The Daily Dozen - 9/3/14

The Daily Dozen - September 3, 2014 Edition
(Twelve Takeaways from Last Night's Game vs. the Last Place Red Sox)

1. Comparing Jeter and Ortiz.  For some reason ESPN felt it necessary to compare the great Derek Jeter to David Ortiz.  Not really sure why...they don't play a similar game, they aren't both retiring, and they aren't both Captains of their teams.  Derek Jeter didn't reportedly used steroids either.  But here were those comparitive stats: Jeter had 2,643 starts at Shortstop (the most in MLB history), Ortiz has 1,742 games started at DH (also the most).  Do you really "start" at DH? Jeter had 3,446 hits (6th all-time) coming into the game and Ortiz had 461 home runs (most by a DH all-time).  Jeter had 158 playoff games (most all-time) vs. Ortiz' 82 (2nd among active players).  Jeter had 5 World Series titles to Ortiz' 3 rings.

2. The Yankees started the game 5 back of a playoff spot behind the Detroit Tigers. The chances of ending Jeter's career in the postseason look to be dwindling.  The Yanks need to go on a very hot streak to continue the Jeter-love-fest.

3. Was it just me or were there a TON of empty seats in Yankee Stadium last night? The official box score said there were 40,007 in attendance.  Could have fooled me.

4. Hiroki Kuroda has 4 straight years of 11+ wins in a season.  He had 9 coming into the game (and now 10).  When did 11 game win seasons begin to be something to celebrate?  The more impressive stat is that he has gone 42 straight starts with 90+ pitches.  He also tied his season high with 8 strikeouts in the game.

5. Double steal fiasco.  There have been so many base running errors this season.  I'm not sure if it's just being over aggressive or if the base coaches are terrible, but I am seriously getting sick of promising innings being ended due to outs on the basepaths.

6. Brian McCann hits bomb #17.  This opened up the scoring for the Yankees in the 2nd inning as he put a deep ball into the right field stands.  I'm beginning to think this arrangement with the new catcher will work out just fine.  He seems to finally be adjusting to New York.  Hell, he can hit .200 all year as long as he rakes against Boston!

(Courtesy of Jeff Quagliata's Twitter feed)

7. Two of the nine starters for Boston's 2013 World Series team now play for the Yankees.  Pretty interesting fact there.  Boston is definitely a different team without Ellsbury although I'm sure they will tell everyone that Jackie Bradley, Jr. is the future of the franchise.  Maybe two more of the players from the 2013 Championship team will soon join the Yankees in Lester and Ortiz...you never know!

8. Okay...more on McCann.  He went 4 for 4 as shown above.  He also got nailed in the junk behind the plate.  Anyone remember a week ago when Cervelli got nailed in the same spot?  The Yankees won that game and Francisco had a big hit.  Maybe someone should hit the catcher before the game EVERY game just to make sure they get production that night...

These stats will make you go nuts!

9. Gardner needed to become more of a power hitter.  It's the only way to make up for his atrocious base running.  With his speed, he should be in the 60-70 stolen bases per year...not getting thrown out in a double steal...ugh.

10. Dellin Betances.  He recorded 240 outs coming into the game with 120 of those coming as strikeouts.  He recorded 2 more out of 3 outs total to give him 122 for the season, only 8 away from tying Rivera's franchise record for a relief pitcher.

11. I know the Yankees "gave up" Kelly Johnson for Stephen Drew.  What I'm getting at here is that they shouldn't have even given up a bucket of base balls for him.  Worthless.  Hopefully he changes my mind next season?

12. David Robertson puts a Golden Sombrero on Craig.  Man, how's that trade working out for the Red Sox?  Allen Craig looks lost at the plate.  His 4 strikeouts were added to by 8 additional Ks on the night by the Boston players.  They suck!

Martin Prado Needs To Be In The Yankees Lineup Tonight

The New York Yankees are in the middle of a pennant race and arguably their best and hottest hitter over the past couple weeks Martin Prado is out with a "mild, mild" hamstring strain. Whatever happened to the good ole days when players played through nagging little mild injuries at this point in the season when no one was 100% except for Carl Pavano?Does Joe Girardi not realize that this is it, one more month and we're done for seven long months? Does he even care?

Listen, I'm all for protecting players and giving them days off when they need them and all that jazz but come on. We're in the middle of a freaking pennant race. Jacoby Ellsbury doesn't need a day off, Brett Gardner doesn't need a day off, and we can't survive with many more off days by Prado.

