Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox 9/18

EDIT: GAME MOVED TO 7:05 pm ET

And just like that it is game time here in the Bronx between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. In the first of their three-game set this week the Yankees will send JA Happ to the mound looking to right the ship while the Red Sox will counter with Nathan Eovaldi. The game will be played at 1:05 pm ET, not a typo, inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on WPIX Channel 11 in New York, NESN in Boston, MLB Network nationally and on Facebook Watch anywhere in the world. 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 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 Yankees all season long. Enjoy the game, beat the Red Sox, and go Yankees!!

Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox 9/18

Rivalry renewed, just this time on a Tuesday afternoon in the Bronx. Despite the weird start time for the game the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox will continue their rivalry this week as the 2018 season begins to wind down. In the opener of the three-game set this week the Yankees will send JA Happ out to the mound to face off with Nathan Eovaldi for the Red Sox. Rivalry renewed, so let’s get to it here in the Bronx.

Happ has possibly been the Yankees most reliable starters of the second half and since his acquisition in late July. Happ has made eight starts as a Yankee and has posted a 6-0 record with a 2.70 ERA with the Yankees winning seven of those eight games.

Eovaldi has a great record inside Yankee Stadium throughout his career posting a 10-5 record with a 3.85 ERA. Eovaldi also dominated the Yankees in his last start inside Fenway Park as well allowing no runs on three hits in eight innings of work back on August 4.

The game will be played at 1:05 pm ET, not a typo, inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on WPIX Channel 11 in New York, NESN in Boston, MLB Network nationally and on Facebook Watch anywhere in the world. 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 John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman.

Enjoy the game, there’s no excuse not to follow along today in some capacity, and go Yankees!!

Hello… Hypocrites and Bandwagon Fans

Good morning Yankees family and welcome to the blog. Never, and I mean never, join a Facebook group for the New York Yankees. It is pure poison, it will make your blood pressure rise and it will make you lose faith in not only all of humanity, but all Yankees fans alike. The hypocrisy and plain out ignorance is alarming, and it gets worse every day.

“Sonny Gray sucks! He can only pitch well against Triple-A teams like the Orioles!”

“Luke Voit is amazing, and Greg Bird should never see the lineup ever again. Look at what he has done against the Orioles!!”

So, let me get this straight… it is okay to beat up on the Orioles and their “Triple-A” pitching, but it is not okay to beat up on their “Triple-A” offense that includes Adam Jones, Chris Davis and others. Got it, thanks for clearing that up.

Hey you, I loves you. Every day with you is truly special, and I am incredibly lucky to still call you mine. I cannot wait until you are legally my Kari Ann Burch.

Hello… Sorry for my Absence

Call off the search party, Daniel Burch has returned to us all. Really though, good morning and man has it been a while. Moving sucks. That’s all I will say, and all that I can say.

Last weekend I told you all that I would be absent due to moving all weekend, which sucked. Then I had to play catch up at home and catch up at work, etc. etc. etc. so I was away a little longer than I ever hoped or expected, but I am back for a bit.

The good news is the move is done. The bad news is we had to move all our stuff into a storage unit while we stay with friends and live out of a suitcase essentially. The better news is we found a house where we will be going as soon as this weekend and as soon as they are done remodeling, replacing, fixing, etc. what is wrong with the place. The worst news? Moving again. Ugh.

But as much as moving sucks it is all worth it, because of you my Kari. This is just next the chapter in the book of Dan and Kari, and boy am I going to love writing this book for the rest of my life. I love you and I hope you have the very best day.

Hello… NFL Draft Day

Good morning and welcome to NFL Draft Day here in the states. While I don’t watch football much anymore I do still tune in for the first round or so of the NFL Draft generally. I don’t know if I enjoy seeing the top few picks more or seeing NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell booed off the stage every time he opens his mouth. It is a close call between the two to be honest. Either way I know a lot of people enjoy the draft, so I hope your team gets who they want or need, or that they get greedy and get both.

We have some additional NFL Draft discussions to have later on in the day and maybe a rant or two about the unbelievable things I have been seeing while checking out some more of these Facebook Yankees groups. These groups raise my blood pressure, but they are giving me a ton of ideas to write about… so the good outweighs the bad? Maybe? Stay tuned for the rant before you answer that.

And a special good morning to you my love. I love you and I hope you slept well last night. Enjoy your day.

Hello… Remind Me to Stay Off Social Media Today

Good morning everyone. Yes, I am still alive and yes, I am back. My apologies for the lack of content on the blog lately, but life has been busy. Work has been busy. Rest assured though, I am here, and I have been working since I have been gone, some of that work will begin showing up today on the blog. Stay tuned for that.

