Thursday, June 14, 2012

Yankees Press Release For 6/13/12

I feel like I am big time now that I got my first press release for the Yankees. The main reason I got it was not because I co own this blog but because the photographer for "Braves Vision", the main guy controlling the cameras for the Braves, had the hots for my wife. I digress though...

This was interesting and he wanted to give it to us because it spoke a lot about Alex Rodriguez's 23 career grand slam and such and he thought it might be worth something one day. I think it was just an excuse to talk to my wife but hey... no harm no foul and I got something out of it.

Sorry if this is out of order or whatever but blogger is giving me fits uploading these and trying to move them has been a nightmare. Hopefully someone gets some joy out of the sheer plethora of information that is on this thing.












Series Awards: @ Atlanta, 6/11 - 6/13

Jake Taylor Award
It was a tough one this time, as four hitters stood out. Derek Jeter went 5-for-14, with a double and 3 runs scored. Curtis Granderson went 4-for-13 with a home run, 2 runs scored, and a couple of RBI. Nick Swisher went 3-for-10 with a double and home run (which gave the Yankees the lead in the 8th inning of game 2). But the winner this series is Alex Rodriguez, who went 3-for-12 with a double, home run (grand slam to tie Game 2 in the 8th inning), 3 runs scored, and 5 RBI.

Gentry Award
Coming into this series Russell Martin was hitting the ball really well, having gone 9-for-28 to that point in the month of June (.321 BA), along with 2 home runs, 2 doubles, and 8 RBI. Unfortunately that didn't carry over into Atlanta, where Russ was 0-for-10 with 4 strikeouts, including having only seen 10 pitches in 4 plate appearances in Game 1.

Rick Vaughn Award
In the first game of the series, Ivan Nova took the hill and dominated. Over 7 innings Ivan gave up zero runs on only 5 hits (all singles), while striking out 6 and walking only 1. As bad as Nova looked coming into June, in his two starts so far this month he's gone 15 innings while giving up only 1 run, 9 hits, while striking out 11 next to 2 walks. I don't expect that sort of performance to keep going the rest of the year, but hopefully Nova has gotten back his winning touch.

Kelner Award
Although it wasn't a poor performance, the fact that it came from the team's ace puts it in the "Not So Good" category. CC Sabathia started in Game 2 and went 7 innings, giving up 4 earned runs off of 10 hits a walk, while striking out 6. The good news was that it only took CC 109 pitches to get through those 7 innings, and the game ended up with another Yankee "W". So I'll take that performance, but I think Mr. Sabathia can do better.

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*The awards are named after one of the best baseball movies of all time... Major League.

Jake Taylor Award - Awarded to the most valuable position player. Named after the hard-nose veteran catcher that, despite making the league minimum, was the heart and soul of the 1989 American League East winning Cleveland Indians.

Gentry Award - Awarded to the least valuable position player. Named after the very first man cut from the 1989 Cleveland Indians, #47 Gentry. A man so insignificant he wasn't even given a first name.

Rick Vaughn - Awarded to the best pitcher in the series. This one is, of course, named after the "Wild Thing". The man that made Clu Haywood look silly in the division deciding game.

Kelner Award - Awarded to the worst pitcher in the series. Named after the Opening Day starter for the '89 Indians. Not a good game for Mr. Kelner, as Indians' announcer Harry Doyle famously quipped "thank God" after Kelner left the game. And yet another bad player without a first name.

Gardner & Robertson Injury Update


The Yankees have announced today, after Brett Gardner went for a cortisone shot, that Brett Gardner does not have ligament damage in his elbow and will only miss another 3-4 weeks. That puts him coming back at a mid to late July time frame. Just in time for us to hopefully NOT overreact and trade a vital piece for a stop gap outfielder for the stretch run, see Xavier Nady. 

David Robertson will be activated tomorrow for the game in Washington against the Nationals. David Phelps was optioned to AAA Empire State to make room on the 25 man roster. I agree with this move because Phelps has not been used in nearly two weeks and there is no sense in him being up without being used, especially when we have Freddy Garcia. 

We're Not Done In Atlanta...


I have so many pictures to upload, I got a Yankees Press Release I thought about scanning and uploading, and so much more on this off day. We're not done with the Atlanta Braves and the sweep down in Turner Field. Stay tuned to this post and I will be updating it as the day goes on. 

Here is a quick preview because I am struggling to get this adobe file onto the blog for whatever reason.