Posted by: Patrick
Peter Abraham has a nice article on the relationship that Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano have. Cano has been Jeter's double play partner more times than any other second baseman.
"I have to be one of the blessed guys in the world," Cano said. "You look at second basemen in Boston or Kansas City or other teams and they don't have a guy like Jeter next to them or a first baseman as good as Teixeira. A-Rod, he's always talking to me. I look around and I can't believe it." ...
"There have always been rumors or talk, that's New York," Cano said [about claims of indifference or laziness]. "Jeter always would come up to me and talk to me and tell me to ignore it. When people said I was lazy, he came up to me and said, ‘I know you're not lazy.' That meant a lot to me."
"There have always been rumors or talk, that's New York," Cano said [about claims of indifference or laziness]. "Jeter always would come up to me and talk to me and tell me to ignore it. When people said I was lazy, he came up to me and said, ‘I know you're not lazy.' That meant a lot to me."
Posted by: Patrick
Kennedy's Rapid Ascent: Ian Kennedy's surprising return from aneurysm surgery may continue all the way to the Majors, reports MLB.com's Bryan Hoch. He's made starts for Single-A Tampa and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the last week or so and the team is so pleased with his progress that he might see some time with the big leaguers before this season is out.
Pettitte Feeling Good: Hoch also spoke to Andy Pettitte and after a bullpen session, he's feeling good. He'll start Monday.
Old School Batman Rookie Hazing: Every year, the rookie Yankees are dressed up in some sort of costume as part of the annual rookie hazing. This year? the 1960s TV show "Batman, according to George A. King at the Post. Mark Melancon gets to be the caped crusader with Ramiro Pena as the Catwoman and Mike Dunn as The Riddler. Video coordinator Anthony Flynn will dress as Robin, message therapist Lou Potter takes on The Penguin and radar gun operator Brett Weber gets the coveted robes of The Joker. Once the team lands in Anaheim, CC Sabathia will take all of them out to dinner.
Pettitte Feeling Good: Hoch also spoke to Andy Pettitte and after a bullpen session, he's feeling good. He'll start Monday.
Old School Batman Rookie Hazing: Every year, the rookie Yankees are dressed up in some sort of costume as part of the annual rookie hazing. This year? the 1960s TV show "Batman, according to George A. King at the Post. Mark Melancon gets to be the caped crusader with Ramiro Pena as the Catwoman and Mike Dunn as The Riddler. Video coordinator Anthony Flynn will dress as Robin, message therapist Lou Potter takes on The Penguin and radar gun operator Brett Weber gets the coveted robes of The Joker. Once the team lands in Anaheim, CC Sabathia will take all of them out to dinner.
Posted by: Patrick
At times this season, A.J. Burnett has been brilliant. Unfortunately, the consistency hasn't exactly been there. On May 22, his ERA was 5.28. On July 27, it was 3.53. Before last night's game, it was 4.33. For his last 10 starts, here is the number of earned runs he allowed in each one: 6, 1, 6, 3, 9, 3, 3, 0, 7 and 0. 0-3, we can work with. The 6s, 7 and 9... not so much. In that span, he was 2-5 and the team was 5-5.
Out of his 29 starts this season, he allowed 0 runs on five occasions, 1-3 sixteen times, 4-6 five times and 7 or more three times. Suffice to say, now would be a good time to string together some nice starts before the postseason.
You can count last night as a "nice start." 7 innings, 7 hits, 1 earned run, 3 walks and 6 strikeouts. Yes, the Mariners have one of the worst offenses in the game (28th in runs scored, as I write this), but you have to take what you can get.
Mariners' starter Felix Hernandez was right there with him against baseball's highest scoring offense, holding the Yankees to two runs, only one earned, over nine innings pitched. He allowed 8 hits and walked one.
The Yankees scored in the first when A-Rod hit a sac fly that scored Jeter. In the sixth, Johnny Damon led off the inning with a single and then made it all the way to third on a passed ball. Mark Teixeira did his job, bringing Johnny home on his own sacrifice fly.
