Yankees (Supposed to Be) Off Day Walk Up Music Recommendation

The New York Yankees were supposed to be off today as they travel to Texas to take on the Texas Rangers so now seems like a good time to check in with an old special that used to be run here on the blog, the off day walk up music recommendation. Today I wanted to cover and showcase the music of Sonny Gray, the newest Yankee, every time he takes the mound inside Yankee Stadium.

The name of the song is Stacy’s Mom by Fountains of Wayne. Enjoy and I hope you enjoyed the off day, not many of these left this season. 

Apple Watches, Cheating and the Evil Empire

Dammit, why didn’t we think of that? The word “that” is in reference to the Boston Red Sox using an Apple Watch to steal signs from not only the New York Yankees but from other teams as well over the course of the 2017 season. Stealing signs have been around since baseball and giving signs have been around and while it technically may not be against the rules (unless you use electronic devices to do so of course which Boston did) it can be a shady thing to do. To be fair I’m sure the Yankees have done their fair share of it, there were always those allegations that Derek Jeter received signs and pitch tipping from some random guy out in center field which I never truly believed, but this is a Yankees-themed site and it was the Boston Red Sox who did it to New York so of course I’m going to talk about it. Here are my thoughts on the whole debacle. 

I will say that I think it’s great that Boston fessed up to the league about it, honesty goes a long way with me, but I am not so sure that manager John Farrell didn’t know about it like they stated. Sure, I’d buy that Dave Dombrowski and other team executives didn’t know about it but I find it highly unlikely that the manager had no idea what was going on here. Rob Manfred says a penalty is coming and I am interested to see what kind of penalty the league will lay down on Boston for this offense. I mean, what can they do? Fine them? Money is a drop in a bucket to a Major League team. They can’t reverse the outcome of games and they aren’t going to make the team postseason ineligible or anything drastic like that so what could they do? I’m not so sure but I’m not expecting much to be honest.  

Will the league follow what the NFL did when the New England Patriots got caught cheating in “Deflategate” and suspend a player for a huge chunk of the season? Tom Brady was suspended four games, or one-fourth of the NFL regular season, after cheating in the 2015 AFC Championship game while the team was also docked a first-round draft pick so maybe something along these lines could happen to the Red Sox for this scandal. I’m thinking the punishment will be more like “Spygate” though, you know that other time a Boston-area team got caught cheating, when the team was docked a 2008 draft pick in the first round while the coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 after filming Jets coaches signals during a 2007 game.  

So what are my thoughts? To hell with the Red Sox. Dock them five-or-ten games and let the Yankees win the division. I’m being a bit extreme and a tad bit sarcastic but honestly something major has to be done. You have executives from teams being charged with hacking other team’s personal files and databases and now there are reports of teams using electronic devices to steal signs. Where does it stop, and more importantly when does it stop? It stops when the league stops it so no pressure, but the future of the game is riding on this decision. A slap on the wrist encourages more cheating but a stern and strong hand nips it in the bud. Stay tuned to see which one we’ll be talking about when the league drops their decision on the Boston Red Sox. 

So it Seems… An Off Day is Needed... And Mother Nature Had Other Plans Last Night

There aren’t many of these left so enjoy them while you can ladies and gentleman, an off day. The New York Yankees, and really any team at this point in the season, need as many off days as the league will allow. There’s always those who are struggling at the plate, those nursing little nagging injuries like Aaron Judge and his shoulder and those who just need a day to clear their head and be themselves. It is human nature and the 162-game Major League Baseball season is a grind. It is also a grind for the people writing about the team day in and day out as well believe it or not and a day off is great to catch up on bookmarks, writing or just relaxing and resting. Or that whole spending time with family thing if you’re into that sort of thing. Enjoy the day but don’t enjoy it too much because here in about two months we will be having these days every day and we will all be missing us some Yankees baseball.

Especially you. HEY YOU. I loves you. 

