April 25, 2009

Update: Players Hopping the Shuttle

Some call-up news; The Yankees have decided to call-up David Robertson and Angel Berroa. They are most likely replacing Chien-Ming Wang and Cody Ransom. 

But an even more exciting call-up: apparently Mark Melancon is being sent to Fenway as well as he will either be replacing (hopefully) Steven Jackson or Brian Bruney. 

You also have to count in who will be getting sent down when Phil Hughes gets called up. 

I agree with RAB that Eric Duncan (who's hitting .362 so far) should be called up instead of Berroa, who has played a total of .1 innings at third and didn't touch the ball on that play.

Yankee Injury Updates:

A lot of news on the Yankees injured players:

Chien-Ming Wang:
After three terrible starts, a bad start in an extended Spring Training game, and a bad diagnosis, Chien-Ming Wang is hitting the DL. The Yankees think that Wang's "weak abductor muscles in his hips" were the primary cause of his lack of success this year. David Robertson will be called up to replace him but will most likely be sent down before Wang's next start. Phil Hughes will probably then be called up to take the ball against the Tigers. 

Cody Ransom:
Ransom has also been placed on the DL as he injured his hip while sliding into second base on Friday. Ransom, who has been diagnosed with an injury to his right quadriceps, was supposed to hold the fort down until A-Rod came back from his injury. However, the Yankees now will have to replace him with an infielder at Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre. Angel Berroa would probably be the most likely candidate.

Brian Bruney:
Now this one just sucks. Wang and Ransom weren't doing so well, but Bruney was on fire before he complained in some soreness in his elbow. He is now back in New York getting it examined. Yankee fans, lets hold our breath on this one.

Hideki Matsui:
After getting his knee drained on April 16th, Matsui has come back better than ever. Since that time, he's 7-17 (.411) and he feels that "little by little, (the knee) is getting better."

April 19, 2009

Bits 'n' Pieces: New Yankee Stadium

"Real" Firsts:
Despite having already recorded all the firsts at the New Yankee Stadium when the Yanks played the Chicago Cubs in two exhibition games, people were still anxious for the firsts that actually counted. Well here they are:

First Pitch: 
CC Sabathia (ball outside)

First Hit: 
Johnny Damon (Line-drive to left-field)

First Run: 
Kelly Shoppach drove in Ben Fransisco with an RBI-double
First

First HR:
Jorge Posada (Solo-Shot to centerfield)

First Strikeout:
CC Sabathia (K'd Victor Martinez)

Series Wrap: NYY 2-2 CLE
Although the first four games at the New Yankee Stadium didn't go exactly as the Yankees planned, the ceremonies were still considered a success. That aside, the series gave way to some highs and lows. In the first game of the series (and at the New Stadium), the game was tied 1-1 in the top of the seventh. But the Yankees bullpen gave up a 9 spot in the inning, ending the Yankees' hopes for a good start to the new ballpark.

The 2nd game showed better results from the Yankees as they won 6-5 with 5 of their runs coming on solo-home runs. Johnny Damon, Mark Teixeira, Melky Cabrera, and Robinson Cano all hit home runs, but it was Captain Clutch (Derek Jeter) who hit the big one. With two outs in the bottom of the 8th, Jeter belted one over the right field wall to give the Yankees a 1-run lead, one that they wouldn't give up.

The 3rd game was unthinkable. It was one of the worst losses in Yankees' history as they fell to the Indians 22-4. Chien-Ming Wang tossed his third-consecutive terrible start as he only lasted 1 1/3 innings and gave up 8 runs. Recently recalled Anthony Clagget didn't over much support as he and Wang combined to serve up 14 runs to Cleveland in the 2nd inning. That ties the Yankees' club record for most runs given up in a single inning and breaks the record for most runs ever in the 2nd inning by any team in the MLB, a record I'm sure the Yankees wished to steer-clear of. The only bright spots in the game were Mark Teixeira and Melky Cabrera who both belted 2-run home runs.

Today's game resulted in a much better outcome. The Yankees won 7-3 in a very well played game by both sides. The Yanks fell behind early 3-0 as Shin-Soo Choo and Kelly Shoppach both belted home runs off Yankee starter, A.J. Burnett. But the Yanks rallied, Mark Teixeira drove in a run with an RBI-single to make it 3-1, but it seemed as though the game was lost in the 7th inning when the Indians loaded the bases with one out. But Jonathan Albaladejo worked out of it with a little help from Cody Ransom. Ransom later proved to be the
hero of the game as, after Jorge Posada belted a pinch-hit, 2-run homer that required the first
use of instant replay at the new Stadium, cleared the bases with a 3-run double. He also added
some nice defense to the game as he came up with a great bare-hand play and a diving stop in
the same game.

