raul ibanez | The Baseball Zealot

Yankees Turn to Sabathia on 3 Days Rest

85125458JM010_BALTIMORE_ORI C.C. Sabathia was matched up against fellow Cleveland Indians starter Cliff Lee in the opener of the Series. Lee outpitched C.C. in that game, but only Sabathia was ready to go on three days rest, Cliff would need one more day before he could go. So on Sunday night Joe Blanton would answer the bell for the Phillies versus big C.C.

Derek Jeter got the Yankees going in the 1st with a leadoff single, went to 3rd on a Johnny Damon double, and Derek would score on a Mark Teixeira groundout, and then Damon would be plated on a Jorge Posada sacrifice fly, after Alex Rodriguez was drilled by a pitch, Yanks up 2-0 with the Phils coming to bat. Back to back first inning doubles by Shane Victorino & Chase Utley would cut it to a one run game, 2-1 after one.

BIG Ryan Howard got a leadoff single in the bottom of the 4th, stole 2nd, and scored on a Pedro Feliz base knock to knot the game at two. It was time for New York to get to work in the top of the fifth, Nick Swisher started it with a base on balls, went to 2nd on a Melky Cabrera single, and then C.C. Sabathia struckout trying to bunt the runners up. With one out Derek Jeter plated Swisher with a single, then Cabrera scored on a base hit off the bat of Damon, and the Yanks again had a two run lead, 4-2.

The Phillies got their first two guys on in the bottom of the 5th as Jimmy Rollins singled & Shane Victorino walked, bringing up Chase Utley (who had homered twice in game one off C.C.), BIG Ryan Howard, and Jayson Werth, the meat of the order. Two popouts & a strikeout later, and the threat was over. Neither starting pitcher allowed a run in the 6th, Ben Francisco batted for Blanton, ending his night.

Chan Ho Park pitched a scoreless 7th. When Sabathia delivered his 98th pitch of the night in the 7th it struck me, while thinking about this superhuman’s accomplishments, pitchers routinely went the distance in the olden days, often times throwing 200 pitches in a game, sometimes working on two days rest. Still it was great to see this workhorse, C.C., going about his job, mowing down the top of the Phillies order, one, two… But then Utley chased Sabathia from the game with his third home run of the Series off C.C. (so much for platooning), once again it was a one run ballgame, all six Philadelphia home runs being solo shots. Damaso Marte was brought on to get BIG Ryan Howard to popup to end the inning, 4-3 NY.

There were two on & one out in the top of the 8th, Nick Swisher could’ve iced it, but he took strike three down the middle, shaking his head, rather than lighting up reliever Ryan Madson. Joe Girardi didn’t want to have Mariano Rivera pitch more than one inning, thus Joba Chamberlain was called on to face the hot hitting Jayson Werth (down on strikes), Raul Ibanez (K’s him on heat), & Pedro Feliz took the kid over the wall for a game tying homer. Oh brother, wasn’t supposed to happen that way if you’re a Yankees fan, what a ballgame, what a Series! A wicked breaking ball to Carlos Ruiz, and Joba’s struckout the side, but now it’s all tied at four, going into the 9th.

I know this from experience, sometimes you try to save your closer for tomorrow, and then there is no tomorrow. Chamberlain looked overpowering, but Rivera is overpowering. Charlie Manuel called on his closer Brad Lidge to work a tie ballgame in the top of the 9th, getting the first two before Damon singled to left, stole 2nd & went around Feliz, and went all the way to 3rd (the Phillies had a shift on for Teixeira), he’s credited with 2 SBs on that one play. Lidge hits Teixeira, bringing up ARod (1 for 13 in the Series). Alex hits a double off the leftfield wall, big moments for big players. With the Yankees up, Mo starts seriously loosening up to try to close it out with the lead. A couple of insurance runs score when Posada delivers a single into leftcenter, continuing on to 2nd, where he is tagged out easily, 7-4 Yanks.

Not that it matters, but Rivera faces pinch hitter Matt Stairs and then the top of the order. A groundout, a popout, & a groundout, all three to firstbase, and it’s over. The Bronx Bombers now have a three games to one Series lead, with one ballgame in Philadelphia before heading back to New York (if necessary). Philadelphia needs to win three straight, if not impossible, close to it. Game five features Cliff Lee versus nasty A.J. Burnett on three days rest. Joba Chamberlain was credited with the win in this one, but we all know it was C.C. Sabathia on three days, getting the job done.

Nasty A.J. Dominates Phils, Series Even at One

aj-burnett A.J. Burnett is one of baseball’s nastiest pitchers and he brought his nasty stuff to the mound for game two versus the Phils, against Pedro Martinez. Philadelphia jumped out to an early 2nd inning lead when Matt Stairs’ single(?) under the glove of Alex Rodriguez plated Raul Ibanez, who’d doubled to left with 2 outs. It seemed more like an aberration, rather than a sign of things to come. A.J. is either on or off and he looked on from the start in this one.

