Halladay Bronx Bound? Don't Count On It

There has been lots of talk about pitcher Roy Halladay lately since Blue Jays GM JP Ricciardi said he would listen to offers for the 32-year old pitcher. Much of that talk has been taking place in, you guessed it, New York. Fans have been calling in on talk-show radios and blogging about the possibility of the Yankees getting Halladay. Well the reason I am writing this post is to tell you that it is NOT likely to happen.

First, the Blue Jays are in the AL East, the same division as the Yankees. The Blue Jays want to be able to compete for the division down the road. By sending Halladay to the Yankees, you are giving them a rotation of Sabathia, Burnett, Halladay. That is unbeatable. There is no way they'd send him to their own division, thankfully, that probably means the Red Sox won't have a shot either.

Secondly, the Yankees would not part with their top prospects for the younger, left-handed, Johan Santana two years ago, what makes you think they'd change their minds now? A deal for Halladay would have to blow away GM Riccardi, meaning Hughes, Joba, Cano, Jackson, and Montero would be the names they'd want to hear to consider a deal. Possibly 4 of the 5 would have to be in the actual deal.

Finally, Ricciardi has reiterated that they are only listening to offers. They want to see what the price is for a pitcher of Halladay's caliber. If Ricciardi doesn't see anything he likes, Halladay will remain on the team. If such a case does happen, expect Halladay to be dealt in the offseason with only a year left on his contract. Brian Cashman will monitor the situation at hand, but it is unlikely he will come up with a better offer than someone like the Phillies or White Sox.

Despite the aforementioned reasons why the Yankees won't end up with him, I have come across one theory that I actually like. Steve from WasWatching introduces the idea that the Blue Jays could take the same route the Marlins did with Beckett, who would only deal Beckett if the other team took Lowell. He wonders, would the Blue Jays only deal Halladay if the other team took Vernon Wells? Wells has a big contract, and the only teams who would have the money on their payroll to do that would be the Yankees and Red Sox. If such a case would happen, it would be a two-horse race between these two teams.

However, SI's Jon Heyman is being told the Blue Jays would be hesitant to deal within the division.

Yankees fans should look at it this way: The Phillies are the favorites to get him and that is most likely where he will end up. As Pete Abe put it, "It’s addition by subtraction from the American League for the Yankees." Arguably the best pitcher in the league, would no longer be in their division, making the games in their division an easier task to handle.

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Yankees 10- Twins 2

Image by Keith Allison via Flickr

Yankees 10 16 0
Twins 2 4 0

WP: Sabathia (8-5)
LP: Baker (6-7)

PLAYER OF THE GAME: CC Sabathia held the Twinkies to 3 hits and one run over 7 innings while watching the offense beat up on Minnesota's pitching staff. Honorable mention has to go to Mark Teixeira, as he went 4 for 6 with and RBI and a run scored.

PLAY OF THE GAME: I may be a die-hard Yankee fan, but I can appreciate good baseball, and Gomez's catch is web-gem quality.

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME: Whenever Joe Girardi decided that CC Sabathia would start tonight's game. Sabathia has OWNED the Twins, as they have only scored one run (Cuddyer's home run tonight) off of CC in his last 24 innings against him.

GAME NOTES:

• The Yankees scored 10 runs tonight without hitting a home run. Good sign.
• Teixeira still hasn't hit a home run since June 12. Bad sign.
• The Red Sox won today, so the Yankees remain 1.0 game behind in the AL East.
• Yankees need to win tomorrow and AJ Burnett needs to give them length, because you don't know what you're going to get with Aceves on Thursday.
  

TOMORROW:
Yankees vs Twins
RHP A.J. Burnett (7-4, 3.83) vs. LHP Glen Perkins (4-4, 4.38)

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Game 83: Yankees at Twins

YANKEES (48-34, 2nd place AL East)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH,
Swisher RF
Cano 2B
Gardner CF
Cervelli C

Pitching: LHP CC Sabathia (7-5, 3.85).

TWINS (43-40, 2nd place AL Central)
Span LF
Harris SS
Mayer C
Morneau 1B
Cuddyer RF
Crede 3B
Young DH
Gomez CF
Punto 2B

Pitching: RHP Scott Baker (6-6, 4.99).

TIME/TV: 8:10, MY9.

On the road again: The Yankees head back on the road for a 6-game trip before the All-Star Break after a 5-2 homestand.

Weak link: Bruney has allowed 8 hits, 7 walks, and 4 ER in his last 5 innings. The entire bullpen combined has only surrendered 24 hits, 11 walks, and 8 ER in the last 32 innings pitched.

Ace gets his chance: Alfredo Aceves will start Thursday's game against the Twins in place of the injured Chien-Mien Wang.

Three's company: Francisco Cervelli will be sent down to the minors when Jose Molina comes off the DL, as the Yankees decided they will not carry three catchers.

UPDATE 8:54: The Yankees are getting are catching a lot of breaks here with bloopers and infield hits. Good to see they can score without hitting using the home run.

UPDATE 9:33: This is one of those situations where the Yanks need to just jump out and make the lead too much to overcome. Tex doesn't do his job there, up to A-Rod.

UPDATE 9:37: Well, A-Rod did his job, Carlos Gomez just did his better.

UPDATE 10:16: Carlos Gomez is doing his best Tori Hunter impression today.

UPDATE 10:22: About time Cano got a hit with someone on base.

UPDATE 10:24: Big insurance runs here by the Yankees.

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Call was wrong: Yea? No kidding

Derek Jeter was still mad about the play at third in the 1st inning during the post-game interview. After he questioned the call, "I was told by the umpire [Marty Foster] that I didn't have to be tagged to be out," Jeter said.

Crew chief John Hirschbeck spoke on behalf of Foster. This is what he had to say.

“It would make (Jeter’s) actions seem appropriate if that’s what he was told. The best way I can answer it is to talk to Marty about it. “Not here at the ballpark, but if I see him tonight, or if not, we’ll have lunch tomorrow and we’ll discuss it. Getting a play right is one thing, but how you handle it is also important. Nowadays, with the cameras, ESPN and the reporters, I say the media, I actually mean television — it used to be if the ball beat you, you were out, but it isn’t that way anymore. It’s not a reason to call someone out. You have to make a good tag.”

And then about the two plays Wally Bell got wrong at second:
“Sometimes, you just miss a play,” Hirschbeck said. “I think you’re human, and sometimes you just miss it.”

First of all, at least they came out and admitted that the calls was wrong and that it would be addressed. The thing that is a little weird to me is the statement " it used to be if the ball beat you, you were out, but it isn’t that way anymore." I assume (and you know what happens when you assume) that he meant that you can't get away with that anymore because I'm pretty sure you've always had to tag the runner. As long as I've been alive anyway.

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Blue Jays 7- Yankees 6

Blue Jays 7 8 0
Yankees 6 12 0

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Ricky Romero. Romero held the Yankees down very nicely, until the 7th inning when he began to tire. But only allowing 3 runs was enough because Pettitte allowed 6 and then the Bruney allowed another one to bring the total to 7.

PLAY OF THE GAME: Alex Rios's 3-run home run in the 3rd inning that gave the Blue Jays a 4-0 lead. The second base umpire had just blown a call at second base to keep the inning alive and Rios took advantage of it.

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME: Scott Rolen's 2-run double in the 7th inning made the Toronto lead too much to overcome. And it was very important considering the rally the Yankees put up in the ninth.


GAME NOTES:

• The Yankees obviously have the fire power to overcome big deficits, but there is a few things they need to do. First, they need to stop giving up tack on runs. When they fall behind, it is extremely important that the pitchers stop the bleeding, and hold the opposing team down from there on in. Second, the Yankees need to stop waiting until the end of the game to score runs. They scored 1 run in the 5th and then a combined 5 runs from the 7th inning on. Whatever switch they are flipping needs to get flipped earlier.
  
• It is also a lot easier to score runs when you get hits with men on base. The Yankees had 12 hits today but were 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.
  
• The Yankees seemed to sleepwalk a little bit through the first part of the game. Maybe it's all the day games, or maybe its the fact that they already won the series, but it needs to stop happening. When they have there opponents by the throat in the series, they can't let up. Winning series is great. Sweeping them is better.
• The Blue Jays defense was excellent today. That makes you wonder if this team can make a run to get back into this AL East race.
  
• Nobody should try to blame the game on the umpires. I'll be the first to say that the umpires sucked (and if you know me, I usually am the first to say that the umpires sucked), but if you want to blame somebody for the loss, it's Andy Pettitte.
• Oh, and in case you didn't hear it a thousand times on YES, the Joe Girardi Show is on tonight.
  

TOMORROW:
Yankees at Minnesota


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Game 82: Blue Jays at Yankees

YANKEES (48-33)
Jeter SS
Swisher 1B
Teixeira DH
Rodriguez 3B
Posada C
Cano 2B
Cabrera LF
Hinske RF
Gardner CF
Pitching: LHP Andy Pettitte (8-3, 4.25).

BLUE JAYS (42-41)
Scutaro SS
Hill DH
Wells CF
Rolen 3B
Rios RF
Millar 1B
Bautista LF
Barajas C
McDonald 2B

Pitching: LHP Ricky Romero (6-3, 2.85).

