Yanks spank Twins

The New York Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins tonight by the score of 10-2. CC Sabathia started and was brilliant for 7 innings giving up a solo homerun and 2 infield singles with 1 walk and 3 strikeouts. Brett Tomko finished off the last 2 innings giving up a run. The Yankees offense went nuts with 16 hits and every starter had at least one hit. A-rod had a sac fly and single. The sac fly should of been a grandslam but he got robbed by a leaping Carlos Gomez. Mark Teixeira had 4 hits, Robinson Cano had a couple of hits one being with the bases loaded, his first hit with runners in scoring position in his last 23 attempts. Francisco Cervelli may have played his last game as a Yankee for now as Molina is supposed to be coming back tomorrow or the next day and had a couple of hits and a rbi. The Yankees will look to keep it going with A.J. Burnett on the mound tomorrow. The Yankees remain a game behind Boston for first place in the AL East.

Yankees at Twins

This will be the Yankees final appearance at the Metrodome unless the teams meet in the postseason. CC Sabathia is on the mound against Scott Baker. Here are the pregame notes and lineup as always via Peter Abraham. The Yankees swept the Twins in 4 games back in May at Yankee Stadium. I am sure the Twins will be looking for revenge. Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau were great against the Yankees in that series. Mauer was 5 of 16 with 2 homeruns and 3 rbi's and Mourneau was 9 of 16 with 3 homeruns and 5 rbi's. They scored seven runs and drew 8 walks. The Yankees will look to do a better job with them. Hideki Matsui is 9 of 18 with 6 extra base hits, 3 homeruns and 10 rbi's in his last 6 games. Robinson Cano has 2 rbi's in his last 16 games. He is batting 196 with runners in scoring position and 243 with men on base. He is hitting 352 with no one on base. The Yankees bullpen has quickly become a strength especially, Mo, Coke, Hughes and Aceves. Brian Bruney must still be rusty or hurt and not saying it as he has gone 5 innings giving up 8 hits, 7 walks and 4 earned runs. The bullpen has allowed 8 earned runs in their last 34 2/3 innings giving up 24 hits with 11 walks and 39 strikeouts. The Yankees were 9-4 in one run games and have since gone 2-6. A-rod is 14 of his last 26 with 5 homeruns. Big Tex has gone 84 at bats without a homerun, this would be a good place for him to hit one. Yankees lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Swisher(RF) Cano(2B) Gardner(CF) Cervelli(C)

Yanks go for 4 games sweep

The Yankees take on the Toronto Blue Jays at 1:05 with Andy Pettitte taking on Ricky Romero. Here are the pregame notes and lineup via Peter Abraham. Derek Jeter hit his 10th homerun of the season yesterday marking the 14th consecutive season with 10 or more homeruns for him. He is now one of 6 Yankees to accomplish that feat solely as a Yankee and is one of five active players with such a streak. The other Yankees who did this are Mantle, Berra, Ruth, Gehrig and Bernie Williams. Yesterday both Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada went 4 for 5 marking the first time in the 14 year history that they have been teammates that they both collected 4 hits in the same game. According to Elias it marked the first time two Yankees both past their 35th birthday had at least 4 hits in the same game since July 21, 1950 when Johnny Mize and Joe Dimaggio did it. The Yankees are 5-1 against the Blue Jays this season. Andy Pettitte is 18-11 with a 3.92 era in 36 career starts against Toronto. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Swisher(1B) Tex(DH) A-rod(3B) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Cabrera(LF) Hinske(RF) Gardner(CF)

Scranton Game

I went out to Pennsylvania on Saturday and was going to go to the AAA Scranton game yesterday at 5 with the Lohud Yankees Blog group but was disappointed when we found out the game was cancelled due to bad field conditions. The drainage system at the field is apparantly not working anymore and even though it didn't rain yesterday it did rain Friday and has rained so much this year that the field is just a mess. I am hoping we get to reschedule this outing as I was really looking forward to it and it would of been a really good time.

