Posted by: Seamus
The Yankees ended a three-game slide last night with a 5-1 victory over the Blue Jays, thanks in large part to another solid outing by Mike Mussina. Moose threw 103 pitches, allowing only a run and five hits in 6 innings of work. His 9th victory ties him with Joe Saunders for the American League lead.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the 3rd, when Derek Jeter brought Jose Molina home with a base-hit to right. Wilson Betemit added to the lead with a solo shot in the 3rd, and Melky Cabrera put the Yanks up 3-0 with a base hit later in the inning. The only run for Toronto came via an RBI double by Scott Rolen in the 6th, but the Yankees answered back in the bottom frame with an RBI single by Johnny Damon. Hideki Mastui brought in Bobby Abreu with a base hit in the 7th to put the Yankees up 5-1, and that would turn out to be the final score.
The bullpen was a big improvement over the previous night, as Ross Ohlendorf, Kyle Farnsworth and Mariano Rivera combined for three scoreless innings.
The Yankees will play a matinee game this afternoon at 1 E.T., as the Blue Jays are heading home for the weekend. Chien-Ming Wang will be looking for his first victory since May 2 and will face Dustin McGowan. Hopefully the Yanks pull this one out. Two out of three against this Blue Jays team is certainly not something to hang your head over.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the 3rd, when Derek Jeter brought Jose Molina home with a base-hit to right. Wilson Betemit added to the lead with a solo shot in the 3rd, and Melky Cabrera put the Yanks up 3-0 with a base hit later in the inning. The only run for Toronto came via an RBI double by Scott Rolen in the 6th, but the Yankees answered back in the bottom frame with an RBI single by Johnny Damon. Hideki Mastui brought in Bobby Abreu with a base hit in the 7th to put the Yankees up 5-1, and that would turn out to be the final score.
The bullpen was a big improvement over the previous night, as Ross Ohlendorf, Kyle Farnsworth and Mariano Rivera combined for three scoreless innings.
The Yankees will play a matinee game this afternoon at 1 E.T., as the Blue Jays are heading home for the weekend. Chien-Ming Wang will be looking for his first victory since May 2 and will face Dustin McGowan. Hopefully the Yanks pull this one out. Two out of three against this Blue Jays team is certainly not something to hang your head over.
Posted by: Seamus
The Yankees lost their third straight game, and this time it was not even close as the Yankees were shelled by the Blue Jays by the score of 9-3.
Joba Chamberlain labored quite a bit in his debut as a Major League starter, but he wasn't as bad as you'd think after reading some other news stories. Joba threw 62 pitches and lasted only 2 and 1/3 innings, allowing a hit and four walks, leaving the game with a 2-1 lead (the second Blue Jays' run was charged to him, as well). His struggles seemed to be a result of bad pitch selection more than anything else. On two occassions in the 1st, he through a 3-2 curveball for ball four, and the first inning could have been a lot quicker and easier than it was, had a foul tip with two strikes by Shannon Stewart did not pop right out of the webbing of Jose Molina's glove.
That's not to say that Joba's command was completely there. It wasn't. He missed with quite a few fastballs, missing high more than not. But jeez, ESPN.com has it as their main headline (as of about 10 this morning) as if he got completely shelled. The only hit he allowed was an "excuse me" ground ball that found a hole between Giambi and Cano.
The real problem in last night's game was the bullpen. Dan Giese did a respectable job in his Yankees' debut (he pitched 8 games for the Giants last year), allowing five hits in 3 and 2/3 but only one run. Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez were not so good, however. Despite being two of the Yankees more reliable pitchers in the pen this season, neither of them brought their "A" game to the stadium as they gave up a combined six runs, which were the difference in the game.
Not a ton of offense to talk about. Cano went 0-4 but I don't even know if that's noteworthy anymore. Johnny Damon had three hits and raised his average over .300 (I could've sworn he was under .260 just over a week ago), and Derek Jeter tied Mickey Mantle on the Yankees' all-time hit list (2,415).
The Yankees will resume their series with Toronto tonight as Mike Mussina takes on Jesse Leitsch. Leitsch has been a rock this season, as he is 7-1 with an E.R.A. of 3.18. Mussina has also been surprisingly good for the most part, as he'll be looking for his 9th win. Game starts at 7:05 E.T.
Joba Chamberlain labored quite a bit in his debut as a Major League starter, but he wasn't as bad as you'd think after reading some other news stories. Joba threw 62 pitches and lasted only 2 and 1/3 innings, allowing a hit and four walks, leaving the game with a 2-1 lead (the second Blue Jays' run was charged to him, as well). His struggles seemed to be a result of bad pitch selection more than anything else. On two occassions in the 1st, he through a 3-2 curveball for ball four, and the first inning could have been a lot quicker and easier than it was, had a foul tip with two strikes by Shannon Stewart did not pop right out of the webbing of Jose Molina's glove.
