Yanks Cap Off Series Sweep Of White Sox With 8-3 Win

You know things are going well when Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin combine for a 1-hit shutout. I got to see most of the game before we had to leave for my wife's family reunion (thanks son for taking an extra-long nap). I made it through the top half of the 8th before we had to go. The game was well in hand but that didn't stop me from logging onto the Internet with my cell phone (something I had to pay for) about 30 minutes after we left to check the final. I have to say it. I was impressed with both Mitre and Gaudin. I definitely did not see that coming.

Mitre looked pretty solid. It's a shame he got knocked out of the game though. He was cruising and could have gone the distance as he was only at 73 pitches when he left with 1 out in the 7th. It definitely helped Sergio that the Yankees offense staked him to an early lead. Sergio could afford to be more aggressive and let the Yankees defense back him up. I guess you could say the same went for Gaudin. The offense came through in a big way, scoring runs in every even-numbered inning. It was a pretty good game all-around. Well played.

The series finale was close until the offense exploded for 5 in the 7th. After that it was smooth sailing. I'm not a fan of these new "Joba rules." I get wanting to limit his innings to save his arm but it seems like such a waste to have him start and throw 3 innings. Maybe I'm old school but I think pitch counts and inning limits are ridiculous. I also don't get why it's an inning limit and not a pitch count limit that they're concerned with. It's not the # of innings that affects one's arm, it's the # of pitches they throw. Joba threw 35 pitches today. Seems like such a low amount. Typically, he'd throw that in 2 innings. I wonder what their plan was, 35 pitches or 3 innings? I'm not advocating putting him in the bullpen but they might as well if the plan is to use him for so few pitches. But that's just me. I haven't fully processed it yet so maybe I'll change how I feel about it.

Great game from the Yankee pen, except for Phil Coke, in relief of Joba. Joba left with a 3-2 lead and the pen kept it there until the offense broke through. Phil Coke's slide down the ladder continued today. I wanted to smack him when he pointed up on the HR he gave up. I've written that before about Coke. He points up to indicate a pop-up on deep fly balls. You don't do that, especially on HRs. I vaguely remember reading that Coke got "fined" for doing that when the Yankees' Kangaroo Court convened earlier this year. Coke, unless he pitches tomorrow, is going to finish the month with an ERA of 11.17. That's a quick way to get relegated to mop-up duty. With Damaso Marte back and pitching well so far (no hits/runs in 3 appearances), Coke is probably going to be used very sparingly and not in any big spots. At least I hope that's the case. Phil Hughes continues to dominate as a reliever. He made his 30th appearance out of the pen today and had another great outing. It's been one solid performance after another. As a RP, Phil has allowed only 5 ERs in 38 innings. That's a 1.18 ERA. Talk about being the man. 38 innings, 22 hits, 10 walks, and a whopping 48 Ks. Hughes and Rivera are probably the best bullpen combo out there right now. It's pretty much game over.

The offense again had a nice day at the plate. They were 9 for 23 with RISP over the last 2 games. Derek Jeter continues to stay hot picking up another 2 hits and raising his average to .335. His average for the month of August is .381. Talk about being en fuego. Jeter has to be the Player of the Month, right? Mark Teixeira picked up 4 RBI today and had the big 3-run HR that broke the game open in the 7th. The 4 RBI give him 101 for the year, which is best in the AL by 5. Teixeira and Jeter should each get some serious consideration for the MVP award. They're both very deserving.

The Yanks are 6 games up on the Red Sox. The Yanks are off to Baltimore while the Red Sox are headed to Tampa Bay. The Yanks play their next 7 games on the road, 3 with the Orioles and 4 withe the Blue Jays. The Red Sox also play their next 7 on the road, 3 with the Rays and 4 with the White Sox. It's a good time for the Yanks to put a little more of a cushion in between them and the Sox. Even if they just maintain their 6 game lead, they'll be 6 up with 25 to play. Not a bad place to be. Andy Pettitte starts the road trip off tomorrow. He's been pretty darn good this year in the 2nd half and he's done better on the road than at home. His ERA is over a full point lower on the road, 3.58 (away) to 4.65 (home). AP is rocking a 2.84 ERA in August and it's 2.79 since the ASB. That's pretty good. Let's hope he kicks the roadie off right and does what we expect him to do and that's pitch a beauty.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Win 5-2 On Cano Walkoff In Extra Innings

Great game tonight. Too bad I missed it. Thanks again My9 and the local Buffalo TV stations. I appreciate not being able to see those games. I did follow along a little online and caught the live in-game break-ins that they do on the MLB Network. I did get to see Cano's walkoff. That was a thing of beauty. He's Robbie Cano. Don'tcha know?

I got a text from my friend Tom as soon as the game ended. It read, "Walk off baby......Let's go Yankees......" To which I replied, "I just caught the highlights. I don't get the My9 games." He came back with, "I saw the whole thing. CC pitched awesome." I responded with, "I followed along online, Def looks like he did." He wrapped up the exchange with, "Oh yeah, dominating type stuff." Now that I've bored you beyond belief, I think we can all agree that CC has been worth every penny. I didn't see the game but I'll take my buddy's word that he was dominating. His pitching line certainly supports it. Too bad he didn't pick up his league leading 16th win. He pitched well enough to earn it. The offense fell short several times from what I saw while I was following along. But a win is a win. I'll take it and I'm sure so will CC.

Big up to the bullpen for pitching 3 scoreless. Phil Hughes was again the man. He came in and faced the heart of the White Sox order and sent them down in order via the K. Mo was typical Mo. Brian Bruney picked up the W in relief. Could the Brumeister be back on track? This was his 7th straight outing with out allowing a run. His line in those 7 games: 8.1 IP, 6 hits, 5 BB, 3 K, and as I mentioned and most important of all, no runs. Bruney is probably pitching his way back up the ladder. I still don't want to see him in big spots as he's too erratic. I'm never sure what will happen when Bruney pitches. It's always an adventure.

I'm not sure what I'll be able to see tomorrow. It's time for the wife's family reunion, something I've happened to miss every year since we've been married (5 years this Thanksgiving). No such luck this year. Looks like it's Sergio Mitre versus Jose Contreras. Might not be a bad game to miss.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

One Mistake Will Kill You, Yanks Lose Series With 7-2 Loss To Rangers

I didn't get to follow along with much of the game today. I never fare well with staying up on weekday afternoon games. This thing called 'work' usually gets in the way. I had a meeting today from 1-2 so that killed the 1st hour. I'm in a training class also and that kills my chances to listen to it on the radio. My only option is to follow along online. That gets tricky in a training class. I saw my first update at 2pm when it was 1-0 Yanks. The next time I looked it was 3-1 Texas and Ian Kinsler just went deep. It looked like A.J. Burnett was cruising along up until that point. The HR was the 1st hit A.J. gave up but it came at just the right time, as he just walked two straight batters. From what I've gathered, it sounds like the bomb to Kinsler was A.J.'s one big mistake. And it was a doozy. As a pitcher, you can only hope your offense is there to pick you up. Today, it wasn't.

A.J.'s final pitching line looks pretty damn good. Anybody that whiffs 12 guys in 6 innings has some pretty dominant stuff working for him. If only he could have finished off either Josh Hamilton or Nelson Cruz. I heard on the post-game show he had 2 strikes on both hitters and ended up walking them. I think I heard he had Cruz down 1-2 and ended up losing him. That hurts right there. It's a little Joba-esque, no?

