Saturday, August 25, 2012

Blockbust deal between Dodgers and Red Sox is completed

There was a blockbuster deal between the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers which was completed on Friday and made official on Saturday.  The final hurdles were getting Josh Beckett and Carl Crawford to waive their no trade clauses.  The medicals also had to be signed off on.  This is one big deal that is hard to fathom but it was accomplished. 

The Dodgers who have a new ownership group led by Magic Johnson are trying to make a splash and boy are they ever.  They aquired Hanley Ramirez from the Miami Marlins last month and now this.  They should be the favorite to win the NL West now and they trail the San Francisco Giants by a couple of games. 

The Red Sox are cleaning house and starting over.  I think from their perspective it is the right way to go.  They are saving so much money and won't be hamstrung now from doing other things.  They weren't going to win with that group that didn't want to play for Bobby Valentine and also collapsed last year leading to Terry Francona getting fired.  The Red Sox are a real mess but now they can rebuild and try to bring them back to prominance, it may take a few years but they feel in the long run it will be worth it. 

The deal is Adrian Gonzales who the Dodgers were looking at since April, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto.  The Red Sox get back James Loney who is a first baseman, the Dodgers fell out of favor with him.  Allen Webster a minor league pitcher, Ivan DeJesus Jr. a minor league infielder and two players to be named later. 

We understand that you have to spend money to be good in this league,” said Magic Johnson, the former NBA star who is part of the rich new Dodgers ownership group that has dramatically revamped their roster in the last month.


 

Roger Clemens returns to Baseball

Roger Clemens made his return to baseball and the pitching rubber on Saturday night.  He wasn't pitching in the major leagues but in an independent league.  He was pitching for the Sugar Land Skeeters a team in Texas as part of the Atlantic League.  It was his first outing since 2007 with the New York Yankees in the postseason.

He is now 50 years old and has just recently won a legal battle which cleared his name.  He was never guilty of taking steroids although everyone can pretty much assume that he did, he won his case though against the goverment and his name is somewhat clear because of that. 

Clemens was throwing 87 miles per hour and tossed 3 1/3 scoreless innings of one hit ball.  Their was a sellout crowd of 7,500.  He didn't committ past this game but I am sure since he pitched well that he will be pitching again.  He will have to see how his body recovers but I would expect to see him on a mound once again in a few days. 

Jim Crane the owner of the Houston Astros didn't rule out Clemens returning to the major leagues with the Astros.  They are a team that could use a jolt as they are one of the worst teams ever.  He could almost be like a player/coach for them and did pitch for them before and had a personal service contract with them also for after retirement.  The Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals were said to have scouts on hand as well as the Astros. 

If he were to make it back to the majors he would be the second oldest pitcher ever. Satchel Paige pitched at the age of 59.  Clemens has 354 career victories and could add to that, he is ninth on the list and trails Greg Maddux by one.  He could also delay his hall of fame candicy which may be the calculated part of all of this.  He could think that if he waits a few more years they may look at him more favorably. 

The New York Yankees offense is stymied in Cleveland as the Indians win

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Cleveland Indians by the score of 3-1. The game took place at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio. Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees and pitched well, he had a rough first couple of innings but then was great. The Yankees offense was Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano. Justin Masterson started for the Indians and pitched well and the bullpen held it down. Michael Brantley was the Indians offense. 
Kuroda pitched a complete game which was eight innings giving up three runs on four hits. He walked two and struck out six and took his ninth loss of the season. Masterson pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up seven hits and a run with two walks and six strikeouts. Masterson won his 10th game of the season, Vinnie

Pestano pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a walk and a strikeout and Chris Perez pitched a perfect inning with a couple of strikeouts.

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

The Indians scored their only runs in the first inning. Brantley hit a three run homerun to make it 3-0 Indians. The Yankees scored their only run which was the last run of the game in the sixth. Teixeira hit a sacrifice fly. The Yankees stranded the bases loaded twice, had a runner on second early and didn’t score and had second and third one out and didn’t score. They only have themselves to blame for not getting a clutch hit or two and they probably would of won.

The two teams have split the first two games of the three game series. The rubber game will be played on Sunday afternoon. The Yankees record fell to 73-53 and they have a four game lead on both the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays. The Indians record improved to 55-71.

The New York Mets break their six game losing streak with a win over the Houston Astros

The New York Mets defeated the Houston Astros by the score of 3-1 on Saturday afternoon. The game was played at Citi Field in Flushing, New York. R.A. Dickey started for the Mets and pitched well and the bullpen also pitched well. Andres Torres led the Mets offense with a couple of hits. Abad started for the Astros and pitched pretty well and the bullpen was up and down. The Astros offense only managed five hits. 
Dickey won his 16th game of the season and pitched seven innings giving up five hits and a run. Dickey walked one and struck out two. Jon Rauch pitched 2/3 of an inning and retired both hitters, Josh Edgin retired the only batter that he faced and Frank Francisco saved his 21st game of the season pitching a perfect inning with a strikeout. Fernando Abad lost his first game of the season pitching four innings and giving up four hits and a run with four walks and two strikeouts. Mickey Storey pitched two innings giving up a hit and a run with a strikeout, Hector Ambriz pitched an inning giving up a walk and striking out two and Fernando Rodriguez pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run with a strikeout. Xavier Cedeno pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and striking out one.

