Yanks defeat Rays and MO gets right back on the horse

The New York Yankees defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 today. Joba Chamberlain pitched 6 innings giving up 3 runs, he was ok but not great. He threw too many pitches in the last inning and that is when he got in trouble and gave away the lead. Alfredo Aceves came in for 2 innings and was brilliant giving up a single, 0 runs, 4 strikeouts. Mo came in for the save and got it 1-2-3 on 10 pitches. The offense looked dead for most of the day, Mark Teixeira had a big double in the eighth and Nick Swisher had a solo homerun. The Yankees scored 3 runs in the eighth but it was on a bases loaded walk, a error and a slow groundball that was beat out to avoid the double play by Hideki Matsui to give the Yanks the lead. The Yankees didn't exactly kill the ball that inning to take the lead but they did what they had to do. Johnny Damon was 2-4 and A-rod had a hit and a walk. Jorge Posada had a hit and a rbi. The Yankees will try to take the series and assure themselves that they will be walking into Fenway Park on Tuesday in first place. Andy Pettitte takes on Andy Sonastine who the Yankees should be able to hit.

Rays at Yankees

The Yankees will try to even their abbreviated three game set with the Rays this afternoon with Joba Chamberlain on the hill against Matt Garza. Matt Garza pitched well against the Yankees earlier in the year, but the Yankees came back and won the game 7-2. The goal of the Yankees should be to get the starters of the Rays out of the game early and go to work on the questionable and beat up bullpen of the Rays. Here are the pregame notes and lineup as always from Peter Abraham. The Yankees have lost 2 of three and are 8-6 in their last 14. They enter today tied for first in the loss column. It would be nice if they can beat the Rays the next couple of games heading into the Fenway showdown. The Yanks are 2-9 vs the Rays and Red Sox and that has to change. Yankee Stadium and Tropican Field are the only 2 ballparks in baseball that have given up at least one homerun in every game played there this year. The Yankees set the record with 18 straight errorless games, since then they have at least one error in 4 straight games, it definitely hurt them yesterday. Melky Cabrera has 23 rbi's and 11 of them have been to tie the game or give the Yanks the lead in the seventh inning or later. Big Tex has 12 homeruns and 35 rbi's in his last 26 games, man is he hot not coincidentally he has really shined with A-rod back. Those two have formed a great bond and they should. Derek Jeter has 11 stolen bases, he stole that many all of last year. Yankees lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Cano(2B) Posada(C) Matsui(DH) Swisher(RF) Cabrera(CF)

Yanks/Rays recap

The New York Yankees lost to the Tampa Bay Rays today by the score of 9-7. CC Sabathia really didn't pitch too bad, he made one bad pitch that was hit for a 3 run homerun. He could of gone back out there for the ninth but in a tie game at home and also a long inning Joe Girardi decided to go with Mo and it backfired. Mariano Rivera who has struggled in tie games over the past couple of years got knocked around giving up 4 runs in 2/3 of an inning. I do like the fact that the Yankees never give up and tried to come back after that with two runs and a couple of shots that was at Upton, if he wasn't playing so deep it may have been a different story. I dont like the fact that the Yankees are now 2-9 against the Sox and Rays. The Rays are 3-0 at Yankee Stadium this year. Mark Teixeira was a bright spot again with a solo homerun that almost reached the upper deck and a 2 run double. A-rod hit a homerun also and had a couple of walks. The Yankees didn't really do much offensively most of the game. David Price walked a few but was impressive, he really does have great stuff and will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come. Joba Chamberlain will get the ball tomorrow and try to build off his impressive 8 innings last time out.

