Thursday, September 18, 2014

Lind's Ninth Inning Error Helps Yankees Beat Blue Jays in Opener

Shane Greene threw 6 2/3 shutout innings and Adam Lind committed a fielding error with the go-ahead run at third in the ninth tonight as the Yankees beat the Blue Jays in walk-off fashion, 3-2, beginning this homestand nicely. 

For most of this one, as expected, the Yanks struggled pretty mightily against Toronto starter R.A. Dickey (6 IP, 2 ER), not reaching second through the knuckleballer's first 4 2/3 frames while recording just a couple of singles.

Still, after Chase Headley, who hit the ball that Lind misplayed, worked a walk and Stephen Drew doubled him home with two outs in the bottom of the fifth New York had a quick 1-0 lead, something Greene really ran with during his dominant performance.

Indeed, the rookie right-hander looked great again in this contest, surrendering just three hits and two walks while striking out six in a nearly-perfect outing.

Add on to those numbers a nice solo home run by Derek Jeter in the sixth and an easy W seemed certain going into the top of the eighth, an at-bat in which the Jays would suddenly tie the score when Jose Bautista took Shawn Kelley deep for a two-run shot.

9/18 Open Game Thread vs. Toronto Blue Jays


Welcome to tonight’s open thread for the game between the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays. This is the first game of a four game set this week and weekend at Yankee Stadium. Tonight we will see Shane Greene head to the mound to face off with the Blue Jays RA Dickey. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB TV, and can be heard on the radio with WFAN.

Get your Yankees tickets and see Derek Jeter in his final weekend at Yankee Stadium. Also be sure to follow the blog on Twitter by following @GreedyStripes and be sure to like our page on Facebook by searching for The Greedy Pinstripes.


It’s an open thread and I know we are all discouraged and depressed but use the comments section anyway to chat with your fellow fans. Enjoy the game Yankees family. Go Yankees!

Yankees To Attend Yasmani Tomas Showcase


The New York Yankees have already missed out on one Cuban defecting outfielder this season in Rusney Castillo and have missed out on many others including Yoenis Cespedes and Yasiel Puig. New York may not let another one get through their fingers and plan to attend the showcase for the latest and greatest out of Cuba, Yasmani Tomas. Tomas plans to work out in the Dominican Republic on Sunday and the Yankees will have multiple scouts in attendance according to George A. King III.

King believes the contract could go for as much as $100 million on a long term deal. For once New York is not expected to be heavily involved in the bidding nor are they the favorites going into this so that may be a good sign if you are a fan of the team signing Tomas.

Gatorade: Made In New York featuring Derek Jeter


Derek Jeter is in another tribute commercial, this time for Gatorade. Check it out, it's great. 

9/18 Game Preview vs. Toronto Blue Jays


The New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays will start a four game set tonight at Yankee Stadium as the two AL East foes play out their remaining 2014 schedules. The Yankees will send Shane Greene to the mound for one of his last starts in his rookie campaign and he will be faced off with the Blue Jays ace R.A. Dickey. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB TV, and can be heard on the radio with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman on WFAN.

Greene is coming off a start in which he went 5.1 innings against the Baltimore Orioles striking out nine and allowing two runs for his fifth victory of the season.  Greene is definitely making his case to be in the 2015 starting rotation with all these quality starts.

Dickey is coming off a start in which he threw his 20th quality start of the season in a victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. Dickey is also on pace to throw his fourth consecutive 200 inning season. If its high let it fly, if its low let it go.



Go Yankees!!

I Say Again, Fire Kevin Long


The New York Yankees are officially eliminated from American League East contention and the second Wild Card is not far behind. The pitching has been spectacular but the offense has lulled us to sleep far too many times. This team makes rookie starting pitchers look like Clayton Kershaw and marginal pitchers look like Cy Young (yes I think Kershaw is better than Cy). Too often have we seen this team blow spectacular pitching performances from the likes of Michael Pineda, Brandon McCarthy, Masahiro Tanaka, and others and too many times has this team simply been shut out and shut down. This team has talent and the coaches and the staff are not getting the best out of their talented players. When your only job is to get the best out of your players and you’re not doing that how can one justify keeping you in your current position?

It’s not a coincidence that players that have come here have had far less success than they have had in their careers. Sure Kevin Long gets lucky every once in a while and gets a good couple of weeks out of a Chris Young or raises a Brendan Ryan’s batting average from .201 to .220 and breaks his own arm patting himself on the back but that’s not what he is getting paid to do. Long is getting paid to get the most out of the big money signings of Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury, Mark Teixeira, etc.

Beltran has a career batting average of .281 and in a full healthy season before 2014 his career low batting average was .247 way back int he year 2000. In 2014 Beltran is batting a meager .236. Blame it on the barking elbow if you want but it wasn’t bothering him all season long and he has had three cortisone shots and hasn’t seen an uptick in production.

