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 fail to put a strangle hold on the series as the Baltimore Orioles take game two

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Baltimore Orioles by the score of 3-2 on Monday night. The game took place at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland. Andy Pettitte started for the Yankees and pitched well. The Yankees offense did not deliver and that is why they lost this game. As they have done so much in the regular season, they stranded a ton of runners and couldn’t get the big hit when they needed it. Chen started for the Orioles and pitched very well, their bullpen was outstanding in this game. Chris Davis led the Orioles offense. 
Pettitte pitched 7+innings giving up three runs on seven hits with a walk and five strikeouts. He suffered the loss and is now 19-11 career in the postseason. Dave Robertson pitched an inning striking out one. Chen won the first playoff game of his career pitching 6 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and two runs with only one of them being earned. He walked one and struck out three. Darren O’Day pitched to one batter and struck him out, Brian Matusz pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and a walk and striking out two and Jim Johnson bounced back from a tough night with a perfect inning. Johnson picked up the save and struck out one.

Derek Jeter had two hits and an RBI, Ichiro Suzuki had a hit and made an incredible move to score in the first inning and Alex Rodriguez had a hit. Robinson Cano had a hit, an RBI an drew a walk, Mark Teixeira had two hits and Russell Martin drew a walk. Curtis Granderson had a hit, Eduardo Nunez had a hit and Cano and Nunez each hit a double. The Yankees were 2-8 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Suzuki had a stolen base, Jeter and Teixeira each committed an error.

Nate McClouth had a hit, J.J. Hardy drew a walk and Chris Davis had two hits and two RBI. Adam Jones had a hit, Matt Wieters had a hit and Mark Reynolds had a hit and an RBI. Robert Andino had a hit and Wieters hit a double. The Orioles were 3-6 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Reynolds and Hardy each committed an error.

In the first the Yankees came out strong again. Cano hit an RBI double to give them a 1-0 lead. It could of an should have been worse but Rodriguez hit into a line drive double play otherwise it could have been first and third no outs and one run already in. Davis hit a two run single in the third to give the Orioles a 2-1 lead. Reynolds hit an RBI single in the sixth to give the Orioles a 3-1 advantage. In the seventh Jeter hit an RBI single to make it 3-2. That would be the final score as the Yankees couldn’t do anymore off of the Baltimore bullpen.

The best of five series is now tied at one game a piece. The series now shifts to New York where they will play the next three games. If either team wins the next two in a row it will be over and a fifth game won’t be needed. The next game is Wednesday night at 7:37PM.

The New York Yankees even up series with Boston Red Sox and remain tied for first

The New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox by the score of 5-4 on Wednesday night. The game took place at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. David Phelps made the start for the Yankees and pitched well probably the best of his career. He didn’t pitch that deep into the game but under the circumstances it was some performance. The Yankees bullpen made it interesting but they weren’t that bad. Curtis Granderson powered the offense with two homeruns and Nick Swisher continued to come out of his slump with three more hits. Aaron Cook was out of the game early for the Red Sox and their pen did a decent job. Jarrod Saltalamacchaia was the leader of the Red Sox offense. 
Phelps pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up one run on five hits with a walk and five strikeouts. He won his fourth game of the season, Clay Rapada pitched to one batter and retired him, Cody Eppley pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run with a strikeout and Boone Logan didn’t record an out and gave up a hit and a run. Joba Chamberlain pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit, Dave Robertson pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and striking out one and Rafael Soriano pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and a run with a strikeout. Cook took the loss, his 10^th of the season pitching five innings giving up seven hits and three runs with two strikeouts. Rich Hill pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a walk and striking out one, Alfredo Aceves pitched an inning giving up three hits and two runs with a strikeout and Chris Carpenter pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a walk. Andrew Miller pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and striking out two and Vincente Padilla pitched to one batter and struck him out.

Derek Jeter had two hits, Granderson had two hits and three RBI and Alex Rodriguez had a hit. Robinson Cano had a hit and two RBI, Swisher had three hits and Eric Chavez had two hits. Andruw Jones drew a walk and Chris Stewart drew a walk. Chavez and Swisher each hit two doubles. Granderson hit two homeruns and Cano hit a homerun. The Yankees struggles with runners in scoring position continued as they were 0-13 and left 10 men on base. Dickerson had a stolen base and Soriano committed an error. Jacoby Ellsbury had a hit, Dustin Pedroia had two hits before leaving to be with his wife who was in labor and James Loney had two hits and an RBI. Saltalamacchia had three hits, an rBI and drew a walk, Daniel Nava had a hit and Miguel Gomez had an RBI. Mike Aviles had a hit and an RBI, Pedroia, Saltalamacchia, Nava, Aviles and Loney each hit a double. Saltalamacchia hit a triple and hit a homerun. The Red Sox were 3-9 with runner sin scoring position and left six men on base. Ciriaco, Aviles and Miller each committed an error.

In the fourth inning Granderson hit a solo homerun to make it 1-0 Yankees. Cano hit a two run homerun and it was 3-0 Yankees. The Red Sox scored a run in the bottom of the fourth inning on a Loney RBI single. Granderson hit a two run homerun in the seventh inning making it a 5-1 game in favor of the Yankees. In the bottom of the seventh the Red Sox scored a couple of runs to make it a 5-3 game. Gomez hit an RBI groundout and Aviles hit an RBI double. The Red Sox scored a run in the ninth on a Saltalamacchia solo homerun to make it 5-4 and that was the final score.

The Yankees and Red Sox have split the first two games of a three game series. The three game series will conclude on Thursday night. The Yankees record improved to 80-62 and the Red Sox record fell to 64-79. The Yankees remain in a first place tie with the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East. They moved to three games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Yankees Monday evening Postgame Notes after a loss in Tampa

Here are the Yankees postgame notes from Monday evening after another loss and their lead shrunk to one game.  The notes are courtesy of Lohud Yankees Blog and my thoughts mixed in. 

When Alex Rodriguez slid across home plate, popped to his feet and clapped his hands together, the Yankees seemed to have something going. That fourth inning was a show of life from this team, a three-run rally that gave the Yankees a lead and gave them a chance to build some momentum. By the end of the game, that inning was a perfect backdrop for just how poorly they played the rest of the game.

Fourth inning: Three runs on four hits.
Rest of the game: No runs on one hit.
James Shields is very good, we all know this. So is Fernando Rodney. There’s the obligatory tip of the cap. Certainly good pitching had something to do with it, but this offense was lifeless today. There was productive energy in the fourth. Otherwise, there was nothing. The Yankees didn’t get another runner into scoring position until Eduardo Nunez pinch ran and stole second base in the ninth inning.  The offense was all in that one inning and that was it period.  Their offense has been so bad, it would help if they were scoring some runs. 

“We all gotta do what we do,” Alex Rodriguez said. “The way you come out of things like this is by doing the little things and if we focus on doing the little things and become master at those we don’t have to worry about big things. And hopefully we’re on our way.”

“It’s frustrating, especially after the last outing, not being able to hold the lead,” Sabathia said. “Today I’ve just got to be a lot better than I was. … I felt like my stuff was good, I just didn’t make pitches when I needed to. Got into some bad counts and didn’t make the right pitches.”

There was some second guessing of Derek Jeter’s decision to throw to first, not home, on the game-tying ground out in the fifth. “What was there, nobody out?” Jeter said. “That would have been a tough one right there. Upton can run. If you don’t get him, you’re looking at two guys on and still nobody out. In that situation, what was it, the fifth, I think? You’ve got to go for the out.”  I can't disagree with Jeter, if you throw home and don't get him the inning could really blow up. 

Jeter did look home as if he were thinking about trying for the out at the plate. “I’m always looking,” Jeter said. “I looked up, but I didn’t think we had it. We maybe, possibly, could have had a chance, but in that situation, that inning, you don’t take a chance like that. Maybe in the 8th inning, 9th inning, something like that, it might have been a different story.”

Rodriguez said his timing was good and he felt good in his first big league game since late July. “Overall, I felt good,” he said. “Again, it’s a process. Today was another step forward. Saw the ball well, hand felt good, and I liked the intensity the team played with today. And tomorrow’s another day.”  It was good for the Yankees to get him back, hopefully Granderson tommorrow and then Teixeira by the end of the week.  These guys are going to have to carry them through September and into October and they should be able to do it. 

Rodriguez struck out in his final at-bat against Rodney. “I’m thinking about, Rodney’s got great stuff, just get a good pitch to hit, put a good swing on it,” Rodriguez said. “He gave me two good pitches to hit and I fouled them back, and the rest is history.”

