Posted by: Patrick
From Tyler Kepner:
Via PSD.
The Yankees could lose Ron Villone if they do not promote him soon. Villone, who pitched in 70 games for the Yankees last season, has 23 strikeouts in 21 2/3 innings for Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, with a 1.66 earned run average. Villone, who earned a save last night, has a clause in his contract that allows him to become a free agent on May 15.
Via PSD.
Posted by: Patrick
Wil Nieves is the story of the day. That was one of the moments of yesterday's game that I managed to watch. Most everyone in the dugout seemed to be having a good time with it. Cano, particularly, looked like he was about to bust a gut.
Posted by: Seamus
It seems like these days the only thing the Yankees need to get on a roll is a few games against the Rangers. Last night's win was the Yankees' fifth straight this season against Texas. They have won 7 out of 9 overall and have finally gotten to the .500 mark for the season.
The Yanks got a solid start out of Mike Mussina, who gave up two runs on three hits in six innings, throwing 85 pitches. The bullpen did a nice job, giving us three scoreless innings, but the 7th inning was split among three pitchers. Mo entered the game in a non-save situation and pitched a scoreless 9th.
Derek Jeter was the man offensively, driving in three of the Yanks' six runs and scoring one as well. Johnny Damon was the other Yankee who had a multi-hit game with a 2-3 night and Wil Nieves finally picked up his first hit of the season. A comical moment during the game (not so comical if they weren't up by 4 runs) was Nieves getting a little greedy after the hit, trying to stretch it to two. Nieves was only out by a mile...and a half.
The Yankees will finish the three-game set this afternoon at 1 E.T. before heading to Seattle for the weekend. Chien-Ming Wang will be looking to carry over some momentum from his near perfect game on Saturday and will be facing first-year Ranger Brandon McCarthy. McCarthy has struggled in his new role, even moreso than any Yankee starter this year, as he is 2-4 with an E.R.A. of 7.96 in seven starts.
The Yanks got a solid start out of Mike Mussina, who gave up two runs on three hits in six innings, throwing 85 pitches. The bullpen did a nice job, giving us three scoreless innings, but the 7th inning was split among three pitchers. Mo entered the game in a non-save situation and pitched a scoreless 9th.
Derek Jeter was the man offensively, driving in three of the Yanks' six runs and scoring one as well. Johnny Damon was the other Yankee who had a multi-hit game with a 2-3 night and Wil Nieves finally picked up his first hit of the season. A comical moment during the game (not so comical if they weren't up by 4 runs) was Nieves getting a little greedy after the hit, trying to stretch it to two. Nieves was only out by a mile...and a half.
The Yankees will finish the three-game set this afternoon at 1 E.T. before heading to Seattle for the weekend. Chien-Ming Wang will be looking to carry over some momentum from his near perfect game on Saturday and will be facing first-year Ranger Brandon McCarthy. McCarthy has struggled in his new role, even moreso than any Yankee starter this year, as he is 2-4 with an E.R.A. of 7.96 in seven starts.
05/09: Go Yankees Bloggers, Go!
Posted by: Patrick
For those unfamiliar, there is this baseball blog directory called striketwo.net. It's a neat little site and they have some cool aggregation features and statistical breakdowns. The breakdown I am interested in today is their team blog rankings. Basically, it's a ranking of the total number of posts made on blogs dedicated to a given team.
For as long as I can remember, the Mets have been number 1 here (although, to be honest, I haven't paid that close attention, so maybe I'm wrong). But, it looks like the Yankees blogs are now closer than they we have ever been, thanks to the emergence of the dynamo known as Peter Abraham as well as the continued excellence of the Steve, the RAB guys, Pinstripe Alley and plenty of others. We're at 389.0 posts per week while the Mets are at 417.7 posts per week. So, let's step it up and take first.
