Athletics, Indians, Tigers, Royals, Boo Jays. The White Sox say all the pressure is on us but we're 11-5 against them this year and 7 games up, I say all the pressure is on them.
Unless you're the Mets, it's not going to happen. No one else gives up those types of leads with such few games left in the season.
I think the Yankees are in a pretty good spot no matter how the AL East finishes up. If we win, we most likely get home field against Texas in the first round. If the Rays win, we will probably get to play the Twins in the first round. Not the worst scenario in the world.
Athletics, Indians, Tigers, Royals, Boo Jays. The White Sox say all the pressure is on us but we're 11-5 against them this year and 7 games up, I say all the pressure is on them.
If you guys beat the WS tonight, it's practically a wrap for the AL central.
Unless you're the Mets, it's not going to happen. No one else gives up those types of leads with such few games left in the season.
I think the Yankees are in a pretty good spot no matter how the AL East finishes up. If we win, we most likely get home field against Texas in the first round. If the Rays win, we will probably get to play the Twins in the first round. Not the worst scenario in the world.
Remember, there's still a 4 game series here (in the BX) with them next week Mon-Thurs (I'll be at the Thurs game).
Yeah it's a brutal schedule. After that, Boston comes to town... then at Toronto and then finish up in Boston.
Well, we just came up short in Tampa. Still, it was a great series with 3 playoff intense games. We'll get them when they come here next week for 4 games.
[Show spoiler]CHICAGO -- As they chase their sixth AL Central title in the last 10 seasons, the formula has not changed for Joe Mauer and the Minnesota Twins.
Mauer had three hits, including a three-run homer, and the Twins took a commanding eight-game lead in the division with a 9-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night.
With 17 games left for both teams, Minnesota has basically secured the division barring an epic collapse. The Twins' magic number to win the Central is 10.
"It's great when you're winning. It's even better when different people are doing it every night," Mauer said. "That's what it takes to win. Tonight was my night but tomorrow could be someone else. That's how you win ballgames."
Twins starter Brian Duensing (9-2) pitched six innings, allowing two runs while scattering nine hits. He struck out four and walked one. The left-hander, who was promoted to the rotation in late July, is 6-1 as a starter.
The Twins have won 10 of 11 and have baseball's best record since the All-Star break at 41-16. They improved to 6-2 in Chicago.
Duensing and some of his teammates have started to keep track of the magic number.
"Some of us know it's there. I'm sure if you ask some guys they'll say they're not paying attention," he said. "When you're a starter and you don't throw for four days, you start thinking about that kind of stuff. We know where we're at right now. We just have to keep playing good baseball and get it done."
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said Duensing more than solidified a spot in the rotation.
"That's great! I guess I'll always know when I'm going to pitch," Duensing said. "That's a great compliment. Hopefully he sticks to it."
Mauer is 15 for 27 with four doubles and two home runs at US Cellular Field this season and is 30 for 66 overall for a .455 average against the White Sox.
"I like hitting here. I don't know what it is. It's a great place to hit. It's a great pitching staff. I just like hitting here for some reason," Mauer said.
Carlos Quentin hit a two-run homer in the sixth for the White Sox, who dropped to 5-12 against the Twins with one game left between the teams.
"We were really looking forward to making a move in this series and we find ourselves against the wall right now with two games down," said White Sox shortstop Omar Vizquel. "There is still some games left but as long we keep losing against the first-place team I don't think we will be making any moves."
White Sox starter Gavin Floyd (10-13) was tagged for six runs and nine hits. He struck out four and walked two.
With two outs in the fifth, Denard Span singled and stole second, Orlando Hudson followed with an infield single. Then on a 1-0 pitch, Mauer broke a scoreless tie with a three-run shot to right field. It was Mauer's ninth of the season.
Minnesota added insurance runs against Floyd in the sixth. Delmon Young had a sacrifice fly and J.J. Hardy added an RBI single to chase Floyd. Span followed with an infield roller down the third-base line to score Danny Valencia.
Former White Sox slugger Jim Thome had a two-run single against reliever Sergio Santos in the seventh and Valencia had a sacrifice fly off Tony Pena to make it 9-2.
"We're swimming against the current and it's raining," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "We're not going to give up. I know it's going to be very tough to accomplish what we want to accomplish, but in the meanwhile we don't have any choice, just keep fighting and go out there and continue what we're supposed to do and see what happens. You never know in this game."
After squandering several scoring opportunities in Tuesday's 9-3 loss, the White Sox loaded the bases with one out in the second and failed to scored. Vizquel hit a grounder to Valencia at third, who forced Paul Konerko at the plate and Gordon Beckham ended the inning by flying out to right. In the third, Duensing struck out Konerko with Juan Pierre on third to end the inning and Vizquel hit into an inning-ending double play in the fourth with runners on first and third.
