New York Yankees lose final spring game to the Detroit Tigers

 The New York Yankees were defeated by the Detroit Tigers on Monday afternoon.  The game took place at 

George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida and the final score was 5-2.  It was the final spring game

as the Yankees headed north after to begin the season on Thursday afternoon in the Bronx.  Domingo

German started for the Yankees and he pitched well.  Giancarlo Stanton hit a double and Thairo Estrada

hit a homerun.  

German pitched four innings giving up four hits and two runs with four strikeouts.  He lost his first game

of the spring.  Chad Green pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and three runs with a walk and a

strikeout, Darren O'Day pitched to one batter and got him out and Jonathan Loaisiga pitched a perfect 

inning and he struck out one.  Michael King pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts, Luis Gil 

pitched a perfect inning, striking out the side and Reggie McClain pitched an inning with a walk and 

two strikeouts.  

Jose Urena pitched 4 2/3 innings giving up a hit and a run with five walks and three strikeouts.  Urena

won his second game of the spring.  Derek Holland pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and he struck

out three, Jose Cisnero pitched an inning with two strikeouts and Buck Farmer pitched an inning

giving up a hit and a run with a strikeout.  Miguel Dan RBI and Aaron Hicks had a hit and drew a walk.

Stanton had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk, Ezequielel Pozo pitched an inning giving up a hit.  

Gleyber Torres drew a walk, Estrada had a hit and  Ezequial Duran had a hit.  Jay Bruce drew a walk,

Clint Frazier drew a walk and Stanton hit a double and Estrada hit a homerun.  The Yankees were 

1-5 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base.  

Victor Reyes had two hits, Daz Cameron drew a walk and Miguel Cabrera had two hits and three RBI.  

Harold Castro had a hit, Dustin Garneau drew a walk and Akil Baddoo had a hit and two RBI.  

Castro and Reyes each hit a double and Baddo and Cabrera each hit a homerun.  The Tigers were 1-7

with runners in scoring position and left four men on base.  Short had a stolen base and Ramos 

committed an error.  

In the first Stanton hit an RBI double to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.  In the second Baddoo hit a 

two-run homerun to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead.  In the fifth Cabrera hit a three-run homerun to push the

Tigers lead to 5-1.  In the bottom of the eighth Estrada hit a solo homerun cutting the lead to 5-2 but

that would be the final score.  

The Yankees will fly home to New York to begin the regular season on Thursday afternoon against

the Toronto Blue Jays.  

New York Yankees are shutout in frigid Detroit

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Detroit Tigers on Friday afternoon.  The final score was 4-0 and the game took place at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan.  Luis Severino started for the Yankees and pitched ok.  The Yankees offense only managed three hits. 

Severino pitched five innings giving up ten hits and three runs.  He walked none and struck out five and took his first loss of the season.  Johnny Barbato pitched an inning giving up a hit and he struck out two and Luis Cessa pitched two innings giving up two hits and a run with two strikeouts. 

Jordan Zimmermann pitched seven innings giving up two hits and no runs with three walks and three strikeouts to pick up his first win of the season.  Justin Wilson pitched an inning giving up a walk and striking out two and Kyle Ryan pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out two. 

Jacoby Ellsbury had a hit, Brett Gardner had a hit and drew a walk and Mark Teixeira had a hit and drew a walk.  Chase Headley drew a walk, Austin Romine drew a walk and the Yankees were 0-2 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base.  Ellsbury was caught stealing. 

Ian Kinsler had two hits, Miguel Cabrera had two hits and two RBI and J.D. Martinez had two hits.  Nick Castellanos had four hits, James McCann had a hit and Jose Iglesias had two hits and an RBI.  Anthony Gose had an RBI, Kinsler hit a double and Cabrera hit a homerun.  The Tigers were 4-12 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. 

In the first Cabrera hit an RBI single to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.  In the fourth Iglesias hit an RBI single to make it a 2-0 game.  Gose hit an RBI groundout to make it 3-0 still in the fourth.  Cabrera hit a solo homerun in the seventh to make it 4-0 and that would be the final score. 

The Yankees are now 2-2 on the season and the Tigers are 3-0.  The two teams will face each other on Saturday afternoon in the middle game of the series. 

The New York Yankees lose a tough one in Detroit

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Detroit Tigers on Thursday afternoon.  The game took place at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan and the final score was 3-2.  Hiroki Kuroda started and pitched well and the offense didn't do that much against a rookie pitcher making his major league debut.  They had a lot of hard hit balls and near misses but they still didn't produce as much as they would of liked. 

Kuroda pitched seven innings giving up four hits and two runs.  He walked one and struck out four.  Dellin Betances pitched an inning walking one and striking out two and Shawn Kelley pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and a run.  He walked one and struck out two. 

Kyle Lobstein pitched six innings giving up four hits and two runs with only one of them being earned.  He walked one and struck out none.  Blaine Hardy pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings with a strikeout, Joba Chamberlain pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a walk and striking out one and Phil Coke won his second game of the season pitching 1/3 of an inning and giving up a hit and striking out one. 

Jacoby Ellsbury had a hit and an RBI, Martin Prado had a hit and Mark Teixeira drew two walks.  Carlos Beltran had two hits, Brian McCann had an RBI and Zelous Wheeler had a hit.  Beltran hit a double and the Yankees were 1-4 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base. 

Rajai Davis had two hits and an RBI, Ian Kinsler drew a walk and Victor Martinez had a hit.  J.D. Martinez drew a walk, Nick Castellanos had a hit and Don Kelly had a hit and drew a walk.  Alex Avila had a hit and two RBI, V. Martinez hit a double and  the Tigers were 2-8 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base.  Kinsler had a stolen base and Castellanos committed an error. 

