I'm Baaaaack (Sort Of)

Well hello there. Long time no blog. As promised, via Twitter, I'm back. I hope you guys have been well. I'm well. Can't complain. Just wish there were more hours in the day. Oh my Mariano it's been awhile, hasn't it? Just checked and it looks like my last blog entry was in mid-May. May 16th to be exact. The Yankees had just lost their 6th straight game, were sitting on a 20-18 record, 2 games behind Tampa in the AL East. Here's what I blogged:

Not much is going the Yankees way right now. Not much at all. Nobody is hitting. The pitching is suspect. It's not a good time to be a fan of the Yankees. I'm not worried though. well, I'm a little worried but not much. Every team has these funks. If you remember, the Yankees lost 5 straight back in 2009 and went on to win the World Series. There is a lot of baseball left to play. There's plenty of time for these guys to right the ship.

Fast forward now almost 5 months. The Yankees just ended a 6 game win streak. They are 87-54 and 2 games up on the 1927 Yankees, err I mean, the Red Sox in the AL East and they have a 9.5 game lead in the wild card race if they were to fall behind Boston. They lead the league in runs scored and have the 3rd best team ERA in the AL (9th in MLB). Looks like the ship has been righted. It's a good time to be a Yankees fan.

Sorry I've been away so long. It became increasingly tough to find time to blog with 3 kids at home, all under the age of 4. I could barely find time to watch the Yankees play. My wife is a teacher and when school ended our kids stayed up later, usually until around 8:30, sometimes even later. By the time we got them to bed and I did what I needed to do (shower, etc), the games were usually in the late innings. I felt extremely disconnected from the Yankees Universe. When I had the time, I usually took to Twitter for talking about the Yankees. I stayed up on things as much as I could but they didn't get as much attention from me as i wanted to give.

Now that school has started up again the kids are getting back to their 7:30 bedtimes which should allow me to catch most of the game. I'm hoping that everything else in my life cooperates and I'll be able to fire off posts with somewhat regularity. It may not be daily. There may be a day or two that goes without a post. But you definitely won't see another 5 month hiatus. At least that's the plan.

Before I get back into talking about the Yankees I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who's ever frequented the blog and/or interacted with me on Twitter. You guys make being a Yankees fan more fun than it already is. Thanks for that. Special shout out to a few people: Susan, Sara, Lorenzo and Timmy. I appreciate the support and the conversation. There are definitely more people to say thanks to and more people to appreciate. I don't mean to offend by leaving names off. Those 4 just immediately popped into mind. If you feel slighted by being not being named personally, please don't. I didn't intend to offend.

I'll close this return with some Yankee thoughts:

• I owe Curtis Granderson a lot of money. I pledged to give his charity $15 for every of his HRs. He currently has 38. Yeah, I didn't see that coming either. I'm currently in for a $570 donation with 22 games to play. When I was deciding how much to pledge I was thinking he'd hit maybe 25 HRs. Definitely wasn't expecting 40+. CG has to be the current favorite to win the AL MVP. He currently leads the league in RBI, he's 2nd in HR, and what I find most impressive is he's leading the league in runs with 126, which is 26 more runs than the 2nd most (Ellsbury w/100). I'll be shocked if he doesn't win that award. Props to CG and K-Long for turning things around.


• Do people still think Brian Cashman is an idiot? Almost every move he's made this year has panned out: Russell Martin, Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon, Cory Wade, Eric Chavez and Andruw Jones have all made significant contributions to the team. Low risk, really high reward. Step off his frankfurter if you're still hating.


• Derek Jeter has had quite the season. It looked like 2011 was going to be a repeat of 2010. The he got hurt and he came back a new man. I don't think anyone saw DJ getting his average up to the 300 neighborhood.


• Welcome to NY Jesus Montero. You haven't disappointed. I'm looking forward to great things during your tenure in Pinstripes.


• Poor Jorge Posada. The only thing he has to blame for his fall is his abysmal performance. It's evident to me that this is his last year in Pinstripes.


• Move over Trevor. 4 more saves and Mariano is officially the king of the hill. He's the G.O.A.T. With any luck I'll get to see him break that record in person when the Yankees are in Toronto. I won't complain if he breaks it sooner. Saves mean wins. I'll take those.


• A.J. Burnett is (mostly) terrible.


• Ivan Nova is not terrible. Can you say Rookie of the Year?


• CC is still the man.


• I did not think David Robertson would pitch as well as he has. Dude truly is Houdini. He does need to cut down on the walks.


• LOL @ the Boston Red Sox. Better than the 1927 Yankees? How dumb does that guy look now?

I'm sure there's more to say but that's enough for now. We're in the home stretch and as I wrote above it's a good time to be a Yankees fan. Enjoy the last 3 or so weeks. October baseball will be here before we know it.

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/Rangers Weekend Wrap-Up

Am I the only one out there who is beyond exhausted? It's been a rough few days and the lack of sleep is catching up with me. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep a few times today while driving to work. I'm also pretty sure that I dozed off once or twice on the way home from the office. I spent the last half-hour sleeping in my kid's bed. I was tucking him in and next thing I knew a half-hour passed. I didn't want to go three days without blogging about the Yankees. I've done a good job of keeping up with it this year and I want to keep that going. I feel asleep on my feet right now so this won't be my best blog ever. Consider yourself warned.

• It was nice leaving Texas with a series win especially after dropping 3 of 4 to Detroit. It made the road trip a little nicer.
• How good is it to see Derek Jeter stinging the ball? He's been swinging a much better bat lately. His grounders are becoming line drives and his line drives are becoming home runs, or at least they did yesterday. Derek all of the sudden has the 3rd highest batting average on the team at a respectable .276. A 6-game hitting streak will do that to a guy. DJ had a nice little road trip going 11-28 (.393). He rose his average 34 percentage points in the process. Is the Captain back? Maybe, but I'm not 100% ready to declare his return just yet.
• CC Sabathia impressed me a little bit yesterday. He was by no means sharp as he walked 4 and threw only 58.7% of his pitches for strikes. He struggled out of the gate, settled down, and battled his way to a decent start. It's nice to know he's effective even when he doesn't have his best stuff.
• Curtis Granderson is bleeding me dry. I pledged to donate $15 to his charity for every HR he hits. I was banking on maybe 25 dingers. He's leading the AL with 11 and we're only a month into the season. Smack my head. I'm glad he's doing it though. Kevin Long definitely knocked it out of the park with CG. Wow. He's been on a tear since last last season. I'm not going to be surprised if he belts at least 50 HRs this year. I'd hate to part with that much money but I won't mind because it will probably mean the Yankees are doing very well if I do.
• Despite the 12-run outburst on Sunday I'm still concerned about the offense. Averages for the most part are going in the wrong direction. There currently isn't one .300 hitter in the bunch. That's surprising to me.

