Tag Archives: archives

Closer than our closer would like; Reds beat Yankees, 6-5.

Posted on May 19, 2012 by admin

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game Today’s victory was a well-rounded team effort, but our resident Canuck Wanger-Honker gets the nod for the JNMHSotG. Votto had the big knock of the day, a 3-run HR off Ivan Nova in the 5th to break open (at that point) the game. I’m not sure it wouldn’t have been an inside-the-parker had it not just barely cleared the wall, since I doubt the Yankees outfielders would have known what to do with a Reds At-Bat that didn’t end in strikeout. Honorable mentions are due to Homer Bailey (quality start, keeping LH’s Cano and Granderson at bay), Chris Heisey (2 for 5, RBI double, great catch in LF), and Devin Mesoraco (1 for 3, 2B, R, HBP, only Red to not K). Very extra-special Honorable mention to Mike Costanzo , who picked up his first major league hit (and his second RBI). Congrats, Mr. Sideburns. Key Plays The Reds got havocky early today. In the first, Drew Stubbs walked and stole second, and after Joey Votto walked, Brandon Phillips singled to score Stubbs. That’s so, so cleanuppy. The Reds struck again in the second when Devin Mesoraco hit a ground-rule double and later scored on a Chris Heisey double. Reds lead, 2-0. Before Jeff Brantley could fully jinx Homer Bailey by telling the radio audience how well he’d looked in retiring the first 6 Yankees in order, Russell Martin smoked a donker on the first pitch of the 3rd inning. In the 4th, Curtis Granderson walked and was out at second on a fielder’s choice hit by Robinson Cano , and Cano then scored on a double by the skeleton formerly known as Raul Ibanez . Game tied, 2-2. Why anyone ever gives Joey Votto a pitch to hit in a low-leverage situation is beyond me, so the fact that he was given a grooved strike to hit in a high-leverage situation blew me away. Maybe the only TV station Joe Girardi gets is ESPN, in which case he would have never seen the Reds play. That would explain why he let Ivan Nova pitch to our Canuckian boom-crusher with two men on. Votto hit a laser into the right-center bleachers, scoring Wee Willie Valdez and Drew Stubbs. Reds lead, 5-2. Jayson Niyx hoynked a soylo waynger in the 5th to make it a 5-3 game, but thankfully, the Reds secret weapon provided them with a 6th run in the 8th inning that would prove to be the difference. Following a Phillips single, Bruce walk, and Frazier reaching on a fielder’s choice, Mike Costanzo stung one deep enough to CF to plate Phillips from 3rd base on a sac fly. That would matter because Sean Marshall pitched like he still had that Cub smell on him in the 9th. Marshall gave up hits to the first 2 batters in the 9th and 4 of the 5 batters he faced, allowing two runs before being pulled in favor of Jose Arredondo . Thankfully, Arredondid retire Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson to end the rally. Reds win, 6-5! via www.fangraphs.com Other Notes As was mentioned about 32 times on the radio broadcast, Chris Heisey is red hot at the moment. Ecto-warmer is now 10 for 19 on the road trip. Please keep starting him, Dusty. Homer Bailey was pretty damn effective today, going 6.1 innings, allowing 3 runs while striking out 7 and walking just one while lowering his season’s ERA to 4.34. I don’t think there’s a single RR who wouldn’t take that 10 times out of 10 from Homer this year. Well done, kid. Keep it up and we’ll move on to trading Leake for a LF. I love the way the Reds have managed to keep winning while Jay goes through one of his patented slumps. He’s 1 for his last 15, and hasn’t homered in 10 games, but the Reds have managed .500 play through that stretch. The Reds struck out 15 times today. Continue reading →

Posted in Local, Mets, Yankees, Yankees Gossip, Yankees Rumors | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Friday Morning Applesauce: Mets Offense Explodes Late, Lawrie Drops Appeal For Mets Series

Posted on May 18, 2012 by admin

It was a fun game yesterday, wasn’t it? Trailing 4-0 it was pretty hard to envision the Mets coming back to win against Cincinnati, but comeback they certainly did . In the end it was a very entertaining 9-4 win that featured both a bomb from Ronny Cedeno and a ridiculous play in the field from Daniel Murphy . The box score can be found here . The Mets will now pack their bags, don their favorite hockey jerseys , and head to Canadia to face off with the Blue Jays . The Mets will get a bit of a bonus in that series as 3B Brett Lawrie dropped his appeal and will miss the entire Mets series while serving his suspension . Yesterday we had some quotes from Terry Collins which suggested the Jennry Mejia would be headed to the bullpen when he was done with his rehab assignment. Sandy Alderson spoke about it some , and it doesn’t seem quite as certain as Collins’ comments would have led me to believe. It’s nice to actually have faith in the GM…isn’t it? Before the game yesterday, Sandy Alderson had some comments concerning the current bullpen . I’m excited to see Robert Carson get his shot, having a second lefty in the pen will be a welcome addition. Patrick Flood took on the issue of Bobby Parnell the closer with a look at his statistics in different situations. I love when people use actual evidence before even attempting to come to a conclusion. Around MLB: Brandon Beachy has been a very good pitcher since he broke into the bigs last year. He threw a complete game shutout yesterday as the Braves rolled over the Minnows 7-0 . The Nats couldn’t keep pace with the Bravos yesterday, dropping the series finale against the Pirates 5-3 . Hooray! That team from Philly got themselves back above .500 yesterday with a win over Theo’s Cubbies . Here’s hoping for a losing streak. Fangraphs took a look at the struggles of Atlanta pitcher Mike Minor to this point in the season. He’s certainly not as bad as his ERA would indicate, but I hope he doesn’t bounce back anytime soon. Mike Newman is usually a fantastic guy to read. Yesterday he took a look at Nats prospect Alex Meyer and wasn’t all that impressed. Over at Minor League Ball they have an updated draft board up. It’s always nice to get a look at how some of these guys are being viewed around the interwebs, I’m sure we’ll see several more of these as the draft gets closer. The Yankees dropped their game to our next opponents yesterday, and in typical Blue Jay fashion the long ball played a big part . Anyone else a little scared for our bullpen this weekend? Finally for today, Orlando Hudson was DFA’d by the Padres . Anyone out there still interested? Anyone? Bueller? Continue reading →

Posted in Jets, Local, Mets, National, Yankees, Yankees Gossip | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New York Yankees News: 5/18/12

Posted on May 18, 2012 by admin

– It’s only May, but Mike Axisa at RAB is already looking ahead to the trade deadline to analyze which players the Yankees might be interested in obtaining. Injuries have been a real issue so far this year, so it’s not a stretch to think they might make some kind of move, unlike last year. Who is on your radar? – The Yankees claimed infielder Matt Antonelli off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles yesterday. Antonelli is a former first round draft pick with the San Diego Padres , and can play first base, second base, third base, shortstop, and left field. He will report to AAA Empire State this weekend. – Mark Teixeira plans to talk to Joe Girardi about whether taking a day off makes sense after battling problems with his health for weeks. After seeing him hacking while playing defense last night, I don’t know how there is any question to this. I’m not sure if his illness is hurting his play at the plate, but I can’t imagine it’s helping at all. -After spraining his ankle against the Orioles in his last start, Ivan Nova’s status for Saturday was in question, but it now looks like he won’t miss his turn after all. Very good news, since it seems like every seemingly small injury is DL-worthy with this team right now. – For all the talk of Alex Rodriguez having a slower bat speed of late, Michael Eder at The Yankee Analysts breaks down A-Rod’s numbers, and finds that this is really just a conjectured narrative. Plenty of people have said that Rodriguez can only catch up to the slower stuff he’s thrown, but Eder uses his fancy numbers to put that to rest as well. A-Rod hasn’t been hitting for the power we expect of him, though I truly believe it will come around, but a lot of the criticism for why it hasn’t been there so far is unfounded. Continue reading →

Posted in Local, Yankees, Yankees News, Yankees Rumors | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Yankees Fail With RISP, Fall to Toronto, 4-1

Posted on May 18, 2012 by admin

Phil Hughes pitched well enough to win , especially considering he was facing 21-year-old RHP Drew Hutchinson (of the 5.53 ERA and 1.52 WHIP), allowing two runs over 5.1 innings of work. He allowed nine baserunners (seven hits, two walks), but struck out five as well, escaping a number of jams. He made only one real mistake, but it cost him the game.* Hutchinson also allowed nine baserunners (five hits, four walks) and struck out three, but the Blue Jays backed him up with two home runs and (gasp!) a hit with RISP. Despite going 1-10, it was still better than the Yankees ‘ 0-8. It was really about the bottom of the lineup. The 4-9 hitters (Tex, Ibanez, Swisher, Chavez, Jones and Martin) went 1-21. It looked like the Yanks might make it easy for Hughes after they scored a run three batters into the game (Jeter bunt out, Grandy walk, Cano double), but they were held scoreless the rest of the night. Hughes was again inefficient with his pitches, tossing 107 in fewer than six innings, including 64 in the first three alone. He did, however, maintain good velocity, averaging 92.5 MPH with his fastball (and reaching 95.4). The “Bombers” will mercifully return home tomorrow to start interleague play against the Reds , as Andy Pettitte will take on Bronson Arroyo . * Play of the Game : Jose Bautista’s third-inning, two-runer homer that gave Toronto a 2-1 lead (-18%). Continue reading →

Posted in Local, Yankees, Yankees News, Yankees Rumors | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Without deviation from the norm (& Ronny Cedeno), regress is not possible. Reds lose 9-4.

Posted on May 17, 2012 by admin

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game Joey Votto gorped his 6th crankwood off the facade in right field and went 2-4. If we didn’t have an unwritten rule against giving this award to opposing players, Ronny Cedeno (2-5, HR, 3 RBI) or David Wright (2 2B, on base 5 times) would be taking home that $15 gift certificate to Buffalo Mild Legs. BML: Come for the lack of distracting wall art, stay for gently-seasoned thigh meat! Key Plays Latos and the Uncanny Dickey traded zeroes until the 4th inning, when Joey Votto hit a frack-job to right field that would have been a bonzai anywhere: Citi Field ’11, the Polo Grounds or Ebbets Field. The Reds got three more in the 5th, thanks in part to wildness/knuckling from Dickey. With the league’s best bullpen standing by, our team made the reasonable assumption that 4 runs were enough. Time to focus on prevention. In the top of the 5th, Andres Torres singled and David Wright walked. With two outs, Jay Bruce misjudged a line drive off the bat of Lucas Duda in the bottom of the inning that may have been catch-able. Latos’ stuff looked good more often than not , but he couldn’t hit enough of his spots. Three walks and a few too many pitches on the fat part of the place bounced him from the game after 5.0 IP. J.J. Hoover came in to limit the damage to a run off a sac-fly. A Todd Frazier double to lead off the 7th would be their last threat while the game was within reach. Aroldis Chapman entered, along with his 25.1 inning scoreless streak. He had yet to pitch in consecutive days and showed some fatigue. Wright led off the inning with a walk. Chapman may have been pitching around him, which is understandishable – especially with three lefties coming up. It’s a move that wound up costing him the scoreless streak (though not the earned run streak). Duda dropped a weak blooper, then Drew Stubbs misplayed another blooper to load the bases. Chapman worked out of the jam with his customary two strikeouts, but not before Wright scored on a sac-fly. The wheels fell off and started a structure fire in the bottom of the eight. Logan Ondrusek’s tab with math, the Universe and everything was long past due. At first, it looked like the Reds were getting flared to death when another potentially catchable ball landed between three fielders, but Ronny Cedeno’s 3-run blast blew it up for good. Cue laugh track. Mets win, 9-4. Source: FanGraphs Other Notes ALTERNATE TITLE: Home Run, Ronny, Run David Wright advanced from 1st to second on an error and scored on a sac-fly. Since Chapman struck out the merciless Cedeno on the very next at bat, he did not get tagged with an earned run. Still sitting 0.00. Learned some more stuff about R.A. Dickey . He has has no UCL , which made me wonder if you could have Tommy John implant surgery. Probably more fun just to become a knuckleballer. To my eye, Chapman’s shaky inning looked more like unfortunate batted ball luck than anything else. Maybe putting Wright on first – or pitching Chapman back-to-back – were technically tactical blunders. But if Stubbs snares that dying quaily that bounced off his glove, he probably gets out of the inning with no runs, 2 K, 1 BB and less than 30 pitches. Stubbs and Cozart, the Reds’ current 1 and 2 hitters, went a combined 0-9. Both are now getting on base below .300. Joey Votto’s one-run homer was a convenient exhibit showing at least one of them needs to be relocated in the order. After the Mets’ series, Todd Frazier is now doing a very healthy .295/.354/.659. Both he and Hanigan are good candidates to move up in the order, though I doubt they both will. Next up: @ Yankees , 7:05 EDT, Yankee Stadium. Bronson Arroyo is the age-appropriate choice to take on Andy Pettite, who makes his second start since returning to the majors. Reds are lined up pretty well for the three game series, throwing Cueto against Sabathia on Sunday. Final – 5.17.2012 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Cincinnati Reds 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 4 8 2 New York Mets 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 5 X 9 12 0 WP: Bobby Parnell (1 – 0) LP: Logan Ondrusek (3 – 1) Complete Coverage > Continue reading →

Posted in Local, Mets, Yankees, Yankees News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Figuring Out The Yankees Early Season Struggles

Posted on May 17, 2012 by admin

As many of you have discussed here, this season the Yankees look a bit off. At 20-17, the Yankees are in third place in the AL East, only three games ahead of the Red Sox , who are in last place in the AL East. Despite all of the panic going around, whether it be about the rotation, Mark Teixeira’s lack of hitting, Alex Rodriguez ‘ lack of power, or the injuries, I’m still confident about the future of this team offensively. Let’s first talk about the hitting. The Yankees are among the top ten teams in the MLB this season in batting average, runs, hits, home runs (obviously) RBI, OBP (!) and SLG. The lineup may not look intimidating every night, but the Yankees work the count, get on base, and while they may mainly rely on home runs, they still get the job done. The offense will get a spark when (if) Mark Teixeira gets into his groove and gets healthy, and when (if) Russell Martin returns to his average self and Brett Gardner returns. Meanwhile, the Yankees rotation is a problem right now. The Yankees are only in the top ten in walks allowed and strikeouts thrown, but the rotation simply is not doing their job right now. Hiroki Kuroda is wildly inconsistent, Ivan Nova regressed after a solid start to the season, and Andy Pettitte is a mystery right now. The positives of the rotation are that CC Sabathia is, well, CC Sabathia, and Phil Hughes looks like he is improving. If Hughes can be an acceptable #4 or #5 starter, Andy Pettitte can pitch at least close to the Andy Pettitte of old, and Hiroki Kuroda can pitch like he did for the Dodgers , the Yankees rotation will be fine. Still, that’s a lot of ifs. Continue reading →

Posted in Local, National, Yankees, Yankees News, Yankees Rumors | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Jays Hit 4 Home Runs, Beat Yankees.

Posted on May 17, 2012 by admin

Yankees 1 Blue Jays 8 Now that was more like it. We scored a bunch of runs, got good pitching and didn’t make any errors. J.P. Arencibia , Edwin Encarnacion , Jose Bautista and Kelly Johnson all homered. Nice to see Jose clobber one, it left the park in a hurry. We had 11 hits. 3 each for JP and Edwin. 2 for Kelly. Brett Lawrie , Colby Rasmus and Omar Vizquel had 0 fors. Kyle Drabek had a much better start than last time out against the Twins . He only allowed 3 hits in 7 innings. Too many walks, 4, but 2 of those were in his last inning of work. He kept the ball on the ground, 13 ground outs, with just 2 fly outs. He did get a gift call in the 7th, with 2 on, Curtis Granderson hit a ball to Omar, who tossed the ball to Johnson. The trouble was that Kelly was a long way from the bag, playing Granderson to pull, and he got there just a little after the base runner. But the umpire still called him out. Luis Perez pitched a scoreless 8th, getting 2 strikeouts, giving up 2 walks. Francisco Cordero pitched a perfect 9th, as hard as that might be to believe. Jays of the Day are Kyle (.215 WPA), Edwin (.200) and JP (.189). No suckage Jays, Colby had the low mark at -.036. It would be nice if he would start hitting sometime. Tomorrow we have game two of the series, Phil Hughes (3-4, 5.50 in 7 starts) gets the ball for the Yankees. Drew Hutchison (2-1, 5.53 in 5 starts), coming off his best start of his young career, goes for the Jays. No fireworks tonight. We din’t see Lawrie talk to Bill Miller, but I imagine an apology was offered by Brett. They did show Brian Butterfield talking to Miller. Continue reading →

Posted in Giants, Local, Yankees, Yankees News, Yankees Rumors | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The View from Gamecock24′s Seat

Posted on May 16, 2012 by admin

GC24 watched the Wei-Yin Chen and the Orioles shut down the New York Yankees last night from section 12. Continue reading →

Posted in Local, Yankees, Yankees Gossip, Yankees Rumors | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The New York Yankees and the Injury Bug

Posted on May 16, 2012 by admin

Before each season, my family and friends often ask me how I think our beloved New York Yankees will fare over the grueling 162 game gauntlet and proceeding playoff run, assuming they get there (which they have every year other than 2008 since 1995). I’ve often felt fairly confident heading into each season, and why wouldn’t I? The Yankees have had baseball’s top payroll since before I was born and have, for the most part, managed to spend that money wisely. My answer generally consists of the following: “If they can stay healthy, I think they’ve got a great shot at the World Series”. That’s a big “if”. Make no mistake, 162 games without any major injuries and a few minor 15-day disabled list stints is nothing short of a miracle. But 2012 has been unique for all the wrong reasons. Here’s what injuries have haunted the Yankees so far this season: RHP Joba Chamberlain – Currently sitting on the 60-day DL due to a torn MCL and dislocated ankle from playing on a trampoline with his young son. His return date is still TBD. RHP Michael Pineda – Out for the entire season with a right anterior labral tear. He underwent arthroscopic surgery on May 1 and is expected back to start 2013. This one obviously looms as the most daunting injury considering the Yankees traded famed catching prospect Jesus Montero as well as RHP Hector Noesi (Mr. Bullpen in 2011). More after the jump… RHP Mariano Rivera – The undisputed greatest 9th inning pitcher of all-time tore his ACL shagging fly balls during batting practice at Kauffman Stadium. He’s out for 2012. According to Yankees.com, he’ll have surgery when the swelling around his knee subsides. LF Brett Gardner – GGBG hit the 15-day DL in late April after aggravating his right elbow and was renewed on the 15-day DL on May 11 after experiencing further pain swinging a bat. He’ll hopefully be back sometime in late May or early June so that we don’t have to watch Jayson Nix or Raul Ibanez in the outfield anymore. RHP David Robertson – The most recent victim of the injury bug, Robertson strained his left oblique and was placed on the 15-day DL retroactive to his last appearance on May 12. It’d be great to have him back later in May, but we’ll see what his timetable looks like as we progress toward the end of the month. C Austin Romine – In case you haven’t heard, Romine was transferred to the 60-day DL on May 12 due to back problems. For those less familiar with the minor league system, Romine is a catching prospect who took the backseat to Montero over the past few years. Here are a few more injuries that aren’t so serious, whether they be players that don’t contribute as much or they’re simply day-to-day. DH/OF Raul Ibanez – Day-to-day with a right elbow bruise. RHP Ivan Nova – Day-to-day with a bruised right foot/ankle. Could potentially miss his next start or moved back a bit if the injury persists. LHP Pedro Feliciano – Underwent shoulder surgery in September to repair a torn left rotator cuff. Could be back in August, but don’t hold your breath. LHP Clay Rapada – Day-to-day with a viral infection. Seriously, don’t be a hero, Rapada. We certainly don’t need the rest of the team becoming ill. RHP David Aardsma – Coming back from Tommy John surgery, he might return in July. LHP Cesar Cabral – On the 15-day DL with a stress fracture in his left elbow. Honestly, who knows when he’ll be back. Obviously, the main injuries that hurt here are namely Rivera and Pineda because both were being counted on as huge parts of the Yankees this year. But, the Yankees have managed to go 20-16 through the first 36 games of the season and should be able to maneuver their way toward the postseason without them. Continue reading →

Posted in Local, Mets, Yankees, Yankees Gossip, Yankees News | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Chen Dazzles, Orioles Down Yankees 5-2

Posted on May 16, 2012 by admin

Wei-Yin Chen and the Baltimore Orioles got the best of the New York Yankees tonight 5-2 at the Yankees’ home away from home. Chen pitched a fantastic game tonight for the O’s, going seven strong allowing only a two-run home run to Curtis Granderson in the seventh inning. The Yankees managed four hits off the southpaw, two of which came in the seventh inning, and worked two walks, one that came in the seventh inning. CC Sabathia , on the other hand, was not ace-like. Earning his first official “L” of the year, Sabathia managed to pitch six innings, allowing four runs on eight hits while walking four batters as well. He did, however, strikeout six. The start was disappointing mostly because Sabathia’s last four consecutive starts were exactly eight innings long. Sabathia hasn’t pitched exactly six innings since his April 11 start, ironically, in Baltimore. Granderson’s home run was the only bright spot for the Yankees, and if not for jubilant fan in left-centerfield extending his glove to catch the ball and steal it away from Xavier Avery , the Bombers would have been shutout. New York was 1-9 with runners in scoring position this evening. Not a formula for for victory. Comment of the game: Bango31 sums up the game. Continue reading →

Posted in Local, Mets, Yankees, Yankees Gossip, Yankees News, Yankees Rumors | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment