We Hate LaTroy Hawkins Recap

Okay, we really don't hate the guy, just the way he pitches and we hate that Brian Cashman signed him. How many times this off-season did we hear people say it's a good deal, because it's for only one year. That's one year too many. We had seen his exploits over the years and we knew he was not the guy that the Yankees pen needed.

For the 2nd times in two days, Hawkins took a game the Yankees could have won and it turned it into a loss. Hawkins was brought into to protect a one run lead in the bottom of the 11th, because Mariano Rivera had already thrown 2 innings. The only other reliever left to choose from was Jose Veras, who also stunk up the joint on Monday.

The Yankees had taken a 9-8 lead in the top of the 11th though they should have gotten more after loading the bases with no one out. But with the infield in, Alex Rodriguez hit a bullet to Brian Roberts, who played it on a hop and fired home to force Johnny Damon. Catcher Ramon Hernandez then threw to third to force out Derek Jeter for an odd 4-2-5 double play. Hideki Matsui was clutch again though, singling back up the middle to score Bobby Abreu from 2nd to give the Yankees their third lead of the night. But just like the first two leads, the Yankees would squander it.

Melvin Mora lead off the bottom with a 1-out single and one batter later Aubrey Huff hit a ball in the gap to left-center. Mora scored easily ahead of Derek Jeter's ill advised relay throw home, which allowed Huff to advance to 3rd Base. The Yankees intentionally walked Kevin Millar to set up a potential double play, but Alex Cintron drove a ball to deep right for a game winning single.

The Yankees appeared to be in control of the game, not once, but twice. Jason Giambi's 1-out home run off of Brian Burres in the 2nd inning gave the Yankees an early 1-0 lead. Later in the inning with two men aboard, Johnny Damon drove one over the right field fence for a 3-run home run and a 4-0 lead. But the Orioles answered back quickly against shaky starter Ian Kennedy.

Kevin Millar belted a 1-out, 2-run home run in the bottom of the 2nd to cut the lead in half. Hernandez then made it back-to-back shots with a solo home run to left-center. The Orioles then came up with the tying run thanks to some poor play by the Yankees. Adam Jones singled and moved to 2nd on a fly ball for the 2nd out. A Jose Molina passed ball allowed Jones to move to 3rd and then he scored with Alex Rodriguez threw away Brian Roberts grounder. A Kennedy wild pitch moved Roberts into scoring position before IPK finally struck out Mora to end the inning.

The Yankees struck against Burres again in the 4th. With 2 outs, Damon doubled and scored a Jeter single for a 5-4 lead. Abreu then crushed a pitch to right for a 2-run home run and a 7-4 lead. And the Yankees weren't done as they went back-to-back when Alex Rodriguez hit home run number 525. It was the final pitch that Burres would throw on the night.

Kennedy had a relatively easy 3rd inning, but Ross Ohlendorf stood on the mound to start the bottom of the 4th. It turned out that Kennedy had strained a Lat muscle in his back and will be placed on the DL today.

Ohlendorf breezed through the 4th, but his 5th inning showed why we don't think he should pitching at the major league level right now. Roberts opened the inning with a single and Mora followed with a 2-run home run to left-center to cut the lead in half (Deja vu anyone?). Two outs later, Luke Scott and Millar went back-to-back to tie the game at 8-8.

The Yankees had a chance to take the lead in the 9th when rain starting falling in buckets. Johnny Damon lead off with a double against O's closer George Sherrill and A-Rod drew a 2-out walk. The two then pulled off a double steal to put two men in scoring position as the rains came even heavier. But much to Joe Girardi's consternation, the umpires would not stop play, even though Hideki Matsui was having trouble seeing through the rain drops. Girardi was further incensed when Matsui lined out to end the inning and then the umpires stopped play for an hour.

News and Notes

It was a bad night for Derek Jeter. Errors, strike outs, they happen, but when do you see Derek Jeter make mental errors? Jeter was on 2nd Base with 2 outs in the 6th with Bobby Abreu on 1st and Alex Rodriguez at the plate. Reliever Dennis Sarfate came on and didn't have to throw a pitch. Instead he spun around and fired to 2nd Baseman Brian Roberts to easily pick the napping Jeter off of 2nd to end the inning.

Jeter also couldn't get a sac bunt down in the 9th after Johnny Damon's double and struck out when he still had a chance to move him to 3rd by hitting to the right side. The ill advised throw home we mentioned, may not be on Jeter though since someone in the infield has to let him know whether to make a throw or eat it. It was also an odd night considering he was 2-5 with an RBI, a run scored, and a stolen base.

Alex Rodriguez had a rough night in the field, committing a pair of throwing errors. He had just 2 errors entering the game.

Edwar Ramirez threw 1.1 scoreless innings to extend his streak to 14 innings over 12 games. It was the first game this season that he didn't strike out a batter.

Kevin Millar continues to kill the Yankees. This season he's 12-33 (.364) with 4 HR and 5 RBI.

