Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Cleveland Indians 8/5

What are two things that are just awesome and that just go together? Peanut butter and jelly. Pizza and beer. Saturday and Yankees baseball. There’s more but those are just the first three that came to mind. It is game time ladies and gentleman as the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians continue their four-game series with the third game of the set here in just a few minutes. In the start the Yankees will send Jordan Montgomery to the mound to face off with Danny Salazar for the Indians. The game will be played at 7:10 pm ET inside Progressive Field in Cleveland and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network and MLB TV. You can also follow along on the radio and in your cars by tuning into WFAN with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman each and every game.

Follow us on Twitter by following @GreedyStripes and enjoy the game. Go Yankees!!

The Return of the Saturday Night Open Thread

Well we haven’t done one of these in a while. Say hello to the return of the Saturday Night open thread here on The Greedy Pinstripes. The comments section has been pretty quiet here lately and I take full responsibility for that. I have been quiet on the comments section and throughout the weekends here and that’s my fault and I apologize for that. Let’s turn that around tonight with the Saturday night open thread. Talk about anything you like, just keep it semi-clean and semi-respectful of others like you guys always do.

I’ll start… how’s your Fantasy team doing? Mine is in last place J Also who do you have winning the Yankees game tonight? I’m hoping the Yankees offense finally made it to Progressive Field and they break out in a big way. 

Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Cleveland Indians 8/5

The New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians are back at it again today for the third time in their four-game extended weekend set inside Progressive Field. In the first two starts of the series the Yankees had shiny new toys to introduce to their fans in Sonny Gray and Jaime Garcia but tonight the Bombers go back to a young, but old reliable in Jordan Montgomery. Opposing the rookie left-hander for the Cleveland Indians will be Danny Salazar. Montgomery has been compared to a young Andy Pettitte so as the saying goes with great praise comes great responsibility. There isn’t any better praise than to be compared to Mr. Pettitte so… no pressure today Jordan.

Montgomery may be pitching for his rotation spot tonight after the Yankees acquired Sonny Gray and Jaime Garcia before the July 31^st trading deadline. Montgomery didn’t help his own cause in his last start either lasting just 2.2 innings against the Tampa Bay Rays while allowing for runs on six hits.

Salazar was much better in his last start pitching six innings while only allowing two runs with eight strikeouts against the Chicago White Sox. In two starts since coming off the disabled list on July 2 Salazar has pitched to a 1.38 ERA with 16 K’s and a .095 batting average against.

The game will be played at 7:10 pm ET inside Progressive Field in Cleveland and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network and MLB TV. You can also follow along with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman on WFAN with the Mr. and Ms. Baseball broadcast. Enjoy the game and Go Yankees!!!

Rusty Garcia & The Lonesome Bats...

Credit:  David Dermer-AP

Indians 7, Yankees 2...

The title of this post sounds like a Tex-Mex country band.  Unfortunately, it's the description of the Friday night Yankees who dropped their fourth straight game.

It was not a great debut for Jaime Garcia.  After the game, Manager Joe Girardi said that Garcia was up in the zone.  "He didn't throw as many strikes with his fastball as he usually does.  This is a guy that's pitched for three different teams in three different starts and been all over the country.  He looked rusty to me."  It wasn't just you, Joe, he looked rusty to us too.

The Indians scored two runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning to take the lead they would not relinquish.  Carlos Santana walked with two outs.  Former Yankee Austin Jackson doubled to the left field corner, and the relay throw from Clint Frazier to Didi Gregorius to Gary Sanchez was not in time as Santana slid head first with his hand reaching home plate ahead of the tag.  Ajax took third on the play and scored a subsequent passed ball on Gary Sanchez.

The next inning, the Indians added to their lead.  Brandon Guyer hit a lead-off single to left.  Michael Brantley singled to right.  As Guyer was running to third, the throw from Aaron Judge hit the runner and bounced up into the seats.  Guyer easily scored while Brantley took second.  A ground out moved Brantley to third, and he scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Edwin Encarnacion.

The Yankees had probably their biggest opportunity in the 5th inning.  After Indians starter Trevor Bauer threw a pitch up and in to Todd Frazier (which provoked Frazier to say a few works after he spun to avoid getting hit), Frazier blasted a one-out solo home run to right center (his 18th of the year).  Ronald Torreyes singled to the right field corner.  He thought about going for two but wisely held up at first.  Brett Gardner singled to left field as Torreyes moved to third.  Clint Frazier hit a sharp grounder to Indians third baseman Giovanny Urshela who made a highlight reel play when he threw across the runner to catcher Roberto Perez to nail Torreyes at the plate. With Gardner and Frazier on base, Aaron Judge patiently took a walk to load the bases.  Gary Sanchez, representing the potential go-ahead run, had a sloppy at-bat, chasing a few pitches out of the strike zone, and went down swinging to leave the bases full.  

Credit:  David Dermer-AP

The Indian came right back and added another run in the bottom of the 5th.  Brandon Guyer walked and stole second.  Michael Brantley singled to left, scoring Guyer.  A wild pitch and a subsequent ground out moved Brantley to third.  Girardi pulled Garcia and brought in Chad Green.  A wild pitch by Green allowed Brantley to score and it was 6-1 Indians.

Credit:  David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle pitched the 8th inning in relief of Green.  Jose Ramirez punched a double into left field in front of Clint Frazier, and Edwin Encarnacion followed with a double off the top of the wall in left, scoring Ramirez.  Kahnle settled down to retire the next three batters, but it was too little, too late for a team struggling to score runs.

