Game 2 - New York Yankees VS Tampa Bay Devil Rays
The Starter: Andy Pettitte really didn't look very good tonight. He looked alright initially, but then struggled. Of course, the errors behind him really didn't help any. Considering the cold and the fact that he had a shortened Spring Training, I'm willing to give him a pass. Still, it could have been a lot better. Hopefully his next start will give us a better indication of what to expect.
The Bullpen: Mixed Results here. Proctor got beaten up, and Vizcaino struggled too. Farnsworth had another good outing though, as did Bruney. Myers did fine as well.
The Offense: Meh. Sure, they did get 6 runs and 14 hits, but many times they had the opportunity to drive in runners, and failed to do so. Mientkiewicz picked up another pair of hits though, and Posada contributed offensively with 3 singles.
The Defense: Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the defense. For the second game in a row, the Yankees looked awful defensively. Cano blew a play early on (although he wasn't given an error, oddly enough), Jeter picked up 2 errors (although one was a bit iffy). Mientkiewicz picked up an error, but I don't think it was a fair one at all. Pettitte fielded a ball and had to throw it off balance, throwing it directly over the plate as the runner reached it. Could Doug technically have caught that ball? Sure, if he wanted to miss the next few months with a broken arm. There was no possible way Doug could have made that play without risking a major injury...Pettitte simply wasn't able to make a good throw since he was off balance.
Beyond the errors, Posada looked horrible at the plate. Balls were constantly getting away from him (sometimes the pitchers fault, sometimes his), and it allowed some of those runs to score.
Pettitte did make a nice little play at home (on another of those passed balls) to get a runner out, but other than that, another very sloppy defensive day for the Yankees. They really need to fix that, soon.
Overall Thoughts: Poor showing tonight, but it's still just one game. The problem once again
was the defense. The pitching wasn't great, but the Yankees win that game if they played better defense. They need to really work on that.
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