Yankees postgame notes on a Friday night

Here are the postgame notes after the Yankees victory in Kansas City.  Thanks to the Lohud Yankees Blog and Journal news beat reporter Chad Jennings.  I as always add my insights. 

A four-run lead in the ninth inning wasn’t exactly unfamiliar territory for Dave Robertson.
“That’s a situation I’ve been in before,” Robertson said. “It’s usually one where, if I walk a guy, Mo comes in.”Of course, there was no Mo tonight. It was the first time CC Sabathia had ever started a game for the Yankees without Rivera being on the active roster, and it was a game the Yankees badly needed to win after a three-game losing streak and the stunning news of Rivera’s injury.
In the clubhouse before the game, Rivera addressed the team.“He just said, ‘Don’t feel sorry for me, I’m going to come back’” Robertson said. “‘We’re a good team, injuries happen, let’s turn it around, get stronger, go from there."  I think just him talking to the team was inspirational and made them feel better.  I don't think anyone wanted to see Rivera end his career that way. 

In a ninth inning worthy of the Yankees closer, Robertson struck out the side — he joked that Rivera could have done it on eight pitches — and the mood in the clubhouse was back to normal after the game. Truth be told, the mood was pretty much back to normal before the game. Rivera made sure of that. When he showed up today with a smile on his face and a comeback on his mind, a weight seemed to have lifted.  Robertson has been great this year and maybe he is ready to take over the closers role but their will be enourmous pressure on him, I think maybe the best thing to do is give it to Soriano and if he fails then go to Robertson. 

“Everyone knows how hard Mo works,” Derek Jeter said. “It’s a challenge for him. He’s going to accept that challenge, and he’s going to go out there and do whatever it takes to get back on the field. It’s great for us to hear that, but then again, we can’t sit around and wait for him.”
Tonight the Yankees began the process of moving on.

Sabathia was terrific. He’s won four straight and pitched into the eighth inning each time. Tonight he gave up two runs in the first, but pitched the next seven innings scoreless. “Just making sure that I was getting the ball down with two strikes,” Sabathia said. “I left the ball up to Alex Gordon and to Dyson (in the first inning). I was in good counts, just not making pitches when I needed to.”
 Sabathia really is an ace and a true workhorse. 

The game hinged on the seventh inning. Bruce Chen was pitching well, but Eduardo Nunez’s two-out, go-ahead triple seemed to spark the Yankees offense. Chris Stewart added and RBI single before Jeter delivered the big blow with a two-run homer. “I think (Nunez) put pressure on him,” Stewart said. “We started to see some pitches, he started elevating some, and we took advantage of it.”

Speaking of that seventh inning, the home run was Jeter’s fifth of the season. He hit six all of last year. Jeter’s hitting .404 after another two-hit game. “I don’t think about it one minute,” Jeter said.  It is remarkable to think about and he leads the major leagues in hits. 

 Mark Teixeira hit his seventh home run in 20 at-bats against Bruce Chen. He added a single off Chen later in the game. “It’s really all about that I see him well,” Teixeira said. “There’s certain guys that you just really see the ball out of their hand. You see their pitches break, you see the spin. Other guys it’s the opposite. It doesn’t matter if they throw it right down the middle. You don’t see it well, your timing’s off and they just own you. That’s a lot of what baseball is all about is just timing and seeing the ball.”

Teixeira’s home run was his first since April 21.  He has really struggled, hopefully for him and the team that will get him going. 

 Robertson said he wasn’t thinking about Rivera when he came into the ninth inning. Not really, anyway. “I wouldn’t say I really thought about it, but I knew I had to get three outs, finish the game,” he said. “Going to be like that, I guess, from now until the end of the season. I can’t sit there and dwell on it, just got to go out an throw as well as you can. That’s it. We don’t have him anymore, and it stinks, it really does.”  Robertson definitely has been affected majorly and in more ways then one with Mo being gone.  You can see how much respect he has for him. 

 Rafael Soriano was getting loose in the eighth inning so that he could come in if Sabathia got into trouble, but Girardi said his plan all along was to let Robertson handle the ninth. “We wanted to get him a little experience in that sense,” Girardi said. “But he also hadn’t worked in three or four days and you like to keep your relievers going. We thought we’d get him in there.”

The New York Mets blow a lead and lose to the Arizona Diamondbacks

The New York Mets were defeated by the Arizona Diamondbacks by the score of 5-4 on Friday night in New York. Dillon Gee started for the Mets and pitched well. The bullpen blew the lead for the Mets. Daniel Murphy and Andres Torres led the Mets offense with five hits combined. 
Gee pitched six innings giving up four hits and two runs with three walks and six strikeouts. Bobby Parnell pitched an inning giving up an unearned run, Tim Byrdak pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a run, walk and he struck out one and Jon Rauch got charged with his second blown save and his first loss of the season. Rauch pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three hits and one run with a strikeout and Ramon Ramirez pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk and he struck out one. Wade Miley pitched six innings giving up seven hits and four runs with two walks and four strikeouts for the Royals. Brad Ziegler got the win pitching an inning giving up a hit, David Hernandez pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout and J.J. Putz picked up his sixth save of the season. He pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts.

