Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Yankees playoff chance now 100% gone after 8-3 loss to Rays

Well, the meaningful part of the 2013 season is now officially over. Tonight, the Yankees were blown out again by the Rays, 8-3. Tomorrow night, the Yankees will play their first meaningless home game since 1993. I can't say this isn't dissapointing, but as I said last night, this was inevitable. But apparently, the Yankees were not technically mathematically eliminated at this point yesterday, so for that little mistake I apologize. But it was 99.99% over last night.

Anyway, the Yankees three runs in this one came on an RBI Double from Cano, a solo home run from Nunez, and an RBI Walk from Overbay. Besides those three plays, this game was painful to the eyes. So I'll stop talking because there really isn't a ton to talk about. 

Yankees Offering Free Tickets After Bobblehead Fiasco


The New York Yankees are offering free tickets to any home game next season other than Opening Day and Old Timer's Day due to the Mariano Rivera bobblehead fiasco last night. If you had a ticket to last nights game then you can get a voucher for a free ticket for the 2014 season. That is going to be the only way the Yankees can get fans to the stadium next season I bet is why they are doing this.

HERE is all the info

Game Thread: Rays @ Yankees 9/25


The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays play their second game of their three game set this week as the Yankees say goodbye to Yankees Stadium for the 2013 season. The pitching match up is the combo formerly known as Phil Hughes and David Huff facing off with the Rays David Price and the game will be televised at 7:05 pm ET on the YES Network, ESPN, and of course MLB TV. The Yankees will sorely and surely miss CC Sabathia who was supposed to make this start but was shut down due to a grade II strain of the hamstring. David Price has not won a game since August 24th and has not pitched seven full innings in his last two starts so there is always that. Price is 1-1 against the Yankees this season but has not played us since we had some resemblance of an offense so let's end this on a high note and beat Price tonight.

Here is the Yankees lineup:

Eduardo Nunez 3B
Alex Rodriguez DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Alfonso Soriano LF
Vernon Wells RF
Mark Reynolds 1B
Curtis Granderson CF
Brendan Ryan SS
Chris Stewart C


Follow us on twitter by following @GreedyStripes. After tonight we only have one more home game this season so get your Yankees tickets here and now!

Yankees May Start Working Gosuke Katoh At SS


The Yankees second round pick Gosuke Katoh has far exceeded anyone's expectations both at second base and with the bat this season but the Yankees find themselves wanting to work Katoh at SS this off season. Katoh is in his age 18 season after being drafted out of high school in the 2013 MLB First Year Players Draft and ended the 2013 season with a.310/.402/.522 triple slash and six home runs. Katoh is considered to be a great athlete with great range to go with it so maybe the transition would not be as difficult as one may think. The only problem may be his arm, or lack there of, at short stop. Imagine Johnny Damon trying to throw someone out from the warning track at home plate. This is the time to do it with him only being in the GCL so I cannot see a reason not to but I just hope it does not mess with his head like it seems like Eduardo Nunez has.

Tampa Bay Rays @ New York Yankees 9/25


The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays play the middle game of their three game set at Yankees Stadium this week in the final home stand of the season for New York. The Yankees will send the Phil Hughes and David Huff combo to the mound to face off with David Price for the Rays. CC Sabathia was originally slated to pitch this game but a grade II hamstring strain ended his season. The game will be televised at 7:05 pm ET on the YES Network, ESPN, and MLB TV.

New York Yankees 2013 Playoffs Meme


All you can do is laugh at it at this point...

Calling All Fat Ladies With Reasonable Singing Voices


Well we couldn't find a fat lady so we will just have to settle for Joba Chamberlain signing in the bullpen instead. We're done, good night Yankees fans. Shout out goes to my good friend @HalenMVB on twitter for the idea.

Yankees Need To Sign Kyle Lotzkar


I know what a lot of you are thinking, "who?", but hear me out as the Cincinnati Reds have released Kyle Lotzkar yesterday and the Yankees should offer him a contract ASAP. The Reds designated the 23 year old pitcher for assignment along with teammate Josh Ravin to make room for Johnny Cueto and Sean Marshall to come off the 60 day DL and now the Reds have made Lotzkar a free agent. Still most of you are scratching your head why I am so excited for this so please bare with me.

