Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Kansas City Royals 5/26


The New York Yankees and the Kansas City Royals are facing off for the second time this week in their three game series in the Bronx. Well it's 7:00 pm ET and it's game time between these two clubs as Adam Warren and Jason Vargas face off head-to-head. The game will be played and seen on television on WPIX 11 and MLB TV.

You only have one more shot to see the team at home in the Bronx before they head west and start a bunch of 10:05 pm ET games that I don't look forward to so get your Yankees tickets right here off the blog. If you can't make it live then simply jump on Twitter (@GreedyStripes) or the comments section of the site to interact with us during the game and keep the conversation going.

Mr. Warren will take it from here, go Yankees!

My Plan to Fix the Yankees


The New York Yankees are going down and it seems like no one can save them right now, no one but me of course. I have a plan and while the plan may be a bit radical and probably only realistic on 25 Major League Baseball teams this season, and one of them not being the Yankees, it is a plan and if it's allowed to see fruition it can work.

First and foremost Jacoby Ellsbury is on the disabled list with Slade Heathcott taking his spot on the 25 man roster. I say he's taking his 25 man roster spot and not his position because manager Joe Girardi has continued to throw Chris Young out there despite hovering around the Stephen Drew line since his hot start in April. Plug Heathcott into the center field position and let him hit at the top of the order. His speed, base running and ability to take walks will leave more runners on base when the Mark Teixeira's and Alex Rodriguez's come up to the plate which can never be a bad thing. Get back to speed kills and away from speed killing an inning.

Speaking of Drew, he sucks. Pretend his name is Brian Roberts and designate him for assignment for another rookie. Pretend that Robert Refsnyder's name is Yangervis Solarte, hell pretend it's Stephen Drew just do what you have to do to get the kid up. Drew's defense is not stellar and neither is his back up's Jose Pirela. What do you really lose with Refsnyder at second base? Nothing, but the gains with the bat and with the offense cannot hurt a team struggling offensively right now.

Use Jacob Lindgren. Lindgren was closing at Triple-A and dominating the upper levels of the minor leagues since he was drafted last June. David Carpenter sucks and he doesn't have the rust and lack of use excuse anymore. Chasen Shreve has been better than Justin Wilson and both have been used completely wrong thus far this season. Adam Warren would head back to the bullpen with Ivan Nova and Masahiro Tanaka's return to the rotation with Chris Capuano joining Drew on the "I SUCK" pity party parade. With this rotation and this bullpen the team turns the games into six inning contest and take an immense amount of pressure off the offense.

I know this won't happen because the Yankees flat out refuse to rely on their farm system or rookies but it should. Use Heathcott, use Lindgren, use Shreve more effectively, call up Refsnyder, dump Drew and dump Capuano. Make the playoffs, win the World Series. Canyon of Heroes.

ICYMI: Bernie Williams Night Video

Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Kansas City Royals 5/26


For the second time this week the New York Yankees and the Kansas City Royals will face off against each other inside Yankee Stadium. The Yankees have already lost one series against the Royals this week and the team will look to prevent that again this week. Tonight the Yankees will send Adam Warren to the mound to face off against Danny Duffy for the Royals. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on WPIX Channel 11 and YES Network.


  • Warren has had a ton of success as a relief pitcher in his career against the Kansas City Royals but has never seen them as starting pitcher. Warren owns a 1.35 ERA against the Royals in three relief appearances in his career and will look to make his case to stay in the rotation when Masahiro Tanaka and Ivan Nova return from the disabled list. 




  • Duffy has faced the Yankees five times in his career already including just a couple weeks back and owns a 8.05 ERA with 23 hits allowed and 17 runs in 19 innings in his career. The Yankees of this year did not hit well against Duffy this season though as New York struggled against the left handed this month.



The Yankees play a getaway game tomorrow afternoon in the Bronx before setting out west for an extended west coast road trip. New York has been losing a whole lot more than they have been winning lately and need something to build on going forward. The defense will have to be better, the pitching will have to be better and the offense will have to be better and that starts tonight inside Yankee Stadium. Let's go Yankees! Time to get it together.

New Superstitions & Winning Streaks


The New York Yankees started out the season on a terrible 3-6 record before the team started growing mustaches as a team building exercise. After the team grew out their mustaches, or in some cases it was more like peach fuzz, the Yankees went on a roll and started winning a ton of games. Now the team has been losing much more then they have been winning and in true superstitious nature the team shaved off the mustaches looking to turn things around. The shaving of the staches apparently did not do much for the team's offense, defense and pitching so I have come up with an idea for a new superstition and a new hope to turn the team around, shave their heads.

