Shots In The Dark: Last Night in the East

Wednesday, August 15, 2024

Last Night in the East

A poster below takes a shot at the Yankees for getting blown out, 12-0, by the Orioles last night, while the Red Sox came from behind to beat the (thank God for the) Devil Rays, 2-1.

But there's an interesting backstory to this game and why the Yankees lost it.

New York had to pitch a rookie named Jeff Karstens, who got hammered and was gone after three innings, and the game was out of reach after that.

Why? Because Roger Clemens could not pitch, having been suspended for hitting a Toronto Blue Jay—a suspension that was previously referred to on this blog with an epithet. To summarize: The Blue Jays had been throwing at A-Rod for two straight games. They hit him. Clemens hit one of the Blue Jays in retaliation.

The league suspends him for five games.

As I say, a bullshit suspension. But it's cost the Yankees—and now they face the Orioles' best pitcher, Erik Bedard, 12-4 with a 3.11 ERA, tonight. This is a big game.

But Red Sox fans, I wouldn't get too relaxed—it shouldn't take a bottom-of-the-ninth comeback to beat the D-Rays.

¶ 6:34 AM

Comments:

Clemens could have appealed the suspension and he would have been ablle to pitch last night. Not only that, the Yankees are skipping his turn entirely and pushing him back until this weekend. It looks like Clemens and the Yankees wanted some extra time here, so your whining about the suspension is pushing it.

And since when are you giving quality points for wins?

# posted by Anonymous : August 15, 2024 7:48 AM

Clemens could have appealed the suspension, but he would have had to miss a start at some point--probably better now than later. The Yankees are skipping his turn, I would imagine, so that they don't throw off their entire rotation, which is, of course, the smart thing to do.

# posted by Richard Bradley : August 15, 2024 7:52 AM

Weak, Rich. What does it matter who was pitching when you don't score any runs?

# posted by Anonymous : August 15, 2024 8:33 AM

Do you know anything about baseball? The progression of a game is often determined by its early events (obviously), and when one team racks up a bunch of runs early, it frequently takes the other team out of the game. Lopsided early innings create a contagious mood: subsequent pitchers are as lousy as the guy who got knocked out, and the offense on the team that's getting blown out vanishes. That's what happens in a 162-game season. It happens, and it's probably psychologically less meaningful than a 1-0 or 2-1 or 7-6 loss.

# posted by Richard Bradley : August 15, 2024 9:15 AM

So the offense decided to take the night off because they fell behind? OK. Sorry. Got it now.

# posted by Anonymous : August 15, 2024 10:40 AM

It's easy to be sarcastic, but this happens all the time in baseball. When your pitching can't get any traction, the hitting suffers as a result. And sometimes, there's even a practical reason for it. Often, the opposing pitcher can change his style—become more confident, more aggressive—when he's got a big lead, and pitches better a result. And the losing offense has to change its style too; the way you approach at-bat, the way you run the bases, that sort of thing, changes substantially when you're done by a bunch of runs.

As I say, easy to be sarcastic. But being sarcastic stops you from thinking more intersting thoughts about baseball. Why is it, for example, so much easier to pile on when you have a big lead than it is to score runs when you're down by five or six? (See above.)

# posted by Richard Bradley : August 15, 2024 11:04 AM

Sorry for the typos, by the way. Bit rushed today.

# posted by Richard Bradley : August 15, 2024 11:08 AM

What if Clemens had piched and had an off night for the first few innings? It happens.

# posted by Anonymous : August 15, 2024 11:36 AM

Yes, it's easy to be sarcastic. (Almost as easy as it is to be thin-skinned.) But it's hard to blame the League Commissioner for the regular Yankees offensive lineup scoring 0 runs.

To take your side of the argument though, the real story from last night is the fact that the Red Sox scored 5 runs in 2 days against miserable TB pitching. Kazmir was great but he was gone in the 8th and the Sox still couldn't get a run across. Ortiz is hitting pop-ups and Manny got thrown out at second on another mindless running mistake, (Ortiz had gotten to third and the Sox were down by a run, and Manny tried to stretch a single into a double on the throw to third.) At least Gagne looked better (though he did give up a long double), because with the lack of power they are showing, the Sox are going nowhere without rock solid pitching like they've had the last two days from the bottom of their rotation.

# posted by Anonymous : August 15, 2024 11:46 AM

I remember a few weeks ago when Clemens gave up 8 runs in the top of the 2nd inning and the Yankees just gave up, knowing that there was no way they could ever make up those 8 runs.

# posted by Anonymous : August 15, 2024 12:10 PM

Honestly, I don't think I'm thin-skinned. It's just that I get impatient with comments that aren't constructive, but just rely on sarcasm or cheap shots, mostly because they detract from potentially more interesting conversations.

# posted by Richard Bradley : August 15, 2024 12:40 PM

Over and out then. I'll find a blog that accepts morons like me for custmors.

# posted by Anonymous : August 15, 2024 1:14 PM

By all means, if you're aware that you are a moron, find another blog.

Richard, I'm still learning about baseball and I appreciate your explanation as to why games like last night's happen to a team with the offensive and defensive talent the Yankees have. Baseball, like life, is a very emotional game.

Tonight I'm going to spend the evening with a man who is dying of a disease named after a very famous Yankee, Lou Gehrig. This man has had a successful life...he was a fine son and brother, husband and father, uncle, grandfather and friend, and a devout Catholic. He feels like a failure and I'm going to try and convince him otherwise with the truth. Life, like baseball, is an emotional game and it isn't always fair. You really have to be up for it...and try to go down swingin'.

Now play ball, y'all...

lmpaulsen

# posted by Anonymous : August 15, 2024 3:43 PM

I have to say - lmpaulsen has a beautiful way of expressing herself. I like her posts. They are refreshing. I hope your evening with your friend was successful.

Fully aware of my own moronic tendencies but became addicted to reading this blog,
eayny

# posted by Anonymous : August 16, 2024 12:44 AM

Thank you, eayny...nice to hear after a long tough day...and while I don't think I made much of an impact on my friend (I did get a smile out of him and if you knew him, that counts) but was more successful at distracting the family. It's a very difficult situation for them as well.

lmpaulsen

# posted by Anonymous : August 16, 2024 2:23 AM

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