May 09, 2006
Johnson Looks Old
Randy Johnson gives up three runs in the third inning and looks bad doing it. Jerry Remy notices that Johnson's front should is flying open, leading to wildness. As the inning progressed (and everything that could go wrong went wrong) Johnson became more tentative, afraid to just let the ball go. He walked two, threw a wild pitch, and was hurt by an error by A-Rod. The Sox lead 3-2. Toward the end of the inning, the fans were booing every time The Big Unit threw a ball.
Update: In the top of the fourth, Johnson's fifth walk of the game and three more hits send Randy to the showers via a shower of boos. He gave up a hit to Gonzalez on an 0-2 count as Johnson hung a slider. He gave up a hit to Loretta on a 3-0 count as Francona gave the second baseman the green light. Ortiz followed with a line drive the other way to put men on second and third, and Aaron Small enters in relief. Johnson did not have good control, throwing 43 balls and just 49 strikes.
Update: NESN just showed a nice replay of Johnson front should flying open. Do the Yankees not notice this, or is Randy unable to compensate?
Update: The Red Sox extend the score to 7-2 as Cabrera drops a pop fly. Cano loses it in the wind, Cabrera then over runs it and Manny reaches second. It's one of those games where everything that can go right for the Red Sox happens.
Correction: Johnson gave up the hit to Gonzalez, not Cabrera.
Posted by David Pinto at
08:07 PM
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He's barely throwing 50% of his pitches for strikes. I wonder if he's compensating for an injury (knee, shoulder?) and it's affecting his delivery.
He's compensating for being 100 years old and having no cartilidge in his knees.
3 fielding errors in 4+ innings. So much for that improved defense...
hey give the guy a break, he needs another year to get comfortable.
"[Johnson] gave up a hit to Cabrera"
Uhhhhhh... Cabrera? Wrong team, or wrong year.
Anyway, for non-Yankee-obsessed viewers, the stories of the night were Alex Gonzalez reaching base multiple times including a home run; a Wily Mo Pena web gem; Dustan Mohr morphing into an OBP machine; Rudy Seanez throwing a 1-2-3 inning; and two more doubles from Mike Lowellewol.
But if one must focus on the Yankees here, why pick on Johnson when one could mention the two errors by E-Rod, the revolving bullpen door, Bernie Williams barely missing an ump with his helmet just before he was ejected, or how classy the booing was...
Final score: 14-3. But take heart, Yankee fans: Teams that win big blow-outs often let their guard down in the following games. Like for instance, this one time when a team beat another 19-8, then went on to lose their next four games...
/gloat
An ugly game, but, again, momentum is only as good as the next starting pitcher... (still this felt good)
Schilling vs. Mussina, as I predicted, should be a great game, no matter what the outcome. A good pitcher's duel...