WasWatching.com

I confess....I gave up in the 7th.
Turned off the game.
I'm a masochist, so I checked in with ESPN.com an hour later.
Guess what?
On me/yea of so little faith.
An astounding win.
Very needed. Very appreciated.
I said at the beginning of the season that Giambi would be the difference maker.
I am not often right.
With RJ tomorrow and a one-armed K-Rod, things look good.
The gauntlet is set.
Bring on the Los Angeles/California/Anaheim/Hoboken Angels.

Breathtaking comeback win but it shouldn't have been necessary. Like a recurring nightmare, Torre keeps showing us he's a one-trick pony in terms of bullpen management. Up 3 in the 7th last Thursday, against the same team, and also the bottom of their line-up, he pulls Proctor after giving up a lead-off walk, ends up using Gordon an inning earlier than he planned (emergency warm-up) and Gordon gives up the lead. Up 2 in the 7th today, he pulls F Rod after giving up a lead-off walk, uses Embree, who just stepped off the plane, to stop the immortal Adam Kennedy, lefty barbarian God with a baseball bat, ends up bringing Gordon in an inning earlier than expected (emergency warm-up) and Gordon gives up the lead. Then compounds that by leaving the ineffective Gordon in for the 8th whereupon he allows Juan Rivera (not the Rivera who stole Jeter's glove)to kill a pitch to centerfield, placing the Yankees 4 runs in arrears. The 9th inning miracle only serves to obscure the fact that Torre now manages through sheer panic.

I wanted to give up but I didn't. I didn't think they had a chance in hell to make up that deficit against the Anaheim bullpen.

It seemed hopeless - and listening to that idiot McCarver dis on base percentage was pretty infuriating. But the ending made it all worthwhile.

Maybe Embree will know how to pitch to Ortiz.

//The gauntlet is set.
Bring on the Los Angeles/California/Anaheim/Hoboken Angels.//

LOL

It was an interesting game for me, tuning in-wise. I missed the start (we were out with the kids). I saw some of the game on a TV, at a Ralph's Ices, as I was placing an order. (They had a TV inside.) That was around the 3rd inning. Then, we got home, and I caught about an inning. But, we decided to hit the pool for a while - and, the only thing I "saw" was a 2nd hand report from my wife, who went into the house for a minute during the 6th. She came back to the pool and told me about Giambi protesting with the ump. Later, I had to run some more errands - and my daughter and I were in the car - and I heard Giambi's HR on the radio to close the gap. We got home and I had time to see the 9th live on FOX. Good timing on my part.

That 7th and 8th, from what I've seen online, sure did look ugly. And, freaky. Did Franklin really bail out Gordon?

//Maybe Embree will know how to pitch to Ortiz.//

Knowing what to do, and doing it, is the thing. I think the current Yankees *know* what to do....

//Knowing what to do, and doing it, is the thing.//

True. I don't think getting Embree is necessarily a bad thing though. From what I've read his ERA blew up in June, but he started to pitch well again in July. He seemed pretty shocked that the Sox dropped him.

I don't think it's fair to judge him on today's performance. He spent the last 10 days or so in Oregon fishing, took a red eye to New York and landed at 8am this morning. The hit he gave up was a weak blooper. Ok, his throwing error was pretty bad. He should've just ate it as he had no chance to get him even with a good throw. (Of course the first thing that came to mind was that he's a Boston plant:-) But I'm willing to give him a chance.

As I noted on Bronx Banter, Torre did something today that my mom had been begging him to do for a long time. He let Chacon go to the mound in the 7th to throw warm-up pitches and then took him out so he could get a nice round of applause. She was pissed when he didn't do that for Wang during the Cubs series.

Did he do that to be nice, or to buy time for the pen?

I have no idea. I wasn't watching at the time, my mom was. So in her mind he did it to be nice.

Didn't Chacon turn his ankle warming up and they took him out as a precaution? Or did I dream that?

I thought that was before the 6th and he pitched the 6th?

It was either the 5th or the 6th. I think he was more embarrassed than hurt.

no gracious gesture, Steve. F-Rod hadn't warmed up yet.