9.12.06 - TB@NYY: All Pregame Info & Discussion

[TheBamTino24]

In last night's 9-6 comeback win over Baltimore, the New York Yankees (86-56) reached 30 games over .500 for the first time since the conclusion of the 2004 season. Randy Johnson hung around long enough to enable himself to earn his 17th victory of the season while the Yankee offense staged an exciting 6-run, 7th inning rally to turn a 5-2 deficit into an 8-5 lead. Robinson Cano had a bases clearing RBI double, while Bernie Williams, Alex Rodriguez and Bobby Abreu each knocked in solo runs. Rodriguez would later add an insurance homerun to cap off a night where he had 3 hits, 2 RS and 2 RBI. Earlier, on just the 4th pitch of the game, Derek Jeter increased his career-best hitting streak to 21 games, the longest perpetuated by a Yankee since Bernie Williams hit in 21 back in 1993.

The Yankees return to Yankee Stadium this evening following a successful 5-2 road trip which saw them increase their division lead to 10.5 games over Boston and reduce their Magic Number to an even 10. Mike Mussina (13-6, 3.72) will be making his first start in The Bronx since August 15th against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (57-86) and RH Joe Corcoran (4-7, 3.96).

Mussina's aggregate statistics in 2006 are being buoyed by his incredible April and May stretch. In those 12 starts over 81.2 IP (6+ IP/GS), he gave up just 65 hits, 22 ER, 9 HR and struck out 70 to just 13 walks. All 12 were QS and he went 7-1, 2.42. In the 16 GS since then, he's been a completely different pitcher: 6-5, 4.86 over 92.2 IP (5+ IP/GS) with 98 hits, 11 HR and 84 strikeouts to 20 walks. Of the 16, just 9 have been QS. In many ways, Mussina and last night's starter Randy Johnson have had inverse seasons. When Johnson struggled for an 8 start stretch in April and May, Mussina picked up the slack. With Mussina stumbling over the past few months, Johnson has stepped forward. Mussina is 7-2, 3.59 at Yankee Stadium this season, 2-0, 2.08 against Tampa Bay.

Corcoran, on the other side, has a 4.08 ERA for TB over his past 7 GS, which is a great improvement over the 7.30 mark he had in his 4 starts prior to this stretch. In his last two starts, he allowed just 3 ER over 12.1 IP to Chicago and Minnesota despite an 0-1 record. In 77.1 IP this season, Corcoran has allowed 77 hits, 8 HR, 48K:39BB, a GO:FO ratio of 1.09, and a 1.50 WHIP. His BB/9 number is at 4.54 while his K/9 is at 5.59. Corcoran is 1-4, 3.89 on the road in 2006 and has allowed 3 ER in 4.1 IP against NYY. LH hitters have an OPS of .809 while RH hitters are at .774.

Mussina vs. TB:

HITTER	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Carl Crawford	34	7	1	2	0	2	0	5	.206	.206	.353	.559
Rocco Baldelli	17	2	0	0	0	1	1	2	.118	.167	.118	.284
Tomas Perez	12	3	0	0	0	1	0	2	.250	.250	.250	.500
Greg Norton	12	4	0	0	0	2	0	4	.333	.333	.333	.667
Josh Paul	9	2	0	1	1	3	0	3	.222	.222	.778	1.000
Jorge Cantu	8	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	.000	.111	.000	.111
Ty Wigginton	7	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.143	.250	.143	.393
Damon Hollins	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.167	.167	.167	.333
Jonny Gomes	6	2	0	0	1	2	0	1	.333	.333	.833	1.167
Totals	111	22	1	3	2	12	3	20	.198	.219	.315	.535

Corcoran vs. NYY:

HITTER	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Johnny Damon	5	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	.200	.200	.400	.600
Derek Jeter	4	2	1	0	0	2	1	0	.500	.600	.750	1.350
Bernie Williams	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.667	.667	.667	1.333
Sal Fasano	3	1	0	0	1	2	0	0	.333	.333	1.333	1.667
Andy Phillips	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.667	.667	.667	1.333
Melky Cabrera	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	.667	.667	1.000	1.667
Alex Rodriguez	2	1	0	0	0	2	3	1	.500	.800	.500	1.300
Jason Giambi	2	1	0	0	0	2	3	1	.500	.800	.500	1.300
Jorge Posada	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	.000	.750	.000	.750
Miguel Cairo	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Bobby Abreu	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Robinson Cano	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000	1.000	1.000	2.000
Gary Sheffield	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000	1.000	.000	1.000
Totals	29	13	3	0	1	9	11	2	.448	.600	.655	1.255

My Lineup
CF Damon
SS Jeter
RF Abreu
1B Giambi
3B Rodriguez
DH Matsui
C Posada
2B Cano
LF Cabrera

AL East
NYY 86-56 ---
BOS 76-67 10.5

AL Central
DET 86-58 ---
MIN 84-59 1.5
CHW 83-61 3

AL West
OAK 82-61 ---
LAA 77-67 5.5

AL Wild Card
MIN 84-59 ---
CHW 83-61 1.5

*NYY has a 1 game lead over DET for the American League's best record, 2 in the loss column.

If the Major League Baseball Postseason began today, the American League playoffs would feature the Yankees would hosting the Twins while the Tigers hosted the Athletics.

