Monday, April 14, 2014

Murphy, Not Romine, Called Up From AAA


When Francisco Cervelli went down with a Grade 2 strain of his hamstring I think we all expected Austin Romine, who has already been called up once this season, would be called up from AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre to replace him but it seems we were all wrong. Instead John Ryan Murphy has been called up to replace Cervelli on the roster, presumably because of his versatility and experience playing positions other than catcher in his minor league career.

Seems like a waste of an option for both Romine and Murphy to make this call but Joe Girardi has proven more than once that he knows more than I do. We were all told that Murphy would only be called up to be the starting catcher if something, God forbid, happened to Brian McCann but it looks like plans have changed for Murphy.

Whether this was made to showcase Murphy in a trade, the Yankees do have an insane five catchers on the 40 man roster right now, or whether they just like Murphy more than Romine remains to be seen. Let's just hope Murphy can fill in well for Cervelli without hurting his trade value.

Alfonso To Retire If 2014 Season Is Poor


Alfonso Soriano will retire after the 2014 season if his performance is not up to his standards this season. If Soriano can put on a tear like he did the second half of last season and decides to stick around he would like to play two more seasons and would like to spend those two seasons in New York with the Yankees. Buster Olney broke the story but a subscription is required to read the material so if you have one be sure to check it out, I don't.

If Soriano can still hit and keep up his bat speed, which I think he can, I see no issue with him coming back to New York. Sori can play left field, right field, and can DH. He has also dabbled at first base a little so he is at least a little more comfortable with it than Carlos Beltran was last night which never hurts. The problem is committing two years to a guy that will be 39 years old when he signs the contract and almost 41 when the contract ends.

If Soriano would be willing to go the one year contract indefinitely route I would have no issue with it but in the end, my favorite player and all, if he wants two seasons he is going to have to get it from someone else no matter what if I am signing the checks.

Francisco Cervelli Has Grade II Hamstring Strain


Bad news for the Yankees and Francisco Cervelli as an MRI showed a Grade II strain of New York's back up catcher's hamstring. Cervelli will be added to the 60 day DL presumably to make room for an infielder on the roster tomorrow, I am guessing Scott Sizemore. CC Sabathia suffered a Grade II hamstring strain last year and it took right at eight weeks just to get back to baseball activities let alone a full recovery, which is much more than 60 days. Cervelli will not be back anytime soon for the Yankees.




Shane Greene Optioned Back To AAA


The New York Yankees have optioned RHP Shane Greene back to AAA with the Scranton RailRiders. The Yankees have been going with a 13 man pitching staff and a three man bench for the better part of a week now but with the recent injuries to Derek Jeter, Brian Roberts, and Francisco Cervelli the Yankees need the roster spot for a bench player.

No word on who is coming up but it seems likely two players are on the way up. Austin Romine seems like a no brainer to come up and Scott Sizemore, with the help of a Ramon Flores DFA, seems like the other option. Stay tuned though because nothing is official just yet.

Carlos Beltran American League Player of The Week


Carlos Beltran has been named the American League's Player of the Week by Major League Baseball today for his work last week. Beltran batted .423 (11 for 26) with four doubles, three home runs, six RBI's and seven runs scored over his last seven games. Beltran also slugged .923 and had 24 total bases while tying for the league leads in hits, doubles, and finished second in batting average, home runs, and runs scored for the week. The Player of the Week award is his fourth of his career in the American League and 10th overall.

Congratulations to Beltran and congratulations to the Yankees, there is no way they beat Boston three out of four games without the contributions from Carlos this weekend.

MLB Replay Blows A Call, Boston Goes Crying To Bud


Can the Boston Red Sox please lose a game to the New York Yankees without Major League Baseball looking into it? Please? Just one? First we had Michael Pineda and "Pine Tar Gate" on Thursday night and then Saturday night MLB and their shiny new replay system proved it wasn't perfect, imagine that, blowing kind of an obvious call.

Dean Anna is the Yankee on base with his foot above the bag and the glove and tag on his back after hitting what was called and "confirmed" as a double and not a single and an out. Xander Bogaerts had Anna out and Boston's manager John Farrell challenged the play and the call on the field was upheld giving Anna the extra base hit.


Thankfully the call had no bearing on the outcome of the game or I would be posting that Heath Ledger meme as The Joker saying something along the lines of "MLB Replay makes a mistake and the baseball world loses it's mind."

You wanna hear the best part about the whole ordeal? All that fancy technology in that fancy command center in New York did not have access to the same angle that the fans and the viewers on television had and MLB even admitted it. We all knew this was not going to be perfect but that just sounds like a broken system to me. Somehow this is Alex Rodriguez's fault, I'm sure of it, he has been too quiet.

