New York Mets notes

The Mets defeated the Nationals 2-0 on Saturday night.  They are basically playing out the string once again.  Here are some notes from the Mets. 

Jenrry Mejia could join the rotation in September according to manager Terry Collins.  He is 4-2 with a 3.01 ERA and 41 strikeouts in 27 appearances and 11 starts.  He has thrown 74 2/3 innings so far this season. 

Johan Santana is scheduled to pitch on Thursday right now.  Terry Collins stated though that he is meeting with GM Sandy Alderson on Monday and they will make a decision then.  They could still shut him down for the remainder of the season.  He has been terrible ever since the no hitter in June. 

The Mets have the young pitching and that is something to look forward to going forward.  Matt Harvey and R.A. Dickey are reasons to watch the team and of course David Wright who the Mets have to resign.  He is a homegrown Met and I think just about everyone wants him back.  The ownership has to show the fan base something and resigning him would be a good step.  They have to get better parts around him also but locking him up first should be the priority. 

Yankees Saturday night postgame notes

Here are the Yankees postgame notes.  They are courtesy of the Lohud Yankees blog and my own thoughts mixed in as always. 

David Phelps continued to make a positive impression despite taking this 4-1 loss to the Red Sox. The rookie went a career-high 6 2/3 and gave up just three runs and seven hits. He struck out seven and walked none in what will likely be his final start before CC Sabathia comes off the DL. Joe Girardi said he hopes that will be Friday night in Cleveland.  Girardi is cautious but Sabathia said emphatically he will be starting that game.  I guess anything can happen before then but I would be shocked if he wasn't pitching on Friday. 
But Phelps can still be an asset in the bullpen. He’s 3-4 with a 2.69 ERA in 24 outings overall. In his five starts, including two since Sabathia went down with his elbow problem, Phelps is 1-1 with a 2.92 ERA. Someone will have to go to make room for Sabathia, but Phelps is pitching better than Joba Chamberlain and Cody Eppley right now.  I think Eppley might be the odd man out, Joba is secure they know he is coming off tommy john and will give him some time to get the rust off. 
“We like what he does,” Girardi said about Phelps. “He’s a guy that’s somewhat of a swing guy for us. If we need him to start, he can start. If we need him to give us an inning in the bullpen, a couple of innings in the bullpen, he can do that. If we need him to give long relief, he can do that.  I like what he does also, he is like Ramiro Mendoza used to be and even Alredo Aceves who is now the Red Sox closer. 
“He’s a valuable guy on your team because he can do so many different things, and he’s had success in all areas.”
Phelps was done in by an opposite-field, two-run homer in the first by Adrian Gonzalez.
“It was right where we wanted it,” Phelps said. “The ball was down and off the plate. … It’s incredibly frustrating.”
Jon Lester’s inconsistency has been problematic for Boston, but the Yankees managed just five hits off the lefty. He’s still only 7-10 with a 5.03 after back-to-back starts with one run allowed.  He may be turning it around but it looks to be too late especially if the rest of the staff and especially Josh Beckett. 
“When you look up at the numbers, you kind of step back because you know that’s not the type of pitcher he really is,” said Nick Swisher, who had two of his three hits off Lester. “Tonight you got the best Jon Lester that we’ve seen in a while.”
The Yankees finished 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position.
“It’s hard to win a game when you do that,” Girardi said.
Curtis Granderson seems to be breaking out of his slump, coming through with a homer and two hits for the second consecutive game. Both homers were off left-handers. He has hit 11 of his 32 off lefties.
Derek Jeter lost his 13-game hitting streak. He batted .367 over that stretch.
Robinson Cano is struggling right now. He went hitless for the fourth consecutive game with an at-bat, his worst stretch since a four-game hitless run in 2008. His career high is five straight. That was in 2005.  It just seems like that can't happen to Cano but it does happen to them all.  Cano will get hot again and then you will think he can never get out. 
The Yankees need to come up with an answer for Pedro Ciriaco. He had a four-hit game against them at Fenway last month and he went 4 for 4 in this game. He’s batting .517 against them in seven games, going 15 for 29. He’s batting .276 in 28 games against other teams.  That is just weird, I have heard of Yankee killers but this is just nuts, he hits 241 points higher against them then any other team. 
“He’s on fire against us,” Phelps said. “It’s one of those things.”
Sunday night baseball on ESPN with feature a pitching matchup between Hiroki Kuroda, who has been very good, and Josh Beckett, who has not.  It is the rubber game and the Red Sox have to win series if they are going to make a run at the playoffs at all

The Mets defeat the Nationals behind a strong Jon Niese

The Mets defeated the Washington Nationals on Saturday night by the score of 2-0. The game took place at Nationals Park in Washington D.C. Jon Niese started for the Mets and was great, the bullpen was able to hold the lead. Ike Davis led the Mets offense. Edwin Jackson started for the Nationals and was good but not as good as Niese. Their bullpen was also good and their offense was led by Danny Espinosa.
Niese pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up five hits and no runs, he didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven. Niese won his 10^th game of the season. Jon Rauch faced two batters and retired them both and Frank Francisco pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout. He picked up his 20^th save. Jackson lost his eighth game of the season pitching seven innings and giving up two hits and two runs with a walk and 11 strikeouts. Ryan Mattheus pitched 1 2/3 perfect innings with three strikeouts and Mike Gonzalez pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and striking out one.
Mike Baxter had a hit, David Wright drew a walk and Davis had two hits and two RBI. Baxter hit a triple and Davis hit a homerun. The Mets were 0-2 with runners in scoring position and left three men on base. Espinosa had two hits, Ryan Zimmerman had a hit and Adam LaRoche had a hit. Flores had a hit, LaRoche hit a double and the Nationals were 0-4 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Zimmerman had a stolen base and Desmond committed an error.
The Mets scored the only runs of the game in the seventh on a two run homerun by Davis. The Mets had a runner on third and one out in the first and didn’t score. The Nationals had first and second one out in the first and didn’t score. There weren’t really any other good scoring chances as this was a pitchers duel.
The Mets record improved to 57-63 and the Nationals record fell to 74-46. The two teams will play the rubber game of the three game series on Sunday afternoon. The Nationals won on Friday night and the Mets evened the series on Saturday night.

