Thursday, May 12, 2016

Yanks Jump On Former Yankee Kennedy, Win 7-3

     On another absolutely beautiful night in the Bronx, the Yankees tried to take three games of the four-game series against the Royals, ending tonight in Yankee Stadium. New York sent Nathan Eovaldi to the bump to face Kansas City, carrying with him a 2-2 record and an ERA of 4.78. Opposing New York was the familiar face of Ian Kennedy, a first round draft pick by the Yankees in 2006. Kennedy is having one of his best seasons this year, sporting a 4-2 Record and a 2.17 ERA. The Yankees once again carried a short bench, starting both catchers tonight, McCann and Romine, leaving Ackley and Torreyes as the only two players available on the bench. Despite that, the pinstripe or's would reminders all why they were second in all of baseball in long balls a season ago. 
     New York was the first to hit the scoreboard, coming in the bottom of the first inning when Starlin Castro hit a solo shot to right center,  giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead. And then, in the bottom of the second after Kennedy walked Carlos Beltran, Chase Headley recorded his first extra-base hit of the entire 2016 season, a line drive home run just inside the foul-pole in left. extending the Yankee lead to 3-0. When he was circling the bases, and especially when he crossed home plate, the struggling third baseman was grinning ear to ear as if to say, "finally". 
     Kansas City joined in on the scoring in the top of the fourth when Alex Gordon hit a solo homerun deep to right field off Eovaldi, 3-1. They went on to add one more in the inning, coming on a Christian Colon RBI single, scoring rookie Cheslor Cuthbert who had doubled with two outs, 3-2. The Bronx Bombers, however, would keep the launch party going in the bottom of the frame. Again, after a Kennedy walk of Beltran, Didi Gregorius unloaded on an Ian Kennedy fastball over the right-field wall, getting the two runs back they surrendered in the top of the inning, 5-2 Yanks. 
     Kansas City would get one of those runs back in the top of the next inning. Eovaldi served up a two-out bullet to first baseman Eric Hosmer. Then, Alex Gordon stung Eovaldi again, this time for an RBI double that scored Eric Hosmer and pulled KC within two, 5-3. Although Eovaldi would eventually record the final out of the fifth, he was quickly approaching the hundred pitch Mark and would not be back to pitch the sixth. Nasty Nate's final mine was five innings pitched, eight hits, three earned runs, two walks and three punch outs.
     Kennedy's struggles continued as he came towards the end of his night. In the bottom of the seventh, he walked Chase Headley and was pulled after allowing a base hit to backup catcher Austin Romine. Kennedy would be replaced by yet another familiar former Yankee, Chen-Ming Wang. Wang immediately walked Brett Gardner which loaded the bases for New York with one out. Starlin Castro drove home Headley Ina single to right, 6-3. Wang then walked McCann, scoring Romine,  extending the Yankee lead to four, 7-3,  where the score would stay. 
     With New York taking the lead by four, we were unfortunately unable to see what they are calling "No-Run DMC"; Delin, Miller, Chapman. Hopefully, we get our chance this weekend when the Yankees take on the a L central leading Chicago White Sox, with the first game starting tomorrow night at 7:05 PM ET. 

Live Game Updates: Royals at Yankees - 5/12

7:25 p.m., End 1st: Castro cracks a solo shot off Ian Kennedy in the first. Yankees up 1-0 in the early-going.

7:43 p.m., End 2nd: The streak is over. Headley rips his first extra-base hit of the year, a two-run shot to left, and the Yankees now lead the Royals 3-0.

8:43 p.m., Mid 5th: After another two-run blast by Didi made it 5-2, Nathan Eovaldi came about as close as you can get to blowing the lead in the fifth. After the Royals chipped away with an Alex Gordon RBI single, Salvador Perez drove one deep to right -- and into Carlos Beltran's glove about an inch in front of the wall. A home run would've given the Royals a 6-5 edge. Not exactly a flashy way to escape trouble, but I suppose it works.

8:53 p.m., Mid 6th: Kirby Yates tosses a 1-2-3 sixth. Looks like the Yankees' Big 3 is coming up. 

9:13 p.m., Mid 7th: Another clean inning by the Yankees' bullpen. Betances is perfect in the seventh as the Yanks maintain their 5-3 lead.

9:33 p.m., End 7th: Yankees add two in the seventh on a single by Castro and a bases-loaded walk by McCann. They now lead 7-3 heading into the eighth.

Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Kansas City Royals 5/12


The New York Yankees against the Kansas City Royals one last time this week in the Bronx. I don’t know about you but I’ve had some fun watching these two teams fight it out head-to-head and I have a feeling I may like the outcome of tonight’s contest as well based off the pitching matchup. Tonight the Yankees will send Nathan Eovaldi to the mound fresh off easily his best start of the young season while the Royals counter with a former Yankees draft pick and prospect Ian Kennedy. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside of Yankee Stadium and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network and of course MLB TV.

The Yankees stay home this weekend to welcome one of the hottest teams in all of baseball to town in the Chicago White Sox. Chris Sale takes the mound inside Yankee Stadium on Friday night so if you want to see him and Luis Severino face off live click the Yankees tickets link at the top of the blog and snag your tickets now. If you can’t make it live then you can always follow along on Twitter and interact with us during each and every game this season by shouting us out at @GreedyStripes.


Former Yankees prodigy in the making vs. current Yankees prodigy in the making. Let’s do it. Go Yankees!

What If Mark Teixeira’s Injury is Worse than We’re Being Told?




As I was watching the Chattanooga Lookouts on Tuesday night I checked Twitter to learn that Mark Teixeira needed a day from manager Joe Girardi to nurse some bothersome neck spasms. Now call me pessimistic if you want to but you can also call me something else, right more times than not. As I’ve said many times before on this blog I know no more than anyone reading this and I have no inside information into the front office or the players so I have to either speculate or use history and my common sense to make judgements about what is likely to come. In my experience the Yankees tend to under-exaggerate their injuries, remember Mark Teixeira’s broken leg that started out as a “day-to-day” injury and turned into him missing six months as a recent example of this, so what if they are doing the same with this latest Teixeira injury?

We all saw what happened to the Yankees offense in 2015 without Teixeira in the middle of it. Sure we got to see the emergence of Greg Bird and he did damn well hitting a plethora of home runs but the offense was just not the same. Alex Rodriguez never got the fastballs to hit like he did earlier in the season and no one wanted any part of being hurt by Brian McCann. Carlos Beltran hit for average but he never got a high fastball that he could drive and the Yankees offense sputtered into a first round loss in the playoffs. De ja vu all over again. Well minus the whole playoffs thing.

If Teixeira were to go down the whole Yankees offense would go down. Alex Rodriguez is already on the disabled list while Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran would never get another pitch to hit again this season. Starlin Castro would continue to rake and the table setters at the top of the order would continue to try and do their best but this offense would suffer immensely. A lineup with Ronald Torreyes and Chase Headley looks a lot different than one with Mark Teixeira and anyone else.


So here’s to hoping for just a day or two thing with these neck spasms and a strong return from the rest for Mark Teixeira. Teixeira wasn’t exactly tearing the cover off the ball but his presence alone makes up for a lot in the Yankees lineup. Get healthy Mark! 

Charleston Riverdogs Press Release: Bark for Your Brew

RiverDogs Host “Bark for Your Brew”
The Joe turns into a tasting ground for Craft Beers while Benefitting Canines for Service


CHARLESTON, SC – Enjoy a unique opportunity to sample some of the finest craft beers at “Bark for Your Brew,” a dog-friendly, craft beer tasting.

Bark for Your Brew presented by Bay Street Biergarten is set for Sunday, May 22, at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park at 2 pm prior to the RiverDogs’ Dog Day Game scheduled against the Columbia Fireflies (first pitch is 5:05 pm).

Bring your wing dog and sample fine beers from around the globe. An assortment of ales will be available to quench the taste buds of every craft beer enthusiast.

The event will also feature dog-themed contests and activities that include a howling contest, a mutt mingle, a tail-wagging contest for the pet and their owner, an ice cream licking contest and a pregame pooch parade. Chocolate Labrador Martinis and Poodle Coladas will be available for purchase.

Bark for Your Brew benefits Canines for Service which is a national program that provides veterans with disabilities a quality-trained service dog. The program works with military prisoners at the Naval Consolidated Brig Charleston and teaches them how to train rescue dogs as service dogs for the wounded and injured veteran.

Bark for Your Brew is a 21-and-over event. Tickets are $25 each and admission includes entry to the tasting, sampling tickets and a ticket for the RiverDogs baseball game for you and your pet. The first 250 dogs through the gates will receive a special treat. Tickets are limited and may be purchased at Bay Street Biergarten, the Riley Park Box Office or online at www.RileyParkEvents.com.