That's not to say that Joba's command was completely there. It wasn't. He missed with quite a few fastballs, missing high more than not. But jeez, ESPN.com has it as their main headline (as of about 10 this morning) as if he got completely shelled. The only hit he allowed was an "excuse me" ground ball that found a hole between Giambi and Cano.
The real problem in last night's game was the bullpen. Dan Giese did a respectable job in his Yankees' debut (he pitched 8 games for the Giants last year), allowing five hits in 3 and 2/3 but only one run. Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez were not so good, however. Despite being two of the Yankees more reliable pitchers in the pen this season, neither of them brought their "A" game to the stadium as they gave up a combined six runs, which were the difference in the game.
Not a ton of offense to talk about. Cano went 0-4 but I don't even know if that's noteworthy anymore. Johnny Damon had three hits and raised his average over .300 (I could've sworn he was under .260 just over a week ago), and Derek Jeter tied Mickey Mantle on the Yankees' all-time hit list (2,415).
The Yankees will resume their series with Toronto tonight as Mike Mussina takes on Jesse Leitsch. Leitsch has been a rock this season, as he is 7-1 with an E.R.A. of 3.18. Mussina has also been surprisingly good for the most part, as he'll be looking for his 9th win. Game starts at 7:05 E.T.
Posted by: James
Nice long article from Stark on Joba and tips from several players (Tom Gordon, Curt Schilling, etc.) for "the newest member of the Ex-Relievers Club". Some good stuff in there so definitely worth the time it'll take to peruse.
06/02: Yankees @ The Twins; 6/1/08
Posted by: James
This can be categorized as a game where timely hitting was once again a foreign art for the Yankees. Darrell Rasner clearly didn't have his best stuff yesterday but let's be honest, he kept the Yankees in the game as best as he could and the Yankees offense really looked like they left their fire in the 12th inning of the other night. Rasner gave up two quick runs in the first but looked to have settled down and didn't give up another run until the fourth though he did keep working his way into and out of trouble (he should give IPK some lessons on the latter).
The Twins scored their 4th run off of Rasner on a fluke play when Justin Morneau ripped what looked to be a double to the gap in right center. Melky chased the ball down...but then slipped on the track and ended up throwing the ball over Abreu's head when he tried to get the ball over to him. While that was going on, Morneau cleared the bases. Yeah, it was one of those days.
There was a scary play in the fifth when Bobby Abreu lined a shot right up the middle and it connected with Twins starter Nick Blackburn. Originally, it looked pretty bad as Blackburn went down like a heap...but thankfully he hopped back up after a few seconds and was able to walk off the field under his own power. On the replays, it showed that the ball didn't catch him flush but glanced off his glove and then nailed him in the nose. Still, memories of Bryce Florie certainly abounded and you could tell that Abreu was pretty shaken up about it.
In any case, the only Yankee run was a Derek Jeter homer in the fifth, which is amazing since they did pound out 7 other hits and 3 walks. They also bounced into 2 double plays so that didn't help matters and still managed to leave 8 men on base for the game. All in all, a disappointing loss but hey, you gotta lose sometime right. Let's hope the Yanks offense shows a little more fire in today's game to get back over .500 for the year.
The Twins scored their 4th run off of Rasner on a fluke play when Justin Morneau ripped what looked to be a double to the gap in right center. Melky chased the ball down...but then slipped on the track and ended up throwing the ball over Abreu's head when he tried to get the ball over to him. While that was going on, Morneau cleared the bases. Yeah, it was one of those days.
There was a scary play in the fifth when Bobby Abreu lined a shot right up the middle and it connected with Twins starter Nick Blackburn. Originally, it looked pretty bad as Blackburn went down like a heap...but thankfully he hopped back up after a few seconds and was able to walk off the field under his own power. On the replays, it showed that the ball didn't catch him flush but glanced off his glove and then nailed him in the nose. Still, memories of Bryce Florie certainly abounded and you could tell that Abreu was pretty shaken up about it.
In any case, the only Yankee run was a Derek Jeter homer in the fifth, which is amazing since they did pound out 7 other hits and 3 walks. They also bounced into 2 double plays so that didn't help matters and still managed to leave 8 men on base for the game. All in all, a disappointing loss but hey, you gotta lose sometime right. Let's hope the Yanks offense shows a little more fire in today's game to get back over .500 for the year.
Posted by: Seamus
The Yankees will enter June with a winning record, as Saturday night's extra inning victory over the Twins put the Yankees above .500 for the first time since May 5. The Yankees won the 12-inning game by a score of 7-6 in a back and forth affair that saw four lead changes and the game tied up twice.
The Yankees got behind early after an RBI single by Justin Morneau in the 1st and a sac fly by Nick Punto in the 2nd. The Yankees came back to take a 3-2 lead in the 3rd after a big two-out, two-run single by Alex Rodriguez, but the Twins tied it back up in the bottom of the inning with a base hit by Michael Cuddyer.
Chien-Ming Wang did not have his best stuff, as he allowed a run in each of the first three innings, and finished with a line of five runs off 9 hits in just 5 and 1/3. After a scorching hot start in which he started the season 6-0, Wang has yet to win a game since May 2.
Wang did leave the game with a chance to pick up the victory, as he left the game with a 6-4 lead. Edward Ramirez, however, allowed his first earned run in the bottom of the 7th, as Cuddyer launched a solo shot to tie the game at 6 (the 5th run scored by the Twins was on an RBI groundout off of Ramirez, but the run was charged to Wang).
That was where the score would stay, as both teams went scoreless for the next four innings before the Yankees finally went ahead for good with an RBI single by Bobby Abreu in the top of the 12th. Mariano Rivera closed the game out and recorded his 15th save, and lowered his E.R.A. to a miniscule 0.36.
These two teams will go at it again this afternoon at 2:10 E.T. The game should feature a good pitching contest, even without a big name on the mound today, as Darrell Rasner and Nick Blackburn both have given impressive starts to this season.
The Yankees got behind early after an RBI single by Justin Morneau in the 1st and a sac fly by Nick Punto in the 2nd. The Yankees came back to take a 3-2 lead in the 3rd after a big two-out, two-run single by Alex Rodriguez, but the Twins tied it back up in the bottom of the inning with a base hit by Michael Cuddyer.
Chien-Ming Wang did not have his best stuff, as he allowed a run in each of the first three innings, and finished with a line of five runs off 9 hits in just 5 and 1/3. After a scorching hot start in which he started the season 6-0, Wang has yet to win a game since May 2.
Wang did leave the game with a chance to pick up the victory, as he left the game with a 6-4 lead. Edward Ramirez, however, allowed his first earned run in the bottom of the 7th, as Cuddyer launched a solo shot to tie the game at 6 (the 5th run scored by the Twins was on an RBI groundout off of Ramirez, but the run was charged to Wang).
That was where the score would stay, as both teams went scoreless for the next four innings before the Yankees finally went ahead for good with an RBI single by Bobby Abreu in the top of the 12th. Mariano Rivera closed the game out and recorded his 15th save, and lowered his E.R.A. to a miniscule 0.36.
These two teams will go at it again this afternoon at 2:10 E.T. The game should feature a good pitching contest, even without a big name on the mound today, as Darrell Rasner and Nick Blackburn both have given impressive starts to this season.
Posted by: Patrick
We got behind in a hurry in this one, thanks to a for run first inning by the Twins offense. Their quick lead was aided by some poor defense and only two of those runs were earned. Hideki Matsui drove in Bobby Abreu in the top of the first. Exiting the inning, the Yankees were down 4-1.
At this point, some are thinking "here we go, we'll be lucky if Moose pitches 4." But, as he has done often this year, Mussina came through, pitching six solid innings. Those four runs would be all he would allow and he would throw a total of 109 pitches - 73 for strikes. After that rocky first, he allowed two hits in the final five, while walking no one and striking out three.
The Yankees chipped away at the deficit bit by bit. A-Rod drove in Abreu in the third to cut the Twins' lead to two. In the fourth, Melky hit a two RBI single, scoring Cano and Duncan, to tie it up. And then the team took the lead back when A-Rod doubled in Bobby Abreu to make the score 5-4, Yankees.
An insurance run was added in the seventh when Hideki Matsui singled in - who else? - Bobby Abreu for his fourth run of the day.
Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez worked together to clear the seven inning, holding the Twins scoreless. Kyle Farnsworth entered to start the eighth, looking to protect a two run lead. He allowed a homer and it was 6-5, Yankees, by the time he was done.
Mariano came in, in the ninth, to pitch his fourth inning in as many days. Mike Lamb grounded out and Brendan Harris walked. Carlos Gomez and Craig Monroe struck out, back to back, to end the game. It was Mariano's 13 save and his ERA is now down to 0.38 - and he's 38 years old!
Offensively, the Yankees were raining hits down on the Twins, but struggled to get anyone to score. The Yankees had 16 hits, 3 walks and one batter hit by a pitch. The Twins had 7 hits and 3 walks. And, yet, the Yankees managed to only score one more run than them. Wilson Betemit and Jason Giambi each left six runners on base.