TIME/TV: 1:05 p.m., YES.


Keep on Rollin': The Yankees have won 10 of their last 12 and are 15 games over .500. They are 1 game behind the AL East leading Boston Red Sox.

Captain Consistency: Derek Jeter hit his 10th home run of the season yesterday, marking his 14th consecutive season with 10-or-more home runs. He is now one of six Yankees to do this and one of five active Major League players through 2008 or 2009. The other Yankees to have done that: Mantle (1951-68), Berra (1947-62), Ruth (1920-34), Gehrig (1925-38) and Bernie (1993-06). Pretty good company if you ask me.

Blue Jay Beatdown: The Yankees are 5-1 against Toronto this season, their only loss coming against All-Star Roy Halladay.

UPDATE 1:21: Well, the blown call costs the Yankees a run. A really short day for Girardi, but he has to protect his Captain. As the play happened I thought he was out, but when Jeter got up and started arguing the way he did I started to believe he was safe, and he was. And when Girardi stopped at third base, I really thought he might pull a Lou Pinalla and toss it.

UPDATE 2:04: Since there were 2 outs when Rios hit that home run, the blown call allowed the Blue Jays to score 3 more runs than they would have. That is, of course, if you believe in the fallacy of the predetermined outcome. (Don't worry, it will be a Michael Kayism). And how many close plays is Jeter going to be involved in?

UPDATE 2:15: I'm pretty sure the inning ended before Kay could follow up on David Cone saying, "the mound at Yankee Stadium has always been center stage" with a plug about the show.

UPDATE 2:18: Why would 2 fans in Florida have Michael Kay's cell phone number? And why don't we have it?

UPDATE 2:28: Welcome to the Yankees, Eric Hinske. Second at-bat on the team and he hits a solo home run off the screen of the foul pole. Not bad. And now Gardner singles, maybe the Yankees can get something going.

UPDATE 3:20: We were taking a short break from the game to watch a car chase, and luckily we did, because that was much more exciting than this debacle before us right now.

UPDATE 3:23: These Geico commercials are getting extremely stupid. You know they've taken the Caveman thing too far when the best they can come up with is a caveman running through the streets to some 3 Doors Down song.

UPDATE 3:28: That call was absolutely HORRIBLE. It wasn't even close!

UPDATE 3:57: So maybe Jeter can shake the bad luck he's had so far today and hit his 2nd career grand slam.

UPDATE 4:05: Anyone else smell that? It smells to me like a comeback.

UPDATE 4:32: They are only doing this because I started writing the recap. Hinske the chance to be a hero in his first game.

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Halfway Home

Yesterday, the Yankees played game number 81 of the season, which means they are halfway through the 162 game season. So we're going to break down the stats and share our thoughts on how the Yankees are shaping up this season.

Record: 48-33, 2nd place AL East, 1.0 GB
On pace for: 96-66
Last year at this time: 44-37, 3rd place AL East, 5.0 GB

Splits

Home/Road
Split	W	L	WP
Home	25	15	.625
Road	22	18	.550
Month by Month
Split	W	L	WP
April	12	10	.545
May	17	11	.607
June	15	11	.577
July	3	1	.750

Team Leaders
Offense
Batting Average: Derek Jeter .316
Home Runs: Mark Teixeira 20
RBIs: Teixeira 61
Runs: Johnny Damon 61

Pitching
Wins: Andy Pettitte 8
ERA: A.J. Burnett 3.83 (Nick Swisher, with a 0.00 ERA, does not have enough innings to qualify)
Strikeouts: Burnett 99
Saves: Mariano Rivera (duh) 21

Grades:
Starting Rotation

B
Well some of the stats are skewed because of the poor (and that's putting it lightly) pitching of Wang, this pitching staff can, and needs to, do better. Sabathia and Burnett are a combined 14-9. That's good, but not great. And when you invest $30 million into the two pitchers that are going to anchor your rotation you want better than a .608 winning percentage. The key is that the starters need to be more consistent.

Bullpen:

C+
While the 'pen has been solid lately, it has yet to be seen if it can stay that way. Again, as with the starters, the key is consistency. Mo struggled a little early, but has returned to his dominant self. Behind that, however, are a lot of question marks. With Damaso Marte on the DL, the 8th inning role fell to Brian Bruney, who got hurt, came back when he wasn't ready, got hurt again, then struggled. Phil Coke has seems to have dropped the "Choke" nickname, but if he gets overused, he'll crumble like Scott Proctor did. Adding Hughes's arm to the arsenal will definately help, but how long can they get away with him relieving when his future is as a starter?


Offense:

B+
The offense has been good, when it is whole. I have to say that because for a while there when Nady, Posada and A-Rod were injured the bottom of the lineup was Cabrera, Ramiro Pena, and Francisco Cervelli. Not exactly the makings of a Murderer's Row. And when A-Rod was out and later stuggling because of the fatigue, Teixeira did not get anything decent to hit, and his numbers dipped, too. Despite all that, they still lead the AL in homeruns (how could they not? I could hit a homerun to right field in Yankee Stadium. Ok, I take that back, but still, it's a hitters park.) They are second in the league in runs scored and on-base percentage, and also 5th in stolen bases, which is another dimension they've added to their game to help them win close ballgames.

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Three Yankees Selected to All-Star Game

Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and Mark Teixeira will be representing the Bronx Bombers at the Mid-Summer Classic this year in St. Louis. It is Jeter and Rivera's 10 time being selected to the All-Star Game. This will be Teixeira's second appearance.

Derek Jeter was the overall leading vote-getter, securing his starting spot at shortstop. Jeter is hitting .316 with 10 home runs and 34 RBI. He also has 17 stolen bases.

Teixeira was in a tight battle with nemesis Kevin Youkilis, but once again the good guy prevails thanks to the support of Yankee fans everywhere. Teixeira is hitting .278 with 20 home runs and 61 RBI. Once again, we pushed the fans to go out and vote for Tex so we'd like to take some credit as well. As they announced Tex was the starter at the game today the fans gave him a nice ovation, and of course someone shouted "Youkilis Sucks!" It brought a smile to my face.

Rivera was selected by the player's to serve in the AL bullpen. Mo has 22 saves this season, including becoming the second person to record his 500th save. Rivera is 1-2 with a 2.60 ERA and has 42 strikeouts compared to just 3 walks.

Teixeira has said he will NOT be participating in the Home Run Derby.

Here is the rest of the AL and NL All Stars.

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Yankees 10 Blue Jays 8

Well, it was a long day at the Stadium and I am exhausted but here is the recap:

Blue Jays 8 12 1
Yankees 10 14 2

WP: Albaladejo (3-1)
LP: B. Ryan (1-1)
S: Aceves (1)

PLAYER OF THE GAME: El Capitan, Derek Jeter. Jeter went 4-5 scoring 3 runs and hit the go-ahead 2 run home-run to put the Yankees ahead 9-8 in the 5th inning.

PLAY OF THE GAME: The aforementioned home run by Derek Jeter. The Yankees were trailing by 4, then cut the lead to 8-7 and the Captain's blast put them ahead and proved to be the game-winner.

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME: Hideki Matsui's 3-run home run in the 4th. Joba and Cody Ransom helped make a 4-0 lead turn into an 8-4 deficit, but Godzilla, who has been red-hot lately, closed the game within one run, and put the Yankees right back in the game.

GAME NOTES:

• Joba, Joba, Joba. Thank God there is a day game tommorow so I don't have to listen to Francesa say he should be in the pen. I have been a Joba as a starter person, but the more and more inconsistent, poor starts he makes, the less valid the argument of him being a starter becomes.
• Alfredo Aceves. Maybe he should start? He has been nothing short of terrific out of the pen this season, and today he once again showed how valuable he is. Aceves threw three shutout innings to end the game, keeping the Blue Jays offense quiet and picking up his first career save.
• For those keeping track, Nick Swisher has changed his batting intro music from Phil Collins' In the Air Tonight, back to Soulja Boy's Turn My Swag On. We are 100% sure he only had In the Air Tonight because he saw The Hangover.
• The game was about 4 hours long, so as we exited otu Gate 8 they were giving away free ice cream to the fans. I never saw anything like this before leaving a game at Yankee Stadium, so it's nice to see them treat their fans like this for sticking out a 4-hour marathon in the heat.

Tommorow:

Yankees vs Blue Jays 1:05 ET Yankee Stadium

Andy Pettitte (8-3, 4.25) vs Ricky Romero (6-3, 2.85)

See Ya!

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Game 81: Blue Jays at Yankees

It's only 9:00 AM, so the lineups are not posted yet.

John will be at the game And I will be at work serving food to beach-goers, so there won't be any in-game updates. Just a few notes:

Pitching Matchup:
Brett Cecil (2-1, 5.09)vs Joba Chamberlain (4-2, 3.89)

Chien-Mien Wang appears to be headed to the DL with a strained shoulder with bursitis. His spot in the rotation only comes up once before the All-Star Game, so the Yankees may look to Sergio Mitre from AAA Scranton to fill that spot.

John will back with the game recap later tonight, until then...

SEE YA!

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