The New York Yankees get crushed at home to the Toronto Blue Jays

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night.  The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York and the final score was 11-5.  Luis Severino started for the Yankees and didn't pitch well and the bullpen also struggled.  Didi Gregorius led the offense with a couple of hits and four RBI. 

Severino pitched 2 2/3 innings giving up six runs on six hits.  He walked three and struck out four and took his third loss of the season.  Chris Martin who was called up earlier in the day pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up three hits and two runs and struck out a batter, Andrew Bailey pitched two innings giving up two hits and a run with a strikeout and Chasen Shreve pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three hits and two runs.  Caleb Cotham pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and struck out two and Branden Pinder pitched an inning giving up a hit and struck out one. 

David Price won his 15th game of the season pitching five innings giving up six hits and two runs with a walk and seven strikeouts.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and three runs with two of them being earned, Brett Cecil pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and striking out three and Mark Lowe pitched a perfect inning.  Aaron Loup pitched a perfect inning with a couple of strikeouts. 

Jacoby Ellsbury had a hit, Brett Gardner had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk and Carlos Beltran had a hit.  Chase Headley had a hit, Greg Bird had a hit and Gregorius had two hits and four RBI.  Brendan Ryan had a hit, Ryan hit a double and Gregorius hit a homerun.  The Yankees were 3-5 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. 

Ben Revere had two hits and drew a walk, Josh Donaldson had two hits and two RBI and Jose Bautista had two hits.  Edward Encarnacion had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk, Troy Tulowitzki had two hits and an RBI and Justin Smoak had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk.  Russell Martin had three hits and four RBI, Anthony Goins had a hit and Revere and Encarnacion each hit a double.  Donaldson, Smoak, Encarnacion each hit a homerun and Martin hit two homeruns.  The Jays were 3-7 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.  Revere had a stolen base and Smoak committed an error. 

In the first Donaldson hit a two run homerun giving the Jays a 2-0 lead.  Tulowitzki hit an RBI single to make it 3-0 and Smoak hit a two run homerun to extend the lead to 5-0.  In the third Martin hit an RBI single to make it 6-0.   Gardner hit a sac fly in the third to cut the lead to 6-1 Jays.  In the fourth Encarnacion hit a two run homerun to push the lead to 8-1 Jays.  In the fourth Gregorius hit an RBI single to cut the lead to 8-2 and in the fifth Martin hit a solo homerun to make it 9-2.  Gregorius hit a three run homerun in the sixth to make it 9-5 but that was as close as it would get.  The Jays got two more on a Martin two run homerun in the seventh and it was 11-5 Jays which would be the final score.  The two teams will play a single admission doubleheader on Saturday afternoon.  The first game is at 1:00PM with the second game starting about half an hour after the conclusion of the first game.  The series will be completed on Sunday afternoon. 

The MLB Hot stove is burning on a Monday

The Hot Stove really started burning on Monday.  The Miami Marlins extension with Giancarlo Stanton was announced.  The St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves made a trade involving Jayson Heyward and Shelby Miller and the Toronto Blue Jays signed Russell Martin.  What could be in store for Tuesday?

I will start with the Marlins and Stanton.  He signed a 13 year deal for 325 million dollars.  This is with a team that has been known to blow things up quickly and not spend money.  It will be interesting to see now if they surround him with some more talent.  They were up and coming last year and had a pretty good year, let's see what happens.  Stanton did get a no trade clause and an opt out after five or six years. 

The trade between the Cardinals and the Braves was Jayson Heyward and Jordan Walden to the Cardinals for Shelby Miller and a minor leaguer.  Heyward is a solid player especially defensively but has never put up the power numbers that the Braves had thought he would.  He batted 271 last season with 11 homeruns and 58 RBI.  He had 20 stolen bases and won his second gold glove.  Miller was 10-9 with a 3.74 for the Cardinals last season.  He was 15-9 with a 3.06 ERA in his rookie season of 2013. 

The Blue Jays gave Martin five  years and 82 million.  They definitely overpaid for a guy who had a career year last season.  He did bat 290 last season with 11 homeruns and 67 RBI.  He also had a 402 OBP and had a caught stealing percentage of 38.5 which was fourth best in the majors.  He has a 259 career average and is known to be a leader.  He has been to four straight postseasons with three different teams. 

I don't know what is going to happen the rest of this week but it has gotten off to a hot start in the hot stove league. 

The New York Yankees defeat the PIttsburgh Pirates 11-9

The New York Yankees defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates by the score of 11-9 on Sunday afternoon. The game took place at McKechnie Field in Bradenton, Florida. Ivan Nova made the start and had his worst start of the spring although he was ok for five innings. Kevin Youkilis, Brennan Boesche and Eduardo Nunez each had a couple of hits. 
Nova pitched five innings giving up six hits and four runs with a walk and four strikeouts. Nova picked up the win, Dave Robertson pitched an inning giving up a walk and striking out one, Branden Pinder pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run with a walk and Matt Tracy pitched an inning giving up five hits and four runs and a walk. Chase Whitley picked up the save pitching a perfect inning.

Nunez had two hits, Boesch had two hits and an RBI and Youkilis had two hits and three RBI. Gil Velazquez had a hit, Jayson Nix drew two walks and Chris Stewart had a hit and drew a walk. Addison Maruszak had a hit and an RBI, Thomas Neal drew a walk and Dan Johnson drew a walk. Melky Mesa had a hit and four RBI, Youkilis hit a double and a homerun and Mesa hit a homerun. The Yankees were 5-12 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base. Nunez had two stolen bases, Neal, Mesa and Boesch each had one. Stewart had a passed ball and Mesa had an outfield assist.

