Nor did holding Johan Santana back, giving him a full 6 days of rest after his "no-hitter."
At Yankee Stadium II last night, the Yankees treated him harshly, as they've done before, in New York and before that in Minnesota, pounding him for 6 runs on 7 hits in 5 innings.
Four Pinstriped home runs were blasted off The Great Johan Santana: Robinson Cano (twice, with his 10th and 11th), Nick Swisher (his 9th) and Andruw Jones (his 6th) all took him deep.
The Yanks tagged Elwin Ramirez for 3 more runs; I guess that old saw about the Yankees not doing well against a pitcher they've never seen before only works for starters.
In contrast, Hiroki Kuroda pitched 7 before leaving the game with a line drive off his toe, having given up just 1 hit, a 6th-inning double by Omar Quintanilla. (Kuroda's injury is only a bruise, and he'll probably make his next start.)
Cody Eppley pitched a scoreless 8th. Ryota Igarashi, called up to take the place of Freddy Garcia, away for his grandfather's funeral, did not pitch well in the 9th, ruining the shutout -- but hardly ruining a Yankee win over The Other Team.
Yankees 9, Mets 1. WP: Kuroda (5-6). LP: Santana (3-3).
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Santana looked more like Kyle Farnsworth than Johnny Vander Meer, whose June 1938 achievement of no-hitters in back-to-back appearances remains a unique feat in baseball history. But there was a no-hitter pitched in the major leagues last night. And it was considerably more tense, because it ended 1-0. The Seattle Mariners beat the Los Angeles Dodgers at Safeco Field in Seattle.
Kevin Millwood, now 37 years old, pitched the first 6 for the Mariners, walking a batter but allowing no hits, yet left the game without the lead, and didn't even get the W for his efforts. Charlie Furbush got the first 2 outs in the 7th, and Stephen Pryor the last; as Pryor was the M's pitcher when they took the lead, he was credited with the win. Lucas Luetge and Brandon League pitched the 8th, and Tom Wilhelmsen finished it off in the 9th for the save.
This was the 3rd no-hitter of the season (if you count Santana's), the 9th combined no-hitter in baseball history, and 2nd time a no-hitter was pitched by 6 men, the first time being by the Houston Astros against the Yankees in 2003 (and, as you may recall, the Yankees took the next 2 games of that Interleague series anyway).
It was also the 2nd no-hitter that Millwood was a part of, having gone the distance for the Phillies in 2003.
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So who can the Mets turn to tonight, at 7:00 against the Yankees, who will be starting Phil Hughes, one of the pitchers they refused to trade for Santana, and who, unlike Santana, has a World Series ring? Who can the Mets turn to? Gee whiz...
No, Dillon Gee isn't a whiz, or an ace. But, for tonight, he's the best they got.
We are Yankee Fans of the 21st Century. 2000 has happened, and so has 2004. These days, our motto is: We hate the Red Sox, we only pity the Mets.
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