Every lineup starter collected a hit in this one, except for Derek Jeter (0 for 5) and Shelley Duncan (0 for 1, 1 run, 1 walk - pinch hit for by Wilson Betemit in the fifth). Four Yankees collected three hits each. They were Bobby Abreu (3 for 4, two triples, 4 runs, 1 walk, 1 stolen base), Alex Rodriguez (3 for 4, two doubles, two RBIs), Hideki Matsui (3 for 4, 2 RBIs, 1 walk) and Melky Cabrera (3 for 4, 2 RBIs).
The other Yankee starters were Jason Giambi (1 for 5), Robinson Cano (1 for 4, 1 run) and Jose Molina (2 for 3).
Tonight at 7:10 PM ET, the series continues with Chien-Ming Wang (6-2, 3.82) going against Boof Bonser (2-6, 6.16). From those numbers, this could be a good chance to get above .500.
At this point, some are thinking "here we go, we'll be lucky if Moose pitches 4." But, as he has done often this year, Mussina came through, pitching six solid innings. Those four runs would be all he would allow and he would throw a total of 109 pitches - 73 for strikes. After that rocky first, he allowed two hits in the final five, while walking no one and striking out three.
The Yankees chipped away at the deficit bit by bit. A-Rod drove in Abreu in the third to cut the Twins' lead to two. In the fourth, Melky hit a two RBI single, scoring Cano and Duncan, to tie it up. And then the team took the lead back when A-Rod doubled in Bobby Abreu to make the score 5-4, Yankees.
An insurance run was added in the seventh when Hideki Matsui singled in - who else? - Bobby Abreu for his fourth run of the day.
Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez worked together to clear the seven inning, holding the Twins scoreless. Kyle Farnsworth entered to start the eighth, looking to protect a two run lead. He allowed a homer and it was 6-5, Yankees, by the time he was done.
Mariano came in, in the ninth, to pitch his fourth inning in as many days. Mike Lamb grounded out and Brendan Harris walked. Carlos Gomez and Craig Monroe struck out, back to back, to end the game. It was Mariano's 13 save and his ERA is now down to 0.38 - and he's 38 years old!
Offensively, the Yankees were raining hits down on the Twins, but struggled to get anyone to score. The Yankees had 16 hits, 3 walks and one batter hit by a pitch. The Twins had 7 hits and 3 walks. And, yet, the Yankees managed to only score one more run than them. Wilson Betemit and Jason Giambi each left six runners on base.
Every lineup starter collected a hit in this one, except for Derek Jeter (0 for 5) and Shelley Duncan (0 for 1, 1 run, 1 walk - pinch hit for by Wilson Betemit in the fifth). Four Yankees collected three hits each. They were Bobby Abreu (3 for 4, two triples, 4 runs, 1 walk, 1 stolen base), Alex Rodriguez (3 for 4, two doubles, two RBIs), Hideki Matsui (3 for 4, 2 RBIs, 1 walk) and Melky Cabrera (3 for 4, 2 RBIs).
The other Yankee starters were Jason Giambi (1 for 5), Robinson Cano (1 for 4, 1 run) and Jose Molina (2 for 3).
Tonight at 7:10 PM ET, the series continues with Chien-Ming Wang (6-2, 3.82) going against Boof Bonser (2-6, 6.16). From those numbers, this could be a good chance to get above .500.
Posted by: Patrick
For this year's MLB draft, in honor of the Negro Leagues, each team will draft a Negro Leagues player who did not have the opportunity to play in the Majors. The Yankees will select Emilio "Millito" Navarro. From the official site:
As part of the recognition of the Negro Leagues' history, the Yankees plan to "draft" Emilio "Millito" Navarro, a slick-fielding infielder who was considered an excellent hitter and was the first Puerto Rican to play in the Negro Leagues.
Posted by: Patrick
Peter Abraham reports that Joba will start on Tuesday - the first game at Yankee Stadium that I am going to in about 13 years and the second one ever. Wow. Talk about luck! Pettitte will now start Monday and the rotation will be Wang, Rasner, Pettitte, Joba and Moose.
05/30: Tabata in Trouble Again
Posted by: Patrick
John Nalbone reports:
The story has more details, but they wouldn't say what happened. Manager Tony Franklin left the door open to further discipline.
Thunder right fielder Jose Tabata was yanked from tonight's game against visiting New Hampshire in the fifth inning for unspecified disciplinary reasons.
The story has more details, but they wouldn't say what happened. Manager Tony Franklin left the door open to further discipline.
05/30: Igawa Wanted to go Home?
Posted by: Patrick
From Jayson Stark:
Via Brent Nycz.
The Kei Market: Kei Igawa isn't quite as buried on that Yankees' depth chart as Carl Pavano, but it's close. And he's already homesick. We've heard from two different baseball men recently that Igawa asked the Yankees over the winter if there was any way he could return to Japan. The Yankees quietly explored their options, got nowhere and gave up. They're still on the hook for nearly $11 million to Igawa through the 2010 season.
Via Brent Nycz.
