Monday, June 22, 2015

Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Philadelphia Phillies 6/22


For the first time in a three game set to begin the week the Yankees play host to the Philadelphia Phillies tonight inside Yankee Stadium. The Yankees will host for another "Big Mike" type performance when they send Michael Pineda to the mound to face off with the Phillies starter Kevin Correia. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on WPIX Channel 11 and MLB TV.

You have two more opportunities to see the Yankees in the Eastern Time Zone and in the Bronx this week before they head out to the great state of Texas to start an extended road trip. Click the Yankees tickets link at the top of the blog to grab a pair of tickets to see the Yankees face off against Sean 'Sullivan tomorrow or Cole Hamels on Wednesday. If you can't make it live then that's not a problem, simply jump on Twitter (@GreedyStripes) or our comments section of the blog to interact with us during each and every Yankees game.

Michael Pineda is on the mound looking to regain the "Big Mike" moniker from me so I'm going to give him my full attention and let him take it from here. Go Yankees!

Yankees Roster Shuffling for 6/22


The New York Yankees had another day full of roster shuffling today as the team announced three new pitchers heading to the team including Tommy John surgery victim Ivan Nova. Nova will be activated in time for Wednesday afternoon's start against Cole Hamels and the Philadelphia Phillies marking his first professional start since his Tommy John surgery.

For now New York will go ahead with the six-man rotation including Nova.

The team also announced the call ups of RHP Diego Moreno and RHP Nick Rumbelow while Sergio Santos has been transferred to the 60 day DL. LHP Jose DePaula and RHP Danny Burawa have been optioned to Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre with the RailRiders.

Remember Who Asked To FORG1V3 First


This is a post from November of 2013 when I began the campaign to forgive all the steroid users, specifically Alex Rodriguez. I just find it ironic now that Bald Vinny and others have began to forgive around Yankee Stadium and around the country with others getting the credit for this thing. I'm not bitter, I'm not, I just want to give everyone a friendly reminder of who had it first.



I have made it my new goal and mission in life, for this blog, and in general to remove the bad juju that is fumigating around the New York Yankees right now due to steroids, suspensions, and all that jazz. I have made it my job to try and convert as many people as I can to the side of forgiving the steroid users that have admittedly given a black eye to the sport that we all obviously love. I will not defend their bad decisions, nor will I ever support their bad decisions, but I will look at this from a fans perspective. I am a father to a three year old and soon to be another future Yankees player so I know, understand, and appreciate the message that it sends to children but I also think that that's where parenting steps in. Sure we can look up to these guys as super heroes but we also have to understand, even at a young age, that these men are just that, men. They are human and they make mistakes and it is how they handle themselves and the situation after the fact that they should be judged on. I personally do not believe in throwing the first stone, especially when my closet is probably not as clean as I would like it to be, and I do not believe it is my place to judge them.I was taught to forgive those who need it, not those who ask for it, and that is what this is all about. Agree, disagree, feel indifferent, it is what it is.

I'll be honest this whole thing started out as a joke and a way to just fill time during a lull in Yankees news but it has turned into a borderline obsession. The more I wrote the more I got to thinking why in the hell should I be mad at Alex Rodriguez, Francisco Cervelli, etc for failing steroid tests? I did not allow him to take them and turn a blind eye to their use because it brought back a game that was on life support, that's ownership and management. I did not put A Rod's face on every television show, newspaper, blog, and internet site finding anything and everything to bash the guy about and ignoring the "guilty until proven innocent" mindset that has made this country great, that's the media. I'm not the one who paid reportedly $5 million to get a testimony from the guy selling and supplying the players with the PED's, that was Bud Selig. I am the one who supports, loves, and lives all things New York Yankees. I am the one who is here to be entertained and watch my team win as many games as they can and I have done all that and more in my Yankees watching lifetime. I have been entertained watching Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, and whoever else was linked to steroids.