Ruben Tejada had a hit, Murphy had two hits and David Wright had a hit and drew two walks. Lucas Duda had a hit and drew a walk, Scott Hairston had a hit and two RBI and Ike Davis had an RBI. Torres had three hits and an RBI including a double. Murphy and Hairston each had a double. The Mets were 2-11 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Valdespin had a stolen base, Torres was caught stealing and Gee committed an error.

G. Parra had a hit and drew a walk, Jason Kubel drew two walks and Miguel Montero had a hit and drew two walks. Paul Goldschmidt had a hit and two RBI, Cody Ransom had two hits and three RBI and Aaron Hill had a hit. Miley had a hit and Lyle Overbay had a hit. Goldschmidt and Overbay each had a double. Ransom had a homerun. The Diamondbacks were 2-11 with ten men left on base. Miley committed an error.

In the second Ransom hit a two run homerun to give the Diamondbacks a 2-0 lead. In the third Hairston hit a two run double, Davis grounded out and a run scored and Torres hit an RBI single making it 4-2 Mets. In the eighth the Diamondbacks rallied to score the final three runs of the game. Goldschmidt hit a two run double and Ransom hit an RBI single making it 5-4 Diamondbacks which was the final score.

The Mets record fell to 500 at 13-13 and the Diamondbacks improved their record to 14-13. The two teams will play game two of a three game series on Saturday afternoon.

The Yankees end their losing streak at three games

The New York Yankees defeated the Kansas City Royals by the score of 6-2 on Friday night in Kansas City. CC Sabathia made the start for the Yankees and after a tough first inning he was great. David Robertson closed out the game even though it wasn’t a save situation. Derek Jeter had a couple of hits to lead the Yankees offense. 
Sabathia pitched eight innings for the third straight start. He allowed two runs on seven hits with no walks and five strikeouts. Robertson struck out the side in his one inning. Sabathia recorded his fourth win of the season and Bruce Chen took the loss his fourth of the season. Chen pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up nine hits and six runs with a walk and four strikeouts. Tim Collins pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and striking out one, Louis Coleman pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up a hit with two strikeouts and Tommy Hottovy pitched to one batter and retired him.

Jeter had two hits and two RBI, Curtis Granderson had a hit and Mark Teixeira had two hits and two RBI. Alex Rodriguez had a hit, Robinson Cano had a hit and Andruw Jones had a hit. DeWayne Wise had a hit, Eduardo Nunez had a hit, RBI and drew a walk and Chris Stewart had a hit and an RBI. Wise had a double, Nunez a triple and Teixeira and Jeter each had a homerun. The Yankees were 1-7 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Nunez had a stolen base and Teixeira was caught stealing.

Tyler Dyson had a hit for the Royals. Alex Gordon had a hit and an RBI, Eric Hosmer had a hit and Jeff Francoeur had a hit and an RBI and Mike Moustakas had a hit. Chris Getz had a hit and Alex Escobar had a hit. Gordon, Francoeur, Escobar and Moustakas each had a double. Hosmer had a triple and the Royals were 2-9 with runners in scoring position with four men left on base. Escobar had a stolen base and Pena had a passed ball.

In the first inning Teixeira hit a two run homerun to make it 2-0 Yankees. The Royals came right back and scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Gordon and Francoeur each had an RBI double to tie the game at two. In the seventh inning Nunez hit an RBI triple, Stewart had an RBI single and Jeter hit a two run homerun to make it 6-2. That was the final score of the game.

The Yankees ended their three game losing streak and are 14-12 on the season. The Royals are now 1-11 at home on the season. They have a 8-17 record. The two teams will play game three of a four game series on Saturday night.

The Yankees continue their struggles in Kansas City

The New York Yankees lost to the Kansas City Royals by the score of 4-3 on Thursday night. The story though isn’t the game but the loss of future Hall Of Famer Mariano Rivera. Rivera before the game shagging fly balls as he always does tore his ACL. He is out for the season and now the question is will he be gone for good?? We will have to wait and see what happens from here. David Phelps made his first major league start and was ok but he didn’t last long because of the pitch count. The bullpen did pretty well in their four innings. The Yankees offense struggled again especially with runners in scoring position. 
Phelps pitched four innings giving up two runs on six hits. He didn’t walk a batter and he struck out five. Clay Rapada pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a walk and a run with a strikeout, D.J. Mitchell pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up two hits and one run with a walk and Boone Logan pitched a perfect inning. Rafael Soriano pitched a scoreless inning giving up a hit. Danny Duffy picked up the win pitching 5 1/3 innings giving up six hits and two runs with two walks and six strikeouts. He is now 2-2 on the season. The Royals bullpen gave up one run in 3 2/3 innings. They gave up seven hits and a walk without striking out a batter.

Derek Jeter had four hits, Curtis Granderson had a hit and drew a walk and Mark Teixeira had a hit and two RBI. Alex Rodriguez had a hit and drew two walks, Robinson Cano had a hit and Andruw Jones had three hits. Eduardo Nunez had an RBI and Russell Martin had two hits. Jeter and Teixeira each had a double. The Yankees were 1-9 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Nunez was caught stealing and Phelps committed an error.

Tyler Dyson had two hits for the Royals. Billy Butler had a hit, Eric Hosmer had two hits and an RBI and Jeff Francoeur had a hit and drew a walk. Mike Moustakas had two hits and three RBI and Chris Getz had a hit. Getz and Francoeur each had a double. Moustakas hit a homerun. The Royals were 3-10 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Francoeur was caught stealing.

In the second inning Moustakas hit a solo homerun to give the Royals a 1-0 lead. The Yankees tied the game in the third on an RBI double by Teixeira. In the bottom of the third the Royals regained the lead. Hosmer hit an RBI single to make it 2-1. In the fifth Moustakas got the big hit of the game as he hit a two run single making it 4-1 Royals. Nunez hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth to cut the lead to 4-2. In the seventh Teixeira hit a sacrifice fly for the last run making it 4-3 which would be the final score. The Yankees in the ninth had a Jeter single and a Granderson walk but then Teixeira hit into a double play and Rodriguez hit a slow grounder to third that the third baseman just got him on to end the game. If he was safe it would have been a tie game.

The Yankees have now lost three games in a row and are 13-12 on the season. The Royals won their first game at home of the season. They are now 1-10 there and have a record of 8-16. The two teams will play game two of their four game series on Friday night.

The Yankees get shutout by the Baltimore Orioles and lose the series

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Baltimore Orioles by the score of 5-0 on Wednesday night. Ivan Nova started for the Yankees and pitched well for six innings. The wheels came off a little in the seventh and the game got away from him and the Yankees. The Yankees offense once again was anemic though as they scored three runs in the three game series. They were able to win one game only because Hiroki Kuroda pitched such a great game. Jake Arrieta who has enjoyed success against the Yankees pitched really well. Nick Johnson continues to torch his former team. 
Nova pitched 6 1/3 innings giving up five runs on nine hits. He walked four and struck out three. Clay Rapada gave up a hit in 1/3 of an inning and he struck out one, Cory Wade retired the only batter that he faced and Freddy Garcia pitched two innings and gave up two hits in his first relief appearance. He also walked a batter. Nova is now 3-1 on the season and saw his winning streak come to an end. Arrieta pitched eight innings giving up five hits and no walks with nine strikeouts. He picked up his second win of the season and Jim Johnson pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout.

Curtis Granderson had a hit, Alex Rodriguez had two hits and Robinson Cano had a hit. Raul Ibanez had a hit. The Yankees did not have an extra base hit and they left four men on base.

J.J. Hardy had two hits for the Orioles, Nick Markakis had two hits and an RBI and Adam Jones drew a walk. Matt Wieters had three hits, two RBI and drew a walk, Johnson had two hits and an RBI and Mark Reynolds drew a walk. Robert Andino had three hits, an RBI and drew a walk. Markakis, Johnson, Hardy and Wieters each had a double. Wieters and Markakis each had a homerun. The Orioles were 3-15 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.

In the fourth Wieters hit a solo homerun to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead. The Orioles would score another run in the sixth on an Andino RBI single. The Orioles broke it open in the seventh with three runs. Markakis hit a solo homerun, Wieters had an RBI double and Johnson had an RBI single. The final was 5-0.

The Orioles won two out of three games in the series. The Yankees have now lost two in a row and their offense hasn’t done much of anything. The Yankees scored three runs in the three game series. The Yankees record fell to 13-11 and the Orioles improved their record to 16-9. The Yankees will head to Kansas City to begin a four game series on Thursday night.

The Mets get swept in Houston as they lose 8-1

The New York Mets were defeated by the Houston Astros 8-1 on Wednesday afternoon in Houston. The Mets lost every game of the three game series after winning two out of three in Colorado. Chris Schwinden made his second major league start and this one wasn’t much better then the first. Manny Acosta didn’t pitch well out of the bullpen and the Mets offense didn’t do much. Ruben Tejada led the Mets offense but no one else did much of anything. 
Schwinden pitched four innings giving up six hits and five runs with two walks and a strikeout. Acosta pitched two innings giving up six hits and three runs with a strikeout, Tim Byrdak pitched an inning giving up a hit and he struck out a batter and Frank Francisco pitched an inning giving up two hits and he struck out one. Schwinden took the loss, his first of the season. Wandy Rodriguez won his third game, pitching seven innings and giving up six hits and a run with two walks and five strikeouts. The bullpen pitched two innings giving up one hit and no runs with no walks and two strikeouts.

Tejada had three hits, David Wright had a hit and drew a walk and Scott Hairston had a hit. Kirk Nieuwenhuis had a hit and drew a walk, Andres Torres had a hit and an RBI. Tejada and Hairston had a double and Wright had a triple. The Mets were 2-7 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base. Wright had a stolen base.

Schafer drew two walks for the Astros. Justin Maxwell had a hit, Altuve had a hit and Carlos Lee had two hits. Jed Lowrie had three hits, Bogusevic had two hits and an RBI and Johnson had four hits and six RBI. Castro had two hits and an RBI. Lowrie and Bogusevic each had a double. Johnson had a homerun and the Astros were 5-15 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Schafer had a stolen base and Martinez had an outfield assist.

In the second Johnson hit a three run homerun to give the Astros a 3-0 lead. In the third Johnson hit a two run homerun to make it 5-0. The Mets got their only run in the fourth inning on a Torres RBI single. Bogusevic had an RBI double in the fifth inning to make it 6-1 and Johnson and Castro each had an RBI single to make it 8-1 which was the final score.

The Astros improved their record to 11-14 and the Mets dropped their record to 13-12. The Mets have now lost three games in a row and the Astros have won three in a row. The Mets will have an off day on Thursday and then begin a short three game homestand against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night.

