Pineda, Yanks Win Second Straight Over Angels, 6-3

      Looking to build off of a game one win, the Yankees took on the Angels in game two of the four-game set. Seemingly pitching to keep his spot in the rotation, Michael Pineda and his 6.41 EERA took the ball for New York. Pineda was strong in his last outing in Detroit, striking out eight in 6+ innings of work. Former Yankee David Huff got called up from Triple-A to pitch in a spot start for the Angels. Another strong outing by Pineda with an early and often Yankee offensive attack made it a quick appearance for the call-up tonight in the Bronx.
     Afte a quick top of the first, the Yankees quickly gave Michael Pineda an early lead. Brett Gardner  singled to lead off the ballgame and scored when Carlos Beltran notched his 15th homerun of the season, a deep blast to left field, 2-0 Yankees. Alex Rodriguez and Starlin Castro would follow with back to back singles. Then, the third baseman for LA, Yunel Escobar, fielded a ground ball off the bat of Chase Headley and casually stepped on third-base, forgetting how many outs there were and failing to turn the double-play. The mental error proved costly when the next batter Austin Romine lined a single to left, scoring Castro and extending the Yankee lead to three.
     The only Yankee starter to not see an at bat in the first was Aaron Hicks, who led off the second inning with a double. Brett Gardner then laid a sacrifice bunt down and reached when Albert Pujols could not field the throw from Huff, puting two on with no outs. Rob Redsnyder put the fourth Yankee run on the board when he hit a sacrifice fly to right field. And then Starlin Castro tied the bow on a rough first three frames for Huff when he gave the Yankees a 5-0 lead by smacking a solo shot to right field in the bottom of the third. Huff was pulled in the bottom of the fourth with two outs and two on, The parting with a messy final line of 3.2 innings pitched, allowing five runs on eight hits while walking and striking out one.
     The early lead allowed Pineda to pitch with confidence, carrying a one hitter into the top of the fifth. However, Rafael Ortega ripped a double into centerfield and scored when Gregorio Petit stayed hot by lining a single into right, 5-1 Yankees. After getting Escobar to line out, Pineda served up a two run shot off the bat of Kole Calhoun, making it a 5-3 ballgame. Pineda would settle down though, pitching scoreless sixth and seventh innings. The Bombers gave him some insurance in the bottom of the seventh when Alex Rodriguez singled in Brett Gardner, pushing the Yankee lead back up to three. Pineda left with a solid final line of seven innings pitched, giving up three runs on four hits while walking two and striking out four.
     Since Chapman has pitched in the previous three games, a combination of Betances and Miller shut the door on the angels with the final score of 6-3. The Cuban Missile will be available tomorrow night, however, as the Yankees try to win the series and their third straight, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 PM ET.
   

Live Game Updates: Angels at Yankees - 6/7

7:14 p.m., Mid 1st: A quick, clean top of the first for Michael Pineda. He retires the Angels in order on just eight pitches, striking out two. Considering his struggles in the opening frame this season, that is a really good sign for the Yankees.

7:27 p.m., End 1st: Good start for the Yankees against David Huff. They score three in the first on five hits, led by a two-run shot to left by Carlos Beltran and an RBI single by Austin Romine. 

7:45 p.m., End 2nd: Yankees add another on a Rob Refsnyder sac fly. They're up 4-0 after two innings of play.

7:54 p.m., Mid 3rd: Pineda works around a one-out double in a scoreless top of the third. He's allowed just one hit so far.

8:00 p.m., End 3rd: A Yankee Stadium home run off the right-field foul pole by Starlin Castro extends the Yankees' already-big lead. They're now up 5-0.

8:26 p.m., End 4th: Yankees leave a couple on in the fourth, but more importantly, Huff's night is done after 3 2/3 innings. Already down 5-0, the Angels will have to get at least 13 outs from their bullpen just to make this one official.

8:38 p.m., Mid 5th: Pineda finally caves in the fifth. The Angels rally for three runs as the Yankees' dream of giving their bullpen a day off begins to fade.

8:51 p.m., Mid 6th: Pineda bounces back nicely for a 1-2-3 sixth. He's only at 81 pitches, so with Aroldis Chapman unavailable tonight, I'd imagine he'll back out for the seventh.

9:06 p.m., Mid 7th: Pineda again retires the Angels in order in the seventh. With his night probably over, here's his final line: 7 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. Not bad.

9:22 p.m., End 7th: Yankees get a run back in the seventh on a two-out RBI single by A-Rod. Now it's up to Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller to record the last six outs.

9:31 p.m., Mid 8th: Betances strikes out two in a 1-2-3 eighth inning. His streak of allowing at least one earned run in four straight appearances is finally snapped.

9:46 p.m., Mid 9th: That's your ballgame. Miller puts up a zero in the ninth and the Yankees beat the Angels, 6-3, for their third win in in four games.

Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 6/7

The New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are set to face off in the second of a four game set this week in the Bronx with another entertaining pitching matchup. In tonight’s contest the Yankees will send Michael Pineda to the mound looking for his second consecutive strong start of the year while the Angels counter with David Huff. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on WPIX Channel 11 and MLB TV.

The Yankees are home all week and HOPE Week is in full swing. To see any of the game this week live or any game live this season click the Yankees Tickets link to snag your tickets for home or away games in 2016. Also be sure to give us a follow on Twitter by following @GreedyStripes. We’re struggling to but we’re still keeping up with each and every Yankees game this season, however painful they are to watch.

Let’s see some Big Mike magic. Go Yankees!

Five Yankees Minor Leaguers Suspended for Drugs

While the Major League season is in full swing and most of the minor league seasons are well underway the short-season and Dominican Summer League’s just opened this week and they opened with a bit of controversy. The game is not clean and it likely won’t ever be clean and the latest evidence of that came in the way of seven minor league suspensions from the DSL including five members of the New York Yankees DSL teams.

All seven players were suspended for 25 games each except for the San Francisco Giants right-hander Alvaro Diaz who was suspended for 56 games following a positive test for stanozolol. The Yankees lost catcher Oliver Cedeno from their DSL Yankees team while the DSL Yankees 2 lost LHP Jean Carlos De Jesus and RHP’s Arikson Ramirez, Leyfer Ramirez and Jhostin Vargas.

Under the minor league program a 25-game suspension is warranted for a first violation of use or possession of a syringe at a team facility, in team-provided housing or while traveling with the club. No word on what was said to be in the syringes or anything like that but one can use his imagination and a little common sense to see what was going on here.

The DSL Athletics also lost RHP Oscar Tovar for 25 games due to drugs. Tovar, Diaz and the five Yankees players now make 55 minor league drug suspensions this year alone under the minor league drug program. If they are doing it down there you think they will just magically stop when they reach the Major Leagues? I don’t.

USA Today Weekly MLB Power Rankings

The New York Yankees up and down roller coaster season continued this week leaving their fans and the rest of the league more confused than they were last time we checked these rankings out. The Yankees play the tough teams tough and they lay down against the mediocre teams, unless it’s Toronto they just lay down against them no matter what, leading to another likely fall in the rankings and a fall in the standings. Let’s check out just how far the mighty are falling again this week.

This is a Yankees blog so I won’t keep you waiting long, the Yankees fell zero spots from the 19th position last week to finish 19th overall. Not good but could have been a lot worse in my opinion. Speaking of falling the biggest fall of the week overall went to the Kansas City Royals who fell three spots from the 10th position to finish 13th overall. Again, not good. One team did pretty well this week though and garnered the honor of the biggest rise this week, the Houston Astros. The Astros rose a whopping seven spots this week from the #25 position to finish the week ranked 18th overall.

There are other teams that continue to do well this season and in the rankings and the Top 5 of that bunch are the #1 Chicago Cubs, the San Francisco Giants, the Texas Rangers, the Washington Nationals and the #5 Boston Red Sox. For every good though we have to go back to the bad and the five worst teams according to the rankings are the #26 Oakland Athletics, the #27 San Diego Padres, the #28 Cincinnati Reds, the #29 Atlanta Braves and the #30 Minnesota Twins.

It’s June and the rising and falling of positions are getting smaller and smaller. We’re not seeing as many teams rising eight or nine spots in a week nor are we seeing teams free falling from the top of the rankings either. It’s called sample size and it’s beginning to become a thing this season. It’s becoming a thing just in time to be shook up a bit anyway by the August 1^st trade deadline but until then you can now start trusting in these rankings. They are starting to paint the picture that is the 2016 regular season. 

Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 6/7

The New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are ready for Round Two of their four game set this week at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees are also ready for the second leg of HOPE Week at the stadium, especially after a great showing for a great cause yesterday afternoon, before kicking off tonight’s contest. In the game the Yankees will send the man needing a great start more than anyone in their starting rotation in Michael Pineda to the mound to square off with the Angels starter David Huff.

Pineda had one of his best starts of the season last time out and easily his best start against a team other than the Oakland Athletics although the Yankees big right-hander still took a no decision. In the makeup game in Detroit the man they call Big Mike surrendered just one run in 5.2 innings pitched while striking out eight batters.

Huff makes the start tonight against one of his former teams in place of injured teammate Nick Tropeano who will miss the start with a shoulder injury. Huff signed a minor league deal with the Angels this season and has posted a 5.40 ERA in Triple-A this season albeit in just 11.2 innings.

The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on WPIX Channel 11 and MLB TV. Every time you hear the wonderful stories that are associated with HOPE Week with the Yankees you always hear of a young person with cancer or a lifelong fan of the Yankees who is just trying to do the right thing as the players or the team to hit a home run or win a game for them. That’s a ton of pressure on these players but these are some of the best 750 players in the world, whether they live up to it night in and night out or not, and they hit that home run and they can win this game. They just need to believe in it like I do and like those showcased at HOPE Week year in and year out do. Remember that.

Go Yankees!

The James Shields Trade & How It May Affect NY

The Chicago White Sox and the San Diego Padres jumped the gun a bit this trading season by pulling off the first major trade over the weekend. In the deal the White Sox acquired RHP James Shields from the San Diego Padres for prospects Erik Johnson and Fernando Tatis Jr. San Diego will also kick in all but $27 million of the $61 million owed to Shields for the remainder of his contract. Shields has not pitched well since joining the San Diego Padres yet AJ Preller was able to move him and salary relief for two fringe prospects, could the Yankees do the same with some of their roster?

Shields was 2-7 at the time of the trade with a 4.28 ERA leaving me wondering if the Yankees couldn’t, if they so choose to of course, move the contracts of CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova and/or Michael Pineda. The Yankees probably could move all three if they acted now but that would make the team “sellers” at the trade deadline for the first time since 1989 and for some reason management doesn’t think the fans can handle that distinction.

Pitching will be at an absolute premium this summer with Rich Hill likely the most attractive piece to be moved at this time. The Yankees could turn water into win this summer if they hold out for key deals for Nathan Eovaldi, Pineda, Sabathia, Nova, Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller kick starting a rebuild with fresh and premium MLB ready and minor league talent. Shields is just the first domino to fall and the White Sox were quick to jump on him early, now the Yankees need to take advantage of a meager market for pitchers and cash in.

Cash in Cash and cash in now. 

Weekly Check In: Domingo Acevedo

Domingo Acevedo is one of the top and best pitching prospects the Yankees have down in their lush farm system and the young right-hander returned off the disabled list this weekend from a lower leg injury. The system is a bit top heavy right now with James Kaprielian and other top prospects on the cusp of helping the team sooner rather than later but it is players like Acevedo who will anchor the farm system for years to come and lead the second wave.

Let’s check in with the man we call “Ace” here on the blog and see how he’s doing this season and how he did in his return from the DL over the weekend.

Year	Age	Lev	W	L	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9
2016	22	A	2	1	2.19	7	7	37.0	30	13	9	1	5	43	0.946	7.3	0.2	1.2	10.5

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

This Day In New York Yankees History 6/7: Damon Goes 6-6

On this day in 2008 Johnny Damon went off at the plate going 6-6 including a walk off single in a 12-11 Yankees comeback victory. Damon lit up his old team in the Kansas City Royals and became the first Yankee and the second player in Major League history to collect six hits at Yankee Stadium.



Also on this day in 2007 the New York Yankees would beat the Chicago White Sox 10-3 for Joe Torre's 2,000th victory as a manager. Torre won 257 games with the Braves, 286 games with the Mets, 351 games with the Cardinals, and 1,106 with the Yankees. Torre would also become the first manager to reach 2,000 wins and have 2,000 hits as a player.



Finally on this day in 1936 the New York Yankees and the Indians had a pretty uncommon anomaly happen in their 16 inning game. The Yankees would beat the Indians on this day 5-4 in extra innings at Yankee Stadium. What made this game special was that no pitcher in the game recorded a single strikeout in the game.

You can't predict baseball...