Phil Coke is starting to wear on my nerves. My friend Nick has been saying for months that Phil Coke sucks. I was always defending him. As I thought about him today, I'm wondering why and what Coke was doing that had me fooled? Perhaps I was stuck on how well he pitched in June, posting a 0.71 ERA. Perhaps it's that he tends to be better more often than when he's bad, but when he's bad, he's really bad. He's allowed earned runs in 15 of his 59 games this season. That doesn't sound too bad, especially when I see that 2 of them were in his 1st 3 games of the season, and 6 came in July. He's given up earned runs 3 times in August. He's very hit and miss. I can't really call a relief pitcher with an ERA over 5 good by any means. Right now, I'm still trying to justify that he's good and I'm hating myself for doing it. Back in the day you called a relief pitcher with an ERA over 5 a minor leaguer. Nowadays it's almost par for the course. My advice for Girardi when it comes to Coke: use him for a guy to two and try to keep it to lefties. Anything other than that and it's asking for trouble.

A new series starts tomorrow. The White Sox are coming to town. The big man is going for the Yanks. CC has been pretty awesome lately. He's won 5 straight 8 of his last 10. He's given up only 6 earned runs in his last 4 starts, a span of 30.1 IP. The Pale Hose are sending Mark Buehrle. Buehrle is winless since he threw a perfect game. He's lost 4 of his last 6 starts and has an ERA of 6.21 in those games. The Yanks bombed him the last time the two teams met. They pounded him for 7 runs on 12 hits in 4.1 IP. What's that all mean? Absolutely nothing, as baseball games aren't played on paper. I like our chances though with CC going. But that goes without saying.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Bounce Back With 9-2 Victory Over Rangers

The Yanks got back into the win column yesterday with their 9-2 drubbing of the Rangers. Andy Pettitte pitched a good game and I'm hoping his start ends this recent swing of crappy pitching performances. It's Burnett's turn to keep the good time rolling. Pettitte has returned to form by continuing to pitch very well in the second half. Andy has had an outstanding month, going 3-0 in 5 starts with a 2.84 ERA. He went into the ASB with a 4.85 ERA. 8 starts later and it's down .67 points. He's doing something right. I'm most pleased that he's keeping the ball in the park, giving up only 1 HR in August. I think that's more of a by-product of not pitching as much in Yankee Stadium. Andy has made 26 starts this year, 13 have been at home, 13 have been on the road. He's given up 17 HRs this year and only 3 have come on the road. He's given up HRs in 9 of his 13 home starts. There's no place like home, except when your Andy Pettitte.

It was a good game for the offense too. 5 for 5 with RISP. Talk about being efficient. Everyone had a hit except for, you guessed it, Melky Cabrera. Melky is hitting .193 in August. His OBP (.234) and SLG (.318) are abysmal. According to Pete Abraham's game post, Melky is hitting .209 with a .258 on-base percentage since Brett Gardner went on the disabled list. All I can say is get well soon Brett. Melky is playing his way right out of the OF.

I'd love to stay and chat but I'm late for a meeting. Enjoy the game.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Swisher's Failed Bunt Attempt

Despite my good fortune of having access to last night's Yankees/Rangers game on My9, I didn't get to watch it. Turns out that the suite the fam and I had wasn't conducive to staying up and watching TV while the kids were in bed. There just wasn't enough room. I got see a couple of the early-mid innings. You know, the ones where Joba and Chad Gaudin looked awful. I didn't get to see the 9th inning comeback but did see the highlights, or should I say lowlights, on TV this morning. I would have loved to have seen that ending but it's probably a good thing I didn't. I would have woken up the fam for sure.

I checked out my fave Yankee blogs this afternoon and saw a lot of comments about Swisher's attempted bunt in the 9th inning. More people were against the bunt attempt that I thought. Personally, I had no problem with it. I definitely see the merits for both viewpoints. But here's what I think. Nick Swisher is a major leaguer. Every major leaguer, regardless of who they are, should be able to drop down a bunt. It's something that should be very easy to do. Swisher should have been able to keep it on the ground. Assuming Swisher gets the bunt down, the Yankees probably have the tying run on 3rd and the winning run on 2nd with 1 out. Conventional wisdom says that the Rangers would have issued a free pass to Melky Cabrera, loading the bases with 1 down and Derek Jeter at the plate. If you're a Yankee fan is there anyone else you'd rather have up in that position? Not me. I'll take Jeter every time. Now let's say they didn't walk Melky, which would have been a good possibility because it's Melky. Who knows what happens there? Texas would likely pull the infield in, making the chances of a double play very slim. Let's say Melky fails in his attempt to bring a runner home. Derek Jeter steps in and gets a shot. I'd be happy with that. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way and the worst possible outcome happened. Swisher popped out and Melky lined into a game-ending DP lineout.

Again though, I do see the other side of it also. Swisher is very adept at getting on base. He could have worked a walk and loaded the bases with no outs. He's also a .sub-250 hitter with the propensity to strikeout. If you're a betting man, the odds are that Swisher doesn't deliver. A 1 in 4 chance he gets a hit and a 37% chance he gets on base. I have to side with Girardi on this one, assuming he made the call and Swisher didn't do it on his own. Either way, I liked trying to put the winning run on 2nd with 1 out. Swisher apparently needs some bunting practice.

Yanks are currently up 9-2 in the 8th. I think this one is in the bag.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Finally, I Get To See A My9 Game!

Greetings from the Hampton Inn in beautiful Rochester, NY. I'm excited because the hotel carries Time Warner Cable and the My9 game is being broadcast on the Time Warner Sports Channel 13. I don't have the luxury of watching My9 games in Buffalo. And it figures that the one time I get to watch, they're not doing so hot. Joba was awful. But they're only down 2 so plenty of time for a comeback. Back to the game!!

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-boogie

Some Links Worth Checking Out

I've received a few e-mails lately of things people thought that Yankee fans would find interesting. I agree, so here are some links to check out:

Steve from the Yankee blog WasWatching has some info about Thurman Munson's son Michael's sports pub, aptly titled Munson's Home Plate Sports Pub.

ESPN's E:60 has a report on Special Day at Yankee Stadium for Young Fan. In short, Yankee players Andy Pettite, Joba Chamberlain and Alex Rodriguez befriended an 11-year-old boy and gave his little league baseball team a memorable experience. It's going to air tomorrow night, Tuesday 8/25, at 7pm. A preview clip can be viewed here.

That is all. Carry on.

J-Boogie

Yanks Bomb Back-Back-Back-Back-Beckett For 5 HRs 8-4 Win Over Red Sox

I'm going to make tonight's post short and sweet, and will be probably back sometime tomorrow to expand on it. Tonight's game wasn't the epic battle that I was expecting. CC definitely was the better pitcher tonight and the win gives him 15 on the year, which is the most in MLB. CC is worth every penny of that huge contract. He's going to get better too down the stretch.

The offense pounded Josh Beckett for 5 longballs. Matsui is on a power trip, belting another 2 HRs. It's the 3rd time in 7 games that Hideki has gone deep twice. Beckett is good, but he's no longer a Yankee killer. That's got to sting a little hey RSN. Beckett has been getting pounded lately, giving up 10 HRs in his last 3 games. Ouch. The Yanks are definitely representing that Bronx Bombers moniker this year. 5 Yankees have 20+ HRs. Cano is sitting on the doorstep with 19. Jeter has 16 and Posada has 15. It's highly possible that 8 Yankees will finish the year with 20+ HRs. I'd lay money on it.

