Monday, May 30, 2016

Estrada Leads Jays to Memorial Day Win Over Yanks, 4-2

      First off, Happy Memorial Day and thank you to all those who paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we could be free. Tonight, the Yankees and Blue Jays squared off in game one of three in Toronto. The 2-2 Marco Estrada took the mound for the Blue Jays, keeping Yankee hitters off-balance all night long with his A+ change up. Ivan Nova and his 3.55 ERA took the ball against the 26-26 Blue Jays. Although he has done a good job since joining the rotation, Nova was pitching against one of the best lineups from top to bottom that he will face all season, and they got to him early and often.
     Nova found himself in hot water pretty much from the word go. With one out in the bottom of the first, Josh Donaldson lined a single and scored when the cleanup hitter Edwin Encarnacion ripped a double to left that gave the Jays an early one run lead. Nova needed 27 pitches to get through the first, and found himself in even more trouble in the bottom of the third.  Nova gave up a lead off double to the light-hitting Ryan Goings(10 for his last 92) and followed that up with a walk to Jose Bautista. After Donaldson grounded out to advance both runners up a base, Edwin Encarnacion would bite him for a second time, this time driving in Goings by grounding out to Gregorius, 2-0 Toronto. And then Michael Saunders drove in Jose Bautista when he doubled to center, extending the lead to three. Two innings later, Goings touched up Nova for a solo shot to left, 4-0 Blue Jays. Nova was pulled with one on and no one out in the seventh, departing with a final line of  six innings pitched, allowing four runs on eight hits while striking out four and walking one.
     Marco Estrada, on the other hand was again tremendous against the Yanks, tossing eight shut out innings, while allowing just three hits and striking out six. Left- hander Aaron Loup came on in relief to pitch the ninth and immediately made things interesting. After drilling Carlos Beltran in the foot with a slider, Brian McCann hit a towering blast over the wall in center. ricocheting off the façade of the restaurant in centerfield, pulling the Yankees within two, 4-2. Toronto manager John Gibbons lifted Loup for Drew Storen, who shut the door on the Yankee come back hopes by striking out Chase Headley to end the game. One positive note to take away from tonight's loss is that New York got three shut out innings from two relievers not named Betances, Miller or Chapman, making No-Run DMC available for the next two nights.
     Look for the Yankees to bounce back tomorrow night in game two, with first pitch scheduled for 7:07 PM ET.

   

Memorial Day Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays 5/30


The New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays are spending Memorial Day in the land of our neighbors from the north as they prepare for the first game in their three-game set. In the contest the Yankees will send Ivan Nova to the mound looking to solidify his spot in the starting rotation while the Blue Jays will counter with Marco Estrada. The game will be played at 7:07 pm ET inside the Rogers Centre and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network and MLB TV.

I'm still hanging with my buddy from the Navy and slamming down hot dogs like my name was Babe Ruth so let's get to the game. Happy Memorial Day everyone and Go Yankees!

ICYMY: Don't Talk Trash If You Don't Know Who Is Listening

By Eliot Podgorsky SEEN HERE:

Spoiler Alert: This is the story of how I met David Ortiz.

On May 3rd, I received an unexpected Twitter notification "Buffalo Wild Wings has followed you." Pretty cool I thought to myself, I even told some friends about it proclaiming I was "Twitter Famous." A few minutes after I received a direct message the gist of the message was that they saw by my tweets I was a big Yankees fan, and they were interviewing fans for a video, if I was interested, I should contact the producer.

I immediately called the producer, and we talked about my fandom, my thoughts on Boston, David Ortiz and I obviously mentioned that I write for The Greedy Pinstripes. The producer said that she'd let me know in a couple of days. I received an email the next day that they would like to interview me if I was available and provided me with an address and time, I gleefully accepted.

I'm going to take a quick tangent (it's important to the story). I have the Friday Night Package for the Yankees. On Friday, May 6th the Yankees beat the Red Sox 3-2. This was the game that David Ortiz went on a tirade against the umpire. I was in section 420B booing as loud as I could with my friend Sean. Tangent over, back to the story.

After work in Brooklyn on Saturday, May 6th, I headed up to the Bronx for the interview. I met with the producer and one by one we were summoned to the interview area. The director mentioned that the first portion would be about how I became a fan of New York baseball. For trademark purposes, I couldn't say Yankees. I talked about how my father and grandfather would take me to games, how my favorite moment was being at game 7 of the 2003 ALCS and generally all the things that make my heart warm and fuzzy. I headed back to the staging area; a few more fans came in, and I waited my turn for the next segment.