In the second Avila hit a sacrifice fly giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead.  The Yankees tied the game in the third on an Ellsbury RBI single.  McCann hit an RBI groundout in the fourth to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead.  Davis hit an RBI single in the fifth to tie the game at two.  In the ninth Avila hit a walk-off RBI single and the Tigers won the game 3-2.  The Yankees lost two out of three in the series and will now head to Toronto for a three game series beginning on Friday night. 

The New York Yankees lose a tough one to Detroit in extra innings

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night.  The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York and the final score was 4-3 in 12 innings.  Hiroki Kuroda started and pitched pretty well and the bullpen pitched well but was down to the last couple of guys left.  Martin Prado and Brian McCann each hit a homerun. 

Kuroda pitched seven innings giving up three runs on six hits.  He struck out five and didn't walk a batter.  Dellin Betances pitched 1 1/3 innings with two strikeouts, Shawn Kelley retired the only two batters he faced and David Huff also retired the only two batters that he faced.  Esmil Rogers pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out two, Rich Hill hit the only batter that  he faced and Matt Daley suffered his first loss of the season.  He pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and a run with a strikeout. 

David Price pitched 8 2/3 innings giving up three runs on eight hits.  He didn't walk a batter and struck out ten.  Joba Chamberlain pitched 1 1/3 innings with a couple of strikeouts, Joaquim Soria pitched a perfect inning to earn his second win of the season and Joe Nathan picked up his 23rd save of the season pitching a 1-2-3 inning. 

Derek Jeter had a hit, Ellsbury had two hits and an RBI and Carlos Beltran had a hit.  McCann had a hit and an RBI, Prado had two hits and an RBI and Brendan Ryan had a hit.  Ryan, Ellsbury and Prado each hit a double and McCann and Prado each hit a homerun.  The Yankees were 1-6 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base.  Suzuki had a stolen base and McCann had a passed ball. 

Rajai Davis had a hit, Miguel Cabrera had a hit and Victor Martinez had two hits and an RBI.  Nick Castelianos had a hit, Alex Avila had two hits and and two RBI and Andrew Romine had a hit and an RBI.  Romine and Avila each hit a homerun and the Tigers were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base.  Martinez had a stolen base. 

In the first Martinez hit a sacrifice fly to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.  McCann hit a solo homerun in the second to tie the game at one.  Ellsbury hit an RBI double in the third to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead.   Prado hit a solo homerun in the fifth to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead.  In the sixth Romine hit a solo homerun to cut the lead to 3-2.  Avila hit an RBI single in the seventh to tie the game at three.  In the 12th Avila hit a solo homerun to give the Tigers a 4-3 lead and that would be the final score.  The two teams have split the first two games and will play game three of four on Wednesday night. 

The New York Mets get swept by the Detroit Tigers

The New York Mets get swept by the Detroit Tigers


The Detroit Tigers defeated the New York Mets on Sunday afternoon. The final score was 11-3 and the game took place at Citi Field in Flushing, New York. Dillon Gee started for the Mets and pitched ok and the bullpen had a couple of guys who let the game get away. Juan Lagares led the offense with a couple of hits.

Gee pitched six innings giving up ten hits and four runs. He walked two and struck out two. David Aardsma gave up a hit to the only batter he faced, Scott Rice pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and Carlos Torres pitched a perfect inning. LaTroy Hawkins pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up four hits and and five runs with a walk and Scott Atchison pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three hits and two runs with a strikeout.

Eric Young Jr. drew a walk, Daniel Murphy had a hit and an RBI and Ike Davis drew two walks. Lagares had two hits, Travis d’Arnaud had a hit and two RBI and Omar Quintanilla drew a walk. Lucas Duda drew a walk, d’Arnaud hit his first career homerun and the Mets were 1-4 with three men left on base.

Rick Porcello pitched seven innings giving up four hits and three runs with three walks and four strikeouts. Porcello won his 10th game of the season. Bruce Rondon pitched an inning giving up a walk and striking out one and Jeremy Bonderman pitched an inning walking one.

Austin Jackson had two hits and an RBI, Torii Hunter had a hit and Miguel Cabrera had three hits, two RBI and drew a walk. Prince Fielder had two hits, Victor Martinez had two hits and an RBI and Andy Dirks had a hit, three RBI and drew two walks. Omar Infante had two hits and an RBI, Ramon Santiago had three hits and an RBI and Porcello had a hit. Matt Tuiasosopo had a hit and an RBI, Cabrera and Dirks each hit a homerun and the Tigers were 5-9 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base.

In the first Cabrera hit a two run homerun giving the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Murphy hit an RBI single in the third to cut the lead to 2-1. In the fourth d’Arnaud hit a two run homerun giving the Mets a 3-2 lead. Dirks hit a two run homerun in the sixth to give the Tigers the lead at 4-3 and they never looked back. In the ninth Martinez hit an RBI single, Dirks had an RBI walk, Infante had an RBI single, a wild pitch scored another run and Santiago hit an RBI single. Tuiasosopo hit an RBI single and Jackson hit a sacrifice fly to make it 11-3 Tigers and that was the final score.

The Tigers swept the three game series and improved their record to 77-53 and the Mets record dropped to 58-70. The Mets will host the Philadelphia Phillies in a three game series beginning on Monday night.

The New York Mets are shutout by Max Scherzer and the Detroit Tigers

The New York Mets are shutout by Max Scherzer and the Detroit Tigers


The Detroit Tigers defeated the New York Mets on Saturday evening. The final score was 3-0 and the game took place at Citi Field in Flushing, New York. Matt Harvey started for the Mets and limited the damage despite giving up a lot of hits. The bullpen did a pretty good job. The Mets offense only managed three hits.

