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New York (81-62) at Rays (60-85)
7:15; Tropicana Field
FSN Florida
Well, I am not going to even talk about "it". As far as I'm concerned, it never happened. The way Lou has screwed around with Corcoran, it was bound to happen soon, and just putting Brazelton in the game, you are just looking for trouble. But I was very impressed with Joe Beimel and his impressive four innings of work. Other than that, nothing happened as far as I'm concerned. You want a take on the game? Go read the box score, cause I ain't talking about it. Let's just hope we can reverse the trend tonight, as we did in our last home series.
I do have another bone to pick, though, before I move on. On a recent sports update by Whitney Johnson on 620, it was stated that Vince Naimoli said to them during the course of a chat that he's become "convince that the area isn't a good baseball town" and that "he might as well just pack it up now" after last night's low attendance. Well, I am on record as saying the only thing that keeps me from hating Vince is his loyalty to the area and getting us a team. Well Vince, you have an amazing ability to piss off anyone who may actually support you, and your stupid, unecessary remarks. Maybe if you weren't such a cheap, pompous, surly jerk, more people would show up to games like this. Are you following my logic. It is people like you, and the late Hugh Culverhouse that are the reason attendance was/is so low, but at least Culverhouse wasn't a jerk, and didn't make one moronic comment after the other. I don't know whether you think 30,000 Yankee fans constitutes a good baseball town anyways, but this area has not, and will not, support a losing team and their jackass of an owner. You sir, have gone too far, and to ailienate whatever fan base you have left is beyond stupid. Maybe this is your idea of a parting shot as you bow out to Sternberg, I don't know. But hopefully it is just that, "a parting shot".
PITCHING MATCHUP:
NYY-RH Chien-Ming Wang (6-4, 3.97)
Rays-LH Mark "Lurch" Hendrickson (9-7, 6.06)
BREAKDOWN: Well, I'm already running late, so after that little rant, it is time to actually get to the game. After the Game Which Will Not Be Talked About last night, the Rays try to rebound by sending a surging Lurch up against Yankees find C.M Wang. Wang takes the mound today for the Yanks, and is making his second straight start against the Rays, his first to since being DL'd for two months. He did okay in his first time back, going five innings, giving up eight hits and three runs. He didn't do too much control wise, with an even K:BB at 2:2. Wang has lost in three outings against the Rays, struggling mightily in two other starts, posting an ERA of 6.88 in his three starts. What's more, his control, as I mentioned, has been offf, as Wang has had more walks than strikeouts, 7 to 6 against the Rays. Let's expose Wang for what he really is, a patchwork fluke for a desperate team.
Taking the mound for the Rays is the red-hot lefty Mark Hendrickson. Lurch has lowered his ERA to within striking distance of 6, and could end up with a 5.75 ERA or lower on the year if he keeps it up. He has won his last five decisions to run his record to two games over .500 at 9-7. He beat Wang and the Yanks last Thursday, and would have shutout the Yanks if it weren't for a bad seventh inning in an eventual 7-4 win. Lurch has been a Yankee-killer this season, as he is 3-0 in four starts against the Bombers. Since not retiring a batter on July 20th in Boston, Lurch has not lost a game, and since July 31st vs. Kansas City, his ERA is just 4.12. Even more impressive is Lurch's 28:12 K:BB, which includes rare high strikeout totals of five, six, and seven. Honestly, if you take out June and July, Lurch has had a decent year. Those two months have resulted in a cumulative ERA of 8.97. His other months? That ERA drops to 4.27. So Lurch hasn't been as bad as his ERA indicates, and hopefully he can earn another W tonight for us.
THE BOTTOM LINE: The bottom line is let's not let that happen again. That got soooo far out of hand, and was truely disgusting. I don't want to have to go to my place of study tomorrow and hear the taunts of ignorant fools. Other than that, the bottom line for Lurch should be to try to keep the ball out of play as he has done in the high strikeout games. If you let hitters put too many balls in play, then some of them, using basic probability, will drop in for hits. Where balls drop in the field of play is only the hitters' general decision. You can hit to the opposite field, but whether it lands in a glove or on the turf is mostly luck. If Lurch can sit more atters down, even if it results in a few more walks, he should be able to keep their offense in check. But if Lurch has another low walk, low strikeout game, it could get ugly, and we know by now what that looks like.
GO RAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!