Yanks Take Back-to-Back Ace Kickings

Two games. Two aces. Two losses. The Seattle Mariners put Cliff "Yankee Killer" Lee and "King" Felix Hernandez on the mound in back-to-back games and the Yankees faltered in each to back-to-back complete-game efforts. Lee dominated everyone but Nick Swisher Tuesday in a 7-4 loss while Hernandez absolutely dominated the Yankees, pitching a complete-game shutout and striking out 11 batters while only allowing two hits.

Many can look at these games and complain about the Yankees offense, but this is how Seattle drew it up in the beginning of the season, that Lee and Hernandez would be a dominant duo, however, it is just the second time they've followed one another with victories this season.

What is a little alarming is the fact that the Yankees have given up seven runs the last two games to an inept Mariners offense. Phil Hughes had the extra rest and you could use that as an excuse and Javier Vazquez didn't pitch awful, but he did not pitch well either. And the bullpen did not help as they were unable to stop the bleeding and keep the Yankees in the game.

These past two games are the type of games where you want CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte on the mound, the guys who can go toe-to-toe with the opposing pitchers. But tomorrow things will be back to normal as the Yankees have the upperhand in the mismatch of Sabathia versus Ryan Rowland-Smith.

All in all, not to fret, things will return to normalcy tomorrow.

Note: The last time the Yankees lost back-to-back games to pitchers throwing complete games was in April of 2000 when Chris Carpenter and Kelvim Escobar defeated the Yankees as members of the Toronto Blue Jays.

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Burnett Bombed....Again

With AJ Burnett you know you're going to get either Good AJ or Bad AJ. I guess good AJ must be on summer vacation or something, because it's been all Bad AJ all the time in the month of June. Take a look at his last five games:

DATE	OPP	RESULT	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	GB	FB	PIT	BF	GSc	DEC	REL	ERA*
Jun 26	@LAD	L 9-4	3.0	6	6	6	0	6	5	3	1	79	20	22	L(6-7)	-	5.25
Jun 21	@ARI	L 10-4	4.0	9	7	7	3	2	4	6	11	91	23	18	L(6-6)	-	4.83
Jun 16	PHI	L 6-3	3.1	6	6	6	2	4	3	4	9	87	21	23	L(6-5)	-	4.33
Jun 10	@BAL	L 4-3	6.2	8	4	4	1	1	5	9	14	95	31	46	L(6-4)	-	3.86
Jun 4	@TOR	L 6-1	6.0	6	6	6	3	4	2	9	12	103	27	34	L(6-3)	-	3.72

He might have better luck throwing the ball left handed...with a blind fold on. At least Javier Vazquez seems to have pulled himself together a little with a 3-1 record and a 3.00 ERA in June. Unfortunately for him, his ERA started at 12 so even a month with a 3.00 ERA only brings it down to a still horrible 5.16. John and i have had the conversation about not even trusting AJ to pitch in the playoffs at this point. So the Yanks are paying a long reliever $16.5 million. And not even a good long reliever, right now I wouldn't even trust AJ with a lead.

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Some Old Friends (and Enemies)

Tonight the Yankees return to action against the LA Dodgers who are led by former Yankee manager Joe Torre and coaches Don Mattingly and Larry Bowa. Much has been made about whether or not the Yankee players will embrace Torre tonight, especially after the way he left and the book that he wrote. Alex Rodriguez did not want to comment on it, but any Yankee that was part of a championship team with Torre will probably be all hugs and reminiscing before the game tonight.

This also leads me to the way the fans may think of Torre now. We won't know the kind of reception he'd get in New York because these games are in LA. But I get the feeling many fans would boo Torre. Sure, the last four or five years weren't very great, but you can't blame all that on him. You have to remember the good times Torre brought to the Yankees, and remember how he was the man who helped the Yankees get back on top of the sports world. They were in an 18-year World Series drought before Torre arrived, and he won four in five years and led them to six AL pennants in his 12 year stint with the Yankees.

