Backup third baseman Andy Marte sets down the Yankees 1-2-3, while Rodriguez stays at 599.
Surprise Indians relief pitcher Andy Marte after retiring the powerful Yankees 1-2-3 in the ninth inning on Thursday night.Cleveland, Ohio -- Well, the Cleveland Indians -- who have generally been much more competitive the last few weeks -- lost three of four games to the New York Yankees.
That's what the Bronx Bombers do to teams. They're the defending World Series champions, like it or not.
Watching backup third baseman Andy Marte make his major league pitching debut in the top of the ninth inning, and retiring the Yankees 1-2-3 like he was throwing to a T-ball team, was the Indians' highlight of their 11-4 loss to the Yankees on Thursday night. (Read Plain Dealer Indians beat writer Paul Hoynes' story on the Yankees routing the Indians).
Caution: Please don't get the idea Marte could do that regularly. What he accomplished -- a position player pitching a decent inning when a manager feels he doesn't have a regular hurler to go to -- is not that unusual. Been done many times.
In the real big league world, however, there have been numerous "real" pitchers who could throw 95 miles per hour, but did not excel because they didn't have another decent pitch or simply didn't "know how" to pitch.
Andy Marte got up to 88, and we didn't see any offspeed pitch to complement the mediocre fastball. And, we really doubt he "knows how" to pitch against locked-in major league hitters when their team isn't leading by 10 runs.
Still, Andy did a good job and it was fun to watch. The Indians hope to have some genuine fun tonight in Toronto, where they play the Blue Jays. The starting pitchers will be right-handers Justin Masterson (3-9, 5.19) for the Indians and Shaun Marcum (9-4, 3.36) for the Blue Jays.
Marte almost shared equal billing on SportsCenter highlights with Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod needs one more home run to become the seventh player in major league history to hit 600. Indians' pitchers kept him in the park and, in fact, held him to 3-for-17 (.176) for the series. Rodriguez is 9-for-30 (.300) since slugging No. 599.
Yankees hitters are known for their patience at the plate, fouling off tough pitches and making pitchers go deep into counts. Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News mentions Thursday's last at-bat for Rodriguez, who refers to the Yankees' hitting approach:
He stepped to the plate with the bases loaded for the third time in the game, but Jess Todd struck him out swinging to end the frame, sending his quest for the milestone with him on the team's charter flight to Tampa.
"Overall, we're having fun," Rodriguez said. "We're playing good baseball. Today, we saw over 275 pitches (it was 233, actually), which was a great sign for us. Hopefully we can take that right into the weekend."
Check it
Plain Dealer Indians coverage includes Paul Hoynes' Indians Insider; his Indians Chatter; and the Minor League Report.
Mitch Talbot's back
Marte certainly would not have pitched if starter Mitch Talbot had been able to provide his usual solid outing. It wasn't Talbot's fault. Sheldon Ocker writes for the Akron Beacon Journal:
...Mitch Talbot was forced to leave the game in the third inning with an injury described as a mid-back strain.
''He'll stay back tomorrow and get an MRI, then we'll find out more,'' manager Manny Acta said. ''It happened at the end of the first inning; he started to feel a little uncomfortable. He was checked by the trainer and stretched out. He wanted to try it, because it wasn't an arm injury.''
Talbot began the third, but when he gave up his first hit of the night, a single to Colin Curtis, then went 2-and-0 on Derek Jeter, Acta went to the bullpen for Rafael Perez.
''It just happened on a pitch, it stretched it out,'' Talbot said. ''Then it tightened up a little, and it didn't go away. I didn't like having to come out of the game.''
Swisher swished
George A. King III writes about Rodriguez for the New York Post, and he also writes:
It got so bad for the Indians they used third baseman Andy Marte to pitch the ninth and he recorded a 1-2-3 inning and struck out Nick Swisher.
"What are you going to do?" said Swisher, who went 1-for-5 and scored twice. "You just wear it."
"It's no situation a team wants to be in," manager Joe Girardi said of using a position player to pitch. "We did it last year with Swish and it's no fun but I understand why they did it."
Around the horn
Jim Isabella reports for the Akron Beacon Journal on Indians reliever Kerry Wood's rehabilitation assignment with the Akron Aeros and about Woods' trade rumors.
A game story by Jim Ingraham for the News Herald and Lorain Morning Journal. And, his Indians notes.
Chris Assenheimer reports on Wednesday's game and writes his Indians notes for the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram and the Medina County Gazette.
Video of Andy Marte pitching, along with Indians notes and a preview of tonight's Indians-Blue Jays game on cleveland.indians.mlb.com.