Game 80: Blue Jays at Yankees

Here are the game note and lineup via Peter Abraham and the Lohud Yankees Blog. I am enjoying the sun and pool today that is why I am not going to write everything out. I do want to say Happy Birthday to George Steinbrenner who turns 79 today, Brian Cashman turned 42 yesterday. Today marks independence day so go out and enjoy the day with family and friends and have a safe and Happy holiday. It also marks 70 years ago today that Lou Gehrig made what is considered to be the greatest sports speech ever. The Yankees will honor him today with a video tribute before the game. They will have #4 which was Lou's number on first base and will wear a patch 4ALS on all their uniforms. The Yes Network will also have a story about a ALS victim and Lou Gehrig. As you are enjoying your bbq and family and friends stop and take a moment and think of Lou Gehrig, a lot of people don't realize how great he was but I suggest you look up his stats or read Luckiest Man which is about him. I am not sure if I will be back later to write the postgame stuff because I am headed out to PA at some point and I will be at the AAA Scranton game tomorrow with the Lohud Yankees blog. I plan on putting some pictures up and writing something about that on Monday. Game 80: Blue Jays at Yankees Posted using ShareThis

Yanks back on winning track

The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays by the score of 4-2. A.J. Burnett pitched 7 strong innings giving up 2 runs on 6 hits with 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. The interesting part of this game was that Phil Coke started the eighth getting Adam Lind out and then Phil Hughes finished out the inning by giving up a single then getting two weak groundouts. Brian Bruney was nowhere in sight and Joe Girardi said once he gets him going again he will be the 8th inning guy. Brian Bruney said he doesn't care and doesn't know why he has to answer all these questions. The offense was pretty stagnant with a solo homerun by Robinson Cano and A-rod, the other runs were scored on a bases loaded walk and a passed ball. Derek Jeter was 2-3 with a walk, Johnny Damon, Big Tex, Hideki Matsui and Francisco Cervelli all had a hit each. The Yankees have a tough task tomorrow with Chien-Ming Wang facing Roy Halladay. The Yankees will try and make it 2 in a row and 9 of 10 overall.

Toronto at Yankees

The Yankees will host the Toronto Blue Jays today at 1:00PM. A.J. Burnett will take the mound against his former team who he lost to earlier this year when he went head to head with Roy Halladay and didn't fare too well. Here are the notes and lineup from Peter Abraham of the Yankees Lohud Blog. Big Tex has gone 65 at bats without a homerun, his last one was June 12, the Yankees really need him to break out of it and get going again. Robinson Cano is 16 of his last 26 with 6 extra base hits in his last 7 games at home. He doesn't have a rbi in 12 games though. He is 4 for 6 this month and is a career 349 hitter in July according to Mark Feinsand. Hideki Matsui has 11 homeruns this year and 7 of them are against lefties. 3 relievers are rested and ready to go who are hot, MO, Phil Hughes and Phil Coke. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Matsui(DH) Cervelli(C) Gardner(CF) Jorge Posada has swelling in his thumb from being hit by a foul ball and is day to day, enjoy the game wherever you may be.

Pitching Matchups for Mets/Phillies Series

The Mets amazingly enough are only 1 game behind the Phillies and Marlins for first place in the NL east. The Mets will try and win the series in Philly this weekend and move into first place. Here are the pitching matchups. Today- Rodrigo Lopez vs Livan Hernandez Tomorrow- Jaime Moyer vs Fernando Nieve Sunday- Joe Blanton vs Johan Santana The Pitching matchups clearly favor the Mets and they should be able to win at least 2 out of 3 but it is in Philly and eventually the Phillies will win some home games and it is the Mets so you never know.

Blog Contest

Here is a picture of the book that I will be giving away to one lucky winner. It really is a great book for an individual or the whole family, it is a collectible but is a coloring book with puzzles, connect the dots and other fun games. If you are a fan of the Yankees this is a great book to have especially for the children. The illustrations are really dead on with all the new players and old ones also, you can read, color, play games, puzzles, trivia and more. I would urge everyone to check it out more at www.YankeesColoringBook.com and you can also look up the company at www.HawksNestPublishing.com If you are interested in the book you can order it through these websites, so I would urge everyone to get in on trying to win this book and if not then go ahead and check it out on these websites and order it for yourself or others in the family.