Torre is a Yankee legend and I hope the Yankee fans treat him like one whenever the next time he arrives at the Stadium may be. We don't boo our World Series heroes. We are not Red Sox fans.

Speaking of Red Sox fans booing World Series heroes, the Yankees are reunited with their all-time villain Manny Ramirez tonight. Ramirez has haunted Yankees fans as a member of the Indians and Red Sox, but now he is at the end of his career and his numbers have been on the decline. But say what you want about Manny, he always turned it up a notch whenever he was facing the pinstripes, and expect the same during this weekend.

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Seriously, A.J.?

I'm probably going to be asleep before the end of this game, but A.J. Burnett threw another stinker today and the Yankees will most likely lose this one. There has to be a real cause for concern with him. I mean, it's gotten to the point where if the playoffs started tomorrow, I'd rather see, gulp, Javier Vazquez, formerly known as Public Enemy Number 1, starting in the playoffs over A.J. Burnett. And with the money Burnett's getting paid there's no reason why he shouldn't be starting in the playoffs.

In other news, Phil Hughes, who's been maybe the best pitcher all season, is being skipped a start so they can manage his innings limit. I see the Yankees learned from last year, when they started skipping Joba's starts in August and limiting him to three to four innings the games he did pitch...which was just stupid. It's better to skip his turn now then down the stretch of the season.

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CC Pitches Yanks into First

Mets 0 4 9
Yankees 4 9 0

WP: CC Sabathia (8-3)
LP: Johan Santana (5-4)

We're back from a blistering hot and then rainy day in the Bronx, here's the recap.

Player of the Game: They're both the reason the Yankees won this game so I'm giving it to both CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira.

Sabathia- He's finally pitching like an ace. Today's 8 innings, 4 hit, shutout performance against Johan Santana gives him his fourth straight win.

Tex- After seeing his 5-strikeout performance (apparently called either the Olympic Rings or the Platinum Sombrero) in Toronto, he struck out in his first at-bat. So after seeing 6 consecutive Mark Teixeira strikeouts in person, we were slightly extremely concerned when he came to the plate with the bases loaded, but he proved us wrong with a Grand Slam Tex Message that just made it over the left field wall.

Play of the Game: Brett Gardner made a nice catch going back to the wall, that I of course missed going to get a bottle of water, but it looked good on the replay.

Turning Point of the Game: Pretty obvious Tex's Grand Slam was the turning point, as it was all the offense the Yankees could provide, and all the support CC needed.

Notes:

• CC's month of June: 28 IP, 8 ER, 2.57 ERA, 28 K, and most importantly (4-0)
• I'm not sure why, but A-Rod looked a step or two slow in the field today. There were a few balls hit to his left that he took one step towards and then let go by into the outfield, so that might be something to watch.
• Jeter went 2-4 the day after sitting out with a sore heel, and legged out an infield hit, so hopefully all is good there.
  
• On the way to the game, we found out that a "prime-time Emmy award winning TV show" would be filming a segment at 12:30. It turned out to be Extreme Makeover: Home Edition "surprising" a family. I put surprising in quotes because they were sitting in the front row, but I guess I'll have to see the show to find out what they told them they got the tickets for.
  
• Thanks to the Florida Marlins 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, the Yankees have taken over sole possession of first place in the AL East.

Tomorrow:
Yankees at Diamondbacks
Burnett vs. Lopez
10:10 PM

• 
  

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Hughes Win

I don't know if there are any must win games in June, but with a three-game losing streak and a non-existent offense of late, the Yankees really needed to win this one, and they did.

Phil Hughes got off to a shaky start, giving up a leadoff home run to Jose Reyes and later in the third he walked the number nine hitter and gave up another home run to Reyes, but after that settled down. Hughes was able to go seven strong innings, allowing three runs on five hits while striking out four to earn his tenth win of the season, which ties David Price for the AL-lead in wins. Anytime the Yankees have taken a lead this season with Hughes on the mound, he has held it.