Mark Teixeira took a Pedro pitch over the centerfield fence leading off the top of the 4th and the game was knotted at one. Godzilla, or Shemp if you prefer, Hideki Matsui drove one out to right in the 6th, giving New York the 2-1 advantage. Down by a run, Charlie Manuel allowed Martinez to pitch to Jerry Hairston, Jr., and the second guessing began when JH2 hit a soft single to right. Joe Girardi jumped on this opportunity by inserting pinch runner Brett Gardner at first. Gardner went to 3rd on a Melky Cabrera hit to right (for sure Pedro shouldn’t have been allowed to pitch to Melky, but perhaps Manuel was thinking a bunt was in order). That was it for Pedro, when Jorge Posada was announced as the pinch hitter for Jose Molina. Jorge’s single to center off Chan Ho Park gave the Yankees a little insurance now up 3-1.

It seemed insurmountable with A.J. dealing on the mound for the Yanks, and it was. Burnett allowed only 4 hits over 7 innings, striking out 9, before giving way to Mariano Rivera for the two inning save. This game was a pivotal one for the Series, if Philly had won the first two in New York, it would’ve been very tough for the Yankees to comeback. But now with the series at one win apiece, the home field advantage was gone, but the Phillies would need to win three straight in the city of brotherly love in order to maintain that advantage.

Kershaw Can’t Survive Wild Stretch

Cardinals Dodgers Baseball To say the opening game between the Dodgers and Phillies last night was exciting, would be a stretch, it was a close game, ending at 8-6 Philadelphia, but it was over four hours long. LA hurlers walked seven batters, coincidentally they were the only Dodger pitchers that were scored upon.

James Loney took Cole Hamels deep to give the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead. Surprisingly Clayton Kershaw was rolling along, pitching almost exclusively from the windup. Shane Victorino picked up a first inning single, Chase Utley lined out hard to CF, but then Kershaw picked off Victorino with Ryan Howard at the plate, SHANE, where were you going? With one out in the 3rd Carlos Ruiz walks, then is bunted to 2nd by Hamels, allowing Clayton to return to the windup, from which he got the third out of the inning. In the 4th the young Dodger lefty walks Howard after retiring the first two hitters on popups, Jayson Werth hits the ball on the nose, but it’s hauled in by Manny Ramirez. A sign of things to come.

Then comes the 5th inning, Raul Ibanez (or as Craig Segar would call him E-BEENEZ) rips a line drive single to left, Kershaw can’t find the strike zone with his curve out of the stretch, bounces a wild pitch, and ends up walking Pedro Feliz. Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt comes out to talk to Kershaw, I don’t know what he told Clayton, but almost before Rick was back in the dugout after delivering his sage advice, Carlos Ruiz sat on a fastball and rode it over the leftfield wall for a three run jack. But the inning wasn’t over, in fact nobody was out. Still the announcers babbled on about how this was a tough decision for Joe Torre because Kershaw was due to bat 2nd in the bottom of the inning, I didn’t get it, did he have to get tattooed a little more before being lifted from the game? The pitcher Cole Hamels walks, this kid was done with a capital D, but then he induced Jimmy Rollins to hit into a fielder’s choice, struckout Victorino on a wild pitch sending JRoll to 2nd, threw his 3rd wild pitch of the inning (all on breaking balls) sending Rollins to 3rd, and walking Utley.

Here is where it gets REALLY crazy! The announcers say, this is a growing up moment, as Joe Torre is leaves Kershaw in the game to face Howard. He was done after he walked Hamels! After Ryan lines a two run double into the corner, Ramon Troncoso is brought in to get Werth. The Dodgers were down 5-1 heading into the home half of the fifth and it looked like the game might be over.

LA had runners at the corners with one out when Andre Ethier hit a tailor made double play grounder to short, Utley threw the relay throw away after Rollins gave him a late feed when he couldn’t get the ball out of his glove. So instead of an inning ending DP, with Manny leading off for the Dodgers in the 6th, Ramirez would bat in the 5th with 2 outs, a run in, and a runner on secondbase. Pitcher Cole Hamels was visibly upset, the Phillies sent a coach to the mound to settle him down. I don’t know what the coaches tell their pitchers, but you guessed it, MANNY BEING MANNY turned on one, putting LA back into the game.

