The End Of The Road

Well, Yankees fans. Here we are again. The curtain has dropped on another season and unfortunately things didn't end up going our way. Mission 28 will have to wait another year.

As I was getting condolences today from friends and family members on the loss, I tried to explain that it actually wasn't that bad. Sure the loss hurts but it's a manageable pain. I think it's easy for me to get past the pain of the season ending because we've been here so many times before and we've been fortunate enough to walk away on top. I think winning has made the sting of losing easier to deal with, if that makes sense. Either way, it still sucks. I definitely wasn't ready for the season to end last night.

I spent much of last night and today digesting the loss. I read through a ton of Twitter comments and listened to a good amount of sports talk radio. I've come to a conclusion: There are a great deal of smart Yankees fans out there but Good Lord there are a lot of dumb ones. I have to wonder if I'm watching the same games as everyone else.

For starters, I saw and heard a lot of blame being thrown on Joe Girardi for over-managing last night, specifically with the use of the pitching staff. That couldn't be further from the truth. Let's take a look at his moves. Ivan Nova gets hurt and gets replaced by Phil Hughes. Logical move in my opinion. The team needed to eat some innings and who better to use than a starter turned reliever to do that. Hughes following Nova was the right call. Girardi lifted Hughes after throwing 21 pitches. That made sense to me as Hughes had only pitched a total of 3.2 innings since September 12th. Phil wasn't stretched out to throw much more. Boone Logan came in to face the lefty and lasted for 2 hitters, which is about what he normally does. I think here is where it got interesting. In came CC.

Using CC in that spot made perfect sense. Continuing with Logan made no sense and in an elimination game you want your best pitchers pitching, right? Other than Mariano Rivera, who's better than CC? Nobody. I understand the confusion because he was pitching on 2 days rest. I think a lot of people didn't get or didn't know that starting pitchers normally throw a bullpen session at this point during their rest. The bullpen sessions, as I understand them, usually lasts for about 40 pitches. It makes perfect sense to have CC get the preparation for his next start in during the game rather than before it, like the Tigers did with Verlander. CC's outing lasted 37 pitches by the way. He wasn't overused. I think many people also thought that since he pitched in game 5 of the ALDS he couldn't pitch in game 1 of the ALCS. I'm pretty sure had the Yankees won last night that we'd have seen CC start game 1. Like I said, it's not uncommon for a SP to throw 40 or so pitches at that point during his rest. It's actually the opposite. It's part of the prep work. What surprised me the most is that there were a lot of people that are supposed to be "in the know" (beat writers, Ken Rosenthal) who were pointing out that the move to CC would prevent him from starting. CC pitching in relief last night was the right call. Who else did you want to pitch there? I'll take CC all day.

There was no reason whatsoever to blame Girardi's management of the pitching staff for last night's loss. That's just dumb. The pitching staff had absolutely nothing to do with losing last night. That blame lies strictly with the offense. I can kind of blame Girardi for that.

Girardi should have recognized that certain people in the lineup were struggling and he should have done something about it. The 4-5-6 hitters in the Yankees lineup (A-Rod, Teixeira, and Swisher) were absolutely brutal. Beyond brutal even. That trio combined to go 9-for-55 (.164). You can't expect to win when you get that from your 4-5-6 hitters. Girardi should have recognized the struggles and made an adjustment. Personally, I would have moved Teixeira to the 3rd spot, Cano to the 4th, A-Rod to the 5th, Posada to the 6th, and Swisher to the 7th. The lineup would have looked something like this: Jeter, Granderson, Teixeira, Cano, A-Rod, Posada, Swisher, Martin, Gardner. That in my opinion, is a much better lineup.

I like Cano in the 4-hole for several reasons. One he's the best hitter on the team. Just like it did last night the game often comes down to A-Rod. A-Rod usually hits 4th. If the game often comes down to that spot in the order who do you want hitting there? Your best hitter, right? If you weren't aware, that is without a doubt Robbie Cano. He's the guy I want up with the game on the line. And let's face it, Robinson Cano doesn't need protection in the lineup. He's better at giving protection that getting it. Mark Teixeira could have used better protection. If you hit in front of Cano you're going to see better pitches compared to what you'll see hitting in front of Swisher.

Girardi should have also moved Jorge Posada up a spot in the order. Girardi should have recognized he was swinging a hot bat and moved him up ahead of Swisher. I'm not sure why Joe stuck with that lineup. Not changing it is the biggest criticism of how he managed that series. But it's not his fault that those guys didn't hit.

So why didn't they hit? I have a theory on why Teixeira and Swisher didn't. I'm not going to try and dig through numbers to validate it either. I don't have that kind of time. But here's my theory: good pitching shuts them down. There's no doubt that Swisher and Teix put up good numbers throughout the season. Over the course of 162 games you're going to come across quite a few subpar pitchers. Those guys feast on that. But I think they struggle against the cream of the crop. How else can you explain their postseason struggles at the plate? Wouldn't you agree that the teams that make the playoffs have better pitching than those that don't? I think those guys don't do well against good pitching. I don't know how else to explain it. If anyone has theories my ears are open.

After Girardi, A-Rod was receiving his fair share of criticism. While I think he deserves it to an extent, it's evident that Alex isn't 100%. I think I heard today that he was hitting .190 after coming of the DL in August. Alex was hitting .299 right before going on the DL. He finished the season with a .276 average. He definitely wasn't himself and I'm inclined to think that was a big reason why did so poorly at the plate. To his credit, he played outstanding defense the whole series. He made several great plays and I don't think you can begin to measure exactly how valuable his glove was in the ALDS. I'm not going to crush the guy over his ALDS performance.

Wow, I've been at this blog post for about an hour. I've got a little bit more to say and I'm just going to bullet point it out. Enjoy!

• I'm pretty sure Jorge Posada's time with the Yankees is over. I don't think it makes much baseball sense to bring him back. It's obvious he's not going to catch. The only role he fills is as DH or maybe even at 1B. The plan should be to have Jesus Montero DH full-time. I don't see a spot for Jorge. I'll miss Jorge. He was a gamer and he always, as he put it, just grinded it. Thanks for everything.
• I love Nick Swisher. I do. I think he's a great clubhouse guy but let's face it, he's not a clutch performer. I don't call him "The Rally Killer" for nothing. The Yankees will have a decision to make when it comes to whether or not they should pick up his option. My gut says I hope they don't but he does ring value to the team. My main concern is how he fades in October. I'm indifferent on Swish. Would be fine if he stays. Would be fine if he goes.
• I fully expect CC to exercise his opt-out clause. He'd be dumb not to. Having said that, I fully expect him to resign with the Yankees. He's made it known several times that he loves pitching in New York. He's done very well here and he has to know that the club is committed to putting a winner on the field. He should op-out and renegotiate the next 4 years of his deal. The Big Man deserved more dough. The only way he gets it is to opt-out.

I'm sure I've got more to say but I'm running in fumes so I'll save it for later. I'll close with saying that despite the Yankees failing in their mission to win, it was a really great year. Derek Jeter joined the 3000 hit club. Mariano Rivera officially became the man. We saw the emergence of Ivan Nova. We saw David Robertson step up and become an 8th inning guru. Brian Cashman's "scrap heap rejects" performed above everybody's expectations. It was a great year with a lot of great memories. It's sad that we reached the end of the road.