The way this contest is going to work is I need everyone to email me at Gmarchesej@aol.com, the first person to answer these questions correctly will win the book.

I want to know who was the last Yankee to hit for the cycle??

Who holds the record for most hits in a season by a Yankee??

Who had the lowest era in a season for the Yankees??

I think these are pretty tough questions but I am not asking the particulars just the names so go ahead get to work and send me the emails and the first one I see answer it correctly will be mailed the book. Good luck, I probably won't open the emails to tomorrow but hopefully you will find out then if you won.

Yanks lose finale to Mariners

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Seattle Mariners by the score of 8-4 tonight ending their 7 game winning streak. The story of the game was the ineffectiveness of Sabathia. He just didn't pitch well giving up 6 runs on 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings with 3 walks and 8 strikeouts. Alfredo Aceves came on in relief and got a strikeout with the bases loaded to end the sixth and then pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth inning but came back out for the ninth and gave up a two run homerun to Russel Branyan who hit it off of the restaurant in CF. I think Joe Girardi pushed Aceves too far and could of pitched someone else there and if it was 6-4 in the ninth who knows especially considering that they had 2 on and no outs in the ninth before getting 3 straight outs. The story of the game though was CC Sabathia and I wouldn't be worried he just didn't pitch well and it is going to happen, he had pitched so well over his last 10 outings you didn't expect it but its just one game and you have to move on. The offense was pretty much Robinson Cano who had 3 hits and Hideki Matsui who had 2 hits. The Yankees only managed 7 hits overall and 2 of those were in the ninth inning. The Yankees start a 4 game holiday weekend series against the Jays tomorrow with A.J. Burnett on the hill against Brian Tallett. The Yankees will be looking to start a new winning streak.

Yankees go for sweep

The New York Yankees will be looking for the sweep tonight of the Seattle Mariners. The game is at 7:05 on the Yes network. Here are the pregame notes and lineup from Peter Abraham-the best blogger there is. The Yankees are 30-15 in their last 45 games. The Yankees have won 9 of their last 11 games against Seattle and won 10 straight in the bronx, the last time the Mariners won in the bronx was 2007. The relievers are on a roll, Mo over his last 9 appearances has gone 9 1/3 innings giving up 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk and 12 strikeouts. Phil Hughes has gone 13 innings in his last 8 appearances giving up 5 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks and 16 strikeouts. Alfredo Aceves has gone 9 appearances, 12 1/3 innings, 9 hits, 1 run, 2 walks and 8 strikeouts. Phil Coke ha gone 15 appearances, 13 1/3 innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 3 walks and 15 strikeouts. These are very impressive numbers and part of the reason the Yankees are winning so much the other part is the starters have been good too and the bullpen is getting worn down. CC Sabathia has a career 2.95 era against Seattle and is 6-1 with a 2.82 era in his last 10 games. Robinson Cano has gone 11 games without an rbi, his last rbi came on June 17th. Johnny Damon has 198 homeruns and is 10 of his last 24 with 7 rbi's and 5 extra base hits. The Yankees team era is 4.44 which is 11th in the AL but getting lower and lower. They are second in strikeouts with 588. Boston has 1 more and they are second in opponents batting average which is at 252, Seattle leads at 250. The Yankees are 23-14 at home and have played in bad weather all year with some rainouts already. Big Tex is overdue for a homerun, his last one was June 12 off of Livan Hernandez. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Matsui(DH) Cabrera(CF) Cervelli(C) Jose Molina starts a rehab assignment tonight with AAA-Scranton where I will be on Sunday for the game with the lohud Yankees blog and Peter Abraham, we are going to also meet Dave Miley the manager and a player and I hope to meet Chad Jennings who does a great job with a blog for the Scranton Yankees. I will definitely do a nice writeup and have some pics from the day out at PNC Park in Scranton. I also will put up what is going on with the contest for the free coloring book later on tonight. The Yankees signed a couple of independent league players the other day and I forgot to mention that and today started the international free agent signing period where the Yankees are expected to announce a couple of signings, one of them being Gary Sanchez a catcher with a big bat, this is where they signed Jesus Montero who by the way is starting to tear up AA at 19 years old.

