Tanaka's two-run outing gives Yankees series-opening win over Brewers

Masahiro Tanaka gave up just 2 earned runs in 6.1 innings and David Robertson followed him with his sixth save of the year tonight as the Yankees won an exciting pitchers duel over the Brewers, 5-3. In this contest, Tanaka dominated through the first four frames, giving up no runs and just one hit, but eventually he began to slow down, giving up two runs on three knocks in the sixth before surrendering another two singles in the seventh. Nothing particularly impressive, but since this outing was still of overall high quality I guess it's tough to complain about it.

Anyway, the Bombers offense was quiet until this one's top of the fourth, when Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann got on base to set up a three-run home run from Yangervis Solarte. Two batters later, the Yanks would tack on another trip around the bases just for good measure, as Brian Roberts doubled in Brett Gardner to make it 4-0.

Besides those guys, Pinstripes First Basemen Mark Teixeira and Reliever Adam Warren also contributed to this victory, collecting an RBI Groundout and tossing 1.2 frames of scoreless relief respectively. Those five outs, interestingly, lowered Warren's 2014 ERA to just 1.29, along with a solid five holds. 

New York Yankees Release Yoshinori Tateyama

According to the International League transactions page the New York Yankees have released 38 year old relief pitcher Yoshinori Tateyama. Tateyama was in the middle of his second season in the Yankees minor league system and sported a 6.08 ERA in 13.1 IP this season. Tateyama did strike out 11.5 batters per nine innings but is now a free agent looking for work.

Yankees Catcher McCann: "I've got to be more productive"

When the Yankees signed Brian McCann to his five-year, $85 million contract last December, it's a safe bet they didn't think he'd struggle as much as he has.

Through 33 games this year, McCann, a career .275 hitter, hasn't done much for his new team, batting just .209 with four home runs and 12 RBI.

Those stats, though coming early in the season, have made some Yankee fans doubt McCann's worth all that salary, as he's not contributing or, unfortunately, making his presence known on the field.

Just ask the man himself. 

"It's a give and take sometimes when you're hitting," McCann told MLB.com's Bryan Hoch earlier this week. "Basically, I've got to get better. That's the bottom line. I've got to be more productive."

That last line pretty much says it all. To put into perspective just how bad McCann has been so far this year, it's easy to look to his current backup John Ryan Murphy.

In just 23 PAs since being called up April 15, Murphy has already collected a home run and five RBI, while McCann, as I mentioned before, has just four homers and 12 RBI in 115 PAs. When you do the math there, you see that JR is currently on pace to have five homers and 25 RBI by the time he has played as long as #34, meaning that yes, the backup has been better so far this season for the Yankees. And considering that he's getting paid just $502,700, that's definitely not something that should happen.

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.

Peter O'Brien To Trenton, Roller/Pinder To Scranton

It's that time of the year again when the Yankees start moving some of their deserving players up the ranks and the first domino has fallen. Peter O'Brien has been called up to the Double-A Trenton Thunder. To make room on the roster the Yankees sent Kyle Roller to Scranton Wilkes Barre to join the RailRiders. Word is that Branden Pinder has also been called up to Scranton but that is not 100% confirmed yet and no corresponding roster move has been announced if he has. Stay tuned.

Preview: New York Yankees @ Milwaukee Brewers 5/9

The New York Yankees are traveling to Bud Selig's house to take on the first place Milwaukee Brewers. The Yankees are fresh off of taking two out of three games from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Brewers have the best record in baseball so this series should be fun. The pitching matchup will be fun as well with Masahiro Tanaka heading to the mound for the Yankees and Yovani Gallardo heading to the mound for the home team Brewers. The game will be played at 8:10 pm ET on MY9, MLB TV, and can be heard on the radio with WFAN.

Tanaka has easily been the Yankees most consistent starting pitcher this season and looks to keep the ball, and his perfect record, going tonight in Milwaukee. In Tanaka's last start he allowed three runs and eight hits in seven innings in a victory against the Tampa Bay Rays. Tanaka is holding batters to a .098 batting average (9-92) this season when he has two strikes on a batter. Tanaka can chalk most of that up to his devastating splitter.

Gallardo is coming off a tough start against the Cincinnati Reds last time out resulting in his first loss of the season. Gallardo allowed nine hits and four runs in the game while only striking out one batter. Let's hope the Yankees see that Gallardo and not the Gallardo that has dominated the National League this season. For what it's worth Gallardo has a career 5-5 record with a 3.30 ERA in 15 career interleague games.

Go Yankees!!

