Live Game Updates: Yankees at Twins - 6/17

9:00 p.m., Mid 1st: Yankees break through early against Pat Dean. They score four runs in the first, courtesy of RBI double by Refsnyder, a two-run shot by Beltran and an infield single by Didi. 

9:09 p.m., End 1st: Headley ends the opening frame with a nice diving stop. He might've saved a run.

9:32 p.m., End 2nd: Twins put two men in scoring position before an out is recorded, but Tanaka limits them to a single run. It's 4-1 Yankees after two innings of play.

9:53 p.m., Mid 3rd: The Yankees add three more runs off Dean, knocking the lefty out of the game after just 2 1/3 innings. Didi now has two RBI on the night following a fielder's choice, while Austin Romine has also gotten involved with a two-run double.

10:14 p.m., Mid 4th: Castro extends the Yankees' lead with a sac fly off Neil Ramirez. Make that 8-1 New York.

10:33 p.m., End 5th: It's now an official game just in case the weather gets bad again. Given a lot of breathing room, Tanaka is starting to cruise.

10:55 p.m., Mid 7th: It's stretch time at Target Field. Score's still the same.

11:20 p.m., End 8th: Tanaka strands men on the corners in the eighth. With his pitch count at 110, his outing is likely over, but it certainly was a good one.

11:49 p.m., End 9th: That's your ballgame. Nick Goody serves up a solo shot to Eduardo Escobar in the ninth, but the Yankees still win 8-2.

Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Minnesota Twins 6/17

Here we are again as we conclude another long week with another weekend that’s far too short and jammed packed with Major League Baseball. The New York Yankees kick off their weekend’s worth of games with the second of a four-game set with the Minnesota Twins on the road. Tonight the Yankees send their ace and stopper to the mound with an extra day of rest in Masahiro Tanaka as he looks to mow down and keep down the Twins offense. Opposing Tanaka for the home team tonight will be the LHP Pat Dean for the Twins. The game will be played at 8:10 pm ET inside Target Field and can be seen on WPIX Channel 11 and MLB TV.

The Yankees won’t be out on the road forever so click the Yankees Tickets link at the top of the blog and reserve your seats now for when the team does come back to Yankee Stadium before the good seats are all gone. You can now also show up to the Cathedral in the Bronx in style by snagging one of our Jacoby Ellsbury milk carton shirts by clicking the TGP T-Shirts link at the top of the blog as well. Until then though you can join us rooting from afar by giving us a follow on Twitter, @GreedyStripes, and by liking us on Facebook.

Tanaka is ready and so is the Yankees offense so let’s get to it. Go Yankees!

Meet a Prospect: Brooks Kriske

Continuing with our daily Meet a Prospect series post-draft we take a look at the Yankees sixth round pick and 188^th overall pick Brooks Kriske. Kriske was your stereotypical college senior and closer that you draft in order to sign quickly, move quickly through the farm system and save some slot money with in order to increase your chances at signing one of your top picks but that doesn’t mean Kriske can’t and won’t be useful in the Bronx going forward so let’s meet him. This is Meet a Prospect: The Brooks Kriske Edition.

Kriske was the closer for the University of Southern California Trojans baseball team in 2016 and as I mentioned before he was a four-year college senior without many alternatives options as far as baseball after college. Kriske was ranked 29^th overall and 41^st best in the state of California by Baseball America but you know how the Yankees and specifically Damon Oppenheimer love their California arms.

Kriske is 22-years old and in his senior season at USC the right-hander posted a 2.55 ERA with a 2.80 K/BB ratio and 10.70 K/9 ratioin 35.1 innings. Kriske has six saves in 26 games and Fangraphs ranked him as one of the top pitchers in all of the Pac-12 before the 2016 season began back in March. Kriske has a big pitcher’s frame standing at 6’3” and 190 lbs. with tons of room to grow into his frame and into his stuff.

Kriske possesses a 95-96 MPH fastball to pair with an average slider although he did show signs of life and consistency with it this season. Kriske is not a Chance Adams or Jonathan Holder that will likely be tried out as a starter in the Yankees system, Kriske was drafted to fly through the system and make a difference in the bullpen much like Jacob Lindgren was when he was drafted in 2015 out of Mississippi State University.

Kriske might not make Brian Cashman and his scouting crew look like a genius as a sixth round pick but he could still turn into a very useful relief pitcher as soon as the later parts of the 2017 season. That has to count for something, doesn’t it? So Brooks I want to be one of the first to welcome you not only to the organization but to the family as well. You deserve it. 

Losses Are the Best Thing That Could Happen to New York?

The New York Yankees came out of the gates this week with a pretty soft lull in their schedule which frankly scared a lot of the more level-headed fans. Why? Well if the team beat up on teams like the Colorado Rockies and the Minnesota Twins and get back above the .500 mark and back into the AL East and Wild Card chases and standings the team would be more likely to buy or at least hold onto their talent rather than trading off their aging and veteran talent to kick start the rebuilding process. A sweep later in Colorado and a rocky start, no pun intended, in Minnesota is leaving me thinking whether losing would possibly be the best thing for the Yankees this week and next.

