Brian Bruney Has Been Traded & Andy Pettitte Update

The winter meetings started today. This is always a fun time of year if you're a baseball fan. I pretty much live on MLBTradeRumors, checking about 40 times a day, as there's always some new rumor about a free agent signing or a potential trade. Joel Sherman, Jon Heyman, and Ken Rosenthal seem to always duke it out for who can get the big scoop. The winter meetings are fun and this week promises to be chock full of basebally goodness.

This morning I saw that the Atlanta Braves were interested in trading for Brian Bruney. I have a buddy I work with who is a big Braves fan and neither of us understood why the Braves had interest. It ended up being all for nothing as Bruney has been traded to the Washington Nationals for a PTBNL (player to be named later). I have no problem with the Yanks letting Bruney go for what will probably end up being nothing. He's good but he's too inconsistent to be anything more than a middle reliever. MRs are a dime a dozen and Bruney can easily be replaced and probably by an in-house candidate that won't cost as much money. The trade in my opinion was a salary dump, albeit not a large one as Bruney only made $1.25 million. I'm sure Cashman is probably looking to bolster the bullpen and this deal frees up that spot on the 40-man and also frees up a little cash. There was probably no room at the inn for BB, which is probably why he was dealt. Good luck Bru.

There was a rumor from Joel Sherman this morning that Andy Pettitte rejected a one-year offer from the Yanks. It came as no surprise to me, because I think Sherman makes a lot of stuff up that's loosely based on some small nugget of truth, that Mark Feinsand shot down that rumor, tweeting that the Yankees have made no official offer but will do so today. He also writes, "They don't intend to low-ball him." I think there is zero probability that AP pitches for anyone other than the Yankees. The question to me remains, "when will he sign?" I feel pretty confident that by the end of the week, Andy Pettitte will be officially back in Pinstripes. Stay tuned.

As of right now there's not a lot buzz out there about Roy Halladay. I thought there would be, but right now, all is pretty quiet on the Halladay front. We should learn soon though who's going to be a major player for Doc's services and what it's going to cost. I have to think the Yankees are going to be heavily in the mix. They definitely better be.

Stay tuned. The fun should just be starting.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Take It On The Chin In World Series Opener Losing To Phillies 6-1

I'm going to keep this post brief. I'm tired, annoyed, and my laptop is going to die soon. Tonight's Yankees/Phillies game didn't go as I had hoped. Despite his rough start, I thought CC Sabathia pitched one hell of a game. The only negative aspect of his outing were the 2 mistakes he made to Chase Utley. Normally, those mistakes wouldn't be that big of a deal if the Yankees could muster up some offense. I know Cliff Lee is good but damn, the Yankees offense isn't that bad. With the exception of Derek Jeter, it was a very uninspired effort by the Yankee bats. The only run they could muster came in the 9th inning on a bad throw. That's not going to cut it.

My other big beef is with the bullpen. Had they kept the game at 2-0 maybe I'd be singing a different tune. Phil Hughes looks absolutely terrible. He's not even close to being the same pitcher that he was in the regular season. Brian Bruney also showed us why he was left off the ALDS and ALCS roster. It wasn't a good return to the mound for Bruney. It was far from it. The Yankee bullpen is supposed to be a source of strength. They need to start pitching that way.

I'm not worried about losing the opener. I expected to head to Philly with the series tied at 1. I also wouldn't be surprised if the team found themselves down 3 games to 2 when/if they return back to the Bronx. It's 1 game. Many teams, the Yankees included, have been down 1-0 and come back to win. Heck, the 1996 Yankees lost the 1st 2 games (at home) of the World Series and came back to win 4 straight. This team is good and they're more than capable of winning these games. They certainly didn't play that way tonight though. They need to step it up.

A.J. Burnett vs. Pedro Martinez tomorrow. I have no idea what to expect. Both have good stuff and can dominate but both can also stink up the joint. Either way, it should be a good game.

Back with more thoughts about this loss tomorrow.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Release ALDS Roster

The Yankees have finalized their postseason roster and there are a few surprises, but nothing major. I blogged a few days ago with what I thought the roster would be. Here's that list:

• Hitters: Jorge Posada, Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher, Melky Cabrera, Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Brett Gardner, Eric Hinske, Jose Molina, Jerry Hairston, Jr., Francisco Cervelli and Freddy Guzman
• Pitchers: CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, A.J. Burnett, Alfredo Aceves, Phil Coke, Brian Bruney, David Robertson, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, and Mariano Rivera

Here's the actual roster, those that are bolded were on my roster above.

• Hitters: Jorge Posada, Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher, Melky Cabrera, Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Brett Gardner, Eric Hinske, Jose Molina, Jerry Hairston, Jr., and Francisco Cervelli
• Pitchers: CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, A.J. Burnett, Alfredo Aceves, Phil Coke, Damaso Marte, Chad Gaudin, David Robertson, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, and Mariano Rivera

I had Freddy Guzman and Brian Bruney on my roster. The Yankees went with Chad Gaudin and Damaso Marte. The Yankees obviously felt there would be an added benefit to bringing along 8 RPs instead of 7, which is the reason for Guzman's exclusion. I'm not sure I agree with that line of thinking but I have no problem with it. The Yankees will only play back-to-back games twice. There's a day off in between games 1 and 2, games 2 and 3, and games 4 and 5. There's plenty of time-off for the bullpen arms to recuperate. I'm not sure they need 8 RPs. I think Guzman could bring more to the table as a pinch runner off the bench. I can only assume that the Yanks felt there wouldn't be a need for that. I hope there isn't.

I can understand why they picked Marte and left Brian Bruney off the roster for this round. The Twins have a lot of lefties in their lineup and it makes a lot of sense to have a 2nd lefty in the bullpen. I get that. I don't get though why they're bringing Chad Gaudin along. If the Yankees advance past Minnesota they're likely going to need a 4th starter, with that starter being either Chad Gaudin or Joba Chamberlain. I thought they'd pick the one they wanted to start and send them to Tampa to get work in so their arm stayed strong. I thought the other would be in the bullpen for the duration of the playoffs. I'm not a fan of using them sporadically, if at all, and then having them start again. If CC, A.J., or Andy don't go deep into the game, Aceves or Joba can take the ball. With Gaudin on the roster they now have 3 long-men and I don't see why that's needed in a 5-game series played over 8 days. But what do I know? I can see Gaudin not seeing any action. If that's the case, and I think odds are good that it will be, than why not bring Guzman along as a threat off the bench? It makes me wonder what the Yankees' exact game plan is. I wonder why they feel the need to have both Gaudin and Joba on the roster.