The win puts the Yanks lead in the AL East at 7.5 games, which is 2 more than it was 10 games ago, when this road trip started. It's awesome that they knocked 10 games off the schedule and put some distance between them and the Sox. There are 38-39 games to go and picking up 7.5 games on the best team in baseball is not going to be easy. It's been done before so anything is possible, but the Yanks are playing so well right now that I don't see it happening. They now get to enjoy a well-deserved off day and then it's time for a 6 game homestand. And who has the best home record in all of MLB? If you said the Yankees, then you'd be right. Things are good right now in the Yankees Universe. Things are very good.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

A.J. Burnett Should Never Be Allowed To Pitch In Fenway Park, Red Sox Trounce Yanks 14-1

It's hard to believe that the Yankees put up 20 runs in the 1st game of this series with the Red Sox, and after two games, have been outscored, 25-21. The pitching, much like yesterday, was awful, except worse. If the Yankees ;earn one thing from today's game I hope it's this: Don't let A.J. Burnett pitch in Fenway Park. If the two teams happen to meet in the ALCS, work out the rotation so that A.J. avoids pitching there. He has been beyond dreadful in his 3 starts in Fenway this year. See for yourself:

1. April 25th- no decision, 5 IP, 8 hits, 8 ER, 2 HR, 3 BB, 5 K
2. June 9th- loss, 2.2 IP, 5 hits, 5 runs, 3 ER, 1 HR, 5 BB, 1 K
3. August 22- loss, 5 IP, 9 hits, 9 ER, 3 HR, 2 BB, 6 K

For those of you without a calculator nearby, that adds up to 3 games, 2 losses, 12.2 IP, 22 hits, 22 runs, 20 ER, 6 HR, 10 BB, 12 K. That works out to a WHIP of 2.53 and an ERA of 14.21. You don't need a calculator to know what they equals up to. Memo to the Yanks: don't let A.J. pitch there.....EVER!

Alfredo Aceves continued his rapid decline with a sub-par performance. It's hard to believe that on July 21, about 1 month ago, Ace's ERA was 2.53 and he was one of the key components at the back end of the pen. 8 outings later and Ace's ERA is now north of 4 at 4.12. He's allowed runs in 6 of his last 8 outings. 17 runs in 17 innings to be exact. He's not getting the job done, plain and simple. I was an advocate of the Yankees trying to work Aceves into the rotation, in place of Sergio Mitre, but forget that. After his last outing, I wrote that I wasn't ready to write him off. I'm still not, but I'm teetering on the brink. He needs to improve, like now. I'm inclined to think he's got something wrong with him, though like most guys (I'm talking 'bout you Brian Bruney), he'll say he's fine when he's not.

The Yankees definitely had their chances today to score their share of runs. You should score more than 1 run when you rack up 12 hits and 3 walks. The Red Sox definitely made the most of their hits today. The Yankees obviously didn't. It was pretty much the polar opposite of yesterday. Well, sort of. They hit the ball well both days. They just weren't efficient at all today. They were o-9 with RISP. They left 13 guys on base. Jeter, Posada, and Swisher were the only ones who didn't leave anyone on. Melky came up empty with 6 runners on. Matsui didn't produce with 7. I don't think there's anything to be overly concerned about when it comes to the offense.

The loss puts the two teams right back where they started two days ago. The Sox are 6.5 back and tomorrow it's Sabathia vs. Beckett on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. Even if the Yanks lose, they're still in pretty good shape. They started the road trip with a 5.5 game which is exactly where they'll be if they lose tomorrow. The big thing is that they'll have knocked 10 games off the schedule without their lead shrinking. It's pretty big when you can do that, especially on a road trip. So even if they lose tomorrow, no big deal.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Can Jim Rice Be Any More Of An A-Hole?

When I was writing my post after last night's game, it got late and I totally blanked on what my final thought was going to be. I woke up this morning, after about 4 hours of sleep (thanks Coop!), and it hit me. Jim Rice needs to shut his trap. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, let me bring you up to speed. Jim Rice was speaking to a group of little leaguers at the Little League World Series in Williamsport and basically said that Derek Jeter was a poor role model for kids. Here's his quote:

"You see a Manny Ramirez, you see an A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez), you see (Derek) Jeter ... Guys that I played against and with, these guys you’re talking about cannot compare. We didn’t have the baggy uniforms. We didn’t have the dreadlocks. It was a clean game, and now they’re setting a bad example for the young guys."

The article also states that when asked who of today's players he felt were worthy of being in the HOF, he replied with Ichiro, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Jim Thome. It also states he spoke to the kids about having respect for their coaches, teammates and parents.

Come again Jim? If there's anybody in baseball today that goes about things the right way and is a perfect role model for kids, it's Derek Jeter. And I'm saying that as a baseball fan, not as a Yankee fan. Jeter plays hard and he puts the team over individual accomplishments. I'll bet if you took a poll of all living baseball players and fans, only 1 person would say this about Derek Jeter, and that's Jim Rice. What an a-hole. I can't fathom why anyone would lump Jeter in the same boat as A-Rod and Manny Ramirez. The only comparison there is that they all make ridiculous amounts of money. Sounds like someone is a bit jealous. And not to include him in the HOF? I can only assume that Rice thinks Jeter's talent is not purely God-given and that Jeter used some form of PEDs. I'll say it again. I'll bet if you took a poll of all living baseball players and fans, only 1 person would think Derek Jeter isn't a HOFer and used PEDs, and that's Jim Rice. What an a-hole. I'll bet even the most die-hard Red Sox fans wouldn't think that.

I know some people out there think Jeter is overrated, but come on now. He's a slam dunk for the HOF and rightfully deserves to be there. DJ will get in on the 1st ballot, not the 15th, like Rice. Again, sounds like someone is a bit jealous. I also love the argument that people make about Jeter only being this good because he played for the Yankees, and not say the Nationals or some other lower level team. That line of thinking is beyond ridiculous. I suppose the same goes for Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle. Jeter has 4 rings (so far), 2699 career hits (so far, and the most ever for shortstops), and is a career .317 hitter. He's going to finish his career with more than 3000 hits and I wouldn't be surprised if he finishes with more than 3500, which could put him in the top 5 of all time. Heck, if he wanted to, he could probably make a run at the Hit King Pete Rose. But that's the thing about Jeter. He's not in it for the individual accomplishments. Rice should know that.

Let the back-pedaling begin. Rice is now coming out and saying he was misquoted. I'm not buying it. And neither is Derek Jeter. When Jeter heard about the so-called misquote, he replied, "Misquoted? How was he misquoted?” Exactly. What an a-hole.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Put On An Offensive Clinic, Destroying The Red Sox 20-11

Tonight's 20-11 win over the Red Sox was extremely fun and extremely aggravating to watch. It was a blowout, but it very quickly could have become a close game. The Yankees' pitching staff was horrendous tonight. 12-1 becomes 12-4. 15-4 becomes 15-7. 20-7 becomes 20-11. Now, it was never really a close game. It was always pretty much well in hand. But there were a few times where the Sox were 1 swing away from making it a 4-5 run ballgame and there would have been plenty of time left to make it up the deficit. Pettitte was bad. Bruney was bad. Mitre was bad. It's a good thing that the offense was the best it's looked all season.

There wasn't anyhting the Red Sox pitchers could do to stop the Yankees tonight. They hammered Brad Penny. How is Brad Penny still pitching for the Red Sox? That's worked out pretty well for them, eh? Michael Bowden? Way to take one for the team. Have fun in Pawtucket. Someone tell me how Ramon Ramirez has an ERA of 2.67? It seems like every time I see him pitch he's getting knocked around. I guess it's just the Yankees that knock him around. The Yanks own Ramirez. His career line versus the Yanks: 9.1 IP, 15 H, 9 ER, 9 BB and 4 HR. That's brutal. As fun as it is to crack on the so-called "excellent" Sox pitching staff, the Yankees staff was almost as bad tonight.