Harvey pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up two runs and 13 hits. He walked none and struck out four and took his fifth loss of the season. Scott Rice faced one batter and retired him, Gonzalez Germen pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits and a run and Pedro Feliciano pitched to one batter and retired him. Scott Atchison faced one batter and retired him.

Daniel Murphy had a hit, Ike David had two hits and drew a walk and Wilmer Flores drew a walk. Juan Lagares drew a walk, Harvey drew a walk and David hit a double. The Mets were 0-3 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Young had an outfield assist.

Scherzer won his 19th game of the season pitching six innings and giving up three hits and no runs. He walked four and struck out 11. Jose Alvarez pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings, Jose Veras faced two batters and retired them both and Joaquin Benoit pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and earned his 17th save of the season.

Austin Jackson had two hits and an RBI, Omar Infante had three hits and Miguel Cabrera had two hits. Prince Fielder had a hit, Matt Tuiasosopo had two hits and Don Kelly had an RBI. Andy Dirks had three hits, Brayan Pena had a hit, Scherzer had a hit and an RBI and Dirks and Scherzer each hit a double. The Tigers were 5-17 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base.

Scherzer hit an RBI double and Jackson an RBI single in the second to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Kelly hit a sacrifice fly in the ninth to make it 3-0 Tigers and that was the final score.

The Mets record dropped to 58-69 and the Tigers record improved to 76-53. The two teams will play the finale of their three game series on Sunday afternoon.

New York Yankees behind lousy pitching drop another one in Detroit

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Detroit Tigers by the score of 8-3 on Friday afternoon. The game took place at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan. Ivan Nova started for the Yankees and he had no control right from the beginning. The Yankees offense wasn’t that bad against Doug Fister but were completely shut down by the Detroit bullpen. Kevin Youkilis hit his first Yankees homerun. 
Nova pitched 4 2/3 innings giving up five hits and four runs. He walked two and struck out five and took the loss. Boone Logan pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run with a walk, Shawn Kelley pitched two innings giving up three hits and three runs with a walk and three strikeouts and Dave Robertson pitched a perfect inning.

Robinson Cano had a hit, Youkilis had two hits and two RBI and Travis Hafner had a hit and drew a walk. Brennan Boesch had a hit, Lyle Overbay drew a walk and Chris Stewart had a hit. Youkilis hit a homerun and the Yankees were 1-4 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base.

Doug Fister earned the win pitching five innings and giving up six hits and three runs with two walks and two strikeouts. Doug Smyly earned the save pitching four perfect innings with five strikeouts.

Austin Jackson had two hits and drew a walk, Torii Hunter had two hits and Miguel Cabrera had an RBI and drew a walk. Prince Fielder had two hits and five RBI, Victor Martinez drew a walk and Andy Dirks drew a walk. Alex Avila had a hit and an RBI, Omar Infante had two hits and an RBI and Fielder hit two homeruns and Infante one. The Tigers were 2-8 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base and Dirks had a stolen base.

In the first the Tigers took a 1-0 lead on a Cabrera groundout. Infante had an RBI single in the second to make it 2-0 Tigers. In the fifth the Yankees scored three runs. Gardner scored on a wild pitch and Youkilis hit a two run homerun to make it 3-2 Yankees. The lead was short lived as the Tigers came back with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Fielder hit a three run homerun to make it 5-3 Tigers. Avila hit a solo homerun in the sixth to make it a 6-3 game and Fielder hit a two run homerun in the seventh inning to make it 8-3. 8-3 was the final score as Smyly was able to retire the last 12 Yankees he saw and end the game.

The Yankees are 1-3 on the season and the Detroit Tigers are 2-2. The two teams will play game two of their three game series on Saturday afternoon. Max Scherzer will pitch against David Phelps.

The Yankees lose to the Detroit Tigers 10-6

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Detroit Tigers by the score of 10-6 on Saturday afternoon. The game took place at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Florida. Andy Pettitte got the start and on a day where the wind was blowing out pitched pretty well. Eduardo Nunez, Kevin Youkilis and Juan Rivera all had good days at the plate. 
Pettitte pitched 6 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and four runs with a walk and five strikeouts. Cody Eppley took the loss not recording an out and giving up five hits and five runs, Shawn Kelley pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits and a run with two strikeouts and Juan Cedeno pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit.

Brett Gardner had a hit, Nunez had two hits and an RBI and Addison Maruszak had a hit. Ichiro Suzuki had a hit, Youkilis had a hit and two RBI and Jose Pirela had a hit. Rivera had three hits, Ben Francisco had two hits and three RBI and Jayson Nix had a hit. Chris Stewart had a hit, Youkilis, Rivera and Nix each hit a double. Francisco hit two homeruns and the Yankees were 2-12 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Nunez had a stolen base and Pettitte committed an error.

Anibel Sanchez pitched six innings giving up eight hits and four runs with a walk and a strikeout. Darin Downs picked up the win pitching an inning giving up a hit and striking out two, Bruce Rondon pitched an inning giving up three hits and two runs with a strikeout and Luke Putkonen pitched an inning giving up two hits.

Austin Jackson had an RBI, Torii Hunter had three hits and an RBI and Miguel Cabrera had a hit and two RBI. Kevin Russo had a hit and an RBI, Prince Fielder had an RBI and Quintin Berry had two hits. Victor Martinez had two hits and an RBI, Matt Tuiasosopo had a hit, RBI and drew a walk and Jhonny Peralta had two hits and an RBI. Alex Avila had three hits and an RBI, Omar Infante had a hit and Hunter hit two doubles. Avila and Martinez each hit a double and Peralta, Cabrera and Russo each hit a homerun. The Tigers were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Infante had a stolen base.

