Javy Vazquez Pitches 6 Shutout Innings In 2-1 Yankees Victory

Greetings friends. It's been a while since I've blogged. It seems like it's been forever. I've been so far removed from the Yankees it's not even funny. I pretty much missed 95% of the last 4 games. I caught a little of the action but not enough. My wife and I were watching a little bit of the Yankees/Mets game tonight and she was asking me questions about Yankee-related things. Usually I'm quick with the answers. Tonight I found myself not having a clue. Things should get a little better next week. I foresee myself having the opportunity to watch many of the games and blogging afterwards. At least I'm going to try. It's tough to blog that late when I have to get up at 5am.

What happened to the Yankees pitching? They've allowed 40 runs in their last 5 games. It's hard to believe that the Yanks scored 6 runs in each of their last 3 games and lost them all. That's not very Yankee-like. Both Joba and Mariano had meltdowns. As I'm typing this, Mo is having another meltdown. Back-to-back doubles by Bay and Davis and it's now a 2-1 game. David Wright just grounded out to end it. Thank God Wright is scuffling. The Yanks may have picked up the W and snapped the little 3 game slide but it was definitely a shaky outing for Mo. I did hear that his meltdown against Boston had a little to do with some shoddy defense. But still, Mo usually picks the guys up. The pitching has been a little suspect lately. Except of course for Javy Vazquez if you can believe that.

Javy looked pretty good tonight. I'm cautiously optimistic about his start though. My buddy Don sent me a text during the game and the text read, "of course he has a no hitter, he's an NL pitcher facing an NL team!" It's definitely food for thought. Vazquez hasn't exactly done anything to earn anyone's respect this year. I'm not putting a lot of stock in this outing, even with it being a 1-hitter over 6 innings. He did look pretty good though. I'm hoping it's a sign of things to come. Again, I'm cautiously optimistic.

Not much offense for the Yanks tonight. But they did after score 47 runs over their last 7 games so no worries. Mark Teixeira though? Dude, when you going to start hitting? Tex is hitting .209 after tonight's ohfer. It looks like he had a nice little run a few games back. He had 4 multi-hit games in a 5 game span which rose his average from .195 to .224. But he's 1-16 over the last 4 games. I'm kind of shocked that his average is as low as it is considering they're a quarter of the way through the season. I knew he'd start slow, but thought for sure he'd be around .250.260 by now. I just took a look at his stats from last year at this time. Tes was hitting .250 on 5/21/09 and was up to .281 by the end of May. He was only hitting .203 on 5/14 last year which was actually 6 percentage points behind his average this year on 5/14. Hopefully history repeats itself and a Tex hit-streak starts soon.

Not sure how much of this weekend's action I'll get to see. It's tough to bail on my little ones for the Yanks when I barely see them during the week. But it is a night game so I should be able to catch most of it. I really want to see tomorrow's game. Hughes vs. Pelfrey. That has the makings of a great game. Hopefully Hughes will run the record to 6-0, and "Huuuuughes" will add another U to the name.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Holy Moly! I Really Shouldn't Watch Yankee Games.

If you read my last post, I took full blame for Chan Ho Park's meltdown. As soon as I turned the game on he gave up 3 runs and put the Yanks in a 9-7 hole. Here's what I wrote at the end of that blog entry: I flipped the game off in hopes to switch the mojo up. It looks like they brought in Damaso Marte who retired all 3 batters he faced. I'm fully expecting to check back a little later to find that the Yankees came back and won. If not, I'm on the hook for the loss. Come on Yanks. Pick me up.

So there I am, laying in bed watching the MLB Network, when they cut to the highlights of A-Rod going yard of Papelbon to tie it up at 9. A few minutes later, I flipped it to YES, and I see Marcus Thames getting a nice heaping piece of pie! A 2-run game-winning walkoff HR off Papelbon. Unreal.

I guess I really shouldn't watch Yankee games anymore. Not if I'm joining in progress anyway. Gonna try to blog a little more tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yeah, I Shouldn't Be Allowed To Watch Yankee Games

I really shouldn't be allowed to watch Yankee games unless I'm there at the start. This is the second time in the last week or two where I've turned the game on and immediately things went bad. My night didn't let me get to turn the game on until the start of the 8th inning. The Yanks were up 7-6. I saw Chan Ho Park give up a leadoff single followed by back-to-back HRs and the Yanks were then down 9-7. I flipped the game off in hopes to switch the mojo up. It looks like they brought in Damaso Marte who retired all 3 batters he faced. I'm fully expecting to check back a little later to find that the Yankees came back and won. If not, I'm on the hook for the loss. Come on Yanks. Pick me up.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Unfortunately It Was A Yankee Free Weekend

