Live Blogging: A’s @ Yankees Game 128

 

10:04PM PDT: Wow. Swisher just hit it out the track where Coco brings it in. Yikes. A’s win. Wow, close. That was just a crazy finish. A’s eek it out in the Bronx. Brandon McCarthy gets a much earned win despite Bailey’s best efforts at blowing it.

10:02PM PDT: 3-2 pitch is low… and Cano walks. A’s 6, Yankees 5. Swisher is up. That last pitch was close. How you don’t swing at that is beyond me, but wow…

9:58PM PDT: 0-for-5 for Teixeira on a pop out to Sizemore in foul ground. Big out. Doesn’t get any easier, Robinson Cano is up.

9:57PM PDT: Bailey loses Granderson 3-2 and loads the bases for Mark Teixeira. Bailey has yet to get a real out, Jeter’s sacrifice remains the only out.

9:54PM PDT: Yankees don’t want him going for hit #3,054 and Derek Jeter lays down a good bunt. Tying run is now on second – one out. Curtis Granderson up…

9:51PM PDT: Sizemore makes the play on a short hop but couldn’t get the ball out of his glove, so the tying run (Gardner) is now on first – still no one out with 3-for-3 Jeter due up.

9:50PM PDT: Russell Martin follows up the Posada HR with a double. Tying run is now at the plate in the name of Brett Gardner.

9:49PM PDT: Andrew Bailey out to close this one out and first batter he faces Jorge Posada (whom I mentioned earlier still is a dangerous hitter) hits his eleventh home run of the year on a hanger. Yankees 6-4.

9:35PM PDT: Play with fire, you get burned. Nick Swisher deposited a shot into the Yankees bullpen in right field. Great outing for Brandon McCarthy with one bad pitch really, but that pitch makes this game 6-3 and chases him from the game in favor of eighth inning man Grant Balfour. Final line on McCarthy is solid, seven and two thirds innings, three earned runs all coming on that HR, eight hits, three walks (high for him but it is New York) and six strikeouts.

9:32PM PDT: Brandon McCarthy walks Curtis Granderson, so there are now men on second (Jeter) and first with nobody out. Still not cause for concern, but the Yankees are able to get back into things in a hurry unlike a lot of clubs…

9:28PM PDT: 3-for-3 for Derek Jeter tonight with a single – that ties him with Rod Carew on the all-time hit list at #22 with 3,053 hits.

9:21PM PDT: I love Glen Kuiper’s description, “only the second deck this time” on Brandon Allen‘s second home run of the game! He took Noesi deep. I love this kid, wow. A’s 6, Yankees 0.

9:17PM PDT: Hector Noesi comes out to pitch for the Yankees. He has an even ERA (3.59) and FIP (3.57) with 6.3 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in his 42 2/3 innings of work this year.

9:01PM PDT: Bob Melvin matches Girardi’s move and replaces Sogard with Scott Sizemore who gets a two-run double into the right field corner to make it 5-0! Point – counter point.

8:58PM PDT: Kurt Suzuki doubles it into the left field corner. Second and third just one out. The A’s can add a few insurance runs, but if they do they won’t be with Bartolo Colon on the mound as Yankees skipper Joe Girardi is out to go get him and insert Boone Logan a left-handed pitcher who comes in with a 2.84 ERA but 3.38 FIP featuring 9.4 K/9.

8:41PM PDT: Willingham drives in Coco Crisp from third and add up their lead to 3-0. Leadoff double on first pitch, by Crisp, first pitch fly out by Hideki Matsui that got Crisp to third, first pitch sac fly to left for Willingham. I said earlier that the A’s need to score runs to drive him out, not just drive up his pitch count to do it, but this is a bit extreme.

8:34PM PDT: Jeter on with a base on balls but wow McCarthy if he missed on that at bat didn’t ever really miss by much and in fact BrooksBaseball.net shows that Jeter may have had a few pitches called his way there.

8:27PM PDT: Leadoff double for Jorge Posada. Nice opposite field swing for him over the head of Willingham. A’s threaten to begin the fifth inning. This lineup is a scary one and can hurt you 1 thru 9. Even Posada having a terrible year at -0.4 WAR and especially by his standards is dangerous with ten home runs this year.

8:24PM PDT: Jemile Weeks trying to join the “I hit my first home run as an Athletic!” club flies out to the warning track where Nick Swisher secures it for the out. End of four and a half, A’s on top.

8:15PM PDT: As Colon starts the fifth, he and Brandon McCarthy are separated by two runs but also by 20 pitches (Colon 67, McCarthy 47). It’d be nice if we could knock him out early care of runs not pitch count because the Yankees pen is tough – 3.18 FIP second only to Atlanta in MLB.

8:08PM EDT: David DeJesus lines it into the glove of Mark Teixeira who doubles off Josh Willingham at first inning over. I seem to recall DeJesus doing this before as well recently?

7:56PM EDT: Derek Jeter is 2-for-2 tonight and now there are runners on second (Russell Martin) and first with just one out and MVP candidate and second in the AL in home runs Curtis Granderson due up…

7:44PM EDT: First deck at Yankee Stadium! Eric Sogard has arrived. Sort of wow. First home run in the career of Eric Sogard, just sneaking it over that right field corner fence a mere 314 ft away. Funny but the two look the same in the box score tomorrow. A’s 2, Yankees 0.

7:40PM EDT: Single for Eric Chavez to right field. Still strange seeing Chavez in the pinstripes…

7:28PM EDT: Third deck at Yankee Stadium! Brandon Allen has arrived. Wow. A’s 1, Yankees 0.

7:13PM EDT: 1-2-3 first for Bartolo Colon – he was lights out against the A’s when he pitched in Oakland and so far looks great today as well throwing just 12 pitches nine for strikes.

7:04PM EDT: The A’s begin a three-game set in New York with new backup catcher Anthony Recker now officially on the 25-man roster. To make move for Recker, the A’s moved Trystan Magnuson from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day disabled list – a move I didn’t see coming, I assumed it would be Daric Barton doing the same – so apparently that shoulder tendinitis is a bit more serious than we may have initially suspected. Despite being with the club, Recker does not get the start behind the plate and the only non-regular in the lineup is Eric Sogard who hits at the bottom of the order. The A’s lineup will be facing Bartolo Colon who has looked good in his two starts versus the A’s this year pitching 16 innings, allowing two earned runs on 12 hits, walking one and striking out ten. The A’s meanwhile put up Brandon McCarthy who at 3.2 WAR still leads the A’s sporting a 3.74 ERA but great 2.82 FIP across 18 starts.