Phil Irwin took the loss pitching 2 1/3 innings giving up seven hits and six runs with two walks. Mike Zagurski pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up a hit and two runs with two walks and a strikeout, Jeff Locke pitched four innings giving up two unearned runs and a walk with two strikeouts and Jared Hughes pitched an inning giving up two hits and a run with two strikeouts.

Starling Marte had a hit, Felix Pie had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk and Russell Martin drew a walk. Lucas May had two hits and two RBI, Alex Presley had a hit and an RBI and Pedro Alvarez had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk. Jared Goedert had an RBI, Matt Curry drew a walk and Gaby Sanchez had a hit and an RBI. Travis Snider had a hit and an RBI, Ivan De Jesus had a hit and Clint Barmes had a hit and an RBI. Jordy Mercer had a hit, Alvarez hit two doubles, Sanchez and Presley each hit a double. Barmes hit a homerun and the Pirates were 5-10 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Pie had a stolen base, Martin and Alvarez each committed an error and May had a passed ball.

The Yankees scored three runs in the first inning. Nunez stole third and scored on a throwing error and then Youkilis hit a two run homerun. In the second Youkilis hit an RBI double to make it a 4-0 game. The Yankees scored four runs in the third and it was a 8-0 Yankees lead. Mesa hit a grand slam. The Pirates would get on the board in the fourth with three runs. Alvarez and Sanchez each hit an RBI double and Snider hit a sacrifice fly. The Yankees had an 8-3 lead and then the Pirates cut it in half in the fifth inning. The Yankees got that run back in the sixth inning. It was 9-5 in the seventh. The Yankees made it a 10-5 game in the eighth and 11-5 in the ninth and then the Pirates rallied four four runs in the ninth. Pie hit an RBI single, May hit an RBI single and Presley hit an RBI double. Goedert had an RBI groundout and that was the final run of the game making it a 11-9 game.

The Yankees record improved to 9-14 and the Pirates record fell to 9-13. The Yankees will have an off day on Monday and the Pirates will host the Boston Red Sox.

New York Yankees updates heading into the Winter Meetings

The baseball hot stove has heated up the past couple of days. The Yankees are in the news for signing a couple of their old players. The Yankees have resigned Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera to one year deals. They did the same for Hiroki Kuroda a couple of weeks ago, they seem pretty set in the pitching department. The Yankees head into the winter meetings looking for a catcher, right fielder and some bench help. 
Andy Pettitte was signed officially yesterday for one year and 12 million with performance based bonuses. Mariano Rivera officially signed tonight for one year and 10 million also with performance based bonuses. Kuroda had signed earlier in the off season for one year and 15 million. The Yankees did lose Russell Martin to the Pirates tonight though, he signed for two years and 17 million pending a physical. The Yankees apparently didn’t make him an offer as they said they weren’t going to match that offer. I want to make it clear that it wasn’t that they didn’t have the money, they just chose not to spend it on Martin. The Yankees I am sure have a plan for catcher. I would trust Cashman and company more then some of the fans do. I do think he was a very good catcher but he did hit 211 last year so let’s not act like it is the end of the world.

The Yankees right now though have Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart as their catchers with Austin Romine in the minors about to get a good luck. I don’t think the Yankees will sign any of the free agents such as Mike Napoli and A.J. Pierzynski. I think if anything the Yankees will make a trade for a catcher, maybe they will just go with what they have, say play good defense and don’t worry about the hitting. They may figure that these guys can’t really do worse then 211, they will lose a lot of power though.

The Yankees most likely will resign Ichiro Suzuki to a one year deal to be their right fielder and I am all for it. They are going to lose Nick Swisher along with Martin though and that is a lot of power gone from the team. The Yankees may have a whole new offensive strategy though which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I am all for Ichiro, Gardner, Nunez and one of those catchers playing. They can use speed, more bunts and hit and run and manufacture runs. When it comes to the playoffs that is how you score runs and the Yankees won’t have to wait for the homerun and more often then not fail because of that.

In other baseball news the Minnesota Twins traded Denard Span to the Washington Nationals for minor league right handed pitcher Alex Meyer. It was a good move for the Nationals as they have a legitimate leadoff hitter now and he will play good defense also. Bryce Harper can now shit to left field where he is better served.

There are some other rumors going around such as the Dodgers being the favorites to sign Zack Greinke. The winter meetings will begin next week and I am sure we will get a lot of action and really start to see how things are going to line up for next year. Will the Yankees have a new catcher and right fielder by the end of the meetings, will they sign some spare parts?? Will the Yankees make a big move such as signing Josh Hamilton?? I would doubt them making a big move but you never know.

Yankees take Game One in Baltimore with a big ninth inning

The New York Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles by the score of 7-2 on Sunday night. The game took place at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland. It was Game one of the ALDS and the playoffs for the Yankees. CC Sabathia started for the Yankees and was brilliant, Dave Robertson got the final out of the game. The Yankees offense had some chances and couldn’t capitalize until the ninth inning. Russell Martin had the game winning hit which was a homer and Robinson Cano hit a two run double to pile it on. Jason Hammel started for the Orioles and pitched ok in his first start since September 11^th. The Orioles bullpen didn’t do such a good job especially Jim Johnson their closer. The Orioles offense was led by Chris Davis and Nate McClouth. 
Sabathia pitched 8 2/3 innings giving up two runs on seven hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. Robertson pitched 1/3 of an inning striking out the only batter that he faced. Hammel pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up four hits and two runs with four walks and five strikeouts. Patton pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and two walks, Darren O’Day pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and Brian Matusz pitched an inning giving up a walk and striking out two. Johnson pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up five hits and five runs with four of them being earned. Johnson had a strikeout and Tommy Hunter pitched 2/3 of an inning retiring both batters that he faced.

Derek Jeter had two hits, Ichiro Suzuki had two hits and two RBI and Alex Rodriguez drew a walk. Cano had a hit and two RBI, Nick Swisher had a hit, an RBI and drew two walks and Mark Teixeira had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk. Curtis Granderson drew a walk, Martin had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk and Raul Ibanez had a hit and drew a walk. Suzuki and Cano each hit a double and Martin hit a homerun. The Yankees were 3-8 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Suzuki was caught stealing and Jeter committed an error.

McClouth had a hit and two RBI, J.J. Hardy had a hit and Mark Reynolds had a hit and drew a walk. Davis had two hits, Lew Ford had a hit and Robert Andino had a hit. Hardy hit a double, The Orioles were 2-8 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Hardy committed an error and Davis had an outfield assist.

The Yankees took a 1-0 lead two batters into the game. Jeter had a leadoff single and Suzuki drove him in with a double. The Orioles took a 2-1 lead in the third inning on a McClouth two run single. The Yankees tied the game in the fourth on a Teixeira RBI single. The Yankees scored five runs in the ninth to break the game open and win it 7-2. Martin hit a solo homerun to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead, Ibanez, Jeter and Suzuki singled all in a row to make it 4-2 Yankees. Cano hit a two run double and Swisher hit a sacrifice fly to finish the scoring. 7-2 was the final score as the Yankees got to the Orioles bullpen. Johnson was terrible as the closer and he didn’t pitch well in the wild card playoff game also.

The Yankees have a 1-0 lead in the best of five ALDS series. The two teams will play game two on Monday night in Baltimore and then the rest of the series with shift to New York for games 3 and then four and five if needed. Andy Pettitte will start the game tomorrow for the Yankees. The Orioles finally lost a close game late, could this affect their psyche? We will have to see as this series goes on. The first pitch for Game two is at 8:07PM.

The New York Yankees defeat the Oakland Athletics on a Martin walk off homerun

The New York Yankees defeated the Oakland Athletics by the score of 2-1 on Friday night. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. CC Sabathia started for the Yankees and for the first time in a while was great. He looked like the ace that he is, Rafael Soriano blew the save but Russell Martin was the hero with a walk off homerun. Jarrodd Parker was also great starting for the Athletics, their offensive hero was Brandon Moss. 
Sabathia pitched eight shutout innings giving up three hits. He walked two and struck out eleven. Soriano pitched an inning giving up a run on a hit with two walks and a strikeout and David Robertson picked up his second win of the season pitching a perfect inning with a strikeout. Parker pitched eight innings giving up six hits and a run with seven strikeouts and Sean Doolittle pitched an inning giving up two hits and a run with two strikeouts. Doolittle lost his first game of the season.

Derek Jeter had a hit, Nick Swisher had a hit and Alex Rodriguez had two hits. Curtis Granderson had an RBI, Martin had a hit and an RBI and Ichiro Suzuki had two hits. Eduardo Nunez had a hit, Martin hit a homerun and the Yankees were 0-2 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base. Suzuki and Nunez each had a stolen base.

Cowgill had a hit, Gomes drew a walk and Chris Carter drew a walk. Moss had a hit and an RBI, Bud Norris drew a walk and Stephen Drew had two hits and drew a walk. Moss hit a homerun and the Athletics were 0-2 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Crisp had a stolen base and Cespedes had an outfield assist.

Granderson hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. In the ninth Moss hit a solo homerun to tie the game at one and in the tenth Martin hit a solo homerun to end the game and give the Yankees a 2-1 victory.

The Yankees have won six straight games and this was the first of a three game series. The Yankees remain one game ahead of Baltimore for first place in the AL East. The two teams will meet again on Saturday afternoon. The Yankees record improved to 87-63 and the Athletics record dropped to 85-65.

Yankees post game notes Thursday night

Here are the Yankees Thursday night postgame notes.  These are after a tough loss in Baltimore to put them in a first place tie for the AL East crown.  The notes are courtesy of the Lohud Yankees Blog. 

It’s rarely good when The Associated Press is taking pictures like the one above. The stereotypical shot of a dejected baseball dugout is a bad sign, and the AP has taken that very same picture twice this week.

“It was already a frustrating game early on, them getting four runs in the first inning,” Russell Martin said. “That’s already frustrating. What can you do? We’ve had losses like this before and obviously it’s a big loss, but we’ve still got to come back and do our thing tomorrow.”

Have the Yankees really had losses like this before? Maybe in some other season, in some other ballpark, but certainly not this season in a loud, ready-to-win Camden Yards. Forget those comments earlier this week about those games at Tropicana Field feeling like playoff games. This was a postseason atmosphere. It started with the Cal Ripken tribute pregame, and it grew when Matt Wieters hit his three-run homer in the first. But in the bottom of the eighth, this place was supercharged.

The Yankees are a veteran bunch who have been through a lot, but it was hard to take this as any other loss. Not after the Yankees came back with an impressive two-out rally in the top half of the inning. Not with first place one the line. Not with three — three! — home runs to put the Orioles in front and out of reach.

“If you lose 6-1 it’s an important win for them and an important loss for us,” Joe Girardi said. “I don’t know if I’d feel any different. … When you’re fighting a team for first place, a loss is a loss.”

Dave Robertson might not be having the season he had last year, but he’s still be awfully good. Frankly, most of the Yankees bullpen concerns center on their ability to get the ball to Robertson, and those middle relievers actually did a nice job tonight. “I was really excited to come into the ballgame and do well,” Robertson said. “It’s not a lot of times this year it seems like we made a big push like that to tie a ballgame. I come in to do a job and be able to put up a zero right there. I feel like I let the team down today.”