The Yankees offense gets shutdown as the Red Sox even the series

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Boston Red Sox by the score of 4-1 on Saturday evening. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. David Phelps started for the Yankees and pitched well in what should be his final start before ace CC Sabathia returns next week. The Yankees offense didn’t do much against Jon Lester. Nick Swisher has been red hot and he led the Yankees offense. Lester started for the Red Sox and was great and Pedro Ciriaco led the Sox offense. He is hitting over 500 against the Yankees this season.  Phelps pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up three runs and seven hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven in the longest outing of his young career. Phelps lost his fourth game of the season. Boone Logan pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout, Cody Eppley pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and a run with a walk and a strikeout. Clay Rapada pitched 2/3 of an inning retiring both batters and Derek Lowe faced one batter and retired him. Lester won his seventh game and pitched seven innings giving up five hits and a run with two walks and four strikeouts. Andrew Bailey pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and striking out one, Craig Breslow pitched 2/3 of an inning retiring both batters and Alfredo Aceves pitched one inning giving up a hit and striking out one for his 25^th save.
Derek Jeter drew a walk, Swisher had three hits and Eric Chavez had a hit. Curtis Granderson had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk, Ichiro Suzuki had a hit and Granderson hit a double and hit a homerun. The Yankees were 0-9 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base. Suzuki had a stolen base and Andruw Jones committed an error.
Carl Crawford had a hit, Dustin Pedroia had a hit and Adrian Gonzalez had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk. Scott Podsednik had a hit, Ciriaco had four hits and Nick Punto had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk. Punto, Pedroia and Ciriaco each hit a double. Gonzalez hit a homerun and the Red Sox were 1-10 with runners in scoring position and they left eight men on base. Crawford, Ciriaco and Punto each had a stolen base.
The Red Sox jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Gonzalez hit a two run homerun. In the fourth Granderson hit a solo homerun to make it a 2-1 game. In the fifth Punto hit an RBI double and it was 3-1 Red Sox. The Red Sox would score the final run of the game in the ninth inning as Eppley threw a wild pitch allowing Podsednik to score. The Yankees just couldn’t get anything going against Lester all day and then the bullpen.
The Yankees record fell to 71-49 and the Red Sox record improved to 59-62. The Yankees still lead the AL East by 5 ½ games depending on the outcome of the late games tonight. The Red Sox trail the Yankees by 12 ½ games. The two teams will play the rubber game of the three game series on Sunday night. The Yankees won 6-4 on Friday and then the Red Sox evened the series on Saturday evening.

The Mets lose 6-4 to the Nationals

The New York Mets were defeated by the Washington Nationals by the score of 6-4 on Friday night. The game took place at Nationals Park in Washington D.C. Johan Santana started and didn’t pitch very well, the bullpen was good. Scott Hairston led the Mets offense. Ross Detwiler started for the Nationals and was good, their bullpen was a little shaky but got the job done. Bryce Harper led the Nationals offense.  Santana pitched five innings giving up seven hits and six runs. He struck out four and lost his ninth game of the season. Manny Acosta pitched two innings giving up a hit and two walks and Ramon Ramirez pitched an inning striking out one. Detwiler won his seventh game of the season pitching six innings giving up six hits and three runs with a walk and a strikeout. Stammen pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run with two strikeouts, Drew Storen pitched an inning giving up a hit and Tyler Clippard saved his 26^th game of the season. Clippard pitched an inning walking two and striking out two.
Ruben Tejada had a hit, David Wright had two hits and Hairston had three hits. Daniel Murphy had a hit and two RBI, Ronny Cedeno had an RBI and drew two walks and Kelly Shoppach had a hit and an RBI. Hairston hit three doubles and Tejada hit a double. Shoppach hit a homerun and the Mets were 1-8 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base.
Jayson Werth had two hits, Harper had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk and Ryan Zimmerman had two hits. Michael Morse had a hit and four RBI, Daniel Espinosa had a walk and Roger Bernadina had a hit. Morse and Harper each hit a homerun. The Nationals were 2-3 with runners in scoring position and left three men on base. Bernadina was caught stealing .
In the first Murphy hit a two run single giving the Mets a 2-0 lead. In the fourth Morse hit a grand slam to give the Nationals a 4-2 lead. Harper hit a two run homerun in the fifth to give the Nationals a 6-2 lead. Cedeno grounded out and a run scored in the sixth making it a 6-3 game. Shoppach hit a solo homerun in the seventh inning and made it a 6-4 game. 6-4 would be the final score of the game.
The Mets record dropped to 56-63 and the Nationals record improved to 74-45. The two teams will play game two of a three game series on Saturday night.

The Yankees go bombs away as they defeat the Boston Red Sox

The New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox by the score of 6-4 on Friday night. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Phil Hughes started for the Yankees and was good, he basically made one mistake on the night. The Yankees bullpen was effective. The Yankees offense hit five solo homeruns and they were led by Nick Swisher. Franklin Morales started for the Red Sox and he wasn’t great, their bullpen was pretty good. Mike Aviles led their offense.  Hughes pitched seven innings giving up four hits and four runs with none of them being earned. He walked one and struck out four and won his 12^th game of the season. Dave Robertson pitched an inning giving up a hit and Rafael Soriano got his 30^th save of the season pitching a perfect inning with a strikeout. Morales lost his fourth game of the season pitching 5 1/3 innings giving up six hits and five runs with a walk and three strikeouts. Clayton Mortensen pitched an inning giving up two hits and a run with two strikeouts, Andrew Miller pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out one and Andrew Bailey pitched 2/3 of an inning with a strikeout.
Derek Jeter had a hit and an RBI, Swisher had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk and Andruw Jones had a hit. Casey McGehee had a hit, Curtis Granderson had two hits and an RBI and Russell Martin had a hit and an RBI. Jayson Nix had a hit and an RBI. Swisher hit two homeruns, Granderson, Martin and Jeter each hit a homerun. The Yankees were 1-3 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base. Hughes committed an error.
Jacoby Ellsbury had a hit and drew a walk, Carl Crawford had a hit and Dustin Pedroia had a hit and three RBI. Aviles had two hits and Pedro Ciriaco had an RBI. Crawford hit a double and Pedroia hit a homerun. The Red Sox were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and they left three men on base. Aviles committed an error.
In the first Swisher hit a solo homerun to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. In the second Granderson and Martin went back-to-back with solo homeruns giving the Yankees a 3-0 lead. Ciriaco grounded into a force out in the third to score a run and make it a 3-1 game. Pedroia hit a three run homerun giving the Red Sox a 4-3 lead. Jeter hit a solo homerun in the fifth to tie the game at four. Nix hit an RBI single to make it 5-4 in the sixth and Swisher hit a solo homerun in the seventh to make it a 6-4 game. The final score would be 6-4 as the Yankees bullpen shut the door.
The Yankees improved their record to 71-48 and the Red Sox record dropped to 58-62. The Yankees have had a good homestand winning four out of five so far with two games to go. The Yankees and Red Sox will play game two on Saturday afternoon. The Yankees have won eight of their last ten games. The Yankees are in first place in the AL East and have the best record in the AL. They are 13 ½ games ahead of the Boston Red Sox and 6 ½ ahead of the Baltimore Orioles who are in second place.

