Joba Leaves Game After Being Hit With Broken Bat

Update:

The X-rays are back for Joba Chamberlain and they came back negative. A bone bruise is the diagnosis for Joba and he is day to day. He will be reevaluated tomorrow by team doctors. The best possible news we could have hoped for really. 

Joba Chamberlain left tonight's big game 4 in the ALDS in the 12th inning after taking a shard of a broken bat from Matt Weiters to his pitching elbow. He threw warm up pitches and gave the thumbs up but Joe Girardi took him out anyway. Probably not a bad idea since he needed Tommy John surgery and reported no pain whatsoever and that welt and bruise looked absolutely horrible. We will keep you updated.

RIP Joe Girardi's Dad Jerry Girardi

The 81 year old father of Yankees skipper Joe Girardi died from a very long battle with Alzheimer's disease. Jerry Girardi passed away Saturday at his home in Peoria, Illinois. Joe Girardi has credited the way he is today to his father, specifically his strength, so this has to be a tough loss for him and my condolences go out to him and his family. Joe will manage the game tonight as planned.

ALDS Game 4: Orioles @ Yankees

Update:

Robinson Cano RBI ground out ties the game at 1-1 in the 6th

The Yankees are riding a huge wave of momentum I have renamed "Raul Ibanez" after their come back and eventual walk off win last night against the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees seemed doomed last night after we had to watch Mariano Rivera throw out the first pitch and not the last pitch in the game last night. We then had to watch Derek Jeter foul a ball off his foot/ankle and be replaced defensively by Jayson Nix. To top it all off we had to watch our struggling 3B with 5 years and $114 million left on his contract be pinch hit for by a 40 year old bench platoon DH type guy. All that and the Yankees are still up two games to one heading into tonight with Phil Hughes on the mound looking to pop a bottle or two. Trying to force a game five for the Orioles will be Joe Saunders who has already shut down the Texas Rangers this post season in the Wild Card game. The game will be televised at 7:37 pm ET on TBS.

Lineups

1. Derek Jeter, DH
2. Ichiro Suzuki, LF
3. Mark Teixiera, 1B
4. Robinson Cano, 2B
5. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
6. Nick Swisher, RF
7. Russell Martin, C
8. Curtis Granderson, CF
9. Jayson Nix, SS

Go Yankees!!

#27andCounting

Derek Jeter Day to Day With Bone Bruise

Derek Jeter was taken out of last night's game and replaced defensively by Jayson Nix late in last nights game after fouling off a pitch off his left foot. He was diagnosed with a deep bone bruise and was told to be day to do but who really thinks he is going to miss tonight? I personally do not, I can see him DH maybe, but you know how that goes. Derek Jeter has the heart of a lion and he will hobble his way all the way back to the locker room tonight when we are popping champagne.

Proposed Lineup For Game 4

I know everybody is still buzzing over Raul Ibanez's performance last night, but I think it's clouding some minds. We have to remember that he's only hit .197/.246/.246 this season against left-handed pitchers. I know he's hot, and he hit the walk-off against a good LHP last night, but I wouldn't start him tonight.

The first reason is Jeter should DH. His foot is clearly bothering him, so getting a day off from the field could help him get better for Game 5 or the ALCS. I don't think it'll be fully healed the rest of the postseason, but a little help would still be prudent.

Nor should ARod sit. Trust me, I know how bad he's been lately, but I think last night could have been a big wake-up call. Not that he should have needed it, but sometimes a player or team needs a kick in the butt to get back into gear... no matter how good they are or should be. Alex has hit LHP to the tune of .308/.410/.514 this season, so this may be the game that turns things around.

And Eduardo Nunez has hit .360/.400/.460 against LHP this season, so now's as good a time as any to give Jeter a half day's rest.

I'd rather Alex was the DH today, but since Chavez just can't hit lefties (.152/.231/.152 this season), and Nunez has limited time at 3B, we don't really have a good choice.

So here's my proposed lineup for Game 4...

Derek Jeter - DH
Ichiro Suzuki - LF
Robinson Cano - 2B
Alex Rodriguez - 3B
Russell Martin - C
Nick Swisher - RF
Mark Teixeira - 1B
Curtis Granderson - CF
Eduardo Nunez - SS

They Say A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

"You're going to bench me for WHO?'

This picture was actually taken in the 10th inning AFTER A Rod was pinch hit for by Raul Ibanez and after he hit the game tying home run. Still the look of disbelief in Rodriguez's face was too golden not to share this picture with the rest of the class. 

Thoughts On The Morning After

Does anything else really need to be said?

Yankees World Series Magic Number

The Yankees magic number for the #1 goal in all of baseball!!

My Thoughts on Game 3

After the Yankees failed to do anything in the bottom of the 8th inning I wrote a post that basically had me going off on the Yankee offense, while praising Hiroki Kuroda for a great pitching effort. And then the first inexplicable thing happened...


I thought about leaving my rant regarding the inept offense alone, and just expanding the post, but I decided to bag the whole thing. I thought I'd sleep on it, and just write up my game thoughts in the morning. 
After Soriano got through the top of the 10th inning, up came Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson, and Russell Martin to fail, fail, fail. And I started wondering if there was some way I could get back the rant I'd deleted earlier. 
DRob got us through the top of the 11th before the Yankee bats failed to do anything in the bottom half of the inning. So onto the 12th, where Robertson once again shut the Oriole bats down. Actually, David had to get 4 outs thanks to a lack of communication on a pop-up in front of the mound led to an infield single (yeah, nobody touched the ball, so it couldn't be called an error). 
Then it was time for the bottom of the 12th. Raul Ibanez was coming up again in the DH spot, but was going to face left-hander Brian Matusz. The following is not something I would have ever expected...

I jumped and screamed, before my jaw dropped to the floor and I was speechless. I still can't believe what happened. It wasn't the fact the Yankees hit a game-tying homer. It wasn't that the Yankees hit a game-winning homer. It was that both home runs were by the same man, and that man didn't even start the game. What's more is that he pinch-hit for Alex Rodriguez. 

Wow.

One thing I hope nobody forgets is that Hiroki Kuroda pitched really well tonight. 8.1 innings, 2 runs, 5 hits, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts. His control was shaky all night, but Hiroki did what aces do... battle through and give the team a chance to win. The Yankee offense tried to screw that up, but the Dark Lord made sure to pick them up.

Let's wrap up this series tomorrow night, allowing Sabathia to start in Game 1 of the AL Championship Series, because I have a feeling we're really going to want CC for two games against the Tigers (I don't think I'm going out on a limb by predicting they defeat the As).