Saturday, July 5, 2014

Cervelli's Wild Throw, No Offense Spoil Phelps' Great Start

After today's extra inning loss to the Twins, you can't help but feel bad for David Phelps.

The 27-year-old right-hander, now 3-4 with a 4.01 ERA, tossed 7 frames of one-run ball that kept the Yankees in the game, yet ultimately was forced to settle for a no decision due to a lack of offensive support.

To make things even worse, the team he gave his all for in the contest didn't even bother winning, eventually falling in 11 innings to the Twins, 2-1.

In the early stages of the ballgame, Phelps did give up a decent amount of baserunners, but since he always found ways to get out of jams he definitely deserved a W.

From one out in the bottom of the third to the lead-off hitter in the seventh, Phelps was even perfect, an accomplishment ruined by a Josh Willingham home run that tied things at 1. 

Willingham's blast to deep left also took Twins' Starter Yohan Pino (6 IP, ER) off the hook, as the latter had surrendered a two-out, RBI Single to Francisco Cervelli in New York's half of the fifth. 

After Phelps was taken out, the struggling Shawn Kelley was brought in, surprisingly shutting out Minnesota in the eighth and ninth.

Still, the dead Bombers' bats couldn't find a way to bring a run in, eventually putting Matt Thornton in a tough position.

In the bottom of the tenth, the one-out-a-game Thornton faced the minimum three hitters, yet struggled in the next frame, loading the bases with just one out.

At that point, Trevor Plouffe was the batter, dribbling a ball in front of home which Thornton fielded easily.

The veteran, not known for his defense, flipped the ball home to Cervelli, getting a much-needed out that should've allowed the infield to move back for the next guy.

Unfortunately, that wouldn't be the case, as Cervelli would go on to overthrow first on a double play attempt where Plouffe would've been safe anyway. 

So, Minnesota won on a walk-off error, ending the Yanks' two-game winning streak and dropping their record to 43-43, pretty much killing the momentum they had gained over the last two days.

8 comments:

  1. "Oh, let me count the ways"!
    Yes, let's do that, no, I guess not...just in the last week or so I lost count, Er, run out of fingers and toes. We have a pitcher give us one run ball for 6 innings, or 7 I forget which, and what happens? Yup, you got it...NO Damn hitting!
    May I reiterate here? I will anyhow, we NEED a BIG BAT...end of story!

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    1. I'm not even sure a big hitter can help if he just gets walked to get to McCann and Beltran every time.

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  2. Unlike many fans, I never count us out until we are out.
    I have put up with the late 60s and early 70s and the 1980 to 95 losing years...bad part!
    I have also been around for 20 of the 27 WS wins...the Good Part!
    Other than those aforesaid loosing years I have never seen the Yankees go more than 3 years without winning a WS (I don't think, anyhow) until this 19 year, "so called Dynasty"!
    I would like to see one more!

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    1. I don't quit until we are mathematically eliminated, but I don't feel good right now.

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  3. Time for the Yankees to do what Stick/Showalter wanted Cashman to do (IF left alone to do it). Build from the inside out.
    The end of the year (better yet) before the trading deadline. See what we can get, out there, to help this year and into the future. Enough of this 35+ year olds that may help us for one year but we have them for two or three after they are washed up.
    Hal/Randy say "spend baby spend", ok...let's do it.
    Start with cutting some of the DEAD Weight, Johnson, Soriano! Go all out for a young SS...SD has two lets get one...we don't really have any near ready yet. Move Warren to the starting roll in place of Whitley (he is a PB guy anyhow).
    Right now, the only position players we have that are worth keeping are, Brett, Ellsbury, Tex, Cisco and maybe Roberts along with Ichiro. I would venture to say we have some guys in AA, AAA that could hit about .250 to .270...which would be much superior to what we have right now!

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    1. Until today I wasn't convinced anybody needed to be cut, but now I'm sold on Soriano. I mean, he basically made two errors in the eighth alone

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    2. Soriano def needs to go, he is struggling to catch up to a 90 MPH fastball anymore. '

      I've been saying for some time that you need to sell and bring up young guys. Problem is this is Jeter's last season, we're going all in.

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  4. That's what you get for letting me have time on my hands for a day and loose a game that they should have won about three or more times! LOL

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)