Yankees Only 6 Behind in Loss Column, Reds Win in 15
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by Niteowl049
Baseball Notebook
Yankees Gaining on Red Sox: 2 More Games Left Than Red Sox
Yankees have closed to within seven games of the Red Sox and are only six games behind in loss column. They have two more games left on schedule than Red Sox so that gives them two more chances to gain ground on the team from Boston.
Red Sox need to get Curt Schilling back soon so they can get Julian Tavarez and his 5-7 record out of the rotation and let Kason Gabbard and his 3-0 record into the rotation since he presently only filling in for Schilling. Tavarez has an ERA of 5.27 while Gabbard's ERA stands at 3.38 which is only bettered by Josh Beckett and his 3.35 ERA.
Tavarez is 0-3 for July and has an ERA of 8.05 for the month. In his last three starts over 13 innings he has allowed 16 runs and 28 hits while Gabbard is 2-0 in July with a 2.14 ERA and has allowed two runs and six hits over his last 15 innings. So the sooner Schilling returns to rotation the sooner the Red Sox may be able to reverse this latest slump in which they have been 3-7 in their last ten games while Yankees are 8-2.
Losing a series to the Royals is not the way to fend off the Yankees who are 11-4 for the month of July. By the time the Red Sox play the White Sox tonight the Yankees will be either 6 1/2 or 7 1/2 games behind them. The Yankees bullpen has won the last four games with Andy Pettite and Chien-Ming Wang the only starters to win a game since the All Star break.
Roger Clemens may not have a good record at 2-4 but is pitching deep into games and giving the Yankees a chance to win. Of his two wins only the win over the Twins was over a good team with the other win coming against the Pirates. Three of his four losses have come against the Rockies, Orioles and Rays teams not likely to be in playoffs. His other loss came against the Mets.
He started off the season in June registering a lot of strikeouts with 22 strikeouts in 23 innings but in July he has 12 in 27 innings. In his defense he has two losses when Yankees were shutout by Mets and Orioles. Yankees have scored a total of seven runs in his four losses. So the jury is still out on Clemens since if your team is not scoring it doesn't matter how well he is pitching.
Reds Win in 15 Innings
The Reds beat the Braves 5-4 in 15 innings but it wasn't because the Braves didn't have their chances. In the tenth inning they had runners on first and third with one out after tying the game 4-4 a few minutes earlier. Reds manager Pete Mackanin then brought in centerfielder Ryan Freel as a fifth infielder with Freel standing on second base. Jeff Francoeur hit a line drive over the head of Brandon Phillips who made a leaping catch and doubled off Chipper Jones who apparently thought the ball hit by Francoeur would fall in safely and was easily doubled off third base.
Out of position players, the Braves used Kyle Davies as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 15th inning with runners on first and second and two out and Davies struck out to end the game after four hours and thirty one minutes.
Braves pounded out 18 hits in the game despite Willie Harris, Chipper Jones and Jarrod Saltalamacchia having 2 hits in 20 at bats. Norris Hopper, Jeff Keppinger and David Ross combined for one hit in 19 times at bat so these six players combined for a 3 for 39 day at the plate.
Rafael Soriano was the goat of the game blowing a 2-0 lead and a win for John Smoltz who struck out 11. Aaron Harang struck out 8 batters but the bullpen struck out even more striking out 11.
Being a Braves fan I stuck around till the bitter end hoping against hope the Braves would find a way to win but instead they lost on a day when the Mets, Phillies and Braves all lost so didn't lose any ground in the NL East.