Hopefully Joe is listening, the training staff does their job today, and Prado is back in the lineup tonight in the Bronx or it may be season over, officially. 

Quick Hit: Ivan Nova Begins Throwing Program

Ivan Nova has been throwing for close to two weeks since Tommy John surgery including 25 soft tosses yesterday at Yankee Stadium. Nova claims that his elbow is tight, which is expected, but that it feels better than expected. It doesn't feel like Nova should be throwing already but this is great news as it gives Nova all winter long to work through this injury.

This Day In New York Yankees History 9/4: 1998 Yankees Quickest Ever To 100 Wins

The 1998 New York Yankees squad was deemed by many as the greatest team ever assembled in this great sport of Major League Baseball. On this day in 1998 the Yankees entered the record books when they became the quickest team ever to reach the 100 win plateau. The Yankees 11-6 victory over the Chicago White Sox bested the 1906 Chicago Cubs and 1954 Cleveland Indians by five days. Although the Cubs in 1906 started the season 100-32 which was far better than the Yankees record.

Also on this day in 1993 Jim Abbott, the Yankees starting pitcher that was born with only one hand, throws a no hitter to beat the California Angels by the score of 4-0. Abbott was the first Yankees pitcher to throw a no hitter in the decade even though he was born without a right hand. Indians leadoff hitter Kenny Lofton was loudly booed by the Yankee Stadium crowd for fouling off a bunt attempt in his last at bat.

Finally on this day in 1991 Major League Baseball votes to eliminate the distinction between the number of games played in a league's schedule when it comes to the all time single season home run marl. The vote takes away the asterisk that kept Roger Maris from the top spot and bumped Babe Ruth to the second hole with 60 home runs in a season.

Kuroda Dominant in 5-1 Win Over Red Sox

Hiroki Kuroda threw 7 innings of one-run ball and Brian McCann went 4-for-4 with 3 RBIs tonight as the Yankees bounced back nicely from yesterday's embrassment with a 5-1 win over the Red Sox. 

In those 7 frames, Kuroda, a man notorious for struggling at this time of the year, really did look great, surrendering just four hits while walking none and striking out eight.

Still, since Boston's Anthony Ranaudo, a 24-year-old rookie from New Jersey, only allowed a two-run home run to the aforementioned McCann and a sac fly to Jacoby Ellsbury during his 5 1/3 innings the contest stayed close until the bottom of the seventh, when a pair of RBI Singles off Alex Wilson put things out of reach. 

No, those singles, which came off the bats of McCann and Brett Gardner, weren't necessarily amazing, but since they did make it 5-1 to take the pressure off the corresponding relievers they were definitely huge, even if McCann's was slightly tainted by Carlos Beltran getting thrown out. 

THE TALK

THE TALK

As I arrived home from work tonight and placed my keys, my personal phone, my work phone, and my wallet on my nightstand like I do every night, my 9-year old son walked into the room and asked me a very embarrassing question.  It wasn't one I was very prepared for nor was it one I expected from a 9-year old that just started the 4th grade.

So there we were...and it was time to have THE TALK.  When is an appropriate age to have THE TALK, you ask?  Well, apparently in this instance it was at 9.  I mean he had already been exposed to it through movies and on television, so I would rather put it in my own words so he could hear it directly from his father.  Undoubtedly he had heard things about it at school from his friends and that is why I was having to "deal" with it on this particular day.

"Dad, is the guy who played the Human Torch the same guy that played Captain America?"

At first I didn't know what to say as it is such a delicate subject, so I counted to ten and took two deep breaths and responded with: sometimes when a movie studio and an actor love an idea so much they create a movie about a famous comic book character or characters that doesn't live up to expectation.  So instead of keeping that actor in the role, they put him in ANOTHER comic book movie based in the same character universe and then act like that other movie didn't exist.

Yes Son, Chris Evans is both Johnny Storm aka the Human Torch AND Steve Rogers aka Captain America.

I guess with CGI this could have still happened?

But then there is a whole other problem with this scenario...how do I go on to explain how the same person is both Daredevil AND Batman?  Or that Christopher Reeve, Dean Cain, Tom Wellman, Brandon Routh, and now Henry Cavill are ALL Superman.  And Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer (ha!), George Clooney, Christian Bale, and now Ben Affleck are indeed all the SAME character.  Maybe Jack Nicholson will make his 2nd appearance as the Joker now that Heath Ledger is unable to reprise his amazing role.

