The Magic Carpet

By Matthew Storey

New York Yankees - 9 (9-6)
Oakland A's - 7 (5-9)

Winning Pitcher: Jose Veras (1-1)
Losing Pitcher: Dan Giese (0-2)

HR: Suzuki (1)
Matsui (2)
Jeter (4)
M. Cabrera (3,4)

This was ugly.

Another brutal start from CC Sabathia, whose ball is humming with it's normal velocity and bending with it's normal torque, but not yet being placed for strikes...he's a B-I-G man and grinding his way through the first week of his Bronx life. You can see how the smaller confines/stage of Spring Training was an easier fit for him, the circus aspects and the lifestyle adjustments are simply going to take time - the STUFF (unlike Wang) is there, but, right now - the results are not, he is walking everyone in sight, and given his career as one of the most accurate power pitchers the game has seen - it's ugly.

CC managed 6.2 innings, and gave up only 6 hits, one of them a pop-fly HR to white-hot Kurt Suzuki, (his first HR since last August!) that gave the A's half of their 6 ER against him. He got some shoddy Defense from Johnny Damon (who was one of several players to struggle with pop-ups in the driving rain this game was played in - for five hours!) and Jorge Posada, who had a brain-cramp on a potential play at the plate - vacating his position to back up 1st base as slow-footed Jason Giambi waltzed home with a gift run and Derek Jeter's relay home beat him easily, but found no Catcher!

Yankee Offense was solid early, with HR power continuing to be a positive and covering for the Black-Hole in their lineup that has been Cody Ransom/Brett Gardner thus far.

Hideki Matsui had a long HR and has been his accustomed hitting machine since having his Knee drained last week...his skills are truly superior. It has been a pleasure watching him perform in his Yankee career and seeing his easy power, fundamental soundness, baseball instincts and sheer toughness as his body has broken down in front of us and he STILL contributes - it's inspirational, he reminds me of Andre Dawson. It's easy to see why he is Japan's biggest Baseball hero - as good as he is, here at the end, he must have been incredible when his legs were young - if he's spent those years in the Bronx, he'd have Hall of Fame written all over him. In his current condition, with both knees shot - every game could potentially be his last and while we all hope he can make it through, we have to enjoy him while he is around.

A Pro.

Jeter, another pro, but one whose legs are feeling frisky, made some terrific plays at SS and hit a long HR to CF and Melky Cabrera, a baby whose game is still developing, followed up his huge April from 2008 (5 HR) with an even better April 2009, by clubbing a 420 foot HR to Left Center field in the 2nd inning hitting RH (back end of back-to-back with Matsui) and later smacked the Game Winner in the 14th, a 2 Run HR, from the LH side. This gives him 4 HR in 23 At-Bats and an unlikely place in 2nd place amongst AL Sluggers at .826 (although his limited at-bats disqualify him). What matters, from a Yankee perspective is he is providing the bottom of the order with some desperately needed THUMP to cover for Ransom/Gardner/Pena/Molina, who have all been ANEMIC offensively.

Still, for all their power and Offensive success in this game (Yankees had 15 hits through 7 innings), the bats went into a deep chill from there and managed only two hits the rest of the way, with Melky's close-out the 17th and exclamation point.

For their part, the Oakland team has a nice blend of elements that are just not working NOW, but certainly figure to improve as the season moves forward. Orlando Cabrera, Jason Giambi and Matt Holliday are not yet hitting, but they are all proven producers and they have enough role players, young guys and rehabbers to suggest they'll be competitive with more time. They also have their typical array of young hurlers with big arms, none bigger than Reliever Andrew Bailey and Starter/Lefty Specialist, Josh Outman. The starter in this game, Brett Anderson, is their #1 prospect and you can certainly see why, he has a terrific arm and presence and only requires time to get his feet under him in MLB (he reminds me of Phil Hughes, not an 'if', but a 'when', at 21 - that is a guess?).

Yankee relievers picked up CC and the slumbering bats through the late and extra sessions and benefited from the slumping A's hitters and the damp, wet conditions to post 7.1 innings of shutout ball. Phil Coke picked up CC to close out 7th, then Jonathan Albaladejo and Mariano Rivera each had a shutout inning. Damaso Marte did what he does, by walking one and striking one out, before giving way to Edwar Ramirez, who gave them 1.1 IP and then Jose Veras came in, promptly walked the first batter and went 2-0 on the next one and Yankee fans groaned....

But Posada came to the mound for an animated discussion and Pitching Coach, Dave Eiland (who must be feeling pretty tense these days...with a guy named David Cone sitting in the booth and a perennial Cy Young contender having fallen apart on his watch...) joined them and, lo and behold! Veras pitched the way a guy with 98 MPH heat, 75 MPH change-ups and darting curves SHOULD pitch and gave the Yankees ten straight outs in his longest MLB stint to seal the win.

So, for a Yankee team that has seen just about EVERYTHING go wrong, from Alex Rodriguez's injury to Chien-Ming Wang's disintegration, while being blamed for the recession, the corruption of American youth, both World Wars and the plight of the American family...the record is actually decent. This is a team that is neither playing well nor at anything close to full strength and has fundamental problems in figuring out Wang and surviving the injuries to Nady and Matsui. But it has done some winning, despite these problems and shown some grit, early, that was missing last season.

On to Boston, for the typically Hot-Early Red Sox, we'll see what they get from Joba tomorrow, but the rotation shuffling has left Joba and AJ back-to-back, which is a problem, there are very few pitchers in baseball with the stuff to prepare a lineup to face AJ - but if you wanted to draw up the perfect guy to face before him - it'd be Joba. They are going to have to separate those two, as designed, with Andy Pettitte at the first opportunity to do so.