The Mets avoid the sweep in Cincinnati

The New York Mets defeated the Cincinnati Reds by the score of 8-4 on Thursday night. The game took place at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Ohio. Matt Harvey started for the Mets and pitched well, the bullpen had mixed results and Frank Francisco didn’t pitch well. Ike Davis led the Mets offense. Homer Bailey didn’t pitch great for the Reds. The Reds bullpen pitched pretty well and Jay Bruce led the Reds offense.  Harvey pitched 7 2/3 innings giving up four hits and a run with a walk and eight strikeouts. Harvey won his second game of the season, Bobby Parnell faced one batter and struck him out and Frank Francisco pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up four hits and three runs with a walk and a strikeout. Jon Rauch saved his third game of the season pitching to one batter and striking him out. Bailey lost his eighth game of the season pitching 5 2/3 innings giving up eight hits and six runs with four of them being earned. He walked three and struck out six. Simon pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a walk and striking out two, Ondrusek pitched an inning striking out one and Arredondo pitched an inning giving up a hit and two runs with one of them being earned. He walked one batter.
Ruben Tejada had a hit and an RBI, Mike Baxter had a hit and an RBI and David Wright had a hit and drew a walk. Davis had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk, Scott Hairston had a hit and drew a walk and Justin Turner drew a walk. Jason Bay had two hits and an RBI, Kelly Shoppach drew a walk and Harvey had a hit and two RBI. Harvey, Tejada and Davis each hit a double and Davis and Bay each hit a homerun. The Mets were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.
Zach Cozart had a hit and an RBI, Drew Stubbs drew a walk and Brandon Phillips had a hit. Ryan Ludwick had a hit and an RBI, Bruce had two hits and an RBI and Todd Frazier drew a walk. Scott Rolen had a hit, Devin Mesoraco had a hit and Miguel Cairo had a hit and an RBI. Phillips hit a double, Bruce hit two and Cozart also hit a double. Ludwick hit a homerun. The Reds were 3-11 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Phillips, Rolen and Cozart each committed an error.
In the fourth inning Davis hit a solo homerun and Harvey hit a two run double to give the Mets a 3-0 lead. Bay hit a solo homerun in the sixth, Tejada hit an RBI double and Baxter hit an RBI single making it a 6-0 game. In the seventh Bruce hit an RBI double to make it a 6-1 game. Davis hit an RBI double in the ninth and Turner reached on an error scoring another run to make it 8-1. In the bottom of the ninth the Reds made it somewhat interesting. They scored three runs to make it an 8-4 game. Ludwick hit a solo homerun, Cairo hit an RBI single and Cozart hit an RBI double.
The Mets record improved to 56-62 and the Reds record dropped to 71-47. The Mets lost two out of three games in the series. The Mets will play Friday night at the Washington Nationals as they begin a three game weekend series.

The Yankees fail to sweep the Texas Rangers

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Texas Rangers on Thursday afternoon by the score of 10-6. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Ivan Nova started for the Yankees and wasn’t terrible but he wasn’t very good either. The Yankees bullpen was horrible in this game. Ichiro Suzuki led their offense. Derek Holland pitched pretty well for the Rangers but had a bad inning. The Rangers bullpen was good and David Murphy led the Rangers offense.  Nova pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up seven hits and four runs with four walks and two strikeouts. Cody Eppley pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run, Boone Logan lost his first game of the season pitching 1/3 of an inning giving up two hits and two runs with a strikeout and Joba Chamberlain pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up four hits and two runs with two walks and a strikeout. Clay Rapada pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits and a run. Holland pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up five hits and five runs with four of them being earned and he struck out three. Tanner Scheppers pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two hits and a run with a strikeout. Scheppers won his first game of the season, Michael Kirkman pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout and Mike Adams pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk with two strikeouts. Joe Nathan pitched an inning giving up a hit.
Derek Jeter had two hits and an RBI, Nick Swisher had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk and Mark Teixeira had a hit and an RBI. Andruw Jones had a hit and two RBI, Russell Martin had a hit and an RBI. Jayson Nix had a hit, Robinson Cano drew a walk and Suzuki had three hits. Suzuki hit a double, Jones hit a homerun. The Yankees were 3-10 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base. Martin had a stolen base. Swisher committed an error and Suzuki had an outfield assist.
Elvis Andrus had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk, Michael Young had two hits and drew a walk and Josh Hamilton had two hits and drew a walk. Adrian Beltre had two hits and three RBI, Murphy had three hits and two RBI and Geovany Soto had two hits and an RBI. Mitch Moreland drew two walks, Craig Gentry had a hit and three RBI and Olt had a hit and drew a walk. Nelson Cruz had a hit, Hamilton hit two doubles and Olt, Murphy, Andrus and Cruz each hit a double. The Rangers were 6-15 with runners in scoring position and they left 10 men on base. Olt committed an error.
In the first Beltre hit a two run single giving the Rangers a 2-0 lead. In the sixth the Rangers extended their lead to 4-0. Murphy hit an RBI single and Gentry grounded into a force out scoring a run. In the sixth the Yankees made their comeback. Jeter and Swisher had RBI singles and Jones hit a two run homerun to tie the game at four. Martin hit an RBI single giving the Yankees a 5-4 lead. In the seventh Murphy hit an RBI double and Gentry hit a two run single making it 7-5 Rangers. In the bottom of the seventh Teixeira grounded out to make it a 7-6 game and that was as close as the Yankees would come. The Rangers pushed the lead to 9-6 in the eighth inning. Beltre hit a sacrifice fly and Soto hit an RBI single. In the ninth Andrus hit an RBI single to make it 10-6 which was the final score.
The Rangers lost the final game of the series but won three out of four. The Yankees record dropped to 70-48 and the Rangers record improved to 68-49. The Yankees have a 1 ½ game lead over Texas for the best record in the AL which will give them the number one seed in the playoffs. The Yankees will now face the Boston Red Sox for a three game weekend series at home.

New York Yankees win third straight over the Texas Rangers

The New York Yankees defeated the Texas Rangers by the score of 3-2 on Wednesday night. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. The game was delayed by an hour and 45 minutes at the beginning because of rain. Freddy Garcia started for the Yankees and pitched very well. The Yankees bullpen was solid as well. The offense was led by Eric Chavez. Scott Feldman started for Texas and pitched pretty well and their offense was led by Josh Hamilton.  Garcia pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up four hits and two runs. Garcia earned his He walked one and struck out six. Boone Logan retired the only batter he faced, David Robertson pitched a perfect inning with a couple of strikeouts and Rafael Soriano pitched an inning giving up a base runner on an error and that is it. Feldman pitched six innings giving up seven hits and three runs, he walked four and struck out seven. Ross pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit, two walks and a strikeout, Alexi Ogando faced one batter and retired him and Mike Adams pitched an inning giving up two hits.
Derek Jeter had a hit and drew a walk, Nick Swisher had a hit and an RBI and Curtis Granderson had an RBI and drew a walk. Chavez had three hits, an RBI and drew a walk, Raul Ibanez had a hit and drew two walks and Russell Martin drew a walk. Ichiro Suzuki had two hits and Jayson Nix had two hits. Swisher hit a double and the Yankees were 3-11 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base. Nix had a stolen base.
Hamilton had two hits and two RBI, Adrian Beltre had a hit and David Murphy drew a walk. Mitch Moreland had a hit and hit a double. Hamilton hit two homeruns and the Rangers were 0-3 with runners in scoring position and left three men on base.
In the third Swisher hit an RBI double, Granderson hit a sacrifice fly and Chavez hit an RBI single to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead. Hamilton made it 3-1 in the fourth and then 3-2 in the sixth with solo homeruns. The final score was 3-2 as Robertson and Soriano were able to close it out, the only base runner against them was because of an error.
The Yankees improved their record to 70-47 and they will be going for the four game sweep on Thursday afternoon. The Rangers record dropped to 67-49. This was the battle for best record in the AL and the Yankees are pulling away a little with a 2 ½ game cushion now. It could come into play as it gives home field advantage through the first couple of rounds and also allows you to play the wild card team in the first round after they play a one game playoff.

