Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Chicago White Sox 7/5

The New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox square off again today in Chicago for the second in their three-game set. In the second contest the Yankees will send their ace and stopper to the mound in Masahiro Tanaka, Happy Tanaka Day Yankees family, to face off against a tough left-hander in Carlos Rodon.

Tanaka will be facing off with the White Sox for the second time this season, the first time saw the Yankees ace allowing four runs and eight hits in just five innings of work. Tanaka did not look sharp in his last start either against the Texas Rangers but will be heading into this start with the glorified extra day of rest he sometimes needs.


Rodon had an up-and-down start last time out against the Minnesota Twins that saw him hurling five strong innings before the sixth inning doomed him and led to a no-decision. Rodon allowed four runs on five hits in 5.2 innings and will look to be better against the Yankees. In his career against New York Rodon has allowed 10 earned runs in nine innings pitched against the Yankees.


The game will be played at 8:10 pm ET inside US Cellular Field and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV. The Yankees and White Sox have faced off already three times this season before this series and New York took two-of-three from Chicago in that series. You have to remember that at that time Chicago was one of the best, record wise anyway, teams in the American League so that was a huge series win for the Yankees. This would also be another huge series win for New York because it's the penultimate series before the All-Star Game. Get a win, get a series win. Go Yankees!

2016 All Star Game Predictions

Major League Baseball will release just who won the votes in the fan vote section of the 2016 MLB All Star Game and the rest of the rosters will be announced tonight as well. That announcement happens at 7:00 pm ET tonight and can be seen on MLB Network and the announcement will include the "Final Vote" candidates as well. Who do I think will win the votes and which Yankees, or Yankee, do I think will represent the team? Keep reading. 

American League

C: Salvador Perez

1B: Eric Hosmer

2B: Jose Altuve

SS: Xander Bogaerts

3B: Manny Machado

OF: Mike Trout

OF: Jackie Bradley Jr. 

OF: Mookie Betts

DH:  David Ortiz

National League

C: Buster Posey

1B: Anthony Rizzo

2B: Ben Zobrist

SS: Addison Russell

3B: Kris Bryant

OF: Bryce Harper

OF: Dexter Fowler

OF: Yoenis Cespedes

DH: n/a

And the New York Yankees will send Carlos Beltran and Andrew Miller to the big game. Those are my predictions, what are yours?

Weekly Prospects Check In: Gary Sanchez

We're back ladies and gentleman. We hope you had a great July 4th holiday weekend and we hope it was spent with friends, family, good food, fireworks and even better memories. We kick off this short week with a check in with one of the top Yankees prospects in all the system, Gary Sanchez.

Last we checked in with Sanchez he was back off the disabled list after cracking his thumb, he was learning first base and he was chosen to represent the Yankees in the XM All Star Futures Game for Team World. What's he been up to this week?

Year	Age	Lev	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2016	23	AAA	53	233	27	60	17	8	35	5	10	34	.274	.313	.470	.784
2016	23	MLB	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/4/2016.

This Day in New York Yankees History 7/5: Roger Clemens 3000th K

On this day in 1998 future Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens struck out then Devil Ray Randy Winn for his 3,000th strike out of his career. Roger would become only the 11th player to ever reach the plateau when he did it in a Toronto Blue Jays jersey.

Sabathia Smacked Around, Leads to July Fourth Series Opening Loss, 8-2

Happy Fourth of July to everyone out there and a special thank you to those who continue to fight for our freedom every day. On America's birthday, the Yankees were in Chicago facing the White Sox in the first game of the three-game series. C.C. Sabathia toed the rubber for New York this afternoon in hopes of getting the Yankees back to .500. James Shields(2-9) got the nod for Chicago, having been acquired recently in a trade with San Diego, hoping to turn around what has been a less then stellar season for the right-hander. Today, Shields and the White Sox shut down the Bomber bats in route to their commanding game one win.

The Yankees kicked off the scoring this afternoon in the top of the second inning. After Shields allowed a one-out single to Starlin Castro, Chase Headley smacked a line drive home run over the right-field fence that put the Yankees up by two. That play, my Bomber brothers, was unfortunately the last time the Yankees would hit the scoreboard for the rest of the game.

Sabathia was knocked around the ballpark all game long in one of his toughest outings of 2016. Trouble for the lefty started in the bottom of the third where Jason Coats led off the frame with a single and scored when the next batter Tim Anderson launched a two run shot over the right-centerfield wall that tied the game at two. In the bottom of the fifth, Sabathia allowed a one out double to Todd Frazier, who advanced to third on a Melky Cabrera single. Brett Lawrie drove in the third Sox run of the game with a sacrifice fly that scored Frazier, 3-2 Chicago. Then, the next batter Dionner Navarro hit a towering two run shot to left-field that put the Sox up by three. Sabathia was lifted before the start of the seventh, departing with an ugly final line of six innings pitched, allowing five runs on eight hits while walking two and striking out nine.

Luis Sessa was put on damage control and went the rest of the way, allowing the Yankees to not have to burn through their bullpen in the first game of the series. In the bottom of the seventh, the rookie righty served up the second double of the game by Todd Frazier, who scored on an RBI single by Brett Lawrie, 6-2. In the bottom of the eighth, after Anderson reached on a fielding error by Gregorius and an Adam Eaton single, Jose Abreu knocked in Anderson on a soft single to centerfield that made it a 7-2 ball game. The final run of the game scored when Todd Frazier then smacked a single that drove in Eaton, pushing what would be the final score up to 8-2.

Let's hope the boys in pinstripes can turn it around before operation "trade away the franchise" is activated. Tomorrow, Masahiro Tanaka and Carlos Rodon square off in game two, with first pitch scheduled for 8:10 PM ET.

July 4th Fireworks Special: The Open Thread

It's July 4th, the Yankees game is over and I'm taking the boys to eat some good food, see some fireworks and celebrate the nation's independence. I hope everyone that is reading this is reading it after the fact and is in a similar situation because that's what the day is all about, friends, food and fireworks. I leave you tonight with a good summertime music recommendation, "All Summer Long" by Kid Rock.

Live Game Updates: Yankees at White Sox - 7/4

2:26 p.m., End 1st: Sabathia strands a couple on in the first. Let's see if the Yankees can jump on James Shields in the second.

2:34 p.m., Mid 2nd: Headley gets the Yankees on the board with a two-run shot. Shields has been pretty terrible since joining Chicago, so mistakes from him should be expected today.

3:15 p.m., Mid 4th: After Tim Anderson evens it up with a two-run blast in the third, the Yankees leave the bases loaded. Fair to say Shields is giving them opportunities so far, but they're not taking advantage.

3:45 p.m., End 5th: Chicago breaks out for three in the fifth, highlighted by a two-run home run by Dioner Navarro. Just like that, the Yankees trail 5-2.

5:18 p.m., Mid 9th: Game over. Yankees lose 8-2, as their offense continues to labor. Fun fact: the Yankees went 0-for-13 with RISP today, and Hicks and Didi alone combined to strand 13 men on base. Enjoy your own fireworks tonight people because the Yankees certainly didn't provide any.

Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Chicago White Sox 7/4

Happy July 4th once again Yankees family and I can't think of a better way to spend it then the way I'm spending it right now. Steaks are on the grill, family is within shouting distance and the Yankees are on the television. This is America. In the game today the Yankees will send CC Sabathia to the mound this afternoon to represent New York while the Chicago White Sox will counter with James Shields. The game will be played at 2:10 pm ET inside US Cellular Field and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

Go Yankees! Let's see some fireworks.

Happy 4th of July from The Greedy Pinstripes

It's July 4th, the day the Unites States of American was truly formed and granted their Independence from the British. Thanks to our young and brave troops the country fought for their freedom and won setting the precedence for the rest of the world that Democracy was here to stay and this was just the beginning. You all know the history so I won't spend too much time on that instead I'll just say thank you to all that have sacrificed for this country and all that continue to sacrifice their lives, their families etc. for this country go give us the freedom and liberty that we all deserve to have.

Thank you from everyone here on The Greedy Pinstripes and thank you from everyone here in the Burch household, we are all truly grateful and appreciative.

Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Chicago White Sox 7/4

The New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox will spend their July 4th holiday facing off this afternoon inside US Cellular Field. It seems to me, as bias as I an, that the New York Yankees should be home in the Bronx for major holidays like this, especially since George Steinbrenner was born on this major US holiday, but that's MLB schedule makers for you so I digress. In the contest the Yankees will send CC Sabathia to the mound who had his start pushed back yesterday to face off with a familiar foe in James Shields.

Sabathia has been stellar for much of this season but his last two starts have not been much to write home about unfortunately. Whether that is because he rolled his ankle twice, his degenerative knee condition or whether the league has figured this new version out remains to be seen but for the

Shields has not been Big Game Shields since coming over to the White Sox from the San Diego Padres. Instead Shields has allowed 24 earned runs in 13.2 innings covering four starts for the Sox. Shields did deliver a quality start in his last start though so who knows if he's turning the corner.

The game will be played at 2:10 pm ET inside US Cellular Field and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV. July 4th Baseball. There's nothing better. Go Yankees!