Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Mo Blows One and Proctor's Done

What a game last night. Johnson actually pitched well (which doesn't mean much against a team that's 30 games under .500), and then Mo came in. Can you say, "here we go again"?

Then Eduardo Perez came up and changed everything. Perez belongs in the annals of the great Yankee killers over the years, including Juan Gonzalez, Jay Buhner, and Edgar Martinez.

And Mariano is officially off his game right now. Nobody is dumb enough to say the guy is done. We thought so in April, and then Mo reeled off about 30 scoreless innings in a row. That sure shut everyone up. But recently, he's blown a couple of saves, and don't forget that loss against the White Sox last Wednesday. The guy is giving up a lot more fly balls than usual. So even though Mo isn't done, it's nice to see him slumping. And right before September, no less: he couldn't have picked a better time to go south.

And Scott Proctor's Yankee career is over. George does not like guys who give up walk-off hits or walks. In '03, Weaver gave up a walk-off shot to Alex Gonzalez; that was it for his Yankee career. Earlier this year, Stanton gave one up to Brian Roberts; two days later, goodbye. Can you say, "designated for assignment"?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sturtze blows the save and gets the loss on a double and wild pitch. It wasn't quite a walk-off wild pitch since it happened in the eigth inning, but Steinbrenner can't be pleased all the same.

So even though Boston lost, the Yankees are still back 4 1/2.

Meanwhile, Dan Scotto at Beyond the Boxscore likes the Yankees' chances for not making the playoffs. (Boston wins the east, and Cleveland gets the wildcard.)