The New York Yankees defeated the Atlanta Braves by the score of 8-3 on Saturday afternoon. Michael Pineda started for the Yankees and pitched pretty well. He was hit hard early on but recovered and only gave up a run and four hits in 2 2/3 innings. He did walk three guys and struck out one. Pineda had a mission today to throw changeups and it isn’t so much about the results right now. The one encouraging sign for him is that his velocity was up from his first start. It looks like he is slowly building up his velocity to peak form. He did get the win in the game. Jose Gil, Gary Sanchez and Jayson Nix all had two hits in the game. Alex Rodriguez also had a good game with a booming double and a couple of RBI.
Cesar Cabral pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up no runs and no hits and striking out two batters. Brett Marshall pitched two innings walking two and striking out three. Michael O’Connor pitched a perfect inning, Ryan Pope pitched one inning giving up two hits and two runs with two walks and a strikeout. Dan Burawa pitched one inning giving up two hits and no runs with a strikeout.
Brett Gardner had a hit and a walk, Melky Mesa had an RBI and Andruw Jones had a walk. Kyle Higashioka had a hit, Alex Rodriguez had a hit and two RBI and Brandon Laird had a hit. Mark Teixeira had a hit, RBI and two walks. Jose Gil had two hits and an RBI, Raul Ibanez had a hit and Colin Curtis had an RBI. Gary Sanchez had two hits and an RBI, Justin Maxwell had a hit, RBI and a walk and Zoile Almonte had a hit. Doug Bernier had a hit and Nix had two hits.
It was the third straight win for the Yankees. The Yankees had doubles from Rodriguez, Nix and Almonte. The Yankees were 7-19 with runners in scoring position and they left 13 men on base. Maxwell and Gardner each had a stolen base. The Yankees will play split squad games tomorrow afternoon. They will play the Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers and take on the Philadelphia Phillies at home.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
The Mets get a victory over the Atlanta Braves
The Mets beat the Atlanta Braves split squad by the score of 5-3 on Friday afternoon. Dillon Gee got the start and he pitched three innings giving up two runs on five hits and striking out two. Matt Harvey pitched two perfect innings, striking out one batter. Olson pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout, James pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up one hit, one run and one walk. Cabrera got charged with a blown save and pitched 2/3 of an inning. He also got the win, Stinson pitched one inning giving up two hits and Edgin got the save pitching one perfect inning with a strikeout.
Thole had a hit, Quintanilla had a walk and Daniel Murphy had a hit. Valdespin had a hit, Rottino had a hit and Dekker had a hit and two RBI. Loewen had a hit, the Mets were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. They will take on the Washington Nationals tomorrow afternoon away.
Thole had a hit, Quintanilla had a walk and Daniel Murphy had a hit. Valdespin had a hit, Rottino had a hit and Dekker had a hit and two RBI. Loewen had a hit, the Mets were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. They will take on the Washington Nationals tomorrow afternoon away.
Yankees end their four game losing streak in win over the Braves
The Yankees defeated the Braves today by the score of 3-0. Freddy Garcia started and pitched three innings. He gave up no runs on one hit. He walked one and struck out two. Rafael Soriano pitched one perfect inning. Manny Banuelos pitched two innings giving up no runs on two hits with three strikeouts. D.J. Mitchell also pitched two innings giving up one hit with a walk and a strikeout.
They didn't have any player with more then one hit but a lot of guys with a hit. Derek Jeter had a hit and a walk, Doug Bernier had a hit and Curtis Granderson had a hit and a walk. Melky Mesa had a hit and an RBI, Robinson Cano had an RBI and Nick Swisher had a hit and an RBI. Eric Chavez had a hit, Russell Martin had a hit and Gustavo Molina had a hit.
The Yankees were 2-8 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Martin had a stolen base. The Yankees will take on the Atlanta Braves tomorrow in Orlando.
They didn't have any player with more then one hit but a lot of guys with a hit. Derek Jeter had a hit and a walk, Doug Bernier had a hit and Curtis Granderson had a hit and a walk. Melky Mesa had a hit and an RBI, Robinson Cano had an RBI and Nick Swisher had a hit and an RBI. Eric Chavez had a hit, Russell Martin had a hit and Gustavo Molina had a hit.
The Yankees were 2-8 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Martin had a stolen base. The Yankees will take on the Atlanta Braves tomorrow in Orlando.
