Friday, September 20, 2013

A-Rod's Grand Slam gives Yankees 5-1 win over Giants

CC Sabathia gave up just 1 run in 7 innings of work tonight as the Yankees took this weekend's opener from the Giants, 5-1. With this win, CC's 2013 record has now improved to 14-13, barely above .500. 

With the game tied at 1 in the bottom of the seventh inning, designated hitter Alex Rodriguez both gave the Yankees the lead and broke Lou Gehrig's career grand slams record when he took a George Kontos pitch and hit it into the right field stands. That slam gave the Yankees a 5-1 lead and basically put this one in the books. As I write this, the Rays and Orioles are tied at 4 in the top of the eighth inning, so no matter what the Yankees will gain a game in the standings tonight. 

Alex Rodriguez Passes Lou Gehrig On Grand Slams List


Alex Rodriguez has passed Lou Gehrig on the all time grand slams hit list with his 24th career grand slam tonight against the San Francisco Giants. I realize that this record may be watered down a bit or it may really not mean much to some people but this is quite the feat nonetheless. This kind of record takes a career long effort sprinkled in with a little bit of luck. Controversy or no controversy congratulations to A Rod on his 24th career grand slam of his career and passing Gehrig tonight.

A Goodbye Letter to the winningest post-season pitcher



 

To the all-time winningest pitcher in the post-season aka Andy Pettitte,

I can’t believe it all started in 1995… My Dad had season tickets to the Yankees and would take me with him to the games. I enjoyed the games but I didn’t understand much about the rules and I didn’t pay much attention to the numbers on the back of the jerseys. I cheered when the people around me did and chimed in occasionally with their Tino chant. I hit Freddy’s pot a bunch of times… I don’t really remember the exact day this changed, but I do remember choosing my own favorite player. It was you, Andy Pettitte.

You were in pinstripes, of course, #46. In the beginning you weren’t the guy that everyone in the stadium was cheering for, but I remember seeing you on the mound and for the first time, I was interested in the game. Now I get to say that my favorite athlete of all time is a legend, a role model, a leader… so thank you. Thank you for helping me to fall in love with The New York Yankees.

As time progressed and you continued to take the mound and win games (while remaining as humble as you are today) I found myself looking up the Yankees baseball schedule and begging my Dad to take me to more and more games. The games I didn’t attend I watched on TV, cheering for every strike out… trying to guess whether it was a ball or a strike before the umpire did. Whenever you pitch I make sure to watch your post-game interviews. Andy, you are way too hard on yourself! I have to admit though; it is very honorable and inspiring. It shows your true character and proves again and again how passionate you are about baseball.

Earlier today you stated that you wanted to thank your fans, but we are the ones that are thankful. I hope you realize how lucky WE are. It seems selfish for me to be sad over your retirement. The fact is, I really am just grateful to have been able to watch you play. I will do the best I can to keep these memories in my mind so that when I have children of my own some day I can tell them that I got to watch baseball’s winningest all-time postseason pitcher.

I can’t imagine watching the Yankees without the Core Four but I know that I will because the passion and heart that you, Posada, Jeter and Mo brought to each game rubbed off on me (and many other fans). You play baseball the way that I hope to live my life: passionately, loyally, and selflessly. I wish you and your family happiness, health and luck in the future. Hopefully one day my children will be writing a similar letter to your sons (when they wear the pinstripes).

So for absolutely everything,
Thank you. 



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Game Thread: Giants @ Yankees 9/20



The New York Yankees host the San Francisco Giants in the final interleague match up this season for both teams. Thankfully this game is being played at Yankees Stadium and the pitcher does not have to hit all weekend long. The pitching match up is CC Sabathia for the Yankees and the freak Tim Lincecum for the Giants and it can be seen at 7:05 pm ET on the YES Network and MLB TV. The Giants seem almost demoralized the way they have been playing lately but I guess you could say the same could be said for the Yankees although the games mean so much more to New York.

Here is the Yankees lineup

Ichiro Suzuki RF
Alex Rodriguez DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Alfonso Soriano LF
Curtis Granderson CF
Eduardo Nunez 3B
Lyle Overbay 1B
Brendan Ryan SS
J.R. Murphy C


Follow us on twitter by following @GreedyStripes. Go Yankees!

Tim Lincecum Meme


I don't know why I was so anti meme before the last month or so, these things are great!

