Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Cincinnati Reds 5/9


Here we go ladies and gentleman, it is game time in Cincinnati as the Cincinnati Reds play host to the New York Yankees in the second and final game of this quick two-game interleague series. Last night was Masahiro Tanaka’s turn to take the ball for the Yankees and tonight it is CC Sabathia’s turn who is looking to turn around a recent rough string of starts. The man looking to keep the Yankees offense in check, and good luck with that lately, is Tim Adleman for the Reds. The game will be played at 7:10 pm ET inside the Great American Ball Park and can be seen on FOX Sports One. You can also follow along on the radio if you’re blacked out on WFAN.

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Go Yankees!

USA Today’s Weekly MLB Power Rankings


Another week down and another week of pure Yankees dominance, just ask those Chicago Cubs. Not even 18-innings could keep the Yankees down, although next time guys you don’t necessarily have to make it so interesting, as the team continues to fly high not only in the American League East Division but in these rankings as well. Let’s see just how well they did.

The New York Yankees climbed two more spots this week and are currently the third best team in all of Major League Baseball according to these rankings. The Washington Nationals are still first, the Houston Astros are second, the Baltimore Orioles are 4th and apparently being swept at home by the Yankees is good enough to drop you three spots to the 5th position if you are the Chicago Cubs.

The rest of the American League East can be found at the 9th position with the Boston Red Sox, the 13th position with the Tampa Bay Rays and the 27th position with the Toronto Blue Jays. Imagine how low the Blue Jays will fall if Marcus Stroman misses significant time or has a flare up with his armpit muscle. Scary thought for them.

The biggest rise of the week went to the Cincinnati Reds who rose a whopping thirteen spots all the way to the 14th best position in the rankings while the Texas Rangers fell a staggering 10 spots to the #22 position. For Texas, in the now immortal words of Yankees manager Joe Girardi, it’s not what you want but the Reds are getting hot just in time for a series with the Yankees that continues tonight.


The Yankees are for real ladies and gentleman. Deal with it. 

Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Cincinnati Reds 5/9



And just like that the series between the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds is over. Well, it will be over tonight anyway as these two teams complete their quick two-game interleague series tonight inside the Great American Ball Park. Stand up for the Judge and release the Kraken because the ball should be flying out of Cincinnati tonight if the opposing offenses have anything to say about it. There are two men donned with the task of keeping the ball in the ballpark and they are CC Sabathia for the Yankees and Tim Adleman for the Reds.




Sabathia has been absolutely horrible in his last three starts which is beginning to cause concern here in the Bronx. After a great start to the season Sabathia has posted a 10.43 ERA in his last three starts lasting just 14.2 innings while allowing 17 earned runs on five home runs. How about more of the early season Sabathia and less of this guy.




Adleman last faced the Pittsburgh Pirates allowing two runs in six innings of work which resulted in a 4-2 victory for the Reds. Adleman is especially tough against left-handed bats while right-handers are hitting over .300 against him this season so don’t expect Aaron Judge or Gary Sanchez to see much to hit tonight because if they get a good pitch to hit it’s going to go a long way out in Cincinnati.




The game will be played at 7:10 pm ET inside the Great American Ball Park and can be seen on Fox Sports One. I’m, again, not sure how the Fox and their affiliates broadcast affects MLB TV so you will just have to check in at game time. If anyone knows beforehand please let me know and I’ll update the post. If it is blacked out you can always follow along on the radio with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman on the WFAN broadcast.


Go Yankees!

There’s Time For Rest in November…



Sleep?  Who needs stinkin’ Sleep!  The Yankees arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio at 5:08 a.m. yesterday following their 18-inning marathon win over the Chicago Cubs and by the end of the day, they had their sixth consecutive victory with the 10-4 pounding of the Reds.  The Yankees treated their former top prospect Rookie Davis, banished to Ohio in the Aroldis Chapman trade, like, well, a rookie.  Run-scoring singles by Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorius put three runs on the board in the first inning and the sleepless Yanks were in charge early.

It was another okay, but not great, pitching performance by Masahiro Tanaka.  He definitely went the ‘bend but not break’ route in picking up his fifth win of the year.  The Reds had the bases loaded with no outs in the fourth inning, trailing the Yankees by three.  But a pop out and a double play ended the threat.  It was probably the game-defining moment.

Credit:  John Minchillo/AP

In the seventh inning with former Washington Nationals closer Drew Storen on the mound, three Yankees were hit by three pitches.  It wasn’t intentional but that’s a lot for one inning.  The last one, a pitch that hit Chase Headley on the bone just below his knee (ouch!) with the bases loaded, scored a run.  Ronald Torreyes, after being knocked down by a high, inside pitch from the wild Storen, singled to put the Yankees up 7-2.  The second runner, Gary Sanchez, was easily thrown out at the plate, for the final out.   

In the bottom of the seventh inning, with Tanaka running on fumes after reaching the 100-pitch mark, he walked Zach Cozart and then gave up a no doubt-about-it home run to Reds slugger Joey Votto.  With his 112th pitch, Tanaka somehow got Adam Duvall on a swinging strikeout to end the inning.  As Tanaka walked off the mound, he was clearly upset about the Votto home run but his night was done with the Yankees leading 7-4.

The eighth inning featured another long home run to right by Brett Gardner, scoring two runs, and a solo shot by Matt Holliday, playing his second straight game at first base.  