Speaking of reaching the end of the road I'm not 100% sure what the future holds for this blog. I really enjoy doing it but it's becoming harder and harder to keep up with. When you have 3 kids aged 4 and under it's tough to free up the time for blogging. I want to keep it going but I'm not sure what commitment level I can make to it. If this ends up being my last post (I doubt it will be) the blog will kind-of live on through my Twitter account. If you're not on Twitter you're missing out. It's a great place to connect with people that share your passion. I'll always be on there talking Yankees. That you can count on.

Until next time......

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Freddy Garcia Leads Yankees To 3-1 Victory Over Royals

I really like how the title of this blog sounds when I say it out loud. Say it with me: Freddy Garcia leads Yankees to 3-1 victory. Freddy Garcia leads Yankees. Freddy Garcia. How awesome is that? I love it when one of Brian Cashman's "trash heap rejects" does well. I hope the haters recognize that maybe Brian Cashman knows a thing or two. There is never anything wrong with a low-risk high-reward signing. It's especially nice when it turns out to be a low-risk really high-reward signing like both Garcia and Bartolo Colon has been. Point Cashman. Suck it haters.

Garcia pitched pretty well tonight. The wheels started to fall off their in the 7th but thanks to David Robertson the Yankees made it out of the inning with no damage done. Right now my only concern about Garcia is his stamina and ability to pitch deep into games. He's done alright so far but I'm a little weary about him when it gets into the 7th inning and beyond. It's a small concern though. Can't be too concerned by a guy with a 2.61 ERA. Nicely done Freddy.

Big props to the bullpen for pitching extremely well tonight. David Robertson, as mentioned above, came up big in the 7th when he whiffed Escobar and Getz to get out of a bases-loaded jam. Joba pitched a pretty impressive 9 pitch 8th inning. And Mo as usual was Mo. I didn't get to see any of the postgame so I'm not sure why Rafael Soriano didn't pitch in the 8th, especially after an off-day. I could easily find out why by hopping on Twitter but I'm a little lazy right now. Don't judge me.

Before I move on I wanted to talk about Joba for one quick second. I'm coming around to him again. He's pitching very well right now. Tonight's scoreless appearance makes it 6 straight scoreless appearances in a row. And on 9 pitches to boot. Very impressed. I was just looking at his stats and he's sitting on a 0.88 WHIP. That's pretty damn good. To put that into perspective Mariano's WHIP this season is 0.84. Joba's isn't too shabby. Baseball is a weird game. Joba has a 0.88 WHIP and a 3.18 ERA. D-Rob has a WHIP of 1.50 and an ERA of 1.35. Odd, isn't it? Anyway, Joba is pitching well. I'm pleasantly surprised and I'm becoming a fan again.

The offense was again underwhelming tonight. The bats are just not living up to their potential. Thankfully the pitching is exceeding theirs. Derek Jeter had another multi-hit game and is now sitting on a .283 average. It's now the 2nd highest on the team and he only trails Robbie Cano (.289) by 6 percentage points. What a difference a couple of days make, eh? I'm glad to see the Captain swinging the bat well. You knew he had it in him. It was just a matter of would he find it. He has. Welcome back Derek. We missed you. And oh yeah, suck it haters.

I'm not sure how much of the next few games I'll get to see. I have to travel to Kingston, NY for training and I have no idea if the hotel will have YES. You'd think they would but who knows? I also will have to "play the game" and go out to dinners. I don't really want to but it is what it is. I told my boss to just make sure wherever we go that the Yankees game will be on. I doubt that request will be honored, but we'll see. Hopefully things bounce my way and I'll get to see the games. I know for sure I'll miss some of Friday's Red Sox game as I'll be sitting on a train when it starts. If I had much hair left I'd pull it out. It sucks but what can you do? Seriously, what can I do? I need to figure something out.

Hope you all enjoy the next few days if I happen not to be around. And as always...

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees/Jays Weekend Wrap-Up

Greetings everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine, as it usually is with 3 kids in tow, was very busy. I realized that 4pm games are a horrible time for me to watch Yankees games. When it's a 1pm start, I can usually fit most of it in as that's when my kids nap. With a 7pm start I might miss the 1st hour as it's the kids' bed time. I can usually though pay half-attention to it as I get them ready. 4pm games are not my friend. The kids usually wake up from their naps around then and I can't justify ignoring them for 2.5+ hours. I sneak in little breaks and make sure to check my phone for updates but it's tough to catch it for a large chunk of time.

I didn't see much of Saturday's game which is why I didn't blog about it yesterday. I figured I'd save it for a "weekend wrap-up" post. I did catch most of the game today. I did though miss the last 2 innings as I made a trek to Best Buy to see if they could help at all with my dying laptop. They couldn't. I am though in process of hopefully fixing it. I had recovery disks and they appear to have solved the problem. So far so good. Unfortunately using recovery disks meant I wiped out the hard drive so everything on it is gone. Right now I'm installing 2 years of windows updates. I've been doing that for 2+ hours and it's on #68 of 94. Wait. why am I blogging about that? I don't write a tech support blog and that's not why you're here. My apologies. Let's talk Yankees, shall we? I am though going to keep it brief as I've got a lot to do still before calling it a day. And we're off:


Very pleased with how the series with the Jays turned out. It was nice to see the Yankees come back to win two straight to take another series. The Jays are a pesky team and always give the Yanks fits. I will never complain when the Yankees take a series.
Great start today by Ivan Nova. i don't know if it was the bad weather but he's been pretty good since the weather has gotten better. The only gripe I had was with the walks. He walked 4 and threw 60% of his pitches for strikes, which in my book is a so-so strike-to-ball ratio. But as long as he can keep the runners on base from scoring, I'm cool with it. The Jays went 0-9 with RISP today. Kudos to Nova for keeping them from scoring. But, that's a dangerous way to live. He needs to reduce the # of baserunners he allows.
It was nice to see the Yankees win Saturday without hitting any HRs.
I hope A.J. Burnett can continue pitching well now that we're out of April. As a Yankee, A.J. has made 16 starts in April and has a 9-1 record to show for it. He's 18-24 after April. I think he's going to continue to pitch well.
Curtis Granderson hit his 8th HR and I now owe him $120. Way to go Curtis.
Robbie Cano bruised his hand and left Sunday's game early. I don't think it's serious. at least I hope it's not.
Rafael Soriano hasn't given up a run in two, count 'em two, straight games. Yay.
After blowing 2 straight saves Mariano Rivers has saved 3 straight and hasn't given up a run. He's the GOAT.
Pretty good series for the bullpen. They've pitched 8.2 scoreless innings since D-Rob's little fielding snafu.
A-Rod has been struggling since missing a few games with his injury. He's 3 for his last 27 which has dropped his average 96 percentage points. Uh oh.
That about sums it up. I'm sure I'm missing something. I'm tired and I'm not 100% focused. The wife has been asking me to help her put some stuff away and I've been ignoring her to do this. Gotta run.
Peace, love and Pinstripes,
J-Boogie

Yankees Fall To Those Pesky Toronto Blue Jays

The hot streak that the Yankees rotation was on had to come to an end at some point. Freddy Garcia was not sharp tonight. I saw very little of Garcia's outing tonight. By all accounts he was not sharp. Some of my twitter peeps even used the word shaky. I would agree with that based on what I saw. He was all over the place with his pitches. He ended up walking 5 and only 56.4% of his pitches were strikes. That's a horrible strike-to-ball ratio. I typically look for something in the low-to-mid 60s. But despite looking terrible he pitched an effective game. If you give up 7 hits and 5 walks and only allow 3 runs, you did pretty good. That's battling right there. Now let's be honest here. If Garcia were to only pitch 5 innings and allow 3 runs every start, we'd be happy with that. I know I would be. The Yankees offense is good enough that it should usually end with a win. Now if only the offense would play to their potential.

