Home Stand, Game 5

Today it's Washburn vs. Muss -- man, I really feel for Mike Mussina, he never seems to get the bats behind him lately

He owns the West over his career, of course, that explains the loss today LOL

Supposedly they had a lot of rain, yet got the game in ARGGGHHH lol -- no breaks so far this April ... with the delay comes lots of FILLER ... so a FFWD we go

Actually caught the National Anthem by the Yankee Stadium organist ... cool

TOP 1: Erstad flies to left -- Figgins lines a single to right center -- Check swing by Guerrero, Figgins steals second -- Breaking ball by Muss, Posada loses it WP, Figgins to third

Quality AB Vlad (9 pitches) -- 12-6 Curve, he struck him out! -- two down, Anderson hits a comebacker at Muss, throws to first -- out of the jam

BOT 1: Yankees doing well again this season against lefties ... so WTF happened today??? -- baseball is a funny game, isn't it?

Jeter walks on four pitches -- Bernie rips one past the third baseman down the line in left -- Jeter waved in, Anderson guns him down at the plate ARGGGH -- lots of gamble by Sojo on that one ... Jeter gimpy after the play

One out, Bernie on second with the double -- Sheff strikes out on a changeup, after a full count -- two down, Matsui -- full count -- fastball looked outside, ump calls him frozen pizza, the side is retired

(20/20: I think that play at the plate set the tone tonight -- little too greedy)

TOP 2: Finley flies to the track in right -- Cabrera, hot shot to Womack, nice glove work, throw to first, two down -- McPherson, quality AB, but waves through a changeup to end the inning, SO

BOT 2: Man, already feeling like a long ass game -- out of shape after a few days away LOL -- ARod, nice ovation from the crowd for his awesome 4-for-5, 3 HR, 10 RBI night

ARod grounds to second, one down -- Phillips as DH tonight, he's an exciting young player -- this AB looked overmatched vs Washburn, SO -- two down, Posada pops to shallow left center -- the inning is over, 8 pitch inning is nice to my psyche/attention span LOL

TOP 3: Molina flies to center -- Davanon shows bunt ... HUH?!?!?! -- he walks on four pitches, Muss looks a little shaky with location to the first two batters

On the 0-2 to Erstad, Davanon goes, Posada perfect to second .. OUT!
Two down, Erstad grounds slowly to second, thrown out -- wait, they called catcher's interference on Posada ARGGH -- I have that sinking feeling SHOOT

Muss falls behind Figgins, but he pops to Matsui to end the inning ... so much for my drama LOL

BOT 3: Tino singles up the middle -- what a slow, ho hum game, matches the weather today -- Womack lays a bunt down in front of the plate, Molina sees Tino steamrolling to second -- rushes his throw to second, into centerfield -- all safe, sac to Womack, advances Tino

Jeter shows bunt, runs the count 2-0 -- the Yanks take off the bunt, Jeter grounds hard into a 543 DP ... SHIRT!!, why LOL ... I can't believe it

Two down, runner on third, Bernie rips the 2-1, just foul ... DAMN!!! -- full count -- Bernie flies to center .... oh, the missed opportunities

In NYC, they have a commercial called Badcreditsowhat.com ... LOL

TOP 4: Vlad slaps one into the left field corner, in with a leadoff double -- Anderson slaps one into the right field corner, oh the symmetry, Vlad scores easily, Halos 1-0 -- Anderson held to a single

Finley jacks one after falling behind in the count 1-2, two run HR, Halos now 3-0
Muss totally missed on that one

Cabrera hits a difficult comebacker to the left of Mussina, hits his glove -- slows down, ARod can't make the play -- safe, that's 4 straight hits this inning, YIKES

McPherson grounds into a 463 DP, two down -- Molina flies to center, three outs

BOT 4: Looks like another 3 hour plus Yankee game ... bleah

Sheff hits a hard grounder to Cabrera, can't make the play, infield single -- Matsui grounds into the 363 DP, yuck! -- ARod smashes one deep to center, solo HR (AL leader with 8), Halos now, 3-1 -- Phillips flies harmlessly to right to end the inning

TOP 5: Davanon lines the first pitch at Tino, one down -- Erstad lines another hard liner, again caught by Tino, no problem -- two down -- Muss obviously not fooling anyone, but Halos hitting em where they are -- Womack retires Figgins for the 1-2-3 inning

BOT 5: Posada pops out to right -- Tino nubs one, Washburn picks it up and throws him out -- Womack works the BB -- Jeter singles

Runners now first and second, two down -- Bernie weakly flies to center, first pitch swinging -- three outs

Washburn overall in control, making great pitches tonight, getting great D in back of him, stringing out hits -- not giving up the big damaging ones, except for ARod's bomb

TOP 6: Surprisingly to this point, Muss has thrown 76 pitches, fairly low pitch count -- Vlad slaps a single to right through the infield