Contest for Yankees coloring and Activity Book

I was lucky enough to have been sent a Yankees coloring and activity book. I am going to do a writeup on it tomorrow with the information and picture of it. I will be starting a contest, I think a trivia question and the first one to answer it will recieve a free copy of this book in the mail so keep your eye out for that and good luck, talk to everyone tomorrow have a good night.

Yanks keep rolling

The New York Yankees defeated the Seattle Mariners tonight by the score of 4-2. Andy Pettitte got the start and pitched great going 7 innings giving up 6 hits and 2 runs with 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. Alfredo Aceves came in to get one out and then Phil Coke got a groundout and strikeout. Mariano Rivera had a 1-2-3 ninth for his 20th save of the year and 502nd of his career. Phil Hughes was warming up but I found it very strange that Alfredo Aceves pitched in the 8th, why not Phil Hughes??? The offense was led by A-rod hitting a 2 run homerun, he also had a single. Mark Teixeira had 2 hits, Derek Jeter had a hit and Johnny Damon had a hit, rbi and walk. Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher each had a hit and Melky Cabrera hit a solo homerun. The Yankees were crisp defensively making no errors. The Yankees are really on a roll now and will look for the sweep tomorrow with CC Sabathia on the mound. Jose Molina is going to start a rehab assignment with Scranton tomorrow.

Mariners at Yankees

The New York Yankees take on the Seattle Mariners tonight from the stadium with Andy Pettitte taking on Jarrod Washburn. Here are the pregame notes and lineup from Peter Abraham of the Journal News. The Yankee are at 12 games over 500 which is their high water mark of the season. The Mariners have lost 9 straight in the Bronx. Melky Cabrera has 31 rbi's with 12 of them either tying or giving the Yankees the lead in the seventh or beyond. Johnny Damon is 9 of his last 21 with 6 rbi's and 4 extra base hits. Mark Teixeira is really struggling going 13 of his last 59 with no homeruns and 6 rbi's. He has gone 60 at bats without a homerun. Phil Coke has gone 12 1/3 innings in his last 14 appearances with 5 hits, 1 earned run, 3 walks and 14 strikeouts and Phil Hughes has gone 8 games, 13 innings with 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 3 walks and 16 strikeouts. MO has gone 8 1/3 innings in his last 8 outings with 2 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk and 12 strikeouts. The Yankees have scored 45 runs over their last 49 innings, prior to that that they had scored 18 runs in 67 innings. The Yankees have a 2.56 era in their last 14 games and opponents are only hitting 207 against them. Ramiro Pena was optioned down to AAA as expected and will get some time in CF to be more versatile. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1b) A-rod(DH) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Cabrera(CF) Ransom(3B)

My Citi Field Pics from Saturday Night

Yanks defeat Mariners

The New York Yankees won their sixth game in a row tonight beating the Seattle Mariners 8-5. Mariano threw out the ceremonial first pitch and closed out the game with his 501st save. Joba Chamberlain got the start and threw 5 1/3 innings giving up 3 runs. He gave up 9 hits, what I don't get about him is he has good stuff but as a starter he just doesn't challenge guys enough when he should, he tends to nitpick with 2 strikes and ends up walking guys and then gets into trouble. Phil Coke came in and got the two guys out he faced and Phil Hughes pitched a 1-2-3 7th inning on 9 pitches. Brian Bruney struggled in the 8th giving up 2 runs on 3 hits. The big question is why did Phil Hughes not pitch the 8th but Joe Girardi said that Bruney is the 8th inning guy but sometimes you just got to go with the hot hand. MO finished it off with a 1-2-3 ninth for his 501st save. The offense saw A-rod hit a 2 run bomb and draw a walk, he just missed another 2 run homer in his last at bat. Derek Jeter had a 2 run single. Melky Cabrera had a hit and 3 rbi's. Johnny Damon had 2 hits and a walk, Nick Swisher had a bun single, Hideki Matsui had a double and a walk. Big Tex had a hit and got robbed of another hit and Robinson Cano had 2 hits but he still isn't getting the clutch hit. The Yankees will try and make it 2 straight over the Mariners and 7 in a row overall tomorrow night with Andy Pettitte on the mound. The game is scheduled to start at 7 on the Yes network.

Mariners at Yankees

The New York Yankees start a 7 game homestand tonight against the Seattle Mariners. It seems like the Yankees haven't been home much lately. The Yankees made a move today by aquiring Eric Hinske from the Pirates in exchange for minor league right handed pitcher Casey Erickson and minor league outfielder Eric Fryer. The Yankees also recieved some cash in the deal. This deal is to add depth with Nady being gone and they can send Ramiro Pena back down to the minors to play everday and develop more. These 2 prospects weren't thought highly of and Hinske has some pop especially with the short left field porch and the way the ball jumps out of there he will love taking aim at it. He was supposed to be there tonight but his plane is being delayed so they may not have to make a roster move until tomorrow. Here are the notes and lineup via Peter Abraham. The Yankees have won 5 straight and finished 10-8 in interleague play. They are 11 games over 500 which is their high point for the season. The Yankees team era is 2.50 in their last 4 games. In 36 innings they have allowed 30 hits wiht 15 walks and 46 strikeouts. A-rod is over his slump hitting 348 in his last 7 games with 2 homeruns, 11 rbi's, 5 runs scored and 9 walks. Mo in his last 7 appearances has allowed one run on 2 hits over 7 1/3 innings. He has 1 walk and 11 strikeouts. Mo has a whip of 1.01 and Papelbon who people love is at 1.35. Phil Hughes has appeared in 7 games as a reliever and pitched 12 innings with 2 runs allowed on 5 hits with 3 walks and 15 strikeouts. The opposition is hitting 122 against him. Robinson Cano is 8 of his last 37 with no rbi over his last 9 games. Mark Teixeira has gone 55 at bats without a homerun. He is batting 222 with 6 rbi's over his last 14 games. Hideki Matsui is 2 for his last 16 iwth no rbi's over 11 games. He was a pinch hitter for the last 9 games and I am sure he is happy he can play regularly again. Yankees lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Cano(2B) Posada(C) Matsui(DH) Swisher(RF) Cabrera(CF)

Mariano Rivera-Simply the Best

Mariano Rivera notched his 500th save last night becoming only the second pitcher in history to accomplish that and made me stop and think back. I am 31 years old and have seen pretty much every save that MO has ever had, i am a diehard fan and go or watch just about every single game. Mariano Rivera started out as a skinny little kid that was a starting pitcher in the minor leagues. He came up in 1995 and if Buck Showalter knew what he had in MO things may have drastically been different for lots of people. The Yankees lost a thrilling division round playoff to the Seattle Mariners that year in 5 games. Buck Showalter didn't know what he had in MO and if he did the Yankees probably would have won and maybe gone on to win the World Series and there would of been no Joe Torre and maybe not all those championships but who knows. Mariano Rivera failed as a starting pitcher and was converted to relief and thank goodness Buck and Gene Michael and some others saved him because if it was up to George Steinbrenner they would of traded him to get a shortstop because they were so worried about a kid named Derek Jeter being the starting shortstop for the Yankees. It is really funny how all these years later they are still teammates and both headed to the Hall Of Fame. Mariano Rivera started out as a setup man in 1996 for John Wetteland and made the games 6 innings when Mo would come in for the 7th and 8th and just blow people away and hand the ball off to Wetteland for the save, the Yankees won the World Series that year and next year Wetteland was gone and MO became the closer which he has stayed ever since. Mariano is such a humble man that he didn't even think about that in the offseason until they called him up and said you are going to be our closer and he said ok I will do my best. Mariano Rivera is such a cool customer and never shows too much emotion either way, he acts the same all the time, no matter if it is playoffs, World Series, regular season, spring training. It is funny that now you have Jonathan Papelbon, K-rod even Joba Chamberlain who have some histrionics to them and you still have MO just simply walking towards the catcher and shaking hands. The game last night was a time when he truly could of let loose with emotion but he did what he always does and of course everyone of his teammates walked up to him and hugged him, Derek Jeter had a moment with him and Jorge Posada also had a nice embrace, these guys have been together for a long time and it was great to see. The thing that makes MO great other then him just saving all of these games and being the best in the postseason and never sweating even after he does blow games is how humble he is and what a great person he is. They asked him about saving 500 and what he means and he still thanked go and all of his teammates, it is truly a pleasure to have witnessed his whole career and being able to tell my kids and grandkids one day that i saw the greatest closer of all time pitch. I don't know what will happen when he finally decides to hang it up but it will be a sad sad day. I definitely would love to be there the day he is in Cooperstown inducted into the Baseball Hall of FAme. Congratulations MO you are simply the best.