Same can be said for McCann whose career average with the Atlanta Braves was .273. McCann’s worst season batting average was in 2012 when he batted .230 but bounced back in 2013 with a .256 average. McCann has only been able to muster a .235 average in 2014.

Ellsbury had a career .293 batting average with the Boston Red Sox but has seen that number drop significantly since coming to New York. Currently Ellsbury sits at .271 and is surprisingly leading the “Bronx Bombers” in average this season.

Teixeira was, believe it or not, a perennial .300 hitter before coming to the Yankees. Teix had a great 2009 season batting .292 with the Yankees but has seen his address drop almost every year since. In 2010 Teix batted .256 and followed that up with a .248 campaign in 2011. The 2012 season was not much better for Teixeira as he batted .251 and an injury riddled season in 2013 saw him produce only a .151 batting average. Currently in 2014 Teix is struggling to stay above the Mendoza Line as he bats .218.

Teixeira recently went as far as to mention in an interview when asked about beating the shift that he was “not paid to hit singles.” I’m sorry I was under the assumption that you were paid to hit home runs which if you compare his home run output to his salary he is not doing his job. I also thought his job was to drive in runs, you cannot drive in runs pulling off of every single pitch and pounding it into the ground for an out or a double play. This is where Long has to be outraged, not even publicly, with these comments and take Teixeira to the side and tell him to beat the shift. Teixeira seems like a nice enough guy and I don’t get the pre-Madonna vibe from him so I can only assume this approach comes from his hitting coach and instructors, but maybe I’m wrong on that one.


I could keep going all day but I think you get the point. If you haven’t got the point yet I have about five or ten more posts similar to this asking for the head of Long, look them up. If you paid me to cut your grass and I only cut half of it I probably wouldn’t last long. If you paid me to wash your dishes and I only washed some of them adequately I would probably be looking for another job. Why does Kevin Long continue to get a free pass here?

A Thank You & Get Well Soon Letter to Martin Prado


Martin,

First and foremost I want to say that I was sorry to hear about your appendectomy and the news that you would miss the rest of the 2014 season. These things happen and while they are unfortunate they do tend to happen for a reason. Your hamstring was not healing and you, like a true warrior and a gritty player that wants to win, continued to play on it as much as the Yankees coaching staff would let you. For that, for your heart, and for the way you left everything out on the field I want to thank you.

You exemplify the “Yankee Way” where winning comes before anything and everything. You were unselfish and you never complained when being bounced around from position to position and all over the batting order. All you did was hit, in the beginning of the game, in the middle of the game, at the end of the game, in the clutch, when the team was behind or when the team was ahead. You played the game like a fellow Yankee Derek Jeter plays the game, like it’s a game.

Get well soon Martin and get healthy for the 2015 season. We’ll see you in March.

Your fan and biggest drum beater,


Daniel Burch

Twitter Says Goodbye to Derek Jeter


As the New York Yankees and Derek Jeter begin their last home stand of the 2014 season at Yankee Stadium I asked our Twitter followers and friends to give their goodbye’s to Jeter in 140 characters or less. Today as New York begins their last set of games in the Bronx for the year I share those responses with you today, enjoy. 
Nothing but respect for the Captain
Matt Thornton all the way from Washington says goodbye... kind of.
Come to think of it he's really the only Yankee shortstop I have ever known as well...
More RE2PECT
Some people are still in denial.
Jeter is all some people know in their baseball lives.
Get your tissues ready Ashley. If you don't have any I have plenty to share.

You will definitely be missed!
1,000,000 Thank You's would not be enough.
Role Model.
More thanks for an entire lifetime.
And it will never be the same.
Goodbye from us all.

Don't worry we're working on an extra special goodbye for your final game at Yankee Stadium. Stay tuned. 

Is It Just Me?


Is it just me or is everyone simply ready for this season to be over? Just a quick rant to start the morning off right, my apologies in advance. This season has been full of so many ups and downs and highs and lows that it has been more defeating than usual. I was tore up when the New York Yankees did not make the postseason in 2008 and I was pretty emotional in 2013 when we couldn’t send Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera off the way we should have but this season seems different.

It doesn’t seem different because I necessarily liked Derek Jeter more than the rest of the Core Four I think it was just the expectations that the team came with this season. Conceivably if you spend in excess of $500 million in an offseason you expect to be there. As a fan when you see five of your top six starting pitchers go down and guys like Shane Greene, Bryan Mitchell, Brandon McCarthy, and others step right in and not skip a beat it invigorates you a little and gives you that “we can do this” feeling.

I am beyond depressed about how this season turned out and well beyond disappointed. I think I speak for all Yankees fans when I say we envisioned this season going a lot differently. I think we all had high hopes of sending Derek Jeter out with another championship ring, Masahiro Tanaka with his first, and Joe Girardi with a new uniform number for the 2015 season.

Anyone else just ready for this season to be over because you cannot look away? Even though New York is out of it and struggling you still find yourself watching every single inning of every single game? I know I have been and Twitter has been quiet so I think I know the answer. It’s depressing, I’m depressed, and it’s going to be a long winter.