I thought I was going to have a Yankee-filled weekend but it ended up being the exact opposite. Saturday turned out to be my sister's graduation party from college (Masters for Education). Her baby's daddy hooked it up and got a suite for everyone at a Buffalo Bisons' game. Never had been in a suite before. It was pretty cool. That family obligation took me away from Saturday's game. I turned the TV on today right after the game started. I flipped to YES. It said at the bottom of the screen that it was "MLB Baseball: Twins @ Yankees." But instead of Sergio Miter, I was looking at Bill O'Reilly talking to Michael Kay on CenterStage. WTF? I hopped online and saw that the game was on My9. Son of a B.

I was shocked when I pulled up the box score from today's game and saw how the Yankees lost. Total meltdown by the back of the bullpen. Mariano issues a 2-out walk and then a grand slam. Wow. It's probably a good thing I didn't get to see the game because that probably would have ruined my day.

I feel so far out if it when it comes to the Yankees right now. I'm still in the midst of a minor identity crisis right now. I don't get enough "me time" to feel like myself. Between work and raising 2 kids (3rd on way) it's tough to get much time to myself, without being totally exhausted when I get it. I need a little of it every now and then. I think everyone does just to keep sane. I miss getting to watch Yankee games from start to finish. I miss tweeting during games and blogging after games. I hope you guys bear with me as I figure my way through this. Come hell or high water there will be regular daily blogging here at the Boogie Down. It may take a week or two to figure it all out, but I will think of something. I think my sanity depends on it.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Double Up The Twins With 8-4 Win

Today was the first day in a long time that I got to sit down and watch a Yankee game. I didn't get to watch the whole thing, just the 2nd half. I think I joined in the 5th inning when the game was tied at 2. I haven't enjoyed being away from the Yanks. I feel so out of touch it's not funny. I haven't been able to keep up on much. Life has calmed down a little bit since we're done moving so I'm hoping to get back into the groove. We'll see how that goes.

A.J. Burnett looked pretty good tonight. At least he did in the 2 innings I saw him pitch. He bounced back quite nicely from the beating he took from the Red Sox. The Yankees rotation, except for Vazquez, who in his defense didn't pitch poorly in his last start against Detroit, has been a been a strength all season. I know I'm a day late in this but better late than never: Huuuuughes! 5 Us for 5 Ws. Phil has definitely been the team's brightest star this season. He's without a doubt the best SP in the AL right now. I've been on the Hughes bandwagon since day one. I had a "Hughes 65" shirt when he first debuted. I picked up a #34 BP jersey when he switched his #. I love seeing how well he's doing. He's starting to live up to the hype. And then some.

I am so glad the official scorer gave the win to Joba. It would have been a travesty if Damaso Marte got the win. I've said this many times: I hate it when the lefty specialist can't get out the lefites. Marte came in to get out Joe Mauer and he couldn't do it. He then had to get out Justin Morneau and couldn't do it. He's lucky the Yankees offense bailed him out. Joba looked absolutely magnificent. He's pitching like the Joba of old. Just took a quick look at the numbers from his last few outings. He's been rock-solid his last 8 times out: 7.1 IP, 2 hits, 2 BB, 0 runs, and 11 K. Those 11 K came in his last 6.1 IP. Joba be rocking.

A-Rod was the big offensive hero tonight. I hope Ron Gardenhire learned his lesson: don't intentionally walk Mark Teixeira to get to Alex. You will pay and you will pay dearly. Speaking of Tex, I see he's still kind of slumping. He's at least hitting a little more regularly at least. I'm surprised he's still hitting as low as he is. His 2 hits tonight raised his average to .209. I'll feel good about Tex when his average gets closer to .250. The Yankees appear to be a little wounded and they're going to need Tex and Alex to deliver.

Tomorrow's game is at 1:05 and it looks like it'll be a good one. Andy Pettitte vs. Francisco Liriano. Both lefties are off to great starts. It's got pitcher's duel written all over it. So the final score will probably be something like 11-10.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

I Am So Glad The Yankees Game Is PPD

I'm not normally a fan of rainouts but tonight's couldn't have come at a better time. For one, I'm still working like a dog and I'm ridiculously tired. Secondly, the game was supposed to be on My9 which we Buffalo FIOS customers don't have access to. Thirdly, LOST is on and it's nearing the end. Wrap that all up in it makes for a perfect night for a rainout.