For more information, please call the RiverDogs at (843)577-DOGS (3647).

Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Kansas City Royals 5/12


The New York Yankees have faced off head-to-head with the Kansas City Royals three times already this week so what’s another. It seems like for whatever reason despite the Royals dominance in the standings and utter dominance in the postseason the past two or three seasons it always seems like the Yankees have their number during the regular season. That may be an entirely different story if these two teams were to meet in the postseason but her, one step at a time. That next step and the final step this series is tonight in the finale with yet another great pitching matchup to entertain us. Taking the mound for the Yankees will be Nathan Eovaldi while a former Yankee opposes him for the Royals in Ian Kennedy.

Eovaldi went into his last start with a huge burden on his shoulders. The Yankees bullpen was taxed and Joe Girardi needed all the innings he could get and Eovaldi gave him just that hurling eight innings of two-run ball in a victory over the Boston Red Sox.

Kennedy, the former Yankees player, gets the start tonight after shutting down a tough Cleveland Indians offense in his last start. In the start Kennedy pitched seven innings while allowing just four hits with six strikeouts in a victory for Kansas City.
 
The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside of Yankee Stadium and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network and MLB TV. I don’t have to tell you how huge a win would be tonight for the Yankees to finish this series before the Chicago White Sox come to town. Hopefully I don’t have to tell the Yankees that either. Go Yankees!

What Does Strasburg’s Extension Mean for Pineda/Eovaldi


The Washington Nationals disappointed a lot of people not named Strasburg this week when the team announced a seven-year extension for the young right-hander. It was long thought that Strasburg, a former first overall pick by Washington in the MLB Draft, would hit free agency following this season but the Nationals instead locked up their ace righty begging the question how will this affect the Yankees? What will the Yankees do now with their starting pitching both on the free agent market and with their own free agents to be Nathan Eovaldi and Michael Pineda.

This coming offseason’s free agent market took a big blow with the loss of Strasburg with the front runners being Bartolo Colon, R.A. Dickey and Rich Hill. If New York needs another starter next offseason they may have to go the same route they went this season and they may have dig deeper into the trade market. That’s if the team has their eye on the 2017 roster and team and that’s only if they don’t have their eyes on the prize in 2018 and 2019. If it’s the latter and not the former you have to wonder if the team would consider trading either or both of Eovaldi and Pineda this July or offseason.

Both Eovaldi and Pineda are young fireballers that are under contract for the 2017 season and may be the team’s best trade pieces going forward. The Yankees have shown a reluctance to go dig deep into their farm system to make the big trades when they feel it’s necessary and the free agent class is barren leaving the Yankees with little in the way of options. Either they hope to contend or they need to trade and get what they can now rather than later.

If the Yankees plan on contending they could always extend either Eovaldi and/or Pineda but that may have just gotten pretty damn expensive. Eovaldi is 26-years old while Pineda is 27-years old while Strasburg is still somehow just about to turn 28-years old this season and all three pitchers are all upside. If Strasburg is getting $175 million over seven seasons for mediocrity what would Eovaldi and Pineda get? At least $150 million you would have to think which begs the question if they are worth it? Honestly I’m not so sure.


If the Yankees are out of it in July then trade them, if they aren’t then the hard question comes. To extend or not to extend. I don’t have the answer. 

Weekly Check In: Aaron Judge


Another Yankees bites the dust to injury and another Yankees prospect is still sitting in Triple-A chomping at the bit trying to claw his way to the Major Leagues. I’ll never understand why the Yankees do what they do in the prospects department and I’ll never understand why they rely on veterans no matter the circumstance but in the same breath I am under no illusions that I know more as a fan than the people in the organization.

So we’ll save the Yankees front office second guessing for another day, and trust me another day will come, and instead we’ll focus on what the Yankees are doing right. Aaron Judge is doing better in Triple-A than he did in 2015 and at one point he went on a home run streak that undoubtedly opened up eyes in the Bronx.


Judge is an authoritative figure with an absolute ton of power and word is that he has adjusted his batting stance a bit to better reach the inside part of the plate. It has also, whether by design or not, made him better and recognizing the breaking stuff off that plate that has terrorized him for much of his career making him a much better hitter. The improvements are there and it won’t be long before the Judge will be in the Bronx reigning terror on opposing pitching staffs. 

YearAgeLevGPARH2BHRRBISBBBSOBAOBPSLGOPS
201624AAA301361732772011134.260.316.488.804

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.