Yankees notes from the weekend as the games begin

The Yankees biggest news came during Sunday’s game. Curtis Granderson was hit by a pitch in the first inning and after an initial diagnosis of a bruise they found out his forearm was broken. Granderson will miss about 10 weeks which puts him to about the middle of May. It isn’t a full season or even half of a season so it’s not devastating but it will hurt. The Yankees now have to find another outfielder, most likely internal or maybe they look to the outside for help. The other question is if they bring Granderson back as a left fielder like they were planning or scrap that and put him back in center when he returns. 
Adam Warren started Sunday and looked sharp. He threw 19 strikes out of 25 pitches. Joe Girardi had no real update on Phil Hughes other then he is getting better. He said he knows he went swimming today but that was it.

Brian Cashman said Derek Jeter will start playing games March 10^th. He also said that Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart are out of options. It looks like those will be your two catchers with Austin Romine starting in AAA. It is possible if those two struggle at the big league level and Romine is playing really well in AAA you could see him at some point. Dellin Betances will be a AAA starter this season. Matt Diaz and Juan Rivera are heavy favorites for the right handed outfield role as the Yankees do not want a young guy in that role. They could both make it now with one of them being the left fielder to start the season.

The Yankees pitching has looked good early on. The starters won’t get into games probably for about another week or so. The young guys have a chance to make an impression early. Cano and Teixeira are getting a lot of early work before they leave for the WBC. The young guys in those positions will get plenty of chances not also and also with the loss of Granderson.

The New York Yankees defeat the Atlanta Braves 8-3 in grapefruit league opener

The New York Yankees defeated the Atlanta Braves by the score of 8-3 on Saturday afternoon in Orlando, Florida. David Phelps got the start for the Yankees and pitched two scoreless innings picking up the win. He was the only major league pitcher to pitch for the Yankees in the game. Zoilo Almonte was impressive with a homerun and throwing out a runner at third from right field. Francisco Cervelli threw a runner out at second as the battle for starting catcher began. Robinson Cano also hit a homerun in the game. 
Phelps pitched two innings giving up three hits and no runs. He didn’t walk a batter or strikeout a batter. Brett Marshall pitched two innings giving up a hit, a run, a walk and striking out two, Nik Turley pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out one and Mikey O’Brien pitched an inning giving up two hits and two runs with a strikeout. Kelvin Perez pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out one, Branden Pinder pitched a perfect inning and Chase Whitley pitched an inning walking one.

Paul Maholm started for the Braves and pitched two perfect innings. Jordan Walden the former closer of the Angels really got hit. He pitched one inning giving up three hits and four runs with one of them being earned. Anthony Varvaro pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout, Yohan Flande pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run and J.R. Graham pitched an inning giving up a hit and walking two. Walden took the loss.

Eduardo Nunez had a hit, Robinson Cano had a hit and an RBI as he hit a homerun and Mark Teixeira had an RBI. Juan Rivera had a hit and drew a walk, Austin Romine had a hit and two RBI and Francisco Cervelli drew a walk. Zoilo Almonte was the star with a hit and two RBI and he had an outfield assist. The Yankees were 4-11 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Melky Mesa had a stolen base. Almonte threw a guy out at third from right field and Cervelli threw out a runner trying to steal second base. Corban Joseph committed an error.

Reed Johnson had a hit, Freddie Freeman had a couple of hits and Evan Gattis had two hits and two RBI for the Braves. Todd Cunningham, Christian Bethancourt and Jose Yepez each had a hit and Chris Johnson had an RBI. Gattis and Bethancourt had a double and Gattis also hit a homerun. The Braves were 0-7 with seven runners left on base. Cunningham was caught stealing, Freeman, Johnson and Uggla each committed an error. Bethancourt had a passed ball.

The Yankees scored four runs in the third on a two run homerun by Almonte a Teixeira RBI groundout and a wild pitch to score a run. Atlanta scored in the fourth on an RBI groundout by Johnson and the Yankees got the run right back in the fifth. Cano hit a solo homerun to make it 5-1 Yankees. Gattis hit a two run homerun in the sixth to cut the Yankees lead to 5-3 but the Yankees scored three runs in the seventh to make it 8-3 and that would be the final score. Jose Pirela had an RBI single and Romine had a two run single.

The Yankees are 1-0 in the grapefruit league and the Braves are 0-2. The Yankees will play their first home game of the schedule on Sunday afternoon against the Toronto Blue Jays and the Braves will play at the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The New York Giants build a big lead, blow it and then hold on to win in Dallas

The New York Giants defeated the Dallas Cowboys by the score of 29-24. The game was played at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas. The Giants jumped out to a 23-0 lead and looked like world beaters but then Dallas came back and in the third quarter they actually took the lead. The Giants though somehow kept their composure and stuck with it. The Giants have Eli Manning and he didn’t have a great game again but he is there when you need him the most. The Giants defense started out really strong but then they looked pretty awful after that. 
Manning was 15-29 for 192 yards and no touchdowns with one interception. Ahmad Bradshaw rushed for 78 yards on 22 attempts. Andre Brown rushed for 21 yards on three attempts and one touchdown, Manning rushed for three yards on one carry and David Wilson rushed twice for one yard. Wilson is the main kick and punt returner. He returned four kicks for 86 yards which is a 21.5 average. Wilson has brought something to the Giants they have really been lacking which is a true kick return threat. Ruben Randle had the most yards receiving with 68 on two receptions. Hakeem Nicks caught four balls for 46 yards, Martellus Bennett caught four balls for 29 yards and Domenick Hixon caught three passes for 26 yards. Victor Cruz caught two balls for 23 yards. Lawrence Tynes was 5-5 on field goals and two for two on extra points. His long field goal was 43 yards.

The Giants defense had four interceptions with Stevie Brown having two, Corey Webster and Jason Pierre-Paul each had one interception. Paul had one touchdown. Stevie Brown also led the defense with six tackles along with Keith Rivers who had six tackles.

Tony Romo was 36-62 for 437 yards and one touchdown with four interceptions. Felix Jones rushed 13 times for 19 yards with one touchdown, Romo also had a rushing touchdown. Jason Witten led the receivers with 18 catches for 167 yards. Miles Austin had nine catches for 133 yards, Dez Bryant had five for 110 and John Phillips had three catches for 14 yards. Dan Bailey was 1-1 on field goals and three for three on extra points. His field goal was 51 yards. Dunbar returned six kicks for 142 yards which is an average of 23.7 yards.

The Cowboys had one interception and one fumble recovery. Brandon Carr was their leading tackler with five.

The Giants are in first place in the NFC East with a 6-2 record and the Cowboys are 3-4 and in third place in the NFC East. The Giants will play at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday afternoon.

Yankees lost their fourth straight as Posada is pressed into duty as a catcher

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Anaheim Angels by the score of 6-0 on Saturday night. CC Sabathia started and although he struggled especially early on he did battle his way through and gave the Yankees a chance to win. The bullpen was a different story as they let the game get out of hand. The offense continues to struggle as they couldn’t muster anything against Dan Haren. Jorge Posada who hasn’t caught a game since last October was pressed into duty because of an injury to Russell Martin. Francisco Cervelli the backup catcher is having concussion symptoms and Jesus Montero was the DH, they didn’t want to lose the DH so Posada had to catch.
Sabathia pitched six innings giving up one run on eight hits. He walked four and struck out five. Sabathia failed to record his 20th win of the season. Hector Noesi pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three hits and four runs with a walk and a strikeout and George Kontos made his major league debut giving up two hits and one run in 1 1/3 innings. He struck out two batters.

Derek Jeter, Eric Chavez, Montero and Posada each had a hit. Jeter had a double, the Yankees were 0-4 with runners in scoring position and they left two men on base. The Yankees offense was non existant. Jeter led off the game with a double and Montero had a single in the second and then the Yankees didn’t have a base runner until the eighth inning. Dan Haren pitched a complete game shutout.

The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the second inning Maicer Izturis RBI double. Mike Trout had an RBI single in the seventh to make it 2-0. Erick Aybar hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0 and Jeff Mathis hit a two run homerun making it 5-0 Angels. The Angels would complete the scoring with a solo homerun from Torii Hunter in the eighth inning.

The Yankees have lost four games in a row. They have dropped the first two games of this three game series in Anaheim. The Yankees remain 2 ½ games ahead of the Boston Red Sox for first place in the AL East. The Red Sox also keep losing. The Tampa Bay Rays are suddenly only four games back of the Red Sox for the wild card. The Angels are only 1 ½ back of the Texas Rangers for first place in the AL West. The Angels are right in the wild card race as well and so is Texas. It should be an interesting finish with the Yankees and Red Sox playing three more times and the Rays playing the Red Sox five more times and the Yankees seven more times. The Yankees and Angels will complete their three games series with a Sunday afternoon game and then the Yankees will head to Seattle for a three game series.

Grapefruit League Game 2-Yankees at Phillies

The New York Yankees are taking on the Philadelphia Phillies this afternoon at 1:00PM in clearwarter. This is a rematch of this past seasons World Series in which the Yankees won their 27th World Title in 6 games. Roy Halladay will take on CC Sabathia but they will only be pitching 2 innings or so in this game. Here are the notes and starting lineups for the game. Derek Jeter, A-rod and Mark Tiexiera aren't making the trip so we will get to see some of the younger infielders try and make a impression. Placido Polanco is the Phillies new third baseman and longtime teammate of Marcus Thames and Curtis Granderson in Detroit. Thames and Granderson aren't on the trip of course though. Zach McAllister and Austin Romine were named the Kevin Lawn Minor league pitcher and player of the year for 2009. Austin Romine is with Jesus Montero as one of the top catching prospects for the Yankees. He is better defensively but doesn't have the power that Montero has. Zach McAllister has become one of the Yankees best young arms and may be the first in line for a callup if it is needed. Kevin Russo feels better but is getting another day off from the Yankees. Joe Girardi laughed at all the coverage the CC Sabathia and Roy Halladay matchup today is getting. "It's getting a lot of coverage like it's a regular-season game" The late inning replacements for today's game are C Austin Romine, 1B Jose Gil, 2B Eduardo Nunez, SS Reegie Corona, 3B Jorge Vazquez,LF Colin Curtis, CF Reid Gorecki,RF David Winfree,DH Jesus Montero. I am anxious to see Montero and Romine, these guys really seem to be the real deal and I could see them being a catching tandem in the big leagues. The game will be on tape delay tonight at 7 on the MLB network but not televised live at all. If you want to follow you can check out http://mlb.com/ for the boxscore and live updates. I will be back on later for some postgame reaction and the notes from the game. Yankees Lineup: Gardner(CF) Johnson(DH) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Winn(LF) Miranda(1B) Pena(SS) Laird(3B) Phillies Lineup: Rollins(SS) Polanco(3B) Francisco(CF) Werth(RF) Mayberry(LF) Ransom(1B) Castro(2B) Bocock(DH) Ruiz(C)

Yanks cap another great homestand with walkoff win

The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays by the score of 4-3 this afternoon in 11 innings. A.J. Burnett got the start and battled his way through 6 innings giving up 3 runs, he had 7 strikeouts with only 2 walks but Jorge Posada really had a tough time catching him today. He gave up a season high 10 hits. Dave Robertson and Phil Hughes each pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Robertson had a strikeout and Phil Hughes had a couple of strikeouts. Chad Gaudin making his Yankees debut got the win with 2 scoreless innings. He really looked good, he has pretty good stuff it is just a matter of him being consistand and having good location. He will get the start on Sunday with Sergio Mitre on Saturday. I know people have been asking why Mitre again and I feel the same way but with Joba being pushed back to Wednesday and it looking like this is what they have to do the rest of the year they need Mitre to be in the rotation and they figure there hitting can cover it up and win some of those games. I am sure also with a 6 game lead it is much easier to do this. I know a lot of people also don't believe in this innings cap but it is proven now in Baseball that you have to be very careful with young pitchers, the guys who pitched a lot of innings the last couple of years were Justin Verlander who had a couple off years after making the world series until this year, Mike Pelfrey who has struggled the Tampa pitchers etc, I think you get the idea. I do want to point out also though this is only the regular season the Yankees said it doesn't matter in the postseason so he will be pitching a game 3 or 4. The offense was led by Robinson Cano hitting a solo homerun and also having a walkoff single which would of been a double if it had to be. Derek Jeter got hit by a pitch in the first inning and had to leave the game, he wants to play tomorrow but I think he may have the day off. Jorge Posada got beat up also today but seems to be ok and the big news from after the game was that Mariano was creaky according to Joe Girardi, he said he isn't worried but of course with a older pitcher you have to be somewhat concerned. The manager said he expects him to be ok for tomorrow but we will have to see. A-rod got hit in the elbow in the 11th and was in obvious pain but stayed in and scored the winning run, he will be off tomorrow as was scheduled anyway but lets see after that, hopefully that will be all he needs. Johnny Damon had a couple of hits a walk and rbi. That was about it for the Yankees offense as they really didn't have a good game today. The Yankees will begin a 4 game series with Seattle tomorrow night.

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.

Spring Game 13: Blue Jays at Yankees

Today will be Andy Pettittes first start of the spring. I guess Cody Ransom can't play everyday right now but he should be at third as much as possible. Posada will DH today as he moves closer to catching by the weekend hopefully. Hideki Matsui will rest although he said he feels he could of played today which is a good sign. Arod had his surgery at 7:ooam this morning and no updates as of yet, it will be nice and quiet for a while with him gone. Today is the start of the minor league workouts so the roster will start getting trimmed. There is no local coverage of the game, the Yanks will be on YES tomorrow night. Spring Game 13: Blue Jays at Yankees Posted using ShareThis