Apologies again for the lack of blogging and the infrequency of the posts. My body still hasn't adjusted to getting up at 5am. I'm a night owl so it's very hard for me to go to bed early. I'm lucky if I end up with 6 hours of sleep. I definitely need more. It's also tough for me to sneak in blogs at work during lunch now that I'm doing all of this extra stuff. It's also tough to blow off the wife and kids for the Yanks when I see so little of them. It's very trying on my psyche because I'm such a die-hard fan. I'm definitely not digging things right now. I've got a few things up my sleeve that I'm hoping come to fruition. Wish me luck.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Lose To Sox But Sox Are The Real Losers

OK, I've got a few minutes to write this blog and hopefully catch up a little bit on the last few days. Yanks took 2 of 3 from Boston in Boston. That feels good to say, err, I mean write. Anytime the Yanks take 2 of 3 in Fenway is a good time. That now makes it 4 of 6 from the Bo-tards on their home turf. Rock on. Quite simply, Boston is not very good. Now, that's not to say they won't be. They did after all own the Yanks at the start of last season and look how that finished. Hopefully what we see now is what we continue to see. Boston in 4th place = awesome!

I didn't get too see much of Saturday's rain-delayed game. I had to pick up a U-Haul and then load it and unload it at 3:30. By the time that was all said and done, I was able to catch a few innings and by then the rout was on. It's a shame the rain came when it did as it would have been nice for CC to pick up the W. I got to see Teixeira's 3rd HR of the game. He crushed that pitch. It's good to see Tex starting to hit with regularity.

I joined last night's game in the 2nd and turned it off after Swisher and A-Rod HR'd to make it 6-2. A.J. Burnett didn't fare so well and it was definitely his worst start of the season. I'm not concerned as it's been only 1 bad start. Those are going to happen. Big props to Nick Swisher who has been hitting the ball well lately. His 7th HR added another $37 to the Swish's Wishes and the total contributed is now up to $299.

I wish I had more to write but I don't. I'm really hating how my life is operating right now in terms of watching the Yanks play. I'm definitely not enjoying it. Now that we're out of the house and an all-week training at work is over, I'm hoping it will get a little better but it probably won't. Positive thinking only goes so far. Along those lines, I'm trying to talk up Sergio Mitre to myself since he gets the start tonight. Let's see how that goes.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Taking One For The Team

I watched all of about 2 minutes of tonight's Yankees/Red Sox game. I turned it on and Phil Hughes had given up 0 hits and the Yanks were up 3-0. Hughes gave up a hit to J.D. Drew and then a hit to Youkilis. Then I turned the game off. I'm a very superstitious guy and I believe in jinxes. As soon as the idea popped into my head that my turning the game on somehow was bad for the Yankees, I flipped it off. It was incredibly difficult for me not to watch a Yankees/Sox game, especially with Phil Hughes pitching, but I decided to take one for the team and leave the game off. The Yankees rolled the Sox so all is good.

You know what time it is? It's time for a Hughes call. Huuuughes! Hughes is the man, ain't he? I wrote yesterday how great the Yankee rotation (minus Vazquez) is. Phil kept it going. Anybody still think Joba should be the 5th SP?

That's all I've got for tonight. I have to apologize for not cranking out a better entry. The work week has caught up with me. Getting up at 4:30am every day has taken it's toll on me. When I started this entry my mind was working. Now, about 5 minutes later, I can feel it shutting down. Life should get a little easier for me on Sunday. Not much but a little. We're moving out of the house this weekend and the plan is to be done tomorrow. Game is at 3pm. I'm picking up a U-haul at 3:30pm so I doubt I'll see any of the game tomorrow. I hate my life right now. I'm not use to all of the stress and lack of sleep.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

CC Sabathia + A.J. Burnett + Andy Pettitte + Phil Hughes - Javy Vazquez = Yankee Awesomeness

Finally, I have some time to sit down and write a blog. Unfortunately, I don't have much to say. I feel so far removed from the Yankees right now. I don't know the last full game I watched. I've seen all of about 1 pitch in the last 2 games. Life is just getting in the way. Still working crazy hours at work. I'm up at 4:30am and back around 7pm or so. On top of that crazy schedule, we're moving out of our house and the scheduled closing is this Tuesday. It's definitely a busy time in my life. Arguably the busiest it's ever been. Not sure how much more I can take.

I paid as much attention as I could to the Orioles series. Again, I caught very little of the action. All I really know is that the Yankees swept them and are currently riding a 4 game winning streak and have a 19-8 record, 1 game behind the Rays. That's a much better start than I envisioned. Anybody think they'd get off to that kind of a start. For my money they still are atop the power rankings. They did after all take 2 of 3 from the Rays in Tampa. To be the man you've got to beat the man.