The Yankees offense finally came alive today. Down 1-0 early, they were able to manufacture a run to tie it up. Then they were down 3-1 in the third, and Mark Teixeira hit a home run which may have been the turning point of the game to tie it up at 3. Mike Pelfrey, who had given up four home runs all year and had not relinquished a lead in any of his starts, was tagged for his second home run of the game in the fourth when Curtis Granderson hit the go-ahead two run home run to give the Yankees a 5-3 lead.

Finally to the bullpen. Joba Chamberlain came in during the eighth, and although I'd have liked to see Hughes go out for one more, Chamberlain got the job done and retired the final batter on a strikeout. And Mo was Mo and had an easy 1-2-3 ninth to seal the win.

So all-around a great day and a good win for the Yankees today. They beat a good pitcher and they're going to have to do it again tomorrow when Johan Santana takes the mound against them. Jim and I will be in attendence at the game and will make a post on our experience.

See Ya!

(We've probably used that title before, but it just works).

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Yankees Mets Game 5

The Yankees better win these next two games because I refuse to recognize that the Mets would win the season series. And the Yankees are down 1-0 already. Great.

Yankees
Brett Gardner LF
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Ramiro Pena SS
Kevin Russo 3B

Mets
Jose Reyes SS
Angel Pagan CF
David Wright 3B
Ike Davis 1B
Jason Bay LF
Chris Carter DH
Jeff Francoeur RF
Alex Cora 2B
Henry Blanco C

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Game 5 A.J. Showed Up

I wasn't closely following this game so I'll just go over a few things on my mind.

• In a World Series rematch, the Yankees were hoping for Game 2 A.J. to show up and shutdown the Phillies. Instead he woke up a slumping offense by pitching more like the A.J. Burnett that got lit up in Game 5. I don't remember the last time Burnett had a solid start. April maybe?
• The good news is the bullpen did a fine job today. Boone Logan and Chad Gaudin were able to shut the Phillies down and keep the Yankees in the game. The Yankees ninth inning rally fell just short as Lidge struck out Posada who represented the tying run.
• What can I say about Robinson Cano? Did you see the home run he hit? It hasn't landed yet. The guy is on fire and it's safe to say he is the best second baseman in the league right now. Maybe even best hitter? Definitely in the discussion.

Tomorrow

Andy Pettitte vs Kyle Kendrick 7:05 p.m. Yankee Stadium

See Ya!

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Yanks Sign First Round Pick

Today the Yankees signed their first round draft pick Cito Culver, a shortstop out of Irondequiot HS, NY. This is good news considering the Yankees have failed to sign first round draft picks in the past (see Gerrit Cole).

Also, as we were both out late last night, we did not have a postgame post for the game. But how about that beatdown of Roy Halladay? And Granderson, Swisher, and Tex all coming through with home runs. Swisher is having an amazing season and should be on the All-Star team. I don't care if it means seven Yankees, he deserves it.

Also CC looked dominant early, struggled in the middle, then settled down to go seven innings allowing just three runs and striking out seven. I think CC is a couple starts away from going on a tear similar to how he threw at the end of the year last year. He's just got to piece it all together in one start and he'll be off.

A.J. Burnett vs the ageless Jamie Moyer tonight, 7:05 p.m.

A-Rod remains to be a game-time decision.

See Ya

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World Series Rematch: Yankees vs Phillies

Yankees
Derek Jeter
Curtis Granderson
Mark Teixeira
Robinson Cano
Nick Swisher
Jorge Posada
Brett Gardner
Francisco Cervelli
Ramiro Pena

Phillies
Shan Victorino
Chase Utley
Placido Polanco
Ryan Howard
Jayson Werth
Raul Ibanez
Ben Francisco
Juan Castro
Carlos Ruiz

What's Up, Doc?: A year removed from the AL East Roy Halladay ventures back with the Phillies better than ever with an 8-4 record and 1.96 ERA. Halladay is 18-6 against the Yankees in his career and only Curtis Granderson and Ramiro Pena have over .300 batting average.
C'mon Carsten: CC Sabathia has four of his six wins against the Orioles. He has not been the ace like he was last year, and if they're going to win tonight, he's going to need to pitch better than the man on the mound for the Phillies tonight.
Injury News: A-Rod remains out of the lineup with an ailing hip flexor. Meanwhile, Sergio Mitre strained his oblique during batting practice and was put on the DL. Boone Logan has been called up.

