Thursday, August 25, 2011

Yankees let all their frustration come out in one game as they beat up the Athletics

The New York Yankees defeated the Oakland Athletics by the score of 22-9 on Thursday afternoon into the night. Phil Hughes started and was not good at all. The bullpen did a pretty good job of holding them in check. The offense really exploded and hit three grand slams. The Yankees became the first team in major league history to hit three grand slams in one game.
Hughes pitched 2 2/3 innings giving up seven hits and six runs. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out five. Cory Wade pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits and one run with a walk and a strikeout, Hector Noesi pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up three hits and a walk with a strikeout and Boone Logan who picked up his fourth win pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings with four strikeouts. Luis Ayala pitched two innings giving up three hits and two runs with two strikeouts.

Derek Jeter had three hits, an RBI and a walk, Curtis Granderson had two hits and five RBI with two walks and Mark Teixeira had two RBI and two walks. Andruw Jones had a hit and an RBI, Alex Rodriguez had two hits and two walks and Robinson Cano had two hits and five RBI. Francisco Cervelli had a hit, Nick Swisher had a hit and two walks and Russell Martin had five hits, six RBI and a walk. Eduardo Nunez had three hits, an RBI and a walk and Brett Gardner had a hit, RBI and two walks. Swisher and Martin each had a double and Jeter had a triple. Martin had two homeruns, Cano, Granderson and Jones also had homeruns. Cano had a sacrifice fly and the Yankees were 10-21 with runners in scoring position. The Yankees left 12 men on base.

The Oakland Athletics got on base first in the first inning but the Yankees came right back to tie it. Hideki Matsui hit a sacrifice fly and Teixeira had an RBI groundout to tie the game at one. In the second innings Cliff Pennington hit an RBI double to give the A’s a 2-1 lead. Josh Willingham hit an RBI single in the third, David Dejesus had an RBI single and Cliff Pennington hit a three run homerun. The A’s took a 7-1 lead. In the fourth inning Martin hit a solo homerun to make it a 7-2 game. In the fifth inning Cano hit a grand slam to get the Yankees right back into the game at 7-6. In the sixth inning Martin hit a grand slam to give the Yankees a 10-7 lead. Cano hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh to make it 11-7, Martin had an RBI single to make it 12-7 and Nunez had a ground out to score a run and make it 13-7. Jeter walked to drive in a run, Granderson had an RBI single and Teixeira walked to drive in another run to make it 16-7 Yankees. Scott Sizemore hit a solo homerun to make it 16-8 Yankees. In the eighth inning Gardner had an RBI single to make it 17-8 and Granderson hit a grand slam to make it 21-8. Jones hit a homerun right behind Granderson to finish the Yankees scoring and make it 22-8. The Athletics scored another run in the ninth to make it a 22-9 game.

The Yankees lost two out of three in this series. They seemed to take out all their frustration in this one game. The Yankees had a chance to win the first two games and just couldn’t quite get there. This was a historic night for them though hitting three grand slams. They becamse the first major league team to accomplish this feat. The Yankees tied their season high with five homeruns and had the most walks they have had in any game this season. Martin said “It’s pretty amazing, The game has been played for a long time. Pretty much everything has already happened. I’m waiting to see who’s going to hit four, I don’t know if it’s every going to happen but we’ll see. Three is pretty cool.” The Yankees had seen two players hit a grand slam in the same game just three times in their history. The last time was in 1999 when Bernie Williams and Paul O’Neill did it. This game started out dreary with an hour and 27 minute rain delay and then the Yankees getting behind 7-1. No one could of ever imagined the way it would turn out. The Yankees will now head to Baltimore for what is scheduled to be five games. The Yankees have a doubleheader scheduled for Saturday but with a hurricane on the way they may not get that in. They talked to the Orioles about moving the double header to Friday but the Orioles have declined. The Yankees will have to wait and see what happens and just deal with it as it comes.