Well, I'd like to keep writing but the wife just dropped a bunch of jobs on me. I was hoping to go to bed in about a half-hour but I'm at least an hour away from sleep city. This is going to be a weird week for me. I have to travel for a training class and I'm not sure if I'll get to see much baseball in the latter half of the week. I would much rather chill in my hotel room watching the Yankees each night than having to go to dinner and all that jazz. I think I feel a cold coming on. *cough cough wink wink* I'm interested to see how the next couple of days play out. If I'm not blogging that's why.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

A.J. Burnett Pitches A Gem But The Yankee Bats Don't Back Him Up

What a horrible way to kick off a homestand, right? That was such a frustrating game to watch. So frustrating that I don't really want to blog about it. But being the trooper that I am, I will. But there's not really much to say.

Excellent job by A.J. Burnett. He was outstanding. It's a shame that the offense couldn't come through for him tonight. He pitched a gem and walking away with a win would have been nice. Instead he walks away a hard luck loser. A.J. threw 8 really strong innings, giving up 1 run on 3 hits and 2 walks. One could argue that the run he gave up really wasn't his fault. Carlos Quentin's double would have been a single had Curtis Granderson not dove for that ball. Missing it allowed Quentin to take 2nd. He later scored on 2 groundball outs. I can't fault Granderson too much for going for that ball. It might not have worked out but I don't see him going after it unless he thought he had a shot at making the grab. But whatever. It is what it is. It sucks that the team spoiled such a great outing by Burnett. It really is.

There isn't really much to say about the offense since there wasn't any. It sucks that are so many "easy outs" in the Yankees lineup right now. Posada @ .145. Gardner @ .136. Swisher @ .227. And to a lesser extent, Jeter @ .244. That foursome needs to start pulling their weight. It's amazing that the Yankees are 12-7 with half the lineup performing that poorly.

I still would love to know why the Yankees seem to struggle mightily against pitchers they've never faced. Is it lack of preparation? Poor scouting reports? It happens too often for it to be a coincidence. I don't get it. Anybody have any theories? Is it really not the case and it just seems that way? I'm too lazy to look it up.

Phil Hughes had a setback today. Apparently, his bullpen session didn't go too well. It sounds like it went the same as his starts, meaning that there's nothing there. The team is sending him for an MRI. I'm curious to hear about those results.

There's no reason to dwell too much on tonight's loss. I'm treating it like Mariano Rivera does with a blown save. Forget about it, move on and get them tomorrow.

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

Somebody Call The Baltimore Police Because The Yankees Just Murdered The Orioles

Somebody needs to call the Baltimore cops because a crime was just committed in Camden Yards. Wow. Talk about a massacre.

CC Sabathia was on cruise control tonight. Despite scoring 3 runs the Orioles couldn't really touch him. It was a very free and easy outing for CC. Had the Yankees not tore the roof of the mother in the late innings he probably would have gone the distance. It pretty much was a lights out performance. Exactly what you'd expect from the ace. Apparently, when you go winless thru your 1st 4 starts the only way to guarantee yourself the win is to take care of it yourself. CC was a man on a mission tonight. He pitched most of the game with a pitch count well below 10 pitchers per inning. His control was excellent. He threw 73.8% of his pitches for strikes, walking one and whiffing 7. Great job by the big man.

You could slice this 2 ways but you could make a case that CC is off to his best start as a Yankee. It's a close call between this year and last. Thru his 1st 5 starts this year, CC has pitched 33 IPs to a tune of a 2.73 ERA. He's allowed 31 hits and 10 walks (1.24 @WHIP), while striking out 30 and allowing 2 longballs. Last year in his 1st 5 starts, he threw 34.2 IPs with a 3.12 ERA. His WHIP was better at 1.07 (25 hits and 12 walks). He struck out 28 and allowed the same number of HRs. I know it's not a true comparison due to the many different factors between the seasons, but either way you go, he's off to a good start. It's probably a little behind last year but not by much.

The entire offense, with one exception (Nick Swisher) had at least one hit tonight. The biggest blasts came off the bats of Russell Martin (what's new?), Alex Rodriguez (what's new?), and Brett Gardner (say what?). Yeah, that last name is a surprise. BG chipped in with a double and a 2-run HR. His HR was surprising but it came at the perfect time. The O's had just intentionally plunked Martin. And I say intentionally because you don't just happen to hit 2 HRs and get hit right near the head on accident. Gardner avenged that HBP by going yard. Nothing beats that kind of retaliation. Suck on that Showalter.

What is going on with the power surge, right? The 2011 Yankees are definitely Bronx Bombers. They belted another 5, count 'em 5, HRs tonight. They've now hit 35 on the season which is a team record thru their 1st 17 games. They have 4 guys with 6 HRs a-piece (Posada, Martin, Teixeira, Granderson). The biggest surprise though is that Nick Swisher hasn't hit any. It's probably because I'm not dropping $$ to his charity this year. Granderson is getting that love and he's earning it. I was anticipating donating like $300 or so. He's on pace to take about $850 from me. Yikes. Don't quote me on this stat because I'm sure I don't have it right but Granderson has hit the 3rd most HRs in all of MLB going back to some point in August 2010. Wow. Props to Kevin Long. And not just for working his mojo on Curtis but on all of the guys. Now if only he could fix Derek Jeter. That should be his priority numero uno.

Great win tonight. The Yankees handles things on both sides of the field. They came. They saw. They murdered the Orioles. The Yankees don't have an off day until May 9th. They play 15 straight days, get an off day, and then play another 16. Baseball is in full swing. I love that.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Bartolo Colon Shines In A Game I Almost Died Trying To Get To

If you are one of my Twitter followers than you may have seen tweets about this yesterday. If not, here's a story about how I could have died yesterday. The Yankee bits and pieces will be after the story.

I don't live too far from Toronto so I usually try to make it up for at least part of every Yankees/Jays series. I'm also a big baseball memorabilia collector so I usually spend a good part of the morning and afternoon outside the team hotel trying to pick up some autographs. So yesterday, as usual, I left for Toronto at about 7:30am, with an estimated arrival time of 10:15-10:30 depending on traffic. Right from the get go my trip was off to a rough start.

We had a huge thunderstorm that night which dumped a lot of rain. I was about a half-mile or so from my house when my car wouldn't accelerate. I figured it was because rain had somehow gotten part of the engine wet or something. The same thing happened a few years back after a drove through a huge puddle at night, ironically on the way back from Toronto. I knew the problem would resolve itself as the engine heated up and dried the connectors. I had to pull to the shoulder a few times because I couldn't accelerate to the speed of traffic. As a good driver should, I put my emergency flashers on to alert other drivers. Unfortunately for me it wouldn't be the only time I would put my flashers on.

I was approaching Toronto at around 10 or so. I was driving on the QEW, roughly six miles away from the exit I use. It had been a really smooth drive with surprisingly very little traffic. Traffic had been picking up for a few miles which made sense as I got closer to the city. I expected it to really pick up at any moment because there is this one spot on the QEW where you usually run into a sea of red brake lights. For those familiar with the QEW, that spot is right where it becomes the Gardiner Expressway and has an exit for Lake Shore Blvd, right near a red and white water tower that says, Christie's. Right beyond that part of the QEW starts the outskirts of downtown Toronto. It's where there are a few high rises, condos maybe, and a hotel on the right. It's at that point where I usually run into heavy traffic. I was about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile from that point when things went awry.

I was traveling in the left lane and there was a decent amount of traffic. It was raining and there were spots of stop-and-go traffic so I wasn't traveling at a high rate of speed. I had to brake so I put my foot on the pedal, heard a pop, and the pedal dropped to the floor of the car. My brakes had gone out and I couldn't stop the car.

I was taken by surprise by what unfolded that I don't remember the exact details of how fast I was going and things like that. I couldn't have been going too fast because I was able to maneuver the car onto the left shoulder and coast the car to a stop. The flashers went on and the swear words came flying. I had no idea what to do next.

I'm going to skip the details of what I did while sitting there but in short the police, unbeknownst to me, dispatched a tow truck to the scene. I opted to have the car towed to a mechanic in hopes that the car could be fixed. Long story short, I spent seven hours waiting for my brake lines to be replaced. Final cost to fix was $315. At 6:30pm, 37 minutes before gametime, I was back on the road.

As I wrote above, the stretch of road where my brakes failed me was roughly a half-mile or so from the outskirts of downtown Toronto. Had the brakes failed me at any point beyond where I was I very well might not be here. Had I been any further than a 1/2 mile down the road from where I was I would have had no shoulder to coast on. I would have likely had no choice but to rear end someone at a much higher rate of speed. Had I left my house any later than I did I very well might not have encountered my problem until I got off the QEW at my exit. Roughly 10-15 minutes after my brakes had failed cars were passing me at a full rate of speed and they very well could have been free and clear of any traffic until the heart of downtown Toronto. Had this happened on an off ramp I would have rear ended a stopped car, run into oncoming traffic, or run head first into a concrete barrier, going at least 50mph. Lucky for me it happened when it did and how it did. I really shudder to think what might have happened had anything been different. Scary stuff.

I made it to the game just in time for first pitch but ran into a really long line waiting to buy tickets. The first piece of action I saw was Curtis Granderson rounding first on his way to a 2nd inning triple. And from there on I think you all know what happened in the game. I feel like I've been writing this post for awhile now so I'm going to briefly sum up my thoughts.

• Derek Jeter looked awful at the plate. Was very disappointed I saw him go 0-5 with 4 groundouts and 1 GIDP. He's now hitting .219. I keep expecting him to flip the switch but now I'm not sure when/if he will. I thought last year was an anomaly. Now I'm not so sure.


• Curtis Granderson is on fire. Another dinger, his 6th, which coming into today was tied for tops in the AL. I know owe his charity $90 and he's on pace to take $915 from me. I did not see this coming. I'm happy that it's happening.


• Mark Teixeira had 3 doubles and raised his average up to .259. Not bad for a guy who always struggles in April.


• Good to see A-Rod back in the lineup.


• How about that Bartolo Colon? He gets my award for player of the game. He looked really good. I'm not sure if the radar gun in the Rogers Centre was jacked up a little bit but he hit 94 MPH late in the game. Impressive. What I'm finding to be most impressive is the strikeouts. Bartolo has whiffed 20 hitters in 18 IPs. He's mowing them down. He's also pitching to a tune of a 3.50 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. Did anybody see this coming? Well, one man might have and his name is Brian Cashman. How you like him now haters?

My day might not have gone as planned but I'm glad it ended the way it did. I spent $315 that I wasn't planning on spending. I spent the entire day stranded outside of Toronto not knowing if my car would be fixed in time to see the game or even make it home. I could have died. But seeing the Yankees play and watching them win was a nice ending to a long and crazy day. You can never go wrong with that.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Ladies And Gents, We Have Pie!

That was a great Yankee win tonight. Down 5-0. The bullpen shuts things down. A run saving kick save by Joba. Clutch hitting in the 9th. A walkoff in the 10th. Pie in Nick Swisher's face. Add that all up and it's a great Yankee win.

Another horrible start by Phil Hughes. I didn't see the first 2 innings he pitched but was following along on the MLB app. It didn't look like he had any sustained gains in velocity. He started out OK but didn't have any pop. Now, I'm concerned and it's time to make a change. They can't keep running Phil out there to pitch 3-4 innings.