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Jorge Feeling Grand

HOU 5 8 1

NYY 9 9 1

WP: Hughes (9-1)

LP: Moehller (0-1)

Player/Play/Turning Point of the Game: Jorge Posada pulled off the trifecta and is awarded all three of these with just one swing of the bat. Posada hit a grand slam to put the Yankees up 7-1 in the sixth inning. It was his second grand slam in as many days after not hitting a grand slam since 2004. Despite a comeback from the Astros this hit really put them out of the game and had a long ways to get back into it.

Notes

• Chad Huffman must have enjoyed his debut. He singled, walked, and even reached base on a strikeout.
• Robinson Cano hit his 100th career home run which tied the game at 1-1 at the time.
• Ramiro Pena did a nice job filling in for A-Rod. He made a nice diving play and also hit a two-RBI bloop single to put them up 3-1.
• As I type this the Rays are losing in the ninth 6-1. If that score holds, the Yankees move into a first place tie with the Rays.

Tomorrow

OFF

See Ya!

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Game 63: Yankees vs Astros

Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher DH
Jorge Posada C
Brett Gardner LF
Chad Huffman RF
Ramiro Pena 3B

Astros
Michael Bourn CF
Jeff Keppinger 2B
Hunter Pence RF
Carlos Lee DH
Cory Sullivan LF
Pedro Feliz 3B
Geoff Blum 1B
Tommy Manzella SS
Kevin Cash C

Sweep Feeling: The Yankees go for the sweep today and it would put their record at 40-23.
Milestone Watch: Robinson Cano has 99 career home runs and is one home run shy of hitting number 100.
Back Behind the Plate: As old as Posada may be getting, when he found out he'd be catching today he hit a grand slam yesterday, so maybe it's better to put him behind the plate for his psyche.
Huffman Up: Chad Huffman was called up from Scranton after Marcus Thames strained his hamstring and will be out for two weeks.
Huuuuges: Phil Hughes can move into an AL-leading tie in wins with David Price today.

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Game 61: Yankees vs Astros

Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada DH
Francisco Cervelli C
Ramiro Pena 3B
Kevin Russo LF

LHP Andy Pettitte

Astros
Bourn CF
Keppinger 2B
Berkman 1B
Lee LF
Pence RF
Michaels DH
Feliz 3B
Manzella SS
Cash C

RHP Brett Myers

Seven Year Anniversary: So it didn't come to my attention until I went on River Ave Blues that today is the seven year anniversary of when the Houston Astros combined six pitchers to no-hit the Yankees. It was a very unusual no-hitter and the Yankees faced Octavio Dotel, Brad Lidge, and Billy Wagner the final three innings. No easy task. Anyway it's the first time the Astros are back in town since then.
Lowly Stros: The Astros are bad. Maybe not as bad as the Orioles, then again the Orioles are playing in the toughest division in baseball. However, the Astros have won eight of ten but they are running into former 'Stro and vintage Andy Pettitte.
All-Star Starter?: Andy Pettitte has put together one helluva a start to the season. Especially coming from a guy who is known as a second-half pitcher. Pettitte is 7-1 with a 2.47 ERA and isn't exactly facing Murderer's Row today.
Cano Cleaning Up: Robinson Cano is batting cleanup for the second time this season. The first time he went 3-for-4 with a grand slam. Let's see what today brings.

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A-Rod Has Tendonitis in Hip Flexor

The title is pretty much self-explanatory. According to Chad Jennings of the LoHud Blog, it's in a different spot than where Rodriguez had surgery last year. Joe Girardi commented saying it's as good of news as we could have hoped for. He did not rule out A-Rod being available to pinch-hit, but Girardi would like to avoid using him at all costs right now.

Back later with game post.

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Will Yankees Go After Lee?

Today in the NY Post, Joel Sherman writes about the possibility of the Yankees making a move for Cliff Lee by the July 31 trade deadline. Sherman writes that it will be difficult because the Mariners will ask for Austin Romine or Jesus Montero. But Sherman throws in his own idea, which is trading Javier Vazquez to an NL team to get the prospects needed to make a trade work. Now, this is reminding me a little bit like the Roy Halladay situation last year because the Yankees don't need Lee...at least not this year. People will talk about the Yankees being involved but in the end, it won't happen. And here's why:

• Brian Cashman won't trade Vazquez to make room for Lee. Vazquez is someone who Cashman put a lot of trust and confidence in, and it was a risky move bringing him back. Why would he jump ship with him in just half a season? Plus he is pitching like the Vazquez Cashman expected he was getting, so I doubt he makes any moves for him.


• The Yankees have a 3.84 team ERA, which is third best in the American League. Once again, they don't need Lee right now.


• Cashman won't part with his top prospects. We've seen it before with Santana, and as recently as last year with Halladay. Cashman won't part with his top prospects. The Mariners asked for Austin Jackson last year for Jarrod Washburn and Cashman wouldn't do it, so you have to imagine the asking price for Lee will be high as well.


• Lee is a free agent after this season. The Yankees have shown they are patient and have the money to sign the pieces they need. Vazquez may be gone next year and Pettitte may retire (although he looks like he can pitch for five more years) which will mean the Yankees will look for another starter (preferably a lefty to replace Pettitte) during the offseason.

Basically, it's pointless for the Yankees to trade for Cliff Lee right now. Their pitchers are doing fine (although I'd like to see Burnett pitch a little better and CC beat someone other than the Orioles) and they are 2 games behind the Rays for first place. This wasn't the first time the Post wrote about the Yankees and Cliff Lee, and if they can't find anything else better to write, it won't be the last. Just don't expect anything to happen during the season unless a significant injury occurs.

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Blind Squirrels Find a Nut

Yankees 3 4 0
Orioles 4 8 0

WP: Arrieta (1-0)
LP: Burnett (6-4)
S: Hernandez (1)

Player of the Game: Jake Arrieta. The kid's making his Major League debut, and holds the Yankees to 4 hits and 3 runs and struck out 6. Not exactly Stephen Strasburg, but Arrieta wasn't facing a AA team like Strasburg was with the Pirates.

Play of the Game: Scott Moore's 404 homer in the 5th inning to tie the game.

Turning Point of the Game: Luke Scott's triple in the 6th inning. It looked like a pop-up off the bat, but it just kept carrying to the wall. Next thing you know, Miguel Tejada doubles him home to give the Orioles a lead.

Notes:

• Alex Rodriguez was pulled from the game with stiffness in his groin. He's going to see a doctor tomorrow, and hopefully he won't miss more than a couple of days.
• Jorge Posada is close to going behind the plate to catch, as he started doing drills a few days ago. There is no official word on when his first start in the field will be.
  

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Like I Said Earlier, Every Day

A Yankees victory over the Orioles is as sure a thing as the sun rising in the east every morning.

NYY 4
BAL 2

WP: Sabathia (6-3)
LP: Tillman 0-2
S: Rivera 14

Player of the Game: Who else but Robinson Cano? The guy got three more hits and an RBI and is now batting a league-leading .376! He's ridiculous.
Play of the Game: I'll give this one to Kevin Russo's diving catch in the eighth inning. It was a two-run game and making that play prevents any momentum to get an Orioles rally going.
Turning Point of the Game: I'm going to say it was when Sabathia got Luke Scott to strike out with the bases loaded in the seventh innning. That strikeout was huge as it was only a one-run game at the time and it killed the Orioles only legitimate rally.

Notes

• Brett Gardner had x-rays on his left thumb before the game, but they came back negative and he ended up pinch-running and scoring a run late in the game.
• Sabathia still did not have his best stuff. It was his fourth straight win this season against the Orioles.
• No home runs by the Yankees tonight ended an 18 consecutive home run streak by the team.

Tomorrow

Yankees at Orioles

Burnett vs Arrieta

See Ya!

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Let's Play the Orioles Everyday

The Yankees offense returned last night, as well as Mark Teixeira as they won 12-7 over the Orioles. Oh, and how about Stephen Strasburg's debut? Talk about living up to the hype.

Here's the lineups for tonight's game. Brett Gardner is out getting x-rays on his left thumb. Hopefully it's nothing serious.

Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Kevin Russo LF

LHP CC Sabathia

Weather Alert: It's raining all over the northeast today. The rain is supposed to stop around first pitch and pick up later on in the night. Btw, is it me or does CC Sabathia always pitch when it rains?
Home Run Streak: The Yankees have homered in 18 games straight after hitting three home runs yesterday. No reason it should stop tonight against the O's.

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Yankees at Orioles

Yankees
Jeter
Swisher
Teixiera
Rodriguez
Cano
Posada
Granderson
Cervelli
Gardner

Update 7:08: Yankees bats are already back and enjoying facing the Orioles as Nick Swisher crushes one over the centerfield fence as I type this up. That's 18 straight games the Yankees have homered in. Now here's Mark Teixeira and his .211 batting average. Let's pray he can turn it around.

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Oh Canada...

We're back from our road trip to Toronto. We saw the games on Friday and Saturday in person, and of course the Yankees lost both games. So we started to getting a little annoyed at all the Canadians talking to us as we walked around the city with our Yankee hats on.

We've got some pictures from our trip, which included the SkyDome, CN Tower, and the Hockey Hall of Fame. You can take a look at the album on our Facebook page, and while you're there you should "Like" it, if you haven't already.

Tonight, the MLB First Year Player Draft starts. Only the first round and compensation round air tonight, so we get to see everyone else who gets picked behind Bryce Harper. The Yankees, as World Series Champions, have the 32nd pick in the first round. It's an exciting two days for the Washington Nationals organization, as they'll almost certainly select Harper tonight, and last year's number one overall pick, Stephen Strasburg, will make his Major League debut tomorrow night. Nationals Park is already sold out, and they are issuing over 200 media credentials.

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Just Another Win Against the Orioles

The Yankees continued their dominance of the Orioles and homestand by completing another sweep of the O's.

BAL 3 3 1
NYY 6 12 1

WP: Sabathia 5-3
LP: Millwood 0-6
S: Rivera

Players of the Game: I couldn't decide between the two, so I'll give it to both CC Sabathia and Alex Rodriguez. Sabathia won his first game in a month by throwing seven innings allowing three runs and striking out seven batters. Meanwhile, A-Rod had a nice game too, going 2-for-4 with a two run home run.
Play/Turning Point of the Game: I didn't see much of the game so I'll give the play the same as the turning point, which was A-Rod's two-run homer in the third, which gave the Yankees a comfortable 5-0 lead.

Notes:

• Sabathia attempted to field a hard hit ball back to the mound with his bare hand, but he's fine.
• Robinson Cano. Is there anything he can't hit? He just flicked the bat on a pitch off the outside corner and drilled it to centerfield. He now has a 17-game hitting streak. I made it my facebook status in April, and I will stick by it, Cano can win the AL MVP this year.
• Always nice to see Brett Gardner hit a home run. Those are very rare.
• Anyone interested in what was going to happen with the botched call in the "perfect" game last night, apparently they will not reverse the call to an out.
• Michael Kay's Successors will be going on a road trip to Toronto to see our beloved Yankees play north of the border. We won't have any posts over the weekend but we will be sure to have pics and a post about our experience in Toronto and at the Skydome (it will always be the Skydome to me).

See Ya!

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Game 54: Yankees vs. Orioles

YANKEES (33-20)
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Brett Gardner LF

LHP CC Sabathia (4-3, 4.16)

ORIOLES (15-37)
Julio Lugo 2B
Miguel Tejada 3B
Nick Markakis RF
Ty Wigginton DH
Luke Scott LF
Garrett Atkins 1B
Adam Jones CF
Craig Tatum C
Cesar Izturis SS

RHP Kevin Millwood (0-5, 3.89)

It's 2-1 Yankees in the bottom of the third as I post this, and Robinson Cano is ON FIRE with an RBI double today to extend his hitting streak.