Yanks have good weekend

The New York Yankees won their last couple of games against the Blue Jays. On Saturday they won a dramatic game in 12 innings on a walkoff single by Jorge Posada after Robinson Cano bunted on 3-0 and the lead runner was thrown out at third base. He has been so bad with runners in scoring position also that finally Joe Girardi dropped him down to 7th in the order yesterday. The bad thing about Saturday's game was the Chien-Ming Wang had to leave the game with a shoulder strain and bursitis and is out indefinitely. He was actually pitching pretty good until he gave up a 2 run homerun which is when he felt the problem and then came out after the next pitch. The bullpen was great as it has been so often lately. Yesterday Joba Chamberlain was just awful and you do have to start wondering about him as he velocity is down and to me he doesn't have that slider anymore that used to devestate you when he would get 2 strikes on you. He has good stuff but something just doesn't seem right and I hope he is ok, they say they are going to do a lot of talking with him this week and try to get him right but I also get this feeling that he is kind of cocky and doesn't want to listen to anyone. Alfredo Aceves was just brilliant yesterday pitching 4 scoreless innings and picking up his first career save. The Yankees need someone to pitch Thursday and it looks like they will call up someone from AAA as Alfredo Aceves and Phil Hughes aren't stretched out enough. It seems to me that they want to keep Hughes in the pen this year as he has been so good out there. The Yankees will try and complete the 4 game sweep this afternoon with Andy Pettitte on the mound.

Game 80: Blue Jays at Yankees

Here are the game note and lineup via Peter Abraham and the Lohud Yankees Blog. I am enjoying the sun and pool today that is why I am not going to write everything out. I do want to say Happy Birthday to George Steinbrenner who turns 79 today, Brian Cashman turned 42 yesterday. Today marks independence day so go out and enjoy the day with family and friends and have a safe and Happy holiday. It also marks 70 years ago today that Lou Gehrig made what is considered to be the greatest sports speech ever. The Yankees will honor him today with a video tribute before the game. They will have #4 which was Lou's number on first base and will wear a patch 4ALS on all their uniforms. The Yes Network will also have a story about a ALS victim and Lou Gehrig. As you are enjoying your bbq and family and friends stop and take a moment and think of Lou Gehrig, a lot of people don't realize how great he was but I suggest you look up his stats or read Luckiest Man which is about him. I am not sure if I will be back later to write the postgame stuff because I am headed out to PA at some point and I will be at the AAA Scranton game tomorrow with the Lohud Yankees blog. I plan on putting some pictures up and writing something about that on Monday. Game 80: Blue Jays at Yankees Posted using ShareThis

Yanks back on winning track

The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays by the score of 4-2. A.J. Burnett pitched 7 strong innings giving up 2 runs on 6 hits with 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. The interesting part of this game was that Phil Coke started the eighth getting Adam Lind out and then Phil Hughes finished out the inning by giving up a single then getting two weak groundouts. Brian Bruney was nowhere in sight and Joe Girardi said once he gets him going again he will be the 8th inning guy. Brian Bruney said he doesn't care and doesn't know why he has to answer all these questions. The offense was pretty stagnant with a solo homerun by Robinson Cano and A-rod, the other runs were scored on a bases loaded walk and a passed ball. Derek Jeter was 2-3 with a walk, Johnny Damon, Big Tex, Hideki Matsui and Francisco Cervelli all had a hit each. The Yankees have a tough task tomorrow with Chien-Ming Wang facing Roy Halladay. The Yankees will try and make it 2 in a row and 9 of 10 overall.

Toronto at Yankees

The Yankees will host the Toronto Blue Jays today at 1:00PM. A.J. Burnett will take the mound against his former team who he lost to earlier this year when he went head to head with Roy Halladay and didn't fare too well. Here are the notes and lineup from Peter Abraham of the Yankees Lohud Blog. Big Tex has gone 65 at bats without a homerun, his last one was June 12, the Yankees really need him to break out of it and get going again. Robinson Cano is 16 of his last 26 with 6 extra base hits in his last 7 games at home. He doesn't have a rbi in 12 games though. He is 4 for 6 this month and is a career 349 hitter in July according to Mark Feinsand. Hideki Matsui has 11 homeruns this year and 7 of them are against lefties. 3 relievers are rested and ready to go who are hot, MO, Phil Hughes and Phil Coke. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Matsui(DH) Cervelli(C) Gardner(CF) Jorge Posada has swelling in his thumb from being hit by a foul ball and is day to day, enjoy the game wherever you may be.