Luckily, the Yankees have had Bartolo Colon to pair up with Phil. Bartolo has been awesome for the Yankees so far. He was definitely one of the unsung heroes of tonight's win. Personally, I think he was the player of the game. He came in and locked it down for 3 scoreless innings. That gave the Yankee bats time to chip away at the lead. I wouldn't be surprised if the Yankees flip-flop Hughes and Colon. Personally, I think they should.

The bullpen definitely was a huge plus tonight. Joba looked extremely sharp and his block of home plate ended up being a thing of brilliance. At regular speed I thought the ump blew the call but Joba somehow managed to block the plate and prevent Pie from scoring. That was a game saver. I'm slowly starting to become a Joba fan.

Mariano Rivera. That is all.

A-Rod is on fire right now. He came up huge tonight and continues to be locked in. M-V-P! M-V-P!

Nick Swisher is reminding me a lot of 2009 Nick Swisher. If you read the blog in 2009 than you might remember I called Nick "the Rally Killer." He was not exactly clutch with runners in scoring position or in big spots. He's currently 2-14 w/RISP this year which is bad but he got the job done tonight with his game-winning sac fly. For his efforts he got the 1st pie in the face of 2011.

My wife wanted to kill me when Posada tied up the game with his HR. I screamed out of pure joy. She yelled at me for being too loud. Sorry dear, it's going to happen. I gots to be me.

Something needs to be done with the top of the order. Brett Gardner looks overmatched in every AB. He either doesn't swing or is very late on the ball. I don't know if he's trying to walk or what but he needs to swing the bat. I think I wrote last year that you could tell he was trying to work walks. That can't be your approach. When he does swing it seems like everything is a foul ball to the 3rd base side, or something hit weakly in that same direction. I don't think he has the bat speed to get around on a fastball. Sliders? Yes. Fastballs? No. The time has come for him to drop to the bottom of the order.

It doesn't help that Derek Jeter is hitting only .233 in the 2-hole. He does have the 4th highest average on the team but he isn't instilling any confidence in me when he steps up to the plate. When he does hit he's not hitting well. Coming into the today, 26% of his 2935 hits went for extra bases. He's got one extra base hit this year and 9 singles. That's not the DJ we no and love. Hopefully it's just a slump and not a drastic regression in his offensive skills.

What the heck were the Yankees doing having Russell Martin bunt in the 9th inning. Granderson, who has speed, is on 2nd as the winning run with no outs. Martin is up and is off to a great start, hitting close to .300. Martin is followed in the order by Gardner and Jeter, whose troubles at the plate I've already mentioned. I have no idea why Girardi called for a bunt. If successful, then you have Granderson on 3rd with weak-hitting Brett Gardner up. If he fails, then it's the struggling Jeter. A base-hit was needed to score Granderson and he probably scores from 2nd on a hit. Martin should have been allowed to take his hacks. Prior to his AB, everyone on Twitter, me included, was tweeting not to bunt. As soon as Russell squared up I was ticked. You knew once he did the Yankees weren't scoring. Terrible call there.

I'm sure I'm leaving something out but it's late and I'm tired. It's going to be nice going to sleep tonight after this big win. If only Phil Hughes got his act together. Phil, Phil, Phil. What are we going to do with you?

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Back In First Place With 7-4 Win Over The Orioles

To the tune of New York, New York: Start spreading the news. They're back in 1st place. I know it's only been 10 games. But it's still 1st place. Feel free to sing along. You know you want to. Sorry for that. It's been a corny kind of day.

How about that A.J. Burnett? He's now 3-0 in 3 starts. It's the 1st time in his career he's won his first 3 starts. Amazing. What's even more amazing is that he has 3 of the 6 Yankee wins. That's a little mind blowing, isn't it. D'oh. Bob Lorenz just mentioned the same thing on the postgame show. I swear I thought of writing that before he said it. I tweeted it right after the game so there is proof if you doubt me. Woah, sorry about going off on a tangent. Again, been a corny kind of day.

I was a little worried about Burnett when the game started. I caught the 1st half inning while my wife was giving my 2 sons their baths. I listened to the 2nd inning while I was feeding my daughter her bedtime bottle. (Kids. Always getting in the way of Yankee baseball.) He was throwing a lot of pitches and I was worried he wasn't going to make it through 5. I was pleasantly surprised when I came back to the game in the 4th to find he had settled down. He was cruising right along up until he hit the wall in the 7th. His first 6 innings ended up being pretty darn good. Thru 6 A.J. had allowed only 4 hits, 1 walk and had 5 Ks. I think he was at 98 or so pitches. Very effective start. I'm very encouraged by what I've seen from A.J. so far. But, I remain cautiously optimistic because he's typically done well in April and then kind of faded. History can repeat itself. I'm hoping it doesn't.

I'd like to say the offense had a great night at the plate but considering they pretty much only hit for the 1st 2 innings, I can't. But it was an impressive two innings, wasn't it. I missed A-Rod's HR but caught the replay. I love it when he goes deep to RF because it means he's locked in. When Alex hits with power to the opposite field, he's got things working. He continues to impress and my prediction that he'll be the AL MVP this year is looking good.

There are still a lot of concerns though offensively. I'm hoping today's game is a turnaround for some guys. Both Jorge Posada and Mark Teixeira broke long oh-fers. And by long I mean 18-19 ABs. They're both good enough hitters that they should never go hitless for that long. It was also good to see Derek Jeter pick up 2 hits. Granted, his 2nd hit was a bouncer of home plate, but a hit is a hit. It's all looks the same in the box score. It could be something that turns things around for DJ. He's been struggling but as I mentioned the other day, most of the lineup has. The Captain now has the 4th highest average on the team at .237. A couple of more multi-hit games and he's golden. People are writing him off and they shouldn't be. Trust me. He'll be fine (he says nervously).

Big game tomorrow night. Phil Hughes gets the ball and I think we all share the same concern about Phil and his velocity. I'm hoping we see a few extra MPH on his heater. If we don't, and we see the same Phil we've seen so far this season, sound the alarm. He needs to be better and it all starts with regaining his velocity. I'm hoping it returns but am skeptical that it will. Hope it does.

What would a blog of mine be without a parting shot at Red Sox fans? Dear Red Sox fans: A.J. Burnett has 3 wins. The Red Sox have 2. How you like dem apples? Burn.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

An Open Letter To The Yankees Offense

Dear Yankees Offense,

Please start hitting the ball.

Sincerely,

Yankee fans everywhere

Seriously, outside of Cano, A-Rod, and Russell Martin, nobody is really hitting. Take a look:

Swisher = .219
Jeter = .206
Teixeira = .182
Granderson = .172
Gardner = .167
Posada = .138

Two-thirds of the Yankees lineup is hitting under .219. You're not going to win a lot of games when you hit like that. Just ask the Rays and Red Sox. Burn.

I've seen a lot of talk about Derek Jeter and his offensive struggles. I think a lot of that criticism is a little underserved. I could understand it if he was the only one scuffling but if you look at their numbers; he's doing better than 1/2 the lineup. But DJ has kind of brought this on himself. He didn't exactly light the world on fire last season. The concerns are very valid. But it's early. They'll all snap out of it.

Wake up bats.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Nova And The Bullpen Carry Yankees To 4-3 Win Over The Twins

I'm coming to find that having 3 kids makes it very hard to watch night games. The whole putting to bed process takes roughly 1.5 hours from start to finish, beginning around 7pm and ending around 8:30. It starts with baths, then some TV, followed by books, then bed. It's a tough schedule for a die-hard Yankees fan. I try to sneak in as much of the game as I can. I throw a little PIP action up on the TV during some kids show when the wife isn't looking. When that's not working I've got the audio feed playing on my Droid using the MLB At-Bat App. It's not the most ideal way to follow the games but it works. Kind of. If push came to shove and I could only do one or the other I've got to hang with the kids. I love those guys. But as long as I can pull off some double duty, I'm going to.

Great job by Ivan Nova tonight. 6 strong quality innings for his 2nd career win. Unlike last year he didn't seem to run out of gas at any point during the game. Remember last season? It always seemed like he hit the wall around the 5th inning. Tonight was his 8th career start and only the 2nd time he made it through 6 innings. Overall, great job. Nova has shown signs of being a great pitcher. If he can build on his outing tonight I have no doubt that he will be.

Hats off to the bullpen. It's apparent that Joba Chamberlain is Joe Girardi's lead-in to the Soriano and Mo show. I'm not 100% sold on that. Joba makes me nervous. Whenever he pitches it's as if I have to watch the game through my fingers. I rarely feel comfortable watching JC pitch late in games when the Yankees have a 1-2 run lead. Apparently, Girardi has confidence in him. I don't not yet anyway. I do feel confident about Rafael Soriano and Mo finishing off games. That level of confidence is off the charts. Odds are if the Yankees take a lead into the 8th the game is over. Soriano came up huge today, Retiring both Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau is no easy task. Soriano did it no problem. I really like that signing. Not a fan of the contract but love the player. Mariano Rivera = game over. 'Nuff said.

The Yankees have been living off the long ball this season. Two more slam-a-lama-ding-dongs today. Posada hit his 3rd and A-Rod his 2nd. As I wrote yesterday, being a full-time DH is going to be huge for Posada. He's always had a good bat. Without the added wear-and-tear on the legs it could be great. So far it's looking like it will be. Alex is locked in and is poised to have a MONSTER year. He's healthy and it's showing. He was my pre-season MVP pick and I'm feeling really good about it.

It seems like every post I write has a "Russell Martin is awesome" section in it. It seems that way because it's true. He had another one of those nights tonight. Who knew he had that much speed? In 4 games he has 2 stolen bases. I didn't think at any point in the season Russell Russ would be among the league leader in SBs. I don't expect him to keep it up but that doesn't mean it can't be fun while it lasts. A catcher with speed. I dig it.

The Yankees are currently 3-1 and their 1-2 hitters aren't hitting. Gardner and Jeter are a combined 4 for 29 (.138). If you told me after 4 games that those two would be hitting so poorly I wouldn't have guessed the team would be 3-1. That .750 winning percentage won't last for long if those 2 don't start setting the table. I'm not overly concerned. It has been a very small sample size. It's just painful to see them both doing so poorly at the same time. I don't think Brett the Jet will do as well as he did last year. I'm still not 100% sold on him being an everyday OF. Don't get me wrong, I really like BG and think he deserves the starts. I'm just not feeling him all the time. Most of the time? Yes. All of the time? Nope. It'll be nice if those two can get it going by the weekend.

CC back on the bump tomorrow. I always feel good when he's on the hill. Hopefully, if I'm lucky, I can pull off seeing most of his start. I need to find a way to get my kids to bed by 7:05 every night. Suggestions anyone?

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Some Golden Glove Love

I'm sure everybody knows by now that the Yankees had 3 guys pick up 2010 Gold Glove Awards. One I think was very deserving. One I think was deserving but may not have been the most deserving. One probably didn't deserve but I'm happy he did and respect the players and coaches enough to back their decision.

Can you figure out who is who? Here is one thing I do find funny about the Gold Glove Awards. They are voted on by players and coaches. I'm surprised that Derek Jeter keeps winning this award considering he's been voted the most overrated player by his peers in those yearly polls taken by Sports Illustrated. You'd think if they really thought he was overrated that he wouldn't keep winning. I've always found that odd.

Congrats to Mark Teixeira, Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano on picking up the GG. The Yankees truly do have one of the best defensive infields. Not a bad thing to have behind you, eh Cliff Lee?

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Show Him (Derek Jeter) The Money

The offseason has just started and the hot stove is already roaring. I wrote a week or so ago that this was going to be an interesting offseason because both Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are free agents. We've been down this road before with Mo. Derek Jeter being a free agent is a different story. He's the face of the Yankee franchise and pretty much the poster boy for MLB. He's the team captain. He's one of the greatest Yankees ever. There is no way the Yankees can let him go somewhere else.

