Quick Hit: Maybe Stephen Drew Isn’t All That Bad

Just a quick FYI for everyone this morning to try and lift your spirits and make you feel better about having Stephen Drew on the team. On July 31^st Brian Cashman sent the Boston Red Sox GM Bill Cherington a text message that said something to the effect of “hey how about Kelly Johnson for Stephen Drew.” Obviously you guys already know the rest as Drew plays second base for the team and Kelly Johnson came off the disabled list and has played sporadically in Boston.

As bad as Drew has been in New York, and when I say bad I mean horrible, he has surprisingly been better than Johnson has in Boston. Since the trade Drew has hit .156/.225/.313 for New York while Johnson has hit .160/.160/.200 for Boston. Drew has two home runs and 10 RBI while walking six times and playing a pretty damn good second base for someone who has never played it before while Johnson has zero home runs, one RBI, zero walks, and hasn’t seen the field much at all.

I have been skeptical of Drew as much, if not more, as the next guy but it could be worse… we could still have Kelly Johnson. Have a great day Yankees family and keep in mind that it could always be worse, you could be Boston. 

Masahiro Tanaka To Throw 45 Pitches Today

Masahiro Tanaka is expecting to throw three innings or 45 pitches today in his latest step towards returning to the Bronx. Tanaka will throw a simulated game and it's unknown who he will be facing on the mound tomorrow morning in Tampa. If everything goes as planned the Yankees will try and take the next step with Tanaka with something as close to a real game as they can get, even if they have to manufacture the situation. So far so good on Tanaka, let's hope it stays that way.

The Daily Dozen - August 27, 2014

The Daily Dozen - August 27th, 2014 - The David Price Gets Blown Up Edition
(Twelve Takeaways from Tonight's Game vs. the Detroit Tigers)

1. The Yankees needed a win tonight to keep their playoff hopes alive.  With the Seattle Canos losing earlier in the day 12-4 to the Rangers, the Bronx Bombers had a chance to cut the lead in the race for the 2nd Wild Card down to 2.5 games and only 2 behind Detroit.  And of course they would have to do it against David Price, who only gave up 1 hit in his last start...

2. My parents were at the game tonight to see Jeter's last game in Detroit.  This is a true statement unless Detroit can catch the Royals in the AL Central.  My dad was rooting for the Yankees and my mom was rooting for the Tigers.  Something about a house divided... By the way, I realized there was a 30 second delay on the ESPN broadcast when I talked to my dad in the 8th inning on the phone.

3. The third inning.  That should be all I have to say unless you have been living under a rock for the last 3 hours.  David Price basically got owned.  The Yankees put together 9 straight hits and 8 runs against the former Cy Young winner including 2 sacrifice flies after he was out of the game.  That inning showed what the Yankees are capable of doing and in my opinion should have been doing all season.  Want to see the inning again?  Check out this picture provided by WFAN:

4. How did the Tigers respond in the bottom half of the inning?  With NADA.  Shane Greene got the shutdown inning, which proved to be very important later in the game.

5. Shane Greene for Cy Young? Rookies have now started 53 games for the Yankees this year posting an impressive 34-19 mark.  That's a .642 winning percentage by the way.  The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County of California have the best overall record in the majors and their win percentage is .595.  Shane Greene is sporting a .167 batting average against which is 4th in the majors and a .474 ops by opposing batters which is 9th in the majors.  He finished the game with 7 strong innings with 8 strikeouts, only 1 walk, and 69 of his 101 pitches were strikes.  In fact, he threw a first pitch strike to 20 of the 29 batters he faced.  Most importantly...he is now 4-1 in 9 starts.

He seems a long way from this picture.  Might as well
just change the 'T' to a 'C'. (Photo Credit: MiLB.com)

6. David Price was less than stellar tonight to say the least.  He tied a record for hits allowed in a start with 12 (previously gave up 12 on 4/29/11 vs. the Angels) and had his second shortest outing in his career pitching 2+ inning (the shortest being on 7/4/09 vs. the Rangers).  He also tied a dubious personal record with 8 runs allowed in an inning and shattered the hits allowed in an inning with 9 (the previous mark being 5).

7. Mandatory Derek Jeter Update.  With Jeter's RBI double in the 3rd inning he now has 3,442 hits and 1,295 RBI in his career.  He's predicted to only get 30 more hits according to ESPN, which would leave him 43 hits shy of 5th place all-time.

8. Through 3 innings the Yankees were 8 for 14 with RISP.  This bucked a trend set all year long.  In fact, the Yankees hitters were 8 for 9 in the 3rd inning alone after stranding 2 runners in each of the first 2 innings. In 2014, the Yankees have averaged leaving 3.43 runners in scoring position per game (stats courtesy of TeamRankings.com).  Tonight that number was 2. #RE2PECT

De-rek Je-ter...De-rek Je-ter...De-rek Je-ter...

9. Miguel Cabrera knocks home the first Tiger run.  Of course he did!  He's been money against the Yankees since 2003 when he took the Marlins offensively on his back and delivered a World Series ring to a crappy organization that sold the players like used parts the next offseason.  Cabrera's career batting average against the Yankees is .355 in 51 regular season games including a .323 average against pitchers currently on the roster.  He has batted .371 in 20 games at New Yankee Stadium, which seems anemic to the .409 he hit in 6 games at Old Yankee Stadium.  But this season? He's only hitting .143 against the Yankees.  Yeah...something is probably really wrong with his legs.  I wish I could hit .307 with just my arms.

10. How often do catchers get hit in the groin region by a baseball?  One time too many if you ask Francisco Cervelli!

11. Victor Martinez hit his 26th home run tonight.  This is a career high for him, which seems like an awfully low number for such a good hitter.  But on further inspection, he has had several injuries that have hampered his power.  His previous high was 25 for Cleveland in 2007.  Since then he has hit 2 (injury-riddled season), 23 (traded to Boston in mid-season), 20, 12, 0 (missed 2012 season for Tigers), and 14.  His 162-game average is 21, so Tigers fans have to be feeling pretty good about that.

12. Mandatory Playoff Odds Update.  The Yankees sit 2.5 games out of the 2nd Wild Card position held by the Mariners.  The odds of the Yankees making the playoffs as of August 26th was 12.3%, the highest probability since August 12th.  This percentage will likely jump to 15% after tonight's win.  SO YOU'RE SAYING THERE'S A CHANCE!?!  Baltimore's chances sit at 96.6%  On August 3rd, the Royals had a 16% chance of making it...they now sit at 68%.  Detroit is at 64%. Seattle 49%.

This Day In New York Yankees History 8/28: Yankees & Red Sox Play Final Game In Old Yankee Stadium

The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox have played many historic and meaningful games in the old Yankee Stadium but the two teams played their final game in the House that Ruth Built on this day in 2008. These two teams fought tooth and nail against each other in this stadium for 85 years and it was fitting how the final game ended. The Yankees were losing 2-0 and came from behind thanks to a Jason Giambi seventh inning pinch hit two run home run to tie. Giambi would come up in the ninth inning and would get a walk off single to beat Boston 3-2 to avoid a sweep and keeps their playoff hopes alive.

Also on this day in 2007 the fans at Yankee Stadium were all entertained by a squirrel who stayed on the right field foul pole to watch the Yankees beat the Red Sox 5-3. The squirrel was quickly called a good luck charm and a fan favorite while receiving standing ovations and cheers every time he was shown on the scoreboard screen.

Yankees Put Up 8 Spot in Third; Beat Tigers Easily in Middle Game

Shane Greene surrendered just 2 earned runs in 7 innings and Derek Jeter collected two RBIs tonight as the Yankees impressively beat the Tigers, 8-4, to set up a rubber game tomorrow afternoon. 