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Ump Ruins Perfection

So the Yankees won today, 9-1, answering back to John's concerns about their offense. But even though I'm a huge Yankee fan, that story doesn't even compare to the one that happened in Detroit.

Armando Gallaraga was on his way to pitching a perfect game when a grounder pulled first baseman Miguel Cabrera to his right. Gallaraga covered first and appeared to get the runner by a step but umpire Jim Joyce called him safe.

Here's the best YouTube video I could find:



There's also a very good video on ESPN's main page showing how blatantly wrong Joyce was. This monumental mistake is going to raise (or lower, I guess, depending on which way you look at it) Joyce to the level of Don Denkinger, who made a similarly poor call in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series. (Yup, as I was writing this, I found the Congrats on Throwing a Perfect Game LOL jk, I'm Jim Joyce page. This is the only one of those stupid "LOL jk" pages I've liked on Facebook besides the one hating on Bennys.)

You have to feel so bad for Galarraga. The range of emotions he went through in those tenths of a second between catching the ball and finding out the call would be enough to make some people break down in tears. There's only been 20 perfect games in the history of the game, and now Galarraga has the distinction of being the person to come closest to throwing one and not (basically because he did, and it was taken away from him).

Now, when something like this happens, inevitably people, like my Syracuse boy Jayson Stark, bring up the instant replay thing. I like instant replay the way it is, home runs and fair/foul. If we start moving onto every play it's going to get too much. I know this call blew, but they can't over react.



Also, in what I am sure will go down as one of the worst-timed retirements ever, Ken Griffey Jr. hung 'em up after 22 seasons in the Majors.


SEE YA!

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Anyone (still) Concerned about Yankees Offense?

Last night the Yankees continued to beat up on the JV portion of their schedule by beating the Orioles 3-1. The victory marked their fourth win in their last five games, so any concerns during that stretch against Tampa Bay and the Mets are over, right?

Well for me, I'm still a little worried about the bats. It seems like most of these game the Yankees have not been able to capitalize or get going against the starting pitching, and have relied on beating up on the opposing team's bullpens. Yeah, things may be coming around, but I'd feel a lot better if they can beat up the starting pitching of the weak instead of getting to the bullpens, because getting to the bullpen is how you beat the good teams.

Speaking of concerns, you have to feel better about Javier Vazquez and Joba Chamberlain, right. Albeit it was against the Orioles, any outing they can get their confidence up is a good thing.

Hughes takes the mound tonight in search for his seventh win of the season.

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Game 52: Yankees vs Orioles

Now that Memorial Day Weekend is over, we can make more posts as we are not as consumed with work.

Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Marcus Thames DH
Francisco Cervelli C
Curtis Granderson CF
Kevin Russo LF

Orioles
Corey Patterson LF
Miguel Tejada 3B
Nick Markakis RF
Ty Wigginton 1B
Luke Scott DH
Matt Wieters C
Adam Jones CF
Julio Lugo 2B
Cesar Izturis SS

Brian Matusz LHP

In the Lineup: After being hit in the back of the leg and taken out of the game in the seventh inning, Derek Jeter is in the lineup tonight and will be playing shortstop.
Swishalicious: During the month of May, Nick Swisher hit 374/.441/.670 with seven home runs, 17 RBI, and 24 runs scored. Let's see if he continues the hot hitting into June.
Matchup Mediocrity: Javier Vazquez and Brian Matusz each take the mound tonight, and niether one has had great seasons. While Matusz got off to a good start he has struggled lately, and Vazquez, well, we all know how he's done this season.
Weather Watch: Apparently the tarp is on the field at Yankee Stadium but the rain has stopped and it appears that there should be baseball tonight.

UPDATE 6:18: This is unrelated Yankee news, but it's baseball news, and I just heard on ESPN that Dontrelle Willis was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Just thought that was interesting.

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