Game 55: Rays at Yankees

Here is the gamenotes and lineup via Peter Abraham of the Journal News. I just didn't have time to write it all out. It is interesting to note that Jorge Posada is the DH, which was easy today with a tough righty to just take Matsui out. The Rangers ran all over him though and Tampa is the team that runs the most so it will be interesting to see if he catches either of the other 2 games or is just the DH, and how he reacts to it. Brian Bruney appears to be about a week away but we will wait and see and it will be interesting to see how Hughes gets used, with CC today he may not have to be used or maybe in the 8th, enjoy the game everyone. Game 55: Rays at Yankees Posted using ShareThis

Yanks Rays rained out

The Yankees/Rays game was postponed tonight and there is no makeup date as of yet but there will be no doubleheader this weekend. The pitching rotation will be pushed back although Burnett and Pettitte are being flip flopped, Pettitte will pitch monday at home and Burnett will pitch Tuesday in Boston. Brian Bruney threw a bullpen today and felt good, he will do so again on Sunday. Xavier Nady played in a game today and seems to be doing well. Cody Ransom played in Scranton last night and had a homerun and double. I guess we have the Mets and Red Sox to watch tonight or pay attention too.

Mets/Nationals pitching matchups

Tomorrow- Tim Redding vs Shairon Martis Saturday- John Maine vs John Lannan Sunday- Livan Hernandez vs Craig Stammen

Pitching Matchups for Yankees/Rays series

Tomorrow- CC Sabathia vs David Price Saturday- Matt Garza vs Joba Chamberlain Sunday- Andy Sonnastine vs A.J. Burnett Monday- Jeff Niemann vs Andy Pettitte Tomorrow is a real heavyweight battle, what a game. Saturday is a battle of two young pitchers, Sunday A.J. Burnett will be mad about his suspension and hopefully take it out on the Rays, Sonnastine has struggled this year. Monday will be interesting as Niemann has pitched well lately and Pettitte has not been good at home.

Some random baseball notes

Congratulations go out to the Big Unit Randy Johnson who won his 300th game tonight. There were a couple of good articles on Austin Jackson and Jesus Montero the 2 top yankees prospects. It is worth reading at nytimes.com or the Bats blog by Tyler Kepner. Austin Jackson is tearing up AAA and it will be interesting to see if he is given a real chance next year to make the team and if he gets a September callup this year. Jesus Montero was just promoted to AA-Trenton yesterday and I hope to get out there to check him out, it would definitely be worth the trip. I will be going to AAA-Scranton over the 4th of July weekend and will get to see Austin Jackson which I am looking forward too. Cody Ransom just started rehabbing in Scranton and had a homerun tonight in his first game. The MLB draft is coming up later this month and for the first time will be fully broadcast on the MLB Network. The Nationals have the first pick and will draft Steven Strasburg but the money he is looking for is ridiculous. The thing is there are no trades in the baseball draft and he doesn't have much leverage unless he wants to go to Japan for a year and then come back as a free agent but I doubt it. The Mets are really resembling a AAA team with all their injuries and illnesses. It doesn't look good for Jose Reyes as he may have a tear in his calf. The Dodgers have the best record in baseball, wouldn't it be something to have Yankees/Dodgers in the World Series the way it used to be and Joe vs Joe and Manny/A-rod the two tainted sluggers. Nate McClouth getting traded to the Braves should setoff a flurry of trades in the next month or so, it will be interesting to see if Peavy, Heath Bell, Matt Holliday, Victor Martinez etc get traded and to who, how this can really change the races.

Yanks/Rangers recap

The Yankees defeated the Texas Rangers by the score of 8-6 today. Chien-Ming Wang got the start and looked good in his first 2 innings but then gave up 5 runs in the next 2 2/3 innings. He gave up 7 hits with a walk and 5 strikeouts. It was better but I wouldn't call it good at all. His next start will be on Tuesday in Boston which could be bad as he has always struggled with Boston. The Yankees offense picked Wang up though with Melky Cabrera hitting a game winning 2 run homerun in the 8th inning. Mark Teixeira had a couple of hits and 3 rbi's and A-rod had a rbi single. Robinson Cano had a hit and a walk, Cervelli and Pena had a hit each. Johnny Damon led off the game with a homerun and also had a walk. Nick Swisher had 2 hits and a rbi. Dave Robertson got the winning by getting one batter out. Alfredo Aceves gave up one run in 1 2/3 innings and Phil Coke was impressive in 1 1/3 getting 2 strikeouts with no hits or walks. MO got the save in the ninth after giving up a couple of hits. The New York Yankees will take on the Tampa Bay Rays in a 4 game wraparound series beginning tomorrow night at the stadium.

Rangers at Yanks the rubber match

The New York Yankees will take on the Texas Rangers this afternoon at 1:00PM on the Yes network. Chien-Ming Wang will get the start in his return to the rotation and will be able to throw about 80 pitches. Phil Hughes will be in the bullpen for the time being and it will be interesting to see how they use him, late innings, long relief, middle relief. It will also be interesting to see who they put in when Wang comes out in the 4th or 5th, 6th if they are lucky. Alfredo Aceves will probably get some innings today and maybe Hughes will also. Here are the pregame notes and lineup via Peter Abraham. The Yankees are 3-2 versus Texas this year and have won 26 of their last 38 games against them. The Yankees are 9-3 in their last 12 home games. It looks like they will get the game in today, there is no rain right now but who knows about delays, we will see. Yankees lineup: Damon(LF) Swisher(RF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Cano(2B) Matsui(DH) Cabrera(CF) Cervelli(C) Pena(SS)

MLB Notes

I saw that the Pirates traded Nate McClouth to the Atlanta Braves today for Charlie Morton a right handed pitcher, Jeff Locke a left handed pitcher and Gorkys Hernandez a outfielder. This is an interesting trade because it happend a month plus ahead of the trade deadline. This is a significant upgrade for the Braves in centerfield and puts the Mets and Phillies on notice that the Braves think they can contend this year. The Braves also realeased Tom Glavine. The Red Sox won today to move into a first place tie with the Yankees with Josh Beckett pitching into the 7th inning with a no hitter. Kevin Youkilis left thgh the game with a ankle injury though that will be worth monitoring. I wonder if there will be more trades made ahead of the deadline now that there was already a big deal. I am sure guys like Nick Johnson some relievers like Heath Bell etc will be on the block.

Yanks lose to Rangers

The New York Yankees lost to the Texas Rangers tonight 4-2. Andy Pettitte got the start and gave up 3 runs in the first inning, they probably only would have had one if Andy's leg didn't get in the way of a double play ball and lead to a couple of extra runs. Andy labored and got through 5 but only gave up one more run and kept the team in it. Brett Tomko came out of the bullpen for 3 great innings giving up a single and a bunt single to the first 2 guys he saw then retiring the next 9 in order. Dave Robertson pitched a scoreless ninth. The offense was stymied by Scott Feldman tonight though who pitched very well going 6 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits. The Yankees had a couple of chances early but couldn't get the big hit. A-rod had the bases loaded one out in the fourth but grounded into a double play to end the inning. He also came up with a runner on third and one out and struck out. He did have a rbi single in the first though and the only other run was a Posada solo homerun. The Yankees will look to get their hitting shoes back on in a Thursday matinee rubber match with Chien-Ming Wang getting the start against Brandon McCarthy. The big news of the day was that Wang is back in the rotation and Hughes is in the bullpen with everyone else getting pushed back a day. Wang can throw about 80 pitches tomorrow and we will see how he does. I think this was the right move because Wang is a starter and you can't just leave him out in the pen to rot. Phil Hughes could be used in a variety of ways out of the pen but they didn't say how they would use him yet, I guess tomorrow you could see him follow Wang since he will probably only throw 4 or 5 innings. It will be interesting but they did say longterm Hughes will remain a starter and he said he is fine with that as long as he goes back to starting eventually. I was supposed to go to tonights game but I thought for sure it would be rained out and of course it wasn't which was upsetting LOL but I will pick up another game when they come back home after the Boston trip.