The Yankees unsuccessfully tried one last rally in the top of the 9th against Indians reliever Bryan Shaw.  Chase Headley led off with a single to center but Todd Frazier grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.  Ronald Torreyes hit a soft infield single to short, and moved to second on defensive indifference.  Brett Gardner singled to center which scored Torreyes.  7-2, Indians.  But that would be all as Clint Frazier hit a grounder to third, erasing Gardner at second with the force out.

The Yankees (57-51) fell 3 games behind the Boston Red Sox with the loss.  The Red Sox, winners of four in a row, beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-2, in 11 innings.  Bummer.  No seriously, that is who was on the mound when the Sox scored the winning run (Aaron Bummer).  Can't blame Tyler Clippard...he gave the White Sox two scoreless innings.  The Tampa Bay Rays lost 2-0 to the Milwaukee Brewers so they remain 1 1/2 games behind the Yankees.  The Baltimore Orioles fell 5-2 to the Detroit Tigers so they are still 4 1/2 games behind the Yankees.

This was another disappointing loss.  There was so much optimism on Monday but five days later, it's hard not to have a 'glass is half empty' point of view.  I hate to single out any one player since this loss was a team effort, but Matt Holliday's bat is a liability.  He had another '0-fer' performance (hitless in four at-bats with a strikeout).  As good as he has been in the clubhouse, I think this is his one and only year in Pinstripes.  While I had previously felt that Clint Frazier should stay on the MLB roster when Aaron Hicks returns, his play of late (4 for his last 27 at-bats) has me wondering if a couple of weeks back at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre until the roster expands on September 1st might be the right move.  Gary Sanchez definitely needs to clean up his play.  

Credit:  David Maxwell-Getty Images

Odds & Ends...

The last time he was in New York to pitch, Yu Darvish was a Texas Ranger going against Masahiro Tanaka and the Yankees.  Last night, he returned to NYC but this time was a Los Angeles Dodger, making his NL debut, at Citi Field against Jacob DeGrom and the Mets.  Darvish fared much better against DeGrom than he did against Masahiro Tanaka.  He had a couple of Mets on base in the first inning, but settled down to go 7 strong innings, shutting out the Mets on 3 hits.  He walked only one batter while striking out 10.  He picked up the win in the Dodgers' 6-0 victory over the Mets.  I'd say that Darvish had a much better debut than Sonny Gray, but then again, Darvish has baseball's best team (most wins) behind him.  

Credit:  Elsa Garrison-Getty Images

According to Elias Sports, Jaime Garcia performed a MLB rarity on Friday night.  He is the first pitcher since Gus Weyhing in 1895 to have three consecutive starts in the same season with three different teams within the span of 20 days.

On July 21st, Jaime Garcia was the winning pitcher for the Atlanta Braves when they defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, 12-3.  Garcia pitched 7 innings and allowed 7 hits and 3 runs.  On July 28th, he was the winning pitcher for the Minnesota Twins in their 6-3 victory over the Oakland A's.  He went 6 2/3 innings, giving up 8 hits and 3 runs.  The Yankees probably wish that he had held the Indians to only 3 runs, but then again, they would have still lost the game.  

Congrats to Tyler Austin!  His dramatic two-run home run yesterday in the bottom of the 9th inning powered the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders to a 3-1 walk-off win over the Pawtucket Red Sox.  Jake Cave singled in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 19 games, the longest active streak in the International League and the season high for the RailRiders.

Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett was a pre-game guest in the Yankees clubhouse prior to yesterday's game.  He also watched batting practice.  I am sure that went over well with the Yankees fans who are die-hard Giants fan (not me, sorry).  

Credit:  David Dermer-AP

Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers has cleared waivers.  No thank you.  Like the pitcher, don't like the contract.

Have a great Saturday!  Time to get back into the win column.  Let's Go Yankees!

So it Seems it’s Just Another Manic Saturday

Good morning everyone and welcome to the weekend. Remember last weekend when I said I was going to make a major and important transaction? Well that fell through and it didn’t happen. It got rescheduled for Tuesday when it once again fell through. Now it’s scheduled for this morning at 11:00 am. Wish me luck and fingers crossed, lol, because boy do I need this to go through. Thank you in advance.

It’s going to be another crazy Saturday here in the Burch household but it’s all going to be worth it very, very soon. This transaction gets me one step closer to you, to us, and that’s all I never knew I wanted. Hey you. I love you!!

Everyone have a great Saturday and a great weekend!

This Day in New York Yankees History 8/5: Black Eyes & Biogenesis

On this day in 2013 Major League Baseball was dealt another bad hand and another black eye as we all watched the Biogenesis scandal unravel before our eyes. On this day Major League Baseball released the names of the 13 players that had been suspended for their involvement with the anti-aging clinic. The Yankees Alex Rodriguez was suspended for 211 regular season games while Francisco Cervelli of the Yankees was suspended for 50 games.

Also on this day in 2007 Mike Mussina won his 246th career game making him the winningest pitcher in major league history without a 20 win season. Mussina would finally reach the 20 win plateau in his final season in 2008 when he finished with a 20-9 record.

Finally on this day in 1983 the Yankees manager Billy Martin was suspended for two games after calling umpire Dale Ford a "stone liar" after the July 31st extra inning victory over the Chicago White Sox. This marks the second time this season that Martin was disciplined by the league due to abuse of umpires.