Yankees Friday notes after they snap their four game losing streak
Here are the Yankees Friday notes after they broke their four game losing streak with a win over the Atlanta Braves. The Yankees won on Friday afternoon by the score of 3-0. Here are the notes from Chad Jennings of the Journal News and Lohud Yankees Blog. I add my insights into this as well, enjoy.
This was more like it. After a somewhat erratic spring debut, Manny Banuelos looked more like an elite pitching prospect on the verge of the big leagues this afternoon. His fastball was in the mid-90s and he mixed offspeed pitches without walking anyone. He struck out three in two scoreless innings.I really like this guy but you have to take it easy with him. He is still just 20 years old, he will be in AAA and is closer then ever to the big leagues. He doesn't need to come up until he is ready though and he isn't ready just yet.
“I think he battled some nerves his first time out,” catcher Russell Martin said. “He looked like he was a little erratic. This time out, he was just pitching. Powering his fastball, downward plane, and he looked like he just had more control of all his pitches. So I think as we progress here, he’s just going to sharpen up.”
The Yankees have seen improvement in each of their top pitching prospects. Banuelos showed it today. Dellin Betances showed it yesterday. David Phelps, D.J. Mitchell and Adam Warren have been pretty sharp all spring, drawing consistent praise from Joe Girardi. They have a lot of promising young pitchers that are knocking on the door.
“I thought (Banuelos) attacked the zone better and was able to get his secondary pitches over,” Girardi said. “I thought Betances made a big jump too, yesterday. Betances was aggressive yesterday, threw some strikes and was throwing 95. You’re trying to get them more comfortable to attack the zone with their good stuff. I think we saw it from both of them.”
Expectation is that both Banuelos and Betances have next to zero chance of making the big league roster. They’re ticketed for Triple-A, and might not even be the first pitchers called up if the Yankees need a spot starter. But the Yankees have seen progress, and all eyes are on each of their outings.
Today it was Banuelos’ turn to shine.
“He’s got great stuff, no question,” Martin said. “But he still has to work on his changeup, and he still has to work on his breaking ball command for him to be who he wants to be. But it’s still early in the spring, and from this outing compared to the last, it’s already a nice leap forward. He definitely has the stuff. He’s got a lot of life on his fastball. It’s easy. He struck a couple guys out just elevating his fastball. But the main thing for him, he’s the type of guy who will get himself in trouble. He’s not going to get banged around because his stuff’s so good. But you don’t want the guy to walk guys and create his own troubles. And that’s what we’re trying to keep him from doing. Just make sure that he’s throwing the ball over the plate and using all his pitches.”
Not much to say about Freddy Garcia’s outing. He went three scoreless innings with two strikeouts and one hit, keeping his pitch count low and working quickly. “Vintage Freddy,” is what Girardi called it. Before the game, Garcia told Martin that he wanted to work on his changeup a little bit, and Garcia said his changeup was arguably his best pitch of the day. The positives for Garcia are that you pretty much know what you will get. Nova, Pineda, Hughes, these are young talented pitchers and may be better then Garcia but you also may not know what you will get from them.
Martin on Garcia: “His pitch count was relatively low because he got contact. He was throwing strikes. That’s what you want from him, just to be able to throw all his pitches over the plate, and induce contact. That’s what he did.”
It was just yesterday that Joba Chamberlain told me he would begin throwing breaking balls on Sunday. Turns out, he’s ahead of even his own schedule. Chamberlain wound up throwing breaking balls this morning, throwing five sliders for the first time since Tommy John surgery. “Once I threw the first two, the last three were a lot better,” he said. Chamberlain went through his usual routine of 10 pitches off flat ground, 20 off a mound, a short rest, then 10 more off the mound. When that was finished, he threw all five sliders with his catcher standing up so that he wouldn’t feel the need to overthrow and keep the ball down. He is doing remarkably well and this says a lot for him. He should be back by June and that will be a positive for the bullpen. I still think Joba could be the eventual successor to Mariano Rivera but we will see what happens.
Most of the pitching attention today was on Garcia and Banuelos, but I thought Mitchell look pretty sharp. He’s known for that sinker, but he really has to use his changeup and breaking ball to stay effective, and today he got a swinging strike three with a good changeup that had good movement. He pitched two scoreless, allowing one hit and one walk.
Juan Cedeno is probably the longest of long shots to make this team as a left-handed releiver, but today he came in to face one batter — big league lefty Freddie Freeman — and Cedeno got a strikeout. Kevin Whelan closed out the win with the final two outs.