Robertson had Jones 0-2, missed badly with a curveball, then left a fastball over the middle of the plate. “I was trying to make a good pitch, get the ball in on him, up a little bit,” Robertson said. “I didn’t make the pitch. I left the ball over the plate, and he’s a good hitter. He did what he’s supposed to do — made a good swing on it and sent it into the seats.”

The pitch that Reynolds hit in the eighth was a 3-2 fastball. “I tried to go down and away with that one,” Robertson said. “Left the ball over a little bit. It was over the middle of the plate. I didn’t think he got enough but he’s a strong hitter with a lot of pop and it got out there.”

Robertson threw only one curveball tonight and nearly hit Jones with it. He seems to be leaning more heavily on his fastball lately, but he dismissed the trend. “No reason,” he said. “Nothing to it.”

 That eighth-inning rally to tie was awfully impressive, especially for a team that’s been talking about doing all the little things. With two outs that inning, the Yankees drew three walks, singled twice and got an RBI double from Alex Rodriguez. “What I take away from it is the eighth inning,” Rodriguez said. “Guys swinging the bat, competing, playing with a lot of intensity. Those guys, tip your cap. That was an impressive eighth inning. We had an impressive top half. They trumped us in the bottom half.”

David Phelps had another bad first inning, with another slip on the mound for a balk. “Every loss is frustrating,” he said. “To come out of the gate that way and put us in a hole like that, it’s unacceptable. We had a big win last night, and we just lose all of that momentum that we built up last night in five batters. I’ve got to be better than that.”

Phelps wants his home run pitch to Matt Wieters to be down and away. He left it up and away.

The balk, Phelps said, is simply a matter of slipping on the mound. I believe he’s done it three times this season. “The mound was a little damp,” he said. “Got to make sure I dig it out a little better. It was fine the rest of the game.”

In the Orioles past four games against the Yankees they’ve hit 12 extra-base hits. All 12 have been home runs.

 Last word goes to Martin: “When you have Dave Robertson on the mound, the last thing you’re expecting is a team hitting the long ball against him. It doesn’t happen very often. He made a mistake to Jones, and Reynolds was just a tough battle. He got back in a 3-2 count and hit a ball that I didn’t think was going to get out, but he’s such a strong kid that he kind of just muscled it out there. Tough loss.”

The New York Yankees salvage the final game of the series in Tampa Bay

The New York Yankees defeated the Tampa Bay Rays by the score of 6-4 on Wednesday night. The game took place at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees and didn’t pitch so well. The Yankees bullpen was great, Derek Jeter and Russell Martin led the offense. Matt Moore started for the Rays and pitched ok, their offense was led by Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria. 
Kuroda pitched six innings giving up eight hits and four runs with two walks and three strikeouts. Kuroda lost his 10^th game of the season, Boone Logan pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a walk and striking out two and Dave Robertson pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and striking out two. Rafael Soriano picked up his 36^th save of the season pitching a perfect inning. Moore lost his ninth game of the season pitching 6 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and six runs with four of them being earned. He walked one and struck out nine, Kyle Farnsworth pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a walk and a strikeout, Jake McGee pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts and Wade Davis struck out the sides in a perfect inning.

Jeter had three hits, Robinson Cano drew two walks and Alex Rodriguez had a hit and an RBI. Martin had two hits and three RBI, Andruw Jones had a hit and Steve Pearce had a hit. Rodriguez, Martin and Jeter each hit a double and Martin hit a homerun. The Yankees were 2-8 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base. Jeter had a stolen base.

Sam Fuld had a hit and a walk, Desmond Jennings had a hit and drew a walk and Zobrist had a hit and two RBI. Longoria had two hits and an RBI, Matt Joyce had a hit and Luke Scott had a hit and an RBI. Jeff Keppinger had a hit, Lobaton had a hit and drew a walk and he hit a double. Zobrist hit a triple and Scott hit a homerun. The Rays were 2-7 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Elliott Johnson committed an error.

Longoria hit an RBI single in the first to give the Rays a 1-0 lead. In the fourth the Yankees scored three runs to take the lead. Rodriguez hit an RBI double and Martin hit a two run double. In the fifth Zobrist hit a two run triple to tie the game at three, Martin hit a solo homerun in the sixth to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead. In the bottom of the sixth Scott hit a solo homerun to tie the game at four. The Yankees took the lead for good in the seventh inning. Jeter reached on a fielders choice, a run scored and then another on an error. The final was 6-4 Yankees as their bullpen shut the Rays down.

The Yankees salvaged the final game of the three game series. The Yankees record improved to 77-59. The Rays record dropped to 75-62. The Rays dropped to 2 ½ games back of the Yankees in the AL East. The Yankees are back in sole possession of first place with a one game lead over the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees will begin a four game series in Baltimore on Thursday night.

The Yankees lose in extra innings to the Red Sox

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Boston Red Sox on Sunday night by the score of 3-2. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees and pitched very well, David Robertson didn’t out of the bullpen. Russell Martin led the Yankees offense. Felix Doubront pitched very well for the Red Sox and so did Alfredo Aceves. Pedro Ciriaco led the Sox offense. 
Kuroda pitched eight innings giving up two runs on seven hits. He walked one and struck out four. Rafael Soriano pitched a perfect inning and Robertson lost his fourth game of the season pitching an inning giving up two hits and a run with a walk. Doubront pitched 6 1/3 innings giving up four hits and a run with five walks and eight strikeouts. Matt Albers gave up a hit without recording an out, Andrew Miller pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and a run with a strikeout and Alfredo Aceves blew a save but got his second win of the season. He pitched 2 1/3 innings giving up a hit and two strikeouts.