20 runs on 23 hits. 15 for 25 with RISP. You read that right. 25 ABs with RISP. Everyone who played most of the game had at least 1 hit, 1 run, and 1 RBI. When does that ever happen? They put on a clinic tonight. Cano was the only one who didn't have at least 2 hits. A-Rod had an awesome night, going 4-4 with 3 singles and a triple. He missed a HR by inches, if that. He almost went yard twice. Matsui went yard twice and knocked in a career-high 7 RBI. Like A-Rod, he came real close to another HR. Jeter had another 3 hits. That's his 6th straight multi-hit game and the 4th time in 5 games he had 3 hits. It's been quite the roadie for the Captain. 19 for 35 (.543) with 8 RBI. It's tough to pick who had the best night. If you can't give the WWE Championship belt to the whole offense, I'd give it to Alex. He hit the ball really well all night. It was the best they've ever looked.

Holy crap. It's almost 1am. Why the heck am I still up? I know I had another thought but it's gone. Like the Red Sox pitching staff, I've got nothing. Burnett vs. Tazawa tomorrow on FOX. It's time to sweep the leg and dump these suckers in a body bag. The end is near. Man I'm tired.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Escape Oakland With 3-2 Win

For some odd reason I stayed up and watched the entire Yankees/A's game. I think it was because it was such a close game and there were a lot of big spots that came up that the Yankees wiggled their way out of.

Chad Gaudin pitched very well. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't good enough as he fell 2 outs short of going 5 innings, the minimum to be eligible for the win. Alfredo Aceves came up in a huge spot (bases loaded, 1 out) and came up big by getting Kurt Suzuki to ground into an inning-ending 1-2-3 DP. Aceves got into a bit of a jam (bases loaded, 2 outs) and was bailed out by Phil Coke. Phil Hughes got into a pickle in the 8th by allowing the 1st 2 hitters to reach base but got a big DP and a fly out to get out of it. That was some high drama right there. There was no drama in the 9th when Mariano came in for a classic 3 up 3 down save. I'm becoming increasingly confident about the Yankees bullpen and their ability to preserve leads late in games. It's almost feeling like it's an automatic win if the Yankees take a lead into the 7th. Aceves though has been struggling a little bit lately. Ace's ERA has jumped up 1.29 points over his last 7 outings with his last 2 outings having a big imapct. Ace has given up 6 ER on 8 hits in his last 2 outings (4 IP). He's thrown 15 IP in his last 7 games and has given up 13 ER (7.80 ERA) and 18 hits. It's a little misleading because he did have some good outings mixed in there. I'm not close to writing off Ace. He's done a great job this season. I still think they should have worked him back into the rotation but I'm pretty sure there are no longer plans to do that.

It wasn't a great day for the offense. 6 hits. The bottom 6 in the order went a combined 1 for 20 with a walk and 7 Ks. Jeter remained hot picking up another 2 hits, making that 5 multi-hit games in a row. Damon picked up 2 hits. Mark Teixeira knocked in all 3 Yankee runs. Tex's 31st HR ties him for the league lead and his 3 ribbies puts him at 89 on the year, 5 behind league leader, Justin Morneau. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Mark finishes the year winning two-thirds of the triple crown. What a great signing!

The Yanks now get a much deserved day off and then it's 3 in Boston. I'm really excited about this series and in the Yankees' chances to sweep. The pitching matchups definitely favor the Yanks. Pettitte vs. Brad Penny. A.J. vs. Junichi Tazawa. CC vs. Josh Beckett. This could be the weekend that for all intents and purposes wins us the East. It should be a good one. The Sunday night game should be epic.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

CC Snaps The "Losing Streak" As Yanks Beat A's 7-2

As I knew I would, I stayed up way later than I wanted to last night watching the Yanks/A's game. I made it through the Yankees half of the 6th. Like the night before, I saw all that there was to see in terms of the scoring. I'm glad I didn't miss much.

CC was on point yesterday. I was a little surprised that he gave up 2 HRs in that giant ballpark. I didn't see that coming. Outside of the 2 bombs, CC pretty much had the game on lockdown. He has great control (70% of pitches were strikes) and his stuff was working. The win moves CC's record to an impressive 14-7, which ties him with Josh Beckett and Adam Wainwright for the most in the majors. I can't wait for Sunday's showdown in Fenway when CC and Beckett matchup. That should be another epic Yankees/Sox battle. Prediction? i'm not touching it but I think you'd know what I'd say if I didn't believe in jinxes.

Derek Jeter is in the zone. He's now had 3 straight 3-hit games, 4 straight multi-hit games, and has 7 multi-hit games in his last 9 games, one of which he left after 1 AB. The Captain is having a monster August. Jeter is hitting .377 (29-for-77) with 4 HR this month. It's hard to believe his August is going better than his July. Jeter hit .357 for the month of July. He's having an MVP-caliber year that's for sure. He'll get some consideration and could make a push for it if he keeps this pace up. It'll be an interesting vote. Teixeira will no doubt get some love and I wouldn't be surprised if A-Rod gets a vote or two. The team was after all 13-15 before he came off the DL. It's not a coincidence that the team took off once Alex returned. Alex may not be putting up the MVP numbers, but he's definitely one of the league's most valuable players.

I have no idea what to expect tonight from Chad Gaudin. I'm kind of expecting him to tank but I would love to see him pull a Brett Tomko and pitch well against one of his former ballclubs. This game will wrap up this west coast string and then it's off to Boston. The Yanks currently have a 7 game lead on their rivals. If the Yankees go .500 the rest of the way, they'll end up with 96 wins. I think that's a given. For the Red Sox to win 96 games, they'll have to go 29-15 to close out the season. It's not impossible, but it's unlikely. Sweeping them this weekend would all but end their chances of winning the East and the Sox deathwatch will officially start.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Blanked By A's

I watched 1/2 of last night's Yankees/A's game. I made it though the top half of the 5th. I woke up this morning and checked the score and found out I saw all there was to see. It was 3-0 when I went to bed and that's how it finished. It looks like A.J. pitched a decent ball game, except for the 1 inning where he gave up 3 runs on 4 hits. That was just an ugly inning all around.

On most nights the Yankees would win that game because the offense should always be good for at least 4 runs. They just couldn't get anything off the ground tonight. The big blow came when A-Rod grounded into a 1-2-3 DP to end the inning with the bases juiced. That could have been a game changer right there. Brett Tomko must have loved pitching as well as he did considering the Yanks pretty much effed him over all year long.

Not much else to say about that loss. A.J. had a solid outing and the bats were apparently left in Seattle. It happens.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Split Final 2 Games In Seattle

Greetings. I hope everyone had a great weekend. I don't know about where you are but it was hot in my neck of woods. I wish we had central air.

I caught very little of the Yankee games on Saturday and Sunday/ I saw the last inning or so Saturday and same story Sunday. I spent most of Saturday night trying to get my little one to sleep. He took an extra long time to eat and fall asleep. By the time that was all said and done it was a little after midnight. So I got to catch the tail end of the Saturday night win. Mitre surprisingly got the win and the Yankees are surprisingly 4-2 in games Mitre has started. Mitre again lived on the edge, allowing too many baserunners for my liking. It looks like he can thank David Robertson for saving his bacon. Two big Ks with the bases juiced. Nicely done D-Rob. I suppose this has bought Mitre a little more time in the Yankees rotation. I'm actually starting to think he'll be a permanent fixture the rest of the way. There just aren't a lot of options out there and the Yanks are in pretty good shape when it comes to the standings. So unless Mitre's arm falls off, I think he's here to stay. Yippee, he says sarcastically.