Nunez hit an RBI single in the third to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. In the fourth they took a 2-0 lead on a Francisco homerun. The Tigers scored to make it 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth on a Fielder groundout. Youkilis hit a two run double in the fifth to give the Yankees a 4-1 lead. The Tigers scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at four. Peralta hit a solo homerun, Jackson hit a sacrifice fly and Hunter hit an RBI double. In the seventh the Tigers scored five runs to take a 9-4 lead. Cabrera hit a two run homerun, Martinez hit an RBI double, Tuiasosopo had an RBI groundout and Avila hit an RBI single. In the eighth the Yankees scored two runs to make it a 9-6 game but then the Tigers added one and the final was 10-6.

The Yankees record dropped to 11-17 in the spring and the Tigers improved to 16-11. The Yankees will take on the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday afternoon and Detroit will play at the Mets on Sunday afternoon.

San Francisco Giants take Game 2 of the World Series and lead 2-0

The San Francisco Giants defeated the Detroit Tigers by the score of 2-0 on Thursday night in the World Series. The game took place at AT+T Park in San Francisco, California. It was game two of the 2012 World Series. The Giants won and took a commanding 2-0 lead in the best of seven series. The next three games will be played in Detroit. Madison Bumgarner started for the Giants and was great and Doug Fister was also very good for the Tigers. The offense for the Giants had a sacrifice fly and a groundout, they didn’t exactly kill the ball. Blanco led the offense with a couple of hits and Hunter Pence had the only RBI of the game. The Tigers only managed two hits, the bullpens of each team were also good. 
Bumgarner earned the win in this game pitching seven innings giving up two hits and no runs with two walks and eight strikeouts. Santiago Casilla pitched one perfect inning and Sergio Romo earned the save with a perfect inning. Fister suffered the loss pitching six innings giving up four hits and a run with a walk and three strikeouts. Drew Smyly pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and a run with three walks and two strikeouts, Octavio Dotel pitched 1/3 of an inning walking one and Phil Coke struck out the only batter that he faced.

Angel Pagan drew a walk and more importantly a stolen base which secured a free taco for all of America. Tuesday October 30^th between 2-6PM you can stop in any Taco Bell store and get your free Doritos Locos Taco. Pablo Sandoval had a hit and drew a walk, Buster Posey had a hit and drew a walk and Pence had a hit and an RBI. Brandon Belt drew a walk, Blanco had two hits and Crawford drew a walk. The Giants were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Blanco had an outfield assist and Bumgarner had a pickoff.

Austin Jackson drew a walk, Omar Infante had a hit and Miguel Cabrera drew a walk. Delmon Young had a hit, Young hit a double and the Tigers were 0-2 with runners in scoring position and they left two men on base. Infante was caught stealing.

In the seventh the Giants took a 1-0 lead on a groundout. It was bases loaded no outs and they took a double play instead of playing the infield in, it was a controversial move to say the least. In the eighth Pence hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 Giants and that would be the final score.

The Giants took the first two games of the series at home. The two teams had the day off on Friday and will resume on Saturday night in Detroit. They will play the next two there and then if there is a game five it will also be in Detroit before shifting back to San Francisco if need be.

The New York Yankees bats remain silent as the Detroit Tigers move one win away from the World Series

The New York Yankees were defeated by the score of 2-1 on Tuesday night by the Detroit Tigers. The game took place at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan. Phil Hughes started and was pitching ok but had to leave the game early due to back stiffness. The Yankees bullpen pieced the game together and did a good job. The Yankees offense was very silent again until the ninth inning. Justin Verlander started for the Tigers and was good without his best stuff. The Tigers pen made it interesting and Delmon Young and Miguel Cabrera led the Tigers offense. 
Hughes pitched 3+ innings giving up three hits and a run with three walks and a strikeout. David Phelps pitched an inning giving up two hits and an unearned run, Clay Rapada walked one in 2/3 of an inning and Cody Eppley gave up a hit and a walk with a strikeout in 2/3 of an inning. Boone Logan pitched 2 1/3 innings giving up a hit and striking out one and Joba Chamberlain got out the only batter that he faced. Verlander pitched 8 1/3 innings giving up three hits and a run with no walks and three strikeouts. Phil Coke pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and striking out one.

Ichiro Suzuki had two hits, Mark Teixeira had a hit and Robinson Cano had a hit. Eduardo Nunez had a hit and an RBI. Nunez hit a homerun and the Yankees were 0-1 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base. Chavez committed an error and Martin had a passed ball.

Austin Jackson had a hit and drew a walk, Quintin Berry had a hit and Avisail Garcia had a hit. Cabrera had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk, Prince Fielder drew a walk and Young had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk. Andy Dirks drew a walk, Alex Avila had a hit and Omar Infante had a hit. Cabrera hit a double and Young hit a homerun. The Tigers were 2-10 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Berry and Infante had a stolen base.

Young hit a solo homerun in the fourth to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. In the fifth Cabrera hit an RBI double to make it 2-0 Tigers. The Yankees scored their only run on a solo homerun by Nunez in the ninth. They put a couple of guys on with two out but Coke got Ibanez to strike out to end the game.

The Tigers now have a 3-0 advantage in this best of seven series. The Tigers need to win one more game and they will be going to the World Series. The Yankees will be trying to stave off elimination with a win on Wednesday night. The Yankees will send their ace CC Sabathia to the mound but pitching hasn’t been their issue. They haven’t hit at all and that is why they are in this position. The Yankees season will end on Wednesday night or they will push it for at least another day.