The next segment was in pairs, my friend Matt (who came as a guest and ended up in the video) and I were escorted to the table by an actual waitress this time. We briefly chatted with her for the camera and then the director told us this segment he would be asking about our thoughts on Boston. I talked about how I loved the city and enjoyed the history of Fenway Park. They asked my friend and me about our least favorite player; my friend said David Ortiz and I went with Kevin Youkilis. I talked about hating his goatee and his batting stance. After some prodding from the director on Ortiz, I thought to myself "if you want a sound bite I'll give you a sound bite" and went off on how I felt about his attitude and how he shows up everyone with his swagger.

At this point, I hear someone say "So you don't like my attitude?" I looked up, and it took me a moment to realize it was David Ortiz, this is when I said "Holy Shit."At this point I refer to the tangent, I thought angry Ortiz was coming after me, I truly did. Only after seeing the smile on his face to my reaction did I somewhat gain my composure. I then got to spend a few minutes speaking to Ortiz about how he kills the Yankees, how Dustin Pedroia is only a few inches taller than me and how he was a Yankees fan growing up because that is all they knew in the Dominican Republic. Ortiz thanked us for coming out and then we waited behind the camera crew as other fans interacted with him. Getting to see the reactions of the five other fans was humorous to watch. I think it is awesome that my entire segment ended up being shown in the video.

The last part was how we felt about meeting Ortiz and if our opinion had changed on him. Honestly, mine has. He was a nice to all of us especially after he had to listen to us talk trash about him. Bonus, I got a $25 gift card to Buffalo Wild Wings. I think I'll save it for the next time the Yankees play the Red Sox... You can watch the video below.

Most Popular Article of the Week: Do the Cubs and Yankees Matchup in a Trade?


The New York Yankees have clawed from the basement and the cellar of the American League East and while the team is still far behind the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles in the division a playoff spot is not completely out of the question. Now if the Yankees played in the National League Central where the Chicago Cubs rule the land right now that may be a different story which got me to thinking would the Cubs and Yankees make good trade partners? Both if the Yankees fall out of playoff contention or if they stay in it you would have to think either way the answer is yes. Right?


If the Yankees fall out of contention they have a lot that they could offer to a team stockpiled with talent and prospects. The Chicago Cubs are the same team that was ready to put Kyle Schwarber in left field despite defensive concerns simply to get his bat into the lineup, you don’t think Chicago would take a rental of Carlos Beltran (assuming he accepts and waives his no trade clause) if the price was right? You don’t think Chicago would jump at the opportunity to acquire one or both of Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller? I sue do.


If the Yankees continue to compete can they hook up in a trade as well? I don’t see why not but it obviously becomes far less likely. The Yankees still have a ton of outfield depth, Mason Williams should be back to join a stable of outfielders including, but not limited to, Slade Heathcott, Ben Gamel, Jake Cave and others, and they should be better equipped in the bullpen depth department as well. In this case the deals would be smaller and likely only involve Cubs prospects but a trade could be struck nonetheless in my opinion.


I don’t pretend to be a Cubs expert nor do I know a whole lot about their system and their needs and strengths but I believe a deal could be struck between these two teams at some point. They already have a working partnership and have made trades in the recent past so why not? We just have to wait and see how the cookie crumbles before we define what kind of trade this will be for the New York Yankees because it looks like either way the Cubs are going for it in 2016.

Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays 5/30


It almost seems un-American to have the New York Yankees anywhere but in the Bronx for holidays such as Memorial Day and Independence Day and it especially seems like a slap in the face to 'Merica to have the greatest and most recognizable MLB team outside of the country, doesn't it? I'm over-exaggerating a bit and I realize that but I just wonder if the MLB schedule makers keep this stuff in mind when they make out the schedule or is this simply another instance where computers have taken over the world thus making us unable to think for ourselves. I digress though as we have a game tonight with the Toronto Blue Jays inside the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada. In the contest the Yankees will send Ivan Nova to the mound to face off with a pitcher who shut them down last time out in Marco Estrada.

Nova's job seems safer than ever in the Yankees rotation after another great start last time out. Nova started the season in the Yankees bullpen but since a CC Sabathia injury shot him back into the rotation the right-hander has made the most of his opportunity in a contract year far exceeding both Michael Pineda and Luis Severino this season.

