Saturday, September 10, 2016

Yanks Celebrate LLWS Champs With Win Over Tampa, 5-1

Today, the Yankees honored the Little League World Series Championship team from New York in a special pregame ceremony before taking on the Tampa Bay Rays. Each member of the team trotted out to their respective positions, standing alongside the Yankee starters as the national anthem was being played and a video montage of their championship run scrolled across the Jumbotron in centerfield. After the anthem, the champs ran off the field and into the dugout where the rest of the Yankees were waiting for them with high-fives and congratulations, capping off an afternoon that they most definitely will never forget.

This is what makes baseball so great; a chance to see starry-eyed youngsters being celebrated for their baseball accomplishments by the diamond heroes they so long to emulate. Like Brad Pitt said as Billy Beane in the movie Moneyball, "How can you not be romantic about baseball."

The Pinstripers used that little league inspiration this afternoon as they defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in game three of the four game set. Masahiro Tanaka was absolutely brilliant in his outing, improving to 13-4 with his dominant performance today. Getting the ball and a loss for Tampa Bay was there ace Chris Archer, falling to 8-18 in another outing for the righty that started off really well but failed to get the job done in the end.

Both Archer and Tanaka cruised through the first five frames, with Tanaka out-dueling the AL strikeout leader by striking out nine as compared to Archer's five.

Chris Archer was the first to blink in this pitchers duel this afternoon, as the Yankees were finally able to put some runs on the board against the tough righty. Brett Gardner started off the inning with a line drive single to center and scored when the next batter Jacoby Ellsbury launched a two-run homerun into the seats in right field, giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead. The very next batter Gary Sanchez followed suit by blasting a deep homerun to centerfield to widen the gap to three.

Tanaka didn't end up giving up his first run until the top of the eighth where Bobby Wilson smacked a  one-out solo shot to left that inched the Rays closer at 3-1. Tanaka followed the longball with an unintentional drilling of Logan Forsythe. The HBP prompted manager Joe Girardi to pull his ace in favor of right-hander Adam Warren. Tanaka's performance today was one of the best in his major league career, tossing 7.1 innings of one run ball, allowing just five hits with no walks and 10 strikeouts. Warren escaped the inning with no further damage as he got Evan Longoria to ground into an inning ending double-play.

The Yankees went on to add two more important runs in the bottom of the eighth as they close the door on any ideas of a Tampa come back. Brett Gardner again started off the frame with a line drive single to left, advancing to third on a ground rule double by Jacoby Ellsbury. In a play that I have never seen happen, the next batter Gary Sanchez was supposed to be intentionally walked but took the first pitch he saw that bled back over the plate and blasted it to centerfield for a very long sacrifice fly that scored Gardner and made it a 4-1 score. Didi Gregorius followed up with a sacrifice fly of his own, a high fly ball to centerfield that scored Ellsbury from third to extend their lead to four.

The insurance runs were especially important because Delin Betances was unavailable for this afternoon's game. A combination of Richard Bleier and Tyler Clippard went on to retire the Rays, sealing the series victory and pulling the Yankees to within a half game of the second Wild Card spot and 3.5 games of first place in the AL East.

The Bombers look to make it back to back series sweeps tomorrow in game four, with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 PM/EST.

Yankees, RiverDogs Agree to Extend Relationship Through 2020


Yankees, RiverDogs Agree to Extend
Relationship Through 2020
Player Development Contract Extended for Additional Four Years




CHARLESTON, SC – In their 12 seasons as a Yankees affiliate, the Charleston RiverDogs have sent 52 players from The Joe to “The Show” with Yankees stars including the likes of Phil Hughes, David Robertson and Dellin Betances along with rising stars Greg Bird, Gary Sanchez, Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge all once having called Charleston home.

Off the field, the RiverDogs’ have enjoyed some of their most successful seasons eclipsing attendance records almost annually with the Yankees affiliation. In a continuation of the relationship, the RiverDogs and the Yankees have announced an extension of their partnership for four years, through the 2020 season.