The New York Mets drop their second straight in Houston

The New York Mets were defeated by the Houston Astros by the score of 6-3. Jon Niese made the start for the Mets and did not pitch well. It was the first really bad game for him this season. The bullpen was able to keep the Mets in the game. David Wright was the only Met with a multi hit game. J.A. Happ pitched well for the Astros and their bullpen really shut down the Mets. 
Niese pitched three innings giving up six hits and five runs with two walks and a strikeout. Niese suffered his first loss of the season. Miguel Batista pitched 2 2/3 innings giving up three hits and one run with four walks and a strikeout, Ramon Ramirez pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two walks and Jon Rauch pitched an inning giving up a hit. Happ picked up his second win of the season pitching 6 1/3 innings giving up six hits and three runs with three walks and seven strikeouts. Lopez pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and striking out one, Wright faced one batter and retired him and Myers picked up his sixth save pitching a perfect inning.

Justin Turner had a hit and drew a walk, Wright had two hits and Scott Hairston had a hit and an RBI. Ike Davis had a hit, Andres Torres had a hit and an RBI, Josh Thole had a hit and an RBI and Niese drew a walk. Turner had a double and the Mets were 3-7 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base. Turner had a stolen base

Altuve had two hits and drew a walk, Jed Lowrie had a hit, two RBI and three walks and Martinez had a hit, RBI and drew a walk. Downs drew a walk, Bogusevic had two hits and Justin Maxwell had a hit and drew a walk. Chris Snyder had a hit, three RBI and drew a walk, Happ had a hit and Travis Buck had a hit. Buck had a double, Lowrie and Snyder each had a homerun. The Astros were 2-7 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Altuve and Bogusevic were each caught stealing.

The Astros took a 2-0 lead in the first on a Lowrie two run homerun. In the second Snyder hit a three run homerun to make it 5-0 Astros. In the fourth Torres hit an RBI single and Thole hit an RBI single to make it 5-2 Astros. In the fifth Hairston hit an RBI single and it was 5-3 Astros. In the sixth Martinez walked and a run scored to make it 6-3 Astros. That would be the final run of the game as the final was 6-3.

The Astros have taken the first two games of this three game series. The Mets will try and salvage the final game on Wednesday afternoon. The Mets record dropped to 13-11 and the Astros improved their record to 10-14.

The New York Yankees drop their first to the Orioles 7-1

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night. Phil Hughes made the start and pitched better but he still wasn’t great. The bullpen didn’t pitch that well either and Eduardo Nunez made a big error that put the game out of reach. The Yankees offense didn’t do much at all, there big guys continue to struggle. Brian Matusz started for the Orioles and was able to pick up his first win since last July.  It was the first time the Orioles have beaten the Yankees this year as the Yankees were 4-0 coming into this game against the Orioles. 
Hughes pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up four runs on four hits. He walked one and struck out six. If he could of gotten through the sixth it would of looked better as he departed and the bullpen gave it up. He would of given up three runs in six innings if he got one more out. Boone Logan gave up two hits and two runs without recording an out, Cory Wade pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up one hit and walking one with two strikeouts. D.J. Mitchell made his major league debut and pitched a scoreless inning. He gave up two hits and struck out a batter. Matusz pitched 6 1/3 innings giving up six hits and one run with a walk and four strikeouts. Darren O’Day pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout and Luis Ayala pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout. Matusz is now 1-3 on the season as he picked up his first win and Hughes is 1-4.

Derek Jeter had three hits, Curtis Granderson had two hits and an RBI and Alex Rodriguez had two hits. Andruw Jones drew a walk, Russell Martin drew a walk. Jeter had a double and Granderson had a homerun. The Yankees were 0-4 with runners in scoring position and they left nine men on base. Nunez had an error and Jones had an outfield assist.

J.J. Hardy had a hit and two RBI, Nick Markakis had two hits and Adam Jones had a hit. Matt Wieters had a hit, Chris Davis had three hits and an RBI and Wiilson Betemit had a hit and an RBI. Nick Johnson had a hit and an RBI and Robert Andino had a hit and drew two walks. Jones, Davis and Johnson each had a double. Davis and Hardy each had a homerun. The Orioles were 2-8 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base.

The Orioles improved their record to 15-9 on the season and the Yankees dropped to 13-10. The two teams will play the rubber game of their three game series on Wednesday night. Ivan Nova will start against Jake Arrietta. Nova has a chance to tie the team record for 16 straight wins held by Roger Clemens. Nova didn’t get the win last time out but he didn’t lose either. I should say it isn’t consecutive wins but without a loss. The Yankees will head on the road for a four game series in Kansas City after tomorrow but then return right home after that.

The New York Mets fall to the Houston Astros 4-3

The New York Mets were defeated by the Houston Astros on Monday night by the score of 4-3. R.A. Dickey started for the Mets and pitched pretty well. Manny Acosta took the loss out of the bullpen. Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Ike Davis each had a couple of hits. 
Dickey pitched six innings giving up three hits and three runs with two walks and six strikeouts. Acosta dropped his record to 0-2 on the season. He pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits and a run and he struck out two. Tim Byrdak struck out the only batter he faced and Bobby Parnell retired the only batter that he faced. Bud Norris started for the Astros and pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up seven hits and three runs with a walk and seven strikeouts. The Astros used six relievers to get the win. There were four of them that only pitched 1/3 of an inning. Rodriguez got his first win pitching to one batter and Brett Myers picked up his fifth save of the season pitching a perfect inning.

Nieuwenhuis had two hits and two RBI, David Wright had a hit and Davis had two hits. Mike Baxter had a hit, Andres Torres had a hit and an RBI and Josh Thole had a hit. Lucas Duda drew a walk. The Mets were 2-7 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base. Nieuwenhuis was picked off, Thole and Murphy each committed an error.

Schafer had two hits, Brett Lowrie had two hits and an RBI and Travis Buck had an RBI and drew a walk. M. Downs had a hit and two RBI, C. Johnson drew a walk. Downs had a homerun and the Astros were 2-4 with runners in scoring position and they left four men on base. Schafer had a stolen base and Bogusevic was caught stealing.

The Astros took a 3-0 lead in the sixth inning. Buck grounded into a force out to score a run and Downs hit a two run homerun to make it 3-0. The Mets in the seventh scored three runs to tie the game. Torres hit an RBI single and Nieuwenhuis hit a two run single to tie the game at three. In the eighth Lowrie hit an RBI single to make it a 4-3 game in favor of the Astros. That would be the final score.

The Astros improved their record to 9-14 and the Mets dropped to 13-10 on the season. The two teams will play game two of their three game series on Tuesday night.

The New York Yankees defeat the Baltimore Orioles behind stellar pitching

The New York Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night by the score of 2-1. It was a very quick game, especially quick for a Yankees/Orioles game. Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees and pitched great. David Robertson and Mariano Rivera closed it out for the Yankees. Eric Chavez was the Yankees offense. Mark Teixeira had a couple of hits. Jason Hammel and a couple of Orioles relievers didn’t pitch bad but they got no offensive support.

Kuroda pitched seven innings giving up one run and four hits with a walk and three strikeouts. Robertson struck out the side in his inning of work and Rivera pitched a scoreless inning to pick up his fifth save of the season. Rivera did give up a hit but that was erased with a game ending double play. Kuroda improved to 2-3 on the season, Hammel saw his record drop to 3-1. Hammel pitched six innings giving up five hits and two runs with two walks and five strikeouts. Matt Lindstrom pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and Jim Johnson pitched a perfect inning.

Derek Jeter had a hit, Curtis Granderson drew a walk and Alex Rodriguez drew a walk. Robinson Cano had a hit, Teixeira had two hits and Chavez had a hit and two RBI. Chavez had a homerun and the Yankees were 0-1 with runners in scoring position stranding four men on base.

J.J. Hardy had a hit, Nick Markakis had a hit and Adam Jones had a hit and drew a walk. Matt Wieters had a hit, Chris Davis had an RBI and Wilson Betemit had a hit. The Orioles were 0-1 with runners in scoring position and left two men on base.

All the runs in the game were scored in the second inning. The Orioles took a 1-0 lead when Davis hit a sacrifice fly. The Yankees took a 2-1 lead on a Chavez homerun. The 2-1 lead stood up the rest of the game.

The Yankees are now 13-9 on the season and the Orioles are 14-9 on the season. The two teams will square off in game two of the three game series on Tuesday night in the Bronx.

The Mets win a thriller in Colorado to take the series

The New York Mets defeated the Colorado Rockies by the score of 6-5 on Sunday afternoon. The game lasted 11 innings. Johan Santana started for the Mets and although he is still searching for his first win he pitched well once again. Jon Rauch, Tim Byrdak and Frank Francisco didn’t pitch well out of the bullpen. Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Ruben Tejada and Ike Davis each had three hits. 
Santana pitched six innings giving up no runs and two hits with three walks and five strikeouts. Miguel Batista pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts. Rauch pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and three runs with a couple of walks, Byrdak gave up a hit and a run without recording an out. Bobby Parnell pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up no hits and no runs with a strikeout, Francisco got charged with a blown save which was his first and also picked up his first win of the season. Francisco pitched an inning giving up two hits and a run with a walk and a strikeout and Ramon Ramirez pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout to record his first save of the season. Jaime Moyer pitched five innings giving up 11 hits and four runs with two walks and seven strikeouts. The Rockies used five relievers who pitched six innings giving up seven hits and two runs with two walks and five strikeouts.

Nieuwenhuis had three hits and an RBI, Tejada had three hits and Daniel Murphy had two hits. David Wright had two hits and two RBI with three walks, Lucas Duda had a hit and drew a walk and Scott Hairston had two hits and an RBI. Davis had three hits and an RBI, Josh Thole had a hit and an RBI and Mike Baxter had a hit. Wright, Davis, Murphy and Nieuwenhuis each had a double. Thole had a homerun and the Mets were 4-18 with runners in scoring position and they left 14 men on base. Wright had a stolen base and Tejada was caught stealing, Murphy got charged with an error.

Dexter Fowler had a hit, Carlos Gonzalez had two hits, an RBI and drew two walks and Troy Tulowitzki had a hit. Michael Cuddyer drew two walks, Todd Helton had a hit, four RBI and drew a walk and Chris Nelson had a hit and drew a walk. Nelson had a double, Helton and Gonzalez each had a homerun. The Rockies were 1-11 with runners in scoring position and they left eight men on base. Gonzalez had a stolen base and Nelson committed an error.

The Mets took two out of three in the series. They were blown out on Friday night but bounced back with two wins on Saturday and Sunday. The Mets are 13-9 on the season and the Rockies are 10-11. The Mets will begin a three game series in Houston against the Astros on Monday night.

