New York Yankees suffer a heartbreaking, gut wrenching ninth inning loss to the Texas Rangers

 

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.  The game took place at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas and the final score was 7-4.  Carlos Rodon started for the Yankees and he pitched great, the closer Clay Holmes was terrible and blew the save.  Gleyber Torres, Jazz Chisholm and Anthony Volpe each had two hits. 

Rodon pitched six innings giving up one hit and one run with two walks and 11 strikeouts.  Tommy Khanle pitched an inning giving up a hit and an unearned run with a strikeout, Jake Cousins pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two hits and a run with a walk and a strikeout and Tim Hill pitched to two batters getting them both out and one a strikeout.  Holmes lost his fifth game of the season and blew his 11^th save of the season.  He pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two this and four runs with two walks. 

Andrew Heaney started for the Rangers and he pitched five innings giving up three hits and no runs with a walk and eight strikeouts.  Jose Leclerc pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits and two runs with two strikeouts, Andrew Chafin pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run with a walk and Grant Anderson pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three hits and a run with two strikeouts.  Gerson Garabito pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and he struck out one and Walter Pennington pitched 1/3 of an inning with a  walk and he earned his first win of the season. 

Torres had two hits and drew a walk, Juan Soto drew a walk and Aaron Judge had a hit.  Giancarlo Stanton drew a walk, Chisholm had two hits and Volpe had two hits and two RBI.  Jose Trevino had a hit and an RBI, Alex Verdugo had a hit and an RBI and DJ LeMahieu had a hit.  Torres had a double and the Yankees were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.  Volpe had a stolen base and Soto was caught stealing.  LeMahieu committed an error. 

Marcus Semien had a hit and drew a walk, Wyatt Langford had a hit and four RBI and Josh Jung had two hits and two RBI.  Adolis Garcia drew a walk, Nathaniel Lowe had an RBI and drew a walk and Ezequiel Duran had a hit.  Carson Kelly had a hit and drew a walk, Josh Smith drew a walk and Jung and Langford each hit a homerun.  The Rangers were 2-4 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base.  Jung and Taveras each had a stolen base. 

In the bottom of the fourth Jung hit a solo homerun giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead.  In the top of the seventh Trevino hit an RBI groundout tying the game at one.  Verdugo hit an RBI single giving the Yankees a 2-1 lead.  In the top of the eighth Volpe hit a two-run single extending the lead to 4-1.  In the bottom of the eighth Jung hit an RBI single and Lowe hit a sac fly cutting the lead to 4-3.  In the bottom of the ninth after getting the first out on an easy groundout closer Holmes gave up a single, walk, walk and a grand-slam to lose the game 7-4.  The rubber game of the three-game series is on Wednesday night.   

New York Yankees news and notes from the past couple of days

Andy Pettitte showed up in camp on Monday.  he is only sta ing a couple of days this time and no will not be coming out of retirement. He will be back with his family on Wednesday and stated that he is enjoying it and had no itch to go back to training and getting ready for the season this winter.  He stated as a competitor you will always miss it but he is happy with being home and spending more time with his family.  As far as Derek Jeter goes he said he was surprised but not surprised.  He said that they talked a lot about it last year and he knew Derek was different then in years past.  He said that he and Mo knew but just didn't know when it would be. 

Brian McCann is the new catcher so he hasn't seen Ivan Nova be great and also have his down times in the last couple of years.  He didn't see hit  have to go to AAA and then come back and dominate with a 2.78 ERA in the second half of last season.  What he has seen is what is happening so far in spring training.  Nova threw 36 pitches on Monday and 31 of them were strikes.  It was his second spring start. "When you've got good stuff, you can pund the zone all day long and you can go right at hitters."  McCann said.  "It doesn't matter.  He changes eye levels.  He does so many good things.  Today's outing was beyond impressive."  Those are very nice words from an all-star catcher who has seen his share of good pitching in Atlanta. 

Nova said that he has set some goals for this year but wouldn't exactly reveal them.  He did say this though "I don't want to be going back and forth every time.  I just want to be a pitcher that the team can trust every five days.  I just want to do my job every five days.  That's one of the goals that I really want, that I want to be consistent.  I think I can do that and be really good.  My body feels good, so I'll just wait until the season and prove what I can do." 

