Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays 9/11

Welcome to October baseball in September, or as close as you’re going to get anyway, as the New York Yankees play host to the Toronto Blue Jays tonight in the first of a huge four-game set. Both teams sit atop the American League East with the Yankees within striking distance with a good series this weekend. These head-to-head matchups, which the Blue Jays have all but dominated thus far in 2015, will absolutely decide the winner of the AL East Division race this season, 100%. The Yankees look to turn their luck around lately against the Blue Jays as they send Luis Severino to the mound to face off against the Toronto starter David Price. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network and MLB TV.

These are four huge games that you are going to want to see no matter what. If you can make it live then I absolutely recommend you click the Yankees Tickets link at the top of the blog and get yours now because I highly doubt there will be any tickets left at the stadium itself. If you can’t watch the game live then watch at home and join us on twitter, @GreedyStripes, to root on the Yankees all weekend and all season long, however long that season carries on.

Here we go, the games don’t get any bigger than this. Go Yankees!

Mark Teixeira Out for 2015 Season w/ Fractured Leg

Cashman just told reporters at Stadium that Teixeira is done for the season. The latest MRI showed a fracture. Recovery time is 3 months.

— Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) September 11, 2015

Damn.

The Tetrad, the Fourth Blood Moon & the Toronto Blue Jays

If you don’t know what a blood moon is or what the “tetrad” is then this is going to be a very informative, and hopefully very interesting, post for you. The tetrad is described as a series of four consecutive lunar eclipses, coinciding on major Jewish Holidays, with six full moons in between with no intervening partial lunar eclipses. I promise it will be worth it to keep reading, don’t let me lose you now.

The fourth blood moon will occur on September 28, 2015 completing the cycle that is called the tetrad. This will be just the 8^th tetrad during the 21^st century and has sparked much controversy with the people who think the blood moon is an omen for the end times. The blood moon prophecy is mentioned numerous times in the Christian bible making appearances in the Book of Joel, Acts in Pentecost by Saint Peter and of course in revelations which predict a great earthquake, the sun to become black and the moon to “become as blood.”

Whether you believe in the end times or not is not the point here, the point is that every prior tetrad of the last 500 years coincided with events in the Jewish and Israeli history that were tragic. All those tragedies followed triumphs of course, the Six Day War for instance, leading us to the 2015 Toronto Blue Jays.

Someone on that team has to be Jewish, right? So with that being said the team will choke under the pressure that is meaningful September baseball, lose the division lead and choke into the postseason. All because the sun is being eclipsed a certain way thus making the moon shine red at night. Thank you science.

This post was all done in fun, have fun with it. Don’t hate. 

Twitter Poll: Yankees Still a Playoff Team?

@GreedyStripes Gotta believe it! Then again I'm a little biased.

— Jacob Vincent (@JacobVincent_77) September 10, 2015

The New York Yankees have some impeccable timing, don’t they? I mean that with the utmost sarcasm as I reference the injuries to Mark Teixeira, Nathan Eovaldi and Brett Gardner while the offense continues battle against a bout of season-long inconsistency. If you asked me this question two weeks ago I would have said absolutely, 100% without a doubt but while my answer has not changed I can see where others opinions and answers may have so I leave you with this Twitter Poll before tonight’s game, will the New York Yankees make the playoffs?

@GreedyStripes I see yankees making playoffs for sure. This series w bluejays will show how bad they want it!

— Jimmy Vonderlinden++ (@CanesEagles1) September 10, 2015

@GreedyStripes Yes, but it feels like the Yankees are playing Jenga. They do well and then falter. Crucial games vs Jays coming up.

— Niral Patel ॐ ♏ (@npatel114) September 10, 2015

@GreedyStripes I'll be better equipped to answer this after the Toronto series. We're definitely the first wild card at least

— Braxton (@NYYfan2442) September 10, 2015

@GreedyStripes May win play in but lose afterwards more questions than answers

— donaldday (@donaldday0129) September 10, 2015

@GreedyStripes Season is far from over. This Toronto series will say a lot about if whether they want to win or not.