The Yankees offense had another weak night at the plate. In what's becoming typical Yankee fashion the majority of the Yankees runs came off the longball. The Yankees have won their fair share of games this year with the HRs. Those wins are eventually going to get balanced out with the losses. Tonight was one of those nights. The team needs to find a way to string some hits together and get some runs home. Get 'em on. Get 'em over. Get 'em in. Easier said then done, right?

Robinson Cano is raking right now at the plate. He is squaring up nicely on the ball and hitting it with authority. His 2 homers tonight were absolute lasers. He's gone deep in 3 of the last 4 games and has knocked in 7 of the 21 runs in those 4 games. He's one of the few guys that is currently hitting. The shock tonight for Robbie wasn't the 2 HRs. It was the 2 walks. He came into today's game with 1 walk on the season. Dude likes to swing. I have no problem with that.

Additional thoughts:

• David Robertson needs some PFP


• I really don't like Jose Bautista


• Going 0-8 with RISP as a team is horrible.


• Nick Swisher is looking like the Rally Killer from 2009. He came into the game hitting .190 w/RISP and was 0-9 with RISP and 2 outs. He went 0-3 w/RISP today and 0-1 w/RISP and 2 outs. The big rally kill came in the 8th when he grounded out to 1st with 2 outs and the bases loaded. Pitiful. I really don't like calling him the Rally Killer. If you're new to the blog and want to know why I do, look up Nick's 2009 situational stats. They're awful.

It's A.J. Burnett's turn. Time to start another starting pitcher hot streak. Won't matter much if the bats don't show up. Wake up bats!!

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Freddy Garcia Shines Again As Yankees Clip The Orioles 6-3

I'm going to start this blog by saying this will not be my best work. Today is my last day of vacation and I have to return to work tomorrow. I've had a pretty busy week off and I've somewhat tortured myself by sleeping about 5-6 hours per day. I'm in desperate need of some serious sleep and I've imposed a 9pm deadline on myself to go to bed. I've got 15 minutes and I still need to iron some clothes. So this one may be a little rushed but hopefully I'll still get my points across. Here goes nothing.

Freddy Garcia was again outstanding. 6 more shutout innings which runs his scoreless innings streak as a starter to 12. What's most impressive in the 12 innings he's thrown as a starter is that he's only allowed 4 hits and 3 walks. That works out to a WHIP of 0.58. Yes, you read that correctly. Wow. The impressive thing is that he's not doing it with overpowering stuff. He's hitting his spots. He's mixing his speeds and his pitches. He's pitching. It just goes to show that you can be successful without a blazing fastball. Phil Hughes take note. Well done Freddy.

If I were Joe Girardi I would not have pulled Freddy after 6. He was at 91 pitches and if I were running the ship he would have stayed in until he ran into trouble. The leash would have been short and I wouldn't have let him pitch the 8th. Had Girardi followed that strategy we might not have seen Joba implode in the 7th. I can understand and respect why Joe made the switch. I can't fault him for Joba stinking up the joint. As for Joba, it's the same two-step as last season. Step forward, step backwards. I want to see more consistency from Joba. I think we might see David Robertson take over the "7th inning guy" role. Rafael Soriano was unavailable today and I think it was a little telling that Joe went to D-Rob in the 8th and Joba in the 7th. Maybe I'm reading too much into that. We'll see.

Back-to-back blown saves for Mariano. I'm a little shocked but not at the same time. I think the home plate ump was inconsistent with his strike zone and he should have punched out Adam Jones. Regardless, I'm still not use to seeing Mo perform like he did in back-to-back games. As I wrote after his 1st blown save, April appears to be the month where he struggles the most. He's Mariano Rivera. There will never be any worries about him on my end. He's the man.

Props to the top of the lineup. Jeter and Granderson combined to go 7-11 with 4 RBI and 3 runs scored. Jeter picked up 4 hits and raised his average to .257 but he didn't exactly knock the cover off the ball. But hey, they all look like line drive singles in the box score. I'm hoping it's a turning point. Granderson has some serious power stroke going on. He hit HR #7 which banks another $20 for his charity. Dude is going to break me.

2 minutes 'til 9......

Bottom of the lineup was blech. Swisher 0-5. Posada 0-4. Martin 1-4. Gardner 0-5. Combine that and you've got 1-18 with 2 walks and 9 Ks, 4 of which were Gardner. Horrible. I love how Swisher tried to change up his luck by rocking the high socks and then giving up on it. With the exception if Martin, the bottom of the order has been pretty weak. But I'm a minute over my cutoff point so I'll end it there. But you guys know they're weak so we're good.

It's back to the Bronx for a 7-game homestand with the White Sox and Blue Jays. Rain rain go away. I want to see the Yankees play. Later.

9:02pm. Not bad.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Bats Power Yankees To 9-4 Win Over The Sad, Sad Red Sox

How sad are the Boston Red Sox? Wow. They're 1-7, in last place, and currently have the worst record in all of baseball. I hope the Fenway Faithful take notice of that tomorrow at the ballpark when they see the standings on the Green Monster. The Red Sox, simply put, are terrible. Outside of Dustin Pedroia there isn't one person on that team that's doing much of anything.

As a team, through the 1st 7 games, they rank 29th out of 30th in team batting average, 27th out of 30th in OPS, and 21st out of 30th in runs scored. I remember having an exchange with a Sox fan on Twitter during the offseason. I had tweeted that the acquisitions of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez provided a marginal offensive upgrade over Victor Martinez and Adrian Beltre. I was of course called an idiot or something. I wish I remembered who that Sox fan was so I could throw this at them but alas, their Twitter handle escapes me.

What even makes the team sadder is their pitching. They rank dead last in team ERA and OPS. They've allowed the most HRs and I don't think the stats I'm looking at include the 4 they gave up today. Outside of one start by Jon Lester they've all been horrendous. So much for having a team of 5 aces, eh Sox fans? The Red Sox, as the title of this post says, are a very sad, sad team. For now anyway. I don't expect them to stay this bad for the entire season. I think they're highly overrated, arguably the most overrated team ever, but they are a good club. They will win their fair share of games. But enough about them......

How about that game today? Awesome, right? Sure, the Yankees had a few sore spots, namely Ivan Nova, Brett Gardner, and Mark Teixeira, but by and large, great game. The story of the day was the offense. They hammered the Sox, scoring 9 times on 13 hits and 4 walks, and best of all, 4 HRs. The highlights pretty much came from the bottom of the order. The 5 thru 9 hitters combined to go 10-21 with 8 runs scored 9 RBI, 3 2B, 4 HR and 3 BB. They stole the show.

The 2 biggest scene stealers came from the very bottom of the order. Eric Chavez, making his first start as a Yankee, went 3-5 with 2 doubles. The big knocks though came off the bat of Russell Martin. Russell Russ went 2-4 with 2 HRs and 4 RBI. How big has Martin been this season? I am very, very impressed with what he's brought to the table. He now has 3 HRs on the year which is 2 less than the entire Red Sox team. Let me say that again. The Yankees catcher has 2 fewer HRs than the entire Red Sox team. Insert gut busting laughter here. If you were to put Martin on the Sox he'd be leading their team in longballs. The Red Sox. As previously mentioned, they're a sad, sad team.