This led to Mariano Rivera coming out to close down a one run win in the ninth. Things started off great. Two batters up, two strikeouts. Mike Sweeney was inserted as a pinch hitter and doubled, to put a runner on second for Ichiro. Ichiro did what we'd done only 9 other times this year: hit a home run. He took a pitch that was a ways outside and deposited it into the seats for a two-out, walk-off Seattle win.
Out of his 29 starts this season, he allowed 0 runs on five occasions, 1-3 sixteen times, 4-6 five times and 7 or more three times. Suffice to say, now would be a good time to string together some nice starts before the postseason.
You can count last night as a "nice start." 7 innings, 7 hits, 1 earned run, 3 walks and 6 strikeouts. Yes, the Mariners have one of the worst offenses in the game (28th in runs scored, as I write this), but you have to take what you can get.
Mariners' starter Felix Hernandez was right there with him against baseball's highest scoring offense, holding the Yankees to two runs, only one earned, over nine innings pitched. He allowed 8 hits and walked one.
The Yankees scored in the first when A-Rod hit a sac fly that scored Jeter. In the sixth, Johnny Damon led off the inning with a single and then made it all the way to third on a passed ball. Mark Teixeira did his job, bringing Johnny home on his own sacrifice fly.
This led to Mariano Rivera coming out to close down a one run win in the ninth. Things started off great. Two batters up, two strikeouts. Mike Sweeney was inserted as a pinch hitter and doubled, to put a runner on second for Ichiro. Ichiro did what we'd done only 9 other times this year: hit a home run. He took a pitch that was a ways outside and deposited it into the seats for a two-out, walk-off Seattle win.
Posted by: Patrick
MLB.com's Bryan Hoch reports that Lonny Frey, considered the oldest living Yankee, has passed away at the age of 99. Mr. Frey, an infielder, played with the Yankees in 1947 and 1948. Our thoughts are with those who were close to him.
Tommy Henrich, at age 96, is now thought to be the oldest living former Yankee.
Tommy Henrich, at age 96, is now thought to be the oldest living former Yankee.
Posted by: Patrick
The multi-talented Bernie Williams has been nominated for a Latin Grammy, reports Peter Abraham. His "Moving Forward" album has been nominated in the "Best Instrumental Album" category.
Posted by: Patrick
Chad Jennings reports that first baseman Juan Miranda is the latest September call-up for the Yankees. This is because Triple-A Scranton's season has come to an end as they were swept in the Governors' Cup Finals.
Miranda, 26, hit .290 with 19 home runs, 82 runs batted in and a .369 OBA in 122 games. He was a September call-up last year, as well, and saw action in 5 games, going 4 for 10 with 1 double and an RBI.
Congrats to Jennings on another great season of SWB Yankees coverage.
Miranda, 26, hit .290 with 19 home runs, 82 runs batted in and a .369 OBA in 122 games. He was a September call-up last year, as well, and saw action in 5 games, going 4 for 10 with 1 double and an RBI.
Congrats to Jennings on another great season of SWB Yankees coverage.
Posted by: Patrick
The Yankees blogosphere is losing one of it's most active members as Peter Abraham is headed to the Boston Globe to cover the Red Sox and blog for Boston.com. Alex Belth has his usual way with words in light of the occasion. Check that out and congrats to Mr. Abraham.
Posted by: Patrick
Danny Wild and John Torenli of MLB.com report that the Class A Tampa Yankees and the Short-Season Class A Staten Island Yankees won their respective league titles on Wednesday.
Tampa took the Florida State League championship in the fifth, final game of the series, beating the Charlotte Stone Crabs, 5-2. Meanwhile, Staten Island topped the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, 5-2, to finish at the top of the New York-Penn League.
Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre is facing elimination after dropping the first two games in the Governors' Cup Finals. They'll need to sweep the next three games to win the International League Championship.
Tampa took the Florida State League championship in the fifth, final game of the series, beating the Charlotte Stone Crabs, 5-2. Meanwhile, Staten Island topped the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, 5-2, to finish at the top of the New York-Penn League.
Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre is facing elimination after dropping the first two games in the Governors' Cup Finals. They'll need to sweep the next three games to win the International League Championship.
Posted by: Patrick
Yahoo! Sports mentions that Jason Bartlett and Derek Jeter are attempting to become the second and third shortstops, since 1900, to end a season with at least a .325 average, 15 home runs and 25 stolen bases. The other one would be Hanley Ramirez.
If the season ended now, Jeter would have it, as he is hitting .332 with 17 home runs and 26 stolen bases. Bartlett is hitting .327, but needs one more homer and one more stolen base.
If the season ended now, Jeter would have it, as he is hitting .332 with 17 home runs and 26 stolen bases. Bartlett is hitting .327, but needs one more homer and one more stolen base.
Posted by: Seamus
The fireworks from Wednesday night's game fortunately did NOT come in the form of fisticuffs, as all the excitement in this one came from a late-inning rally that culminated in another walk-off win for the Yankees. This time it was Francisco Cervelli who delivered the final blow, a base hit to left that scored Brett Gardner from third to give the Yankees a 5–4 victory over the Blue Jays.
The Yankees jumped ahead 2–0 early, but the Blue Jays tied the game with two runs in the third and went ahead on an RBI ground out from Rod Barajas in the top of the sixth. A sac fly by Adam Lind off of Phil Coke (run charged to Brian Bruney) in the seventh made it 4–2 Jays.
With the Yankees running out of outs and trying not to lose their fourth game in six days, the red-hot Hideki Matsui sent a pitch from Scott Downs into the right field seats for a game tying, two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth.
The game remained tied going into the bottom of the ninth after Mariano Rivera. Brett Gardner led the inning off with a base hit, which set up a rather predictable steal of second. Gardner was then moved over to third on a Derek Jeter groundout. That set the stage for Francisco Cervelli, who was able to deliver his first career walk-off RBI as he slapped a ground ball into left field to score Gardner from third.
The Red Sox came up with a late rally at Fenway against the Angels, but with the Rangers losing, the Yankees' magic number to clinch a postseason berth is now just 4.
The Yankees will have today off, just as they will every Thursday for the rest of the way. They'll be in Seattle on Friday to kick off a very late west coast trip agains the Mariners. A.J. Burnett and the Yankees will get a crack at the young Felix Hernandez, who is 15–5 this season with a 2.52 ERA and a WHIP of 1.15. Game starts at 10:10 ET.
Recap records: Seamus: 45–23, Patrick: 38–19, Andrew: 11–11
The Yankees jumped ahead 2–0 early, but the Blue Jays tied the game with two runs in the third and went ahead on an RBI ground out from Rod Barajas in the top of the sixth. A sac fly by Adam Lind off of Phil Coke (run charged to Brian Bruney) in the seventh made it 4–2 Jays.
With the Yankees running out of outs and trying not to lose their fourth game in six days, the red-hot Hideki Matsui sent a pitch from Scott Downs into the right field seats for a game tying, two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth.
The game remained tied going into the bottom of the ninth after Mariano Rivera. Brett Gardner led the inning off with a base hit, which set up a rather predictable steal of second. Gardner was then moved over to third on a Derek Jeter groundout. That set the stage for Francisco Cervelli, who was able to deliver his first career walk-off RBI as he slapped a ground ball into left field to score Gardner from third.
The Red Sox came up with a late rally at Fenway against the Angels, but with the Rangers losing, the Yankees' magic number to clinch a postseason berth is now just 4.
The Yankees will have today off, just as they will every Thursday for the rest of the way. They'll be in Seattle on Friday to kick off a very late west coast trip agains the Mariners. A.J. Burnett and the Yankees will get a crack at the young Felix Hernandez, who is 15–5 this season with a 2.52 ERA and a WHIP of 1.15. Game starts at 10:10 ET.
Recap records: Seamus: 45–23, Patrick: 38–19, Andrew: 11–11