Boone Logan Available Tonight Out Of Pen


The last time we saw Boone Logan he had his hands above his head after giving up a huge grand slam that allowed the Boston Red Sox back into the game and killed any chance we had at making the playoffs. Well I know technically that he came in and almost got hit by a come backer before being lifted with a then mystery injury but nobody is going to remember that. Anyway Boone has visited with Dr. James Andrews and was told that he has bone spurs in his left elbow that will not be worsened by pitching. Boone has thrown a few side sessions and bullpen sessions and came through everything as pain free as he is going to get so the Yankees have made him available tonight in Yankees Stadium. Boone has nine games left to improve his free agent stock as much as he can before he hits free agency fresh off of a left throwing elbow surgery.

Saying Goodbye To Mariano Rivera


Chad Jennings on LoHud wants to hear your goodbyes for Mariano Rivera and has opened up a hotline for the fans to call in. If you want to share your memories about Mariano Rivera you can call 914-696-8561 and leave a voicemail explaining your favorite Mariano moment, what he has meant to you, what you will always remember about him, etc.  Chad asks that you speak clearly, leave your name, hometown, and a phone number where you can be reached so they can be collected and used either in the paper or online as a part of "42 Farewells" running next Thursday. You can also send pictures of you and/or your Mo memorabilia to pkramer@lohud.com

I don't know about you guys but I am making this phone call right now...

Andy Pettitte Knew All Along He Was Going To Retire


Andy Pettitte has known since the beginning of Spring Training that 2013 would be his final year but decided not to announce it like Mariano Rivera. Speaking of Rivera Mo was one of the few people to know that Andy was going to hang it up after 2013 and insisted he let it be known but Andy responded by saying "That's just not how I wanted to do it." This is the second time that Andy will be walking away from the game, the first time walking away after the 2010 season only to come back in 2012, and I think this time it will stick. The Cour Four may be reduced to one if Derek Jeter decides to exercise his players option for 2014 so this will truly make Sunday a special day for all Yankees fans.

San Francisco Giants @ New York Yankees 9/20


The New York Yankees will play their final three interleague games this season, thankfully at home, this weekend against the San Francisco Giants. The Yankees will send CC Sabathia to the mound to face off with, if you are asking my friend Bryan Van Dusen, future Yankees reliever Tim Lincecum. The freak vs. CC tonight in one of your final chances to see the Yankees at home this season and by Yankees tickets before a possible playoff series. The game can be seen at 7:05 pm ET on the YES Network and MLB TV.

Yankees drop rubber game to Blue Jays, 6-2

Last night, Hiroki Kuroda lost again, dropping his record to 11-12. He pitched okay, giving up just 3 earned runs in 6 innings. But nevertheless, he still lost. He's had a great season, yet he's now below .500. That is not good. 

Anyway, as you guys definitely already know, this was the rubber game of the this series, so the Yankees did drop 2/3. That number is extremely dissapointing, but let's remember that this 2013 Yankees team has been really beat up. So I'm not mad that they're losing now, because the fact that they're even above .500 this late in the year is very good. Yea I'd rather win a World Series, but if you the make the playoffs chances are your season will end in heartbreak. At least now they have a chance to go out on a high note.

P.S. Thanks for everything Andy Pettitte, have fun in retirement. 

Imagining The Worst Case Scenario For 2014: Part 1


As many of our readers and our followers on twitter (@GreedyStripes) know I am very active and talkative on twitter but when I was asked this question I did not even attempt to answer it using 140 characters. This tweet gave me the uh oh feeling big time because I never really gave it any thought as to what we would do if this were to happen... Could we survive it?


What would the Yankees do if the worst case scenario comes true this off season with Derek Jeter joining Mariano Rivera to retire, Robinson Cano decides to take his talents to South Beach, or Los Angeles, or anywhere besides Yankees Stadium, and what if Alex Rodriguez is suspended for the entire 2014 season as we are expecting and maybe even hoping? To add to that what if the oldest starting pitcher in all of baseball, Andy Pettitte, decided to hang it up thus ending the core four all together? That would make the 2014 season a complete and utter disaster, or would it?

The Yankees would be left with absolutely huge and obviously glaring holes at second base, short stop, third base, in the back end of the bullpen, and the starting rotation heading into November and the Winter Meetings. Granted the Yankees would have somewhere around $100,000,000 to spend this off season while still toying with the idea of keeping the payroll under the $189,000,000 luxury tax thresh hold. This would probably be the closest thing to a Boston Red Sox circa 2012 reset that we are going to get but we have to navigate this smart and not just throw money at aging veterans just because we can. We have proven that time and time again simply being the biggest bidder for the best players available just does not work anymore. The Yankees are getting burned by players who would rather stay away from New York at all costs, see Cliff Lee, not getting anywhere near the production we are paying for after being acquired in free agency, see AJ Burnett, or we are missing out all together on free agents specifically in the international market, see Yu Darvish, Yasiel Puig, Yoenis Cespedes, yada yada yada. The Yankees "we can retool via free agency and build up our prospects hype to make big time trades in July" has been exposed and it is just not working anymore, bottom line, so how do we fix this?


