The Yankee Clipper: The Game That Ain't Got No Alibi

Last night's Yankees game against the Diamondbacks was U-G-L-Y. No doubt about that one. The Yankees were gifted opportunities because of a plethora of walks and some basehits but they weren't able to turn them into runs due to baserunning errors, great defensive plays by Arizona, GIDPs or just bad "clutch" hitting. It was a game the Yankees had no business winning...but good teams win games like that and they gained a game on Tampa Bay and Boston. Let's look back at the week that was in Yankee land:

1. An Ugly Game, Indeed. Bronx Banter's Emma Span has a title that knocks mine out of the park (and has some good suggestions at the bottom. The key stat: 10 hits and 13 walks for the Yankees. Yowza! Joe Pawlikowski from FanGraphs writes about Derek Jeter's propensity to hit into double plays (which he did twice last night and the team did 5 times!). Jay from Fack Youk has many more of the gory details. But the New York Times' Ben Shpigel put it best: "The first inning of the Yankees’ game against Arizona on Wednesday night included five walks, four hits, three runs, two base-running blunders, two caught stealings and one wild pitch, and the mayhem was only starting. To the exasperation of both managers, an evening of ragged baseball and mediocre pitching dragged on and on at Chase Field, all the way into the ninth inning and beyond."
2. Mariano Rivera Walked A Tightrope...and Won. Bases loaded. No one out. One-run lead. And on the mound where his most replayed, most famous, and most scarring collapse occurred. But is there a man you would rather have on the mound than Mariano Rivera. After most of us on the East Coast had gone to bed, the Sandman sent the D-Backs to bed with a pop up, a pop up and a strikeout. Goodnight. LoHud's Chad Jennings writes about Mo's long and strange night but it went beyond that. It reminded all of us how good Mariano has been at the Houdini act for so long and Mark Simon of ESPN reviews Mariano's best. It will be a sad, sad day when this man decides to hang it up. As Joe Pawlikowski writes for River Ave Blues, we should thank Mo. The same with Andy Pettitte who Bobby Valentine wrote about on Tuesday.
3. I Think They Can Still Play Better. After reading this blog post from Rebecca of This Purist Bleeds Pinstripes, I can see I'm not the only one. This year they're 45-27 through their first 72 games with the best run differential in baseball (last year they had 40 wins and were 4 games out of first). The last time they had more wins through 72 games was 2004 (46). Although the Yankees have been getting great production from certain parts they've been getting less than expected from the top 4 in their Opening Day lineup considering Derek Jeter is nowhere near last year's numbers, Nick Johnson occupies the DL, Mark Teixeira has not figured out April has ended and Alex Rodriguez looks like a less-powerful version of himself. That doesn't even begin to factor in a sub-par bullpen, Curtis Granderson's struggles, Jorge's injury, a bad start for CC Sabathia, or the fact that A.J. Burnett has been awful lately and, as Matt Imbrogno of TYU writes, his K-rate has begun to disappear thanks to a lack of a good out pitch. So I think this team still has room to improve. Scary as that is for the rest of the American League. 
4. Patience At The Plate From An Unlikely Source. Quick, who leads the Major Leagues in pitches per plate appearance? It's not Mr. Three-And-Two, Nick Swisher. It's not the AL batting leader, Robinson Cano. It's not Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, A-Rod, or Posada. It's Brett freaking Gardner. And how about this stat from ESPN's TMI blog: Brett Gardner leads the majors with 4.53 pitches per plate appearance. That would be the highest average since Rickey Henderson’s 4.55 in 1997. After a 4-4 night on Monday and going 2-5 last night, Gardner is now 11th in the AL in hitting (.322), 4th in SB (24), 6th in runs (49), and 5th in OBP (.402). Not too shabby for the guy most people thought was nothing but a fourth outfielder. 
5. Hello Mr. Torre. The Yankees next series is against the Los Angeles Dodgers and Joe Torre. Call it a reunion of sorts. I don't blame certain Yankee fans for hating Torre for leaving the Yankees and trashing them on the way out in his book. I don't blame certain Yankee fans for loving Joe Torre and the championship pedigree he brought to The Bronx. I'm ambivalent towards him, mostly because I believe that he was too nonchalant by the end (especially not pulling the Yankees off the field during the midge game and not shaking things up during the 2004 ALCS) and I believe managers get too much credit (or blame) for player's performances anyways so I don't blame him for losing playoff series which are crapshoots anyways. But here's some other thoughts: LoHud's Chad Jennings talks about the respect that certain Yankees' have for Torre, HardballTalk's Craig Calcaterra refutes the idea that Torre was the greatest manager in New York history, and the New York Post reports that A-Rod just doesn't want to talk about Torre. Can't blame him.

After the Rays won today, the Yankees now sit 2 games up on Tampa and 2.5 up on the Red Sox (3 in the loss column and the Red Sox will get another game in tonight). They are 1.5 games up on Texas (who has won 10 straight and caused their GM to die his hair) for the best record in baseball (and in many ways, they are deserving of being called the best team in baseball). The Yankees have been playing so well that the Hughes Rules haven't even become as big of an issue as the Joba Rules (and their many versions). The Yankees move on now to LA to see Torre, Don Mattingly, and Manny Ramirez. Although the Dodgers are in a tailspin having lost 6 in a row, you know that Ramirez will at least come to play against the Yanks. A night off tonight but tomorrow the quest for 28 continues in Los Angeles.

Picture from the Yankees' LoHud Blog