Yankees Vs. Tigers Opening Day

The New York Yankees are set to play the Detroit Tigers Thursday afternoon Opening Day of the 2011 baseball season. C.C. Sabathia will face off against Justin Verlander. The Yankees already released their lineup on Wednesday and it is Gardner, Jeter, Teixeira, Rodriguez, Cano, Swisher, Posada, Granderson, Martin. Jeter will bat leadoff against lefties and Gardner will move to number nine with Swisher in the 2 hole. Here are some other things on the night before the season begins. The teams will take Friday off and then play Saturday and Sunday afternoon. The pitching matchup for Saturday is A.J. Burnett vs. Brad Penny, it is a 4:10PM start on Fox. Phil Hughes will face Max Scherzer on Sunday at 1:05PM on the YES Network. The Yankees placed Pedro Feliciano on the 15 day DL and have added Luis Ayala to the roster. They also added Gustavo Molina to the roster. The Yankees bench consists of Eduardo Nunez, Eric Chavez, Andruw Jones and Molina. Ayala is the last man in the bullpen, that consists of Mariano Rivera, Rafael Soriano, Dave Robertson, Joba Chamberlain, Boone Logan and Bartolo Colon. The Yankees are scheduled to play 13 of their first 16 games at home, 20 of their first 28 and 48 of their first 82. The 18 April home games are the most in franchise history. Sabathia will make his third consecutive Opening Day start for the Yankees becoming the first Yankee to start as many in a row since Roger Clemens did so in 2001-03. He is one of 12 players in franchise history to start three or more Opening Days. The Yankees three scheduled starters in the series are a combined 22-14 in their careers against the Detroit Tigers. The Yankees were 95-67 last season and finished one game behind Tampa Bay for the division. They were the AL wild card sweeping the Minnesota Twins in the ALDS but losing in six games to the Texas Rangers in the ALCS. The Yankees have reached the postseason 15 of the past 16 years. The Yankees begin their third season of play in this Yankee Stadium. They own the most home wins and best regular season home winning percentage in the majors since the stadium opened in 2009. They are 109-53 over that span. The 109 wins are the most by a ML team in its first two seasons at a particular venue. The previous mark was 106. The Yankees last season led the majors with a 988 fielding percentage. They committed a major league low 69 errors. It was the Yankees all time highest fielding percentage and fewest errors in a non strike year.

Welcome to Opening Day

The New York Mets begin their 2010 season at 1:00PM today at home against the Florida Marlins. Baseball is back and what can be better then that. The ace of the staff Johan Santana will take the mound going up against Josh Johnson. Here are the pregame notes I have from the Mets media notes. The Mets are set to open up their 49th season in the National League. They are 31-17 on Opening Day. This is the best winning percentage in baseball on opening day. Johan Santana will make his 5th opening day start and 3rd straight with the Mets. He is 3-1 with a 4.07 era on opening day and won his last 2 with the Mets. The Mets have never opened the season at home against Florida. They have played them twice in Florida to start the season in 1999 and 2008. This is the first time the Mets have opened at home since 2006 and 25th time overall they have opened at home. They are 17-7 in those openers, they are also 17-2 in their last 19 opening days at home. The pregame ceremonies will include renaming the brige beyond the right-centerfield wall Shea bridge. The 4 troops will do the national anthem and God Bless America and Darryl Strawberry will throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Mets Lineup: Cora(SS) Castillo(2B) Wright(3B) Jacobs(1B) Bay(LF) Matthews(CF) Francoeur(RF) Barajas(C) Santana(P)

Yanks make a few cuts and try to figure out their pitching schedule

The New York Yankees are in a little bit of a mess. The reason they are in a mess is because of the rainout today. The Yankees have 7 pitchers who need to pitch and only 9 innings against a major league team tomorrow. They have been calling around to see if they could find another team to play a split squad tomorrow. Another option they may have is to play against one of the minor league teams. They may also play a B game at home tomorrow. Joe Girardi had this to say "It's a mess kinda, we don't have it completely ironed out. Right now, it's a little pain in the rear." A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Mariano Rivera, Chan Ho Park and Damaso Marte all need to throw. The Yankees have a scheduled off day on Tuesday but Girardi said that wouldn't solve the problem because they are trying to keep everyone on schedule or as close to it as possible. My guess is they find a team who will play a split squad tomorrow and everyone will get their work in, if no one will cooperate then they will probably play a B game at home and they will still get their work in. I think it is less of a problem with a veteran team. The cuts that took place today were Jesus Montero, Austin Romine, Colin Curtis and Reid Gorecki. They are all headed to the minor league complex. I am not sure if I will be able to get more information later about what is going on with the schedule but if I do I will post it on here, if not I will have something tomorrow. Enjoy this beautiful day everyone and pretty soon we will have baseball again. UPDATE: 3:45PM-The Yankees will play a intrasquad game at home tomorrow. Here is how the pitching will work. One of the teams will have Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Damaso Marte and they will go against the other team who will have Joba Chamberlain, Chan Ho Park and Dave Robertson. The rest of the team will head to Clearwater to face the Phillies, A.J. Burnett will start that game with Phil Hughes coming on in relief.

Grapefruit League Game 15-Rays at Yankees

The New York Yankees will play under the lights once again tonight against the Rays. Here are some notes and the lineups for tonights game. Javier Vazquez makes the start for the Yankees and Carlos Hernandez for the Rays.

• Alfredo Aceves will make the start on Saturday against the Houston Astros.
• CC Sabathia will start tomorrow at home and Sergio Mitre on the road, Chad Gaudin will pitch in relief of Mitre.
• The pitchers who are scheduled behind Vazquez today are Dave Robertson, Chan Ho Park, Dustin Moseley, Mark Melancon, Romulo Sanchez and Boone Logan.
• The players coming off of the bench for the Yankees are Austin Romine(C), Jon Weber(1B), Reegie Corona(2B), Kevin Russo(SS), Eduardo Nunez(3B), Colin Curtis(LF), Greg Golson(CF), Reid Gorecki(RF), P.J. Pilittere(DH).

Yankees Lineup:

Derek Jeter(SS)

Curtis Granderson(CF)

Nick Swisher(RF)

Jorge Posada(C)

Robinson Cano(2B)

Marcus Thames(DH)

Randy Winn(LF)

Juan Miranda(1B)

Ramiro Pena(3B)

Rays Lineup:

Jason Bartlett(SS)

Carl Crawford(LF)

Ben Zobrist(RF)

Carlos Pena(1B)

Willy Aybar(3B)

B.J. Upton(CF)

Pat Burrell(DH)

Sean Rodriguez(2B)

Dioner Navarro(C)

Mets win yesterday lose 2 games today

The New York Mets defeated the Detroit Tigers yesterday by the score of 9-1. Oliver Perez pitched 4 shutout innings which is a good sign. According to the NY Post today though he didn't pitch as good as it looks. There was a ball hit that would of been a 3 run homerun but the wind held it up and his velocity was in the low 90s. The Mets are trying to teach him less is more though and with him any progress is good. I would take it as a good sign right now. Jenrry Mejia pitched another scoreless inning. He did give up a run in the 8th though. The Mets also had 4 homeruns, Gary Matthews Jr., David Wright,Jason Bay and Daniel Murphy. Hisanori Takahashi had another good outing as he pitched 3 innings allowing 1 hit and he struck out 3. Luis Castillo had a rbi single. Jon Heyman says that of all the prospects Mejia has the best chance to go North with the team, I have a feeling they are going to make him the 8th inning guy. I think this would be a mistake rushing him like this. I think it is different in Florida then New York and he will find that out quickly. The Mets lost 2 games today to the Florida Marlins. They lost 7-0 and 5-1. Johan Santana threw 4 shutout innings today. R.A. Dickey allowed 4 runs but only 2 were earned. Nelson Figueroa had another scoreless inning in relief. He is having a very good spring. John Maine was terrible lasting 2/3 of an inning and giving up 5 runs. He also walked 3 but says that his shoulder feels fine. He may just need some time, he hasn't pitched really in a couple of years. Kiko Calero made his debut and pitched a scoreless inning. Luis Castillo had a couple of hit and Jason Bay had a hit. Castillo is having a strong spring and maybe last year wasn't a fluke and he will have another good year. Francoeur and Cora each had a hit. The Mets will be at home tomorrow to take the Cardinals at 1:10PM.

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)

Yankee Notes

A-rod was in the original lineup but is out with Back Spasms, he said he hopes to play tomorrow. Joba will start after all in Seattle on Sunday but then not pitch again until they get back home after the roadtrip. Here is the pitching schedule now: Tomorrow-Sergio Mitre Sunday-Joba Monday- In Oakland-Burnett Tuesday-Sabathia Wednesday-Gaudin Thursday-OFF Friday- In Boston- Pettitte Saturday-Burnett Sunday-Sabathia Monday Aug 24th-OFF Tuesday Aug 25th-Joba Thanks to Peter Abraham for having this, check out his Lohud Yankees Blog

Orioles at Yankees

The New York Yankees will open a 3 game series with the Baltimore Orioles tonight at the stadium. Andy Pettitte will be on the mound against David Hernandez. Here are the pregame notes and lineup as always via Peter Abraham of the Journal News. The Yankees are one game behind Boston and have gone 16-5 in their last 21 games. Andy Pettitte has had a lot of success against the Birds going 25-6 with a 3.73 era in 35 career starts against them. He is 10-2 with a 2.76 era in the Bronx. This is the first time he is facing them since last Sept 21st when he won the last game ever played at the old stadium. The Yankees pitching for the last 3 games has gone 27 innings with 20 hits allowed, 5 earned runs, 12 walks and 24 strikeouts. MO has converted 38 straight save oppurtunities at home going back to 2007. He has thrown 13 1/3 scoreless innings in his last 13 appearances allowing 4 hits with one walk and 12 strikeouts. The Yankees are 17 games over 500, they have not been 18 games over since the final day of the 2007 season. A-rod has 5 homeruns in his last 6 games and one in each of the last 2 games. He has 19 for the season and rather amazingly only 20 players in baseball have more. He needs one more homerun to tie Harmon Killebrew on the alltime list which is 9th place. 10 of his 19 homeruns have tied the game or given the Yanks the lead. Phil Hughes has been filthy going 16 2/3 scoreless innings in his last 13 appearances with 9 hits, 3 walks and 21 strikeouts. The Yankees have gone 23-9 in their last 32 home games. Yankees lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Cano(2B) Hinske(RF) Cabrera(CF) Molina(C)

Yankees at Big Point of season

The New York Yankees have a off day today before starting a 3 game series in Atlanta tomorrow night and then the weekend subway series at Citi Field. The New York Yankees are at a point where they need to get this turned around or risk letting this season get away from them. They stand 4 games out of first place behind the Boston Red Sox who they are already 0-8 against, good thing they have 10 more against them and 7 at home. They now are tied for the wildcard with the Anaheim Angels and two games ahead of the Blue Jays in the loss column and 3 ahead of the Rays. A couple of weeks ago the Yankees were 1 game up in the division and way ahead in the wildcard and since they have been dreadful going 4-8, should be 3-9 if Luis Castillo didn't drop a popup. The Yankees pitching has been pretty good, bullpen also but they haven't been able to hit at all fo the most part against inferior teams. The Yankees had no business going 2-4 against the Nationals and Marlins, at worst they should of gone 4-2. Joe Girardi is the manager and will soon start to take the blame, I don't blame him but he better get hold of this team right now and get them back to playing good clean baseball. I would like to see a change in hitting coach and maybe even pitching coach but that doesn't seem like it will happen. I wonder how much longer this can go on without hearing anything from Brian Cashman, Hank or Hal Steinbrenner, it would be wise of the Yankees to not let anyone hear from them as they start winning starting tomorrow and get themselves back into the playoff picture ahead of the pack.

Washington Nationals at New York Yankees

The New York Yankees will take on the Washington Nationals tonight from Yankee Stadium. The game is on MY9 in NY at 7:00pm. CC Sabathia gets the start for the bombers. Here are some pregame notes and the lineup via Peter Abraham. The Nationals are 6-23 on the road and have gone 3-12 in their last 15 games overall. The Yankees have won 14 of thier last 19 at home. The Yankees were 93-63 in interleague games over the first 8 years but have gone 33-27 since. I think this is the time for them to play really well again playing the NL east now for 15 straight. Derek Jeter has the most hits, at bats and runs scored in interleague play. He is also batting 339 against the National League. Nick Swisher has gone 15 of his last 46 which is 326 with 11 runs scored, 8 rbi's, 14 walks and 8 extra base hits. The Yankees were 32-31 after 63 games the last 2 years and are 36-27 this year a 4 game difference. Derek Jeter has gone 9 of his last 18 with 4 rbi and 4 runs scored. He is now batting 310. Hideki Matsui is 6 of his last 16 with 2 homeruns, 5 rbi's, 5 walks and 5 runs scored. A-rod is 8 of 45 in June and is batting 178 in his last 9 games. He is in a slump but this may be a good time to come out of it against these weaker NL teams. The Yankees have committed at least one error in 10 of their last 12 games. One roster move to report also is that the Yankees DFA'D Jose Veras and activated Brian Bruney. I am very happy about this move, i was afraid they would send Robertson back down but Veras had become useless and now they ust need to get rid of Berroa and I will be really happy. Bruney may not go right into the 8th inning as they want to bring him back slowly and also won't go back to back days right away according to Joe Girardi. Yankees lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Cano(2B) Posada(C) Matsui(DH) Swisher(RF) Cabrera(CF)

Yanks defeat Indians and the Midges

The New York Yankees defeated the Cleveland Indians by the score of 5-2 tonight. Joba Chamberlain got the start and looked great, he threw 8 innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits with 5 strikeouts. He was consistantly hitting 96-98 on the gun all the way through the game. This is the best Joba has looked as a starter and the potential he has, if he is throwing hard nad throwing strikes watch out and this is why he should and will be a starter. If he is this type of pitcher a ace he will pitch the eighth anyway. The Yankees finished off the roadtrip at 5-2 and also set a MLB record with their 18th straight errorless game. Derek Jeter had 2 hits and 2 walks to lead the offense, Nick Swisher had 2 doubles. A-rod had a 2 run single and a walk. Big Tex had a hit to extend his hitting streak to 14 games and also Jeter extended his to 15. The offense wasn't great but good enough and now they will return home to the homerun haven. This should be an interesting series with the high powered Rangers, A.J. Burnett will get the start tomorrow night.

Yanks can't avoid Sweep

The Yankees had a terrible weekend in Boston getting swept by the hated Red Sox. The Yankees had a 4-2 lead in the ninth with two outs on Friday when MO blew the save giving up a 2 run homer to Jason Bay to tie the game and it just seemed to snowball from there. Yesterday the Yankees had a 6-0 lead and A.J. Burnett just could not hold it and the pen got roughed up and tonight the Yankees couldn't get anything going and lost 4-1. The Yankees are a mess right now but they were playing good before this weekend other then the games Chien-Ming Wang pitched. The starters need to start getting more consistent and then the bullpen will be in better shape and can be in more defined roles. The offense is the same old thing, yeah they can score runs but they don't do the little things, they strand too many runners and right now third base and CF are automatic outs and Big Tex isn't playing the way he eventually will. The Yankees just need to go out to Detroit have a good series and get back on track, they will get A-rod back in a couple of weeks and that will help as they do need him. The bright side of tonights game was Mark Melancon who pitched two shutout innings, he was very impressive in the seventh getting them out 1-2-3 on I belive 5 pitches. His second inning was shaky as he loaded the bases with no outs but showed a lot of poise by getting a groundout to third which got the force at home then a strikeout and groundout to get out of trouble. I believe him and Dave Robertson will evolve into late inning guys they can trust and the more experience the better for them.