It looks like yesterday was a run-of-the-mill start for Joba. It's amazing that more than half his starts have been no-decisions. The Yankees do surprisingly well when Joba starts, winning 16 of the 23 games. I don't really know what to make of that. Joba definitely benefits from a lot of run support. The Yanks have scored 71 runs in his last 10 starts. The more I think about it, the more I'm puzzled about Joba's numbers. 8-3 with a 3.98 ERA is pretty good on the surface. But I don't think of Joba as that good a pitcher. sure the potential to dominate is there. But so is the potential to last only 5 innings. I'm not a big believer in the "quality start" stat. i think it makes pitchers look better than they really are because in my opinion, pitching to the tune of a 4.50 ERA isn't good. Joba has again made 23 starts this year and only 11 of them would be considered a quality start. But again, I think it's a bogus measure of a pitcher's effectiveness. CC Sabathia has only made 13 starts that would be considered a quality start. Umm, I totally forget where I was going with this. I guess when it comes to Joba, I'm never sure what to expect. He can be really good. He can be really bad. He can be really average. Too me, that makes him average. It's puzzling. To me anyways.

When I turned the game on yesterday it was 4-3 Mariners in the bottom of the 6th. In the blink of an eye the wheels fell off and it was 9-3. Aceves had a rough outing and he certainly wasn't helped out at all by Chad Gaudin, who came in and promptly allowed 3 straight hits which scored 4 runs. And so ended the Yankee winning streak.

Speaking of streaks, I was a little perturbed at Joe Girardi when he brought Cano in to pinch hit in the 7th. Don't get me wrong, bringing in Cano to pinch-hit was a good move. Luckily he got a hit because it would have been a crappy way to lose a hitting streak by only getting one AB. I know it the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter and it's not really that big of a deal. I don't even know why I was a little perturbed by it. Thankfully, Cano blooped in a single and the streak continues. Robbie is a natural-born hitter. He could definitely make a run at Joe D's hit streak at some point in his career.

The late night west coast streak continues tonight with 3 games in Oakland. As of now, I have no plans whatsoever to stay up for these games. I'm exhausted. I went to bed last night before 9:30 and was out before my head hit the pillow. I'm the type of person that needs sleep and lately i haven't been getting it due to a myriad of factors. I need to be better about it and not sacrificing my health and well-being to watch baseball. I say this now and tomorrow I'll be blogging about staying up for the whole thing. We'll see......

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Teixeira Propels Yanks To Late 4-2 Win Over Mariners

I took my soon-to-be 2 year old son Cooper to his 1st baseball game last night. We went to see the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs take on the hometown Buffalo Bisons. The game started at 7:45pm which is usually when the little guy goes to bed. I thought maybe he would last an inning as he doesn't have the longest attention span. Surprisingly, he made it through 3 full innings. He didn't really watch the game though. He spent most of the time sitting on the concrete eating popcorn. He was cute nonetheless. By the time we got home and put him in bed it was about 9:45, 2 hours past his normal bed time. He usually wakes up around 6:30am so I figured that this extra 2 hours would afford me the ability to stay up for the entire Yankees/Mariners game and still get a descent night's sleep. Boy was I wrong. 5:45am and there he is calling out "Daddy!" Needless to say, I'm pretty beat. 4.75 hours of sleep will do that to a guy.

Are you like me in thinking that the Yankees are never going to lose again? Good Lord they're on a roll. Even when they play poorly and don't deserve to win they find a way to pull it out. They didn't exactly play poorly last night but they didn't play well either. That game was definitely Seattle's to win. Andy Pettitte struggled right from the onset but managed to stay composed (despite beating up some dugout equipment) and pitched a pretty solid ballgame. Pettitte has pitched pretty well lately. His last 4 starts have been pretty damn good. 26 innings, 20 hits, 7 walks, 28 Ks, 4 ER and a 1.38 ERA. His ERA has dropped after each start. And what's he have to show for it? 1 win and 3 no decisions. Andy has had a pretty solid year. Much better than I thought he'd do.

The Yankees offense was a little lacking yesterday but they were there went it counted. 4 of their 7 hits came in the 9th inning. The big blast came off the bat of Mark Teixeira. Teix led off the 9th inning with his 30th HR and that proved to be the game winner (thanks Mo!). Mark is having an MVP-type of year. He's definitely the MVP of the Yanks and he's definitely going to get some serious consideration from the writers who'll be voting for the AL MVP. I don't know why but I thought Teix was under-performing. For some silly reason I didn't think he was doing as well as he was. I just took a glance at his career averages and he's right on par with them. Mark is a career .289 hitter. He's now hitting .288 this year. His OBP and SLG are also higher than his career averages. I'm a little surprised by that and again, I don't know why. I think It's because I've always thought of Mark as a .300 hitter. Maybe it's because he cracked the 300 mark in both 2007 and in 2008. In the end, it doesn't matter. Bottom line is that he's kicking some tail-feathers. I wouldn't be shocked if he gets even hotter.

Sergio Mitre gets the start tonight in what could be his last start. Mitre scares me. He reminds me a lot of Sidney Ponson. He allows a lot of baserunners but somehow finds a way to keep them from scoring. The problem with that is that it doesn't happen all the time. A lot of times those guys do score. Hence Sergio's 7.04 ERA. When Sergio pitches you can only hope that the offense shows up to bail him out. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. Add my kid sleeping late tomorrow to that. I could use a solid night's sleep. I'm not sure I'll make it up for this one.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

CC Rocks, Godzilla Rolls, Yanks Win Again

I made it through 4 innings last night before I turned the game off. The Yanks were up 6-0 and the game seemed well in hand. I woke up this morning at 6:40 to the sweet sounds of John Sterling saying, "It is high. It is far. It is gone. Yankees win. Thuhh Yankees win." Yeah, it's what I use as the alarm clock on my cell phone. At about 6:40 and maybe 17 seconds tops, I was online pulling up Yahoo to check the final. 11-1 Yankees. Suh-weet.

The Red Sox had lost earlier so the lead is a comfortable 6.5 games. Right now, there are 2 teams I have concerns about, and don't be mistaken, those concerns are very small. Very very small. The only teams I'm concerned about are the Red Sox and the Rangers. I think the Rays are too far behind (10.5 games) the Yanks to have a shot at catching them. So that leaves the Sox and Rangers as the only two teams in my eyes that could even come close to spoiling a return to October baseball for the Yanks. Both teams would have to catch the Yanks to trip them up. I don't really see that happening. Even if the Yanks play a game under 500 the rest of the way, they'll still have 95 wins. The Sox would need to go 30-18 (.625) and Rangers would need to go 31-18 (.633) to catch them. The Yanks would have to collapse and 2 teams would have to play out of their shoes to catch them. Sorry, but I don't see either happening.

CC had a great outing last night. He was extremely sharp in the 4 innings I saw. His final line is also pretty impressive. 8 innings of 3 hit ball. 10 Ks and only 2 walks. A little more than 70% of his pitches were strikes. CC is having a pretty good August. 3 starts, 3 wins, an ERA of 2.38. It's not quite as good as his August last year (5-0 in 6 starts with a 1.12 ERA) but it's close when you take into account he was pitching in the NL against some inferior offenses. Those 6 starts were against the Pirates (twice), the Nationals, the Astros, the Padres, and the Braves. This is when CC is really going to shine. He's 13-7 now and probably has 9-10 starts left. 20 wins is definitely in the mix. CC is proving to be worth every penny the Yankees gave him. As i said in the title of this post, CC rocks.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Matsui had such a great night. 4-5 with 2 HRs and 5 RBI and 4 runs scored. Godzilla is having a monster month. He's hitting .343 with an OPS of 1.092. Talk about crushing. The whole Yankee offense, with maybe one exception is having a good August. Check out these numbers (AVG/OBP/SLG):

• Jeter 304/316/482
• Damon 367/392/796
• Matsui 343/378/714
• Teixeira 348/444/630
• Swisher 237/465/367
• A-Rod 273/385/477
• Cano 404/426/635
• Posada 314/351/571
• Melky 184/226/367

Pretty damn impressive, eh? As a team, for the month, the Yanks are 302/366/532. They have the best numbers in each category of all the AL teams. We just need to figure out a way to get more out of Melky. Melk has been very streaky this year. He needs to turn this around. Since going 4-5 on August 2nd, he's 5-40 (.125). Not good Melky. Not good.

Another late one tonight. Pettitte on the hill. Thankfully it's the weekend. I should be able to watch most, if not all of it. Now if I could only find a (legal) way to get my kid to sleep past 6:30.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Beat Jays 4-3 In Extra Frames

I did my best to follow along with the game today while I was sitting in training. I got to take the occasional peek at the MLB.com gamecast and every time I pulled it up, I kept asking myself the same question, How are the Yankees in this game? A.J. Burnett didn't have his best outing. He gave up 10 hits and 2 walks in 6 innings. Yet he only gave up 3 runs. If not for throwing 2 wild pitches he might have only allowed 1 run. While I don't like seeing A.J. allowing so many baserunners, I like seeing that few of them actually scored. It helps I guess when 9 of the hits are singles and you strike out 7. I'm assuming A.J. battled his way through this one.

Big up to the pen for throwing 5 scoreless innings.

Johnny Damon is on fire. Since July 30th, a span of 12 games, JD is 20 for 52 (.385) with 4 2B, 5 HR, 10 R and 10 RBI. Not bad. I really hope the Yankees take a look at bringing back Johnny next season. A 1-year deal for a5-7 million would be a good signing in my book. Get it done Cash.

Equally as hot is today's hero, Robinson Cano. He's having a monster month so far. In his last 10 games, Robbie is 19 for 44 (.432). He had 2+ hits in 8 of those 10 games. Is there anybody out there that still wants to see Robbie traded? God, I hope not.

The Yankees are 9-2 this month and were 6-1 on their homestand. The Yanks are an unbelievable 15-2 at home since the ASB. Wow. Now comes the hard part. The team is now headed west. A 10 game road trip starts tomorrow in Seattle. They play 3 in Seattle, followed by 4 in Oakland, and then 3 in Boston. The next 26 games could prove to be tough. 26 games in 28 days, concluding with 16 straight without a day off. They could get a little tired. The Yankees after all have had only 1 day off since the ASB. They've played 26 games in 27 days, and will have played 33 games in 34 days when their next day off rolls around. They'll have played 52 games in 55 days before they get a day off once per week. The Yanks are 20-6 since the break so they've been playing really well despite their schedule.

I'm not sure how much blogging I'll be doing on this west coast swing. 10:05 pm starts don't work well for me. I usually make it thru 3-5 innings before turning it off and hitting the wrapper. My soon-to-be 2 year old son wakes up everyday at about 6:30am. 5 hours of sleep doesn't work for me, especially when work is involved. We'll see.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Win Tickets To See Yankees/Red Sox In Boston

I received an e-mail a week or so ago from Jon with netraffle.org. They are raffling off 10 Monster Seat tickets to the August 23rd game against the Yankees (Sunday @ 1:35pm). The prize package includes the 10 tickets along with a pre-game tour of Fenway, dinner before or during the game, a private wait staff throughout the game and a special Red Sox gift bag. The prize also includes a cash prize to mitigate taxes as a result of winning the raffle.

Proceeds from this raffle go to benefit the Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation. Mark, a former BU Hockey player and NHL Assistant tragically lost his life on September 11th, 2001, as he was one of the passengers aboard United Airlines flight 175 which struck the south tower of the World Trade Center. The foundation has been set up in his name to continue aiding young men and women.

Tickets for the raffle start at just $2 a piece with a minimum purchase of 5 tickets. The entry deadline is August 20th, 2009 @ 11:00am EDT.

Tickets can be purchased at www.netraffle.org

Sounds like a worthy cause so I thought I'd share. Good luck.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Come From Behind To Clip The Blue Jays

I didn't get to see any of the game tonight, except for when the MLB Network went to a live look-in or showed some highlights. I don't really have any thoughts on the game at this time. I didn't expose myself to much of the game, be it online or as part of watching some highlights. I'm definitely pleased with the outcome. I started paying close attention to the gamecast at the start of the bottom of the 8th, right before Matsui and Posada went back-to-back. Maybe my increased presence brought the team some luck? What's up with all the back-to-back jacks? It's becoming commonplace. I like it.

I may be post something about tonight's game sometime tomorrow. I'll give the box score a good look tomorrow and I'm sure I'll have some thoughts on it. With tomorrow being a day game, I doubt I'll get to follow much of the action. I'm in about the 10th week of a training class and I'm pretty lost. We're getting trained on a new system and it's vastly different than what I'm used to. I try to stay focused on the material but it's tough. So who knows what I'll get to catch tomorrow? Who am I kidding? I'll be following it the majority of the time. Enjoy the game and go Yanks (and Tigers!!).

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

You Can't Win 'Em All: Yanks Fall To Jays 5-4

I didn't have high hopes about the Yankees' chances to win tonight's game against the Jays. I don't have high hopes anytime Sergio Mitre pitches. My outlook when he takes the hill is I hope the offense shows up because they're going to need to outslug the opponents. Sergio didn't pitch poorly tonight. He was OK. He likely would have won the game had the Yanks not made an error on what should have been a double play. But that's the way the ball bounces. Sergio, like a lot of rookie pitchers, needs to work on pitching deeper into games. He's got to be better than 96 pitches in 5 innings. That's a lot of pitches for a guy who only walked one better. The short outings definitely can impact a series.

Alfredo Aceves is likely out for the rest of the series. He gave the team 4 innings of scoreless baseball, keeping the team in the game and giving the Yankees ample opportunity to jump back ahead. Tonight was just one of those night's where they couldn't muster enough. I really hope the Yankees are considering Aceves for the 5th spot in the rotation. I'd feel better with Aceves taking the ball every 5th day and having Mitre relieve than the other way around. I also think if the Yankees get the opportunity they need to put A.J. Burnett in between Mitre and Joba. Joba has a tendency to throw a short outing every now and then. If he doesn't pitch deep into the game tomorrow, it would likely negatively impact the bullpen for the rest of the series and beyond. Burnett, CC, and Andy have shown they can give the team length consistently so even if it does happen, it shouldn't be that big of an issue. I think the right play though is having Aceves take the 5th spot and sandwich Burnett in between Ace and Joba. Ideally, I'd like to see the rotation set up like this: Burnett, Sabathia, Joba, Pettitte, Aceves/Mitre. That works best for me. They have 2 off days coming up (8/20 and 8/24). They should be able to rearrange the rotation a little bit by then. I hope they do.

The offense had its opportunities tonight but fell just short. I thought they were going to pull it out in the 9th after Matsui singled. I don't know how Ramiro Pena didn't beat that throw to 2nd. As soon as I saw Scutaro commit to 2nd I thought for sure all hands would be safe. It didn't look to me like Pena ran at full speed. I don't know if he thought Scutaro wouldn't throw there or what, but you should never assume that. Pena should have beat that out. Had he, it would have been runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 down and their chances would have been exponentially greater. Get well soon Brett Gardner.