There are a lot of rumors and theories flying around that this is going to be a messy situation for the Yankees. I don't really think that it will be. I think that the current negative buzz out there surrounding this story is purely to sell papers and generate page-hits. The comments that have been made by both sides are standard for this type of thing. I think the media is going a little nuts with it to try and keep people interested in the story. Right now there isn't much of a story there. I think the two sides will work things out timely and amicably. I think both sides will work toward the same goal and at the end of the day everybody will win and feelings won't be hurt.

Hal Steinbrenner mentioned the other day that the Yankees have a business to run. They can't just cut DJ a blank check. Fact of the matter is DJ had a pretty bad year in 2010. It was, without question, the worst of his career. He arguably doesn't deserve a heck of a lot of money based on his age and recent performance. Personally, I think the Yankees should do whatever is needed to re-sign him. I think Derek's value to the franchise extends way beyond what happens on the field.

I can't imagine how much money Jeter makes for the Yankees when you look at every facet of their business. I'm sure somebody can put a figure on it. I'm sure that figure is out there somewhere. I'd bet that their return on investment exceeds what they're paying him. Jeter puts butts in the seats. People are constantly buying Yankees-related Jeter merchandise. As he gets closer to certain milestones and nears retirement I think that will create additional revenue. the longer he plays the more new fans he'll also bring in. The Yankees stand to lose quite a bit of coin if he takes his talents to say, South Beach. At least that's my perception.

That being said the Yankees can't just bend over and take it. They do need to come out with some kind of victory, even if it's a small one. If things start to turn ugly I hope they realize that they stand to lose quite a bit if he goes somewhere else. The last thing they should do is nickel-and-dime him. Again, I'd have to think his total value to the franchise will exceed his salary. My perception is that it definitely has in the past.

Thoughts anyone? Am I glossing over anything? Anyone share a different perception of his total value to the Yankees?

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Brian Cashman's To-Do List Just Got A Little Shorter

As expected and predicted, the Yankees have re-signed Joe Girardi to be manager of the team. The deal is being reported as a 3-year deal worth $9 million. Welcome back, Joe. He may not be my most favorite Yankee manager, but he's done a fairly decent job. I wish he'd put a little less faith in his binder, but I get why he uses it.

Signing a manager had to be the top item on Brian Cashman's offseason to-do list. Cross that one off the list. Next up I would imagine is hiring a pitching coach. I don't expect that to be a long and drawn out process. I wouldn't be surprised if that's signed, sealed and delivered by this time next week. Once that's done things will start to get interesting. Both Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are free agents. There's no doubt in my mind that both Derek and Mo will be back in Pinstripes for another go-around. The real questions (and the interesting parts) are for how much and for how long. I'm most curious to see what happens with Jeter. He's in the latter half of his career and is coming off a down year, arguably the worst in his career. But he's Derek Jeter. He's the Yankee captain. They have to show him some kind of respect, right? Can't wait to see how that develops.

In other news, the Yankees officially declined options on Kerry Wood, Lance Berkman, and Nick Johnson. Don't be shocked by that. It all comes down to money. The amount the Yanks would have had to pay to pick up their options was a lot higher than their value. They could always try to re-sign them at lower salaries. Personally, I don't think they will. Wood will sign with someone that needs a closer and earn more than he would as a setup guy for the Yankees. Berkman is a possibility but only at a much lower salary, like in the $5-10 million range. And Nick Johnson? Yeah, we won't go there. No chance Cashman makes that mistake again, right?

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Cashman & Girardi Drop Bombs On Ya Moms When They Met The Media

Still reeling from the Rangers beating the Yankees in the ALCS? Yeah, me too. I was planning in blogging about the series but I decided not to. Instead, I'll wrap that up in one short sentence: The Rangers were/are the better team and deserved to go to the World Series. OK, maybe not a short sentence. I think the Yankees were better than they played in those 6 games but looking back on the final month or so of the season, I'm not so sure. September was a struggle and in hindsight I think they team ran out of gas. I'll probably blog about the season at some point this offseason, but not today. As for the World Series, go Giants! I have no real vested interest in who wins and don't really care either way. I'd just like to see the "claws and antlers" go away. I think those are highly absurd. And at least it's not Philly. I think we can all agree we're happy about that.

Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi met the media today and answered a bunch of questions and dropped a bomb or two on everyone. I was following along with some of the beat writer's accounts on Twitter while it was happening. Fun stuff. The LoHud Yankees Blog has a bunch of tidbits on the meeting. Here are my thoughts on the major stuff:

• The biggest bombshell dropped today was that the Yankees have fired Dave Eiland. It was Cashman's decision and he described the reasoning as "private." He also said it had nothing to do with performance. Interesting. Something seems a little off on this, don't you think? Bottom line for me is that Eiland just didn't get the job done. Too many struggles from too many pitchers. But wouldn't that be performance based? Yeah, I don't get it either. After I read about Eiland's dismissal, a thought popped into my head: What if Dave Eiland gave A.J. Burnett his black eye? Yeah, I'm reaching, I know. But then again who really knows? I'm sure it has to do something with the personal leave Eiland took in June. You'd think Cashman's decision would be related to that, right? Almost has to be? I know there were rumors that Eiland was in rehab on his LOA and I don't want to get into that. Bottom line, regardless of the "private" reason is that he's out as pitching coach. No big loss. Again as I mentioned, too many pitchers had too many struggles, namely A.J. Burnett and Joba Chamberlain. I have no problem with the Yankees bringing in somebody else to take on that role.
• Cashman plans to talk with Joe Girardi's agent ASAP to try and lock Girardi into another contract. Both sides want the deal to happen which means that it will. It'll probably happen soon. I'd expect it to be signed, sealed and delivered by the end of the week. Hiring a manager should be and is Cashman's top priority. You can't really move on without one. I have no issue with the Yankees bringing Girardi back. He does make some boneheaded moves but by and large he's doing a decent job. Then again, it's the Yankees. I could guide that team to 90+ wins.
• The team views Joba Chamberlain as a back-of-the-bullpen pitcher and not as a starter. That should forever put to rest that debate as it sounds like Joba will always be a reliever as long as he's a Yankee. Works for me. Yeah, I'm not a Joba guy. Never really have been. He's had flashes of brilliance but for the most part I think he's a middle-of-the-pack pitcher. I wouldn't be surprised if he's traded before Spring Training.
• Andy Pettitte pitched hurt during the playoffs. During the ALDS Andy felt tightness in both his back and his hamstrings. Pettitte's injuries were the driving factor in the Yankees' decision to pitch him in games 3 and 7 of the ALCS. I can respect that and have no problem with their decision to do so. The part of have minor issue with is people, mainly certain media members, hammered Girardi for not disclosing that info. C'mon now. If Girardi dropped that on everyone that could change everything. You don't want your opponent knowing your weaknesses. Why would any logical mind think that he should have to disclose that? Oh yeah, we're talking about the media, and again, it's only certain ones.
• The Yankees don't plan on picking up any player options, of which there are only 3. Kerry Wood @ $11 million, Lance Berkman @ $15 million. Nick Johnson @ $5.75 million. Yeah, I'm with the team on that. There's no need to drop that much coin on any of those guys. I like Wood, but who needs an $11mm set-up guy. $15 million for a part-time DH? No thanks. Nick Johnson? We won't go there.
• Cashman admitted he had a bad offseason. Nick Johnson was apparently plan C, behind Johnny Damon @ plan A and Hideki Matsui @ plan B. Yeah, Cashman blew that one. Trading for Javy Vazquez was almost as bad. The big plus in that deal was that they got rid of Melky Cabrera, which I think made Robinson Cano a better player.

That's the main stuff. There were some other nuggets dropped but nothing major. This should be a very interesting offseason. Cashman has a lot of work to do and he's already attacking it. I don't think it will take long to re-hire Girardi and then re-sign Mariano Rivera & Derek Jeter. I would expect the Yankees to move pretty quick on bringing back those guys. The Hot Stove is heating up. Won't be long before it's raging.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

A.J. Pitches Well But Yankees Get Blown Out Anyway, It's Do Or Die Time

Aargh. I'm not sure I even want to blog at this point. These games are getting more and more painful to watch. It seems like there is no fight in this dog. They get on the verge of breaking things open and they flounder. The game is close and then the pitching implodes. Same story, different night, same outcome. Their backs are against the wall. They need to pick themselves up off the ground, shake off the cobwebs, and figure out how to get this done. Where's the heart? Where's the fire? They need to find it and they need to find it fast.

Before getting into my game thoughts I'll start with my little sliver of positivity. I'm still not giving up on this team. They've got what it takes to pull this off. They've done it before. They can do it again. They need to take it one game at a time. As I stated in my last entry, CC, Phil, and Andy can rattle off 3 straight. It can be done. But the way this team is playing, they're making it hard to believe.

I thought A.J. pitched a good game and I still believe it was the right call having him start tonight. He gave the team enough and if not for the mistake to Molina, this could have had a different ending. I don't put the Molina HR solely on A.J. though. They never should have walked Moreland to get to Molina. Those IBBs never work out. Fault Joe Girardi and his stupid binder for that one. It's also fair to ask if Burnett should have even been out there to face Molina.

Girardi is having a rough series at the helm. Pretty much every decision he has made has backfired on him. Walking Moreland. Leaving A.J. out there. Bringing in Logan to face Hamilton (twice)--I guess it didn't matter who he brought in. J-Ham has toasted everybody. Bringing in Robertson yesterday. Mitre tonight. It's tough to like the guy right now. He goes too by the book for my taste.

Back to Burnett for a second. A blogged earlier today that the keys to victory were: A.J. not walking anybody, A.J. not hitting anybody, and A.J. not throwing any wild pitches. The 1st 2 runs he allowed came from exactly those 3 things. Funny how that worked out.

What the freak happened to the Yankees offense? Holy RISP-fails Batman! They've had a lot of chances this series to score some runs and by and large have come up empty. Pop outs. Strikeouts. Double plays. If there's a way to kill a rally the Yankees have done it. The 8th inning tonight was the perfect example. Down 4, bases loaded and 1 out. Weak fly out by Swisher and then Berkman with the inning ending ground out.

The only ones hitting are Jeter (.278) and Cano (.467). Two guys unfortunately can't carry the rest. Granderson (.182), Teixeira (.000), A-Rod (.133), and everyone's favorite "Rally Killer" Nick Swisher (.067) need to step it up. Unfortunately, the Yankees are probably going to have to make their postseason run without Mark Teixeira. He appears to be out indefinitely with a hamstring injury. Nothing confirmed but it didn't look good. He won't be returning. Hopefully the rest of the bats show up for game 5 and beyond.

I really hope the Yankees pull off a win in game 5. I'd hate to miss the final game of the season. I'll be at work for the start of the game and at my 3-year old son's "Sports Explorers" program from 6-7. I'd love to bail on that but I don't want the little guy of the fun he has. I'm confident that CC will pitch them to victory. Like I said, they need to take it one game at a time. Don't look down the road. Win and then worry about the next one. Everyone should be confident that they can. Even though it should be, and even though it feels like it, it ain't over yet.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Comeback And Pull Off An Improbable Game 1 Win

Like the Goonies, the New York Yankees never say die. What an incredible Yankees victory! Unbelievable. I'm still kind of shocked that they pulled it out. If you told me before the game that CC Sabathia was going to get pulled after 4 innings I'd have thought that the Yankees would have been blown out. I'd have to think that tonight's come-from-behind victory took all of the wind out of the Rangers' sails. I wouldn't be surprised if the Yankees sweep this series now. CC Sabathia was terrible. C.J. Wilson was awesome. Yankees have a 5-run 8th inning and win 6-5. Sorry Texas. You guys are done. You can't beat up CC like that and lose the game. Again, you're done.

Play of the game had to be Brett Gardner's leadoff single in the 8th inning. That was a great heads up, or should I say heads down play. They always say that diving into first base is not as fast as running through the bag. If GGBG doesn't dive there he's probably out. If that had happened this would be a totally different blog.

