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| BIG CHANGES | This is the new home for Depressed Fan and Green Pinstripes' Yankee coverage. You can still find your Jets coverage at GP, the Sixers are still at DF and the Eagles have a new home at Don't Boo The Birds. |
Welcome Back, Phil
It was good to see Phil Hughes back in the majors. It was better to see him back to wearing #65. It was still better to see that he's ditched the slider in favor of a cutter. It was almost the best to see him pitch out of jams and give the Yanks enough to get the team a win. But the best thing about Phil's return is the Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn look he's cultivated.
If you don't know who Wild Thing is, please go out and rent Major League, or get it from Netflix, or download the torrent. Whatever the kids are doing today to get movies, do it.
Back to the game. It was a breath of fresh air to see Hughes back on the mound in the Bronx. He wasn't dominant, in fact he struggled to get through is four innings thanks to poor command and pesky at bats by the White Sox, but the important thing is that he didn't fold. He fought through his four innings and didn't give up the big inning which surely would've sunk the Yanks.
Phil Coke, who is quickly becoming my favorite young Yankee, pitched another two impressive innings. Bruney got one out, then Joba and Edwar finished it up.
The biggest hit of the night came from Nady to drive in the first run with two out in the bottom of the 7th. Nady would score the go-ahead run on a wild pitch. The heinous ChiSo bullpen would go on to allow 3 insurance runs in the 8th on a two-run bomb by Damon (caught by the same fan who caught a bomb last night, and repeated his Cabbage Patch celebration dance, see video below for a how-to-cabbage-patch-dance video) and an opposite-field solo bomb from A-Rod.
Player of The Game: Nady. If he doesn't knock in the first run there they lose this game. I'm convinced.
Team Record: 81-71
Damon: 2 mas. 64 on the season
If you don't know who Wild Thing is, please go out and rent Major League, or get it from Netflix, or download the torrent. Whatever the kids are doing today to get movies, do it.
Back to the game. It was a breath of fresh air to see Hughes back on the mound in the Bronx. He wasn't dominant, in fact he struggled to get through is four innings thanks to poor command and pesky at bats by the White Sox, but the important thing is that he didn't fold. He fought through his four innings and didn't give up the big inning which surely would've sunk the Yanks.
Phil Coke, who is quickly becoming my favorite young Yankee, pitched another two impressive innings. Bruney got one out, then Joba and Edwar finished it up.
The biggest hit of the night came from Nady to drive in the first run with two out in the bottom of the 7th. Nady would score the go-ahead run on a wild pitch. The heinous ChiSo bullpen would go on to allow 3 insurance runs in the 8th on a two-run bomb by Damon (caught by the same fan who caught a bomb last night, and repeated his Cabbage Patch celebration dance, see video below for a how-to-cabbage-patch-dance video) and an opposite-field solo bomb from A-Rod.
Player of The Game: Nady. If he doesn't knock in the first run there they lose this game. I'm convinced.
Team Record: 81-71
Damon: 2 mas. 64 on the season
Phil Hughes looks more like Nate Robertson than "Wild Thing".
I think it might not be a bad idea to let Phil Coke start a game. He does have good stuff and good command.
And it seems dear old Jorge's doctor finally realize there might be something wrong with his prescription.
Dude, another awesome picture. I'm scrolling down, see the headline, then the picture comes up. Perfect match.
In my opinion, I think we have to look at that start last night as one of Phil's best. Right after he was done, I was a little dissapointed that he didn't go deeper into the game, but when it comes down to it, the ChiSox are a playoff team with a lot of good, veteran scrappy hitters. With all the balls that were fouled off last night, and all the long at bats he had to go through, I think this was one of the best learning experiences for him. He didn't have a great curve, and couldn't locate the 4 seam as much as he'd would've liked, but he fought through it and kept the team in the game. Great lesson to be learned there.
I was pretty upset when the crowd booed A-Rod for striking out in the third inning. If he gets a hit, everyone says "Oh, he only gets hits early in the game when it doesn't matter". If he strikes out, he gets booed. It's ridiculous.
And of course, nobody booed when Jeter hit into his 24th double-play of the season.
It really makes me ashamed to be a Yankees fan when their own fans WANT to boo the team's best hitter. Perhaps he might do a little better in clutch situations if he didn't have to worry about the embarrassment of getting booed by his own fans every time he makes an out. After all, nobody else on the team has to deal with that.
I'm not sure what Coke's innings limit was for the season, but yeah, I'd love to see him start a game.
I was more than a little shocked that he wiggled out of those tough spots last night. I too would've liked to see him go out there for the fifth, but you can't argue against removing him. He was at 89 pitches and it was a good opportunity to get him out of the game w/ some positive feelings. Something he really hasn't had all year in the bigs.
Generally, I don't really care if fans boo. They pay their money, they can voice their displeasure. But booing every time the guy makes an out is a tad ridiculous. I mean, if everyone followed that logic Ted Williams would've been booed 60% of the time in 1942.
Jeter will always get a pass from the NY fans. He could hit into 100 double plays and it wouldn't matter. He's the one guy who I think will never be booed, no matter how much he deteriorates.
I agree with you 100%. The crowd has a right to boo. They are paying customers, and they are allowed to voice their displeasure when the players don't perform well.
But this is seriously ridiculous. He gets booed EVERY time he makes an out.
I do remember one instance where Jeter got booed. It was that season where he was hitting like .150 through the first two months. You could tell that the fans were getting restless and they finally started to let him hear it after like 6 weeks of complete ineptitude. There was a cover story on SI that year with a headline like "How to solve the biggest mystery in all of sports" with a picture of Jeter on the cover and his BA. What was that, 2005? '06?
I remember the season, but don't remember him getting booed. I believe you, though. Fickle fans. I do think he's probably done (or not done) more to deserve boos this season than A-Rod has. He didn't get hot until they were out of the playoffs and he had a couple of personal records to play for. I think it's probably a coincidence, but still, where was his bat a month ago when it could've made a difference?
Enjoyed the link to the Cabbage patch dance and the pic of the Wild thing from Major League!
Keep up the good work, and please... give some thought to covering the Phils in the National League!
I could follow the Phils the rest of the way, but my heart just wouldn't be in it. If someone put a gun to my head and said, "You have to root for a National League team," it'd be the Phils, and I'm especially happy when they bury the Mets, but I'm not a diehard and I don't think I could do them justice.