With David Phelps having thrown a total of 23 pitches in the month of August, it seems unlikely that he will be able to go terribly deep into this evening’s contest. In fact, since throwing 103 pitches on July 14 (the last of a two-start demotion where he was kept loose on the heels of an 81 pitch outing against the Rays), Phelps has not eclipsed 36 pitches. While I have a great deal of faith in Phelps’ ability to do yeoman’s work against the Rangers tonight, it does seem likely that he will need a caddy to avoid Girardi needing to run through the bullpen.
Enter Derek Lowe. That is, Derek Lowe of the 5.52 ERA, 4.49 FIP, and 0.91 K/BB. His 3.40 BB/9 is his highest mark since 2004 stint with the Red Sox, and his 3.10 K/9 is … just hilarious. I suggest checking out Matt’s piece on what Lowe can offer, aside from some good ol’ fashioned snark.
Onto the line-ups:
| Texas Rangers | New York Yankees |
| Ian Kinsler, 2B | Derek Jeter, SS |
| Elvis Andrus, SS | Nick Swisher, DH |
| Josh Hamilton, CF | Robinson Cano, 2B |
| Adrian Beltre, 3B | Mark Teixeira, 1B |
| Nelson Cruz, RF | Eric Chavez, 3B |
| Michael Young, DH | Curtis Granderson, CF |
| David Murphy, LF | Russell Martin, C |
| Geovany Soto, C | Raul Ibanez, LF |
| Mitch Moreland, 1B | Ichiro Suzuki, RF |
| Ryan Dempster, SP | David Phelps, SP |
The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m., on YES and ESPN2. Let’s go Yankees!
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
98 Responses to Game 115: Enter Derek Lowe
Leave a Reply
-
TIQ IQ
Uggggggggh! They’ve blacked out the ESPN feed so I have to watch the Rangers channel. I’m feeling homicidal. If Obama can do it, why can’t I order a drone strike?
I don’t know how bad the Ranger guys are, but the ESPN package is no prize.
At least they aren’t in Texas so I don’t have to listen to them thank everyone who brought them baked goods. Or their inane interviews with people in the stands. They truly remind me of a minor league broadcast team.
Phelps needs to show some of the fearlessness the YES are attributing to him.
Looked like he was nibbling. But I don’t mind the walk to Hamilton. Phelps has to get that pitch count down (26) or won’t get out of the 4th. On the positive side, most of his pitches were down.
The Yanks should be able to pummel the Dumpster. (Not a typo)
They’ve been light on the pummeling lately.
They scored 22 runs in Toronto. Just watched the 2nd time they face him!
OK. You were right yesterday, although it wasn’t enough.
I’ll try to do better tonight.
Damn, looked like Murphy hit one out of the strike zone.
Phelps has a pretty good move to 1st. Also, did he quick pitch one to Andrus? Looked like he got the sign and just it home.
Come on, get some hits.
Hits? We don’t need no steenking hits.
Phelps has limited the damage, but needs to prevent it.
He’s putting them on and picking them off.
An out is an out is an out.
An out by any other name?
Oh God, now the announcers are reading the names of Rangers’ fans at the game and a list of birthdays, etc.
I grew up with Phil Rizzuto. I don’t get too freaked out by that stuff.
I did too, wasn’t a fan back then. Yankee road games don’t last long enough to name all the fans at the game.
A leadoff hit! Let’s get it going.
My last bitch of the night. Last inning Grieve said that Andrus got what he deserved wondering too far with Cano tight there. This inning it’s an aggressive play and you can’t complain about that.
Nah, keep bitching. I like to hear it. Mkes me feel less horrible about John Sterling.
Je-ter, Je-ter, Je-ter. Get a mo fo hit!
All right, get those two guys in.
If Swisher jumps out of his shoes trying to hit a grand slam, I’ll be pissed.
Of course, if he hits a nice, smooth grand slam, that’s fine.
Damn, you must be disappointed. Pummel, pummel, pummel, pummel.
You were right. Of course, this is no time to let Dempster regroup.
That was smoked.
Like a comet towards the heavens.
If Granderson jumps out of his shoes trying to hit a grand slam, I’ll be pissed.
(It worked once.)
Close. Even Chavez at 1st tagged and advanced. I love it.
Come on, Martin. Two ducks still on the pond.
Call PETA. Martin killed the Ducks.
That’s funny.
They showed Oswalt warming up and I started salivating.
How bad is he doing?
Took him out of the rotation. Stunk it up in the pen. One time refused to pitch a 3rd inning.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say I think it was good that the Yankees didn’t trade prospects for Dempster.
I would have been really upset. I’ve never thought he was that good. And his stuff is too slow for the AL East. Like that inning, if his control is off, he gets hit & hit hard.
Phelps needs a shut down inning here.
Me, too. I got heartburn.
Professor, What’s up with Pettitte?
Last I heard he was on track to come back in September.
Update from Aug 5. http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/yankees/post/_/id/41551/pettitte-to-get-an-x-ray-on-sunday
He should be close to some re-hab starts. That would put him 3/4 weeks away from MLB ready. What concerns me is how he’s been able to keep that leg strong enough during the interim.
Thanks
Awful happy with Phelpsie. Loved Coney’s comparison to Maddux’ style. Oh, yeah.
I’d take him out now, but I don’t think our new hero, Derrek Lowe, is warm. He was sitting there a few minutes ago.
He’s doing very well, not dominating, but not breaking, either. I’m encouraged.
His strike zone seemed noticeably smaller than Dempster’s, too. You can’t expect dominance from a new recruit, tho his mental toughness, evident in his game plan is really encouraging, as you said.
One nice thing about the Ranger’s announcers. Mantle had a .504 OBA and .783 slg % against them, when they were the Wash Senators. Also, today is the 17th anniversary of The Mick’s death.
These Texas Rangers aren’t the original Senators, are they? I thought they were the post-Mantle Senators.
No. First Senators lost their re-election bid and moved to MN. These were the replacement Senators who also lost their re-election bid.
The Nationals are looking good to gain tenure, tho. Washington’s got so much money now. K Street hustlers will buy up season tickets/luxury boxes. Only thing to derail it: true fiscal austerity, or my plan: no campaign contributions.
If Romney wins he’ll break up MLB for being socialistic. They take money from the rich clubs and give to the poor ones.
My plan is to give every candidate his own online channel, and allow no other advertising.
I hope I can watch this inning without having to hold me nose.
Lowe got an out! He’s now officially playing with house money.
He got through 1 inning rather nicely.
CHa-vy, Cha-vy, Cha-vy
Derek Lowe is the man!
Yeah, Cy Young! I’m impressed so far.
maybe sss can stretch his usefulness.
Yeah. Out of the pen, he might give us a few decent innings.
Or not.
They’re giving away Ron Washington bobble head dolls. That’s so wrong. They should have his arms go around in circles.
yeah, and his head gotta bobble as his legs pivot to run in place. Could be outrageous, just like the real thing.
ahhh, a triple.
Finally going to drive Dempster out of the game?
Jeter double trouble. What a fun game.
Yeah. I love games like this.
I really did feel good going into this game against The Dumpster. Thank you Yankee batters!!
I’m comfortable with this lead.
In 2 of The Dumpster’s 3 starts for Texas he’s given up 8 runs.
Professor! Did you hear Coney define a clear criterion for check swing strikes? Did the bat go over home, sounds like a winner.
I missed it. But I suppose that’s a good enough criterion.
my kingdom for clarity. His reasoning is that the batter could spoil a strike, fouling it off, if it goes thru the zone, ipso, charge him a strike. Nothing else is so clear: did he intend to hit it; did he break his wrists.
Grieve suggested that if the bat makes a 90 degree angle with the batter’s body. Not sure how that helps. No matter the definition it happens so fast almost impossible to call correctly 90% of the time.
two points: the reasoning makes good sense; and they can eventually put an electonic sensor on that, as we get modern eventually.
Use a mind reader to determine if the batter intended to swing.
Cruz made a great play there. O’Neill talked about the critical misplay in the WS that I strongly blame him for.
I remember that. It was a bad play, and a crucial one.
pissed me off, spoiled the game, as Freese had the pop drop on his head, then Cruz’ lame backup attempt. Looked like a firing squad, and the shot missed. Bah, both teams kicked it away.
A poorly played game, but a classic nonetheless.
Wow. Lowe did a great job against a great-hitting team.
Yes. One more inning and he gets a save.
Hey, that would be cool.
Lowe gets the save! 4 shutout innings. A great outing.
Wohoo! We got a new weapon.
OMG!! Lowe averages 3.1 K/9, tonight 4 in 4 innings. Lowe creeps up the saves leader board!
Phil, I say your error lies in “averages.” Properly, it’s “averaged.”
I sit corrected.
Since you guys head for the pillow immediately, let me take this opportunity to wish you sweet slumber.
And 5 will get you ten you’re already gone.
Thank you….and WRONG!!
Yeah, I had to get the dogs ready, so I’m here, too.
you guys can split the ten if you can catch me.
Is that Phelpsie’s 1st win as a starter?
yep, first time he got thru 5.
Chat y’all tomorrow.