The biggest negative from today's game had to be the start from Ivan Nova. As Yogi Berra would say, it's like deja vu all over again. What we saw today was reminiscent of the 2010 version of Ivan Nova. For those that can't remember that far back, in his seven 2010 starts Nova often struggled to make it through the 5th inning. He would be doing alright but then the wheels would fall off. His outing today kind of reminded me of that. He didn't have good stuff today. Lucky for him the Red Sox offense is terrible. If the Sox offense were any better the game could have finished much differently. Nova gave the Sox plenty of chances to score but the Sox just couldn't deliver. As a team the Sox went 1-17 with RISP. As I said they're a sad, sad team. Nova got away with one today in my book. He's got to be better. What he did today won't cut it.

Solid game by the bullpen. Glad to see David Robertson pick up the W on his birthday. D-Rob, Joba, and Luis Ayala combined for 4.2 scoreless IPs. Ayala was the only one of the trio to have a rough go of things. He allowed 3 hits and a walk. He struggled enough that the Yankees had to warm up both Rafael Soriano and Mariano Rivera. But Ayala got the outs when he needed to. Game over. Yankees win. Thuhh Yankees win.

We've got Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN tomorrow. CC vs. Josh Beckett. Yeah, I think we all know how this game is going to go. But hey, you never know. That's why they play the games, right. If they didn't the Red Sox would have already won the World Series and we wouldn't have any idea just how sad of a team they really are. Thankfully, we've gotten to see that. If you couldn't tell I'm absolutely loving it. But as I said up top I don't expect it to last. They've got a good squad and they'll win their share of games. I think it's clear though that they won't win as many as the Yankees. It's pretty evident who the better team is. As I tweeted this morning, Yankees > Red Sox. Always have been, always will be.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Cliff Lee Lives Up To The Hype, Yanks Down 2-1 In ALCS

Well, that just sucked. I was really hoping that the Yankees were going to pound Cliff Lee tonight. I had talked myself into believing it was going to happen. Then I saw the first inning and knew we were in for a long night.

Lee flat out dominated the Yankees. There wasn't one moment in the game where I thought they were going to get something going. I thought for a brief second that maybe they were going to when Brett Gardner swiped 2nd with no outs. Wrong. Lee slammed the door. He's good. Real good.

Here's how I look at it. The Yankees weren't supposed to win this game. Everyone knew, whether they want to admit it or not, that the odds of winning this game were slim. Sure a win would have been nice but losing isn't the end of the world. I don't think losing today makes tomorrow's game a must-win either. Losing game 4 would definitely make winning the ALCS a tall task but even down 3-1, the Yankees would have CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes and Andy Pettitte getting a chance to win ballgames. The Yankees could very easily run off 3 straight.

The scary thing right now though is that the Rangers have flat out dominated this series. The Yankees were lucky to pull out game 1. They very easily could be down 3-0. But they're not, and being down 2-1 isn't the end of the world. This team has the make-up to get it done.

Tomorrow's game 4 should be an adventure. A.J. Burnett vs. Tommy Hunter. I have no idea what to expect. A.J. has the stuff but which A.J. will show up? I sure as hell hope it's the good A.J. and not the bad one. Like I said, tomorrow is not a must-win, but evening up the series would be pretty nice.

Andy Pettitte looked pretty damn good tonight. It would really suck if it turned out to be his last start as a Yankee. I don't think it will be though. I'm optimistic that it won't be. He looked sharp and if not for the one bad pitch to Hamilton in the first this could have been a different game.

It was very frustrating to watch the Yankee hitters tonight. Swing the freaking bats guys. You know CL doesn't walk anyone and he throws a lot of strikes. What are you guys looking at? Jesus.

I thought the game itself was great up until the 9th inning. Headed to the 9th I was optimistic about the Yanks scoring in the 9th. I was contemplating getting the "rally baby" out of bed for it. That would have ticked off the wife but I was willing to go down that road. Thanks to Boone Logan and David Robertson I didn't have to worry about that. As soon as I saw Logan on the hill I said to my buddy Dan something along the lines of, "Oh crap. The lefty specialist to get out the lefty. This never works." Now, I know that usually it does but sometimes you can just tell when it's not going to. That's how I felt there in the 9th. Logan and Robertson were terrible. Way to keep the game close fellas.

So now we need A.J. to be our savior. Yikes. All I can say is I hope his head is in the right place.

Still not ready to panic.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

The Better Late Than Never Yankees ALDS Game 3 Post

I had every intent on blogging right after the series-clinching victory the other night but I fell asleep with the game on sometime in the bottom of the 8th inning. I woke up sometime a few minutes later, fired off a tweet, and then unintentionally fell asleep on the couch with the TV blaring and the lights on, for the next 4 hours. When I woke up I was in an incredible daze. It took me a second to figure out where I was and what was going on. It was an odd feeling to say the least. Sunday got away from me because it was my birthday and we also had to take a road trip to a birthday party for our friends' two-year old. Next thing I know, here I am. Better late than never, right?

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuughes! Man, he was awesome in game 3, eh? Count the Us and you'll get 19. One for each victory, both regular season and postseason. Hughes is the man. I think his outing on Saturday turned everybody into believers, something I've been since before day 1. I've maintained all along that Phil was going to be the man. People were (prematurely) shouting Joba's praises while I was singing Phil's. People were killing Brian Cashman for not dealing Hughes to Minnesota for Johan Santana. I saw a lot of tweets and whatnot during Saturday's game about that. My how things change. I went back through all of my posts tagged with "Phil Hughes" to see what I wrote about that proposed deal between Minnesota and New York but I couldn't find it. But I did find this, from a post dated April 3, 2008:

For those of you that don't know me or are new to this blog, likely don't know I'm a big Phil Hughes guy. I frequent his blog. I drove 5 hours just to watch him pitch in Scranton (only to have it rained out). I have a Phil Hughes BP Jersey. I have a Hughes 65 t-shirt. I drove to Erie, PA two years ago just to try and get his autograph, which I did. I also bought one of those "I Want To Thank The Good Lord" Joe DiMaggio signs that they sell on Steiner Sports that's signed by Phil. I got it from MLB auctions for $100. I was biting my nails all off season while rumors were flying about him going to Minnesota for Johan. Thank God the Yankees were smart enough to hold onto Phil.

I bolded the last statement because I'm 99.9% sure it's how every Yankee fan is feeling about PJH right about now. Just imagine if the Yankees pulled that deal. Hughes would be a Twin, Johan would be a Yankee, and CC wouldn't. Thank God (and Brian Cashman) that it all worked out. Phil is going to be an integral part of this playoff run. Any doubts on how he'll perform should be tossed out the window.

Overall it was a pretty great ALDS for the Yankees. I can't believe how much they dominate the Twins come October. It's unreal. I had to fire off another e-mail today to our sister site in Duluth, Minnesota. This one provided the staff out there the suggestion that they contact our Employee Assistance Program if they needed to discuss the sweep with a trained grief counselor. I also suggested they use their Homer Hankies to wipe away the tears and the shame that comes with another ALDS meltdown. Good stuff.

I really should have blogged sooner than now. I'm struggling to remember what I wanted to blog about. Phil Hughes love-fest? Check. Big series win? Check. What am I leaving out? Hmmm. Maybe it was how great the bullpen was during the series? Rivera, Wood, Logan and Robertson combined for 7 innings of 1 run ball. Or maybe it was about how the Yankees apparently do have pitching after CC Sabathia? Pettitte and Hughes = 14 IP, 9 H, 2 BB, 10 K, 2 ER, 1.29 ERA. Or could it have been that the offense was running on overdrive? The lineup went a combined 33-105 (.314) with 11 XBH, 4 SB and 17 runs scored. Everyone had at least 1 RBI and everyone with the exception of Derek Jeter scored a run. How surprising is that? Take your pick. It could have been any of those topics.

And now we wait. We wait to see who the Yankees will meet in the ALCS. We wait to see them take the field again this Friday. I really don't care who the Yankees meet in the ALCS. If I had to go with one team over the other I probably go with the Rays. Call it nothing more than a gut instinct. I really have no preference. I like Tampa because they don't have a guy named Cliff Lee and for the most part, Tampa is like New York south. The Rays won't have a tremendous home-field advantage. The Yankees win either way however because both Lee and Rays' ace David Price will pitch Tuesday night. That means they're out for game 1 of the ALCS and likely out for game 2, unless they pitch on short rest. Advantage = Yankees. But we've got lots of time to discuss that. The series doesn't start for another 4 days. Be back later.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

A Couple Of Questions After A Yankees Loss

Great game between the Yankees and Rays tonight. Unfortunately for us it didn't go the Yankees way. Lots of people on the hook for this one. Girardi, Mitre, the Yankees offense. Pick one. The one person not on the hook is CC Sabathia. What a performance. He deserved better.

1) Where oh where has the Yankees offense gone? Oh where oh where can it be? It's been a terrible last 2 games for the offense. Granted, they faced David Price and Cliff Lee but still: 1 run on 6 hits in 2 games. They're better than that.

2)Not sure who made this call but why in the world did Brett Gardner attempt to steal 3rd when he was already in scoring position and needs a base hit to score either way? If Joe Girardi and crew made that call then somebody needs to get canned because that was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. If Gardner did it on his own than he needs a serious time-out (sorry, got 3 kids). Gardner is one of the fastest runners in the league. He likely scores from 2nd on a base hit. Stupid move.

3)What is up with using Chad Gaudin in these close situations? I couldn't believe that Giradri went to him again in a tie game when he had several other (and better) RPs available. Props to Gaudin for getting out of it by the skin of his teeth.

4)Sergio Mitre. See question 3. What's up with not using other RPs? Albaladejo? Robertson? Joba? Hughes? Four fairly decent choices and Girardi opts for his 2 worst choices in Gaudin and Mitre. WTF?

Is it time to panic? Not yet, but it's getting close. They didn't exactly roll out their top flight SPs in the Texas series. No Pettitte. No Hughes. No CC. You think Dustin Moseley or Javy Vazquez will be making postseason starts? Nope. Same goes for the bullpen. They've been pretty damn good of late. No way Gaudin or Mitre pitches in this game if it were the playoffs. CC was off the freaking hook tonight. The offense failed him. But again, David Price, like CC and Cliff Lee, is no joke.

The Yankees have now lost 4 in a row and are 1-7 over their last 8. They're lucky they have such a big lead for the wild card. What I thought would be an impossible collapse is starting to happen. Lucky for them both the Red Sox and White Sox aren't hot right now. If the Red Sox hold on and win tonight they'll be 7 back in the loss column with 18 to play. It's still a pretty comfortable lead. But as we all know, you can't predict baseball. The magic # to clinch a playoff spot sits at 12. Until it gets to zero you never know what will happen. Right, Mets fans?

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Swisher's Walkoff Propels Yankees To Victory

Didn't get to see or hear any of the game today. I got to check here and there and when I last looked they were down 2-1 during the 7th inning stretch. I got back to my desk right after 4pm and was happily surprised to see that they came back and won 3-2. That put a smile on my face. That smile got bigger when I saw that they won on a walkoff. It got bigger when I saw it was a walkoff HR. It got even bigger when I saw that Swisher hit the winning shot. That HR puts us past the $1000 mark in the Swish's Wishes charity drive. The total pledged, which is based on $38 per HR plus a little more, is now up to $1036. Way to go Nicky Swish.

In looking at the box score, I'm assuming the story of the day is pitching. It looks like Ivan Nova had a nice outing. It would have been a great outing if not for the one bad pitch to Matt Wieters. All in all I'm impressed by his line. I especially like the strike-to-ball ratio. 61 strikes on 90 pitches = 65.93% strikes thrown. Pretty nice in my book.

Also, it looks like the bullpen deserves some love. Robertson, Logan and Joba combined for 3 hiteless/scoreless innings. That kept it close, which let the offense do its thing. Well done guys.

Knock another game off the magic # to clinch a playoff spot. The magic # is now 15 to eliminate the White Sox and 14 to eliminate the Red Sox. Tonight is a win-win for the Yankees as the Red Sox play the Rays. Either the Yankees go another game up on the Rays or get 1 step closer to eliminating the Red Sox. It would be a perfect night if the White Sox lost as well. Dare to dream.

Off day tomorrow and then a 9-game roadie. Now the real fun begins. It's crunch time and from here on out it's pretty much tough game after tough game. 3 with Texas, 7 with Tampa, 6 with Boston, 3 with Toronto, and 3 with the much-improved Orioles. Talk about a tough stretch. I think the Yanks will be up to the task.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Run Season High Win Streak To 8 With 7-5 Win Over Jays

Let the good times roll, right? The Yankees have won 8 straight and are rapidly moving toward officially clinching a playoff spot. With the win today and the Red Sox loss (nice!) the magic number to clinch is 18. Running that down to zero is just a formality. The Red Sox are 9 back in the loss column with 26 to play (could possibly be 10 back by end of night). If the Yankees slump and play .500 the rest of the way (13-13) the Red Sox would have to go 23-4. Excuse me a moment. I have to call 911 because I think I just busted my gut. No chance the Red Sox go 23-4 the rest of the way. I think at best the Red Sox could go 18-9 and that's being very generous. Assuming they do, the wheels would totally have to fall off and the Yankees would have to finish 9-17. Sorry, need another moment. This time I think I split my side. Ouch.

The last 2 Yankee wins have been pretty similar. Mainly because neither starter could make it through 5 (both lasted 4.2) and the bullpen had to step up to lock the win down. And boy did they step it up. Friday the pen combined to pitch 4.1 hitless/scoreless innings. Logan to Robertson to Wood to Rivera. Game over. Today the pen pitched 4.1 IP, allowing 2 inherited runners to score on 3 total hits. Moseley to Logan to Chamberlain to Wood to Rivera. Game over. The runs allowed today could have been avoided if Joe Girardi didn't mishandle the last out of the 5th. With the lefty Lyle Overbay up the correct move would have been to go to Boone Logan as opposed to Dustin Moseley. What made the move even more puzzling is that Girardi used Logan immediately after Moseley. Logan should have been in to face Overbay. Joe's lucky the team picked him up.

The Kerry Wood trade looks like a winner, eh? He's now appeared in 14 games as a Yankee. He's thrown 16 innings, allowing only 1 run on 10 hits. The run he allowed came in his 2nd appearance. Since then he's been lights out. Except for the walks. Girardi has used him as the 8th inning guy two games in a row in games that featured both Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson. Pretty obvious that Wood is the chosen one for the 8th inning. I've got no problem with that choice.