He also discussed winning a championship.  If he continues doing what he is doing it will help towards that. 

He is a number four starter and maybe number three if they break up the two Japanese pitchers.  He has the

potential to be a top of the rotation type guy though.

The Yankees play a night game Tuesday night in Tampa.  Derek Jeter will DH in that game instead of making

the long trip to Port Charlotte to face the Rays on Wednesday.  Mark Teixeira took live BP on Monday, he will

take more on Tuesday.  He will rest on Wednesday and then get in a game on Thursday.  Alfonso Soriano is

also expected to make his debut on Thursday. 

David Robertson made his spring debut on Monday.  There is no way to predict a save in spring and even if

you saved him for the ninth inning he would be facing all minor leaguers anyway.  He hit the first batter that

he faced and then got a double play and a fly ball out.  He stated it was ok.  "I got three outs, I can't complain

about that.  I didn't walk anybody.  I accidentally hit the first batter on my second pitch.  it was a decent

outing.  I felt like my velocity was good.  I was behind everything.  I pulled maybe five or six pitches that I

shouldn't have out of the zone.  That was really it."  He will get a lot of scrutiny because he is becoming the

closer following the iconic MO.  It wouldn't be a job that I would want but he has been on the team for a

while and has been a great set-up man.  He deserves the chance.  I don't think we will really know about him

until a couple of months into the season, I would bet on him being fine though. 

Nova only needed 36 pitches in three innings so eh went to the bullpen after the game to get up to 45

pitches.  In his first start 35 pitches wasn't enough to get through two innings.  He showed great

improvement and that is what you look for. 

Joe Namath was in camp today and the players seemed to enjoy it.  Namath seemed to really relish it

as well. He threw out the first pitch dressed in all Yankees gear.  He talked a lot about Jeter.  He said

he played baseball in high school but back then he wasn't allowed to play two sports at Alabama in

college. 

Steve Donahue knows him from being an interim trainedr with the Jets when Namath played.  When

Robertson was a freshman at Alabama he had a class with Namath's daughter Jessica who was also at

the game.  They did some catching up.  Brett Gardner is hitting 429 in the early going.  Francisco

Cervelli is hitting 571 in the early going. 

New York Yankees Tuesday notes

Brian Cashman shot down Johnny Damon today. He said it isn’t going to be something we pursue. He said he text Scott Boras and told him. He said we love Damon but he played with us a while ago and he can’t play the field every day and that is what we need. He also reiterated although he won’t rule out a deal entirely most likely the options will come from what they already have. 
Cashman said Nunez isn’t an option because he doesn’t feel his bat profiles as an outfielder. I personally think it is too much to keep moving him around. He is a good offensive player but bad defensively and I think he just needs to stick at short and hope he gets better defensively.

Hughes did more pool work today but there was no update on him. There could be an update tomorrow on him. Kevin Youkilis is a little sore and most likely won’t play again tomorrow. He says he is fine though and could play if it was during the season. The Yankees are usually extra cautious and there is no reason not to be at this point.

Joba Chamberlain created a little bit of a stir today when he talked about still being a starter. He said he could do it and would like to try it again. The Yankees joked about it but I am sure they aren’t too happy. He can become a free agent after next year. I personally think he would be better off taking over for MO and being the closer but we will see what happens. I don’t think the Yankees will ever put him back as a starter. Jose Ramirez made a good first impression pitching today. The Yankees liked what they saw and said he has a live arm.

Mets sign reliever Brandon Lyons

The Mets have signed Brandon Lyon to a one year contract. He was with the Toronto Blue Jays last season. He got his first save in their final game of the season. Lyon is 33 years old and posted a 3.10 ERA in 67 appearances split between the Astros and Blue Jays. He struck out 63 and walked 20 in 61 innings. He was the primary closer for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2008 and Astros in 2010-11. In 2011 he got hurt and that derailed his career. 
He figures to be a setup man for the Mets at least to start as they say Frank Francisco is the closer. The manager and GM may not be on the same page with that though. Terry Collins the manager says Francisco is his man and the GM Sandy Alderson was less committal about that. He said a lot could depend on what they see in the spring. The Mets are done adding pieces unless Bourn signs with them. They have been talking to him but no deal is done yet. They are hoping to hold on to their draft pick if they sign him.

This is the second straight winter the Mets have made changes with their bullpen. I think this year they are in a much better place with it though. Bobby Parnell will be a setup man along with Lyon, Lyon has the experience to take over as the closer and they also have Josh Edgin as the lefty in the pen.

The Mets could use Francisco as a setup man if he continues to fail as closer.

The New York Yankees win in Baltimore as they lose some players

The New York Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles by the score of 8-5 on Monday night. The Yankees didn’t totally win though as they lost a few guys. Ivan Nova left the game early with a contusion of the foot and an ankle sprain, Raul Ibanez left the game after getting hit on the elbow and Clay Rapada left the game with an illness. Joe Girardi announced after the game that Dave Robertson hasn’t been available for the last couple of days due to sore ribs. Nova started the game for the Yankees and wasn’t very good and then he got hit on the foot and rolled his ankle later in the game. The Yankees offense got some big hits and they produced enough runs to win the game. 
Nova pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up seven hits and five runs. He walked three and struck out four. Rapada pitched 1/3 of an inning walking a batter, David Phelps picked up his first major league win pitching an inning and giving up three hits and he struck out one. Boone Logan pitched an inning striking out three batters, Cory Wade struck out the only batter that he faced and Rafael Soriano earned his second save pitching an inning and striking out a batter. Jason Hammell pitched five innings for the Orioles. He gave up seven hits and five runs with four of them being earned. Hammels walked and struck out three batters each. Luis Ayala got charged with the loss pitching two innings and giving up two hits and two runs. He walked and struck out a batter. Dana Eveland pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up two hits and a run with two walks and Darren O’Day pitched to one batter and struck him out.

Derek Jeter had a hit and moved past Robin Yount on the all-time hits list for 16^th place. Curtis Granderson had a hit, RBI and drew a walk, Alex Rodriguez had three hits and Robinson Cano had two hits. Mark Teixeira had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk, Nick Swisher had a hit, two RBI and drew two walks and Raul Ibanez had an RBI. Eric Chavez had a hit and an RBI and Russell Martin drew two walks. Swisher, Cano and Teixeira each had a double. Granderson and Teixeira each had a homerun. The Yankees were 1-11 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Chavez committed an error.

Xavier Avery had two hits and an RBI, J.J. Hardy had two hits and three RBI and Nick Markakis had a hit. Adam Jones had two hits and an RBI, Matt Wieters had a hit and drew a walk and Wilson Betemit had a hit. Nick Johnson drew two walks and Robert Andino had a hit and drew a walk. Avery had a double and a triple. Jones had a double and Hardy had a homerun. The Orioles were 3-10 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Davis committed an error.

Hardy had an RBI single and Jones an RBI double in the first inning to give the Orioles a 2-0 lead. In the fourth the Yankees tied the game at two on a Swisher two run double. Granderson hit a solo homerun in the fifth to make it 3-2 Yankees. In the bottom of the inning the Orioles came right back to take the lead. Avery hit an RBI triple and Hardy hit a two run homerun to make it 5-3 Orioles. In the sixth the Yankees tied the game on an error by Davis from the Orioles. Ibanez got an RBI and another run scored on the error to make it a 5-5 game. Teixeira had a two run homerun to give the Yankees a 7-5 lead in the seventh inning. Chavez had a sacrifice fly in the ninth and that was the end of the scoring. The final score was 8-5 Yankees.

The Yankees are back to five games over 500 and one game behind the Orioles in the loss column. The Yankees improved their record to 20-15 and the Orioles dropped their record to 22-14. The Yankees are 1 ½ games overall behind the Orioles and will try and sweep the brief two game series on Tuesday night. The Yankees are now 4-0 in Baltimore this year. The Yankees will head to Toronto for two games after they finish the series in Baltimore before returning home for a weekend interleague series against the Cincinatti Reds.