May 27, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11		R	H	E
NY Yankees	0	4	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	1		9	15	3
Baltimore	0	4	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	2		10	16	2

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, CF-LF	5	2	4	3	1	0	0	.280
Jeter, SS	5	1	2	1	0	1	2	.286
Abreu, RF	4	2	2	2	2	1	2	.292
Rodriguez, 3B	5	1	1	1	1	1	4	.286
Matsui, LF	6	0	1	1	0	0	2	.326
Cabrera, CF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.249
Giambi, DH	6	1	2	1	0	2	2	.235
Betemit, 1B	5	1	2	0	0	1	1	.290
Cano, 2B	5	1	1	0	0	0	1	.223
Molina, C	5	0	0	0	0	0	3	.206
Totals	46	9	15	9	4	6	17
BATTING 2B: Giambi (9, Burres), Damon 2 (16, Burres, Sherrill). HR: Giambi (10, 2nd inning off Burres, 0 on, 1 out), Damon (6, 2nd inning off Burres, 2 on, 2 out), Abreu (7, 4th inning off Burres, 1 on, 2 out), Rodriguez (7, 4th inning off Burres, 0 on, 2 out). TB: Damon 9; Jeter 2; Abreu 5; Rodriguez 4; Matsui; Giambi 6; Betemit 2; Cano. RBI: Giambi (25), Damon 3 (23), Jeter (24), Abreu 2 (34), Rodriguez (17), Matsui (24). 2-out RBI: Damon 3; Jeter; Abreu 2; Rodriguez; Matsui. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Betemit; Matsui 2; Giambi 2. GIDP: Rodriguez. Team LOB: 9. BASERUNNING SB: Jeter (4, 2nd base off Cormier/Hernandez, R), Rodriguez (4, 2nd base off Sherrill/Hernandez, R), Damon (7, 3rd base off Sherrill/Hernandez, R). PO: Jeter (2nd base by Sarfate). FIELDING E: Rodriguez 2 (4, throw, throw), Cano (5, fielding). PB: Molina (4). Outfield assists: Abreu (Millar at home). DP: 2 (Jeter-Cano-Betemit, Cano-Betemit). NY Yankees IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Kennedy 3.0 4 4 3 0 3 2 7.41 Ohlendorf 2.1 4 4 4 0 2 3 6.37 Ramirez 1.1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 Farnsworth 1.1 1 0 0 2 0 0 4.24 Rivera 2.0 1 0 0 1 3 0 0.41 Hawkins (BS, 1)(L, 1-1) 0.1 3 2 2 2 0 0 6.75

Baltimore	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Roberts, 2B	5	1	2	0	1	0	2	.262
Mora, 3B	6	2	3	2	0	2	3	.247
Markakis, RF	6	0	0	0	0	1	3	.250
Huff, DH	6	2	2	1	0	2	0	.249
Scott, LF	5	1	1	1	1	1	1	.248
Millar, 1B	5	2	3	3	1	0	1	.246
2-Hernandez, L, PR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.241
Hernandez, R, C	5	1	3	1	0	1	0	.229
1-Cintron, PR-SS	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	.500
Jones, CF	4	1	1	0	1	1	2	.253
Bynum, SS	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	.220
a-Payton, PH	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.237
Quiroz, C	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.244
Totals	46	10	16	9	5	8	13
a-Walked for Bynum in the 10th. 1-Ran for Hernandez, R in the 10th. 2-Ran for Millar in the 11th.
BATTING 2B: Millar (5, Ramirez), Hernandez, R (6, Rivera), Huff (12, Hawkins). HR: Millar 2 (8, 2nd inning off Kennedy, 1 on, 1 out; 5th inning off Ohlendorf, 0 on, 2 out), Hernandez, R (4, 2nd inning off Kennedy, 0 on, 1 out), Mora (6, 5th inning off Ohlendorf, 1 on, 0 out), Scott (6, 5th inning off Ohlendorf, 0 on, 2 out). TB: Roberts 2; Mora 6; Huff 3; Scott 4; Millar 10; Hernandez, R 7; Cintron; Jones. RBI: Millar 3 (25), Hernandez, R (20), Mora 2 (27), Scott (19), Huff (29), Cintron (1). 2-out RBI: Scott; Millar. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Mora; Markakis; Roberts. S: Bynum. GIDP: Jones; Mora. Team LOB: 11. FIELDING E: Mora 2 (7, throw, missed catch). DP: (Roberts-Quiroz-Mora). Pickoffs: Sarfate (Jeter at 2nd base).

Baltimore	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Burres	3.2	10	8	8	0	0	4	4.15
Cormier	2.0	1	0	0	1	2	0	1.59
Sarfate	1.1	0	0	0	0	1	0	3.38
Johnson	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.27
Sherrill	1.0	1	0	0	1	2	0	3.57
Albers (W, 3-1)	2.0	3	1	1	2	1	0	2.25

WP: Kennedy.
IBB: Roberts (by Farnsworth), Scott (by Hawkins), Millar (by Hawkins),
Rodriguez (by Sherrill), Abreu (by Albers).
HBP: Jeter (by Burres).
Pitches-strikes: Kennedy 51-34, Ohlendorf 28-24, Ramirez 22-13,
Farnsworth 18-9, Rivera 31-17, Hawkins 19-8, Burres 61-40, Cormier 34-21,
Sarfate 14-10, Johnson 4-4, Sherrill 21-11, Albers 33-15.
Ground outs-fly outs: Kennedy 0-6, Ohlendorf 3-2, Ramirez 1-3,
Farnsworth 3-0, Rivera 1-2, Hawkins 0-1, Burres 5-6, Cormier 4-0,
Sarfate 0-2, Johnson 1-2, Sherrill 0-1, Albers 4-1.
Batters faced: Kennedy 15, Ohlendorf 11, Ramirez 7, Farnsworth 5,
Rivera 8, Hawkins 6, Burres 22, Cormier 8, Sarfate 3, Johnson 3, Sherrill 5, Albers 10.
Inherited runners-scored: Farnsworth 1-0, Sarfate 2-0.
Umpires: HP: Doug Eddings. 1B: Ted Barrett. 2B: Dana DeMuth.
3B: Lance Barksdale.
Weather: 88 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 6 mph, Out to RF.
T: 3:52 (1:07 delay).
Att: 24,030.

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