Yankees Postgame notes after another tough loss to Oakland

The Yankees are still 5-3 against Oakland this season, but the last two games hurt. Tuesday they came back from 6-0 down and were within a few feet of a game-winning grand slam. Tonight they had a 2-1 lead in the eighth with C.C. Sabathia pitching. Both times they lost to an inferior club while Boston beat up on Texas.
It is only their third series loss over their last 21.

There’s going to be a lot of anger at Rafael Soriano after he surrendered the deciding home run to Coco Crisp. He hasn't been exactly welcomed in with open arms since he has gotten here.

“It just looked like he left a breaking ball up to Coco and a breaking ball up to Sizemore,” Joe Girardi said. “And they took advantage of it.”

Soriano didn’t help himself by claiming after the game that he hadn’t picked up on any hitting patterns on either hitter.

“I never think about the hitters, what they’re going to do,” he said through a translator. “I just try and pitch my game.”

He said he didn’t feel any tightness from not pitching in a week.

After his last start, Sabathia said he was just slinging the ball, not really pitching it. That wasn’t the case today.

“I felt great tonight,’ he said. “I wasn’t so strong, my mechanics was good, I was throwing the ball where I wanted to. It just didn’t work out.”
He felt no ill effects of being in a six-man rotation.

By making his 350th start tonight, he became the youngest to do so since Vida Blue in 1980. CC is 31 years, 34 days old.  He is a true ace and a workhourse.

 Crisp and Scott Sizemore probably both had the best batting days of their lives today. Sizemore was 4 for 4, his first career four-hit game. Crisp was also 4 for 4, with two home runs, a career-high five RBI, and a walk.

 Although Bartolo Colon insisted last night that he feels no effects of his high workload, Brian Cashman said today that it’s definitely something he’s aware of.  It has to be since he hasn't done it in so long.

“He’s been a godsend for us no doubt about it, ” Cashman said. “But how the back end of those innings are going to affect him, it’s fair to speculate based on how he’s performed.”

Colon is at 131 innings, more than he’s thrown since 2005 and more than the last three seasons combined.

Derek Jeter stands 21st on the all-time hit list, tied with Rickey Henderson. He needs five more for 3,060, the number held by Astro great Craig Biggio. Two hits tonight gave him a .490 average over his last 12 games.

 Mark Teixiera hit his 35th home run, tying him with Curtis Granderson for second in the majors behind Toronto’s Jose Bautista.

 Nick Swisher has 16 home runs over his last 75 games after hitting two in his first 46 games.  Robinson Cano extended his hitting streak to 15 games.



Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The Mets salvage the final game in Philadelphia

The New York Mets defeated the Philadelphia Phillies by the score of 7-4 on Wednesday afternoon. Mike Pelfrey started and pitched well and the bullpen held it together. The offense did a good job in this one also for the Mets. David Wright and Nick Evans had big games.
Pelfrey pitched six innings giving up nine hits and three runs. He walked two and struck out two. Tim Byrdak gave up a hit and an unearned run in 1/3 of an inning, he also struck out a batter. Manny Acosta pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up two hits and he struck out two and Bobby Parnell picked up his first save of the season pitching a scoreless inning with two walks and two strikeouts.

Angel Pagan had a hit and a walk, Ruben Tejada had a hit and a walk and Wright had three hits and two RBI. Lucas Duda had a hit and an RBI, Jason Bay had a walk and Evans had three hits and four RBI. Josh Thole had a walk, Justin Turner had a walk and Pelfrey had a hit. Ronny Paulino had a walk and Willie Harris had a hit. Evans and Duda each had a double and Evans and Wright each had a homerun. Pelfrey had a sacrifice and Wright had a sacrifice fly. The Mets were 3-14 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base.

The Mets scored four runs in the first inning. Duda grounded into a force out which scored a run and Evans hit a three run homerun. The Phillies scored three runs in the second inning to make it a 4-3 game. Shane Victorino had a two run single and Chase Utley had an RBI single. In the third inning Wright hit a solo homerun to make it 5-3. In the fourth inning Wright hit a sacrifice fly to make it 6-3 Mets. In the fifth inning Evans hit an RBI double to make it a 7-3 game. The Phillies would score a fourth and final run of the game in the seventh inning. Hunter Pence hit an RBI single.