New York Yankees lose to the Tampa Bay Rays as David Robertson blows a save

The New York Yankees lost to the Tampa Bay Rays by the score of 4-1 on Wednesday night. The game took place in the Bronx,NY. David Phelps made the start for the Yankees. It was his second career start and he pitched well, he just didn’t pitch too deep into the game. The Yankees bullpen was good until David Robertson blew the save in the ninth. The Yankees offense was anemic once again as they left a bunch of guys on base. The only Yankees run came in the first inning. 
Phelps pitched 4 2/3 innings giving no runs and three hits. He walked four and struck out three. Boone Logan pitched an inning giving up a hit with two strikeouts, Cory Wade pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings and Rafael Soriano pitched an inning giving up a hit and struck out one. Robertson blew the save and took the loss. He pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three hits and four runs with a walk and a strikeout. Clay Rapada pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit. Jeff Niemann pitched seven innings giving up six hits and one run with a walk and five strikeouts. Fernando Rodney got hit second win of the season pitching two innings giving up three hits and he struck out two.

Derek Jeter had a hit, Alex Rodriguez had two hits and Robinson Cano had two hits and an RBI. Nick Swisher had two hits, Raul Ibanez had a hit and drew a walk and Russell Martin had a hit. Cano had a double and the Yankees were 0-8 with runners in scoring position and they left eight men on base. Rodriguez had a stolen base, Cano committed and error and Martin had a passed ball.

Ben Zobrist had two hits and drew a walk for the Rays. Carlos Pena drew two walks and B.J. Upton had a hit, RBI and drew a walk. Matt Joyce had two hits and three RBI, Luke Scott had a hit and drew a walk and Elliott Johnson had a hit. Sean Rodriguez had a hit and Brandon Allen had a hit. Zobrist, Johnson and Scott each had a double.. Joyce hit a homerun. The Rays were 1-11 with runners in scoring position and they left 11 men on base.

The Yankees scored a run in the first inning on a Cano RBI double. It was 1-0 all the way until the ninth inning. In the ninth inning the Rays had back-to-back singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs. Robertson struck out Pena. He gave up a sacrifice fly to Upton to tie the game at one and then Joyce hit a three run homerun to make it a 4-1 game in favor of the Rays. The Yankees would not rally in the ninth and that is how the game ended.

The teams split the first two games of this three game series. The rubber game will take place on Thursday night. David Price and CC Sabathia will be the pitchers. This is a marquee pitching matchup in the rubber game of an important three game series between division rivals. The Rays are in first place and the Yankees are in third place 3 ½ games behind the Rays.

Mariano Rivera-The Greatest Of All-Time

Mariano Rivera on Monday afternoon in a makeup game against the Minnesota Twins set the record for most all-time saves.  Rivera didn't need this record to validate himself as the greatest of all-time.  I think he was anointed that about five or six years ago and who can argue that.  There could always be someone to argue it but now you can backup your argument with the fact that no one else in the history of baseball has saved as many games as Rivera.  I know the save stat didn't come into existance until 1969 but that all doesn't matter.  Rivera is simply the best and what an athlete and man also. 

I have had the great privelage of watching Rivera since day one.  I don't know if I have seen every single save he has ever had but I have come pretty close.  I have seen many in the Old Stadium and now the New Yankee Stadium.  I have seen most of the others on T.V.  If I missed a few it was because of some big event such as a wedding or a christening or something like that where I couldn't miss. 

Rivera came up to the Yankees in 1995 and of course if they knew what they had then, they would of never lost that five game epic ALDS against the Seattle Mariners.  In 1996 he was a setup man for John Wetteland the closer.  Rivera would usually come in and pitch the seventh and eighth innings and just blow guys away with a 95mph + fastball and of course great command.  He would mow the hitters down and then Wetteland would make you sweat it out but the formula worked.  The Yankees in that magical season made it a six inning game.  It was the Yankees first World Series win in 18 years since the 1978 Yankees. 