Muss is no mystery to Garrett Anderson, two run jack to right center, Halos 5-1

Finley grounds to Womack, shovels the ball out of his glove to just get him at first -- Cabrera lines a FAT PITCH ... foul -- he flies to right, two down -- McPherson hits one into the right field corner, two out double (as the stupidly retarded lean over the wall trying to touch the ball) -- Womack puts away a grounder to end the inning

Two hours in -- boy, what a ho hum, slow paced game

BOT 6: Sheff slaps a hit into the right field corner, tests Vlad's arm, easily in with a double -- Matsui backsliding a bit over the last week, pops up to shallow center -- ARod sharply grounds one past the third baseman (he does a Charlie Brown flop, flailing), Sheff holds at third

One down, runners at first and third, Phillips hasn't seen a fastball to hit to this point, here's one ... and he grounds into a DP ... SHIRT!!!!

Just not clicking all at the same time ... psshh

TOP 7: Davanon singles to center -- Erstad tough fly to left, slicing away from Matsui, he makes an amazing catch, guns to Tino, little bit off -- oh, so close, but Davanon back in

One out, runner on first -- Figgins lines a single to right, runner holds on second -- Stottlemyre to the mound, Muss missed again

Vlad, having a great night so far, but he grounds into the inning ending DP

Overall, not a bad outing by Muss, just a few badly located pitches -- story of the Yankee staff to this point this season ... also a matter of no bat hit ball for the offense

Seventh Inning Stretch, Halos lead, 5-1

I love the SIS at Yankee Stadium, they have this really bright sounding rendition of GBA, that sounds so 40s and patriotic ... I wonder when Ronan Tynan will be back singing GBA ... dunno, maybe only during playoffs and opening day

BOT 7: Posada gives it a jolt, but flies out to right center -- Tino, nice hitting, singles up the middle (now, 2-for-3) -- Womack, lazy fly to center, two down --
Jeter grounds to third, runner forced at second to end the inning

Washburn, solid solid solid -- defense, great as well

Another spot for Badcreditsowhat.com LOL, classic

TOP 8: Buddy Groom in for Muss -- Anderson grounds to ARod, tough play -- throw is wide and away, Anderson is on at first -- Finley grounds to first, Tino gets the force at second -- Cabrera lines to Matsui, two down -- McPherson grounds to Womack

Good outing for Buddy Groom, solid

BOT 8: Washburn, 86 pitches to this point -- Bernie grounds to short, one down -- Sheff didn't have anything to hit, until the 3-1, lines a single to left (his third hit of the night) -- tonight, it's not that Yanks haven't been hitting, NO TIMELY HITTING -- ick

Gajira looking ugly at this AB, the slide continues, frozen pizza twice tonight -- WHOA! -- two down, Washburn leaves the game

Shields in to face ARod -- Sheff advances to second on a wild pitch in the dirt --
another pitch in the dirt, hoo, what a block by Molina -- ARod swings through at a breaking pitch away for out #3

TOP 9: FRod in for Yanks, let's see how he does today -- Molina singles to center -- Karsay warming for Yanks

Molina steals a base, yes that is no misprint (and yes, the pitch was high and off) -- Davanon swings, creates a nice breeze for those still in the stadium, misses horribly, then clubs his bat down -- a craftsman doesn't blame his tools LOL, one down

Torre playing mix and match, Stanton in -- Stanton gets Erstad to fly out, Molina holds -- ARod gloves a liner to end the inning

Now at three hours and one minute in ... yeesh, also nearing midnight here in Paradise

BOT 9: Giambi in to PH for Phillips -- though his BAVG is down, his OBP is really high, lots of walks so far this season -- Giambi nubs one in front of the plate, thrown out at first -- Posada grounds to second -- Tino frozen pizza to end the game

I have no life (... or I have allergies), three hours and change (3:07 to be exact) to watch a Yankee LOSS ... ugh, I have way to much faith and hope -- a stupid amount of F&H ... especially since I already knew the outcome of this one

FINAL: Angels win, 5-1

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Yankees now 9-12 on the season ... ho hum ... it doesn't look like the Yankees will add TITLE SEVEN in my lifetime this year

To this point, the Yanks have given up more runs than any pitching staff since 1903 -- amazingly, they have outscored the runs given up, though only winning nine games and dropping twelve ... GO FIGURE!

Tomorrow afternoon, the series rubber match against the Halos -- Kevin Brown and John Lackey scheduled to

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Feast OR Famine

Story of the season so far ... Inconsistency -- big offensive game -- then flat game -- this may be by the design of how Torre manages the Yankee offense -- it's honestly time to start playing small ball/NL ball, running the bases and playing some small ball at times -- mixing it up

And honestly speaking, man, Yankee pitching either looks shot/old or really inconsistent -- two jacks, that's the game -- subplot of the season, hopefully it ends soon