Girardi didn’t seem upset at Cano for not running out of the box on that line drive that was dropped at third. “I think he thought he caught it, then he ran,” Girardi said. “That happens. Guys think a line drive is caught and then they kind of freeze.” If the Yankees weren’t in this situation — losing games and seeing their lead dwindle — it probably wouldn’t have been a big deal, but given this situation, it was ugly to see Cano miss out on a possible hit because he wasn’t hustling.  It is frustrating to see for the fans but the ball that got past him he said he felt tightness in his hip and that is why, it didn't look good though it shouldn't of snuck through. 

Sabathia on the home run pitch to Upton: “Two seamer away. It was up and he put a good swing on it. … (Trying to go) down and away. Trying to get a ground ball. He was in a hitter’s count. Just trying to make a pitch and ended up leaving the ball out over the plate.”

Sabathia has won just three of 17 starts against the Rays since coming to the Yankees. He has a 3.57 ERA in those starts, but he’s 3-7. Before coming the Yankees, Sabathia was a 7-1 with a 2.44 ERA in 11 career starts against the Rays (granted, those earlier Rays teams probably weren’t nearly as good).

Robertson on his outing: “I felt like I didn’t have my best stuff but I felt like I had good enough stuff to be able to get three outs. It’s unfortunate today that I wasn’t able to do that. … I fell behind a couple of times. Still, you want to make one good pitch and be able to get the outs you need. It seemed like I just couldn’t make a good enough pitch. Balls were finding holes and they were getting through.”

 Curtis Granderson pinch hit and struck out in the ninth. If he’d reached base, Granderson would have been lifted for a pinch runner.

No concerns about Ichiro Suzuki after his collision with Chris Dickerson. By the way, Dickerson is probably much bigger than most people realize. Dickerson was going to win that collision with no problem.

Final word goes to Jeter: “Yea, right now (things are going bad), but you can change it. We beat some teams early on, right? Baseball’s a funny game, a funny sport. Sometimes you struggle a bit, and then all of a sudden, things seem to change and you roll off a lot of wins. Hopefully we start that tomorrow. … Still got to have confidence. Unfortunately you can’t win every day. You’d like to — he approach is to win every day — but you’re going to go through highs and lows. You still have to have confidence, and we have a lot of confidence.”

The New York Yankees get swept by the Tampa Bay Rays to open the season

The New York Yankees have not begun the season the way they envisioned. They got swept in a three game series in Tampa to start the season. The three losses can’t really be pinned on one thing. The two starters in the first two games were not very good but that wasn’t the only reason they lost. Phil Hughes was pretty good today but didn’t give them length and they couldn’t score. The Yankees lost today’s game by the score of 3-0. They couldn’t get big hits when it really counted in any of the games and that cost them. The Yankees are 0-3 and the last time that happened was in 1998 and they went on to win 114 games and the World Series. It is very early and it is a long season, you never want to get swept but it isn’t the end of the world just yet. The Yankees now head to Baltimore for three games before coming home on Friday to take on the Anaheim Angles in their home opener. 
Phil Hughes started this game and pitched better then the other two starters did. Hughes wasn’t able to give the Yankees length though because of a high pitch count. Hughes pitched 4 2/3 innings giving up two runs on five hits, walking two and striking out five. Boone Logan pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and a run and struck out three batters, Cory Wade pitched an inning giving up one hit and striking out two and Clay Rapada walked a batter and got another out. David Phelps got both batters out that he faced and struck one out. Hughes took the loss in the game and Jeremy Hellickson got the win pitching 8 2/3 innings giving up no runs on three hits with four walks and four strikeouts. Fernando Rodney earned his second save by getting the only batter that he faced out.

Alex Rodriguez, Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira each got a hit and that was it for the Yankees. The three hits were all doubles. The Yankees were 0-6 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base. Rodriguez had a stolen base.

Carlos Pena had two hits and an RBI for the Rays. Evan Longoria had two hits and drew a walk, Matt Joyce had a hit, RBI and drew a walk and Ben Zobrist drew a walk. Jeff Keppinger had two hits and an RBI, Longoria and Pena each had a double. Joyce had a triple and Pena and Keppinger each hit a homerun. The Rays were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base.

In the first inning the Rays scored on an RBI triple by Joyce, Ibanez misplayed it though and it shouldn’t have been anything but an out. In the third inning the Rays made it 2-0 on a solo homerun by Pena and in the sixth Keppinger hit a solo homerun to make it 3-0.

The Yankees are 0-3 and the Rays were 3-0. The Yankees didn’t really do anything right in this series. They didn’t pitch too well in the first two games and in this game they didn’t hit at all. The Rays also drove them crazy with their shifts and it always seemed like they were in the right position. The Yankees felt overall that they had good at bats but a lot of times they were hitting balls right at people. The Yankees will now head to Baltimore for a three game series before coming home on Friday for their home opener against the Anaheim Angels.

Detroit avoids elimination and the series heads back to Texas

The Detroit Tigers defeated the Texas Rangers by the score of 7-5 on Thursday evening. The Tigers with the win staved off elimination and forced a game Six back in Texas on Saturday night. The game wasn’t really in doubt but it got interesting in the end as Justin Verlander threw 133 pitches and Phil Coke finished off the game because the Detroit bullpen was so worn out. Verlander threw well even though it wasn’t great once again and C.J. Wilson was cruising along for Texas until a lucky bounce for Detroit and then it all fell apart in the sixth inning.
C.J. Wilson pitched six innings giving up eight hits and six runs with two walks and five strikeouts. He took the loss in the game. Koji Uehara came into the game and wasn’t very good, he pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run with a walk and a strikeout. The last 1 1/3 innings were good for the Texas bullpen as they gave up one hit and struck out one. Verlander for the Tigers pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and four runs. He walked three and struck out eight. He has been heroic in the postseason but clearly isn’t the same dominating pitcher. He has a 5.56 ERA in the postseason. Verlander picked up the win and Coke pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up two hits and a run with a walk and a strikeout.

The Texas offense was spread out as they had ten hits. Ian Kinsler had a hit and a walk, Elvis Andrus had a hit and Josh Hamilton had two hits and two RBI. Michael Young had two hits and an RBI, Adrian Beltre had a walk and Mike Napoli had two hits and a walk. Nelson Cruz had a hit and two RBI, David Murphy had a hit and Mitch Moreland had a walk. Kinsler, Young, Murphy and Hamilton all had a double. Cruz had another homerun his fifth of the series. The Rangers were 2-9 with runners in scoring position and they left ten on base. Andrus made a throwing error.

Delmon Young led the Detroit offense with two hits and three RBI. He had two homeruns. Ryan Raburn had two hits and an RBI, Miguel Cabrera had a hit, RBI and two walks and Victor Martinez had a hit and an RBI. Brandon Inge had a hit and a walk, Alex Avila had a hit and an RBI and Ramon Santiago had two hits. Cabrera had a double and Martinez had a triple. Avila and Raburn also had homeruns to go along with the two by Young. The Tigers were 2-5 with runners in scoring position and they left four men on base. Cabrera had a stolen base and Santiago made an error.

In the first inning Hamilton hit a sacrifice fly to give Texas a 1-0 lead. In the third Avila hit a solo homerun to tie the game at one. In the fourth Young hit a solo homerun to give Detroit a 2-1 lead. Hamilton hit an RBI single in the fifth to tie the game at two. In the sixth Cabrera hit an RBI double, Martinez hit an RBI triple and Young hit a two run homerun to give Detroit a 6-2 lead. The hit by Cabrera would of probably been a routine out but instead hit the third base bag and rolled into the outfield for a double and that started the big inning. In the seventh Raburn hit a solo homerun to give Detroit a 7-2 lead. The Rangers started their comeback in the eighth with a two run homerun by Cruz to make it 7-4. In the ninth Young hit an RBI single to make it 7-5 and that was how the game would end.

The Tigers now trail the series three games to two and they will head to Texas to try and force a Game Seven. The series will take a day off on Friday and return on Saturday night. These games have been great and the Tigers have shown resilience. The Rangers I am sure are disappointed they didn’t win it in Game Five but probably feel good about going home to try and win the American League pennant and head to the World Series.

Cruz set an LCS record with five homeruns in the series. The pitching matchup in Game Six is Derek Holland against Max Scherzer. The Rangers twice in this game failed to get runners home from third with less then two outs. They made Verlander work hard but they didn’t get the big blow when they needed it. The Tigers hit for the natural cycle in a 2-2 game. It was the first natural cycle in postseason history which is a single, double, triple and homerun in the same inning. Wilson who is a free agent and looking for a big payday is 0-2 with an 8.04 ERA in three postseason starts this year. This has been a very good series and the drama will continue to unfold on Saturday night, will the Rangers finish the Tigers off or will the Tigers force a winner take all Game Seven? Stay tuned to find out on Saturday.

Yankees in Oakland for Memorial Day

The New York Yankees start a three game series in Oakland this afternoon which is Memorial Day.  They played a day game in Seattle yesterday and are playing another day game today in Oakland.  Here are the pitching matchups for the series and the Yankees lineup for today.

Bartolo Colon vs. Trevor Cahill-Today

Freddy Garcia vs. Brett Anderson-Tomorrow Night

A.J. Burnett vs. Gio Gonzalez-Wednesday afternoon

Yankees Lineup:Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, Russell Martin, Jorge Posada, Nick Swisher, Brett Gardner. 

The game is at 4:05PM today, enjoy the nice hot weather in the New York area and your bbq today.  I will have the postgame recap and some notes later on tonight. 

Yankees Visit tithe White House

The New York Yankees had a off day today but they did visit the White House. They also visited Walter Reed Medical Center before attending the ceremony in the white house. If you haven't see any video it is on youtube and there are some good pictures on the Lohud Yankees Blog via the Associated Press. It was a nice speech the president gave. He singled out Mark Teixieira, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada. The Yankees felt it was a great experience and that they gained a lot from it. They will be ready to go back to work tomorrow against the Baltimore Orioles for the start of a 3 game series.

Regular Season Game 11-Mets at Cardinals

The New York Mets will try and even up their 3 game series with the Cardinals today at 4:00PM. Here are some notes and the lineups for todays game. Johan Santana will face Jaime Garcia. Jeff Francoeur has a 10 game hitting streak to start the yr which is second in franchise history. David Wright is first with a 14 game hitting streak to start last season. Francoeur leads the majors with a 535 on base percentage. He is second in batting average at 457 and 4th with a 857 slugging percentage. The Mets have to win the next 2 games to avoid losing their first 4 series for the first time since 1997. Since 2004 Johan Santana leads the majors in wins(100), era(2.87), strikeouts(1343) and batting avg against(219). Pedro Feliciano needs one more appearance to make it 373 which would be 4th on the all time Mets list ahead of Jesse Orosco. Mets Lineup: Reyes(SS) Castillo(2B) Wright(3B) Bay(LF) Francoeur(RF) Tatis(1B) Barajas(C) Pagan(CF) Santana(P)

Yanks roll to Game 1 win

The New York Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins in Game 1 of the ALDS by the score of 7-2. CC Sabathia wasn't his sharpest but he was good and able to battle through things, especially with a couple of crossups with Jorge Posada who had a terrible game behind the plate. It didn't look great early but the Yankees stayed patient and didn't panic and then Derek Jeter hit a 2 run homerun to tie it and it seemed to settle them down. The Yankees also got a couple of rbi singles from A-rod which was good for him and Hideki Matsui hit a 2 run homerun. Nick Swisher had a rbi double. The bullpen was good and Joe Girardi used Phil Hughes for 2/3 of an inning, Phil Coke for 1/3 of an inning and Joba Chamberlain for a 1/3 of an inning. Mariano Rivera finished up the game giving up a hit and a walk but no runs. The Yankees have the off day tomorrow so it was good to get everyone in and comfortable and now they can be used again on Friday and will be ready to go in a tight spot. Mark Teixeira didn't have a great game but he did also hit the ball hard twice but just right at people. A.J. Burnett will now take the ball in game 2 with a lot less pressure and I have a feeling he will come up big. Nick Blackburn is a pretty good pitcher but he has never pitched in the postseason. It was a great start for the Yankees and hopefully they will have many more wins to come.

Twins stay alive with victory over Tigers

The Minnesota Twins stayed alive this afternoon with a 8-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers. The Twins are 2 games out with 3 to go so it is still a long shot but they have a shot anyway. The Twins head home to take on Kansas City and the Tigers will take on the White Sox at home. There was an interesting twist to the game today, in the ninth inning Delmon Young got hit by a pitch and apparantly was unhappy with his own teammate who caused this all by hitting a Tiger earlier in the game. Delmon Young got up off the ground and pointed at his own dugout and manager Ron Gardenhire said that the pitcher did the wrong thing also. The Yankees hope this goes down to the final day so the pitching rotations will be all messed up and the best scenario is if they tie and have to play a game on Tuesday to see who will play the Yankees starting on Wednesday.

Rays at Yankees

The New York Yankees will take on the Tampa Bay Rays in game 3 of the 4 game series. The Yanks took a doubleheader yesterday by the scores of 4-1 and 11-1. Chad Gaudin takes the mound today against David Price. The Yankees start today 9 games ahead of Boston for first in the AL EAst and 6 1/2 ahead of Anaheim for homefield advantage. It appears they pretty much have everything clinched so the only real drama left is when will Derek Jeter break Lou Gehrig's all time hits record, it could be tonight. He needs 3 to tie and 4 to break it. Here are the pregame notes and lineup via Peter Abraham. The Yankees are at their high water mark for the season at 39 games over 500. They haven't been at 40 over since they ended the 2004 season at 101-61. Tampa has just fallen out of really quickly losing 6 straight and 7 out of 8 and also losing Carlos Pena for the year yesterday. Alex Rodriguez is 10 of his last 20 with 8 rbi's in his last 8 games. He is now batting a season best 282. Melky Cabrera has heated up again batting 413 in his last 13 games with 5 xbh and 10 rbi's. He is now batting 281 with a 340 on base percentage. Phil Hughes has not allowed a run in his last 12 1/3 innings. Is it possible he could stay in this role and they go out and get another pitcher. I doubt it as they have said all along he is a starter also. Mo has converted 39 of 40 and 35 in a row. The Yankees pitching held Tampa Bay to 2 runs on 19 hits in 2 games yesterday and they struck out 23. The Yankees are 21-4 in their last 25 home games. They are 47-20 at home, 41-13 with A-rod. It is amazing that 2 of those losses were to the lowly Nationals. The Yankees are 10-1 in games CC Sabathia has started since the all star break. If you were looking for a true ace you got one. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(DH) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Swisher(RF) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Cabrera(CF) Hairston(SS)

Yanks sweep another series

The New York Yankees swept the Baltimore Orioles tonight in Baltimore. The final score was 10-2. It was a 3-2 game until the Yankees broke it open with 7 runs in the 9th inning to put the game away. CC Sabathia has been pitching like an ace since the all star break and that didn't change tonight. He pitched 7 innings giving up 1 run on 7 hits, he also had 1 walk and 9 strikeouts. Brian Bruney got 1 out in the 8th inning and also gave up a homerun, Phil Coke got an out and then Phil Hughes came in to get the final 4 outs for his second save of the year. The offense was led by Alex Rodriguez who had 3 hits and 4 rbi's. Johnny Damon had 4 hits and a rbi, Nick Swisher had 2 hits and 2 walks and Hideki Matsui had a rbi single. Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano each had 2 hits with Melky picking up a rbi and Jose Molina and Eric Hinske also had a hit so it was a well balanced attack for the Yankee offense. The Yankees now lead Boston by 7 1/2 games in the AL East as they lost to the Tampa Bay Rays and lead Anaheim by 6 1/2 for homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. The Yankees now head to Toronto for a 4 game series with Chad Gaudin starting tomorrow. The only bad news came after the game tonight that Mariano Rivera is out with tightness in his groin, he is going to rest for a few days and they will go with closer by comittee although I would expect to see Hughes in that role more often then not.

