***YANKS DOWN SOX, 6-0***
Phil Hughes was outstanding, throwing, if you believe the radar gun, as high as 95 mph. Even if the speed wasn't accurate, Hughes got a lot of swings and misses and the White Sox were never really able to square up on his pitches. Which leaves Girardi and the rest of the Yankee braintrust (?) to figure out who the 5 starters are. The easiest answer is to send Nova back down and wait for Colon or Garcia to break down, which doesn't appear to be imminent.
Teixeira homered from both sides of the plate to set a major league record. I was shocked to hear that Mickey Mantle didn't hold the record. Ken Singleton and company had the answer, though. When The Mick played, there wasn't a lot mixing and matching going on, so if a right-hander started, that's probably what you faced the whole game. Another reason is that it had only been accomplished 6 times before Mick began in 1955, so it was always a big deal and we began to think he was the only one who could do it. He did it 9 more times before someone else accomplished it in 1962. He retired with 10.
It seems strange to me that the game was called in the bottom of the seventh last night, with Chicago behind. I was under the impression that when a game was called because of rain and the home team was behind, the official game reverted back to the last time the home team hit, in this case, the bottom of the sixth, which would have wiped out Tex's second homer. I guess I was wr-r-r-ong (well, that was an effort).
The Yanks have won 5 in a row and are one game back of Boston with a big 3-game series with the other Sox starting Friday.
***HERE WE GO AGAIN***
It seems we had a few 'unwritten rules' broken again this week. Carlos Guillen "posed" after hitting a homer off of Jered Weaver, then flipped the bat and sidestepped down the first base line. posturing at Weaver. While this isn't against the rules, it's not very nice and can result in some sort of retaliation, which it did. Weaver then threw over the head of the next hitter, Alex Avila. Weaver was immediately tossed, has been fined an undisclosed amount and suspended for 6 games. I'm not a fan of such posing and showboating after a homer, but Weaver is a professional and he's got to control himself in that situation. He got himself ejected in a close game against Detroit and will miss at least one start. Not good for a Cy Young candidate on a team fighting for a pennant.
In the same game, Justin Verlander was pitching another no -hitter, when Erick Aybar tried to bunt his way on. It was a close game, but Velander didn't like it. "I know it was only 3-0, so I can understand there are arguments on both sides. But as a pitcher, we call that bush league."
Sorry about your no-hitter, Justin, but the idea is to win games. Aybar is like Brett Gardner. They are not power hitters and speed and bunting is a big part of their games. Unbelievably, Curt Schilling, The Mouth That Roared, agreed, saying that the other team has the obligation to do whatever they can to win the game. He did go on to say that if the score was 10-0, that would be a different story. I guess he missed the Yanks 12-run outburst the other day.
Oddly enough, home plate Hunter Wendelstedt had the best take, "That was stupid -- it was all stupid. Everybody was stupid," he said. I wonder if he was including the umpires.
***HERE AND THERE***
San Fran update: They've lost 5 of 6 since the 'big trade' and Carlos Beltran still has only 1 RBI in those six games. To make matters worse, Arizona is now only one game back in the standing. They say pitching is 90% of the game (or, "90% of this game is half mental" - Yogi), but you've got to score some runs. Only Seattle has scored fewer runs than the Giants, and they're in last place.
The Florida Marlins have scheduled two exhibition games with the Yankees in their soon-to-be-finished stadium next year, on April 1st and 2nd. Wait a minute. Selig is talking about adding teams and games to the playoff schedule, people are complaining about the season ending in November, and now the start of the season is pushed back three days from this year? Who's in charge here? Will someone please introduce Bud Selig to a calendar.
***THEY SAID IT***
"Workers at Crystal Springs Golf Course near Burlingame, Calif., were startled to see a mountain lion passing through in the wee hours Sunday morning. Attention, golfers: If a cougar wants to use your sand trap — let it." -- Dwight Perry
"On a Republican filibuster before the debt-ceiling vote: "A filibuster is when someone talks forever with no real point. Or, as Dick Vitale calls that, 'broadcasting." -- Brad Dickson
"Jets coach Rex Ryan said it was a "leap of faith" to sign Plaxico Burress: "Well, at least he didn't say it was 'a shot in the dark.' " -- Janice Hough
CP-
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