Game 23 Wrap-Up: BAL 7 NYY 1

(Derpity-derp!  Courtesy of The AP)

Phil Hughes' spot in the rotation seems safe for the time being.  The axe already fell on Freddy after his last poor outing, and with Andy still a week or so away, Phil was likely going to get at least one more start after this one.  But with David Phelps getting the chance to shine in Freddy's spot, Phil really needed a good start last night against Baltimore to attempt to secure his spot long term.

Game Notes:

- I damn near fell down dead in the middle of my apartment when Hughes struck out the first batter of the game swinging on a curveball and thought maybe Phil was going to man up tonight.  Boy, was I wrong.  A couple of poorly-placed fastballs up in the zone to Chris Davis in the 2nd and J.J. Hardy in the 3rd led to an early 3-1 lead for the O's.  No matter what happened from then on, Hughes' spot in the rotation was dead as soon as Hardy's shot landed.

- Outside of the latest C-Grand home run in the bottom of the 1st, the Yankee offense was relatively lifeless against Brian Matusz through 6 innings.  They made life easier for him by swinging early in the count way too often, no instance worse than Robinson Cano's 1st-pitch pop out to end the 3rd with runners on 2nd and 3rd, but Matusz was pretty good.

- Hughes recovered from his early struggles to make it through 5.2 without allowing any more runs, but Joe's lack of faith in him continued to be exhibited when he removed Hughes after a HBP with 2 outs and nobody on.  Hughes had been pitching well, but was given no leash, and his night ended in the 6th.

- It was a big pile of suck after Hughes hit the showers, thanks to a pair of hits off of Boone Logan and the abrupt and ugly end to the honeymoon phase of Eduardo Nunez's outfield career on a brutal error that led to 2 more runs and a 6-1 Baltimore lead.

- In consecutive at-bats in the 6th and 7th innings, Alex Rodriguez had a leadoff bunt single and a 1st-pitch pop out to the catcher with the bases loaded.  I've got nothing for that.

- Things got a bit hazy for me after the A-Rod out to end the 7th, but I distinctly remember D.J. Mitchell coming on in the 9th inning to make his Major League debut.  As a big D.J. Mitchell fan, I'm obligated to mention that and to point out that he worked a scoreless frame with 1 K.

- I certainly wasn't expecting a stinker like this from the Yankees last night.  They had no reason or excuse to lay an egg the way they did, so I really don't know what else to say.  Go get 'em today, I guess.

F*ck Yeahs:

- Curtis Granderson: 2-3, 1 HR, 1 R,  1RBI.  No dip in power so far this season.  His swing looks just as dangerous as it did early in 2011.  Miss just a little bit too far over the plate with a fastball and you're screwed.

- Jeter: 3-5, 1 2B.  The only other positive talking point from this game.

Oh Nos:

- Everybody in the Lineup Not Named Granderson or Jeter

Combined 2-26, 2 BB, 6 K, 0 R, 0 RBI, with the only 2 hits coming from A-Rod and 1 of those hits coming on the bunt.  Just an all-around pathetic performance by the Yankee lineup last night.  Special shout-outs to Robbie Cano, who looked absolutely terrible in his 0-4, 2 K night at the plate, Teix for putting up another 0-fer while most everybody in front of him got on base multiple times, and Andruw Jones for going 0-3 with 2 K.

I gave Matusz all the credit I can give him.  Come the fuck on, guys!  It's Brian fucking Matusz!!  Wake up!  You've got your #3 hitter, the guy ranked 5th all time in home runs, squaring to bunt just to try to get on base in one at-bat like some slumping slap hitter and then following that up with a first-pitch reach swing at a borderline strike to pop out to end the next inning with the bases loaded.  You've got a cleanup hitter striking out on 2 long at-bats and then seeing a total of 3 pitches hitting out in his other 2.  Russell Martin barely even exists in the lineup anymore, and except for the few fastballs he's run into, Andruw has been an automatic out when he swings the bat.  Maybe this is why Joe doesn't want to put Swish on the DL for his hamstring.  He knows he can't afford to lose Swish's production with the way everybody else is gagging at the plate!

Clean it up, gentlemen.  Shit is ugly.

Next Up:

It's rubber match time again!  Ivan Nova is scheduled to pitch tonight, not last night like some moron thought, and will face off against Jake Arrieta.  With the way these guys have pitched early on, this one could be 1-0 or 11-10.