Torres had two hits, Ruben Tejada drew a walk and David Wright drew a walk. Scott Hairston had a hit and drew a walk, Justin Turner had a hit and an RBI and Ronny Cedeno had a hit. Ike Davis had a hit, Jason Bay had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk and Dickey had a hit and an RBI. Jordany Valdespin drew a walk, Turner hit a homerun and the Mets were 2-9 with runners in scoring position and they left nine men on base.

Fernando Martinez had a hit, Tyler Greene had a hit and Jason Castro had a hit. Brandon Barnes had a hit and drew a walk, Brian Bogusevic had a hit and the Astros were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base. Castro had a passed ball and Barnes had an outfield assist.

In the fourth Dickey hit an RBI single giving the Mets a 1-0 lead. In the sixth Turner hit a solo homerun to make it 2-0 Mets. In the seventh the Astros scored their only run on a Dickey wild pitch to make it 2-1. Bay hit an RBI single in the eighth and that would be the final run of the game as the Mets won 3-1.

The Mets evened the three game series at one with the rubber game on Sunday afternoon. The Mets ended their six game losing streak and their record improved to 58-69. The Astros record dropped to 40-87

Friday, August 24, 2012

The New York Yankees don't make it easy but they win in Cleveland

The New York Yankees defeated the Cleveland Indians by the score of 3-1. The game took place at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio. CC Sabathia made his return from the disabled list for the Yankees and pitched very well, the Yankees bullpen closed it out with a little bit of a scare. The Yankees offense was supplied by Nick Swisher and Derek Jeter had a good game. Corey Kluber started for the Indians and pitched pretty well, the Indians bullpen mainly did a good job. Carlos Santana led the Indians offense. 
Sabathia pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up four hits and a run with a walk and nine strikeouts. Sabathia earned his 13th win of the season. Dave Robertson pitched 2/3 of an inning retiring both batters and Rafael Soriano earned his 32nd save of the season pitching an inning and giving up two hits and a walk and striking out a batter. Kluber pitched five innings giving up six hits and a run with two walks and six strikeouts. Tony Sipp pitched an inning giving up a hit, Cody Allen took the loss pitching an inning giving up two hits and two runs with a strikeout and Esmil Rogers pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts. Chris Perez pitched a perfect inning.

Jeter had two hits, Swisher had three hits, three RBI and drew a walk and Robinson Cano had a hit and drew a walk. Curtis Granderson had a hit, Russell Martin had a hit and Ichiro Suzuki had a hit. Jeter, Swisher and Cano each hit a double and Swisher hit a homerun. The Yankees were 3-10 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.

Asdrubal Cabrera had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk, Santana had two hits and Michael Brantley had a hit. Matt LaPorta had a hit, Shelly Duncan had a hit and Casey Kotchman had a pinch hit walk. Cabrera hit a homerun and the Indians were 0-6 with runners in scoring position and they left eight men on base. Brett Lillibridge committed an error and Cabrera.

In the first Swisher hit an RBI double giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Cabrera hit a solo homerun in the fourth to tie the game at one. In the seventh Swisher hit a two run homerun and that was the final runs of the game making it 3-1 Yankees. The Yankees survived a scare in the ninth as Cleveland had second and third no outs and didn’t score. Soriano got a strikeout, popup, a walk mixed in and a groundout to end the game.

The Yankees increased their lead in the AL East to 3 ½ games and four in the loss column over the Tampa Bay Rays. They improved their record to 73-52. The Indians record fell to 54-71 and the two teams will play game two of their three game series on Saturday night.

The Mets putrid run continues as they lose at home to the Houston Astros

The New York Mets were defeated by the Houston Astros by the score of 3-1 on Friday night. The game took place at Citi Field in Flushing, New York. Jon Niese started for the Mets and pitched well but not well enough. The bullpen was good and David Wright led the offense, it didn’t do much only getting four hits. Wright had half of the hits and the only RBI. Jordan Lyles started for the Astros and pitched very well and so did their bullpen. Chris Snyder led the Astros offense which only managed six hits but in this game it was enough. 
Niese took his seventh loss of the season. Niese pitched seven innings giving up six hits and three runs with two walks and five strikeouts. Robert Carson faced one batter and retired him, Frank Francisco pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a walk and striking out two and Manny Acosta pitched 2/3 of an inning striking out one. Josh Edgin faced one batter and retired him. Lyles won his third game of the season pitching six innings giving up three hits and a run with two walks and four strikeouts. Wesley Wright pitched an inning giving up a hit,Fernando Rodriguez pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a walk and Wilton Lopez pitched 1 1/3 innings striking out one.

