The Wild Card Race Coming Down To The Wire

Obviously you want to disregard the Chicago White Sox series for the Yankees as we completed that last night but here is the remaining schedule for all the teams still in the wild card hunt. We really will decide our own fate here as we have plenty of head to head games with the Tampa Bay Rays and have enough games against teams that we should beat, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Houston Astros for example, that we should be able to sneak in there. It will not be easy and we need to keep our foot on the gas pedal but it can be done if we just believe.

Talking Yankees With Mike Coming To TGP

We here at The Greedy Pinstripes are very happy to announce that Mike Karatay and his blog, Talking Yankees With Mike, are merging with us to bring you a better New York Yankees experience. Mike has done great work over at his blog and we are very happy to be bringing him over to join the staff here. Help us welcome Mike to the family. Follow Mike on twitter by following @mikeymike3d93 and follow the blog by following @GreedyStripes.

Game 1 Thriller: Thunder Stun B-Mets in 10 Innings

Five consecutive two-out hits win series opener

TRENTON, NJ - In miraculous fashion, Trenton salvaged Game 1 of the Eastern Division Championship Series from the jaws of a seemingly-unavoidable loss to win 6-5 over the Binghamton Mets to begin their 2013 playoff run.

After Pat Venditte allowed a pair of runs to the B-Mets in the top of the 10th inning, the Thunder bats entered the bottom of the 10th inning trailing 5-3. Mets closer Jeff Walters recorded a pair of outs to the first two batters he faced and was ahead of Jose Pirela 0-2 in the count before surrendering a two-out double to start the rally.

Catcher Gary Sanchez singled to score Pirela and draw the Thunder back within a run and Sanchez was immediately lifted for pinch-runner Francisco Arcia. Tyler Austin was the next batter- representing the tying run- and he hit an infield single to put runners at first and second base with still two outs.

The next batter was Casey Stevenson who had replaced starting first baseman Kyle Roller in the 9th inning as a pinch runner, and in his first at-bat the lefty shot a soft liner the other way over the head of Binghamton's third baseman Josh Rodriguez for a game-tying base hit. Ben Gamel's single to right field was his second run-scoring base hit of the night and scored Tyler Austin for the win. Venditte gets the win for the Thunder after he had one win in eight regular season appearances.

Trenton leads the best-of-five series over the Binghamton Mets, 1-0.

Following their thrilling walk-off win, the EDCS continues Thursday with a 7:05 p.m. game against the Binghamton Mets at ARM & HAMMER Park. RHP Mikey O'Brien (7-8, 4.12) pitches for the Thunder against LHP Darin Gorski (6-1, 1.83) for Binghamton. Tickets are available for 2 of the series by going to www.trentonthunder.com/tickets or by calling (609)394-3300. Radio coverage of Thursday's game on 91.3 FM (WTSR) and coverage online begins at 6:45 p.m.

Being posted with permission from the Trenton Thunder organization. The original article can be seen HERE. 

This Day In New York Yankees History 9/5

On this day in 1989 the world was really introduced to Deion Sanders as a sports player. On this day Sanders would hit a home run for the Yankees in a rout of the Seattle Mariners 12-2. Five days later Sanders made his NFL debut and returned a punt 68 yards for a touch down.

On this day in 1995 Cal Ripken Jr. received a five minute standing ovation from the Oriole Park in Camden Yards crowd after the game became official in the bottom of the fifth inning. Ripken would tie Lou Gehrig for the consecutive games played streak of 2,130 games.

On this day in 2007 Alex Rodriguez became only the fourth player in Yankees history to hit two home runs in one inning in a rout of the Seattle Mariners 10-2. Prior to the game Alex was sent to the hospital to get tests on a sore knee and had to beg his way into the lineup, good decision by Joe Torre.

Also on this day in 2007 Yankees long time announcer Bob Sheppard would announce his final game at Yankees Stadium. Sheppard was a part of over 4,500 games as the Yankees announcer since 1951.

Sabathia solid as Yankees complete sweep of White Sox, 6-5

Thanks to 7.1 innings of three-run ball from CC Sabathia, and a four-run fourth, the Yankees were able to complete a sweep of the White Sox tonight pretty easily, 6-5. Now CC and Robertson did combine to give up 4 earned runs in just the eighth inning, but that doesn't matter. They still outscored the other team. 

The Yankees six runs in this one came on a solo home run and an RBI Single from Robinson Cano, an RBI Double from Lyle Overbay, a two-run triple from Brett Gardner, and an RBI Sac Fly from Alfonso Soriano. With this win, the Bombers record on the year is now 75-64, somehow just two games behind the Rays for the final wild card spot. I can already tell that these next few weeks will be stressful as hell. 

RiverDogs Receive Multiple South Atlantic League Awards

CHARLESTON, SC - The Charleston RiverDogs are once again well represented on the list of winners of the 2013 South Atlantic League Outstanding Achievement Awards. All 14 teams, along with the field managers and umpires participated in the voting for these awards, and the RiverDogs took home a trio of top honors for the second consecutive year.

The RiverDogs, the Class A affiliate of the New York Yankees, were recognized for the third time in four years with the Excellence in Marketing Award, and will be the SAL's nominee for the prestigious Larry MacPhail Award that is awarded by Minor League Baseball.

Dave Echols captured the General Manager of the Year Award for the second time in three years while longtime Assistant General Manager Andy Lange was recognized for the first time as the Sales Executive of the Year.

"We are honored to receive these three awards, and it is a true testament to how hard each and every one of our front office staff members, game day staff and interns work every day," said Echols. "I thank our peers around the league who bestowed us with these honors, and we could not be more honored to receive these awards.

"These citations are wonderful to receive and we're proud of the accomplishments, but we're more proud of our on-going positive relationship that we have fostered with our many fans who continue to enjoy RiverDogs Baseball," said Echols. "It is also a tribute to the outstanding staff that we've assembled.

"We are also quite proud our of nine-year formal relationship with the New York Yankees, truly one of the best organizations in professional sports," Echols added. "They are simply wonderful to work with."

The awards will be presented at the South Atlantic League Fall Meetings on October 15 in Tampa, Fla.

The complete list of the 2013 SAL Outstanding Achievement Award winners:

• Excellence in Marketing Award: Charleston RiverDogs
• Club Merit Award: Greensboro Grasshoppers
• Community Service Award: Lexington Legends
• General Manager of the Year: Dave Echols (Charleston RiverDogs)
• Sales Executive of the Year: Andy Lange (Charleston RiverDogs)
• Female Executive of the Year: Kathryn Bobel (Hickory Crawdads)
• Media Relations Director of the Year: Greg Giombarrese (Lakewood BlueClaws)
• Sports Turf Manager of the Year: Greg Burgess (Greenville Drive)
• Best Playing Field Award: Fluor Field at the West End (Greenville Drive)
• Visiting Clubhouse Manager of the Year: Matt Sanchez (Augusta GreenJackets)

Game Thread: White Sox @ Yankees 9/4

The New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox finish their three game set at Yankees Stadium tonight at 7:05 pm ET. The pitching match up is CC Sabathia for the Yankees and Erik Johnson making his major league debut for the White Sox and it can be seen on the YES network and MLB TV. CC needs to take the step forward to trying to get his season back on the rails and lead his team to the post season. If the Yankees have any hopes of making the playoffs they absolutely need to beat the teams they should beat and the White Sox are that team today. This has all the makings of a trap game as Johnson is making his major league debut, and we know how the Yankees struggle against pitchers they have never seen, and with a huge series looming for the Yankees starting tomorrow with the first place Boston Red Sox.

Here is the Yankees lineup

Brett Gardner CF
Derek Jeter SS
Robinson Cano 2B
Alfonso Soriano DH
Curtis Granderson LF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Lyle Overbay 1B
Austin Romine C

Follow us on twitter by following @GreedyStripes. Get your Yankees tickets for this game or for any of the Yankees home games left this season right here on The Greedy Pinstripes.

Ivan Nova Is August Pitcher Of The Month

Ivan Nova of the New York Yankees has been named the American League Pitcher of the Month for the month of August. Nova is the first Yankee to win the award since CC Sabathia won it way back in July of 2011 after putting up a 2.08 ERA and a 3.08 FIP in 43.1 IP in six starts. Congratulations to Ivan and hopefully he can keep this going all the way through September and into the post season.

Chicago White Sox @ New York Yankees 9/4

The New York Yankees host the Chicago White Sox tonight for the final time in this three game set at Yankees Stadium. The Yankees will send CC Sabathia to the mound looking to be the ace of the staff for more than four or five innings at a time while the White Sox will send rookie Erik Johnson to the mound to make his major league debut. We have obviously never seen Johnson so we will either get bombed or knock him out after a couple innings. The game will be televised at 7:05 pm ET on the YES Network and MLB TV.

5-run eighth lifts Yankees to 6-4 win over White Sox

Despite 6.1 innings of four-run ball from Hiroki Kuroda, and a pretty slow offense throughout the game, the Yankees were able to win last night's game in thrilling fashion over the White Sox, 6-4. The White Sox really did play better in the one, but it's always all about the runs. Fortunately tonight, the Yankees got a couple more of those. 

Those five eighth inning runs came on a two-single from Soriano, a game-tying single from Granderson, and a go-ahead, two-run double from Eduardo Nunez. Like I said, the offense wasn't very good in this one. But at least they had one good inning.