Southern State Sampling

The 2003 World Series was the last time the Florida Marlins hosted the New York Yankees. It didn’t end well for the visiting team that year. Alex Rodriguez was not in pinstripes that Fall Classic. The MVP was missing in action last night in his first chance to play for New York against his hometown team. The 33 year old Yankees third baseman, sat out Friday night’s game with fatigue, but New York still handled the Marlins in a 5-1 final. A flurry of fanatics filled and flooded the Florida stands to fire up a slumping Bombers bunch and Andy Pettitte earned his seventh win of the season.
Manager, Joe Girardi, benched Arod for the first two games against the Florida team he once managed, starting last night. He was plucked from the lineup after being mired in a 13-of-74 slump and batting just .212. Arod is batting a tumultuous .145 this month. Rodriguez agreed the rest would be beneficial in the long run. I think Girardi should have rested his ailing All-star earlier. Why not sit him down during the homestand against the Nationals? I understand playing him with the Red Sox and Mets on tap, but his bat could be grounded for a stretch against Washington. It’s not easy to assess Arod’s weaknesses but he cannot be 100% healthy and hitting .212. Doctors suggested him taking off 4-5 days during the first 45 of his return from hip surgery, but the superstar slugger hadn’t sat out a day until Friday. Rodriguez missed the first 28 games of the season and has just 26 RBIs and 9 homeruns since returning to the team. Alex, back in his hometown of Miami, is available for pinch hitting if the Yankees need his bat against the Fish.
The Yankees bounded back from losing a series to the lowly Washington Nationals. Hats off to Garret Anderson and the Braves who clobbered and bounced the BoSox yesterday. Boston leads the AL East by two games and the Yankees still have time to regroup after their woeful week of inconsistency. Derek Jeter returned to the lineup after being sidelined for two games with a sore left ankle. He collected two hits for the Bombers, while Melky Cabrera clubbed his seventh round-tripper of the year. Jeter’s leadoff ground-rule double in the first tied him for fourth most in Yankees history with Babe Ruth. The captain and the Bambino both have 423 career double baggers. Mark Teixeiria moved Jeter to third on a base hit. Jorge Posada was the catcher Friday, and with National League rules in place, cannot be the designated hitter. The only plate time Posada will see will be in games he is also behind the plate defensively. Posada juiced a single off Sean West to right field after Teixeira and Jeter also capitalized in the first inning. The scrappy single scored Jeter to put New York on the board. It is a tough decision for Girardi to make with Posada and Francisco Cervelli on the roster and facing National League clubs. The word around the Yankees clubhouse is pitchers prefer Cervelli because he manages the game and is better defensively. Posada has the hotter bat but obviously cannot provide steam if he can’t catch.
Pettitte was the snazzy, scintillating southpaw we all now and love on the mound, but he helped his own cause with a rare, remarkable at-bat. His plate appearance resulted in a second-inning RBI double. It was the lefty’s first double since July 2006. Andy’s act highlighted a five hit, three run inning for the Yankees. Friday fill-in, Angel Berroa, doubled to left to score Cano for the third run. Berroa reached home on Pettite’s double, also to left field. Jeter and Pettitte came around to score on Johnny Damon’s ensuing single. The Fish took another plunge in the third on Cabrera’s 3-1 blast. Florida trailed New York by five runs in the bottom of the third. The Marlins only answer against Pettitte and two Bomber relievers was Cody Ross’ solo shot in that inning.
Pettitte improved to 7-3 on the season, tossing seven strong innings and striking out seven Marlins. He didn’t allow a walk and yielded just a run on three hits. Pettitte is 4-1 in six road starts this season. Brian Bruney and Brett Tomko pitched two hitless innings in relief for New York. The Yankees didn’t have to waste their bullpen because Petttitte gave them length. West was chased early as the Yankees were able to slice balls and scatter hits throughout the Florida ballpark. Every Yankee starter had at least one hit by the fifth inning. West took the loss and gave up ten runs in four innings. He fanned seven in his first appearance against the Yankees. The hurler was unable to shutdown New York even without their number four hitter, and the Yankees took the opener of the three-game interleague set. Renyel Pinto, a recently-activated reliever for the Marlins, threw a scoreless inning from the bullpen.
It was nice to see the Yankees win a game after dropping some with bad showings. I was unimpressed by the Bombers’ efforts this entire week. It cooled my marrow to see the deplorable and depleted Yankees. But they got off their schnide with an incredulous effort against the middling Marlins Friday. The residue and reminders of repulsive play was forgotten, at least for a day. Today’s Game 2 pits Josh Johnson against A.J. Burnett.
Here is a sampling of other statistics from Friday night:

3 Marlins struck out two times and Florida left three men on base

The Yankees stranded 11 runners. That’s seven more than the Marlins, but considering how often Florida reached base, that number makes sense. Nick Swisher is a big culprit here. It’s either feast or famine with him, despite him being patient in the box. Swisher, while greatly improved, is not an everyday player

Jeter committed his third error of the season

The Marlins converted three double plays. This seems to be an issue with the Bombers offensively. They have to cut down on the number of double plays they hit into

The Yankees went a second game without hitting a homerun. They did deck four doubles

Pettitte threw 108 pitches, 66 for strikes in one of the best outings of the season for him


Parting points: Rafael Nadal won’t be able to defend his Wimbledon crown. He won’t compete this year, due to a knee injury.

Ohio State hoops news: Evan Turner was the most impressive player at the national team trials. The 6 ft.7 forward should be an NBA lottery pick next Spring.

Two songs for today- “South Central Rain”- R.E.M.
“Take Me Home Tonight”- Eddie Money