Greene: Playing for the Yankees "a Dream Come True"

Whether you think he's the reliable pitcher the Yankees have been looking for or not, you can't help but like what Shane Greene has done since being brought up to the majors. 

Greene, a 25-year-old prospect from Florida, has won each of his first two starts since joining the big-league team last Monday, making him the only Bomber to do so this season.

Still, accomplishing that hasn't made the whole experience any less amazing for the youngster, who told ESPN.com after beating the Orioles yesterday that playing professionally in the Bronx has been "a dream come true."

"A dream come true," Greene said when asked what it feels like to be a Yankee. "It means a lot that I got the opportunity and it means a lot that I can come up here and help the team win."

Currently, production from Greene and fellow Triple-A call-up Chase Whitley is needed if the Pinstripes are going to make the playoffs this year, something that you'd expect would stress them out.

However, for some reason that hasn't been the case yet, a break the Yankees will surely accept, as the recent injury to Masahiro Tanaka has made their rotation's future unknown. 

Greene Comes Up Huge For Yankees in Shutout of Orioles

Over the last few weeks, all any of us have heard from the media is that the Yankees are done without four of their five starting pitchers. 

Those four arms, Michael Pineda, CC Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka, and Ivan Nova, are a lot better than the Yanks' current group of Chase Whitley, Shane Greene, David Phelps, and Brandon McCarthy, although lately that hasn't been too clear, with the latter quad each tossing quality outings over the last few months.

Despite that, it's unlikely that this trend will last forever, a message that again failed to reach the Bombers' backups today, with the aforementioned Greene shutting out the Orioles for 7 1/3 innings as the Pinstripes won a game they really had to 3-0.

In his fun-to-watch, 22-out performance, Greene rarely got into trouble, retiring the first 10 men he faced and not allowing a hit until the bottom of the fifth. 

In that frame and the next, the O's did manage to get runners to third, an effort that would prove worthless due a pair of threat-ending strikeouts of Nick Hundley and Nelson Cruz.

That latter K of Cruz, one of nine Greene had on the day, came on a nice slider in the dirt, pretty much ending the Orioles' day of competitiveness, eventually causing the always-tough Chris Tillman (6.2 IP, 3 ER) to take his fifth loss of the season.

Over on the offensive side of things, as expected, the Yankees again didn't play that well, only collecting three runs thanks to a duo of RBI Doubles from Mark Teixeira and Jacoby Ellsbury along with an RBI Single from Derek Jeter.

Still, what they did do was good enough to get the W, something they obviously really needed, as another defeat this afternoon would've dropped them below the .500 mark.

The Philadelphia Phillies Are Smoking Something...

Whoever rights for CSN Philly had a little too much to drink or smoke last night. The blog wrote about the possibility of trading starting pitcher Cliff Lee to the Yankees for some of New York's "top prospects." First off Lee is till injured, owed a ton of money, and would only come to New York in a salary dump. Instead the CSN Philly guys are asking for Dellin Betances, Luis Severino, Gary Sanchez, and Aaron Judge. Oh and then they woke up. Are you kidding me?

I wouldn't even give that up for Cole Hamels, let alone Cliff Lee. Keep dreaming kids.

Game Thread: Yankees vs. Orioles 7/12

Welcome to tonight's game thread and open thread as the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles play their second game of the series at Camden Yards this weekend. The Yankees will send Shane Greene to the mound to face off with Chris Tillman. The game will be played at 4:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB TV, and can be heard on the radio with WFAN.

Get your Yankees tickets for tomorrow's "first half" finale in Yankee Stadium South or wait to see the Yankees late next week when they play in the real Yankee Stadium after the All Star break. If you can't make it then simply join us on Twitter by following @GreedyStripes or search for us on Facebook by searching The Greedy Pinstripes. Something is always going on and we are very social, chat with us.

It's a open thread and a game thread so let's work the comments section and interact with some Yankees fans. Enjoy the game Yankees family and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Alex Rodriguez: It's Not Too Late To Save Miami

Lebron is gone and I'm just saying...

New York Yankees Game Preview vs. Baltimore Orioles 7/12

The New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles will play in the second of their three game set at Camden Yards this afternoon. The Yankees will send Shane Greene to the mound to face off with Chris Tillman for the Orioles. Tillman is filling in for the injured Ubaldo Jimenez this afternoon after he was placed on the disabled list with an ankle injury before the Yankee series. The Yankees have owned Ubaldo in his career so you have to wonder if this convenient timing is simply a phantom DL kind of situation. Anyway, the game will be played at 4:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB TV, and can be heard on the radio with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman on WFAN.

Greene earned a second start after impressing the team in his first start of his career last time out against the Cleveland Indians. The Yankees would win the game and Greene allowed two runs in six innings. Greene threw tons of sinkers and the Indians batters simply pounded the ball into the ground all night long.

Tillman has quality starts in four of his last five starts including his last start against the Washington Nationals. Tillman allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings to match zero for zero with the Nats Stephen Strasburg.

You're running out of chances to see the Yankees live before the All Star break so get your Yankees tickets HERE right now. Cheap tickets, no fees, and no shipping costs to see the greatest team in sports history. 

Go Yankees!!

Brian Cashman is not giving up, but should he?

“We have a small piece that we’re acquiring right now that hasn’t been announced yet, so again going to continue to try to piece things together,” said Cashman during an interview with MLB Network this afternoon.

While I don't ever want to see the Yankees give up, I'm afraid of what could happen should they try too hard to compete this season.

The team has more than one hole to fill in order to truly compete in 2014. The Yanks have lost 4/5 of their starting rotation to injury (mind you, none of the injuries have been minor), so they could use another starter or two depending on how some of the rehabs go. On top of starters the Yankees could use a right fielder, third baseman, and a reliever. To get all or even part of that, the team would likely have to give up some youth. And that youth could help future teams.

If it's not youth the team gives up it would just be money. Which, on it's own, is no big deal. While the Yankees can handle taking on more salary, the problem in doing so is the extra years that a player would have left on his contract. And having that guy around could keep the team from making moves in the offseason which would make the team better.

For example, what if the team traded for John Danks of the White Sox? Sure, it would clearly be a good move for this year's team. Not that Danks is on par with other possible trade targets like David Price or Cliff Lee, but he's a solid starter. But what happens next season, and the season after that, as Danks' contract runs through 2016? The Yankees already have CC Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda, and Ivan Nova as rotation candidates for 2015. Adding Danks into the mix would likely keep the team from possibly going after somebody like Jon Lester, or trading for a better starter. Even if the Yanks didn't want acquire a new starter, having Danks around would block a youngster like Chase Whitley, Shane Greene, or David Phelps from developing further.

The point I'm trying to make is that making moves to help the 2014 Yankees could be detrimental to future teams. One of those types of moves is bad enough, but do that three or four times and we're looking at more heartbreak later on.

If Anyone Should Apologize It's Not Masahiro Tanaka

If anyone should be apologizing to this team and it's fan base it's definitely not Masahiro Tanaka. Tanaka wen't out every time manager Joe Girardi would give him the ball, battled to be the best, and kept the Yankees in every single game every single time. Tanaka, just to clear things up, apology accepted and we love you and hope you're back in six weeks but you shouldn't be apologizing for anything. If anyone should be apologizing it's Brian Cashman.

I am not one to scream fire Cashman after every bad game, outing, or at bat but it's really time for him to move on. Cashman has done well with what he has had, I'll be the first to admit it, but the rest of the league has caught up with the Yankees and he doesn't seem willing to do anything to change that. if you can't make adjustments in this league then you're destined to fail, ask anyone.

For too many years have we seen Cashman build up prospects simply to trade them and instead restock and retool via free agency. The young top flight players are no longer hitting free agency so now the Yankees are simply handcuffing themselves with long term contracts to players on the wrong side of 30 years old. The Yankees are so swamped with bad contracts they are having to try so many reclamation projects you would think we were in the Independent League.

Four of this season's original starting pitchers are on the DL and we're barely treading water because of a weak division overall. Cashman did not go out and sign the veteran free agents on a minor league deal this season like he did not so long ago when Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia saved our season. Cashman didn't do his job this season and where I come from if you don't do your job you don't have a job.

My Plan For Jeff Francis & The Yankees Bullpen

All over the Yankees blogosphere yesterday there was tons of uncertainty as to why the Yankees acquired Jeff Francis from the Oakland Athletics. As you all know Oakland designated the lefty for assignment after acquiring Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel and the Yankees pounced on him for a player to be named later. What will the Yankees do with him? I don't think the Yankees know yet, but I know what they should do.

Francis is not stretched out and it would take him a month or more before he could get fully stretched out to start, if we even wanted him to. Francis could give the Yankees the second lefty in the pen they have coveted for so long but the problem is Francis is the victim of some reverse splits. Francis has held right handed batters to a .226/.263/.415 this season and has held same side hitters to a .250/.294/.250 triple slash. Francis has faced more right handers then left handers this season, which is not surprising as he was a starting pitcher in Cincinnati, and has only allowed two home runs this season, both to right handed hitters.

So I said all that to say this, the plan for Francis and the Yankees bullpen. Francis seems like the latest bullpen arm to be run into the ground and quickly designated for assignment. I truly believe Francis is here to get us through the All Star break and that's it. First decent starting pitcher or reliever that get's designated for assignment or cut comes up to New York and Francis goes bye bye.

I could be wrong, but I hope I'm not. I know his WHIP and peripherals look good, unlike his ERA, but you must remember where he has been pitching. Oakland Coliseum is huge and very spacious with lots of foul ground, Yankee Stadium not so much. Francis has bounced around for the last seven seasons or so and there is a good reason for that and if Billy Beane doesn't want you then neither do I. My plan is this, get him off the team ASAP.

You Can Thank Yankee Stadium For Warning Tracks In MLB

In a little known fact the warning track that we see in all 30 Major League stadiums was not always present, not until the New York Yankees made it common place. Well Major League Baseball made it common place on this day in 1949 when the owners agreed to add warning tracks made of cinder for the 1950 season.

Yankee Stadium was the first stadium to have a warning track because they had an actual running truck, used in Yankee Stadium's track and field events, that helped fielders know how close they were to the fall. Players loved it, the players were safer so the crowds and the ownership loved it, and we all win.

So thank a Yankee today when your center fielder doesn't snow plow the wall and end his career prematurely.

This Day In New York Yankees History 7/12: Gator Calls It Quits

The New York Yankees had an absolutely loaded pitching staff in the late 90's and early 2000's but it was the off the radar type deals that really put New York over the edge and into the World Series in 2000 against the New York Mets. Deals like the Yankees made on this day in 2000 where Denny Neagle (8-2, 3.52 ERA) and outfielder Mike Frank were to sent to the Yankees and Drew Henson, Jackson Melian, Brian Reith, and Ed Yarnall (basically nobody) was sent to Cincinnati in return.

Also on this day in 1989 Major League Baseball lost another great arm as Louisiana Lightning Ron Guidry called it a career. Guidry finishes with a 170-91 record and a 3.29 ERA during his 14 year career, all with the Yankees. Guidry won the 1978 American League Cy Young Award unanimously after posting a 25-3 record with a 1.74 ERA. Incredible.