Sunday, September 4, 2016

The Weekend Isn't Over!!!! Open Thread

It's Sunday but hey, the weekend isn't over yet!!! Tomorrow is Labor Day and for all you hard working individuals out there it's a day for you. I can only speak for myself but I work my ass off, truth be told I probably work too hard for what I get paid, and this day is a God send to me. I need it. The laziness starts now as I leave you with an open thread for the evening like I do every Sunday night. Enjoy and talk about whatever. Just please keep it respectful. Please!

Also I embed a video of Tim Tebow's workout for 28 MLB teams including the New York Yankees. Will the Bronx Bombers sign him? Who knows, stay tuned and watch the video. Let me know what you think. I wasn't overly impressed. I can probably hit a batting practice fastball out of the park and Tebow's arm was just "meh" to me. The guys is a role model and inspiration and an absolute athlete though so I'm not counting him out, just saying I wasn't impressed with this particular video.

Enjoy and we'll be back tomorrow.

Yanks Avoid Sweep, Outlast O's 5-2

In what manager Joe Girardi referred to in the pregame as "the most important game of the year", the Yankees delivered with a game three victory over the Baltimore Orioles in the final game of the weekend series. Michael Pineda started for New York and got himself in and out of trouble all day long. although not pitching deep enough to qualify for a decision. Acquired from the Seattle Mariners in a deal at the deadline, Wade Miley and his subpar 2016 continued as the lefty got knocked around early and often, falling to 8-12 with his loss on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Camden Yards.

The Yankees jumped on Miley early as they finally put some runs on the scoreboard in this series. Miley started the game by walking the first two hitters he faced, Brett Gardner and Rob Refsnyder. After getting back to back strikeouts of Gary Sanchez and Starlin Castro, Chase Headley muscled a fly ball into left field for a single that scored Gardner to put the Yankees up by one. Miley then hurled a wild pitch into the dirt that got passed the catcher during Austin Romine's at bat, advancing both Refsnyder and Headley up to second and third. The Miley miscue proved costly as Romine lined a single through the left side of the infield that scored both runners to give the Bombers a first inning three run lead.

The Yanks scored another run against Miley in the top of the third as the left-hander's starting woes continued this afternoon. Refsnyder reached base for the second time with a sharp single to left, advancing to second on a Gary Sanchez walk. After Starlin Castro grounded into a double play that advanced Refsnyder to third, Chase Headley hit a slow ground ball to third base and beat out the throw for an infield single, scoring Refsnyder to widen the Yankee lead to four.

After holding the O's scoreless through the first three frames, Pineda found himself in some trouble in the bottom of the fourth. Mark Trumbo began the fourth with a leadoff walk, advancing to third on a solid single by Chris Davis. Steve Pearce then grounded into a fielder's choice, scoring Trumbo from third to make it a 4-1 ballgame. But Big Mike wiggled out of danger as he got J.J. Hardy to ground out to short to end the threat.

Pineda's struggles continued in the bottom of the fifth as he was taken out of the ballgame. Adam Jones led off the inning with a single, scoring from first when the next batter Pedro Alvarez lined a double to left to pull the Birds back to within two. Girardi then pulled Pineda for Luis Severino, who promptly struck out the Yankee-killer Manny Machado and walked the MLB homerun leader Mark Trumbo. After a one-out walk to Chris Davis that loaded the bases, Severino struck out Pearce and got Matt Wieters to ground out to second to end the frame, preserving the Yankees lead as they headed into the sixth.

A combination of Severino, Layne, Warren, Clippard and Betances tossed three shutout innings of one-hit ball, with the one hit being an eighth inning single by Chris Davis literally off Tyler Clippard, a line drive that glanced off of the righty that allowed Davis to reach.

After the Yanks added an insurance run on a Gardner sac fly in the top of the ninth, Betances absolutely dominated by retiring the Orioles in order in the bottom of the ninth, striking out two in route to their win in the final game of the series by a score of 5-2.

The Yanks get to with in 3.5 games of the second Wild Card spot as they head home, preparing to welcome in the AL East leading Toronto Blue Jays for a crucial three-game set. Tomorrow's Labor Day afternoon affair is set to begin at 1:05 PM/EST.


Playoff Teams Beat Teams They Are Supposed to Beat


The series with the Baltimore Orioles is all but over but while beating up or losing to a team like Baltimore is huge either way it hurts or affects you even more if you don't beat the teams you are "supposed" to beat. The teams you are supposed to beat are the teams with lower records than you, the teams that have nothing left to play for this season other than to play spoiler for the teams still fighting for a playoff spot. It seems like every year if you really look at the head-to-head schedules of the teams who make the postseason and the teams that don't you can see the teams that didn't had stretches or certain teams that ultimately doomed them. You can't win a division after sweeping a lesser team in April and May but you can lose a division if you're swept by that same team in April or May. Let's see if the Yankees have beaten the teams they are supposed to beat and analyze whether they have a true shot at winning the Wild Card this season.



The teams on this list with a losing record this season are the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Chicago Whitesox, the Colorado Rockies, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Minnesota Twins, the Oakland Athletics, the San Diego Padres and the Tampa Bay Rays. As you can see by the list out of these eight teams the Yankees have losing records against or tied their season series with five of those teams. Only the Angels, Twins and Athletics have fallen on the Yankees sword more times than not this season which is not great if you're a team searching for the postseason.

This is especially compounded when you have lost so frequently to the Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles. Again, like many of these stats I bring you, all this and a buck gets you a Coke because this is a different team in the second half than it was in the first half and even the worst team could beat the best team on any given day in Major League Baseball but in the immortal words of manager Joe Girardi "it's not what you want" either.


Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Baltimore Orioles 9/4


Here we go ladies and gentleman one more time as the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles finish off their three game set this week in Camden Yards. Earlier today we honored Cal Ripken Jr. who tied a Yankees legend Lou Gehrig here in this same stadium against the Yankees and today maybe could be the beginning of something else historic and special. Hey, you never know. Anyway, the Yankees will send Michael Pineda to the mound this afternoon to finish off the series for the Yankees while the Orioles counter with Wade Miley. The game will be played at 1:35 pm ET inside Oriole Park and Camden Yards and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

Follow along during the game and for the rest of the season, however long that may be, by liking our page on Facebook and by liking out page on Twitter @GreedyStripes. Wade Miley and Michael Pineda, let's do it. Go Yankees!

Taking the Time to Honor Cal Ripken Jr.


I know we usually run a "This Day in Yankees History" post every morning and I know this didn't technically happen until tomorrow, September 5th, but since we're set to face the Baltimore Orioles in a couple of hours I figured what the hell. Let's go for it and let's honor the great Cal Ripken Jr. here on the blog this morning.


It was 20 years ago today that Cal Ripken Jr. went out onto the field in Oriole Park at Camden Yards against the New York Yankees like he had for the better part of over 2,000 games. Ripken had played in 2,129 consecutive games in his career before heading out for the bottom of the fifth inning. When Ripken went out to take his position the game became official, his 2,130th consecutive game. This is significant because Cal would tie the Yankees legend and "Iron Horse" Lou Gehrig.

Ripken received a standing ovation for over five minutes from the sellout crowd when he tied the record. Love or hate the Orioles but you just can't hate Cal Ripken Jr. Have a good Sunday afternoon Yankees family and a nice, long weekend.

Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Baltimore Orioles 9/4


One more time this weekend as the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles make the trip to Camden Yards to complete their three-game set. This series has hurt the Yankees in more ways than one unfortunately both in the player personnel department and in the standings as well. At some point the Yankees need to start sweeping series and this would have been the perfect one to start with. Oh well, go for a victory and head into the Labor Day holiday with the good times rolling again. In the finale of the contest today the Yankees will send Michael Pineda to the mound to square off against the Orioles starter Wade Miley.

Pineda is still having a hell of an up and down season and that continued last time out against the Kansas City Royals. Pineda struck out eight batters without allowing a walk but he did give up five runs in six innings of work. What will happen today? Nobody knows, not even Pineda.

Miley has not been great since coming over to the Baltimore Orioles and we all hope that continues this afternoon against the Yankees. Miley did throw seven innings in his last start and has posted a 3.75 ERA in his last two starts but his starts have still been rocky.

The game will be played at 1:35 pm ET inside Oriole Park and Camden Yards and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV. Get a victory boys, that's all we need to do and that's all that needs to be said. Let's get it. Go Yankees!

Weekly Prospects Check In: Bryan Mitchell


The New York Yankees have activated Bryan Mitchell off the disabled list after hurting his toe in spring training and have had the right-hander down in the minor leagues making up for lost time. The Yankees hopes were getting Mitchell enough innings before getting him a shot later in the season or were hoping to have him ready for the 2017 season. Well that plan had a monkey wrench thrown into it when Chad Green left his start Friday night with elbow pain. Now we may see Mitchell a lot earlier than we all thought. We may be seeing him next week.

If we do, and I think that we will although Luis Severino could step into the starters role, this is what he will be bringing with him from the Yankees minor league system.

Year Age Lg W L ERA G GS IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9
2016 25 AAA,AA,A,A+ 0 1 4.29 6 6 21.0 22 13 10 3 5 24 1.286 9.4 1.3 2.1 10.3

This Day in New York Yankees History 9/4: ‘98 Yankees Quickest to 100 Victories


The 1998 New York Yankees squad was deemed by many as the greatest team ever assembled in this great sport of Major League Baseball. On this day in 1998 the Yankees entered the record books when they became the quickest team ever to reach the 100 win plateau. The Yankees 11-6 victory over the Chicago White Sox bested the 1906 Chicago Cubs and 1954 Cleveland Indians by five days. Although the Cubs in 1906 started the season 100-32 which was far better than the Yankees record.

Also on this day in 1993 Jim Abbott, the Yankees starting pitcher that was born with only one hand, throws a no hitter to beat the California Angels by the score of 4-0. Abbott was the first Yankees pitcher to throw a no hitter in the decade even though he was born without a right hand. Indians leadoff hitter Kenny Lofton was loudly booed by the Yankee Stadium crowd for fouling off a bunt attempt in his last at bat.

Also on this day in 1991 Major League Baseball votes to eliminate the distinction between the number of games played in a league's schedule when it comes to the all-time single season home run mark. The vote takes away the asterisk that kept Roger Maris from the top spot and bumped Babe Ruth to the second hole with 60 home runs in a season.



Finally on this day in 1906 the New York Highlanders, formerly the Baltimore Orioles and soon to be the New York Yankees, beat the Boston Americans 1-0 to finally earn a day off. The Highlanders completed a grueling five consecutive double headers in six days trip and swept them all going 10-0 during the streak.