Dodger relievers Ronald Bellisario & Hong-Chih Kuo held the Phillies in check in the 6th & 7th, while Chad Durbin & J.A. Happ (a rookie of the year candidate, but not quite ready as a prime time pitcher) each worked one third of an inning to close out a very shaky 6th, Durbin came on to get the Russell Martin for the 2nd out of the inning, after Loney & Ronnie Belliard had singled off Hamels, to send Cole to the showers. Happ lost pinch hitter Jim Thome on ball four to fill the bases, it’s a good thing a pitching coach didn’t go out there to talk with J.A. Then a bizarre incident occurred in which Joe Torre wanted to send in a pinch runner for Thome, however we all had to wait while Randy Wolf got on his shoes, thus freezing Happ. Rafael Furcal grounded out to Utley to end the threat.

In the bottom of the 7th Antanio Bastardo (what a Bastard-Oh) allows a leadoff double to Andre Ethier (what was Antonio even doing in the game, on the roster?) and is replaced by veteran Chan Ho Park. Chan Ho gets Ramirez, Matt Kemp, & Casey Blake to earn a well deserved hold.

Former closer, lefthander, George Sherrill was brought on to face the Phils in the top of the 8th in a one run game, sometimes closers do better in save situations. Rick Honeycutt again comes out to talk with his pitcher after Sherrill walks the first two batters he’s faced, you guessed it, on the very first pitch to Raul Ibanez, he launches a three run blast, again seemingly putting this game on ice.

Ryan Madson, alot of the talking heads thought he should be the team’s closer, was brought on to throw a little batting practice in the 8th inning, and make the game a little interesting. There was a coaching visit to the mound after Loney & Belliard opened with base knocks, but Martin only produced a run scoring single, rather than a three run dinger, what a bum! Pinch hitter Juan Pierre hits a comebacker, which Madson fires to Utley to get the first out of the inning, leaving runners at 1st & 3rd. After Furcal’s sac fly to Werth in right, Ethier kept the inning alive with a single to right, Ryan got Manny on a grounder to third to end the inning. Phillies fans let out a huge sigh of relief.

But before Philadelphia fans could relax too much, it was the 9th inning, and Brad Lidge time. I remember Lidge fondly from the 2005 World Series, where the White Sox beat him twice, no saves, with a 4.91 ERA, he was even worse for the Astros in the LCS versus the Cardinals, although he did save three games, he had a loss, and a 7.20 ERA. Last season was magical for Brad & the Phillies, as he was a perfect 41 for 41 in saves during the regular season, with a 1.95 ERA, earning 7 more postseason saves in 2008. What a difference a year makes, as he struggled all season long, a 7.21 ERA to go along with an 0-8 record, while converting only 31 of 42 save opportunities. The ship seemed to have been righted in the LDS against the Rockies as he converted his only two save chances.

Kemp greeted Lidge with a hard basehit to left, then Blake tore the cover off the ball, but hit it right at Utley on the ground for an easy (once Chase fielded the hardhit ball) DP. Loney walks, but Brad gets Belliard to pop to short to end the game with Loney on 2nd.

The Dodgers outhit the Phillies 14 to 8, but lost the game mainly because of wildness, maybe if they had started somebody else. Everybody seems to be talking about Chad Billingsley, but he may be hurt, as he has not been throwing well. Still what about Hiroki Kuroda or Vicente Padilla, or why was Jon Garland left off the playoff roster, out of the mix? Veteran righthander Garland was 3-2 with a very nice 2.72 ERA for LA this season in six starts and was 1-0 in two starts for the White Sox in postseason play in 2005 with a 2.25 ERA over 16 innings pitched. You might call it hindsight, but you are not going to win very many ballgames walking seven, Jon has walked under two batters per start for his career.

Dunno which was worse, this long drawn out game or listening to the three jackasses in the booth, headed by Chip Caray, fill airtime, talking nonsense. Never thought I would say this, but were Tim McCarver & Hawk Harrelson busy? Just kidding, but these guys are brutal, no insight at all!

Ibanez a bit testy over steroid allegation

What can Raul Ibanez do to prove he’s clean of steroids? Whatever it is, he’ll do it.

Responding to a posting on midwestsportsfans.com and the comments that ensued that implicated him of using PEDs, Ibanez is willing to go above and beyond to prove he’s innocent.

"You can have my urine, my hair, my blood, my stool — anything you can test," Ibanez said, according to the report. "I’ll give you back every dime I’ve ever made" if the test is positive, he added.

But he also wants to hold people accountable for their statements:

"I’ll put that up against the jobs of anyone who writes this stuff," he said, according to the Inquirer. "Make them accountable. There should be more credibility than some 42-year-old blogger typing in his mother’s basement. It demeans everything you’ve done with one stroke of the pen.

“Mother’s basement”… ouch!

For what it’s worth, the article on midwestsportsfans.com makes a bold assertion but is well thought out, not leaning toward the sensationalistic and backed up by stats. Plus it looks at all sides of the issues. The comments, of course are not. But that is the nature of discourse.

But I’m not taking sides here… I don’t want Raul showing at on my door with a vial of urine or anything.