Yankees: Losing Optimism...

 

Aaron Judge (Photo Credit: Jessie Alcheh/AP)

Failure is the common theme of the 2023 New York Yankees…

I will say that I went into the MLB Trade Deadline thinking the Yankees would do nothing, so I guess from that standpoint, they met my expectations. Sure, they picked up a couple of relievers, but the bullpen was a minor need compared to the bigger problems with the current roster construction.   

I must admit that it would have been more appealing if the Yankees had sent a certain general manager to Texas instead of the green stuff for this trade:

Texas Rangers traded RHP Spencer Howard to New York Yankees for Cash

Meanwhile, the AL East Rivals, all of them, improved in the days leading up to the deadline and are better teams than they were last week.  The notable trades were:

Baltimore Orioles acquired veteran right-hander Jack Flaherty from the St Louis Cardinals; the Tampa Bay Rays acquired right-hander Aaron Civale from the Cleveland Guardians; the Toronto Blue Jays acquired right-handed flamethrowing reliever Jordan Hicks and shortstop Paul DeJong from the St Louis Cardinals in separate deals; and the Boston Red Sox acquired third baseman Luis Urias from the Milwaukee Brewers.

Meanwhile, the big acquisitions for the Yankees were relievers Keynan Middleton from the Chicago White Sox and Spencer Howard from the Texas Rangers. To get Middleton, the Yankees gave up High-A reliever Juan Carela.  I so wish the cost of Spencer Howard was Brian “Cash” Cashman. 

Middleton is the only one of the two newcomers who provide immediate help for the bullpen. Originally drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in the third round of the 2013 Draft, Middleton has pitched in the Majors for the Angels, Seattle Mariners, and Arizona Diamondbacks. He signed with the White Sox as a free agent in January 2023. This season, the 29-year-old Middleton has appeared in 39 games for the White Sox. He is 2-2 with a 3.96 ERA, 47 strikeouts in 36 1/3 innings, and two saves. He has given up seven home runs and has walked sixteen batters.  He represents a better option than the recently demoted Ron Marinaccio, but I cannot really find any reason to believe the Yankees are better today than they were yesterday.

Keynan Middleton (Photo Credit: Eileen T Meslar/Chicago Tribune/TNS)

Spencer Howard is a project. He was originally drafted in the 2^nd round of the 2017 MLB Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies. The 27-year-old righty has only appeared in three Major League games for the Rangers this season. He is 0-0 with a 10.80 ERA (four runs allowed in 3 1/3 innings). The Rangers had acquired Howard, along with two other minor leaguers, in a 2021 trade deadline deal with the Phillies that most notably sent starting pitcher Kyle Gibson to the City of Brotherly Love. Maybe the Yankees think they can unlock the promise that Howard once held. 

Spencer Howard (Photo Credit: Elias Valverde II/Staff Photographer, Dallas Morning News)

So, Middleton is essentially the only acquisition obtained to help the Yankees achieve the last Wild Card slot despite the shortcomings in left field, the loss of a true third baseman, and horrific starting pitching by Luis Severino and Domingo German (excluding his nine innings of perfection). 

To be real, it feels like the Yankees have punted the season. If the goal was to toss in the white towel, the Yankees should have been more aggressive in trading the players on the roster with expiring contracts. The corporate-speak is the expectation the current players can and will perform better, but they have proven throughout most of the season that the Yankees are what they are…the last-place club in the AL East. 

I am disappointed in the Yankees. The front office is not transparent and to an outside observer, there does not appear to be a clear and distinct plan for future success. As they say, you cannot keep doing the same things expecting different results. At this point, I am ready for the kids. Time to bring up RHP Randy Vásquez, infielder Oswald Peraza, utilityman Oswaldo Cabrera, and outfielder Everson Pereira. Heck, may as well promote catcher Austin Wells, now 24, despite his limited Triple-A experience. If the Yankees are going to lose, they need to at least make it exciting for us. 2017 was a fun season despite the season-ending playoff loss to the Cheaters. I think I miss the fun of the 2017 season more today than ever before. I am not pining for the return of Manager Joe Girardi despite the dissatisfaction with current Manager Aaron Boone. It is more about the fun the players had on the field.  We felt it as fans. 

2017 Yankees

I do not know the future of the organization. The Baltimore Orioles will likely win the American League East and have the talented youth infusion to keep the team among the league’s best for the next five years. The Rays are the Rays and will continue to maximize the performance of their players through superior use of analytics (a much better understanding of how to equate the statistics into on-the-field performance), and the Blue Jays will eventually figure it out. The Blue Jays have the money to explode if everything comes together for them. Boston is Boston. They find a way to win every few years. The Yankees appear to be a dysfunctional organization. Why? They have the financial strength to hire baseball’s brightest minds, yet Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner rewards the guys he likes.  There is no accountability for performance. The only way for the organization to change is for Hal Steinbrenner to change. He is 53, makes a good living courtesy of the Yankees, and is not motivated to win championships.  That may be unfair. I am sure he wants to win championships because it brings more money into the organization, but he lacks the passion and the zeal for success like his father did. His father was certainly not perfect (I doubt the 1990s Dynasty Years would have occurred if George Steinbrenner had not been suspended earlier in the decade to allow Gene “Stick” Michael to build the championship teams), but Hal has been a reluctant Yankee all his life. As a young man, he was seemingly uninterested in an active role with the Yankees. George was attempting to build his succession plan through his sons-in-law, first Joe Molloy and then Steve Swindal, until divorces thwarted those plans. Hank seemed more interested in the family’s horses. After Hank’s failure as the face of the franchise forced Hal to take the more active lead role, I felt the strong-willed Hank remained a good counterbalance to Hal’s conservative nature. As co-Managing General Partners, Hank was the only one who could potentially overrule Hal with the support of his sisters. Hank’s untimely death removed a strong voice in the owner’s room.  I am sure the two Steinbrenner sisters, Jennifer, and Jessica, have voiced their opinions in closed-door meetings, but they have never publicly shown the strength of those opinions and I am not sure how much they challenge their younger brother.   

The Steinbrenner Family: Jennifer, Jessica, George's wife Joan (deceased), Hal, and Hank (deceased)

I am not sure what the future holds for Hal Steinbrenner’s Yankees. Eventually, he will turn over the team to younger family members unless the Steinbrenner Family makes the unlikely decision to sell the team.  The potential future Steinbrenner owners include Stephen Swindal, Jr, Robert Molloy, Hank’s two children, George Michael Steinbrenner IV and Julia Steinbrenner, and Hal’s daughter, Katherine Steinbrenner. I would be lying if I said I was not partial to George M. Steinbrenner IV for name value alone.  With his interest in Indy Car Racing, I am sure the Boss’s namesake shares his grandfather’s passion for competitiveness. 

