Thursday, June 14, 2018

Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays 6/14



And just like that it is game time here in the Bronx between the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays. In the first of a four-game weekend set here inside Yankee Stadium the Yankees will send Domingo German out to the mound still looking for his first victory of the season while the Rays will counter with Blake Snell looking to keep the young Yankees right-hander winless. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on Fox Sports One. You can also follow along with the game, I think anyway, 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 team all season long. Enjoy the game, I personally cannot wait until Chris Archer is no longer in Tampa Bay, and go Yankees!!

Meet a Prospect: Rodney Hutchison



The New York Yankees love to draft experienced college right-handed starting pitchers in the draft and develop them into useful pieces at the Major League level. The plan remains the same with the latest right-handed college arm to be drafted by New York in the draft, sixth-round pick and 187th overall pick out of the University of North Carolina, Rodney Hutchison Jr. Let’s meet him. This is Meet a Prospect: The Rodney Hutchison Edition.

Hutchison stands at an intimidating 6’6” and weighs in at 225 lbs. meaning if the right-hander doesn’t make it to the MLB level he has a definite fall back with the basketball team of pitchers that New York is preparing for. Hutchison has a fastball that can touch 94 MPH, a plus changeup and a slider (a pitch that the Yankees brass love) that is developing as his out-pitch. Hutchison split time this season with the UNC Tarheels bullpen and starting rotation where he posted a 3-3 record with a 4.63 ERA. Those numbers aren’t eye popping by any means, but his numbers as a starter were much more impressive than they were as a member of the bullpen.

Here is what Baseball America had to say about Hutchison before the draft:


“LISTED AT A THICK, 6-FOOT-6, 239 POUNDS, HUTCHISON’S STUFF HAS TAKEN A JUMP IN 2018 AND HE THROWS A HEAVY FASTBALL WITH LATE ARM-SIDE RUN FROM A LOW THREE-QUARTERS ARM SLOT. PRIMARILY WORKING AT 90-92 MPH HIS FIRST TWO SEASONS, HUTCHISON HAS LIVED 92-94 MPH MORE FREQUENTLY THIS SPRING AND TOUCHED 96 MPH IN AN EYE-OPENING OUTING IN FRONT OF SEVERAL ROWS OF SCOUTS AT THE ACC TOURNAMENT. HUTCHISON PAIRS HIS FASTBALL WITH A PLUS, MID-80S CHANGEUP WITH LATE FADE AWAY FROM LEFTHANDED HITTERS AND HE’S IMPROVED THE FEEL OF HIS SLIDER, THROWING IT HARDER AND TIGHTER. BECAUSE OF HIS LOW SLOT AND THE SHEER MOVEMENT OF HIS PITCHES, HUTCHISON CAN LOSE THE ZONE AT TIMES, GETTING HIM INTO TROUBLE. WHILE HE NEEDS MORE POLISH AND TO TIGHTEN HIS COMMAND, HUTCHISON’S VELOCITY SPIKE, PLUS CHANGEUP AND IMPROVED BREAKING PITCHES GIVE HIM INTRIGUING UPSIDE.”

Here's to hoping that Hutchison, a Yankees fan growing up, signs with the club. Go Yankees!!

The Rise and Fall of the Valkyries: Chapter 3



Chapter 3       No Answer

Dan woke from his slumber to the blaring sounds of alarms buzzing throughout the Valkyries compound. The Valkyries compound was under attack, but by who? There had been many small skirmishes outside the walls but none that ever warranted the alarms going off, Dan immediately knew that this attack was different, and that the severity of the situation was like none that he had ever seen. Dan jumped up from his desk, grabbing his laptop, and proceeded to the Operations Room. Dan made it to Operations in less than a minute and immediately ran inside, something he regretted as soon as he opened the door. Dan looked around for Poke, but the Valkyries leader wasn’t there yet, “Close call” Dan thought in his head after once again barging into a room. Dan quickly took his seat at the table. The best and brightest minds in the Valkyries council sat at the table with Dan. From left to right sat Dan, Ellie, Jax, Andy, and then eventually would sit Jessica and Poke. Dan always wondered why Poke’s assistant, Jessica, was in the room with what he considered to be the upper-echelon members of the government regime, but he would never dare question it.

