Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Tampa Bay Rays 5/12


In my best Mortal Kombat voice, “Round Two…. Fight” between the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays inside Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. Tonight the Yankees will hopefully send Mr. Nathan Eovaldi to the mound and not Dr. Jekyll to face off against the Rays starter and thorn in the Yankees side Chris Archer. The game will be played at 7:10 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

The Yankees have one more series after this with the Kansas City Royals before returning home to the Bronx to play host to the Texas Rangers. Get your Yankees tickets for that series or any series home or away by clicking the Yankees Tickets link at the top of the blog. You get cheap tickets without having to pay the shipping costs or bulky fees while you help support the blog. If you can’t make it there live then watch the game on television and join us in the comments section of the site and on Twitter (@GreedyStripes) where the conversation is always going on.


Keep Dr. Jekyll in the closet and let Mr. Eovaldi shine tonight in The Trop. Go Yankees!

Yankees Injury Updates for 5/12/15



RiverDogs to Join in Boeing Salute



Club teams with local businesses to thank Boeing’s employees

CHARLESTON, SC -- The Charleston RiverDogs, along with nearly 30 local businesses and friends, will help celebrate the more than 7,500 Boeing employees when the team hosts the rival Greenville Drive on Sunday, May 17, at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park. The game will be billed as Boeing Employee Appreciation Day, and the first pitch slated for 5:05 pm.

In addition to another “Dog Day” at the park where fans may bring their four-legged friends, the day will include the standard and family-oriented Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission Kids Club Sunday, presented by Y102.5.

“The RiverDogs and the Charleston community are showing collectively its appreciation to the loyal Boeing employees for doing what many said couldn’t be done which was building Boeing-quality airplanes successfully and on time in South Carolina,” said RiverDogs General Manager Dave Echols. “The RiverDogs are proud to partner with members of the Charleston business community – including some who wish to remain anonymous – in providing a day of fun and entertainment for Boeing employees.”

Joining the RiverDogs as sponsors for the Boing Employee Appreciation Day are:

· Baker Motors

· Banks Construction

· The Beach Company

· Charleston Area Airport Authority

· Charleston County

· Charleston Hotel Association

· Charleston Visitors Bureau

· The Citadel

· Clemson Research

· Davis & Floyd

· Gordon Strauss Offices

· Hall’s Chophouse

· Heritage Trust Federal Credit Union

· InterTech Group

· Mickey Bakst

· MUSC

· Nexsen Pruet

· OL Thompson

· Pepsi

· Roper Hospital

· Santee Cooper

· SC Ports Authority

· Spirit Line Cruises

· TD Bank

· Trident CEO Council

· Trident Tech

Irresponsible Journalism & the 1927 Yankees


So imagine me sifting through my folder of bookmarks to read when I run across an article on the USA Today labeled “The Los Angeles Dodgers are hitting like the 1927 Yankees.” Obviously my interest was piqued because the 1927 is arguably the best team ever assembled including the likes of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and plenty of other Yankees legends. Are the 2015 version of the Los Angeles Dodgers really as good, even in a small sample size, hitting as well as the 1927 Yankees? I didn’t think so but the point of the article title was to get me to click so I did and I have to say I was pretty disappointed with what I read when I did.

The author points out that at the time of the writing the Dodgers had a team OPS of .830 leading the major league by more than 50 points. Then the author contradicts himself stating that the New York Mets Triple-A affiliate in Las Vegas has a higher team OPS down on the farm. Would a minor league team be able to out-hit and out-slug the 1927 Yankees? I think not, but I kept on reading anyway and fell upon the part where the author stated that the small sample size performances were likely unsustainable. Even if the marks were unsustainable the team leads the major leagues in home runs and walks in Dodgers Stadium, traditionally a pitcher’s park, and could be compared with some of the great teams of recent memories like the 2011 Boston Red Sox and the 2009 Yankees, not the 1927 Yankees.


In fact the only mention of the 1927 Yankees in the article was that if the team could sustain their current team OPS+ of 128 they would beat out the 1927 Yankees major league record of 127 OPS+ for a team in a season. When did 30 games warrant comparisons to the greatest Yankees team and possibly greatest team of all-time in Major League Baseball history? Oh yeah you can do that when you sell your soul for a few clicks and a few newspapers sold. You got me this time but I think I’ll win in the end so I’m totally okay with that.  Here’s the link if you want to waste your time.

Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Tampa Bay Rays 5/12


Tonight the New York Yankees will look to continue their dominance over the American League East and specifically the Tampa Bay Rays when the two go head-to-head once again tonight inside Tropicana Field. Tonight the Yankees will send Nathan Eovaldi to the mound with the extremely tough task of facing off against Chris Archer for the Rays. The Yankees missed Archer in each of their first two series against Tampa Bay and were glad for it since Archer has dominated the Yankees in his early career. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

  • Eovaldi is still searching for consistency this season as he follows up a good start with a bad or mediocre start which is not a great sign for the Yankees after his last start. Eovaldi in his last three starts sports a 2-0 record with a 4.86 ERA and 11 K’s including a great start last time out against the Baltimore Orioles.


  • Archer is coming off a start in which he allowed five runs on four hits and four walks against the Texas Rangers in a loss. Archer did strikeout eight batters in just 3.1 IP but currently holds a 5-0 record with a 1.93 ERA in six career starts against the New York Yankees in his career.



New York has been crushing Tampa Bay this season and it’s been quite the turnaround from the David Price and Evan Longoria in his prime days. The Yankees have had fits inside Tropicana Field before this season but there is something about an offseason fire sale that can change things dramatically, huh? Anyway, go Yankees!

Chris Capuano is better than Adam Warren


As much as I hate to admit this and as much as I hate to write this I cannot deny the truth that this point in their careers Chris Capuano may be better than Adam Warren. When I say that I speak strictly from a starting pitching in 2015 standpoint as Warren is the far superior pitcher in the bullpen and will likely be the far superior pitcher going forward in their careers. Warren has pitched pretty well in his first season in the major leagues as a starter, remember he was a starter in the minor leagues before being shifted to the bullpen, but at this point I think everyone would agree, especially the bullpen, that Capuano would be the better option when he returns from the disabled list.

Again, Warren has pitched well in more than a few of his starts but the length of his starts is killing the Yankees bullpen right now. Warren has not gone above 5.2 innings in any start this season leaving many outs for the bullpen to get every fifth day. Now truth be told as a fifth starter that is all you can really ask for at this point but when three other starters are doing the same it gets to be taxing at times. Warren has pitched well this season even when he has given up a ton of runs, the start against the Detroit Tigers game can be used as a perfect example. It was extremely cold on that night and Warren got hit hard early but was able to settle down, limit the damage and he got better as the game went on and the night got colder. Warren has a veteran’s mindset but his arm, again starting pitching wise, has not caught up to that yet. Warren being stretched out would be a saving grace for the bullpen when Capuano gets off the disabled list as soon as this week.

Capuano is no Cy Young or Michael Pineda so if that’s what you are expecting me to say in this article I have news for you, you will be sadly mistaken. I have been harder on Capuano than probably any Yankees blogger, beat writer or fan has been over this winter and half of last season. I don’t know what it is about him but I don’t like the guy, I don’t like the way the guy pitches and I think there are far superior players in the minor leagues and on the team right now in the minor leagues. With that said though when Capuano pitched for the Yankees last season he kept the team in every single start, gave the Yankees length in almost every single start and did not let the big stage in the Bronx get to him. If the runs allowed stat is going to be comparable between the two you have to go with the one that’s going to give you more length in a start, and that is Capuano.


The great part about this season thus far is that the offense can come from behind and win any game and if the pitching is on can get ahead early and hold onto any game with the bullpen. The only way this recipe works is if the bullpen is healthy and fresh and with Warren in the pen and Capuano giving you more than five innings in the rotation the team would be much better off in the long run. Well until Luis Severino is ready anyway, let me dream. 

TGP Daily Poll: Nathan Eovaldi Remains Undefeated



Nathan Eovaldi comes into his next start without a blemish on his record and will leave his next start without a blemish on his record. Eovaldi may win or he may get a no-decision against the Rays but he will not take the loss against Chris Archer.


Vote in our prediction poll on Knoda.com

Weekly Check In: Aaron Judge


Carlos Beltran has come out and admitted that the now two season long slump that he is currently in is finally starting to get to him. Presumably I bet it is getting to Aaron Judge too after playing baseball in college and dominating every minor league stop he’s seen in his professional career only to be sitting in Double-A while Beltran stinks up the place. How long can you justify keeping Judge in the minor leagues and especially in Trenton when he is hitting like this?

YearLevGPARH2B3BHRRBIBBSOBAOBPSLGOPSTB
2015AA28128183971617831.331.375.559.93466

Recap: Yankees 11, Rays 5

CC Sabathia recorded his first win of the season, tossing seven solid innings of four-run ball to lead the Yankees past the Rays, 11-5, on Monday night at Tropicana Field.

CC Gets a W: Sabathia looked as sharp as ever for the Yankees in this one, allowing just three earned runs and six hits while walking two and striking out nine. He yielded just two baserunners from innings 2-6, giving the Yanks' bats plenty of time to pull away.

662: Alex Rodriguez continued to perform well in St. Petersburg with a solo home run in the first, crushing a 2-1 fastball high into the left field seats for his eighth four-bagger of the year. It was A-Rod's first long ball on the road since April 17, when he also went deep against the Rays.

The Best Kind of Two-Out Hit: Batting with men on the corners and two outs in the fourth, Chase Headley broke a 1-1 tie with a clutch three-run homer to right -- a line drive off the Rays' Alex Colome that reached the crowd in a hurry. Brian McCann had popped out prior to Headley's blast -- costing New York a sac fly opportunity -- but the Yankees' third baseman was there to bail him out.

Other Souvenirs: The Yankees apparently weren't content with being up 4-1, though, and in the fifth, went back to work on offense. Carlos Beltran got their late onslaught started with a solo shot in that frame, followed shortly by a Brett Gardner three-run bomb in the sixth and a Mark Teixeira two-run dinger in the ninth.

What a Weird Way to Finish it: Tampa Bay's catwalks have always proved to be an obstacle for visiting teams, and the Yankees confirmed such a statement with two outs in the ninth. Indeed, on a routine fly to left from Tim Beckham, the Trop's defining featured ricocheted the ball toward short -- where it was still somehow caught by Didi Gregorius to end the game.

Next Up: The Yankees will try to get a strangle-hold on this series Tuesday when they meet the Rays again on the Gulf Coast, beginning at 7:05 p.m. ET and airing live on the YES Network. Nathan Eovaldi (3-0, 3.97 ERA) will take the mound for the Yankees hoping for a third consecutive victory, opposing struggling Rays ace Chris Archer (3-4, 2.59 ERA).

This Day in New York Yankees History 5/12: Yankees Almost No-Hit


On this day in 1956 Don Ferrarese got his first major league victory when he shut out the Yankees at Yankee Stadium 1-0. The Orioles rookie lefty loses his no hitter when Andy Carey leads off the ninth inning with a single.