"We've been struggling to get a hit when we really needed it with guys in scoring position and that really is hurting us." Vizquel said. "This team you can't really make any mistakes and you have to take advantage of the opportunities that they give you and we just didn't."
Alexei Ramirez tripled in the seventh off Twins reliever Matt Guerrier and scored on Alex Rios' infield single.
Manny Ramirez was 1 for 2 with two walks and Guillen insists he will play him daily.
"Manny will play every day because Jerry Reinsdorf is paying him a lot of money," he said before the game.
In 12 games, Ramirez is 10 for 37, all singles, and has not driven in a run.
Game notes
Guillen said RHP Freddy Garcia will likely miss his scheduled start on Saturday. Garcia missed his start on Sunday with a sore back. ... Guillen is hoping to get closer Bobby Jenks (pinched nerve) for the weekend series against Detroit. ... Twins RF Jason Kubel left the game after the fifth inning with soreness in his left wrist. ... Twins closer Matt Capps pitched a scoreless ninth.
I lost a lot of respect for Jeter last night. For those that missed it a pitch hit inside and Jeter acted like it hit his hand and jumped around like he was in pain. The ump ruled Jeter got hit, Joe Maddon came out and argued and was ejected, and the next batter hit a go-ahead 2-run homer. Replays clearly showed the ball hit the bat and Jeter admitted after the game that he wasn't hit. I really thought Jeter was better than faking things like that. Karma got him in the end though as the Rays won the game.
I lost a lot of respect for Jeter last night. For those that missed it a pitch hit inside and Jeter acted like it hit his hand and jumped around like he was in pain. The ump ruled Jeter got hit, Joe Maddon came out and argued and was ejected, and the next batter hit a go-ahead 2-run homer. Replays clearly showed the ball hit the bat and Jeter admitted after the game that he wasn't hit. I really thought Jeter was better than faking things like that. Karma got him in the end though as the Rays won the game.
Dude, i couldnt believe it! i was in shock...i automatically assumed he got hit becuase i would never imagine the Jeter would do something like that... Arod yea, but not Jeter... the only defense would be that they are in a tight race with Tampa in a tight game but still, thats no excuse.... me and a few of my buddies said the same exact thing... lost a little respect becuase of that...
Cant wait to hear what they say about it on ESPN today lol
I dunno, you don't see any of Gardenhire's players faking a beaning just to take a base but then most of our guys are better hitters and better people than Jeter.
I dunno, you don't see any of Gardenhire's players faking a beaning just to take a base but then most of our guys are better hitters and better people than Jeter.
You have one player on your entire roster with a career average higher than Jeter (Mauer). And let's see how high he keeps it for another ten years.
You have one player on your entire roster with a career average higher than Jeter (Mauer). And let's see how high he keeps it for another ten years.
Better hitters right now, I will admit Jeter is probably one of the best shortstops to ever play the game and he was once quite a hitter but he's a shell of his former self.
I lost a lot of respect for Jeter last night. For those that missed it a pitch hit inside and Jeter acted like it hit his hand and jumped around like he was in pain. The ump ruled Jeter got hit, Joe Maddon came out and argued and was ejected, and the next batter hit a go-ahead 2-run homer. Replays clearly showed the ball hit the bat and Jeter admitted after the game that he wasn't hit. I really thought Jeter was better than faking things like that. Karma got him in the end though as the Rays won the game.
seriously i thought we were watching soccer for a second... I compare Jeters act to the ridiculous diving that happens in Soccer... Glad the Yankees lost!
For 15 years now, the paparazzi have stalked Derek Jeter whenever he sets foot out his front door.
For 15 years, he has lived in the crosshairs of a media as trained on its subject as an elite sniper unit.
And in those 15 years, he has emerged remarkably unscathed.
Not once has Jeter been caught in a compromising position with a woman, nor kissing himself in a mirror, or taking his shirt off in Central Park. For all we know, he's never even gotten a parking ticket.
The worst thing he has done so far is blow off Bob Sheppard's funeral, and, regretfully, haven't we all done something like that?
(Yeah, he didn't pay his property taxes in Florida a few years back, but all those who believe fudging your tax returns is a crime, please raise your hand.)
And most importantly, in an era populated by overmuscled steroid cheats, Jeter has thrived despite playing the game clean (as far as we know).
To find anything wrong with this guy, we have had to resort to the Sabremetricians, who with their charts and algorithms have somehow concluded that contrary to what your eyes and the results have told you, the guy is actually a bum.
Until Wednesday night. In the seventh inning of a crucial game at Tropicana Field, the cameras caught Derek Jeter, live in HD, surround sound and YES-Mo, what an army of photographers and reporters have been rooting around for since 1996.
The guy is not above occasionally doing what lesser mortals do on a regular basis, which is trying to grab something he did not deserve to have, in this case, first base.
That, in a word, is cheating.
There are other words for it, as well, such as lying and stealing, but for now, let's stick to the C word.
I understand that in the jockosphere, doing what Jeter did Wednesday night falls under the euphemism of "gamesmanship," code for doing whatever one can get away with in order to win.
And I've been around enough sports, professional and amateur, as both participant and observer, to know that what Jeter did is hardly original or even very serious, although if the Yankees' 3-2 lead, courtesy of Curtis Granderson's home run immediately following Jeter's (not) hit-by-pitch, had held up, it would be a different story today.
But the fact that it even is a story today is not so much about what was done, but who did it.
Face it, if Alex Rodriguez had pulled a Jeter and played the death scene from "Madame Bovary" in response to a pitch that clearly hit the knob of his bat, we would all be having a fine day skewering him as a crybaby, and yes, a cheater.
And a lot of that is A-Rod's own fault, having already engaged in several instances of public behavior that had already earned him those tags.
Certainly, what Jeter did does not fall into the realm of shouting "Ha!" at an infielder camping under a pop fly, or trying to swat the ball out of a player's glove. Those were blatant instances of cheating that permanently stripped Rodriguez of any possible benefit of the doubt. And I haven't even mentioned the words "Boli," or Dallas Braden. A-Rod's resume of unseemly behavior is thick enough without them.
But Jeter is a different story entirely. This is a guy who has played as exemplary a career as could possibly be played for this team, in this media environment, for the past 15 years.
The worst thing he has done on the field is have the nerve to grow old, to hit only .262 instead of his customary .315, and at 36 years old, to have lost a step or two going to his left at shortstop.
What happened Wednesday night is something we might have come to expect from the likes of A-Rod, something unethical and faintly unseemly, something you know is accepted in sports but never quite makes you feel right when you see it, even if it is done by your favorite team or player.
In real life, it might translate to lying on your resume or fudging your sales figures. In my business, it would be equivalent to "borrowing" someone else's work and passing it off as my own, or inventing a quote and putting it into the mouth of some non-existent "unnamed source."
In just about any profession -- except on Wall Street, where such practices seem to be rewarded with hefty bonues -- that kind of thing will get you fired and probably blackballed.
In professional sports, it gets you the reputation of being "a gamer," a guy who will do anything to get an edge over his opponent. It is precisely that sort of thinking that gave rise to the steroid mentality.
Jeter did nothing so egregious, of course, and no one in his or her right mind could have expected him to tell the umpire that the ball did not, in fact, hit him, which he readily admitted after the game.
But there was something a little grubby about the whole act, something a little desperate, and something that reminded me of how much I scorn outfielders who jump up screaming they caught that sinking liner that the replay clearly shows they trapped, or the wide receiver who insists he caught the pass that the eye in the sky proves to have skipped.
It reveals a fundamental lack of integrity we have come, sadly, to expect of the average person, but not from Derek Jeter, who over the past 15 years has shown himself to be anything but average.
The Yankees, of course, have more serious problems to deal with than whether or not Derek Jeter actually got hit with a pitch in a vital game that they eventually lost.
There is the very real issue of whether Joe Girardi should continue to marshal his forces for the postseason and not really care about winning the division, which to me looks like a potentially fatal mistake.
There is the anxiety over whether Andy Pettitte will return to form in time for October, and if any pitcher other than he or CC Sabathia will be of any real use to them in the playoffs.
There are the injuries to Brett Gardner and Nick Swisher, two players whose value to this team has only become more apparent in their absence.
And there are those pesky Rays, who simply refuse to slink off into a corner.
All of those issues are a lot more vital than whether or not Derek Jeter did the right thing Wednesday night, and yet, it is the Jeter issue that has so many of us thinking and talking and arguing today.
For the past 15 years, Jeter has been everything we want our ballplayers to be, and everything we would like our kids to become.
Except for one split-second Wednesday night, when he became something he has never been before: Human. And therefore, flawed.
I dunno, you don't see any of Gardenhire's players faking a beaning just to take a base but then most of our guys are better hitters and better people than Jeter.
I'm not going to defend that at all, I didn't know Young was the type of guy to do things like that. Dude might need anger management classes.
Listen, you can pick anyone's actions apart and find faults if you dig deep enough. This has totally blown up because 1. it's Jeter and 2. it has to do with the Yankees. If this was Pablo Sandovol or Stephen Drew, no one would even care.
Listen, you can pick anyone's actions apart and find faults if you dig deep enough. This has totally blown up because 1. it's Jeter and 2. it has to do with the Yankees. If this was Pablo Sandovol or Stephen Drew, no one would even care.
But alas, hate away..
True enough.
I'm sure if anyone of our lives were under the ever watching microscope of the press we would be all over the front page news critized constantly for our little mistakes.
Celebs are humans just like us but we view them in a God like manner as if they should be perfect and set them on an unrealistic level.
They just happen to make a living in entertainment.
Jeter is still a class act in my book.
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