George Michael Steinbrenner IV

Until the younger Steinbrenner children are ready to ascend to the throne, Hal needs to figure this out. He must find a plan to rebuild the team and restore the faith and confidence in the fanbase. Brian Cashman may be a nice guy, a smart man, but it is time for a change. Hiring the brightest minds in the industry should start with the general manager’s chair. The only disadvantage with Cashman joining another organization is that he knows how to play Hal Steinbrenner.  Otherwise, I do not think any fan would really care where Cashman draws his next paycheck.  If Cashman goes, the coaching staff and the analytics department need to follow.  Find the best people, the smartest and most innovative minds, for the jobs to lead the most storied franchise in baseball history.  The time for change is upon us.  Try something new, get different, i.e., better, results.

Hal, give us a reason to cheer again.

As always, Go Yankees! 

Embrace the Current Yankees Boss...

  

Hal Steinbrenner (Photo Credit: Jason Szenes/Getty Images)

Hal, not George, runs the New York Yankees…

George Steinbrenner died July 13, 2010...

As someone who lived during the George Steinbrenner era, you will never find me wishing the Boss was still alive. I miss his passion and love for the Yankees, sure, but I remember the faults. As a kid, it seemed like there was a new manager every year and of course there was the unhealthy love/hate relationship the Boss had with Billy Martin. I loved every hiring and was deeply saddened by every firing. It was impossible to keep up with the pitching coaches. Those guys churned more than the revolving managerial door. 

Gabe Paul, Billy Martin & George Steinbrenner (Photo Credit: Marty Lederhandler/AP)

I remember going to my first game at the old Yankee Stadium in 1987 and the anti-Boss yells were noticeable. There was no love for George Steinbrenner during those days. Many of us were frustrated last March when the Yankees acquired the aging Josh Donaldson and his fat contract. Those type of acquisitions were frequent under the Boss. Overpaying veterans who were “past their prime” was commonplace.

I truly believe the 1990s dynasty would not have happened if not for the Boss’s time away. Dave Winfield signed a 10-year contract with the Yankees after the 1980 season (for a now laughable $23 million given where salaries are for elite players today). Winfield never brought a championship to New York, and of course, he earned the nickname “Mr. May” from Steinbrenner for his poor October performances. The contract did not age well, for Steinbrenner, and he suspended annual payments to Winfield’s foundation in the latter years of the contract, payments required under the terms and conditions of Winfield’s agreement with the team, with the belief the funds were mismanaged. This led to lawsuits between Winfield and the Boss. Steinbrenner, to prove Winfield’s mismanagement of the foundation payments, paid a gambler named Howard Spira $40,000. Spira had been a foundation volunteer and was willing to confirm Steinbrenner’s suspicions…for a price.

When Steinbrenner’s actions came to light, it led then MLB Commissioner Fay Vincent to bar Steinbrenner for life. Although the Boss was not required to sell his interest in the Yankees, he was barred from day-to-day management of the team. Steinbrenner had requested the lifetime ban over a two-year suspension because he feared a suspension would jeopardize his place as Vice President of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Limited Partner Robert Nederlander took over as the Managing General Partner for two years, and subsequently replaced by Joe Molloy, Steinbrenner’s former son-in-law. Under Nederlander and Molloy, Yankees executive Gene Michael was able to build the framework for the late 1990s championship run. The trade which brought Paul O’Neill to New York happened while the Boss was “away” and of course the Core Four, plus Bernie Williams, rose to prominence because they were given the time to blossom. 

After requesting reinstatement, the lifetime ban was lifted, and the Boss returned to his role as the Managing General Partner in 1993. He largely allowed Michael to continue building the eventual championship teams. The notable exception was following the 1995 season, after the stunning playoff loss to the Seattle Mariners, when Buck Showalter turned down a two-year contract extension because it included a provision to fire then-hitting coach Rick Down. Steinbrenner took this as a “resignation” which created a managerial vacancy.

Although Michael lost a manager he would have retained, he rebounded by naming Joe Torre as Yankees manager and of course the rest is history. If pre-lifetime ban Steinbrenner had been present, the new Yankees manager most likely would have been Davey Johnson or Tony LaRussa. Fortunately, the post-lifetime ban Boss supported Michael’s decision, and the championships soon followed. 

The point is the championship run was probably only possible because of Steinbrenner’s time away. It allowed Gene Michael to make the right moves. Credit to both Nederlander and Molloy for their roles in providing the necessary support for Michael.

Gene "Stick" Michael (Photo Credit: AP)

I do not dislike current Yankees Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner. I may harbor frustration that he does not outwardly show his passion and love for the Yankees like his father did. Hal is a businessman, a bean counter by education. For all intents and purposes, he is a good man. Hal took over the Yankees after the 2007 season following the decision not to bring back Joe Torre and the subsequent retirement of his father, who had suffered through strokes and dementia in his final years. The Yankees have never had a losing record under Hal’s watch. In fact, the Yankees have not had a losing season since 1992.  Granted, there were only 84 wins in the 2014 and 2016 seasons, but they were “winning” seasons. Amazing to think that any Yankee fan in their 20s have never experienced a losing season. 

We may be frustrated with the moves Hal Steinbrenner makes or does not make, but to say he has been bad for the Yankees is wrong.  I do not pine for George Steinbrenner; I want Hal Steinbrenner to step up in a way that would make his father proud. Hal is his own man, and I do respect the trust he places in Yankees Management. The stability and continuity have been invaluable in helping the Yankees to become one of the best run teams in Major League Baseball. I did not enjoy the Bronx Zoo days.  Loved some of the characters, of course, but not the entire chaotic mess.

The singular point is ‘do better’. No more stop gaps. No more bloated contracts that hold the team back (saying this while hopeful the Yankees re-sign Aaron Judge to an excessively fat contract, in a sense of hypocrisy). I am probably referring more to guys like Josh Donaldson who seemed like a mistake from the moment the Gary Sanchez trade was announced last Spring.  Or “knee jerk” signings like Jacoby Ellsbury. The Yankees have a winning team, but they have proven they are not a championship team. Running it back with the same guys, hoping for better results is a flawed strategy.

I am hopeful the Yankees recognize they were not as good as their first half run last season. Bringing back Aaron Judge is a must, but the off-season improvements cannot stop there. I keep seeing fans who want Oswaldo Cabrera, Oswald Peraza, and Anthony Volpe in next season’s Opening Day lineup. Not me. I do not want to roll out three rookies in attempt to de-throne the Houston Astros. I believe Peraza should be the team’s starting shortstop (based on the current roster), but there is no question I would sign Trea Turner or Carlos Correa if I could. Oswaldo Cabrera is next season’s Marwin Gonzalez, only younger and better. Volpe will be great, but let him season a little more in Triple A. The end result will be worth it. 

Assuming Judge returns (I am a little more optimistic after hearing Jeff Passan on The Michael Kay Show last week, “All signs point to Aaron Judge remaining with the Yankees”), how the Yankees address the starting rotation (need better options than Clarke Schmidt or Domingo German to replace Jameson Taillon), the bullpen, and left field will go a long way toward building a team ready for the October hurdles.  Turner or Correa would be insurance it happens. 

Time for Hal Steinbrenner to win a World Series championship without his father’s watchful eye.

Thanksgiving Weekend…

I hope everyone had a joyous and memorable Thanksgiving Day yesterday. 

I know I was thankful to see my Minnesota Vikings finally defeat Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. The Vikings had not beaten the Pats since 2000. It is always beautiful anytime a Boston team loses. Sorry to my fellow Yankee fans who bleed Blue for the Dallas Cowboys’ victory over the New York Giants. Sadly, I think the Giants are like the Vikings…not as good as their respective records. But as the saying goes, “On any given Sunday…”.   

The Boston Red Sox have a Yankees fetish. With a few former Yankees on their roster (James Paxton, Garrett Whitlock, Kaleb Ort, and Rob Refsnyder) and one player named after a Yankees legend (Jeter Downs), the Red Sox added two more former Yankees last week. They acquired infielder Hoy Park, who had been designated for assignment by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Park went to Pittsburgh as part of the trade that brought Clay Holmes to New York. The Red Sox also signed free agent reliever Joely Rodriguez who spent last season as a Met after being traded for reliever Miguel Castro. 

As soon as I saw that the Pirates had DFA’d Park, my first thought was ‘future Red Sock’. Sure enough, it happened like clockwork.

Wondering when the Yankees will announce new contracts for general manager Brian Cashman and pitching coach Matt Blake. It seems odd while chasing free agent Aaron Judge and potential pitching options, the Yankees have not locked up two key members of the organization. I do not take this to mean they may not return, I think both will be back but the sooner their returns are announced, the better. 

Matt Blake (Photo Credit: Robert Sabo)

It will be interesting to see if the Yankees replace assistant hitting coach Hensley Meulens who left to become the hitting coach for the Colorado Rockies. The Yankees could just stand pat with only one assistant hitting coach (Desi Druschel) for hitting coach Dillon Lawson, but I feel there is value in an old school hitter to pair with analytics-driven coaches. I would love to see Brett Gardner rejoin the Yankees in this role.  As a former team leader, he has the command and respect of the clubhouse.

I thought it was funny the Los Angeles Angels acquired Mike Trout-lookalike Hunter Renfroe.

Hunter Renfroe

Mike Trout

Former Yankee prospect Janson Junk went to Milwaukee as part of the deal to bring Renfroe to Orange County, California. The Angels had previously acquired third baseman Gio Urshela from the Minnesota Twins, and signed former Dodgers starting pitcher Tyler Anderson, a free agent, so they are clearly trying to do something before Shohei Ohtani leaves. The Angels see Urshela as an option at third base and first base, and occasionally at short, second base or the outfield.  Anthony Rendon has struggled to stay healthy since he signed with the Angels so no doubt Gio will be manning third base more than the Angels currently expect. Good for him. 

I am always glad to get the Thanksgiving holiday behind us for no other reason than we are closer to the annual Baseball Winter Meetings. It is always my favorite week of the MLB offseason, and it was missed immensely last season after cancellation due to the lockout. The bittersweet part of the week is the Rule 5 Draft when multiple Yankee prospects are chosen annually. At least with the MLB portion of the draft, the Yankees can get the prospects back if they fail to stick on the Major League rosters for their new teams. The only time I am openly rooting for Yankee prospects to fail. 

As a baseball fan, I am sorry to hear that Bryce Harper needed Tommy John surgery. I wish him a speedy and full recovery and look forward to his return to MLB sometime next season for the Philadelphia Phillies. Baseball is better when Bryce is playing.

Happy Birthday to the YES Network’s Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES on Twitter)! Jack is 58 years old today. Looking forward to his breaking news that Aaron Judge has re-signed with the Yankees (I hope). I hope it is a wonderful birthday, Jack, and we look forward to your work in the coming year. 

As always, Go Yankees!

What it Means to be a Yankees Fan: David Lippman

So, we know what it means to be a Yankees fan for the co-owners of this blog, myself and Bryan Van Dusen, one of our usual friends that comments on the blog, Ken Hans, and in my humble opinion the best writer on the blog, Scott Fiedler, but today we break the mold a little. Today we find out what it means to be a Yankees fan from a fan of the blog, his name is David Lippman

What does it mean to be a Yankees fan to you, David? Let’s find out.

Dave Lippman essay for “The Greedy Pinstripes”

What makes you a fan of the New York Yankees?

My grandfather Joe Lippman became a baseball fan when his older brother Sam “Izzy” Lippman took Joe to the Polo Grounds to see Christy Mathewson fire a 3-0 shutout at the Cincinnati Reds. Grandpa was hooked on baseball and the Giants immediately and for the rest of his life. In 1912, the Yankees moved into the Polo Grounds when Hilltop Park burned down and started wearing the pinstripes with the interlocking “NY.” Since the Highlanders (as they were called then) were not in the same league as the Giants, Grandpa now had two teams to root for, which he thought was great. They were not in direct competition with each other, until Babe Ruth came along and made life interesting.

After that, Grandpa still had it easy, except at World Series time. When the Yankees were in, the Giants were out, and vice versa, and the ballparks were just a bridge apart. The 1951 World Series was the last time a World Series was held where fans could walk from one ballpark to the other, in point of fact. Grandpa rooted for his increasingly powerful Yankees and passed that on to my father, Paul Lippman.

My mother, Barbara Lippman, grew up in England during World War II, and listened on US Armed Forces Radio to baseball games, which were often Yankee games. She did not understand how the batting order looped around, but other than that, baseball made sense, and she became a Yankee fan.

They met in London in 1949 when Dad went over with a group of NYU students – Mom was hosting them with University of Leeds students. Dad asked Mom to see a movie at the Odeon. Dad thought there was only one Odeon in London, not realizing it was a chain like Loew’s. Mom thought that Dad knew where they were going. So instead of seeing “Treasure of the Sierra Madre” or “Twelve O’Clock High,” they saw “Abbott and Costello Join the French Foreign Legion,” which set the tone of communication for their entire 37 years of marriage. Mom, however, learned how American humor worked from when Dad laughed at Lou Costello’s jokes.

