The Mets win streak reaches five games

The New York Mets defeated the Washington Nationals by the score of 8-5. Dillon Gee started for the Mets and he continues to pitch well. The bullpen pitched pretty well other then Bobby Parnell who had a rough game. The offense continues to roll, David Wright had a couple more hits. Ronny Paulino had a big game.
Gee pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up four hits and three runs with two being earned. He walked four and struck out five. Gee is now 10-3 with a 3.69 ERA. Ryota Igarashi faced one batter and got him out, Bobby Parnell pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up three hits and two runs, he did strike out a batter. Tim Byrdak gave up two hits without recording an out, D.J. Carrasco struck out both batters that he faced and Jason Isringhausen pitched one inning giving up no runs and no hits, he struck out a batter. Isringhausen picked up his fifth save of the season and 298th of his career.

Jose Reyes had a hit, walk and two RBI. Justin Turner had a hit and Daniel Murphy had a hit and an RBI. Wright had two hits, Angel Pagan had a hit and an RBI and Jason Bay had two hits and an RBI. Lucas Duda had an RBI, Ronny Paulino had three hits and an RBI and Gee had a hit and an RBI. Bay, Reyes and Paulino all had a double. The Mets were 8-12 with runners in scoring position and they left four men on base. Reyes made an error.

The Mets jumped all over former Yankee Chien-Ming Wang. The Mets scored four runs in the first inning. Murphy had an RBI single, Pagan had an RBI single, Bay had an RBI groundout and Duda had a sacrifice fly. In the fourth Gee had an RBI single and Reyes had a sacrifice fly making it 6-0 Mets. In the fourth inning Laynce Nix grounded into a force out and two runs scored. There was also an error on the same play. Rick Ankiel hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning to make it 6-3. Paulino had an RBI double and Reyes had an RBI double in the sixth inning making it 8 3 Mets. In the eighth inning Wilson Ramos had an RBI single and Ankiel had an RBI single to make it 8-5. The last two batters struck out to end the inning.

The New York Mets have won five games in a row. They are 55-51 and hanging in the playoff chase. The Mets have now scored eight or more runs in four consecutive games. Gee is just the seventh Mets to have double digit victories in a season. He is the first since Dwight Gooden in 1984. Tom Seaver was the first and that was in 1967. The Mets are starting to come on in the wild card race and who knows what could happen.

News from around Baseball

The Washington Nationals officially introduced Chien-Ming Wang yesterday. He had an interesting quote and here it is. " I would like to do my best to make a contribution to this teams tradition." What tradition would that be, whatever they do have it isn't good. In other former Yankee news, Hideki Matsui talked to the press from Angels camp and said this " To be honest my knees aren't 100 percent." It looks like Brian Cashman and the Yankees made a good move here. Brian Cashman said in an interview with Nomaas that the reason he chose Marcus Thames and Randy Winn over Reed Johnson was that his 4th outfielder should have a history of playing full seasons. CC Sabathia will be throwing a bullpen today for the first time. I will have some news and notes from Yankees and Mets camp later on today.

Non Tendered Free Agents

The non tender deadline for baseball was Saturday at midnight. If you don't know what that is it is players that were eligible for arbitration but the team decided to not offer them a contract making them free agents. The notable names that came out of this were Jack Cust, Matt Capps, Garrett Atkins, Clay Condrey, John Buck. There are some others too but these are probably the most well known players. I believe John Buck signed with the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend. It will be interesting to see if the Yankees would be interested in anyone, I would say no or more likely the Mets. The Yankees need a leftfielder but if they don't resign Johnny Damon they will most likely play Melky Cabrera in left and Granderson in center and probably bring Hideki Matsui back as the DH. I think the Yankees are pretty well set with even their bench, they have Francisco Cervelli as the backup catcher, Ramiro Pena or someone else from their minor league system as the utility infielder, Jamie Hoffman and Brett Gardner as the extra outfielders. It is interesting though with the economy the way it is that some bigger names weren't offered contracts and became free agents. I forgot the most notable from the Yankees Chien-Ming Wang who won 19 games in back to back seasons in 06 and 07. I wasn't suprised the Yankees didn't offer him a contract but am a little suprised that he refused a split contract. The Yankees apparently wanted to give him a minor league contract that could switch to major league if he made the team, considering he had major injuries the last 2 seasons I think it was nice of the Yankees to even consider that but Wang is still upset with the Yankees for taking him to arbitration over 600,000 in 2006.

Yankee News

There really isn't much going on in the hotstove league as teams still have the right to negotiate with their own free agents. Thursday will start the real hotstove as free agents then have the right to negotiate and sign with any team they wish. I am going to start looking at the Yankees and Mets and then baseball in general at that time. Here are a couple of items with the Yankees though regarding arbitration. The Yankees officially declined the option on Sergio Mitre for 2010, he is still under the Yankees control and is arbitration eligible. The Yankees want to have as many arms as possible stocked up and because he will be cheap I am sure they will keep him. I am guessing they do the same with Chad Guadin to go along with Ian Kennedy and Alfredo Aceves if he isn't in the bullpen as the extra guys in case of injury or need in the starting rotation. The Yankees do have 4 other arbitration decisions to make and they are Melky Cabrera- he will get offered something. Brian Bruney I am sure will be offered because he does have a good arm and if Hughes and Chamberlain are going to be in the rotation well then they need more bullpen guys. Chad Guadin I spoke about above and the trickiest one is going to be Chien-Ming Wang. I am guessing they will not offer him arbitration as he will then at least get 5 million but I do think they will work something out to see if he can get healthy and back to form. If he is able to come back and be close to what he was then that is the biggest pickup the Yankees can make. They can then put Hughes or Joba in the pen and have the other one as the 5th starter and have plenty of reserve options for injury or ineffectiveness.

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.

Yanks sweep away Mets

The New York Yankees defeated the New York Mets tonight by the score of 4-2. Chien-Ming Wang got the start and finally recorded his first win of the season. He went 5 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. I don't know what to think of him because that is pretty good but he just doesn't go deep into game anymore, at least he got a win finally and hopefully can build on that. Phil Coke got a strikeout on the only guy he faced and Phil Hughes pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up one walk with a strikeout. Brian Bruney got two outs in the eighth but also walked two guys and Mariano Rivera got the final 4 outs for his 500th career save. Mo is now only the second guy in history with 500 saves, the other is Trevor Hoffman. Mariano Rivera also got his first Rbi of his career with a bases loaded walk. The Yankees didn't do much offensively, A-rod had a single and 3 walks, Jorge Posada had a hit and rbi and Mark Teixeira had a hit and 2 rbi's. Derek Jeter had a hit and 3 walks in his return from illness. The Yankees are now 3 games behind Boston in the AL East. They do lead the wildcard standings. The Yankees will have a day off tomorrow and then start a 3 game series with Seattle at the Stadium on Tuesday.

Yanks look lifeless again

The New York Yankees continue to lose ground quickly and look like they are just stuck in neutral. They lost 4-0 to the Atlanta Braves tonight and just look lost. They can't hit a lick and I don't know how their hitting coach is still around. Chien-Ming Wang looked better I guess but the bottom line is this he is 0-6 and the team hasn't won any game that he has pitched, i think it is like 0-8 or something like that. The one bright spot continues to be Phil Hughes who came on in relief of Wang and pitched 2 perfect innings with a couple of strikeouts. A-rod continues to do nothing although he did hit two decent flyballs that if they were in Yankee Stadium may have gone out, i think that is also the problem they hit so many homeruns at home and think they are better because the ballpark plays small and then when they go out on the road they can't hit. This team needs to stop relying on homeruns and just look to get basehits, move runners over and manufacture runs. They have a good pitching staff and should be able to score 4 or 5 runs a game and win most of the games. I really think they need a shakeup and Kevin Long has to be the first one to get fired followed by Dave Eiland. I like Joe Girardi but he is also on the hot seat, I do think he will get the full season but he will be fired if they don't make the playoffs also. They have gone 2-5 against the Nats, Marlins and now Braves against pitchers they have never seen but other then Josh Johnson really aren't that good and they have done absolutely nothing. I don't see how the Steinbrenners or Cashman or whoever is in charge doesn't do something about this, they have fallen 5 games behind the Red Sox and depending on what happens tonight may have lose their lead in the wildcard also.

Pitching matchups for the Braves Series

Tonight-Chien-Ming Wang vs Tommy Hansen Tomorrow-Joba Chamberlain vs Kenshin Kawakami Thursday-Andy Pettitte vs Derek Lowe This doesn't look good as the Yankees will face guys they have never seen before tonight and tomorrow. They are 2-4 in their last 6 games which were all guys they haven't seen before. They better end this trend tonight because we also have Wang going and who knows what to expect out of him. JOba has to get it going also and stop being so wild and using up all of his pitches in 4 or 5 innings. Tonights game is on MY9 then the other games on YES all 7:00PM starts.

Some Yankee issues

I know the Jorge Posada catching situationd has been coming to a head lately. The bottom line is he was never a great defensive catcher but he worked hard and got better and you can't make up for the offense he brings from that position. Jorge Posada isn't the captain but most will tell you that he is the vocal leader, the one to get on the team, I wonder after the Nats series if he did a lot of yelling. The bottom line is this though, it appears CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett don't want to pitch to him and we don't know about Joba after the disaster against the Mets. Andy Pettitte is fine and I think Wang is fine also with Posada. I am wondering though if it may be a good thing for him to not catch those 2 games so he has at least 2 days off a week, he is getting older and coming off of surgery. This is something worth monitoring over the next few weeks. A-rod came back from hip surgery and they talked about him missing maybe once a week or something like that. He came back and played in all 38 games which was against what the doctor advised. I know Alex told them he wanted to play but that is up to the Yankees to say no you are going to sit today and be back out there tomorrow. The doctore wanted him to miss a few games over his first 45 games and now finally the Yankees realized he was fatigued and not playing well and decided to give him 2 days off and then play and have another day off on Monday when the team is off. I kind of look at this with the Wang situation also, shouldn't the Yankees have realized something wasn't right and kept him down in Tampa to start the year and not let him get bombed for 3 starts and lose all confidence then decide oh he is hurt. I don't know who makes these decisions but someone should be held responsible. George isn't around but ever since he ceded control to his sons, it seems we don't really know who is in charge of the baseball operations and no one says a word anymore, you don't hear from Cashman much and he loves to talk. Hank and Hal never make a peep, Hank must have a muzzle on him as he used to run his mouth constantly but now we haven't heard from him in months and Randy Levine and Lonn Trost are too busy hiding after the disaster that is the new stadium with all the problems it has. I hope the Yankees can overcome these issues as they are a very talented team and I think they will make the playoffs but these things are hampering them and someone needs to step up and be held accountable.

Nats at Yankees(weather permitting)

I don't see how they will play this game today but the Yankees say they will try and get it in and there is a window around 3. The Yankees are not playing well at all going 6-7 in their last 13 but really 5-8. They head out on the road tomorrow for 9 straight against Florida, Atlanta and the Mets. Here are the pregame notes and lineup from Peter Abraham. The season is 40 percent over, wow I didn't realize that unbelievable. A-rod has gone in a June swoon hitting 157 with a 328 on base percentage and 314 slugging percentage. He is now batting 219 and has 2 homeruns in his last 79 at bats. This is not good he needs to start hitting soon. Brett Gardner is 14 of 16 in stolen bases this year and 43 of 48 for his career. Phil Hughes has looked good in relief but is and should be a starter. He has pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks and 10 strikeouts out of the pen. Derek Jeter won't play and wouldn't have even if the weather was good, he should be in there tomorrow. Phil Coke has been great his last 7 outings giving up 2 hits, 0 runs with 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. Chien-Ming Wang is scheduled to start on Tuesday in Atlanta. Yankees Lineup: Gardner(CF) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Matsui(DH) Cervelli(C) Pena(SS)

Yankees lose to Nats

The New York Yankees were embarrassed by the Washington Nationals tonight by the score of 3-2. The starting pitcher John Lannan was the story of the game pitching 8 innings of 1 run ball with 2 hits allowed. The Yankees couldn't do anything with him, they tried being patient and aggressive and nothing worked. I was at the game so I didn't really see if he was that good or they were that bad or in the middle but he still pitched 8 innings so I have to give him credit. The Yankees had their shot in the ninth when Johnny Damon led off with a homerun and then they put runners at 1st and 3rd with 1 out and couldn't tie it. Robinson Cano had a great battle with Mike Macdougal but grounded into the game ending double play which is just unacceptable. I am not a Kevin Long fan and I think after these two games where they are being shut down by the worst team in baseball and the worst pitching staff in baseball he deserves to lose his job or at least be in trouble. The story of the game for the Yankees though was Chien-Ming Wang who was much better pitching 5 innings, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits. I don't like the fact he only went 5 innings but I am sure he will get another start, the bottom line for me is they are winless in his starts and for a world series contender that is unacceptable. Phil Hughes came on in relief and threw two shutout inn ings giving up a single. He had 2 strikeouts. Phil Coke pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings and Alfredo Aceves got the last two outs. The Yankees will try and win the series tomorrow afternoon with Joba Chamberlain on the mound, the weather is supposed to be bad so we will see if they can get it in, it may be a long day at the ballpark.

Nationals at Yankees(Wang's Big Start)

The Yankees will try to make it three in a row tonight with Wang seeking his first victory of the year. I will be at the game tonight so here is the lineup without notes. I will try and check in from the game with twitter like updates. Derek Jeter is out of the lineup with a bad ankle, this is the time to rest him against the awful Nationals. Yankees Lineup: Damon(LF) Swisher(RF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Cano(2B) Posada(C) Matsui(DH) Cabrera(CF) Pena(SS)

Chien-Ming Wang=Big Start

Chien-Ming Wang will take the hill tonight in need of a win. I don't know what he has to do tonight to get another start but he clearly needs to pitch better then he has at any point this year. I don't think its enough to say he needs to win the game. He could go out there and get hit hard and survive 5 innings and have the Yankees score a ton of runs and win the game 9-8, that wouldn't be enough for him. In his culture the birth of a child is supposed to bring luck to the parents so lets hope the birth of his son does that for him. I think the best thing that could happen for Wang tonight is the Yankees scoring some runs early and he can relax and go to work. I really don't know what to think, his stuff was there in his last start, he just couldn't get it over the plate. Joe Girardi has said repeatedly this is a big start for Wang but hasn't said what he needs to do or what he needs to see from him. It should be an interesting night, what do you guys think Wang needs to do?? I wonder if Posada will catch him or they will let Cervelli work with him which brings up a whole other issue that I will talk about in another blog entry.

Yanks/Nats game recap

The New York Yankees defeated the Washington Nationals tonight by the score of 5-3 thus avoiding embarrassment. The Nats starting pitcher really handcuffed the Yankees for 6 innings leaving with a 3-2 lead but then the Yankees scored 2 in the 7th and 1 in the 8th to secure the win. CC Sabathia pitched well going 7 2/3 innings giving up a 3 run homerun. Brian Bruney made his return by getting Ryan Zimmerman to ground out to second and MO had a 1-2-3 ninth for the save. Robinson Cano was the offensive star as he went four for four. Mark Teixeira had a rbi double. Derek Jeter left the game with what appears to be a ankle injury but doesn't appear to be too serious. Ramiro Pena had a rbi single in the 8th. Jorge Posada had a hit and so did Johnny Damon. The Yankees will try and make it two in a row tomorrow with Chien-Ming Wang getting the start. I didn't get to this before but Hideki Matsui will not be used in the OF for any of the upcoming interleague games on the road. He could be used in a double switch though according to Joe Girardi, the Yankees are worried about his knees flaring up if he plays a full game in the OF. It doesn't look like Nady will be back for this roadtrip but we shall see what happens with him. A-rod was in monument park before the game posing for pictures, the Yankees are now doing these type of things once a homestand which is a nice touch. The Yankees number 1 pick Slade Heathcott was with the team today and it appears he will try and sign quickly and get his pro career started.

Wangs celebrate birth of their child

Chien-Ming Wang are celebrating the birth of their first child this morning. Justin Jesse Wang came into this world this morning in NYC, he weighs in 7 pounds and 12 ounces. In Taiwanese culture a new baby is supposed to bring good luck to the parents so lets hope this is true when the proud father takes the mound as he is pitching for his life. Congratulations to the proud parents and lets hope JJ Wang brings some good luck to Chien. Peter Abraham had this on his blog so I will acknoledge the information from him. I don't think he could be pitching against a better team though to try and get his first win.

Pitching Matchups for Nats/Yanks series

Tomorrow- CC Sabathia vs Shairon Martis Wednesday- Chien-Ming Wang vs John Lannan Thursday- Joba Chamberlain vs Craig Stammen The Yankees really need to sweep this team as they are 16-45. Adam Dunn has more homeruns with 17 then the team has wins. Wednesdays game is big for the Yankees but also for Wang himself as this is his last chance, he has to pitch a good game or else he will be out of the rotation again. I really don't think Wang has lost it but this may just be a bad year as I think the Yankees screwed it up from the beginning with him. I think they should of realized he was hurt or at least favoring his injury and left him in Florida to start the year and brought him along slowly. When they did bring him back they did it in a emergency and threw him into the pen then bringing him back into the rotation against the Rangers and Red Sox which are two very good hitting teams. I think they should of kept him in the minors for at least another start or two but they didn't and they have to deal with what is there now. I think Joba will get back on track, he just had a rough start last time out never getting on the same page with Jorge Posada.

Yanks at Red Sox and Wang stays in rotation

The New York Yankees need to salvage the last game of this series with CC Sabathia facing Brad Penny. The matchup on paper isn't much of one at all and the Yankees have to take advantage of it before coming home to the homerun haven and teeing off on John Maine and Livan Hernandez the next couple of games. Here are the notes and lineup from Peter Abraham. Chien-Ming Wang will start on Wednesday at home against the Nationals, of course why not when I am at the game. I would have to figure that if he can't beat the worst team in baseball then that will be it for him and hopefully if he does then I guess they will take it start by start. If he pitches well he should have confidence and keep it going. I don't have any faith in him at this point though. Brian Bruney will pitch in Trenton on Saturday so he should be back fairly quickly. This the longest winning streak for Boston over New York since 1911-1912. They had a 14 game winning streak from Oct 3, 1911- July 1, 1912. CC Sabathia is 4-0 with a 2.49 era in his last 6 starts. This will be his first appearance against Boston since the 2007 ALCS. He is 1-1 with a 2.35 career era in Fenway during the regular season. A-rod is in a slump going 0-7 in this series and 0-12 overall. He has one homerun in his last 16 games and is 4-27 in his last 8 games. He is now hitting 231, I really wouldn't worry about A-rod as they have been so good since he came back and he will get it together eventually. The bigger problems are Wang and Burnett for this team right now. At least one of these guys has to get it going. Jorge Posada has 28 homeruns against Boston the most for a Yankees since Mickey Mantle hit 69. Only 3 active players have more A-rod with 39, Jason Giambi with 35 and Jim Thome with 35. Yankees lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Matsui(DH) Cabrera(CF) Cervelli(C)

Red Sox own the Yanks

The Yankees played another game against the Red Sox and once again lost. Chien-Ming Wang stunk again pitching 2 2/3 innings giving up 4 runs which is unacceptable. Phil Hughes came out of the bullpen and pitched through the sixth inning. He gave up a 2 run homerun to Youkilis but pitched well, had 5 strikeouts and I would think he has to go back to the rotation. The Yankees are 0-6 in Wang's starts this year and this just can't go on. I know you want to fix him and all that but the Yankees need to win games and can't fool around here anymore. Wang said himself he can understand if the Yankees put him back in the bullpen. Joe Girardi in the postgame didn't committ to him which is basically saying he isn't going to make his next start on Tuesday against the Nationals. The positives were the bullpen and the way the Yankees battled back but once again the offense couldn't get the big hits when needed, they were terrible with runners in scoring position something like 1-15 which is unacceptable Kevin Long. I don't know what else to say but they better win tomorrows game and then come home and take out their anger and frustration on the Mets.

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)