http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/photos?photoId=2308494&gameId=290822102
A.J. Burnett and Jorge Posada once again cannot get on the same page as the Yankees suffer.
Early problems began for A.J. Burnett as he failed to locate his pitches. You cannot leave any pitch out of the plate to David Ortiz regardless of what pitch it is you are going to get burned.
The umpires have been inconsistent this series with their strikzones. Burnett was getting squeezed on a lot of close pitches making him have to work harder to a tough offensive lineup.
Jorge Posada was not giving him any help behind the plate as he had problems just throwing the ball back to A.J... All season Jorge has been struggling with the pitching staff and it is really frustrating.
You cannot put all of the blame on Posada but it’s ridiculous that he has games like this as a catcher. It is so embarrassing you watch your team have problems that you would have with a little league team.
Jorge bounced two balls back to Burnett with first and 2nd two outs with Kevin Youkilis up it is no excuse but you cannot say that is not a distraction for a pitcher.
Jorge goes out for a conference to settle things down and you think he is beginning to take control but he is not. The next pitch Burnett puts the ball right where Jorge wanted it and Youkilis blasted a 3 run home run over the green monster.
The Yankees had a good chance of taking this game with Tazawa taking thing hill for
In the first and 2nd inning the Yankees managed to strand a runner on third base. During the 1st inning they had a good opportunity to push some runs across the board.
Alex Rodriguez got up with Swisher on second and Teixeria on first and he flew out to deep center moving Swisher to third but failing to come through with a runner in scoring position.
There was still hope in the 1st inning when Matsui arrived to bat with runners at the corners and two outs. Matsui took some good hacks but came up short getting on a fastball off the end of the bat to end the inning with a fly out to
The 2nd inning would have the Yankees down 3-0 as they failed to come through with a runner on third base.
Jorge Posada walked and went to third on a base hit by Robinson Cano who jogged out of the box getting nailed at second to leave Posada at third with one out.
Eric Hinske hit a rope but it was right at Red Sox first basemen Victor Martinez to leave two outs in the inning.
Melky Cabrera was swinging out of his cleats as he flew out to Jacoby Ellsbury in center field. Melky got a hittable fastball on a 2-2 count but got under it as he should have been trying to drive the ball back up the middle.
The 3rd inning would be a huge challenge for the Yankees as they were down 7-0. Tazawa came up big for the Red Sox in the 3rd giving
Rodriguez would come to bat with Nick Swisher on first base and two men out. Arod received 4 curve balls on 6 pitches as his timing was thrown off the entire at bat.
Alex got some hittable pitches but he was looking for the fastball as he got deeper in the count but looked like a deer caught in the head lights with the last 3 pitches being curve balls.
The final curve ball of the at bat stunned Alex as he went down looking to end the inning.
The 4th inning started off with no life but would get started by a 1 out Jorge Posada walk. Tazawa left a pitch out over the plate and Cano drilled it off the monster for a double to leave Hinkse up with 2nd and 3rd one out.
Hinske was thrown off by a beautiful 12-6 curve ball that would lead to a swing and a miss for a strikeout to bring Melky up with 2 outs.
Melky left men stranded on 2nd and 3rd by grounding out on the first pitch. In that spot Melky has to take a strike the way Tazawa was pitching you have to make him work.
It is selfish to get up in that spot and swing at the first pitch unless you are going to hit a 3 run home run.
Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek was excellent behind the plate blocking balls in the dirt and working well with the rookie pitcher.
A.J. Burnett settled down in the 3rd and 4th innings as he had two back to back 123 innings striking out the side in the 3rd.
As bad as Burnett had been earlier in the game it is big for a pitcher to reach back and give you innings to give you a chance to get back in the game.
The problem with some of the Yankee hitters is when they are down they start to become inpatient at the plate and it really shows. They forget to work counts and start to swing for the fence.
A lot of there outs earlier in the game were caused from hitters getting under the ball but after that Tazawa began to make good pitches in big spots.
The 5th inning was started with Derek Jeter who had a good at bat but came up short of a solo shot as he flew out to J.D. Drew in right field. Jeter took a good swing and went with the pitch nicely but just missed it.
Nick Swisher stepped in with one out 2 for 2 on the game and flew out to left field on a 1-2 pitch.
Mark Teixeria did what he could to get the Yankees going with a base hit back up the middle with 2 outs to bring Alex Rodriguez to the plate with a runner on.
Rodriguez ripped a base hit to left field to push Teixeria up to second base with two outs.
Matsui got up and once again another example of a hitter on the Yankees being selfish swinging at the first pitch down by 7 runs. Matsui took a terrible swing at a curve ball well off the plate.
Another thing about Matsui swinging at the first pitch like that if your going to do it don't take a ridiculous swing like that. With that being said Hideki had a great at bat fouling off some tough pitches with a 0-2 count.
Matsui spoiled the at bat by popping up on a hanging curve ball to end the 5th inning and leave the Yankees 0-6 with runners in scoring position at the end of the first 5 and a half innings.
At this point of the game you have to blame the Yankee hitters for not working the count. When you have superstars like Alex Rodriguez trying to take pitches you have to step back and tell your players like Hideki Matsui and Melky Cabrera learn from his example.
Arod is an all-star and he at times is guilty of looking at too many pitches. The problem with Rodriguez 2nd at bat was that he was up there guessing too much instead of just taking his swings.
What makes Arod such a veteran hitter was that he made the adjustment in his 3rd at bat turning on the ball to pick up his first hit of the game.
Alex has 574 career home runs if he can work the count then so can other players.
Burnett jumped out to two quick outs in the bottom of the 5th inning but once again left another pitch out over the plate to David Ortiz who made him pay this time with a solo shot over the green monster.
You cannot let Ortiz get those hands extended once you do you are in vulnerable territory. Burnett has a live arm and has the ability to get Ortiz out by throwing on the inside part of the plate.
You can't look at Ortiz and be afraid to bust him in that’s where his weakness is unless you have a weak arm.
More problems flared for Burnett in the 5th as he defense let him down as Nick Swisher failed to get to a ball ten feet over his head with 2 outs to give the Red Sox a 9-0 lead.
The game pretty much looked over as the Yankees would send Posada Cano and Hinske to the plate to try to get some runs back in the top of the 6th inning.
For whatever reason Jorge does not take a strike down 9 runs and hits a weak fly out to third base. You are not going to make a pitcher who is dominating slow down by not taking pitches.
It just seemed like the bigger the hole the more guys would try to hit the ball to another planet instead of taking what Tazawa gave them.
You can live with a player swinging at the first pitch if they are going to swing at a good pitch and drive the ball with authority. Cano got up and went back up the middle with his 2nd base hit of the game.
Hinske would line a base hit intro right center field to move Cano up to third to bring up Melky Cabrera with runners at the corners with one out.
Melky fouled off a first pitch curve ball but again failed to come through on another opportunity Melky hit a weak grounder on a hanging curve ball which would result into a
How many times do you have to put yourself into a hole at the plate with runners in scoring position? Tazawa was losing command you cannot help him out in those spots.
Going into Melky's at bat it looked as if Tazawa was on his way to be pulled until Melky took a weak cut at a breaking ball off the plate.
Alfredo Aceves came out to take over for Burnett to start the bottom of the 6th inning.
Burnett got hit hard all game as he didn't make good pitches but he threw strikes all game giving the Yankees innings so they don't have to burn out their bullpen heading into tomorrows game.
The good thing about Burnett is he unlike most pitchers will stay in there no matter how the game is going. You can see he was getting squeezed and that Posada is a constant distraction for him but he doesn't let his emotions get the better of him.
Aceves got roughed up as he hung a curve ball to Victor Martinez on an RBI single to center field as Melky Carbrera failed to throw the Dustin Pedroia out at the plate.
When you watch the throw of Cabrera you have to think how could a player with an arm like his never throw runners out?
Almost every one of his throws seem to be off line or on the other hand you notice majority of the time he doesn't even make an attempt to get his body into throwing position.
Its tough to really pick on Melky when you look at how weak Hinske and Swisher are out there. The thing that is frustrating about Cabrera is he has the ability to be a lot better than he is out there.
You see him make the same mistakes he made years ago he is too good of a player for that. Melky has the tools to be a good outfielder.
It can be said a million times but nothing seems to be done about it for a 1st place team the Yankees overall have some of the weakest outfielders in baseball. As bad as the pitching was in this game the Yankee outfielders were nothing to brag about either.
Eric Hinske misplayed a ball off the green monster by David Ortiz that led to another run to be picked up on the play giving Ortiz a 2 run double. From that point on the Red Sox had never looked back as the came through with runners in scoring position all day.
Nick Swisher had a great game at the plate hitting his 21st home run of the season over the green monster off a great pitcher Daniel Bard. Swisher has a solid bat but should not be starting in the outfield.
Look around at the Yankees team you have to give Cano Jeter and Teixeira credit as they have carried the Yankee defense all season long.
Posada Swisher and Hinske should rarely ever play the field and you have all three in the field that makes your team weak off the bat.
If you compare Jorge Posada and Nick Swisher the two have combined for 11 errors as your middle infield Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano have combined for 13 errors. Swisher made 5 of his errors in the outfield.
When I think about that I realize how good Cano and Jeter are they have been so good this year that people overlook the players who kill them defensively.
http://a.espncdn.com/media/apphoto/24b98a4a-a124-4840-8a30-95a1b62a5b7d.jpg
The picture above shows Jorge Posada’s horrible positioning. How do you expect to make a play when you are standing that far away from it?
It is not like that was a one time thing because David Ortiz was coming it feels like Jorge 9 out of 10 times worries about the runner before he worries about making the play.
You cannot be a major league catcher and be afraid of the runner like that because there are plenty of players who are not scared to block the plate.
Another thing if you are going to stand behind the plate like Posada did on that play if you feel like there is no chance to get the out then you step up in front of the plate to prevent anyone from advancing.
Yankees pretty much were dead all game as they played with no intensity.
The Yankees are a 1st place team that has been playing great ball this year but need to focus on improving there weaknesses before the 2009 playoffs.
The rubber game of this 3 game match up will conclude tomorrow at
After this series
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