The Mets get routed by the Colorado Rockies

The New York Mets were defeated by the Colorado Rockies 18-9 on Friday night in Colorado. The Mets called up Chris Schwinden to take the spot of starter Mike Pelfrey. Schwinden did not have a good debut at all. Pelfrey is 99 percent sure he will undergo season ending Tommy John surgery. Miguel Batista and Tim Byrdak were the only Mets pitchers to come away unscathed. It wasn’t a good night for the Mets pitching staff. Ruben Tejada and Scott Hairston had big nights with four hits each. Hairston hit for the cycle. 
Schwinden pitched four innings giving up seven hits and six runs with five of them being earned. He walked one and didn’t strike out a batter. Manny Acosta took the loss pitching 1/3 of an inning giving up five hits and seven runs with two walks, Miguel Batista pitched 2/3 of an inning retiring both batters that he faced and Ramon Ramirez pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up four hits and four unearned runs. He walked one and struck out two. Bobby Parnell pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three hits and one run and Byrdak pitched to two batters and retired them both. Drew Pomeranz started for the Rockies and pitched four innings giving up five hits and two runs, one of them earned. He walked three and struck out four. The Rockies used five pitchers out of the bullpen. Rogers struggled pitching an inning and giving up six hits and four runs with three strikeouts. Matt Reynolds picked up the win pitching an inning and giving up two hits and striking out one. He won his third game of the season without a loss.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis had a hit and drew a walk, Tejada had four hits and David Wright had a hit and drew two walks. Hairston had four hits and four RBI and hit for the cycle. Lucas Duda had two hits and two RBI, Lutz had a hit and Mike Nickeas had two hits, an RBI and a walk. Josh Thole had a hit, Schwinden had a hit and an RBI. Hairston had a double, triple and a homerun. The Mets were 5-14 with 11 men left on base. Wright was caught stealing. Shwinden, Nickeas, Tejada, Lutz, Thole and Murphy each had an error. The Mets did not have a good game at all with the bat pitching and six errors on the night.

The Rockies had four players with at least three hits on the night. Carlos Gonzalez had three hits and six RBI. Ramon Hernandez had five RBI, Dexter Fowler had three hits and three RBI and Marco Scutaro had four hits and drew a walk.

The Mets got a run in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Wright was picked off and caught stealing but a run scored on the play. The Rockies scored two runs in the bottom of the first. Gonzalez had an RBI groundout and Troy Tulowitzki hit a solo homerun. Hairston hit a solo homerun in the fourth inning to tie the game at two. The fifth inning is when things got out of hand. Hairston hit an RBI triple, Duda hit an RBI single, Nickeas had an RBI single and Schwinden had an RBI single to make it a 6-2 game in favor of the Mets. The Rockies came back in the bottom of the inning with 11 runs. The score at the end of five was 13-6 in favor of the Rockies. In the sixth Hairston hit a two run double and Duda had an RBI single to make it 13-9. In the seventh Todd Helton hit an RBI single and Hernandez hit a grand slam to make it 18-9 and that was it for the scoring.

The Mets record dropped to 11-9 and the Rockies improved to 10-9. The two teams will meet in game two of the three game series on Saturday night.

Yankees walk-off with win on a wild pitch

The New York Yankees walked off with a win on Friday night. They rallied to tie the Detroit Tigers and then went on to beat them 7-6. Ivan Nova started for the Yankees and wasn’t great, he wasn’t terrible but it was the worst game he has had this season. Justin Verlander started for the Tigers and he wasn’t great either. The Yankees offense was led by Alex Rodriguez who had three hits and was up when the winning run scored. 
Nova pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up 11 hits and six runs with three walks and five strikeouts. Boone Logan pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a walk, Cory Wade pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and he struck out a batter and Dave Robertson pitched an inning giving up a walk and striking out two batters. Mariano Rivera picked up his first win of the season pitching a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout. Verlander pitched six innings giving up seven hits and five runs with four of them being earned. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out four. Dotel and Coke combined to pitch a perfect inning with two strikeouts, Joaquin Benoit pitched an inning getting a blown save. He gave up two hits and a run with a walk and two strikeouts and Brayan Villarreal pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two walks and a run which was the game winner.

Derek Jeter failed to keep his 15 game hitting streak alive but did draw a walk and score the winning run. Curtis Granderson had a hit and drew a walk, Rodriguez had three hits and two RBI and Robinson Cano had a hit. Mark Teixeira had an RBI, Nick Swisher had two hits and Raul Ibanez drew a walk. Eric Chavez had a hit and Russell Martin had a hit and two RBI. Granderson had a double and Swisher had two doubles. Rodriguez and Martin hit a homerun. The Yankees were 1-6 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base. Wade committed an error and Ibanez had an outfield assist.