She came to America via Hoboken in a Dutch liner in the 1950s, which was a good time to be a Yankee fan, working as an editor on science books. One of them was the autobiography of the inventor of radar, Sir Robert Watson-Watt. He was late to an editorial conference and told Mom that the delay was caused when he was flagged for speeding by a New York State Trooper, who barked at Watson-Watt: “You were caught on radar. Do you know what that is?” Watson-Watt sighed, and said, “Yes, I invented it.” The trooper was not amused and issued the ticket.

Mom and Dad got married on Columbus Day in 1957 at the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn, and my English and American families met in mutual incomprehension, despite both being Jewish. The British side were all military or civil servants, who had built and run the Empire and fought in battles for the Crown since 1680. The Americans were all pharmacists and small businessmen who came originally from shtetls in Poland. The Americans couldn’t understand why the British were all so reserved, drank tea, and talked about colonial postings or some incident at Aldershot or Quetta. The British couldn’t understand why the Americans ate so much chopped liver, were so loud, and talked about “retail and wholesale, I hope,” and used so much Yiddish. Beneath it all, the Americans were also irritated that the Yankees had lost – LOST – the World Series to the Milwaukee Braves, of all teams, and the Giants and Dodgers were moving to California.

Mom and Dad followed the Giants soon after, working for an ad agency in San Francisco, which made it tricky to follow the Yankees, and Dad had divided loyalties in the 1962 World Series. Mom was worried about the pregnancy that would hatch me (in its late stages) and both worried about the Cuban Missile Crisis at the time, and Richard Nixon running for “Governor of the United States” in California. Bobby Richardson caught that Willie McCovey liner, JFK got the Soviet missiles out of Cuba, Pat Brown won the gubernatorial race, and moments after Tricky Dick said, “You won’t have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore,” and Mom promptly went into labor.

I was born at Beth Israel Hospital on the Lower East Side on November 7, 1962, six hours after Eleanor Roosevelt died at Mount Sinai Hospital on the Upper East Side. She heard I was coming and couldn’t stand it.

I thus gained my Yankee and Giant fandom from my parents. My youth was the 1970s team: Thurman, Reggie, Catfish, Sparky, Billy, George, Lyle, and most of all: Gator. He was my professional role model, on how to handle things, on the mound and in life.

Logically, I began my baseball career with the crosstown New York Mets as associate editor of their house magazine, “Inside Pitch,” in the early 1980s, a job I loved, at a time when the team was on the rise. With typical Mets illogic, they sold the magazine to “Baseball America” in mid-1985, then based in North Carolina, and the North Carolinians believed they could cover the Mets better from Raleigh than Queens, and I was fired on September 12, 1985, thus missing the 1986 season. I dropped any adherence to the Mets beyond that of a fourth-generation New Yorker (meaning, that if they are in a World Series and neither the Yankees nor Giants were playing, I would root for the New York team).

I was also working a little bit for United Press, covering the Yankees, so I got to cover the good guys at the same time, and was present when Don Mattingly and Dave Winfield ended their internal war for the batting title on the final day of the 1984 season, in a demolition of the Detroit Tigers. As they had led the American League East from wire to wire, I doubt the Tigers cared.

With my baseball writing career over (the great dream of my life wrecked), I could root for the Yankees and Giants without having to maintain the cool impartiality of a UPI baseball writer and did. Unfortunately, 1987-1991 were lousy years for the Yankees. In 1991, I went in the Navy, and was overseas until 1998, in Japan, New Zealand, and Antarctica.  When I heard about guys like Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, and Mariano Rivera, I said, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

I saw it on my monitor in my office in New Zealand in 1996, when the Yankees came back from that horrific first two games to clip, nip, and dip the Braves in four straight, stunning the Southerners and Yankee-haters in my unit.

I got out of the Navy in 1998, which was a good time to be back in New York…NOW I began to appreciate Derek Jeter, David Wells, David Cone, Tino Martinez, Paul O’Neill, and Mariano Rivera, who was becoming my second professional role model, for his utter coolness and calmness in the face of crisis and defeat.

In 1999, I began my Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program, and sat struggling at my computer on an essay, unable to figure out what to do. Roger Clemens was pitching for the Yankees on the radio behind me, and as I listened to him pitch, I had a gigantic epiphany: writing is pitching: the pitcher is the writer, the batter is the reader, various types of pitches are various types of sentences, phrases, and paragraphs, and effective writing depended on velocity, movement, location, knowing the hitter, the game situation, and setting up the right pitch sequence.

Suddenly I understood it all. I attacked the essay, and got an A. I got an A on the next one. And the next one. And the one after that. I completed the Masters Degree with Straight A’s, the first and only time in my life I had ever run the table in any academic environment. And I owed it all to Roger Clemens. So, when he got in trouble as a headhunter and later over steroids, I stood by my literary mentor, one of four (the others being my high school writing teacher Frank McCourt, historian Walter Lord, and my MFA instructors at the New School).

What made me, in the end, a Yankee fan, was more than the family connection, though. Or the writing connection. It was the endless link to history. Every Yankee team and player has to measure up to and meet the standards set by previous generations of titanic players. They had to live up to traditions set by predecessors: Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio for quiet excellence, Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle for flamboyant power, Waite Hoyt and Whitey Ford for cocky dominance, Joe McCarthy and Casey Stengel for managerial brilliance.

It was always awesome to me to see so many players on one team through the decades who could and did. For example, I grew up with Willie Randolph – Robinson Cano kept up his tradition. Now it looks like Gleyber Torres will inherit the title. Grandpa saw Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Bob Meusel. Dad saw Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, and Red Ruffing as a kid. Then he enjoyed Yogi Berra, Allie Reynolds, and Hank Bauer. Mom’s team was in the 1960s: Roger Maris, Elston Howard, and Bobby Richardson. I’ve gone from Munson to Mattingly to Mariano to Miguel Andujar. It never ends. It holds my respect, it holds my awe, and it holds my reverence.

And it ends with me. My daughter Wallis regards all sports that involve a ball as “sportsball.” Her sport is rock-climbing.

What is your earliest memory of the New York Yankees?

In 1977, Dad took me to the old Yankee Stadium (new version) for Old Timer’s Day. He was very excited to see some of his favorites taking the field one more time, in uniform, to take their bows. Out they came, gaining in importance as the introductions went on. Mickey Mantle was among the last. Joe DiMaggio was the “man they saved for last,” and he received the usual standing ovation. The Mick didn’t play. The announcer said he had “pulled a muscle while bowing,” but I learned later that he was completely drunk.

The moment I remember best was when Joltin’ Joe came to bat. Dad grabbed my left arm and said, “His stance hasn’t changed a bit. That is the exact stance I remember.” It was a moment that connected us tightly…both being able to see Joe DiMaggio at bat. And, no, I don’t remember the regular game that followed. That overshadowed the rest.

What is your fondest memory of the New York Yankees?

I have so many memories. My favorite thing at Yankee Stadium was Old Timer’s Day, of course, seeing my old favorites and heroes come out and get introduced, play a not-too-serious game, and have some fun. They’d stand on the third-base or first-base line, quaffing water from bottles, yakking with each other. They all got applause, and I would remember moments from my youth or earlier adulthood.

Second favorite? That moment when the sound system replay screen cuts out of that horrific “Cotton Eye Joe,” (a country song in New York City?) and replaces it with the first bars of “Enter Sandman.” The home bullpen doors open, and Mariano Rivera himself, head down, dangling his mitt in his left, jogs to the mound, intent on his business, trailed by a YES Network cameraman, whose live imagery of Mariano coming into the game is flashed on the Diamond Vision screen. The entire audience at Yankee Stadium leaps to its feet and starts singing the song (if they know the words) and start wildly cheering, knowing that the most devastating weapon in baseball history was coming in to seal the victory yet again (652 times all told). We will never see the like again.

Third favorite: Game 3, 1999 World Series. Challenger the Eagle flew in from the visitors’ bullpen before the game and Chad Curtis smashed a walk-off home run in the 10th to the same place to end the game. The stadium was vibrating as the Yankees sealed their 100th World Series game win and record 11th in a row.

Fourth favorite: Game 2, ALDS, 2009: Alex Rodriguez blasts a homer into the Yankees’ bullpen to tie the game off of Joe Nathan in the ninth inning in the rain and snow. In the 11th, Mark Teixeira hits the game-winning walk-off shot, a laser to left. A few days later, Game 2, ALCS, A-Rod facing California Angel relief ace Brian Fuentes in the 11th, again with the good guys trailing in snow and rain, and he bashed a line shot that bounces in the area in front of the first row of seats in right field for a game-tying home run. The Yankees then win on a defensive misplay and Jerry Hairston, Jr. scoring.

Fifth favorite: All-Star Game, 2008: The last one at the old Stadium. 14 innings. I sat through every inning and scored every inning. Before the game began, an army of Hall of Famers emerged from the doors in center field and assumed their positions. I was in the presence of greatness, past and present.

These are all from games I was at. When I think of Yankee events I was NOT present for, there are even more…I’m 55 years old, and I can remember all the way back personally to the mid-1970s. I stayed home on Yom Kippur to watch Bucky Dent hit that home run, stayed up late to watch Reggie hit his home runs, saw Gator strike out 18, and so on and so on…I think Derek Jeter’s “Mr. November” home run in the 2001 World Series stands out. I lost friends on 9/11, and the city of my birth and youth was still smoldering. The World Trade Center was a mile-and-a-half from where I grew up. I saw it go up…I saw it go down. My wife was standing on 6th Avenue at 14th Street when she saw the first plane hit. I manned the Emergency Operations Center in Newark as the Public Information Officer. Jeter’s homer did not win the World Series, but it brought a bleeding, wounded, devastated city to its feet in defiance and triumph. We could withstand anything hurled at us and outlast them through determination and sheer resilience.

What do you think of when you see the interlocking NY of the Yankees?

The endless tradition of the team, which dates back to the precise year my grandfather started cheering for them. The uniform has undergone virtually no changes since the “NY” was put on the pinstripes, and a member of the 2018 Yankees wears the same uniform as the 1938 Yankees, and, in many cases, the same number as some distinguished player. Consider that there are no single digit numbers left. The lowest available number is 11, worn by the talented veteran Brett Gardner. Before him, Gary Sheffield, Chuck Knoblauch, Dwight Gooden, Gene Michael, Johnny Sain, Joe Page, Lefty Gomez, and Herb Pennock, to name a few. There’s no “Flashback Friday” or “Throwback Thursday” or “Turn Back the Clock” uniform night for the Yankees. They don’t have to bother. They ALWAYS wear the same uniform they did “back in the day.” The same interlocking “NY.” The same pinstripes. The history and heritage continues.

This Day In New York Yankees History 9/6: George Fires Gene Michael & Releases The Alou Brothers

George Steinbrenner bought the struggling New York Yankees franchise in 1973 for a meager $10 million and eventually turned the team into a perennial winner. Along the way George went through a lot of players, a ton of personnel, and more than his fair share of managers. On this day in 1981 The Boss made the "most agonizing" decision he ever made during his tenure as the Yankees owner when he fired manager Gene Michael and replaced him with Bob Lemon.

Michael announced in a press conference that he could no longer tolerate Steinbrenner's constant threats of dismissal which angered Steinbrenner. George demanded an apology and when Michael refused he was let go as the manager of the New York Yankees.

Also on this day in 1973 both of the Alou Brothers were released from the Yankees squad. Felipe Alou was sold to the Montreal Expos while Matty Alou was sent to the St. Louis Cardinals.

What it Means to be a Yankees Fan: David Lippman

So, we know what it means to be a Yankees fan for the co-owners of this blog, myself and Bryan Van Dusen, one of our usual friends that comments on the blog, Ken Hans, and in my humble opinion the best writer on the blog, Scott Fiedler, but today we break the mold a little. Today we find out what it means to be a Yankees fan from a fan of the blog, his name is David Lippman

What does it mean to be a Yankees fan to you, David? Let’s find out.

Dave Lippman essay for “The Greedy Pinstripes”

What makes you a fan of the New York Yankees?

My grandfather Joe Lippman became a baseball fan when his older brother Sam “Izzy” Lippman took Joe to the Polo Grounds to see Christy Mathewson fire a 3-0 shutout at the Cincinnati Reds. Grandpa was hooked on baseball and the Giants immediately and for the rest of his life. In 1912, the Yankees moved into the Polo Grounds when Hilltop Park burned down and started wearing the pinstripes with the interlocking “NY.” Since the Highlanders (as they were called then) were not in the same league as the Giants, Grandpa now had two teams to root for, which he thought was great. They were not in direct competition with each other, until Babe Ruth came along and made life interesting.

After that, Grandpa still had it easy, except at World Series time. When the Yankees were in, the Giants were out, and vice versa, and the ballparks were just a bridge apart. The 1951 World Series was the last time a World Series was held where fans could walk from one ballpark to the other, in point of fact. Grandpa rooted for his increasingly powerful Yankees and passed that on to my father, Paul Lippman.

My mother, Barbara Lippman, grew up in England during World War II, and listened on US Armed Forces Radio to baseball games, which were often Yankee games. She did not understand how the batting order looped around, but other than that, baseball made sense, and she became a Yankee fan.

They met in London in 1949 when Dad went over with a group of NYU students – Mom was hosting them with University of Leeds students. Dad asked Mom to see a movie at the Odeon. Dad thought there was only one Odeon in London, not realizing it was a chain like Loew’s. Mom thought that Dad knew where they were going. So instead of seeing “Treasure of the Sierra Madre” or “Twelve O’Clock High,” they saw “Abbott and Costello Join the French Foreign Legion,” which set the tone of communication for their entire 37 years of marriage. Mom, however, learned how American humor worked from when Dad laughed at Lou Costello’s jokes.

She came to America via Hoboken in a Dutch liner in the 1950s, which was a good time to be a Yankee fan, working as an editor on science books. One of them was the autobiography of the inventor of radar, Sir Robert Watson-Watt. He was late to an editorial conference and told Mom that the delay was caused when he was flagged for speeding by a New York State Trooper, who barked at Watson-Watt: “You were caught on radar. Do you know what that is?” Watson-Watt sighed, and said, “Yes, I invented it.” The trooper was not amused and issued the ticket.

Mom and Dad got married on Columbus Day in 1957 at the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn, and my English and American families met in mutual incomprehension, despite both being Jewish. The British side were all military or civil servants, who had built and run the Empire and fought in battles for the Crown since 1680. The Americans were all pharmacists and small businessmen who came originally from shtetls in Poland. The Americans couldn’t understand why the British were all so reserved, drank tea, and talked about colonial postings or some incident at Aldershot or Quetta. The British couldn’t understand why the Americans ate so much chopped liver, were so loud, and talked about “retail and wholesale, I hope,” and used so much Yiddish. Beneath it all, the Americans were also irritated that the Yankees had lost – LOST – the World Series to the Milwaukee Braves, of all teams, and the Giants and Dodgers were moving to California.

Mom and Dad followed the Giants soon after, working for an ad agency in San Francisco, which made it tricky to follow the Yankees, and Dad had divided loyalties in the 1962 World Series. Mom was worried about the pregnancy that would hatch me (in its late stages) and both worried about the Cuban Missile Crisis at the time, and Richard Nixon running for “Governor of the United States” in California. Bobby Richardson caught that Willie McCovey liner, JFK got the Soviet missiles out of Cuba, Pat Brown won the gubernatorial race, and moments after Tricky Dick said, “You won’t have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore,” and Mom promptly went into labor.

I was born at Beth Israel Hospital on the Lower East Side on November 7, 1962, six hours after Eleanor Roosevelt died at Mount Sinai Hospital on the Upper East Side. She heard I was coming and couldn’t stand it.

I thus gained my Yankee and Giant fandom from my parents. My youth was the 1970s team: Thurman, Reggie, Catfish, Sparky, Billy, George, Lyle, and most of all: Gator. He was my professional role model, on how to handle things, on the mound and in life.

Logically, I began my baseball career with the crosstown New York Mets as associate editor of their house magazine, “Inside Pitch,” in the early 1980s, a job I loved, at a time when the team was on the rise. With typical Mets illogic, they sold the magazine to “Baseball America” in mid-1985, then based in North Carolina, and the North Carolinians believed they could cover the Mets better from Raleigh than Queens, and I was fired on September 12, 1985, thus missing the 1986 season. I dropped any adherence to the Mets beyond that of a fourth-generation New Yorker (meaning, that if they are in a World Series and neither the Yankees nor Giants were playing, I would root for the New York team).

I was also working a little bit for United Press, covering the Yankees, so I got to cover the good guys at the same time, and was present when Don Mattingly and Dave Winfield ended their internal war for the batting title on the final day of the 1984 season, in a demolition of the Detroit Tigers. As they had led the American League East from wire to wire, I doubt the Tigers cared.

With my baseball writing career over (the great dream of my life wrecked), I could root for the Yankees and Giants without having to maintain the cool impartiality of a UPI baseball writer and did. Unfortunately, 1987-1991 were lousy years for the Yankees. In 1991, I went in the Navy, and was overseas until 1998, in Japan, New Zealand, and Antarctica.  When I heard about guys like Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, and Mariano Rivera, I said, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

I saw it on my monitor in my office in New Zealand in 1996, when the Yankees came back from that horrific first two games to clip, nip, and dip the Braves in four straight, stunning the Southerners and Yankee-haters in my unit.

I got out of the Navy in 1998, which was a good time to be back in New York…NOW I began to appreciate Derek Jeter, David Wells, David Cone, Tino Martinez, Paul O’Neill, and Mariano Rivera, who was becoming my second professional role model, for his utter coolness and calmness in the face of crisis and defeat.

In 1999, I began my Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program, and sat struggling at my computer on an essay, unable to figure out what to do. Roger Clemens was pitching for the Yankees on the radio behind me, and as I listened to him pitch, I had a gigantic epiphany: writing is pitching: the pitcher is the writer, the batter is the reader, various types of pitches are various types of sentences, phrases, and paragraphs, and effective writing depended on velocity, movement, location, knowing the hitter, the game situation, and setting up the right pitch sequence.

Suddenly I understood it all. I attacked the essay, and got an A. I got an A on the next one. And the next one. And the one after that. I completed the Masters Degree with Straight A’s, the first and only time in my life I had ever run the table in any academic environment. And I owed it all to Roger Clemens. So, when he got in trouble as a headhunter and later over steroids, I stood by my literary mentor, one of four (the others being my high school writing teacher Frank McCourt, historian Walter Lord, and my MFA instructors at the New School).

What made me, in the end, a Yankee fan, was more than the family connection, though. Or the writing connection. It was the endless link to history. Every Yankee team and player has to measure up to and meet the standards set by previous generations of titanic players. They had to live up to traditions set by predecessors: Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio for quiet excellence, Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle for flamboyant power, Waite Hoyt and Whitey Ford for cocky dominance, Joe McCarthy and Casey Stengel for managerial brilliance.

It was always awesome to me to see so many players on one team through the decades who could and did. For example, I grew up with Willie Randolph – Robinson Cano kept up his tradition. Now it looks like Gleyber Torres will inherit the title. Grandpa saw Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Bob Meusel. Dad saw Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, and Red Ruffing as a kid. Then he enjoyed Yogi Berra, Allie Reynolds, and Hank Bauer. Mom’s team was in the 1960s: Roger Maris, Elston Howard, and Bobby Richardson. I’ve gone from Munson to Mattingly to Mariano to Miguel Andujar. It never ends. It holds my respect, it holds my awe, and it holds my reverence.

And it ends with me. My daughter Wallis regards all sports that involve a ball as “sportsball.” Her sport is rock-climbing.

What is your earliest memory of the New York Yankees?

In 1977, Dad took me to the old Yankee Stadium (new version) for Old Timer’s Day. He was very excited to see some of his favorites taking the field one more time, in uniform, to take their bows. Out they came, gaining in importance as the introductions went on. Mickey Mantle was among the last. Joe DiMaggio was the “man they saved for last,” and he received the usual standing ovation. The Mick didn’t play. The announcer said he had “pulled a muscle while bowing,” but I learned later that he was completely drunk.

The moment I remember best was when Joltin’ Joe came to bat. Dad grabbed my left arm and said, “His stance hasn’t changed a bit. That is the exact stance I remember.” It was a moment that connected us tightly…both being able to see Joe DiMaggio at bat. And, no, I don’t remember the regular game that followed. That overshadowed the rest.

What is your fondest memory of the New York Yankees?

I have so many memories. My favorite thing at Yankee Stadium was Old Timer’s Day, of course, seeing my old favorites and heroes come out and get introduced, play a not-too-serious game, and have some fun. They’d stand on the third-base or first-base line, quaffing water from bottles, yakking with each other. They all got applause, and I would remember moments from my youth or earlier adulthood.

Second favorite? That moment when the sound system replay screen cuts out of that horrific “Cotton Eye Joe,” (a country song in New York City?) and replaces it with the first bars of “Enter Sandman.” The home bullpen doors open, and Mariano Rivera himself, head down, dangling his mitt in his left, jogs to the mound, intent on his business, trailed by a YES Network cameraman, whose live imagery of Mariano coming into the game is flashed on the Diamond Vision screen. The entire audience at Yankee Stadium leaps to its feet and starts singing the song (if they know the words) and start wildly cheering, knowing that the most devastating weapon in baseball history was coming in to seal the victory yet again (652 times all told). We will never see the like again.

Third favorite: Game 3, 1999 World Series. Challenger the Eagle flew in from the visitors’ bullpen before the game and Chad Curtis smashed a walk-off home run in the 10th to the same place to end the game. The stadium was vibrating as the Yankees sealed their 100th World Series game win and record 11th in a row.

Fourth favorite: Game 2, ALDS, 2009: Alex Rodriguez blasts a homer into the Yankees’ bullpen to tie the game off of Joe Nathan in the ninth inning in the rain and snow. In the 11th, Mark Teixeira hits the game-winning walk-off shot, a laser to left. A few days later, Game 2, ALCS, A-Rod facing California Angel relief ace Brian Fuentes in the 11th, again with the good guys trailing in snow and rain, and he bashed a line shot that bounces in the area in front of the first row of seats in right field for a game-tying home run. The Yankees then win on a defensive misplay and Jerry Hairston, Jr. scoring.

Fifth favorite: All-Star Game, 2008: The last one at the old Stadium. 14 innings. I sat through every inning and scored every inning. Before the game began, an army of Hall of Famers emerged from the doors in center field and assumed their positions. I was in the presence of greatness, past and present.

These are all from games I was at. When I think of Yankee events I was NOT present for, there are even more…I’m 55 years old, and I can remember all the way back personally to the mid-1970s. I stayed home on Yom Kippur to watch Bucky Dent hit that home run, stayed up late to watch Reggie hit his home runs, saw Gator strike out 18, and so on and so on…I think Derek Jeter’s “Mr. November” home run in the 2001 World Series stands out. I lost friends on 9/11, and the city of my birth and youth was still smoldering. The World Trade Center was a mile-and-a-half from where I grew up. I saw it go up…I saw it go down. My wife was standing on 6th Avenue at 14th Street when she saw the first plane hit. I manned the Emergency Operations Center in Newark as the Public Information Officer. Jeter’s homer did not win the World Series, but it brought a bleeding, wounded, devastated city to its feet in defiance and triumph. We could withstand anything hurled at us and outlast them through determination and sheer resilience.

What do you think of when you see the interlocking NY of the Yankees?

The endless tradition of the team, which dates back to the precise year my grandfather started cheering for them. The uniform has undergone virtually no changes since the “NY” was put on the pinstripes, and a member of the 2018 Yankees wears the same uniform as the 1938 Yankees, and, in many cases, the same number as some distinguished player. Consider that there are no single digit numbers left. The lowest available number is 11, worn by the talented veteran Brett Gardner. Before him, Gary Sheffield, Chuck Knoblauch, Dwight Gooden, Gene Michael, Johnny Sain, Joe Page, Lefty Gomez, and Herb Pennock, to name a few. There’s no “Flashback Friday” or “Throwback Thursday” or “Turn Back the Clock” uniform night for the Yankees. They don’t have to bother. They ALWAYS wear the same uniform they did “back in the day.” The same interlocking “NY.” The same pinstripes. The history and heritage continues.

This Day in New York Yankees History 10/23: Enter Bob Watson

On this day in 1996 David Cone shut down the Atlanta Braves in Game 3 of the 1996 World Series with the Yankees down two games to none. This would be the first of 14 consecutive World Series games victories for the Yankees before the New York Mets ended the streak in the 2000 Subway World Series.


Also on this day in 1995 the Yankees hired a new GM, replacing Gene Michael, in former Astros GM Bob Watson. Watson would only last two years in the Bronx before the Brian Cashman regime started after being upset with the "chain of command" in the Yankees organization, I think that probably means George Steinbrenner. Watson would be the GM when the Yankees would win their first World Series in 1978 when they were crowned the 1996 champions.

I'll Take A Win To Go, Please...

Credit:  Gail Burton-Associated Press

Yankees 9, Orioles 1...

Thursday was supposed to have been an off-day.  But thanks to Wednesday's rainout, the Yankees were forced to grab a win yesterday before they high-tailed it to BWI for the flight to Dallas/Fort Worth.  

The starting pitcher for Baltimore was Kevin Gausman, Greg Bird's former Grandview High School (Centennial, Colorado) teammate.  Bird was a catcher in high school so the two formed the battery for  the Wolves.  I was looking forward to watching Bird bat against Gausman but he was out of the lineup for Thursday's game.  He pinch-hit later in the game but Gausman was in the showers by that time.

Credit:  Aurora Sentinel

The game got started on the right foot.  Brett Gardner walked to lead off the first inning.  There's never anything wrong with getting the speedy Gardner on base.  After fellow Coloradan Chase Headley struck out against Gausman, Gardy stole second.  Gausman recorded his second strikeout when Starlin Castro went down swinging.  But never fear, Sir Didi's here.  Gregorius hit a double to right which brought Gardner around to score.  But the Yankees weren't done.  Next up was Aaron Judge.  Judge, showing no respect for Bird's good friend, boomed a towering shot to center.  T-Ball Practice! Note to Gausman:  It's probably best not to leave a high fat one over the middle of the plate. 3-0 Yankees before Sonny Gray could even pick up a baseball.

Credit:  Rob Carr-Getty Images

With Gray cruising through the first few innings, the Yankees struck again in the top of the 3rd.  Didi Gregorius, continuing his hot hitting, reached first on an infield single to short.  Aaron Judge walked (his 104th of the season) so there were two men on base for Matt Holliday.  Holliday's single lined to right scored Gregorius and moved Judge to third just ahead of the throw.  Jacoby Ellsbury hit a one-out grounder to second which forced Holliday but Judge was able to score when Ellsbury beat the throw to first to prevent the double play.  The Yankees had increased their lead to 5-0.

Gausman didn't return for the start of the 4th inning which dashed my hopes for a potential Greg Bird pinch-hitting opportunity against his friend.  Mike Wright took over for the O's.  With one out, Brett Gardner doubled to left.  Chase Headley added two more runs with his long home run to right. 

Star-light, Star-bright.  The top of the 6th, with O's reliever Donnie Hart pitching, opened with a lead-off single by Brett Gardner.  Sadly, to my disappointment, his stay on the base paths was ended when Chase Headley grounded into a double play at second.  Starlin Castro came up and asked 'is this what Manny Machado did the other night?' by way of his blast to left-center. Yankees led, 8-0, and Sonny Gray was still pitching like I wish he had pitched against the Boston Red Sox.  

Credit:  Rob Carr-Getty Images

Unfortunately, Sonny ran out of gas in the bottom of the 6th.  Jonathan Schoop got it started for the O's with an infield single.  Adam Jones hit a grounder to short with the fielder's choice eliminating Schoop at second.  Gray struck out Trey Mancini, but Chris Davis followed with a single to right center.  Jones moved to second.  Mark Trumbo hit a grounder to short but a throwing error by Didi Gregorius (off-balance throw over the head of Starlin Castro at second) allowed Davis to reach third while Jones scored.  Great overall job by Sonny Gray but it was time for his day to come to an end. Enter Chad Green; end of inning (by strikeout).  

The Yankees homered again in the top of the 7th when Todd Frazier joined the party with a solo blast to left. Orioles left-fielder Trey Mancini tried to leap but the home run ball was over his glove. Chad Green powered through the O's lineup in the bottom of the 7th, erasing the only base runner on a double play.  Coming into the season, I didn't really want the guy on the MLB roster and he's arguably been the most valuable (and most consistent) reliever in the bullpen.  I am glad the Yankees never hired me to be a talent evaluator. 

Tommy Kahnle helped three Orioles find their way to the bench in the 8th. Recent Triple A call-up Ben Heller took over in the 9th and he continued the trend set by his bullpen predecessors.  1-2-3, game over.  Yankees win!

The Yankees (75-64) are 3 1/2 games behind the Boston Red Sox.  The Red Sox were idle on Thursday but they had won the day before.  The Orioles slipped back to 4 1/2 games behind the Yanks.  The Yankees' lead in the Wild Card Standings is 2 1/2 games over the Minnesota Twins (the Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 4-2).

Nice job by Sonny Gray (9-9).  He pitched 5 2/3 innings (102 pitches) and allowed six hits, two walks, and one run (none earned).  He struck out five while lowering his season ERA to 3.22.  Hand clap for the bullpen.  Green, Kahnle and Heller combined for 3 1/3 innnings of one-hit scoreless relief with three K's.  No drama...exactly the way I like it.

As for the hitting stars, pass the hat...everyone contributed.  This was a great team victory. Congrats to Austin Romine for successfully holding down the catching position while Gary Sanchez was on the golf course..or at the bar or wherever he may have been for three games off.  

The Yankees came close to the series sweep but taking two out of three at Camden Yards is still a notable accomplishment.   It's a good springboard for the next series. 

Next Up:  Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas...

The Yankees travel to Dallas/Fort Worth to take on the Yu Darvish-less Texas Rangers.  The Rangers remain in the hunt for a Wild Card spot so they'll be ready to play.  Like the Baltimore Orioles, the Rangers have a team of sluggers with 218 home runs this season which leads MLB.  Any mistake pitches will be making long distance travel plans.

Here are the scheduled pitching match-ups:

TODAY

Yankees:  Masahiro Tanaka (11-10, 4.54 ERA)

Rangers:  Martin Perez (11-10, 4.87 ERA)

SATURDAY

Yankees:  Luis Severino (12-6, 3.03 ERA)

Rangers:  A.J. Griffin (6-5, 5.09 ERA)

SUNDAY

Yankees: CC Sabathia (11-5, 3.91 ERA)

Rangers:  Andrew Cashner (9-9, 3.29 ERA)

The Rangers' Ballpark has long been one of my favorites. Hopefully it holds good things for the Yankees this time around.  

Gene "Stick" Michael, Yankees Legend...

The Yankees Universe was deeply saddened yesterday when it was learned that Yankees Senior Adviser Gene "Stick" Michael had passed away due to a heart attack at age 79.  

There will be many obituaries and that's really not the intent of my mention of his passing. Growing up with the Yankees as my favorite team, Stick was such an integral part through the years.  I don't really remember his playing days, but I do remember his brief managerial stints with the team in the early 80's.  Of course, he directed the course of the franchise in the early 90's as the team's general manager while George Steinbrenner was serving his suspension and was probably the man most responsible for the late 90's dynasty.  What really stuck out to me about Stick over the years was his strong sense of loyalty to the Yankees organization and his ability to speak his mind and hold his ground with the Boss.  It was tough when Stick left the Yankees to become the manager for the Chicago Cubs in 1986 but I was happy when he found his way back home. 

The Yankees will wear black armbands on their left sleeve for the duration of the season in honor of Stick.  

Credit:  Barton Silverman-The New York Times

This is a HUGE loss for the Yankees.  Stick was one of kind and perhaps one of the greatest baseball evaluators ever. The man can stand among the huge Legends who wore Pinstripes.  He earned it. His impact to the organization has been as great if not greater than most.  He will be missed.  Rest in peace, Sir... 

Odds & Ends...

A few weeks ago, everybody was talking about how the 2017 Los Angeles Dodgers were among the greatest teams of all-time.  Now, after losing seven in a row and 12 of 13 games, they'd have to go undefeated the rest of the way to match the 1998 Yankees.  Clayton Kershaw was pounded last night by the Colorado Rockies in his own ballpark.  If the Dodgers can't figure this out, their stay in October is going to be very short-lived.

The Triple A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders lost the first game of their first round five-game series against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, 6-5, in 12 innings.  Game 2 is set for tonight at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, PA with Chance Adams on the mound for the RailRiders.

Have a great Friday!  Let's keep contributing the 'W' column!  Go Yankees!