Pitching Matchups for Mets/Phillies Series

The Mets amazingly enough are only 1 game behind the Phillies and Marlins for first place in the NL east. The Mets will try and win the series in Philly this weekend and move into first place. Here are the pitching matchups. Today- Rodrigo Lopez vs Livan Hernandez Tomorrow- Jaime Moyer vs Fernando Nieve Sunday- Joe Blanton vs Johan Santana The Pitching matchups clearly favor the Mets and they should be able to win at least 2 out of 3 but it is in Philly and eventually the Phillies will win some home games and it is the Mets so you never know.

Blog Contest

Here is a picture of the book that I will be giving away to one lucky winner. It really is a great book for an individual or the whole family, it is a collectible but is a coloring book with puzzles, connect the dots and other fun games. If you are a fan of the Yankees this is a great book to have especially for the children. The illustrations are really dead on with all the new players and old ones also, you can read, color, play games, puzzles, trivia and more. I would urge everyone to check it out more at www.YankeesColoringBook.com and you can also look up the company at www.HawksNestPublishing.com If you are interested in the book you can order it through these websites, so I would urge everyone to get in on trying to win this book and if not then go ahead and check it out on these websites and order it for yourself or others in the family.

The way this contest is going to work is I need everyone to email me at Gmarchesej@aol.com, the first person to answer these questions correctly will win the book.

I want to know who was the last Yankee to hit for the cycle??

Who holds the record for most hits in a season by a Yankee??

Who had the lowest era in a season for the Yankees??

I think these are pretty tough questions but I am not asking the particulars just the names so go ahead get to work and send me the emails and the first one I see answer it correctly will be mailed the book. Good luck, I probably won't open the emails to tomorrow but hopefully you will find out then if you won.

Yanks lose finale to Mariners

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Seattle Mariners by the score of 8-4 tonight ending their 7 game winning streak. The story of the game was the ineffectiveness of Sabathia. He just didn't pitch well giving up 6 runs on 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings with 3 walks and 8 strikeouts. Alfredo Aceves came on in relief and got a strikeout with the bases loaded to end the sixth and then pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth inning but came back out for the ninth and gave up a two run homerun to Russel Branyan who hit it off of the restaurant in CF. I think Joe Girardi pushed Aceves too far and could of pitched someone else there and if it was 6-4 in the ninth who knows especially considering that they had 2 on and no outs in the ninth before getting 3 straight outs. The story of the game though was CC Sabathia and I wouldn't be worried he just didn't pitch well and it is going to happen, he had pitched so well over his last 10 outings you didn't expect it but its just one game and you have to move on. The offense was pretty much Robinson Cano who had 3 hits and Hideki Matsui who had 2 hits. The Yankees only managed 7 hits overall and 2 of those were in the ninth inning. The Yankees start a 4 game holiday weekend series against the Jays tomorrow with A.J. Burnett on the hill against Brian Tallett. The Yankees will be looking to start a new winning streak.