If there was a clean slate across the board I may feel differently but as much as we all loved watching the dynasty Yankees how do we know who did and who didn't? I know one thing I balled my eyes out when Andy made his final start in New York and then again when he made his final start in Houston. I didn't because Andy played the game clean, he didn't, and I didn't because he admitted it, although that helps, I did it because I love the New York Yankees.

What we as the fans do not understand is these guys are not on call 24/7. They are not firefighters, police officers, super heroes, doctors, nurses, etc etc etc. These men are baseball players and they get paid, quite well I might add, to play a kids game and entertain us. These guys are not on call they get paid to play a game a few hours a night for 162 games plus a season, that's it. Who cares if their significant others feed them popcorn while playing a game, get over it. Who cares if they don't wear their seat belt, it's their life in their own hands. Who cares if they took steroids, how did it affect you personally? How did they cheat a game that was reeling and dying after the greed of Bud Selig wanting a salary cap to maximize revenue for himself that is now flourishing not only in the states but world wide? They cheated themselves, sure, but that's between them and their God. Who am I to judge?

I don't buy my MLB TV subscriptions, my Yankees jerseys, hats, tickets, memorabilia, and run this blog because of what the players do off the field. I will not stop doing or purchasing any of these things if every damn one of them failed a steroid test tomorrow. I love this team, this team is my passion, and I support any and every player that puts those pinstripes on their back. I don't agree with them doing steroids or anything illegal to the game or to the law but that is not my place to judge them and make them out to be the second coming of the devil. These men are here to entertain you. That's what they are paid to do and that's why we continue to pay them, whether directly or indirectly, to do that. That's it.

  I want ONE Yankees fan, notice I said fan, to come to me and tell me that they were not entertained watching Alex Rodriguez hit 50 home runs a season or leading us to the 2009 World Series. I want ONE fan to say they did not enjoy Francisco Cervelli get clutch hit after clutch hit last season for us in limited time. I want ONE fan to tell me they did not enjoy watching Andy Pettitte's career, support the hell out of him, and cry their eye balls out when he pitched his final game in New York and in Houston. Go ahead, I'll give you my email address. You have my twitter account name. I'll give you my cell number, I feel that strongly about this.

When you look at a guy like David Ortiz who can relax at the plate and doesn't feel like he has the weight of the world and his city on his shoulders and he can come out and hit in the .700's in the World Series. The first thing you think about when you think of David Ortiz, a steroid user, is not his past in most cases. A Rod on the other hand is vilified. A Rod could go out there and hit .800 in the World Series and still be asked questions about the other two at bats where he made an out. The last time the entire team, fans, and city had A Rod's back seemed like it was 2009 and look how that worked out for us. This is not just A Rod too, this is all steroid users. We need to forgive Ryan Braun, we need to forgive David Ortiz, we need to forgive Barry Bonds, we need to forgive Roger Clemens, we need to forgive Rafael Palmeiro, we need to forgive them all. If you can forgive ONE of them you have to forgive them all. If you want Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame then you have to forgive them all. If you even know who Shoeless Joe Jackson was then you have to forgive them all.

My last question that I leave with everyone is this... if Derek Jeter failed a test tomorrow would you forgive him?

ICYMI: Royals Fans Are Making A Joke Out of MLB

From Bryan Van Dusen

"Are they serious?"

I'm not the first person to write about the problems with the All Star game voting this season, but in case you don't read anything except The Greedy Pinstripes (and why would you bother to?), the Kansas City Royals have players currently leading at every position but one.

And that wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for the fact that only one of those players from Kansas City may actually deserve it. Here, I'll show you the vote leaders...

Catcher - Salvador Perez 
Perez is the current leader in votes at this position by about 4 million, even though his wRC+ of 114 is well behind that of Stephen Vogt (153) and Russell Martin (147).

First Base - Eric Hosmer
Hosmer is leading his position by about 476,000 votes, even though his wRC+ of 132 is not even close to the leader in that category at 1B, Miguel Cabrera at 186.

