Yankees defeat the Cubs in a sloppy game

The big play of the game was Carlos Pena being nailed at the plate in the sixth inning.  Bowled over and knocked to the ground, Russell Martin picked himself off the dirt and turned toward two men. He was showing one of them his glove and more so that he had held onto the ball.  Who was he showing it to though??  The umpire or Carlos Pena?

“I was showing it to Pena,” Martin said. “That’s just the feistiness in me.”

 “When someone’s trying to run you over,” Joe Girardi said. “You don’t necessarily help them up.”

Ever since Buster Posey was lost for the season, home plate collisions have been a hot-button topic around baseball. Girardi has said time and again that he was against any sort of catcher-protection rule. Catchers are supposed to block the plate, he said, and that’s what Martin did tonight.

“That was a clean hit,” Martin said. “There wasn’t anything dirty. As a catcher, you have to know when to put your body in position and when not to… Yesterday, I told Swisher, ‘I’m getting bored back there. I haven’t had a play in a long time.’ I got what I asked for.”

 You can't forget about the error on the double play ball, but Eduardo Nunez still managed to show why the Yankees have some faith in him as an everyday shortstop while Derek Jeter is on the bench. He scored the go-ahead run, drove in the key insurance run and had his third two-hit day since taking over the position. “I don’t think Nuney (gets) enough credit for what he did in the ninth,” Gardner said. “The double he hit to left-center ended up being the game-winning hit. That was the difference.”  Nunez has a pretty good bat, he has some pop, can steal bases and has a good arm.  He has to get better defensively though, once that is cleaned up he may be the heir apparent at short stop.  Derek Jeter wasn't very good in the field in the minor leagues and really never good at all up the middle, they talk about his decreased range with age but he really never had great range at least up the middle. 


A.J. Burnett was pretty good today. Actually, he was very good today except for a bad fastball that Pena hit for a two-run home run. Burnett would have pitched through the sixth if not for Nunez’s error. He struck out eight and showed a terrific curveball.  If you didn't watch the game and see he didn't complete six innings you may say he wasn't that good but he would of been through the sixth without the error.  If Burnett can pitch that way consistently which he has for most of the year the Yankees are happy.

Another day with Burnett praising Martin for his ability to block breaking balls in the dirt. “If I’ve got a strike on a hitter, I’m going to throw it in the dirt as hard as I can,” Burnett said. “I always tell Russ, I just try to get it by him. That’s my goal. He won’t allow it to happen.”  Martin started off hot with the offense and has cooled down but he still is a very good defensive catcher and that is the most important thing.  This shouldn't be taken as an insult but Martin is the best defensive catcher the Yankees have had in a while.

Burnett on his weird sac bunt that started foul — by a lot — and rolled back into fair territory: “I work on putting English on it,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It bounced a good foot foul and hit that ridge and rolled back fair.”  It was a very weird play but as John Sterling would say that's baseball Suzyn. 

  Until Mariano Rivera allowed a home run in the ninth, this pieced together bullpen had gone eight straight games without allowing a run. Corey Wade, Hector Noesi and Dave Robertson pitched 2.2 scoreless to form the Rivera bridge tonight. “These guys have taken an opportunity and ran with it, a lot of these guys,” Girardi said. “We call up Corey and he does a good job. Noesi does a good job. They’re just throwing the ball well.”  Of course they miss Joba Chamberlain and Rafael Soriano and the lefties that never started the season but the bullpen they have now is doing a great job.  The main reason they miss those guys is the experience they have, these guys are getting good experience now though and so far so good.

 Girardi said he wasn’t bothered by a series of base running mistakes tonight. He likes his guys being aggressive. The head-scratcher was Alex Rodriguez being thrown out by 10 feet trying to stretch a single into a double. “I didn’t ask him,” Girardi said. “I usually don’t talk to guys right away in that situation. If I had to guess, I think he thought Soriano kind of dropped his head and was just was going to kind of take it easy throwing it in.”

Thanks to the Lohud Yankees Blog for providing some of the information from this game.  This was a very sloppy game for the Yankees but they will take any win and tonight will go for the series with their ace on the hill.  C.C. Sabathia is matching up against Randy Wolf.  It looks like a mismatch on paper but you never know.  This is a fathers day, night game.  The game is on at 8:00PM on ESPN.  The Yankees will head to Cincinatti to start a three game series there tomorrow night. 

Yankees Postgame News and Notes

The New York Yankees bounced back this afternoon with a good win over the Red Sox.  They won the game 9-4.  Ivan Nova struggled having the shortest outing of his short career.  He only lasted 4 1/3 innings, Dave Robertson, Joba Chamberlain and Luis Ayala did a great job out of the pen not allowing a run.  Robertson came in with the game getting tense and was able to work out of trouble and pitch a clean sixth inning.  Chamberlain looked great striking out a couple of batters in the seventh inning and Ayala finished the game off. 

The Yankees offense had four homeruns with Russell Martin having two of them.  Martin has been great so far for the Yankees.  He has been great behind the plate but also offensively showing signs of what he was before the last couple of years when he was battling injuries and self proclaimed that he wasn't as focused.  Eric Chavez in his first start had three hits.  The other homeruns were hit by Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano. 

The bottom third of the order today had six hits, five runs and seven RBI.  According to the Red Sox Martin is the first Yankees catcher with a multi homer game since Jorge Posada did it in 2003.  This was only the second time in the last 16 seasons that a Yankees catcher other then Posada has had more then a homerun in a game.  John Flaherty was the other in Baltimore in 2003. 

Robinson Cano is unbelievable in Fenway Park.  He has a 367 career average in the park.  Cano said he thinks it is luck and when you can hit in a ballpark that is where you always want to be.  He said that he doesn't do anything special, he does the same things he always does. 

Ivan Nova couldn't command his fastball and he said when that happens it will be a long day.  He wasn't very good today but a lot of pitchers don't survive Fenway Park so you can't go crazy over one start.  He will get back out there in five days and try to be better. 

Joba Chamberlain isn't being talked about much lately, that must be a good thing.  I guess when they don't talk about Chamberlain he is doing his job and he is locked into the role he is in which is seventh inning guy.  I guess when MO is off and Soriano is the closer he would move up to the eighth inning. 

The two teams will play the Rubber Game of the three game series tomorrow night at 8PM on ESPN.  The pitchers will be C.C. Sabathia vs. Josh Beckett, enjoy the night and see you tomorrow. 

Grapefruit League Game 28-Orioles at Yankees

Here is the lineup for todays penultimate exhibition game against the Orioles. The game is at 1:05PM from George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. The lineup is via Chad Jennings of the Lohud Yankees Blog. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Johnson(DH) Teixeira(1B) Rodriguez(3B) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Granderson(CF) Gardner(LF) This is your opening day lineup, looks pretty good to me. Andy Pettitte will make the start today and I don't think there is any rain in the forecast. The Yankees will open their 108th season on Sunday Night in Boston against their oldest and fiercest rivals. The game is at 8:05PM on ESPN. Chan HO Park has not allowed a run in 6 outings this spring. He has pitched 7 innings giving up 4 hits and has struck out 8. The Yankees and Orioles are meeting for the 4th and final time this exhibtion season. The Yankees are 2-1 against them. The Yankees were 13-5 against them last season and it was their 12th straight winning season against the O's.

A.J. Looks good in final tuneup

The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays by the score of 5-2 today. A.J. Burnett made his final tuneup start before the regular season. He looked pretty good pitching 4 2/3 innings giving up 5 hits and 2 runs. He walked 2 and also struck out 2. Royce Ring struck out the only batter he faced as he is trying to make the team as a second lefty. It is a fierce battle between him and Boone Logan. Chan Ho Park pitched another perfect inning with a strikeout and Dave Robertson pitched a scoreless inning giving up a hit. Joba Chamberlain pitched a scoreless inning with a walk and 2 strikeouts. Curtis Granderson had 2 hits off of lefties today, it looks like he has worked out some of his issues this spring against lefties and is ready for the season. Brett Gardner had a hit, Nick Johnson had a hit, rbi and walk. Mark Teixeira had a couple of hits and Robinson Cano was 2-2 with 2 rbi. I guess the 5th spot is agreeing with him as he has been tearing it up all spring. Nick Swisher was 2-3 and Ramiro Pena had a double and rbi. The Yankees appear to be ready for Opening Night in Boston on Sunday. The Yankees will take on the Baltimore Orioles tomorrow afternoon at 1:00PM on the yes network and ESPN and then have their final tuneup on Saturday afternoon against the Yankees minor leaguers.

Mets lose to Nats

The New York Mets lost to the Washington Nationals this afternoon by the score of 7-5. Mike Pelfrey started for the Mets and wasn't too good. He pitched 4 2/3 innings and gave up 7 hits, 6 runs, 5 of them were earned. He also had 1 walk and 3 strikeouts, he gave up 4 homeruns. Jenrry Mejia pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up 1 hit, 0 runs and 1 walk. Ryota Igarashi pitched 1 inning giving up 2 hits, 1 run and 2 walks. Bobby Parnell pitched 1 inning giving up 2 hits, 0 runs and 0 walks or strikeouts. Chris Carter led the offense again going 3-5, Ruben Tejada and Jeff Francouer each had a hit. Russ Adams had a hit and Henry Blanco had 2 hits and a rbi. The Mets will take on the Braves at Tradition Field tomorrow at 1:10PM, the game is on SNY and ESPN. The buzz today on talk radio here in NY was that Daniel Murphy has won the job at first base and Mike Jacobs feels he is the better player. Jacobs has better numbers in the spring and more experience but the Mets appear committed to having Murphy start.

Hot Stove News

The Winter meetings have ended but the Hot Stove is still burning brightly. The Chicago White Sox signed former Seattle Mariner closer and most recently Met J.J. Putz. The deal is for one year and 3 million. He will be a setup man but give the White Sox another option to close other then Bobby Jenks. The Boston Red Sox are really coming hard after Adrian Beltre even though the Mike Lowell trade to Texas is not yet finalized. There is a report on ESPN.com today that the Blue Jays are seeking either Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes and Jesus Montero as well as others from the Yankees for Roy Halladay. That price is too steep for the Yankees at this time and I can't blame them. If the Red Sox don't get him which looks like they won't and they don't end up with him they can still sign another pitcher as the 4th starter and be in good shape. The Cardinals have made a formal offer to Matt Holliday today but terms of the deal are not known. The Cardinals GM said he expects a response from agent Scott Boras within the next 48 hours. If he resigns with St. Louis the market for Jason Bay will really heat up as he will be the only significant position player left on the market.

Manny and Big Papi on List

Is anyone really suprised that Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz were on the list from 2003? I just wonder what this means to them, Big Papi came out earlier in the year and said that anyone that is caught should be suspended for the whole year, I wonder if he thinks that now. I wonder where Curt Shilling is considering he is so against it but it was happening right under his nose, he may even be involved for all we know. I wonder though will these guys get the same treatment that A-rod got earlier in the year having to do the ESPN interview and having the press all over him, the funny thing is the injury actually helped him because since he came back you don't really hear much about the steroids, I wonder if they will still yell at him in Fenway Park about that, always seemed pretty hypocritical to me. I think this whole thing is crazy that they leaked the names that were supposed to remain confidential but they may as well just let them all out now, I really don't like this little by little stuff so the story never truly goes away. I wonder what anyone else thinks about this, chime in with your thoughts in the comments section and keep this debate going.

CC and Joba and other Yankee Notes

Here are CC and Joba at Disney on Sunday. They took part in ESPN's the weekend. Joba also brought a family with him and paid for everything. These two guys seem like very good friends already, Joba actually befriended CC in 2007. I know its early but you really get the feeling this team is really meshing well.

As for some notes from the game today, the Yankees and Astros tied 5-5. The Yankees were up 5-2 and then the backups gave up 3 runs and some sloppy play in the field to get to the tie. The important parts of the game were the Chin Ming Wang threw 2 scoreless innings and felt great, the foot is not an issue at all. He said the sinker was up a little but that is usual for this time of year. Melky fought back today in the CF battle with a rbi triple and a rbi single. Jorge Posada was back in action and had a rbi single which is a good sign.

Arod on ESPN

Alex Rodriguez sat down with ESPN's Peter Gammons today at his Miami home. The interview will be aired on sportscenter at 6:00PM. In the interview he does admit he used steroids from 2001-2003 to live up to his contract and back then it was the culture of the time. He apologized to everyone and said he hasn't used since. It will be interesting to see the whole interview but this I feel was the right thing for him to do. No matter how you feel it wasn't illegal then and its good to admit it and move on. I will be back later with more reaction and statements if there are any.