The Mets salvaged the last game of this three game series. The Mets desperately needed a win as they have been struggling over the last three weeks and saw their once surprising season start slipping away. The Mets are 61-68 on the season and are 23 games behind the Phillies in the loss column. Pelfrey threw a career high 125 pitches. Jon Niese was placed on the disabled list earlier in the day and they are going to have a doubleheader early next week. The Mets will have an off day on Thursday then begin a three game set at home against Atlanta followed by a three game set against the Marlins.

Yankees lose second straight to Oakland

The New York Yankees lost to the Oakland Athletics by the score of 6-4 on Wednesday night. CC Sabathia made the start and got a no decision, he pitched well but may have been left in the game one batter too long. He had a lead and gave up a game tying double to a batter who was already 2-2 off of him. The bullpen other then Mariano Rivera had a rough night tonight. Rafael Soriano took the loss giving up a three run homerun, he hasn’t pitched in six days so maybe he was rusty, but he shouldn’t give up a bomb to Coco Crisp. The offense was ok but they aren’t hitting on all cylinders right now.
Sabathia pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up seven hits and three runs. He walked one and struck out seven. Dave Robertson pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a walk, Rivera pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts and Soriano pitched an inning giving up three hits and three runs with a strikeout. Soriano saw his record drop to 2-2 on the season.

Brett Gardner had a hit, Derek Jeter had two hits and an RBI and Curtis Granderson had a walk. Mark Teixeira had a hit and an RBI, Robinson Cano had a hit and Nick Swisher had two hits, two RBI and a walk. Jorge Posada had a hit, Eduardo Nunez had two hits and Francisco Cervelli had a hit. Cano and Nunez each had a double. Swisher hit two homeruns and Teixeira had one. The Yankees were 2-10 with runners in scoring position and they left nine men on base. Gardner had a stolen base and Granderson had an outfield assist.

In the first inning Crisp hit a solo homerun to give the Athletics a 1-0 lead. In the third inning Jeter had an RBI single to tie the game at one. In the sixth Swisher hit a solo homerun to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. The Athletics tied the game up in the eighth and took the lead. Scott Sizemore hit an RBI double and Crisp had an RBI single to give them a 3-2 lead. The Yankees tied the game in the eighth on a solo homerun by Teixeira. The Athletics took the lead for good in the tenth inning on a three run homerun by Crisp. The Yankees got a run closer in the tenth on a Swisher solo homerun. The final score was 6-4 Athletics.

It was the second night in a row where the Yankees fought back but lost the game anyway. This one stings extra hard because of Crisp being the hero for the Athletics, he is a good veteran player but not known for homeruns and he hit two with five RBI. The Yankees have lost the first two games of this quick three game set. The Yankees will be heading out on the road for five games in Baltimore. There is a doubleheader scheduled for Saturday because of an earlier rain out. There is a bad forecast for a hurricane coming up the coast so who knows how the weather will affect this series on Saturday and Sunday. The Yankees are now one game behind the Red Sox. They have the same amount of losses but have two fewer wins. Jeter moved ahead of Rickey Henderson for 21st place on the all-time hits list. The Yankees will try and salvage the final game of the series on Thursday afternoon. They expect to have Alex Rodriguez back in the lineup for the matinee game.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

The Mets have another rough night in Philadelphia

The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies by the score of 9-4 on Tuesday night. Jon Niese made the start and was hammered. The bullpen did a pretty good job using four pitchers. Nick Evans and Justin Turner led the offense with a couple of hits each. The Mets are headed in the wrong direction as they continue to lose games. They haven’t given up yet and they are still fighting but the results just aren’t there.
Niese pitched four innings giving up ten hits and eight runs. He walked one and struck out six. Niese is now 11-11 on the season. Pedro Beato pitched two innings giving up two hits and one run, Ryota Igarashi gave up a hit in 1/3 of an inning and Tim Byrdak pitched 2/3 of an inning striking out both batters that he faced. Bobby Parnell pitched a perfect inning.