(Disclaimer: Yes, I realize it's number of posts and ... well, that really doesn't mean that much. Quality over quantity, for sure. One blog may do more in one post than another does in 10. I also realize that these rankings mean very little themselves and they could/can be skewed. This is just for fun. But, I do think it'd be cool if we were number 1. :))
For as long as I can remember, the Mets have been number 1 here (although, to be honest, I haven't paid that close attention, so maybe I'm wrong). But, it looks like the Yankees blogs are now closer than they we have ever been, thanks to the emergence of the dynamo known as Peter Abraham as well as the continued excellence of the Steve, the RAB guys, Pinstripe Alley and plenty of others. We're at 389.0 posts per week while the Mets are at 417.7 posts per week. So, let's step it up and take first.
(Disclaimer: Yes, I realize it's number of posts and ... well, that really doesn't mean that much. Quality over quantity, for sure. One blog may do more in one post than another does in 10. I also realize that these rankings mean very little themselves and they could/can be skewed. This is just for fun. But, I do think it'd be cool if we were number 1. :))
05/09: NYY 8, TEX 2: More, Please
Posted by: Jason
Last night's dominant performance against the Rangers gave the Yankees Universe a taste of what it has craved since the Cleveland sweep a few weeks ago.
First: Pettitte was excellent. After almost six weeks of the season we see the pitcher we envisioned when he signed. His finest moment of the game arrived in the top 2nd, with Blalock (What happened to this man? He used to be terrifying) on third and Kinsler on second with one out. Pettitte erased Cruz and Laird to escape the inning, keeping the game scoreless. Incredibly huge at that point.
Top 3rd found the Rangers up 1-0 on a single by "time machine" Sosa, who still behaves as though it's 1998. Blalock again drilled a double but Abreu and Cano bailed Pettitte out with a tight relay to (just) get Sosa at home.
Rangers P Wood saw his half of the third inning marred by the secret weapon Mientkiewicz, who singled and was driven in by a long gap double by the captain. After Alex was hit by pitch, CF Hairston dropped a Matsui line drive and Jeter and Alex scored. The home team was ahead to stay, 3-1.
In the bottom 4th, "Masher" Mientkiewicz (after his second hit) scored on a Jeter single, but Damon was gunned down at the plate, 4-1.
In the fifth, Giambi walked and some obscure guy named Rodriguez (or something like that) went opposite field in a sheer display of power, 6-1. The rout was on.
The only caveat for Yankees faithful was Abreu's fall to 7th in the batting order. He did get a hit, and we can only hope he quickly returns to his familiar get-on-base-and-hit-for-power style.
Tonight, it's Mussina vs. Tejeda. Briefly: The media is trying to make an issue of Mussina's statements re: Clemens's age. I think Mussina performs a valuable service because it's a good idea to reduce expectations in this situation. The best way to reduce expectations and pressure on Clemens is to win 75%-80% of the time between now and June 1.
First: Pettitte was excellent. After almost six weeks of the season we see the pitcher we envisioned when he signed. His finest moment of the game arrived in the top 2nd, with Blalock (What happened to this man? He used to be terrifying) on third and Kinsler on second with one out. Pettitte erased Cruz and Laird to escape the inning, keeping the game scoreless. Incredibly huge at that point.
Top 3rd found the Rangers up 1-0 on a single by "time machine" Sosa, who still behaves as though it's 1998. Blalock again drilled a double but Abreu and Cano bailed Pettitte out with a tight relay to (just) get Sosa at home.
Rangers P Wood saw his half of the third inning marred by the secret weapon Mientkiewicz, who singled and was driven in by a long gap double by the captain. After Alex was hit by pitch, CF Hairston dropped a Matsui line drive and Jeter and Alex scored. The home team was ahead to stay, 3-1.
In the bottom 4th, "Masher" Mientkiewicz (after his second hit) scored on a Jeter single, but Damon was gunned down at the plate, 4-1.
In the fifth, Giambi walked and some obscure guy named Rodriguez (or something like that) went opposite field in a sheer display of power, 6-1. The rout was on.
The only caveat for Yankees faithful was Abreu's fall to 7th in the batting order. He did get a hit, and we can only hope he quickly returns to his familiar get-on-base-and-hit-for-power style.
Tonight, it's Mussina vs. Tejeda. Briefly: The media is trying to make an issue of Mussina's statements re: Clemens's age. I think Mussina performs a valuable service because it's a good idea to reduce expectations in this situation. The best way to reduce expectations and pressure on Clemens is to win 75%-80% of the time between now and June 1.