Austin Jackson had four hits and two RBI for the Tigers. Brandon Boesch had a hit, Miguel Cabrera had a hit and an RBI and drew two walks and Prince Fielder had two hits and two RBI and drew a walk. Don Kelly drew two walks, Eldred had two hits and an RBI and Jhonny Peralta had a hit. Ryan Raburn had two hits. Peralta and Jackson each had a double and Eldred had a triple. The Tigers were 5-19 with runners in scoring position and they left 12 men on base. Jackson had a stolen base, Kelly had an error and Avila had a passed ball.

The Yankees scored in the first inning on a Rodriguez RBI single to take a 1-0 lead. The Tigers tied the game in the second inning. They took a 3-1 lead in the third inning. Eldred had an RBI triple, it was a misplay by Ibanez in the outfield and Cabrera and Fielder had RBI singles. In the fourth Rodriguez hit a solo homerun to make it a 3-2 game. In the fifth Martin hit a two run homerun to make it a 4-3 game in favor of the Yankees. The Tigers came right back in the sixth inning. Jackson hit a two run double and Fielder hit an RBI single to make it 6-4 Tigers. In the bottom of the sixth Ibanez reached on an error by Kelly and a run scored to make it a 6-5 game. The Yankees tied the game at six in the eighth inning on a Teixeira sacrifice fly. The Yankees won the game in the bottom of the ninth when Jeter walked, was stealing second and went to third on a wild pitch and then scored the winning run on a wild pitch. Rodriguez directed the traffic as Jeter didn’t see the ball get past the catcher.

The Yankees ended their two game losing streak and the Tigers have now lost five games in a row. The Yankees are 11-8 and the Tigers are 10-10. The two teams will play game two of their three game series on Saturday afternoon. Freddy Garcia will make the start for the Yankees.

New York Yankees Postgame notes from Wednesday night

Here are the postgame notes from after Wednesday nights game in Texas.  The Yankees lost two out of three and were off today.  They are getting ready for a three game series with the Detroit Tigers at home beginning tomorrow night. 

Phil Hughes said he thought this was going to be a good start. His stuff was good in the bullpen, he looked pretty sharp in the first two innings, and he opened the third inning with a strikeout. But things got out of hand in a hurry and when six of the next seven batters reached base — two of them hit by pitches — Hughes was finished. He’d lasted just two and a two-thirds of an inning, but even he couldn’t argue with the decision to make a change.  I really don't know what to say about him.  His stuff appears to be there so I wouldn't say he is hurt.  I just don't think he is locating and part of it could be a lack of confidence.  The Yankees really need him to be good and they will have to figure it out. 

“I haven’t really earned the trust to (stay in the game),” he said.

Hughes was the Yankees best starter this spring, but he’s lost three of his first four starts this season. Russell Martin said there are times he hasn’t look comfortable on the mound, then Martin made a not-so-flattering comparison.

“(Hughes) is guy who has tremendous confidence in his fastball,” Martin said. “For him to be successful, he’s got to locate. A.J. had the same problem every once in a while. He’d get into a hitter’s count — he’s confident in his fastball as well — it’s just when you leave one over the middle of the plate, especially those 3, 4, 5 guys, they’re not going to miss it. They’ve got a tremendous lineup. You’ve got to be able to pitch them tough. You’ve got to be able to pitch them backwards. Even when we tried to pitch them backwards, they were still on it.”  I don't think you ever want to be compared to Burnett. 

Joe Girardi said the Yankees are committed to keeping Hughes in the rotation. With Michael Pineda lost for the season and Andy Pettitte at least two minor league starts away from the big leagues, the Yankees have little choice but to show some patience. Hughes isn’t the only starter struggling.  I tthink they want him to succeed, it would be easier to take Garcia out of the rotation, they have no long-term investment in Garcia. 

“We believe he can do it, and I know he believes he can do it,” Girardi said. “But right now, sometimes the ball’s running back a little, he’s leaving the curveball up, the cutter’s sometimes not getting to where he wants to so it is frustrating. But you’ve got to keep working at it.”

Andy Pettitte allowed four runs — three earned — through five innings in Trenton. He struck out three, walked one and allowed seven hits. “I don’t feel the strength is there yet,” Pettitte said afterward. “… I was a little disappointed in my command.”

 This is from Mike Ashmore: “(Pettitte) was going to go a minimum of two starts after this outing regardless,” Brian Cashman said. “He went in here knowing that this wasn’t a situation where he’d be pulled out of here. Even if I lost every starter in our rotation in New York right now, he wouldn’t be coming to New York to replace anybody after this outing.”