I've Got Til 5! - April Surprises

Last week I went over the top five disappointing players through April. CC Sabathia followed up that article with a horrible start on Sunday, Brian Roberts had a really good game Friday night and was the hero a few nights ago, Brian McCann had a good game (including a home run) Friday, Hiroki Kuroda threw a gem last night, and Ivan Nova... well Ivan won't get a chance to redeem himself for a while.

But what about those that have surprised us? I mean... what about those that have surprised us in a good way? While there aren't as many overachievers as underachievers, I was able to fill out a Top 5...

1. Masahiro Tanaka

I'm sure there were many people skeptical of Tanaka. It's hard not to be after we went through the disaster that is Kei Igawa. Although, to be fair, the Yankees did a little more homework on Tanaka than they did Igawa. And like a student that studies hard and then aces the test, the Yankees seem to have done well this time.

Last month Tanaka started five games, and won three of them while losing none. His ERA that month was 2.27, opposing hitters could only manage a batting line of .205/.245/.386, and his K/BB ratio was 46/6. I don't expect Masahiro to go 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA like he did in Japan last season, but seeing that he's only 25 years old, I think the Yankees did really well this time.

2. Mark Teixeira

Between 2010 and 2013 Teixeira hit .249/.345/.479. His 25 home runs a season were nice, but Mark was hardly the guy the Yankees thought they'd signed for $180 million. Of course, I'm leaving out his fine 2009 season, in which he hit .292/.383/.565 and helped lead the Yankees to a World Series title. But it's 2014, and we're not going to let him off the hook because of what he did nearly five years ago. 

Well, Mark is hitting pretty well so far. I'm going to cheat a little bit and use his five April games, which help bring his triple-slash to .271/.403/.542. That includes five home runs, and a walk rate that is quite a bit higher than his career average. I don't think this is going to continue, but I'd like to think his days of struggling to hit .250 are in the past.

3. Ichiro Suzuki

If you expect Ichiro to continue to hit .357/.386/.405 you're nuts. Not only is he 40 years old, but Suzuki could only manage to hit .273/.302/.368 between Seattle and New York in the previous two years. Don't get me wrong, I do believe he has value, but there's no way I would put him in the lineup over Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran, and Alfonso Soriano on a regular basis. 

But Ichiro can still run, can still play defense (despite a couple of plays recently), so he'll make a very nice 5th outfielder. 

4. Michael Pineda

We have yet to see what Pineda can give the Yankees post-Pine Tar, but if it's anything like what we've seen so far then perhaps Yankees fans will forget the name "Jesus Montero". 

Pineda's ERA through his first four starts was a minuscule 1.83, while opposing hitters could only muster a batting line of .233/.263/.384. Should we expect a sub-2.00 ERA from here on out? No way. But assuming his use of pine tar was simply to get a better grip on the ball, and not being used to throw un-Godly breaking stuff, then it wouldn't surprise me at all to see Pineda as one of the starters on the postseason roster.

By the way, like Tanaka, Michael is only 25 years old. You gotta like what the future could hold for Yankees pitchers.

5. Yangervis Solarte

While those other four guys are surely a surprise, those stories are nothing compared to the emergence of Never Nervous Yangervis. Solarte was an afterthought at best, but he went on to hit .303 /.404/.461 in April, and help a poor Yankee infield. 

For those that believe he's going to fall off a cliff, I'd like to point out that Solarte has 7 hits in 22 May at bats (including 2 walks and 2 sacrifice flies). I'm still skeptical of his future, but he wouldn't be the first MLB player to come out of nowhere and be a solid MLB player.

And isn't it nice how he's helped us all forget about that one guy? You know... the guy who makes way too much money for what he contributes nowadays? Alex something-or-other? 

ESPN: The Ultimate Pedroia vs. Cano Debate

If Robinson Cano were still a Yankee would this map be so red? Obviously this is on the heels of Mariano Rivera releasing a book, The Closer, that stated if he had one game to win that he would pick Dustin Pedroia over Cano. Yankees fans have lost their minds since this comment was made public and I don't understand why.

Keeping Tabs On The Derek Jeter Farewell Tour Gifts

Opening Series In Houston (4/2/14)

Wednesday night in Anaheim (5/7/14)

Predicting Masahiro Tanaka's Game Tonight In A GIF

I have a feeling this is how Masahiro Tanaka's game is going to go tonight, the story told in a gif. The above is his first pitch of his Major League career where he gave up a home run to Toronto's Melky Cabrera. Tanaka is home run prone no matter what anyone says, not that he cannot be great at the same time.

Tanaka will settle down and totally dominate on the mound and the Yankees will win the game 5-2. The 24-0 repeat is still alive and Tanaka will go to 5-0. Stay optimistic Yankees family, the sky is not falling.

Oh crap, Tanaka has to bat tonight doesn't he?