Yankees go for sweep

The New York Yankees will be looking for the sweep tonight of the Seattle Mariners. The game is at 7:05 on the Yes network. Here are the pregame notes and lineup from Peter Abraham-the best blogger there is. The Yankees are 30-15 in their last 45 games. The Yankees have won 9 of their last 11 games against Seattle and won 10 straight in the bronx, the last time the Mariners won in the bronx was 2007. The relievers are on a roll, Mo over his last 9 appearances has gone 9 1/3 innings giving up 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk and 12 strikeouts. Phil Hughes has gone 13 innings in his last 8 appearances giving up 5 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks and 16 strikeouts. Alfredo Aceves has gone 9 appearances, 12 1/3 innings, 9 hits, 1 run, 2 walks and 8 strikeouts. Phil Coke ha gone 15 appearances, 13 1/3 innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 3 walks and 15 strikeouts. These are very impressive numbers and part of the reason the Yankees are winning so much the other part is the starters have been good too and the bullpen is getting worn down. CC Sabathia has a career 2.95 era against Seattle and is 6-1 with a 2.82 era in his last 10 games. Robinson Cano has gone 11 games without an rbi, his last rbi came on June 17th. Johnny Damon has 198 homeruns and is 10 of his last 24 with 7 rbi's and 5 extra base hits. The Yankees team era is 4.44 which is 11th in the AL but getting lower and lower. They are second in strikeouts with 588. Boston has 1 more and they are second in opponents batting average which is at 252, Seattle leads at 250. The Yankees are 23-14 at home and have played in bad weather all year with some rainouts already. Big Tex is overdue for a homerun, his last one was June 12 off of Livan Hernandez. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Matsui(DH) Cabrera(CF) Cervelli(C) Jose Molina starts a rehab assignment tonight with AAA-Scranton where I will be on Sunday for the game with the lohud Yankees blog and Peter Abraham, we are going to also meet Dave Miley the manager and a player and I hope to meet Chad Jennings who does a great job with a blog for the Scranton Yankees. I will definitely do a nice writeup and have some pics from the day out at PNC Park in Scranton. I also will put up what is going on with the contest for the free coloring book later on tonight. The Yankees signed a couple of independent league players the other day and I forgot to mention that and today started the international free agent signing period where the Yankees are expected to announce a couple of signings, one of them being Gary Sanchez a catcher with a big bat, this is where they signed Jesus Montero who by the way is starting to tear up AA at 19 years old.

Contest for Yankees coloring and Activity Book

I was lucky enough to have been sent a Yankees coloring and activity book. I am going to do a writeup on it tomorrow with the information and picture of it. I will be starting a contest, I think a trivia question and the first one to answer it will recieve a free copy of this book in the mail so keep your eye out for that and good luck, talk to everyone tomorrow have a good night.

Yanks keep rolling

The New York Yankees defeated the Seattle Mariners tonight by the score of 4-2. Andy Pettitte got the start and pitched great going 7 innings giving up 6 hits and 2 runs with 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. Alfredo Aceves came in to get one out and then Phil Coke got a groundout and strikeout. Mariano Rivera had a 1-2-3 ninth for his 20th save of the year and 502nd of his career. Phil Hughes was warming up but I found it very strange that Alfredo Aceves pitched in the 8th, why not Phil Hughes??? The offense was led by A-rod hitting a 2 run homerun, he also had a single. Mark Teixeira had 2 hits, Derek Jeter had a hit and Johnny Damon had a hit, rbi and walk. Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher each had a hit and Melky Cabrera hit a solo homerun. The Yankees were crisp defensively making no errors. The Yankees are really on a roll now and will look for the sweep tomorrow with CC Sabathia on the mound. Jose Molina is going to start a rehab assignment with Scranton tomorrow.

Mariners at Yankees

The New York Yankees take on the Seattle Mariners tonight from the stadium with Andy Pettitte taking on Jarrod Washburn. Here are the pregame notes and lineup from Peter Abraham of the Journal News. The Yankee are at 12 games over 500 which is their high water mark of the season. The Mariners have lost 9 straight in the Bronx. Melky Cabrera has 31 rbi's with 12 of them either tying or giving the Yankees the lead in the seventh or beyond. Johnny Damon is 9 of his last 21 with 6 rbi's and 4 extra base hits. Mark Teixeira is really struggling going 13 of his last 59 with no homeruns and 6 rbi's. He has gone 60 at bats without a homerun. Phil Coke has gone 12 1/3 innings in his last 14 appearances with 5 hits, 1 earned run, 3 walks and 14 strikeouts and Phil Hughes has gone 8 games, 13 innings with 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 3 walks and 16 strikeouts. MO has gone 8 1/3 innings in his last 8 outings with 2 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk and 12 strikeouts. The Yankees have scored 45 runs over their last 49 innings, prior to that that they had scored 18 runs in 67 innings. The Yankees have a 2.56 era in their last 14 games and opponents are only hitting 207 against them. Ramiro Pena was optioned down to AAA as expected and will get some time in CF to be more versatile. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1b) A-rod(DH) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Cabrera(CF) Ransom(3B)

My Citi Field Pics from Saturday Night