 Hughes said tonight’s problem wasn’t particularly complicated or hard to figure out. He left too many balls over the middle of the plate: “I’d throw a good fastball on an 0-0 count, but that doesn’t really get you anything,” he said. “I have to continue to make good pitches all the way through the at-bat. It’s hanging curveballs, fastballs out over the plate. It’s pretty much everything.”

 Hughes showed some emotion when he came off the mound in the third, but he said it was all directed at himself, not at Girardi or the umpire. “Absolutely at myself,” Hughes said. “It’s been frustrating. It’s been disappointing these first starts. Something’s got to change. A little too much frustration probably came out physically. I try not to do that, but sometimes it gets to be too much.”

 Before today’s outing, Hughes had never allowed a run in 15.1 innings at this ballpark.  He was looking really good early on also, seems to be a good luck place for him but not on this night. 

 Girardi on the decision to bring Clay Rapada into the game in the third inning. “I had a chance to bring in a lefty to face a lefty, knowing that I had another lefty later on in the game and believing that Ron Washington wouldn’t pinch-hit that early. So I took a chance, it worked, and unfortunately we weren’t able to shut them down the rest of the way.”

 Girardi said tomorrow’s off day also played a role in his decision to pull Hughes after just 2.2 innings. “Knowing that I wasn’t going to need to use anyone, and there’s some guys that hadn’t pitched in a while,” Girardi said. “Soriano hadn’t pitched in a while. I knew that I could do that, try to keep it close, see if our offense could catch up.”

The Yankees offense couldn’t catch up, but Derek Jeter did get two more hits to extend his hitting streak to 15 games. That’s the longest in the American League this season. Jeter has 17 hits in his past 34 at-bats.

 Raul Ibanez was 2-for-4 with an RBI double and his third home run of the season. That led to my favorite Tweet of the night from my good buddy Dan Barbarisi: “Raul Ibanez has 3 home runs this year. From my estimations, they have traveled a total of 4,822 feet.” It’s true, when Ibanez gets hold of one, he crushes it.

The Rangers were using nothing but relievers tonight, beginning with a spot start from Scott Feldman, but the Yankees couldn’t get anything going against five different bullpen arms. “Sometimes that can be difficult because you don’t see the same guy twice very often,” Girardi said. “You get a different look every at-bat. Sometimes that can be harder.”

Martin always has a way of bring unexpected perspective to things: “I’ve got confidence in Phil,” he said. “I know he’s got the stuff to do it. He’s tough mentally. I don’t think his start’s as bad as mine, and I’m not too worried, so I don’t think he is either.”

The Mets sweep the Miami Marlins with a matinee win

The New York Mets defeated the Miami Marlins by the score of 3-2. Jon Niese was very good and the bullpen held it. The Mets offense was able to score two runs in the ninth to pull out the victory. Kirk Nieuwenhuis had three hits to lead the Mets offense. The Marlins only had six hits and no player had more then one hit. Ricky Nolasco pitched seven strong innings for the Marlins. 
Niese pitched seven innings giving up four hits and two runs with no walks and six strikeouts. Ramon Ramirez picked up the win pitching two innings giving up two hits and he struck out two.

Nolasco pitched seven innings giving up five hits and one run with a walk and five strikeouts. Randy Choate pitched an inning, walking a batter and striking out two and Heath Bell recorded a blown save and a loss. He pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit, two runs and four walks.

Nieuwenhuis had three hits and an RBI, Ruben Tejada had an RBI and drew a walk and David Wright had a hit and drew a walk. Ike Davis had a hit and drew a walk, Josh Thole had a hit and drew a walk and Justin Turner had an RBI and drew a walk. Niese drew a walk, Wright had a double and Nieuwenhuis had a triple. The Mets were 1-4 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.

Austin Kearns had a hit for the Marlins. Omar Infante had a hit, Mike Stanton had a hit and Gaby Sanchez had a hit and an RBI. Brett Hayes and Greg Dobbs each had a hit. Infante and Kearns each had a double and Sanchez had a homerun. The Marlins were 2-6 with runners in scoring position and they left two men on base. Hayes had a stolen base.

The Mets swept the three game series. It was a very good series for the Mets who were starting to fade a little bit from their strong start. The Mets record improved to 11-8 and the Marlins record dropped to 7-11. The Mets had a lineup in this game of all homegrown players. They will now head to Colorado to take on the Rockies in a three game series beginning on Friday night. They will then head to Houston from their.

The Mets win their second straight over Jose Reyes and the Miami Marlins

The New York Mets defeated the Miami Marlins by the score of 5-1 on Wednesday night. R.A. Dickey made the start and pitched really well. The bullpen also did it’s job for the Mets. Lucas Duda had a couple of hits and David Wright hit a homerun. Mark Buehrle pitched pretty well in defeat but not good enough. 
Dickey earned his third win of the season pitching seven innings and giving up three hits and one run with a walk and seven strikeouts. Jon Rauch pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up one hit, Bobby Parnell pitched to one batter and struck him out and Tim Byrdak gave up a hit without recording an out. Manny Acosta pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out one. Buehrle took the loss, his third of the season. He pitched seven innings giving up five hits and two runs with a walk and four strikeouts. Mike Dunn pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and three runs with two of them being earned. He walked one and struck out two, Ryan Webb pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit.

Ruben Tejada had a hit, Daniel Murphy had a hit and David Wright had a hit, two RBI and drew a walk. Lucas Duda had two hits and an RBI, Scott Hairston had a hit and drew a walk and Mike Baxter had a hit and two RBI. Josh Thole had a hit. Tejada and Baxter had a double and Wright had a homerun. The Mets were 2-4 with runners in scoring position and left five on base. Wright commited an error.

Reyes had a hit for the Marlins. Logan Morrison had two hits, Mike Stanton drew a walk and Omar Infante had two hits and an RBI. Gaby Sanchez had a hit a double. Infante had a homerun and the Marlins were 0-4 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Stanton made an error.

In the fifth the Marlins took a 1-0 lead on a solo homerun by Infante. In the sixth Wright hit a two run homerun to make it 2-1 Mets. In the eighth Duda hit an RBI single and Baxter hit a two run double to make it 5-1 and that was the final score.

The Mets have won the first two games of the series and will go for the three game sweep on Thursday afternoon. The Mets improved their record to 10-8 and have won two in a row and the Marlins record dropped to 7-10.

The New York Yankees drop the rubber game to Texas 7-3

The New York Yankees lost to the Texas Rangers by the score of 7-3 on Wednesday night. Phil Hughes started the game and was not good once again. On a day when the Yankees got bad news on Michael Pineda they needed a good start from Hughes and were not able to get it. The Yankees did get good news on Andy Pettitte today but he is still not quite ready to come back. The Yankees offense was ok but they weren’t great and couldn’t climb back from an early deficit. 
Hughes pitched 2 2/3 innings giving up five hits and four runs. He struck out two with no walks and is now 1-3 on the season. Clay Rapada faced one batter and got him out, David Phelps pitched 2 1/3 innings giving up five hits and three runs with three walks and a strikeout and Cody Eppley pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a walk. Boone Logan pitched to one batter and retired him and Rafael Soriano pitched an inning giving up a hit. Scott Feldman pitched 3 1/3 innings giving up six hits and two runs with a walk and three strikeouts. Ross got the win his fourth of the season pitching 2 2/3 innings and striking out two batters. The Rangers used three other relief pitchers who pitched three innings giving up two hits and a run with three strikeouts.

Derek Jeter had two hits, Curtis Granderson drew a walk and Robinson Cano had a hit. Mark Teixeira had a couple of hits, Nick Swisher had a hit and Raul Ibanez had two hits and two RBI. Eric Chavez had an RBI. Ibanez had a double and a homerun. The Yankees were 1-7 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Jeter had a stolen base in the game.

Ian Kinsler had three hits for the Rangers. Elvis Andrus had a hit and an RBI, Josh Hamilton drew two intentional walks and Adrian Beltre had three hits and three RBI. Michael Young had a hit and an RBI, Mike Napoli had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk and Mitch Moreland had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk. Kinsler and Young each had a double, Beltre, Napoli and Moreland each hit a homerun. The Rangers were 3-10 with runners in scoring position and they left nine men on base. Andrus had a stolen base and Hamilton had an outfield assist.

In the second inning Texas got on the board first with a solo homerun by Beltre. In the third the game started to unravel on Hughes and before it got out of hand he was removed from the game. Moreland singled and Kinsler doubled before Andrus had an RBI groundout to make it 2-0. There was a man on third and two outs and Beltre had an RBI single, Young had an RBI double and it was 4-0 Rangers. In the fourth Ibanez hit an RBI double to make it 4-1. Chavez hit a sacrifice fly and Texas lead was cut in half 4-2. In the bottom of the fourth Napoli hit a solo homerun and it was 5-2 Texas. In the sixth Moreland hit a solo homerun and Beltre had an RBI single and it was 7-2 Texas. The Yankees would score the final run of the game in the seventh. Ibanez hit a solo homerun.