The New York Yankees offense continues to be anemic as they fall 3-0 to the Tigers

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Detroit Tigers by the score of 3-0 on Sunday evening. The game took place at Bronx, New York. Hiroki Kuroda started and pitched great. He was pitching on three days rest for the first time in his major league career. The bullpen wasn’t great but there was also a blown call that cost the Yankees. The offense was terrible. Anibel Sanchez started for the Tigers and pitched very well and so did their bullpen. The Tigers offense was led by Miguel Cabrera. 
Kuroda pitched 7 2/3 innings giving up five hits and three runs with no walks and 11 strikeouts. Kuroda lost the game, Boone Logan didn’t record an out and gave up a hit, Joba Chamberlain gave up a hit without recording an out and Clay Rapada walked the only batter that he faced. Cody Eppley pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and struck out two. Sanchez won a game pitching seven innings giving up three hits and no runs with three walks and seven strikeouts. Phil Coke saved a game pitching two innings giving up a hit and struck out three.

Mark Teixeira had a hit, Raul Ibanez had a hit and drew two walks and Alex Rodriguez had a hit. Curtis Granderson drew a walk, Nick Swisher had a hit and Teixeira hit a double. The Yankees were 0-5 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base. Granderson had a stolen base and Ibanez was caught stealing.

Austin Jackson had a hit, Quintin Berry had a hit and Avisail Garcia had a hit and an RBI. Cabrera had two hits and an RBI, Prince Fielder drew a walk and Delmon Young had a hit and Jhonny Peralta had two hits. Omar Infante had a hit, Berry hit a double and the Tigers were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Sanchez committed an error.

The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the seventh inning and then a 3-0 lead in the eighth inning. Young hit into a force out scoring a run and Garcia and Cabrera hit RBI singles. The final score was 3-0 as the Yankees couldn’t get anything going all game once again.

The Tigers hold a 2-0 lead in the best of seven series. The teams will have a travel day on Monday and then play game three on Tuesday night in Detroit. The next three games if necessary will be played there. The Yankees will try to get a win in game three against Justin Verlander with Phil Hughes on the mound. If the Yankees don’t get a win they will be facing a 3-0 deficit and need to win four straight to keep their season going.

The New York Yankees lose a crazy game in 12 innings and lose their captain

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Detroit Tigers by the score of 6-4 in 12 innings. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Andy Pettitte started for the Yankees and pitched well and their bullpen was up and down. Raul Ibanez did it again with a game tying homerun in the ninth and Ichiro Suzuki had a great game. The Yankees lose their captain though in the 12^th with an injury and we are awaiting word on how severe it is. Doug Fister started for the Tigers and pitched well although he was very lucky in the first couple of innings. The Tigers bullpen was good other then their closer Jose Valverde who got lit up in the ninth. Delmon Young led the Tigers offense. 
Pettitte pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up seven hits and two runs with three walks and five strikeouts. Derek Lowe pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and two runs with a strikeout, Boone Logan pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and Cody Eppley pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a strikeout. Clay Rapada struck out the only guy that he faced, Rafael Soriano pitched a perfect inning and David Robertson gave up a hit and struck out one in one inning. David Phelps lost the game pitching an inning giving up three hits and two runs with a walk and a strikeout. Fister pitched 6 1/3 innings giving up six hits and no runs with four walks and five strikeouts. Phil Coke pitched a perfect inning, Joaquin Benoit pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and Valverde pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three hits and four runs with a walk and two strikeouts. Octavio Dotel pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a walk and striking out one, Drew Smyly won the game pitching two innings giving up a hit and striking out two.

Derek Jeter had a hit and drew a walk, Suzuki had four hits and two RBI and Mark Teixeira had a hit and drew two walks. Ibanez had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk, Nick Swisher had a hit and drew a walk and Curtis Granderson drew a walk. Russell Martin had two hits, Ibanez and Swisher each hit a double. Suzuki and Ibanez each hit a homerun. The Yankees were 3-13 with runners in scoring position and left 13 men on base. Gardner had two stolen bases

Austin Jackson had two hits, Omar Infante drew a walk and Miguel Cabrera had a hit and drew two walks. Prince Fielder had two hits and an RBI, Young had three hits and three RBI and Jhonny Peralta had three hits and drew a walk. Andy Dirks had a hit and an RBI, Avisail Garcia had a hit and an RBI and Gerald Laird had a hit. Alex Avila had a hit, Peralta, Jackson and Young each hit a double. Jackson hit a triple and Young hit a homerun. The Tigers were 6-15 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base. Infante committed an error.

In the sixth the Tigers took a 2-0 lead. Fielder hit an RBI single and Young hit an RBI single. In the eighth Young hit a solo homerun and Garcia hit an RBI single to make it 4-0. In the ninth the Yankees hit two two run homeruns. Suzuki and Ibanez were the two guys who hit the homeruns to tie the game at four. In the 12^th the Tigers scored two to take a 6-4 lead and that was the final score.

The Tigers take a 1-0 lead in the best of seven series. This game was full of emotion and really took a drastic turn as the Tigers were able to win after a tough blown chance in the ninth and then the Yankees lost Jeter for the rest of the season. The two teams will play game two on Sunday afternoon at 4:00PM.