First pitch is a little more than 7 hours from now. I'm pretty geeked up. I think it's very important that the Yankees win game 1. Besides being in the driver's seat, it'll take a lot of the wind out of the Twins' sails. CC is making his 1st postseason start in Pinstripes. He hasn't fared well in his past postseason outings. I'm expecting big things from the big man, starting with a shut down performance in game 1. The last thing I want to see is another postseason falter. I think we all don't want to see that. I'm hoping to get tickets to game 2. I have a ticket to game 5 but I really don't want that game to be played. I want them to win in 3 and not be in a position to play an elimination game.

October baseball. How can you not love it?

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Breaking Down The Postseason

The ALDS kicks off a little less than a week from now. The big unanswered questions left are who will the Yankees play, which series will they take, and who will be on the playoff roster? Let me address those one-by-one:

1)Who will the Yankees play? The smart money is on Detroit as they're up 2 with 3 to play. I'd much rather see the Yankees play the Twins though, purely because in a short series, Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson and Rick Porcello could easily beat you. I think they match up better against the Twins pitchers. The Tigers offense however isn't on par with the Twins. The Tigers OPS is about 19 points lower than that of the Twins. The Yankee pitchers would obviously fare better against a weaker lineup. I guess it doesn't really matter which team the face. I think there are pluses and minuses for both and the Yanks match up well either way. But if pitching wins championships, I guess I'll skip Verlander thank you very much. What would be ideal would be if the AL Central came down to the final day. Justin Verlander's turn is Sunday I think. If they're tied or if it's a 1-game playoff, the Yanks would see him later in the series or possibly on short rest.

2)Which series will the Yankees take? Since the Yankees have the best record, they get the choice of which ALDS schedule they want. They can take ALDS series A, which has games on 10/7, 10/9, 10/11, 10/12, and 10/14 or ALDS series B which has games on 10/8, 10/9, 10/11, 10/12, and 10/14. It's thought to be advantageous to take ALDS series A because of the added off-day. I agree with that. If the Yankees choose ALDS series A, they will be able to go with a 3-man rotation and still have guys pitch on regular rest. CC pitches tonight and would pitch again on 10/7, which gives him 5 days rest. He could come back and pitch game 4 on 5 days rest. If the Yankees played in ALDS series B, CC would start game 1 on 6 days rest and would pitch game 4 on 4 days rest. Andy Pettitte is slated to pitch game 2. He would be lined up to pitch game 5 in ALDS series A and would only pitch game 5 in ALDS series B if Sabathia pitched game 4 on short rest. It's advantageous to the Yankees to keep guys on regular rest. But if there is anyone who can pitch on 4 days rest, it's CC Sabathia. I don't think there's any advantage in taking ALDS series B. Series A keeps the rotation at 3 (no Joba or Gaudin) and everyone pitches on regular rest. It also frees up a roster spot since only 3 SPs are needed. An extra hitter could be key. Series A also means A-Rod can get some extra rest.

3)Who will be on the playoff roster? As I mentioned above, if the Yankees take ALDS series A they'll only need 3 SPs. That would allow them to carry an extra hitter on the roster. I think there are several players who are a given so let's just get them out of the way:

• Hitters: Jorge Posada, Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher, Melky Cabrera, Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Brett Gardner, Eric Hinske, Jose Molina and Jerry Hairston, Jr.
• Pitchers: CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, A.J. Burnett, Alfredo Aceves, Phil Hughes, Mariano Rivera

Those 19 guys are definitely a given. The breakdown right there is 13 hitters and 6 pitchers. I think the team would be best off if they carried 10 pitchers. The choices are Joba Chamberlain, Chad Gaudin, Phil Coke, David Robertson, Brian Bruney, Damaso Marte. You have to have a lefty and Phil Coke gets the nod over Damaso Marte. I don't see them carrying both Chad Gaudin and Joba Chamberlain. I'm not sure that either would make the ALDS roster. Both are candidates to start in the ALCS. I think if you put one in the pen, you're committing him to the pen for the duration of the playoffs. If the Yankees want Joba to start, I think Gaudin doesn't make the playoff roster for any series. Personally, I'd prefer to see Guadin get a start in the ALCS and Joba to join the pen for the playoffs. Joba was electrifying as a RP. I think the Yankees would have a lights-out back of the bullpen with Joba, Hughes, and Mariano. I leave Gaudin off for the ALDS and throw Joba in the pen (for the entire playoffs). Bruney and Robertson get the final 2 spots. So spots 7-10 go to Bruney, Coke, Robertson and Chamberlain,

13 hitters and 10 pitchers leaves 2 open spots. The choices to round out the offense for my money are Francisco Cervelli, Ramiro Pena, and Freddy Guzman. It makes sense to carry a 3rd catcher. If the team faces a lefty, they could sit Matsui and DH Posada. The 3rd catcher would allow them to make a defensive substitution late if need be. For that reason, I'd put Cervelli on the roster. Which brings me to Ramiro Pena and Freddy Guzman for the last spot. Whoever gets this spot is going to see little playing time. In my opinion, this guy's role would probably be as a pinch-runner. Guzman is definitely quicker than Pena. I've got to go with Freddy.

Here is my roster for the ALDS:

• Hitters: Jorge Posada, Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher, Melky Cabrera, Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Brett Gardner, Eric Hinske, Jose Molina, Jerry Hairston, Jr., Francisco Cervelli and Freddy Guzman
• Pitchers: CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, A.J. Burnett, Alfredo Aceves, Phil Coke, Brian Bruney, David Robertson, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, and Mariano Rivera

When the ALCS rolls around, I add Gaudin to the roster and take Guzman or Cervelli off. I'm not sure which I prefer. Guzman would be nice to have as a pinch runner against the weak-armed Red Sox. Yeah, I think I keep Guzman either way.

There you have it. What do you think? What changes would you make? I think no matter how it gets sliced the team is going to have a great shot to win it all. I'm liking their chances.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

John Henry Can Suck It As Yanks Sweep Boston To Clinch Division And Home Field

Start spreading the news. The New York Yankees are the 2009 AL East champions. The New York Yankees clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The New York Yankees will be the only team this year to reach 100 wins. The New York Yankees are the best team in baseball. Deal with it.

Today's victory versus the Red Sox was great on so many levels. Division clinched. HFA clinched. 100 wins. Red Sox swept. Celebrating in from of the Red Sox. After losing the first 8 games to Boston the Yanks came back to split the season series. Get the picture? It was a great day for the Yankees. It was a great day for Yankee fans.

I'm actually watching the replay of the game right now on ESPN. Phil Coke is about to whiff David Ortiz to finish off the 8th inning. I should be getting ready for bed but I think I'm going to stay up and relive today's highs all over again. The game today was great, wasn't it? Andy Pettitte had a rough start but settled down and pitched a pretty good game. Andy has been awesome this year. I'll admit it. I wasn't a big fan of Andy returning to the Yankees this year. (Teixeira just hit a Yankee Stadium special on the replay. Suck on it John Henry). Those feelings about Andy had more to do with how much money he wanted over anything else. I'm so glad he came back though. He's been great this year. He's always been a better pitcher in the 2nd half and this year, unlike last, isn't an exception. In his last 11 starts, Andy is 6-1 and the team is 8-3 in his starts. I think we can all forget about Andy have arm/shoulder issues. His last 2 starts were really no different than his first 29. He'll be primed and ready to pitch this postseason. There was a lot of talk on the ESPN broadcast today about how the Yankees should set up their rotation in the ALDS. They liked Burnett starting game 2. I like Andy. If the ALDS happens to go 5 games, the Yankees would likely bring back their game 2 starter to start the game. I want the 2nd best pitcher the team has starting that ball game. Right now, that pitcher is Andy Pettitte. CC in game 1. Andy in game 2. A.J. in game 3. That's how I do it. What say you?

Another great job by the bullpen again. Brian Bruney really surprised me. He took on the meat of the Red Sox lineup and sent them down in order. he looked a lot like the Brian Bruney from earlier in the season. Bruney lost his way for a while. I hope he's back on the right path. Phil Coke also looks to be his old self. Coke has not given up a hit in his last 9 outings, a span of 5 innings. His ERA has dropped from 5.13 to 4.68 in that time frame. The Yankee bullpen is awesome. 'Nuff said. And the man at the back end of that bullpen is the most awesome of all. I wouldn't be worried about his last 2 outings. Mo's outings were a little shaky but were they really? I don't think so. The tying run would have never reached base today had Robbie Cano not tried to make some impossible play at 2nd. That was an easy out at first. Robbie should have been smart enough to know that. He got Kotchman on a weak grounder and Ellsbury on a comebacker. Ironically enough, that comebacker just happened on the replay. The division is ours baby. I'm smiling from ear-to-ear. Awesome. Totally awesome. Way to go guys. Back to Rivera, if you're worried about him, don't be. He's the GOAT. October is Mo-time!

Congrats to Robbie Cano for picking up his 200th hit. Cano, in my opinion is a special player. I can't believe some Yankee fans were giving up on him after last season. Last season was a rough one for Robbie. The big difference this year is that his head seems to be in the right place. He doesn't come off as lazy anymore. Not to me anyway. I'm a big Cano fan. I think he's going to have a great career. I wouldn't be surprised if he makes a run at the HOF. I know it's early but the talent is there. As long as Robbie stays focused, he'll do great things.

Mark Teixeira's 8th inning HR, a cheapie in my opinion, gives him 38 on the season, 1 shy of league leader Carlos Pena. If Teixeira can connect for 1 more HR, he might finish the year with the most HRs and the most RBI, better known as 2/3 of the triple crown. Mark has been bringing it lately. He's got the average up to .294, which is 15 points higher than it was 3 weeks ago (.279 on 9/6). Teix could make a run at .300. I don't think he'll make it but he could pull it off. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised. Guess what guys? Texieira is a Yankee for another 7 years. I know. Awesome, right? And I didn't even mention his Gold Glove defense. Suck it John Henry. For those who forgot or didn't know, after the Red Sox won their 8th straight game against the Yankees, John Henry, owner of the Red Sox, tweeted, "The MT curse?" The MT stood for Mark Teixeira. Since that tweet, the Yankees won 9 of 10 from the Red Sox. This bears repeating: Suck it John Henry. What a douche.

A common thing I heard on the postgame show was there is still more business to attend to. The rest of the regular season may be meaningless but there is a lot of important baseball ahead. The team needs to stay focused over the next 7 days. They need to remember that all of this means nothing if they punk out in the postseason. I'm sure Joe Girardi is going to be resting a lot of the regulars over the next week and I don't have a problem with that. These guys should be very well rested when the ALDS starts. I love October. It is without question my most favorite time of the year. I can't wait for the postseason to start.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Posada's Suspension Propels Yanks To 5-4 Walkoff Win

Thank you Jorge Posothead. Your stupidity has paid off. If Posada wasn't serving a 3 game suspension, Francisco Cervelli wouldn't have been in the ballgame. If Cervelli wasn't in the ballgame, maybe the Yanks don't win this game. Who knows? What's done is done. It is what it is. And what it is, is a 5-4 Yankee walkoff victory. That was a classic ending. I absolutely loved Cervelli's reaction. I loved how excited he looked sprinting to first base. I loved how he turned first and kept running. I love the arms raised in triumph reaction he had to the pie in the face. The kid has great energy. I'm looking forward to seeing him grow within the organization. I love the kid.

Before I move on to the game itself, I wanted to talk a little bit more about Posada. He was originally fined 4 games, which in my opinion, was far less than I expected. Most pitchers get 6 games (reduced to 5 after appeal) for allegedly throwing at a guy. Posada incited a brawl and got 4 games. He got off easy, especially since they dropped the suspension to 3 games since he didn't appeal. Jorge would have missed today's game anyway because he had a stiff neck, which was from his role in the melee. He's lucky that's all that happened. I mentioned earlier that I thought someone was in a bench-clearing brawl and ended up getting hurt and missing the season. I couldn't remember who it was when I wrote the post but I remembered it later on. It was Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee. He was in a BCB with the Yanks and ended up missing the season because he got hurt. Point is, things can happen. I like seeing the fire and the team standing up for each other, but there's a time for it. When you're the best team in MLB, that time isn't with 3 weeks left in the season. Jorge should know better. now back to your regularly scheduled programming.....

Chad Gaudin pitched better than I thought he would. I thought he was going to get rocked. I'm very pleased with his outing. If I'm running things, I put Gaudin in the 5th spot over Sergio Mitre. I don't prefer either one really, but if my choice is Gaudin or Mitre, I'm taking Gaudin. He's been the better pitcher.

Props to the bullpen for shutting things down. Except for Brian Bruney. Bruney has actually been decent lately. He had a 0.87 ERA in August and until tonight, he had a 2.45 ERA in September. I can see why Girardi went to him but Bruney makes me nervous every time he pitches. I don't like that. Phil Hughes on the other hand? Hakuna matata my friends. Hakuna matata. It was an impressive 1-2-2 8th for Phil. Hughes has been great as a reliever. I'd argue that he and Mariano Rivera might just be the best back-of-the-bullpen tandem in the game right now. If you disagree, let me know.

Big night again for Hideki Matsui. Godzilla had the big knock in the 8th. He picked up 3 RBI tonight and that brings his September ribbie total to 13. 13 RBI in 13 games. Not bad. I had a good feeling about the game as soon as Brett Gardner reached base in the 9th. You just knew he was stealing 2nd. It wasn't a question of if. It was a question of when. I really wanted to see Jeter drive him home. I really want to see the Captain take a pie to the face. Part of me wonders if A.J. would be scared to do it. It is Derek Jeter after all. But you know he'd do it. He'd have to. I hope we see it before the year is out. It was their 14th walkoff win of the year and that leads MLB. You can never count this team out. They've won 94 games for a reason.

Not sure if anyone out there caught the end of the Sox/Angels game. What a travesty! That was some horrible umpiring right there. First of all Nick Green went around. He knew it. the Angels knew it. Everyone knew it. Except the umpires. A few pitches later, Green channeled his inner Carlos Beltran and watched strike 3. The ump though, for reasons unbeknownst to everyone, called the pitch ball four which forced in the tying run. It was a horrendous call. I was watching the MLB Network's coverage of it and the entire in-studio crew thought it was strike 3. The umps handed that game to the Red Sox on a silver platter. Whatever.

The Yankee win drops the magic # to 11. The Rangers lost so the magic # for a playoff spot is down to 4. I think it's safe to say they've got a playoff spot wrapped up. The team has an off day tomorrow and the action resumes Friday night out in Seattle. The win tonight should definitely make the off day and the flight much more enjoyable. I know it will for me. Enjoy the off day.

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

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

Jobamania Is Running Wild As Yanks Sting Rays 6-2

I wanted to blog real quick about tonight's game and I'll expand it tomorrow. Joba was absolutely awesome tonight. He's been an entirely different guy since the All-star break. One could argue that tonight was his best outing of the season. My first inclination is to agree with that. He was lights out.

Brian Bruney sucks balls. He has to be on his way out and that's a shame because he's shown that he can do the job. He's been God-awful lately. You can't come in with a 6 run lead and make the manager have to go to the closer. He's brutal. I think his days are numbered.

The Red Sox dropped another one to the A's and the Yankee lead in the East is now at 3.5 games. Boston's recent swoon probably means that they're going to be making a big deal before Friday's deadline. They're almost being forced to pony up the goods for Roy Halladay. John Smoltz hasn't been good. Brad Penny isn't good. Tim Wakefield and Dice-K are on the DL. They're 4-8 since the ASB and are slipping in the standings. All signs are pointing to the Sox landing a big arm. I wouldn't be surprised one bit if they deal for Halladay. They're almost being forced to.

My plans are to blog tomorrow on my lunch break which is around noon EST. I'll expand on tonight's game and who knows, maybe a deal or two will happen before then. Enjoy your night.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Cheers And Jeers As Yanks Win 6th Straight With Sweep Of Orioles

I followed the game online as best I could today. I had some "cheers and jeers" to post based on what I caught as well as the box score. If you have any to add, please do.

Cheers to A.J. Burnett. A.J. had what looked like a pretty decent outing. He had a decent strike-to-ball ratio (65% strikes and picked up his 9th win and lowered his ERA. Well done.

Cheers to Phil Hughes. You the man bro. I've always maintained Phil is and will always be better than Joba. I'm glad he's pitching relief in the bigs and not starting in the minors. The bridge to Mariano is secure.

Jeers to Brian Bruney. WTF? As I was watching the gamecast I was really impressed with his outing up until I see, "in play, run." I sent my buddy Tom a text message that read, "Brian Bruney sucks." Next batter I see, "in play, run." I sent my buddy Tom a follow-up message that read, "Brian Bruney really sucks." At this rate, Bru will be DFA's by the end of the month.

Cheers to Mariano Rivera. It was unfortunate that Mo had to come in and clean up Bruney's mess. I was not surprised at all when I saw that he promptly struck out Huff looking. Mo has yet again saved the Yankees bacon. Watch out Tevor Hoffman. He's coming for you.

Cheers to the Yankees offense for going 7-for-15 with RISP and scoring 6 runs. Jorge, Alex, and Robbie have multi-hit games. Me likey.

Jeers to Nick Swisher for making an error. I don't know what you did, but come on. That's 6 on the year.

Cheers to the Yanks for winning 6 in a row. I'd be really excited except they did the same thing last year and then floundered. It's a much better team this year so I don't see that happening again.

Cheers to me. Just because I said so.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Pitching Implodes (Again) In 14-8 Loss To Angels

Today's game pretty much went the same as yesterday's. A great start and then all of the sudden, KABLAMO! So if you're interested in reading my thoughts on the game, scroll down to my last post and replace the names Joba Chamberlain, Mark Melancon, and Brian Bruney with Andy Pettitte, David Robertson, Brett Tomko, and Phil Coke. The guys sucked yesterday. The guys sucked today. Same story, just different names. I'd sprinkle in something about all the Yankee homers (5) today, but why bother? They were all for nothing.

Boston is up 6-0 in the 3rd. Consider the Yankees 2 games back.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Pitching Implodes In 10-6 Loss To Angels

Because the game started late last night, I only made it to the 7th inning stretch before I fell asleep with the game on. The Yanks were down 7-6 and I remember thinking that they could easily come back and win the game, assuming the pitching held up. I woke up a few hours later and the replay was on. I rolled over to the laptop to check the score. 10-6 Angels. Ugh. I was half asleep but was still awake enough to skim the box score. The pitching did them in and it all started with Joba Chamberlain.

To be frank, Joba sucks right now. Simply put, he sucks and he's not getting the job done. He's been absolutely awful in his last 2 starts, throwing a total of 8 innings, allowing 18 hits and 13 runs, albeit only 7 of them were earned. Joba needs to pick the team up after a defensive miscue, not melt down. The downfall yesterday happened after A-Rod booted a ball in the 5th. A-Rod makes an error and the next batter goes yard. The next batter then doubles and Joba's night was over. In his last outing against the Jays, he gave up a double, a single, a homer, and a single after a fielding error. To his credit, he did get a guy out before that all happened. If Joba wants to keep his spot in the rotation, he needs to step up his game. I'm not really high on Joba right now. I was in Toys R Us today looking for the Lou Gehrig McFarlane figure that came out. They didn't have it. But they did have the new Joba figure. I picked it up and put it down. That says a lot because I pretty much have every Yankee McFarlane figure that's been released in the past several years. I really had no interest in buying it. I'm just not a Joba guy.

I'm also not a Mark Melancon guy either. I have yet to see in him what everyone else sees. I know it's really early in his career but I'm not, and haven't been, impressed with him. Maybe someday I'll see it. I hope so.

I'm becoming less and less of a Brian Bruney guy. Talk about a total 180. Earlier this season he was lights out. Now he's the new Jose Veras. His last 4 outings have been God-awful. 4 IP, 8 hits, 4 walks, and 5 earned runs. Congrats Bru. You're the new mop up guy. What the heck happened to you?

Andy Pettitte pitches today and I hope he fares better than the guys yesterday. Andy has pitched much better on the road this season. He's 4-1 with an ERA of 2.79 on the road. Opponents are hitting only .228 against him. If the "Pettitte Pattern" holds true, he'll win today. His last 8 starts have gone like this: win, loss, win, loss, win, no-decision but got shelled, win, loss. Notice the pattern? Hopefully it rings true today and he can break the pattern after the ASB.

Congrats to Jonathan Sanchez on the year's first no-no.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

A Team Effort Leads Yanks To 6-4 Win And Sweep Of Twins

I didn't get to see any of today's game because of work. Typically when it's a weekday afternoon game, I can follow along online with a gamecast. I wasn't so lucky today. I had to attend a 5 hour training from 12-5. Not fun. Not fun at all. While in the training, I found myself constantly thinking about the Yankees game and what I could be missing. We got to take a little break in the middle of it. As soon as the trainer announced the break I scurried to my desk so I could get an update. Yankees were up, Aceves was out, Robertson was in, and the bases were loaded with look-alikes. The break wasn't long so all I really got to see was Robertson walk in a run. Ugh. As soon as the training ended, I bolted for my PC. The game was over. The Yankees were 6-4 winners. Nice. Very nice.

Considering I didn't see, or follow, any of the action, I can't really say much about the game. I checked out the box score and for the most part, I'm pretty happy with the results. Here are some thoughts.

Teixeira went yard. That ends a very long drought, 23 games to be exact. I heard a little bit of the interview he did with Kim Jones on thr radio post game show. Teix commented that HRs often come in bunches and he's hoping some more follow. I hope he's right.

Alfredo Aceves only lasted 3.1 innings. I was hoping for a little bit more but I'm guessing that the Twins worked up his pitch count knowing that he was probably only in for 65 pitches. It would have been a smart game plan as the Twins probably thought they'd fare better against the Yankees' middle relief. Ace threw a high percentage (63%) of strikes and seeing that he only K'd 2 and walked one, I'm assuming the Twins took a lot of pitches, primarily what I would guess to be first pitch strikes. If someone saw the game, let me know. It's purely an educated guess.

Starting Aceves as opposed to a minor leaguer could come back to bite the Yankees in the ass. They had to use 5 RPs today. Coke, Hughes, and Mariano have each now pitched in back-to-back games. This wouldn't be a problem if tomorrow's SP was anyone other than Joba Chamberlain. Joba doesn't exactly have a reputation for pitching deep into games. In fact, it's the exact opposite. JC has made 16 starts this year. 3 of those starts have lasted more than 6 innings. He's failed to pitch at least 6 innings in 8 of his starts. Chances are that the Yankee bullpen is going to be needed tomorrow for at least 3 innings. You'd like to think that Girardi and his crew would have had the foresight to consider this a possibility. Personally, I wanted to see the Yanks call up someone with some decent arm strength to start today's game. I'm sure there was more to the decision that just picking Aceves. Who would they send down and did they have any options? Who in the minors was available to start? Maybe Ace was the only option. If he wasn't, I hope this doesn't come back to bite us. Good thing the ASB is 3 days away.

The Yankee bullpen, with the exception of David Robertson, was awesome. Robertson pitched an inning, walking 3. He only threw 11 pitches, out of 28, for strikes. That's ugly right there. But the pen as a whole was lights out. 5.3 IP, 2 H, 4 BB, 7 K, and no runs. The pen is the reason why the Yankees won this game. I'm loving Phil Hughes as the 8th inning guy. Don't be mistaken though, I prefer him as a SP. But what they've got him doing is working. I'm glad he's pitching at the big league level and not in AAA. It's a much better learning experience. I'd have to give him an A+!

I was a little surprised to see Brian Bruney's name absent from the box score. He last pitched on July 6th. I think it's very telling that he didn't see any action today. His stock has dropped significantly as of late and it's obvious he's fallen out of favor with Girardi. Bru should see some action tomorrow considering everyone else, except for Brett Tomko, pitched today. He better make the most of it, especially if it's in a big spot.

I was shocked to see 4/5 of the run production come from the 8 and 9 hitters. Cody Ransom finally did something. Good for you Code-man.

Who wants to venture a guess how long it takes Melky to get his average down to .250? Melky's average sits at .277 and it's dropping fast. It's dropped 14 points in his last 9 games. Over his last 9 games, Melk is 6-for-32 (.188) with 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB, and 5 K. Not good. The silver lining is that he's not whiffing a lot. I didn't comb through the game logs to see what kind of outs he's making. My sometimes good, sometimes not so good memory, is telling me he's hitting a lot of weak grounders and pop ups. If Melky doesn't turn things around, I wouldn't be surprised if Cashman looks around for an OF on the trade market.

The Yanks are now off to Anaheim for a 3 game set and then it's the ASB. I said before this last stretch of games started that I'd be happy if the Yanks went into the break no more than 5 games out of first. They were 3 back at the time and had a much tougher stretch of games than the Red Sox. The Yanks have been playing great ball and are only .5 games back. In all likelihood, they'll be a full game back at the end of the day as the Sox are currently up on the Royals 5-3. The Yanks have now won 3 straight, 6 of 7, and 13 of their last 15. They've won their last 8 road games and their 25-18 road record is the best in the AL. Needless to say, they're playing great baseball.

Wow. For someone who didn't see the game I sure had a lot to say.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Fall To Jays 7-6 in Series Finale, Blame The Pitching Not The Umps

I didn't get to see any of yesterday's game. I did follow along with it as best I could on MLB.com's gamecast. I'll tell yeah, it's pretty stressful trying to watch a game that way, especially when there are 2 outs in the 9th with the winning run at the plate. You see the little ball arc making it's way toward the virtual plate and there's a slight pause before it tells you what happened. I thought for a second that the Yanks were going to pull it off but I guess it wasn't meant to be.

I didn't see, but read about, the 2 blown calls made by the umpire. The one in the first when Girardi got ejected sounded pretty bad. I would have liked to have seen it. Derek commented after the game that the ump told him he didn't have to be tagged to be called out. What's up with that? I can understand getting all hot and bothered by that, but come on now. How many times have we seen Derek get the out call at second when he never tagged the guy stealing second? It's baseball. Blown calls are a part of the game and they always balance out in the end. The Yankees will have benefited from many a blown call. Just ask the Orioles. They'll tell you. For the most part, games are not won and lost because of a blown call. Games are won and lost because you didn't hit, or you didn't pitch. Yesterday, it was the latter.

The "Pettitte Pattern" is still in effect. Going back 8 starts, Andy has won, lost, won, lost, won, no decision but got rocked, won, lost. I didn't see the game to say first-hand, but Pettitte's line was rather unimpressive. 5 hits, 5 walks, 6 earned in 6 innings. 53% of his pitches were strikes and that's pretty bad in my book. He definitely didn't get things done. Neither did Brian Bruney. He needed to come in and keep the score where it was. Bru has been pretty terrible lately. In 3 games, his ERA has jumped from 2.84 to 4.11. In those 3 games, he's thrown 2.2 innings, 7 hits, 3 walks, and 3 earned. Brutal. That's not the Brian Bruney I expect to see.

What's up with Mark Teixeira? He started July on fire, but has gone 0-7 in the last 2 games and his average is down to .273, the lowest it's been since May 29th. It's also been an eternity (June 12) since his last home run. Teix isn't exactly finishing off the 1st half on a high note. The team was 2-for-11 yesterday with RISP. One extra hit and they probably win that ball game. They can afford to slack with RISP if the pitching is on. When it's off, like it was yesterday, they need to make the most of those opportunities.

Congrats to Eric Hinske on hist 1st HR as a Yank. Hopefully, it's the 1st on many.

The Yanks are now in Minnesota for a 3 game set. Tonight's game is on My9 which means no Yankee baseball for me. Two games in a row. Ugh. The Scranton Yankees are in town and I may go check that out assuming my car is fixed in time. I was driving home from work yesterday when my muffler came unattached. I dragged that sucker for about 15 miles before I could pull over. Good times.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Despite Robbie Cano's Efforts, Yanks Beat Jays 6-5 In Extras

Thank God the Yankees won that game. Had they not, I probably would have driven down to the Bronx and paid Robbie Cano a visit. That was probably the most boneheaded play ever. EVER! Why in the world would you but with a 3-0 count? I hope that Cano did that on his own because if he was given the bunt sign on a 3-0 count then Girardi needs to be fired. I'm all but positive that Cano did it on his own seeing that Teixeira was gunned down by a mile. I didn't stick around to watch the post game show so I have no idea if it was brought up. I can't wait to see that explanation. Man what a dumb thing to do. Quite honestly, he shouldn't have been bunting in the first place. If Robbie pulled off the sac bunt, the Jays would have walked Posada. We would have had to rely on Nick Swisher and Melky Cabrera, or maybe Eric Hinske, to deliver. I'd rather take my chances with Posada.

Robbie hasn't exactly been tearing it up with RISP this year. He's hitless in his last 20 ABs with RISP and he's hitting only .200 with RISP on the year. Girardi must have had no confidence in Cano if he gave him the bunt sign. That begs the question, why is Cano batting 5th? The 5th spot in the lineup is supposed to drive in runs. If Cano is in the 5th spot tomorrow, then I have to seriously question Joe Girardi's baseball intelligence. Posada should be hitting 5th. Period. End of discussion.

I thought Chien-Ming Wang pitched well. He was pulled because of a strained right shoulder. That can't be good. Jorge made it sound in his post game interview with Kim Jones that Wang had nothing on the pitch he threw to Lind. He's had shoulder problems in the past. Hopefully this injury is not as bad as his previous ones. He missed all of 2001 and almost 2 months in 2005 (hat tip to Pete Abe). I'm inclined to think that Wang is going to miss some time. If he does, I hope its not for long. He's been pitching much better lately, kind of reminiscent of the CMW of old.

If Wang does go down for an extended period of time, the Yankees will have a tough decision to make. Do they work Phil Hughes back into the rotation? Do they call up someone from the minors to make some starts? Does Cashman venture out into the trade market to look for a replacement? The answer will definitely depend on how severe Wang's injury is. If it's a short stint on the DL, I call up someone from the minors to make a spot-start or two. I don't think it would make sense to have Hughes take the spot if he's going to go back to the bullpen. If Wang is going to be out for awhile, I think they have to give the spot to Phil Hughes. Hughes will need a little bit of time to build his arm strength back up. I don't think he could throw 5+ innings at this point. I think it would be easier for the Yankees to replace Hughes in the pen than it would be to find a SP on the trade market. That of course would depend a lot on Brian Bruney's ability to get guys out. If Bruney continues to pitch like he has since he came back from the DL then it would make it much tougher to move Hughes out of the pen. If I'm Brian Cashman, I call up someone from the minors to make 1-2 starts while Hughes works up his arm strength. When Hughes has at least 80 pitches in him, I slide him into the rotation and call up someone to pitch in the pen. If Bruney can't turn it around, I maybe explore the trade market for a back of the bullpen RP.

The Yankee bullpen has been pretty lights out lately. They definitely got the job done today. With the exception of David Robertson, they shut down the Jays and that allowed the Yankees to get back into the game. Bruney, Hughes, Coke, Rivera, and Tomko combined for 6 scoreless innings. The Yankees bullpen was their Achilles heel earlier this season. That's not the case now. They had the worst bullpen ERA in all of baseball earlier this season. They now rank 21st and after today they're only moving up that list.

It was a great win today. Anytime you win a game that Roy Halladay starts is a great game. Halladay wasn't vintage Halladay today. The Yanks knocked him around a little bit. I'm most surprised that they took him deep 3 times. Damon's game-tying HR was definitely a new stadium HR. That doesn't go out in the old park. It was good to see Mark Teixeira crank out 3 hits. Tex is off to a good start this month. He's 6-for-17 (.353) with 2 multi-hit games. He had 5 in all of June. He still needs a HR though. His last longball came on June 10th. The Yankees offense though is still struggling when it counts. They were 2-for-10 with RISP today and left 11 on base. Thank God the pitching is holding up.

The Yanks have now won 9 of their last 10 and are only 1 game out of first. The Red Sox are struggling right now and the Yanks are taking advantage. You wouldn't think the Yanks would only be 1 game back seeing that they're 0-8 against the Red Sox. Things could be a lot worse.

Enjoy the rest of the 4th.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Happy 4th!

Sorry for not posting after yesterday's game. My friend Joe and I took a little road trip to Erie, PA to check out the Trenton Thunder. They crushed the Seawolves 10-1. I also got Jesus Montero's autograph. Good times.

Yesterday's game in a nutshell: A.J. was again the man. Hughes is in, Bruney is out. Mo picked up another save and A-Rod hit another homer. Yankees win. Thuhhhh Yankees win. I like the fact that Hughes is now pitching the 8th. He's been pretty dominant as a reliever and has been extremely consistent. The Yankees wisely replaced Bruney with Hughes. I like Bruney and all, but I'm a Hughes guy. I guess we can start the "Hughes to the bullpen" debate now. Like Joba, he's going to excel as the set-up guy and then move to the rotation next year. It isn't even a question. Hughes is a starter and will be in the future. It would be a waste to have him pitch out of the pen in the future. Same as it is with Joba.

Enjoy the 4th!

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Keep The Winning Streak Alive With 8-5 Victory Over Mariners

Once I saw that the start of tonight's game was going to be delayed by rain, I had no intention of blogging after it ended. But it was a great win so how could I not? The team pulled Brian Bruney's ass out of the fire. He came in and absolutely sucked but the boys picked him up with some late inning heroics. Matusi doubles to right-center. Swisher reaches on an awesome bunt. Then the Melkman delivered (again). Melky has been pretty damn clutch this year. I've got to give it up to Melky. I'm still not 100% on board the Melkwagon, but I'm happy to go along for the ride. And as we've seen 500 times before, Mo closes it out for the save. He throws out the ceremonial first pitch and throws out the last pitch of the game. Very cool. The win runs the streak to 6. Let the good times roll.

Has there been a more undeserving pitcher who got the win? I'm kind of sickened that Brian Bruney can go out there and blow the lead by giving up 3 hits and a walk and walk away with the win. That's ridiculous. If anybody should get it, it should be Phil Hughes. He pitched an impressive 7th inning. 3 up 3 down on 9 pitches (I think). He was blowing balls by the M's hitters, hitting 96 on the gun. I would have liked to have seen Phil pitch the 8th, but I understand the decision to go to Bruney as he's the "8th inning guy." I'm really glad that they didn't send Phil back to Scranton. He makes the Yankees' bullpen exponentially better. He's facing a much higher caliber group of hitters also. That experience will serve him very well.

I think it's safe to say that A-Rod has found his swing again. Alex is now rocking a 6-game hitting streak. He's now homered in 3 of the last 5 games, driving in 11. A-Rod hits in 6 straight. The Yankees win 6 straight. The team goes as A-Rod goes. He's also playing a much better defensive game. He looks like he's having a much easier time getting to balls. Hopefully, Girardi plays it smart and gives him that rest. It looks like it's helping.

Joba was pretty unimpressive. He needs to attack the strike zone more often. The Mariners had a pretty good plan of attack for Joba. They were patient. They ran up his pitch count, worked a few walks, and chased him rather early. Joba has a tendency to try and dance around the plate when he gets ahead in counts. Just go after the hitters would you? He walked 3 and threw only 57% of his pitches for strikes. Joba has made 15 starts this year and only has 6 decisions. The Yankees are 10-5 in games Joba has started, including 5 of the last 6, and 8 of the last 10. I'll give him credit though for keeping the team in the game. He's good at doing that.

The best part of the night though didn't take place in Yankee Stadium. It happened a few hours south down in Baltimore. The Red Sox took a 10-1 lead into the 7th inning and gave up 5-spots in back to back innings, losing the game 11-10. Insert laughter here. That great Sox bullpen wasn't so great tonight. Talk about embarrassing. Best part is that Papelbon got sacked with the blown save. I love it.

The Yanks are now 2.5 back of the Sox. Andy Pettitte tomorrow night. I'll admit it. I'm a little worried.

It's after midnight. Looks like tomorrow will be another unproductive day at work for me.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Offense Rears Its Head in 8-4 Win Over Braves

Finally, the Yankees score some runs. Finally, the Yankees win. I didn't think they had much of a chance going into the game tonight. They struggled against the Braves' starter and only got things going once he got knocked out of the game. But hey, I'll take it. A win is a win is a win.

Joba looked pretty damn good. It's the 1st time this year that he didn't walk anyone. I know he didn't walk a guy in the game he left in the 1st when he got hit, but I'm not counting that. Good velocity. Outstanding strike-to-ball ratio (68 strikes, 31 balls). I think we can all agree now that Joba should never go back to the bullpen. He is so much more valuable to the team as a starter. His curveball was nasty today. Absolutely filthy.

Brian Bruney has had better outings. Perhaps he was knocking off some rust.

It took a while but the Yankees offense finally showed up. Francisco Cervelli kicked things off with his 1st ML HR. I really like having Cisco around. The Yankees would be wise to keep him on the roster when Jose Molina comes back. I'd also like to see him get a few more starts, but that's not going to happen. His post game interview with Kim Jones had me laughing. Her reminds me of the goalie from Slap Shot, except without the beard.

Mariano Rivera in a word: legend. The guy hasn't pitched since June 16th and what's he do? Mo comes in and nails down a 4-out save, whiffing all 4 hitters he faced. I was dying when he stepped up to the plate in the 9th. That was hilarious. He put a pretty good swing on the ball. The team seemed to have fun with that. It's something like that that could be a turning point. It kind of breaks the tension. Winning didn't hurt either.

I'm not overly excited by the 8 run output. They only went 2-for-9 with RISP. They could have been a lot more effective at the dish. I wonder how they would have fared had Joba not lined a shot off of Kawakami? They need to pull of a decent string of games offensively before I'll get excited. Tonight was a start in the right direction. Do it again tomorrow and I'll be pleased.

Is it possible that Joe Girardi's ejection sparked the team? Possibly. If so, imagine what effect firing him might have? Right now, about 50.1% of me is a Girardi supporter. They could can him and I wouldn't care. I can see both sides of it. Kevin Long on the other hand? Dump him.

The series finishes tomorrow. Derek Lowe is going for the Braves and I'm kind of relieved. It seems like it's been forever since the Yankees faced someone they're seen before. They've been struggling against the newbies and seeing an old friend might jump start things. I'm hoping it does anyway.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Avoid Embarrasment With Another Late Inning Comeback Against The Nats

As is always the case when the game is on My9, I didn't get to see tonight's Yankee/Nationals game. Frequent readers of the blog have seen me write before about how the Buffalo market has no carrier for those games. The previous network that showed them went all religious and Yankee baseball doesn't quite fit their programming. I think the Time Warner subscribers might now get it, but if you've got Direct TV, Dish Network, or FIOS, you're out of luck. I did listen to the radio call on XM. I like listening to games on the radio but definitely prefer seeing it on TV. Since I didn't see the game, I'll keep this post brief as I find when I listen to I don't take it in the same as I do when I watch it on TV.

CC Sabathia had a pretty solid outing. The only mistake he made was giving up a HR to a guy with only 1 career HR (in 324 ABs). I'm not sure if it was a "Yankee Stadium" HR or not. Sterling's call made it sound like Damon just missed it but if you've ever listened to Sterling you know he's often off a little bit. When Teixeira drove in Damon to tie the game, Sterling's call started out sounding like it was gone. Then he thought it was caught. Then it was off the wall. 3rd time's a charm.

