The Indians have become a pretty big pain in the ass. They pitch pretty well and have been able to do just enough offensively to win these games, but this is still a team the Yankees are supposed to beat up on. That's now four losses in five games to Cleveland in the last eleven days.
Tanaka was not especially sharp last night. He really didn't command his offspeed stuff very well and had trouble getting guys to chase as much as they normally do. His defense didn't do him any favors either. He made the pitch he had to make to get out of a jam in the fifth and induced a weak grounder to Brendan Ryan who botched the transfer and let a run walk in to give Cleveland a 2-1 lead. Then in the 6th McCann reached into the stands on a foul-pop off the bat of Carlos Santana and let the ball fall right off his mitt to extend the at-bat. Naturally Santana ripped the next pitch into the right field seats to make it 3-1. All in all for Tanaka it wasn't a poor performance by any stretch but a far cry from the masterpiece he spun last Saturday in Toronto. Last night called for an ace like effort to get a win and he simply was not up to the task.
On the other end, Carlos Carrasco most definitely was. He pitched even better last night than he did last Tuesday. If the Yanks hadn't chased him out of the game with two outs in the 7th they may not have squared up a pitch all night. One run, five hits, one walk, 11 Ks. The Indian's bullpen and defense bent a little bit and let the Yanks get back in the game in the 7th and 8th innings but three runs in the top of the 9th gave Cleveland enough of a lead to seal the deal.
I took issue with a couple of decisions by Girardi last night. First off, sitting Ellsbury. I get that he'd played a number of days in a row and they don't have a day off until Thursday and that the Indians are throwing four right-handers in a row so there's really no opportune day to give him a break. But I felt like we really needed all the help we could get last night and I would've really liked to have gone to battle against Carrasco with my $153 million leadoff guy. Especially when you're going to pinch-hit with him in the seventh and have him play two innings in the field anyway. Not to mention the guy you replaced him with in the lineup hits about .150 against righties.
The other one was to pitch to Brantley in the 9th with runners on second and third with one out. The score's 4-3 at that point and you have to keep it there. The only way you're getting out of that inning unscathed is by striking out Brantley and that was not going to happen. I have confidence in Justin Wilson and you had the lefty-lefty match-up there but Brantley is one of the very best hitters in baseball, not to mention the fact that he hits .311 against lefthanders. You stay away from him, load the bases for that fat bastard Carlos Santana and try to get him to bounce into a double play. Once Brantley ripped that single the game was effectively over.
While those two moves peeved me a bit they don't really compare to the hate fire I have burning for Jose Ramirez.
You've gotta be fucking kidding me with this guy. In five games against the Yankees this year he's 10 for 22 (.455) with five runs scored. He's hitting .184 against everyone else in baseball but when he plays the Yankees he turns into fucking Rogers Hornsby. Between him and this chubby Dominican dude named Abraham making highlight reel catches every night in center field I'm going to lose my fucking mind before this series is over.
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