The Yankees really to earn a split in Detroit

The New York Yankees defeated the Detroit Tigers by the score of 4-3 on Thursday afternoon. The game took place at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan. It was the fourth and final game of the series and the Yankees were able to win to split the four games. Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees and pitched ok, the bullpen was good. Eric Chavez and Raul Ibanez led the Yankees offense. Doug Fister started for the Tigers and pitched well, their bullpen blew the lead. Omar Infante and Alex Avila led the Tigers offense.  Kuroda pitched 6 1/3 innings giving up ten hits and three runs. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out five, Clay Rapada picked up his third win of the season pitching to two batters and retiring them both. He had a strikeout, David Phelps pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and Rafael Soriano picked up a four out save, his 27^th of the season. Soriano pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits. Fister pitched 6 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and two runs. He walked a batter and struck out four, Octavio Dotel retired both batters he faced and one was on a strikeout and Joaquin Benoit lost his third game of the season pitching an inning giving up two hits and two runs with a walk. Jose Valverde pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout.
Derek Jeter had a hit, Robinson Cano had a hit and Mark Teixeira had a hit and an RBI. Chavez had two hits and an RBI, Curtis Granderson drew a walk and Ibanez had two hits and an RBI. Ichiro Suzuki had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk and Chris Stewart had two hits. Ibanez, Cano and Stewart each hit a double. Ibanez hit a triple and Chavez and Teixeira each hit a homerun, they were back-to-back. The Yankees were 1-7 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Jeter was caught stealing.
Andy Dirks had two hits and an RBI, Miguel Cabrera had a hit and Prince Fielder had two hits. Brennan Boesch had a hit, Jhonny Peralta had a hit and Avila had two hits and two RBI. Infante had three hits and Ramon Santiago had a hit. Peralta, Dirks and Avila each hit a double and Avila hit a homerun. The Tigers were 2-10 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Infante was caught stealing and committed an error.
The Yankees improved their record to 65-46 and the Tigers record fell to 60-52. The Yankees extended their lead in the AL East to six games in the loss column over the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees will begin a three game weekend series in Toronto on Friday night.

The Yankees win a wild one in Detroit

The New York Yankees defeated the Detroit Tigers by the score of 12-8 on Wednesday night. The game took place at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan. CC Sabathia started for the Yankees and pitched well, the bullpen was ok and the defense was shaky. Anibel Sanchez started for the Tigers and did not pitch well. Their bullpen couldn’t hold the Yankees down either. Jeff Baker and Brennan Boesch led the Tigers offense. Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson led the Yankees offense.  Sabathia pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up five runs on eight hits, three of the runs were earned. He walked one and struck out seven and won his 12^th game of the season. Dave Robertson pitched an inning giving up five hits and three runs with a strikeout, Boone Logan pitched to one batter and retired him and Rafael Soriano pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning with two strikeouts. Sanchez lost his ninth game of the season pitching three innings giving up seven hits and seven runs with two walks and two strikeouts. Duane Below pitched three innings giving up four hits and a run with a walk and Darin Downs pitched an inning giving up a hit. Phil Coke pitched an inning giving up three hits and two runs with a strikeout and Brayan Villarreal pitched an inning giving up three hits and two runs with a walk and a strikeout.
Derek Jeter had two hits, Swisher had two hits, an RBI and drew three walks and Robinson Cano had three hits and an RBI. Mark Teixeira had two hits and two RBI, Eric Chavez had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk and Granderson had three hits and four RBI. Russell Martin had a hit, Ichiro Suzuki had a hit and an RBI, Casey McGehee had a hit and Jayson Nix had a hit. McGehee and Granderson each hit a double and Granderson also hit a homerun. The Yankees were 8-16 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. The eight hits with runners in scoring position was a season high. The 12 runs was the third time they have done that this season. Cano had a stolen base and Swisher and Suzuki were each picked off. Cano and McGehee each committed an error.
Austin Jackson had a hit, Omar Infante had a hit and an RBI and Miguel Cabrera drew a walk. Prince Fielder had two hits and an RBI, Delmon Young had two hits and Baker had two hits and two RBI. Andy Dirks had a hit and an RBI, Boesch had two hits and two RBI and Gerald Laird had a hit. Alex Avila had a hit and an RBI. Baker and Young each hit a double, Infante hit a homerun. The Tigers were 6-11 with runners in scoring position and they left eight men on base. Below and Downs each had a pickoff.
The Yankees jumped out to a 7-0 lead. They had two runs in the first inning on RBI singles from Chavez and Granderson. In the third Granderson hit a three run homerun to make it 5-0 Yankees. Swisher hit an RBI single and Teixeira hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth to make it 7-0 Yankees. Boesch hit an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth to get the Tigers on the board. Jeff Baker hit a two run single in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 7-3. Suzuki hit an RBI single in the seventh to make it an 8-3 game in favor of the Yankees. In the bottom of the seventh is when it got a little crazy especially for the Yankees. Fielder hit an RBI groundout to make it an 8-4 game. There were two outs and Joe Girardi pulled Sabathia from the game. Robertson came in and gave up four singles in a row before finally getting out of the inning. The Tigers had cut the lead to 8-7, there was some sloppy defense which also contributed to this. Dirks, Boesch and Avila had RBI singles. In the eighth Teixeira had an RBI single and Chavez had an RBI groundout to make it a 10-7 game. Infante hit a solo homerun to make it 10-8 in the eighth. The Yankees added a couple of more runs in the ninth and the final was 12-8 in favor of the Yankees.
The Yankees had lost the first two of this four game series and got the win tonight. The two teams will play the final game of the series on Thursday afternoon. The Yankees record improved to 64-46 and the Tigers record dropped to 60-51. The Yankees remain in first place in the AL East by five games in the loss column over the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees will head to Toronto after the game tomorrow to play a three game weekend series before returning home next week.