Let's start by looking at the roster penciled in using only 40 man roster players as of November 1st:

C: Francisco Cervelli
1B: Mark Teixeira
2B: Jayson Nix
SS: Eduardo Nunez
3B: David Adams
LF: Alfonso Soriano
CF: Brett Gardner
RF: Ichiro Suzuki
DH: Zoilo Almonte

BN: Austin Romine
BN: Vernon Wells
BN: Corban Joseph
BN: Ramon Flores

SP: CC Sabathia
SP: Ivan Nova
SP: Michael Pineda
SP: David Phelps
SP: Vidal Nuno

CP: David Robertson
SU: Shawn Kelley
RP: Cesar Cabral
RP: Preston Claiborne
RP: Dellin Betances
RP: Adam Warren
LR: David Huff


Will David Robertson stop trying to make the "perfect pitch" thus bringing him into more full counts than any pitcher in the history of the world, mild exaggeration, and succeed as the heir to Mariano Rivera? Can the Yankees rebuild 3/4 of their infield on the fly and replace the best offensive second basemen in baseball in Robinson Cano? Can the Yankees get just one more ride out of aging veterans Alfonso Soriano, Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia (wow I really just said that), Mark Teixeira (see CC Sabathia), etc? All these questions to answer and not enough time and space today to do so in one post so check back tomorrow to see part two to see if I can really "put the best team on the field one dollar at a time."

Tonight Starts Mariano Rivera's Last Home Stand


This kind of sucks to think about but, assuming we do not make the playoffs of course which is still very much in the air, this starts Mariano Rivera's final home stand of his storied career tonight when we host the San Francisco Giants. This is going to be a long, heartbreaking, and overall sad seven days for me as I have still yet to come to terms that Mariano is going to retire at the end of this season. All the more reason to get this man one last playoff shot at a ring. #SprintTowardsOctober #OneMo

Andy Pettitte To Announce Retirement

It's being reported by numerous sources that Andy Pettitte will announce his retirement later this afternoon.

This isn't the first time Pettitte has done so, as he said he was done after the 2010 season, after which he sat out the entire next year before returning in 2012. But at 41 years old, I believe this time retirement will stick.

It's really sad that the Yankees are going to lose both Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte in the same year, but at the same time it's nice that they will retire together. I hope Rivera gets to close Pettitte's final two starts, one of which will be this Sunday against the Giants, and the other against the Astros the next weekend.

We'll be talking quite a bit about the careers of both Mariano and Andy in the future.

Yankees Playoff Tickets Go On Sale This Morning


This is not a joke, the New York Yankees have announced that potential home playoff game tickets are going on sale this morning. I absolutely cannot wait to hear the results of this pre-sale because I cannot fathom all that many people making the investment when the team on the field has not been up to par this season whatsoever. Average prices for the potential wild card game is around $100 for sull season ticket holers and closer to $225 when they go on sale for the public. Buy your Yankees tickets now right here on The Greedy Pinstripes or by visiting Yankees.com

Unrealistic 2014 Free Agent Targets: Paul Konerko


Paul Konerko would be the ultimate addition to the Yankees as a platoon player with Mark Teixeira at first base and serving a big chunk of time as a designated hitter. Would the long time White Sox be willing to leave Chicago and come to New York to be a part time player though? Well if he was then I do not think he would be featured in this "unrealistic Yankees free agent targets" for the 2014 season feature.

Paul Konerko is a career Chicago White Sox and even in down years they have had an unwillingness to trade him probably out of respect for Konerko. He has never wanted to tuck his tail and run when the Sox were losing and was always a big part of the team when they were winning. If Konerko wants to keep playing it will be for no other team but the Chicago White Sox unfortunately.


Konerko would look so good in those Yankees pinstripes though...

This Day In New York Yankees History 9/20


On this day in 1968 Mickey Mantle his his 536th and final home run of his 18 year major league career all spent with the New York Yankees.


On this day in 1980 the Yankees unveiled a bronze plaque honoring recently deceased Yankees captain Thurman Munson. This came just a season after the 32 year old was killed while trying to fly a Cessna airplane and crashed.


On this day in 1998 Cal Ripken takes a game off for the first time in over 16 years breaking the iron mean streak for most consecutive games played. The streak that will probably never be broken ends at 2,632 straight games all for the Baltimore Orioles.


On this day in 2010 George Steinbrenner is honored with a 7' x 5' 760 lb. monument made of bronze at Yankees Stadium. This is shortly after "the Boss" passed away.