Let's get the cons out of the way early, the guy is an injury risk, I get that. Lotzkar was drafted in the supplemental round, 53rd overall, in the 2007 draft and has already had a stress fracture in his right throwing elbow and Tommy John surgery. He also was in 38 innings for the big league club this season and posted an 8.05 ERA with 37 walks which is ultimately why he was released and not stashed in AAA for another season. I am not sure of his options and arbitration and free agency and all that so don't quote me on it but I am sure the stat line did not help, anyway.


Now for the good as Lotzkar was ranked the 12th best prospect in the Reds organization prior to the 2013 season according to Baseball America and has been in the top 30 in each of the last six seasons. Lotzkar was praised for his 90-94 MPH fastball and his power curve ball which were both considered to be above average. Lotzkar was considered to have some of the best stuff in the Reds minor league system and that alone is worth mentioning because it is stacked with young power pitching. The Yankees could easily stash him somewhere with a CC Sabathia 60 Day DL transfer.

Lotzkar was considered to be the second best prospect coming out of Canada behind Phillipe Aumont at the time of the draft and was praised for his projectible frame,power arm, and two or more plus pitches. While Lotzkar struggled with his ERA and walk numbers this season, seen above, he made up for that a bit by striking out 41 batters in those 38 innings with the big league club this season. While his strike out numbers seem to be right on par with his minor league career numbers I have a feeling that the ERA and walk numbers may just be an anomaly that can play into our hands. The Reds just gave up on a guy that has a career, granted in the minor leagues, 10.5 K/9 ratio and a 4.7 BB/9 ratio and I think the Yankees should put him in the bullpen this season or at the very least, if possible, in AAA to replace possible Rule 5 draft guys like Chase Whitley and Tommy Kahnle. I see Lotzkar as the 2014 version of Preston Claiborne or Shawn Kelley, get it done Cash while I start typing out his Meet A Prospect post.

Yankees shutout by Rays, 7-0

Well, it's officially over. After losing last night's series opener to the Rays 7-0, the Yankees are now 5 games behind Tampa in the wild card standings with 5 games left to play.  We all knew this was coming, so it's not surprising. But it's still a little dissapointing that the last spark of hope has been put out. The Yankees were good this year, but they simply weren't good enough. 

Despite having an overall great season, Hiroki Kuroda's record with this loss has now dropped to 11-13. I don't know how he lost so many games in such little time, but he did. Records don't really matter in baseball, but it's still more fun to look at the stat sheet and see that he's had a winning season. 

Travis Hafner Expected To Be Activated Today


Here is a name that I did not think we would see again this season, the Yankees are expecting to activate DH Travis Hafner off the 60 day DL today and transfer CC Sabathia onto the 60 day DL to make room for Hafner on the 40 man. Hafner would provide a left handed bat off the bench and maybe some power if it were May. This is another head scratcher giving a guy with no plans to be in pinstripes for 2014 at bats over guys that do. We're done, we're not making the playoffs, give the kids a shot.

This Day In New York Yankees History 9/25


On this day in 1929 in the fifth inning of the Yankees and Red Sox game all the players were summoned to home play to be informed that New York manager Miller Huggins had passed away. There was a moment of silence and the flag was lowered to half staff in honor of Huggins.


On this day in 1968 Yankees star Mickey Mantle stepped up in the ninth inning for his final Yankees Stadium at bat of his career. Luis Tiant would walk the Mick before striking out the next batter to complete his 3-0 shut out.


On this day in 1998 the Yankees set a new American League record for victories in a season with their 112th win, a 6-1 victory against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The 1906 Cubs with 116 wins are the only team in major league history with more wins then the 1998 Yankees.


On this day in 2009 the Yankees hit their 127th home run at Yankees Stadium setting a new record for most home runs at home in a season. Alex Rodriguez would hit the historic home run off of Boston's pitcher Jon Lester in a 9-5 victory. This would break the Yankees record of 126 home runs at home by both the 2004 and 2005 seasons.