Quick Preview of the A's Series:
Here's a quick preview of the Yankees' next series with the Oakland A's: It will be a home- coming
of sorts for A's DH, Jason Giambi who will return to the Bronx after spending 7 seasons in
pinstripes. However, I predict it won't be a very good one as I'm thinking the Yanks may have
their way with Oakland. We've all seen the New Stadium is a great, great hitters park (20 HRs
in the first 4 games breaks MLB record) and with the Yankees great offense combined with the
A's lack of one, there could be some pretty lopsided games. On top of that, the Yankees will have
two LHPs going in the series in Andy Pettitte and CC Sabathia so Oakland lefties won't be
getting as good as a chance as they had hoped and cranking a few long ones.

April 13, 2009

Wang Off To Another Bad Start

It's only one out into the bottom of the first inning, but Chien-Ming Wang has already proven to the Yankees that his sinker isn't what it was a year ago. It has been up this whole year (Spring included) and he has been hit because of it. 

The Rays are beating up Wang, scoring 3 runs off of back-to-back doubles by Carlos Pena and Pat Burrell. Wang walked B.J. Upton to start the game, then hit Carl Crawford and struck out Evan Longoria. After a double-steal, Pena blasted a double to right-center field and Burrell followed up with one of his one to left. Dioner Nivarro followed up with a grounder up the middle but reached on a wide throw by Robinson Cano.

The only out Wang has recorded was his K of Evan Longoria, who actually had 2 really good pitches to hit but wiffed them both.

April 12, 2009

No Joe. Just No.

Despite it being only a week into the season, Yankees' skipper Joe Girardi has already made two questionable moves. The first came before the season started when he announced that Xavier Nady would start right field instead of Nick Swisher (a move that Swisher is making him regret). The second one came today in the 8th inning of the Yankees 6-4 loss to the Royals. With two outs and one on, the Royals called on a pinch hitter, Brian Pena. Girardi decided to remove RHP Jose Veras from the game for LHP Phil Coke, forcing Pena to turn around and bat righty. 

Lets stop right there. Before even considering what happened after that move, think about this: Mariano Rivera was available. He's pitched plenty of 4-out saves in his career, what's one more to him. And even if Pena batted from the left side against him, Mo actually is better against lefties due to his nasty cutter. There really is no reason why Coke, the Yankees long-reliever, should've been in the game at all.

Well as soon as Girardi made the move, the Royals made him regret it. Coke came in with two outs, but promptly allowed 3 runs to score on 3 extra-base hits. That marked his second outing this year where he's given up at least 3 runs. Not only did Girardi's decision cost Joba Chamberlain his first "w" of the year, it cost the Yankees the game. Joe Girardi's seat just got a little warmer.

April 11, 2009

CC Comes up Clutch

In his first regular season start as Yankee, CC Sabathia made a lot of people nervous as he gave up 6 runs in less than 5 innings. Sportswriters bashed him for his poor performance. 

However, those same writers that criticized him last week, will be praising him tonight as CC  pitched 7 1/3 innings of shutout ball. He looked dominant, setting the tone early by striking out 3 of the first 4 batters and went on to notch 7 punch-outs on the night. 

Sabathia will make his next start April 16th as he will open up the new Yankee Stadium as he starts against the Cleveland Indians at 1:05 PM Eastern Time.

April 8, 2009

Late Rally Too Late

Down 7-2 in the ninth inning with 2-outs, the Yankees staged a 3-run rally and even brought the tying run to the plate. However, the rally came too late as Hideki Matsui popped out to end the game. Nick Swisher drew a one-out walk but then was erased when Brett Gardner grounded into a force out. However, Jeter then followed up with a two-run blast to the opposite field making it 7-4. After Johnny Damon reached base via the base-on-balls, Mark Teixiera came threw in the clutch with his first hit as a Yankee: an RBI-double off of Oriole closer, George Sherril. However, Hideki Matsui popped out to Melvin Mora on a 2-1 pitch to end the game. It was an exciting finnish to a terrible game.

Another Early Exit

As with Monday's game, another Yankee starter got knocked out early as Chien-Ming Wang left after just 3 2/3 innings. Wang was pulled out of the game after surrendering a Nick Markakis 2-run HR to cap off the Orioles 5-run inning. Wang's line:

IP: 3.2, H: 9, ER: 7, BB: 3, SO: 0

It marked the second straight game in which the Yankees starter gave up 6+ runs, lasted less than 5 innings, and didn't record a strikeout (although he's not as well known for K's as CC). A bad start for the Yankees' hyped rotation.

Some other notes from todays game:
Jeter's continued his good start to the season as he's been on base twice now...Teixeira has still not recorded as he's 0-for-3 today after going 0-for-4 yesterday. He has had a runner on base every time he's batted

April 6, 2009

Two (Very) Rich Men, Two (Very) Sub-Par Debuts

When the Yankees signed CC Sabathia ($161mm) and Mark Teixiera ($180mm) to mega-deals this off-season, they marked one date on their calenders: April 6th. Well that day finally came today, but it wasn't the Opening Day game they were expecting. Sabathia and Teixeira's lines say it all: 
Sabathia: IP: 4.1, H: 8, ER: 6, BB: 5, K: 0

Teixeira: AB: 4, H: 0, R: 0, RBI: 0, LOB: 5

Two very bad lines for two men with very fat wallets. Even though people expected a lot more out of the players than what the above, they had to have seen this coming. I mean think about it: each guy is really (maybe even overly) hyped. They both signed monster deals this off-season. They both have historically gotten off to bad starts. And they both said they would handle the New York media just fine; something that both of them will now have to do. It was a perfect storm. 

That being said however, I would like to remind all of you that this is just Opening Day, it's just one game out of 161 other ones. The only two reasons we care so much about these terrible performances are that Opening Day is way, way to focused upon; it's just one game. The other reason is just because of how much coverage the two players are receiving and how bad their performances were. But the bottom line is this; one game isn't going to kill you.

Bits and Pieces:
One of the things that made Teixeira's performance stand out so much was the fact that Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon went a combined 5-8 in front of him and all he did was get one little walk; that's a lot of runners being left on base...Nick Swisher pinch-hit in the 8th and lined a lead-off double right down the left field line in his first Yankee at-bat. Gardner (more about him later) bunted him over but then Jeter and, who else, Mark Teixeira failed to drive him in.....The Yankees escaped a huge fifth inning when Gardner turned a double-play when he caught the ball than threw the runner out at home to end the inning.....A-Rod should be back before Spring's end.

April 5, 2009

Joba Sharp In Final Spring Start

In his final Spring Training start, Yankees' fifth starter, Joba Chamberlain, hurled 5 1/3 innings, striking out 5. The most impressive part about his start however, was the 16 straight batters he retired after giving up two hits and a walk to start the game. 
     "It took me just a little bit to get going," Joba said. "I wanted to work on fastball command and my changeup, and I think I did a great job with those two. I think it was one of my most productive days as far as consistency. It was good."
     Since Chamberlain's turn in the rotation was going to be skipped, the Yankees had him fly to Florida to pitch for Double-A Trenton in a game against Triple-A Scranton/Wiles-Barre. His first regular-season start is slated for next Sunday at Kansas City. 
     "I'm excited to get going," he said.

2009 Season Predictions

Well it may not make much sense to some writers, but I'm going to give my predictions for the 2009 MLB season. For fun. It doesn't actually serve a purpose but it's just a fun thing to do. So here we go:

American League:
East:
1. New York Yankees
2. Boston Red Sox*
3. Tampa Bay Rays
4. Toronto Blue Jays
5. Baltimore Orioles

Central:
1. Chicago White Sox
2. Detroit Tigers
3. Minnesota Twins
4. Kansas City Royals
5. Cleveland Indians

West:
1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 
2. Oakland A's
3. Texas Rangers
4. Seattle Mariners

MVP: Mark Teixeira-With A-Rod sitting out the first month, a short porch in right, and with his numbers on the rise, Teixeira is in a perfect position to nab the MVP trophy and bring it back to the Bronx.
Honorable Mention: Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia and Matt Holliday

Cy Young: CC Sabathia-While I'm not really comfortable selecting two teammates to win these great awards, I feel as though I must make it that way. This is because the only other pitcher besides Sabathia that I could see winning the Cy Young is, Toronto's Roy Halladay. However, I don't think that Canadian offense will be able to give him enough run support to reach very many wins. Sabathia on the other hand, will have the great Yankee lineup to work with and, not to mention, one of the greatest (if not the best) closers of all time closing out his games in Mariano Rivera. 
Honorable Mention: Roy Halladay, Jon Lester, and Justin Verlander

Rookie of the Year: Travis Snider-With the other two major candidates for this award (Matt Wieters and David Price) starting the year in the minor leagues, Snider should produce good enough numbers that the others just won't be able to catch up. Look for him to bop about 30 HRs and drive in over 85 runs.
Honorable Mention: Matt Wieters, David Price, and Elvis Andrus

National League:

East:
1. New York Mets
2. Philadelphia Phillies*
3. Florida Marlins
4. Atlanta Braves
5. Washington Nationals