I'm just glad that he hasn't seen Blade: Trinity or Wolverine: Origins (due to the violence) and Green Lantern (due to the violence against our collective eyes).  How would one possibly explain how Ryan Reynolds could be three different superheroes at the same time? Wait does van Wilder count as a hero?

I think with the knowledge he gained tonight he is prepared to figure out all the disparities in the various Spider-Man movies and future renditions to come.  Good luck on that son!

Just remember that it is a very touchy subject and it should come up at some point with your own son or daughter.  Be patient with them, use words they can understand, and most importantly be prepared to face some tough realities about comic book movies in general.

Yankees Add Kyle Higashioka To 2014 AFL Roster

Scottsdale Roster: Add C Kyle Kigashioka (#Yankees)
— Arizona Fall League (@MLBazFallLeague) September 3, 2014

The Yankees said they would be adding a catcher to be named later to the Scottsdale Scorpions Arizona Fall League roster and that catcher has been announced today, Kyle Higashioka.

Prado Day-to-Day With Hamstring Strain

Yankees Utility Man Martin Prado will miss tonight's game against the Red Sox with a mild hamstring strain, team Manager Joe Girardi revealed earlier today.

“We’ll see how he is tomorrow, but right now he’s down,” Girardi said. “Our hope is it won’t be too long. We’ll have to see.”

Prado, who suffered the wound in last night's loss to the Red Sox, is currently listed as day-to-day. Besides him, Girardi also provided a positive update on RHP Masahiro Tanaka, the club's ace who could hold their playoff future in his hands. 

"Every manual test that they did came out really well," Girardi said. "They just said he had some arm fatigue and he is scheduled to throw a bullpen sometime this week. Hopefully, he is ready to do it."

Tanaka, a 25-year-old rookie who played in Japan last season, has not appeared since July 8's loss to Cleveland. In that outing, which lasted just 6 2/3 innings, Tanaka surrendered 5 earned runs, the only time he has done so this season. 

(Quotes via MLB.com and ESPN.com)

Nick's Picks 2.0: Red Sox VS Yankees 9/3/14

I am pretty sure by this point the Yankees are hating going to work, because this is driving me nuts to watch. After a horrendous display last night, I could have jinxed that, a new night is what the team needs. This series can still be won, and needs to be won. Tonight is going to be Kuroda on the mound and he can get it done, if only we have enough support behind him. My picks tonight will not be as crazy as yesterdays, because I do not think I can be any more wrong than I was with those picks. 

Breakout Hitter: Watch out for Carlos Beltran tonight. The team as a whole has not faced Red Sox starter Anthony Ranaudo much, but in that small sample Beltran has taken him deep. Look for Beltran to belt one tonight, no really I think he might get one. I think Carlos goes 2-4 and drives in two runs, scoring two and helping the team to a big victory. 

Pitcher to watch: I think that tonight we are going to see Kuroda put together a pretty decent outing. Hopefully he quiets those bats because we do not want another game like last night. Kuroda is due to finally get that 10th win, and I think he pitches seven strong with six strikeouts. We need you tonight Hirok! 

Simply Cluth: Come on Ichiro! I want something from you at the bottom of the lineup. We need you to act as a table setter and get on for the big boys at the top. Look for Ichiro to get on and cause some havoc. Yeah, we know he wont be stealing any bases, but you never know. Ichiro will be the big run tonight. 

Simply, we need a win tonight. Not too confusing, just a W at the end of the day. The Yankees cannot afford to keep this up, they need to get on a winning streak and stay on it. I have a notion that tonight we finally pull through and start this streak, I hope. Yankees will win tonight 5-3. Let's go Yankees! Remember YCPB!  

9/3 Yankees Open Thread vs. Boston Red Sox

Welcome to tonight’s open thread for the second game of this three game set between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees will send Hiroki Kuroda to the mound as the team looks to push towards the playoffs with an extremely small margin of error. The Boston Red Sox will send Anthony Ranuado to the mound looking to be the spoiler for the Yankees. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB TV, and can be heard on the radio with WFAN.

Get your Yankees tickets right here on the blog before the season is over. Also be sure to follow us on Twitter by following @GreedyStripes and like our page on Facebook by searching for The Greedy Pinstripes.

It’s an open thread and it’s a Yankees and Red Sox game so there should be plenty to talk about. Feel free to use our comments section to chat during the game about whatever you would like. Enjoy the game Yankees family and enjoy the rest of your evening. As always, go Yankees!