The Yankees rally but fall just short in Detroit

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night by the score of 6-5. The game took place at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan. Phil Hughes started and wasn’t at his best, he struggled after starting out well. Rick Porcello started for the Tigers and was pretty good. The Yankees offense was led by Eric Chavez and Ichiro Suzuki. Miguel Cabrera led the Tigers offense.  Hughes pitched 4 1/3 innings giving up four runs on eight hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out three and lost his ninth game of the season. Boone Logan pitched 2/3 of an inning striking out one, Cody Eppley pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up three hits and a run with a strikeout and Clay Rapada faced two batters and retired them both. Joba Chamberlain pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits, a run, a walk and he struck out one. Porcello won his ninth game of the season pitching 6 2/3 innings giving up eight hits and three runs. He struck out three and didn’t walk a batter, Brayan Villarreal pitched to one batter and retired him, Octavio Dotel pitched one perfect inning and Jose Valverde saved his 22^nd game of the season. Valverde pitched one inning throwing a ton of pitches and making it very interesting. He gave up three hits and two runs with a walk and a strikeout.
Derek Jeter had a hit, Mark Teixeira had two hits and Chavez had two hits and two RBI. Nick Swisher had three hits, Raul Ibanez drew a walk and Suzuki had two hits and two RBI. Russell Martin had a hit and an RBI, Swisher hit two doubles, Suzuki and Martin each hit a double. Chavez hit a homerun and the Yankees were 3-7 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base. Swisher had an outfield assist.
Austin Jackson had a hit, Omar Infante had a hit and Cabrera had two hits and three RBI. Brennan Boesch had two hits, Delmon Young had a hit and Jhonny Peralta had a hit and an RBI. Alex Avila had two hits and drew a walk and Andy Dirks had three hits and two RBI. Peralta, Cabrera and Dirks each hit a double and Cabrera hit a homerun. The Tigers were 2-7 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.
In the fourth Chavez hit a two run homerun giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead. That lead would be short lived as the Tigers would come back in the bottom of the fourth. Cabrera hit a solo homerun and Peralta hit an RBI double to tie the game at two. In the fifth Cabrera hit a two run double to make it 4-2 Tigers. Dirks hit an RBI double in the sixth to make it a 5-2 lead for the Tigers. In the seventh Suzuki hit an RBI double to make it a 5-3 game. The Tigers would score their final run in the eighth on an RBI single by Dirks. The Yankees would rally in the ninth but strand runners at second and third. They got an RBI single from Suzuki and an RBI double from Martin to make it a 6-5 game but Curtis Granderson popped up to end the game.
The Yankees have their trouble in Detroit and they have been on a bad streak for about three weeks now. The Yankees record dropped to 63-46 and the Tigers record improved to 60-50. The Yankees have lost the first two of the four game series. The Yankees have a six game lead in the AL East which could drop to five games by the end of the night. They had a ten game lead not that long ago, they need to start winning some games to get back on track and not make it interesting.

Nova has another rough start as the Yankees lose to Verlander and the Tigers

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Detroit Tigers on Monday night by the score of 7-2. The game took place at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan. Ivan Nova started for the Yankees and was not good, the Yankees bullpen did a good job. Justin Verlander started for the Tigers and was very good, he matched a career high with 132 pitches and had 14 strikeouts.  Nova pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up 11 hits and seven runs. He walked none and struck out five and lost his sixth game of the season. Joba Chamberlain pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up two hits and no runs. He struck out a batter and David Phelps pitched an inning giving up a walk and striking out one. Verlander won his 12^th game of the season pitching eight innings giving up eight hits and two unearned runs. He walked one and struck out 14. Jose Valverde pitched a perfect inning.
Derek Jeter had two hits and an RBI, Robinson Cano had two hits and an RBI and Raul Ibanez drew a walk. Eric Chavez had three hits and Russell Martin had a hit. Chavez hit a double and the Yankees were 3-14 with runners in scoring position and they left nine men on base. Cano had a stolen base.
Austin Jackson had a hit and an RBI, Andy Dirks had a hit and an RBI and Miguel Cabrera had a hit and an RBI. Prince Fielder had two hits and an RBI, Brandon Boesch had a hit and Delmon Young had two hits and drew a walk. Alex Avila had two hits and an RBI, Jhonny Peralta had two hits and an RBI and Omar Infante had a hit and an RBI. Fielder and Cabrera each hit a homerun. The Tigers were 4-7 with runners in scoring position and they left four men on base. Young was caught stealing, Verlander and Cabrera each committed an error.
In the second Fielder hit a solo homerun to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. In the fourth Cabrera hit a solo homerun to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. In the fifth Jeter hit an RBI single and Cano hit an RBI single to tie the game at two. The Tigers would jump back in front in the bottom of the fifth. Infante hit an RBI single, Jackson hit an RBI single and Dirks hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-2 Tigers. In the sixth Avila hit an RBI single and Peralta hit an RBI single to make it 7-2 Tigers and that would be the final score.
The Yankees record dropped to 63-45 and the Tigers record improved to 59-50. The two teams will play the second game of four on Tuesday night. The Yankees will then go to Toronto to play a three game series over the weekend.

Phil Hughes dominant start earns the Yankees a series victory in Detroit

The New York Yankees defeated the Detroit Tigers in Detroit by the score of 5-1 on Sunday afternoon. Phil Hughes started for the Yankees and pitched great. He pitched the first nine inning complete game of his career. Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Eric Chavez each had a couple of hits. Justin Verlander started for the Tigers and for the first time lost three consecutive games. Jhonny Peralta was the only tiger with a multi hit game. 
Hughes pitched nine innings giving up one run on four hits. He walked three and struck out eight. He is now 5-5 on the season. Hughes had a rough start last time out but has pitched well in five of his last six starts. Verlander pitched 6 1/3 innings giving up nine hits and five runs with three of them earned. He walked four batters and struck out four. He is now 5-4 on the season and has really struggled in his last three starts. Duane Below pitched 1 2/3 perfect innings and Villarreal pitched one inning giving up a hit and he struck out two.

Jeter had two hits and an RBI, Curtis Granderson had a hit and drew a walk and Rodriguez had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk. Robinson Cano had a hit and an RBI, Mark Teixeira had an RBI and Nick Swisher had a hit and drew a walk. Chavez had two hits and Russell Martin had a hit and drew a walk. Granderson and Martin each had a double. Cano had a triple, Jeter and Rodriguez each hit a homerun. The Yankees were 1-11 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base. Martin had a passed ball.

Prince Fielder had a hit and an RBI, Delmon Young had a hit and Peralta had two hits. Danny Worth, Miguel Cabrera and Don Kelly each drew a walk. Fielder hit a homerun and the Tigers were 0-1 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base. Worth had an error and Santos had a passed ball.

Jeter hit a homerun on the first pitch of the game to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Teixeira hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 Yankees. In the third Rodriguez hit a solo homerun to make it 3-0. Fielder hit a solo homerun in the fourth to make it a 3-1 game. In the fifth Cano hit an RBI triple and scored on a throwing error to make it 5-1 Yankees. 5-1 was the final score of the game.

The Yankees won two out of three in the series. The Yankees will have off on Monday and start a three game series at home against Tampa Bay on Tuesday night. The Yankees record improved to 29-24 and the Tigers record dropped to 25-29.

Yankees weekend notes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Garcia has allowed nine first-inning runs this season.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Texas wins their second straight American League Championship with a blowout victory over Detroit

The Texas Rangers defeated the Detroit Tigers by the score of 15-5 on Saturday night. The win gave Texas it’s second straight American League Championship and sent them to the World Series. Texas will now await the winner of the National League Championship Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers. The National League will have the home field advantage. The Texas offense erupted in the third inning for nine runs and they never looked back in this game. Nelson Cruz set the record for most homeruns in any single season series in postseason history. Cruz hit six homeruns during the series to eclipse the record of five.
Derek Holland started the game for Texas and he pitched 4 2/3 innings giving up seven hits and four runs. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out five. Scott Feldman retired the only batter that he faced, Alexi Ogando got the win pitching two innings giving up one hit and striking out three and Mike Adams pitched an inning giving up two hits and one run. Neftali Feliz pitched a perfect inning to close out the game. Max Scherzer started for Detroit and pitched 2 1/3 innings giving up five hits and six runs, he walked four and struck out one. Scherzer took the loss, Max Schlereth didn’t record an out and gave up a hit and a run, Rick Porcello pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two hits and two runs with a walk and Ryan Perry pitched 2 1/3 innings giving up two hits and one run. Brad Penny pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up seven hits and five runs. Penny walked two and struck out one and Al Alburquerque pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a walk and two strikeouts.

Ian Kinsler had two hits and three RBI with a walk for Texas, Elvis Andrus had two hits and a walk and Josh Hamilton had a hit, RBI and a walk. Michael Young had three hits and five RBI, Adrian Beltre had two hits and an RBI and Mike Napoli had a hit and a walk. Cruz had two hits and two RBI with a walk, David Murphy had two hits, two RBI and three walks and Craig Gentry had two hits and an RBI. Cruz, Young and Beltre each had a double. Young and Cruz each had a homerun and Cruz set the new postseason record with his six homeruns during the series. Texas was 8-18 with runners in scoring position and they left 11 men on base. Andrus and Murphy each had a stolen base and Andrus was also caught stealing.

Detroit saw their big hitters come up big but it wasn’t enough on this night. Austin Jackson had two hits and two RBI, Miguel Cabrera had two hits and two RBI and Victor Martinez had three hits. Jhonny Peralta had a hit and an RBI, Brandon Inge and Ramon Santiago each had a hit. Cabrera hit two homeruns and Peralta and Jackson each had a homerun. The Tigers were 1-1 with runners in scoring position and they left three men on base. Delmon Young and Ryan Raburn each committed an error in the game.

In the first inning Cabrera hit a solo homerun to put the Tigers in front 1-0. In the second Peralta hit a solo homerun to make it 2-0 Tigers. The Rangers struck for nine runs in the third inning to take a 9-2 lead and they would not look back in this game. Young hit a two run double, Beltre hit an RBI single and Murphy hit a two run single. Kinsler hit a two run single and Young hit a two run double. Young had four RBI in the inning. In the fifth Jackson hit a two run homerun to make it a 9-4 game in favor of the Rangers. Hamilton hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth to make it 10-4. In the sixth Gentry hit an RBI single and Kinsler hit an RBI single to make it a 12-4 game. In the seventh Young hit a solo homerun and Cruz hit a two run homerun to make it 15-4. In the eighth Cabrera hit a solo homerun to make it 15-5 and complete the scoring for the game.

The Rangers won the American League Pennant for the second consecutive season. They won the series in six games just like they did last year over the Yankees. The Rangers will now await the winner of the NLCS, the Cardinals and Brewers will play Game Six on Sunday night. The World Series will begin in the home of the National League Champion, the National League has home field advantage for the World Series. Cruz besides hitting his six homeruns became the first player to drive in 13 runs in a single postseason series. The Rangers became the first AL team to repeat winning the pennant since the Yankees did it in 1998-2001. The last non Yankee team to do it was the Toronto Blue Jays in 1992-93. Ron Washington the manager said “It was very tough, but when you have a group of guys that’s committed to each other and committed to a purpose, usually good things happen. I have to give a lot of credit to our pitching staff. You have to give a lot of credit to the guys that showed up every day. I have to give a lot of credit to the organization for getting us pieces when we need it and jus trusting us with all that talent that they gave to us. More then anything else, the players deserve a heck of a lot of credit because it took a lot behind the scenes to get to this point. And more than anything else, we defended our American League Championship.” The World Series will begin on Wednesday and the middle three games of the series will be in Arlington on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Rangers are the second team in postseason history two win a best of seven playoff series without a win from their starters. The 1997 Indians also won the ALCS without a win from their starters.