Martin rounding the bases after his three-run bomb (photo c/o Getty)
What looked to be yet another classic Fenway Park lead-exchanging back-and-forth turned into a no-doubter thanks to the bottom third of the Yankee lineup and the bullpen, as , and combined to go 6-12 with two walks, three home runs — two by Martin, the first time a non- Yankee catcher went yard twice in the same game since in 2003 — and seven RBI, and , and tossed 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, as the Yankees topped the Red Sox 9-4 in the FOX Saturday Afternoon Game of Death.
For the second straight day neither team got much from its staring pitcher, as went 4 1/3, giving up four runs on seven hits (three walks and three strikeouts), while only lasted 3 2/3, giving up four earned runs on eight hits (three walks and two strikeouts). Now, in fairness to Nova, his day theoretically might’ve ended differently had successfully turned a tailor-made double-play to the end the fourth, and as a result of the gift out the Sox were able to score three runs. Sure, Nova may well have gotten in trouble in the very next inning, but I can’t ding him for the Cano play. Sure, he ultimately gave up those three runs, but I still came away semi-encouraged by Nova’s performance. I thought the stuff looked good — per Brooks, his off-speed piches ranged from passable (changeup 0.0683 linear weights) to very good (-0.5409). Unfortunately his four-seamer, despite having good zip (avg. speed 92mph, maxing out at 94.3mph), got hit hard, to the tune of 2.2604 linear weights. It seems we often come away from a young pitcher’s outing hoping for an improved breaking ball; but if Nova has his off-speed under control and primarily needs to work on better fastball location/sequencing, that seems like an aspect of his game that shouldn’t be terribly difficult to improve upon.
In addition to beating Buchholz around, the Yankees hit for two runs on a Granderson two-run jack (his second home run of the season, with both coming off lefties), and picked up another two off old friend , on a solo shot (part of a 3-5 day for Cano) and Martin’s second bomb of the game — the Yankees’ first run past the 6th inning since last Sunday. also did quite nicely in his first start, going 3-5 with two doubles, while continues to swing a hot bat, picking up two hits of his own.
On the negative side of the ledger, seems to have finally remembered that it’s April, having gone hitless since going deep against the Twins on Tuesday; while picked up an 0-5 and went 1-4.
Both teams will be looking to pick up the series win in the finale Sunday evening at 8pm in the ESPN Sunday Night Marathon Heartbreaker, with taking the hill for the Yanks against .
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I feel good for Martin, let’s just hope he stays healthy because like this he could be an easy 10 HRs with 15 steals.
Granderson hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire to start the season but both of his HRs have come off of lefties, that has the be a good sign of things to come.
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I briefly debated tossing Grandy in the “negatives” section given that he hasn’t looked all that great at that plate in general, but that would’ve been pretty indefensible following this game considering the two-run bomb and two walks.
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Nova’s start reminded me a lot of Wang’s Fenway struggles when he first came up in 2005. It’s no easy place to play (and no easy lineup to face) for a pitch-to-contact sinkerballer. But Wang seemed to figure out how to pitch in Fenway (before his career went in the crapper), and hopefully Nova can figure it out as well.
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bornwithpinstripes Reply:
April 10th, 2011 at 12:22 am
jeter should have stepped on second then to first, he had the mo going towards the bag..then the hit and run ..jeter covering..just bad luck for the kid
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I agree with all said here…as usual. I can only add that I think the most important thing to notice is that, thus far, we are the poster child for the premise that hitting gets you to the post-season, and pitching takes you beyond that. The Rays rotation, who I believe everybody in the division will agree is superior to all others, is performing but their dead bats are killing them. Thank goodness for our live bats.
Also, since I haven’t seen mention of it here, I’d just like to go on the record as follows:
1st prediction: Manny is going to do what all weasels have done before him who burn their bridges and have no other cash left to grab: Rush out a tell-all book that will bust all his roid-injecting butt buddies.
2nd prediction: Since the Sox are still the team du jour to go all the way, count on him and his agent to focus all his memoirs on shattering the whole happy scruffy idiot Boston mythology and make their 1-7 start look like a picnic compared to the nuke job he does on their reputation and recent rings.
I only mention this because I believe everyone probably agrees the “favorites” factor perennially dogging Yankees teams is at least a contributory factor to this heralded Sox lineup’s early season stumbles.
But I see virtually nobody anywhere even mentioning yet how this Manny situation exposes their organization’s susceptibility to still further PR body blows, the likes of which Manny can potentially inflict — warranted or not — upon Red Sox Nation and his many former teammates still active on their roster.
Think I’m exaggerating either the likelihood or its foreboding impact? I think not, but as always I’d appreciate some thoughtful feedback on my (as usual) off-the-mainstream thoughts in this regard.
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bornwithpinstripes Reply:
April 10th, 2011 at 8:40 am
i agree , he can hammer those frauds…ortiz damon et. al..the only draw back on i see, manny has to go back to that island..also this bum never spent 5 cents..he may in time just because he is a nit wit..lets root for him to throw up on his former workers..
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Hey, Larry,
Haven’t had a chance to post any comments lately. I hope all is well with you.
One dig on you, Larry: I told you Manny would screw up and set a bad example in Tampa. Although, of course, I thought he’d cause trouble because of his contract. Even I never imagined he’d be dumb enough to get caught taking steroids yet again! What an idiot!
Now, one dig on me: It looks like I was wrong about Martin being washed up. I hope he proves me wrong all year.
It looks like I’ll be going to a Thunder game either late this coming week or the following week. I hope I get to see one of the Killer B’s pitch. I’ll write in if I see anything noteworthy from a Yankees perspective.
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Larry Koestler Reply:
April 10th, 2011 at 11:06 am
Wayne!
I was wondering where you’ve been. I was hoping we didn’t lose you after the site merger; you and Dangerous Dean were two of our most prolific and fun commenters at Yankeeist during the offseason.
You’re absolutely right; I’m happy to eat crow re: Manny, though I didn’t think anyone saw the manner in which he screwed up coming.
Anyway, hope you’ll be able to start leaving comments again; looking forward to another great season.
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Wayne Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 1:22 am
Sorry I haven’t been able to post much lately; I still read your posts & others on the site regularly, but I haven’t had much free time to write lately because of OT at work and some heart-related health issues. I recently had a second “heart event” as my cardiologist calls it, so I haven’t been staying up late lately writing posts.
Keep up the great work on your pieces, though, Larry. I love reading your articles, and I’ll try dropping a comment now and then, time and health permitting. If my comments completely disappear from the site, it’s nothing personal, I’ve just gone to thank Thurman & Mickey for all the memories — which isn’t a very reassuring thought, though, when you’re an agnostic like me.
Take care, Larry. I hope I’ll be able to disagree with you about Cashman for many years to come.
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Quick addendum to my last post:
I’m calling the O/U on Yankee batters plunked by Beckett tonight at 2.5.
I’m taking the over. Thoughts?
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bornwithpinstripes Reply:
April 10th, 2011 at 8:45 am
i would have liked nova on the bump along with sore loser tonight..CC aims for the waist down on brush backs ..nova goes chin area..that might have kept him in control and protect arod and jeter..hey we always have joba late.
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