Angel Pagan had a hit, Ruben Tejada had a hit and Willie Harris had a hit. Lucas Duda had a hit and two RBI, Jason Bay had a walk and Evans had two hits. Josh Thole had a hit and an RBI, Turner had two hits and an RBI. Turner had two doubles and Evans had one. Evans had a triple and Duda hit a homerun. The Mets were 0-11 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base. In the third inning the Phillies jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Shane Victorino hit a solo homerun and John Mayberry hit a three run homerun. In the fourth Placido Polanco hit an RBI single to make it a 5-0 game. Wilson Valdez hit a sacrifice fly, Vance Worley had an RBI single and Victorino had a two run triple. The Phillies had a 9-0 lead. In the seventh Turner had an RBI groundout to make it a 9-1 game. In the eighth Duda hit a two run homerun to make it 9-3 and in the ninth inning Thole had an RBI groundout making it a 9-4 game and that is how it ended.

David Wright initiated a meeting with the Mets manager Terry Collins before the game. He vowed that the team would play hard no matter what. The team has played hard but you still want to and eventually have to win games. The Mets aren’t winning games at all right now. Niese may head to the disabled list after he aggravated a muscle injury in his right side. Scott Hairston may also be headed to the disabled list. The Mets will try and avoid the sweep on Wednesday. The Mets are just playing out the string but management doesn’t want the players to think and act like that.

Monday, August 22, 2011

The Mets get clobbered in Philadelphia

Dillon Gee started and was horrible. Ryota Igarashi struggled and D.J. Carrasco pitched well out of the bullpen. Lucas Duda and Ruben Tejada each had a multi-hit game.

Gee pitched 3 2/3 innings giving up seven hits and eight runs. He walked six and struck out three. Gee saw his record fall to 11-5 on the season. Igarashi pitched 2 1/3 innings giving up four hits and two runs with a strikeout and Carrasco pitched two perfect innings striking out one.

David Wright had a hit, Jason Bay had a walk and Duda had two hits. Ronny Paulino had a walk, Tejada had two hits and Nick Evans had a walk. The Mets were 0-4 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base.

The Phillies jumped out in front in the second inning. Wilson Valdez had an RBI single and Shane Victorino had a two run triple. In the third inning John Mayberry hit a two run homerun to make it 5-0. In the fourth inning Mayberry had an RBI walk and Carlos Ruiz had a two run single making it 8-0. In the sixth inning Hunter Pence hit a two run homerun to make it 10-0. The ninth and tenth runs were the final runs of the game.

The Mets have started to fade away as they are seven games under 500 now. The Mets record is 60-67, they will play game two of three on Tuesday night against Philadelphia. They will finish their series on Wednesday afternoon. The Mets injuries have finally caught up to them as they aren’t good enough anymore to stay in the race. The Mets continue to fight and aren’t mailing it in but they just aren’t good enough. The Phillies who are the best team in baseball right now just manhandled them. The Mets would like to win a series like this for if nothing else to just have some confidence going into next year.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Yankees notes as they finish up a strong road trip

The Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins today by the score of 3-0.  Here are some postgame  notes with some help from the Lohud Yankees Blog. 

The Yankees had already stranded the bases loaded twice. Mark Teixeira had committed his first error since May 6, and by the time Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher let a fly ball drop between them, it seemed this might not be the Yankees day. The Twins had runners at second and third with no outs against rookie Ivan Nova.  This is where he shows how much he has really grown as a pitcher. 


“When you look at that inning, you try to tell yourself, ‘It’s okay to give them one, let’s try not to give them two,’” Joe Girardi said. “‘Don’t give them a multiple (run) inning, and we can come back.’ He made it even better. He didn’t give them any. It was an outstanding job of pitching and an outstanding job by Russ. The game plan they executed today was great.”

 Whatever the pecking order, this was clearly one of Nova’s finest starts of the season. It was the first time he allowed no runs, and it was his fifth win in as many starts since coming back from Triple-A.