— Jessica (@FinnGirlJess) September 10, 2015

@GreedyStripes we will make the playoffs as a wild card. It won't matter -- we don't have the pitching depth or bats to do damage in October

— Mark Trova (@Mark_Trova) September 10, 2015

@GreedyStripes Absolutely. How well will we do post season may depend on injuries and how badly ALL want it. Everyone needs to step up

— Rach (@RachelG48NYY) September 10, 2015

@GreedyStripes Yes.. After that, I don't know how far they'll go tho..

— Clay Bellinger (@Clay_Bellinger) September 10, 2015

@GreedyStripes I see them making the playoffs but don't see the going far.They are very inconsistent &don't seem that hungry for a WS title

— sara (@jenfan01) September 10, 2015

Honestly I don’t see any teams that are trailing the Yankees in the Wild Card chase that really scare me or that I think are good enough to rattle off 18-of-20 or some insane run like that. Even with the Yankees struggling the team is still finding new and inventive ways to win so it’s not like the team is falling off the face of the Earth. They have a decent cushion for the first Wild Card spot and teams like the Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers simply don’t scare me that much. Ask me again in another two weeks and my answer may change again, that’s human nature and this is baseball, but right now I believe the team, will make the postseason 100%.

To be involved in our next Twitter Poll head over to Twitter and give @GreedyStripes a follow. 

Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays 9/11

The New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays will face off head-to-head for the next four games this week inside Yankee Stadium and that big series starts tonight in the Bronx. This is the biggest series of the year for both teams, well until the next and final series head-to-head inside the Rogers Centre later on in the season, as both teams continue to fight for American League East supremacy. The Blue Jays come into the contest with an 8-4 advantage in the season series and come into the series with the advantage in the division. The Yankees will send Luis Severino to the mound looking to turn things around for New York while the Blue Jays will counter with David Price. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network and MLB TV.

• Severino will possibly be making his biggest start of his young Yankees career tonight in the Bronx against the Toronto Blue Jays. Severino has already beat the Blue Jays once this season but will draw David Price on the Yankee Stadium mound so it will not be an easy task getting his second win against the Yankees AL East rivals. 

• Price has been the ace that the Blue Jays were hoping they were acquiring when they sent their top prospect in a package to Detroit before the July 31st trade deadline. Price has made seven starts with Toronto since the trade and has posted a 5-1 record with a 2.15 ERA in a Blue Jays uniform. 

I cannot put into words how huge this series is for the Yankees. New York comes into the game with the news that both Mark Teixeira and Nathan Eovaldi are likely done for the regular season and come into the contest with many players “beat up” including Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury. You know what though? The Blue Jays are beat up and have done it all season long without the man, tomorrow’s starter Marcus Stroman, the team relied on to pitch on Opening Day. They aren’t making excuses and I know the Yankees aren’t either, excuses are for the fans. Start the battle cry and let’s do this! Go Yankees!

Yankees Post MiLB Season Top 10 Prospects List

Many of the minor league affiliates for the New York Yankees are done playing this season with just the Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRiders, the Staten Island Yankees and the Pulaski Yankees making the postseason. Pulaski has since been eliminated but the story of the season has not been the Yankees prospects that are down on the farm as much as the story evolving around the top prospects that have seemingly taken the league by storm. With players like Luis Severino and Greg Bird lighting up and exciting the Yankee Stadium faithful the look of the Yankees Top Prospects list is expected to get a major face lift after all MiLB games are wrapped up. I wanted to get an early jump on this with my own Top 10 Post MiLB Season Prospects List for the New York Yankees.

1. Aaron Judge

2. Jorge Mateo

3. Gary Sanchez

4. Robert Refsnyder

5. James Kaprielian

6. Jacob Lindgren

7. Luis Torrens

8. Eric Jagielo

9. Ian Clarkin

10. Rookie Davis

The threshold for being a prospect or taking the next step is 50 innings for a pitcher or 130 at-bats for a positional player. A player can also take the next step out of the prospect arena by spending more than 45 days on the active roster with the exception of the month of September when rosters ar expanded. With that in mind you can realize why you aren't seeing Luis Severino who is just 14.2 innings away from the 50 IP mark and Greg Bird who is less than 50 at bats away from 130 for the season. If these two were to be shut down for the remainder of the season, which will not happen with Nathan Eovaldi and Mark Teixeira injured and likely to miss the remainder of the regular season, Severino would easily be #1 and Bird would probably be my #4 but that's the way the cook crumbles unfortunately.

What's your Top 10 without Bird and Severino?

The Yankees Play Best Against Good Teams?

Last week we brought you a post stating that playoff teams generally beat the teams they are supposed to beat, teams with inferior records for example, with consistency. Can the same be said about consistently beating the best teams in the league and the team’s that are either near locks for the playoffs or contending for a playoff spot? Do the Yankees beat them with consistency as well?

Taking a look at all the contending teams the Yankees have faced this season you run into this breakdown:

NYY vs. Toronto Blue Jays: 4-8

NYY vs. Baltimore Orioles: 9-7

NYY vs. Tampa Bay Rays: 10-6

NYY vs. Kansas City Royals: 4-2

NYY vs. Minnesota Twins: 5-1

NYY vs. Houston Astros: 3-4

NYY vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: 4-2

NYY vs. Texas Rangers: 2-5

NYY vs. New York Mets: 2-1

As you can see here the Yankees have done well overall against potential playoff teams. They have had their hiccups against the Rangers and have been played tough against the Houston Astros but overall the team has taken care of business. The Yankees are fine ladies and gents, even against the Toronto Blue Jays who they have struggled against this season. The Yankees are still within striking distance and have plenty of head-to-head matchups left with Toronto. The Yankees have already dethroned the New York Mets once this season ending their 11-game winning streak, they stopped an 11-2 Detroit Tigers team who had the best record in baseball at the time three times in a row and New York was the team that stopped Toronto’s 11-game winning streak earlier this season. It can be done again, now it’s time to do it. 

Weekly Check In: Tyler Austin

The New York Yankees made the tough decision to designate Tyler Austin for assignment on September 1st after a wrist injury may have derailed his career. The Yankees attempted to trade Austin before placing him on waivers, which would explain the delay in the assignment process, and were unable to work out a deal. Instead New York passed Austin through waivers and have assigned him to Double-A with the Trenton Thunder. The move to the Thunder was purely procedural at this point, Trenton is not in the playoffs while the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRiders are, but it is also indicative of how far the mighty have fallen in 2015.

Austin will presumably stick with the team in 2016 now that he is off the 40 man roster and stashed away inside the organization but just in case he's not I wanted to take a look at his 2015 season with the RailRiders and the Thunder.

Welcome back Tyler!

Year	Lev	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2015	AAA-AA	94	385	41	82	13	6	35	11	34	97	.240	.315	.343	.658
2015	AA	21	86	8	20	5	2	8	3	8	16	.260	.337	.455	.792
2015	AAA	73	299	33	62	8	4	27	8	26	81	.235	.309	.311	.619

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

September 11th.... Never Forget

Even 14 years later we can still never forget. Once again our thoughts and prayers go out to anyone and everyone who was affected, directly or indirectly, by the cowardly acts that happened on that September morning 14 years ago today. #NeverForget.

This Day In New York Yankees History: September 11th

On this day in 2009 Derek Jeter became the Yankees all-time hits king passing Lou Gehrig with an opposite field single in the third inning against the Baltimore Orioles. Derek would pass the former Yankee captain and Iron Horse with his 2,722 hit of his Yankees career after Gehrig held the franchise record for more than 70 years.

Also on this day in 2001 as we all know and will forever remember terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York, Pentagon in Washington D.C., and got overtaken above Pennsylvania resulting in a plane crash. Major League Baseball cancelled all games on this day for security reasons and to allow everyone to reflect, mourn, and catch up with what was going on around the country.