Great play by Martin to get Michael Bourne out on a bunt in the third inning. It was a pretty good bunt up the third-base line, and Martin made a kind of twirling throw to get one of the fastest players in baseball. “That’s as good as it gets from a catcher,” Girardi said. “There aren’t too many people who can make that play, just because of his athleticism.”
Even though the CT scan came back negative, the Yankees are taking things slow with Eduardo Nunez’s sore right hand. “We said, ‘Don’t take (batting practice) today and let’s see where you are tomorrow,’” Girardi said. As of right now, Nunez is not scheduled to make tomorrow’s trip to play the Braves.
No one had more than one hit today, but four Yankees — Martin, Nick Swisher, Eric Chavez and Doug Bernier — did have doubles in the win. It was Swisher’s second double of the spring. Robinson Cano picked up his second RBI. Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, Melky Mesa and Gustavo Molina also had hits.
For Sunday’s split-squad games, the plan is for the big league outfielders to travel to Fort Myers with Phil Hughes. The big league infielders will stay in Tampa to play behind CC Sabathia and Mariano Rivera. Girardi is going to the road game. I’m still making up my mind.
This was more like it. After a somewhat erratic spring debut, Manny Banuelos looked more like an elite pitching prospect on the verge of the big leagues this afternoon. His fastball was in the mid-90s and he mixed offspeed pitches without walking anyone. He struck out three in two scoreless innings.I really like this guy but you have to take it easy with him. He is still just 20 years old, he will be in AAA and is closer then ever to the big leagues. He doesn't need to come up until he is ready though and he isn't ready just yet.
“I think he battled some nerves his first time out,” catcher Russell Martin said. “He looked like he was a little erratic. This time out, he was just pitching. Powering his fastball, downward plane, and he looked like he just had more control of all his pitches. So I think as we progress here, he’s just going to sharpen up.”
The Yankees have seen improvement in each of their top pitching prospects. Banuelos showed it today. Dellin Betances showed it yesterday. David Phelps, D.J. Mitchell and Adam Warren have been pretty sharp all spring, drawing consistent praise from Joe Girardi. They have a lot of promising young pitchers that are knocking on the door.
“I thought (Banuelos) attacked the zone better and was able to get his secondary pitches over,” Girardi said. “I thought Betances made a big jump too, yesterday. Betances was aggressive yesterday, threw some strikes and was throwing 95. You’re trying to get them more comfortable to attack the zone with their good stuff. I think we saw it from both of them.”
Expectation is that both Banuelos and Betances have next to zero chance of making the big league roster. They’re ticketed for Triple-A, and might not even be the first pitchers called up if the Yankees need a spot starter. But the Yankees have seen progress, and all eyes are on each of their outings.
Today it was Banuelos’ turn to shine.
“He’s got great stuff, no question,” Martin said. “But he still has to work on his changeup, and he still has to work on his breaking ball command for him to be who he wants to be. But it’s still early in the spring, and from this outing compared to the last, it’s already a nice leap forward. He definitely has the stuff. He’s got a lot of life on his fastball. It’s easy. He struck a couple guys out just elevating his fastball. But the main thing for him, he’s the type of guy who will get himself in trouble. He’s not going to get banged around because his stuff’s so good. But you don’t want the guy to walk guys and create his own troubles. And that’s what we’re trying to keep him from doing. Just make sure that he’s throwing the ball over the plate and using all his pitches.”
Not much to say about Freddy Garcia’s outing. He went three scoreless innings with two strikeouts and one hit, keeping his pitch count low and working quickly. “Vintage Freddy,” is what Girardi called it. Before the game, Garcia told Martin that he wanted to work on his changeup a little bit, and Garcia said his changeup was arguably his best pitch of the day. The positives for Garcia are that you pretty much know what you will get. Nova, Pineda, Hughes, these are young talented pitchers and may be better then Garcia but you also may not know what you will get from them.
Martin on Garcia: “His pitch count was relatively low because he got contact. He was throwing strikes. That’s what you want from him, just to be able to throw all his pitches over the plate, and induce contact. That’s what he did.”
It was just yesterday that Joba Chamberlain told me he would begin throwing breaking balls on Sunday. Turns out, he’s ahead of even his own schedule. Chamberlain wound up throwing breaking balls this morning, throwing five sliders for the first time since Tommy John surgery. “Once I threw the first two, the last three were a lot better,” he said. Chamberlain went through his usual routine of 10 pitches off flat ground, 20 off a mound, a short rest, then 10 more off the mound. When that was finished, he threw all five sliders with his catcher standing up so that he wouldn’t feel the need to overthrow and keep the ball down. He is doing remarkably well and this says a lot for him. He should be back by June and that will be a positive for the bullpen. I still think Joba could be the eventual successor to Mariano Rivera but we will see what happens.
Most of the pitching attention today was on Garcia and Banuelos, but I thought Mitchell look pretty sharp. He’s known for that sinker, but he really has to use his changeup and breaking ball to stay effective, and today he got a swinging strike three with a good changeup that had good movement. He pitched two scoreless, allowing one hit and one walk.
Juan Cedeno is probably the longest of long shots to make this team as a left-handed releiver, but today he came in to face one batter — big league lefty Freddie Freeman — and Cedeno got a strikeout. Kevin Whelan closed out the win with the final two outs.
Great play by Martin to get Michael Bourne out on a bunt in the third inning. It was a pretty good bunt up the third-base line, and Martin made a kind of twirling throw to get one of the fastest players in baseball. “That’s as good as it gets from a catcher,” Girardi said. “There aren’t too many people who can make that play, just because of his athleticism.”
Even though the CT scan came back negative, the Yankees are taking things slow with Eduardo Nunez’s sore right hand. “We said, ‘Don’t take (batting practice) today and let’s see where you are tomorrow,’” Girardi said. As of right now, Nunez is not scheduled to make tomorrow’s trip to play the Braves.
No one had more than one hit today, but four Yankees — Martin, Nick Swisher, Eric Chavez and Doug Bernier — did have doubles in the win. It was Swisher’s second double of the spring. Robinson Cano picked up his second RBI. Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, Melky Mesa and Gustavo Molina also had hits.
For Sunday’s split-squad games, the plan is for the big league outfielders to travel to Fort Myers with Phil Hughes. The big league infielders will stay in Tampa to play behind CC Sabathia and Mariano Rivera. Girardi is going to the road game. I’m still making up my mind.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Yankees Thursday Notes
Here are the Yankees Thursday notes. Ivan Nova did not have a good game, no need to worry right now but he isn't happy with the results. He will get to work, looking at the video and seeing where he is going wrong mechanically. He will work with Larry Rothschild the pitching coach. The notes are courtesy of the Lohud Yankees blog and my two cents thrown in there.
“I know for sure tomorrow we’re going to talk about it,” Nova said.
Nova’s fastball hit 95 mph. He was happy with his slider and happy with his changeup, but much like his previous start against the Phillies, Nova’s command was unreliable at best. He fell behind often against the Blue Jays, and it was a 2-0 pitch that J.P. Arencibia hit for a home run. Hunter Pence homered on a 3-0 pitch from Nova five days ago.
“I throw, for me, perfect bullpens,” Nova said. “Once I get out there, sometimes, I guess I do too much. I think that’s what happened, maybe. I’ve got to figure it out… Sometimes you can be open too much or too quick. The first inning was really good, I wasn’t pushing my body or anything like that. The second and third inning (were bad). It’s got to be something.”
Nova said he doesn’t feel out of shape, and he’s encouraged that his velocity suggests his arm strength is where it needs to be. He just needs to get his mechanics ironed out. Joe Girardi said he’s still a long way from making a judgment about Nova.
“These guys are just getting ready to compete and getting their arm strength,” Girardi said. “We saw some velocity out of him today. We saw some 95s today. They’re still going through all of that.”
The Yankees were on the verge of a second consecutive shutout when Colin Curtis hit a solo home run in the ninth inning to leave the Yankees with a 6-1 loss. Ramiro Pena was the only Yankee with two hit, and other than the Curtis home run, Pena’s double was the team’s only extra-base hit. Brett Gardner, Mark Teixeira, Brandon Laird, Justin Maxwell and Doug Bernier each singled in the game.
David Phelps let one of Nova’s runners scored on a passed ball by Francisco Cervelli, but otherwise, Phelps pitched 2.1 innings allowing one hit, two walks and a strikeout. I didn’t think he was especially sharp, but he settled in a little bit.
If he’s going to have a chance of making this team — and the Yankees seem to be giving him a legitimate look — Cesar Cabral is going to have to retire lefties. Giving up a home run to lefty Travis Snider didn’t exactly help his cause this afternoon. It also didn’t help that lefty Eric Thames singled off him later in the inning. The Yankees have not had much luck in trying to find a second lefty the last couple of years.
Raul Ibanez looked fine in right field. He only had two chances to make a play and one of those was a ground ball. The other was a fly ball near the foul line, and Ibanez made a running catch for the out. Not the hardest play in the world, but he made it with no problem. “You have to take balls, and see more balls hit out there,” Ibanez said. “Today was a great thing to be able to go out there, spend a little time out there, and catch one. Angle off the bat is good.” It looks like the Yankees will put him out in the outfield at times and feel good about it. That is a big reason they signed him and not Johnny Damon or Hideki Matsui.
Dellin Betances and Dan Burawa each pitched around some trouble to leave runners on base and pitch scoreless seventh and eighth innings. It was a better-than-last-time appearance for Betances.
As you can imagine, everyone was pretty focused on Dave Robertson after the game. Most conversations centered on his injured foot, but Girardi really didn’t have many answers. “There’s always something in every camp,” Girardi said. “It seems like there’s something freaky that happens.” This will continue to be the story, it is crazy that a freak accident like that happened. It seems like it could be worse then originally though but the Yankees will know more tomorrow. Joe Girardi has said he could miss up to two weeks without missing Opening day. We will have to wait and see what tomorrow brings with that. The Yankees if he is out for a period of time and Joba still coming back will suddenly be a little short in the bullpen.
“I know for sure tomorrow we’re going to talk about it,” Nova said.
Nova’s fastball hit 95 mph. He was happy with his slider and happy with his changeup, but much like his previous start against the Phillies, Nova’s command was unreliable at best. He fell behind often against the Blue Jays, and it was a 2-0 pitch that J.P. Arencibia hit for a home run. Hunter Pence homered on a 3-0 pitch from Nova five days ago.
“I throw, for me, perfect bullpens,” Nova said. “Once I get out there, sometimes, I guess I do too much. I think that’s what happened, maybe. I’ve got to figure it out… Sometimes you can be open too much or too quick. The first inning was really good, I wasn’t pushing my body or anything like that. The second and third inning (were bad). It’s got to be something.”
Nova said he doesn’t feel out of shape, and he’s encouraged that his velocity suggests his arm strength is where it needs to be. He just needs to get his mechanics ironed out. Joe Girardi said he’s still a long way from making a judgment about Nova.
“These guys are just getting ready to compete and getting their arm strength,” Girardi said. “We saw some velocity out of him today. We saw some 95s today. They’re still going through all of that.”
The Yankees were on the verge of a second consecutive shutout when Colin Curtis hit a solo home run in the ninth inning to leave the Yankees with a 6-1 loss. Ramiro Pena was the only Yankee with two hit, and other than the Curtis home run, Pena’s double was the team’s only extra-base hit. Brett Gardner, Mark Teixeira, Brandon Laird, Justin Maxwell and Doug Bernier each singled in the game.
David Phelps let one of Nova’s runners scored on a passed ball by Francisco Cervelli, but otherwise, Phelps pitched 2.1 innings allowing one hit, two walks and a strikeout. I didn’t think he was especially sharp, but he settled in a little bit.
If he’s going to have a chance of making this team — and the Yankees seem to be giving him a legitimate look — Cesar Cabral is going to have to retire lefties. Giving up a home run to lefty Travis Snider didn’t exactly help his cause this afternoon. It also didn’t help that lefty Eric Thames singled off him later in the inning. The Yankees have not had much luck in trying to find a second lefty the last couple of years.
Raul Ibanez looked fine in right field. He only had two chances to make a play and one of those was a ground ball. The other was a fly ball near the foul line, and Ibanez made a running catch for the out. Not the hardest play in the world, but he made it with no problem. “You have to take balls, and see more balls hit out there,” Ibanez said. “Today was a great thing to be able to go out there, spend a little time out there, and catch one. Angle off the bat is good.” It looks like the Yankees will put him out in the outfield at times and feel good about it. That is a big reason they signed him and not Johnny Damon or Hideki Matsui.
Dellin Betances and Dan Burawa each pitched around some trouble to leave runners on base and pitch scoreless seventh and eighth innings. It was a better-than-last-time appearance for Betances.
As you can imagine, everyone was pretty focused on Dave Robertson after the game. Most conversations centered on his injured foot, but Girardi really didn’t have many answers. “There’s always something in every camp,” Girardi said. “It seems like there’s something freaky that happens.” This will continue to be the story, it is crazy that a freak accident like that happened. It seems like it could be worse then originally though but the Yankees will know more tomorrow. Joe Girardi has said he could miss up to two weeks without missing Opening day. We will have to wait and see what tomorrow brings with that. The Yankees if he is out for a period of time and Joba still coming back will suddenly be a little short in the bullpen.
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