After going 4-for-4 Robbie Cano now leads the team in hitting @ .309. Cano has been doing well of late. He's 7 for his last 8, and 9 for his last 12. 3 of those hits were doubles and 2 were HRs. He's Robbie Cano, don't cha know?

I'm still waiting for A-Rod to get it going. After reading a comment that was left the other day, I'm starting to worry he won't. The comment mentioned that after Friday's "walkoff" he was seen clutching his hip. It sounds like it's not 100% and I remember reading, though I'm not sure where it was, that Alex is having trouble opening up his swing. The commenter said it's all upper body. I'm a little worried about that. I'll take a less than 100% A-Rod over a guy like Ramiro Pena, Cody Ransom, or Angel Berroa. I've seen a lot of people question why Berroa is still around. Perhaps it has to do with Alex's health. He's probably around as an insurance policy, albeit not a good one.

It sounded like the Yankee defense made a few nice plays. I saw the highlight of Melky's shoestring catch. That was pretty. I haven't seen any other highlights but I'd imagine that might be the play of the day. If Melky can continue to flash the leather, I'll overlook his declining offensive numbers. The average is down 20 points over the last 10 games.

Jeter got pulled from the game with some kind of foot/ankle injury. Hopefully it's not too serious.

I'm not surprised that the Yankees struggled against a pitcher they've never seen before. I've written about that several times. I was surprised to read today that the Yankees were 9-4 this year against guys they've never faced. I read that in the comments section on one of Pete Abraham's posts. I forget which one but hat tip to whoever posted that stat. I'm a little shocked that they've done that well. My perception is that struggle more often than not. Waldman and Sterling talked about that quite a bit on their broadcast tonight. Take that for what it's worth though as it is Waldman and Sterling. Waldman brought up the idea that teams should bring up AAA pitchers whenever they play the Yanks. Sterling agreed with her that it was a good idea. But they struggled tonight and only really got things going once the Nats lifted the starter and went with the very familiar Ron Villone. It didn't take him long to blow that lead. 2 hitters and the game was tied. 4 hitters and the lead was gone. Thanks Ronnie.

Welcome back Brian Bruney. The 8th inning missed you. Jose Veras was DFA'd. I can't say I'll miss him, but I wish him the best.

The new daddy Chien-Ming Wang makes a very important start tomorrow. It's do or die for the Wanger. If he tanks, it's probably his last start. I read on Pete Abraham's blog, that in Taiwan, a new baby is supposed to bring good luck to the parents. For Wang's sake I hope that's true. He's already got one thing going for him: he's pitching against the Nationals, owners of the worst record in all of baseball. Their 16 wins is 11 less than the next closest team. Take advantage Wang. Take advantage.

So much for keeping it brief.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Rip Johan Santana A New One

OK, why is it the Yankees can rip arguably the best pitcher in the game for 9 runs on 9 hits over 3 innings, but they can't manage bupkiss against pitchers with minimal starts that they've never seen before. After Friday's improbable victory, I blogged that the Yanks always seem to struggle against pitchers they're seeing for the first time. And sure enough, the Yankees offense managed only 4 hits off a guy named Fernando Nieve. I said that Andy Pettitte needed a nice, long outing. Didn't happen. Andy had a brutal outing. The Mets offense battered him all over the ballpark. That's when you hope the offense picks you up. It was a bad game to run into a newbie. I hope somebody, someday, figures out why they struggle so much.

I think everyone on the planet thought today's game against the Mets was a gimme for the Mets. Not a lot of teams fare well against the great Johan Santana. The Yankees always seem to do better than most when it comes to facing Johan. They sure had his number today. I don't think anyone saw that coming. The 9 earned runs Johan gave up were a career high. The Yankees offense exploded for 15 runs on 17 hits and 7 walks. They had 15 of those hits in 5 innings. The offense was running on all cylinders. Well, almost all cylinders. A-Rod and Nick Swisher were the only 2 starters who failed to get a hit. Swisher I'll give a pass to because he walked twice and leads the team in OBP. A-Rod though needs to get his act in to gear. Alex is tipping the scales at .230. His average has dropped 25 points (.255 to .230) over the last 7 games. Alex is 3 for 24 over that stretch. When he hits the ball, he hits it well. 18 of his 28 hits have gone for extra bases. His SLG percentage is a healthy .517 and his .913 OPS us nothing to scoff at. Those #s will obviously drop after today's ohfer. But he's hitting only .230! He's got 122 at bats under his belt this season. He's had plenty of time to get things worked out. A-Rod is a career .305 hitter. I keep expecting him to pull a Teixeira and go on a tear. Any day now.

A.J. Burnett had an extremely solid outing. He got out of a major jam in the 3rd inning and that was definitely the turning point of the game for Burnett. Hopefully, it's the turning point of his season. the 7 scoreless innings dropped his ERA to 4.46. After 13 starts last season, A.J. was 5-5 with an ERA of 4.32. His ERA after his first 16 starts last year was 5.42. It was over 5 after his 20th start. He finished the year with 18 wins and an ERA barely over 4. I think we'd all settle for that. I definitely would. A.J. is having a very similar year this season. There's a lot of time left. A few more starts like today and we'll all be singing his praises by year's end. He's done it before. He can do it again.

The Brian Bruney/K-Rod feud seems to be over. K-Rod is such a little girl. Bruney was right on with his comments about K-Rod's antics. K-Rod takes things a little overboard when he gets a save. I must have watched the ending of Friday's game 100 times (exaggerating of course) and I loved seeing K-Rod get pumped when Alex popped it up, only to lose it all a few seconds later. I thought the video of K-Rod confronting Bruney during the Yankees' BP was comical. Who does K-Rod think he is? I would have loved to hear that exchange. Something tells me Bruney would mop the floor with him. This whole beef though has got me thinking about Joba's fist pumps. Are they along the same lines as K-Rod's antics? Absolutely. Do I have a problem with it? Ask me again later. I'm now on the fence. If I say no, then K-Rod's antics shouldn't bother me. If I say yes, then I feel like I'm losing a little piece of my Yankee fandom. I'm torn. I wonder how Brian Bruney feels about it.

The Yankees have a well-deserved off-day tomorrow. It'll be their first off day since May 28th. They've played 17 straight days and I'm sure they could use the day off. Up next are the lowly Washington Nationals, owners of the league's worst record at 16-45. It'll be CC, Wang, and Joba going for the Yanks. Anything less than a sweep would be unacceptable. Unfortunately, they're facing 3 guys they've never seen before so who knows what to expect. I hope they've done their homework.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie