Tonight was no way to remember the first black player in Major League Baseball. Jackie Robinson was something truly great for many years in baseball and it was because of him that players like Robinson Cano, Elvia Andrus and Curtis Granderson are able to play in the Major Leagues today. It's special, it's unforgettable and it's bittersweet to feel so good for Jackie, but then lose a game wearing his retired #42 on your back.
(In photo: Lance Pendleton)Let's face it. The highlight of the night tonight was seeing Lance Pendleton, the kid no one knows, strike out the first 2 batters he has ever faced in the Major leagues. I found the rest of the game to be slow and sloppy and the bats seemed totally flat for New York. Yes, the Yanks had more hits than the Rangers, but the Rangers didn't hit into 6 double plays, the Yankees did.
(photo: Getty)I never like to come off a win with a loss like tonight. Ivan Nova looked like he was having trouble from the get go and when I say trouble, I mean walks. You can't walk people and expect them to not score. And it wasn't just Nova tonight, the pitching before the Yanks handed the ball to Pendleton was not great and that's how you lose ball games.
Between walks and wild pitches, past balls and double plays, the Yankees looked like the Bad News Bears, before Kelly Leak joined the team.A few highlights: Give credit to the kid, Lance Pendleton. There's nothing better than handing a ball to a rookie and letting him chuck it with the pressure of Yankee Stadium and what does he do? Strikes out 2 and gets the third batter to pop out in his first inning of work ever. I'd say, you get to come back tomorrow kid. Tonight he retired 9 straight. Way to go.
The 8th inning was nice, although playing catch up is never good, although pie is good, so that is always a highlight. Granderson had that monster solo shot and if you follow him on Twitter @cgrand14, you know that he likes tweeting baseball history. Well, I'll tweet this to Grandy tonight: "@cgrand14 You should send that 42 jersey to Cooperstown with your bat. You honored Jackie wonderfully tonight!"
Derek Jeter had 2 hits tonight. Remember when every writer in New York had him hanging it up? Right. More rooting, less writing gentlemen.The 9th was magical, but I didn't have that "pie" feeling I had last night, not sure why. Tonight just seemed tougher, I guess.
The down side for me tonight may be Boone Logan. Logan has absolutely no command of his slider and I can't figure out why that happens. The camera showed Rothschild about 3 different times while Logan pitched. He rolled his eyes, he looked serious talking to Joe. Clearly the Zen master is about to player teacher to Mr. Logan. Good. Let the Master work.
Let's tip our cap to Matt Harrison tonight, he pitched a great ball game and the Rangers were able to get him runs. Funny, that's the formula I suggested would happen with Nova and the Yankees tonight. I guess you won't be taking me to Vegas any time soon, I made a bad prediction.
Luckily, it's not a 1 game series and tomorrow the Yanks and Rangers will play again. I look forward to that. Tonight's score Rangers 5 - Yankees 3. Let's get one back tomorrow boys, it's the Yankee way.
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