I have to admit, I have been extremely frustrated with the Yankees faithful here lately. Against my better judgement I accepted a couple requests to join some Yankees fan pages and groups on Facebook and I have to say I was shocked to read what I was reading. Fans want the pitching coach fired, the best pitching coach we may have had in my entire lifetime, Aaron Boone fired, Giancarlo Stanton traded and/or benched, the hitting coach fired and a slew of other things that just left me with my mouth open. Yeah. I think I am taking a step back from Facebook groups and I’ll stick to my Twitter family.

Also, remind me to stay off social media today. It is April 20, which apparently is some sort of (not in my opinion) “holiday.” I see both sides of the argument and I get all the good uses for some people, but the morons and losers of the world just ruin it for the entire bunch. As usual. My two cents, nothing more.

Finally, my baby. My beautiful, beautiful girlfriend and the woman who owns my heart. I love you, inside and out. You are amazing. Thank you for being you and thank you for being mine. I loves you.

Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Detroit Tigers 4/13

And just like that it is game time on this Friday the 13^th between the New York Yankees and the Detroit Tigers. In the first of this three-game weekend set the Yankees will send out Jordan Montgomery taking CC Sabathia’s turn in the rotation while the Tigers will counter with former Houston Astros starter Mike Fiers. The game will be played at 7:10 pm ET inside Comerica Park and can be seen on the YES Network. You can also follow along with the game on MLB TV, the MLB At-Bat app and by tuning into the Yankees radio broadcast on WFAN.

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, Fiers you’re not in Houston anymore, and go Yankees!!

ORIGINS: Justus Sheffield

Another day and another ORIGINS story here on the blog, this time we will be showcasing young Yankees left-handed starter Justus Sheffield. We are receiving great feedback from these posts on the site, on the view counter and on Twitter and such so we will continue rolling them out as often as we can. Enjoy!

Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles 4/7

Saturday afternoon baseball in the Bronx between the New York Yankees and one of their division rivals in the Baltimore Orioles. It just doesn’t get any better than this, I don’t care what anyone has to say about it either. In the start this afternoon the Yankees will send Sonny Gray to the mound to face off with an old foe in Chris Tillman for the Orioles. The game will be played at 1:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB Network. You can also follow along with the game on MLB TV, the MLB At-Bat app and by tuning into the Yankees radio broadcast on WFAN with 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 Yankees all season long. Now go destroy some Orioles, enjoy the game, and Go Yankees!!

Quick Hit: Facebook Friday Games in MLB

You know how ESPN has their Monday, Wednesday and Sunday night baseball programs every week and you know how that prompted MLB Network to have their showcases on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoon? Well Facebook wants to get involved with that so every Friday, starting yesterday, Facebook will live stream one nationally televised game. How freaking awesome is this? Especially for those fans who have moved, displaced or uprooted from where their home team plays their home games 82 times a season.

This week Facebook live streamed the game between the Colorado Rockies and the Cincinnati Reds and will showcase the next 19 Fridays until the end of the season. Twitter also has a feed of a game weekly, which started April 7, that will move to every Tuesday from its former slot on Friday. Competition and all.

The game and the sport as we know it is evolving and I personally think we all have Rob Manfred to thank for that. This stuff just never happened under Bud Selig and probably never would have to be honest.

This is so awesome and I just had to share this morning. Enjoy and I guess my return to Facebook, which I have been off of for over a year now, is probably imminent. Dammit. Welcome back, begrudgingly. 

3 Minus 1 Equals 2...

Credit:  Globe Staff/John Tlumacki

Impressive math skills, huh?  With Tuesday’s rain-out, the 2017 opening Yankees-Red Sox series becomes a two game affair.  It plays havoc with a wager I hold every year with a die-hard Red Sox fan.  Years ago, when we were both bloggers, we started making bets on every series.  Over the years, I’ve had to wear Red Sox caps in photos (including a pink one one year), write long posts about past and present Red Sox players, and sport Red Sox-related profile pics through social media.  My friend no longer blogs so the current bets tend to revolve around FaceBook profile and cover pics.  With only two games, a split means the win goes to the team with the most runs scored.  The loser has to use a Red Sox player as their FaceBook profile pic for three days under the current bet.  So, I have a vested interest in the Yankees to take this series.  Yes, it’s all about me.

The rained out game will be made up on Sunday, July 16th as part of a day-night double-header.   The scheduled starters are pushed back a day so Luis Severino takes the mound today against AL Cy Young Award Winner Rick “Justin Verlander Deserved It More” Porcello while Masahiro Tanaka, in the series marquee matchup, faces Chris Sale on Thursday.  CC Sabathia becomes an observer for this series, with a probable early flight back to New York for Friday’s start against the AL East leading Baltimore Orioles.

It’s raining again today in Boston but hopefully the rain gods will make way for the 7:10 pm EDT start time to allow a few hours of clear skies.  Oh yeah, this is Yankees-Red Sox, better make that four hours of clear skies.

I am not sure what I think about the possibility of Derek Jeter becoming an owner in Major League Baseball.  As Bloomberg reported yesterday, the group led by former Presidential candidate and Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Jeter won the auction for exclusive negotiating rights to buy the Miami Marlins.  The sides still have to hammer out a formal written agreement that must be approved by MLB owners, but I do not see any roadblocks to the eventual sale.  

I suppose that all things considered, it would have been worse for Jeter to buy his local Tampa Bay Rays.  Under that scenario, the Yankees would have had to face a Jeter-owned team 19 times a year in the fight for the American League East.  With Jeter owning a National League team, the Yankees won’t face the Marlins except for every few years in inter-league play.  There’s the possibility that the Yankees could face the Jeter-owned Marlins in the World Series at some point.  But for the most part, they won’t step foot on the same field at the same time.  So, this is probably the best situation for Jeter’s dream to be a Major League owner, particularly considering the Steinbrenner Family has no interest in selling the Yankees.  

It was tough to watch Don Mattingly, a lifetime Yankee, put on another team’s jersey.  If I have a second favorite or National League favorite team, it is probably the Los Angeles Dodgers (okay, not probably, it is).  Mattingly as an assistant coach for Joe Torre in Los Angeles and then later the manager was very palatable.  I was fortunate to live in Los Angeles during the Mattingly regime and I enjoyed having a long-time favorite player as manager of the local team.  I remain a fan of Mattingly’s even though he now calls Miami home, but it’s weird.  I am hopeful that he finds his way back home to Yankee Stadium one day.  I do not know Jeter’s intended ownership percentage or how active he will be as the face of the organization.  Unlike Mattingly, he won’t be putting on a Marlins uniform so technically the Yankees uniform should remain his only one.  Magic Johnson is one of the owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers but activity-wise, he is a bigger part of the Los Angeles Lakers.  Will Jeter take that type of passive ownership role or will he be the front man for the team like Denver Broncos non-owner John Elway?  I can’t really see Jeb Bush taking a backseat to Jeter unless Jeter has the greater ownership interest.  These are the things that will shake themselves out in the course of the coming days, weeks and months.  Congrats to Jeter for apparent achievement of his lifelong dream.  I hope he still finds time to visit the old stomping grounds on occasion.  

Credit:  Getty Images

I saw an article today on the YES Network asking if the Yankees should protect James Kaprielian on the 40-man roster next year in advance of the 2018 Rule 5 Draft.  I want to say now, they had better make room.  This should not even be a discussion.  I will be very upset if the Yankees do not add him to the 40-man next year and risk losing him.  I was mad about the sequence of events that led to Jacob Lindgren signing with the Atlanta Braves.  I hope we do not have a repeat situation with Kaprielian.  I know that he has been plagued by injuries and his body of work in the minor leagues is fairly slim, but he is a top talent.  If, I know…ifs and buts…, if he can stay healthy, I really feel that he’ll be a high end starter in the rotation.  I am steadfastly a fan of Kaprielian’s and I look forward to the day he takes the mound at Yankee Stadium.

The San Diego Padres, who had been carrying three catchers including Rule 5 draftee Luis Torrens (from the Yankees), demoted one of the catchers to AAA.  Starter Austin Hedges has played very well this year.  The catcher sent to AAA, Christian Bethancourt, was attempting to be a combo pitcher/catcher.  The demotion leaves the soon-to-be 21 year-old Torrens as the primary backup for Hedges.  In reality, Torrens should be no higher than A or AA so I am optimistic that events will force the Padres to upgrade backup catching to more seasoned talent to pave the way for the return of Torrens to New York.   But as each month goes by, the chances decrease.  Time will tell.

Have a great Wednesday!  I hope it’s a dry one!

So it Seems the Crap Talking Has Begun

So as you guys may or may not know I have gone pretty quiet on most fronts. I don’t post on the blog nearly as much as I want to or as much as I used to but I also haven’t been commenting either. My life has just gotten crazy busy and it gets crazier and crazier every time I turn around so it’s nothing against you guys and I hope that everyone reading this understands. One thing that I have also cut out of my life is social media. I barely post on Twitter anymore and I have all but forgotten about Facebook but for some odd reason yesterday morning I decided to check out what I was missing… and I was quickly reminded of why I got off the social media platform.

The crap talking has already begun. My timeline was full of what people had for dinner, what my friends kids were doing, this person was sick, that person started a new relationship and there was this one absolutely stunning woman who posted this hilarious video about how the Starbucks new Unicorn Frappucino tasted like, and I quote, “dog sh*t.” What else I saw on the timeline was Red Sox fans, Yankees fans and Mets fans going at it on the Greedy Pinstripes Facebook page.

The Yankees had a “better record than the Muts” and the “Red Sux” better be scared and yada yada yada. Come on guys. It’s April. Talk like that in October. Get it together, you’re all better than that. Except for the Mets fans because the Mets suck! You have to at least appreciate witty sarcasm when it’s done right, no?

Have a great day everyone. 

So It Seems “Hello Friends” is Not a Suitable Response

So. I know this is a Yankees blog but at the same time it is a blog so I think I may start taking full advantage of that. If I’m being completely honest I simply don’t have enough people to talk to in my life sometimes and I consider everyone that reads this and interacts with me as family. I’ll try to keep these little rants and discussions somewhat on topic but as you know I like to ramble on, so no promises.

So on Tuesday night I made my not-so-triumphant return to the blog and apparently my response was not a suitable one. My bad. The “Hello Friends” was meant to be a tongue-in-cheek response as I slowly opened the door for my return. It was not fake, but apparently it was not suitable either. For that you have my apologies. I totally meant to stick around and simply wait on a response but life got in the way again and by the time I got back to the blog I was welcomed back with a sense of anger. I guess I need to own that, that’s on me.

Well you know what? I’m angry too. Life sucks sometimes and I took a break. I’m a creature of habit. For five years straight I worked on this blog day in and day out from sun up till sun down. There were days I would work on this blog more than I would work on anything. It became all-consuming and it became too much. I always told myself when it felt like an obligation that I would walk away until it didn’t feel like an obligation anymore.

And here we stand this morning now a couple days into Yankees camp. I missed a lot and I neglected a few and for that you have my sincerest apologies. I look forward to earning back your love, trust and admiration. Stay well friends. 

So it Seems I’ve Missed A Lot

Call of the search party ladies and gentleman, I’m alive and it seems like I’ve missed a lot since I’ve been gone. I don’t really have a good excuse for why I was gone. I mean I was busy but I’ve kind of always been busy since we started this blog now over five years ago. I have a lot going on but my son is about to be seven and my youngest is now three so I’ve always kind of had a lot going on. I’ve always loved to write and interact with as many people as I could about the New York Yankees and I still thoroughly enjoy doing it. I’m tired but I’ve always been tired. I was burned out but I’ve been burned out probably throughout the entire 2016 regular season if I’m being honest. I don’t know what happened. Just one day I stopped checking news, I stopped updating the blog and I stopped getting on social media.

I stopped doing the Twitter thing. I stopped doing the Facebook thing. I stopped answering or even checking my non-work related emails. I completely checked out. It was a hell of a break and it was a much needed break from life and society but I think I can say with some certainty that I’m back and it seems like I’ve missed a lot.

Chris Carter is a Yankee. Brandon Phillips is a Brave. The league wants to change extra innings and pace of play rules again. The Yankees are in on Travis Wood, and now they aren’t. The Yankees are suddenly REALLY right-handed and so much more. Let’s get caught back up and let’s get back to work, shall we?

No, I Don’t Want Matt Holliday

Hell YES I want Andrew McCutchen but no, I don’t want Matt Holliday. I get a lot of tweets and mentions on both Twitter and Facebook as well as emails and real-life interactions (yes those still occur hahaha) and when the people I’m speaking to find out I have a Yankees blog I usually get flooded with questions. Should the Yankees make this trade? Should the Yankees sign this guy? Do you think the Yankees will win the World Series next year? I’m happy to answer them all so today I answer one in blog form as I received an email from an old friend asking me my thoughts on signing Matt Holiday, former St. Louis Cardinals slugger, and I can answer that in one word. No.

Holliday is set to hit free agency if and when the Cardinals decide to decline his $17 million team option for the 2017 season and there are more than a few reasons why St. Louis will be saying good bye to their right fielder this season. Holliday’s power numbers are down across the board and so are the number of games he’s played over the last couple of seasons. Holliday has become injury prone and expensive for the production he is going to give any team, especially a team like the Yankees where the Yankees have their own version of Holliday in Tyler Austin already.