I didn't get to see any of Friday's game. I tried to listen to it on the radio while at work but it didn't go so well. I didn't catch much of Nova's start. I saw all of Vazquez's outing and it wasn't hard to tell that he didn't have anything. It's amazing he lasted as long as he did. I'll give him credit for battling through it and only giving up 3 runs. The big question with Javy is what's up with his velocity, or better yet, lack thereof? He was topping out just below 90 and was averaging around 87. That'll work if you can locate your pitches and have good control and offspeed stuff, a la Mike Mussina. But when you don't, like Javy, you're treading water. I read that he's staying in the rotation so hopefully they can figure out what's wrong before his next turn comes up.

Marcus Thames had the big hit today with what turned out to be a 2-run game winning HR. MT's average has dipped a little but he's got a nice power stroke. He's gone deep in 6 of his last 10 games. He's been quite the surprise this year. Didn't expect him to step up the way he has. Another thing I didn't expect was Brett Gardner to play so well. Honestly, I never saw Gardner as more than a 4th OF. Same as Melky Cabrera. I think I need to re-think that position. I'm most impressed by BG's ability to get on base. He was rocking a .390 OBP coming into today's game and reached another 3 times. He tied a Yankees record by picking up a walk in his 9th straight game (tying Jason Giambi). OBP + speed = a dangerous combination.

Both the Rays and Sox are currently losing their games. Tonight could be a good good night.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

A.J. Burnett Finally Wins One, Yankees Beat A's 4-3

Alright going to make this a short one tonight as it's well past my self-imposed bedtime of 10pm. I'm getting a late start tonight. Things just got away from me.

Congrats to A.J. Burnett for finally winning one. Pretty good start by Burnett. August is over. Let's turn the page and put that horrendous month behind us. Dude has shown us he can pitch. I like what I saw tonight.

Nice job by the bullpen. Michael Kay annoys me. He kept mentioning how Kerry Wood was pitching the 8th and not David Robertson. D-Rob pitched yesterday. No reason to have him pitch again tonight. It's as simple as that.

Mark Teixeira is on freaking fire. He went 3-4 with 3 ribbies. His average is now ahead of Jeter's. Unbelievable.

The Rays and Red Sox each won. Not the greatest outcome for Yankees fans but it'll do. Another day off the schedule and no ground gained on them. I'll take that. The magic # to clinch a playoff spot is now 22.

Day game tomorrow. CC goes for win #19. Wish I wasn't working. Ugh.

Nyger Morgan is a punk.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Blast The A's, Jays Blast The Rays, And The Red Sox, We'll They Just Suck

Like with last night's game, I'm jumping the gun and writing my post before the game ends. The Yankees are currently up 9-3 headed into the 8th. I'd say things are well in hand. I'm currently also folding laundry and blogging in between articles of clothing so I definitely won't finish this before the game ends.

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuughes! 16 wins baby! I'd like to see him hit 20. Wouldn't that be something? I don't think it's in the cards though. I think he'll have the chance as if he stays on schedule he should get 6 more starts. But he's probably nearing a team-imposed innings limit so he might not have enough pitches left to make it happen. If he wants to better his chances he needs to pitch better than he did tonight and better than he has been. He's walking way too many guys. He issued 5 walks tonight and 5 in his last start, a span of 8.2 innings. He had 11 total walks in his 9 prior starts, a span of 52.2 innings. Somebody is having trouble finding the plate. If he could get back on track with his control he'll have a much better chance of winning more games. The later he pitches in games the better his chances of picking up the W. He'll figure it out.

Speaking of figuring things out it looks like Mark Teixeira is in the groove. He's 5-6 with 1 2B, 2 HR, 5 runs scored and 4 RBI since returning from his brief stint out of the lineup. Crazy that his average is up to .264. Speaking of not figuring things out, Derek Jeter had another oh-fer. Crazy that his batting average is barely above Teixeira's. Derek is scuffling. He's 1 for his last 25 and 2 for his last 30. His average has dropped 14 points over his last 8 games. DJ is having the worst offensive season of his career. As I wrote the other day I can't figure that one out. When you're that established in your career your skills don't regress that much from one year to the next so don't tell me it's because he's getting older. I'd love to hear some theories so lay them on me if you feel so inclined.

Nick Swisher belted his 25th HR which puts the Swish's Wishes fundraiser total up to $998. Next HR and we're over the $1000 mark. Thanks again to my fellow Yankees bloggers and fans for pledging along.

Props to Chad Gaudin for a solid outing out of the bullpen. Props to David Robertson for a quick 1-2-3 to close it out. Yankees win.

The Red Sox lost to the Orioles so the Yankees magic number to clinch a playoff spot just dropped by 2. It now sits at 23. Sorry Sox fans, you ain't catching us. Do the math. Let's say the Yankees nosedive and go 15-15 the rest of the way, the Red Sox have to go 23-7 just to tie. That ain't happening. Sorry but your faith won't be rewarded this year. The Rays game just ended and they lost as well. They got blown out by the Jays. Nice. Both teams the Yankees are in a playoff chase with lost. Great night for the Yanks.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Win A Wild One, Beat White Sox 12-9

That was certainly an interesting ballgame. If you told me before the game that the Yankees were going to put up a 12-spot in a game that CC Sabathia started I'd have thought the game would be a blowout. Tonight's win was anything but. It ended with Mariano Rivera doing what he does best, saving games. It was too close for my comfort but a win is a win. Doesn't matter how you win as long as you do. Well, maybe it matters a little.

CC was far from dominant, which is something we Yankee fans have to come to expect from CC in August based on his previous outings. CC owns the month of August. Coming into tonight's game, CC was 9-1 in 11 starts as a Yankee. 11 starts, 80.2 IP, 68 hits, 15 walks, 76 strikeouts, 23 ER, 2.57 ERA. One word, dominant. He was far from his typical self tonight but he still pitched pretty well. 69% of his pitches were strikes. He whiffed 9 and only walked 1. The home runs are what did him in. Lucky for him, and for us, the offense brought their game tonight. He picked up win #18 and with 5-6 starts left you'd think 20 wins is in the bag. Cy Young favorite? He just might be.

Big night for the offense. 12 runs on 14 hits and 9 walks. 4-12 with RISP. Swisher went deep for HR #24 (add another $38 to the Swish's Wishes fundraiser). Marcus Thames went deep twice. How awesome is he playing, right? Posada had 2 hits and 2 RBI. But the player of the night has to be Eduardo Nunez. Wardo went 3-4 with 4 RBI and he hit his 1st big league HR. Career night for the newbie. Good for him. I hope he can keep it up.

The game really should have been a blowout. CC went 7 innings and when he left the score was 11-5. A 6-run lead should be safe even with the Yankee bullpen. But they did everything in their power to blow the game. Joba sucked. D-Rob sucked. Even Boone Logan was a little off. Mo wasn't vintage Mo but still got the job done. I'll give them a pass tonight based on how well they've done recently. Yes Joba, even you. Coming into tonight Joba had allowed only 1 run in his last 13 appearances. Logan hadn't allowed a run in his last 15 games and still hasn't. D-Rob just had a string of 19 scoreless appearances snapped. They've all pitched pretty well. Hopefully it's not a sign of things to come.

The Rays beat the Red Sox tonight. That works for me. As I wrote yesterday all I care about is that the Yankees make it to the postseason. I don't care if they finish as the AL East champs or the wild-card. Again, would prefer the division but wild-card works for me. The Yankees magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 28. Losses by the Red Sox reduce that number. So go Rays.

