Recap of the Yankee Series

I figured it would be worth the time to take a look back at the series we just finished with the Yankees, I really thought the series was shaping up to be a train wreck. Omar Vizquel decided to tell everyone that John Farrell and the rest of the coaching stuff didn't know what they were doing (I don't know why he wasn't released, maybe that makes his point that there is no discipline in the clubhouse). Yunel Escobar was coming back to Rogers for the first time since the stupidity. And our pitching staff seemed to be coming apparent at the seams. It didn't seem to me like he took a lot of abuse from fans at Rogers. He signed a ball for the fan that started it all, which I think was a nice gesture.

Surprisingly enough we won 2 of 4 games, and really should have won 3. On the 'sounds more like a Blue Jay series', Ricky Romero and Edwin Encarnacion came out of games with injuries. Anyway let's look at how things went:

Starting Pitching

We hit pretty much every spot on the starting pitching bell curve.

Excellent, Brandon Morrow, 7 innings, 4 hits, 3 walks, 3 k and no earned runs. Just a really good start.

Pretty ok: Henderson Alvarez, 6 inning, 7 hits, 2 earned, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts and a home run. Really an ok start, maybe a bit better than ok considering it was against the Yankees.

Bad: Chad Jenkins, 3.2 innings, 4 hits, 3 earned, 3 walks, 2 k.

And injured: Ricky Romero, 3 inning, 6 hits, 2 earned, 2 walk, 3 k. The start was well on the way to incredibly awful before he left with the knee injury.

Relief Pitching:

Two games of great relief, two games of awful relief.

On the good side, we got Brad Lincoln and Darren Oliver followed Morrow and finished the shutout that Brad Morrow had going. And in Romero's game, the bullpen worked 6 shutout innings, helping us to a win. Shawn Hill pitched 3 of those inning and really deserves a star sticker for surprise performance of the series. Brad Lincoln, Aaron Loup, Steve Delabar and Casey Janssen saw out the last three innings.

On that bad side, 6 relievers followed Chad Jenkins' lead and allowed 8 more runs. Brett Cecil gave up 2 runs in 2 innings, Jason Frasor 2 runs without getting an out, Joel Carreno 1 run in 1 inning, Chad Beck 1 run in 1 inning and Bobby Korecky (at least I think his name is Bobby, I'd look it up but I don't care) allowed 2 more runs in the 9th.

The really bad game was the last game of the series. Henderson Alvarez left the game with a 3 run lead, we thought all was good. Cecil came in to face 1 lefty, but the Yankees pinch hit and he gave up a single. Steve Delabar followed and let the inherited run score, plus 2 more. Darren Oliver started the 8th, giving up a walk and hit, then left for Brandon Lyon, who let both runners score, bumping Oliver's ERA into the 2's. Jason Frasor started the 9th, giving up 2 hits, a walk and another hit before getting his first out, and then got the second out, but then Farrell took him out of the game. I didn't understand why he was taken out of the game after, finally, getting a couple of outs, but Chad Beck got the last out of the game.

Batters:

We had a few bit of offense, by our standards, over the 4 games. 19 runs over 4 games, pretty good really.

Brett Lawrie: 6 for 15, 3 walks, 2 home runs, 1 double, 4 runs, 4 RBI and 4 strikeouts. He also made some nice plays on defense, as well as a throwing error.

Colby Rasmus: started 2 of the games, came in for Edwin in one of the others. 3 for 10, home run, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts, 2 runs.

Edwin Encarnacion: 3 for 13, double, 2 walks, 3 k, 2 runs, 3 RBI. He DHed in all the games, and came out of the one Sunday with a tight muscle in his back.

J.P. Arencibia: 3 for 12, home run, 1 walk, 3 k, 1 run, 1 RBI.

Adam Lind: 3 for 12, home run, 2 walk, 1 run, 3 RBI, 0 k.

Yunel Escobar: 4 for 16, double, 2 walks, 2 runs, 1 RBI, multiple base running mistakes and some good defense.

Kelly Johnson: 1 for 7, walk, 3 k, run. Played in two of the games.

Rajai Davis: 9 for 13, double, home run, 2 k, 2 runs, 2 RBI. No steals. Played in 3 of the games.

Anthony Gose: 3 for 13, double, 2 walks, 2 k, 3 runs, RBI. No steals. One amazing catch, with a throw back to double off a runner.

Adeiny Hechavarria: 1 for 7, double, RBI, 2 k.

Moises Sierra: 1 for 7, RBI, walk, 3 k.

Yan Gomes: 1 for 2, walk.

Jeff Mathis: 1 for 3, double, run.

Not a bad series, but the last game left a bad taste in the mouth. It has been a long time since the bullpen lost one for us. Lately it has been bad offense or bad starting pitcher, or (far too often) both.