Sunday, April 14, 2013

Game Thread: Orioles @ Yankees 4/14


Here is tonight's game thread as the Orioles finish up their three game weekend series with the Yankees on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. Feel free to use the comment thread to talk with us during the game or tweet with us on twitter @GreedyStripes.

Here is the Yankees lineup

Brett Gardner CF
Vernon Wells LF
Robinson Cano 2B
Kevin Youkilis 3B
Ben Francisco DH
Brennan Boesch RF
Francisco Cervelli C
Lyle Overbay 1B
Jayson Nix SS


Hiroki Kuroda RHP

Baltimore Orioles @ New York Yankees 4/14


The Yankees will finish up their three game set with the AL East rival Baltimore Orioles today at Yankees Stadium. The Yankees will send Hiroki Kuroda to the mound on an extra days rest to replace Andy Pettitte since he is battling back spasms. The Orioles will send Wei-Yin Chen to the mound to try and stop the Yankees offense. The game will be televised at 8:05 pm ET on ESPN and MLB TV.

Game 13 Lineup: Orioles vs. Yankees

Lineup vs. Orioles:

Brett Gardner CF
Vernon Wells LF
Robinson Cano 2B
Kevin Youkilis 3B
Ben Francisco DH
Brennan Boesch RF
Francisco Cervelli C
Lyle Overbay 1B
Jayson Nix SS

Hiroki Kuroda RHP

Some Notes:

Alex Rodriguez Runs On A Treadmill


Alex Rodriguez showed up at the stadium yesterday before the game unannounced and had an update on his rehab. Alex told manager Joe Girardi, who relayed it to reporters, that he has run on a treadmill for the first time since his hip surgery. He ran pretty slow on it but it is still a huge step in the process so that is encouraging for Alex. He is still hoping to be back with the Yankees by the All Star break.

Slade Heathcott Out W/ Stiff Neck


Slade Heathcott has been scratched from his Trenton Thunder game Friday with a stiff neck and will be out for the foreseeable future. Slade does not think that it is a serious injury and will only require a couple of days to rest to get back to 100% but the Yankees are being cautious. After David Adams missed so much time with a similar injury last season it has to at least be in the back of everyone's head that this could turn into a serious injury, especially with Slade's injury history.

Week 2 Yankees Player of the Week


The Yankees had a very nice bounce back week, as they went 4-1 with two rain outs. It all started on Sunday, as Jayson Nix' huge home run off of Justin Verlander  put the Yankees up 2-0 and it really got them going. Sabathia turned in a huge performance against Verlander and the Yankees went on to win 7-0, which really seemed to give them a lot of confidence. The Yankees went on to absolutely pound Cleveland, scoring 11 and 14 runs in the first two games, before having the next two rained out. Robinson Cano hit two home runs in the first game and Travis Hafner burned his old team with a three-run home run to put the Yankee out ahead 3-0. In the second game, the Yankees hit an incredible five home runs and 18 hits. After the rain outs, the Yankees came back to the Bronx and got a 5-2 win over the Orioles thanks to a dropped fly ball by Adam Jones that gave the Yankees three runs and broke a 2-2 tie. Yesterday, Phil Hughes was terrible and allowed three home runs in a 5-3 loss to Baltimore. The Week 2 Yankees Player of the Week Nominees are CC Sabathia, Robinson Cano, Kevin Youkilis and Vernon Wells.

CC Sabathia: Sabathia had two brilliant outings after his normal opening day disaster. On Sunday, he pitched seven shut out innings at Detroit without his best stuff. The Yankees needed that game desperately and came through like an ace should against perhaps the best pitcher in baseball. On Friday against Baltimore Sabathia was absolutely dominant. He pitched eight innings, allowed one earned run on eight hits and struck out nine. On a night when Buck Showalter said Miguel Gonzalez could not throw his breaking ball because of the frigid conditions, Sabathia dominated the Orioles with his slider and changeup. Sabathia's fastball still sat in the low 90s this week, but if he locates with his off speed pitches like he did this week it will not matter. I'm sure once the weather heats up the velocity will as well.

Robinson Cano: Cano was an absolute beast this week. He hit .500, with 3 HR's, 8 RBI and a 1.021 OPS. Cano hit two home runs in Cleveland on Monday to finally get his season rolling. He followed that up the next day with four hits, a home run and 5 RBI. Also, Cano has multi-hit games in each of the two games against Baltimore.

Kevin Youkilis- Youkilis is a nominee for a second week in a row, as he hit .350 on the week with 1 HR, 5 RBI and a 1.073 OPS. Youkilis had a hit in every game this week until yesterday's 0-5 effort. He had 2 RBI in Sunday's win at Detroit and had one of the five home runs in Tuesday's win at Cleveland.

Vernon Wells- Wells is also a nominee for the second week in a row and he hit .368, with 1 home run, 1 RBI and a 1.118 OPS. Wells is still hitting the ball with great authority, as even his outs were loud. He went o-4 on Friday against Baltimore, but 3 of the outs were rockets and one of them was a rocket that Jones dropped. Wells had two hits yesterday, including a homer, and three hits on Monday in Cleveland.

Not much doubt this week as Robinson Cano takes home the honors as Yankees Player of the Week for week 2. On a nother week, Sabathia would have a great shot at winning but not with Cano this week. Discuss the week that was in the comments and vote for your player of the week in the poll.

[polldaddy poll=7036345]

42: The Best Baseball Movie Ever

Reggie Jackson, Willie Randolph, Dave Winfield, Willie Stargell, Lou Whitaker, Barry Bonds, Joe Carter, Darryl Strawberry, Eddie Murray, Rickey Henderson...I grew up as a kid in the 80's watching these men knowing nothing of segregation nor baseball's dark secret of discrimination.  The road to me and millions of other youth not knowing the difference in the color of skin vs the skill to hit or throw a ball was due directly in part to what happened in 1947.

Two men had the courage and bravery to break the "color barrier" after World War II and they were Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson, ever synonymous with the #42.  The trials and pressure that Robinson had to endure would have crippled any regular man, but as was said in the movie, he must have been superhuman.

I won't go into detail about the movie as to not ruin anyone's experience, and I am sure some cinematic "license" was used for drama, but this movie not only seemed authentic but it had me in tears feeling for Jack several times.  At the end a flash of Derek Jeter wearing the #42 only served to remind me of how far the game and indeed this country have come from that time.  My greatest memories of baseball include men that wouldn't have been included in the major leagues in 1946...Jeter, Mo, Bernie, Soriano, C.C., Posada, ROBINSON Cano, even Chester Hayes...yes, I know some are hispanic,  but Robinson opened the door for all races and backgrounds for mainstream acceptance.

I strongly encourage you to see the movie 42.  It has now replaced Field of Dreams as my #1 baseball movie of all-time and I would honestly say that it is instantly in my top-10 overall.

This Day In Yankees History 4/14


On this day in 1955 Elston Howard would become the first black player to play for the New York Yankees. Elston would later win the MVP award in the American League in 1963. Elston would finish his career with nine All Star Games and 54 World Series games in his 14 year playing career.