Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Wise Released, Pena Sent Down



DeWayne Wise refused his AAA assignment and the Yankees had until today to either release him or trade him... so they released him. His bunt and his "catch" will be two of the things we will remember in his short, but very solid, career with the Yankees

Ramiro Pena has been sent back down to AAA Empire State Yankees to make room for newly acquired Casey McGehee. Good Luck Ramiro, see you in September.

Orioles @ Yankees 8/1/12

Yankees win 12-3!


We did not nearly have the same kind of July that we had in June, ending July on a 4 game losing streak that included two loses to the Orioles and Red Sox. The Yankees look to start fresh in August against the Orioles this afternoon at the Stadium. On the mound for the Yankees will be Phil Hughes and he will be opposed against Zach Britton. The game will be on MLB Network's Wednesday Matinee and broadcasted on the YES Network at 1:05 pm ET.

Lineups

Go Yanks!!

Trade Reactions - Zack Greinke


"Thank God we're actually in Anaheim, as LA would probably give me too much anxiety."


Does this give the Angels the best rotation in MLB?

Two words... who cares? Teams do not win or lose games because they have "the best rotation in baseball", or they have "the best lineup in baseball". It certainly helps to have a rotation like the Angels now do, especially in a 5 or 7-game series, but the real questions is this...

Can the Angels win the American League West?

To start off I just want to say that the Oakland Athletics will not finish 2nd in that division. They've scored 414 runs this season, which is the lowest in not just their division but the entire American League. Over the last 30 days they have a .330 wOBA, which is about average in the league. Their best hitter this season has been rookie Yoenis Cespedes, who's sporting a BABIP that's very hard to sustain (.352), which tells me the rest of the season may not go so well for him. Chris Carter has looked good in his 20 games this year, but we're talking about a guy with a .203 batting average and .294 OBP in 552 MLB plate appearances. Brandon Moss has hit well for Oakland, but this guy has a career batting average of .238 and OBP of .305.

The Angels will get ahead of the As sooner rather than later.

Cheer up, you guys may at least get a new stadium soon.

The story wasn't so much about the Angels' ability to prevent runs, as they've given up only 414 of them, which is the 3rd least in the AL. The question is "can their bats score more often", as the Rangers have one of the best offenses in baseball. Looking at the past 30 days though, I think LAA can win their division.

Don't expect the Rangers to continue with a team wOBA of .302, their mark in the past 30 days, but seeing that the Angels have a team wOBA of .345 over that same time span tells me their bats are indeed good enough.

So along with a much stronger rotation, and guys like Albert Pujols performing to expectations, I think the Rangers will have to settle for a Wild Card bid into the postseason.

"In the immortal words of Ivan Drago, 'I must break you'."

What does this mean for the Yankees?

I believe, in my heart of hearts, that the Yankees will end the 2012 season with the best record in the American League. Which means they'd face the winner of the Wild Card game, and as I said earlier, the Angels will not be that opponent. The Angels, I predict, will play the American League Central champion (more on that before the end of the week). The pitching match-ups in a possible Angels-Tigers series is very intriguing... Weaver vs. Verlander, Wilson vs Scherzer, Greinke vs. Sanchez, Haren vs. Fister, but I can see the Angels coming out on top.

Meaning the ALCS would be between the Yankees and Angels (yes, I'm assuming the Yankees beat the winner of the Wild Card game). Sabathia vs. Weaver, Kuroda vs. Wilson, Pettitte vs. Greinke, and Nova vs. Fister will be awfully good. Maybe my pinstriped glasses are too much, but I'd call that a wash. On the offensive side of things I also see a wash. The "runs scored" category may be in the Yanks favor now (492 to 469), but over the last 30 days the teams are seperated by only .002 points in terms of team wOBA (.347 to .345 for the Bombers). Mind you that does include a poor stretch for the Yankee offense, along with being without Swisher and ARod, but in the end I think this has the makings of an intense ALCS.

"I make these look good"

Congratulations To Our Keychain Winner

We have been running a "Caption This" giveaway for a free Yankees keychain and we thank everyone who left a comment. I went over all the comments, all the emails, and all the tweets and we have decided to use THIS comment, left by user dm23HOF 

"When you look at the dark side, careful you must be. For the dark side looks back." 
What Girardi is thinking: "Welcome to the dark side, young Ichiro, welcome..."

 Congratulations to him. I hope we are able to give away more of these and more Yankees stuff to our fans.