“We’re thrilled to continue our relationship with the Yankees, the most successful and recognizable organization in professional sports,” said Marv Goldklang, principal owner of the RiverDogs. “This has been a mutually beneficial partnership since the outset, providing a first- class facility and playing surface to help the Yankees develop premium on-field talent while we entertain fans with our award-winning off-field experience.”

“We are excited to renew with the Charleston RiverDogs,” said Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman. “The franchise is a jewel of MiLB under Marv’s leadership and that of President and General Manger Dave Echols, and we couldn’t be happier to partner for another four years.”

With the crop of Yankees talent flowing through Charleston during the past 12 years, it is notable that 18 players on the Yankees’ current Major League roster appeared in a RiverDogs uniform. Off the field, the RiverDogs have broken their attendance record four times in the past 12 seasons, including a record setting 293,161 fans who passed through the turnstiles in 2016.

Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays 9/10


Here we go again ladies and gentleman as the New York Yankees remain home for another game this weekend against the Tampa Bay Rays. In this third game of the four-game set this week and into the weekend the Yankees will send their ace and stopper Masahiro Tanaka to the mound looking to solidify that AL Cy Young Award case I discussed here on the blog yesterday morning while the Rays counter with an ace of their own in Chris Archer. The game will be played at 4:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network and MLB TV.

Tomorrow afternoon is the finale of this four-game set so if you want to see how this series all plays out click the Yankees Tickets link at the top of the blog. If you want to see how this season all plays out as well live and in person also click the link that takes you to our partners and friends over at Ticket Monster who can get you those premium seats that Lonn Trost doesn’t want you to have and they won’t even charge you any shipping costs or annoying fees either. If you can’t make it out live to the ballpark then at least root for the home team from afar with us by either liking our page on Facebook or by giving our Twitter account @GreedyStripes a follow.


The biggest game of the Yankees season comes tonight, well until tomorrow night anyway. Happy Tanaka Day ladies and gentleman. Need a win. Get a win. Go Yankees!

Staten Island Yankees Release Finalists for New Name Contest


STATEN ISLAND YANKEES RELEASE NEW TEAM NAME FINALISTS
Organization asks for fans to vote on final team name



STATEN ISLAND- After receiving more than 2,000 fan submissions during our “Name the Team” Contest, the Staten Island Yankees have narrowed it down to five finalists, one of which will be the new team name for the Staten Island franchise beginning in 2017. Fans can help select the new team name over the next two weeks by visiting www.siyanks.com/rebrand. The finalists below are presented in alphabetical order:



Bridge Trolls

Bridge Trolls commemorates the iconic bridges that connect Staten Island, while embracing the kind of wacky names Minor League Baseball is known for.


Heroes

The Heroes honors the civil servants and military personnel of Staten Island and New York who work tirelessly to uphold our American values.


Killer Bees

Killer Bees pays tribute to Staten Island's musical and cultural impact. Fans will be “buzzing" over our bee-themed promotions!


Pizza Rats

Like Staten Islanders and New Yorkers, these natives are tenacious, enterprising and know where to find the best food in the city.



Rock Pigeons

Another animal synonymous with the city, the Rock Pigeons celebrates Staten Island - known by locals as “The Rock."

Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays 9/10


The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays are back at it again today in the Bronx as these two teams face off for the third time in this four game set. What a series this has been already and it’s only going to get better, if that’s even possible, today with this intense pitching matchup. What can both Masahiro Tanaka for the Yankees and Chris Archer for the Rays to do top the heroics of Tyler Austin on Thursday night? Let’s find out.

Tanaka is making my argument for me that he should at least be in the discussion for the American League’s Cy Young Award race. As the season goes on Tanaka only looks like he is getting stronger which is evident by his 5-0 record and 2.08 ERA in his last six starts dating back to August 7th. One of those starts includes a victory against these Rays despite giving up four runs in seven innings of work. In the start Tanaka struck out eight and walked none.

