Friday, July 8, 2016

Cleveland Clubs Five Longballs, Trounce Yanks, 10-2

In front of a sellout crowd at Jacobs Field, the New York Yankees were pounded by the Cleaveland Indians in game two of the four-game set. Taking the ball for New York tonight was rookie Chad Green, who was looking to build off of a phenomenal outing in San Diego, his best start and his very young three game MLB career. On the mound for Cleveland tonight was the 2014 Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber. Kluber has been up-and-down this season, going 8-8 with a 3.49 ERA. But the Cleveland ace wouldn't need to return to his Cy Young form in this game as his offense exploded for 10 runs in their game two route of the Yankees. 

Trouble for the rookie Chad Green started very early, and by very early I mean the first two batters of the game. Carlos Santana and Jason Kipnis hit back to back line drive homeruns to right field to leadoff the frame that gave the Indians a very early two run lead. Then, after walking Francisco Lindor, Lonnie Chisenhall belted a two run homerun over the right-field fence, extending the early Indian lead to four. And remember, all of this came in the first inning.  

More trouble for the rookie came in the bottom of the third as Green again walked Francisco Lindor. The next batter Mike Napoli smoked a mammoth two-run shot to left that made it a 6-0 Indians lead. In the bottom of the fifth, Jason Kipnis hit a one out single that chased Green from the ballgame.  Rookie left-hander Richard Bleier came on in relief and immediately served up a Francisco Lindor towering shot to centerfield that missed leaving the ballpark by inches, scoring Kipnis and extending the Indians lead to seven. Green's final line was really ugly, departing after only 4.1 innings of work, allowing seven runs on five hits, four of them homers, with two walks and six strikeouts. 

Bleier continued to struggle, getting out of the fifth but not before giving up an RBI single to Mike Napoli that scored Lindor and made it a two-slam lead for Cleveland. In the bottom of the sixth, Bleier led off the frame by serving up a double to Juan Uribe. With one out, Yan Gomes drove in Uribe on a ground out to first, enlarging the deficit to nine. Brian McCann responded when he put the first Yankee run on the board in the top of the seventh inning with a solo shot to right, 9-1. 

The Indians homerun charade continued in the bottom of the seventh as Jason Kipnis hit his second homerun of the game, another long solo shot off of Anthony Swarzak that put the lead back to nine for Cleveland. 

Corey Kluber was utterly dominant tonight, although you don't have to have your great stuff when your team puts up a 10 spot on the opposition. The former Cy Young Award winner pitched eight innings of one run ball, allowing five hits with no walks and eight strikeouts. Joseph Colon came on in the ninth, serving up back to back doubles to Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann with the latter scoring Beltran, which led to a final score of 10-2. 

Tomorrow's contest won't be much easier as the Yankees face Cleveland's best starting pitcher of the season, Danny Salazar. The game can be seen on FS1 with first pitch scheduled for 4:10 PM/ET

Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Cleveland Indians 7/8


Ladies and gentleman it is game time now between the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians. New York and Cleveland have two more games after tonight before the long awaited All-Star break and All-Star Game around the league. You know the players need and want that break so hopefully they aren’t looking too far ahead here because this game could be a frustrating one if they are. New York will send Chad Green to the mound to make his third start of his MLB career and of the season while Cleveland counters with Corey Kluber. The game will be played at 7:10 pm ET inside Progressive Field and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

Two more games after tonight and then we break. Follow along with us all weekend long on Twitter and all season long as well by giving @GreedyStripes a follow. Also be sure to check out the Yankees Tickets and TGP T-shirts links at the top of the blog to secure your seats and look the part for the second half of the season.


Kluber against Green, this has the possibility to hurt. Go Yankees!

So Your Fantasy Teams Needs a Little Power?


So you have a plan. Spend the All-Star break wheeling and dealing and scouring the free agent market looking for talent for your fantasy baseball team. The team hasn’t lived up to the preseason hype. Injuries have happened and so have down seasons and you, like a lot of your league mates, need power. I may not have the sleeper that you can get as an unknown that will turn your season around and bring you a championship but I just may have a couple guys you can maybe buy low on and watch as they turn around their season in the second half. What do you have to lose? You wouldn’t be reading this if you were in a good position now would you?

Jose Abreu of the Chicago White Sox is a better hitter and a better home run hitter than he has shown thus far in 2016. In Abreu’s first two seasons in the big leagues the slugger had at least 30 home runs and 100 RBI or more but to date Abreu has just 11 home runs in 2016. Abreu still has a ton of protection in that White Sox lineup and his contact, line drive and power indexes are still above average so sabermetrics suggest he is due to break out in a big way very, very soon.

Brian McCann is one that I watch on a daily basis. For that reason I don’t feel the need to throw fancy sabermetric stats at you but instead I will use the eye test. I know the back of his baseball card says he is a 25 home run type guy every season, especially inside Yankee Stadium, but he has been anything but that this season. I’m thinking he will wake up a bit in the second half and climb much closer to 20 than he is now and anyone can use that sort of power at the catcher position.

Finally you have Justin Upton. Yes I know he plays in a big yard in Comerica Park and yes I know his home run numbers have been down but hear me out. He is hitting fly balls over 40% of the time and he’s hitting them hard, some of them have to start falling in and falling over the fence soon. It’s simple mathematics and science. Upton is used to playing in pitching friendly ballparks in Atlanta, San Diego and Arizona and that never slowed him down. Comerica won’t either.


Trade from a strength, fill a hole and win your league. You’re welcome in advance. 

My Thoughts on the Jorge Mateo Suspension


As we learned yesterday and again this morning with our weekly prospects check in the New York Yankees have decided to suspend their top prospect Jorge Mateo for two weeks due to a violation of the team policy. Mateo had the honor of representing his team in the XM Futures Game stripped from him as well due to the suspension and word is flying all over the Yankees blogosphere as to why. I’m less about the why, because do you think the Yankees are really going to give us a detailed transcript of what really happened? I don’t, and more about the repercussion and such that will come from this. Here are my thoughts on the matter for better or worse.

George King reported this season that Mateo had voiced frustrations over not getting promoted to Double-A and my immediate thoughts went to Rob Refsnyder. I have said it many, many times on this blog so one more time won’t hurt. You can go backwards in your development, especially if you’re not being challenged where you are. You outgrow an affiliate and Mateo has done that in Tampa yet he remains there because the Yankees are slow to pull the trigger. It’s not just Mateo, it is Refsnyder and a slew of other prospects. Aaron Judge. Kyle Roller. Even Chad Jennings shared a story over on Lohud of a prospect earning a promotion, not getting it and admittedly falling off the face of the Earth with discouragement.

This is not a new thing with the Yankees, this is a trend. A disturbing trend but it does not excuse Mateo for whatever he did, said or whatever went down to warrant the suspension. Sometimes you can be your own worst enemy and sometimes your maturity isn’t on the actual level that you think it is. That’s not a knock on Mateo or anyone going through it but it just goes to show you that not everyone is Derek Jeter and everyone is human. All parties involved have to strive to do better, especially the Yankees organization. This disappoints me to no end to be honest because I know what a discouraged heart can do to you and how it can affect your everyday life. I’m discouraged at work and I’m growing to hate my job and most everything else in life. It’s poison.


Fix your crap Yankees and everything else falls in line. Attitude reflects leadership. 

Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Cleveland Indians 7/8


Yankees fans, in all seriousness despite the little bit of fun I had earlier today I fully intend on watching all three games this weekend. It’s my team and I can’t not watch, you know? So tonight the New York Yankees face off with the Cleveland Indians in the second of their four game set this weekend inside Progressive Field with a tough matchup for New York. The Yankees will send rookie Chad Green to the mound tonight to make his third start of his young MLB career and opposing him will be the Indians ace and former Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber.

Green will be making his third MLB start tonight and his first against an American League opponent when he faces off with the Cleveland Indians. In his last start Green held the San Diego Padres to just one run and three hits in six innings in a victory. Green did not walk a batter and struck out eight forcing the Yankees to move Nathan Eovaldi to the bullpen.

Kluber struggled in his last start against the Toronto Blue Jays allowing five runs and seven hits in just 3.1 innings pitched, the first stinker in a while for the Indians ace. In his previous five starts before his last Kluber had allowed just two runs or fewer in four of his last five starts. Maybe the Yankees watched that tape and figured something out.

The game will be played at 7:10 pm ET inside Cleveland’s Progressive Field and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV. No seriously, watch the games. I don’t want to be all by myself on Twitter (shameless plug of our Twitter account @GreedyStripes) tonight during the game. Tune in and Go Yankees!


Better Things to Do Than Watch the Yankees Lose This Weekend


You don’t really want to sit around your television for a collective 9-10 hours this weekend just to watch the Yankees lose to the Cleveland Indians, do you? I don’t either and I don’t blame you so here’s a few things you can do this weekend rather than watching the Yankees lose. You’re welcome

  • UFC 200 is Saturday night and despite Jon Jones being taken off the card the show should still be worth the three or so hours and the $60. I’m still buying it, I know that much. Brock. Lesnar. Meisha. Tate. Woo!


  • Talk to people. Not digitally. Really talk. 


  • Go to Wal Mart after 9:00 pm. 


  • Go outside.


  • Read a book.


  • Read a book outside. May I suggest Mike DeLucia’s “Boycott The Yankees”


  • Order a TGP T-shirt including the Jacoby Ellsbury milk carton shirt for stealing home not once this season but twice.




That’s it folks, there you have it. That should keep you plenty busy not only this weekend but through the All Star break as well. Again, you’re welcome.

This post was done all in fun. Treat it that way. Thanks.


Weekly Prospects Check In: Jorge Mateo


Over the weekend as a part of the All-Star Game festivities in San Diego the Yankees were originally slated to send two of their top prospects to the XM Futures Game. The Futures Game, which features Team World vs. Team USA, is a huge honor given to each team’s top prospects and the game is meant to be a showcase of the future talent that is making their way into the game in the coming years. The representative for the New York Yankees is Gary Sanchez and no longer today’s check in, Jorge Mateo.


This is an honor for any prospect and I’m sure it’s an honor that Mr. Mateo did not taking lightly. Unfortunately though he has been suspended for two weeks for a violation of the team’s policy and he will no longer be allowed to go to the game. This has to be an even bigger disappointment for him than it is for us, the fans. More on this later.  

YearAgeTmGPARH2B3BHRRBISBBBSOBAOBPSLGOPS
201621Tampa76340468298534262573.266.323.396.720

This Day in New York Yankees History 7/8: Yankees Sweep Mets


On this day in 2000 the Yankees swept the New York Mets in the first double ballpark doubleheader since 1903 with a pair of 4-2 victories. The first game was won by the Yankees 4-2 in Shea Stadium and the night cap was won in Yankee Stadium by that same 4-2 score. You can also remember this day as the day Mike Piazza was hospitalized after being hit by a pitch by the Yankees Roger Clemens. Dwight "Doc" Gooden also got his first win at Shea since 1994 in the first contest.


Also on this day in 1947 the Yankees rookie right hander Spec Shea becomes the first rookie to win an All Star Game. The 26 year old throws three innings in the American League's 2-1 victory in Chicago's Wrigley Field. Shea would deal with sore and dead arm issues after the game that would severely hamper his season and career with the Yankees.



Too many times in today's game we have seen Major League Baseball change their rules to negatively affect or even hurt the New York Yankees. You can look at things like the luxury tax, international spending caps, draft slot recommendations and penalties, the fact that the Kansas City Athletics couldn't trade any players to the Yankees for 18 months after trading one player to New York, and the limitation on innings pitched in an All Star Game as many cases. The latter came as a result of the Yankees Lefty Gomez throwing six outstanding innings in the 1935 All Star Game leading the American League to their third consecutive victory over the NL by the score of 4-1. After the game the rule that no pitcher can throw more than three innings unless the game goes to extra innings will be implemented.