The Yankees have a no facial hair policy on the team where any player, coach or manager is restricted from growing a beard of any kind and is only allowed to grow a mustache that does not exceed their bottom lip. The team also cannot have long hair that touches their collar on their jersey but there are no rules against shaving their heads. Could you imagine?

Mark Teixeira as a skin head, Jacoby Ellsbury without that beautiful black hair of his, Nathan Eovaldi without his longer set of locks, Stephen Drew looking like a chemo patient just because and even Alex Rodriguez getting a 2014 Derek Jeter cut. It may or may not work but it would be interesting to see either way, Brett Gardner needs to get this done.

Call it "The Jeter" cut

For men or for women

Even Tom Brady is doing it....

and this guy thought he was original... psh




TGP Daily Poll: Yankees Will Use Jacob Lindgren


It seems like the Yankees have to have a 10 run lead or deficit to use a rookie in their bullpen and it may come down to that before New York uses Jacob Lindgren. The Yankees bullpen is tired and they will have to use him against the Royals.

Vote in our prediction poll on Knoda.com

Weekly Check In: Aaron Judge


Another weekly check in and another week of Aaron Judge sitting in Double-A with the Trenton Thunder. I'd personally like to see Judge here in the major leagues but can we at least move the guy to Triple-A? Does he have anything left to prove in the lower levels of the minor leagues? I have given up any notion that the team will bring the best team they can north which would include Judge on the roster and Carlos Beltran, hitting streak or not, so instead of asking for him to come to the Bronx can we at least bring him to Scranton? Please?

YearLevGPARH2B3BHRRBIBBSOBAOBPSLGOPS
2015AA381752246916231544.295.360.481.841

Recap: Yankees 14, Royals 1

The Yankees' offense scored 11 times in the first two innings, forcing an early removal for Jeremy Guthrie and helping the the club easily beat the Royals, 14-1, on Monday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

A Good Start: The Yankees broke out for eight runs in the bottom of the first alone, essentially deciding the game before their third out was even recorded. Chase Headley kicked off the onslaught with a two-run blast to right-center, followed later by momentum-grabbing three-run shots from Brian McCann and Brett Gardner.

Just How They Drew it Up: Stephen Drew's season has certainly taken a dark turn during the last few weeks -- his batting average has dropped to just .176 due to numerous slumps -- but at least in this one, the infielder showed some promise. He crushed an 0-2 fastball high into the right-field upper deck in the third, another three-run bomb to put the Yankees up 11-0.

Evo-lution: Nathan Eovaldi logged his first win since May 7, surrendering just eight hits over seven one-run innings while walking one and striking out four. Eovaldi looked to be in for a mediocre outing when two Royals reached base in the first, but was able to escape trouble after a Kendrys Morales flyout.

Hopefully the First of Many: Slade Heathcott continued his impressive week with a man on in the seventh, drilling a Greg Holland offering well past the right-field wall for his first career home run. It was a no-doubter off the bat, a moment the youngster will always remember. 

The Strikeout Factory Debuts: Prized Yankees reliever Jacob Lindgren made his much-anticipated debut in the eighth, quickly inducing an Eric Hosmer double play to erase an inherited runner. Lindgren then went on to strikeout two in the ninth, officially sealing the victory.

Next Up: The Yankees will try to keep this momentum going on Tuesday when they host the Royals again in the Bronx, beginning at 7:05 p.m. ET and airing live on PIX 11. Adam Warren (2-3, 4.26 ERA) will get the nod for the Yanks aiming for a third straight quality start, facing recently-activated Royals lefty Jason Vargas (3-1, 5.26 ERA).

This Day In New York Yankees History 5/26: DJ2K



On this day in 2006 Derek Jeter becomes only the eight player in New York Yankees history to collect at least 2,000 hits in his career. The little dribbler that became an infield single off Kansas City's Scott Elarton would put Jeter into the record books. The other seven Yankees to reach the milestone are Yogi Berra, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Don Mattingly, Babe Ruth, and Bernie Williams.


Also on this day in 2000 a fan at Yankee Stadium falls from the upper deck and remained motionless for five minutes on the screen behind home plate. The 24 year old man suddenly sits up and raises both his arms high and is immediately arrested.