Yankees weekend notes

Joe Girardi didn't see anything good out of Freddy Garcia on Saturday but he didn't want to make any rash decisions.  He went home and had a good nights sleep.  He decided on Sunday that Garcia would be moved to the bullpen and that David Phelps would be moved to the rotation.  I don't think this was too hard of a decision and one the Yankees had to make.  D.J. Mitchell was also called up from AAA on Sunday and will be in the bullpen as the long man.  Garcia will see mop up duty I would say and that is about it.  I would guess that when Petitte comes back he could be released but we will see.  Here are some other notes from the weekend.  A lot of these are courtesy of the Lohud Yankees blog by Chad Jennings.  I also have my own insights as always. 

Although Garca said he physically feels fine, Girardi said it’s entirely possible that the Yankees will send him for medical tests. Garcia’s fastball velocity has dipped, and his split — an effective put-away pitch last season — has been cutting. It was an 0-2 split that Andy Dirks hit for a three-run home run in the first inning.

“I don’t see the crispness in his pitches,” Girardi said. “If we didn’t see it in spring training I’d say, well, maybe it’s not going to be there. But it was there. He threw great in spring training. He threw harder than he did last year. For whatever reason it’s not there right now.”

Garcia seemed baffled, frustrated and uncertain following the loss. He said he’d like to make his next start, but acknowledged that he’s not sure the Yankees will send him back out there.

“I’m just struggling, man,” he said. “For me, it’s really hard. I like to compete and I’m not competing right now. It’s frustrating. … My velocity is down. We work hard last week on a couple of things and things are not going in the right way right now. I don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

For the first time, Girardi called David Phelps a candidate to move into the rotation. “Any time you have a long man, he’s a candidate to be a starter,” Girardi said. “Your long man is someone who is a sixth starter all the time in the bullpen.”

After three hitless innings today, Phelps ERA is down to 3.57. After two rocky outings, today looked much more like what the Yankees saw out of Phelps in the first two weeks of the season. “My last two outings I was just trying to do a little bit too much instead of staying within myself,” he said. “I kind of got back to that today.”

The bullpen allowed one run through 7.1 innings. Cody Eppley gave up a solo homer to Miguel Cabrera, but that was the extent of the damage. Despite Garcia’s awful start, the Yankees had a chance because of the pen. “It just speaks volumes to the quality of arms we have in our bullpen, the job that we’ve done all year,” Phelps said. “You saw tonight, we were 10 or 15 feet away from having a tie ballgame. It’s what we’re supposed to do, go in and give our team a chance to win. We’ve been doing a great job of it so far.”

Those 10 or 15 feet came on Eric Chavez’s fly ball to end the game. A three-run ninth got Chavez to the plate as the tying run with two outs in the ninth. He gave the ball quite a ride, but it was caught short of the wall.

Nick Swisher homered from both sides of the plate for the 11th time in his career, tying Eddie Murray and Chili Davis for the second-most such games all time behind Mark Teixeira. This was the first time Swisher had homered at home this season. He has six home runs.

Curtis Granderson hit his seventh homer of the season. It was his first home run off a left-hander this season.

Garcia has allowed nine first-inning runs this season.

This is the first time in Garcia’s career that he’s gone back-to-back starts without pitching out of the second inning. Last time it happened to a Yankees starter was Chien-Ming Wang in 2009. That’s not exactly the comparision he wants right now.

 It’s worth noting that D.J. Mitchell last started on Tuesday, making Sunday his regular day to pitch.  He was called up on Sunday but he will be in the bullpen along with Freddy Garcia for now.  I couldn't imagine a situation other then a blow out where Garcia would pitch. 

Speaking of minor league starters: The Yankees confirmed that Andy Pettitte’s next start will be with High-A Tampa, not Double-A Trenton. They don’t want him pitching in the cold.

It’s easy to look at CC Sabathia’s past three starts and believe that he’s been the exception to the rule. The rest of the rotation might have struggled, but surely not the Yankees ace. Not the guy who just beat the Rangers and Tigers in back-to-back starts and has pitched into the eighth inning three times in a row.

But slow starts are nothing new to Sabathia, and his first few outings this year weren’t particularly ace-like. What makes Sabathia an exception to the rule is that there’s never any doubt he’ll get it turned around and get on this kind of roll.

“I think we’ve seen him do it time and time again,” manager Joe Girardi said. “When we signed him, in spring training, we talked about that this is a guy who has notoriously got off to slow starts, let’s not evaluate him the first month of the season. And if I remember, that start was a little bit slow. You talk about a guy that you signed for a long time and expect good things, but that’s kind of his history. So that gives me confidence that he does get off to a slow start that things are going to turn around, because I’ve seen it time and time again.”

Sabathia’s ERA has dropped with each start. He was better than the numbers showed in Texas, but today was a legitimately dominant performance. Prince Fielder took him deep, and Miguel Cabrera hit an RBI double, but Sabahtia allowed only two other hits and struck out eight.

“You always feel confident that you can go out and hold a team down,” Sabathia said. “I felt pretty good today. Moved the ball around and made some pitches. … (Fastball command) has been getting better in the bullpens and in the games. I’ve been able to command it. I think that really makes my offspeed stuff that much better. When I can do that, I feel pretty good.”

On a day the Yankees took a proactive step to try to improve the back of their rotation, the best thing they could do to sort out the top of the rotation was to leave Sabathia exactly where he is.

“He’s a guy that we’ve come to rely on, going out there and battling and keeping us in games,” Derek Jeter said. “He’s a guy that doesn’t want to come out, and especially when we’ve been using out bullpen a lot lately, he was exactly what we needed.”

Girardi confirmed after today’s game that David Phelps will take Garcia’s spot in the rotation on Thursday in Kansas City. That’s about four hours from Phelps’ family home in St. Louis. “They were coming out regardless,” Phelps said. “But they were going to come Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Now I’m sure they’ll come on Thursday. It’s nice for the family too, to know exactly which day I’m going to pitch.”

Although Girardi says it’s not a personal catcher situation, Chris Stewart has caught Sabathia’s past three starts, and Sabathia said he hasn’t shook once in the past two starts. “It feels good,” Sabathia said. “To believe in what he’s calling, he’s been calling great games, catching great games. I’m just excited about being able to work with him for however long it works out.”

Stewart has at least one hit in each of those past three starts, and today’s single led to a run on a close play at the plate in the seventh inning. “We talk about it with all our catchers, your first job is defense,” Girardi said. “You talk about saving runs. I know that doesn’t go on the back of a bubblegum card, but it’s really really important, and he does a tremendous job doing it. I tell our catchers, offense is second. Save runs for me. And they understand that.”

 Dave Robertson picked up right where Sabathia left off today, striking out two in a dominant ninth inning. Through 10 innings this season, Robertson has allowed seven hits and struck out 15. He’s the last Yankees pitcher — except D.J. Mitchell, I guess — who has yet to be charged with a run.

Alex Rodriguez drove in two runs today and moved ahead of Willie Mays for sole possession of eighth place on baseball’s all-time RBIs list. He has 1,904.  I don't think a lot of people realize where he is numbers wise.  It isn't just homeruns, he is up there in hits as well.  When his career is all said and done he will be in the top five most likely in hits and RBI and he will probably have over 3000 hits. 

Just a little bit behind Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson picked up his 500th career RBI today.

Granderson said he had to watch a replay to realize how close Austin Jackson came to catching Granderson’s fourth-inning home run to center field. “I didn’t see what happened right away,” Granderson said. “When I heard the crowd make the noise that they did, I knew something good happened, I just didn’t know on which side. Then the umpire told me it went over the fence.”

Jeter snapped an 0-for-9 with a 2-for-3. He now has 36 hits, his most ever for the season’s first month. He leads the team with 12 multi-hit games this season.

Andruw Jones was hitless in his past 19 at-bats but went 2-for-2 with a home run after replacing Nick Swisher, who left with a hamstring injury.

The Yankees drew a season-high nine walks and scored their first run on a bases-loaded walk. Tigers starter Max Scherzer had seven of those walks. “We’re not supposed to do that,” Jim Leyland said. “Major League pitchers are not supposed to do that, walk that many.”

The Triple-A rotation has lost D.J. Mitchell, but it’s getting Manny Banuelos back from the disabled list on Wednesday.

The Yankees take the series behind a sharp CC Sabathia

The New York Yankees defeated the Detroit Tigers 6-2 on Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. This was the third game of the three game series and the Yankees won two out of three. CC Sabathia started for the Yankees and pitched really well, his best game of the season so far. Alex Rodriguez passed Willie Mays on the all-time RBI list, Robinson Cano had a couple of hits and Curtis Granderson and Andruw Jones each had a homerun. Nick Swisher left the game early with a low grade strain of his hamstring. 
Sabathia pitched eight innings giving up two runs and four hits. He walked two and struck out eight. Sabathia leads the American league in strikeouts. Dave Robertson pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts. Sabathia gave the Yankees just what they needed as they had a worn out bullpen from the last couple of games. Max Scherzer took the loss his third of the season for the Tigers. He pitched 4 2/3 innings giving up seven hits and three runs with seven walks and four strikeouts. The Tigers used two relievers who pitched 3 1/3 innings giving up four hits and three runs with two walks and a strikeout.

Derek Jeter had two hits and drew two walks, Curtis Granderson had a hit and two RBI and drew a walk and Alex Rodriguez had a hit, two RBI and drew a walk. Cano had two hits and an RBI, Swisher drew a walk and Jones had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk. Raul Ibanez drew two walks, Eric Chavez had two hits and drew a walk and Chris Stewart had a hit. Granderson and Jones each had a homerun. The Yankees didn’t have any doubles or triples. They were 3-13 with runners in scoring position and left 15 men on base.

Brandon Boesch had two hits for the Tigers. Miguel Cabrera had a hit and an RBI, Prince Fielder had a hit and an RBI and Gerald Laird drew a walk. Danny Worth drew a walk, Boesch and Cabrera each had a double and Fielder hit a homerun. The Tigers were 0-4 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base.

In the second Granderson walked with the bases loaded to make it a 1-0 game. Rodriguez hit an RBI single, it was an infield single and it made it 2-0 Yankees. In the fourth inning Fielder hit a solo homerun to make it a 2-1 game. In the bottom of the fourth the Yankees got the run back on a Granderson solo homerun that made it 3-1 Yankees. In the sixth a Cabrera RBI double pulled the Tigers within one at 3-2. In the seventh Rodriguez reached on a fielders choice and a run scored to make it 4-2, Cano hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-2. The final run of the game came in the eighth inning on a Jones solo homerun.

The Yankees took two out of three in this three game series. The Yankees are now 12-9 on the season and the Tigers are 10-11. The Yankees will remain at home for a three game series with the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles are playing good baseball and are in first place in the AL East.

The Mets bounce back after and ugly night and pick up a win in Colorado

The New York Mets defeated the Colorado Rockies by the score of 7-5 on Saturday night. Dillon Gee picked up the win pitching well. The bullpen was able to hold the lead for the Mets. Ruben Tejada, Daniel Murphy and David Wright all had good nights offensively. 
Gee pitched seven innings giving up four runs, three of them earned on seven hits. He walked two and struck out seven. Gee picked up his second win of the season. Tim Byrdak pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and Frank Francisco earned his fifth save of the season. Francisco pitched an inning giving up two hits and a run and struck out a batter. Guillermo Moscoso pitched five innings giving up six runs on nine hits with a walk and five strikeouts. They used four relievers to complete the other four innings. The relievers held the Mets to one run and four hits over the four innings. They didn’t walk a batter and struck out one.

Tejada, Murphy and Wright each had three hits. Wright had a couple of RBI. Lucas Duda had two hits and four RBI, Ike Davis had a hit and drew a walk and Mike Baxter had a hit. Wright and Baxter each had a double. Duda hit a homerun and the Mets were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Wright had a stolen base and Thole committed an error.

Marco Scutaro had a hit, Carlos Gonzalez had a hit and drew a walk and Troy Tulowitzki had two hits and an RBI. Todd Helton had a hit, RBI and drew a walk, Michael Cuddyer had a hit and an RBI and Dexter Fowler had a hit and an RBI. Moscoso had a hit and an RBI and Tyler Colvin had a hit. Helton had a double, Colvin had a triple and Fowler hit a homerun. The Rockies were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base. Scutaro had a stolen base and Tulowitzki was caught stealing.

The Rockies took a 1-0 lead in the first when Tulowitzki grounded into a force out and a run scored. Duda hit a two run homerun in the second to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. Wright hit an RBI double in the third and it was 3-1 Mets. In the fourth Helton hit an RBI double, Cuddyer hit an RBI single and Moscoso hit an RBI single to make it 4-3 Rockies. Wright hit an RBI single in the fifth and Duda hit a two run single to make it 6-4 Mets. In the ninth the Mets would score the final run of the game on a wild pitch.

The two teams have split the first two games of this three game series. The two teams will play the rubber game of the series on Sunday afternoon.

The New York Yankees rally comes up short in ninth as they fall to the Detroit Tigers

The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers on Saturday evening by the score of 7-5. The Yankees were down early in this game 6-1 but fought back. Freddy Garcia started for the Yankees and had nothing, he continues to struggle and may be out of a job soon. The Yankees bullpen did a good job, only giving up one run through 7 1/3 innings pitched. Nick Swisher hit a couple of homeruns. 
Garcia pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up six runs on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Clay Rapada pitched a perfect 1 1/3 innings, David Phelps pitched three innings giving up a walk and he struck out two and Cody Eppley pitched three innings giving up two hits and a run with a walk and three strikeouts. Drew Smyly picked up his first win of the season as he pitched really well. Smyly pitched six innings giving up two hits and a run with two walks and he struck out seven. Phil Coke gave up a hit and a run in one inning and Octavio Dotel pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts. Jose Valverde struggled to finish the game but he did finish it. He pitched an inning giving up three hits and three runs with a walk.

Derek Jeter drew a walk, Swisher had two hits and two RBI and Alex Rodriguez had a hit and drew a walk. Curtis Granderson had two hits and two RBI, Andruw Jones drew a walk and Raul Ibanez had a hit and an RBI. Ibanez had a double, Swisher had two homeruns and Granderson had a homerun. The Yankees were 2-3 with runners in scoring position and they left three men on base.

Austin Jackson had a hit and drew a walk. He has had a fantastic series so far against his former team. He at least was in their minor league system. Brandon Boesch had a hit, RBI and drew a walk, Miguel Cabrera had two hits and three RBI and Prince Fielder drew two walks. Andy Dirks had a hit and three RBI along with a couple of very nice catches in the outfield. Alex Avila had a hit and Jhonny Peralta had a hit. Boesch had a double, Dirks and Cabrera each had a homerun. The Tigers were 3-5 with runners in scoring position and they left two men on base. Jackson had a stolen base.

In the first inning Dirks hit a three run homerun to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead. Swisher hit a solo homerun in the bottom of the first to make it 3-1. In the second Boesch hit an RBI double and Cabrera hit a two run single and it was 6-1 Tigers. The score remained that way until the seventh when Granderson hit a solo homerun to make it 6-2. The Tigers came right back with a run in the eighth on a Cabrera solo homerun. The Yankees rallied in the ninth with a solo homerun from Swisher and a RBI single by Granderson and RBI double by Ibanez. Eric Chavez hit a long fly ball to right field for the final out that he just got under. If he hit a line drive it would have been a tying two run homerun.

The two teams have split the first two games with the Yankees winning on Friday night and the Tigers winning this game. I think the Yankees will be reevaluating their starting rotation after this game. Phelps has continued to look good also and I think it is logical to switch those two. I am not sure that the Yankees will do it though so we will have to wait and see what happens.