Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Game Thread: Miami Marlins @ New York Yankees 6/17


The New York Yankees are finally at home in the Bronx air as the team plays host to the Miami Marlins in the third game of their four game set split between the two cities. Tonight the Yankees will send Michael Pineda to the mound to face off with Jose Urena for the Marlins. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

The Yankees host Old Timer’s Day, HOPE Week, the Marlins, Tigers and the Philadelphia Phillies this week and next week at the stadium making this a great time to grab some Yankees tickets and head out to Yankee Stadium. By clicking on the Yankees Tickets link at the top of the blog you can do that and still have some money left in your pocket for the Hard Rock Café or any other eateries inside the stadium since we won’t charge shipping costs or any fees whatsoever through our partnership with Ticket Monster. If you can’t make it out to the ballpark then that’s not an issue, simply jump on Twitter and follow @GreedyStripes or jump on the blog and chat it up in our comments section to interact with us during each and every Yankees game.


Pineda is on the mound looking to earn back the moniker “Big Mike” so I’ll let him take it from here. Go Yankees!

Time for Alex To Do The Right Thing


Alex Rodriguez has been the bigger and the better person with about every hurdle and obstacle that has been thrown in front of him this season. Joe Girardi wanted to use Alex at first base and Rodriguez was more than okay with that. Rodriguez was placed at the bottom half of the Yankees lineup and you didn’t hear a peer out of the former All-Star. A Rod was delegated to DH only duties basically this season and took it as an opportunity to help himself and the team win ball games rather than throwing a hissy fit and threatening to retire (yes that was a jab at Jorge Posada). Alex has said all the right things and done all the right things in front of the cameras from cheering on his teammates from the bench to trying to answer every question he’s asked as honestly as he can be while still being politically correct, it is the Yankees way after all, but Alex has one more opportunity to “one-up” the Yankees and one more chance to be the good guy.

As we all know and either wrote about or read until we were blue in the face the New York Yankees aren’t going to and don’t feel like they owe Alex the $6 million milestone bonus that was written into a marketing contract for tying Willie Mays on the all-time home run list. The Yankees had 30 days to cut the check and they haven’t but the team may have come up with a middle ground that I suggested before he even hit the home run, donate the $6 million to a charity of his choice.

I don’t pretend to know Alex’s financial situation but you have to figure that he has made close to a billion dollars in his career with investments, player contracts, endorsements etc. He can’t be broke, legal fees and all he just can’t be. Alex can come out the good guy once again here and it can go a long way possibly into winning back some hearts and minds. Kobe Bryant won back the fans and the endorsements that followed and so can Rodriguez and it starts here. Alex is already winning here as the 45 day deadline for Alex to file a grievance for the non-payment has come and gone and Alex’s group of lawyers and handlers did not file the grievance. Now the team wants to donate the money, well they want to donate an undisclosed amount that is said to be less than $6 million, and I think Alex should bite the bullet and pull the trigger on it.


Alex wins, the Yankees win and the Boys and Girls Club of America (I’m guessing) definitely wins. I get that if he makes this deal now he would likely have to make the same deal if he ties Babe Ruth at 714 home runs (Alex currently has 666 home runs), Hank Aaron at 755 home runs and if he were to tie and pass Bonds at 762 home runs but you cross that bridge when you get there. You save a lot of face now and if this issue comes to fruition again in 2016 and 2017 at least you have some good will and moral standings to back you up the next time. Donate the money Alex, out “Yankee-Way” the Yankees. 

Yankees 11th Round Pick Will Return to School, Other Draft News


The New York Yankees took LHP Josh Rogers out of the University of Louisville in the 2015 MLB First Year Player’s Draft last week but unfortunately they will not sign him according to his Twitter feed. Rogers is a sophomore at Louisville and will return for his junior season to presumably build his draft stock and value while lining himself up for a bigger pay day in 2016.

Rogers finished the 2015 season with an 8-1 record with a 3.36 ERA lining himself up to be the ace for the Cardinal next season. You can’t knock the kid for wanting to go back to school and better himself but that doesn’t mean it isn’t any less disappointing for the fans when they do. Good luck Rogers!

The Yankees have announced the signings of #30 Kyle Holder, #213 Jhalan Jackson, #273 Ryan Krill, #92 Drew Finley, 13th rounder Trey Amburgey, 14th rounder Will Carter, 16th rounder Kolton Mahoney, 17th rounder Brody Koerner and 23rd rounder Garrett Mundell have already signed. 


James Kaprielian is expected to sign but as a Scott Boras guy he may be a late sign, oh well.

Game Preview: Miami Marlins @ New York Yankees 6/17


The New York Yankees are finally back in the Bronx to continue their split four game series with the Miami Marlins. The first two games came down in South Beach in Marlins Parks with the next two coming inside Yankee Stadium starting tonight in the Bronx. The Yankees will send Michael Pineda to the mound to face off with the Marlins starter Jose Urena. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

  • Pineda is coming off a start in which he looked absolutely horrible against the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees decided to skip the start previous to try and limit his innings despite his atrocious ERA and win/loss record with more than six days of rest and it resulted in Pineda allowing six runs in 4.1 innings in a loss for New York. Let’s not do that again, please?


  • Urena is making just his fifth start of his major league career tonight against the New York Yankees. The 23 year old rookie has given up just five runs in 18.2 IP in his last three starts pitching to a 2.41 ERA. New York has had trouble with pitchers they are seeing for the first time in recent years so Urena may have to change his name from Jose to Cy by the end of the night.