Rivera took over the closer role in 1997 and has been there ever since.  I am sure not a lot of people remember but he actually blew three out of his first six save oppurtunities or something like that.  There was some panic and he was asked about it.  Rivera said he will be just fine and he has been more then that.  Rivera has been a picture of consistency in a job where guys last maybe a couple of years, maybe five or six if they are lucky at the top of their game.  Rivera is in his 40's now and still has 42 saves this season.  I find it ironic that he saved his 42nd game of the season the day he broke the record.  He of course is the last man wearing that number as it is retired across baseball. 

Rivera has one more year on his contract left but you can see him pitching longer then that if he wanted too.  I would think he will retire at the end of next season but he just seems like he could do it forever, it is so effortless.  Has he been perfect of course not but the amazing thing is when he has blown a save or still does you are in shock, that proves how good he really is.  Rivera is known for three big blown saves but he has been able to come back from them all.  In 1997 against the Cleveland Indians he gave up a big homerun to Sandy Alomar Jr. to lose the ALDS.  In 2001 he had a blown save in game seven to lose the World Series to the Arizona Diamondbacks and in 2004 they had the epic collapse against the Red Sox and he blew a save in Game four where Dave Roberts stole a base and then the Yankees never recovered. 

Rivera is simply the best and congratulations to him on setting the record and having a great career.  He of course is not done, he will look to add to his record and of course he also has 42 career postseason saves and really wants to add to that as well this season.  Rivera will look for his sixth ring to go along with his other awards such as World Series MVP and numerous All Star appearances. 

Baseball Contracts avoiding arbitration

I am not going to go through the whole list since it is pretty long. I will discuss the biggest names though. Here are some of the players and the contracts they agreed too. Jonathan Papelbon/Boston Red Sox-1yr 9.35 million Jered Weaver/Anaheim Angels-1 yr 4.265 million John Danks/Chicago White Sox- 1yr 3.45 million Rafael Perez/Cleveland Indians-1 yr 895,000 Jorge Cantu/Florida Marlins-1 yr 6 million Matt Lindstrom/Houston Astros- 1yr 1.625 million Alex Gordon/K.C. Royals- 1yr 1.15 million Howie Kendrick/Anaheim Angels- 1yr 1.75 million Jonathan Broxton/L.A. Dodgers- 2 yrs 11 million Andre Ethier/ L.A. Dodgers- 2yrs 15.25 million James Loney/L.A. Dodgers-1 yr 3.1 million Russel Martin/L.A. Dodgers- 1yr 5.05 million Carlos Gomez/Milwaukee Brewers-1yr 1.1 million Rickie Weeks/Milwaukee Brewers-1yr 2.75 million Francisco Liriano/Minnesota Twins-1yr 1.6 million Carl Pavano/Minnesota Twins-1 yr 7 million Jeff Francouer/New York Mets-1yr 5 million Ryan Ludwick/St. Louis Cardinals-1yr 5.45 million There are many others but this is a pretty good list. Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners signed an extension for 5 yrs and roughly 8o million dollars. That was a great move by Seattle, he is their ace and they needed to lock him up. The Detroit Tigers finalized their deal with Jose Valverde to be the closer for 2 yrs and 14 million. There is a club option for 2012 for 9 million. The saga of Bengie Molina took an unexpected turn when the Mets made him a 1 yr offer and told him take it or leave it. It was for 5 million and he left it and signed back with the San Francisco Giants for 1 yr and 4.5 million. The Colorado Rockies signed Huston Street to a 3 yr 22.5 million dollar deal. He came to them last season in a trade.

Rookie of the Year Awards announced

The Rookie of the Year awards were announced this afternoon and the winners are. Chris Coghlan of the Florida Marlins won it in the National League. He is a leftfielder and Oakland Athletics closer Andrew Bailey won it in the American League. I was wrong on both, I had picked Elvis Andrus to win it in the American League and Tommy Hansen in the National League. I guess you can say both were a bit of a suprise as they weren't the favorites to win the award. Elvis Andrus finished second in the AL voting and J.A. Happ finished second in the National League. Chris Coghlan had a strong second half as the Marlins leadoff hitter. He batted 321 with 9 homeruns and 31 doubles in 128 games. He also scored 84 runs and drove in 47. He was called up in May and led NL rookies in batting avg, runs, hits, total bases and on base percentage. He was the third Marlins player in 7 years to win the award. The others were Dontrelle Willis in 2003 and Hanley Ramirez in 2006. Andrew Bailey was 6-3 and had 26 saves. He led the AL rookies with a 1.84 era. He is the 8th A's player to win the award which ties them with the New York Yankees for most in the AL. Bailey made the team out of spring training and got an oppurtunity to close due to injuries and made the most of it. He was the A's lone representative in the All Star Game in July. Congratulations to both of these guys who worked hard and deserve it, it is nice to see some new stars coming up and lets hope they continue to work hard and respect the game.

