Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox 5/9



And just like that it is game time once again here in the Bronx, New York as the New York Yankees and Yankee Stadium play host to their division rivals, the Boston Red Sox. In the start tonight, the second of a three-game set, the Yankees will send Masahiro Tanaka to the mound to face off with Rick Porcello for the Red Sox. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on the YES Network, NESN and ESPN. You can also follow along with the game on MLB TV, with the MLB At-Bat app and by tuning into the Yankees radio broadcast on WFAN with the legendary John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman.

Follow us on Twitter, @GreedyStripes, and “Like” us on Facebook, The Greedy Pinstripes, to keep up with us and the team all season long. Enjoy the game, wishing David Price the best... I guess, and go Yankees!!

USA Today’s Weekly MLB Power Rankings 5/6 – 5/12



Another week of Major League Baseball in the history books here in 2018, and what a week it was for the New York Yankees. The Bronx Bombers are red hot and they are coming for that number one spot, Boston better be put on notice. The most impressive part about this run by the Yankees, a run that matched that “omg it is so magical and wicked awesome” start by the Boston Red Sox to start the 2018 campaign, is that they, unlike the Red Sox, are doing it against great teams. The Yankees have all but caught up to the Red Sox in the American League East Division race, could the USA Today weekly MLB Power Rankings be next?

The New York Yankees were 4th in last week’s rankings, up from the #9 position, and were able to rise another two spots to the second position overall. The only team in front of the Baby Bombers right now? Unfortunately, the Boston Red Sox. Chris Sale is good at baseball and so is Mookie Betts, it is a long season though so color me “not worried.” The Top 5 includes the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

The rest of the American League East shapes up with the Toronto Blue Jays finishing the week 8th overall after jumping eight spots from last week, the Tampa Bay Rays finishing 21st and the Baltimore Orioles finishing the week 29th overall.


Surprises? Both the Baltimore Orioles and the Cincinnati Reds were on pace to finish the season with a 38-124 record heading into the week, that’s surprising. The Seattle Mariners climbed into the Top 10 quieting those people who sent hate mail to my personal email after I predicted the Seattle Cano’s would win the second Wild Card in the American League. Meanwhile the Mets dumped Matt Harvey and are in a free fall after dropping 12 (TWELVE) spots from last week’s Top 5 finish. The Los Angeles Dodgers fell seven spots to 19, and things aren’t looking better for them any time soon while the Texas Rangers could lose 100 games and become important sellers at the July 31st trade deadline. Cole Hamels come on down.

New Faces & Slow Starts in New York Are Nothing New



There is a lot that can be said about the George Steinbrenner era of New York Yankees baseball, but one thing that could not be said is that the team did not tend to always get their man. If the Yankees needed a first baseman they went out and got the best first baseman available each and every time. Need a pitcher? A few days after the determination was made prospects were being shipped out the door and a fresh new arm was headed to the Bronx. It was where the “Get Greedy” mantra began, and we got a glimpse of the past this winter when Brian Cashman and son of the Boss, Hal Steinbrenner, acquired reigning NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton from the Miami Marlins. Stanton has started his Yankees tenure off slower than expected, but he isn’t the first big time Yankees slugger to be acquired only to have a slow start to his Big Apple career. Let’s compare.

We all as Yankees fans know that there have been a few key acquisitions that started awfully slow, but ultimately rebounded to have good first seasons in New York and career's with the Yankees. That list of names includes Alex Rodriguez who was acquired in a trade with the Texas Rangers, Jason Giambi who was signed as a free agent from the Oakland Athletics and Johnny Damon who was signed as a free agent after leaving the Boston Red Sox. Does their past give us hope for Giancarlo Stanton's future?



Alex Rodriguez

2003 w/ TEX: .298/.396/.600/.995 with 47 HR and 118 RBI
2004 w/ NYY: .286/.375/.512/.888 with 36 HR and 106 RBI
Career w/ NYY: .283/.378/.523/.900 with 351 HR and 1096 RBI (12 seasons)



Jason Giambi

2001 w/ OAK: .342/.477/.660/1.137 with 38 HR and 128 RBI
2002 w/ NYY: .314/.435/.598/1.034 with 41 HR and 122 RBI
Career w/ NYY: .260/.404/.521/.925 with 209 HR and 604 RBI (7 seasons)



Johnny Damon

2005 w/ BOS: .316/.366/.439/.805 with 20 HR and 94 RBI
2006 w/ NYY: .285/.359/.482/.841 with 24 HR and 80 RBI
Career w/ NYY: .285/.363/.458/.821 with 77 HR and 296 RBI (4 seasons)



Giancarlo Stanton

2017 w/ MIA: .281/.376/.631/1.007 with 59 HR and 132 RBI
2018 w/ NYY: .227/.313/.455/.768 with 7 HR and 19 RBI (34 games)
Career w/ NYY: Stay tuned



As you can see a slow start or even a bad season to begin their tenures do not always spell the end or doomsday for these players. Stanton has plenty of contract left and an immense amount of talent to showcase before his Yankees tenure is in the books. I wasn’t worried when Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi or Johnny Damon got off to slower starts than you would like, and I am not worried about Stanton’s slow start either. We will try and revisit this post in October, that will be more telling than his stats as we entered the week here in May.

I said all that to say this, some fans need to just calm the hell down.

All stats courtesy of and thanks to Baseball Reference.


Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox 5/9


UPDATE: David Price scratched from the start with numbness in his left hand. Rick Porcello will start in his place tonight in the Bronx. 


Good morning Yankees family and welcome back to arguably the greatest rivalry in all of the four North American sports as the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox continue to face off head-to-head this week in the Bronx. Last night the Yankees brought their ace with them to town against the Red Sox and tonight they bring another talented pitcher with them in Masahiro Tanaka. The Red Sox will counter with a familiar foe for New York in David Price. Let’s get to it here in the Bronx.

Tanaka has pitched the Yankees to victory in each of his last three starts after a rough stretch against the Miami Marlins and these Boston Red Sox. In Tanaka’s last start against the Houston Astros the Yankees right-hander allowed just three runs in six innings of work.


Price on the other hand heads into this start fresh off the worst start of his young season after allowing nine runs, seven of them earned, in just 3.2 innings pitched against the Texas Rangers. In Price’s last five starts the Red Sox left-hander is 1-4 with an 8.22 ERA. Ouchies.

The game will be played 7:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on the YES Network, NESN and Boston East, aka ESPN. You can also follow along with the game on MLB TV, with the MLB At-Bat app and by tuning into the Yankees radio broadcast on WFAN with the legendary John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman.

Enjoy the game, David you aren’t in Tampa anymore, and go Yankees!!

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.