In the National League, the Mets would host the Padres while the Cardinals hosted the Dodgers.

Today's Schedule: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/scoreboard/sb_20060912.html

[cmaff05]

Let's hope the lineup today is:

CF Damon
SS Jeter
RF Abreu
1B Giambi
3B Arod
2B Cano
C Posada
DH Matsui
LF Melky

[gdn]

30 games over!

[effdamets]

Nice work again.... And.... How scary is that lineup?

[Metroidman]

You gotta realize though that atleast 4 of his starts after his amazing start have been botched by errors which he doesn't recover well from.

[TheBamTino24]

You gotta realize though that atleast 4 of his starts after his amazing start have been botched by errors which he doesn't recover well from.

That may be a consideration, although unearned runs are counted for in that 4.86, obviously. What bothers me about Mussina is that when there's an error, he loses patience on the mound and quickly allows a few more hits before getting out of the inning and then settling down in the next frame.

That said, I can only think of two games - at Toronto and at Chicago - and Rodriguez was the culprit in both. I think Mussina was charged with all 4 runs being earned in that Toronto game, 3 of the 5 at Chicago.

[cmaff05]

You gotta realize though that atleast 4 of his starts after his amazing start have been botched by errors which he doesn't recover well from.

Moose isn't paid big money to use errors as an excuse. He needs to bear down and start getting outs after people commit errors. It happens to an unlucky pitcher every year.. and this year it is Moose.

[EdRuane]

[Metroidman]

Yea but most of the errors that get him out of his rythm cost ihm ER instead of unearned runs

Moose is just a pitcher who wants to keep going when he's in his groove. Look at the Jays game. 1 ER the whole game and cruisin

Error and then 3 more ER

He'll be fine if we keep the errors down.

[TheBamTino24]

Yea but most of the errors that get him out of his rythm cost ihm ER instead of unearned runs

Moose is just a pitcher who wants to keep going when he's in his groove. Look at the Jays game. 1 ER the whole game and cruisin

Error and then 3 more ER

He'll be fine if we keep the errors down.

I agree with this. He definitely has a fragile temperment within games. That may be his ultra-competitiveness, I don't know...not a psychologist. It usually takes him at least between innings to regain his composure after an error is made.

[cmaff05]

Yea but most of the errors that get him out of his rythm cost ihm ER instead of unearned runs

Moose is just a pitcher who wants to keep going when he's in his groove. Look at the Jays game. 1 ER the whole game and cruisin

Error and then 3 more ER

He'll be fine if we keep the errors down.

That error only account for 1 ER, so it would have been a 2 ER line. But Moose promptly gave up some hittable pitches to the next few batters. It's not Arod's fault Moose has been average since May.

[Metroidman]

*knock on wood* We've been playing good baseball so lets just hope we dont commit any errors behind Moose. He never really lost his form he just cant get along with errors which spiked his ERA

[cmaff05]

He lost his form. He hasn't gone as deep into games as an ace should also. He's been giving up more hits, more home runs and more walks.

[Metroidman]

That error only account for 1 ER, so it would have been a 2 ER line. But Moose promptly gave up some hittable pitches to the next few batters. It's not Arod's fault Moose has been average since May.

I understand that but that wasn't the only game. I'm not saying its' anyone's fault but Moose doesn't bounce back well from errors which weren't there in his games earlier. Plus the Boston start where he could only go 4IP hurt his ERA too. He's still been great for us just having trouble overcoming errors

[cmaff05]

I understand that but that wasn't the only game. I'm not saying its' anyone's fault but Moose doesn't bounce back well from errors which weren't there in his games earlier. Plus the Boston start where he could only go 4IP hurt his ERA too. He's still been great for us just having trouble overcoming errors

Certainly. But this is the third straight year where Moose will likely not pitch 200 innings. He needs to go deeper into games.

[EnglishYanqui]

Moose needs to turn it on. Postseason Moose to the front, now, plz.

[Metroidman]

Well as always he's injury prone

He is 37 going on 38 afterall

[TheBamTino24]

Certainly. But this is the third straight year where Moose will likely not pitch 200 innings. He needs to go deeper into games.

I actually think Mussina is simply a 6IP/3ER pitcher who cannot exceed 100 pitches at this stage in his career. Hopefully he feels good in October so he has great command and can sneak 7 innings of effective ball out of those 100 pitches. Maybe on a great night he can realistically see 8 innings or the rare 105 pitch CG.

[nydeano]

Godizilla Returns To Takes Over The Bronx

[gdn]

The return of the Zilla!

[CCinHK]

Let's hope the lineup today is:

CF Damon
SS Jeter
RF Abreu
1B Giambi
3B Arod
2B Cano
C Posada
DH Matsui
LF Melky

Wow!! Matsui's batting 8th This lineup is insane!!

[Metroidman]

What do you guys think?

[EnglishYanqui]

If Tampa has Mothra, or a GIANT FLYING STINGRAY then we're still in good shape.

[bostonyankeefan]

Outstanding lineup. Wow. Can't wait to see Matsui back in there.

Moose will get back on track tonight.

[YankeeStripes]

if matsui and sheffield can be at full strength by October 1st, the yankees will be world champions.