The Yankees scored 16 runs tonight. With the exception of an Andy Phillips sacrifice fly, every single run scored on a home run. The game started off like that, as well. In the 1st, Damon singled, Jeter singled and then Abreu hit a 3 run shot. Then A-Rod made an out. And Matsui hit a solo home run to cap a 4 run 1st. And that's pretty much how the game went.

Cano and Cabrera (a hot duo, like James said) homered to add 5 more runs in the 3rd. In the 4th, Posada homered to score 2 more. In the 6th, Matsui homered again - this time a 2 run shot - and Phillips had the sac fly. Then, in the 7th, Damon and Shelley Duncan (in his only AB of the game) both hit solo shots.

The guys on ESPN said it was the 2nd time in team history where they've reached 8 homers in a game. The last time was June 28, 1939. It is, however, the first time that they've ever had 7 different players hit home runs in the first game.

Though he had some close calls, A-Rod was 0 for 5 today. Him and Phillips were the only players to go hitless, though Phillips did score a run and drive in a run through that sac fly. Besides that, you've got:

Damon: 2 for 3, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB.
Jeter: 1 for 5, 1 R.
Abreu: 3 for 4, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI.
Duncan: 1 for 1, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI.
Matsui: 2 for 3, 2 HR, 4 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB.
Posada: 4 for 5, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 R, 2 RBI.
Cano: 2 for 5, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI.
Cabrera: 1 for 4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI.

KA-BOOM. Crazy.

Not to be missed, of course, Moose had a nice outing, allowing 3 ER over 6 innings of work. He struck out 6 and walked none. Farnsworth, Myers and Henn pitched 1 inning a piece, only facing 3 each (Farnsworth pitched a 1-2-3 and the other two got DPs) to end the game.

Ozzie Guillen got tossed in the 1st for arguing balls and strikes as did Paul Konerko in the 6th.

As if that wasn't nice enough, both Boston and Cleveland lost. So, we're 8 games back in the division and 3.5 back in the Wild Card. Tomorrow, we'll get Pettitte (6-7, 4.11 ERA) vs. John Danks (6-7, 4.83).

With that HR, Robbie Cano has got his average back at .300 and his OPS back over .800. This is why when he was scuffling earlier on in the season, I didn't really understand the point of the trade talk surrounding the guy.

He's young, he's cheap and apparently people haven't noticed that he's gone from below-average/average in 2005 to very good at playing second base. He has very good range, pivots on the DP exceptionally well and he's got a great arm.

Then you look at the offense and since May 16th, which was the last time his OPS was under .600: .336 /.373/.547/.920 and that's over 68 games and 265 Abs so it's not just a hot streak.

Very good defensive 2nd basemen who hit .300+/.340+/.500+ aren't exactly easy to find, especially ones that are still in their age 24 season.

Update: Thought I would do the same for Melky as well since he just went deep too. More people have been talking about his play recently but most of the focus has (deservedly) been on the great defense he's provided. Here's the offensive side of that story, also from the last time that he was under .600 (May 30th): .335/.388/.490/.878 over 55 games and 200 ABs. Not too shabby, huh? Especially for a kid (age 22 season) with a "4/5th OFer" ceiling.

Update 2: Updated the stats to inlcude last's night homerfest.

This is my weekly recap of the performance of the YanksBlog.com teams in the Yankees Bloggers Fantasy Baseball League.

Last Week

In a 1st vs. 3rd place showdown, James came out victorious over Mike (River Ave. Blues) in a 6-4 final. James took 4 out of 5 offensive categories (failing to win stolen bases). Although, runs, home runs and average were all close. Manny Ramirez led James' offense with 7 runs, 3 home runs, 10 runs batted in and a .393 average. Garrett Atkins hit .435. Orlando Hudson (5 R, 2 HR, 7 SB, .286 AVG) contributed the most on Mike's side.

Mike took 3 out of 5 pitching categories with a very impressive week of 6 wins, 5 saves, 59 strikeouts, a 2.45 ERA and 1.17 WHIP. Even so, wins, saves and WHIP were all close with James taking saves (7) and WHIP (1.13). James picked up wins from Ted Lilly, Bobby Jenks, Chad Billingsley (10 K), Jake Peavy and Jeremy Guthrie and saves from Bobby Jenks (4), Billy Wagner (2) and Jose Valverde. Meanwhile, Mike's wins came from Yovani Gallardo (9 K), Fausto Carmona, Francisco Rodriguez, Daisuke Matsuzaka (11 K), Felix Hernandez and John Smoltz (10 K). His saves were turned in by Joe Nathan (2), Jeremy Accardo (2) and Kevin Gregg.

