Despite Jeter, Yankees Unable To Turn 2...

Credit:  John Munson/NJ Advance Media

It was a majestic day as the Yankees honored Derek Jeter and officially hung No. 2 among the Legends in Monument Park.  Sadly, the Yankees were unable “Turn 2” as they lost the second game of the doubleheader following the Jeter ceremony.

In the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader, the pink Yankees rallied, after falling behind, to win the game.  The Yankees opened the scoring in the first inning on a run-scoring groundout by Matt Holliday.  Sadly, Luis Severino did not have it for Mother’s Day and he fell apart in the third inning.  He opened the inning by hitting George Springer with a pitch, and then gave up a single to Josh Reddick.  After Jose Altuve hit into a fielder’s choice that forced Reddick out at second, the Astros put together a string of four singles to score three runs, ending Severino’s day.  Chad Green, called up earlier in the day from AAA, got Alex Bregman to hit into an inning-ending double play.  

As bad as Severino was, Green was terrific.  He went 3 2/3 innings, holding the Astros to only one hit and no runs.  He walked one and struck out three.  In the 4th inning, the Yankee tied the game with a two-run homer by Starlin Castro and then took a 4-3 lead in the next at-bat when Aaron Judge finally went deep again with his 14th home run of the season.

Credit:  Seth Wenig/Associated Press

The game stayed 4-3 until the top of the 7th inning with Adam Warren pitching.  A couple of singles, a walk, a fielding error by Starlin Castro and a sac fly allowed the Astros to re-take the lead, 6-4.  Heading into the bottom of the 7th after Austin Romine grounded out, Brett Gardner singled and Jacoby Ellsbury doubled, moving Gardner to third.  Matt Holliday, in a gutsy at-bat after falling behind 0-2, fought off a few pitches and singled in a failed diving attempt by Astros shortstop Carlos Correa which scored Gardner.  At that point, the Astros brought in Chris Devenski who has been virtually unhittable this year.  Apparently, Starlin Castro hasn’t been listening to how dominant Devenski is and he doubled to score Ellsbury.  After an intentional walk to Aaron Judge and a strikeout of Didi Gregorius, Chase Headley came to bat with the bases loaded.  On the TV telecast, Michael Kay was making comments about how Headley is due.  Then, as if Headley heard Kay, he laced a triple to right to clear the bases, putting the Yankees up 9-6.  Chris Carter doubled to score Headley, and the Yankees held a 10-6 lead after pushing six runs across the plate in the inning.

Brett Gardner added an insurance run in the 8th with a solo shot to center.  In probably his worst outing of the season, Adam Warren (1-0) picked up the victory.  Jonathan Holder pitched a scoreless 9th inning to close out the game in a non-save situation.  Yankees win, 11-6.

The second game started very badly for starter Masahiro Tanaka.  From the beginning, Tanaka was struggling with each batter, and by the time Alex Bregman hit a grand slam, the Astros were up 6-0 before the Yankees had even taken an at-bat. When Tanaka was pulled after 1 2/3 innings, he had given up two home runs to George Springer and was trailing 8-0. Tanaka has given up 16 runs in his last 15 innings. Still, this was Derek Jeter’s day so I felt no lead was too much.  The Yankees almost proved me right.  In the 5th, trailing 9-0, the Yanks scored four runs on an RBI single by Brett Gardner and a three-run homer by Matt Holliday.  

In the 9th inning, after a passed ball had allowed Marwin Gonzalez to score to put the Astros up 10-4, the Yankees tried valiantly to erase the deficit.  A two-run single by Starlin Castro and a run-scoring single by Aaron Judge brought the Yankees within three runs at 10-7.  With two outs and runners at the corners, the Yankees brought the tying run to the plate with Aaron Hicks.  It could have been a signature moment for Hicksey but unfortunately he grounded out to end the game.  

It was a good job by the bullpen to limit the damage after the Tanaka disaster.  The two runs charged to the bullpen were both unearned.  They gave the team a chance to win despite the overwhelming early Astros lead.  

The doubleheader split left the Yankees with a 22-13 record (losing three of four to Houston).  However, thanks to Tuesday’s opponent (the Kansas City Royals), the Baltimore Orioles lost their fourth in a row in a 9-8 loss.  The loss allowed the Yankees to re-take sole possession of first place in the AL East by a half-game.  The Boston Red Sox also lost, 11-2 to the Tampa Bay Rays. The hottest team in the division at the moment is the cellar-dwelling Toronto Blue Jays, winners of their fifth consecutive game.  

The Yankees were competitive with the Astros but unfortunately Houston proved the age-old adage, “good pitching beats good hitting”.  Things do not get any easier as the Yankees hit the road to Kansas City.  The Royals swept the O’s over the weekend with three one-run victories.  The Yankees will need better starting pitching than they received in the Astros series if they are to have any hope.  

Sunday morning started with disturbing news.  The Yankees announced they had placed closer Aroldis Chapman on the 10-Day Disabled List.  Clearly, something was not right with Chapman who failed to get out of the inning in his last two appearances.  A MRI showed no structural damage (whew!) so Chapman only needs rest.  He’ll avoid any baseball-related activities for two weeks and then he’ll resume throwing.  He’ll most likely need a rehab stint before he is activated so the current projection is that he’ll be out for a month.  In the interim, Dellin Betances will slide into the closer’s role with Warren, Holder and Tyler Clippard providing set-up.  There’s no doubt that Holder has been a Godsend this year and his presence helps ease the sting of losing Chapman.  Hopefully, the Betances that struggled last September was simply one that was tired after a long season.  Now, Betances has a chance for redemption.  If he proves successful, the Yankees need to take care of Betances financially this coming off-season and avoid penny-pinching him like they did during last year’s arbitration hearing.  

Recently, when top closers Zach Britton and Mark Melancon had been placed on the DL, I had expressed hope that the DL-epidemic would not impact the remaining elite closers, Chapman and Kenley Jansen.  Now, Jansen is the last man standing.  It definitely shows the value of having an elite set-up artist capable of filling in for a closing role.  

Chad Green was called up to replace Chapman.  Green is getting used to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to the Bronx commute.  If he keeps pitching like he did in yesterday’s first game, he’s making an argument for why he shouldn’t go back to Pennsylvania.  

Here’s hoping that Chapman is able to fully recover with rest and is able to return on schedule next month.  

Despite the mixed results from the doubleheader and the loss of our closer, it was a special day.  The Jeter ceremony was one of the greatest I’ve ever seen and it will be a long-time before we see such a memorable event again.  Congratulations to Derek as he awaits the arrival of his first child, a child who almost certainly felt the magic of the day in his mother’s womb.  It was a good day, a very good day…

Credit:  Andrew Savulich/New York Daily News

Have a great Monday!  Yesterday was Jeter’s Day, today is your day.  

A Memorable Day and Night at Yankee Stadium...

Happy Mother’s Day!  With no offense to Derek Jeter, that’s still the primary special occasion today.  So I hope it’s a wonderful Mother’s Day for all mothers in the Yankees Universe.  This is your day!  None of us would be here getting ready to celebrate Derek Jeter Night if not for you.

Congrats to Derek Jeter as he gets ready to leave a permanent reminder of his notable Yankee achievements in Monument Park.  Unless someone eventually takes number “0”, it’s the final single-digit number to be retired.  TGP’s Daniel Burch wrote a great tribute to Jeter with his latest Meet A Prospect feature yesterday so I am not going to try and reinvent the wheel.

As the number 2 begins to make its way to the Monument Park Wall, it’s hard not to remember when it was worn by the late Bobby Murcer.  Murcer wore the number when he was reacquired from the Chicago Cubs in 1979 until his release in 1983.  Bobby was a great Yankee.  I don’t really remember much of his first tour with the Yankees, but growing up in the Midwest, Murcer was constantly on TV with the Cubs.  I knew his history with the Yankees and he was a welcome addition to the 1979 Yankees which would soon be marred by one of the team’s greatest tragedies (the death of catcher Thurman Munson).  As a close friend of Munson, Murcer’s actions and words in the days following the tragic plane crash in Akron, Ohio were huge.  It was easy to see how much Murcer loved Munson and the Yankees.  We were later privileged to have Murcer as a Yankees broadcaster until his passing.

Of course, #2 recognition also has to be given to Mark Koenig who was the first Yankee to wear the number in 1929 courtesy of his spot in the lineup.  Koenig, the team’s shortstop, was part of the famed 1927 Murderer’s Row, when he batted second in front of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Bob Meusel and Tony Lazzeri.

Yankees third baseman Red Rolfe wore the number from 1931 until his retirement after the 1942 season.  

The only person to wear #2 for more years than Jeter was Frankie Crosetti.  Also a shortstop, Crosetti spent his entire 17-year playing career as a member of the Yankees.  He started wearing #2 in the final years of his playing career in 1945 and continued throughout his 20-year coaching career with the team which ended in 1968.

While Number 2 is being retired for Jeter, the number will forever carry the significant contributions of those who wore the number before the kid from Kalamazoo.  

The first game of today’s double-header begins at 2:05 pm Eastern.  The Derek Jeter Night pre-game ceremony scheduled between games will start no earlier than 6:30 pm ET.  The second game of the doubleheader will begin following the pregame ceremony but no earlier than 7:30 pm ET.  Many former teammates will be in attendance including David Cone, Tino Martinez, Hideki Matsui, Paul O’Neill, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Gerald Williams, and Bernie Williams.  Former Yankee greats Reggie Jackson and Willie Randolph will also be there, along with Dick Groch, an area scout who signed Jeter, former Yankees head athletic trainer Gene Monahan, and Jean “Soot” Zimmer, widow of former Yankees coach Don Zimmer.  

Derek Jeter, this is your day…your night.  Enjoy!

The New York Post’s Steve Serby had a Q&A with Aaron Hicks this morning.  When asked what is the biggest criticism he’s heard that bothers him the most, he responded:  “I don’t want to be considered…I want to be a starter.  I don’t want to be a fourth outfielder.  That’s kind of something that I don’t like.  I’m better than a fourth outfielder.”  I agree 100%.  Sadly it is time for GM Brian Cashman to create the room in the outfield for Hicks to start.  Without question, I would love for the Yankees to move Jacoby Ellsbury, but that’s not happening.  So, it is back to Brett Gardner as the most marketable outfield asset for a trade.  Gardner’s recent homer binge hopefully raised his perceived value.  

Bryce Harper and the Washington Nationals agreed to a one-year $21.65 million contract for the 2018 season.  It includes a $1 million incentive if he win’s the MVP Award. The contract buys out Harper’s final year of arbitration eligibility and he maintains eligibility to become a free agent following the 2018 season.  He’s making $13.625 million this year.  To celebrate his new contract, he hit a walk-off two-run homer to beat the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.  I am anxious to see what he does when he signs that 10-year $400 million deal with the Yankees in a couple of years.  Hal, it’s just money…

It’s not really Yankees news but Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Chris Iannetta took a fastball to the face in Friday’s action.  The pitch fractured some teeth and Iannetta’s nose, but the catcher is doing okay and hoping to avoid a DL stint.  The pitch was thrown by former Yankees prospect Johnny Barbato, who was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates earlier this year.  All the best to Iannetta with his recovery.  It could have been much worse and I am thankful it was not.  

Credit:  Mark J Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports

Have a great Mother’s Day and Derek Jeter Night!  Let’s take two! 

Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles 9/7

The New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles are ready to face off head-to-head this afternoon in some Labor Day Baseball inside Yankee Stadium. The last time the Yankees sent Michael Pineda to the mound on a holiday to face off against the Baltimore Orioles the New York right-hander struck out 16 in a Mother's Day victory and are hoping for a little deja vu today in the Bronx. Opposing Pineda on the mound this afternoon is Wei-Yin Chen for the Orioles. The game will be played at 1:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network, ESPN and MLB TV.

New York is still at home inside Yankee Stadium so you still have a shot at clicking the Yankees Tickets link at the top of the blog to join them there. If you can't join the team the Bronx then join us on Twitter by giving @GreedyStripes a follow to root for the Yankees all season long.

Labor Day Baseball is as American as it gets. Go Yankees!

Game Thread: Yankees @ Brewers 5/9

The New York Yankees are in first place in the American League East division and the Milwaukee Brewers are in first place in the National League Central division and the two teams will face off tonight in Miller Park in Milwaukee. The Yankees will send Masahiro Tanaka to the mound to face off with the Brewers Yovani Gallardo. The game will be played at 8:10 pm ET on MY9, MLB TV, and can be heard on the radio with WFAN.

Hooray for a game that does not start after 10:00 pm and end in the middle of the night and a double hooray for the weekend. We have some making up to do on Twitter and expect to be active so give us a follow by following @Greedystripes. You can also drop us a line in the comments section of this post, always some good discussion going on here.

Enjoy the game Yankees family and enjoy your Mother's Day weekend.

Quick Hit: Remembering The Braden Perfect Game

On this day in 2010 Oakland Athletics pitcher Dallas Braden threw a perfect game "for the 209" which was the 19th perfect game in major league history.  The Athletics beat the Rays 4-0 in Oakland on Mother's Day with his grandmother, who raised him after his mother died from melanoma during his Senior year in High School, was in attendance. This was just weeks removed from Braden and Alex Rodriguez getting into it and Braden becoming infamous for his "get off my mound" comments. Braden is now out of the game, well Rodriguez is too but for an entirely different set of circumstances, but will always have this day in major league history.