Marlins 6, Yankees 1: Small Ball Beats Mediocrity

Today was a very uneventful day. The Yankees lost, there was another injury, and the team didn't do much of anything good. This game explained why Adam Warren is still in Triple-A, which doesn't look like that will be changing any time soon. It also showed that small ball can beat you if you don't play very well. That's kind of how you lose in any situation, though.

Warren got the carnage started in the bottom of the first inning, when he got in the way of Dan Johnson trying to cover the base. Juan Pierre would have been out, but Johnson didn't throw the ball to Warren and Warren didn't get out of Johnson's way. Pierre then wasted little time by advancing on a Francisco Cervelli passed ball, moving to third on a ground ball, and scoring on a sac fly to make it a 1-0. Warren then gave up two singles in a row in the second inning and two ground balls later it was a 2-0 game. Then, in the third inning, Warren gave up two more runs on two singles, a double and a sac fly to make it 4-0.

In the 5th inning Chase Whitley came in and gave up a soft grounder up the mound and over second base. Harmless enough, right? Nope. He then gave up a ground rule double to right field and a ground ball scored another run, followed by a triple from Adeiny Hechavarria, the kid with a five syllable name, to score another and give the Marlins their six runs for the day.

The Yankees offense was pretty quiet by comparison. Their lone run came in the fourth inning when Melky Mesa singled and was then brought in by a Thomas Neal double to left center field. Eduardo Nunez, Brett Gardner, Neal, Ronnier Mustelier, and Bobby Wilson all drew a walk. Nunez, Mesa (2), Neal, and Luke Murton were the Yankees with hits today. Nunez was also picked off first base right after walking, so the team was bad all over. Dan Johnson also managed to get hit by a pitch and not break something (fingers crossed).

The pitching was not very impressive, as Warren gave up six hits and a walk, giving up four runs and striking out none in four innings. Whitley gave up a total of three hits and two runs in only 1.0 inning, while Branden Pinder hit a batter and struck out one in his inning. Mark Montgomery gave up a walk and struck out one, while Shawn Kelley gave up a hit, both in one inning of work each.

Surprisingly, the fielding wasn't too terrible this game. Jayson Nix made a diving stop early in the game, while Kevin Youkilis impressively fielded a bunt by diving to his right on the infield grass and firing to first for the out. Corban Joseph made a good diving stop at third base and followed up with a strong throw to first. Cervelli's impressive play behind the plate was absent today as he dropped a ball as he tried to throw to second and couldn't stay in front of a wild pitch.

All in all, nothing terrible, but nothing too good either. Melky Mesa did continue to make his case for a roster spot today and at least Mustelier didn't do anything bad.