Former World Series MVP suicidal?

The story today was that former Yankees closer and World Series MVP John Wetteland was about to attempt suicide. The article states that his wife called 911 saying he kept saying things about killing himself and he wasn't acting right. The police came and he walked out of his house with his hands in the air saying please help. He was always a high strung guy and admitted to using drugs in his younger days but this comes as a suprise. He was the World Series MVP in 1996 and then finished his career with Texas. He was out of baseball for a little while but came back to the big leagues last year as the bullpen coach for the Seattle Mariners, he seemed to enjoy his job with them so this came as a suprise. I am not sure what the situation is but I hope he gets the help he needs and is able to return home to his family and resume his life. It is amazing how quickly the rich and famous can fall and shows that it isn't always what it is cracked up to be. It also shows a more human side to athletes, they really are just like us other then having the fame and fortune, a lot of times they have more demons then even the so called normal person. I wish him and his family the best of luck and hopefully he will have a quick recovery and be able to go back to his job next year.

Mariano Rivera-Simply the Best

Mariano Rivera notched his 500th save last night becoming only the second pitcher in history to accomplish that and made me stop and think back. I am 31 years old and have seen pretty much every save that MO has ever had, i am a diehard fan and go or watch just about every single game. Mariano Rivera started out as a skinny little kid that was a starting pitcher in the minor leagues. He came up in 1995 and if Buck Showalter knew what he had in MO things may have drastically been different for lots of people. The Yankees lost a thrilling division round playoff to the Seattle Mariners that year in 5 games. Buck Showalter didn't know what he had in MO and if he did the Yankees probably would have won and maybe gone on to win the World Series and there would of been no Joe Torre and maybe not all those championships but who knows. Mariano Rivera failed as a starting pitcher and was converted to relief and thank goodness Buck and Gene Michael and some others saved him because if it was up to George Steinbrenner they would of traded him to get a shortstop because they were so worried about a kid named Derek Jeter being the starting shortstop for the Yankees. It is really funny how all these years later they are still teammates and both headed to the Hall Of Fame. Mariano Rivera started out as a setup man in 1996 for John Wetteland and made the games 6 innings when Mo would come in for the 7th and 8th and just blow people away and hand the ball off to Wetteland for the save, the Yankees won the World Series that year and next year Wetteland was gone and MO became the closer which he has stayed ever since. Mariano is such a humble man that he didn't even think about that in the offseason until they called him up and said you are going to be our closer and he said ok I will do my best. Mariano Rivera is such a cool customer and never shows too much emotion either way, he acts the same all the time, no matter if it is playoffs, World Series, regular season, spring training. It is funny that now you have Jonathan Papelbon, K-rod even Joba Chamberlain who have some histrionics to them and you still have MO just simply walking towards the catcher and shaking hands. The game last night was a time when he truly could of let loose with emotion but he did what he always does and of course everyone of his teammates walked up to him and hugged him, Derek Jeter had a moment with him and Jorge Posada also had a nice embrace, these guys have been together for a long time and it was great to see. The thing that makes MO great other then him just saving all of these games and being the best in the postseason and never sweating even after he does blow games is how humble he is and what a great person he is. They asked him about saving 500 and what he means and he still thanked go and all of his teammates, it is truly a pleasure to have witnessed his whole career and being able to tell my kids and grandkids one day that i saw the greatest closer of all time pitch. I don't know what will happen when he finally decides to hang it up but it will be a sad sad day. I definitely would love to be there the day he is in Cooperstown inducted into the Baseball Hall of FAme. Congratulations MO you are simply the best.