Friday, May 4, 2018

Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Indians 5/4



And just like that it is game time here in the Bronx between the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians. In the first game of the three-game weekend set between these two clubs the Yankees will send CC Sabathia to the mound while the Indians will counter with Josh Tomlin. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and can be seen on WPIX Channel 11. You can also follow along with the game on MLB TV, with the MLB At-Bat app and by tuning into the Yankees radio broadcast with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman on WFAN.

Follow us on Twitter, @GreedyStripes, and “Like” us on Facebook, The Greedy Pinstripes, to keep up with us and the Yankees all season long. Enjoy the game, I am predicting eight or more runs for the Yankees tonight, and go Yankees!!


What it Means to be a Yankees Fan: Mr. Ken Reed



As we continue our search for what it means to be a Yankees fan here on The Greedy Pinstripes we are going to go back. Way back to the days of 1940’s and 1950’s when some of the greatest to ever play the game donned Yankees pinstripes. Way back to the days when one of my dearest friends and a contributor here on the blog, Ken Reed, began his Yankees fandom. I have always said that a lot could be learned by just listening to Mr. Reed, and now everyone here gets to learn just a little bit more as he explains what being a Yankees fan means to him. Enjoy!!





My MOM started teaching me the game back in 1942. The word on our block was,
she had played pro women's baseball…I never asked, I just tried to play the game.
We lived in a place called “Hells Kitchen” New York growing up, enough said.
1944, we made deals with six or eight(?) of the other blocks so we could all play
(Stickball) against each other on a street used very little…like a DMZ Zone!
1944 was the year I fell in love with baseball and the Yankees! The Dad of one of
the guys worked at Yankee Stadium and told us he could get us in to watch the pregame warm-ups.

We were soon being called the “Kitchen Trash” by most of the ground keepers (not
as an insult). As things worked out we were around most days and the players
started talking to us. If we got there for the pre-pre-game workouts the players
would take time to answer many of our questions or show us a trick of hitting or
playing the field. McCarthy was the manager and more or less looked the other
way if we were off the field for the real warm-ups.

I had watched Eddie Lopat (from 1948 on) we began talking a lot more about
pitching in 1949. Needless to say, he was a great teacher and taught me more about
pitching than most coaches knew. David Cone has always reminded me of Eddie, he

had some of the same pitch angles only a faster fastball…da! Remember the Cone
“Laredo” pitch? Eddie taught me one can take one pitch and make it into three or
more different looking pitches by changing one's arm angle!

The greatest Manager/Teacher/Talent Evaluator I ever saw was Casey Stengel! He
would talk your ear off (about the game) once he got started, not like he did when
he talked with the press. The closest Manager I have ever seen like Casey
(somewhat) is Buck Showalter…don’t kid yourself, he knows the game and the
players. Both had a talent for making a player work harder and even change their
position…come on fans, not everyone can judge/read a fly ball in the outfield at
the high level demanded of a “Pro”…or get used to the ball coming at one as fast
as it does in the infield.

“Winning is not everything…it is the only thing!”


Hells Kitchen...


Thank you once again to Mr. Reed for taking the time to make this post for us. Lord knows, and this is not making fun as much as it is using his own words, it took you all night to type it, so we truly do appreciate it, and appreciate you.

To have your words and your fandom showcased here on the blog please send your submissions to danielburch1102 at yahoo dot com.

USA Today’s Weekly MLB Power Rankings




If you were a betting man I bet you wouldn’t have bet on the New York Yankees rattling off nine wins in a row to cut a huge deficit between them and the Boston Red Sox to just two games at the beginning of the week. If you were a betting man I bet you also didn’t have the Red Sox in a free fall during the same time. If you did, kudos to you. You’re betting prowess has won you the internet, but the rest of us humans definitely didn’t see it coming. How did the Yankees strong week and a tough week for the Red Sox translate into the weekly power rankings released weekly by the USA Today? Keep reading to find out…

I won’t make you wait for long, the New York Yankees climbed five spots this week back into the Top 5 with a fourth-place finish overall. The Boston Red Sox kept the top spot on the rankings and were closely followed by the Houston Astros and the Arizona Diamondbacks. The fifth best team in the league according to the rankings are the New York Mets.