The Mets continue to fade away as Dickey didn't have his best start

The New York Mets were defeated by the Cincinnati Reds by the score of 6-1 on Wednesday night. The game took place at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Ohio. R.A. Dickey started for the Mets and did not pitch his best. Jeremy Hefner was ok in relief but not great. The Mets offense only managed four hits as they continue to struggle with scoring runs. Mike Leake started for the Reds and pitched very well, Todd Frazier led their offense.  Dickey pitched six innings giving up 10 hits and five runs. He walked two and struck out nine and lost his fourth game of the season. Hefner pitched two innings giving up three hits and a run and he struck out one. Leake pitched nine innings giving up four hits and a run with four strikeouts. Leake won his fifth game of the season.
Mike Baxter had two hits and Ruben Tejada had two hits. The Mets were 0-3 with runners in scoring position and they left two men on base. Thole had three passed balls and Dickey had a pick off.
Zack Cozart had two hits and drew a walk, Drew Stubbs had a hit and Brandon Phillips had a hit and an RBI. Ryan Ludwick had a hit and an RBI, Jay Bruce had two hits and an RBI and Scott Rolen had two hits and an RBI. Frazier had three hits and an RBI, Devin Mesoraco drew a walk and Leake had a hit and an RBI. Cozart had a two doubles, Rolen had a double and Frazier hit a double. Rolen, Frazier and Bruce each hit a homerun. The Reds were 3-13 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Frazier and Stubbs each had a stolen base. Bruce got picked off of first base.
Phillips hit an RBI single in the first to give the Reds a 1-0 lead. In the fourth Murphy grounded into a double play and a run scored to tie the game at one. In the fourth Rolen and Frazier each hit a solo homerun going back-to-back. It was 3-1 Reds and in the sixth they scored a couple of more runs. Bruce hit a solo homerun and Leake hit an RBI single making it 5-1. The Reds would add another run the final run of the game in the seventh. Ludwick hit an RBI single.
The Mets record fell to 55-62 and the Reds improved their record to 71-46 on the season. The Reds have won the first two of a three game series. The Mets will try and avoid a sweep on Thursday night.

Yankees Tuesday night postgame notes

Here are the Yankees postgame notes from Tuesday night.  The main topic is Hiroki Kuroda of course who pitched a complete game two hit shutout against one of the best offenses if not the best in baseball.  Chad Jennings of the Journal News and the Lohud Yankees blog has it all covered and I add my own thoughts in. 

No matter who you spoke to in the Yankees’ clubhouse tonight, all anyone wanted to talk about was Hiroki Kuroda — and rightfully so.
The 37-year-old right-hander from Japan has been a godsend for the Yankees this season, who have dealt with injuries to both CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte. His two-hitter tonight — in which he took a no-no into the seventh and recorded 15 ground ball outs — was just another reminder of how valuable he has been.  He has been their best and most consistant starter this season.  A lot of people were down on this signing when they did it, but I don't think anyone is now. 
“Hiro is my hero,” Nick Swisher said after Tuesday’s 3-0 win. “Tonight was his night.”  I love that line and typical Swisher. 
Kuroda was brilliant against a Texas Rangers lineup that many consider to be the best in the American League. In a rotation filled with question marks of late, he has been Mr. Consistency. Tonight’s effort dropped his season ERA to 3.06, and his WHIP to 1.15.
It was the sixth time this season that Kuroda tossed at least seven innings and held his opponent scoreless, which is the most such games in the majors.  He is proving if your good and have good stuff it doesn't matter where you pitch.  We have seen a lot of guys go from the NL to the AL and not be able to do it.  Maybe for him though the hardest adjustment was just coming from Japan and now nothing could faze him after that. 
“This is a very good lineup that he just shut down,” Joe Girardi said. “Probably our best pitching performance this year.”  I think I would say definitely not probabaly but everyone gets the idea. 
Elvis Andrus’ infield single ended Kuroda’s bid for a no-hitter in the top of the seventh. Jayson Nix got to the ball — which was hit relatively softly to the left side of the second base bag — but Andrus is the fastest runner that the Rangers have, and Nix never really had a chance to throw him out.
But rather than allow things to snowball, Kuroda simply continued to go about his business and shut Texas down.
“I had to regroup myself a little bit, but like I always say, me having a complete game or a shutout is not really important here,” Kuroda said. “The important thing is for the team to win, and that’s what we were able to accomplish today. That’s why I’m happy.”
After the game, Kuroda heaped praise on his catcher, Russell Martin. The two have a relationship that dates back to their days with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Kuroda is clearly very comfortable with him. “As a pitcher, you have to throw to any catcher that’s out there, but I think Russell knows who I am – what kind of person I am, what kind of pitcher I am and the pitches that I have,” Kuroda said. “It really helps to have Russell as a catcher.”
Kuroda also praised Swisher for coming through in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run blast to break a 0-0 tie. The homer came shortly after Kuroda had lost the no-hitter, when it suddenly felt as though the Yankees might have lost momentum. “I was so happy,” he said. “I believe that tenacity pays off at the end, and you have to persevere until the end. You have to believe that your guys will pick you up, and that’s what he did.”  I would agree you can't worry about things you can't control and he knows the Yankees are capable of hitting a homerun at any time and putting them up which they eventually did. 
Girardi was asked when he started to feel like something special might be in store tonight. “I noticed the sound of the crowd with two strikes in the bottom of the sixth,” he said. “You could see that they were starting to get into every pitch. I saw that his stuff was very good early on with all of the groundballs that he was getting. He went through the lineup the first time and maybe got six groundball outs.”
While Kuroda is known for having a bunch of quality pitches in his arsenal, his stuff was so good tonight that he mostly relied on two pitches — fastball and slider. Kuroda said that his slider was one of the best that he’s had all year. He pitched to contact, finishing with only five strikeouts, but it was clear that he was having his way with this very tough lineup. “It was pretty much fastball, slider getting ahead tonight,” Girardi said. “Those were his two big pitches. He threw some splitters to the left-handers to try put them away, but for the most part it was fastball-slider.”
Girardi also talked about his veteran presence on the mound, and how he’s able to make adjustments from hitter to hitter. “I think he’s really good at reading swings and setting up his pitches and knowing what he wants to do,” Girardi said. “He works very hard in between his starts to figure out what he wants to do in situations, and it shows.”
Any thought to taking him out in the ninth? “His pitch count was down, his stuff was still good – he was still throwing 93, 94 with good sink – so he made it pretty easy,” Girardi said.
 Lost in all of the Hiro madness was the fact that Swisher continues to thrive in the two-hole. He had the big grand slam last night, and once again came through with a clutch homer tonight. “I’m just trying to keep doing the same thing,” Swish said. “The season has a lot of highs, and a lot of lows. I’m just enjoying this time right now, but I’m really enjoying the success of this team.”
Swisher’s at-bat against Alexi Ogando in the seventh was classic Swish. After going down 0-2, he fought back to make it 2-2 before laying off of a very tough slider. Getting the count to 3-2 enabled him to sit on the fastball and deposit it in the Yankees’ bullpen. “He’s been really good there for us,” Girardi said of Swisher hitting second. “He’s taken his walks, he’s had big hits for us, he’s started rallies – he’s done a number of things for us. That two-run homer is a tremendous at-bat because I think he saw maybe four, five, maybe even six fastballs before he threw him a pretty good slider down and in. Swish laid off it, and then got the next pitch and hit it out for the home run.”
Swisher’s homer was preceded by a single from Derek Jeter (his AL-leading 156th hit of the season), which knocked Rangers’ starter Matt Harrison out of the game. Ogando was hitting 99 mph on the radar gun, so it was a very different look that Swish had to adjust to. His homer was followed by a solo shot form Mark Teixiera, which gave the Yankees their third run. “I was hitting on sound at that point,” Swisher said. “He was throwing 100 mph. He’s kind of one of those guys who has an arsenal of pitches, but you have to do what you can to stay on that fastball. In that 3-2 count, I was just hoping he threw another fastball, and I was looking to get the barrel on it.”
 It definitely sounds like Swisher likes his new spot in the lineup. “I think Skip made a couple of lineup changes, and from there we’ve just kind of taken off,” he said. “Everybody is going out there and having quality at-bats. When you have the bottom of the lineup kind of turning it over for the top, that’s when the success really takes off.”
  I think they have to stick with this, every time he has been in the two spot the last couple of years he has thrived and it is working once again, if it isn't broke why fix it. 