From there, it was up to the depleted Yankees bullpen.  With most of the relievers unavailable, the Yankees went with Tyler Clippard for the eighth.  Clippard was his usual self with a quiet inning that saw three up and three down.  I have to admit that I got a sick feeling to my stomach when I saw lefty Tommy Layne warming up for the ninth inning.  A six-run lead should make one feel fairly secure, but if any Yankee could blow a large lead, it’s Layne.  It didn’t help when the first batter reached on an infield single.  The next batter hit into a ground out but the Yanks were unable to turn a double play, capturing only the lead runner.  That brought the speedy Billy Hamilton to the plate.  Layne fell behind in the count very quickly with three successive balls.  I started to have chills, knowing the heart of the Reds order was coming up.  After a couple of well-placed strikes, Hamilton hit a grounder to Didi Gregorius.  This time, the Yankees were successful in turning the double play and it was game over.  Yankees win, 10-4.

The Yankees (21-9) maintained their half-game lead over the Baltimore Orioles.  The O’s withstood a late challenge to beat their former catcher Matt Wieters and the Washington Nationals 6-4.  The O’s have won five in a row as they seemingly match the Yankees step-for-step on a nightly basis.  The Boston Red Sox had the night off.

Prior to yesterday’s game, there had been speculation the Yankees might send down Sunday night heroes Chasen Shreve and/or Jonathan Holder to bring up fresh arms.  But in the end, it was Rob Refsnyder who got the ticket to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.  In his place, the Yankees recalled pitcher Chad Green.  

For the Reds, the loss cost them first place in the NL Central as they were overtaken by the St Louis Cardinals.  

The Yankees face a more challenging pitcher today in Tim Adleman (1-1, 4.22 ERA).  For the Yanks, CC Sabathia (2-1, 5.45 ERA), who hasn’t instilled confidence in anyone except opposing hitters in recent starts, takes the mound.  I expect to see a much stronger Reds team today so hopefully the Yankees offense can rise up to the challenge.  It will be good to see a rested Aaron Judge back in the lineup.  

Tomorrow is a day off so the Yankees will be able to catch up on some much needed sleep.

Have  a great Tuesday!  Let’s grab a W and head back to New York!

Rumors: Yankees Interested in Gerrit Cole

Gerrit Cole at 11-years old

Here we sit not even two weeks into May and the hot stove and trade mill winds are already beginning to blow. The high-priced and big name players are already being rumored to have new homes once the calendar turns to August 1st and already the New York Yankees who are exceeding most everyone’s expectations are being thrown right in the middle of the rumors. See the rumors surrounding the Pittsburgh Pirates ace and former New York Yankees draft pick Gerrit Cole and the absolute stable of Yankees prospects it would potentially take to land him.

The asking price for Cole would be steep but one has to wonder if it would be worth it knowing that you would have an ace on your staff for at least two-and-a-half more seasons. Cole is not set to be a free agent until the 2020 season and much like my arguments for Jose Quintana all winter long this deal needs to be done and needs to be done now if Pittsburgh is willing to pull the trigger.

While I would unlikely trade Clint Frazier or Gleyber Torres you have to think the rest of the Yankees prospects would be fair game for a player the caliber of Cole. Now notice I said prospects, Aaron Judge is not a prospect. Aaron Judge is the starting right fielder for the MLB team. Luis Severino is not a prospect. Luis Severino is the Yankees fourth starter. So on and so forth. I’m talking a package of prospects from the group of Justus Sheffield, Jorge Mateo, Domingo Acevedo, Dustin Fowler, Blake Rutherford and hell maybe even Chance Adams. I like Cole that much. Two or maybe even three of those guys plus a lower tiered guy would likely get the job done.

The Yankees would be getting back a 26-year old  right-handed starter who has made seven starts at the time of this writing with a 1-3 record and 3.14 ERA with 42 strikeouts all for the low-low price of $3.75 million. The Yankees could send Jordan Montgomery back to Triple-A or even to the bullpen while making Luis Severino possibly the best fifth starter in all of Major League Baseball. This move would also protect against the potential losses of Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia and Michael Pineda after this season making this more of a no-brainer for New York. Will they look two steps ahead and pull the trigger? Stay tuned.


So it Seems My Back is Turned


I don’t consider myself an overly religious person but I do tend to go along with the fundamentals of the whole religious thing. I treat others the way I would like to be treated, sometimes better, and I try to help out anyone I can however I can whenever I can. If you need the shirt off my back, it’s yours. If you need the last $10 to my name, it’s yours too. I am a firm believer in Karma, well I was until yesterday.

Karma is basically supposed to be what goes around comes around but I feel like someone somewhere down the line got that messed up when it came to me. This isn’t a poor pitiful me post but damn, enough is enough. Now don’t get me wrong I have had a great year. It’s been an incredibly tough year but I’m healthy, my children are healthy and I’ve met some absolutely great people along the way that I adore and love with all my heart and soul… but damn.

So I officially turn my back on karma, religion and everything else. I’m done. Find another punching bag. Have a great day everyone.


This Day in New York Yankees History 5/9: Mariano Rivera & Franchise Records


On this day in 2002 Mariano Rivera notched his 225th save as a member of the New York Yankees setting a new franchise record. The previous record of 224 saves was set by Dave Righetti. The Yankees would win the game 3-1 in Tampa over the Rays.


On this day in 1999 Mike Stanton started his first Major League game after pitching in 552 relief appearances. Gary Lavelle had the record for most appearances without starting a game before Stanton shut out Seattle for four innings giving up two hits in a Yankee's 6-1 victory at Yankee Stadium.