Mike Baxter drew a walk, Wright had two hits and an RBI and Ike Davis drew two walks. Justin Turner had a hit, Andres Torres had a hit and Wright hit a homerun. The Mets were 0-4 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base.

Jose Altuve drew a walk, Brett Wallace had a hit and Steve Pearce drew a walk. Tyler Greene had a hit and an RBI, Snyder had two hits and drew a walk and Brandon Barnes had a hit and an RBI. Lyles had a hit and an RBI. Barnes and Snyder each hit a double and Greene hit a homerun. The Astros were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Pearce had a stolen base and an outfield assist.

In the second the Astros took a 2-0 lead. Barnes hit an RBI double and Lyles hit an RBI double. The Mets made it 2-1 in the fourth as Wright hit a solo homerun. The final run of the game was scored in the seventh by the Astros making it 3-1. Greene hit a solo homerun to complete the scoring.

The Mets have lost five games in a row at home and have seemed to tank the remainder of the season. Their offense just doesn’t do anything anymore especially at home. The Mets record fell to 57-69 and the Astros record improved to 40-86. The two teams will play game two of their three game series on Saturday afternoon.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

The Mets offense continues to be anemic as they are swept by the Colorado Rockies

The New York Mets were defeated by the Colorado Rockies by the score of 1-0 on Thursday afternoon. The game took place at Citi Field in Flushing, New York. Collin McHugh made his major league debut for the Mets and pitched great. Bobby Parnell didn’t pitch great and took the loss and the offense managed seven hits with no one having more then one. The Rockies used five pitchers to get through the game and all of them pitched well. The Rockies offense only managed six hits but they didn’t have to do too much. 
McHugh pitched seven innings giving up two hits and no runs with a walk and nine strikeouts. Parnell suffered his third loss of the season pitching an inning giving up three hits and a run and Jon Rauch pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk. Tyler Chatwood pitched three innings giving up three hits and no runs with three walks and three strikeouts, Adam Ottavino pitched two innings giving up a hit and two walks with a strikeout and Rex Brothers picked up his eighth win of the season pitching two innings and giving up a hit and a walk with a couple of strikeouts. Will Harris pitched an inning giving up a hit and had two strikeouts and Matt Belisle saved his first game of the season pitching an inning and giving up a hit.

Jordany Valdespin had a hit and drew a walk, Daniel Murphy had a hit and David Wright had a hit and drew a walk. Ike Davis drew two walks, Mike Baxter had a hit and drew a walk and Ruben Tejada had a hit. Josh Thole drew a walk, Ronny Cedeno had a hit and JustinTurner had a hit. Tejada hit a double and the Mets were 0-10 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base. Valdespin and Tejada each had a stolen base and Valdespin was caught stealing.

Charlie Blackmon had a hit, Jordan Pacheco had a hit and Carlos Gonzalez drew two walks. Tyler Colvin had a hit, Chris Nelson had a hit and an RBI and DJ LeMahieu had a hit. Jeff Rutledge had a hit, Blackmon and Pacheco each hit a double and Colvin hit a triple. The Rockies were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. LeMahieu was caught stealing and Colvin had an outfield assist.

The only run of the game came in the eighth inning. Nelson hit an RBI single for the Rockies and that was it for the scoring. The Mets had plenty of chances but couldn’t capitalize on them.

The Rockies swept the four game series from the Mets. The Mets record fell to 57-68 and the Rockies record improved to 50-73. The Mets have been putrid since the All-Star break going 11-38 and only winning a couple of games at home. The Mets will play the Houston Astros at home beginning on Friday night.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

The Yankees get swept in Chicago to the White Sox

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Chicago White Sox by a score of 2-1 on Wednesday night. The game took place at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, Illinois. Phil Hughes started for the Yankees and pitched well and Derek Jeter was their offense. Chris Sale started for the White Sox and pitched great and their offense was led by Alex Rios. 
Hughes pitched seven innings giving up five hits and two runs. He walked two and struck out five and he suffered his 11th loss of the season. Dave Robertson pitched an inning giving up a hit. Sale won his 15th game of the season pitching 7 2/3 innings giving up three hits and a run with a walk and 13 strikeouts. Brett Myers retired the only batter that he faced and Addison Reed pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out two. Reed saved his 23rd game of the season.

Jeter had a hit and an RBI, Robinson Cano had two hits and Mark Teixeira had a hit. Andruw Jones drew a walk, Teixeira and Cano each hit a double and Jeter hit a homerun. The Yankees were 0-5 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base. Martin had a passed ball.

DeWayne Wise had a hit, Kevin Youkilis had an RBI and drew a walk and Paul Konerko had a hit and drew a walk. Rios had two hits and an RBI, Alexi Ramirez had a hit and Gordon Beckham had a hit. Beckham hit a double and Rios hit a homerun. The White Sox were 1-6 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base.

In the third inning Youkilis hit a sacrifice fly giving the White Sox a 1-0 lead. In the sixth inning Jeter hit a solo homerun to tie the game at one. In the sixth inning Rios hit a solo homerun to give the White Sox a 2-1 lead and that would be the final score.