Poke and Jessica, fashionably late as always, strolled in and immediately commanded the attention of the room as they took their seats. “What do we know?” Poke asked in his authoritative voice, he meant business today. “Thank goodness for Ellie” Dan thought to himself as the attention of the room shifted to the two members of the Territories Room. Dan had been asleep and missed it all, but Ellie gave Dan a reassuring look and took the lead. “Well, we know there was a breach of the wall. We don’t know how many made it over or through the wall, or how they did it, yet but we expect to soon. We don’t know if they have been apprehended yet or killed. We just know something, or someone made it over the wall, every man we have is on it as we speak.” Ellie said with confidence. Dan looked over at Poke and even in times like these his eyes were still averted elsewhere, this time in his phone. “What an asshole” Dan thought once again to himself as Ellie took her seat. Poke, after a long pause, finally spoke. “Okay, so now we wait. We have the best and the brightest out there. The toughest people I’ve seen in all of the Land of Bartow, and we will get whomever made the mistake of coming over the wall and we will make them pay!” One thing Dan couldn’t say about Poke, he couldn’t say that he wasn’t good at this whole leadership thing. Poke always commanded the attention of the room, he always knew the right motivational things to say and when Poke said he would do something, he generally did it. Poke led by example, not the whole “do as I say and not as I do” leadership type that had plagued many before him. Poke followed through, and with authority.

So, the Valkyries council sat and waited. Waited on the word that the intruder had been killed, apprehended or both. Dan looked around the room and took in every little detail of the Operations Room. There were no windows in the Operations Room, which made sense from a security standpoint, and the room housed a huge wooden table in the middle of the room. The walls were white, and the carpets were blue like much of the Valkyries compound, and every wall in the room had a security screen and monitor on it. It was boring, and it was plain, but it was the Valkyries way.

Breakfast was served in the Operations Room, then lunch, and then lots and lots of coffee. Dan was never a huge fan of coffee, but one could only make small talk and sit in a sealed room with five other people for so long before you got extremely bored and tired. Dan was downing coffee like his life depended on it, and his life may actually depend on it if anyone were to find out that he was asleep at the wheel when the breach of the Valkyries compound happened. Breakfast turned to lunch, and lunch turned into coffee, and coffee turned into dinner after spending 12 hours in the Operations Room. Finally, shortly after dinner the Valkyries council finally got an update, if you could call it that.

Jessica received an envelope from someone that Dan did not recognize, she nodded to the unknown assistant and came to the large wooden table with the rest of the Valkyries Council. “It seems as though our cameras confirmed that someone came over the wall, a female, and disappeared into the Armory area.” Dan was shocked, scared and absolutely petrified at the thought of one of the resistance fighters coming over the wall, especially in the Armory area of the compound. Dan lived next to the Armory inside the Land of Bartow and his first thoughts went to his two children and their safety. Stricken with worry and grief he gathered himself together before missing another word of Jessica’s update. “As you all know, and as Earl has pointed out many times to us, that is the only blind spot in the entire compound.” All eyes were on Jessica as she delivered the news and all eyes were stricken with fear, disappointment or maybe a little bit of both as Poke’s assistant continued.

“We are on full alert and we have issued a curfew for 9:00 pm all across the Land of Bartow until we can figure out just who came over the wall, who they are with and what they want with us. Until then, under the advice of our advisors, spies and from Poke himself, we are suggesting to everyone that they return to their jobs, lives and homes and attempt to be as ‘business as usual’ as possible. Our idea and hope behind this is that we will catch the mystery woman getting comfortable around the wrong person and we can bring her to justice. That is all.” Jessica concluded her speech before quickly folding up her notes, grabbing her laptop computer and cell phone before walking towards the exit of the room. Poke, visibly annoyed, stood up to address the Valkyries Council before dismissing them for the night.

“You heard her” Poke said sternly, almost agitated like, “business as usual until we catch whomever the hell it is who thought they could jump my wall and infiltrate my land.” Poke always had a way of calling it HIS land and not OUR land. Everything belonged to Poke, as so is the life of a supreme dictator and ruler I guess. “Now everyone, go home and get some rest, I expect you back on time, ready and alert tomorrow morning.” Poke said this as he gathered his things and walked out the door. “Goodnight, Valkyries!”

The Valkyries Council was still in utter shock after Poke and Jessica had left the room. No one really said much, maybe it was the shock or maybe it was the absolute exhaustion felt by the members of the council, as one-by-one they all collected their things and exited the Operations Room to head home for the day. Dan, unlike the others, went back to his office before heading home, just like the workaholic that he is. His kids must be worried sick he thought, although his kickboxer neighbor, Shane, watched after them whenever he had to work late without question, so he decided to call home from his secure line in the Territories Room to check in.

RING, RING, RING.

No answer. “That wasn’t out of the norm” Dan thought to himself as he hung up the receiver, grabbed his things and headed home. Dan walked home this night like he had every single night before since joining the Valkyries and the Valkyriess Council, not because he had to but because he thoroughly just enjoyed it, but as the young Valkyrie got onto his road, checked his mailbox and began walking inside his home he was caught off guard and was caught frozen in the darkness. It was pitch black outside this night and not a light was on inside his home, nor were there any lights on in the armory that was just an ear shot from Dan’s front porch. Dan heard the rustling of leaves in his backyard and wondered if his children, Evan and Hayden, were outside after dark, by themselves I might add, without supervision like Dan had told them not to do time-after-time before. Dan had the idea of sneaking up and scaring his kids in the backyard, maybe that would teach them a lesson he thought, and he began to tip-toe into the backyard as quietly as he could. Dan was about halfway to the white picket fence that surrounded the backyard when he heard a woman’s voice. Dan was caught off guard, it was well after curfew by now and no one should have been out in the streets of Bartow, let alone in his backyard. Dan froze, dropping down behind his children’s playset hoping he was out of sight of the female voice which he heard in the distance. The voice was coming from the armory and while Dan couldn’t clearly make out every word the young Valkyrie heard enough that it sent chills down his spine, and it would send chills down his spine for the rest of his life, however long that may be.





For an advanced copy of the book please follow this link. Thank you in advance.

https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-Valkyries-events-Daniel/dp/1719011427/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528895545&sr=8-1&keywords=rise+and+fall+of+the+valkyries

Meet a Prospect: Brandon Lockridge



Can one team have too many good outfielders? The New York Yankees are on a mission to find out just that and they took another step towards potentially proving or disproving that theory in the 5th round of the 2018 MLB First Year Players Draft when the team took yet another outfielder with the 157th overall pick. This time the Yankees selected outfielder Brandon Lockridge out of Troy University, let’s meet him. This is Meet a Prospect: The Brandon Lockridge Edition.

Lockridge is a speed-demon that possesses a potential 80-grade speed from scouts as he begins his professional career. As a quick reminder, scouts grade on a scale from 20-80, which 80 being the very best that you can do. Here is what Baseball America had to say about Brandon before the Draft:

“THE RIGHTHANDED HITTER HAS GOOD HITTABILITY AND THIS SPRING HAS DOUBLED HIS WALK RATE, GIVING HIM THE ON-BASE SKILLS TO PROFILE AS A TOP-OF-THE-ORDER HITTER. HIS POWER HAS MOSTLY PLAYED AS DOUBLES POP SO FAR, BUT HE’S LISTED AT 6-FOOT-1, 185 POUNDS AND MANY SCOUTS BELIEVE HE WILL START TO TURN HIS RAW POWER INTO MORE HOME RUNS IN TIME.”

Lockridge is a right-handed throwing and batting outfielder that stands 6’1” and weighs in at 185 lbs. out of the University of Troy. Lockridge was a junior at the University and came with some uncertainty of whether he would sign with a professional team, but Brandon quickly put those fears to bed and has already signed with the Yankees to jumpstart his professional career. Welcome to the team Brandon, and also welcome to the Yankees family.

You can follow Brandon on Twitter by following @Brandon_Lock2 and while you are there you can also give us a follow as well, @GreedyStripes. Enjoy your day!

Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays 6/14



Good morning Yankees family and welcome back to Yankee Stadium, the sight for the next four games between the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays. In the first of a four-game weekend set here in the Bronx the Yankees will send Domingo German out to the mound to face off with Blake Snell for the Rays. Let’s get to it here in the Bronx.

German has still yet to lodge a victory this season despite pitching well in many of his starts here in 2018. German was especially good in his last start against the New York Mets where he allowed just three runs on six innings of work. German has never faced the Tampa Bay Rays


Snell has won each of his last four decisions which is good for the longest winning streak of his career, it is a shame that this streak has to come to an end tonight here in the Bronx. Over that span Snell has posted a 3-0 record with a 0.38 ERA.


The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on Fox Sports One. You can also follow along with the game, I think anyway, 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, welcome back to the lineup Gary… now get scary and go Yankees!!

Hello… Date Setter



Good morning everyone and welcome back to the blog. I appreciate you all checking in with me and us every single day, more than you know. As you may or may not have seen earlier this week my girlfriend Kari and I announced our engagement from over the weekend. Well, now a date has been set. May 18, 2019. Set the date in your calendars, I expect you ALL to be there.

And a special good morning to my fiancée, or as I have stated many times in a playful manner… my Beyonce. She gets the reference. I love you so very much and I am so very proud and grateful that you are mine. I wouldn’t have it any other way and I wouldn’t change a thing that led up to this glorious day. I love you!!


Also, I couldn't pass up the image above... sorry.. I just couldn't.

Playoff Teams Beat the Teams They Are SUPPOSED to Beat



No one wants to see the New York Yankees on their upcoming schedule right now, let’s be honest. The team is rolling despite multiple injuries, slumping stars in the middle of the lineup and despite having rookies at key positions, which was apparently a “no-no” before the season began. The team is on fire and as it stands right now the team could play .500 baseball for the remainder of the season and still be in the hunt for the postseason. Why? It isn’t just good starting pitching, a stellar bullpen (especially lately), a juggernaut of an offense when it’s clicking on all cylinders, and a crop of young stars. It is also because the Yankees beat the teams they are supposed to beat, just like a good playoff team would.

Entering the weekend series with the Tampa Bay Rays the New York Yankees were 29-13 against the teams they were “supposed” to beat on paper while the team also put up an impressive 15-6 record against potential 2018 playoff teams. That’s a staggering number compared to the Boston Red Sox who have a record of 37-16 against these same teams they should beat on paper, while also posting a 10-6 record against potential 2018 playoff contenders. The Red Sox have had 11 more “easier” games than the Yankees have had thus far here in 2018 heading into the weekend.


The Yankees have steamrolled teams like the Cleveland Indians (3-0), the Minnesota Twins (4-0), the Tampa Bay Rays (2-0), and the Toronto Blue Jays (7-3) while holding their own against the Boston Red Sox (3-3), the Houston Astros (5-2) and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (5-1) pre-Ohtani injury. The team has 17 games left with the Tampa Bay Rays, 13 games left with the Baltimore Orioles, 9 games left with the Toronto Blue Jays, three more games with the New York Mets, four more games with the Kansas City Royals, six games with the Chicago White Sox, four games with the Texas Rangers, two more games with the Miami Marlins, and four games left with the Detroit Tigers for one of the “easier” schedules left remaining here in 2018.

With all that said, the strength of schedule will even out, and I truly think we will see the New York Yankees on top of the American League East Division when it is all said and done. Sure, the Boston Red Sox are a hell of a team and will be there all season long, but I think at least some of their early season success can be attributed to simply beating the teams they are supposed to beat… much like the Yankees will do for the remainder of the season.



Stay tuned, it is going to be a fun summer here in the Bronx. All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference.

This Day In New York Yankees History 6/14: 1998 Yankees Win


On this day in 1998 the Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians 4-2 to tie a major league record by winning or splitting their 24th consecutive series this season. The Yankees equaled the record shared by the 1912 Red Sox and the 1970 Reds.


Also on this day in 1969 the Yankees traded Tom Tresh to the Detroit Tigers for the 1962 Rookie of the Year Ron Woods. The outfielder, who grew up in Detroit, would retire at the end of the 1969 season.


Finally on this day in 1933 both the Yankees manager Joe McCarthy and their first basemen Lou Gehrig were thrown out of a game. McCarthy was suspended for three games while Gehrig was not keeping his consecutive games streak at 1,249 straight games.