They Say A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

"You're going to bench me for WHO?'

This picture was actually taken in the 10th inning AFTER A Rod was pinch hit for by Raul Ibanez and after he hit the game tying home run. Still the look of disbelief in Rodriguez's face was too golden not to share this picture with the rest of the class. 

Thoughts On The Morning After

Does anything else really need to be said?

Yankees World Series Magic Number

The Yankees magic number for the #1 goal in all of baseball!!

My Thoughts on Game 3

After the Yankees failed to do anything in the bottom of the 8th inning I wrote a post that basically had me going off on the Yankee offense, while praising Hiroki Kuroda for a great pitching effort. And then the first inexplicable thing happened...


I thought about leaving my rant regarding the inept offense alone, and just expanding the post, but I decided to bag the whole thing. I thought I'd sleep on it, and just write up my game thoughts in the morning. 
After Soriano got through the top of the 10th inning, up came Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson, and Russell Martin to fail, fail, fail. And I started wondering if there was some way I could get back the rant I'd deleted earlier. 
DRob got us through the top of the 11th before the Yankee bats failed to do anything in the bottom half of the inning. So onto the 12th, where Robertson once again shut the Oriole bats down. Actually, David had to get 4 outs thanks to a lack of communication on a pop-up in front of the mound led to an infield single (yeah, nobody touched the ball, so it couldn't be called an error). 
Then it was time for the bottom of the 12th. Raul Ibanez was coming up again in the DH spot, but was going to face left-hander Brian Matusz. The following is not something I would have ever expected...

I jumped and screamed, before my jaw dropped to the floor and I was speechless. I still can't believe what happened. It wasn't the fact the Yankees hit a game-tying homer. It wasn't that the Yankees hit a game-winning homer. It was that both home runs were by the same man, and that man didn't even start the game. What's more is that he pinch-hit for Alex Rodriguez. 

Wow.

One thing I hope nobody forgets is that Hiroki Kuroda pitched really well tonight. 8.1 innings, 2 runs, 5 hits, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts. His control was shaky all night, but Hiroki did what aces do... battle through and give the team a chance to win. The Yankee offense tried to screw that up, but the Dark Lord made sure to pick them up.

Let's wrap up this series tomorrow night, allowing Sabathia to start in Game 1 of the AL Championship Series, because I have a feeling we're really going to want CC for two games against the Tigers (I don't think I'm going out on a limb by predicting they defeat the As).

Backs Against The Wall.... Again

You know I had this typed out and was fully ready to click post before Raul Ibanez got here with some ghosts from across the street. I feel like posting it anyway so if you don't like it, blame A Rod. 

The Yankees will go into tomorrow night's game with their backs against the walls for the second consecutive season in the ALDS. Last year the Yankees lost in 4 games to the Detroit Tigers and this year the Yankees are down 2-1 against the Baltimore Orioles. Joe Girardi remains adamant that he will pitch Phil Hughes tomorrow and I cannot say I disagree. You can only play for today and not tomorrow but if you throw CC in game 4 then your right back to having Hughes for game 5 or Andy on a shorter rest then normal. Either way the offense is ridiculous so it does not really matter who pitches at this point. If Kuroda can give the Yankees 8.1 IP in Yankees Stadium and only give up two runs there should be zero reason I am posting this. The Yankees should crush guys like Miguel Gonzalez and Wei-Yin Chen. The Yankees offense got it's act together to get in the post season and seems like they stopped to take a breathe and blink and forgot where they were, it is pathetic.

Derek Jeter is hobbling around on one leg and has been for the better part of 2 months and the Yankees cannot show any fire? I understand the professionalism and I even defended the calm and somber "celebration" when we won the AL East but Jesus H. Christ guys. This is October, get pissed off, throw a water cooler, show us that you actually care about something other then a guaranteed contract and your endorsement deals. I have personally given my everything to this team this season both in my writings and my heart and I fully expect results. I am always crushed when I do not get said results and this year would be worse since we fought to get in. Don't make me have this rant again Yankees... get it done.

Hiroki Kuroda pitched his ass off, so did CC, and so did Andy. Jeter is hobbling around on one leg, Ichiro is breaking out Japanese Kung Fu moves reserved only for his girlfriend, hell even Russell Martin brought his bat to the game once. This team lacks heart and grit and the will to actually give a flying... well you know I try to keep this site PG 13 so I will end this rant with this... George Steinbrenner stays as our logo in the header for this site for one reason and one reason only, nothing mattered to him more then winning. Nothing matters to me more then winning, so just win dammit! Oh and thank you lord for Raul Ibanez, seriously thank you.

The Most Fitting Song

Hughes Will Start Game 4

Joe Girardi has said that Phil Hughes will start game 4, regardless of what happens tonight. I understand this move, as Phil was either going to possibly face elimination, or would certainly be facing elimination. Mike Axisa at River Ave Blues made the point that Girardi shouldn't have made this announcement at all, since they could change their mind tomorrow if they are indeed facing elimination, and thus it would look like a panic move. On top of that it could make Phil feel like crap, but I don't see the big deal.

ALDS Game 3 : Orioles @ Yankees

Update:

#HIROKtober

Jeter ties it up with an rbi triple

Raul Ibanez game tying pinch hit home run in the bottom of the 9th to tie it at 2-2

Raul Ibanez walk off home run! 3-2 Yankees win!!!

The Yankees split the first two games of the series with the Orioles when they were in Baltimore and now they return home for the remainder of the series. The Yankees will play the next three games at home, if necessary, so tonight would be a step in the right direction if we can start it off on the right foot. The Yankees will send Hiroki Kuroda to the mound at home where he has pitched much better then on the road this season. The Orioles will counter Kuroda with Miguel Gonzalez. The game will be televised at 7:37 pm ET on TBS.

Lineups

Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Ichiro Suzuki LF
Alex Rodriguez DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Curtis Granderson CF
Russell Martin C
Eric Chavez 3B

Go Yankees!!

#27andCounting

Alex Rodriguez & The Potential Lineup Shake

The Yankees have not seen the type of production out of Alex Rodriguez that they could have hoped for in the last month or so of the season, including a tiny sample size in the playoffs. With everyone healthy and overall with most clicking on all cylinders right now the name alone and the presence in the middle of the lineup is just not enough by itself anymore. The Yankees need Alex to contribute and contribute in a big way or put someone in the 3rd and 4th spot that can. Joe Girardi has hinted at being willing to shake up the lineup a little which irks me a little since I coined the twitter hashtag #JoeTorreVersion2.0 because reports like this remind me of the days where Joe Torre moved Alex down to the 7th spot in the lineup for the playoffs. He did not work here much longer after that either if memory serves so maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel but I digress.

IF, and that is a big IF in my opinion, Girardi does shake up the lineup then I am curious to see what he does with it. Alex is basically our only right handed "power threat" that is not a switch hitter and I know Girardi is a match up kind of guy so it will be interesting to see how it shakes out. This is not necessarily the way I would do it but this is how I expect the lineup to look if Joe Girardi does the change tonight.

1. Derek Jeter (R)
2. Ichiro Suzuki (L)
3. Mark Teixeira (S)
4. Robinson Cano (L)
5. Alex Rodriguez (R)
6. Nick Swisher (S)
7. Russell Martin (R)
8. Curtis Granderson (L)
9. Eduardo Nunez (R)

Personally I would feel a little bit more comfortable with a guy like Swisher in the 3rd spot then Teixeira at this point but let's face it neither of them are hitting the cover off the ball. I would personally even consider batting Alex 6th if I was making out the lineup cards but then again if I was running the team we would win 162 games a year so what do I know.

Dellin Betances Roughed Up In AFL

Dellin Betances apparently did not move on from his struggles this season when he went down to the Arizona Fall League because he was roughed up in his debut there. He allowed two walks, a double, two runs, a wild pitch, and took the loss for the Scottsdale Scorpions. David Adams was 1-3 with a double after starting at third base in support of Betances along with Austin Romine who started at catcher and had a double with a walk. Slade Heathcott went hitless and started as the DH. Not exactly the start you want from Betances but it's a long fall and winter.