Posted by: Patrick
Pavano will be getting a fourth opinion on his elbow.
Soon, they'll have more opinions than we have bloggers.
Pavano said that he has been told by three doctors that his elbow has damage that could require Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery. The Yankees have requested that Pavano fly to Los Angeles to meet with Dr. Lewis Yocum, the team physician for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, for yet another review of his situation.
Soon, they'll have more opinions than we have bloggers.
Posted by: Patrick
From the official site:
Wang was introduced as the spokesperson for the 2009 World Games on Monday at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York City.
The games will be hosted by the southern port city of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Wang is a baseball hero in Taiwan -- where he was born -- and his role for the games will be promotion and advertising, said executive vice president of marketing Nova Lanktree.
The games will be hosted by the southern port city of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Wang is a baseball hero in Taiwan -- where he was born -- and his role for the games will be promotion and advertising, said executive vice president of marketing Nova Lanktree.
05/08: Torre and Proctor Suspended
Posted by: Patrick
Yesterday evening, it was announced that Torre and Proctor had been suspended. Torre got 1 game, which he served last night, allowing Donnie to manage the game. Proctor got 4 games and he has appealed.
"Baseball typically does three games," Cashman said. "He has the appeals process, and it seems steep. He'll go through it with his representatives and have their day in court."
Posted by: Seamus
At nomaas.org you can take a look at the screenshot that screwed the Yankees last night. That "stolen base" by Willie Bloomquist eventually led to the tying run, costing Matt DeSalvo a victory in his Major League debut. Adrian Beltre broke the tie with a solo home run off Rivera in the 9th. Just for the record, Beltre would not have come up to bat had Bloomquist been called out at 2nd.
DeSalvo was excellent in his debut. After allowing a run on two hits in the first, he settled down, allowing only one hit in the next six. He finished the game with a line of one run on three hits in seven innings. He gave us probably the third best start of the season by a Yankee, after Wang's and Hughes' last starts.
The bullpen got only two innings of work and they weren't too bad. Bloomquist came around in the 8th to tie the game at 2 on a bloop single by Kenji Johjima. And while Mariano might be the media's 2007 version of last year's A-Rod, he threw one bad pitch.
The lineup for once didn't really help matters for the Yankees last night. Jeter, Damon and Mientkiewicz each had multi-hit games, but Bobby Abreu left the bases loaded in the 5th and as a team they left 10 runners on base.
Tonight the Yankees will send Andy Pettite to the mound to face the Rangers' Mike Wood in the opener of a three-game set. Game starts at 7 E.T.
DeSalvo was excellent in his debut. After allowing a run on two hits in the first, he settled down, allowing only one hit in the next six. He finished the game with a line of one run on three hits in seven innings. He gave us probably the third best start of the season by a Yankee, after Wang's and Hughes' last starts.
The bullpen got only two innings of work and they weren't too bad. Bloomquist came around in the 8th to tie the game at 2 on a bloop single by Kenji Johjima. And while Mariano might be the media's 2007 version of last year's A-Rod, he threw one bad pitch.
The lineup for once didn't really help matters for the Yankees last night. Jeter, Damon and Mientkiewicz each had multi-hit games, but Bobby Abreu left the bases loaded in the 5th and as a team they left 10 runners on base.
Tonight the Yankees will send Andy Pettite to the mound to face the Rangers' Mike Wood in the opener of a three-game set. Game starts at 7 E.T.
05/07: Igawa Sent to Minors
Posted by: Patrick
From ESPN.com:
Igawa was optioned to Class-A Tampa, keeping right-hander Darrell Rasner in the big leagues after he pitched 5 2/3 shutout innings Sunday in a victory over the Seattle Mariners. New York had planned to send Rasner right back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after his start, but changed course on Monday. ...
"There's some things he's got to fix, mechanically, we believe," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. "He's got major league ability, we have no doubt about that. We've seen it in three games. But we haven't seen it consistently."
"There's some things he's got to fix, mechanically, we believe," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. "He's got major league ability, we have no doubt about that. We've seen it in three games. But we haven't seen it consistently."