The 8th inning was a great inning. After Jeter doubled Gardner home I said to myself that if Cano made it to the plate that the Yankees would win this game. I would have tweeted that but I had my hands full. Literally. Stay tuned for the story. The back-to-back walks by Swisher and Teixeira were almost as huge as Gardner's single. Those were two great ABs. I loved seeing the Yankees hammer one Texas RP after another. A-Rod sees 1 pitch and knocks in a run. Cano sees 1 pitch and knocks in another. When Robbie was up I said to myself, "C'mon Robbie. One pitch, one out. I mean one pitch one hit." Thank God I corrected myself. Cano had a monster game. M-V-P! M-V-P! Robbie is quickly becoming my favorite Yankee. I hope he's a Yankee-for-life.

There were a lot of huge contributors in tonight's win. The bullpen came up big. Joba, despite looking like he's packed on a few pounds, looked good. Dustin Moseley, of all people, looked phenomenal. He had a huge 2 innings. Kerry Wood had a HUGE pickoff of Ian Kinsler to wipe out a leadoff walk. For shame Ian. Talk about a boneheaded mistake. You can't be doing that at this level and in the ALCS. But thanks for doing it. I think I speak for Yankee fans everywhere when I say, thanks! And as we've seen so many times before in October, the Almighty Mo picks up the save. Mo is a God and I worship him. I think that statement violates one of the 10 Commandments. I think God would agree with me though. Mo is God.

The worst part of this great Yankee victory was CC's performance. He looked downright awful. It could have very well been his worst start of the season. Had the Yankees lost it definitely would have been. Let's chalk this one up to rust and inactivity. Everyone knows pitchers are creatures of habit and pitching every 5 days is what they're used to. It's been 10 days since his last start. I won't worry too much about it. But if his next start isn't vintage CC, I'll begin to worry.

The real hero of this great Yankees win is my little 2 year old daughter. I originally put her to bed at about 10pm. She woke up at around 10:35 or so. My wife wasn't home so I was on a solo mission with her. I went up to get her and brought her back downstairs to get her back to sleep. I brought her down right before Brett Gardner's 8th inning leadoff single. I stood there in our dark living room, holding her and rocking her back-and-forth. Jeter doubles. Swisher walks. Teixeira walks. A-Rod singles. Cano singles. Thames singles and the Yankees are winning. It was during that rally that I dubbed my daughter "The Rally Baby." Being a baseball nut I'm very superstitious. I stood in my living room, holding and rocking her until Mo got the final out. There was no chance I was putting her down. My arm was killing me when all was said and done. But no pain no gain, right? LOL.

Phil Hughes gets the start tomorrow, err, I mean later today. I'm expecting big things tomorrow. The Yankees have all of the momentum right now and the Rangers have to feel defeated. I'm confident the Yankees will be leaving Texas up 2-0. 4 down, 7 to go.

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

Yanks Fall Back To 2nd Place After Losing To Rays

Well that just sucked. I thought for sure as soon as Granderson went yard to put the Yankees up 3-2 that the game was in the bag. It was as if the Baseball Gods were smiling down upon them after allowing Jeter to reach base on a phantom HBP. Note to Red Sox fans: don't even try to talk trash about that. Victor Martinez did the same thing a few weeks back. It's part of the game. You do what you do to win. So shut up and don't even go there.

Anyway, I was so disappointed when Phil Hughes gave the lead right back on Johnson's 2-run HR. Sure Girardi have pulled him at the start if the inning? Maybe. I have no problem leaving PH in. I can see it both ways. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Outside of the 2 mistakes Phil pitched a pretty good ballgame. Unfortunately it only takes one mistake to do a pitcher in and that's exactly what happened. Sorry Phil. No Hughes call tonight. We're still stuck on 16.

The Yankees offense came up short tonight. Only 2-9 with RISP. Not good. I think Girardi made a big mistake by pinch-hitting Marcus Thames for Lance Berkman. The smarter move in my opinion would have been to save Thames for Kearns or Curtis. Girardi messed that one up. Not a good couple of games for Girardi these last few days. He can't make the right decision to save his life. I think the same thing happened for a stretch last year. I don't think though it came at such a crucial point of the season. Hopefully his string of bad moves will change.

Still not in panic mode. Despite the slump the Yankees are playing pretty decent baseball. Six of their last seven games have been decided by 1 run and a lot could have gone either way. The lead in the wild card race is still a comfortable 6 games. A playoff berth is by no means a guarantee but there's no way this team continues to falter like they're currently doing. Their not exactly throwing out their A-team right now. Swisher, Pettitte, Gardner, and Teixeira are all hurt. A-Rod and Jeter are both less than 100%. You won't see guys like Mitre, Gaudin, and to a lesser extent Vazquez and Moseley put into close games in the postseason. The current make-up of this ball club is not what we'll see come October. The trick is weathering the storm and getting to October. Swisher and Gardner should be back Friday. Pettitte should be back soon. This team won't continue to lose. Knock on wood.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Somebody Call Mark Grace, Derek Jeter Needs A Slump Buster

This pains me to say as a Yankee fan but it's the truth. Derek Jeter sucks right now. It's very difficult to watch. He's by far having the worst offensive campaign of his career. By far. Last night's 1-7 performance was just another in a long line of games where DJ has struggled. In his last 15 games, Jeter's average has dropped 17 percentage points, from .277 to .260. In those 15 games he's 8-65 (.123). Horrendous.

I was hoping that he'd come through with a "Captain Clutch" moment in extra innings of last night's game. He had his chance to knock in what could have been the winning run but instead he grounded weakly to 1st. That's pretty much been how it's going for DJ. Dude needs a "Mark Grace style" slump buster. If you don't know what that is, google it. You'll be sure to find something and it'll make you smile.

I don't think this is the beginning of a sharp decline in Derek's skills at the plate. I don't think you go from being where he was to where he is in the span of a season. I'd expect a gradual decline but nothing like this.

The thing that's the most unbelievable is that the Yankees are 9-6 in their last 15 games. DJ may suck but at least the team is winning. I guess that's all that matters. I'm sure Derek would agree.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie