Well, that was a weird, long game. Nobody pitched well until the sixth inning and as a result balls were being splattered all over the ballpark through the first five. At that point the score had settled at 9-11 and it stayed that way for two and a half innings, a relatively long period of time for this game (though the time on the clock probably moved the fastest during those innings.)
Buchholz got hit hard this during this game and he only worked three and two thirds of an inning. Having seen him just recently, the Yankees had a plan for how to deal with him-it involved them being all over his fastball whenever they saw it.
He got roughed up right out of the chute. In the first inning he gave up three hits, including two homeruns. On a positive note, he didn't seem to let his performance affect him when he came back out for innings two and three. In the second inning he got two ground outs, gave up a base hit, and got a strike out. In the third inning, he got a ground out, a line out, and a swinging strike out from Alex Rodriguez (to whom he had given up the second home run in the first.) They weren't easy outs though, the batters kept fouling of the pitches; they were epic battles for a rookie pitcher allowed only a limited number of pitches per outing.
For Buchholz the fourth inning was started off by him giving up a base hit to Matsui. He got Posada to fly out to center but then gave Giambi a base hit. He got Cano to fly out to center but then gave Moeller (the back-up, back-up catcher) a base hit and allowed the Yankees to plate another run. He then walked Cabrera (it was the only walk he allowed), which loaded the bases for Jeter. Jeter also got a base hit and two more runs scored before Francona pulled him out of there.
Overall, he faced twenty batters and threw eighty-five pitches, fifty-three of them for strikes and thirty-two of them for balls. He allowed eight hits and seven runs, while striking out only two and walking only one. Not a good showing but nothing to be really worried about. He's young and still learning. These guys saw him less than a week ago and they obviously adjusted their approach based on what they saw Friday and he either didn't adjust or didn't adjust enough to them to negate their efforts. No doubt, being the competitive sort, this experience will help him prepare better for future games.
When he was yanked from the game, he was replaced by Tavarez. Tavarez didn't perform well tonight, to say the least, but I'm not ready to be totally down on him again. He went two and a third innings just two nights ago and, as Remy pointed out, he looked totally gassed for his inning and a third. He struck out the first batter he faced but only after he threw a wild pitch that got away from Varitek and allowed another run to score in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning, he gave up three hits (including a double), two walks, and allowed four runs to score. He did get two put outs at first and Melky Cabrera grounded into a fielder's choice for the force out at second to get him out of the inning.
David Aardsma came in for the sixth and seventh innings and managed to hold down the fort. In the sixth, he got a fly out to left, hit Alex Rodriguez with a pitch, got a fly out to center, and a pop up to Lugo-no damage done. In the seventh inning, he got a fly out to center and a put out at first. He then gave up a base hit to Moeller and what looked to be a double to Melky Cabrera-and it would have been, if it hadn't been for a nice defensive play by Drew and Lugo for the tag out at second to end the inning. And Amelie Benjamin kept insisting that he'd be the one DFA'd. Ha! I knew it wouldn't be so.
Mike Timlin appeared for the eighth inning and struggled again. He faced eight batters and threw twenty-eight pitches (seventeen of them for strikes.) He gave up three hits-all of them doubles, accidentally walked one, intentionally walked one, and struck out one. But he allowed four runs.
The offense was all over the place tonight-they batted around in the fifth. Pedroia, Varitek, and Manny each had a double. And everyone, with the exception of Jacoby, had at least one base hit. Drew had the most with three, Manny and Casey each had two, and Pedroia, Ortiz, Youkilis, and Lugo each had one.
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