“The big leagues is the big leagues,” he said. “Nobody wants to be in the minors. I came a long way from my hometown to be here, and now that I’ve got the opportunity to be here, I don’t want to lose it. You’ve got to stay here in the big leagues and try to do your job every time.”  You have to love the attitude, he is all about winning also and he shows such enthusiasm on the mound. 

It was that fifth inning that defined Nova today. He’d already pitched around an error in the third inning and induced a double play in the fourth. With runners at second and third in the fifth, he got back-to-back strikeouts before Drew Butera rolled over a routine grounder. All three outs came on a slider, the pitch that’s turned Nova from a promising but inconsistent rookie into a reliable and occasionally dominant starter.

“It’s not like the beginning,” Nova said. “I was throwing only fastball, curve. I wasn’t throwing my changeup either. And now we’ve really got all my pitches going. It’s a lot different. I think the hitter doesn’t know what pitch you’re going to.”

Here’s Nova. He’s now 13-4 with the most wins for a Yankees rookie since reliever Ron Davis won 14 in 1979. He has the most wins for a Yankees starter since Doc Medich in 1973.

 It was Granderson’s third career inside-the-park home run, but Granderson initially said this was his second. Someone had to remind him that he had an earlier one against the Angels (the one he remembered was against the Yankees). The last Yankee to have an inside-the-park homer was Derek Jeter last season.

Mark Teixeira’s third-inning error was his first since May 6, snapping a streak of 87 consecutive games without an error, the longest single-season streak of his career.

Oh yeah, Teixeira also homered in the game.

 Speaking of defensive mistakes, both Granderson and Swisher said their misplayed ball in the fifth was a matter of bad communication. Granderson ranged well into right field, and Swisher didn’t hear him calling the ball until the very end (that’s when he tried to stop). Granderson knew he was supposed to take charge, but he also knew he’d come well into Swisher’s area and he worried Swisher hadn’t heard him, so he tried to stop as well. “Guys were busting Curtis and I a little,” Swisher said. “And I said, ‘What are you taking about? You should thank us.’ After that, Nova got filthy.”

 Derek Jeter had another hit and is now three away from Rod Carew for 22nd on baseball’s all-time hits list. Jeter also drew a walk, and he’s now 16 away from being the sixth Yankee to reach 1,000 walks in his career.

Alex Rodriguez reported no soreness after the game and said he was happy with the way he felt. Girardi acknowledged that Rodriguez’s timing might have been off at the plate, but he made a great play on an early bunt.  You can't judge too much one one game, having him back can't be a bad thing, the timing will come and he will start hitting again and the Yankees hope for some power. 

Rodriguez on the bunt play: “That was a good test just because he runs so well. It was a bang-bang play. That’s a play that I’m going to have to make, so it was good to make it.”

 Rodriguez expects other teams to try to bunt on him for a while until he’s proven that knee is 100 percent. “It’s going to happen,” he said. “It’s not going to stop now. For the next two weeks, I’m going to have to make that play over and over again.”

 Mariano Rivera got his 33rd save.

 Robinson Cano matched his season-high with a 13-game hitting streak. He hasn’t done that since April. His double led to the Yankees first run in the sixth inning.

 Freddy Garcia is scheduled to throw 65 pitches or four innings for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre tomorrow. Right now, Garcia and Nova are lined up to start that doubleheader in Baltimore.



Mets get swept at home by the Brewers

The New York Mets lost to the Milwaukee Brewers by the score of 6-2 on Sunday afternoon. R.A. Dickey pitched well but got a no decision, Manny Acosta took the loss in relief. Jason Isringhausen and Pedro Beato also struggled in relief. Angel Pagan had two hits to lead the offense, no other starter had more then one hit. The Mets were only able to manage two runs on six hits.



Dickey pitched seven innings giving up six hits and two runs. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out four. Acosta lost his first game of the season not recording an out and giving up one hit and two runs with only one of them being earned. He walked one batter, Isringhausen pitched an inning giving up two hits and one run and he struck out two and Beato pitched one inning giving up two hits and one run with one walk.