My Citi Field experience

I went to Citi Field on Saturday night to see the Yankees play the Mets. The first cool thing to happen was on my way there on the Grand Central Parkway, all of the sudden we heard all these sirens and saw police cars coming and everyone moving out of the way well wouldn't you know that it was the Yankees team bus coming to the game. The bus drove right past us, it was a really nice bus of course. The first thing I noticed about Citi Field was how impressive it looked from the outside and how good the employees were with getting everyone into the parking lot and parked in a safe and orderly manner. I walked up to the stadium and just stared in amazement at how impressive it is, Shea was just terrible and I always hated it there, Citi Field immediatel was 30 times better then Shea. I really though that it was set up nice and was pretty intimate for a big stadium. I loved how the scoreboards were set up and the between innings activities that they do. I thought there was a lot of legroom and a lot of room to walk in the corridors, the section we were in had the Caesars Club which was a really nice lounge. It felt like being in a VIP lounce in Atlantic City or Las Vegas. It had nice leather couches and chairs and tables to sit and relax along with the high end concessions and bar. There was a bunch of flat screen televisions. I really liked that area. The level I was in was in the middle third base line in the outfield and other then the left field corner you could see the whole field perfectly, i thought the site lines were great and they had flat screen televisions to the left and right all through the section which was a nice touch. I didn't get to see everything and I definitely want to go back and see more but a really cool thing they have there is a mini Citi Field that is a wiffle ball field for the kids to play in, they even had a homerun hitting contest from there in between one of the innings. The Jackie Robinson Rotunda was very nice and a great spot to take pictures. I definitely thought it was a great park and plan on going back, I am not sure if it was better then Yankees Stadium but it may be. I will post pictures as soon as I can get them downloaded to my computer. I hope everyone that lives around here will get a chance to go at least once, it is definitely worth it.

Pitching Matchups for Seattle Series

The New York Yankees have today off and then start a 3 game series at home with Seattle before playing a 4 game holiday weekend series with Toronto. Here are the pitching matchups for Seattle. Tomorrow- Brandon Morrow vs Joba Chamberlain Wednesday- Jarrod Washburn vs Andy Pettitte Thursday- Jason Vargas vs CC Sabathia Tomorrow is a interesting matchups of two young righthanders who were relievers but both teams project as front end type pitchers. Wednesday is the battle of veteran lefthanders and Thursday CC will try and keep it rolling. The Yankees I am sure will be happy to playing AL ball again with them getting Matsui the DH back and facing familiar teams and pitchers.

Yanks sweep away Mets

The New York Yankees defeated the New York Mets tonight by the score of 4-2. Chien-Ming Wang got the start and finally recorded his first win of the season. He went 5 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. I don't know what to think of him because that is pretty good but he just doesn't go deep into game anymore, at least he got a win finally and hopefully can build on that. Phil Coke got a strikeout on the only guy he faced and Phil Hughes pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up one walk with a strikeout. Brian Bruney got two outs in the eighth but also walked two guys and Mariano Rivera got the final 4 outs for his 500th career save. Mo is now only the second guy in history with 500 saves, the other is Trevor Hoffman. Mariano Rivera also got his first Rbi of his career with a bases loaded walk. The Yankees didn't do much offensively, A-rod had a single and 3 walks, Jorge Posada had a hit and rbi and Mark Teixeira had a hit and 2 rbi's. Derek Jeter had a hit and 3 walks in his return from illness. The Yankees are now 3 games behind Boston in the AL East. They do lead the wildcard standings. The Yankees will have a day off tomorrow and then start a 3 game series with Seattle at the Stadium on Tuesday.

Game 75: Yankees at Mets (updated with Girardi and Matsui pre-game audio)

Here is the link to the game post, the pregame notes and lineups via Peter Abraham and the Yankees Lohud Blog. I will be back later with the postgame reaction and some stuff about Citi Field. Sorry for the lack of updates but it was a busy day. Game 75: Yankees at Mets (updated with Girardi and Matsui pre-game audio) Posted using ShareThis