Typical Arod

A tough loss, but I must say I knew it would happen when Arod struck out to end the Yanks half of the 9th. When Johjima went out to talk to the pitcher with a 1-1 count on Arod, I knew he was saying, 'breaking ball, then fastball.' Mateo complied and easily k'ed Arod with 2 on.

In the bottom of the 9th, when Villone got Beltre to miss 2 fastballs, I said 'He's baiting him to throw one down the pipe.' He threw a third one and as soon as Beltre connected, I knew it was over.

This was a typical Arod 2006 game. A 2-run HR and 3 strike outs. Feast or famine. When he was hitting in the 9th with 2 men on, I was begging him to stop trying to pull everything and hit it the other way, like he's known for. Posada's bases-loaded GIDP was also a killer, as was Wright's poor performance. By the way, why was Farnsworth warming up if he wouldn't be brought in to face two righties, Beltre & Sexson? And Torre lets Villone, the lefty, pitch instead? I know, it's because he only wanted to use Farnsworth with a lead, but having Seattle's two best righties coming up to hit, I dont want the lefty pitching, I want the flame-throwing righty.

That slide by Beltre was dirty in my opinion. He went specifically for Nick Green's knees. Most takeout slides are just regular slides that start a bit late. But this one sent Green tumbling onto his head. And it was Sexson running of all people, one of the slower guys in baseball. They had a good shot to turn 2. I wanted to see Green or Torre at least argue with the ump about it. There are takeout slides and there are injury-inducing slides. I would take exception to it if I were on the team.

Didn't Jeff Karstens, a rookie, start this game? His outing feels like it was last week. Considering it was his ML debut, he did quite well, 5.2 ip, 3 er. If you discount the 2-run first inning, which can be attributed to debut nerves, he threw 5.1 ip, 1 er after that! His fastball never topped 90, but he controlled it well, had a nice little curve, and a pretty good change. Basically a Jamie Moyer type.

At least the Sox lost too.

6-5 Seattle

2*: Abreu, 1-4, HR, 3 rbi, bb
1: Karstens, 5.2 ip, 3 er, and recovered from a shaky start.
1: Damon, 2-4, 2b, r, bb