Nick Swisher kind of came up like a lame duck in his final at-bats. 3 ABs, 3 Ks, all with runners on. I have a love-hate, wait, make that a like-dislike relationship with Nick Swisher. I like his personality and his ability to get on base and hit the occasional base knock. I dislike his inability to put the bat on the ball and come up empty when the game is on the line. Tonight, like the majority of Swisher's nights, was definitely a dislike. Again, get well soon Brett Gardner. Heck, I'd even rather see Eric Hinske up there. Oh well.

The Red Sox finally won a game. The Yankee lead is now back to 5-and-a-half. Joba vs. Scott Richmond tomorrow. The Yanks hammered Richmond earlier in the year when they saw him in Toronto. I think the Jays are going to make Joba work for it tomorrow. Considering Aceves is out tomorrow, the Jays would be wise to try and run up Joba's pitch count and chase him early. The middle innings could prove to be very crucial tomorrow. Hopefully, the offense shows up and lays a hurting on Richmond.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

The Red Sox Catch A Boogie Down Beatdown

I don't know about you guys but I slept extremely well last night. It could have been from the lack of sleep I've gotten recently. It could have been because the Yankees swept the Red Sox. I'll go with the latter. I was asked several times at work today how my weekend. My response was always along the lines of "it was the best weekend ever." When asked what made it so great I'd reply that the Yankees swept the Red Sox. They would chuckle and say, "I should have known." I don't want to say I'm the office's biggest Yankee fan, wait, yes I do. I can't remember the last time I went to work when I wasn't rocking a Yankee shirt. My wardrobe is chock full of Yankees clothes. Some say I have a problem. Those people can suck on eggs thank you very much.

I don't think the "Boogie Down Beatdown" (or Bronx Beatdown, you pick) could have gone any better. I would have been very happy had the Yankees won last night's game 1-nothing but I like the fact that the Sox, and their fans, had their joy from V-Mart's HR yanked away from them 10 minutes later. I love that the Sox had a glimmer of hope and had it snatched away moments later. I take great joy in that. When the Yankees were down 2-1, I tweeted (you can follow me if you want, click here) that the greatest ending to the series would be if the Yanks won on a walkoff and beat that ass clown Papelbon. Damon and Teixiera going back-to-back (and belly-to-belly) off Daniel Bard will have to do. Different Sox reliever. Same result, sans walkfoff.

The Yankees pitching was absolutely dominant. CC kicked some serious tailfeathers on Saturday. Andy Pettitte, not to be outdone by CC or A.J., pitched a gem of his own. It's too bad last night's win went to Phil Coke. I can't stand when a guy comes in and gives up the lead only to pick up the win because the offense picks them up. Brian Bruney got a win like that on June 30th. I feel bad that Andy didn't get the win. He definitely deserved it. I know a lot of people were hammering Girardi for not bringing in Phil Hughes. I understand why he didn't as it would have been Phil's 4th outing in 5 days. But, I still would have gone to him. He pitched to 2 batters in 3 days, throwing only 9 pitches. I'm pretty sure Phil had a few pitches in him. I would have gone to him, but again, can understand and respect why they didn't.

The Yankee pitching staff held the Sox scoreless for 31.2 innings (if you count the final out of Thursday's game). If not for Anthony Claggett, a pitcher who had 1.2 major league innings under his belt, it would have been longer. Feel proud Sox fans. Your offense is absolutely terrible. The Sox offense is pretty potent though. They've scored the 5th most runs in the AL. For my money, and I'm not saying this because I'm a Yankee fan, all of the credit goes to the Yankee pitching staff. They kicked some major ass. I think it's safe to say that both CC and A.J. were well worth the money. Just like.......

Mark Teixeira. Despite going 0-6 on Friday, Teix had a great series, going 6-17 with 2 2B and 2 HR. His HR last night was just the icing on the cake. Suck on that John Henry. I've also got to give it up to A-Rod. He's been pretty clutch this year. Pete Abe blogged this yesterday and it bears repeating: Alex Rodriguez has 20 home runs this season. Eleven of them have tied the game or given the Yankees the lead. Of his 62 RBI, 33 have tied the game or given the Yankees the lead. Add another HR and RBI to that total. Despite the low average, Alex is having a pretty solid year. Not quite the MVP-type of year Teixeira is having, but he's getting there.

It's a good time to be a Yankee fan right now. The team has won 7 straight and have the best record in all of MLB (2.5 games better than the Dodgers). The lead in the AL East has grown to 6.5 games. The Red Sox are plummeting and their fans must be miserable. The Rays are 8 games back. The pitching staff is kicking butt. David Ortiz was outed as being on "the list" (release it already). Life is good. Life is sho nuff good.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Red Sox Take A Beatdown In The Boogie Down

Could that series against the Red Sox have gone any better? Holy freeholy. That. Was. Awesome. Talk about a beatdown. The Yankees absolutely kicked the you-know-what out of the Sox. If it weren't Sunday at 11:30 pm I'd probably stay up and blog about it but I'm freaking exhausted. It's been a long weekend. I'll be back sometime tomorrow, likely between noon and 1pm, to blog about the series and these last 2 games.

I'm off to dreamland, with visions of dancing brooms filling my head. Let's go Yankees. 6.5 games baby!

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

A-Rod's A-Bomb Delivers Knockout Blow In The 15th Round

The Yankees/Sox game is currently in extra innings. The 15th inning is coming up. I figured I'd start writing this post before the game ends because now matter how it ends, it'll be the same for the most part. It's a great freaking game! A classic for sure.

The Yankee half of the 14th inning was nuts. I thought Hinske won it. I thought Melky won it. The game is incredibly tense and it's only getting more tense as the game goes on.

You've got to give it up to the pitchers tonight. And not just on the Yankees side. Anytime you have a scoreless game after 14 innings, you know the game was all about the pitching. The only thing I would have preferred to see was Phil Hughes get a longer outing. I understand why the home team brings in their closer to start the 9th when the game is tied. It makes sense. I do though think there are times to deviate from that strategy. Hughes only faced one batter in the 8th. I would have let him start the 9th and gone to Mo at the first sign of trouble. But that's just me. I have no problem with how Girardi managed the pen tonight. Everyone was great tonight. Even Brian Bruney.

Can't say much about the offense considering there wasn't any. Tonight was all about the pitching.

Jeter just led off the bottom of the 15th with a single. I can't believe they had Johnny Damon try to drop a bunt. 1)It takes the bat out of Teixeira's hands and 2)Tazawa was getting hit pretty well especially by the lefties. Bad call by Girardi there in my opinion. Thankfully, Alex went yard and ended it! Wooooo. What a game! That's going to find its way into the Yankees Classics rotation sometime within the next few weeks. What a game! What a win! The lead is now 4.5 and that win, in my opinion, is a huge momentum builder for the Yanks.

I'm off to Toronto tomorrow. The Jays are having a reunion of the 92 and 93 World Series teams. Hopefully this trip north of the border will be free of speeding tickets and border delays. The plan was to leave around 7:30am. It's now almost 1am. Not sure if 7:30 will happen. Especially if my kid doesn't sleep past 6. I also don't know if I'll be able to fall asleep after that win.

4.5 game lead. CC tomorrow. A 5.5 game lead is within our sites. Get it done.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Hammer The Red Sox

Seeing that the game wasn't broadcast in my area I don't have much to say about it. I checked in periodically on MLB.com's gamecast. I saw some highlights on ESPN's Baseball Tonight. A great win for the Yanks. They hammered the Sox. It wasn't pretty.