The Yankees SPs have pretty much dominated these last 4 games. Hughes, CC, A.J., and Andy are a combined 4-0. The foursome collectively pitched 27.1 IP, allowing just 3 runs (2 earned) on 21 hits and 7 walks, whiffing 18. For those of you without a handy-dandy calculator around, that's an ERA of 0.66. I say hot damn. If only Javy Vazquez would get with the program. It's hard to believe that the Yankee SPs have a combined ERA of 3.17 considering how God-awful Vazquez has been. The 5 SPs are a combined 16-4 with that 3.17 ERA I just mentioned. Remove Vazquez from that mix and the SPs are 15-1 with an ERA of 2.14. Wow those guys are good. The Yankees are 100% right to skip Vazquez's next turn. He needs to work out some issues and on the mound in Fenway isn't the place to do it. As I mentioned after his last start, Javy knows how to pitch. He's succeeded before. He's got it in him to do it again. Hope he figures it out soon.

I have a little more to write about (Pettitte's injury, a little Yankee offense) but the missus needs the computer. Happy wife. Happy life. Even when one works all day long.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

The Yankees Winn

I saw 1 pitch of tonight's Yankees game. It was weird. I turned the game on at roughly 9:45pm. Joba Chamberlain threw a pitch. Nolan Reimold grounded the ball to Mark Teixeira. Ball game over. Yankees win. Thuhh Yankees win. Or should I say the Yankees Winn. They commented that he hit the 3-run HR that was the difference in the ball game.

Wish I saw more but it is what it is. Worked today from 6-6, then hung with kids and got stuff ready for the move. Tomorrow I get to work from 5am-7pm. WTF! You'd think I have some really important job but I don't. Off to bed.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Offense Backs Up A Dominant Phil Hughes In 12-3 Drubbing Of White Sox

Phil Hughes kicked some major butt today and picked up his 3rd win of the season. And you know what that means? Time for a Hughes call: Huuughes! Wondering what that is? Allow me to explain. I'm a big Mike Mussina fan. I'm a card carrying member of his fan club and also run a fan site called Elect Mike Mussina (hasn't been updated in a while but still has some solid info). During Moose's last season, every time he picked up a W, I shouted Moose, and added an extra O for every win. So the final Moose call went a little something like this: "Moooooooooooooooooooose!" Take my word for it. There are 20 Os. I'm also a big Hughes guy so who better than to carry forward the tradition than him. Sao say it loud and say it proud, "Huuughes!" I'm still bummed that there aren't 4 Us in there (thanks a lot Yankee bullpen) but that's for an older blog.

So, anybody still think Joba should be the 5th starter? Didn't think so. I've always maintained that Hughes is the better pitcher. He always was and he always will be. Joba is a decent pitcher but I think his meteoric rise to fame hurt his ability to pitch as effectively as he did in his debut season. I mean, how many players with 1-2 months of major league service time under their belt have t-shirts bearing their name and number sold in a Dick's Sporting Goods along side the likes of Jeter and A-Rod? Oooh ooh oooh Mr. Boogie, I can answer this one. Yes Horseshack? None. Bingo.

It's great to see Philly boy finally coming into his own. And he isn't just coming into his own. He is pitching like he's one of the best in the game. I mean, look at these numbers through his 1st 4 starts: 25 IP, 10 hits, 12 walks, 24 K, and 4 ER. 10 hits in 25 innings? Are you freaking kidding me? Un-fricking-real. The walks are a little on the high side but when you don't give up many hits, they usually don't impact you that much. With his 7 scoreless IP today, his ERA dropped to 1.44 and his WHIP dipped to 0.88. Again, are you freaking kidding me? Sorry, I have to bust out another one. Huuughes! I know it's early. I know it's only 4 starts. But how can you not be this excited?

He Mark Teixeira! Thanks for finally showing up! What is it about the month of April that makes Tex suck so bad. The calendar has turned and so has Teixeira. I know 2 games isn't a huge sample but I'm taking it as a sign of what's to come. He's now 6-9 this month with 3 RBI. His batting average has jumped 53 percentage points. Welcome to the party Mark. Good to see ya.

The bulk of the Yankees offense ripped it today. Brett Gardner went deep. Cano hit his 9th HR and picked up 3 RBI. (MVP! MVP! MVP!) Swisher went 3-4 with his 4th HR, and 2nd in 2 days. Even Nick Johnson had a hit and 2 RBI. 7 guys had hits. 8 guys scored runs. 6 guys picked up at least 1 RBI. Any day you score 12 runs on 16 hits is a good day.