This Day In Derek Jeter Day & New York Yankees History 9/7

On this day in 2014 the New York Yankees honored the great Derek Jeter in a pre-game ceremony at Yankee Stadium. 2014 marked the final season of Jeter's 20-season career, all with the Yankees, and came with a plaque inside Monument Park.

Also on this day in 1974 the Yankees Graig Nettles was suspended for ten games after stuffing his bat with six super balls. The bat was shattered by a pitch and found by the Detroit Tigers catcher Bill Frehan. Nettles claims the bat was given to him as a gift by a fan in Chicago and hit a home run with the bat in this game for the only run of the game. The Yankees would beat Detroit 1-0 while playing in Shea Stadium while Yankee Stadium was being renovated.

Also on this day in 1955 the Yankees Whitey Ford becomes only the fifth major league pitcher to throw consecutive one hitters. In his last start Ford held the Washington Senators to one hit, a seventh inning bloop single by Carlos Paula. In this start Ford held the Athletics to one hit in a 2-1 Yankees victory.

Also on this day in 1952 Johnny Mize hit a pinch hit grand slam to give the Yankees a 5-1 win over the Washington Senators. With the home run Mize would have the honor of hitting a home run in all 15 big league stadiums presently in use.

And finally on this day in 1908 the Washington Senators Walter Johnson continued to dominate the Yankees with his third victory in four days over the Bronx Bombers. In those three games Johnson allowed a total of zero runs to the Bronx Bombers. Johnson started the dominance with a six hit performance on Friday blanking the Yankees. Johnson pitched the very next day allowing only four hits and no runs on Saturday. The Yankees were not allowed to play on Sundays so Johnson had to wait to hold the Yankees to two hits in the first game of a Monday Labor Day doubleheader at Yankee Stadium for the third consecutive shutout.

Wednesday's Game Has Been Postponed...

Rain, Rain, Go Away, Come Again Another Day (but not Thursday)...

Unfortunately, the Yankees will have to stay in Baltimore an extra day.  Today's game against the Orioles has been postponed due to anticipated rain throughout the evening. The game has been re-scheduled for Thursday at 1:35 pm Eastern.  The day had been a scheduled day off for both teams, so now the Yankees will have to fly to Dallas/Fort Worth following tomorrow's game.  

This has been a tough week for sleep for the Bronx Bombers. A Sunday evening game in New York, late night/early morning travel to Baltimore, a day game on Monday, a win on Tuesday but a crushing rain-delayed defeat last night and now this. Tomorrow's weather forecast for Baltimore is currently sunny and 72 degrees for game time.  Hopefully the weather holds so that the game can start on time and get our guys to the airport as soon as possible. A getaway win would make the plane trip so much smoother and faster.

Odds & Ends...

Congratulations to the Rookie-Level GCL Yankees East for winning the first 2017 MiLB championship! The GCL Yankees East beat the GCL Nationals, 5-4, to win the best of three Gulf Coast League Championship series. The hitting star was 5'2" third baseman Jose Carrera (the Mini-Ronald Torreyes?) who hit a game-tying home run in the 7th inning after only hitting one during the regular season. The winning run was scored by SS Jose Devers, Rafael's cousin, on a run-scoring single by RF Jhon Moronta in the top of the 9th. The winning pitcher was Luis Rijo with 5 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.  He didn't allow any hits or walks and struck out seven.  

Luis Rijo / Credit:  Bryan Green via Pinstriped Prospects

The Yankees have placed RHP Adam Warren (lower back spasm) on the 10-day DL retroactive to September 3rd. On the bright side, the new and improved Adam Warren (a/k/a Chad Green) is just fine.

Brett Gardner has been named as the Yankees nominee for the 2017 Roberto Clemente Award. Nominees were chosen for each MLB team and the winner will be named during the World Series. The nominees were chosen as the players from each team who "exemplify the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual's contribution to his team". It is the second consecutive year that Gardner has been selected as the Yankees nominee.  