I took a 6-4 victory over Seamus. I won the offensive part of the match, taking 4 out of 5 categories with none of those 4 being close. Seamus was able to take stolen bases, though, 4-2. Carlos Lee gave my offense 6 runs, 3 home runs, 6 runs batted in, 1 stolen base and a .385 average while Eric Byrnes (5 R, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 1 SB, .320 AVG) was the primary force on Seamus' side.

Seamus took 3 out of the 5 pitching categories (wins, ERA and WHIP). My pitchers, with the exception of strikeouts, just had a terrible week in general. My wins came from Mark Buehrle (11 K) and Kevin Millwood and my saves came from Manny Corpas (2), Joe Borowski and Octavio Dotel. Scott Kazmir had 16 strikeouts. Seamus had wins from Brandon Webb, Jered Weaver and Mike Mussina to go along with a single save from Todd Jones.

Top 3 teams in the league:

1. Mike (96-69-5)
2. James (89-72-9)
3. Dave (Pride of the Yankees) (87-74-9)

This Week

James (2nd, 89-72-9) vs. Dave (3rd, 87-74-9)
Patrick (6th, 81-83-6) vs. Joseph (River Ave. Blues) (T4th, 84-73-13)
Seamus (10th, 64-96-10) vs. Ben (River Ave. Blues) (T4th, 88-77-5)

MLB Trade Rumors has the story. Gagne has agreed to waive his no-trade clause and go to Boston to serve as the setup man. That's a pretty good bullpen now with Okajima, Gagne, Papelbon and barring injury, shortens the game for the Sox.

Mark Feinsand reports that, according to sources, Edwar Ramirez will be recalled and Chris Basak will be sent down.

ESPN is reporting that the trade is essentially done:


Naturally, the trade made me think of this from Dodger Thoughts last year:


As for Betemit the player, well, here's some good stuff: After starting off the year .125/.297/.167/.464, he's hit a ROBUST .278/.391/.611/1.002 since May 1st (of course, that's only 108 ABs) and .387/.500/.677/1.177 in July (31 ABs). He just turned 27 a couple days ago, he can play third, short and second (hmm, kind of makes Miggy Cairo redundant, no?) and while he's a switch hitter, he's clearly more dangerous as a lefty.

Chad Jennings mentions that Joba threw 13 pitches (10 strikes), striking out the side and reaching 99 MPH.

Via Andrew Fletcher.

Kyle is a funny dude:


There are plenty of Joe Torre critics out there (well, among bloggers, anyway). But, even so, I think it'd be pretty hard to find a couple that feel that Farnsworth has been underused. Granted, 4 other relievers on the team have appeared in more games than him. But, he's pitched in 44 games and, of Yankees pitchers that have appeared in 25 or more games this season, Farnsworth has the worst ERA (4.57), the worst WHIP (1.65) and the worst BAA of any of them (.283). Torre has continued to give him the ball and has even spoke publicly about how he doesn't see anything wrong with Farnsworth, etc. etc.

He didn't come here to sit on the bench? What did he come here to do? Not to pitch like this, for sure. Not to complain publicly about Clemens contractual benefits, not to show up his manager or his catcher. His trade value is probably the lowest it has been in a long time right now and, yet, that is what is going to happen, most likely.

From Ed Price:

Lisa Kennelly reports on Hughes second rehab start in Scranton. His line? 6.2 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 4 K, 3 BB, 91 pitches (57 strikes). His next start should be back in the Majors.

The Orioles took the lead quickly in the first, as Miguel Tejada doubled in Brian Roberts and Nick Markakis to make it 2-0. No one would score again until the bottom of the 5th when the Orioles made it 3-0 on a Markakis RBI single.

The Yankees would finally get on the board in the 7th, when Matsui hit a solo shot to right. 3-1, Orioles. But, the Orioles came right back in the bottom of the frame, scoring another 3 runs. Again, both of them were driven in by Tejada - this time, on a single. Clemens started the inning and got a ground out before giving up a single to Brian Roberts. Mike Myers was called on to face Corey Patterson. Patterson singled and then stole second, making it 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. Myers struck out Marakakis next to get the second out.

This led to Luis Vizcaino entering to pitch to Kevin Millar. He walked him to load the bases and that's when Tejada came up and delivered the single. 5-1, Orioles. Vizcaino retired Aubrey Huff to end the inning. The bullpen was pretty ineffective tonight and that wouldn't be the end of it.

The bottom of the 8th saw 2 more runs score. Brian Bruney came out to start the inning and failed to retire any of the first 3 batters he faced, allowing a single, having a man reach on an A-Rod error and then another single. His first out was Brian Roberts, whose sacrifice fly scored Ramon Hernandez. Corey Patterson singled next, loading the bases with 1 out. Ron Villone came in to relieve Bruney, getting a ground out from Markakis that allowed Jay Payton to score. Villone retired the next batter to end the 8th. 7-1, Orioles.

The Yankees would make it close, though. Facing Cory Doyne in just his 4th Major League appearance, the Yankees put together a rally, started by a Hideki Matsui single. This was followed by a Jorge Posada home run, to make it 7-3. Cano doubled and Andy Phillips singled to make it 1st and 3rd with no outs. A Melky Cabrera single scored Cano. 1st and 2nd with no outs for Damon, down by 3. The Orioles brought in Jamie Walker to pitch to Damon.

Damon, unfortunately, killed the rally. He grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to make the first 2 outs of the inning and move Andy Phillips to third. Ouch. Derek Jeter singled Phillips home and took second on fielder's indifference. Bobby Abreu came up with the tying run at the plate and struck out to end it.

In other relevant games, the Indians lost and the Red Sox won. So, we're back to 9 games back in the division, but only 5 games back in the wild card. We've officially lost this series. But, we can avoid the sweep tomorrow with Chien-Ming Wang (11-5, 3.57 ERA) starting against Daniel Cabrera (7-10, 5.04).

Update: This situation has been resolved - for now, anyway. Thanks.

I just thought that I would confirm that yes, we're being threatened by SFX Baseball (Mariano Rivera's agent). I've written a post at MarianoRivera.com explaining the situation. Thanks for reading.

From Michael Ko:


Yeah, right. What could we possibly get for him right now? A kick to the head? I doubt we're going to get anything that makes it worth it after we have to pay a chunk of his salary. It's only been half a season. We're best served just letting him work and seeing if he can get it turned around. Not even talking about this year. Maybe next. We've got him signed for 5, afterall.

From Mark Feinsand:


Via PSD.

The official site reports that Kei Igawa has been sent down to triple A while Chris Basak has been recalled, once again.

The Yankees started off on Friday night by beating the Orioles, 8-7, in completion of a suspended game from June 28th. Fans will remember then when Derek Jeter hit a two run single off of Chris Ray in a driving rain storm to take the lead and the game was suspended shortly thereafter.

The Yankees could not add any more insurance runs and had to hold on dearly for the win. Mike Myers started the eighth but could register only one out before walking a batter. Rivera came in and quickly got a double play ball to end the inning.

In the ninth, Mo surrendered a run and had two runners on before he got Brandon Fahey to ground to second with Cano forcing the runner at second to end the game.

In the regularly scheduled game which starts soon, Andy Pettitte will be on the hill for the Bombers vs. Jeremy Guthrie for the Orioles.

From Dan Graziano:


From George King:


Via Yahoo!

According to the AP, Jason Giambi will begin a 2 game rehab assignment at single A Tampa on Friday.

The Yankees came away last night with yet another convincing victory, their sixth in a row and the 12th in their first 15 games after the All-Star break. The Yanks are now 17-5 in their last 22 games and the Red Sox' loss brings them within 6.5 games of the A.L. East lead.

Melky Cabrera was the early hero, driving in the Yankees' first three runs in what was at the time a pretty close game with a two-run homer in the 2nd and a sac fly in the 7th that put them up 3-1. The Yankees blew it open in the 8th with back-to-back long balls by A-Rod (#499) and Matsui, and an RBI double by Andy Phillips.

Mike Mussina was decent, allowing a run on six hits in 5 and 2/3 innings. The Yankees used five relievers, who pitched a combined 4 and 1/3 scoreless innings. The new and improved Luis Vizcaino pitched a perfect 8th and Mariano Rivera finished it off with a scoreless 9th.

Kinda funny how some of the naysayers said that this team wouldn't be capable of coming back because of the clip they'd have to play at to catch the Red Sox or Indians, assuming the teams ahead of them played at the same pace. The Yanks' 12-3 record since the break equates to a winning percentage of .800. Not that I expect them to keep that pace up, but let's put it this way: if you were to say they had to go 52-25 in their 77 games after the break, they'd now have to go 40-22 (.645) in their last 62. That's still pretty good baseball, but I doubt many would argue that this team isn't capable of winning at that pace.

The Yankees will send Kei Igawa to the mound tonight as they will go for their first sweep since sweeping the Diamondbacks June 12-14. A-Rod will be going for home run number 500 against Jorge De La Rosa, who coincidentally is the same man who gave up his 400th homer. Game starts at 8:10 E.T.

Last night, Hughes set them down. Tonight, Joba Chamberlain dominated them to the tune of 5 IP, 4 hits, 1 walk and 10 Ks in his first AAA start. Yeah, he's good. The only thing that Louisville's got going for them right now is that they missed Ian Kennedy by a couple of nights.

On a related note, Alan Horne shut down Erie over 8 innings giving up 5 hits, 4 walks and 1 earned run while striking out 7, bringing his AA ERA down to 2.36 for the year. If there was room, he really should/would be at AAA right now.

Update: Apparently, this is a screw-up on the part of MiLB - They have Dellin listed and in the box score but it's been stated that it was actually Jason Stephens who pitched those innings.

Finally, another bit of good news - Dellin Betances is actually pitching tonight as well so I guess the elbow injury wasn't that bad. His line for the night was 5 IP, 2 hits, 1 ER and 3Ks (7-5 GB-FB) but the good news is just that he's pitching.

Cue the drooling. Hughes threw 6 scoreless innings, striking out 7 and working out of a bases loaded, nobody out jam in his first rehab start at triple A. It looks like Phil will probably make another start at Scranton, hoping to reach 100 pitches.

The offense wasted no time yesterday, hurriedly pounding Scott Elarton and giving him this ugly, ugly line: 1.2 IP, 6 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 0 K. 4 runs were scored in the top of the first as the only out that Elarton recorded of the first 7 hitters was a sac fly by Abreu that scored Damon. A couple batters later, Posada singled in Jeter and A-Rod and Cano doubled in Matsui. Andy Phillips and Melky left runners stranded at 2nd and 3rd to end the run.

The 3 runs in the top of the second were added through an Abreu double (scoring Damon once again) and then through an impressive two out, small ball rally. With 2 outs, and Abreu on 2nd, Matsui singled to score him with Matsui advancing to second on the throw. Jorge Posada was intentionally walked (with a man on second and two outs, down by 6?). Then Cano walked. Then Phillips walked, scoring Matsui. 3 straight walks. For the second straight inning, Melky ended the run.

The Royals answered back in the bottom of the 2nd with 2 runs, thanks to an Alex Gordon double and a John Buck ground out. The Yankees added another run, thanks to a Melky Cabrera sac fly that scored Posada. The Royals added another 2 runs in the bottom of the 5th, with Mark Teahen sacrificing a man in and Russ Gload singling. Melky threw out Billy Butler at 3rd to end the inning. The Yankees would score the final run of the game in the top of the 6th, when a Johnny Damon RBI single scored Cano.

Not the greatest outing for Wang (6 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K), but it was plenty good enough tonight and the pen didn't allow it to get close, with Myers, Farnsworth and Bruney each pitching one scoreless inning to bring the game to it's conclusion.

Bobby Abreu was 2 for 5 with a double, 1 R and 2 RBI, Posada was 1 for 3 with 1 R, 2 RBI and 2 BB, Cano was 1 for 2 with a double, 1 R, 1 RBI and 3 BB, Damon was 2 for 5 with 2 R and 1 BB, Phillips was 1 for 3 with 1 RBI and 1 BB and Jeter was 4 for 6 with 1 R. A-Rod and Melky were the only Yankees not to collect a hit, although A-Rod walked and scored a run and Melky scored a run, as well. Tyler Kepner noted that this was the first time, in his career, that Cano has walked 3 times in one game. He has walked more times this year, in 99 games, than he did in either of his first two years (132 games and 122 games). He's actually on pace for 34 walks this year - which is the exact number of total walks of his first two seasons combined.

With the Red Sox beating the Indians, 1-0, we gain a game in the Wild Card to move up to 4.5 games back and remain at 7.5 games back in the division. Tonight at 8:10 PM ET, we'll have Mike Mussina (4-7, 4.97 ERA) against Gil Meche (7-6, 3.63 ERA). It'll be the first time that Meche has faced the Yankees since July 19 of last year. In that game, he pitched 6 innings, allowing 2 earned runs. He got a no decision, but the Mariners (his team last year) won by the score of 3-2.

If you have one to share, Steve is looking for Yankee Stadium stories.

That's the title of Mike Lupica's latest story. I can honestly remember a time when Lupica was a decent writer and I looked forward to reading his work. I didn't always agree with it but at least it had a point and a certain validity to it. These days, it's as if he's going through the motions trying to find the most controversial angle on something and then blathering on about it. I would analyze his article but honestly, it's not even worth it - it's just silly.

Update: Ken Tremendous of FJM absolutely eviscerates Lupica for this story...and he doesn't even like the Yankees (which speaks volumes about how out of touch this article is)!