One guy who has been struggling a bit of late is Curtis Granderson. He went 0 for 4 tonight, including a fly out to center in the third with the bases loaded. I’ve noticed that he hasn’t been pulling the ball as much recently, which seems like a good thing, but it also seems to have taken away from his production. “I’m convinced that Curtis will come out of it,” Girardi said. “I thought he had some pretty good swings against a tough left-hander tonight. He just missed some balls.”  Granderson is the type of hitter that will be feast or famine, he strikes out a lot and he seems to be a power hitter now, not really a great hitter overall
Some pretty good news on A-Rod, who had an X-ray on his broken left hand tonight. There was some confusion earlier when Girardi talked about A-Rod hitting — it sounds like he’s still only swinging with his right hand. But that could change soon. “It’s definitely better,” Girardi said. “The brace will come off. He’s not quite ready to swing, but he will do strengthening exercises, so that’s a good sign for us.”
I’ll give Girardi the final word on Kuroda: “He’s been really, really big for us, and he could have a number of more wins. He’s been the hard-luck guy for us this year, where at times we haven’t scored him a lot of runs… Realistically, he could have 15 or 16 (wins) at this juncture.”

The Mets lose 3-0 in Cincinnati on a walk-off homerun

The New York Mets were defeated by the Cincinnati Reds by the score of 3-0 on Tuesday night. The game took place at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Ohio. Chris Young started for the Mets and pitched well and the bullpen was good until the ninth inning when they blew the game. The Mets offense managed six hits and not one player had more then one hit. Mat Latos pitched well for the Reds and their bullpen was good also. Their offense was led by Jay Bruce.  Young pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up eight hits and no runs with four walks and four strikeouts. Ramon Ramirez pitched to one batter and retired him, Bobby Parnell pitched an inning giving up a hit and two walks with two strikeouts and Jon Rauch pitched an inning striking out one. Manny Acosta lost his third game of the season not recording an out and giving up a hit and two runs with a walk. Josh Edgin didn’t record an out and gave up a hit and a run. Latos pitched seven innings giving up five hits and no runs. He walked two and struck out four. Sean Marshall pitched an inning walking one and striking out two and Jose Arredondo won his fifth game of the season pitching an inning giving up a hit and a walk.
Ruben Tejada had a hit, Mike Baxter had a hit and David Wright drew a walk. Ike Davis drew a walk, Daniel Murphy had a hit and Jordany Valdespin had a hit. Josh Thole had a hit and drew two walks, Scott Hairston had a hit and Tejada hit a double. The Mets were 0-8 with runners in scoring position and they left ten men on base. Hairston had a stolen base and Wright was caught stealing.
Zack Cozart had two hits and drew a walk, Drew Stubbs had a hit and Brandon Phillips drew three walks. Ryan Ludwick had two hits, Bruce had two hits and three RBI and Todd Frazier had a hit. Xavier Paul drew a walk, Ryan Hanigan had two hits and drew a walk and Latos had a hit and drew a walk. Bruce, Cozart, Ludwick, Hanigan and Young each hit a double. Bruce hit a homerun which was the game winning hit, a walk off shot. The Reds were 1-10 with runners in scoring position and they left 14 men on base. Hanigan committed an error.
The only runs of the game were scored in the ninth inning. Bruce hit a three run walk-off homerun for the Reds.
The Mets record fell to 55-61 and the Reds record improved to 70-46. This was the first of a three game series with game two on Wednesday night.

The Yankees win their second straight over Texas behind a brilliant Hiroki Kuroda

The New York Yankees defeated the Texas Rangers by the score of 3-0 on Tuesday night. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx,NY. Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees and was brilliant. Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira led the Yankees offense. Matt Harrison started for the Rangers and pitched well and their bullpen didn’t. The Rangers offense only managed two hits in the game.  Kuroda pitched a complete game two hit shutout for his 11^th win of the season. He walked two and struck out five. Harrison pitched 6 1/3 innings giving up five hits with three walks and two strikeouts. He lost his seventh game of the season, Alexi Ogando pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and two runs and Tanner Scheppers pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out two.
Derek Jeter had two hits, Swisher had a hit and two RBI and Mark Teixeira had two hits and an RBI. Robinson Cano drew a walk, Andruw Jones drew a walk and Casey McGehee had two hits and Russell Martin had a hit and drew a walk. Teixeria hit a double, Swisher and Teixeira each hit a homerun. The Yankees were 0-2 with runners in scoring position and they left nine men on base.
Elvis Andrus had a hit and drew a walk, Michael Young had a hit and Mitch Moreland drew a walk. The Rangers were 0-2 with runners in scoring position and left two men on base. Andrus had an error in the game.
The Yankees scored all of the runs in the seventh inning. Swisher hit a two run homerun and then Teixeira followed it with a solo homerun. The two players went back-to-back and that was it for the scoring in the game. 3-0 was the final score in favor of the Yankees.
The Yankees have won two straight against the Rangers to be in first place in the American League. The Yankees have also won six out of their last seven games. The Yankees record has improved to 69-47 and the Rangers record dropped to 67-48. The two teams will play game three of four on Wednesday night.

Monday night postgame notes

Here are the Monday night postgame notes courtesy of the Lohud Yankees blog and Journal News.  The Yankees beat the Rangers 8-2 to move into first place in the AL, they still have three more games against each other for the battle for the top spot in the AL. 