Second Base - Omar Infante
This may be the most ludicrous thing you'll ever see in baseball. Omar's wRC+ currently stands at 35, while Stephen Drew... yeah, the guy Yankees fans all seem to hate... has a wRC+ of 63.

Third Base - Mike Moustakas
Moustakas has a lead of about 1.7 million, and he is the lone Royals player that may actually deserve to start the All Star game. He's hitting .320/.378/.564, and while Moustakas is behind Josh Donaldson in wRC+ (156 to 136), it's only because of Donaldson's home run total.

Shortstop - Alcides Escobar
Escobar is currently fourth in wRC+ among AL shortstops, behind Marcus Semien, Brad Miller, and Xander Bogaerts. And while none of those three players ahead of Alcides are lighting things up, their wRC+ is 25 to 30 points higher.

Outfield - Lorenzo Cain, Mike Trout, Alex Gordon
Cain is the leading vote getter among AL outfielders, about 700,000 ahead of Mike Trout. While the voting at second base may be the most insane thing happening with ASG voting this year, this isn't too far behind. That would be thanks to the fact that both Nelson Cruz and Mike Trout have a wRC+ of 169, followed by Josh Reddick at 156 and Jose Bautista at 151. Cain is actually 17th among AL outfielders in wRC+ at 110, while Gordon is 9th at 131 (yep, Royals fans couldn't even get the order of their own players right). Oh, and the 4th place vote-getter in the AL outfield is currently Alex Rios, a guy that's hit a pathetic .214/.247/.300 in only 19 games this season.

Designated Hitter - Kendrys Morales
Morales leads this position by about 550,000 votes, which isn't that bad seeing as how his wRC+ is 122. The problem with that, though, is that there are 29 hitters in the league doing better than that.

I would have said that the manager of the AL all star team should play all those Royals for a just one inning, before replacing them with players that are more deserving. But the manager of this year's AL squad is the Royals' manager Ned Yost, so that probably won't happen. In fact, Yost found no problem in the voting process, saying that if fans don't like it they should get out and vote more.

Then Eric Hosmer came out and said that it can't just be Royals' fans voting for players from KC. He said that that was due to the fact that three guys (at the time) had gotten 4 million votes, and they "can't be just coming from Kansas City."

First of all, Mr. Hosmer, as hard as it may be to accept, I'm sure there are a few Royals fans that live outside of Kansas City.

Secondly, fans can vote up to 45 35 times. So let's do the math... There are 467,000 people in Kansas City. Take 467,000 and multiply it by 45 35, and that equals 21,015,000  16,345,000. That means there are over 21 million possible votes coming from the Royals' home town alone. While I'm sure not all of the people living in that city are baseball fans, it's absolutely possible for every one of those 4 million votes he spoke of to come from Royals fans.

Look, if some fans want to treat the All Star Game like a joke that's fine. I don't like it, as I would hate to see the MLB All Star Game end up being as pointless as the NFL All Pro Game (edit: the fact that I got the name of the game wrong is a testament to how "great" it is). However, allowing a joke to affect the World Series makes the World Series look... well... like a joke. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is worried so much about pace of play, but he should worry more about the integrity of the game, which is being hurt a lot worse by it's championship being made to look bad.

Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Philadelphia Phillies 6/22


The New York Yankees have three more games at home this week before heading out west to take on the first place Houston Astros. The Yankees will begin that three game series tonight inside Yankee Stadium when they play host to Ryan Howard and the Philadelphia Phillies. The Yankees will send Michael Pineda to the mound tonight to face off with the Phillies starter Kevin Correia. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on WPIX Channel 11 and MLB TV.


  • Pineda bounced back well from his previous start last time out as he dominated the Miami Marlins for 6.2 inning allowing just one run with nine strikeouts. Pineda flirted with a no-hitter before giving up a solo home run in the 7th inning as he bounced back from a terrible start against the Baltimore Orioles. 



  • Correia hasn't been with the Phillies for long but has pitched well in his two starts with the team. Correia posted a 1.69 ERA in his two starts including a loss against the Baltimore Orioles where he allowed two runs in five innings including two home runs. 



The Yankees must take advantage of this three game series with a last place team in the National League East Division while the team they are chasing, the Tampa Bay Rays, and the team they are trying to hold off, the Toronto Blue Jays, face off head-to-head for three games. If the Yankees want to reclaim first place it starts tonight with the Phillies and Michael Pineda. Go Yankees!

Most Popular Article of the Week: Pitchers Hiding Injuries Falls Back on Joe Girardi


This season already for the New York Yankees we have heard stories of three pitchers, Chase Whitley, Chris Martin and now Jacob Lindgren, who have hidden injuries and tried to pitch through them rather than speaking up and getting the issue fixed right away. The pitchers themselves has used the excuse that they thought they could pitch through it and they were just trying to help the team win but I call bull on that, in my opinion these pitchers hid the injuries because of Joe Girardi, his bullpen management and his lack of trust in the younger players on the team.


Girardi took a terrible Joe Torre led bullpen from 2007 and turned the team’s biggest weakness into their biggest strength with essentially the same cast of characters. Ever since then and ever since a 2009 World Series championship and a deep run into the ALCS in 2012 Girardi has done a complete 180 reverting back to the old days. Girardi no longer wants to or shows trusts in his rookies and his younger pitchers, with obvious exceptions like Dellin Betances, and would rather rely on the likes of Esmil Rogers, Chris Capuano, Matt Thornton and others.


The Yankees once had now closer Mark Melancon in their bullpen and flat out refused to use him more than once a week leaving him rusty and ineffective. Melancon was later traded and thrived with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Houston Astros while the Yankees had Lance Berkman for two months of a disappointing season. The Yankees also once had David Robertson in their bullpen and it took three promotions to the major leagues before he stuck around long enough to work his way into the “Circle of Trust” and eventually into the Yankees closer’s role replacing Mariano Rivera. The list of players the Yankees once had, refused to use and over-groomed is extensive and I could sit here all day listing them off but if you’re a Yankees fan and you watch the games then you know the names and I don’t have to.



Now you have the likes of Whitley, Martin and Lindgren hiding injuries and trying to pitch through them. Every once in a while you have a pitcher that simply wants to help the team and tries to pitch through a little nagging injury but when you have three pitchers in less than three months you have developed a pattern. This pattern was caused, again in my opinion, because they didn’t think or know if they would ever get another shot in pinstripes under the Girardi regime. If this is the case, and that’s a big if, the Yankees management needs to start looking at their own when they find themselves scratching their head this October as they watch the St. Louis Cardinals or the San Francisco Giants in the World Series again while the Yankees have gone playoff-less for three seasons now.

TGP Daily Poll: Yankees Take Advantage


The Toronto Blue Jays and the Tampa Bay rays are facing off head to head this week while the Yankees play host to the struggling Phillies. New York will take advantage with at least two victories over Philadelphia.

Vote in our prediction poll on Knoda.com

Weekly Check In: Jacob Lindgren


Jacob Lindgren was placed on the minor league DL last week after hiding an injury from Joe Girardi and the New York Yankees. The exact injury has finally been released as Lindgren will undergo surgery to remove a bone spur from his left throwing elbow. This will be the last check in until he returns from the DL so here's to hoping that it's not a serious injury and that he can be back in a couple of weeks.

Get well soon Lindgren and we hope to see you back in Bronx after the All-Star break.

YearLevWLERAGGFSVIPHRERHRBBSOWHIPH9HR9BB9SO9
2015AAA111.23153322.01673010291.1826.50.04.111.9

This Day In New York Yankees History 6/22: #TooManyDamnHomeRuns


On this day in 1941 the Yankees hit a home run for the 18th consecutive game setting a new major league record. Joe DiMaggio hit the historic home run in a 5-4 Yankees victory over the Detroit Tigers and extended his own hitting streak to 35 games.