Rangers at Yankees a Matinee Rubber Game

The New York Yankees take on the Texas Rangers today at 1:05 on the YES network. This is the last game of the 3 game series with the Rangers winning the first on on Tuesday night and the Yankees winning last night. A.J. Burnett is on the mound looking to get back on track. Here are the pregame notes and lineup via Peter Abraham. If the Yankees win today that would give them wins in 11 of the last 12 series they have played. A.J. Burnett is 0-3 with a 6.32 era in his last 5 starts. He has allowed 36 hits and 14 walks in his last 31 1/3 innings. Melky Cabrera is batting 209 with a 258 on base percentage since Brett Gardner went on the DL. There have been 191 homeruns in 61 games at Yankee Stadium this season, last year there were 160 in 81 games. Phil Hughes has only pitched 8 innings this month. This doesn't make sense to me as you want to get his innings up so he can be a starter without too much restriction next year. Hideki Matsui is 14 of his last 40 with 18 rbi's over 9 games. The Yankees are 51-15 when they score first. The Yankees are a major league best 42-19 at home. Robinson Cano is 8 of his last 17 with 4 rbi's and 4 xbh. He is 16 of 36 for his career in stolen base attempts. I think someone needs to tell him just stay where you are. Nick Swisher is 12 of 46 with 8 xbh and 7 rbi's. He hasn't drawn a walk in 49 plate appearances which is a long long time for him. Michael Young has a 13 game hitting streak which is the longest current streak in the majors. He is batting 436 with 14 rbi's and 6 xbh during the streak. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Swisher(RF) Cano(2B) Cabrera(CF) Molina(C)

Pitching matchups for Rangers/Yankees

Tomorrow- Joba Chamberlain vs Kevin Millwood Wednesday- Andy Pettitte vs Derrek Holland Thursday- A.J. Burnett vs Dustin Nippert The Yankees are going to try and win this series but maybe they should tank it so the Rangers can take over the wildcard lead from the Red Sox. I am just joking of course, Joba will have had 9 days off by time he takes the mound so it will be interesting to see how he does and also now his mind is clear that he knows he only has 6 starts left. Andy Pettitte and A.J. Burnett will try and get back on track after shaky performances in Boston.

Yanks take series and ready for Boston

The New York Yankees defeated the Oakland A's by the score of 3-2 last night. Chad Gaudin got the start and looked good going 4 1/3 shutout innings. He gave up 1 hit with 5 walks and also struck out 5. He could of got through the 5th but an error by Cano cost him. Alfredo Aceves relieved him with the bases loaded and 1 out and got out of it with a 1-2-3 double play. Aceves pitched the next two innings giving up a couple of runs. Phil Hughes came on in the 8th inning and gave up a walk and hit before getting a double play and popup. Hughes has been great in the 8th inning but all these pressure situations and it now always being so easy is really going to help him as a starter moving forward. Mariano got the save and the Yankees look forward to Boston starting tomorrow night. The offense was once again led by Derek Jeter who had 2 hits making it 4 straight games with multiple hits. Johnny Damon also had a couple of hits and Mark Teixeira had a hit and 3 rbi's. Nick Swisher had the only other hit for the Yankees, their offense wasn't great again but they did enough to win and that is the key. Andy Pettitte will be on the mound tomorrow against Brad Penny. This series will be the Red Sox last stand, the Yankees only need to win 1 but it would be nice to take 2 or 3 and pretty much bury them for the division. Boston is 1 game ahead in the wildcard but the Rays are also lurking only 3 games out and they will play Boston more games coming up. Today is an off day so get some rest and enjoy it before another crazy Yankees/Boston weekend.

Yanks at A's(The Rubber game)

The New York Yankees will take on the Oakland A's at 10:05 tonight on the YES network. Chad Gaudin will make his first Yankees start against Brett Anderson. Here are the pregame notes and lineup from Peter Abraham. Chad Gaudin pitched for Oakland from 2006-08. He was 20-18 with a 4.00 era. He is 12-9 with a 3.71 era in 58 career games at Oakland Coliseum. Brett Anderson a 21 yr old rookie is 4-1 with a 3.12 era in his last 12 starts. He has faced the Yankees twice going 12 innings and allowing 9 runs on 18 hits and 3 walks. He last faced them on July 24th giving up 4 runs in 6 2/3 innings. Derek Jeter is batting 429 against lefties this season. The Yankees have not homered in their last 2 games, this can't be true is it, yes it is. 9 of Johnny Damon's last 11 hits have been for extra bases, I think he is trying to stay past this season. The Yankees are 62-30 since A-rod came off the DL. Big Tex is slumping a bit going 3 for his last 18 with 1 rbi in his last 5 games. Tex, Pujols and Adam Dunn are the only players with at least 30 homeruns in each of the last 6 seasons. Kurt Suzuki a yankee killer well he is hitting 407 against them in his career with 11 rbi's. This season he is hitting 448 against them with 5 xbh and 9 rbi's. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Swisher(RF) Cano(2B) Cabrera(CF) Molina(C)

Yanks lose don't get the sweep

The New York Yankees lost to the Seattle Mariners today by the score of 10-3. Joba Chamberlain got the start and wasn't very good only going 5 innings and giving up 4 runs on 7 hits. Alfredo Aceves came on in relief in the sixth and ended up pitching 1 2/3 innings giving up 4 runs on 4 hits with a couple of strikeouts. Chad Gaudin pitched 1 1/3 giving up 4 hits and 2 runs. It wasn't a very good day for the pitchers who have been so good lately especially the bullpen. Chad Gaudin is still in line to pitch Wednesday. The Yankees did win 3 out of 4 in Seattle and will head off to Oakland to play 3 starting tomorrow night. The story of the day and the good news from this game was Derek Jeter getting 3 hits and setting the all time record for most hits as a SS. A-rod, Swisher, Hinske, Pena and Cano all had one hit a piece. Doug Fister the starting pitcher for the Mariners had the Yankees offense off balance all day and they really didn't muster much. Hideki Matsui was out of the lineup and had fluid drained during the game and will miss tomorrow and then be day to day. The Boston Red Sox lost today so the Yankees lead remains at 7 1/2 in the AL east, Boston also is now 1/2 game behind the Texas Rangers for the wildcard lead.

Yankees at Mariners(Going for the sweep)

The New York Yankees take on the Seattle Mariners at 4:10 today on the YES network. Joba Chamberlain makes the start. The Yankees will try and win their 7th game in a row. Here are the pregame notes and lineup via Peter Abraham. The Yankees are 36 and 11 in their last 47 games. This is an amazing run, not much to complain about. The Yankees are 5-1 against Seattle this year and have outscored them 20-5 in this series. Derek Jeter needs one hit to tie for the record for most hits ever by a SS. He will be tied with Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio. The Yankees bullpen has been unbelievable giving up 0 runs in their last 12 2/3 innings, 1 in their last 19 2/3 and 3 in their last 30 1/3. They have also struck out 31 in their last 30 1/3 and given up 22 hits. Jerry Hairston Jr. is 9 of 26 with 3 xbh and 6 rbi's as a Yankee. Robinson Cano has a 13 game hitting streak going 24 of 57 with 9 xbh. He has 51 multiple hit games this season only trailing Ichiro who has 56. Robinson Cano has had a great season other then not being great with runners in scoring position although he seems to be getting better with that lately. He may even win a gold glove this year. Melky Cabrera has played every inning in CF since Brett Gardner went down, he may need a rest. He is 6 of his last 48. Joba after being almost unhittable in his first 3 starts after the break has struggled in his last 2. He has allowed 8 runs on 11 hits and 9 walks over 11 innings. Derek Jeter has 4 homeruns in his last 8 games. The Yankees are 33-26 away from Yankee stadium. Hideki Matsui has fluid on his left knee and is day to day. Mo may not be available today. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(DH) A-rod(3B) Posada(C) Swisher(1B) Hinske(RF) Hairston(CF) Pena(2B)

Yankees take game with late heroics

The New York Yankees won a tough game tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays 7-5. Joba Chamberlain got the start and went 6 innings giving up 4 runs on 5 hits with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts. Brian Bruney pitched a scorless seventh with a strikeout and Phil Coke got 2 outs in the 8th and then David Robertson got the last out before Mariano Rivera converted his 29th straight save. Joba wasn't great but he wasn't terrible either he just has to get more consistant and that is part of learning to be a pitcher, he is still 23 years old and everyone has to remember that. The offense started off with a bang and then looked flat for a few innings before striking in the 8th to score 3 runs, Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada hit back to back solo homeruns and then Johnny Damon added a rbi single and so did Melky Cabrera. Damon had 2 other hits and Derek Jeter went 3 for 5 also. Mark Teixeira had a hit, walk and rbi, A-rod had a walk and Jorge Posada also had another hit and rbi other then the homerun. Robinson Cano had 2 hits and Eric Hinske and Melky Cabrera had 1 and Melky had 2 rbi's. The Yankees will try and take the series tomorrow in a matinee game with A.J. Burnett taking on Ricky Romero before they head out to Seattle for 4 games.