The Yankees were swept in the three game series and will have Thursday off. The Yankees record fell to 72-52 and their lead in the AL East is down to three games over the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays have been on an unbelievable hot streak and that is what has them breathing down the Yankees neck. The Yankees will begin a three game series in Cleveland on Friday night.

The Mets lose another at home to the Colorado Rockies

The New York Mets were defeated by the Colorado Rockies by the score of 5-2 on Wednesday night. The game took place at Citi Field in Flushing, New York. Matt Harvey started and pitched very well, the bullpen especially Frank Francisco didn’t. Harvey also led the teams offense. Jeff Francis started for the Rockies and pitched well and their bullpen pitched well. The Rockies offense was led by Colvin. 
Harvey pitched six innings giving up three hits and a run with two walks and nine strikeouts. Ramon Ramirez took his third loss of the season pitching 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and two runs, Robert Carson pitched 1/3 of an inning retiring the only batter that he faced and Josh Edgin pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout. Francisco pitched an inning giving up three hits and two runs. Francis pitched five innings giving up five hits and a run with two walks and four strikeouts. Torres got the win pitching 2 2/3 innings and giving up a hit and a run with a walk and a strikeout, Reynolds didn’t record an out and gave up a hit and Harris struck out the only batter that he faced. Rafael Betancourt saved his 25th game of the season pitching an inning giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout.

Ruben Tejada gave up a hit, Justin Turner drew a walk and Ronny Cedeno gave up a hit. David Wright drew two walks, Scott Hairston had a hit and an RBI and Ike Davis had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk. Andres Torres had a hit, Mike Baxter had a hit and Harvey had two hits. Tejada and Hairston each had a double, the Mets were 1-6 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base. Wright was caught stealing and Shoppach committed an error.

Jonathan Herrera had a hit, Dexter Fowler had a hit and Jordan Pacheco had a hit. WilinRosario had a hit and two RBI, Tyler Colvin had two hits and Chris Nelson had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk. DJ LeMahieu had an RBI, Francis drew a walk and Josh Rutledge had a hit and an RBI. Colvin and Rutledge each hit a double, Rosario hit a homerun. The Rockies were 2-8 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Colvin had a stolen base.

Hairston hit a sacrifice fly in the first to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. In the fourth Rosario hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at one. In the seventh Rosario hit a solo homerun and LeMahieu had a sacrifice bunt and a run scored to make it 3-1. Davis hit an RBI single in the eighth to make it a 3-2 game. In the ninth Nelson had an RBI single and Rutledge had an RBI double to make it 5-2 and that would be the final score.

The Mets fell to ten games under 500 for the first time. They have a 57-67 record and the Rockies record improved to 49-73. The two teams will play the fourth and final game of the series on Thursday afternoon. The Rockies have won the first three games and the Mets will try and avoid the sweep.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Ivan Nova gives up grand slam and the Yankees can't recover in loss to Chicago

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Chicago White Sox by a score of 7-3 on Tuesday night. The game took place at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, Illinois. Ivan Nova started for the Yankees and wasn’t very good. Derek Jeter hit a leadoff homerun and the Yankees offense was good in the first but then didn’t do much after. Francisco Liriano after a rough first inning really settled in and their bullpen did a pretty good job. DeWayne Wise led the White Sox offense with four hits.  Nova pitched six innings giving up seven hits and six runs with two walks and three strikeouts. Nova lost his seventh game of the season and Derek Lowe pitched two innings giving up five hits and a run with a walk and two strikeouts. Liriano won his fifth game of the season pitching six innings giving up six hits and two runs with three walks and seven strikeouts. Jesse Crain pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and a run, Matt Thornton pitched 2/3 of an inning retiring both batters and Brett Myers pitched an inning giving up a walk.
Jeter had a hit and an RBI, Nick Swisher had a hit and Mark Teixeira had a hit and drew two walks. Andruw Jones had a hit and drew a walk, Curtis Granderson had a hit and an RBI and Eric Chavez drew a walk. Russell Martin had two hits and an RBI, Jeter and Martin each hit a homerun. The Yankees were 0-3 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base.
Wise had four hits, Kevin Youkilis had a hit, four RBI and drew a walk and Adam Dunn drew a walk. Paul Konerko had two hits and an RBI, Alex Rios had a hit and A.J. Pierzynski had a hit and an RBI. Alexi Ramirez had a hit and Gordon Beckham had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk. Ramirez drew a walk, Rios and Pierzynski hit a triple and Konerko and Youkilis hit a homerun. The White Sox were 3-11 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base.
In the first Jeter hit a leadoff homerun and Granderson grounded out scoring a run to make it 2-0 Yankees. Pierzynski hit a sacrifice fly in the second inning making it 2-1. Konerko hit a solo homerun in the fourth inning tying the game at two. In the fifth Youkilis hit a grand slam to make it 6-2 White Sox. Martin hit a solo homerun in the seventh to make it 6-3. The White Sox would add a final run on an RBI single by Beckham in the ninth inning.
The Yankees have lost the first two games of the three game series in Chicago. The Yankees will try to salvage the final game of the series on Wednesday night. The Yankees record fell to 72-51 and they remain four games up on the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East. The White Sox record improved to 67-55, they had a two game lead in the AL Central entering the night.