I checked out the box score. Not impressed with Joba's outing. Way too many walks. I'm not sure how he got by giving up only 4 runs. His outing was definitely a recipe for disaster. The offense broke out in a big way. That 4th inning must have been awesome. I was following along with that online as it happened. I heard that Michael Kay called it an "offensive orgy." Umm, ok. I guess that's one way of describing it. I couldn't help but bust a gut when I saw Billy Traber was pitching after Smoltz. I can't believe someone gave him a job. He's absolutely terrible. You can almost say the same for John Smoltz. He's having a terrible year. It would kind of suck if Smoltz and Glavine call it quits after this year. Talk about going out on a low note. It makes Mike Mussina's decision to go out on top look that much better. It's better to go out on your own terms than it is to have the game force you out because you no longer have the skills to pay the bills. That Moose is a smart cookie. I'm sure if he stuck around he'd be having a decent year. The Yanks could certainly use him right about now.

Well, that's all I got. I just took a gander at the schedule and it looks like there are 7 more My9 games. That's 7 too many if you ask me. I really wish they could somehow figure that out so they're shown in the western New York area. A.J. vs. Beckett tonight. Can't wait.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Back On Track With 8-4 Win Vs Jays, Bring On Boston

After losing 3 straight to the White Sox, the Yankees have now won 3 straight. I was skeptical about their chances to win yesterday with Sergio Mitre starting. He pulled a Sidney Ponson and allowed a lot of baserunner (8 hits and 2 walks in 4.1 innings) but somehow didn't let many score. Ponson may have won a few ball games but allowing all of those baserunners eventually caught up to him and he was sent packing. I wouldn't have a problem if they bounced Mitre. He's just not very good. I don't know how kept the team in the game yesterday, but he did, so more power to him. Unfortunately for the Yankees, there aren't really any other options right now. The trade deadline has passed and now they can only get someone via trade if the guy makes it to them via the waiver process. I think they could probably skate by with Mitre, but I'd prefer they don't. I don't advocate moving Hughes back to the rotation. He needs to stay where he is. The only other option that comes to mind is to work Alfredo Aceves into that spot. Ace has done it before. I wouldn't mind seeing them stretch him out and give him the 5th spot. He's a better option than Mitre.

Aceves though may be tough to replace in the pen. He's doing well as the 3rd set-up guy behind Hughes and Coke, and he does very well if he comes in when the team is trailing by a run or two and the team needs to keep it close for a few innings. Case in point would be last night's game. Mitre left on the losing end of things. Aceves kept it a 1-run game and then the Yanks offense opened it up. If Aceves goes to the rotation, the Yankees will create a void in the middle innings. I don't like any other RPs to come on and keep it close. I don't think putting Mitre in the spot would work out either. It may be easier for Cashman to find a solid middle-RP than a solid starter. I hope they're at least thinking about sliding Aceves into the rotation. It makes sense to me.

The offense is on a nice little run here in August. Damon is hitting 400 with 2 HR and 5 RBI in 3 games played. Despite going 0-4 yesterday, A-Rod is hitting .375 this month. Alex just needs to throw in an A-bomb or two as he's homerless since July 19th. Nick Swisher has had 2 straight multi-hit games, including homers in 2 of his last 4 games. Teixeira is batting .353 this month with an OPS of 1.009. Cano is hitting .313 in August. I could go on but I'm sure you see my point. I know it's a small sample size, but I'm still encouraged by it.

An important series with the Red Sox kicks off tonight. I'm still hoping the game will be televised in my area because it's on My9. I know it's on the MLB Network but I'm guessing it will be blacked out. I'm hoping it shows up on the Retro TV network. I've got an e-mail into them to see if they still hold the rights to the games. My fingers are crossed. I really want to see the "welcome" that the Bronx crowd gives to David Ortiz, aka Big Pa-P.E.D. Hat tip to BaldVinny for that nickname. Classic. The series opener has a hot Joba is going up against an old Smoltz. Joba has been awesome in his 3 starts since the ASB. The Sox have owned the Yanks this year, winning all 8 games. I'm still baffled how the Yanks are winless in their 8 games against the Red Sox but still hold a 1.5 game lead on them. It'll be nice to take this series and put a few games between us. There's no excuses for losing this time. The Yanks are healthy. Our top 4 SPs are going. I don't foresee a Sox sweep this time around. Bring it on!

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Good Day For Yanks, Rough Day For Me

The Yanks took it to Roy Halladay today, beating arguably the AL's best pitcher. Anytime you beat Roy Halladay, you have to be happy. Great win for the Yanks. My day on the other hand was not so great.

I'm not sure how many of you follow me on Twitter (link to me on the left), but if you do, you know what kind of day I had. I took the day off from work so I go could to Toronto for a chance to pick up a few autographs. I was just going up for the afternoon and wasn't staying for the game. It's hard on the wife sometimes to take care of two kids under two, so I promised I'd be home by their bed time. I rolled into Toronto at about 9:30 or so and was about a half-mile from my destination when I got pulled over for speeding. I was at a red light, light turned green, I accelerated, and about 50 yards or so later, one of Toronto's finest jumps out into the street and has me pull over. They had a radar gun fixed atop what I would describe as a giant tripod. He clocked me doing 60km/hour in a 50 km/hour zone. For those of you not up on your metric conversations, that's 36 mph in a 30 mph zone. I got a ticket for going 6 miles over the speed limit. 6 miles! Are you kidding me? It ends up being a $40 fine and no points. What a way to start the day.

As for the autograph hunting, I came up dry. The hotel where the team stays created a patio eatery (which is seldom used) right where we would normally stand when the team bus comes and goes. That access point was basically cut off which really hurt my chances. It didn't help either that there were about 30 other people there also. Space was limited. It was so bad that the second bus pulled right up into the hotel's parking lot, which is off limit to us. That pretty much killed everybody's chances. On top of that, it absolutely poured, which meant there was nobody went out milling around. It was horrible.

I left around 3pm and got home around 7. It's normally a 2 hour drive but traffic was so bad it took twice as long. When I get back to the states, I normally take the last bridge to the USA. This time I took the 1st. When I rolled up to the US Border Patrol, they asked me the standard question, where you coming from? So I told him I was in Toronto hanging around the Yankees team hotel trying to get autographs. He asked me to clarify so I said it again. Next thing I know I'm popping my trunk, opening my back door, and 3 custom dudes are pulling the car apart. I'm not sure if it was a random check or what, but it seemed like security was extra tight as there were a lot of agents hanging around each booth which I've never seen before. They had me pull over and I had to sit in a little room for about 10 minutes while they did a more thorough check. As I expected everything was clean. Not sure what that was all about. Maybe the dude was a Red Sox fan. First time for everything. I made it home in time to help put the kids to bed and then settled in for the game. That's when my day finally got better.

I'd normally write a detailed post about my thoughts but it's late and a nasty thunderstorm just kicked off and being online and blogging probably isn't the best idea. So I'll just hit the high points:

Andy Pettitte was awesome. He out-pitched Halladay and that's not an easy task. He got a lot of help from the defense which was particularly stellar. And the 3 longballs didn't hurt too much either. Despite giving up 2 runs, I thought Phil Hughes looked downright nasty. That was a nasty hook he dropped in on Bautista to end the 7th. That was big right there. His backwards Ks of Lind and Millar were pretty nice too. Mariano gets the save. Yanks win. What would really make the night great is if the Rays end up beating the Red Sox. It's currently 2-2 in the top of the 13th. I'm not staying up to see what happens as the lights keep dimming because of the storm. Tomorrow will start rather nicely if I wake up to find the Rays won. I have the day off and was going to do the Toronto thing again but I'm going to skip it. I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing day with the wife and kids and quite frankly, I think it would end up being a waste of time. Knowing my luck, I'll get a text from my friend up there and he'll tell me that everyone signed. Murphy's Law. If I'm there, nothing will happen. If I'm here, everything will happen. Regardless, I'll be with my 2 kids so I come out ahead either way.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie