After Friday night's comeback win in the first game of the series I felt really positive about the Yankees season. That feeling turned quickly after the thrashing they took on Saturday afternoon. My feeling was well, it doesn't matter how bad you lose, its still only one loss. However, Sunday evening was very disappointing. With how well Mike Mussina had been pitching and his history against the Red Sox, I thought the Yankees would secure a win and take 2 out of 3.

I thought they had David Ortiz back to human but he still just kills them. Mussina was taken out after three innings and actually Wang looked pretty good, giving up only one run. Randy Johnson is still struggling and really didn't look that great against the Sox on Friday night. Are our expectations too high? If Johnson gives up three runs in six innings to a great lineup is that considered good pitching? I really thought the Yankees had Boomer on the ropes after the two homeruns, but they couldn't deliver the knockout blow and he certainly settled down and pitched great.

The Yankees now face Kansas City, Minnesota, Milwaukee and St. Louis on a twelve game road trip over the next two weeks. They should take at least eight of twelve. There is no way Kansas City should win a game. The Yankees should simply crush them. Minnesota may win two of three, but the Yankees can beat them if they play up to standards. Milwaukee isn't any good either. However, the Cardinals have a good team and they should provide a challenge for the Bombers.

I can't figure it out. Is American League hitting so good that you can't expect the pitching to hold them down? Or, is the Yankees pitching only good and not good enough to beat great teams?

Imagine 'World' without Yankees:


Sure, a World Cup seems "neat", but it is understandable. An opportunity for people to take a crack at the Yankees. There is a definitely risk, though. As there is with the NBA players in the Olympics, etc. I'm not sure what I want to see. But, if there is a World Cup, it wouldn't really be complete without Yankee players. If it happens, and all other teams send their players, I imagine Yankee players will end up going.

Via Pride of the Yankees.

My wife always calls me when there is a bug to be killed. I take my shoe, and gently sneakup on the bug, and then "lower the hammer." Sometimes its just a thwap! noise. Sometimes the bug makes a bigger mess than I intended, and that's especially those that go pop!

When the Yankees get a beat down upon them, I go back to thinking about bugs. Surely, they don't see the shoe coming down, for if they did they would hide. How would the Yanks hide? If Joe Torre saw the "shoe" coming for the Yankees, would he ask Don Zimmer to borrow his helmet?

Its games like these that can make you forget all about the last 10, 20 or even 30 games. Those are the games that you always remember in the year. I still remember the thrashing put on the Bombers last year by the tribe.

It looked like in the 5th inning that the Red Sox were like the child who picked up the Yankee bug, and started pulling off its legs...one by one. 7 runs scored thanks to Stanton (this years Felix) and Quantrill in the 5th inning alone. The Yankee bug did not have its stinger, or bats against the Red Sox child either. Weak, and what seemed to be lost opportunities with 8 hits and one run scored.

I'm looking forward to a much different game today with the Moose taking the mound against Boomer. Don't you just see Wells on the mound holding a rather large magnifying glass?

"Come on bug... lets get this over quickly."

Thankfully the Moose has very large antlers.

Alex discusses the possibility of Bernie coming back next year in a "DH/PH, Rock Raines/Chili Davis" role next year. I know one thing... if Bernie wants to come back and play that role (or even a little bigger role), I want him back. Having Bernie on the Yankees is "right". There is just no other way for me to say it.

Like Alex, I'm enjoying everything that Bernie is doing this year. If this is his last year, I'll definitely miss him.

All of these coming from the always worth reading Steve Lombardi:

Carl Pavano took on Bronson Arrojo in a Red Sox vs. Yankees matchup on Xbox's Major League Basebakk 2K5. The result? Yankees win 9-3.


Chien-Ming Wang (Obi Wang) has pitched more 1-2-3 innings than all but 2 pitchers in the majors. Those pitchers? Pedro and the Rocket. Add into the fact that Wang's first start came on April 30 (Clemens' was April 8 and Pedro's was April 4) and you have an impressive stat.

Finally, he notes that A-Rod has a shot at the AL record for most home runs in a season for a right handed hitter (Hank Greenberg's 58 hit in 1938). It's early and it'll be hard, but it's possible.

I was watching ESPN Wednesday afternoon (right before I had to leave - haven't had a chance to blog about it until now) and they were talking about the Yankees. Dave Martinez was the "analyst" on to talk about baseball with the general anchor... whoever it was, I forget.

I am trying to recall exactly what he said. But, basically he said that Yankees fans won't consider A-Rod a true Yankee until he leads them to a World Series victory. He stuck his fingers up as quotation marks (except he didn't bend them like you normally would, it looked like he was giving two peace signs) and the tone of his voice, the look on his face, body language, etc... it implied, to me at least, that Yankees fans were being fickle, stupid... whatever word you want to give it. Then he said that when Paul O'Neil was a Red, he was a red[expletive meaning donkey or butt], but when he came to the Yankees, he did what he did because he wanted to win and I think he (Martinez) shrugged his shoulders or something. The segment left a bad taste in my mouth... almost anti Yankees fan like, although I think to call it that may be going a bit far. Anyone else see it?

Anyway, any real Yankees fan knows that A-Rod doesn't have to win to be a "true Yankee" or a beloved Yankee, etc. One of the truest of the true, beloved of the beloved - Don Mattingly - didn't win a title. So, any talk of that ends there. It's about more than that. I'd have to say that Dave Martinez was really speaking out of touch when he said what he said. Some Yankees fans may feel that way, but those Yankees fans just cast a poor reflection on the rest of us.

The Yankees won their 5th consecutive game last night after coming back from a rather early two-run defecit to beat the Red Sox 6-3. Randy Johnson still wasn't all that dominant but had more command than in recent starts as he gave up 3 runs in 6 innings. Robinson Cano launched his second career home run to tie the game at 3 in the 6th and Gary Sheffield launched a three run shot into the upper deck in left field to give the Yankees a 6-3 lead. That would be all they needed as the bullpen once again held the opposition scoreless. An odd decision to take note of was Joe Torre starting the 9th inning off with Tom Gordon and then using Mariano Rivera for only two outs. Rivera sruck out Bill Mueller to end the game and record his 12th save of the season.

I think everybody is now officially afraid of Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod was walked 3 times last night and hit by a pitch. He did not record an at-bat in the game. I think part of the reason why he's been so hot is because he isn't chasing after any bad pitches right now. If guys pitch around him, he won't swing the bat if the ball is out of the strike zone. He usually gets one or two good pitches to hit every game and he is consistently taking advantage of those pitches and hitting the ball hard. He was hovering around .300 for the majority of the season up until about two weeks ago. Now his batting average is up to .324 (6th in the American League).

On to another thing that I'm sure caught everybody's eye: How about that home run that Gary Sheffield launched off Alan Embree? Normally I wouldn't dwell so much on one hit, but Sheffield absolutely destroyed that ball. As far as I can remember, I can only recall three home runs going into the left field upper deck in Yankee Stadium in recent years including Sheffield's last night. One other was Jose Conseco's first home run as a Yankee and another was a shot hit by A-Rod last year against Tampa Bay.

In the first game of the season Randy Johnson pitched great and the Yankees beat the Red Sox 9-2 at Yankee Stadium. Since then he has been somewhat mediocre. He normally starts very slowly and gives up runs early in the game. Against the Mets, he gave up twelve hits and a guy like Miguel Cairo hit a homerun off of him. He needs to establish his velocity and location very early. He needs to go after the lefties like Damon, Ortiz and Nixon and dominate.

Is the relatively cold weather an excuse why he is throwing 91-93 mph rather than the 97-99 mph he was reaching consistenly last year? He seemed very frustrated against the Mets when they were hitting seeing eye base hits and dunking balls into the outfield. I think he will come out tonight and go right after the Sox from the first pitch. I just hope his aggression is controlled and he doesn't try and overthrow which will cause him to get behind in the count.

The Red Sox were just swept by the Toronto Blue Jays and really haven't been playing well at all. Johnny Damon and David Ortiz are complaining about the team in general and their poor play. With last night's win the Yankees jumped over the Red Sox into second place and this weekend the Yankees have the opportunity to open up some distance between them.

The Red Sox will be throwing Tim Wakefield tonight and he normally pitches very well against the Yankees. He seems to frustrate them and they end up looking silly. Hopefully they will not go up to the plate trying to hit home runs. They should try and go deep in the count and take him to the opposite field. Since he throws the knuckleball, pitch count really isn't a concern for him. Matt Clement will go Saturday vs. Pavano in the FOX Network game of the week and on Sunday night Mussina will face Boomer Wells. Clement has been great but Boomer may be close to his career finish line if things don't turn around soon.

A side story will be Mariano Rivera and his recent inability to beat the Bosox. He has been great lately, but it seems the Sox have his number because they have faced him so often. It will be a challenge for him and the team to be able to complete save opportunities.

However the games turn out it will be for sure that it will be great theater and Yankees and Red Sox fans will be on hand and glued to their TV sets and radios. I can't wait, what a great Memorial Day weekend to look forward to.

I just got in from what I thought would be a rained out game. There had been a mass of clouds that just seemed to linger over the city today, with rain showers starting to fall close to game time. But lo and behold, the clouds broke, and the crowd filtered in for a night of baseball in the Bronx.

We settled into our seats in the right field bleachers. One of the few times I've sat out there, and I'm never thrilled as I like to see the game from close to the plate as possible. This was one of the rare exceptions however. It gave me a marvelous view of Jeter's catch, seemingly scaling over Cano for a catch that I would describe as simply Jeter.

There is talk of what it takes to be a "true Yankee." Watch Jeter. His number should be on the wall one day. You'll have the grand opportunity to tell your kids or grandkids, or heck, even the kid in your neighborhood, that you got to see the great Derek Jeter. A-Rod, Giambi... take notes from this guy.

Several things from the game...

I don't see the value in the dogs you can buy at the Stadium. You can buy $2 dogs outside and get them into the stadium. $4.50 for a jumbo? Come on!!

What was Torre thinking by bringing in Stanton? I know... I know... a left handed pitcher was needed in that situation.... but my goodness, you could feel it in the air when he came in. We had a great view of the bullpen, and we saw Sturtze warming up. I meekly tried to start the chant, "We want Sturtze!" but to no avail. Torre is dead set on bringing in Stanton. I was just glad it was a 4-1 game at the time!

It's freakin' late May and the temperature was just NUTS! Who would have thought I would need two sweatshirts and a total of 5 layers of clothes this time of year?!?!?

Tino, Bernie, Derek got the most cheers. No matter what they do on the field, you can count on the fans being behind them and supporting them as long as they are Yankees.

There were some jokers in the left-field bleachers trying to start the wave. Ugh! This is the great Yankee Stadium folks, no need to start the wave. A girl in front of me said, "Take the wave to Shea!" Indeed!

The Yankees hit six homeruns last night, two apiece from A-Rod and Posada but because of the thrashing they gave the Detroit Tigers they were the receipients of the dreaded beanball late in the game.

Franklin German hit A-Rod squarely on the front part of the thigh and the Yankees retaliated when Paul Quantrill threw a pitch behind the batter which drew an official warning from the home plate umpire. The next pitch hit the same batter in the back and Quantrill and Torre were immediately ejected. The benches cleared briefly but there was no fracas which ensued. I'm sure Paul Quantrill gained respect from all of his teammates for making a statement. The Yankees will not be bullied and we will fear no one.

A side issue in the game is the emergence of Robinson Cano and his first major league home run. He turned on an inside pitch and deposited it into the upper deck in right field. After starting very slowly he has come on like gangbusters both in the field and at the bat. If the Yankees can win the next two they will get to five over .500, a landmark of sorts. They are presently three over .500 for the first time this season.

Tonight Wang goes against Mike Maroth and on Thursday Kevin Brown will face Jeremy Bonderman. With the team back to basically full strength, Joe Torre is faced with the everyday challenge of getting playing time for Tino, Bernie, Jason and Ruben. So far he seems to be keeping everyone happy.

The Yankees beat the Tigers 12-3 last night behind 6 homers (2 from A-Rod, 2 from Posada, a Sheff shot and the 1st of Cano's career) and 7 shutout innings (no walks, 6 hits, 6 K's) from Moose.

Sheffield went 2 for 5 with 2 RBI, bringing his average up to .317. With A-Rod's 2 for 2 (3 RBI) day, he's up to .318. Posada's 3 for 4 (4 RBI) puts him at a respectable .284. Bernie also added 2 hits (including a double), bringing his average up to .244. And Womack stole another base (number 15).

There was a little drama in the latter innings with A-Rod getting hit and then Q (who won Steve Lombardi over)throwing behind a batter and then hitting the batter with the next pitch. Anyone see it? I didn't. Just going on what I've read. Dimitri Young says it's not over.

More complete recaps can be found at Bronx Banter and Pride of the Yankees.

I'm guessing that this was said in jest, but who knows.

Report: Moonves says network would have topped Fox in ratings if Mariano Rivera held off Red Sox.

Basically, because Mo (/the Yankees as a team) didn't hold off the Red Sox, Fox was able to broadcast more Red Sox/Yankees games which attracted more viewers which improved their ratings and allowed them to top CBS.


Again, I doubt that he is really serious, but if he is: that is an absurd excuse.


hehe.

Via WasWatching.com.

In a game that looked hopeless for the Yankees, they scored three in the eighth and added an insurance run in the ninth to beat the Mets and win the first round of the Subway Series at Shea Stadium. Yesterday's loss was bad enough with a frustrating performance from Randy Johnson, but the Yankees lost Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada to add to Gary Sheffield being temporarily sidelined. This appeared somewhat ominous considering the fact that they had to face Pedro Martinez.

The game did not start out well at all for the Yankees. With two outs and runners on second and third in the second inning all Pavano had to do was retire pitcher Pedro Martinez and the Yankees were out of the inning. Martinez hit a soft boucer to A-Rod which he booted and allowed the first run to score. Jose Reyes followed with a line single to right to increase the lead to 2-0. Later Cliff Floyd homered to make it 3-0. Pedro Martinez threw thirty-one pitches in the first inning but escaped a bases loaded jam when Mets third baseman David Wright reached into the stands on a foul popup off the bat of Jason Giambi. Pedro turned in a great performance, throwing seven innings and left having thrown ninety-nine pitches. Yesteday's hero Koo entered but the Yankees battled. The Bombers got the tieing runs on second and third with the aid of errors by Wright and Reyes and Mets manager Wille Randolph changed pitchers and brought in Roberto Hernandez. Hernandez got A-Rod to pop up for the second out and then Hideki Matsui stepped to the plate. With first base open, the Mets Randolph elected to pitch to Matsui who lined a single over the head of Wright to tie the game. Bernie Williams followed with a double off the wall in right to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead. Mike Stanton entered to face Cliff Floyd as the first batter of the eighth inning. He got Floyd to fly deep to center for the first out. Tom Gordon then relieved and retired Piazza and Mientkiewicz to end the inning. The Yankees added an insurance run in the top of the ninth to make it 5-3 and Rivera worked a 1-2-3 ninth to end the game.

This was a very gutty performance for the Yankees. Derek Jeter entered in the eighth as a pinch runner and did score but could not stay in to play defense. Tino came in for defense late along with Russ Johnson and the Yankees used the entire team to squeak out a win. We now have an off day tomorrow before facing the Detroit Tigers at the stadium for three night games on Tuesday through Thursday. After that its the hated Red Sox for the Memorial Day weekend rumble.

A-Rod has to sharpen his defense. He is hitting much better than last year but had made seven errors already this season. Jeter had already made five. The Mets have some very good young exciting players but Wright, Reyes and especially Matsui make too many errors.

The Yanks lost 7-1 Saturday afternoon at Shea Stadium as they struggled to hit throughout the game. Only a base hit by A-Rod in the 9th to score Tony Womack prevented the Mets from walking out of the stadium with a shutout victory. Randy Johnson struggled for the second consecutive start as he gave up 4 runs on 12 hits in 6 2/3 innings. Former Yankee Miguel Cairo homered for the Mets and perhaps the biggest surprise from this game was Mets' reliever Dae-Sung Koo. Koo doubled in the bottom of the 7th for his first hit since little league and scored from second on a bunt (although I must say I really disagreed with the call at the plate). Hopefully the Yankees can take the rubber game of this series tomorrow as they send up Carl Pavano to face Pedro Martinez.

I'd hate to say it, but I saw this start coming for Randy Johnson. His stuff hasn't been as great the last two or three starts, and the Mets have a much better lineup than the A's or Mariners. However, I don't think it's anything to be alarmed about. Small rough stretches happen to everyone. I've seen him have worse games than that at Shea Stadium.

I think the last three games for the Yankees overall have been a little sloppy. Fortunately, we have the Tigers (although of course nothing is automatic) at Yankee Stadium after this series is over. I'll be happy as long as they can clean themselves up before next weekend's series against the Red Sox.

The first Subway series of 2005 is underway. The Yankees took the first of three at Shea Stadium 5-2 tonight against the Mets in what was a sloppy game for both teams. Kevin Brown struggled, but he managed to give up only one run in 5 innings. The Yankees went ahead 2-1 after Kaz Matsui booted a grounder hit by Robinson Cano with the bases loaded, and the next batter, Ruben Sierra reached base on an error by Doug Mientkiewicz to make it 3-1. The Yankees had some mishaps as well. Jeter made two errors in the 4th inning, Tony Womack let a catchable ball drop in front of him and the Yankees also left 12 runners on base. However, the Yankees' mistakes did not cost them this time as they were able to grab the 5-2 victory.

The Yankees and Mets now have identical records at 22-20. The Yankees have now won 11 of their last 12 games. They will send Randy Johnson to the mound tomorrow afternoon to face Kris Benson.

There is still over one hundred games to play but as Yankees fans we feel that getting to the post season is a birth right. With that thought in mind, what do we need to add? About two weeks ago dejected Yankees fans would say we need to add everything but the last eleven games has brought renewed hope and a sense of calming.

I don't think we can continue the season with Tony Womack as a left fielder. His inexperience and lack of arm will come back to haunt us when we play close games against contending teams. Bernie Williams can't play center field on a day to day basis. If the Yankees eat 3/4 to 90% of Jason Giambi's contract would anyone take him? I see our needs as follows in order of preference.

1. A left fielder or a new center fielder so Matsui can return to left on an every day basis. Matsui doesn't throw well either and teams run at will against the Yankees (remember the Red Sox during last year's ALCS). Ken Griffey, Jr. may be available and with the Yankees long lineup he would not have the pressure to produce all the time and may fit in with another lefty bat in the Bronx. Could we get Eric Byrnes from the A's? He is a very high spirited player with a lot of energy. Who else might be available? Someone like Preston Wilson could also be obtained.

2. If Giambi can be dealt than that means we need additional first base help. The Kansas City Royals are awful and a guy like Mike Sweeney who makes some money would be a big right handed bat to fill in or platoon with Tino Martinez.

3. To get anybody we would probably have to use either Cano or Wang as trade bait. I would hate to see either one of them go but if they did would Bret Boone be a possibility at second base.

4. If Bernie Williams becomes a part time role player he would strenghten our bench with Sierra returning this weekend. A bat would be helpful but we would need someone who can probably play several positions, we have too many DH's.

5. You never have enough pitching! The name of Roger Clemens keeps surfacing all the time. If we can get him we need to do so. The Houston Astros would probably want prospects like Cano and Wang and probably a couple more top prospects. I'm not sold on either Buddy Groom or Mike Stanton as a lefty specialist. Groom has probably been the better of two but both have alot of age on them. Is anyone out there that we can think of?

The Yankees win streak is over. It would have been nice to keep it going especially the way we lost that last game, but that's baseball. There will be many ups and down during the rest of the season. Keep in mind always that the season isn't a sprint, rather it is a marathon.

Tonight we return to New York but are the visiting team as interleague play starts against the Mets at Shea Stadium. The Mets today are getting reminiscent of the Mets during the mid 80's. They carry themselves with a certain swagger and cockiness. However, they do have an exciting team with some great young players like Reyes, Wright, Beltran and Matsui only to name a few. Tonight its Kevin Brown against Victor Zambrano. KB has looked pretty good in his last two starts. Will he be able to continue in enemy territory against a much better hitting team? Yankee fans will remember Zambrano when he pitched for the Devil Rays. I believe he beat the Yankees three times last year before being traded to the Mets. His problem is his control. The Yankees need to be patient and make him throw a lot of pitches.

Saturday it will be the Big Unit vs. Kris Benson in the first FOX network game of the year. The series concludes on Sunday afternoon with Carl Pavano dueling Pedro Martinez. Martinez was supposed to pitch tonight but received a cortisone shot in his hip and is being held back a few days. The Yankees know how to battle against Pedro and have had quite a bit of success against him.

How does Joe Torre handle first base with there being no DH because of the National League park being used? Is it Tino or Giambi? Giambi seems to becoming out of his horrible slump, however he took a called third strike to end the game the other night with the bases loaded. Will Bernie Williams see much action? If he plays it means either Womack will sit or he would move back to second and Cano would sit.

My lineup would be as follows: 1. Jeter; 2. Womack; 3. Sheffield; 4. Matsui;
5. Rodriguez; 6. Martinez; 7. Posada; 8. Cano; and 9. Brown.

That leaves us with a bench of Williams, Giambi, Crosby and Sanchez.

I'm looking forward to a great weekend of baseball in New York. I think the Yankees will take two of three. What does everyone else think?

The streak ends at 10.

More or less, we were done in by defense. Three costly errors. We did have a shot in the ninth but A-Rod and Giambi (2 outs, bases loaded) made outs at key moments to end the rally.

Jeter and Womack each had 2 hits (Womack had a walk as well) to raise their averages to .319 and .281, respectively. Godzilla went 3 for 5. The only hitless Yankees were Sheffield and Bernie.

We have a day off to ponder the loss before heading to Shea to face Willie Randolph's Mets.

More detailed write ups at Off the Facade and WasWatching.com.

The Yankees extended their winning streak into double digits with a 6-0 win on Tuesday. Pavano turned in a complete game 5 hitter. 7 strikeouts and no walks. He faced 33 batters and threw 133 pitches (90 strikes).

DHing from the 8th spot, Giambi went 3 for 4 with 1 home run and 3 RBI. A-Rod went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI, 2 runs and a home run of his own. Posada was 2 for 4 with an RBI. As a team, the Yankees had 10 hits and 3 walks against the combination of Julio Mateo, Matt Thornton and Ron Villone.

Today the Yankees will send Mike Mussina to the hill against Jamie Moyer in the final game of the 3 game series.

Yankees record since YanksBlog.com launched: 10-2. I'm just saying.

9 games in a row... and counting.

On ESPN.com the nation cries, "somebody beat them!"

I've come to the conclusion as of why the Yankees are doing so well. Donald Arthur Mattingly. Donnie Baseball. Tino has attributed him as the reason he is seeing the ball so clearly.


And Don will turn Giambi around too. Look at the success Robinson Cano is having at the plate. I no longer shudder when I see him come up with RISP.

The team is clearly built around its offense. We have one of the best strikeout pitchers in baseball, *THE* best closer, and a good staff of support. But what will get us to the World Series will be our bats.

When the Yankees were sitting in last place at 11-19, I didn't think I'd see them get their 20th victory before their 20th loss. However, this is now the case as the Yankees beat the Mariners in Seattle for their 9th straight victory to improve their record to 20-19. The Yankees are now above .500 for the first time since they started the season 3-2.

I guess unlike most humans, Bernie Williams does not need to be in the lineup consistently in order to get a feel for the ball. Bernie hit a key grand slam in the 7th to put the Yankees up 5-2 en route to an eventual 6-3 victory. Chien-Ming Wang was lights out after a shaky first inning, at one point retiring 17 consecutive Mariner hitters as he recorded his second Major League win. Mariano Rivera put the cap on it once again, striking out Greg Dobbs to record his 7th save of the season. I will also add that Tino Martinez did not homer in this game, which might be a more newsworthy story at this point than it would have been had he hit one out.

The victory brought the Yankees within 5 games of the division leading Orioles. The Yankees will go for 10 in a row tomorrow night in Seattle.