Pagan had two hits, David Wright had one and Lucas Duda had a hit and two RBI. Jason Bay had a hit, Josh Thole had a hit and Ruben Tejada had a walk. Pagan and Bay had doubles and Duda had a homerun. The Mets were 0-6 and left four men on base. Turner made a throwing error.



The Brewers took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning on a Casey McGehee solo homerun. In the sixth inning the lead was extended on a Prince Fielder RBI single. In the seventh inning Duda hit a two run homerun to tie the game at two. In the eighth inning Fielder reached on a force attempt which was a throwing error by Turner allowing a run to score. Jerry Hairston hit an RBI single and it was 4-2 Brewers. In the ninth inning the Brewers scored the final two runs to take a 6-2 lead. Nyjer Morgan had a sacrifice bunt that scored a run and Ryan Braun hit an RBI double.



The Mets got swept in the three game series. The Mets record now stands at 60-66, they have not been playing good baseball of late. The Brewers have won 22 of their last 25 games. Terry Collins is starting to grow frustrated with how the season is going, he said this “We accomplished a lot of things this year, overachieving with some people. And I’m very concerned about the players, just the way things have gone the last couple of weeks. When Jose Reyes and Daniel Murphy went down , we had to pick ourselves up and we have failed to do that.” He said they have played hard and will continue to do so, that isn’t the issue. He is right because they have played very hard but they are just undermanned right now and it has finally taken its toll on them. Dickey has had five straight quality starts but has nothing to show for it. The Mets bullpen has been a big issue for them. They have the worst ERA in baseball in the month of August. The Mets will now head to Philadelphia for three games before returning home to face the Atlanta Braves.

Nova continues his strong rookie campaign with his 13th win

The New York Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins by the score of 3-0 on Sunday afternoon. Ivan Nova made the start and was outstanding. He had a rough start last time out and this time bounced right back and pitched one of his best games. There have been other great outings from his this season but this is the first time he didn’t give up a run. Mariano Rivera had an easy inning for the save as he looks like his old self. The offense didn’t do much but they did get back-to-back homeruns from Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira. Granderson had an inside-the-park homerun.
Nova pitched seven innings giving up five hits and no runs. He walked one and struck out five. Nova won his 13th game of the season and is now 13-4 with a 3.97 ERA. Robertson gave up two hits in an inning and walked one. He also struck out two, and Rivera recorded his 33rd save pitching a perfect inning, he struck out two.

Derek Jeter had a hit and a walk, Granderson had a hit, RBI and a walk and Teixeira had a hit, RBI and a walk. Alex Rodriguez in his return to the lineup after about six weeks of being out had a rough day. He was 0-5 leaving six men on base. Robinson Cano had a hit, Nick Swisher had a walk and Russell Martin had a hit, RBI and a walk. Brett Gardner had a walk and Eduardo Nunez had a hit. Cano had a homerun and Granderson and Teixeira had homeruns. The Yankees were 0-8 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Nunez and Granderson had stolen bases and Teixeira had an error.

The Yankees broke through in the sixth inning after failing to capitalize on a few chances. Martin had a sacrifice fly to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. In the seventh inning Granderson hit an inside-the-park homerun followed by a Teixeira homerun. The Yankees won the game 3-0.

The Yankees won three out of four in Minnesota. The Yankees have the Twins number as they always beat them. The Yankees remain ½ a game ahead of the Boston Red Sox for first place in the AL East. The Yankees and Red Sox will both be in the postseason now it is just a matter of seeding as one will win the division and the other be the wild card. Nova went down to the minors for a month and worked on his slider and now that is his out pitch. He has won nine out of his last 10 starts and is 9-0 with a 3.48 ERA during that stretch. Nova is 5-0 with a 3.55 ERA since his return to the majors. The inside-the-park homerun was the first by a Yankee since Jeter did it on July 22, 2010. It was Granderson first since August 26, 2007 against the Yankees. The Yankees finished the road trip with a 5-2 record and now return home for three against the Oakland Athletics. They will have Monday off, and then after the brief homestand will hit the road to Baltimore and Boston.
 

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