Last year's Roberto Clemente Award winner was former Yankee and then New York Met Curtis Granderson, now of the Los Angeles Dodgers.  

Credit:  Charles Rex Arbogast-Associated Press

There will never be another Roberto Clemente, certainly one of the greatest baseball players of my lifetime...

Let's try this again tomorrow.  Have a good night!

Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Baltimore Orioles 9/6

Ladies and gentleman it is game time in Baltimore as the Orioles stay home one last time this series to play host to their AL East Division rivals in the New York Yankees. In the finale of this three-game set the Yankees will send Sonny Gray to the mound looking for his third win inside Yankees pinstripes while Kevin Gausman and company look to play the spoiler for one of their most bitter rivals for the Orioles tonight. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards and can be seen on the YES Network, MASN and MLB TV. You can also follow along in your cars and on the radio by tuning into the WFAN broadcast.

Follow us on Twitter by following @GreedyStripes and enjoy the game. Need a win, get a division win and take one step closer to the postseason. Keep the pressure on the Red Sox and most importantly, have fun. Go Yankees!

USA Today’s Weekly MLB Power Rankings

Another week of Major League Baseball down the drain here in 2017 and pretty soon we won’t have any baseball left to talk about. We as a fan base need to enjoy the good times while they are here and that includes these weekly MLB Power Rankings brought to you by the USA Today. After the Yankees took three-of-four from the Boston Red Sox over the weekend was that enough to propel them up the rankings? Keep reading to find out.

The Red Sox dropped one spot out of the Top 5 to the 6^th position overall after the Yankees pummeled them over the weekend while New York also fell a spot to the #8 position. Tough crowd. The question the USA Today asked in their rankings post was whether Chad Green was the next closer. While I should probably make that another post for another day I’d just like to interject and say that I hope not. With a team that has David Robertson, Aroldis Chapman and Dellin Betances on it I am not sure how I feel about having Green as the closer. He has pitched well, don’t get me wrong, but the playoffs are what I have my eyes on and the playoffs are a whole new animal. I’m cautiously pessimistic, I can’t help it. It is in my nature.

The Top 5 consists of the Los Angeles Dodgers, duh, followed in order by the Houston Astros, the Cleveland Indians who rose a spot from last week, the Washington Nationals who fell a spot from last week and the Arizona Diamondbacks who won’t even win their own division. It is amazing what the Los Angeles Dodgers have done this season. The Cubs took the Yankees #7 position while the Colorado Rockies remained 9^th overall in a stacked National League West Division.

Don’t look now but the Minnesota Twins are red hot as they jumped three spots this week to the #11 position. Here is an interesting note on the Twins while we are on the subject, Minnesota is the only team in the league with a winning record on the road and a losing record at home. Maybe winning the second Wild Card in the American League was in the plans all along. Meanwhile the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the team I chose to win the second Wild Card in the AL, tripped up against the Oakland Athletics and fell one spot to the #12 position.

Madison Bumgarner has as many home runs (3) as wins (3) as a starting pitcher this season and we wonder why the San Francisco Giants are 29^th overall. 

Baby Bomber to Watch: Jose Mesa Jr.

The future is now in the Bronx as the Yankees are using the “out with the old and in with the new” method of rebuilding. Gone are old mainstays like Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira and in their places are Miguel Andujar, Todd Frazier temporarily and Greg Bird. The future is now in New York but the good news for the Bronx bombers it that future can be the future as well as the team has a deep and still has a great farm system after multiple trades before the July 31^st trading deadline. One of those players that could be part of the next wave of Baby Bombers to take over the league is the son of a former MLB player and his name is Jose Mesa Jr.

Mesa was drafted as a relief pitcher by the Yankees back in 2014 after drafting him in the 24^th round of the MLB Draft. Mesa has since switched to the starting pitching role after a down season in 2016 and has posted a 4-0 record with a 0.79 ERA with the Double-A Trenton Thunder after conquering High-A with the Tampa Yankees. Mesa has succeeded as a start due in large part to his control and command of his pitches. Mesa is striking out 10.8 batters per nine innings while walking just 3.4 batters per nine innings, both are drastic improvements from his numbers as a reliever.

Mesa has not garnered some of the attention that other pitchers have in the Yankees minor league system like Chance Adams but with numbers like the above it is hard to merely blink an eye or miss what Mesa has done in a short stint this season. If the Yankees can strike gold with Mesa like they have with many other pitchers who have gone from relief pitcher to starting pitcher the team will have a great problem on their hands, too many good arms and not enough innings to throw them all.

The Greedy Pinstripes did a “Meet a Prospect” on Jose Mesa back in 2014 when he was drafted and you can read that below. Maybe one day soon I can say I interviewed the son of a MLB pitcher who himself became a MLB pitcher of the same name. Jose Mesa. Look out for this one.

http://www.thegreedypinstripes.com/2012/07/meet-prospect-jose-mesa-jr.html

Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Baltimore Orioles 9/6

The New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles will finish off their three-game set tonight inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards with a matchup of two potential aces for each ball club. The Yankees will send Sonny Gray to the mound who will be looking for a little bit of run support behind him for once while the Orioles will counter with Kevin Gausman who hasn’t needed much run support lately to win. The calendar is now in September and the regular season games are running out making each decision, each run and each contest all the more important.

Gray hasn’t received much run support since joining the Yankees as we alluded to earlier which may have contributed to his 2-4 start in six starts for the Bombers. Gray hasn’t been his dominant self either though and especially wasn’t in his last start against the Red Sox where he gave up four runs in seven innings of work including three home runs.

Gausman has posted a 2.55 ERA with 16 strikeouts in his last 17.2 innings and has been especially solid for Baltimore down the stretch. Gausman did not factor in the decision in his last start, a 13-inning affair the Orioles finally won on Friday night, but pitched well overall for Baltimore in the contest.

The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside Oriole Park and Camden Yards and can be seen on the YES Network, MASN and MLB TV. You can also follow along in your cars and on the radio by tuning into the WFAN broadcast with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman. Enjoy the game, need a win so get a win, and go Yankees!!!

Betances Fails The Late Night Show...

Credit:  Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

Orioles 7, Yankees 6...

I've never been a big fan of Dellin Betances as closer and Tuesday night was Exhibit A.  I do not feel that he has the closer's mentality and his arm plays best in a prime setup role. His inability to throw strikes to Tim Beckham with two outs set up Manny Machado for the late night heroics with a dramatic two-run walk-off home run. I've felt all along that David Robertson should have been the interim closer but at this point, an argument could be made for the return of Aroldis Chapman.

In a game delayed by rain (game time was 9:15 pm Eastern), the Orioles scored first in the bottom of the first inning. Jonathan Schoop worked a two-out walk off Yankees starter CC Sabathia.  Adam Jones reached base on an infield single to third (a slow roller that hit the bag). During Trey Mancini's at-bat, a wild pitch by Sabathia that got away from Austin Romine allowed the runners to move up to second and third.  Mancini proceeded to hit a short dribbler to short. Didi Gregorius charged in to retrieve the ball but in the words of Michael Kay, he had to "eat it" when there was no play at either first or home. Schoop scored and the O's led 1-0.  

The Yankees erupted in the third inning against Orioles starter Jeremy Hellickson. Austin Romine led off with a single to left through the hole.  After Brett Gardner lined out to right, Aaron Judge walked and Starlin Castro was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Didi Gregorius lined a single to right which scored both Romine and Judge.  Judge slid in safely under the throw.  Matt Holliday walked to re-load the bases. The O's then pulled Hellickson and replaced him with former Yankee Richard Bleier. Greg Bird hit a sacrifice fly to center which scored Castro. An error by center fielder Adam Jones, he dropped the ball, allowed Bird to safely reach base and the bases were still loaded.  Todd Frazier grounded out softly to short with the only play the throw to first. Gregorius came home with the fourth run.  Jacoby Ellsbury was next and he singled up the middle to center to score Holliday and Bird. The Yankees were seemingly in control at 6-1.

Credit:  Patrick Semansky-Associated Press

Leading off the bottom of the 3rd, Manny Machado, the American League Player of the Month in August, gave a preview of coming attractions with his line drive home run to center.  The Yankees still led, 6-2, but it was statement by Machado that the game was not over.  

While the Yankees were struggling to get runners past second base, the O's added another run in the bottom of the 5th inning when Jonathan Schoop took Sabathia deep to left center for a solo homer.  

Sabathia pitched into the 6th inning but overstayed his welcome. Trey Mancini led off with a looper just over Todd Frazier's outreached glove for a single.  Mark Trumbo took advantage and blasted a two-run shot to left. It was a one-run game. After Chris Davis grounded out for the first out of the inning, the Yankees finally pulled Sabathia.  Tommy Kahnle took over and got the final two outs.

Girardi's formula was then to use David Robertson for the 7th and Aroldis Chapman for the 8th. Both men did their jobs. Each retiring the three batters they faced.  Unfortunately, after the big 3rd inning, the Yankees offense stalled. Their last chance came in the 8th when they had two men on base with only one out, but Aaron Judge struck out and Starlin Castro popped out to third in foul territory to strand the runners.

Fast-forward to the bottom of the 9th, Dellin Betances took over for Chapman and retired the first two batters. He needed just one more out which never came.  He couldn't throw strikes to Tim Beckham, walking him on a 3-1 count.  Manny Machado, swinging at a poorly placed high pitch from Betances, sent the ball over the wall in center field for the walk-off two-run home run.  

Credit:  Associated Press

The Yankees (74-64) lost ground to the Boston Red Sox. The Sox were trailing the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 in the bottom of the 9th before tying the game and sending it into extra innings. They finally scored the walk-off run in the 19th inning to win the game and push the Yankees 3 1/2 games back. The Orioles moved back to 3 1/2 games behind the Yankees with the win.  The Los Angeles Angels leap-frogged the Minnesota Twins and trail the Yankees by 2 1/2 games in the Wild Card Standings. The Angels beat the Oakland A's, 8-7, in 10 innings, while the Twins fell to the Tampa Bay Rays, 2-1.

This is another game that the Yankees should have won. It would have been huge to win the first two games in Baltimore.  But it was not meant to be so hopefully the Yankees can rebound today. Rain is in the forecast throughout the evening so there's a strong possibility the game is called and pushed to Thursday. When the teams take the field, the Yankees must play like a team fighting for the post-season and avoid the mistakes that allow the opponent to capitalize. Moving Betances back to set up would be a start.

Odds & Ends...

Every time the Yankees add a player from Triple A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, I can't help but feel bad for RailRiders Manager Al Pedrique as his team prepares for its International League playoff series against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. But then again, the RailRiders can raid from the Double A Trenton Thunder as 2B Billy Fleming will attest. I guess talent rolls up hill. The latest RailRider to exit the team is 1B/OF Tyler Austin who was promoted to the big league club prior to yesterday's game.  It makes more sense for Austin to provide outfield corner support than either Tyler Wade or Ronald Torreyes. Austin had two home runs the other day in the RailRiders' regular season finale.

Luis Severino's post on The Player's Tribune website entitled My Journey to the Bronx is a great read. It makes you feel proud and excited to be a Yankees fan. I didn't realize how close he came to being a Colorado Rockie. I am glad it didn't happen and that the opportunity to play for his favorite childhood team came to fruition.

Have a great Wednesday! Let's grab a win today at Camden Yards before the team jumps on a plane bound for the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex! Go Yankees!