The Yankees lost two out of three in this series but won three out of the five games played on the road. The Yankees last game scheduled in Boston was rained out and will be made up later in the season. The Yankees will have an off day on Thursday and they will begin a three game set at home against the Tigers on Friday night. The Yankees record is now 10-8 on the season and the Rangers are 15-4 which is the best record in the American League.

The New York Yankees lose the battle of Japanese pitchers to the Texas Rangers

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Texas Rangers by the score of 2-0 on Tuesday night. Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees and pitched very well but Yu Darvish started for the Rangers and was even better. The Yankees offense didn’t do much, Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano led the team with two hits each. The Rangers got a leadoff homerun from Ian Kinsler and not much else. 
Kuroda pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up two runs on five hits. He walked two batters and struck out five. He is now 1-3 on the season. Clay Rapada faced one batter and got him out, Cory Wade faced two batters and got both of them out and Boone Logan struck out the only batter that he faced. Darvish earned his third win of the season by pitching 8 1/3 shutout innings giving up seven hits. He walked two and struck out ten. Joe Nathan earned the save by making one pitching and getting a double play.

Jeter had two hits, Curtis Granderson drew a walk and Cano had two hits. Nick Swisher had a hit, Eric Chavez had a hit and Russell Martin had a hit and drew a walk. Cano had a double and the Yankees were 1-7 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.

Kinsler had a hit, RBI and drew a walk for the Rangers. Elvis Andrus drew a walk, Josh Hamilton had a hit and an RBI and Nelson Cruz had a hit. David Murphy had a hit, Mike Napoli had a hit. Kinsler had a homerun, the Rangers were 1-2 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base. Andrus had a stolen base.

The Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a Kinsler solo homerun. The Rangers scored their second run and final run of the game in the third inning. Hamilton had an RBI single and that was it for the scoring in the game.

The Yankees four game winning streak came to an end and they are now 10-7 on the season. The Rangers record improved to 14-4. The rubber game will be played tomorrow night. The Yankees won game one on Monday night by the score of 7-4 and they lost this game. The starters tomorrow night will be Phil Hughes and Scott Feldman. The Yankees will have an off day on Thursday and return home on Friday night to take on the Detroit Tigers.

The New York Mets defeat the Miami Marlins in Jose Reyes return

The New York Mets defeated the Miami Marlins by the score of 2-1 on Tuesday night. It was the return of Jose Reyes to flushing as he signed a free agent contract with the Marlins this past winter. I would say that he got more boos then cheers although it was mixed. There wasn’t a very big crowd either though in attendance. Johan Santana started for the Mets and pitched brilliantly. Josh Johnson started for the Marlins and pitched well. Daniel Murphy had two hits to lead the Mets. The Marlins only managed three hits, Reyes was 0-4 in his return. 
Santana pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up three hits and one run with two walks and 11 strikeouts. Ramon Ramirez faced one batter and retired him, Jon Rauch recorded his third win of the season pitching a perfect inning and Frank Francisco earned his fourth save. Francisco pitched an inning walking a batter. Johnson pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up three hits and one run with a walk and nine strikeouts. The Marlins used five relievers and had mixed results. They pitched pretty well for the most part but Mike Dunn got charged with a blown save and Edward Mujica took the loss. Dunn pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a walk and striking out one and Mujica pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three hits and a run with a strikeout.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis had a hit, Murphy had two hits and David Wright had a hit. Lucas Duda had a hit, RBI and drew a walk, Justin Turner drew a walk and Scott Hairston drew a walk. Josh Thole had a hit, RBI and drew a walk, he had a double. The Mets were 1-7 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.

Emilio Bonifacio had a hit for the Marlins. Hanley Ramirez drew a walk, Logan Morrison drew a walk and Mike Stanton had a hit. Gaby Sanchez had a hit and an RBI and John Buck drew a walk. Sanchez had a double, the Marlins were 0-2 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Ramirez had a stolen base.

In the seventh the Marlins took a 1-0 lead on a Sanchez RBI double. The Mets quickly responded in the bottom of the inning. The Mets first two batters were retired and then four straight walks tied the game at one. Thole had the RBI walk and then in the eighth Duda had an RBI single. That turned out to be the game winning hit as 2-1 was the final score.

The Mets improved their record to 9-8 and the Marlins dropped to 7-9. The win ruined Reyes return to New York. He had a tough day with no hits in four at bats. The two teams will play game two of their three game series tomorrow night. The series will conclude with a Thursday afternoon game. The Mets got the win but also an important thing was Santana bouncing back from his horrible start last time out. He was brilliant tonight and that should help calm some fears especially on a day when two players went on the disabled list. Jason Bay has a fracture in his ribs and Mike Pelfrey has an elbow issue that could be serious. The Mets needed a win like this to change the subject and Santana pitching so well definitely helps also.

New York Yankees show some muscle in Texas as they defeat the Texas Rangers

The New York Yankees defeated the Texas Rangers by the score of 7-4 on Monday night. CC Sabathia started for the Yankees and pitched well and Mariano Rivera closed it out. The Yankees offense continued to roll with Derek Jeter having a big day. Elvis Andrus had a couple of hits to lead the Texas attack. Derek Holland had a rough day as he usually does against the Yankees. 
Sabathia pitched eight innings giving up seven hits and four runs with a walk and eight strikeouts. Sabathia is now 2-0 on the season and Rivera picked up his fourth save of the season with a perfect inning. Holland suffered his first loss of the season for Texas. He pitched six innings giving up nine hits and seven runs with four walks and a strikeout. Mark Lowe pitched two perfect innings with three strikeouts and Koji Uehara pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts.

Jeter had four hits and an RBI and is now batting 411 on the season. Nick Swisher had an RBI, Robinson Cano had two hits and Alex Rodriguez had a hit, three RBI and drew two walks. Curtis Granderson had a hit, two RBI and drew a walk, Chris Stewart had a hit and drew a walk. Stewart and Jeter each had a double. Rodriguez had a double. The Yankees were 5-9 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base. Jeter did commit an error.

Ian Kinsler had a hit for Texas. Andrus had two hits, Josh Hamilton had a hit and an RBI and Nelson Cruz had a hit and drew a walk. Brandon Snyder had a hit and Chris Gentry had a hit and two RBI. Cruz, Snyder and Gentry each had a double. Hamilton had a homerun and the Rangers were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base. Napoli committed an error.

Granderson had a two run single in the first to make it 2-0 Yankees. The Rangers got a run back in the bottom of the first on a Hamilton ground out. In the fifth Swisher hit a sacrifice fly to push the Yankees lead to 3-1. Rodriguez hit a three run homerun and it was 6-1 Yankees. The Yankees would add another run in the sixth on a Jeter RBI double. In the bottom of the sixth the final run was scored on a Hamilton solo homerun.

The Yankees are now 10-6 on the season and Texas falls to 13-4. The two teams will meet for game two of a three game series on Tuesday night. Yu Darvish will get the start for Texas against fellow countryman Hiroki Kuroda. It could be an offensive night and a very interesting night or day in Japan.

The New York Mets lose both ends of a doubleheader to the San Francisco Giants

The New York Mets lost both ends of a doubleheader to the San Francisco Giants on Monday evening and night. They lost the first game by the score of 6-1 and the second game 7-2. Miguel Batista started game one and didn’t pitch well, Dillon Gee started game two and didn’t pitch well. The bullpen did pitch well in both games. In game one the offense saw Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Daniel Murphy get two hits. In the second game no player had more then a hit. Tim Lincecum was wild in game one, walking five batters and only lasting five innings. The Mets couldn’t take advantage of it though. In the second game Madison Bumgarner pitched well. 
In game one Batista pitched 3 2/3 innings giving up seven hits and six runs with three of them being earned. He walked three and struck out two. Batista picked up his first loss of the season, Manny Acosta faced one batter and retired him and Jeremy Hefner making his major league debut pitched three innings giving up three hits. He walked a batter, Bobby Parnell pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one and Ramon Ramirez pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts. Lincecum got the win, his first of the year after two losses. Lincecum pitched five innings giving up four hits and one run with five walks and eight strikeouts. Guillermo Mota pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up two hits and he struck out two, Jeremy Affeldt pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up one hit and a walk and striking out two and Dan Otero pitched an inning giving up a hit and he struck out one. In game two Gee suffered his second loss of the season pitching 6 2/3 innings giving up 12 hits and seven runs. He walked one and struck out five. Acosta and Parnell pitched 2 1/3 innings in relief giving up one hit and no runs with a walk and four strikeouts. Bumgarner picked up his third win of the season pitching seven innings giving up three hits and a run with two walks and four strikeouts. They used three pitchers out of the bullpen who gave up three hits and a run. They walked two and struck out one.

In game one Nieuwenhuis and Murphy each had two hits. Nieuwenhuis also drew a walk, David Wright drew a walk and Lucas Duda drew three walks. Josh Thole had a hit, Ruben Tejada had a hit and drew a walk and Mike Baxter had a hit and an RBI. Justin Turner had a hit. Baxter and Nieuwenhuis each had a double and the Mets were 1-8 with runners in scoring position leaving 12 men on base. Tejada had a stolen base, Davis had an error and Duda had an outfield assist.

In game two Tejada had a hit, Murphy had an RBI and drew a walk and Wright drew a walk. Bay had a hit and drew a walk, Baxter drew a walk and Turner had a hit and an RBI. Nieuwenhuis had a hit and Duda had two hits. Duda had a double, The Mets were 2-7 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.

In the first game San Francisco scored two runs in the first and three in the third and they added their final run in the fourth inning. The Mets scored their only run in the second inning. Pablo Sandoval had an RBI single and Buster Posey hit a solo homerun. In the second Baxter hit an RBI double for the Mets. In the third Nate Schierholtz hit a three run homerun and it was 5-1 Giants. In the fourth the Giants would add another run to finish the scoring. Brandon Crawford hit an RBI double.

In the second game the Giants jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Sandoval hit a three run homerun. They added two more runs in the fourth to make it 5-0 before the Mets got a run back in the bottom of the fourth. Gregor Blanco hit a two run double for the Giants and Turner had an RBI single for the Mets. In the seventh Hector Sanchez hit a two run homerun to make it 7-1 Giants. The Mets scored the last run of the game in the eighth on a Murphy sacrifice fly.

The Mets are now 8-8 on the season and have won one of their last six games. The Giants are 9-7 on the season. The Mets welcome the Miami Marlins into town for the next three games. They will play Tuesday and Wednesday nights and Thursday afternoon. It will mark the return of Jose Reyes to New York. The Mets are planning on a little video tribute to him, I am sure the crowd will cheer him but we will see how it goes in Flushing Tuesday night.

Yankees at Rangers Pregame

The New York Yankees will be taking on the high powered Texas Rangers tonight in Arlington, Texas.  The Rangers have gone to two straight World Series and lost them both.  The Rangers are off to the best start of any team this season.  They continue to mash the ball and also get good pitching.  The pitching matchup tonight is CC Sabathia and Derek Holland.  They are two left handers.  Here are the lineups and a couple of notes. 

Yankees Lineup:Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher, Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson, Andruw Jones, Eduardo Nunez(DH), Chris Stewart. 

Rangers Lineup:Ian Kinsler, Elvis Andrus, Josh Hamilton, Michael Young, Mike Napoli, Nelson Cruz, Yorvit Torrealba, B Snyder(DH), C. Gentry(CF).

Michael Pineda will have his dye contrast MRI tomorrow instead of today.  There was a scheduling conflict. 

The Yankees lead the majors with 27 homeruns and Texas is right behind them with 26.  Texas is 13-3 and the Yankees are 9-6.  They are two of the best teams in the American League if not the two best teams. 

Holland is 2-0 with a 3.10 ERA so far this season.  Sabathia is 1-0 with a 5.59 ERA.  Sabathia has yet to get on track but after a rough first inning in his last start he really settled down.  It will be interesting to see how he does against probably the best offense in baseball. 

This is the first of a three game series that these two teams will play.  The Rangers eliminated the Yankees in the 2010 ALCS and then reached the World Series once again last season.  The Rangers were one strike away from winning it but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. 

Yankees postgame notes from Saturday night

Here are the postgame notes after a wild 15-9 Yankees win this evening in Fenway Park.  Thanks to the Lohud Yankees blog who had the coverage and I add my own insights as usual. 

The whole thing took a little less than an hour and a half, which, all things considered, was remarkably fast. In a span of six Yankees outs, 13 Yankees hits and seven Red Sox pitchers a baseball blowout came full circle. The Yankees were on their way to a embarrassing loss, and suddenly they were humiliating the Red Sox in front of a booing Fenway crowd that seemed to have seen enough.

“It’s baseball, and it’s hard to feel sorry for anybody,” Mark Teixeira said. “That’s not a knock on (Bobby Valentine) or anybody, but you go out to win the game. I’ve never felt bad about winning games.”

For the Yankees, this one had bad feeling written all over it. Freddy Garcia was pulled after an inning and two third, the Red Sox scored at least two runs in four of the first five innings, and the Yankees had scattered three singles before Teixeira hit his solo home run in the top of the sixth.  The thing that still concerns me is the Yankees starting pitching.  It has been pretty bad and Garcia and Hughes have both been bad.  Andy Pettitte is on schedule to return in about three weeks so who goes and also if they both continue one of them will be in the rotation.  Michael Pineda had a setback which isn't good, who knows when you may see him. 

“It seems kind of like an innocent homer at the time,” Joe Girardi said. “… I know we have a great offense, but you don’t see a comeback (like that) at any level very often in professional baseball.”

In coming back from 9-0, the Yankees matched the franchise record for the largest deficit overcome in a win. They’d done it five times before tonight. They also scored seven runs in back-to-back innings for just the second time in franchise history. The first also came at Fenway.

“It’s still pretty shocking,” Teixeira said. “It’s one of the funnest games I’ve ever played in my entire life. I’ve played in a lot of games.”

Nick Swisher called the Yankees relievers the “heroes of the game,” but it’s hard to ignore six RBIs apiece from both Swisher and Teixeira. In consecutive at-bats, Teixeira hit two homers — one from each side of the plate — and a two-run, ground-rule double. In back-to-back at-bats, Swisher hit the grand slam that gave the Yankees life and the two-run double that gave them a lead. As he stood on second base after the double, Swisher pounded his chest.

“Those first four or five innings, we didn’t really have much going on,” Swisher said. “Then one hit, then a second hit, then a third hit. You know the old saying hitting is contagious. I feel like that is exactly the case today.”

 Curtis Granderson on Thursday, Eric Chavez yesterday and Mark Teixeira tonight. The Yankees have had a player hit multiple home runs in three straight games for the first time since 1961. The Yankees are the first big league team to do it since the Reds in 2010.

Last time two Yankees had six RBIs in the same game was 2005 when Alex Rodriguez and Tino Martinez did it against the Rays. Last time two Yankees had six RBIs in a game on the road was 1999 when Scott Brosius and — surprise! — Joe Girardi did it. Girardi had seven in that game.

The Red Sox bullpen allowed 14 runs (13 earned) through the final three innings. It was the most runs allowed by the Red Sox relievers since 2000 when the bullpen gave up 17 runs in a 22-1 loss to the Yankees. It was the most earned runs allowed by the Red Sox bullpen since 1994.

 On the other side, the Yankees bullpen allowed four runs through 7.1 innings. None of those runs came in the last four innings when David Phelps, Rafael Soriano, Boone Logan and Cody Eppley pitched a scoreless inning apiece. Phelps finished with four innings and three earned runs (he gave up another run charged to Clay Rapada). “I thought (Phelps) was ok,” Girardi said. “I thought he threw the ball pretty decent. He wasn’t quite as crisp as the last time he went out and went five innings, but on a day when the wind was blowing pretty good, I thought he was OK.”

 Freddy Garcia was neither crisp nor ok. He lasted only 1.2 innings, allowing five runs on seven hits. Girardi said Garcia didn’t have the same arm strength he showed in spring training and in previous starts this season. Garcia said he felt better in the second inning, but by then it was too late. “Every pitch I was throwing, they hit,” Girardi said. “I threw a couple of good pitches in the first inning and they hit it. Like I say, I have to pitch good. I don’t care if I’m throwing 83, 85, 86, whatever. I need to pitch good.”

Here’s Girardi on Garcia: “He didn’t have his velocity today. I think it caused the other pitches to roll a little bit. He was up in the zone. He just didn’t have his stuff today when he went out there, for whatever reason. We’ll continue to work on it and see what’s going on. He didn’t have the arm speed that he’s had and had all spring training.”

 After the second inning, I thought the Yankees would need to call up a pitcher for tomorrow’s game. At this point, I’m not so sure. Cory Wade, Dave Robertson, Soriano and Mariano Rivera should all be available. Maybe Logan, Rapada and Eppley as well. With CC Sabathia getting the start, that’s probably enough.

 Brian Cashman confirmed tonight that Michael Pineda will go for a dye contrast MRI on Monday in New York.

Eduardo Nunez is hitting .455 after a 3-for-4 tonight. He also has three stolen bases. The Yankees other shortstop is hitting .382 and also went 3-for-4 today.

 Don’t bank on tomorrow’s game being played. “The forecast is not real positive,” Girardi said. “It looks like we’re going to see a lot of rain tomorrow.”  I would think it will be postponed and the Yankees will move on to Texas.  They play enough during the season that they can easily reschedule.  The hope is that if it is as bad as they think, cancel it early so the Yankees can get going to Texas and not just sit around. 

 Let’s give the last word to Teixeira: “Some games, you get blown out. You play 162 games a year, you’re going to get blown out a few times. But, we still said, ‘Hey, let’s stay in it. We have a few innings left. You never know.’ And I give our bullpen a lot of credit because they kept us in the game. The last few innings they were lock down, and that was big. … If you come back from nine runs against anybody it’s a cool thing. But to do it here in Boston, it makes it a little more fun.”