Derek Jeter had a hit, Curtis Granderson drew a walk and Nick Swisher had a couple of hits. Andruw Jones had a hit and drew a walk, Martin had two hits, two RBI and drew two walks and Ichiro Suzuki had a hit. Jayson Nix drew a walk. Jones hit a double, Martin hit a homerun. The Yankees were 2-7 with runners in scoring position and left ten men on base. Suzuki had a stolen base.

Jacoby Ellsbury had two hits, Carl Crawford had a hit and Adrian Gonzalez had two hits. Cody Ross had a hit, Jarrod Saltalamacchia drew two walks and Will Middlebrooks had a hit. Ryan Sweeney had a hit and two RBI, Pedro Ciriaco had a hit and an RBI. Sweeney and Ellsbury each hit a double and the Red Sox were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and they left four men on base.

Sweeney hit a two run double in the second. Martin hit a solo homerun in the seventh and an RBI single in the eighth to tie the game at two. In the tenth Ciriaco had an RBI single to give the Red Sox a 3-2 lead and that was the final score.

The Red sox won two out of three in this series. The Yankees record dropped to 60-41 and the Red Sox improved their record to 51-51. The Yankees will begin a three game series with the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night.

The New York Yankees with a comeback win over the Angels to open the second half

The New York Yankees defeated the Anaheim Angels by the score of 6-5 on Friday night. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx,NY. Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees and pitched well for the most part. He had one bad innings. C.J. Wilson started for the Angels and pitched very well, his bullpen let him down. The offensive star for the Yankees was Mark Teixeira and Russell Martin had a big night. The Angels were led by Mark Trumbo. 
Kuroda pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and five runs with a walk and six strikeouts. Chad Qualls got his second win of the season pitching 2/3 of an inning and retiring both hitters and Rafael Soriano picked up his 21^st save of the season. Soriano pitched an inning giving up a hit and he struck out one. Wilson pitched seven innings giving up five hits and two runs. He walked two and struck out seven. Scott Downs pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and four runs with two walks and Kevin Jepsen pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and walking a batter.

Derek Jeter had two hits, Curtis Granderson had a hit and drew a walk and Teixeira had two hits and five RBI. Robinson Cano had a hit, Nick Swisher had a hit and drew two walks and Raul Ibanez was intentionally walked. Martin had a hit, RBI and drew a walk. Swisher and Jeter each had a double, Granderson hit a triple and Teixeira hit two homeruns. The Yankees were 2-11 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base. DeWayne Wise had a stolen base.

Mike Trout had two hits, Albert Pujols had two hits and an RBI and Trumbo had two hits and three RBI. Alberto Callaspo drew a walk, Howie Kendrick had two hits and Erik Aybar had a hit and an RBI. Kendrick, Trout and Pujols hit a double. Aybar and Trumbo each hit a homerun. The Angels were 2-8 with runners in scoring position and they left three men on base. Trout had two stolen bases, Trumbo and Callaspo were caught stealing. Callaspo committed an error. In the third Aybar hit a solo homerun to give the Angels a 1-0 lead. The Yankees took a 2-1 lead on a Teixeira homerun in the bottom of the third inning. Trumbo hit a three run homerun in the seventh inning to make it 4-2 Angels. In the eighth Pujols hit an RBI double to make it 5-2. In the bottom of the eighth Teixeira hit a three run homerun and Martin hit an RBI single to make it 6-5 Yankees and that was the final score.

The Yankees record improved to 53-33 and the Angels record dropped to 48-39. The two teams will play game two of their three game series on Saturday afternoon. The Yankees have the best record in baseball and the Angels have been playing great after their terrible start to the season.

Yankees Sunday evening postgame notes

Here are the postgame notes from Sunday evening after the Yankees swept their cross town rivals the New York Mets.  The notes are courtesy of the Lohud Yankees Blog by Chad Jennings.  He does a great job. 

Kevin Long doesn’t remember when exactly the conversation took place, but he remembers that it was Russell Martin’s idea. Martin wanted to back away from the plate a little bit, stand just far enough that he could cover the inner half a little better.

“I felt like I was getting tied up inside and I felt like I was starting to pull off the ball early with my stride,” Martin explained. “Now I kind of just evened out my stride, and I feel like I’m ready to drive the ball the other way more with more ease. I was fighting to do it before.”

In his past 12 games, Martin has raised his batting average from .173 to .216. He’s homered four times in his past six games, including two big ones tonight. His seventh-inning shot got just over Scott Hairston’s glove in right field. His walk-off went a few rows deep in left.

“It’s really worked out for him,” Long said. “(Martin) said, ‘I’m going to back off the plate. Maybe that’ll get my stride direction good and I’ll just look out over the plate. If they do come in, I should be able to react.’ It was solely him. … He was frustrated a little bit, but he kept believing that all his hard work — everything he’d done through the winter and up to this point — was going to pay off. It’s starting to show real good signs, especially this month. He’s been on fire.”

The change itself is hard to notice, but the impact seems to be significant. Maybe some of it is simply the law of averages — Martin was surely not going to hit .180 all year — but he’s become a more productive player, and today Martin was pivotal in securing a series sweep and sending the Yankees on the road with 13 wins in their past 17 games. The Yankees are playing well, and finally, their catcher is contributing at the plate.

“With this team, up and down the lineup, guys have the ability to hit,” Martin said. “Luckily for me, I had guys that picked up my slack earlier in the year. Not that I’m here for my bat or anything like that, but it definitely feels good to be able to contribute a little bit. I never felt too much pressure. I just kept trying to do my thing defensively and try to call good games. Now that I’m swinging the bat good, it’s even better.”

Andy Pettitte said his command was off early in the game, but he was able to find it later on. He finished with eight strikeouts and looked tremendous in every inning except the second. “I felt good,” Pettitte said. “I felt a tick off early, the first inning or two. I felt good, just felt a tick off, like I just wasn’t quite getting the ball where I wanted to. After that I felt like I had been feeling. I felt like my command was really good.”

 Even that second inning didn’t include a lot of hard-hit balls, and if Robinson Cano hadn’t made his error, Pettitte might have gotten out of the inning with just one run. As it was, the big hit was a softly hit double. “The ball bounced right over first base for a double down the line,” Pettitte said. “I wasn’t even trying to throw that pitch for a strike. I’d just got strike one on him and I was trying to throw a ball up and in on him to get him off the plate. That was extremely frustrating.”

 Pettitte has struck out at least eight batters in each of his last four home starts. It’s the longest such streak of his career. CC Sabathia is the only other Yankees starter to compile such a streak in the past nine years.

The Yankees have been talking about hitting into hard outs and hoping it will eventually even out. Today it evened out a little bit in the eighth inning when four straight singles — some of which weren’t hit very good — led to the tying and go-ahead runs. “We made a lot of hard outs early in the game and ended up with some really hard double plays,” Mark Teixeira said. “That happens. In the eighth we just got lucky, found some holes and took advantage of maybe a little lapse of defense. That was the ballgame.”

This was the Yankees first walk-off home run of the year, and it was their first walk-off against the Mets since Luis Castilla dropped that popup in 2009. … It was the Yankees 18th comeback win of the season, and their fourth by at least three runs. … The Yankees were 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position, with all three hits coming in the eighth inning.

This was the third time this season that the Yankees grounded into three double plays.

 Martin on his first home run: “I thought he caught the ball at first. For a split second, I thought I was out. The next thing you know, I’m rounding the bases. Rounding the bases is a lot better than taking a right turn back to the dugout.”

Derek Jeter on Martin’s first home run: “I was in the bathroom at the time,” Jeter said. “So I didn’t see the moment, I just heard, but I heard something good happened. Just trying to be honest with you.”

Jayson Nix drew some raves in the clubhouse for his play in the eighth inning, getting the lead runner at third base on a fairly routine grounder to shortstop. “It’s a heads-up play by him,” Jeter said. “You have to think about it before you do it, you can’t just catch it and then make up your mind. He obviously thought about it before, and that was a big part of the game.”

Jeter got some raves of his own for taking second base on that eighth-inning error. “I knew I was taking a chance,” Jeter said. “I saw it took sort of a funny hop on him and took a chance.”

 Rafael Soriano blew a save for the first time this season. He was booed coming off the mound. “I don’t care about the fans’ (reaction) because nobody is perfect in this game,” he said. “To me, it happened today. Come back tomorrow and try to save the game.”

Soriano said he didn’t feel sharp today and didn’t have a problem with Girardi bringing in Boone Logan with the go-ahead run at third base. “I tried to pitch the best that I can, and that thing happens,” Soriano said. “I don’t think I had a good fastball today, nothing like that. No excuse.”

 Dave Robertson pitched a scoreless inning with one strikeout for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this afternoon. It was his first rehab game since straining his oblique last month.

 Hiroki Kuroda reported no problems with his left foot during today’s bullpen. He’s expected to make his next start in Atlanta.

 As you might have guessed, Girardi did not call for Nick Swisher to bunt today. “No,” Girardi said. “We were down three runs, and he was just trying to get on base. That’s what he was trying to do, but as I told him, he’s capable of hitting the ball out of the ballpark down three runs.”

You might have noticed that Martin fell at home plate during the walk-off celebration. “I tried to jump in the air to celebrate, and I got about two inches off the ground,” he said. “Still managed to touch home plate.”

The New York Yankees sweep the New York Mets on a walkoff homerun

The New York Yankees defeated the New York Mets on Sunday afternoon by the score of 5-4. It was a good game that went back and forth in the last couple of innings. Andy Pettite and Jon Niese were the starters and they each pitched well. The bullpens of each team struggled a little bit but the Yankees bullpen was a little bit better and that was the difference. Russell Martin led the Yankees offense, the Mets got a big pinch hit from Ike Davis. 
Pettitte pitched six innings giving up three runs with two of them being earned. He gave up five hits and walked two batters and struck out eight. Clay Rapada pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout, Cory Wade pitched an inning giving up a walk and struck out one and Rafael Soriano blew his first save in ten chances. He pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up three hits, and a run and Boone Logan earned his first win of the season pitching 2/3 of an inning and striking out one. Niese pitched seven innings giving up seven hits and two runs with none of them being earned. He walked one and struck out six. Bobby Parnell didn’t record an out and gave up four hits and two runs, Tim Byrdak pitched 2/3 of an inning retiring both batters and Jon Rauch lost his sixth game of the season pitching 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run with a strikeout.

Derek Jeter had two hits, Curtis Granderson had two hits and Mark Teixeira had two hits and an RBI. Alex Rodriguez had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk, Robinson Cano had two hits and Martin had two hits and three RBI. Jayson Nix had a hit, Martin had two homeruns. The Yankees were 3-11 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base. Cano committed an error and Pettitte picked off two runners.

Andres Torres drew a walk, David Wright had a hit and drew a walk and Scott Hairston had two hits. Lucas Duda had a hit, Vinny Rottino had a hit and an RBI and Omar Quintanilla drew a walk. Daniel Murphy had a hit, Jordany Valdespin had a hit and two RBI. Hairston, Valdespin, Duda and Davis each hit a double. The Mets were 3-10 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base. Rottino had a stolen base, Hairston and Wright were both picked off. Wright and Quintanilla both committed an error.

The Mets took a 3-0 lead in the second inning. Rottino hit an RBI single and Valdespin had a two run double. In the seventh Martin hit a two run homerun to make it a 3-2 game in favor of the Mets. In the bottom of the eighth Teixeira hit an RBI single to tie the game at three. Rodriguez hit an RBI single to make it 4-3 Yankees. In the ninth Davis hit an RBI single to tie the game at four. In the bottom of the ninth Martin hit a walk off solo homerun to make it 5-4 and give the Yankees the win.

The Yankees swept the three game series. The Yankees improved their record to 34-25 and the Mets record dropped to 32-29. The Mets will be off on Monday before heading to Tampa Bay for a three game series. The Yankees will head down to Atlanta to begin a three game series beginning on Monday night. The Yankees are ½ a game out of first behind the Tampa Bay Rays. They are tied in the loss column.

Andy Pettitte shines in Yankees blowout win over the Rays

The New York Yankees defeated the Tampa Bay Rays by the score of 7-0 on Tuesday night. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx,NY. Andy Pettitte started for the Yankees and he was brilliant. Freddy Garcia finished off the last five outs for the Yankees. Russell Martin had a big night to lead the Yankees offense. James Shields started for the Rays and didn’t pitch well but he also didn’t get any help from his defense. The Rays offense managed four singles in the game. 
Pettitte pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up no runs and two hits with two walks and ten strikeouts. Garcia pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up two hits with a strikeout. Pettitte earned his third win of the season, Sheilds took the loss, his fourth of the season. Shields pitched five innings giving up seven hits and seven runs with five of them being earned. He walked four and struck out two, Cesar Ramos pitched three innings giving up one hit, he struck out four batters.

Curtis Granderson had a hit, Alex Rodriguez drew a walk and Robinson Cano had two hits. Raul Ibanez had two RBI, Nick Swisher had two hits and an RBI and Eric Chavez drew a walk. Martin had three hits and four RBI. Cano and Swisher each had a double and Martin had a homerun. The Yankees were 3-12 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.

Desmond Jennings had a hit, B.J. Upton had a hit and Sean Rodriguez drew a walk. Carlos Pena had a hit, Jose Molina had a hit and drew a walk. The Rays were 0-4 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Rodriguez had a stolen base. Elliott Johnson and Ben Zobrist each committed an error.

The Yankees improved their record to 30-24 and the Rays record dropped to 31-24. The two teams will play game two of their three game series on Tuesday night.

Yankees postgame notes from Monday night

The Yankees held rookie hazing night on Monday night and these were the costumes: Andrew Brackman and Dellin Betances are towering versions of Milli Vanilli. George Kontos is George Michael. Jesus Montero is MC Hammer. Brandon Laird is Slash, complete with a guitar and black vest and Austin Romine is Madonna.  I always get a kick out of this stuff and you can see pictures on the Associated press and also yankees.com



The story that had people laughing even before the costumes came from Russell Martin, who actually went into detail about his ejection in the fifth inning. He’d just gone to the mound to calm down Phil Hughes, who was upset about some borderline pitches, and when he got to the plate, Martin started talking to home plate umpire Paul Schrieber. Here’s Martin’s version of conversation.

Martin: “Did you stretch before the game?”

Schrieber: “What?” (said while walking in front of Martin)

Martin: “Did you stretch before the game?”

Schrieber: (gave Martin a puzzled look)

Martin: “I feel like you’re kinda tight right now.”

“I didn’t say it in a way that was condescending,” Martin said. “I was trying to loosen things up a little bit because I felt like he wasn’t really having a good time, and so he threw me out. I didn’t say he sucked. I didn’t say he was the worst umpire in the league. I didn’t say any of that stuff. I just made a joke and he then threw me out, no warning, nothing. Gone.”

Someone suggested that perhaps Schrieber didn’t get the joke.

“I think he got it,” Martin said. “I think he just didn’t like it.”

 Obviously Girardi didn’t go to his top relievers tonight. He said that’s because he wants to use all of his top guys on Tuesday. Using them tomorrow gives them a chance to stay fresh, but it still gives them two days off before the division series opener.

The plan is still to have Phil Hughes pitch again on Wednesday. “We need to get him back out there,” Girardi said. “He hasn’t pitched in two weeks, so I wasn’t sure what I’d get today. It’s important that he comes out feeling okay tomorrow and that his back is okay.”

Girardi wasn’t worried about Austin Romine getting back behind the plate after catching 14 innings last night. “He’s young,” Girardi said. “I don’t worry about that.”  I would agree with that, at this point he can do it and is more then willing. 

 Girardi also said using Romine wasn’t necessarily an indication that he’s planning to carry Romine on the postseason roster. Girardi also wanted to save Montero for a pinch hitting opportunity, because he knows Montero might be asked to pinch hit in the playoffs.  I just don't see Montero catching in the postseason unless it is an emergency. 

Jorge Posada was involved in two double plays that ended with plays at the plate. “He made a good double play on the bullet, then the other double play on the stolen base attempt by Johnny,” Girardi said. “He did OK over there.”  I thought it was strange using the word ok, I thought he did better then that, those were two very good plays from a non first baseman. 

 Hector Noesi has allowed five runs on nine hits and three walked in 4.2 innings as a starter. He has a 6.84 ERA in 16 road appearances this season. His ERA is 2.59 in 14 appearances at home.

 Robinson Cano now has 81 extra-base hits, tied with Roger Maris for the third-most by a Yankees left-handed hitter since 1950. Don Mattingly had 86 in both 1985 and 1986.

Cano has 14 home runs in 8 career games at Tropicana Field. That’s his most at any visiting ballpark. In his past nine games at the Trop, Cano is hitting .417 with three homers and 10 RBI.  He made his major league debut in the ballpark so maybe that has something to do with it, but he definitely is comfortable in Tampa. 

Yankees win behind Hughes and Martin

The New York Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins by the score of 8-1 on Friday night. Phil Hughes made the start and pitched great. The offense was good, led by Russell Martin. Derek Jeter continued to get his, Teixiera had a big game with three RBI.
Hughes pitched 7 2/3 innings giving up one run on two hits. He walked three and struck out two. Hughes improved to 4-4 on the season. Boone Logan got the only batter out that he faced. Luis Ayala pitched one perfect inning with a strikeout.

Brett Gardner had a hit, Jeter had two hits and Curtis Granderson had two hits an RBI and two walks. Teixeira had two hits and three RBI, Robinson Cano had a hit and an RBI and Nick Swisher had a hit. Jorge Posada had a hit and a walk and Martin had three hits and three RBI. Teixeira had two doubles, Cano and Granderson each had one. Martin had two homeruns. The Yankees were 3-11 with runners in scoring position with eight men left on base. Granderson had a stolen base.

Trevor Plouffe hit a solo homerun in the first inning to give the Twins a 1-0 lead. Martin hit a solo homerun in the third inning to tie the game at one. In the fourth inning Cano hit an RBI double to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. In the fifth Granderson had an RBI double and Teixeira a sacrifice fly. The Yankees had a 4-1 lead which seemed insurmountable the way Hughes was pitching. In the sixth Martin hit a two run homerun to make it 6-1. In the ninth inning Teixeira hit a two run double to make it 8-1 and finish the scoring.

The Yankees have won the first two of four in Minnesota. They are also 4-1 on their current seven game road trip. The Yankees remain ½ a game in front of the Boston Red Sox who also won on this night. The Yankees and Twins will play game three on Saturday night. The Yankees look like they will wait until Sunday to activate Alex Rodriguez. Freddy Garcia was placed on the disabled list on Friday but it is retroactive and he will return next Saturday in Baltimore to pitch in a doubleheader. Hughes pitched as good as he has all year, he continues to get better with each start and if he keeps pitching this way he could be their number two starter in the postseason, I think the Yankees would like that.

Yankees win a wild extra inning game in Baltimore

The New York Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday afternoon by the score of 6-3.  It was a normal game for six innings as Freddy Garcia was cruising and the Yankees had a 3-0 lead, it got crazy in the seventh inning.  Joba Chamberlain gave up a two run homerun, Mariano Rivera came on in the eighth inning because Rafael Soriano was out with back spasms.  Rivera got bailed out on a nice running catch by Brett Gardner to end the inning.  Rivera blew his second straight save in the ninth inning but the winning run was thrown out at home plate by Robinson Cano.  The Yankees had a chance for the lead in the tenth but Derek Jeter got thrown out at homeplate to end that inning. 

Boone Logan got a win and Buddy Carlyle closed out the game.  The Yankees after a 40 minute rain delay took the lead in the eleventh inning with some help from the Orioles who committed two errors in the inning.  Cano started it with a double and stole third when they tried to pick him off of second base.  He scored on a groundout by Russel Martin that the shortstop threw into right field after a diving stop.  He was going for the double play that I don't think he would of had.  The Yankees scored two more runs after that and they closed it out in the eleventh. 

It was the Yankees third straight win and they finished their roadtrip at 3-1.  They will now take on the White Sox in a four game series at Yankee Stadium.  A.J. Burnett will pitch on Monday night.  Phil Hughes is scheduled to make a rehab start on Thursday. 

Rivera has blown two straight saves but in this game didn't get any help from the umpire who had a couple of questionable ball and strike calls.  Rivera still gave up the double to Brian Roberts with two outs to tie the game though. 

There were no incidents after the plunking of Martin last night.  It will be interesting to see if the occasion arises later in the year if the Yankees will remember that and not let it go.  The way Martin is playing I could see the Yankees extending him and trying to package either Jesus Montero or Austin Romine who are both playing well in the minors for a pitcher. 

Yankees Take Series over the Rangers

The New York Yankees defeated the Texas Rangers taking the series two games to one.  C.C. Sabathia started and didn't pitch his best but he still had a chance to get his first win of the season.  Joba Chamberlain gave up a run though and prevented that from happening.  Rafael Soriano redeemed himself with a clean inning and Mariano Rivera picked up his seventh save of the season. 

Eric Chavez who was playing for Alex Rodriguez who was sitting out with back and oblique stiffness had two hits and the game winning RBI single.  The Yankees hit three more homeruns to add to their league leading total.  They have 27 on the season, Russel Martin, Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson all hit one.  Granderson and Martin were two run homers and Cano had a solo one.  Martin has been a great addition so far offensively and defensively, he looks like a steal.  Chavez has also played great so far going 7/15 on the season. 

The Yankees are 9-5 on the season and in first place by 2 1/2 games over the Toronto Blue Jays.  They will head to Toronto to take on the Blue Jays for two games beginning on Tuesday.  A.J. Burnett who is 3-0 will pitch the Tuesday game and Bartolo Colon will make his first start on Wednesday night.  They have off Monday and Thursday and will play a weekend series in Baltimore.