How cool is David Phelps these days? Standing at his locker after tonight’s win, he was surrounded by media, answering questions behind a wall of television cameras and tape recorders, when pitching coach Larry Rothschild walked by and flipped him the game ball. Phelps snatched it out of the air, dropped it to his feet and looked up to answer the next question.
“I went through the lineup,” he said. “I got to face their top three hitters three times, and it was just going out and proving I can pitch deeper into a game. It’s a huge confidence boost. … They’re very big shoes to fill. What (CC Sabathia) brings to this team is that stability. He goes out every fifth day and gives us a chance to win every single time out. He’s been the anchor of our staff for the entire time that he’s been here, and to go out there and give our team a chance to win in his spot is huge.”
When the trade deadline came and went, the Yankees made no move to bolster their pitching staff, choosing to trust in-house options like Phelps. Of course, it took less than two weeks for Sabathia to land on the disabled list. Phelps moved into Sabathia’s rotation spot and Derek Lowe signed off the scrapheap to fill Sabathia’s spot on the roster. Tonight, those two replacements combined to allow two runs on eight hits and one walk, beating the Rangers and making a statement: This battered Yankees pitching staff just might have enough left to keep that top spot in the American League.
“I don’t know how you can ask two guys to do any more than that,” manager Joe Girardi said. “To hold a team like Texas down to two runs and give yourself a chance to win a ballgame, that’s really stepping up.”
It was quite a Yankees debut for Lowe, who pitched four scoreless and showed he has something left in the tank afterall. It was another milestone for Phelps, who’s breakout season now includes his first major-league win as a starter. In three previous attempts he’d failed to pitch through the fifth inning.
Tonight he threw 26 pitches in first inning, burning through nearly a third of his limited pitch count. The Rangers had scored their first run on a broken-bat single, and they increased that lead with a leadoff homer in the second. From there, Phelps retired 10 of the 14 batters he faced, and he picked off two of the four who reached.
“He’s just focused out there,” Russell Martin said. “He doesn’t let anything get to him. He just competes, pitch after pitch. He’s the type of guy you like having out there.”
Said Girardi: “We’ve seen him grow up a lot from the 2011 spring training until now. I’m not really surprised, just the way he’s went about his business. We saw a different guy in spring training and we’re seeing a much different guy this year. I’m not really surprised.”
Lowe got his first save since August 12, 2001 when he was with the Red Sox. According to Elias, his 11 year and one day between saves is the longest such gap since Darren Oliver went nearly 16 years between saves from 1994 through 2010. “I’m not going to lie to you, and say I’m not going to sleep with a smile tonight,” Lowe said. “It’s a pretty good way to start your career here.”
 Lowe said he actually thought about picking up a cheap save when the Yankees sent him back out for the ninth. “I’m not going to lie to you,” he said. “I think I was throwing below the speed limit there in the last inning. But it’s been a long day. To get back to a regular baseball routine — just a great start, and like I said, just here to help out. My role’s probably going to be like it is today: Just save the bullpen. It’s very important to have the back-end guys not have to pitch if they don’t have to. So hopefully this will benefit us for a couple days.”
According to Elias, 15 rookie pitches have started against the Rangers since June 13. Phelps is the second to earn a win. The first? Former Yankees minor leaguer Jose Quintana. Of course.
 Phelps threw 26 pitches in the first inning. “I wasn’t really thinking about my pitch count,” he said. “I wasn’t really thinking about how long I was going to go. I knew as long as I was going to go, I had to keep us in the game, especially after giving up two runs early. I just went out there and I was trying to throw up as many zeros as I could regardless of how many innings it was going to be.”
What made Phelps effective? “He was just throwing strikes,” Martin said. “He was attacking the strike zone and keeping the hitters off balance by throwing off speed strikes. Just using that cutter to get them off that fastball a little bit. Just making pitches. They got one run off a broken bat and another one off a pretty good pitch.”
Nick Swisher’s 200th career home run was a go-ahead grand slam in the third inning. It was his sixth grand slam ever and second of the season. “Two hundred couldn’t feel sweeter,” Swisher said.
The Yankees have hit nine grand slams this season, one shy of their franchise record set in 1987 and matched in 2010 and 2011. They have 29 grand slams since the start of 2010, more than twice the total of any other team.
Swisher, Alex Rodriguez, Andruw Jones, Mark Teixeira, Raul Ibanez, Derek Jeter and Eric Chavez all have more than 200 career home runs. With Swisher joining the list, they now have a Major League-high six players who have 15 homers this year (Cano, Granderson, Ibanez, Rodriguez, Swisher and Teixeira).
Eric Chavez might join that 15-homer list soon. He hit his 13th tonight and has 10 home runs in his past 36 games. “It’s hard to argue with what he’s done,” Girardi said. “He has been great for us. He’s in the middle of one rally, adds an add-on run later on to make it 6-2, and those runs are important because you can give Robertson, Soriano and some of your guys a day off.”
Phelps picked off two base runners tonight. The pickoff at first base was called from the bench. The pickoff at second was simply Phelps recognizing the Elvis Andrus was too far off the bag. “Anytime you can get an out with those types of hitters they have, we’ll take it,” Martin said. “Especially when they’re in scoring position.”
Girardi said he’s not sure when Lowe could pitch again. He’ll be unavailable for at least two days, probably three. Lowe thinks he could, if necessary, pitch tomorrow. “I told them today, I said, I’ll be ready every day,” Lowe said. “Now will I probably be up tomorrow? Probably not. But I’m going to prepare every single day you’re in the bullpen — that’s your job, to be ready every day, so I’m going to show up tomorrow ready to go.”
Alex Rodriguez is scheduled to have an X-ray tomorrow. It will have been three weeks since the injury.
 Let’s give the final word to Swisher: “I think our whole mindset is just win every game. Every single game, whether you’re playing a first-place team or whether you’re playing a last-place team, you’ve got to go out and win games. That lead there dwindled a little bit, so we’re doing our best to up that a little bit.”

The Yankees slam their way past the Rangers and into first in the AL

The New York Yankees defeated the Texas Rangers by the score of 8-2 on Monday night. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx,NY. David Phelps started in the place of ace CC Sabathia who just went on the DL with elbow tightness. Phelps pitched pretty well and Derek Lowe making his Yankees debut pitched great. Nick Swisher led the Yankees offense. Ryan Dempster who the Rangers acquired at the trade deadline from the Chicago Cubs did not pitch well. David Murphy and Nelson Cruz led their offense.  Phelps pitched five innings giving up two runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out three and earned his third win of the season. Derek Lowe got credit with his first save of the season. He pitched four innings giving up no runs and two hits with no walks and four strikeouts. Dempster lost his sixth game of the season pitching six innings giving up nine hits and eight runs. He walked two and struck out four, Michael Kirkman pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out two and Mark Lowe pitched an inning giving up no runs and no hits and he struck out one.
Derek Jeter had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk, Swisher had two hits and five RBI including a grand slam and Robinson Cano drew a walk. Mark Teixeira had a hit, Eric Chavez had two hits and an RBI and Curtis Granderson had an RBI. Russell Martin had a hit, Raul Ibanez had two hits and Ichiro Suzuki had a hit. Jeter hit a double, Suzuki hit a triple and Swisher and Chavez each hit a homerun. The Yankees were 4-5 with runners in scoring position and they left three men on base. Phelps picked off two runners, one at first and one at second.
Elvis Andrus had two hits, Josh Hamilton had a hit and drew a walk and Adrian Beltre had a hit. Nelson Cruz had two hits and an RBI, Murphy had two hits and an RBI and Murphy hit a double and a homerun. The Rangers were 1-6 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Kinsler and Andrus were each picked off a base.
In the first Cruz hit an RBI single to give Texas a 1-0 lead. Murphy hit a solo homerun to give Texas a 2-0 lead in the second inning. In the third inning the Yankees offense came to life, Swisher hit a grand slam and Granderson had a sacrifice fly to give the Yankees a 5-2 lead. Chavez hit a solo homerun in the sixth to make it 6-2 Yankees and in the seventh Jeter hit an RBI double and Swisher an RBI single to make it 8-2. That would be the final score of the game.
The Yankees have now won five of their last six games and with the win have the best record in the American League. The two teams have the same amount of losses but the Yankees are percentage points ahead. The two teams will play game two of a four game series on Tuesday night. The Yankees record improved to 68-47 and the Rangers record dropped to 67-47.

The Mets avoid being swept with a Sunday night win over the Atlanta Braves

The New York Mets defeated the Atlanta Braves by the score of 6-5 on Sunday night. The game took place at Citi Field in Flushing, New York. Jon Niese started for the Mets and pitched well and the bullpen didn’t. Ike Davis led the Mets offense. Ben Sheets started for the Braves and pitched ok, their offense was led by Martin Prado.  Niese pitched eight innings giving up six hits and a run with two walks and six strikeouts. Niese won his ninth game of the season. Josh Edgin pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three runs and two walks with a strikeout, Frank Francisco pitched a hit and a run with two walks and Jon Rauch saved his second game of the season pitching to one batter and striking him out. Sheets pitched six innings giving up eight hits and five runs with four of them being earned. Sheets lost his second game of the season and he walked one and struck out five times. Jonny Venters pitched an inning giving up a walk and he struck out one and Cristhian Martinez pitched an inning giving up two hits and a run.
Ruben Tejada had a hit and an RBI, Mike Baxter had a hit and drew a walk and David Wright had two hits and an RBI. Davis had two hits and two RBI, Jordany Valdespin had two hits and an RBI and Andres Torres had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk. Rob Johnson had a hit, Wright hit two doubles and Valdespin hit a homerun. The Mets were 4-6 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Valdespin had a stolen base.
Michael Bourn had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk, Prado had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk and Jason Heyward drew a walk. Chipper Jones drew a walk, Freddie Freeman had a hit and an RBI and Brian McCann had a hit. Paul Janish had a hit and drew a walk, Reed Johnson had a hit and Juan Francisco had an RBI and drew a walk. Bourn hit a double and Prado hit two doubles. Freeman hit a homerun and the Braves were 1-7 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Bourn had a stolen base and Heyward committed an error.
In the first Wright hit an RBI double and Davis had an RBI single to make it 2-0 Mets. In the second Freeman hit a solo homerun to make it 2-1. Tejada hit an RBI single in the bottom of the second making it a 3-1 game. In the fifth Davis hit an RBI single to make it 4-1. In the sixth Valdespin hit a solo homerun to make it 5-1. In the eighth Torres hit an RBI single making it 6-1 Mets. In the ninth the Braves scored four runs to make it 6-5 and that would be the final score. Francisco had an RBI walk, Bourn had an RBI walk and Prado had a two run double. The Mets improved their record to 55-60 and salvaged the final game of this three game series. The Braves record fell to 66-48. The Mets will have off on Monday and then begin a six game road trip on Tuesday night. They will play three games in Cincinnati and then three in Washington.

The Yankees fail to sweep the Jays as Hughes struggles

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon by the score of 10-7. The game was played at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada. Phil Hughes started for the Yankees and did not pitch well at all. The bullpen did a decent job. Derek Jeter led the Yankees offense. J.A. Happ started for the Blue Jays and pitched ok, their bullpen let the Yankees get back in the game but then closed it out. Rajai Davis led the Jays offense.  Hughes pitched four innings giving up nine hits and seven runs. He walked one and struck out four and suffered his 10^th loss of the season. Ryota Igarashi who was called up for the day pitched two innings giving up three hits and three runs with a walk and a strikeout, Cody Eppley pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up a hit and a walk with three strikeouts and Clay Rapada gave up a hit without recording an out. Joba Chamberlain faced one batter and retired him. Happ won his eighth game of the season pitching 5 2/3 innings giving up six hits and four runs with no walks and four strikeouts. Brad Lincoln pitched an inning giving up four hits and three runs, Darren Oliver pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and two strikeouts and Casey Janssen pitched a perfect inning earning his 15^th save of the season.
Jeter had three hits and two RBI, Nick Swisher had two hits and an RBI and Mark Teixeira had a hit. Robinson Cano had a hit and two RBI, Andruw Jones had a hit and Curtis Granderson had a hit. Casey McGehee had a hit and an RBI, Jayson Nix had a hit and an RBI. Jones, McGehee, Nix, Jeter and Teixeira each hit a double. Jeter and Cano each hit a homerun. The Yankees were 4-7 with runners in scoring position and they left four men on base, Martin had a passed ball.
Davis had two hits and five RBI, Mike McCoy had a hit and an RBI and Edwin Encarnacion had three hits, two RBI and drew a walk. Davis Cooper had two hits and an RBI, Moises Sierra had three hits and Jeff Mathis had a hit and an RBI. Yan Gomes had a hit and drew a walk, Anthony Gose drew a walk and Adeiny Hechavarria had a hit. Encarnacion and Mathis each hit a double and Davis hit two doubles. Encarnacion hit a homerun and the Blue Jays were 5-12 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Davis had a stolen base.
In the first Cooper hit an RBI single to give the Jays a 1-0 lead. In the fourth the Jays broke the game open with six runs to make it a 7-0 game. Mathis hit an RBI double, Davis hit a two run double and McCoy hit an RBI single. Encarnacion hit a two run homerun. In the fifth the Yankees finally got on the board with a McGehee RBI double making it 7-1. Davis hit a three run double in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 10-1 game. In the sixth Jeter hit a solo homerun and Cano hit a two run homerun to make it 10-4. In the seventh Nix hit an RBI double, Jeter hit an RBI double and Swisher hit an RBI single. The score was 10-7 Jays and that would be the final score. Davis in that inning robbed McGehee of at least a double but maybe a two run homerun.
The Yankees won two out of three in the series. The Yankees finished their road trip 4-3 and will now return home for seven games against the Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox. The Yankees record dropped to 67-47 and the Jays record improved to 54-60.

The Mets get blown out as Johan Santana returns but pitches poorly

The New York Mets were defeated by the Atlanta Braves by the score of 9-3 on Saturday night. The game took place at Citi Field in Flushing, New York. Johan Santana started for the Mets and pitched poorly. The Mets bullpen pitched well and Ruben Tejada and Andres Torres led the Mets offense. Kris Medlen started for the Braves and pitched well. The Braves offense was led by Freddie Freeman.  Santana pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and eight runs, he walked one and struck out two. Santana lost his eighth game of the season. Jeremy Hefner pitched 3 2/3 innings giving up four hits and a run, Manny Acosta pitched two perfect innings with two strikeouts and Jon Rauch pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout. Frank Francisco pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk and striking out the side. Medlen earned his third win of the season pitching 6 1/3 innings giving up five hits and a run with a walk and seven strikeouts. Luis Avilan pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and two runs with a walk and two strikeouts and Cory Gearrin pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits and striking out two.
Ruben Tejada had two hits and an RBI, David Wright had a hit and an RBI and Ike Davis had a hit and drew a walk. Scott Hairston had a hit, Mike Baxter had a hit and Torres had two hits and an RBI. Ronny Cedeno drew a walk, Tejada hit a double and Torres a triple. The Mets were 2-5 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base.
Michael Bourn had three hits and an RBI, Reed Johnson had two hits and Jason Heyward had two hits and an RBI. Chipper Jones had a hit and an RBI, Freeman had two hits and five RBI and Dan Uggla had a hit an drew a walk. Janish had a hit, Medlen had a hit and an RBI. Freeman and Johnson each hit a double. Freeman also hit a homerun. The Braves were 6-13 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base.
In the first Freeman hit a two run double to give the Braves a 2-0 lead. The Braves broke the game open in the second with seven runs to make it 9-0. Medlen, Bourn and Heyward had RBI singles. Jones had an RBI single and Freeman hit a three run homerun. The Mets scored a run in the bottom of the inning on a Torres RBI single to make it a 9-1 game. In the eighth the Mets scored two runs to make it 9-3 and that would be the final score. Tejada hit an RBI double and Wright an RBI single.
The Mets record dropped to 54-60 and the Braves improved their record to 66-47. The Mets will try and avoid the three game sweep on Sunday night.

Yankees win fourth straight but their ace goes on the DL

The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays by the score of 5-2 on Saturday afternoon. The game took place at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada. Ivan Nova started for the Yankees and pitched very well. The bullpen closed it out with 1 2/3 perfect innings. Casey McGehee and Derek Jeter led the Yankees offense. Aaron Laffey started for the Blue Jays and pitched ok, their bullpen was excellent. Edwin Encarnacion led the Jays offense.  Nova pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up two runs on five hits. He walked one and struck out ten and earned his 11^th win of the season. Dave Robertson threw one pitch and got a double play and Rafael Soriano earned his 28^th save with a 1-2-3 ninth inning including a strikeout. Laffey lost his third game of the season pitching 5 2/3 innings. He gave up seven hits and five runs with four walks and two strikeouts. Aaron Loup pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a strikeout, Chad Jenkins pitched a perfect inning and Brandon Lyon pitched an inning giving up a walk and two strikeouts.
Jeter had two hits and an RBI, Nick Swisher drew a walk and Mark Teixeira had a hit and drew two walks. Robinson Cano drew a walk, Andruw Jones drew a walk and Jayson Nix had a hit and an RBI. McGehee had two hits and three RBI and Chris Stewart had a hit. Stewart, McGehee and Jeter each hit a double. McGehee hit a homerun and the Yankees were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and they left eight men on base.
Rajai Davis had two hits, Encarnacion had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk and Kelly Johnson had a hit. Davis hit a double and the Blue Jays were 2-8 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Davis had a stolen base.
The Yankees jumped out in front in the fourth inning. They had a two out rally when Nix had an RBI single and McGehee hit a three run homerun to make it 4-0. The Jays made it a 4-1 game in the bottom of the fourth inning when Encarnacion had an RBI single. In the sixth Jeter hit an RBI double to make it 5-1. In the eighth Encarnacion hit an RBI single to make it 5-2 and that would be the final score.
The Yankees record improved to 67-46 and the Jays record dropped to 53-60. The two teams will play the third and final game of the series on Sunday afternoon. The Yankees will go for the sweep and the Jays will try to stop that. The Yankees now have a 14 game lead on the Jays for first place in the AL East. If the Orioles lose they will have a seven game lead on them.

Yankees Saturday postgame notes

Here are the Yankees postgame notes from Saturday evening as they won their fourth straight.  The game became sort of an afterthought as CC Sabathia was placed on the DL immediately following the game.  The notes are courtesy of the Lohud Yankees blog and the Journal News Chad Jennings. 

When the game was over, the Yankees clubhouse opened several minutes later than usual. Even then, the media was informed that Joe Girardi wasn’t ready to be interviewed. The players would talk first, then the manager, an odd flip-flop of usual protocol.
At that point, it became fairly clear that Ivan Nova was probably not the story of the day.
Make no mistake, though, Nova was very good today. Winless since the All-Star break, Nova delivered 7.1 innings with one walk and 10 strikeouts. His first strikeout came on his slider, the one pitch that seemed to be giving him the most trouble recently.  It was a depleted Jays lineup but that doesn't matter, the way he had been pitching anyone could hit him.  This is a big step and he should be more confident and build on this. 
“I think the confidence that I still have in myself, I think that is the key,” Nova said. “I was working hard in the bullpen. I wanted to make sure all my pitches were right and I left the bullpen with a good feel for my work. All of them were working fine.”
It’s true. The slider was a fine pitch today, and Nova’s fastball showed some real pop. But it was Nova’s curveball that really stood out. He was using it to get ahead in the count, using it to induce routine outs and six of his strikeouts came on curveballs.
“My curveball is my natural pitch,” Nova said. “I can work with the curveball really well. Even when I struggle with the curve in the bullpen, I can throw my curveball for a strike when I need it. Today it was an unbelievable pitch. I’m glad I had it today.”  It is nice to see him make adjustments, he is still a young kid and in New York they tend to forget that. 
Nova slightly altered his slider grip leading into this start, tucking it farther back in his hand, but he did nothing to the curveball. Although the slider has become a go-to strikeout pitch in the past year or so, the curveball remains a point of absolute confidence for Nova.
“With the lefties, I was thinking sometimes you’re trying to bounce it,” Nova said. “They don’t go for it, so I was trying to throw a little bit down, no bounce, really inside to a lefty. It was good. … The first slider that I threw was a strikeout, and I could see the movement that the slider had. For me, it got to make me feel more good about it. I got good break on the slider. The grip that we’ve got, the work that we put in was working. After that, I was just trying to see if I had another pitch, and the curveball was the other pitch. The game was telling us what to do and that’s exactly what I did today. I just followed my game.”
Casey McGehee had his welcome-to-the-Yankees moment with that three-run homer in the fourth. He later doubled in the game. “I was trying to force that to happen, especially the first couple times out there, trying to do way too much every at-bat,” McGehee said. “I think I’m making a conscious effort to slow down, relax, and realize that even though it’s a new organization, new team, it’s still a game I’ve been playing for a little while.”
More from McGehee: “I’ve been working with K-Long quite a bit on some stuff at the plate. I’m trying to be stubborn with it, stick with. I think it’s going to help. It was nice to feel what it felt like when it’s the way it’s supposed to be.”
Derek Jeter’s sixth-inning double gave him an A.L.-leading 150 hits for the season. He’s the second player in baseball history to reach 150 hits in 17 straight seasons. The other is Hank Aaron.  That is unbelievable company, what a career he has had and he is still going. 
Dave Robertson threw one pitch tonight and ended the eighth inning with a double play.
Rafael Soriano followed Robertson with a scoreless ninth to pick up his 28th save.  Soriano wiggled out of trouble in Detroit in his last game but this one he made easy. 
A little bit more on the Sabathia injury: “We’ve been talking about it all day, just trying to decide what we were going to do,” Girardi said. “It’s not any worse than it was after the first start, but our concern is it didn’t go away. As far as concern, it’s pretty low. We were deciding should we just skip him a start, should we DL him? What do we do in this instance? We’ve decided that we’re going to DL him. We’ll have to name a starter on Monday; I don’t have that right now. We’ll have to decide what we’re going to do. As far as the concern, it’s pretty low-level, because it’s not like it got any worse. He wants to pitch on Monday, which I’m not surprised, because he said he’s dealt with it before. We just decided, let’s try to get it cleaned up now.”
Girardi said he’s not sure how many pitches David Phelps can throw at this point. His last minor league start came on July 14 when he threw 103 pitches. Phelps hasn’t thrown more than 36 pitches since then.
It’s worth noting that Adam Warren is scheduled to start tomorrow’s Triple-A game. I have to think he would have been a call-up candidate — either as a spot starter or a long man — had the Yankees not agreed to a deal with Derek Lowe.  It seems that Lowe will stay in the bullpen for now and Phelps will be the starter, that could change of course. 
Although Girardi said there are no more tests scheduled for Sabathia, he will see a doctor in New York on Monday. “He could possibly have an injection, cortisone injection,” Girardi said. “That’s not uncommon.”
The plan is for Sabathia to come off the DL to start in Cleveland on August 24.
After all this rotation talk, the final word actually goes to McGehee: “One thing I’ve noticed here is everybody expects to win. So it’s not usually a big hurrah crazy or jump up and down moment. We come to the field expecting to win, so definitely, guys make their comments, congratulate and that sort of stuff. But that’s one thing I’ve definitely noticed here. If you’re in there, you’re expected to contribute.”  They have had a lot of contributions this year from guys you wouldn't neccessarily expect.  They have had a bunch of guys like Andruw Jones, Raul Ibanez, Casey McGehee, Jayson Nix, Chris Stewart contrbute well.