03/13/09 - NYY vs BOS

Game starts at 7:05 PM. I'll be watching on the dreaded NESN...
Lineups via PeteAbe

YANKEES
Gardner CF
Ransom 3B
Miranda 1B
Nady RF
J. Rodriguez DH
Molina C
Duncan LF
Berroa 2B
Pena SS
Pitching tonight: Chien-Ming Wang followed by Brett Tomko, Mike Dunn and Anthony Claggett.
RED SOX
Ellsbury CF
Ochoa SS
Ortiz DH
Lowell 3B
Drew RF
Bay LF
Wilkerson 1B
Kottaras C
Chavez 2B
Pitching tonight: Tim Wakefield followed by Jonathan Papelbon, Takashi Saito, Daniel Bard and Junichi Tazawa.

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Top of 1st
7:06 - First pitch strike to Brett Gardner.
7:09 - Gardner works a walk after getting in a 1-2 hole in the count.
7:10 - Cody Random pop fly to Jason Bay in left field on the second pitch.
7:11 - Gardner steals 2nd base un-contested on the second pitch of Miranda's AB.
7:12 - Walk number two by Wakefield to Juan Miranda.
7:12 - Nady GIDP.
Bottom of 1st
7:16 - First two pitches balls by Wang to Ellsbury.
7:17 - Ellsbury hits the ball down the left field line foul, but kept running to second. Replay showed it was foul...by no more than 6 inches. 2-2 count.
7:19 - Ellsbury grounds out to short.
7:20 - Ochoa grounds out to third.
7:21 - Big Papi Shrek grounds to first to end it. 1-2-3 inning for Wang, all ground balls. Didn't take a pitch count, I hope PeteAbe has it.
Top of 2nd
7:24 - John Rodriguez nubs the ball off the end of the bat for an infield single.
7:26 - Wakefield K's Molina with a CURVEBALL on the outside corner. Shelley Duncan up, and takes a giant Shelley Duncan hack at the first pitch.
7:27 - Passed ball, John Rodriguez to 2nd base.
7:28 - Shelley Duncan walks?! WTF?! IT'S A NEW ERA!
7:29 - Berroa lines a single to left field and scores Rodriguez. 1-0 Yanks.
7:31 - Ramiro Pena grounds to 2nd, but Berroa makes a good slide to break up the return throw to prevent the double play. 1st and 3rd, 2 outs.
7:32 - "Gritty Gutty Brett Gardner" draws Lowell in from third until he gets to a 0-2 count. Ramiro Pena steals 2nd uncontested, but Gardner strikes out on the next pitch looking.

