Masahiro Tanaka struggles as the New York Yankees lose

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night.  The game took place at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio and the final score was 5-3.  Tanaka started and had the worst start of the season.  The Yankees offense only managed four hits. 

Tanaka pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up 10 hits and five runs.  He walked one and struck out five and suffered his fourth loss of the season.  Matt Thornton pitched to one batter and retired him and Shawn Kelley pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts. 

Trevor Bauer pitched seven innings giving up four hits and three runs with two earned.  He walked two and struck out six and earned his third win of the season.  Bryan Shaw pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and Cody Allen earned his 10th save of the season pitching a perfect inning with a couple of strikeouts. 

Brett Gardner had an RBI and drew a walk, Jacoby Ellsbury had a hit and Mark Teixeira had a hit and an RBI.  Brian McCann had a hit, Ichiro Suzuki had a hit and Kelly Johnson drew a walk.  The Yankees were 2-9 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base.  Ellsbury had two stolen bases and Teixeira had a stolen base.  Ellsbury was also caught stealing. 

Jeff Kipnis had two hits, Michael Brantley had three hits and three RBI and Carlos Santana had a hit.  Chisenhall had a hit and drew a walk, Nick Swisher had a hit and two RBI and David Murphy had a hit.  Chris Dickerson had a hit, Brantley hit two doubles and Swisher and Brantley each hit a homerun.  The Indians were 2-7 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base.  Kipnis had two stolen bases and Gomes, Chisenhall and Swisher each committed an error. 

In the first Teixeira hit an RBI single and scored another run on a throwing error by the catcher.  The Yankees had a 2-0 lead but the Indians came right back with a run in the bottom of the first.  Brantley hit an RBI double.  Gardner had an RBI groundout in the second to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead.   Brantley hit an RBI double in the fifth to cut the lead to 3-2.  In the sixth Swisher hit a two run homerun to give the Indians a 4-3 lead.  The Indians would add another run in the seventh on a Brantley solo homerun to make it 5-3 and that was the final score.  The two teams will play game three of four on Wednesday night.  They have split the first two games of the series. 

The New York Yankees put some runs on the board in victory over the Cleveland Indians

The New York Yankees defeated the Cleveland Indians by the score of 7-4 on Monday night. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Andy Pettitte started and was pitching well and then lost it in the fifth inning. The Yankees bullpen did a good job and Mariano Rivera picked up the save. Mark Teixeira had a grand slam for the Yankees.

Pettitte pitched 4 1/3 innings giving up four runs on seven hits. He walked three and struck out three. Shawn Kelley pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a walk and striking out two and picked up his third win of the season, Joba Chamberlain walked one in his one inning of work work and struck out two and David Robertson pitched a perfect inning. Rivera picked up his 20th save of the season pitching an inning and giving up a hit and striking out one.

Brett Gardner had a hit, two RBI and drew a walk, Robinson Cano had a hit and Teixeira had a hit, four RBI and drew a walk. Travis Hafner had a hit and an RBI, Lyle Overbay had a hit and drew a walk and Ichiro Suzuki had a hit and drew a walk. Reid Brignac and Austin Romine each had two hits and Brignac hit a double. Teixeira and Hafner each hit a homerun. The Yankees were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Romine had a stolen base.

Justin Masterson pitched 6 1/3 innings picking up his fourth loss of the season. He gave up seven runs and nine hits with three walks and five strikeouts. Cody Allen pitched 2/3 of an inning and gave up a walk and struck out one and Joe Smith pitched an inning giving up a hit.

Michael Bourn had three hits, Mike Aviles had two hits and an RBI and Jeff Kipnis drew a walk. Nick Swisher had an RBI and drew a walk in his return to New York, Mark Reynolds drew a walk and Carlos Santana had two hits and two RBI. Ryan Raburn drew a walk, Michael Brantley drew a walk and Drew Stubbs had a hit. Stubbs and Santana each hit a double. The Indians were 2-10 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base. Kipnis had a stolen base and Masterson committed an error.

The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the third on a Swisher fielders choice. The Yankees scored four runs in the bottom of the third on a Teixeira grand slam. Aviles hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth to make it a 4-2 game and then Santana hit a two run double to tie the game at four. In the sixth Gardner hit a two run single to make it 6-4 and Hafner hit a solo homerun to make it 7-4 in the seventh and that was the final score.

The Yankees record improved to 32-25 and the Indians record fell to 30-27. The two teams will play game two of three on Tuesday night.

The New York Yankee split a doubleheader with the Cleveland Indians

The New York Yankees lost game one of a doubleheader to the Cleveland Indians by the score of 1-0. They won game two by the score of 7-0, it was a traditional doubleheader where they played the second game right after the first one. David Phelps started the first game and pitched well and in the second game Vidal Nuno really pitched well in his first major league start. The Yankees bullpen was also good with Adam Warren giving four shutout innings in the second game and Preston Claiborne and Boone Logan pitching well in the first game. The Yankees were without David Robertson and Mariano Rivera in these games so it was huge for the other guys to step up. The offense in the first game didn’t do anything but in game two they stepped up. 
David Phelps pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up four hits and a run with five walks and seven strikeouts in game one. Logan pitched to one batter and struck him out and Claiborne pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out one. In game two Nuno pitched five shutout innings giving up three hits and three walks and struck out three. Warren pitched four shutout innings giving up two hits and striking out four.

Justin Masterson picked up his sixth win in game one pitching a complete game shutout. He gave up four hits and three walks with nine strikeouts. In game two Trevor Bauer lost his second game of the season pitching 6 1/3 innings. He gave up six hits and three runs with two of them being earned. He walked two and struck out four. Nick Hagadone pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up three hits and four runs with three of them being earned. He walked one and struck out one. Matt Albers pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and striking out one and David Huff pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up a hit and striking out two.

In game one Brett Gardner, Brennan Boesch, Chris Stewart and Chris Nelson each had a hit. Travis Hafner, Corban Joseph and Lyle Overbay each drew a walk. The Yankees were 1-3 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Gardner drew a walk in game two, Jayson Nix had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk and Cano had a hit. Wells had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk, Overbay had a hit and two RBI and Ben Francisco had a hit. Joseph had a hit, Alberto Gonzalez had two hits and Austin Romine had a hit and an RBI. Joseph, Romine and Overbay each hit a double. The Yankees were 4-12 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.

Michael Bourn drew two walks in game one, Jeff Kipnis had a hit and an RBI and Asdrubel Cabrera had a hit. Nick Swisher had a hit, Carlos Santana drew two walks and Mark Reynolds drew a walk. Michael Brantley had a hit, Drew Stubbs had a hit and Cabrera and Stubbs each hit a double. Kipnis hit a homerun and the Indians were 0-5 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Bourn was caught stealing.

Stubbs had a hit and drew a walk in game two, Brantley had a hit and Swisher had a hit and drew a walk. Reynolds drew a walk, Ryan Raburn had a hit and Yunel Gomes had a hit. Swisher hit a double and the Indians were 0-4 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Santana and Reynolds each committed an error.

The Yankees record is now 24-14 and the Indians record is 21-16. The Yankees will head home and begin a three game series with the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.

The New York Yankees win 11-6 in Cleveland for their second win in a row

The New York Yankees defeated the Cleveland Indians by the score of 11-6 on Monday evening. The game took place at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio. Hiroki Kuroda started and after a bad first inning gutted his way through five. The Yankees bullpen was pretty good until the end of the game. Robinson Cano had a big day with two homeruns and Travis Hafner in his return to Cleveland had a very good day. 
Kuroda pitched 5 1/3 innings picking up the win. He gave up five hits and three runs with four walks and six strikeouts, Boone Logan pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and a walk with a couple of strikeouts, Shawn Kelley pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up three hits and three runs with a walk and four strikeouts and Joba Chamberlain pitched a scoreless inning with two walks and a strikeout.

Brett Gardner had a hit and an RBI, Cano had three hits, two RBI and drew a walk and Kevin Youkilis had a hit. Hafner had two hits, four RBI and drew two walks, Vernon Wells had three hits and drew a walk and Ichiro Suzuki had two hits and an RBI. Eduardo Nunez had an RBI, Chris Stewart had a hit, Cano and Wells each hit a double. Hafner hit a homerun and Cano hit two homeruns. The Yankees were 5-12 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base. Wells and Stewart each had a stolen base and Gardner was caught stealing.

Ubaldo Jimenez took the loss pitching 4 1/3 innings giving up seven hits and seven runs with three walks and four strikeouts. Matt Albers pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up three hits and a run with two strikeouts, Rich Hill pitched an inning giving up two hits and three runs with two of them being earned, he walked one. Cody Allen pitched a perfect inning and Chris Perez pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out one.

Michael Bourn had two hits and drew a walk, Asdrubal Cabrera had a hit and drew a walk and Jason Kipnis had a hit and an RBI. Nick Swisher had a hit and drew two walks, Michael Brantley had a hit and an RBI and Carlos Santana had a hit and drew two walks. Lou Marson drew a walk, Mark Reynolds had a hit and an RBI and Lonnie Chisenhall drew a walk. Mike Aviles had a hit and two RBI, Kipnis and Reynolds each hit a double and Bourn hit a triple. Aviles hit a homerun and the Indians were 2-11 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Cabrera committed an error and Santana had a passed ball.

The Yankees scored three runs in the first inning on a Hafner homerun. The Indians came right back in the bottom of the first to tie the game at three. Kipnis hit a sacrifice fly, Brantley had an RBI single and Reynolds hit a sacrifice fly. In the third Hafner hit an RBI single to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead. In the fourth Gardner hit an RBI single to make it 5-3 Yankees and Cano hit a solo homerun in the fifth to make it 6-3 Yankees. Suzuki made it 7-3 with an RBI single in the fifth. Cano hit his second solo homerun of the game in the sixth to make it 8-3 Yankees and in the seventh the rout was really on as the Yankees added three runs to make it 11-3. The Indians did make it a little closer with three runs in the eighth inning to make it 11-6 and that would be the final score.

The Yankees have won two in a row for the first time this season and are now 3-4 on the season. The Indians record dropped to 3-4. The two teams will play game two of four on Tuesday night in Cleveland. The Yankees will send Andy Pettitte to the mound against Carolos Carrasco.

Happy New Year and some MLB notes

Happy New Year to everyone, I hope it will be good and prosperous. The winter really didn’t start that long ago but spring training will be starting up next month, it doesn’t seem possible. Spring training is starting a little earlier then usual due to the World Baseball Classic which will begin play in March. There is 40 days until pitchers and catchers report. It has been a pretty quiet winter for the local teams to me being the New York baseball teams. I expect it to start picking up shortly though and it will be back to the grind before we know it. 
The Kansas City Royals are suddenly signing guys like crazy. They aren’t doing anything major but they have signed Miguel Tejada and Endy Chavez to minor league deals. They signed Xavier Nady to a minor league deal earlier in the off season. The Royals will have some new pitchers also with the additions of James Shields, Wade Davis and Ervin Santana. They are looking to contend in 2013.

MLB announced on Thursday that the season will begin on March 31^st in Houston with the Astros taking on the Texas Rangers in a new AL rivalry. The Astros will be playing in the American League for the first time in 2013. They have been in the NL Central since them came into the league and are now moving to the AL West.

Nick Swisher was introduced to Cleveland in a press conference on Thursday afternoon. He seemed to be pumped up and new manager Terry Francona said he will be in the middle of the lineup. Swisher has a big contract four years and 56 million to live up to. The Indians are counting on him being a leader and veteran presence for this team. He appears to be up to the challenge and we will see if it was worth it for the Indians and also the Yankees to let him go and go with Ichiro Suzuki as their right fielder.

Jason Frasor signed a one year 1.5 million deal with the Texas Rangers. He is 35 years old and spent almost his entire nine year career with the Toronto Blue Jays.

The New York Yankees sweep the Toronto Blue Jays as the offense explodes

The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays by the score of 10-7 on Thursday night. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Phil Hughes started and threw too many pitches but he was able to get the win. The Yankees bullpen other then Cory Wade was good. Ichiro Suzuki had another couple of hits and Nick Swisher hit a grand slam. Aaron Laffey started for the Blue Jays and didn’t pitch great and their bullpen was up and down. Kelly Johnson led the Jays offense. 
Hughes won his 16^th game of the season pitching five innings and giving up four hits and four runs with three walks and nine strikeouts. Derek Lowe pitched two innings giving up a hit and two walks with two strikeouts, Wade pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up three hits and three runs with a strikeout and Joba Chamberlain pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits. Dave Robertson picked up his second save of the season with a 1-2-3 inning. He struck out the side, Laffey pitched three innings giving up two hits and five runs with four of them being earned. He walked five and struck out three and lost his sixth game of the season. Brad Lincoln pitched an inning giving up two hits and three runs with a walk and a strikeout, Brett Cecil pitched an inning giving up three hits and two runs with a strikeout and Jason Frasor pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout. Joel Carreno pitched two innings with a walk and five strikeouts.

Derek Jeter had two hits and two RBI, Swisher had a hit, four RBI and drew a walk and Robinson Cano drew a walk. Alex Rodriguez had a hit, Russell Martin drew two walks and Curtis Granderson had a hit and drew a walk. Casey McGehee drew a walk, Suzuki had two hits and three RBI and Jayson Nix had a hit, an RBI and drew two walks. Suzuki, Granderson and Nix each hit a double. Suzuki and Swisher each hit a homerun. The Yankees were 5-11 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Martin had a stolen base and two passed balls.

Brett Lawrie had a hit and an RBI, Mike McCoy had an RBI and Edwin Encarnacion had two hits and drew a walk. Adam Lind had a hit and drew two walks, Moises Sierra had a hit and three RBI and Johnson had two hits and two RBI. J.P. Arencibia had a hit, Hechavarria had a hit and Anthony Gose had a hit and drew two walks. Lind, Johnson and Gose each hit two doubles, Sierra and Johnson each hit a homerun. The Blue Jays were 2-10 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base. Gose was caught stealing and Johnson committed an error.

In the second inning Johnson hit an RBI double to give the Jays a 1-0 lead. Sierra was hit by a pitch in the third inning to give them a 2-0 lead. Suzuki hit a solo homerun to make it a 2-1 game. In the fourth Suzuki hit a two run double to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead. Jeter hit an RBI single to make it 4-2 and Swisher hit a grand slam to make it 8-2. In the fifth Sierra hit a two run homerun to make it 8-4. Nix had an RBI double and Jeter an RBI single in the fifth to make it 10-4. Johnson hit a solo homerun in the eighth and Lawrie hit an RBI single to make it 10-6. McCoy had an RBI groundout to make it 10-7 and that would be the final score.

The Yankees swept the three game series and have won five straight games. The Yankees are one game in front of the Baltimore Orioles for first place in the AL East and will begin a three game series with the Oakland Athletics on Friday night. The Yankees record improved to 86-63 and the Jays record dropped to 66-82.

The Yankees play sloppy, lose game and series to the Toronto Blue Jays

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Toronto Blue Jays by the score of 8-5 on Wednesday afternoon. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx,New York. CC Sabathia started for the Yankees and wasn’t great although he didn’t get much help from his defense. Curtis Granderson led the Yankees offense. J.A. Happ started for the Blue Jays and didn’t pitch that well, the Jays bullpen was pretty good. Yunel Escobar led the Jays offense. 
Sabathia pitched seven innings giving up nine hits and five runs with only two of them being earned. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out eight and suffered his fourth loss, the first since June. Derek Lowe didn’t record an out and gave up two hits and a run, Boone Logan struck out the only batter that he faced and Cody Eppley pitched an inning giving up two runs, one of them was earned. Eppley walked a batter, Clay Rapada walked the only batter that he faced and Joba Chamberlain pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and striking out one. Happ pitched five innings giving up four runs and five walks with six strikeouts. Happ won his 10^th game of the season, Delabar pitched 12/3 innings giving up two hits and striking out three, Loup pitched 1/3 of an inning retiring the only batter that he faced and Lyon pitched an inning giving up two hits and a run with a strikeout. Casey Janssen pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout. Janssen picked up his 17^th save of the season.

Derek Jeter had a hit and drew a walk, Nick Swisher drew two walks and Robinson Cano had a hit. Andruw Jones had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk, Curtis Granderson had a hit and three RBI and Raul Ibanez had a hit. Jayson Nix had a hit and drew a walk, Russell Martin had a hit and an RBI and Ichiro Suzuki had a hit. Granderson, Suzuki, Nix, Cano, Ibanez and Martin each hit a double. The Yankees were 3-17 with runners in scoring position and they left eight men on base. Jeter committed an error, Nix and Chavez also.

Rajai Davis had a hit, Edwin Encarnacion had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk and Adam Lind had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk. Escobar had four hits and five RBI, Kelly Johnson had two hits and Jeff Mathis had a hit and an RBI. Hechavarria had a hit. Escobar hit three doubles and hit a homerun. The Jays were 6-14 with runners in scoring position and they left nine men on base.

In the first Jones hit an RBI single and Granderson grounded out scoring a run. It was 2-0 Yankees, the Blue Jays got on the board in the third on a Encarnacion RBI single and Lind RBI single. The Jays took a 3-2 lead on a Escobar RBI double. In the third Granderson hit a two run double giving the Yankees a 4-3 lead. Escobar hit a two run homerun in the sixth to give the Jays a 5-4 lead. The Jays would expand their lead to 6-4 on a sacrifice bunt by Mathis in the eighth inning. Martin hit an RBI double in the eighth to make it a 6-5 game. Escobar hit a two run double in the ninth to make it 8-5 and that would be the final score.

The Yankees lost two out of three in the series. The Yankees record fell to 75-55 and the Jays record improved to 58-71. The Yankees will have an off day on Thursday and then start a three game weekend home series with the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees continue to hold a 3 ½ game lead on them for first place in the AL East.

The Yankees ride stellar pitching to a victory over the Toronto Blue Jays

The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays by the score of 2-1 on Tuesday night. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx,New York. Phil Hughes started for the Yankees and pitched seven strong innings. The Yankees bullpen was perfect and the offense didn’t do much but they had a couple of clutch RBI. Ricky Romero pitched well for the Blue Jays and they got their run on a homerun by Adeiny Hechavarria. 
Hughes pitched seven innings giving up one run on four hits. He walked three and struck out five and won his 13^th game of the season. David Robertson and Rafael Soriano both pitched 1-2-3 innings. Soriano picked up his 34^th save of the season. Romero pitched seven innings giving up five hits and two runs with two walks and six strikeouts. He lost his 12^th game of the season, Lyon pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout.

Derek Jeter had a hit, Nick Swisher had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk and Steve Pearce drew a walk. Curtis Granderson had an RBI, Jayson Nix had two hits and Ichiro Suzuki had a hit. The Yankees were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and they left four men on base. Nix had a stolen base and Jeter was caught stealing.

Rajai Davis drew a walk, Colby Rasmus drew a walk and Edwin Encarnacion drew a walk. Yunel Escobar had a hit, Moises Sierra had two hits and Hechavarria had a hit and an RBI. Escobar hit a double and Hechavarria hit a homerun. The Blue Jays were 0-4 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Davis was caught stealing.

In the third Swisher hit an RBI single to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. In the fourth Granderson hit a sacrifice fly giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead. The Blue Jays scored their only run and the last run of the game in the fifth. Hechavarria hit his first major league homerun to make it a 2-1 game and that was the final score.

The three game series is now even at one game a piece. The rubber game will be played on Wednesday afternoon. The Yankees record improved to 75-54 and the Blue Jays record fell to 57-71. The Yankees remain 3 ½ games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles for first place in the AL East.

The Yankees lose a tough one as Soriano blows a save

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Toronto Blue Jays by the score of 8-7 in 11 innings on Monday night. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx,New York. The Yankees were one strike away from winning the game and Soriano couldn’t get that last strike to win it. David Phelps started and pitched pretty well, Soriano blew the save and Derek Lowe gave up the winning run in extras. Robinson Cano led the offense. Henderson Alvarez pitched ok and their bullpen wasn’t great. The Jays offense was led by Yorvit Torrealba. 
Phelps pitched 6 1/3 innings giving up five hits and four runs with a walk and seven strikeouts. Cody Eppley pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and struck out one, David Robertson pitched an inning giving up two hits and struck out one and Soriano blew his third save of the season pitching an inning giving up three hits and three runs with a couple of strikeouts. Clay Rapada struck out the only batter that he faced and Derek Lowe suffered his 11^th loss of the season pitching 1 2/3 innings giving up a hit and an unearned run and struck out one. Alvarez pitched 3 1/3 innings giving up five hits and four runs with a walk and a strikeout. Aaron Laffey pitched 2 2/3 innings giving up a hit and two runs with three walks, Steve Delabar pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a walk and striking out one and Aaron Loup pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit.. Brad Lincoln pitched a perfect inning,Casey Jannssen blew his third save of the season pitching an inning and giving up a a hit and a run with a couple of strikeouts and Darren Oliver picked up his third win of the season. He pitched two innings walking one and striking out three.

Derek Jeter had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk, Nick Swisher had a hit and two RBI and Cano had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk. Mark Teixeira drew a walk and left with a left leg contusion, Jayson Nix drew a walk and Eric Chavez had three hits and drew a walk. Russell Martin had a hit and an RBI, Raul Ibanez had an RBI and Ichiro Suzuki drew a walk. Cano hit two homeruns, Swisher and Jeter each hit one. The Yankees were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Lowe committed an error.

Rajai Davis had a hit, Colby Rasmus had two hits and three RBI and Adam Lind had two hits and an RBI. Yunel Escobar had a hit, Kelly Johnson drew a walk and Torrealba had three hits and two RBI. Sierra had a hit and Hechavarria had two hits and two RBI. Lind, Torrealba and Rasmus hit a homerun and the Blue Jays were 2-5 with runners in scoring position and five men left on base.

In the first Cano hit a solo homerun to make it a 1-0 game. In the second Lind hit a solo homerun to tie the game at one. In the fourth Cano hit a solo homerun to make it a 2-1 Yankees lead, Martin hit an RBI single and Ibanez hit a ground out to score a run making it 4-1. In the fifth Torrealba hit a two run homerun to make it 4-3 Yankees. Swisher hit a two run homerun in the fifth to make it 6-3. Hechavarria hit an RBI single to make it 6-4 in the seventh. In the ninth Rasmus hit a three run homerun to give the Jays a 7-6 lead. In the bottom of the ninth Jeter hit a solo homerun to tie the game at seven. In the 11^th Hechavarria grounded out and a run scored giving the Jays an 8-7 lead and that was the final.

The two teams will play game two of three on Tuesday night. The Yankees record fell to 74-54 and the Blue Jays record improved to 57-70. The Yankees lead in the AL East fell to 3 ½ games over the Baltimore Orioles who moved ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays for second place, the Rays remain four games behind the Yankees.

The New York Yankees take a series in Cleveland behind a strong bullpen

The New York Yankees defeated the Cleveland Indians by the score of 4-2 on Sunday afternoon. The game was played at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio. Freddy Garcia started for the Yankees and pitched ok just not that deep into the game. The Yankees bullpen was great and Ichiro Suzuki and Nick Swisher led the offense. Ubaldo Jiminez started for the Indians and pitched ok and their bullpen pitched pretty well. The Indians offense was led by Jeff Kipnis. 
Garcia pitched 4 2/3 innings giving up four hits and two runs with two walks and six strikeouts. Boone Logan won his fifth game of the season pitching 1 2/3 innings giving up a hit and two strikeouts, Dave Robertson pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and striking out two and Rafael Soriano saved his 33^rd game of the season pitching 1 1/3 innings and giving up a hit. Jiminez lost his 13^th game of the season pitching five innings giving up eight hits and three runs with a walk and four strikeouts. Tony Sipp pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run with a strikeout, Joe Smith pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk and struck out one and Esmil Rogers pitched two innings giving up a hit.

Derek Jeter hit an RBI, Swisher had three hits and an RBI and Robinson Cano had two hits and drew a walk. Mark Teixiera had a hit, Curtis Granderson had a hit and an RBI including his 200^th career homerun. Eric Chavez had a hit, Raul Ibanez drew a walk and Suzuki had two hits and an RBI. Chris Stewart had a hit, Cano and Swisher each hit a double. Granderson hit a homerun, the Yankees were 2-7 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Suzuki was caught stealing, Cano had an error and Stewart had a passed ball.

Kipnis had three hits, Shin-Soo Choo drew two walks and Carlos Santana had a hit and two RBI. Michael Brantley had a hit, Jack Hannahan had two hits and Hannahan and Kipnis each hit a double. The Indians were 1-11 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base. Kipnis had three stolen bases and Brantley was caught stealing.

In the second inning the Yankees took the lead. Suzuki hit an RBI single, Jeter grounded out scoring a run and Swisher had an RBI single making it 3-0 Yankees. In the fifth Santana had a two run single to make it 3-2 and the Yankees scored the final run of the game making it 4-2 in the sixth. Granderson hit a solo homerun and the Yankees bullpen held the two run lead to take the game and the series.

The Yankees won two out of three in this series and ended up 2-4 on the road trip. The Yankees record improved to 74-53 and they remain four games up in the AL East. The Indians record dropped to 55-72. The Yankees will begin a three game series with the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night. They will have off on Thursday and then begin a three game series with the Baltimore Orioles. They have 35 games remaining and 29 of them are against their own division.

The New York Yankees don't make it easy but they win in Cleveland

The New York Yankees defeated the Cleveland Indians by the score of 3-1. The game took place at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio. CC Sabathia made his return from the disabled list for the Yankees and pitched very well, the Yankees bullpen closed it out with a little bit of a scare. The Yankees offense was supplied by Nick Swisher and Derek Jeter had a good game. Corey Kluber started for the Indians and pitched pretty well, the Indians bullpen mainly did a good job. Carlos Santana led the Indians offense. 
Sabathia pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up four hits and a run with a walk and nine strikeouts. Sabathia earned his 13^th win of the season. Dave Robertson pitched 2/3 of an inning retiring both batters and Rafael Soriano earned his 32^nd save of the season pitching an inning and giving up two hits and a walk and striking out a batter. Kluber pitched five innings giving up six hits and a run with two walks and six strikeouts. Tony Sipp pitched an inning giving up a hit, Cody Allen took the loss pitching an inning giving up two hits and two runs with a strikeout and Esmil Rogers pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts. Chris Perez pitched a perfect inning.

Jeter had two hits, Swisher had three hits, three RBI and drew a walk and Robinson Cano had a hit and drew a walk. Curtis Granderson had a hit, Russell Martin had a hit and Ichiro Suzuki had a hit. Jeter, Swisher and Cano each hit a double and Swisher hit a homerun. The Yankees were 3-10 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.

Asdrubal Cabrera had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk, Santana had two hits and Michael Brantley had a hit. Matt LaPorta had a hit, Shelly Duncan had a hit and Casey Kotchman had a pinch hit walk. Cabrera hit a homerun and the Indians were 0-6 with runners in scoring position and they left eight men on base. Brett Lillibridge committed an error and Cabrera.

In the first Swisher hit an RBI double giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Cabrera hit a solo homerun in the fourth to tie the game at one. In the seventh Swisher hit a two run homerun and that was the final runs of the game making it 3-1 Yankees. The Yankees survived a scare in the ninth as Cleveland had second and third no outs and didn’t score. Soriano got a strikeout, popup, a walk mixed in and a groundout to end the game.

The Yankees increased their lead in the AL East to 3 ½ games and four in the loss column over the Tampa Bay Rays. They improved their record to 73-52. The Indians record fell to 54-71 and the two teams will play game two of their three game series on Saturday night.

The Yankees offense gets shutdown as the Red Sox even the series

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Boston Red Sox by the score of 4-1 on Saturday evening. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. David Phelps started for the Yankees and pitched well in what should be his final start before ace CC Sabathia returns next week. The Yankees offense didn’t do much against Jon Lester. Nick Swisher has been red hot and he led the Yankees offense. Lester started for the Red Sox and was great and Pedro Ciriaco led the Sox offense. He is hitting over 500 against the Yankees this season.  Phelps pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up three runs and seven hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven in the longest outing of his young career. Phelps lost his fourth game of the season. Boone Logan pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout, Cody Eppley pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and a run with a walk and a strikeout. Clay Rapada pitched 2/3 of an inning retiring both batters and Derek Lowe faced one batter and retired him. Lester won his seventh game and pitched seven innings giving up five hits and a run with two walks and four strikeouts. Andrew Bailey pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and striking out one, Craig Breslow pitched 2/3 of an inning retiring both batters and Alfredo Aceves pitched one inning giving up a hit and striking out one for his 25^th save.
Derek Jeter drew a walk, Swisher had three hits and Eric Chavez had a hit. Curtis Granderson had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk, Ichiro Suzuki had a hit and Granderson hit a double and hit a homerun. The Yankees were 0-9 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base. Suzuki had a stolen base and Andruw Jones committed an error.
Carl Crawford had a hit, Dustin Pedroia had a hit and Adrian Gonzalez had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk. Scott Podsednik had a hit, Ciriaco had four hits and Nick Punto had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk. Punto, Pedroia and Ciriaco each hit a double. Gonzalez hit a homerun and the Red Sox were 1-10 with runners in scoring position and they left eight men on base. Crawford, Ciriaco and Punto each had a stolen base.
The Red Sox jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Gonzalez hit a two run homerun. In the fourth Granderson hit a solo homerun to make it a 2-1 game. In the fifth Punto hit an RBI double and it was 3-1 Red Sox. The Red Sox would score the final run of the game in the ninth inning as Eppley threw a wild pitch allowing Podsednik to score. The Yankees just couldn’t get anything going against Lester all day and then the bullpen.
The Yankees record fell to 71-49 and the Red Sox record improved to 59-62. The Yankees still lead the AL East by 5 ½ games depending on the outcome of the late games tonight. The Red Sox trail the Yankees by 12 ½ games. The two teams will play the rubber game of the three game series on Sunday night. The Yankees won 6-4 on Friday and then the Red Sox evened the series on Saturday evening.

The Yankees go bombs away as they defeat the Boston Red Sox

The New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox by the score of 6-4 on Friday night. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Phil Hughes started for the Yankees and was good, he basically made one mistake on the night. The Yankees bullpen was effective. The Yankees offense hit five solo homeruns and they were led by Nick Swisher. Franklin Morales started for the Red Sox and he wasn’t great, their bullpen was pretty good. Mike Aviles led their offense.  Hughes pitched seven innings giving up four hits and four runs with none of them being earned. He walked one and struck out four and won his 12^th game of the season. Dave Robertson pitched an inning giving up a hit and Rafael Soriano got his 30^th save of the season pitching a perfect inning with a strikeout. Morales lost his fourth game of the season pitching 5 1/3 innings giving up six hits and five runs with a walk and three strikeouts. Clayton Mortensen pitched an inning giving up two hits and a run with two strikeouts, Andrew Miller pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out one and Andrew Bailey pitched 2/3 of an inning with a strikeout.
Derek Jeter had a hit and an RBI, Swisher had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk and Andruw Jones had a hit. Casey McGehee had a hit, Curtis Granderson had two hits and an RBI and Russell Martin had a hit and an RBI. Jayson Nix had a hit and an RBI. Swisher hit two homeruns, Granderson, Martin and Jeter each hit a homerun. The Yankees were 1-3 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base. Hughes committed an error.
Jacoby Ellsbury had a hit and drew a walk, Carl Crawford had a hit and Dustin Pedroia had a hit and three RBI. Aviles had two hits and Pedro Ciriaco had an RBI. Crawford hit a double and Pedroia hit a homerun. The Red Sox were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and they left three men on base. Aviles committed an error.
In the first Swisher hit a solo homerun to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. In the second Granderson and Martin went back-to-back with solo homeruns giving the Yankees a 3-0 lead. Ciriaco grounded into a force out in the third to score a run and make it a 3-1 game. Pedroia hit a three run homerun giving the Red Sox a 4-3 lead. Jeter hit a solo homerun in the fifth to tie the game at four. Nix hit an RBI single to make it 5-4 in the sixth and Swisher hit a solo homerun in the seventh to make it a 6-4 game. The final score would be 6-4 as the Yankees bullpen shut the door.
The Yankees improved their record to 71-48 and the Red Sox record dropped to 58-62. The Yankees have had a good homestand winning four out of five so far with two games to go. The Yankees and Red Sox will play game two on Saturday afternoon. The Yankees have won eight of their last ten games. The Yankees are in first place in the AL East and have the best record in the AL. They are 13 ½ games ahead of the Boston Red Sox and 6 ½ ahead of the Baltimore Orioles who are in second place.

Yankees Tuesday night postgame notes

Here are the Yankees postgame notes from Tuesday night.  The main topic is Hiroki Kuroda of course who pitched a complete game two hit shutout against one of the best offenses if not the best in baseball.  Chad Jennings of the Journal News and the Lohud Yankees blog has it all covered and I add my own thoughts in. 

No matter who you spoke to in the Yankees’ clubhouse tonight, all anyone wanted to talk about was Hiroki Kuroda — and rightfully so.
The 37-year-old right-hander from Japan has been a godsend for the Yankees this season, who have dealt with injuries to both CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte. His two-hitter tonight — in which he took a no-no into the seventh and recorded 15 ground ball outs — was just another reminder of how valuable he has been.  He has been their best and most consistant starter this season.  A lot of people were down on this signing when they did it, but I don't think anyone is now. 
“Hiro is my hero,” Nick Swisher said after Tuesday’s 3-0 win. “Tonight was his night.”  I love that line and typical Swisher. 
Kuroda was brilliant against a Texas Rangers lineup that many consider to be the best in the American League. In a rotation filled with question marks of late, he has been Mr. Consistency. Tonight’s effort dropped his season ERA to 3.06, and his WHIP to 1.15.
It was the sixth time this season that Kuroda tossed at least seven innings and held his opponent scoreless, which is the most such games in the majors.  He is proving if your good and have good stuff it doesn't matter where you pitch.  We have seen a lot of guys go from the NL to the AL and not be able to do it.  Maybe for him though the hardest adjustment was just coming from Japan and now nothing could faze him after that. 
“This is a very good lineup that he just shut down,” Joe Girardi said. “Probably our best pitching performance this year.”  I think I would say definitely not probabaly but everyone gets the idea. 
Elvis Andrus’ infield single ended Kuroda’s bid for a no-hitter in the top of the seventh. Jayson Nix got to the ball — which was hit relatively softly to the left side of the second base bag — but Andrus is the fastest runner that the Rangers have, and Nix never really had a chance to throw him out.
But rather than allow things to snowball, Kuroda simply continued to go about his business and shut Texas down.
“I had to regroup myself a little bit, but like I always say, me having a complete game or a shutout is not really important here,” Kuroda said. “The important thing is for the team to win, and that’s what we were able to accomplish today. That’s why I’m happy.”
After the game, Kuroda heaped praise on his catcher, Russell Martin. The two have a relationship that dates back to their days with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Kuroda is clearly very comfortable with him. “As a pitcher, you have to throw to any catcher that’s out there, but I think Russell knows who I am – what kind of person I am, what kind of pitcher I am and the pitches that I have,” Kuroda said. “It really helps to have Russell as a catcher.”
Kuroda also praised Swisher for coming through in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run blast to break a 0-0 tie. The homer came shortly after Kuroda had lost the no-hitter, when it suddenly felt as though the Yankees might have lost momentum. “I was so happy,” he said. “I believe that tenacity pays off at the end, and you have to persevere until the end. You have to believe that your guys will pick you up, and that’s what he did.”  I would agree you can't worry about things you can't control and he knows the Yankees are capable of hitting a homerun at any time and putting them up which they eventually did. 
Girardi was asked when he started to feel like something special might be in store tonight. “I noticed the sound of the crowd with two strikes in the bottom of the sixth,” he said. “You could see that they were starting to get into every pitch. I saw that his stuff was very good early on with all of the groundballs that he was getting. He went through the lineup the first time and maybe got six groundball outs.”
While Kuroda is known for having a bunch of quality pitches in his arsenal, his stuff was so good tonight that he mostly relied on two pitches — fastball and slider. Kuroda said that his slider was one of the best that he’s had all year. He pitched to contact, finishing with only five strikeouts, but it was clear that he was having his way with this very tough lineup. “It was pretty much fastball, slider getting ahead tonight,” Girardi said. “Those were his two big pitches. He threw some splitters to the left-handers to try put them away, but for the most part it was fastball-slider.”
Girardi also talked about his veteran presence on the mound, and how he’s able to make adjustments from hitter to hitter. “I think he’s really good at reading swings and setting up his pitches and knowing what he wants to do,” Girardi said. “He works very hard in between his starts to figure out what he wants to do in situations, and it shows.”
Any thought to taking him out in the ninth? “His pitch count was down, his stuff was still good – he was still throwing 93, 94 with good sink – so he made it pretty easy,” Girardi said.
 Lost in all of the Hiro madness was the fact that Swisher continues to thrive in the two-hole. He had the big grand slam last night, and once again came through with a clutch homer tonight. “I’m just trying to keep doing the same thing,” Swish said. “The season has a lot of highs, and a lot of lows. I’m just enjoying this time right now, but I’m really enjoying the success of this team.”
Swisher’s at-bat against Alexi Ogando in the seventh was classic Swish. After going down 0-2, he fought back to make it 2-2 before laying off of a very tough slider. Getting the count to 3-2 enabled him to sit on the fastball and deposit it in the Yankees’ bullpen. “He’s been really good there for us,” Girardi said of Swisher hitting second. “He’s taken his walks, he’s had big hits for us, he’s started rallies – he’s done a number of things for us. That two-run homer is a tremendous at-bat because I think he saw maybe four, five, maybe even six fastballs before he threw him a pretty good slider down and in. Swish laid off it, and then got the next pitch and hit it out for the home run.”
Swisher’s homer was preceded by a single from Derek Jeter (his AL-leading 156th hit of the season), which knocked Rangers’ starter Matt Harrison out of the game. Ogando was hitting 99 mph on the radar gun, so it was a very different look that Swish had to adjust to. His homer was followed by a solo shot form Mark Teixiera, which gave the Yankees their third run. “I was hitting on sound at that point,” Swisher said. “He was throwing 100 mph. He’s kind of one of those guys who has an arsenal of pitches, but you have to do what you can to stay on that fastball. In that 3-2 count, I was just hoping he threw another fastball, and I was looking to get the barrel on it.”
 It definitely sounds like Swisher likes his new spot in the lineup. “I think Skip made a couple of lineup changes, and from there we’ve just kind of taken off,” he said. “Everybody is going out there and having quality at-bats. When you have the bottom of the lineup kind of turning it over for the top, that’s when the success really takes off.”
  I think they have to stick with this, every time he has been in the two spot the last couple of years he has thrived and it is working once again, if it isn't broke why fix it. 

One guy who has been struggling a bit of late is Curtis Granderson. He went 0 for 4 tonight, including a fly out to center in the third with the bases loaded. I’ve noticed that he hasn’t been pulling the ball as much recently, which seems like a good thing, but it also seems to have taken away from his production. “I’m convinced that Curtis will come out of it,” Girardi said. “I thought he had some pretty good swings against a tough left-hander tonight. He just missed some balls.”  Granderson is the type of hitter that will be feast or famine, he strikes out a lot and he seems to be a power hitter now, not really a great hitter overall
Some pretty good news on A-Rod, who had an X-ray on his broken left hand tonight. There was some confusion earlier when Girardi talked about A-Rod hitting — it sounds like he’s still only swinging with his right hand. But that could change soon. “It’s definitely better,” Girardi said. “The brace will come off. He’s not quite ready to swing, but he will do strengthening exercises, so that’s a good sign for us.”
I’ll give Girardi the final word on Kuroda: “He’s been really, really big for us, and he could have a number of more wins. He’s been the hard-luck guy for us this year, where at times we haven’t scored him a lot of runs… Realistically, he could have 15 or 16 (wins) at this juncture.”

The Yankees win their second straight over Texas behind a brilliant Hiroki Kuroda

The New York Yankees defeated the Texas Rangers by the score of 3-0 on Tuesday night. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx,NY. Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees and was brilliant. Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira led the Yankees offense. Matt Harrison started for the Rangers and pitched well and their bullpen didn’t. The Rangers offense only managed two hits in the game.  Kuroda pitched a complete game two hit shutout for his 11^th win of the season. He walked two and struck out five. Harrison pitched 6 1/3 innings giving up five hits with three walks and two strikeouts. He lost his seventh game of the season, Alexi Ogando pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and two runs and Tanner Scheppers pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out two.
Derek Jeter had two hits, Swisher had a hit and two RBI and Mark Teixeira had two hits and an RBI. Robinson Cano drew a walk, Andruw Jones drew a walk and Casey McGehee had two hits and Russell Martin had a hit and drew a walk. Teixeria hit a double, Swisher and Teixeira each hit a homerun. The Yankees were 0-2 with runners in scoring position and they left nine men on base.
Elvis Andrus had a hit and drew a walk, Michael Young had a hit and Mitch Moreland drew a walk. The Rangers were 0-2 with runners in scoring position and left two men on base. Andrus had an error in the game.
The Yankees scored all of the runs in the seventh inning. Swisher hit a two run homerun and then Teixeira followed it with a solo homerun. The two players went back-to-back and that was it for the scoring in the game. 3-0 was the final score in favor of the Yankees.
The Yankees have won two straight against the Rangers to be in first place in the American League. The Yankees have also won six out of their last seven games. The Yankees record has improved to 69-47 and the Rangers record dropped to 67-48. The two teams will play game three of four on Wednesday night.

Monday night postgame notes

Here are the Monday night postgame notes courtesy of the Lohud Yankees blog and Journal News.  The Yankees beat the Rangers 8-2 to move into first place in the AL, they still have three more games against each other for the battle for the top spot in the AL. 

How cool is David Phelps these days? Standing at his locker after tonight’s win, he was surrounded by media, answering questions behind a wall of television cameras and tape recorders, when pitching coach Larry Rothschild walked by and flipped him the game ball. Phelps snatched it out of the air, dropped it to his feet and looked up to answer the next question.
“I went through the lineup,” he said. “I got to face their top three hitters three times, and it was just going out and proving I can pitch deeper into a game. It’s a huge confidence boost. … They’re very big shoes to fill. What (CC Sabathia) brings to this team is that stability. He goes out every fifth day and gives us a chance to win every single time out. He’s been the anchor of our staff for the entire time that he’s been here, and to go out there and give our team a chance to win in his spot is huge.”
When the trade deadline came and went, the Yankees made no move to bolster their pitching staff, choosing to trust in-house options like Phelps. Of course, it took less than two weeks for Sabathia to land on the disabled list. Phelps moved into Sabathia’s rotation spot and Derek Lowe signed off the scrapheap to fill Sabathia’s spot on the roster. Tonight, those two replacements combined to allow two runs on eight hits and one walk, beating the Rangers and making a statement: This battered Yankees pitching staff just might have enough left to keep that top spot in the American League.
“I don’t know how you can ask two guys to do any more than that,” manager Joe Girardi said. “To hold a team like Texas down to two runs and give yourself a chance to win a ballgame, that’s really stepping up.”
It was quite a Yankees debut for Lowe, who pitched four scoreless and showed he has something left in the tank afterall. It was another milestone for Phelps, who’s breakout season now includes his first major-league win as a starter. In three previous attempts he’d failed to pitch through the fifth inning.
Tonight he threw 26 pitches in first inning, burning through nearly a third of his limited pitch count. The Rangers had scored their first run on a broken-bat single, and they increased that lead with a leadoff homer in the second. From there, Phelps retired 10 of the 14 batters he faced, and he picked off two of the four who reached.
“He’s just focused out there,” Russell Martin said. “He doesn’t let anything get to him. He just competes, pitch after pitch. He’s the type of guy you like having out there.”
Said Girardi: “We’ve seen him grow up a lot from the 2011 spring training until now. I’m not really surprised, just the way he’s went about his business. We saw a different guy in spring training and we’re seeing a much different guy this year. I’m not really surprised.”
Lowe got his first save since August 12, 2001 when he was with the Red Sox. According to Elias, his 11 year and one day between saves is the longest such gap since Darren Oliver went nearly 16 years between saves from 1994 through 2010. “I’m not going to lie to you, and say I’m not going to sleep with a smile tonight,” Lowe said. “It’s a pretty good way to start your career here.”
 Lowe said he actually thought about picking up a cheap save when the Yankees sent him back out for the ninth. “I’m not going to lie to you,” he said. “I think I was throwing below the speed limit there in the last inning. But it’s been a long day. To get back to a regular baseball routine — just a great start, and like I said, just here to help out. My role’s probably going to be like it is today: Just save the bullpen. It’s very important to have the back-end guys not have to pitch if they don’t have to. So hopefully this will benefit us for a couple days.”
According to Elias, 15 rookie pitches have started against the Rangers since June 13. Phelps is the second to earn a win. The first? Former Yankees minor leaguer Jose Quintana. Of course.
 Phelps threw 26 pitches in the first inning. “I wasn’t really thinking about my pitch count,” he said. “I wasn’t really thinking about how long I was going to go. I knew as long as I was going to go, I had to keep us in the game, especially after giving up two runs early. I just went out there and I was trying to throw up as many zeros as I could regardless of how many innings it was going to be.”
What made Phelps effective? “He was just throwing strikes,” Martin said. “He was attacking the strike zone and keeping the hitters off balance by throwing off speed strikes. Just using that cutter to get them off that fastball a little bit. Just making pitches. They got one run off a broken bat and another one off a pretty good pitch.”
Nick Swisher’s 200th career home run was a go-ahead grand slam in the third inning. It was his sixth grand slam ever and second of the season. “Two hundred couldn’t feel sweeter,” Swisher said.
The Yankees have hit nine grand slams this season, one shy of their franchise record set in 1987 and matched in 2010 and 2011. They have 29 grand slams since the start of 2010, more than twice the total of any other team.
Swisher, Alex Rodriguez, Andruw Jones, Mark Teixeira, Raul Ibanez, Derek Jeter and Eric Chavez all have more than 200 career home runs. With Swisher joining the list, they now have a Major League-high six players who have 15 homers this year (Cano, Granderson, Ibanez, Rodriguez, Swisher and Teixeira).
Eric Chavez might join that 15-homer list soon. He hit his 13th tonight and has 10 home runs in his past 36 games. “It’s hard to argue with what he’s done,” Girardi said. “He has been great for us. He’s in the middle of one rally, adds an add-on run later on to make it 6-2, and those runs are important because you can give Robertson, Soriano and some of your guys a day off.”
Phelps picked off two base runners tonight. The pickoff at first base was called from the bench. The pickoff at second was simply Phelps recognizing the Elvis Andrus was too far off the bag. “Anytime you can get an out with those types of hitters they have, we’ll take it,” Martin said. “Especially when they’re in scoring position.”
Girardi said he’s not sure when Lowe could pitch again. He’ll be unavailable for at least two days, probably three. Lowe thinks he could, if necessary, pitch tomorrow. “I told them today, I said, I’ll be ready every day,” Lowe said. “Now will I probably be up tomorrow? Probably not. But I’m going to prepare every single day you’re in the bullpen — that’s your job, to be ready every day, so I’m going to show up tomorrow ready to go.”
Alex Rodriguez is scheduled to have an X-ray tomorrow. It will have been three weeks since the injury.
 Let’s give the final word to Swisher: “I think our whole mindset is just win every game. Every single game, whether you’re playing a first-place team or whether you’re playing a last-place team, you’ve got to go out and win games. That lead there dwindled a little bit, so we’re doing our best to up that a little bit.”

The Yankees win streak in Oakland is snapped in a 4-3 loss

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Oakland Athletics by the score of 4-3 on Thursday night. The game took place at Mcafee Coliseum in Oakland, California. Freddy Garcia started for the Yankees and wasn’t very good. David Phelps was great in relief for the Yankees. The Yankees offense was led by Nick Swisher. Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez also had good games. A.J. Griffin a rookie pitcher pitched very well for the Athletics. Their bullpen was very good other then giving up a late homerun. Yoenis Cespedes led the Athletics offense. 
Garcia pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up four runs on nine hits. He walked two and struck out six. Garcia lost his third game of the season. Phelps pitched 2 1/3 perfect innings and had four strikeouts. Griffin improved to 2-0 pitching six innings and giving up seven hits and two runs. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out four. Sean Doolittle pitched a perfect inning, Grant Balfour pitched a perfect inning and Ryan Cook earned his tenth save of the season. Cook pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run and struck out a batter.

Jeter had a couple of hits, Rodriguez had a couple of hits and Cano had a hit. The hit by Cano extended his hitting streak to 23 games which is the longest by a Yankee since 2006. Mark Teixeira had an RBI, Swisher had two hits and two RBI and Raul Ibanez had a hit. Swisher hit a homerun, the Yankees were 2-5 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base.

Coco Crisp had three hits, Jemile Weeks had two hits and Josh Reddick drew a walk. Cespedes had two hits and two RBI and drew a walk, Seth Smith had a hit and two RBI and Brandon Moss had a hit. Moss had a double and Cespedes hit a homerun. The Athletics were 2-11 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base. Weeks had a stolen base and Cespedes had an outfield assist.

Cespedes hit a two run homerun in the first to give Oakland a 2-0 lead. Oakland took a 4-0 lead in the third on a Smith two run single. The Yankees cut the lead in half in the sixth inning. Teixeira hit a sacrifice fly and Swisher had an RBI single. Swisher hit a solo homerun in the ninth to make it a 4-3 game which was the final. The three runs was the 43^rd straight game that the Yankees have scored three or more runs.

The Yankees and Athletics will play a four game series in Oakland. The Yankees record dropped to 57-35 and the Athletics improved their record to 48-44. It is the first time that the Athletics are at least four games over 500 in two years. They have been a surprise team so far this season, they are right in the wild card hunt.

The New York Yankees cruise to victory behind the long ball and Hiroki Kuroda

The New York Yankees defeated the Cleveland Indians by the score of 7-1. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx,NY. Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees and pitched very well. The Yankees were powered by three homeruns. Josh Tomlin started for the Indians and struggled right from the beginning. Shin-Soo Choo had two hits to lead the Indians offense. The Yankees had homeruns from Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher and Dewayne Wise. 
Kuroda pitched 7+innings giving up one run on five hits. He walked two and struck out seven. Kuroda improved his record to 7-7. Clay Rapada pitched one perfect inning and Freddy Garcia pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout. Tomlin lost his fifth game of the season pitching three innings and giving up six hits and six runs with two walks and three strikeouts. Scott Barnes pitched 2 2/3 innings giving up a hit and a run with a walk and three strikeouts, Esmil Rogers pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit with two strikeouts and Jeremy Accardo pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout.

Derek Jeter had a hit, Curtis Granderson drew a walk and Mark Teixeira had a hit. Cano had two hits and three RBI, Swisher had a hit and an RBI and Raul Ibanez drew a walk. Eric Chavez had a hit and drew a walk, Wise had two hits and three RBI. Cano had a double and a homerun. Wise had a triple and a homerun and Swisher hit a homerun. The Yankees were 1-3 with runners in scoring position and left three men on base.

Choo had two hits for the Indians. Jason Kipnis had an RBI and drew a walk, Carlos Santana drew a walk and Michael Brantley had a hit. Johnny Damon had a hit and Lonnie Chisenhall had a hit. Damon and Choo each had a double. The Indians were 0-8 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Brantley had an outfield assist.

Cano hit a two run double in the first inning to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead. In the second Wise hit a two run homerun making it 4-0 Yankees. The Yankees had back-to-back homeruns from Cano and Swisher in the third and it was 6-0 Yankees. In the sixth Wise hit an RBI triple making it 7-0. Kipnis hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth to make it 7-1 and that would be the final score.

The Yankees have won three games in a row and are in first place in the AL East. They hold a three game lead in the division. The two teams will play game two of their three game series on Tuesday night.

The Yankees batter around Santana in Subway Series victory

The New York Yankees defeated the New York Mets by the score of 9-1 on Friday night. Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees and was brilliant. Johan Santana started for the Mets, his first start since the no hitter last week. Santana got hit around hard on Friday night. The Yankees hit four homeruns in the game including back-to-back-to-back. Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher and Andruw Jones led the Yankees offense. The Mets offense only managed two hits and their only run came in the ninth during garbage time. 
Kuroda pitched seven innings giving up no runs on one hit. He left the game after getting hit on the foot by a line drive. He walked one and struck out seven. Kuroda improved his record to 5-6 on the season. Cody Eppley pitched a perfect inning and Ryota Igarashi pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run with two walks and two strikeouts. Santana took the loss his third of the season. He pitched five innings giving up seven hits and six runs. Santana walked one and struck out five. Elvin Ramirez pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up three hits and three runs with four walks, Miguel Batista faced one batter and retired him and Jon Rauch pitched an inning giving up a hit.

Jayson Nix had a hit, Curtis Granderson drew a walk and Mark Teixeira had a hit. Alex Rodriguez had a hit, RBI and drew a walk, Cano had two hits and four RBI and Swisher had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk. Jones had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk, Raul Ibanez had a hit and Russell Martin had a hit and drew a walk. Martin, Teixeira and Swisher each had a double. Cano hit two homeruns, Swisher and Jones also had a homerun. The Yankees were 2-6 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Jeter committed an error.

Josh Thole drew a walk, Lucas Duda had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk and Omar Quintanilla had a hit and drew a walk. Quintanilla and Duda each had a double. The Mets were 1-4 with runners in scoring position and they left four men on base.

Cano hit a two run homerun in the second inning to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead. Cano hit a two run homerun followed by a Swisher solo homerun which was followed by a Jones solo homerun. It was 6-0 Yankees in the fourth inning. The Yankees also accomplished that same feat last year in Baltimore with the same exact players in the same order also. In the seventh Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly, Swisher hit an RBI double and Jones hit an RBI single to make it 9-0 Yankees. The Mets scored their only run in the ninth inning. Duda hit an RBI double.

The Yankees have now won 11 of their last 15 games. They are now 32-25 on the season, the Mets record dropped to 32-27. The two teams will play game two of their three game series on Saturday night and then complete the series on Sunday afternoon. The Yankees are tied for first in the loss column with the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays but the Rays are ½ a game ahead.

The New York Yankees rally to stun the Boston Red Sox

The New York Yankees were down 9-0 in the sixth inning. It didn’t look promising at all for them. The Yankees scored seven runs in both the seventh and eighth innings and fought back to defeat the Boston Red Sox 15-9 on Saturday evening. Freddy Garcia started for the Yankees and was not good at all, the Yankees bullpen did a pretty good job. Felix Doubrount started for the Red Sox and pitched really well but their bullpen was dreadful. 
Garcia pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up seven hits and five runs. He didn’t walk or strikeout a batter. Clay Rapada pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run, David Phelps pitched four innings giving up six hits and three runs with a walk and two strikeouts and Rafael Soriano pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out one. Soriano picked up the win, his second of the season. Boone Logan pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out one and Cody Eppley pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out one. Doubront pitched six innings giving up four hits and one run with three walks and seven strikeouts. The Red Sox used six relievers who combined for three innings, 12 hits, 14 runs, five walks and two strikeouts.

Derek Jeter had three hits, an RBI and drew two walks, Nick Swisher had three hits and six RBI and Robinson Cano had a hit and drew two walks, one which was intentional. Alex Rodriguez drew a walk, Mark Teixeira had three hits and six RBI and Curtis Granderson had a hit and drew a walk. Andruw Jones drew a walk, Russell Martin had two hits and two RBI and Eduardo Nunez had three hits and drew a walk. Cano, Swisher, Teixeira and Martin each had a double. Teixeira hit two homeruns, one from each side of the plate and Swisher had a homerun. The Yankees were 7-12 with runners in scoring position and they left eight men on base. Nunez had a stolen base.

Mike Aviles had two hits and two RBI for the Red Sox. Ryan Sweeney had a hit and an RBI, Dustin Pedroia had two hits and an RBI and Adrian Gonzalez had a hit and an RBI. David Ortiz had four hits, an RBI and drew a walk, Jarrod Saltalamacchia had four hits and Cody Ross had two hits and two RBI. Darnell McDonald had a hit and an RBI. Sweeney, Gonzalez, Ortiz, McDonald and Saltalamacchhia each had a double. Ross hit a homerun. The Red Sox were 7-15 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Aviles had a stolen base and an error. Saltalamacchia had a passed ball.

The Red Sox got out to a 9-0 lead. They scored two in the first, three in the second and two in the third. They then added two runs in the fifth inning and had a 9-0 lead. The Yankees got on the board in the sixth on a solo homerun from Teixeira. In the seventh the Yankees scored seven runs to make it a 9-8 game. Martin singled with one out, Nunez singled and Jeter walked. It was the bases loaded and one out and Swisher hit a grand slam to make it 9-5 Red Sox. Cano doubled, Rodriguez reached on an error and Teixeira hit a three run homerun. It was 9-8 Red Sox and Fenway was stunned. The Yankees weren’t done yet though as they scored seven more runs in the eighth inning. Nunez singled, Jeter walked and Swisher had a two run double to make it 10-9 Yankees. Swisher was really pumped up as he beat his chest and was screaming at second base. Cano was intentionally walked and Rodriguez walked, Teixeira hit a ground rule double to score two more runs. It was 12-9 Yankees at this point and then Martin added a two run double later in the inning to make it 14-9 Yankees. The final run was scored on a Jeter RBI single. The Yankees scored 15 unanswered runs to win the game 15-9.

The Yankees are now 9-6 on the season and have won three straight games. The Red Sox are reeling at 4-10 on the season. They have injuries and their pitching has been awful. The Red Sox made a trade for Marlon Byrd after the game, they sent Bowden one of their pitching prospects to the Cubs and some cash. The situation up there has gotten so bad that the owners and GM met with Bobby Valentine in his office after the game. They are saying it was just a we are all in this together talk but who knows. The two teams weather permitting will complete their three game series on Sunday night at 8:00PM. It is scheduled to be CC Sabathia and Daniel Bard as the pitching matchup.