The New York Yankees get manhandled at home by the surging Baltimore Orioles

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Baltimore Orioles by the score of 6-1 on Friday night. The game took place in the Bronx, New York. Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees and was ok, Derek Lowe wasn’t good out of the bullpen and the offense was lifeless. Miguel Gonzalez started for the Orioles and pitched great and the bullpen was ok. The offense was led by Mark Reynolds. 
Kuroda pitched 8 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and four runs. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out four and lost his 10^th game of the season. Clay Rapada pitched 1/3 of an inning retiring the only batter that he faced and Lowe pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up four hits and two runs. Gonzalez won his sixth game of the season pitching seven innings giving up four hits with no runs, a walk and he struck out nine. Darren O’Day pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and Brian Matusz pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run with two strikeouts.

Derek Jeter had a hit, Curtis Granderson had a hit and an RBI and Eric Chavez had a hit. Russell Martin had a hit, Ichiro Suzuki had a hit and Jayson Nix drew a walk. Granderson hit a homerun and the Yankees were 0-4 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base.

Nick Markakis had three hits and an RBI, J.J. Hardy had a hit and an RBI and Adam Jones had a hit. Matt Wieters had a hit, Chris Davis had a hit and an RBI and Reynolds had two hits and three RBI. Robert Andino had a hit and Manny Machado had two hits. Reynolds hit two homeruns and Hardy hit a homerun. The Orioles were 2-6 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base.

In the second Davis hit a sacrifice fly and Reynolds hit a two run homerun to give the Orioles a 3-0 lead. Hardy hit a solo homerun in the sixth to make it a 4-0 game. In the ninth Reynolds hit a solo homerun and Markakis hit an RBI single to make it a 6-0 game. Granderson hit a solo homerun in the ninth for the final run of the game as the Orioles won 6-1.

The Yankees have now lost seven of their last ten and the Orioles are streaking. The AL East lead is down to two games for the Yankees over the Orioles. The two teams will play game two of three on Saturday afternoon. The two teams will also face each other next weekend in Baltimore as they will see a lot of each other. The Yankees record fell to 75-56 and the Orioles record improved to 73-58.

New Jersey Nets Week in Review

I know you are all thinking what is going on here with the basketball but I am getting a little help from a friend. I will reveal that information soon enough but for now I am going to be posting some basketball stuff for you NBA fans out there and to bring something else to the blog, to digress a little from baseball but of course I will continue to have daily coverage of the Mets and Yankees do don't worry for those not interested in basketball. Here is the recap of the New Jersey Nets week. The great news for the Nets was that they won a game this week. They also lost a game but who cares. They beat the Charlotte Bobcats on Tuesday night by the score of 104-93. It was the second time this season they have beaten Charlotte. It is pretty amazing considering they are 5-49 on the season. Courtney Lee was the high scorer for the Nets with 21 points. Brook Lopez scored 16 points before fouling out. Everything was back to normal again the next night when the Nets returned to their losing ways. Miami handed them a 87-84 loss at the Meadowlands. Dwayne Wade was injured in the first quarter and did not return to the game. Despite his absence the Nets were not able to take advantage. New Jersey had a 80-74 lead with 5 minutes left but Miami finished with a 13-4 run to close out the game. The Nets are now 5-49 and a embarrassing 29 1/2 games out of first place in the division. They are 22 games out of a playoff spot and what can you say except there is always the lottery and next season.

AL East Spring Training Previews

I am not going to go through all of the teams in baseball, I will do that before the season starts but I do want to look at the AL East teams briefly and where they stand opening up camps this week. New York Yankees: World Champions led by manager Joe Girardi who is in his third and final season under contract. Training Facility: Legends Field, Tampa, FL 2009 Record: 103-59 Key Additions: Javier Vazquez, Nick Johnson, Curtis Granderson,Randy Winn Key Losses: Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Chien-Ming Wang,Melky Cabrera First Workouts: pitchers and catchers on Feb 18th, full squad on Feb 24th Boston Red Sox: lost in first round of playoffs last season after winning the Wild Card finishing second in the division. Led by manager Terry Francona who is in his 7th season with the team. Training Facility: City Of Palms Park, Fort Myers, FL 2009 Record: 95-67 Key Additions: Mike Cameron, John Lackey, Marco Scutaro, Adrian Beltre Key Losses: Jason Bay, Rocco Baldelli,Alex Gonzales First Workouts: pitchers and catchers on Feb 20th, full squad on Feb 24th Tampa Bay Rays: Missed the playoffs in 2009, finishing in third place. Led by manager Joe Maddon in his 5th season with the team. Training Facility: Mosaic Field at Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte, FL 2009 Record: 84-78 Key Additions: Rafael Soriano, Kelly Shoppach, Dan Johnson Key Losses: Akinori Iwamura, Gabe Gross, Chad Bradford First Workouts: Pitchers and Catchers on Feb 19th, full squad on Feb 24th Toronto Blue Jays: Missed the playoffs in 2009, finished 4th in the division. They are led by Cito Gaston who is in his third season but remember he took them to back to back titles in the 1990's. Training Facility:Dunedin Stadium, Dunedin,FL 2009 Record: 75-87 Key Additions: John Buck, Alex Gonzalez,Kevin Gregg, Brandon Morrow Key Losses: Roy Halladay, Rod Barajas, Kevin Millar, Brandon League First Workouts: Pitchers and Catchers on Feb 22nd, full squad on Feb 26th Baltimore Orioles: missed the playoffs in 2009 finishing last in the division. They are led by manager Dave Trembley in his 4th season. Training Facility: Ed Smith Stadium, Sarasota, FL 2009 Record: 64-98 Key Additions: Miguel Tejada, Garrett Atkins, Kevin Millwood Key Losses: Melvin Mora, Danys Baez,Chris Ray First Workouts: Pitchers and Catchers on Feb 18th, full squad on Feb 23rd.

A look at the MLB playoff races

The New York Yankees have a comfortable 6 game lead in the AL East over the Red Sox. I spend most of my time focused on the Yankees so I am going to go through the rest of baseball. AL Central- The Detroit Tigers are in first place ahead of the Minnesota Twins. The White Sox are now 5 1/2 games out. The Twins have been hot, they usually do well in September so watch out. I still think the Tigers will hold on but it could get interesting. AL West-The Angels have a 5 game lead over the Texas Rangers. I would think the Angels are safe, they just aquired Scott Kazmir to bolster their pitching staff. He is having a tough year but when he is right he is one of the best young pitchers out there. Seattle is having a pretty good year suprisingly but they are 10 games back so I don't see them making a run. AL Wild Card- Boston has a firm hold of the wildcard at 3 1/2 games ahead of the Texas Rangers. Tampa Bay is 5 games behind. Tampa Bay is playing Boston at home starting tomorrow and then in Fenway about a week later. I can see Tampa making a run but they better win 2 out of 3 this week. NL East-Philly the defending champs have a 8 game lead over the Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins. NL Central- St Louis has a 10 game lead over the disappointing Chicago Cubs. NL West- The LA Dodgers have a 6 game lead over suprising Colorado and San Francisco. There really aren't good races in the NL. NL Wild Card- Colorad and San Francisco are tied 3 1/2 ahead of the Florida Marlins and Atlanta Braves and 5 1/2 ahead of the Chicago Cubs. This will be a great race to the end with so many teams in play for the wildcard.

Yanks lose in ugly fashion

The New York Yankees were hammered by the Boston Red Sox today by the score of 14-1. A.J. Burnett got the start and was awful giving up 9 runs in 5 innings. Alfredo Aceves came on in relief and wasn't much better. This is a game that there really isn't much to talk about, the Yankees want to forget about it and try and win the series tomorrow night with CC Sabathia on the hill against Josh Beckett. This is a ESPN Sunday Night Baseball telecast at 8:00PM. The Red Sox really do need to win this game to have any shot at the division and they are trying to hold on to the wildcard also, a Yankee win will pretty much put away the division. The Yankees are ending a long roadtrip and if they win they will be 7-3 on it, if they lose 6-4 so either way they had a good roadtrip. The story of this game at least to the reporters and in the papers tomorrow is going to be how A.J. Burnett and Jorge Posada don't work well together. The last 2 games have been rough but Jorge caught most of the games before that where A.J. was on a great roll and no one said anything then. Jorge admitted today that they weren't on the same page at all but that will happen over the course of a long season. A.J. Burnett has been dreadful in Fenway Park this season and I have to believe it has become a mental thing, he pitched great against them at home the last time he faced them. The Yankees have to think now though if they face the Red Sox in the postseason about not letting A.J. pitch in Fenway. The Yankees are still 31 games over 500 and have the best record in baseball so they will throw this game away and come out tomorrow and try and get a win before heading home.

Baseball-around the league

I wanted to do this yesterday but didn't get a chance. I know it is early and it doesn't necessarily mean much but the Toronto Blue Jays are off to a 5-1 start, the Red Sox have started slow going 2-3 barely hanging on today for their second victory. The Orioles have the offense and can score runs on anyone but I don't think their pitching will hold up. The Cleveland Indians are 0-5 and come to the New Yankee Stadium next week, Cliff Lee the Cy young winner has looked bad in his first 2 starts. The Anaheim Angels know how to win and play the game the right way, when you watch them it just doesn't matter who is hurt they plug guys in and just play that team game and drive you nuts. The Seattle Mariners look like they will be better but that isn't saying much and the Texas Rangers have a potent offense but can they get any pitching?? The Kansas City Royals are a sleeper pick for many but I don't think they have a good enough offense and their pitching isn't great. The National League has the East looking good, you figure the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies will be there but the Braves look much improved, pretty good pitching and the Florida Marlins look good, a lot of fun to watch. The Marlins are my sleeper pick. The Chicago Cubs look stacked but they are a cursed team, Alfonso Soriano has 3 homeruns already. The Houston Astros are just bad and Albert Pujols is still a monster having 7 rbi tonight. The San Francisco Giants have scored more runs in the beginning of this season then they scored in a month last year. The Padres are not a good team and the Dodgers are lucky to be in a weak division but seem to be the best team out there with Manny Ramirez.