The Yankees are looking to run on Wakefield's knuckleball combined with a catcher who isn't quite Doug Mirabelli.
Bottom of 2nd
7:35 - Looked like a sinker that Wang left up that Lowell deposited over the left field fence. 1-1 game.
7:36 - JD Drew gets a single on another sinker that's left up. Wang's gotta get that ball DOWN, yo.
7:40 - Jason Bay fans on a fastball on the outside corner, following a breaking ball that totally fooled him. Got a weak hack on that breaking ball on 1-2 count and nearly kills a fan. 1 out.
7:42 - Good pick on a grounder to first by Miranda, but then he pulls a Jason Giambi and botches the throw. Runners on first and second instead of an inning ending GIDP. Thank God we got Teixiera for the real season...
7:45 - Almost a GREAT diving stop by Miranda on a liner that juusssttt tips off his glove. It keeps the Sawks from scoring though. Bases loaded. (I say Dougie Fresh makes that play...)
7:47 - Wang is leaving his sinker up...a lot. Another single, this time by Chavez. 1 run scores, bases still loaded. 2-1 Sawks.
7:49 - Another possible GIDP ball to Juan Miranda, but he bobbles the ball off the hop and can only get the runner at first. Another run scores, 2 outs. 3-1 Sawks
7:50 - Is it me, or is Miranda rushing everything?
7:50 - Ochoa lines a ball just past Wang's glove up the middle. 2 runs score on the single. 5 run inning by the Sawks so far, with another out to go, and Shrek is up to bat.
7:52 - And Shrek bombs one over the right field wall. 7-1 Sawks. Wang is just leaving his sinker up up up up up. That knocks Mr. Wang out of the game. Normally I'd say this is normal for a Yanks/RedSox game, and that the Yankees still have a chance to win...but the only "starters" playing for the Yanks are Gardner, Nady, and Molina. So much for a power-packed line-up, eh?
7:56 - Brett Tomko in to pitch, hoping to make an impression and get in that long-relief discussion with from Aceves, Geise or Albaladejo. Too bad he gives up a single to center to Lowell.
7:59 - Tomko strikes out JD Drew looking on a fastball. FINALLY the inning is over!
Top of 3rd
8:02 - I thought it was out, but apparently the ball stayed in? Triple by Cody Ransom. Who needs Alex Rodriguez anyways?
8:03 - Miranda HBP. Didn't even try to get out of the way, lol.
8:05 - Nady lines a ball to left field down the line, scores both Ransom and Miranda. Gets to 3rd on the throw home. 7-3 Sawks
8:07 - J-Rod strikes out.
8:09 - Molina singles off a curveball to center, Nady scores. Wakefield is done for today. 7-4 Sawks.
8:14 - The side-arming Vaquedano strikes out Shelley Duncan, makes him look silly.
8:15 - Berroa with an infield single on a mishandled bare-hand attempt by Ochoa. First and Second with 2 out.
8:18 - Good composure by Ramiro Pena. Works a walk after nearly getting nailed with a fastball in the ribs on the first pitch. Bases loaded for Gardner. He's about due for another spring training HR, isn't he?
8:21 - And he strikes out instead on a high fastball.
I just remembered that the MLB instituted new rules saying that you can't give such detailed accounts of the games on a blog, that's why PeteAbe's blog has such limited content on game day. But hey, I have near non-existent reader count that I probably won't get hit with a Cease and Desist order, right? Or would it be a DMCA take-down notice? Who knows. It's all stupid.
Bottom of 3rd
8:23 - Jason Bay K.
8:25 - Wilkerson flys out to left.
8:26 - Kottaras grounds to second.
Quick and easy inning by Tomko. He's definitely put himself ahead of Geise as far as spring training performance is concerned. Aceves has been up and down, and I haven't seen much of Albaladejo...so I can't comment on him.
Top of 4th
8:29 - Fishy-face Papelboner is in to pitch, and gets a first pitch ground out.
8:30 - Miranda pops out to short and his spring training struggles continue...
8:32 - Nady K's and Papelbon further believes that he's God.
Bottom of 4th
8:36 - I'm not overly impressed, as he's getting deep counts, but Brett Tomko is quietly showing himself to be reliable as a pitcher. Chavez grounds out to 3rd. Justin Leone in for A-Rod's replacement Cody Ransom. Then Ellsbury flies out to Brett Gardner in center.
8:38 - 17 hopper up the middle and Berroa had a chance to make the play, but of course he's a terrible fielder so he didn't get there. Ransom and Pena would've gotten there.
8:39 - Shrek Ortiz strikes out swinging, inning over, no thanks to Angel Berroa. I still say Matsui got shafted on the ROY award. Berroa is terrible.
Top of 5th
8:46 - Takashi Saito in to pitch and fans J-Rod and Molina back to back.
8:49 - Double by Shelley Smash Duncan.
Based on the fact that Doug Bernier is getting no playing time and Justin Leone isn't playing well, I guess that leaves the utility job up to Angel Berroa if they place A-rod on the 60-day DL retroactive to his first day off from injury. He's the only one hitting...but he can't field worth crap.
8:51 - Speaking of Berroa, he pops out to short right. BOOOOOO!
Bottom of 5th
8:57 - Tomko still pitching, 1-2-3 inning. 3.1 innings of solid work.
Top of 6th
9:01 - Daniel Bard in to pitch. Ramiro Pena grounds to second. Then..2 other outs, I wasn't paying attention. Quick 1-2-3. A-Jax was in there, I think he K'd.
Bottom of 6th
9:07 - Kei Igawa in to pitch. He's been pitching well in spring training with something like 8 innings of no-run ball. Too bad he sucks and is already off the 40-man roster. And as I say that, he K's Wilkerson and gets a pop-out.
9:14 - He allows 2 men to reach but then ends the inning. Decent work by the K-man. I still say he sucks. And needs braces.
Top of 7th
9:25 - 2 outs already, uber-prospect Jesus Montero struck out. Kyle Anson, who's in to catch for Molina, is up at bat and grounds out softly to 2nd to end the inning.
Bottom of 7th
9:29 - Steven Jackson in to pitch, K's Jeff Bailey.
The game has turned into a minor league game from all the substitutions. At least I'll get to see A.Jax and Montero play some.
9:32 - NESN is showing Igawa jog up and down the warning track at a snail's pace. And is making fun of him. Good stuff. He's been going back and forth for a good 5 minutes now so they keep cutting the cameras over to Igawa between pitches.
9:25 - Inning over on a fly to left. I'm starting to fall asleep because nothing is happening. Someone wake me up when A-Rod says something stupid from Colorado.
Top of 8th
9:39 - Slow bouncing infield single down the 3rd base line by Doug Bernier. I'm bored now, though. I'll update if something significant happens.
9:42 - A.Jax grounds into a force out at second. Not significant, but he IS my facebook buddy. Cool stuff.
Bottom of 8th
9:47 - Michael Dunn in to pitch. Another good lefty reliever in the system. He's behind in the pecking order though, behind Marte (obviously) and Coke who are both pretty much guaranteed spots on the 25-man roster. Dunn has good composure on the mound, though, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him called up sometime this season if he performs well at AAA Scranton-Wilkes Barre. That or becomes a trade chip, but I'd prefer to see the Yankees hold onto him. We're not exactly chock full of lefty pitchers...
Top of 9th
9:55 - 8-4 Sawks, Ex-Yank Billy Traber in to pitch, which means we might score some runs cuz he sucks terribly this spring...and always.
9:57 - Boston Bruins commercial. Hockey? Really? I'm bored anyways, that's it for tonight. I'll live blog the next blacked out games on March 22nd and 28th if they're at night and I don't have anything else to do. Have a good night, check PeteAbe's blog or the Yankees.com box-score for the final scores.
10:07 - I know I wasn't gonna post again, but Billy Traber walks the bases loaded with 1 out, but Kyle Anson lines to center for an out, and they get the DP on some poor base-running. Oh well. 8-4 Red Sox final.