Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox 8/19

Saturday night baseball inside historic Fenway Park between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Someone pinch me and make sure I’m still breathing and not imagining all of this. Okay, so maybe I am exaggerating just a tad but if the Yankees and CC Sabathia were able to take down Chris Sale and the Red Sox tonight I may feel just a little bit closer to heaven, I can’t even lie. I love beating the Red Sox and I especially love beating tough pitchers like Sale so let’s get to it. The game will be played at 7:10 pm ET inside Fenway Park and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network, MLB TV and NESN. You can also follow along in your cars and on the radio by tuning into the WFAN broadcast with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman, Mr. and Ms. Baseball.

Follow us on Twitter by following @GreedyStripes and enjoy the game. Let’s keep chipping away at that division lead and at least make this thing interesting down the stretch. Go Yankees!!!

Pitching Wise, Are the Yankees Worth it?

Hey guys and girls, it’s me again back with the same question. Are the Yankees worth it here in 2017? Earlier in the day we took a look at the offensive players and now we will look at the pitching. The Yankees had a ton of money sitting on the disabled list this week in Masahiro Tanaka and CC Sabathia so now seems like as good of a time as any to see if those two and their fellow brothers in arms have been worth it here in 2017. Again I will be referencing Fangraphs “value” and WAR stats and comparing them with the players actually salary from 2017, not their AAV.

Remember that these stats being used are cumulative so the fact that David Robertson has not exceeded his base salary with his Fangraphs “value” doesn’t mean that he won’t. Also I went ahead and included Jaime Garcia’s three teams and both the teams’ stats for Sonny Gray, Tommy Kahnle and David Robertson since including just the Yankees statistics would be too little of a sample size to look at in my opinion. Take them for what you will with that in mind. 

Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox 8/19

The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox will be back at it again tonight in the second of their three-game weekend set inside historic Fenway Park. In the middle game of the series we, the fans, will be entertained with another matchup of southpaws as tonight the Yankees activate CC Sabathia off the disabled list to face off with Chris Sale for the Red Sox. I’m not sure if Sabathia is happy to be off the disabled list or not when your consolation prize is probably the best pitcher in the American League right now so the Yankees offense will have to show up and do what they can.

Sabathia will be activated off the disabled list tonight before the game after leaving a start on August 8 in Toronto with right knee pain. An MRI revealed no new structural damage to the knee leading Sabathia to get a series of injections in the knee during his rehab process. That knee and its health gets tested tonight in Boston.

Sale has been dominant against the Yankees in three starts against them this season and will look to make it a four-peat tonight inside Fenway Park. Despite pitching to a 1.19 ERA against the Yankees this season Sale does not have a win to show for, a trend that hopefully continues tonight for the Red Sox ace. Sale comes into this start sporting a career 4-2 record and 1.18 ERA against the New York Yankees as a member of the White Sox and Red Sox. Yuck.

The game will be played at 7:10 pm ET inside Fenway Park and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network, NESN and MLB TV. You can also follow along on the radio and in your cars by tuning into the WFAN broadcast with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman. Enjoy the game, inch closer to the top of the division and Go Yankees!!!

Were We Supposed To Hold That Lead?...

Credit:  Corey Sipkin-NY Post

Red Sox 9, Yankees 6...

I am sick of games with lost opportunities.  When the Yankees scored 4 runs in the top of the 7th but subsequently had the bases loaded with only one out, I had such a sickening feeling when both Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez failed to bring home any more runs.  Unfortunately, that feeling was correct as the Red Sox raged back against the Yankees bullpen to take the win.

That's right, Joe Girardi, Aroldis Chapman is your closer.  Keep rolling him out there and watch your playoff aspirations fade.  Maybe something is not wrong physically with Chapman but there's something wrong between the ears.  I know that he didn't give up the lead, Tommy Kahnle did, but the runs the Red Sox scored off him put the dagger in the heart. I personally think Chapman needs time away to get himself right.  The team is better off with David Robertson and Dellin Betances closing out games.

What makes this loss worse is today's game features probable Cy Young winner Chris Sale. It doesn't get any easier, especially with CC Sabathia and his balky knee on the mound.  The Yankees are facing a series loss and falling 6 games behind Boston unless they can somehow find a way to pull out a win today. 

While the Yankees seemed to be leaving runners stranded every inning (total of 14 men left on base), the Red Sox scored first in the second inning in the rain off starter Jordan Montgomery.  Xander Bogaerts hit a two-out double to left and Rafael Devers homered to opposite field, over the Green Monster, to give the Sox the early 2-0 lead.

Christian Vazquez led off the bottom of the 5th with a solo shot, a high fly out of the park in left.

Working against the Red Sox bullpen, the Yankees finally broke the ice in the 6th.  Chase Headley lined a one-out single to right.  Todd Frazier hit his 20th home run of the year, a shot to left center and it was a one-run game.  The Yankees subsequently proceeded to load the bases with two outs, but Aaron Judge grounded out to snuff a potentially huge inning.  

Credit:  Adam Glanzman-Getty Images

Gary Sanchez led off the next inning with his 23rd homer, a fly to left center near the light tower and the game was tied.  The Yankees proceeded to load the bases on two walks and a single (not in that order) to load the bases for Ronald Torreyes.  Torreyes, unlike Judge, didn't fail.  He hit a line-drive single to left off the scoreboard to score both Didi Gregorius and Chase Headley.  The Yankees had taken the lead, 5-3.  After Austin Romine struck out, Brett Gardner walked to load the bases.  Red Sox reliever Robby Scott then hit Aaron Hicks with a pitch to bring Todd Frazier home from third.  6-3 Yankees and the bases were still juiced.  Aaron Judge had the first crack, but he went down swinging.  Last chance fell to Gary Sanchez who had led off the inning with a homer, but this time he lined out to first.  The Yankees had the lead but I didn't feel good.  I felt the score should have been 8 or 9 to 3 at that point.  

Credit:  Adam Glanzman-Getty Images

The Red Sox rallied against the Yankees bullpen.  Chad Green had pitched an effective 6th inning after relieving Jordan Montgomery, but the bottom of the 7th didn't go so well.  Green got the first batter, Rafael Devers, to pop out to Didi Gregorius.  Christian Vazquez then hit a line drive to left that Gregorius just missed.  Jackie Bradley Jr was up next, but Green couldn't throw strikes and the Sox had runners at first and second.  Exit Green, enter Tommy Kahnle.  Exit lead.  Eduardo Nunez reached base on an infield hit to load the bases.  A sacrifice fly to center by Mookie Betts scored Vazquez.  Andrew Benintendi singled to right, scoring JBJ.  Hanley Ramirez walked to re-load the bases.  Mitch Moreland singled to score two more runs and the Red Sox had a lead they would not relinquish, 7-6.

Credit:  Michael Dwyer-Associated Press

After the Yankees were unable to do anything offensively in the top of the 8th, Girardi brought Aroldis Chapman in to pitch the bottom of the inning.  Sorry Chapman, you suck.  20 year-old Rafael Devers, finding his new bitch in Chapman, singled to right.  Christian Vazquez was up next and he reached base when Chapman couldn't find the strike zone.  With JBJ at the plate, the Sox executed a double-steal with Devers and Vazquez taking third and second, respectively.  JBJ hit a single up the middle and the Sox had two more runs on the board.  9-6, Sox.  A throwing error by Hicks on the single allowed JBJ to reach second, but Chapman finally settled down and retired the next 3 batters.  Too little, too late.  

Credit:  New York Daily News (back page)

Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel struck out the side in the 9th to give the Sox the agonizing win.  This was a very disappointing loss (as if you couldn't tell from the tone of my words).  

The Yankees (65-56) fell five games behind the Red Sox with the loss.  The Yankees retained the lead in the Wild Card Standings, 3 1/2 games up, but the second place team, the Los Angeles Angels were caught by the Minnesota Twins for a tie with the second WC spot.  The Angels suffered a devastating loss when Manny Machado hit a walk-off grand slam to give the Baltimore Orioles a 9-7 win over the Angels.  The O's have sole possession of third place in the AL East, 5 1/2 games behind the Yankees, thanks to losses by both the Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays.  The O's are just 2 games out of the 2nd WC. The Twins, probably wishing they had kept Jaime Garcia, beat the Arizona D-Backs, 10-3.  

Odds & Ends...

Congratulations to Derek Jeter and his wife Hannah on the birth of their daughter, Bella Raine Jeter.  Little BRJ was born on Thursday and she anxiously awaits her father's takeover of the Miami Marlins.  I am sure that she's already looking forward to life on South Beach.

The Boston Red Sox have opted to pitch Rick Porcello on Sunday against the Yankees' Sonny Gray.  Porcello, last year's AL Cy Young Winner, is 7-14 with 4.59 ERA.  Porcello is 0-3 against the Yankees this year in 19 innings with 3.79 ERA.  

Mets OF Curtis Granderson, fresh off his grand slam against the Yankees in the final game of this week's Subway Series, has found himself on MLB's best team.  From the outhouse to the penthouse.  The Grandy Man was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for the familiar player to be named later or cash considerations.  Interestingly enough, the Dodgers are currently in the city where Grandy got his start as they are playing a weekend series in Detroit.  Credit the Dodgers for continuing to find ways to improve the team despite 86 wins on August 19th.

Credit:  Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Have a great Saturday!  Seems like a good day to beat the Red Sox!  Let's Go Yankees!

Offensively, Are the Yankees Worth it?

Are the Yankees worth it? In years past that may have been a hard question to answer but in the era of Moneyball and sabermetrics that answer is simply just a click away. Using Fangraphs WAR and “Value” stats I wanted to take a look at the Yankees offensive players salaries, WAR’s and what their values are to get a comparison. Are the Yankees getting the most bang for their buck? See below.

I went ahead and used Todd Frazier’s stats with both the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees since I deemed the sample size of just his Bronx tenure too small to judge. Keep that in mind when looking over the chart above. 

So it Seems… I’m Home

Honey, I’m home! No really, I am home. Finally. It took forever, or what felt like forever, but everything is all about to be worth it. All the missing you. All the lonely nights. All the frustrations. All the insecurities. Everything. It’s here!!

To everyone else, thank you. Thank you for being patient with me and the blog and thank you for your understand when there couldn’t always be content put up. Thank you for reading my sappy crap every single morning and thank you for just being you. You guys and girls make it all worth it.

Good morning, Happy Saturday and enjoy the weekend!!!

This Day In New York Yankees History 8/19: Wade Boggs the Knuckelballer

Only three times in major league history have we witnessed three sacrifice flies in one inning and we were treated with the Yankees doing it twice during the 2000 season.One of the rarities happened on a warm night in the Bronx when Jorge Posada, Scott Brosius and Clay Bellinger each had sacrifice flies in one inning. Earlier in the season on June 29, 2000 Jose Vizcaino, Tino Martinez, and Bernie Williams also accomplished the feat.

In case you were wondering the first trio to ever accomplish the feat was the Chicago White Sox teammates Juan Pizarro, Nellie Fox, and Al Smith who accomplished this on July 1, 1962.

Finally on this day in 1997 Wade Boggs made his major league pitching debut throwing 16 knuckleballs and one fastball in a 12-4 Yankees loss to the Angels. Boggs would throw a scoreless eight inning giving up not hits, walking a batter, and striking out Todd Greene to end the inning.