Archer is not having a great season by all accounts but he is still a talented player with a knack for beating the New York Yankees, 17 losses this season or not. Archer heads into the start tonight fresh off a no-decision in his last start against JA Happ and the Toronto Blue Jays, a start he left with the lead before the bullpen blew the lead.


The game will be played at 4:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network and MLB TV. The Yankees have been playing playoff-type baseball for the better part of a month now and these kids the team has brought up haven’t seemed fazed at all. This is uber-impressive and it only gets more impressive with every win as they step one step closer to the postseason. Need a win. Get a win. I keep saying it but only because it keeps working. Superstitions and all. Go Yankees!

The Yankees Remaining Schedule & Playoff Chances After the Tampa Bay Series


The New York Yankees have made a whole lot of people eat crow and choke on their words, maybe no one more so than myself truth be told, in the second half of this season after a fire sale of sorts at the August 1st trading deadline. The Yankees traded off their best hitter in Carlos Beltran, arguably their two best relievers in Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman and other veteran pieces like Ivan Nova yet the team only got better, not worse, after the sale. At one point this season right around the All-Star break I typed up a post looking at the Yankees schedule in the second half and I came to the conclusion that the Yankees were doomed for failure in the coming months. New York had series with the Baltimore Orioles, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox looming and while I had them dead in the water they have come out swinging stronger than ever.

Now with the playoffs a real possibility, despite my previous predictions, the Yankees are sprinting towards the finish line and playing their best baseball of the season at the best possible time. That got me thinking, after this series with the Rays which on paper they should do well in what does the rest of the schedule look like?

9/12 – 9/4 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (3)
9/15 – 9/18 @ Boston Red Sox (4)
9/20 – 9/22 @ Tampa Bay Rays (3)
9/23 – 9/26 @ Toronto Blue Jays (4)
9/27 – 9/29 vs. Boston Red Sox (3)
9/30 – 10/2 vs. Baltimore Orioles (3)

*Insert “So you’re saying there’s a chance” meme here*


I won’t be the ones to count them out. Not anymore. 

Weekly Prospects Check In: Jordan Foley


Jordan Foley is a name that many casual Yankees or casual prospect following fans probably don’t know or don’t know much about so that is why we are showcasing him here this morning. That is one of the ultimate goals with these posts you see, not only to check in with them and see who is hot and who is not but to also make these potential Yankees players a household name. Foley is currently down in High-A with the Tampa Yankees and he pitched in Game One and Game Three of the playoffs for them out of the bullpen in relief.

In the series that led to the Tampa Yankees winning the North Division crown Foley threw four innings allowing just one run while notching a save in the deciding game. Here is the rest of his stat line for the season that isn’t over yet as the Tampa Yankees now look to clinch the Florida State League championship:

Year Age Lev W L ERA G GF SV IP H R ER HR BB SO WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9
2016 22 A+-AA 4 0 3.03 36 11 2 65.1 51 24 22 4 33 88 1.286 7.0 0.6 4.5 12.1
2016 22 A+ 4 0 3.06 35 11 2 64.2 51 24 22 4 32 88 1.284 7.1 0.6 4.5 12.2
2016 22 AA 0 0 0.00 1 0 0 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.500 0.0 0.0 13.5 0.0

This Day In New York Yankees History 9/10: Griffith Stadium & Home Runs



There has not been much in the way of good history on this day in New York Yankees history unfortunately so this was a tough post to type out. I considered talking about the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim clinching the AL West earlier than any other team in the history of the division with a 4-2 victory over the Yankees in 2008 but decided against it later. I also considered talking about Pedro Martinez of the Boston Red Sox pitching a one hit complete game victory against the Yankees in Yankee Stadium while striking out 18 batters. In the contest on this day in 1999 Pedro extended his own record to 40 consecutive innings with at least one strikeout per inning. Finally I remembered this day in 1919 the Cleveland Indians Ray Caldwell no hit the Yankees after being released by the Boston Red Sox a mere two months previously.

Instead I decided to keep my Wednesday morning positive and I instead focused on this day in 1950 when Joe DiMaggio became the first major league hitter to hit three home runs in Washington's Griffith Stadium. The Yankees would beat the Senators 8-1 while DiMaggio hit a trio of home runs for the third time in his career. Whether it be a coincidence or whether the dimensions at Yankee Stadium played into it but DiMaggio had three separate road games with three home runs and never had such a game at Yankee Stadium.

Yanks Outlast Rays, Mother Nature, Win 7-5

On a very wet night in the Bronx, the Yankees beat the Rays to improve to 10 games over .500  for the first time this season. Although Michael Pineda got the start for New York tonight, the big righty did not go deep enough into the game to recieve a decision. Getting the ball and the loss for Tampa Bay was the rookie Blake Snell, who fell to 5-8 with his subpar performance tonight against one of the hottest teams in baseball.

The Yankees were quick to jump on young Snell as they hit the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning. Jacoby Ellsbury led off the frame with an opposite field single and scored when the next batter Rob Refsnyder drilled a double into the left-center field gap, giving the Bombers an early first inning one run lead.

Snell's struggles continued in the bottom of the third: as the Yankees poured it on, knocking the young lefty out of the ballgame. Gary Sanchez absolutely obliterated a Snell fastball to dead center, sending the ball into Monument Park to put the Yanks up by two. Mark Teixeira followed with a double, advancing to third on a Didi Gregorius ground out. During Chase Headley's at bat, Snell chucked a wild pitch that enabled Teixeira to score from third to make it a 3-0 game. Headley ended up with a single to right, forcing manager Kevin Cash to pull his rookie out of the game.

Pineda was cruising through the first three frames, but it was the top of the fourth that the Rays got to Big Mike. With one out, Pineda served up back-to-back solo shots to Logan Morrison and Steven Souza Jr., pulling the Rays to within one.

In the bottom of the fourth, Rob Refsnyder hit a two-out single before the rains came. After about a 20 minute delay, the Rays put Kevin Jepsen in to attempt to keep the game at a one run deficit. Jepsen proceeded to allow a single to Sanchez and a walk to Starlin Castro to load the bases for Teixeira. And Big Tex delivered in a big way as he smacked the 11th grand slam of his career, a paint-scraper that bounced off the top of the wall and into the seats to extend the Yankee lead to five.

Although he had a five run lead. Pineda continued to nibble at the strike zone, which ultimately led to his departure from the game. With one out, Pineda served up a walk to Logan Forsythe and a hard hit single to Kevin Kiermaier. After a ground out by Evan Longoria, originally called a double play but was overturned, Girardi pulled a disgruntled Pineda for Chasen Shreve.

Shreve got out of the fifth unscored upon, but he did give up a run in the top of the sixth as Tampa tried to claw their way back into the game. Logan Morrison started the sixth with a double, coming around to score when the next batter Souza lofted a single to right that made it a four run game. After a strikeout of Corey Dickerson, Shreve was pulled for Adam Warren, who proceeded to cough up an RBI single to the light-hitting Bobby Wilson that made it 7-4 Yankees. Warren did get Forsythe out on strikes, preventing any further damage.

There would go on to be two more rain delays, with the latter being the most significant. While Betances was on the mound with two on and one out in the top of the ninth, the skies opened up yet again to force the tarps on the field for a third time. After a 50 minute delay this time, the 6'8" closer came back out to give up another run but ended up closing out a very long night with an enormous win that pulled the Pinstripers to within ONE game of the second Wild Card spot.

These two teams will face off in game three tomorrow, probably extremely tired, with first pitch scheduled for 4:05 PM/EST.