Swisher's HR added another $37 to the Swish's Wishes fundraiser. According to the tally in the upper left section of the blog, we're now up to $188 pledged to Swish's Wishes. If you want to get on board, drop me a line. No amount is too small and the more the merrier.

Rumors are swirling that A-Rod is hurt with a bum knee. The Yankees are flat out denying it. Cashman, Girardi, and Alex have all said it's nothing other than a little stiffness. I can't imagine for the life of me why the Yankees would lie about Alex's condition. There's really no reason to. They'd look pretty stupid of they made those comments and then he took a trip to the DL or sat out a few games. Girardi even went as far as to say A-Rod would be in Monday's lineup. Makes no sense to believe the reports out there that it's anything more than a minor inconvenience.

Next up on the schedule: the Orioles, who are fresh off a 3 game sweep of the Red Sox. Insert gut-busting laughter here. If I had more time I expand a little on how bad the Red Sox are but nobody needs me to point out the incredibly obvious. Burn. CC Sabathia vs. Jeremy Guthrie. First pitch = 7:05. Hopefully I'll be in front of my TV at some point with the game turned on. Wish me luck.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Hey, Ho, Javy Got To Go (And Some Other Random Stuff)

If you're sick and tired of Javy Vazquez raise your hand! This act is getting very tired. He's now made 5 starts this season and he's thrown a grand total of 23 innings. He's bad, very very bad. I didn't get to see much of the game today. It's been a very busy time here. On top of working 11-12 hours per day, we're in the middle of moving out of our house. I spent all day packing and moving stuff. I didn't experience any of the good today for the Yankees, only the bad. I saw Vazquez give up his 5 runs and I heard Robertson and Marte give up the other 2 as I was in the car. All I saw/heard of the Yankees was the first run they scored. Considering all of the bad and none of the good happened on my watch, maybe it was my fault?

I'd have to think that Vazquez will get better. He does know how to pitch. He's proved that in the past. Maybe pitching in NY is a different animal and he just won't cut it. Whatever it is, he and Eiland need to figure it out and they need to do it fast. He could have really used a good start in front of the home crowd today. Instead he sucked major balls. I didn't get to see his exit. I'm assuming the fans gave him the proper sendoff. But again, Javy has shown he knows how to pitch. He has it in him. I just hope he finds that pitcher sooner rather than later.

The Yankees bullpen is turning out to be one of their biggest weaknesses. It would have been nice if Robertson and Marte would have done their jobs. Nothing irritates me more than seeing the "lefty specialist" come in with one specific job to do and then not do it. Friggin' Marte.

I saw a replay of Curtis Granderson hurting his groin while running the bases. That looked painful. As expected he's been placed on the DL. Something tells me Curtis is going to miss some time. I think he'll definitely be out more than 15 days but I'm hoping I'm wrong. I'll play armchair manager for a second here. If I'm Girardi, Gardner becomes my everyday CF and I platoon Winn and Thames. I really like having BG at the bottom of the order. I've said that before. I think having him turn the lineup over is perfect.

Congrats to Nick Swisher for hitting his 3rd HR of the season. The HR added $37 to our fundraiser. For those not in the know, a bunch of us Yankee fans have gotten together to donate money to Nick's charity, Swish's Wishes. We're basically donating $37 for every HR he hits. The total is now up to $151. I know, $37*3 is not $151. Someone ponied up a flat donation of $40. If you're interested in donating along with us, let me know and I'll add you to the tally (see upper left). Keep it going Swish. We want you to take our money.

Sorry for not blogging after Friday's victory. Truth of the matter is I was asleep before 9pm. Yeah, it's sad. I know. But getting up at 5 all week really took it's toll on me. I did have the fortune of seeing Jeter tie the game with a HR. I must have fallen asleep with the game on because Michael Kay's call of his triple woke me up. It was a nice way to cap off the month of April. Jeter finished the month with 4 HRs, the same number that A-Rod and Teixeira combined to hit. He finished the month with 18 RBI, 5 less than Teixeira and A-Rod combined for. He had 31 hits and a .330 average. He had 1 less hit than A-Rod and Tex combined. That's amazing to me. The RBI stat is staggering considering Jeter hits leadoff. Unreal.

Not sure how much of the game I'll get to catch tomorrow. More packing is on the docket. There's always something else to move. If I didn't have to work such ridiculous hours during the week it'd be a little easier, but what can you do? Gotta pay the bills.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie