The New York Mets defeat the Washington Nationals 5-3 in Port St. Lucie

The New York Mets defeated the Washington Nationals by the score of 5-3 on Saturday afternoon in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Zach Wheeler pitched a very impressive two innings for the Mets, Ruben Tejada hit a homerun and Marlon Byrd had a couple of hits. 
Shaun Marcum started for the Mets and pitched two innings giving up four hits and three runs, Wheeler pitched two scoreless giving up a hit and a walk and striking out two and Cory Mazzoni got the win pitching two scoreless giving up a hit and striking out three. Darin Gorski pitched two innings giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout and Bobby Parnell picked up the save pitching an inning giving up a hit and striking out one.

Stephen Strasburg started for the Nationals and pitched two inning giving up three hits and two runs with a strikeout, Drew Stammen pitched two innings giving up three hits and a run with a strikeout and Fernando Abad pitched an inning giving up two walks and striking out one. Bill Bray took the loss pitching an inning giving up three hits and two runs with one of them being earned with a walk and a strikeout. Erik Davis pitched a scoreless inning giving up a walk and striking out two and Cole Kimball pitched a scoreless inning giving up a walk.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis had a hit, Colin Cowgill had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk and also scored from second on a groundout. Tejada had a hit and two RBI, Ike Davis drew a walk and Byrd had two hits. Justin Turner had a hit and Jordany Valdespin had a hit and an RBI. Byrd and Cowgill each hit a double and Tejada hit a homerun. The Mets were 2-8 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base. Bixler, Brown and Hicks each made a fielding error and Buck had a passed ball.

Steve Lombardozzi drew a walk, Bryce Harper had a hit and Ian Desmond had a hit. Chris Marrero had a hit and an RBI, Chris Snyder had two hits and two RBI and Micah Owings had a hit. Marrero hit a double and Snyder hit a homerun. The Nationals were 1-12 with runners in scoring position and they left ten men on base. Perez and Rhymes each had a stolen base. Tracey and Owings each committed an error.

Tejada hit a two run homerun in the first to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. The Nationals took a 3-2 lead in the second inning. Marrero hit an RBI double and Snyder hit a two run homerun. Valdespin hit an RBI single in the fourth inning to tie the game at three. In the sixth inning the Mets scored two runs to take a 5-3 lead and that is how the game would end up. Cowgill hit an RBI double and Omar Quintanilla reached on an error scoring the final run of the game.

The Mets are 1-0 in the grapefruit league and the Nationals are 0-1. The Mets will play at the Houston Astros on Sunday afternoon and the Nationals will remain home to take on the Miami Marlins.

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.

Yankees Monday night postgame notes

Here are the Yankees postgame notes from Monday night in Minnesota.  The theme is Andy Pettitte who has been great now in two starts coming back from the DL.  It is like he never left, he hasn't missed a beat tossing 11 shutout innings.  The notes are courtesy of the Lohud Yankees Blog and my thoughts are added in. 

Isn’t that what makes Andy Pettitte who he is? There should be a sense of not knowing what to expect — he’s 40 years old, came out of retirement in March, missed two and a half months with a broken ankle — but he takes the ball in a game like this, delivers six scoreless and everyone talks about that being the Pettitte everyone was expecting. The guy hasn’t allowed a run since coming off the disabled list, and we’re being reminded of everything that created the Pettitte legacy in the first place.  It really is amazing but just because these guys have gotten older meaning Pettitte, Jeter and Rivera and Posada before he retired doesn't mean they can't still get it done.  These veteran Yankees have gotten it done for so long and in the biggest games that nothing can bother or rattle them. 

Joe Girardi
“It’s the same old Andy. We’ve seen it for years. When he needs a double play, he finds a way to get it. … I think a lot of it has to do with his preparation. He knows that he’s prepared every time he goes out there. How consistent his work is. That his mechanics are going to be consistent for the most part every time he goes out there. He’s been in so many situations, he’s able to relax and not make too much of one hitter. It has a lot to do with poise. He’s got a lot of poise.”

Russell Martin
“He’s a natural competitor. You’re going to have to try to outcompete him, and I don’t know anybody that can really do that. He’s going to make pitches, he’s going to make quality pitches, and that’s it. He’s in control, he’s in command out there. Even behind in counts he doesn’t give in. He’s going to make that hitter earn his money.”

Eric Chavez
“It was tough (facing him with Oakland). He used to throw the cutter, and then he actually later started throwing sinkers, so that made it really tough. And then obviously he’d put you away with a slider. He just makes good pitches. You don’t have to have good stuff to make good pitches, and he’s evidence of that. … I think he’s more bullish (with men in scoring position). He doesn’t want to give that up. He had a couple of groundballs and you could tell, in his mind, in that at-bat, he’s like I want to get a groundball right here and turn two. And he’s able to execute those pitches.”

Nick Swisher
“I love this guy, dude. I absolutely love him, bro. There’s nothing that fazes him. Takes a full year off, comes back, breaks his foot on a crazy play, Has been itching to get back in the (rotation) for a long time, and once he does, he delivers every single time. You can only look at that, and just be like, man, I want to be like that. Every time he takes that mound, he’s locked in out there. I’m not as fierce as he is, man, I know that.”

Andy Pettitte
“I just feel like I’m able to relax and get the ball where I want to. Maybe it’s crazy, but maybe my focus gets even a little bit tighter when you get in a little bit tougher jams. I can remember giving up plenty of big hits with runners in scoring position and stuff, so you just try to command your mechanics and see your pitches and have an idea of what you want to do with the hitter. And I was fortunate to be able to execute it tonight on some pitches.”

The Yankees lead is up to a game and a half, the largest its been since September 2. “You’ve got to like it,” Girardi said. “Any time you can pick that up, it’s great. We’ve been so close since about September 1, since this started, so any time you can do that, it’s great.”  You have to be happy about having a little bit of a cushion, this hasn't been an easy year and it would be nice to pull away at the end

Pettitte kind of looked awkward coming off the mound at one point, but everyone said it was a non-issue.

Curtis Granderson is the fifth Yankee to have back-to-back 40-homer seasons, joining Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle and Jason Giambi. “At least for one sentence I get to get compared to those guys, so that’s pretty cool,” he said.  That is nice but he has become homerun or nothing, the average is really low and he strikes out a ton.

A half inning after his homer, Granderson threw out Ryan Doumit at the plate. It was a good throw, and probably a better tag by Martin. “We’re up and it was kind of a time where you could make more of a risk there being up for vs. it being closer or later in the ballgame,” Granderson said. “Russ did a great job hanging in there, catching the ball and applying the tag.”

Swisher said something last year about it taking a “grown man” to hit the ball out to the gaps in this park. He did just that tonight. “I must have turned into one. I’ve grown up, guys!” Swisher said. “… I thought it was going off the wall. I truly did. And then the next thing I knew it was going off the scoreboard. I was like, oh (wow)!”

Girardi went to the mound to check on Pettitte in the sixth inning, but it was a quick visit and Pettitte stayed in the game. “I just wanted to make sure he had a little bit left in the tank,” Girardi said.

 Pettitte was predictably hard on himself tonight. “I know how sharp I was when I got hurt, and obviously I’m a work in progress right now,” he said. “I would love to see my stuff get back to where it was, so, there’s some stuff I still need to work on and get some reps in my bullpens and stuff like that but like I said it was good to be able to stay out of the middle of zone and make some big pitches and get some big outs when I needed it. Hopefully we can continue to do that and help this team win.”

Pettitte didn’t go too much into specifics of what he needs to fix, but it seems like nothing more than minor tinkering and adding some durability in his legs. “I just think starting the game out, I felt stronger,” he said. “Again, I have some stuff mechanically I need to work out. There’s some things I know I need to do. I could sit here and bore you all to death with it. I know I still have some work.”

Martin said he thought Pettitte was pretty sharp and Pettitte was just being hard on himself. Here’s Girardi on Pettitte: “I thought he made a big step tonight. I thought his command was better than the other day. What did he get up to, 87, 88 (pitches)? I think those are two pretty big steps today. I think he’s a lot closer.”

Final word goes to Swisher. “It almost feels like nobody’s even paying attention to how many games are left. We’re just letting this thing snowball into something big. We’ve been playing great ball here as of late, and that’s what we want to continue to keep doing. All the way into the end of October. Right now, we feel great, getting guys healthy, getting guys back, getting huge hits at big times and usually that results in big wins for us.”

Weekend Notes from Yankees Camp

Javier Vazquez asked to throw on Sunday and was allowed to do so. I know you may ask why I am saying that well all the Yankees starters have been held back because of their workloads last season. He said though that he was throwing in Puerto Rico and hadn't thrown in about a week and a half and wanted to get back out there. There wasn't much excitement in camp on Sunday, it was expected that Johnny Damon would be a hot topic but there wasn't much said about him signing yesterday for 1 year and 8 million with the Detroit Tigers. The people that did speak about him like Joe Girardi wished him well. I still think that he overplayed his hand and should of come back to the Yankees for 2 years but that is his fault. Almost all of the pitchers have now thrown 2 bullpens and with the exception of Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes are up to 40 pitches. They have only been throwing fastballs and changeups but will now start throwing their breaking pitches. Chad Jennings heard a lot of good things about Andrew Brackman who was one of the Yankees top picks a couple of years ago. Nardi Contreras who is the roving pitching instructor had some good things to say. If you want to check out more on that you can visit http://yankees.lhblogs.com. Brett Gardner was in the clubhouse for a little while today and sat talking with relief pitcher Kevin Whelan. It is not known what they were discussing. The pitchers who threw today were in Group 1 Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Javier Vazquez and Edwar Ramirez. Group 2 was Mark Melancon, Boone Logan, Mosely and Christian Garcia. Group 3 was Kei Igawa, Zach McAllister, Ivan Nova and Kevin Whelan. The last group was Jeremy Bleich, Andrew Brackman, Mitchell and Noesi. The position players are reporting on Tuesday and then Wednesday is the first full squad workout. March 3rd is the first game so things will start heating up after tomorrow and there will be more news coming out of Tampa. It has been very quiet for the Yankees but that should be expected after a World Series Championship and not much else going on.

New York Knicks week in Review

This past week the Knicks played a home and home series with the Bulls and lost both games. Their record falls to 19-34 on the season and they are 7 1/2 games out of the playoffs. They only have 29 games left to play, they have lost 10 of their last 14 and the season seems to be slipping away. The first game against the Bulls on Tuesday saw the Bulls crush the Knicks by the score of 118-85. Derrick Rose proved to be too much to handle as he scored a game high 29 points. The Bulls were leading by 14 at the half and pulled away in the third quarter by taking a commanding 95-68 lead. David Lee led the way for the Knicks with 24 points and 12 rebounds. The Knicks didn't fare much better on Wednesday night at the Garden. They blew a 15 point lead to lose once again to the Bulls. They lost 115-109, this extended their losing streak to 5 games. Rose led the bulls again with 27 points and All Harrington led the Knicks with 27 points. The Knicks were without Nate Robinson who was traded to the Celtics for Eddie House.

CC Sabathia and Lebron James

CC Sabathia was at the New York Knicks game last night. He is a big fan of basketball as evidenced by him taking different teammates to Orlando Magic games last spring training. He also took them to a Cleveland Cavs game when the Yankees were in Cleveland over the summer. He now is residing in NJ in the offseason and has been to a couple of Nets games and was here at the Knicks game. He wants his buddy Lebron James to come to NY and is trying to recruit him to the Knicks. I am sure the Knicks fans like this. He said he would come to more games if Lebron were playing in MSG. He also said some interesting things about what appears to be his ex teammate Johnny Damon. He stated that it isn't over yet and Damon could wind up back with the Yankees. He also said that he misses Johnny, that he is a great guy. He stated that once you win a championship you are hungry for more. He stated that he doesn't just want one, he wants five. He seems to have been indoctrined into the Yankee way quickly. The Yankees are never satisfied with one, once they are on top they like to stay there for as long as they can. I think this Lebron James story is fascinating and if CC really has the pull that he thinks he does then he will be even more of a hero in NY. I guess we will see what happens on July 1st when free agency begins in the NBA.

NFL Wildcard Weekend Picks

The NFL Wildcard weekend will begin tomorrow at 4:30PM with the New York Jets at the Cincinatti Bengals. I think this is going to be a great playoffs with the NFC being wide open and the AFC being top heavy with the Chargers and Colts but lurking are the Patriots. Here are my picks for this weekends games. New York Jets At Cincinatti Bengals- Cincinatti 17 New York 14 Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots- New England 24 Baltimore 14 Green Bay Packers at Arizona Cardinals- Green Bay 31 Arizona 24 Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys- Dallas 20 Philly 17 There you have it, my totally uneducated picks for this weekends games. Lets see how well i do in the playoffs, anyone want to chime in and pick against me please let me know what you think or if you are with me that is good also.

New York Jets control their destiny

The New York Jets came into Indianapolis yesterday needing to win their final 2 games but also needing a lot of help. They had everything break right for them in the other games and then the Colts lied down for them in the second half setting up a controversial victory. Peyton Manning was visibly upset on the sidelines but said all the right things after the game. The New York Jets will be thankful for the gift they have and now all they have to do is beat the Cincinatti Bengals at home on Sunday. The Bengals won't be playing for anything and if the Jets beat them they will travel to Cincy the following week to play a playoff game so I am sure the Bengals wont bother showing up for this meaningless game to them. I think the Jets will win pretty easily and see them again the following week in Cincinatti. The Jets will take it because in this league their is no backing in, they deserve credit for fighting hard and not giving up all the way to the end and they should be rewarded for it. Mark Sanchez didn't have to do much as the Jets pounded the ball and played good defense which are the staples of the team. The Jets need to keep doing this if they are going to go anywhere the rest of the season.

NFL Week 16

The New York Giants will play almost certainly there last game ever at Giants Stadium tomorr0w afternoon. The Carolina Panthers who are playing out the string will be the opponent and they will be without their starting running back and another back also. They have put their starting quarterback on injured reserve for the remainder of the season. I am sure the Giants are going to have a lot of emotion with the final game and also knowing they have to win their final two games to even have a chance of making the playoffs. If they do make the playoffs they won't get a home game unless something crazy happens. I would expect the Giants to bring a lot of pressure like they did last week against Washington and I don't really understand why they haven't done it all year, but it remains to be seen if it was a one week turnaround or if the Giants have really gotten over the hump and will continue to play the way they did in Washington. I am going to say the Giants will win 28-17. The New York Jets also still have a chance but they have to win their final 2 games and have lots of help. They will be taking on the undefeated Indianapolis Colts in Indy. The question has been if the Colts will play or rest people and nobody knows as they haven't given any indication. I think they will play and want the undefeated season. I think the Jets are in trouble in this game with the Colts winning 24-14. I just can't see them going into Indy and beating them unless they were playing all of their backups.

Yanks lose Game 5 head back to the Bronx

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Philadelphia Phillies last night by the score of 8-6. A.J. Burnett got the start on 3 days rest and was dreadful. He lasted 2 1/3 innings giving up 6 runs. He had no location or control at all and just couldn't get anything going. The Yankees got off to a fast start against Cliff Lee with a rbi single by A-rod in the first but couldn't score anymore. Cliff Lee wasn't so great himself but was able to give the Phillies 7 innings giving up 5 hits with 5 runs, 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. Chan Ho Park pitched a perfect 8th inning and then things got interesting in the ninth. Brad Lidge who got lit up the night before did not come in to save the game Ryan Madson came in as the closer and gave up a leadoff double to Jorge Posada followed by a single to Hideki Matsui. The Yankees had first and third no outs and were poised for the comeback with the top of the order coming up. Derek Jeter hit into a double play killing the rally though even though a run scored. Johnny Damon kept the game alive with a single and then Mark Teixeira who hasn't done anything offensively in this series popped out to end the game leaving A-rod stranded in the on deck circle. The Yankees had their chances even though A.J. Burnett got lit up and they were way behind. The real dagger came when it was 6-2 thanks to good relief pitching by Dave Robertson and Alfredo Aceves who pitched 4 innings giving up 0 runs on 2 hits. Phil Coke pitched the seventh and gave up 2 solo homeruns to put the game seemingly out of reach. The Yankees did comeback and those 2 runs turned out to be the game winners. Phil Hughes pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings giving up 1 hit. If it wasn't for Phil Coke's terrible outing who knows what would of happened. The Yankees though are back home in the bronx to try and close it out where there fans will be loud and crazy and Andy Pettitte will be on the mound. He is pitching on 3 days rest which is dangerous but if he can keep them in the game and give them 6 innings the Yankees will take it. The Yankees have a rested Mariano Rivera and Joba Chamberlain along with Damaso Marte to close out the game. I am sure Mariano will be used for 6 outs if need be but we will see what happens. I know Pedro pitched well in Game 2 but I don't think that will be happening again. The Yankees offense has woken up after the first 2 games and scored some runs so I look for them to jump on Pedro and knock him out early and also get to their pen, if Andy doesn't blow up the Yankees could run away with this one but that depends on Andy Pettitte.

Yankees at Angels-ALCS Game 4

The Yankees remain two wins from the World Series after losing a heartbreaker in 11 innings yesterday. They will be trying to put a stranglehold on the series tonight with their ace on the mound against Scott Kazmir who has had 8 days of rest. This is a weird one:All seven of the Angels postseason wins over the Yankees (three in the 2002 ALDS, three in the 2005 ALDS and one so far this year) have been of the come-from-behind variety. Here are the pregame notes and lineups via Sam Borden and Chad Jennings of the Journal News. The Yankees will look to work the count and hit Kazmir when he is in a bad count or at least get his pitch count high and get him out of there in the 5th or 6th inning. Joe Girardi said Sabathia is good for 110-115 pitches even on 3 days rest. CC Sabathia threw 114 pitches in his Game 1 start and is pitching tonight on three days rest. Sabathia didn’t pitch on short rest this year, but did it in his final four starts last year for the Brewers and went 2-1 with a 0.83 ERA before getting roughed up in his one playoff start for Milwaukee. Joe Girardi says the short rest won’t give him a quick hook with Sabathia. “As far as the pitch count, I would have no problem letting him go 110, 115 if that’s what it took,” Girardi said. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, there have been 85 instances since 1995 in which a team has started a pitcher on short rest in the playoffs. In those games, the starters have gone 20-34, throwing 458 1/3 innings and compiling a 4.65 ERA. Alex Rodriguez hit his fourth homer of the postseason in Game 3, and he’s got a career-high nine RBI. In his previous 39 career playoff games before this year, he had a combined seven home runs and 17 RBI. Mark Teixeira has been struggling at the plate, taking a .120 batting average into today’s game. Could facing Kazmir be what gets him going? Texieira is 7-for-11 with four doubles in his career against the lefty. Howie Kendrick continued to torment the Yankees yesterday, finishing a double shy of the cycle and hitting an 11th inning single off Alfredo Aceves that led to him scoring the winning run. History would indicate tonight might be more of the same: Kendrick is 8-for-12 lifetime off Sabathia. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Posada(C) Matsui(DH) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Cabrera(CF) Angels Lineup: Figgins(3B) Abreu(RF) Hunter(CF) Guerrero(DH) Rivera(LF) Kendrick(2B) Morales(1B) Napoli(C) Aybar(SS) Joe Girardi and Mike Scioscia both basically laughed off the Mariano Rivera controversy. If you haven't heard there is a video from a Angels blog claiming he is throwing a spitter but it appears to be doctored that he spit near the ball but not on the ball. If you know anything about the spitter it doesn't do what Mariano throws so its a dumb created story.

Some notes from ALCS Game 2

The victory for the Yankees was their 17th walkoff win of the year, 2nd in the postseason. The Yankees had 3 errors after having none in their first 4 postseason games. The Angels have 5 errors in 2 games in the ALCS. Chone Figgins was 0 for 19 before his rbi hit in the 11th inning last night. Bobby Abreu, Vlad Guerrero and Kendry Morales are 3 for 28 in the series. The Angels will workout this afternoon at Angels Stadium, the Yankees canceled their workout. The pressure is really on the Angels now but the Yankees have had a lot of problems in Anaheim lately. They did win 2 out of 3 in the middle of September there though and that should give them some confidence.

Finishing off the Recap of the Twins Series

Here are some number to look at and ponder before we start looking ahead to the ALCS which will begin on Friday at 7:57PM on Fox. I will also start looking at the NLCS which is a rematch from last year between the LA Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. Here are some of the numbers from the Yankees/Twins series. 1.42 era for the Yankees starters 2 runs given up by the Yankees bullpen in 10 innings. 5 runs scored by the Yankees in the final innings of the three games. 6 homeruns hit by the Yankees. 15 total runs scored by the Yankees. The Yankees finished 10-0 against the Twins including the postseason. The Yankees had 10 pitchers appear in the ALDS. A-rod had a 455 batting avg which is tops on the team. A-rod also had 2 homeruns and 6 rbi's. His 2 homeruns were 2 more then he had in his last 16 postseason games. 99,470 was the combined attendance of Games 1 and 2 at Yankee Stadium. Those are numbers to ponder and think about but I will have a post up later looking ahead to the ALCS and NLCS. This is going to be a great series between the Angels and Yankees.

Red Sox at Yankees

The New York Yankees will try and win their 4th game in a row and in the process be one win away from clinching the AL East. CC Sabathia the ace of the team takes the mound against Daisuke Matsusaka. The Yankees are now 7-1 in their last 8 games against Boston after starting out 0-8. Here are some pregame notes and the lineup via the Lohud Yankees Blog. Boston has a magic number of 3 to clinch the wildcard over the Texas Rangers. The Yankees are 27-7 at home since the all star break. They are 53-23 overall at home, it is amazing to me with those numbers they actually lost 2 games at home to the Nationals. CC Sabathia is 8-0 with a 2.24 era in his last 10 starts. He has allowed only 55 hits in 72 1/3 innings. He has struck out 77 with only 17 walks. He is 2-1 with a 2.95 era in 3 starts against Boston this season and 4-5 with a 3.62 era in his career against the Sox. Jude Sonia Sotomayor a yankees fan from the Bronx will throw out the first pitch today. She was instrumental in ending the baseball strike of 1994. Dave Miley a good guy and good manager for the AAA Scranton Yankees has joined the coaching staff for the rest of the season. Robinson Cano needs 2 hits to become the fifth yankees second baseman in history to collect 200 hits in a season. He has 47 doubles which is the most since Alfonso Soriano had 51 in 2002. Cano has also scored 99 runs. The only two yankees second baseman in history to have 200 hits and 100 runs scored are Soriano in 2002 and Stuffy Stirnweiss in 1944. Derek Jeter has led off the first inning with a hit in 7 of the last 12 games and a MLB best 49 times this season. This is coming from Baseballreference.com. He also has reached 30 games for the fourth time in his career. There are some good stats about Boston but you can check that out at the Lohud Yankees Blog as we will only deal with the Yankees right now. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Cabrera(CF)

The Yankees have lost six of their last 10 and are 1-3 on a road trip that has two games left. They lead the Red Sox by five games in the division and the Angels by 4.5 games for best record in the AL and home-field advantage. Here are the pregame notes and lineup via Peter Abraham. The Yankees are 0-4 at Angel Stadium this season, getting outscored 34-20. They are 5-18 here in the last five years in the regular season. Hideki Matsui is 19 of his last 45 (.422) with four homers and 13 RBI along with seven walks. Robinson Cano is hitting .364 (157 of 431) without runners in scoring position. He is hitting .208 (36 of 173) when there are runners in scoring position. This to me is unbelievable, how is such a good hitter that bad with runners in scoring position? Melky Cabrera is 1 of his last 19. He really goes up and down a lot. Brian Bruney has allowed 28 hits — six of them homers — and 15 walks in his last 21.1 innings. It may take a small miracle for him to make the postseason roster. Gaudin is 1-0 with a 3.68 ERA in eight appearances for the Yankees. He does not have a decision in four starts but has a 3.20 ERA over 19.2 innings and the Yankees have won all four of those games. I think the Yankees should sign him for next year. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Gardner(CF)

Pitching Matchups for Yanks/Baltimore series

The New York Yankees begin a 3 game series with the Baltimore Orioles tomorrow at Yankee Stadium. Here are the pitching matchups for the series. Tomorrow- Andy Pettitte vs Chris Tillman Saturday- A.J. Burnett vs Brian Matusz Sunday- CC Sabathia vs Jeremy Guthrie The Yankees just swept Baltimore in Baltimore last week so I would look for the same although 2 out of 3 would be ok. The Yankees will enter the series 9 games up in the AL east over Boston and 6 1/2 ahead of Anaheim for homefield advantage. There pretty much is nothing left to play for except personal milestones like Derek Jeter needing one more hit to pass Lou Gehrig and become the alltime Yankees hits leader. A note from today was that Dave Robertson got good news from Dr. Andrews. He only needs to rest his elbow for 10-14 days and then he can begin a throwing program. It looks like he will be ready to go for the playoffs then which is great news as he has moved himself up the pecking order of the bullpen.

Rays at Yankees

The New York Yankees will take on the Tampa Bay Rays in game 3 of the 4 game series. The Yanks took a doubleheader yesterday by the scores of 4-1 and 11-1. Chad Gaudin takes the mound today against David Price. The Yankees start today 9 games ahead of Boston for first in the AL EAst and 6 1/2 ahead of Anaheim for homefield advantage. It appears they pretty much have everything clinched so the only real drama left is when will Derek Jeter break Lou Gehrig's all time hits record, it could be tonight. He needs 3 to tie and 4 to break it. Here are the pregame notes and lineup via Peter Abraham. The Yankees are at their high water mark for the season at 39 games over 500. They haven't been at 40 over since they ended the 2004 season at 101-61. Tampa has just fallen out of really quickly losing 6 straight and 7 out of 8 and also losing Carlos Pena for the year yesterday. Alex Rodriguez is 10 of his last 20 with 8 rbi's in his last 8 games. He is now batting a season best 282. Melky Cabrera has heated up again batting 413 in his last 13 games with 5 xbh and 10 rbi's. He is now batting 281 with a 340 on base percentage. Phil Hughes has not allowed a run in his last 12 1/3 innings. Is it possible he could stay in this role and they go out and get another pitcher. I doubt it as they have said all along he is a starter also. Mo has converted 39 of 40 and 35 in a row. The Yankees pitching held Tampa Bay to 2 runs on 19 hits in 2 games yesterday and they struck out 23. The Yankees are 21-4 in their last 25 home games. They are 47-20 at home, 41-13 with A-rod. It is amazing that 2 of those losses were to the lowly Nationals. The Yankees are 10-1 in games CC Sabathia has started since the all star break. If you were looking for a true ace you got one. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(DH) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Swisher(RF) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Cabrera(CF) Hairston(SS)

Yanks sweep another series

The New York Yankees swept the Baltimore Orioles tonight in Baltimore. The final score was 10-2. It was a 3-2 game until the Yankees broke it open with 7 runs in the 9th inning to put the game away. CC Sabathia has been pitching like an ace since the all star break and that didn't change tonight. He pitched 7 innings giving up 1 run on 7 hits, he also had 1 walk and 9 strikeouts. Brian Bruney got 1 out in the 8th inning and also gave up a homerun, Phil Coke got an out and then Phil Hughes came in to get the final 4 outs for his second save of the year. The offense was led by Alex Rodriguez who had 3 hits and 4 rbi's. Johnny Damon had 4 hits and a rbi, Nick Swisher had 2 hits and 2 walks and Hideki Matsui had a rbi single. Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano each had 2 hits with Melky picking up a rbi and Jose Molina and Eric Hinske also had a hit so it was a well balanced attack for the Yankee offense. The Yankees now lead Boston by 7 1/2 games in the AL East as they lost to the Tampa Bay Rays and lead Anaheim by 6 1/2 for homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. The Yankees now head to Toronto for a 4 game series with Chad Gaudin starting tomorrow. The only bad news came after the game tonight that Mariano Rivera is out with tightness in his groin, he is going to rest for a few days and they will go with closer by comittee although I would expect to see Hughes in that role more often then not.

White Sox at Yankees

The New York Yankees will take on the Chicago White Sox tonight from the stadium weather permitting. They will make every effort to play this game but I wouldn't expect it with the rain supposedly getting worse as the night goes on. It could be a long night in the Bronx. CC Sabathia against Mark Buehrle is the pitching matchup. Here are the pregame notes and linups as always via Peter Abraham and his Lohud Yankees Blog. I am going to put the Joba news first on here as now they have decided he needs to pitch every 5th day. Since the innings limit hasn't changed that means some games he will pitch less then 5 innings. I am guessing they will use Mitre and Gaudin as his caddies. The White Sox are 10-13 in their last 25 games and are 4 games out in the AL Central with 34 left to play. They are 1-4 in their last 5 games. CC is 5-0 with a 2.65 era in his last 5 starts. He has pitched 37 1/3 innings allowing 28 hits, 5 walks and 39 strikeouts. He has won 11 straight August decisions and is 33-9 with a 3.16 era in 51 career August starts. CC is 15-4 with a 3.77 era in 27 career starts against the White Sox. CC leads the AL in wins and innings to keep going with the CC theme. He is 8th in era and strikeouts, third in whip, third in opponents batting avg against and tied for fifth in opponents ops. CC hasn't seemed to mind pitching at Yankee Stadium going 5-2 with a 3.62 era. He has allowed 5 homers in 77 innings. This just says that if you are a good pitcher you can pitch anywhere and this is where the Yankees have the advantage because there guys are used to the stadium. Phil Coke since the all star break has a 8.10 era. Big Tex has 97 rbi's, he leads the AL, only Prince Fielder, Ryan Howard and Albert Pujols have more in the major leagues. The Yankees are 16-4 in their last 20 home games. Johnny Damon is 9 of his last 20 and is batting 288. Yesterday was one of only 5 games at home the Yankees haven't hit a homerun. This truly is a rare occurence. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Swisher(RF) Cano(2B) Cabrera(CF) Molina(C)

Yankees at Red Sox(The Rubber Game)

The New York Yankees will try and win the 3 game series with the Boston Red Sox tonight at 8 on ESPN. The Yankees also will be finishing a roadtrip where they are 6-3, 7-3 would be great and 6-4 isn't bad if they lose. CC Sabathia will go up against Josh Beckett in a marquee matchup. Here are the pregame notes and lineup via the Lohud Yankees Blog. The Yankees are 5-9 against the Red Sox this season being outscored 118-114. Derek Jeter is one hit away from 2,700 for his career. He is 16 of his last 29 and 19 of 39 on the roadtrip with 8 rbi's and 8 runs scored. Sabathia is 4-0 with a 2.35 era in his last 4 starts. He has pitched 30 2/3 innings allowing 20 hits, 5 walks and striking out 31. Sabathia is 32-9 with a 3.14 era in August in his career. Josh Beckett is 2-0 with 4.12 era in 4 starts against the Yankees this season. Boston has 20 homeruns in their last 8 games. David Ortiz has 5 homeruns in his last 8 games. Boston is 18-2 when he hits a homerun so CC don't give up a homerun to him. Nick Swisher has 18 of his 21 homeruns on the road. He has hit in 8 straight games with 5 runs scored, 7 rbi's. Yankee relievers in the last 2 games have allowed 7 innings, 11 hits, 9 earned runs and 3 homeruns. Of course this is Fenway Park and a lot of pitchers have bad days there. Check out weei.com to see what Jonathan Papelbon said about Billy Wagner. I would tell him to let the GM worry about trades and stuff and not him, of course he had to be classy and open his mouth as usual. Jason Giambi and Russ Ortiz were signed by the Colorado Rockies today. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Swisher(RF) Cano(2B) Cabrera(CF) Molina(C)