To round out the rest of the American League East we have the Toronto Blue Jays at 16th after falling six spots, the Tampa Bay Rays who are 21st after climbing two spots, and the Baltimore Orioles who are 28th after falling two additional spots on the rankings.

Surprises? The Philadelphia Phillies are 10th after climbing four spots while the Atlanta Braves are 11th overall after climbing five spots. The Seattle Mariners, who are no surprise to me as I had them making the postseason in 2018 when no one else did, rose six spots to the lucky #13 position while the Washington Nationals fell five spots to the #18 position behind a slumping Bryce Harper.

Think Mike Moustakas is regretting going back to Kansas City yet? Because I do. I bet you didn’t see that one coming either. Here’s another one you definitely didn’t see coming I bet. Mike Francesca’s return to WFAN. Boom.

No Way, Jo-ey (Votto)



The New York Yankees are one of the hotter teams in Major League Baseball right now, but as I have said in the past here on the blog, the team has the potential to be even better. The team is getting healthier by the day as we await the returns of Brandon Drury, Clint Frazier and others and the offense and pitching are finally starting to click. The team is not perfect by any means and they will likely need reinforcements at the July 31st trade deadline in some capacity, but the Yankees have to be smart about who they add to this team nucleus. I have heard “rumors” and opinions of who the Yankees should trade and who the Yankees should try to acquire but I think the biggest head scratcher of them all was the rumor that had the Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto coming to the Bronx. No way, Jo-ey Votto, and no thank you. 

This one was an easy one, although it is apparently not as blatantly obvious to some as it is to others why the New York Yankees should not acquire Votto. First and foremost, the team spent all winter not only trying to improve but trying to improve while still getting under the luxury tax threshold. The team is well under the threshold and will have some money to spend here in July at the deadline, but the team doesn’t have Joey Votto money. Votto signed a deal with the Cincinnati Reds back in 2012 for 12-years and a whopping $251.5 million, equating to an Average Annual Value (AAV) of roughly $21 million per season. Votto has six seasons of that deal left including the team option for the 2024 season and a total of $145 million remaining (AAV of $24 million). If the Yankees paid the exuberant price in terms of prospects for Votto and acquired him the team would be well over the luxury tax threshold and would continue to not only pay .50 cents on the dollar for every free agent dollar they spent next offseason, but the team would also potentially run the risk of being affected in the MLB First Year Player Draft and the international signing period. Not worth it. 

It is especially not worth it when the team already has a viable, albeit injury prone, first baseman of the future in Greg Bird. Believe in him, don’t believe in him, call him the next Carl Pavano (minus about $40 million which is what made the Pavano signing hurt, not the injuries, but I digress), do whatever you want to do but the one thing you cannot do is give up on a first baseman with that much potential that is in his Age 25 season. And no, before anyone chimes in, you cannot trade Bird right now either. I mean, you could, but the same reasons anyone would want to trade him would be the same reasons other teams either wouldn’t want him or would low ball the Yankees for his services. I’m not willing to block him, nor am I willing to just give him away. Again, he is just 25-years old.  

Speaking of age, Votto is 34-years old and will be 35-years old by seasons end. Sure, Votto is great and that bat inside Yankee Stadium would be something that legends and movies are made of… for now. Maybe for a few seasons, but Votto is potentially signed through his age 40 season and into his age 41 season. Remember Alex Rodriguez? No thanks.

Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Indians 5/4



Good morning Yankees family and a very Happy Friday to you all. The New York Yankees head home tonight fresh off a hell of a road trip that saw the team dominate the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and more than hold their own against the defending champion Houston Astros. This team is heating up and is primed to make a run, a run that continues tonight in the Bronx against the Cleveland Indians. In the opener of the three-game set this weekend the Yankees will send CC Sabathia to the mound to face off with Josh Tomlin for the Indians. Let’s get to it in the Bronx.

Sabathia is looking for his third straight win since coming off the disabled list tonight as he opens up the series with the Yankees against the team that drafted him. Sabathia is 2-0 with a 0.52 ERA since coming off the disabled list in three starts allowing just one earned run in 17.1 innings of work over that span.



Tomlin on the other hand has struggled lately including his last start against the Seattle Mariners. In that start on Sunday the Indians right-hander allowed six runs on 10 hits including two home runs in six innings of work for Cleveland in a loss. Tomlin has allowed 10 home runs in 18.2 innings pitched this year and enters the Cathedral in the Bronx with a career 8.57 ERA in 21 innings pitched there throughout his career.

The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and can be seen on WPIX Channel 11. You can also follow along with the game on MLB TV, with the MLB At-Bat app and by tuning into the Yankees radio broadcast with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman on WFAN.

Enjoy the game, too many damn home runs again tonight, and go Yankees!!

Hello… & Thank You For Letting Go



My apologies in advance, I am feeling a bit sappy this morning. I can’t help it, but my heart is just overflowing. I don’t believe in keeping things bottled up inside, so let’s let it ALL out.

I want to give a big shout out and thank you to everyone who ever let Kari Ann (soon-to-be) Burch go. If it weren’t for your stupidity and bad decision making I would never be as happy or as loved as I am this morning as I write this. I want to thank everyone for their bad decision making that led her to me, because without it who knows where the hell I would be. Thank you for allowing her to walk out of your lives so that she could walk into mine. I, for one, will not let her go. Even if she wanted to 😉

I want to thank everyone for hurting her. I hate you for it, but it built her up to be the strong, independent woman that doesn’t take shit from anyone today that I absolutely fell head over heels in love with, and I wouldn’t want to change a thing about her. If anybody hurts her now though, look out. I will be what you couldn’t be for her and what you promised to be, only better.

You didn’t appreciate her, I will put her on a pedestal. You didn’t show her affection, I will shower her with it day in and day out. You took her for granted, I will prioritize her in every aspect of our journey together. You couldn’t truly become one, but I will.

Everything bad that has happened up until this point sucked, but it was just leading us down the path towards each other. It wasn’t conventional, and it wasn’t always easy, but soon… it will all be worth it. Stick with me, kid. You will go places. I love you, no, I loves you, because plural means more than one so loves means more than love 😊 Have a great day my love.

This Day in New York Yankees History 5/4: Yogi Berra & the New Jersey Hall of Fame


On this day in 2008 Yogi Berra was one of 15 inaugural honorees to be inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. Yogi was not without a "Yogism" as he called fellow inductee Albert Einstein "a pretty smart guy," although he did not think the Nobel Prize winner for physics would have made a good MLB manager.

Also on this day in 2006 Forbes magazine valued the New York Yankees at $1 billion making the Yanks the first Major League Baseball team to be valued over $1 billion. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays were valued at $209 million coming in last in the publication.

Also on this day in 1981 the Yankees Ron Davis set a major league mark for consecutive strikeouts by a reliever when he struck out eight consecutive Angels batters in a 4-2 New York victory. Davis came in for the seventh inning and immediately got Don Baylor to pop up and followed to strike out the rest of the batters he faced en route to a save and a Yankees victory.

Also on this day in 1968 the song Mrs. Robinson made its debut on the Billboard Top 40. The lyrics in the song ask "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you."

Finally on this day in 1931 the Yankees put Babe Ruth at first base to take some strain off his legs and moved Lou Gehrig to right field. Gehrig commits an error in right and the Senators would win the game 7-3.