Estrada last faced the Yankees on Wednesday in his last start and allowed just three runs over seven innings of work in a Blue Jays victory. The Yankees will look to turn that around tonight and get a Memorial Day victory against our neighbors from the north. 


The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside the Rogers Centre and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network and MLB TV. Let's show these Canadian's how the game of baseball, America's game, is played. Eh? Go Yankees!

Happy Memorial Day from The Greedy Pinstripes


What is Memorial Day? Memorial Day to some means the day off paid, barbecues and hang outs with friends but to others it means so much more. To some it means the one day that their families and their serviceman and women get the recognition and respect that they so much deserve. This Memorial Day hits home for me especially because one of my very best friends has recently joined the Navy. This is his first Memorial Day and thankfully he got to come home, announce that his new wife is pregnant and surprise his family and friends with a visit. It won't always be like this and I am grateful that it was this year.

So shake a veteran's hand and thank them for everything that they and their family do. Unless you've lived through it you will never truly understand. So a big thank you to the veterans that are reading this and their families and a very big thank you to our very own patrick (always with a little p) Walsh and Ken Reed (and anyone else that frequents the site that I was unaware served or that slipped my mind. I appreciate you, have the utmost respect for you and love you all.

Enjoy the day but just remember why we have it. Thank you.

Weekly Check In: Johnny Barbato


Johnny Barbato made the New York Yankees out of spring training this year and pitched so well out of Joe Girardi's bullpen that he was donned the Yankees "secret weapon" by certain members of the media that cover the Yankees. A few rocky appearances later, rather than being given a long enough leash to figure it out at the Major League level like every other team would allow, Barbato was sent back down to Triple-A to "find his slider."

Has Barbato found it? Let's see.

Year Age Lg W L ERA G GF IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9
2016 23 AAA 0 0 1.12 5 2 8.0 5 2 1 0 4 6 1.125 5.6 0.0 4.5 6.8
2016 23 AL 1 2 5.54 12 5 13.0 10 8 8 2 4 15 77 4.19 1.077 6.9 1.4 2.8 10.4

This Day in New York Yankees History 5/30: A Rod in the Middle of a Controversy


On this day in 2007 in Toronto a Jorge Posada pop out falls in between Howie Clark and John McDonald allowing Alex Rodriguez to score on the play. A Rod yelled that he got it while running by and tricked both the Blue Jays infielders in a "Bush League" move.


Also on this day in 2001 when the Yankees and Red Sox rivalry was possibly at its highest and Pedro Martinez spoke up about the Curse of the Bambino? If you don't it was after Martinez ended a streak of five straight losses against New York and was making light of the curse. Martinez states that he wished someone would wake up Babe Ruth so he could drill him with a pitch. Long story short the Red Sox would not beat the Yankees again during the final seven meetings of the 2001 season. But there was no curse, the Red Sox just sucked for 86 years... right.


Also on this day in 1992 the Yankees Scott Sanderson beat the Milwaukee Brewers 8-1 to become the ninth pitcher to defeat all 26 teams in the major leagues at the time. Sanderson joins Nolan Ryan, Tommy John, Don Sutton, Mike Torrez, Rick Wise, Gaylord Perry, Doyle Alexander, and Goose Gossage with the feat.


Also on this day in 1956 Mickey Mantle came within 18 inches of becoming the first player to hit a home run out of Yankee Stadium. The blast came off the Washington Senators Pedro Ramos and the ball was still climbing when it hit the facade in the upper right field stands.


Also on this day in 1938 the Yankees set a new record for attendance at Yankee Stadium drawing 81,841 fans in a double header with the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees would win both games sweeping the Red Sox in the double bill.


Also on this day in 1935 Babe Ruth, a member of the Boston Braves, plays in his last major league game of his career. Ruth, at Baker Bowl, does not get in a hit in his first inning at bat against the Phillies. On June 2 of that year the former Yankee All Star and super star would call it a career officially.


Also on this day in 1934 the Yankees Ben Chapman broke up Earl Whitehill's no hitter in the bottom of the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium. This is significant because in the 1933 season Chapman, albeit provoked, hit Whitehill with a punch in the passageway causing a 20 minute brawl that needed the police to restore order. I guess he broke something up twice, huh?


Finally on this day in 1932 the New York Yankees honored former manager Miller Huggins in a pre-game ceremony. The former Yankees manager died near the end of last season and had received a plaque in his memory. The Yankees would sweep both games in the double header with the Boston Red Sox.