Holliday can play some first base as well as the outfield and designated hitter but Austin can do that as well for half the cost, or much less, while adding some versatility on the base paths as well. Holliday is a station-to-station runner at this point and is no longer a stolen base threat, although his extra-base hit numbers are borderline legendary for his era. The biggest problem though is the fact that Holliday has only played in 183 games during the last two seasons while hitting just 24 home runs. The Yankees are finally getting out of a Mark Teixeira type contract and they don’t need another.

So when people ask me if the Yankees should go after Holliday I just have to say no. Sure he expressed numerous times throughout his career a desire to be a Yankee and I have always emphasized having players who want to be here over simply having hired mercenaries at every position but the deals have to make sense as well and signing Holliday goes against everything the Yankees worked towards this summer. A Holliday signing stunts the youth movement, pushed the team farther over the luxury tax threshold and gives the team another injury prone, aging veteran to clog up the 40-man and 25-man rosters. No thank you. No all over again. 

Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox 9/28

Bet he stole that guitar from his High School too.... piece of sh*t

Here we go again ladies and gentleman with the penultimate game in the Red Sox and Yankees rivalry in 2016. Another season of intense matchups between these two historic teams is set to come to a close tomorrow night with the Yankees honoring David Ortiz’s final trip to the Bronx. Tonight though the team honors the great rookies and players they currently have by kicking the heads in of the Red Sox. On the field of course, not literally. In the matchup tonight the New York Yankees will send Bryan Mitchell to the mound looking to remain dominant again after a fantastic start last time out while the Red Sox will counter with who I called earlier “Mr. Steal Yo Laptop” Clay Buchholz. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on the WPIX Channel 11 and MLB TV.

Time to spoil David Ortiz’s going away party this week. Go Yankees!

Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox 9/27

Here we go ladies and gentleman, rivalry renewed once again and one last time this season. Tonight the New York Yankees and Yankee Stadium play host to the retiring David Ortiz and his Boston Red Sox. Before we honor the long-time Red Sox DH and Yankees killer in the Bronx we have two more games that the team can play spoiler in so let’s see if the Baby Bombers are up to the task. In the game tonight the Yankees will send rookie starter Luis Cessa to the mound to square off against savvy veteran David Price 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, ESPN2 and MLB TV.

It’s time to play spoiler. Go Yankees!

Also if you want to see David Ortiz’s final game in the Bronx click the Yankees Tickets link at the top of the blog. Alright, Go Yankees for real this time. 

Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays 9/26

Here we go ladies and gentleman as the New York Yankees prepare for their final road game of the season unless they can somehow pull off a miracle and make the postseason. Let's do it. In the road finale for New York the Yankees will make the trip to the Rogers Centre to face off with their AL East foes the Toronto Blue Jays. In the game the Yankees will send -- to the mound replacing Masahiro Tanaka who is battling with a slight strain in his forearm while the Blue Jays will send JA Happ to the mound looking for his 21st win of the season. The game will be played at 7:07 pm ET inside Rogers Centre and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network and MLB TV.

Seven games left this season including this one. Let's win them all. Go Yankees!

Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays 9/26

Here we go ladies and gentleman, the first meaningless game of the season for the New York Yankees. The team had a great run in them with their infusion of youth but the team just couldn't get it done. That's fine though because the amount of experience in a pennant race that this team got you absolutely cannot put a number on or a stat to. So today we play like we have every other day just without the expectations or pressure. New York will send Michael Pineda to the mound while the Jays counter with Marco Estrada. The game will be played at 1:07 pm ET inside Rogers Centre and can be seen on the YES Network, TBS and MLB TV.

Nothing snazzy here. Season is over. Go Yankees!

Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays 9/24

Here we go ladies and gentleman as the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays continue their four-game set north of the border over the weekend. In the start the Yankees will send CC Sabathia to the mound looking to snap a winless streak while the Blue Jays will send Marcus Stroman to the mound looking to snap a similar winless streak for the month of September. The game will be played at 4:05 pm ET inside the Rogers Centre and can be seen on WPIX Channel 11, MLB Network and MLB TV.

Don’t give up Yankees fans. The team won’t give up and neither should we. Not until the mathematicians say we have to give up. I refuse to! If you want to root along with me for the rest of the season head over to Facebook and like our page or give our Twitter account @GreedyStripes a follow. Let’s do this, together! Go Yankees!