Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Chicago White Sox 9/24

The New York Yankees are back at home in the Bronx ready to play host to the Chicago White Sox for the final four times this season. The Yankees will see the inside of Yankee Stadium at least nine more times this season, eight times during this home stand and one more potential playoff game, and the team will look to make the best of it starting tonight against the White Sox. New York is a much better home team than they are an away team, although I feel supremely confident in the team’s ability to go out on the road and win a game as well, so these eight games will definitely make or break the team’s AL East Division hopes. Tonight the Yankees will send Michael Pineda to the mound to face off with the White Sox ace Chris Sale. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network and MLB TV.

• Pineda will look to once again harness some of those Big Mike XXL powers tonight against the Chicago White Sox. Pineda pitched quite well in his last start against the New York Mets and will look to keep that momentum going all the way into the postseason. Pineda will not have to worry about being pinch hit for tonight so expect more than 80 or so pitches this time around. 

• Sale heads into this start needing just 11 strikeouts to break the Chicago White Sox franchise record for most strikeouts in a single season. Ed Walsh struck out 269 batters in 1908 for the White Sox. Sale is also just four K’s away from 1,000 in his career. Sale has struck out batters with great effenciency this season but his 4.66 ERA over his last 12 starts and 21 home runs allowed this season at least gives the Yankees a chance tonight in the Bronx.

The Yankees finish the regular season with four games at home with the Chicago White Sox, four games at home with the Boston Red Sox and three games out on the road against the Baltimore Orioles. No more Toronto, no more Houston and no more Texas. These eight games will 100% decide whether the team wins the division, makes the playoffs as a Wild Card team and whether the team will host a playoff series or have to win one out on the road. Despite the way it looks the division race is far from over and despite the way it looks this team is far from dead. Go Yankees!

Familiar Faces in Different Places… The Recap

The theme of the 2015 offseason for the New York Yankees was new faces in different places as the team saw plenty of turnover from the 2014 season. Francisco Cervelli was gone and John Ryan Murphy was in along with Justin Wilson. David Phelps and Martin Prado were gone while Garrett Jones, Nathan Eovaldi and Stephen Drew were in. Shane Greene was gone and Didi Gregorius was in. Brian Cashman the man credited with making these moves, was raked over the coals when he made these moves but have they surprising worked out for the New York Yankees GM?

Francisco Cervelli:

Year	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
2015	120	469	51	124	15	6	39	1	44	83	.300	.378	.404	.782	115

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

John Ryan Murphy:

Year	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
2015	61	153	19	39	8	3	14	0	9	37	.281	.322	.417	.740	103

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Justin Wilson:

Year	W	L	ERA	G	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9
2015	5	0	3.04	69	56.1	46	19	19	2	19	62	132	2.52	1.154	7.3	0.3	3.0	9.9

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

David Phelps:

Year	W	L	ERA	G	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9
2015	4	8	4.50	23	112.0	119	59	56	11	33	77	86	4.03	1.357	9.6	0.9	2.7	6.2

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Martin Prado:

Year	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
2015	120	514	49	134	22	9	56	1	33	65	.287	.335	.396	.731	102

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Garrett Jones:

Year	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
2015	57	152	12	31	4	5	17	0	8	37	.215	.257	.361	.618	69

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Nathan Eovaldi:

Year	W	L	ERA	G	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9
2015	14	3	4.20	27	154.1	175	72	72	10	49	121	95	3.43	1.451	10.2	0.6	2.9	7.1

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Stephen Drew:

Year	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
2015	131	428	43	77	16	17	44	0	37	71	.201	.271	.381	.652	79

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Shane Greene:

Year	W	L	ERA	G	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9
2015	4	8	6.88	18	83.2	103	67	64	13	27	50	57	5.15	1.554	11.1	1.4	2.9	5.4

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Didi Gregorius:

Year	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
2015	143	537	56	131	22	9	52	4	27	78	.266	.315	.370	.685	89

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

As you can see it clearly looks like the Yankees won the trade involving Wilson for Cervelli. Wilson has been an integral part of the Yankees bullpen and Murphy has been no slouch both behind the plate and at the dish as he backs up Brian McCann.

Say what you will about the body of work that Eovaldi has put forward this season but 14 victories in the Major Leagues is 14 victories in the Major Leagues regardless of his run support. David Phelps didn’t exactly force the Yankees fans to miss him and while Martin Prado would have been a perfect fit for the 2015 Yankees and beyond, he’s under team control at least through 2016, the Yankees needed pitching at the point of the trade more so than the infield help. This one could go either way depending on how pessimistic you want to look at things but I think most people would agree this was another win for the Cashman.

Shane Greene has flopped in Detroit and Gregorius has been in the middle of everything good that is the New York Yankees this season. He hasn’t replaced Jeter but he’s made a lot of us forget about him and I don’t think anyone expected to be reading this in September of 2015, a mere season removed from the Captain’s retirement. 

Happy Birthday to the ROCK of The Greedy Pinstripes

I want to take this opportunity to start the day by telling my very beautiful, patient, loving and wonderful wife a very happy birthday. Truth be told she is the absolute rock that holds The Greedy Pinstripes together some days. She is the one that very patiently cooks dinner more than she should, watches both kids more than her fair share and she is the one that gets neglected some days when the Yankees are playing or there is a lot going on in the hot stove or on the rumor mill. Thank her, not me.

On this day, your day, I wish you a happy birthday my princess. You're wish is my command.

Scoreboard Watching: September 24, 2015

The New York Yankees are done facing off with the Toronto Blue Jays and most of the teams listed below are no longer playing each other. Scoreboard watching officially just got interesting as teams begin clinching playoff spots and solidifying their seeding and positioning in 2015.

Thursday, September 24

New York Yankees vs. Chicago White Sox

Toronto Blue Jays - OFF

Houston Astros - OFF

Texas Rangers @ Oakland Athletics

Minnesota Twins vs. Cleveland Indians

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim - OFF

Cleveland Indians @ Minnesota Twins