My apologies for being down and sappy this morning but this is a FAN site and a fan driven site. I am not an insider, I am not an analyst, nor am I an expert, but I am a fan. I get emotional because I put everything I have into this team every single season and sometimes you just have to let it out. Thank you for baring with me through it and supporting the blog, we appreciate it. 

Saying farewell to Derek Jeter

When Derek Jeter announced during spring training 2014 that this season would be his last season, the sadness that I felt was enormous.  Derek Jeter, the skinny kid from Kalamazoo, MI had such an impact on my life that stretched way beyond baseball, hearing of his retirement felt like a death in the family.  It might seem a bit dramatic, let me explain.

In the summer of 2009, my fiancé was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  This was his second battle with the disease, he had been in remission for over 10 years.  Chemotherapy would start immediately.  2 treatments per month for the next 6 months.  The first few months weren't bad, some mild side effects from the chemo, nothing he couldn't handle.  Around month 3, the side effects became more challenging to deal with.  But with the excitement of the Yankees going to the World Series, my fiancé focused on the team as much as possible.  Of course, that included Derek Jeter. 

Unless you've been a caregiver to a loved one going through a battle like this, it's very hard to appreciate the little things that happen in the course of a day that can bring a smile to sick man's face, and Derek Jeter did just that.  Watching the Yankees win the World Series that year did more for my fiancé's spirit than I could ever have imagined.

After the celebration of the win died down, my fiancé and I were dropped back into reality that there was still another battle to be won, beating the cancer.  Things were progressing nicely, until the chemo stopped being effective and a new mix of drugs was needed to fight the cancer.  The drugs, more potent than the first set, left my fiancé hospitalized numerous times, making the mental battle to stay positive that much more challenging. 

During the 2010-2012 seasons, my fiancé's health got much worse.  I had read so many books on being a caregiver, things to do for the patient, and the importance of staying positive and how that could help in the fight.  This is where Derek Jeter became another member of my family.  My fiancé would watch every game he could, he would see Derek strike out, he would see him hit a homerun, he would see him defend himself with the critics who called him "old."  He would see that no matter what, Derek stayed focus on the task at hand, and never gave up.  My fiancé took that to heart.  He focused on getting better.  He focused on positive thoughts no matter how badly the side effects from the chemo were making him feel.  When the doctors told us the cancerous tumor was too big to remove and was pressing on his heart, he didn't let that get him down, he compared it to the bases being loaded, 2 outs, and Derek at the plate looking for an area of where to hit the ball to get a run scored.  It might not make too much sense, but for him, it was the only thing helping him get through this ordeal.

In the fall of 2012, my fiancé lost his battle with cancer.  Ironically, 2 weeks after he passed away, Derek broke his ankle and had to be carried off the field.  While I watched our Captain in visible pain and shock, I couldn't help but feel a connection between Derek and my fiancé. 

Derek Jeter, an amazing baseball player who has touched so many fans lives for generations to come, was the biggest inspiration for my fiancé to fight in his battle with cancer.  Every time an announcer would say Jeter was 0-10, boom, he would come through with a hit, or homerun; every time one of the doctors would tell us bad news, boom, he would brush it off, and move on.  Even though he lost his battle with cancer, he never gave up, he found comfort in Derek Jeter.

If you've managed to read through all of this, thank you.  This wasn't meant to be a sad sappy post, but rather an insight into my life with Derek Jeter being a huge part of it.  He will be missed not only on the field, but off as well.  If I ever had the chance to meet Derek Jeter, the only 2 words I would say to him... thank you.

TGP Daily Poll: Masahiro Tanaka Will Remain Healthy Through 2014


Simple poll question to start the day. The New York Yankees ace starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka will make his two starts to end the season and come through them both healthy. Tommy John surgery will not be needed, not this winter anyway.


Vote in our poll!

NSFW: We Suck Video


This Day In New York Yankees History 9/18: CC Sabathia is a 20 Game Winner


CC Sabathia before coming to the New York Yankees never had a 20 win season, although he did win 19 games in two separate occasions, but finally reached the milestone on this day in 2010. The New York Yankees would beat the Baltimore Orioles 11-3 on this day. The southpaw would lead the league in victories and is the fourth Yankee to win 20 games since 2000 joining Roger Clemens (2001), Andy Pettitte (2003), and Mike Mussina (2008).


Speaking of clutch Yankee pitching and beating the Baltimore Orioles Mike Mussina became the first American League pitcher to win 10+ games in 16 consecutive seasons. The Yankees would thump the Orioles on this day 12-0. Moose would join Steve Carlton (18), Warren Spahn (17), Nolan Ryan (16), Don Sutton (17), Cy Young (19), and Greg Maddux (20) as one of only seven pitchers to ever achieve the feat. Mussina would get his 17th consecutive season with at least 10 wins in 2008 in his final season.