America's team loses to newbies with no history or tradition

[franksolich]

http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2009/06/after_ace_pitcher_leaves_game.html

Damn it, yesterday just wasn't my day.

After CC Sabathia leaves game, New York Yankees bullpen falters in 6-5 loss to Florida Marlins

MIAMI -- Fistfights broke out in the stands. A botched double switch led to a formal protest. And the Yankees lost their star pitcher to injury in the second inning. Nearly lost in the action of the impromptu three-ring circus that unfolded Sunday at Land Shark Stadium was the actual result.

The Marlins, despite botching a double switch, survived a late Yankees rally to win 6-5

Just the facts:

- Marlins left fielder Chris Coghlan started the eighth inning in left field, even though Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez had already removed him from the game via a double switch. With his team trailing 6-3, Yankees manager Joe Girardi lodged a protest.

- CC Sabathia is day-to-day with left biceps tendinitis after leaving the game in the second inning when he felt tightness. Sabathia is not scheduled to undergo any tests and said he intends to make his next scheduled start, on Saturday against the Mets.

- The Yankees led 3-1 in the third thanks in part to a two-run single by Rodriguez, who returned to the lineup after not starting the last two games because of fatigue. The hit, which came in his first regular season game in his hometown, snapped an 0-for-16 slump.

- Yankees reliever Brett Tomko allowed a game-tying two-run homer to Hanley Ramirez in the fifth and a go-ahead solo shot to Cody Ross to make it 4-3 Marlins in the sixth. The Marlins tacked on two more runs in the seventh, with help from a Melky Cabrera throwing error.

- With two outs in the ninth, Brett Gardner tripled home two runs against Marlins closer Matt Lindstrom. But with the tying run on third base, Derek Jeter swung at the first pitch he saw and bounced into a force out to end the game.

The big picture:

- In dropping the series finale, the Yankees fell to 2-4 against the struggling Marlins and Nationals.

- Since the Yankees reached their high-water mark of 11 games over .500 on June 8, they have gone just 4-8.

From the clubhouse:

"It's frustrating. We're a better team than what we've played the last two weeks. We got to 11 games over and we kind of just hovered around that. Now we've dropped a few under that, and that's the frustrating thing because when you get to that point, you want to keep building on it." - Girardi on his team's recent slide.

"You really can't be too selective when a guy throws 98 so you try to get a good pitch. Got a good pitch. If I were in that situation again I would have swung at the same pitch. I just hit it to short." - Jeter, on swinging on the first pitch he saw from Lindstrom in the ninth.

"It's not fun. I've been in a bit of rut the last couple times out. It's a couple pitches I'd like to have back. It just seems like if I make a mistake it's getting hit. That's the most frustrating thing." - Tomko, who allowed a pair of home runs.

Come on, guys.  Win some, win big, for George.

[Ralph Wiggum]

The Marlins may be relative newbies, but by no means without any tradition.  They've won a World Series since the Yankees last won one.  In fact, they have two World Series titles in their 17 year history, which isn't too shabby.

[franksolich]

The Marlins may be relative newbies, but by no means without any tradition.  They've won a World Series since the Yankees last won one.  In fact, they have two World Series titles in their 17 year history, which isn't too shabby.

That's not antiquity, though.

Everybody has his own standards for what makes a team good, some of them possibly better standards than mine, but for me, antiquity counts.