In their first two at-bats this evening, interestingly, the Yanks couldn't get anybody home, stranding four men on base despite the fact that David Price was struggling mightily.

Nonetheless, eventually in the top of the third the heavily-bending Price snapped, giving up nine straight hits to start the inning to plate 8 New York runs and end his night after just six outs. 

Indeed, the Yankees really did dominate in the batter's box during that crucial turn, amazingly connecting on seven singles, two doubles, and two sac flies during the monumental threat. 

Still, somehow the red-hot team never scored more than once on one play, with Mark Teixeira, Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann, Brett Gardner, Francisco Cervelli, Jacoby Ellsbury, and the aforementioned Jeter being responsible for their constant trips around the bases. 

As for Greene, the Pinstripes' hurler in this one, he also showed a lot of promising stuff, helpfully allowing just five knocks while striking out eight to easily get the W, his fourth already this season.

8/27 Yankees Open Game Thread vs. Detroit Tigers

It’s game time Yankees family so welcome to tonight’s open thread for the second game of a three game set this week in Detroit between the New York Yankees and the Detroit Tigers. The Yankees will send rookie sensation Shane Greene to the mound to face off with an old foe in David Price for the Tigers. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network, ESPN’s Wednesday Night Baseball, MLB TV, and can be heard on the radio with WFAN.

Grab a pair of Yankees tickets off the blog today HERE androot for the home team as New York continues to push towards the playoffs. Also be sure to give the blog a follow on Twitter by following @GreedyStripes and like our page on Facebook by searching for The Greedy Pinstripes.

It’s an open thread so use the comments section of the post to talk about whatever you would like, preferably the Yankees and the game tonight. Enjoy the game Yankees family and enjoy the rest of your evening. Go Yankees!

BREAKING NEWS: David Phelps To Start Saturday

Breaking news. I am not sure if this is a typo or something that has not been released yet but if you head over to the Yankees probable pitchers you will see that David Phelps is scheduled to start this Saturday against the Toronto Blue Jays. If this is true this is great news for the Yankees and may truly mean we are going to see a six man rotation this season as Chris Capuano, the obvious candidate to leave the rotation, is pitching on Friday.

EDIT: Jack Curry and Wallace Matthews both say this is bad information and Michael Pineda will start on Saturday. Thanks Yankees.com.

Joe Girardi Does Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS, Yankees Donate $100,000

The Yankees donated $100,000 to ALS Association and Joe Girardi participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge today.
— David Waldstein (@DavidWaldstein) August 27, 2014

The Evil Empire

Joe Girardi #ALSIceBucketChallenge

The Reason David Price Has Struggled In Detroit

He isn't used to pitching in front of packed out home crowds like he see's in Detroit. Don't blame the guy.

Yankees Sign Ex-Met Chris Young to Minor League Deal

When longtime Arizona Diamondbacks Outfielder Chris Young was with the Mets this season, it's fair to say that things didn't go as planned.

Young, a 30-year-old veteran who has connected on 151 home runs since 2006, left the yard just eight times during his 254 at-bats with the team, a number only made worse by the fact he also hit just .205. 

Now had Young been relatively cheap when he was signed in the offseason, obviously, those dissapointing stats would be easier to brush off, but considering he was getting paid a decent $7.25 million instead he would unsurprisingly get cut two weeks ago, a decision that has apparently made him available to the crosstown Yankees. 

Yep, according to CBS Sports' Jon Heyman the always-looking-for-rentals Yanks inked Young to a minor league deal earlier this afternoon, something that is probably confusing to many.

For one, New York's AL representative is currently overstocked with grass-dwellers, with a few notable examples including Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran, and Ichiro Suzuki. 

Nonetheless, due to the upcoming roster expansion on September 1 I guess this acquisition isn't completely random, as the defensively-solid Young is likely someone who'd help out off the bench.