Central:
1. Chicago Cubs
2. St. Louis Cardinals
3. Milwaukee Brewers
4. Cincinnati Reds
5. Houston Astros
6. Pittsburgh Pirates

West:
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
2. Arizona Diamondbacks
3. San Francisco Giants
4. Colorado Rockies
5. San Diego Padres

MVP: David Wright-Wright's numbers have been on the slow incline over his career and it seems as though he's ready to take the crown as the National League's best hitter. After he set career highs in HRs and RBIs last year, it seems as though he's ready to top those numbers as well as add to his .300+ batting average. If you combine that with him hitting in the middle of the Mets order along with Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado, look for this guy to catch fire next season.
Honorable Mention: Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard, and Ryan Braun

Cy Young: Tim Lincecum-The reigning Cy Young Award-winner will win it once more as Lincecum was flat out nasty last year and I think he could be even better this year. His biggest competition is the Mets Johan Santana who also pitched incredibly well last year. However, Santana is having elbow troubles, making Lincecum the obvious favorite. 
Honorable Mention: Johan Santana, Jake Peavy, and Roy Oswalt

Rookie of the Year: Cameron Maybin-Maybin was a part of the blockbuster trade between the Tigers and the Marlins last off-season as he was sent over to Florida, along with some other players, for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. Maybin is a 5-tool player who will show off his great talents next year for the Marlins. Expect him to run down a lot of fly balls in the giant center field in Dolphin Stadium as he will be there for the majority of the 2009 season.
Honorable Mention: Jordan Zimmerman, Colby Rasmus, and Jason Motte

Playoffs:

American League:
ALDS:
Yankees over White Sox
Red Sox over Angels

ALCS:
Yankees over Red Sox

National League:
NLDS:
Cubs over Dodgers
Phillies over Mets

NLCS:
Phillies over Cubs

World Series:
Yankees over Phillies
Series: 4-2
MVP: Alex Rodriguez (that's right I said A-Rod would do well in the playoffs)


*=wild card winner

April 4, 2009

Bits and Pieces: First Games, Stadium Firsts, Final Roster

Reggie Jackson threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the new Yankee Stadium before the Yankees' game against the Cubs on Friday.

First Games at The 'Ol Ballpark:
Change that to *new ballpark and it would fit Friday and Saturday's games perfectly. The Yankees opened up their new (palace) stadium with two exhibition games against the Chicago Cubs, winning them both. The Yanks beat out the Cubs in the first game on the strength of three home runs, one of which was off the bat of Robinson Cano and was the very first ball to clear the fence at the new ballpark. The other two consisted of home runs by Hideki Matsui (2-Run) and Cody Ransom (3-Run) and both of them banged off the foul poles with Matsui's hitting the RF foul pole and Ransom's hitting the LF one. The homers, along with solid pitching, gave way to the Yankees 7-4 victory.
     The Yanks brought out the long ball even more in the second game, blasting four of them on route to a 10-1 win. Mark Teixeira highlighted the home runs as he blasted two: one was hit deep into the right-center field bleachers and the other went into the second deck down the left field line. Derek Jeter also hit a three-run shot and Shelley Duncan added a homer also in the later innings. However, in a game filled with offense, the Yankees also were helped by great pitching by the likes of Andy Pettitte and A.J. Burnett who limited the Cubs to just one run (Alfonso Soriano solo-HR) on 8 hits to insure the win.

Stadium Firsts:
With the opening of the new Yankee Stadium, fans were on a sharp look-out for all of the "firsts" that would happen in the first couple games at the park. The first "first" was obviously the first pitch" a sinker-strike thrown by Chien-Ming Wang to Aaron Miles. Moments after that however, Miles rocketed the first base hit through the hole between Jeter and Ransom. After Miles scored the first run, Robinson Cano belted the first home run in the following inning. Other "firsts" consisted of: First hit by a Yankee: Derek Jeter, double in the bottom of the first inning. First strikeout: Ted Lilly K'd Mark Teixiera in the bottom of the first inning. First save: Jonathan Albaladejo closed out Friday's game for the save.

Pena Beats Out Berroa With Glove:
The last competition of Spring Training was the one for the utility infielder. It was between, former rookie of the year, Angel Berroa who had a very good spring after not having productive seasons the last couple years. The other candidate was Ramiro Pena, a double-A shortstop who had always been amazing with the glove, but didn't do so well with his bat. However, after he stepped up his numbers in 2008 and after a pretty good Spring, Pena, who played in the Futures game at Yankee Stadium during the 2008 All-Star break, will be returning to the Bronx sooner than he thought as he has beaten out Berroa for the final spot on the Yankees' 25-man roster.