The Mets continue to flounder as they fall to a season high nine games below 500

The New York Mets were defeated by the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night by the score of 6-2. The game took place at Citi Field in Flushing, New York. Chris Young started for the Mets and pitched pretty well. Ruben Tejada led the Mets offense, Jhoulys Chacin started for the Rockies and pitched very well. The Rockies bullpen pitched well and Dexter Fowler led their offense.  Young pitched seven innings giving up five hits and four runs but only two of them were earned. He walked one and struck out nine and took his seventh loss of the season. Robert Carson pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two hits and a run, Bobby Parnell pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits and a run and Josh Edgin retired the only batter that he faced. Chacin won his first game of the season pitching six innings giving up four hits and a run with two strikeouts, Matt Reynolds pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run and Josh Roenicke pitched 2/3 of an inning retiring both batters. Matt Belisle pitched an inning giving up a hit and Rex Brothers pitched a perfect inning striking out a batter.
Tejada had two hits, Ike Davis had a hit and David Wright had a hit. Daniel Murphy had an RBI, Jordany Valdespin had a hit and Andres Torres had an RBI. Scott Hairston had a hit, Valdespin hit a double and the Rockies were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and left three men on base. Torres was caught stealing, Young committed an error.
Charlie Blackmon had two hits and an RBI, Fowler had two hits and two RBI and Ramon Hernandez had a hit and an RBI. Tyler Colvin had a hit, Andrew Brown had a hit and DJ LeMahieu had a hit. Jonathan Herrera had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk. Blackmon and Brown each hit a double, the Rockies were 3-11 with runners in scoring position and they left four men on base. Blackmon had a stolen base and Colvin had two. Fowler was caught stealing, Brown and Colvin each committed an error. Brown had an outfield assist.
In the fourth the Mets took a 1-0 lead on a Murphy sacrifice fly. In the sixth Chacin had a sac bunt scoring a run, Blackmon had an RBI single, Fowler had an RBI single and Hernandez hit a sacrifice fly. It was 4-1 Rockies. Torres hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh to make it a 4-2 game. Fowler hit an RBI single in the eighth to make it 5-2 and Herrera reached on a fielders choice scoring a run in the ninth. It was 6-2 Rockies and that would be the final score.
The Mets have lost two straight to the Rockies and are a season worst nine games under 500. The Mets record dropped to 57-66 and the Rockies record improved to 48-73. The two teams will play the third game of a four game series on Wednesday night.

Yankees postgame notes after a bullpen meltdown in Chicago

Here are the Yankees postgame notes from Monday night.  The Yankees blew two different leads, the bullpen was not good and Garcia collapsed in the fifth inning.  Chad Jennings of the Journal news and Lohud Yankees blog has all the info with my thoughts mixed in of course. 

Through much of the season’s first half, the Yankees kept plugging bullpen holes and found the perfect piece every time. Need a rookie long man out of spring training? David Phelps. Mariano Rivera lost for the season? Rafael Soriano. Dave Robertson out for a month? Cory Wade. Wade’s magic worn thin? Cody Eppley. Phelps has to step into the rotation? Derek Lowe.
Thing is, we all know bullpens don’t always work like that. Relievers are a notoriously inconsistent group, and now the Yankees bullpen is starting to show some of those inconsistencies.  They may be getting tired and Joba has been a big problem, he is the fresh arm but he is very rusty and doesn't have the control right now. 
“It’s tough to swallow,” Boone Logan said after tonight’s letdown. “We’ve been scuffling as a whole down there lately. You can’t go in there and do your job all year long, you’re going to hit a couple rough patches. You’ve got to grind through it and get through it. We all know that,and talk about it. We’re doing the best we can, it’s just nobody’s going well.”  This is true but the offense has gone through slumps and the starting pitching also, now it is the bullpens turn, its better to get it out now and be right for the stretch run and hopefully October. 

It was Logan who gave up tonight’s Alexei Ramirez game-winner. It was Logan’s second loss in five days, coming less than a week after he was part of another collective bullpen letdown at home against Texas. Robertson and Soriano are still pitching well in the late innings, but the bridge to the eighth and ninth no longer has that can’t-miss feeling.
“We get the groundball and we’re not quite able to turn the double play,” Joe Girardi said. “It’s a tough double play to turn in that fifth inning, and it just kind of got worse after that, in a sense. The bullpen struggled tonight. It hasn’t been something they’ve done very often this year, so they’ll bounce back.”
One thing about relievers: They’ve all been through something like this. Right or wrong, they all seem to believe they’ll get things straightened out eventually. The Yankees need that to happen, because games like this seem especially hard to follow down the stretch and into the postseason.
“We know it’s part of the game,” Logan said. “That’s the way it works. We’re still a good bullpen. It’s funny how when someone struggles, we all struggle. It seems like we all struggle at the same time. Once we all start getting on a roll, we’ll all get on a roll, and get back to where we need to be.”
Joba Chamberlain is among the worst bullpen offenders recently, but Girardi once again vowed to keep Chamberlain in the big leagues. Is he concerned? “Long-term, no,”Girardi said. “But short-term, yeah. We have to try to get him right. … He’s got to help us.”  I think that is an understatement but will he stay up or could he go to AAA and work it out, we will find out soon enough. 
Here’s Chamberlain: “If I was throwing 90 miles per hour we would have a concern. Obviously the strength and stuff (are good). My slider is 86 to 88 (mph), right where it should be. Fastball is at 95. You know it’s there, now it’s just trying to figure out what in the delivery or what we can do to change things or work on in between and go from there.”
The good news from tonight, Derek Jeter had another four-hit game, moving into a tie with Eddie Murray for 11th on the all-time hits list. Jeter has 3,255 hits. He also move into sole possession of 13th on the all-time runs scored list, passing Craig Biggio.  Jeter is on an amazing run, it will be interesting to see how long he can go, how far up the hits list will he end up??  Is 4,000 in sight or out of question?? 
Jeter also homered tonight. It was the 251st of his career, passing Graig Nettles on the Yankees all-time list.
One last Jeter note: He has a hit in 15 of his last 16 games, batting .403 in that span. He’s also a career .360 hitter against White Sox starter Gavin Floyd (who looked pretty bad tonight).

Speaking of struggling starters, Freddy Garcia got out of trouble in the first, got out of trouble in the second and got on a terrific roll before letting everything fall apart in the fifth. He’d struck out seven of nine before the last five batters he faced all reached base. “I cannot throw strike after I gave one in the fifth and base hit and whatever, man,” Garcia said. “I cannot make the pitch I needed when I need it. Was at 100 pitch and they decide to take me out. And it’s really frustrating for me because you’ve got a lead, 3-0. And that’s the game, you know. Gavin Floyd pitched two innings or whatever and I was feeling good, man. I don’t know. Something happened. I could not find the strike zone.”
Garcia said he honestly had no idea what went wrong. “I’ve got command of my fastball, my slider, my split. At that point, I was really comfortable,” he said. “Something happened and I could not find the zone. That’s crazy, but that’s the way it is.”  It was really crazy to see it disappear so quickly with one out in the fifth.  He had been very good up until that point and poof it was gone like that. 
Garcia is 1-4 with a 6.81 ERA in his past seven starts against the White Sox.
Mark Teixeira has a hit in 10 of his past 11 games. He had two hits tonight in his return from a sore wrist.
Why did Girardi mix and match so much in the fifth rather than give the ball to a long man? “I’m thinking that I’m going for the double play with Eppley,” Girardi said. “We get the ground ball, it’s just not quite at Chavy enough. That’s what I’m trying to do. If he gets the double play, I probably leave him in there to start the sixth and see the right handers. When he doesn’t, you start mixing and matching a little bit. It didn’t work.”
Logan on his home run pitch to Ramirez: “I threw it right in his bat swing. Those are the balls he hits. I threw him nothing but heaters. Stew wanted to go back in there. I knew he was probably looking slider at one point anyway. It was a bad pitch either way, but I was looking to throw it low in the dirt maybe. I knew he was hacking, I thought he might be looking for it, so I was going to show it to him, but throw it in the dirt. If I walked him, get the next guy. If he swings at it, strike him out. So that was my approach on that pitch.”

Yankees lose early lead and then lose a seesaw battle in Chicago

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Chicago White Sox by the score of 9-6. The game took place at US Cellular Field in Chicago, Illinois. Freddy Garcia started for the Yankees and was cruising but couldn’t even get out of the fifth inning. The bullpen was bad and Derek Jeter led their offense. Gavin Floyd started for the White Sox and wasn’t great, their bullpen wasn’t that good either until the end. Dewayne Wise and A.J. Pierzynski led the White Sox offense.  Garcia pitched 4 1/3 innings giving up five runs on six hits with four walks and eight strikeouts. Cody Eppley pitched 1/3 of an inning retiring the only batter that he faced and Clay Rapada gave up a hit without recording an out. Joba Chamberlain pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and a run with a strikeout, Boone Logan suffered his second loss of the season pitching 1 2/3 innings giving up two hits and two runs with a walk and two strikeouts. Derek Lowe pitched an inning giving up two hits and a run with a strikeout. Floyd pitched 2 1/ 3innings giving up five hits and three runs with four walks and a strikeout. Santiago pitched three innings giving up four hits and three runs with three walks and two strikeouts, Veal pitched an inning giving up a hit and two strikeouts and Brett Myers won his second game of the season pitching 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit. Matt Thornton pitched a perfect inning and Addison Reed saved his 22nd game of the season pitching an inning giving up a hit and striking out one.
Jeter had four hits and an RBI, Nick Swisher had a hit and drew three walks and Robinson Cano had a hit and drew a walk. Mark Teixeira had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk, Curtis Granderson had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk and Eric Chavez had an RBI. Casey McGehee had a hit and an RBI, Raul Ibanez had a hit and drew a walk and Ichiro Suzuki had a hit. Jeter hit a double and hit a homerun. The Yankees were 4-13 with runners in scoring position and they left 12 men on base.
Wise had two hits and two RBI, Kevin Youkilis had a hit and Adam Dunn had a hit, an RBI and drew two walks. Paul Konerko had a hit and drew a walk, Alex Rios had a hit and an RBI and Pierzynski had three hits and an RBI. Viciedo had a hit and an RBI and Alexi Ramirez had a hit, two RBI and drew a walk and Gordon Beckham had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk. Konerko hit a double, Wise, Beckham, Dunn and Ramirez each hit a homerun. The White Sox were 2-10 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base. Wise and Rios each had a stolen base and Rios had an outfield assist.
In the first Teixeira hit an RBI single and a force out made it 2-0 Yankees. Granderson hit an RBI single in the second to make it 3-0 Yankees. In the fifth Wise hit a two run homerun to cut the lead to 3-2. Rios grounded out to tie the game at three, Pierzynski hit an RBI single and Viciedo hit an RBI single to make it 5-3 White Sox. Jeter hit a solo homerun to make it 5-4 in the sixth, Teixeira hit an RBI single to tie the game at five and McGehee hit an RBI single to give the Yankees a 6-5 lead. Beckham hit a solo homerun in the sixth to make it a 6-6 game. In the seventh Ramirez hit a two run homerun to make it 8-6 White Sox, the Sox would add one more run in the bottom of the eighth to make it 9-6 White Sox and that would be the final score.
The Yankees lead in the AL East is down to four games over the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees record dropped to 72-50 and the White Sox record improved to 66-55. The two teams will play game two of the three game series on Tuesday night.

Monday, August 20, 2012

The Mets lose to the Rockies at Citi Field

The New York Mets were defeated by the Colorado Rockies by the score of 3-1 on Monday night. The game took place at Citi Field in Flushing, New York. R.A. Dickey started for the Mets and pitched well and the bullpen had mixed results. Mike Baxter led the Mets offense. White started for the Rockies and pitched well for the four innings that he pitched. The Rockies bullpen pitched well and Colvin led the Rockies offense.  Dickey pitched seven innings giving up three hits and a run with two walks and six strikeouts. Josh Edgin took the loss pitching 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run which was unearned, Jon Rauch pitched an inning giving up two hits and a run with a walk and Ramon Ramirez struck out the only batter that he faced. Alex White pitched four innings giving up three hits and a run with two walks and four strikeouts. Guillermo Moscoso pitched 2 1/3 innings giving up a hit and a walk with three strikeouts, Rex Brothers picked up his seventh win of the season pitching 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and two walks with two strikeouts. Matt Belisle pitched to one batter and retired him and Rafael Betancourt picked up his 24th save of the season pitching an inning giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout.
Ruben Tejada had a walk, Baxter had two hits and David Wright had a hit and drew a walk. Ike Davis had a hit and drew a walk, Daniel Murphy had a hit, an RBI and drew two walks and Andres Torres had a hit and drew a walk. Wright and Baxter each had a double, the Yankees were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Baxter was caught stealing, Edgin committed an error and Shoppach had a passed ball.
Dexter Fowler had a hit and drew two walks, Tyler Colvin had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk and Ramon Hernandez had a hit and an RBI. Jonathan Herrera had a hit, White had a hit and Colvin hit a homerun. The White Sox were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Fowler had a stolen base and Rosario had a pickoff.
Murphy had an RBI single in the first to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. In the fifth Colvin hit a solo homerun to tie the game at one. In the eighth a passed ball scored a run and made it 2-1 Rockies. Hernandez hit an RBI single in the ninth to make it 3-1 and that was the final score.
The Mets are now a season high eight games under 500. The Mets record fell to 57-65 and the Rockies record improved to 47-73. The two teams will play game two of their four game series on Tuesday night.

The New York Giants defeat the New York Jets in the preaseason

The New York Giants defeated the New York Jets by the score of 26-3 on Saturday night in preseason football. The game took place at both teams home stadium which is Metlife stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It really didn’t matter if Tim Tebow or Mark Sanchez was starting the Giants defense was very good. Tebow may have even been a little better but he was going up against the backup defense so it’s hard to judge.  Lawrence Tynes the Giants kicker had four field goals, Eli Manning had a pretty good game but the Giants starting offense didn’t do much against the Jets starting defense. The Giants backup offensive players did most of the damage. David Carr led the Giants going 5-9 with 83 yards. The leading rusher for the Giants was David Wilson the rookie who had eight carries for 26 yards and Victor Cruz led the receivers with five catches for 51 yards.
Tebow led the Jets offense going 5-14 with 69 yards. Shonn Greene led the running backs with 11 carries for 36 yards and White led the recievers with three catches for 28 yards.
The Giants defense had seven sacks. Each team had one interception and the Jets had one sack. The Giants are now 1-1 in the preseason and the Jets are 0-2. The preseason doesn’t mean anything though and you can’t take much out of it. The Jets will take on the Carolina Panthers next Sunday at home and the Giants will take on the Chicago Bears on Friday at home.

The Mets lose a series in Washington as they lose to the Washington Nationals

The New York Mets were defeated by the Washington Nationals 5-2 on Sunday afternoon. The game took place at Nationals Park in Washington D.C. Jeremy Hefner started for the Mets and wasn’t very good, the Mets bullpen was good. The Mets had five players with two hits in this game. Gio Gonzalez pitched well for the Nationals and their bullpen was pretty good. Bryce Harper led the Nationals offense.  Hefner pitched five innings giving up eight hits and five runs, he didn’t walk a batter and struck out three. He lost his fifth game of the season. Manny Acosta pitched 1 1/3 innings striking out two, Josh Edgin pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and Bobby Parnell pitched a perfect inning. Gonzalez won his 16th game of the season pitching 5 2/3 innings giving up seven hits and one run with two walks and three strikeouts. Drew Stammen pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits and struck out one, Mike Gonzalez pitched an inning giving up two hits and a run with a strikeout and Tyler Clippard saved his 27th game of the season pitching a perfect inning with a strikeout.
Andres Torres drew a walk, Justin Turner had two hits and David Wright had two hits. Scott Hairston had two hits, Ike Davis had a hit and Ronny Cedeno had two hits. Jason Bay had an RBI, Kelly Shoppach had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk and Davis and Cedeno each hit a double. Cedeno hit a triple and the Mets were 1-11 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base.
Jayson Werth had two hits for the Nationals. Harper had two hits and two RBI, Ryan Zimmerman had two hits and an RBI and Michael Morse had a hit. Daniel Espinosa had a hit and two RBI, Gonzalez had a hit and Zimmerman hit a double. Harper hit a triple and hit a homerun, Espinosa also hit a homerun. The Nationals were 1-4 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base.
In the second Espinosa hit a two run homerun to give the Nationals a 2-0 lead. In the third Harper hit an RBI triple and Zimmerman hit an RBI single to make it 4-0 Nationals. Harper hit a solo homerun in the fifth and it was 5-0 Nationals. The Mets scored their first run in the sixth on a Bay RBI groundout. In the eighth Shoppach hit an RBI single to make it 5-2 and that would be the final score of the game.
The Nationals took two out of three from the Mets in the series. The Mets record dropped to 57-64 and the Nationals record improved to 75-46. The Mets will begin a four game series with the Colorado Rockies at Citi Field on Monday night. They will then play three games against the Houston Astros at home, it is a seven game homestand.

The Yankees ride the Japanese players to victory over the Red Sox

The New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox by the score of 4-1 on Sunday night. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees and he was great once again. Derek Jeter and Ichiro Suzuki led the Yankees offense. Josh Beckett started for the Red Sox and was ok but not great. Their bullpen was good and their offense only managed five hits.  Kuroda pitched eight innings giving up one run on four hits with no walks and four strikeouts. Kuroda earned his 12th win of the season. Rafael Soriano picked up his 31st save of the season pitching a scoreless inning and giving up a hit. He had a strikeout, Beckett pitched six innings giving up seven hits and four runs with three walks and six strikeouts. Beckett lost his 11th game of the season. Andrew Miller pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a walk and he struck out two and Junichi Tazawa pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit.
Jeter had three hits, Nick Swisher drew a walk and Robinson Cano had a hit and drew a walk. Curtis Granderson had a hit, an RBI and drew two walks, Suzuki had three hits and two RBI, Jeter had two doubles and Granderson hit a double. Suzuki hit two homeruns, the Yankees were 1-8 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Jeter and Swisher each had a stolen base.
Carl Crawford had a hit, Adrian Gonzalez had a hit and an RBI and Ryan Lavernway had a hit. Jarrod Saltalamacchia had a hit and Nick Punto had a hit. Gonzalez hit a homerun and the Red Sox were 0-1 with runners in scoring position and they left three men on base.
In the first Granderson hit an RBI double to make it 1-0 Yankees. In the third Beckett threw a wild pitch and Jeter scored to make it 2-0 Yankees. Suzuki hit a solo homerun in the fourth and in the sixth innings to make it 4-0. In the seventh Gonzalez hit a solo homerun and that would be the final run of the game.
The Yankees won two out of three in the series. The Yankees record improved to 72-49 and the Red Sox record dropped to 59-63. Jeter leads the major leagues in hits and Suzuki is hitting over 300 as a Yankee and showing a little more power. The Yankees will head to Chicago to take on the White Sox in a three game series beginning on Monday night.
 

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