Ivan Nova tomorrow. I missed his last outing. Hope to catch this one.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Robinson Cano Is The Man, Yankees Clip Rays 5-4

I called it before the season started and I'm sticking with it: Robinson Cano will be the 2010 AL MVP. If the season ended now, would he be? Probably not. But there's a lot of season left and when the dust settles, Robbie will be the MVP. Monster night at the plate tonight for Robbie. 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and the game winning HR off Rafael Soriano in the 9th. Tonight's game ball goes to Robbie. No doubt about it. Cano is on a little mini-tear. He's homered in 3 of the last 4 games and he's 9 for 21 (.429) over the last 5. 7 of his 9 hits have gone for extra bases. Mark my words folks, Robbie will be the MVP.

Not a lot of hits tonight by the Yankees offense but what they did hit they hit hard. 6 hits in total, 3 doubles and 3 HRs. The balls were flying tonight and they were flying far. Joyce's HR was a blast. Teixiera hit a bomb of his own. The chicks tonight must have been going bonkers. Swisher's HR now gives him 20 on the year. The updated pledge amount for Nick's charity, Swish's Wishes, is $808. New to the blog and wondering what I'm talking about? A couple of us Yankee bloggers have gotten together to donate to Nick's charity. Every time Nick goes deep we pledge to donate $38. Want more info? Care to join us? Feel free to drop me a line and I'll give you the info.

Not the best debut for Lance Berkman. My buddy tweeted to me before the game, "F**k Lance Berkman." Not sure what that's all about. As for his debut, it's one game. I'm not going to put much stock in it.

Not Javy Vazquez's best outing of the season but he wasn't bad. David Robertson is making a serious push to be the setup man. He looked impressive tonight. Real impressive. Mariano, as expected, was awesome. He's having arguably the best season of his career. Like a fine wine he's getting better with age. Give that man a multi-year deal already. I have no doubt in my mind that Mo could pitch well into his 50s. He's the G.O.A.T. and he's only getting better.

Big win tonight. The win puts the lead in the East back to 2 and it guarantees that the Yankees leave Tampa in 1st place. The big man goes tomorrow. The odds of a Yankee win are very high when CC gets the ball. A win tomorrow would be mighty nice. So would an A-Rod HR for that matter. I thought for use he'd hit one while they were in Tampa. Alex always seems to hit the ball well when they play in the Trop. I'm calling #600 tomorrow. Hope it happens.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Pitching Leads Yanks To 3-2 Victory Over Indians

I got to catch the last 3.2 innings of tonight's Yankees game. By the time I put the kids to bed the game was pretty much over. Who knew an MLB game could be 2/3 of the way done in 1.5 hours? I almost turned the game off within minutes of turning it on. I didn't even have it on 3 minutes before the Indians took a 2-1 lead. I'm a firm believer in jinxes and was thinking i might be causing some bad mojo. Since tomorrow night's game is on My9, which Verizon FiOS doesn't carry, I stuck with it. Thanks to Curtis Granderson for getting me off the hook.

Javy Vazquez is putting together a nice little season. He's been pretty good in his last 10 starts. JV is 6-2 in those starts with an ERA of 3.05. That's pretty darn good if you ask me. I never would have guessed that he would have bounced back as well as he has. Great outing tonight.

I'm not sure how you felt about the 8th inning but I was very happy not to see Joba Chamberlain in the game. He's way too unreliable and it's evident that the Yankees think so too. David Robertson came up big getting the DP. D-Rob hasn't exactly been awesome this season but he's on a nice roll. He hasn't allowed a run in his last 8 outings. He's got a pretty nice line in those games too: 8.1 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 11 K. Pretty sweet. He's definitely the most reliable RP right now, outside of Mariano that is. Mo is just awesome, isn't he? I had no idea his ERA is as low as it is. His scoreless inning tonight dropped it to a microscopic 0.96. Wow. He's the greatest closer of all-time hands down. They should change the name of the "save" to the "mariano." I think I'm going to start a campaign for MLB to do that. Mo now has 21 marianos on the season. I like the sound of that.

Not much offense tonight but what they got came in a big way. Nick Swisher went deep for HR #18. That HR added another $38 to the Swish's Wishes pledge drive. We're up to $732 raised for Nick's charity. Want more info on what I'm talking about? Click here. The deathblow tonight came from Curtis Granderson. Curtis has found a little power stroke. 3 HRs in the last 2 games for CG. Hopefully that's a sign of more to come from the Grandyman. His overall numbers leave a lot to be desired.

A-Rod is still stuck on 599 HRs. I predict he'll hit #600 tomorrow. Namely because I won't be watching thanks to My9 and Verizon FiOS. Things like that always happen when I can't watch so I fully expect it to happen tomorrow night. If I'm lucky maybe ESPN or the MLB Network will have live cut-ins. I can only be so lucky. If they happen to then I'm sure the HR will come before I get the kids to bed. That's just how it goes.

Another no-no tonight. Unreal. Congrats to Matt Garza.

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

Yankees Offense And Bullpen Falter In 5-4 Loss To The Lowly Orioles

Good news! I was able to watch the game online tonight. My9 ain't gonna break my stride. My9 ain't gonna hold me down. Oh no. I got to watch the gay-ame. That was lay-ame. Bad news. I was doing work stuff so I didn't physically watch most of it. Was kind of like listening to it on the radio. While I'm grumbling about work, my boss just sent an e-mail. He wants us to work from 6am-7pm next week. My commute is 1/2 hour plus each way. Awesome. Just awesome. Enough about that.

I personally would like to punch Boone Logan and David Robertson square in the nose for blowing Phil Hughes' win. It wasn't Phil's sharpest outing but he still pitched pretty damn well. His biggest downfall were the 4 walks, specifically the back-to-back ones in the 2nd. His control though wasn't terrible. He did throw 62.4% of his pitches for strikes and that's not bad in my book. Phil has pitched well so far this season and I'd call his outing tonight a good one. Stupid bullpen. I was looking forward to adding a third "U" to my Hughes call but the pen didn't do it's job.

I don't know about you but I get so irritated when the "lefty specialist" can't get the lefties out. I'm talking about you Boone Logan. Your sole purpose is to get out the lefties, not walk them with 2 outs. That was painful. But it wasn't as bad as what Robertson pulled.

D-Rob totally crapped the bed tonight. A HBP followed by 3 straight singles, all with 2 outs. Horrible. I like D-Rob. But he can't be coming in there and doing that. Especially against the absolute worst team in baseball. The O's have 3 freaking wins for crying out loud. Ridiculous.

The loss though isn't all on the pitching. The offense didn't do their part. You don't win a lot of game where you score only 2 runs. You don't win a lot of games where your 1-4 hitters go a combined 1-18. They came real close there in the 9th but coming close gets you a loss. Big fail by the top of the order.

Robinson Cano is on fire. After a mini-slump, he's got a 6-game hitting streak. Over the last 6, RC is 12-23. I'm telling you. Robbie will be the 2010 A.L. MVP. He's that good. Nick Swisher is on a little mini-tear. In his last 6 games, he's 8-22. That's pretty good for Swish. Curtis Granderson on the other hand isn't so hot. In his last 6 he's hitting .000 (0-17). That slump has pretty much wiped out his hot start. He'll turn it around though. He's too good a player. Mark Teixeira though has me worried. Here we are almost 20 games in and he's sitting on a .129 average. I knew he'd get off to a slow start. I didn't think it would last this long.

Got to hit the hay. 5am comes mighty early. I needs me a new jay-oh-bee.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Open Things Up In Style With A Ring Ceremony And A 7-5 Win

What a day for the entire Yankees Universe! It was awesome to see the boys get their World Series rings today. It was awesome to see them cap it off with a win. It was a perfect day all around.

I am glad I took the day off so I could watch it live and not on tape. The pre-game show kicked off on YES at 11:30 and the opening highlight package gave me goosebumps. That didn't compare to the feelings I got from watching the Ring Ceremony. I had tears in my eyes by the end of it. It was awesome to see Hideki Matsui get his ring last and I thought it was very classy of the Yankees to run up to him and show him some love. I love too how they gave Matsui and Swisher bogus rings. Classic and very funny.

I said earlier in the week that it would have been better had the Red Sox been in town for this. Nothing beats showing the Sox up. I definitely don't feel that way now. I don't think the ceremony could have been any more perfect. Having Matsui there had a lot to do with it. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Andy Pettitte was awesome today. Vintage Pettitte. Andy looks to be in mid-season form already. He allowed his fair share of baserunners but kept them all from scoring. I wish I remembered this stat I heard the other day, but it went something like this: Pettitte had the highest WHIP (or maybe 3rd highest) of all SPs that won at least 14 games last year. You would think a guy that allows as many baserunners as Andy would have a higher ERA. But he doesn't and it's a testament to how good Andy really is. He got some pretty big outs today when he needed to. The bigget were his 5th inning popout of Abreu and the 6th inning DP of Kendrick. The game could have been a lot closer with another pitcher on the hill. Andy has been solid now thru his 1st 2 starts. 12 IP, 11 H, 6 BB, 10 K, 1 ER, 0.75 ERA. Not too shabby.

The game was great until the 9th inning. David Robertson imploded and made the game a lot closer than it was. That was ugly. But as we Yankees fans all know, it's hard to worry when you enter the 9th with a lead and Mariano is in the bullpen. Have no fear, Mighty Mo(use) is here. Mo came in and did what Mo does best. He K'd Torri Hunter and got Matsui to end the game on a pop out to Cano. Thank God for Marinao Rivera. He's the man.

The Yankees offense had a pretty good day. Any time you collectively pick up 13 hits and 9 walks it's a good day. Everyone who had a hit had more than one. Of the 3 guys that didn't have a hit, Swisher walked 3 times and Teixeira walked twice. If a walk is as good as a hit, big-up to those guys. Tex is really struggling. His oh-fer today dropped his average to .111 and he's now hitless in 6 of the Yankees 7 games. He'll be fine though. He struggles early every season and his stats always fill in line with what's on the back of his bubble gum card.

Posada, Granderson, and Cano are continuing to rake. Posada has been the biggest surprise to me. He's 3 hits today bumped his average up to .429. Jorge has 9 hits so far, 6 of which have been for extra bases (4 doubles and 2 HRs). He's also walked 6 times. He has to be seeing the ball really well.

Nick Johnson hit the Stadium's first HR this year. Nicky had a great day at the dish. NJ went 2-3 with 2 walks. Hopefully it's a sign of what to expect from Nick when he hits at home.

The only negative I can think of about the offense today is that they should have scored a few more runs. The offense is good enough that if they have 20+ guys reach base they should score more than 7 runs. They hit 5-16 with RISP today which isn't bad, but the outs definitely hurt. They ended up leaving 12 men on base and everybody came up empty at least once. It's not a big issue. It's more of a small critique.

You still have to be very pleased right now if you're a Yankee fan. The win moves the Yanks to 5-2 and that's impressive considering who they've played (Red Sox, Rays, and Angels). Javy Vazquez makes his 2nd start tomorrow and I really hope it's better than his first start. It's a 1:05pm start which means I'm going to miss the game. Stupid work. It's always getting in the way of the Yankees. Work also means no Twitter. Bummer. I'm not sure if I'm going to DVR the game or just follow along on Gamecast, or both. We'll see. I'm glad Thursday's game is a night game. Day games and I don't get along. Enjoy it.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Pitching Falters In Opening Night Loss To Red Sox

I woke up this morning in more pain than I was in yesterday. Again, spent the weekend scraping paint and painting my garage. Forearms and shoulders are killing me. I'm so out of shape. After watching last night's loss to the Red Sox, I'd say the Yankees pitching is pretty out of shape too. They were far from being in top form. Thing started out real well and then the wheels fell off.

CC Sabathia started out well. He looked real good to me in the first few innings. He had a few rough spots but pretty much came through them unscathed. I'm not sure what happened to him in the 5th, which is when things started to turn. I don't think it had anything to do with his physical condition, meaning I don't think he was running out of gas. His strike-to-ball ratio was just under 56% which to me isn't anything to write home about. He only walked 2. Conclusion: He wasn't attacking the strike zone. CC would have probably made it through 7 innings if he had thrown a few more strikes. At one point, he had a 4-run lead and had only allowed 1 hit. Hope he learns his lesson and attacks the zone next time.

The Yankees bullpen didn't have a banner night either. David Robertson gives up the tying run on his first pitch. The team gets the lead back and Chan Ho Park quickly gives it back up. Damaso Marte was crazy wild. Joba wasn't any better. Hopefully, this isn't a sign of things to come. They were pitiful last night. I'm definitely not sold on Chan Ho. Hopefully, it was opening night jitters and nothing more. He has to earn my love. Last night's performance isn't the best way to do that.

I love the Yankees lineup. As I've written before, I think it's perfect. Collectively, the lineup had a great night. Anytime you score 7 runs you should win the game. I'm really liking my Cano-for-MVP prediction. Robbie hit the ball hard all spring and it continued yesterday. He came up with RISP and while he didn't pick up a hit, he at least had a productive out. His groundout scored Teixeira and moved A-Rod to 3rd, which put him in position to score on Posada's AB. Good night for Robbie.

Great night for Jorge Posada at the plate. 3 hits. 2 RBI. 1 HR. Maybe his Dad should call him in the dugout more often. Except next time maybe he should give him some catching tips. He's got to catch that pitch from Marte. If it hits the glove the catcher has to stop it. Period.

Loved the double steal that Jeter and Gardner pulled off. Great call by the coaching staff. It worked perfectly. Gardner had a good night at the plate also but his arm needs a little work. What was up with that throw to 3rd or home? I have no idea where he was going with that. It was ugly.

Derek Jeter had 2 hits. Yeah, that sounds about right.

Nick Johnson went 0-3 with 2 walks. Yeah, that sounds about right.

Nick Swisher killed a rally. Yeah, that sounds about right. I really was hoping Swish would homer in the opener so it would get the fundraiser of to a good start, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. The pledge drive is picking up some love from the Yankee fans on Twitter. I hope to get their "pledges" and track them on the "tracker" which is in the upper left part of the blog. If you want to donate, please let me know. No amount is too small. Someone on Twitter said they'd do $1/HR. You gotta love it.

So the title defense didn't get off to the best start. Keep in mind before you declare the season over that the Yanks lost their first 8 games to the Red Sox last year. Keep in mind that they love to start slow. We've seen this before. No cause for alarm. No reason to be concerned.

For those of you lucky enough to be in front of a TV today, enjoy Opening Day! I'm jealous. Lucky jerks.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie