The New York Mets earn a series sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks

The New York Mets defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday evening.  The game took place at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona and the final score was 5-2 Mets.  Dillon Gee started for the Mets and pitched very well.  The bullpen threatened to blow it but they didn't.  Daniel Murphy, David Wright, Andrew Brown and Anthony Recker all had a couple of hits. 

Gee pitched seven innings giving up three hits and no runs.  He walked none and struck out three and earned his first win of the season.  Kyle Farnsworth pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and struck out one, Scott Rice retired the only batter that he faced and Jose Valverde pitched an inning giving up three hits and two runs with a strikeout. 

McCarthy started for the Diamondbacks and pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up seven hits and three runs with three walks and five strikeouts.  McCarthy took his third loss of the season.  Thatcher pitched to one batter and struck him out, Oliver Perez pitched one inning giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout and Ziegler pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout.  Addison Reed pitched an inning giving up two hits and two runs with one of them being earned. 

Eric Young Jr. had a hit and drew a walk, Murphy had two hits and an RBI and Wright had two hits and an RBI.  Ike Davis had a hit and drew a walk, Brown had two hits and Kirk Nieuwenhuis had an RBI.  Recker had two hits and an RBI, Ruben Tejada drew two walks and Gee had an RBI.  Brown and Recker each hit a double and Recker hit a homerun.  The Mets were 2-13 with runners in scoring position and left ten men on base.  Young, Wright and Murphy each had a stolen base and Nieuwenhuis had an outfield assist. 

Gerardo Parra had a hit, Aaron Hill had a hit and an RBI and Paul Goldschmidt had two hits and an RBI.  Martin Prado had three hits, Tony Campana had a hit and Prado and Goldschmidt each hit a double.  Hill and Goldschmidt each hit a homerun.  The Diamondbacks were 0-5 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base.  Reed and Montero each committed an error. 

Recker hit a solo homerun in the second inning to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.  Nieuwenhuis hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning to give the Mets a 2-0 lead.  The Mets extended their lead in the sixth on a Gee RBI groundout.  In the ninth they added their last two runs to take a 5-0 lead.  Murphy and Wright each hit an RBI single.  In the bottom of the ninth Hill and Goldschmidt hit back-to-back solo homeruns to make it 5-2 but that was the final score. 

The Mets swept the three game series.  They also completed a nine game road trip with a 6-3 record and will now return home on Friday to take on the Atlanta Braves.  The Mets will have a day off on Thursday.  They will play three against the Braves then four against the Cardinals and three against the Marlins in a long home stand. 

 

Yankees lose finale in Toronto and end long road trip

The New York Yankees lost to the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon by the score of 3-0. The Yankees sat most of their regulars as they were finishing a long, tough road trip. They will begin their last homestand of the season on Monday afternoon and they have to win a few more games to clinch but they are in good position. The Yankees magic number to clinch the division is seven and it is five to clinch a playoff spot. Freddy Garcia started and pitched ok, he wasn’t great but he wasn’t bad. The bullpen did a good job. The offense was completely shut down by Brandon Morrow.
Garcia pitched 4 2/3 innings giving up five hits and three runs. He walked three and struck out four. Garcia took the loss and is now 11-8 on the season. Aaron Laffey faced one batter and walked him, Luis Ayala pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings with a strikeout and Scott Proctor gave up a hit and two walks pitching 1/3 of an inning. Raul Valdes pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up one hit and he struck out two and George Kontos retired the only batter that he faced.

Eduardo Nunez had three hits, Robinson Cano had a walk and Russell Martin had a hit. Chris Dickerson had a hit, Nunez had a double. Cano was caught stealing and the team was 0-3 with runners in scoring position and they left four men on base. Garcia made a throwing error.

Adam Lind hit a solo homerun in the second inning to give the Jays a 1-0 lead. Lind hit another solo homerun in the fourth to give the Jays a 2-0 lead. In the fifth Eric Thames hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0. That would be all the scoring in the game as the Yankees bullpen held the Jays down but the Yankees bats did not do much at all in this game.

The Yankees lost two out of three in this series. The Yankees will now come home to play a makeup game against the Minnesota Twins on Monday afternoon and then begin a four game series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday followed by three against the Red Sox. The Yankees will be looking to clinch a postseason berth and the division title on this homestand. They will also look to get Mariano Rivera the all-time saves record of 602. He needs one more save for the record. The Yankees finished their ten game, four city road trip at 4-6. The Boston Red Sox lost once again to the Tampa Bay Rays and only have a two game lead in the wild card race. The Yankees magic number is five for the postseason and seven for the division. Any combination of their wins and Tampa and Boston losses that equal five or seven will give them the playoffs and division. It should be a fun week at Yankee Stadium as they look to clinch and also get their closer his all-time saves record.

Yankees finish road trip strong and head home

The New York Yankees defeated the Anaheim Angels on Sunday afternoon to win the series two games to one.  It also ended their longest road trip of the season with a 6-3 record.  They played really well on this road trip, some of these west coast trips can really hurt you but the Yankees took over first place out there and are one game up on the Boston Red Sox.  The Yankees lost the first two games in Seattle but then went six out of seven to finish the trip. Here are some postgame notes. “I don’t know if we’ll ever face a nine-game stretch of that kind of starting pitching again,” Mark Teixeira said.

Even the bad starters on this trip were pretty good, but the Yankees won six of nine and played legitimately good baseball. The games they lost were all one-run games. The starting pitching was tremendous, the bullpen did its job, the offense came to life and the defense was especially good the past two nights. Less than a month ago, the Yankees lost six in a row and seemed to be spiraling. Now they’ve won 13 of 18 heading into this week’s showdown against Boston.

“I thought we played pretty well at home before we left, the Mets and Toronto series,” Girardi said. “But before that, we were struggling. We were struggling to win series. There were times we’d win the first agme and we couldn’t win the next two and we weren’t playing well, but we’ve played much better the last five series, and that’s encouraging.”

Pitching deservedly got a lot of credit this road trip, but Teixeira had five home runs during this West Coast swing, including two of them today in Anaheim. He has eight home runs and 19 RBI in the past 16 games. He’s still not hitting for much average, but he’s driving the ball taking his walks.

“I feel good physically,” he said. “Sometimes when you don’t hit home runs, a lot of it’s because you’re a little tired. Your bat’s a little heavy, your bat’s a little slow. Physically I feel like we’ve had a good amount of off days. I feel like I’ve taken care of myself like I always do, and up to his point, my bat’s felt pretty good. Pretty much all season it’s felt pretty quick. I’d still like to get a few more hits. My average is probably not where I want it, but that’s just really good pitching.”

Pitching doesn’t get much better than what the Yankees saw during this road trip, but six wins in nine games shows how well they’re playing heading into tomorrow’s off day and this week’s three-game series against the Red Sox.
More than anything, it seemed the Yankees wanted to talk about their bullpen after this latest win. Bartolo Colon didn’t have his usual command, so the Yankees had to lean on their relievers for 3.2 scoreless innings.

“That might have been the toughest of all the wins that we had,” Girardi said. “It seemed like we had two runners on every inning form the sixth on, maybe even the fifth on, I don’t know, but that was a tough win… When (the relievers) had to get it, they got it.”

Dave Robertson struck out Maicer Izturis to strand the bases loaded in the sixth. Joba Chamberlain struck out Howie Kendrick to strand two runners in the seventh, then he got a double play to end the eighth. Mariano Rivera let the winning run come to the plate in the ninth, then ended the game with a quiet fist pump after the Yankees turned a quick double play.

“There’s a lot of days when you feel great and you’re blowing fastballs by people,” Chamberlain said. “This is the time you have to pitch. You rely on your command, your catcher and your defense most importantly. You’re not going to get a strikeout here, but you’ve got to let them put it into play and let them make plays behind you.”

Both Chamberlain and Robertson called it a battle. Neither had his best stuff, but both found a way. Girardi said some of the credit goes to the rotation for pitching so deep into games lately that he could stick with Robertson and Chamberlain through slightly extended outings.

 Colon only walked two, but it was clear this wasn’t his best day, and he didn’t have his usual command. “I couldn’t find a good grip on the ball,” he said. “I was trying to throw my two-seamer, and I couldn’t.”

  Derek Jeter had another single, this one to right field to pull within 14 of career hit No. 3,000. “As a club we’re starting to get excited,” Girardi said. “I think the fans are starting to get excited. We would love to see him do it at home during the home stand.”

 Jorge Posada said he didn’t think anyone was in position to catch the throw from left field, that’s why he rounded second base on his fourth-inning double. He saw the relay men in front of him and didn’t think any one was behind him. “To be honest,” Girardi said. “He hit the double and I looked down, and I was looking over this way, and the next thing I know, he’s in a rundown. I’m like, what happened? First baseman did his job, he followed, and I guess they threw behind him. I didn’t actually see the play because I assumed it was a double.”

Posada had his first two-hit game since May 17. He came into the game 1-for-16 on the road trip

Brett Gardner also had two hits. He had one hit in the first seven games of this trip, now he has four hits in the past two. Gardner was caught stealing for the seventh time this season. He’s never been a guy who gets caught stealing very often — nine times all last year — but for whatever reason he keeps getting thrown out this year.

This was the 30th career multi-homer game for Teixeira. It was his third multi-homer game in this ballpark, one as an Angel, one as a Ranger and one as a Yankee

Yankees sweep Oakland and some postgame notes

The New York Yankees won 4-2 this afternoon over the Oakland Athletics sweeping the three game series.  The Yankees started off this road trip losing the first two games, they have now won the last four in a row.  They have run into good starting pitching but the offense has done well and the Yankees starters have performed really well which they have for most of the season.  It is really interesting that they don't get talked about a lot right now but they may be soon if this keeps up.  Ivan Nova has the highest ERA of the starters and that is in the high fours.  Every other starter has an ERA below four.  Here are some postgame notes as the Yankees will enjoy a day off on Thursday and head to Anaheim to get ready for a three game series there beginning Friday night.


“Our guys have pitched pretty well too,” Joe Girardi said. “Bartolo got us off to a great start, and Freddy’s been throwing the ball well, and I just felt that our club, we had a chance to win every game on this road trip, and we’ve been playing better. I just felt we had a chance today.”

Following the lead of Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia, A.J. Burnett gave the Yankees seven strong innings. He allowed a two-run homer in the first inning, then allowed one more hit the rest of the way. Girardi said Burnett got stronger as the game went along. 

“Once you’re out there you don’t think about it,” Burnett said, “but obviously you don’t want to be the guy that makes the winning come to an end either. I think we’ve done a good job here of late, and to keep it going, it’s up to us to go out and set the tone. Our defense and our hitters see that confidence and see we’re in those games. It helps them out as well.”

“We’ve beaten three pretty darned good pitchers,” Alex Rodriguez said. “Our guys have been terrific. You can’t say enough about the jobs Colon and Garcia have done. Those guys have been Godsends for us, and A.J. was terrific today.”

Said Girardi: “Pitching is the key, obviously. You have to pitch well to win a lot of games. Whenever we pitch well I get excited, but it’s good to see our offense swinging the bats. It’s great.”


The Yankees got their first three-game series sweep of the season. Every other series sweep this year has been a two-game set against the Orioles. With Sunday’s win in Seattle, this is also the Yankees first four-game winning streak of the year.

Girardi pointed out that this game wasn’t necessarily easy for Burnett. The final numbers are outstanding, but he was laboring, especially early. The difference, he said, was an adjustment away from his four-seam fastball, which was finishing too far up in the zone. “I think at times in the past I would stick to it and get beat up,” Burnett said. “I realized that the two-seamer kept me down in the zone today. To righties I used that more and changeups to lefties. Everything was down.”

The Yankees have won 10 straight against the A’s, and they’ve gone 24-4 against them since Girardi became manager in 2008. “That’s hard to believe because they’ve got a really good team,” Alex Rodriguez said. “Billy Beane has done a great job of gathering talent and great pitching.”

 When Swisher was traded to Chicago, Gonzalez was one of the primary pieces coming from the White Sox to the A’s. Swisher said he had no idea until this morning that he was facing a guy he was once traded for. “I just found out about that this morning, that we were in the same trade,” Swisher said. “No one likes getting traded, bro. You don’t really pay attention to who was on the other side of it. He’s a great pitcher, no doubt, and he’s got a lot of potential. I wish him the best of luck.”

 Derek Jeter had a double to move within 16 hits of 3000. “I can’t wait, man,” Swisher said. “I can’t wait to see that. I’ve seen someone hit 500 (home runs), seen Mariano save 500, but I’ve never seen 3,000 hits, man. I’m excited to see that.”


 Jeter has a seven-game hitting streak and has a .512 on-base percentage when leading off the first inning this year. That’s the highest such on-base percentage in the Majors.

 Russell Martin is hitless in his past 16 at-bats. On the positive side Mark Teixeira has a nine-game hitting streak.

 Mariano Rivera picked up his 14th save of the season. He’s now pitched in 1,002 games, tying Goose Gossage for 14th on baseball’s all-time games pitched list.

 Burnett had not won a game on the road since August 10, 2010, an 11-start streak without a victory. He was 0-5 with a 5.64 ERA. No other Major League starter failed to get at least one win on the road over that stretch (minimum 60 innings pitched) and only one had a higher ERA. Carl Pavano was the other pitcher.

Grapefruit League Game 5-New York Yankees At Minnesota Twins

The New York Yankees are taking the long bus ride down to Fort Myers today to face the Twins. Sergio Mitre will get the start, Chad Gaudin will also pitch continuing the battle for the 5th starter spot. Here are some quick pregame notes as there wasn't much going on this morning and the Yankees lineup.

• Francisco Cervelli will be examined today by a team doctor at the minor league complex. The minor leaguers are taking their physicals today. He will see a neurologist tomorrow, the Yankees are being extra careful with him which is a good thing. If everything goes well he will hopefully be back by Tuesday or Wednesday.

• Tony Pena is not with the team today as he has the flu. He will see a doctor and I hope it isn't what Joba had and it will spread through the team.

• Joe Girardi wasn't too concerned with Andrew Brackman struggling with his command yesterday. He said "His mechanics are a lot cleaner then they were." Chan Ho Park will throw live BP tomorrow along with Mariano Rivera and Damaso Marte. Park could get into a game by next weekend if not sooner.

• The Yankees have a split squad tomorrow and Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson and Randy Winn are among the players heading to Bradenton to face the Pirates. Alfredo Aceves will get the start. Javier Vazquez will get the start at home against the Phillies.

Yankees Lineup:

Brett Gardner(CF)

Nick Swisher(DH)

Mark Teixeira(1B)

Robinson Cano(2B)

Marcus Thames(LF)

Jaime Hoffman(RF)

Mike Rivera(C)

Ramiro Pena(SS)

Brandon Laird(3B)

The game is not being televised at all today. You can follow along at http://yankees.lhblogs.com/ or at http://mlb.com/ The Lohud Blog does a good job with the updating of what is going on during the game. I will have the postgame recap, notes and comments as always so check back later on tonight.

Grapefruit League Game 4-Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees

Here are the lineups and some notes courtesy of the Lohud Yankees Blog. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Granderson(CF) Posada(C) Rodriguez(3B) Winn(RF) Gardner(LF) Cervelli(DH) Miranda(1B) Pena(2B) Toronto Lineup: Bautista(3B) Hill(2B) Lind(DH) Wells(CF) Overbay(1B) Reed(RF) Gonzalez(SS) Snider(LF) Molina(C)Yes it is Jose Molina the former Yankee The game will be broadcast on MY9 in New York and also on the radio WCBS 880. A.J. Burnett will make his first start of the spring against Shaun Marcum. He missed all of last season, and should be one of the guys the Blue Jays look too as he was up and coming before he got hurt. The Yankees PR Dept released this info this morning. Of the 66 players in camp 37 were either originally drafted by the Yankees or signed with the Yankees as non drafted free agents. 23 played in at least one game for the Yankees last season and 27 have appeared in a game for the Yankees at some point in their careers. Andrew Brackman is scheduled to make his spring debut today. The other pitchers who are scheduled for today are: Jonathan Albaladejo, Boone Logan,Mark Melancon, Jason Hirsch,Romulo Sanchez, Amaury Sanit. The position players scheduled to come in the game are Jaime Hoffman getting his first turn in CF, Mike River(C), Jorge Vazquez(1B),Kevin Russ(2B), Eduardo Nunez(SS), Brandon Laird(3B),Colin Curtis(LF), David Winfree(RF) and Austin Romine(DH). Tomorrows scheduled pitchers are Sergio Mitre, Chad Gaudin, Kei Igawa, Wilkens Arias, D.J. Mitchell,Ryan Pope, Amaury Sanit and Kevin Whelan. The game tomorrow is in Fort Myers against the Twins and obviously they aren't sending any of the big guys. Christian Garcia is throwing a bullpen today and scheduled to make his spring debut on Monday. The other guys who are throwing side sessions today are CC Sabathia, Zack Segovia, Zach McAllister and Ivan Nova. Mariano Rivera and Damaso Marte got up to 30 pitches in their bullpens yesterday. They are scheduled to throw tomorrw. Mo said he thinks it is BP tomorrow. Today is Francisco Cervellis 24th birthday so Happy Birthday to him. The Yankees have signed Can Am league player Myron Leslie to a minor league deal. It is on the Can Am website. This is the same league that the New Jersey Jackals play in. Enjoy the game everyone and the nice day. I am hoping you guys will post on these game posts and get some good discussion about the lineups, the battles for roster spots, the game itself even during the games etc. Any other ideas please feel free to let me know, thank you for all the support.

Pitching matchups for Yanks/Jays series

Tomorrow- Roy Halladay vs Andy Pettitte Wednesday- Mark Rzepczynski vs Sergio Mitre This isn't going to be easy with Doc Halladay pitching tomorrow but he doesn't get a lot of run support so maybe the Yankees can find a way to win a 2-1 type game. I don't know anything about the Jays pitcher for Wednesday but his stats are pretty good and Sergio Mitre has been awful so they have their work cut out for them, it would be nice to win both and have a winning road trip but 1 out of 2 would be fine before facing the Sox.

Rough Day for Coke

The New York Yankees lost to the KC Royals today in a tough game 6-4. Joba Chamberlain pitched well going 6 innings allowing 1 earned run on 4 hits with 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. Brian Bruney pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and Damaso Marte got both guys he faced out. The trouble began when Marte came out, Jose Veras walked the only guy he faced and then Coke gave up a double to tie the game before allowing 2 more hits and another run. The offense looked listless for most of the game and that can happen when your facing Gil Meche and you have Molina, Gardner, Cabrera and Ransom all in the lineup. The lineup didn't see anyone get more then one hit, Xavier Nady and Robinson Cano got the only rbis as poor defense led to the other runs. The Yankees move on to Tampa now to finish the first road trip of the year before they come home to officially open the New Stadium. Here are the pitching matchups vs the Rays Tomorrow- Chien-Ming Wang vs Scott Kazmir Tuesday- A.J. Burnett vs Matt Garza Wednesday- Andy Pettitte vs Andy Sonnanstine The first two games are at 7:08pm and the last game is at 4:08pm all on the YES network. Alex Rodriguez will be in Tampa tomorrow for the next phase of his rehab and is expected to be with the team during the game. It will be interesting to see if he talks to the media. I wonder how much longer before Ransom sits as he is 1-20, I wonder if they are thinking Arod hurry back.