The Yankees and Marlins finish off their four game series tomorrow before the Detroit Tigers come to town for a three game set. The Yankees need to take advantage of this little break in the schedule with Miami and a series with the Philadelphia Phillies looming after the Detroit series if the team wants to keep their grip on the American League East division. That starts with a win, a win tonight. Go Yankees!

Why Is This Team So Damn Frustrating?


Why is this team so damn frustrating and so damn inconsistent? The team sweeps a good team and then almost gets swept by a last place team. The pitching is superb for a week and then couldn’t hit the strike zone if Stevie Wonder was calling the games the next week. The team comes up with big hit after big hit and home run after home run against a pitcher like Felix Hernandez only to get three hit by a guy that I hadn’t heard of before he started against the team this week. The struggle for consistency is real and this team is so damn frustrating.

Monday night against the Miami Marlins really painted the picture of what this season is going to be like. Tommy Koehler, who is the pitcher I alluded to never hearing about before Monday, allowed three hits and one run in seven innings against the Yankees on Monday night. The one run was a home run by Mark Teixeira and the other two hits came off the bat of Didi Gregorius, that’s it. Then you see Matt Capps come in with his semi-illegal mechanics and the closer comes in for the 9th and closes the book on a close and tough Yankees loss. That contest was only close and tough because of Sergio Santos retiring the Marlins with two strikeouts and a ground ball after Jose Ramirez loaded the bases with nobody out.

This has been the “M.O” of the Yankees team all season long. This is the team that beat the Detroit Tigers three games out of four after the Tigers grabbed the best record in baseball. This is also the team that beat the New York Mets, who also had the best record in baseball at the time, the series before and is also the team that took six of the first seven games against a tough Tampa Bay Rays team. Then you have series where the Yankees almost get swept by the Oakland Athletics who hadn’t won a home series all year long before New York came to town.


Brian Cashman said if the team can stay close and stick around at the trading deadline that he would get the team to the playoffs and possibly the World Series. It’s June 17th Cashman and the Yankees have held first place for much of the season….. Your move. 

TGP Daily Poll: Yankees June Slide


The New York Yankees have started out each of the last three seasons red hot and on fire only to have a June slide in both 2013 and 2014. That will happen again in 2015 as New York finishes the month out of first place.


Vote in our prediction poll on Knoda.com


Weekly Check In: Miguel Sulbaran


The New York Yankees are gearing up for a potential playoff run and what could be an exciting July 31st trading deadline this season. New York is sending scouts to watch various starting pitchers, relief pitchers and positional players in hopes of guiding the team to the playoffs for the first time since 2012. To acquire good players you have to give up good players and those good players may come from any affiliate the Yankees have, especially the stocked with talent Double-A Trenton Thunder and the Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.

Players like Mason Williams, Ramon Flores and Bryan Mitchell have already been linked to players as well as Luis Severino and Aaron Judge but a guy you may not hear about until a trade actually happens is Miguel Sulbaran. Sulbaran was traded to New York in the Eduardo Nunez deal from the Minnesota Twins and may be on the chopping block once again this July. The 21 year old left handed pitcher has pitched well in Trenton and may be in Triple-A or even the major leagues on the right team as soon as September of this year.

Sulbaran will either provide much needed starting pitching depth very soon or he may bring the team the depth and players they need to make the playoffs. Either way it sounds like a win-win for the Yankees. Here’s the stat line:


YearLevWLERAGIPHRERHRBBSOWHIPH9HR9BB9SO9
2015AA-AAA444.111365.2703430227451.4779.60.33.76.2
2015AA344.451260.2653430225421.4849.60.33.76.2
2015AAA100.0015.05000231.4009.00.03.65.4

This Day in New York Yankees History 6/17: Stand & Clap w/ Two Strikes!


On this day in 1978 Louisiana Lightning and Yankees pitcher Ron Guidry started a new tradition at Yankee Stadium. Guidry would strike out 15 Angels in six innings and finish the game with 18 K's to establish a new American League record for southpaws in the game. The Yankee Stadium crows would begin to clap each time Guidry got two strikes on a batter. This is also where Guidry got his nickname Louisiana Lightning from when called that by television announcer Phil Rizzuto.

Also on this day in 1962 Gene Woodling becomes the first major league player to play for both of New York's teams, the Yankees and the Mets. The 38 year old outfielder would go 2-4 scoring two runs for New York's National League expansion team in an 8-7 loss to the Chicago Cubs at the Polo Grounds.

Speaking of the Yankees and this day in history in 1962 the Yankees would lose their third and fourth games of the series in a double header with the Cleveland Indians to get swept by the Tribe. In the second inning of Game 1 the Indians Jerry Kindall, Bubba Phillips, and Jim Mahoney hit three consecutive home runs to give Dick Donovan his 10th win of the season. The Cleveland crowd, the largest Indians crows in eight seasons, would enjoy watching the Indians sweep the Bronx Bombers.


Finally on this day in 1941 Joe DiMaggio extends his hitting streak to 30 consecutive games with a little help from a bad hop off Luke Appling's shoulder. DiMaggio would break the team's record for hits in consecutive games with the bit of luck passing Roger Peckinpaugh in 1919 and Earle Combs in 1931. The Yankees would lose the game 8-7 to the Chicago White Sox.