Off Day Baseball Movie Recommendation


While you are at work supposed to be working you can watch the classic baseball movie Angels In The Outfield in it's entirety right here on The Greedy Pinstripes. You're welcome, don't tell your boss and don't forget the headphones. Enjoy the day Yankees family!

Yankees Leaders After Two Weeks


With the Yankees off today there is no better time to look at the leaders offensively for the club in specific categories. The Yankees have only played 13 games so it's not a full two weeks worth of games but it is close enough. We did this as well at the one week mark and it was the Yangervis Solarte show but this time around there are a few new names showing up on the lists... spoiler alert, it's Jacoby Ellsbury who has been on a tear lately.




Games Played:

Thirteen games for Jacoby Ellsbury making him the only player to get into every single Yankees game this season. 

At Bats:

47 at bats for Jacoby Ellsbury which makes sense when he has played in the most games. 

Runs Scored:

Carlos Beltran has seven to lead the team.

Hits:

Jacoby Ellsbury  leads the way with 17 hits 

Doubles:

Yangervis Solarte leads the team with six doubles, the extra base machine that he is. 

Home Runs:

Kelly Johnson, Carlos Beltran, and Alfonso Soriano both lead the team with three home runs followed by Brian McCann's two he hit Saturday afternoon. 

RBI's:

Carlos Beltran has eight RBI's with his recent home run tear.

AVG:

Ichiro Suzuki leads the team with a .421 batting average, which is encouraging, but the Yankee regular leading the way in average is Jacoby Ellsbury with a .362 average. Yangervis Solarte has come back down to Earth a bit with his .357 average down from nearly .500 last week. 





Wins:

Hiroki Kuroda and Ivan Nova are the only Yankee with two wins this season so far, although CC was helped by that five home run Yankees outburst against the Red Sox on Saturday. 

Losses:

CC Sabathia is the only Yankee with two losses this season. 

ERA:

Vidal Nuno taking one on the chin against the Orioles bloated his ERA to 14.54 for worst on the team followed not so closely by Ivan Nova's 5.94, down from 8.68 ERA. Sabathia has a 6.63 ERA and David Phelps has improved his ERA to an even 5.68. The best Yankees ERA's are Cesar Cabral's, David Robertson's, Adam Warren's, Dellin Betances', and Matt Thornton's 0.00 ERA. The best Yankees starter ERA is Michael Pineda's 1.50 ERA.

K's:

CC Sabathia has the most K's among the rotation with 21 followed closely by Masahiro Tanaka's 18 in one less start. Dellin Betances and David Phelps lead all Yankees relievers with 8 K's. 

Off Day Music Recommendation


The off days are back and so are the music recommendations! I have let a lot of things go preparing for this season that I need to catch up on but you know what, it's not happening today. Leave a comment if this song describes your day today. I say that it describes mine but between work, the kids, the wife, and my inability to stay away from the blog I am probably lying, I'll probably work just as hard as I always do. Here's to hoping to a lazy song for a lazy day. Enjoy the day Yankees family!

Quick Hit: The First Off Day Of The Season


After the Yankees finished what is always a mentally and physically grueling four game set with the Boston Red Sox last week and into the weekend New York has their first off day of the year. The Bronx Bombers started the season playing in 13 games in the first 13 days of their season and finally get a day to clear their heads and rest their bodies. Off days can be especially important for an older team like New York to keep everyone fresh and healthy and it means we're one day closer to getting back Mark Teixeira and David Robertson off the DL without having to worry about their production on the field. Enjoy the day off Yankees players and Yankees fans alike, it's well deserved on both ends.

Charleston Riverdogs Game Recap 4/13

Late Comeback Halted on Seersucker Sunday
GreenJackets sweep a four-game series to close the first RiverDogs homestand

CHARLESTON, SC - The Charleston RiverDogs debuted their specially-made seersucker uniforms and staged a late comeback against the Augusta GreenJackets, but the new jerseys did not lead to a victory as Augusta won 3-2 on Sunday in front of 4,312 fans at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park in South Atlantic League action.
The RiverDogs are now 3-7 this season and have lost five consecutive games. The GreenJackets have a 7-4 record after sweeping a four-game series at The Joe.
Both the RiverDogs and the GreenJackets scored in the opening inning. With two outs and two runners aboard, Augusta's Christian Arroyo hit a single to right field that was misplayed, allowing Brandon Bednar and Devin Harris to score for a 2-0 GreenJackets lead.
Charleston cut that lead in half during the bottom of the first. Abiatal Avelino came in on an Aaron Judge single that brought the RiverDogs within a run. Two batters later, Michael O'Neill hit a fly ball to left-center field that bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double, holding Judge at third base. Both runners were stranded in scoring position on an inning-ending fly out.
Augusta pushed its advantage to 3-1 in the fourth inning. Shawn Payne collected a leadoff double and quickly moved to third on a Tyler Horan single. Leonardo Rojas grounded into a force out that scored Payne for the two-run margin.
The RiverDogs bullpen held the GreenJackets scoreless through the final five innings of play. Cesar Vargas struck out four in three shutout innings while Stefan Lopez answered with two clean innings of his own.
GreenJackets starting pitcher Matthew Lujan and reliever Daniel Slania each fired six strikeouts before the RiverDogs started to rally against Raymundo Montero. Tyler Wade and Judge reached and advanced into scoring position on a Mike Ford groundout. A wild pitch scored Wade to cut the deficit to 3-2 while Judge made it to third on the play. However, a strikeout and a groundout ended the game as the RiverDogs left the potential tying run at third base.
Lujan was credited with the victory, improving his record to 2-0. The loss was taken by Charleston's Caleb Smith, who is now 1-1 this season. Slania picked up a hold before Montero earned his second save.
BALLPARK FUN: Seersucker Sunday included the debut of the RiverDogs' brand new, specially-made seersucker uniforms, featuring light blue pinstripes, numbers, and "CHARLESTON" script. It was also a big day at The Joe for the children in attendance as it was Kids Opening Day, with 1,000 free youth t-shirts given away courtesy of Vapor Apparel and Pepsi presented Kids Eat Free vouchers for the contest.
COMING UP: Charleston begins a three-game road trip at Greenville on Monday evening at 7:05 pm. The RiverDogs will call on RHP Rookie Davis (1-0, 2.70 ERA) to pitch against Drive LHP Cody Kukuk (1-0, 3.38). After the road series, Charleston will return to the Lowcountry and host a three-game set against the Rome Braves that starts on Thursday, April 17 at 7:05pm at The Joe. Thursday's homestand opener will be another Budweiser Thirsty Thursday presented by 95SX, complete with DJ Natty Heavy, $1 drafts, and a Wild Wing Café wing-eating contest in the Ashley View Pub. The Dunder Chiefs will perform a postgame concert adjacent to the Beer Garden thanks to Palmetto Brewery and Awendaw Green. Tickets may be purchased at the Riley Park Box Office, (843) 577-DOGS (3647) or on-line at www.riverdogs.com. If fans cannot make it to the ballpark, they are encouraged to tune in to all the action this year both home and away worldwide onwww.riverdogs.com and locally on 1250 WTMA, the new radio home for RiverDogs baseball.

Being posted with permission from the Charleston Riverdogs organization. The original article can be seen HERE

Trenton Thunder Game Recap 4/13


Early Power by Roller, Williams Earns Thunder Win

ERIE, PA - A first inning home run by Kyle Roller was all the offense Trenton needed in a 4-2 win over the Erie SeaWolves.
Roller's blast came on the first pitch he saw of the season and scored Ben Gamel and Tyler Austin with two outs. Two innings later, Mason Williams connected on his first Double-A home run to pad Trenton's lead to 4-0.
Matt Tracy allowed two runs in the 4th inning, but otherwise shut down the SeaWolves on 94 pitches over six innings for his second win of the season.
Taylor Garrison entered with one out and the bases empty in the 8th and retired all four batters he faced for his first career Double-A save. Garrison tied for second in the Yankees minor leagues last season with 11 saves split between Charleston and Tampa.
With the win, Trenton moves to 5-5 on the season, and after dropping the middle games of the series against Erie, have now split all three series this season (2-2 vs. New Hampshire; 1-1 vs. Portland).
The Thunder hit the road following Sunday's game and will arrive in Akron, Ohio in advance of their three-game series against the Akron RubberDucks beginning Monday night. Monday's game features Bryan Mitchell (0-2, 9.00) for Trenton against RHP Gabriel Arias (1-0, 0.00). First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. with the Trenton Thunder pre-game show beginning at 6:20 p.m. on 91.3 FM WTSR or online at www.trentonthunder.com.

Being posted with permission from the Trenton Thunder organization. The original post can be seen HERE

This Day In New York Yankees History 4/14


On this day in 1911 a fire broke out and destroyed much of the Polo Grounds, the home of the New York Giants. The New York Highlanders, now known as the Yankees, offered the Giants a place to play for six weeks. Temporary stands were made at the Polo Grounds and the Giants soon returned.


On this day in 1955 Elston Howard, who would later be named the American League MVP in 1963, became the first black player to play for the Yankees. Howard was a nine time All Star and played in 54 World Series games compiling a career batting average of .274.


On this day in 1967 21 year old left handed starting pitcher Billy Rohr is one out from pitching a no hitter in his Major League debut when Elston Howard singles on a 3-2 pitch to ruin the no hit bid. The Red Sox would win the game 3-0 but will be forever remembered as the game that John F. Kennedy Jr. was caught crying by the dugout and being consoled by his mother, Jackie Kennedy, because the shot at immortality was lost.