as they head home to play the Mets this weekend.
Maybe some other time, Doc
Alex Rodriguez just might cancel that doctor’s appointment. A-Rod told reporters that he would have his surgical right hip examined when the Yankees return to New York this weekend and that it was nothing more than an annual checkup.
The timing was interesting. Rodriguez had struggled at the plate the past month since coming out of a game April 16 because of an oblique strain. Lately, he said he felt that the top of his body and his legs were not in synch, and maybe his hip was a reason.
Statistics seemed to support his suspicions. At the time of the oblique injury, A-Rod was batting .385 with five doubles, four home runs and nine RBI in 39 at-bats. After that and prior to his big game Tuesday night in a victory over the Rays, Rodriguez batted .180 with three doubles, two homers and 13 RBI in 89 at-bats with six of those RBI coming in one game.
Rodriguez seems to have found his stroke the past two nights. A-Rod hit two home runs Tuesday night at Tropicana Field and singled in each of his first three at-bats Wednesday night at Camden Yards. Not only that, he moved around the bases like his frisky old self in helping the Yankees get on the board in the fourth inning.
Alex led off with a hit to deep short and took second on Robinson Cano’s slow groundout to second. Rodriguez was nearly picked off by Orioles starter Zach Britton and might have been except that Robert Andino, playing second base for injured Brian Roberts, dropped the throw.
As the ball trickled into the outfield, Rodriguez took off for third base and made it there safely. That made it possible for him to score on Nick Swisher’s flyout to right field ahead of a strong throw from Nick Markakis.
Rodriguez bit off a bit more than he could chew in the sixth when he tried to stretch a single to right-center into a double by challenging the arm of center fielder Adam Jones, who led the AL in outfield assists last year and ranks third this season. This wasn’t even close, but it was encouraging to see A-Rod feeling his oats again.
Posada condition dampens walk-off win
This was going to be an uplifting post about a walk-off home run that prevented a disastrous end to what began as a very promising homestand for the Yankees. On precisely one year to the date of his previous game-winning home run, Nick Swisher squared up a 2-and-0 fastball from Orioles closer Koji Uehara and turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 victory.
This was the fourth walk-off victory of the year for the Yankees, who made a habit of these finishes in 2009 with 15. A.J. Burnett got the whipped-cream pie out and delighted the remains of a Yankee Stadium crowd of 44,163 who had not witnessed a scene so familiar last year since May 17 when Marcus Thames clocked Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon.
The Yankees were still celebrating among each other when word came out during manager Joe Girardi’s post-game news conference that catcher Jorge Posada was undergoing tests at New York Presbyterian Hospital for concussion symptoms. That he was not in the lineup set off no signals because Posada is often rested in day games that follow night games.
It was not until the seventh inning when Francisco Cervelli batted for himself with two out and runners on first and third and the Yankees trailing by one run that some of us in the press box suspected that Posada was not available at all because this was an obvious pinch-hitting situation.
Jorgie took a foul ball by Nick Markakis off the left side of his mask Tuesday night. He mentioned it after the game to Girardi but did not seem overly concerned until he reported to the Stadium Wednesday and told the manager that he had trouble sleeping because of severe headaches. That’s when alarms sounded, and Posada went through a battery of tests and was sent off to see a neurologist.
This is no Sissy Mary. This is Jorge Posada, who is probably the toughest guy in the room. When he gets hurt, it is usually something pretty serious. Jorgie played a game with a bone fracture in his right foot before going on the disabled list in mid-May.
Concussions are nothing to fool with. The Mets have been without left fielder Jason Bay since July 25 when he collided into a wall at Dodger Stadium. Twins first baseman Justin Morneau suffered a concussion July 7 when he got hit in the head by a knee while sliding into second base and may not play again this season.
At this point, it would appear unlikely that Posada would make the 3 -hour flight from New York to Dallas that the Yankees have scheduled Thursday night even if the test results are in his favor. Air travel is one of the worst things for a person with concussion symptoms. The Mets made that mistake last year with outfielder Ryan Church, who never fully recovered from two concussions.
Yankees players were unaware of the Posada situation after Wednesday’s game. It was sobering news to all as well it should be.
“Obviously, we don’t want to lose anyone, and Jorge’s a crucial part of this team,” said Alex Rodriguez, who started the ninth-inning comeback with a leadoff single. “So we have to hope for the best right now.”
The Yankees embark on a 10-day, nine-game trip through Texas, Tampa Bay and Baltimore. The Rangers and Rays are playoff-bound teams, and the Yankees discovered that under Buck Showalter the Orioles have gotten tougher.
“This was an important win for us,” A-Rod said. “To get swept at home is unacceptable.”
Yet it very nearly happened. After sweeping a four-game set from the Athletics and taking two of three games from the Blue Jays, the Yankees needed Swisher’s 26th home run, a jolt over the left-center field fence, to avoid losing three in a row to the last-place Orioles.
Impressive ensemble pitching by the young Orioles staff quieted Yankees bats until Swisher’s blow kept the broom in the closet. Post-game merriment was muted once Posada’s condition became known. The Yankees are headed for the backstretch of their season having to rely on Cervelli and fellow backup Chad Moeller, who a week ago was in the minor leagues.
“If I got to do it, I got to do it,” Cervelli said. “I have been learning a lot here.”
The Yankees are skipping Phil Hughes for a turn in the rotation and will go with Javier Vazquez, Burnett and Dustin Moseley in Texas. They were clinging to the hope that they would not have to skip their catcher as well.
Groin still issue for A-Rod
Perhaps it would have been better if Alex Rodriguez had not tried to play Thursday night. You can’t fault Yankees manager Joe Girardi because it is always a good feeling to write A-Rod’s name in the fourth spot of any lineup card.
Yet in coming out of the game before even coming to bat, Rodriguez left the Yankees with a utility infielder as their cleanup hitter. A-Rod admitted after the game that he felt cramping in his right groin during batting practice and that the tightness was still there 10 minutes before game time. The usually cautious Yankees decided to have A-Rod give it a try, but when he barely moved to make a play on Adam Jones’ grounder in the hole that became an RBI single, it was time for a move.
Ramiro Pena took over and was 0-for-2 with a sacrifice, the first by a Yankees cleanup hitter since Bubba Crosby in 2004 in a game that went extra innings after he had replaced Jason Giambi. Rodriguez experienced stiffness in the groin last Sunday in Toronto and came out of the game for the last inning. After a day off Monday, Rodriguez was back in the lineup Tuesday and Wednesday nights and was 2-for-10 but fielded his position without incident. Now he is headed back to New York to see what the doctors say.
The inning that A-Rod was in the field was a weird one for A.J. Burnett and essentially responsible for his first loss at Camden Yards in six career decisions. The righthander somehow made it into the seventh despite struggling with his command all night. Burnett yielded only one walk but gave up eight hits, hit two batters and crossed up catcher Chad Moeller into committing two passed balls. Actually, A.J. hit three batters in the first inning, but Nick Markakis swung at and missed the pitch for strike three that eventually hit him in the foot.
Advice to opposing teams: if you’ve got a pitcher ready for his first major-league start, throw him against the Yanks. Rookie Jake Arietta’s victory marked the fourth consecutive time the Yankees have lost to a pitcher making his big-league debut.
Jack O'Connell
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