Yanks/Rangers recap

The New York Yankees defeated the Texas Rangers 12-3 tonight. A.J. Burnett pitched 7 innings giving up 3 runs, 8 hits, 1 walk and 8 strikeouts. Brett Tomko pitched a scoreless eighth and Jose Veras finished it with a scoreless ninth. The only real blemish was the Yankees errorless streak is over at 18 games. Jorge Posada made a throwing error to second. The offense was great though todya. Jorge Posda had a three hit game including a almost upper deck 3 run homerun. Hideki Matsui also had a homerun. Derek Jeter had 3 hits and a walk, Johnny Damon had a hit, rbi and 2 walks. Mark Teixeira was hit by a pitch twice and after the second one had a hard takeout slide at second that really seemed to fire up the team. A-rod had a rbi and a walk, Robbie Cano had 2 hits and a rbi. Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner each had a hit and a walk. The Yankees are at 10 games over for the first time this season and remain in first place. Andy Pettitte will get the start tomorrow against a undefeated Scott Feldman.

Rangers at Yankees

The Yankees will start a 7 game homestand tonight starting with the Texas Rangers and then they will play 4 against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees just took 2 of 3 in Texas last week, they have won 25 of their last 36 against Texas. Derek Jeter will try and extend his hitting streak to 16 games and Big Tex to 15. Derek Jeter will also be looking to get a run scored for 1,500 in his career. He would be the fourth Yankee in history to accomplish that. I guess this is the all Derek Jeter notebook, he has batted 341 in the first inning. He has hit safely in 9 of the last 11 games leading off. He has reached base safely in 11 of his last 16 leadoff oppurtunities. The Yankees will try and extend their record errorless streak to 19 straight games. The Rangers are first in the majors with 83 homeruns and the Yankees are second with 80 and Yankee stadium has given up the most so expect some fireworks in this series. A-rod is 3 homeruns away from tying Reggie Jackson for 11th on the alltime homerun list. Yankees lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Cano(2B) Posada(C) Matsui(DH) Cabrera(RF) Gardner(CF)

Yankees/Rangers Pitching matchups

Tonight- A.J. Burnett vs Vincente Padilla Tomorrow- Andy Pettitte vs Scott Feldman Thursday- CC Sabathia vs Brandon McCarthy Tonight and tomorrow are 7:05 games on Yes and Thursday is a 1:05 on Yes. Padilla was just activated off the DL, this should be an interesting series with the top 2 homerun hitting teams playing in the top homerun park. I hope A.J. Burnett has his stuff tonight and now gets on a roll after finally getting a win in his last start. Tomorrow will be interesting with Andy after having back spasms and Wang on hold, Cash and Girardi are supposed to discuss Wang today so maybe later we will have some news.

Yanks defeat Indians and the Midges

The New York Yankees defeated the Cleveland Indians by the score of 5-2 tonight. Joba Chamberlain got the start and looked great, he threw 8 innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits with 5 strikeouts. He was consistantly hitting 96-98 on the gun all the way through the game. This is the best Joba has looked as a starter and the potential he has, if he is throwing hard nad throwing strikes watch out and this is why he should and will be a starter. If he is this type of pitcher a ace he will pitch the eighth anyway. The Yankees finished off the roadtrip at 5-2 and also set a MLB record with their 18th straight errorless game. Derek Jeter had 2 hits and 2 walks to lead the offense, Nick Swisher had 2 doubles. A-rod had a 2 run single and a walk. Big Tex had a hit to extend his hitting streak to 14 games and also Jeter extended his to 15. The offense wasn't great but good enough and now they will return home to the homerun haven. This should be an interesting series with the high powered Rangers, A.J. Burnett will get the start tomorrow night.

Yanks at Indians

The New York Yankees will try and win the series in Cleveland tonight with Joba Chamberlain on the mound. The Yankees will be going for the record tonight, if they don't committ an error they will have set the record with 18 straight errorless games. Derek Jeter has a 14 game hitting streak and Mark Teixeira a 13 game. Derek Jeter needs 2 runs scored for 1,500 in his career. Yankees lineup Jeter(SS) Swisher(RF) Tex(1B) A-rod(DH) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Cabrera(LF) Berroa(3B) Gardner(CF)