Let me start this and let me be clear, I am not rooting for the Yankees to lose nor do I wish the Yankees would lose. What I am suggesting though is that losing is what it may take for the Yankees and their upper management to get out of their own way and do what we all see needs to be done. Rebuild. Rebuilding is not done by signing Carlos Beltran to a three-year deal as he enters his age 37 season and it’s not done by trading established backup catchers like John Ryan Murphy for established 4^th outfielders like Aaron Hicks. It’s done through the farm system, through international signings and through trades. Rebuilding on the fly, as we have seen the past three-or-four years, does not work. Simple as that.

If the Yankees lose they will pounce on weak markets in pitching and hitting and can make a few nice trades to really set the team up for the future. When I say the future I don’t mean four or five seasons from now, I mean 2018 and beyond. Losing means Aroldis Chapman is traded. Carlos Beltran is traded. Andrew Miller is traded. Maybe even Brett Gardner and CC Sabathia are traded. Losing means rebuilding and this team needs to rebuild in the absolute worst way. 

Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Minnesota Twins 6/17

The New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins are back at it again for the second time in their four-game set these two teams will play inside Target Field this weekend. Four games means four great pitching matchups and today’s contest does not disappoint, especially if you’re a Yankees fan. Today the Yankees will send Masahiro Tanaka to the mound looking to be the ace, the stud and the stopper for the club while the Twins counter with Pat Dean.

Tanaka has had a tale of two seasons type year thus far with extra attention being brought to his starts that involve extra rest vs. his starts that involve regular rest. Tanaka has been much better on five days rest than he has been on four days rest and will get an extra night of rest before tonight’s start in Minnesota. On four days rest Tanaka’s ERA is 3.44 while his ERA on five days rest is 2.92.

Dean heads into this start fresh off a good outing against the Boston Red Sox last time out. In that start Dean, a left-handed pitcher, limited the Red Sox offense to just one run on three hits in 6.1 innings of work. Dean did walk four in the contest though but the Red Sox offense is much better than the Yankees offense this season, especially against LHP, which could make for a long night for the Yankees bats.

The game will be played at 8:10 pm ET inside Target Field and can be seen on WPIX Channel 11 and MLB TV. I bring up the pitching matchups specifically because, at least on paper, these are two of the lowest scoring and worst offenses in all of the American League squaring off tonight head-to-head. Will the bats wake up or will the pitching pad their stats tonight in Minnesota? Stay tuned and Go Yankees!

Chicago Cubs, Washington Nationals and the Yankees Three-Headed Bullpen Monster

The New York Yankees continue to slide in the standings both in the American League East Division and in the chase for the Wild Card slots which could mean a trade or three are on the horizon for the Yankees. New York made players like Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Pineda, Brett Gardner and others available this winter and even more could be available this summer including all of the Yankees three-headed monster in the bullpen that is commonly referred to as “No Runs DMC” inside Yankee Stadium. The Chicago Cubs are already said to be scouting these three and some reports have even suggested that Theo Epstein may want two of the three, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman. While the Cubs may have MLB ready talent to trade for both I think it would be foolish to trade both to one team, especially after the Washington Nationals just lost their closer Jonathan Papelbon.

If the Yankees want to do this right and corner the market while using two teams against each other they should trade one to Chicago, preferably Chapman for Jorge Soler straight up if possible, and the other to Washington, Miller for a list of players we will showcase here in this post. I prefer Miller to go to Washington because the Nationals have more in the way of prospects and talent than Chicago does down on their minor league farm affiliates. Here are a few potential players the Yankees could ask for from Washington if a trade involving Andrew Miller were to occur.

I may be reaching for the stars but the first names out of Brian Cashman’s mouth need to be Treat Turner and Lucas Giolito. You can accept less for Miller, who is not a rental unlike Chapman hence my willingness to accept “Baby Puig” in return for him despite his lackluster career numbers, but you have to absolutely ask for the sky and meet in the middle here. Giolito is the Nats best pitching prospect at 21-years old and is fresh off an Eastern League (Double-A) Pitcher of the Week Award. Meanwhile Turner made his MLB debut this season for Washington and quietly went 3-for-3 opening some eyes inside the organization.

If you take less for Miller you take less but prying one of these two away from Washington would be absolutely huge for the Yankees. Turner is another middle infielder that the Yankees may not necessarily need but he’s got a talent set and a tool bag big enough that you have to make room for while Giolito may just be the real deal and a real deal for a long time. Ask for the moon, settle for less if you have to. Just don’t trade both Miller and Chapman to Chicago when the Yankees have all the leverage over both Chicago AND Washington this summer. Stay tuned. 

Weekly Check In: Jorge Mateo

The Yankees top prospect may be on the move very soon as the team and organization have already begun promoting some of their top prospects. Domingo Acevedo is up and Mateo may be next as the second baseman/shortstop enjoys another great and another breakout season down on the farm. Mateo isn’t quite stealing bases at the incredible clip he was in 2015 but he has added contact, power and patience to his repertoire.

The more Mateo matures as a human being it seems like the more he is maturing as a baseball player as well which can only mean good things for his and the Yankees future.

Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2016	21	Tampa	60	269	44	68	5	8	5	32	24	9	21	59	.281	.338	.430	.768

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

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.