Double Plays, Walks And Wild Pitches Do In Yankees

The Yankees lost what I think was a very winnable ball game tonight. It was frustrating to watch and there really isn't a whole lot to say about it. It was a sloppy game to say the least.

The Yankees tied a record tonight and unfortunately that's not good. They grounded into 6, count 'em 6, double plays. Talk about rally killers. Hat tip to Matt Harrison for inducing so many DPs. If you can induce that many you're doing something right.

Ivan Nova was well, Ivan Nova. Did alright early but then the wheels fell off around the 5th inning, which pretty much happens in most of his starts. I didn't think he started too poorly but popular opinion said he was a little less than decent. In his 4.1 innings he allowed 4 hits, 5 walks, 1 HBP and a wild pitch. That's not going to get it done. Nova needs to be better, much better.

I'm a little concerned about the Yankees rotation. Phil Hughes hasn't been effective at all and is now on the DL with a dead arm. I didn't know ineffectiveness was a reason to DL a guy. Everyone has maintained Phil's not hurt so I'm not sure how they pulled that off, but whatever, it works. Phil's DL stint means Bartolo Colon now moves into the rotation. That's a move I'm a fan of. Bartolo has pitched well this season and he can easily slide into the starter role. But I'm not sold on him just yet. And we haven't even seen Freddy Garcia yet. Right now the Yankees have 2 reliable SPs and that's all dependent on A.J. Burnett continuing to pitch well. I have confidence in CC Sabathia and that's about it. I'm worried about everybody else, to varying degrees.

The positive tonight was the bullpen. 4.2 innings of hitless/scoreless ball. The highlight was the debut of Lance Pendleton. He faced 9 batters and retired them all. The kid looked good and I was impressed. But it's 3 innings. I'm not ready to crown him the second coming of Mariano Rivera just yet. Who am I kidding? There will never be a second coming of Mariano Rivera. Best there is, was, and ever will be. He's God.

Congrats to Curtis Granderson for hitting his 3rd HR and banking another $20 for his charity. I think we're up to $65. At this rate Curtis is going to break my bank. He's on pace to take $600+ from me. If anyone is wondering what I'm talking about, every time Curtis goes deep, I donate $$$ to his charity, the Grand Kids Foundation. If you're interested in donating along with me, please feel free to do so. If you're ever curious about how much is getting donated, just check out the total in the upper left. To learn more about the "pledge drive" click here.

The Red Sox just lost, again. They're now 2-10. Talk about pathetic. Wow. They're terrible.

Freddy Garcia makes his first start of the season tomorrow. There's rain in the forecast. Wouldn't that be something if he got skipped again? Weather is supposed to be bad so it could happen. 1:05pm start. Hope they play.

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

My9 Now Means Yankees Baseball Here in Buffalo (I Think)

Based on the number of people that get directed to the site by doing a web search looking for how they can watch Yankees games when they're on My9, I think I've become the official source on how to watch these games. Well, for those of you coming here looking how to see the game, I have great news for you:

The game should be on WNGS. FiOS = channel 5, TWC = channel 5/705, DirecTV = 67, Dish = 5

**Saw this on the WNGS website on 4/19 for Yankees/Jays game: We are aware that tonights New York Yankees game is not being broadcast on Verizon Fios. We are currently working with Verizon to get the game on air. We apologize for the inconvenience. Sounds like it's not on or maybe it's been fixed. Either way, it should be coming your way at some point.

According to their website they'll have the game. Enjoy!

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

Yankee Bats Absent In Loss To The Sad, Sad Red Rox

I'll give credit where credit is due. Hat tip to Josh Beckett on pitching a masterpiece. 8 innings pitched, 2 hits, 1 walk, 10 Ks, no runs. That's a shutdown performance right there. As they say, good pitching beats good hitting, and that's exactly what happened tonight. Josh Beckett was everything the Red Sox needed him to be. And that's a good thing because if not for Josh Beckett, the Red Sox probably don't win that game.

The fact that the Red Sox won tonight does not change the fact that they're a sad, sad team. CC Sabathia for all intents and purposes was ineffective tonight. He allowed 9 hits, 4 walks and hit a batter. And somehow, he managed to leave the game down 1-0. The Red Sox managed to put 14 runners on base against CC and they scored once. That is terrible. I'd like to give CC credit for getting himself out of jams but he showed me very little tonight on the hill. The Sox were 3-14 with RISP and left 16 men on base. CC got out of the jams because the Red Sox offense is terrible. Bad pitching apparently beats bad hitting. And that sums up the Red Sox offense. Bad. Very bad.

If I was a Red Sox fan, and thankfully I'm not, I wouldn't be super-excited about this win. Sure I'd be a little geeked up but I wouldn't take this win as a sign that the tide has turned. Again, as I said, the Red Sox are a sad, sad team. It's very laughable, and kind of sad, that the Fenway Faithful bust out the "Yankees Suck" when they're team is 2-7 and playing so poorly. But I guess with a sad team you get sad fans. They've got to hang their hats on whatever they can. The Sox now have the good fortune of getting to play another sad team in the Tampa Bay Rays. It should be an interesting series to say the least.

Not much else to say about this loss. It sucked but what can you do? Josh Beckett was on his game. All you can do is tip your cap and get past it. Consider it done.

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

Phil Hughes Is Terrible In Loss To The Overrated Red Sox

Even the sun shines on a dog's ass every now and then. I love that saying. It basically means, even the losers get lucky every now and then. That's how I feel about the Red Sox win over the Yankees today. Sure, the Sox win is a moral victory for a struggling team. But if you're excited about it as a Sox fan and think it's all blue skies ahead, please share your drugs. John Lackey was terrible and the Sox have only had 1 solid start in 7 games. And let's face it, if any other SP went today for the Yankees, the Sox would probably be 0-7. They do not look good and didn't look good today.

Phil Hughes was terrible again and it's pretty clear that there is something going on. He's lost several MPH on his fastball and it's crystal clear to anyone watching, or in my case listening, that it's a problem and a cause for concern. I'm not too concerned yet as it is very early in the season and it doesn't sound like there's an injury at play, which is really good because that means that he should be able to get back that extra zip missing from his pitches. Larry Rothschild needs to make Hughes priority numero uno. Figure out if it's his mechanics and if it is figure out how to fix it. I really hope it's not a dead arm because you never know when that will snap back. If it is a dead arm I'm hoping it gets better with each start. The last thing I want it to be is an injury. That would be worst case root cause for the problem. There's been no inkling of an injury, which is good. Whatever it is I hope they figure it out and soon. If there's no improvement all is not lost. To find out why not, read on.........

If Phil Hughes is hurt or can't snap out of it the Yankees have a viable replacement in BartoIo Colon. Bartolo had a pretty decent spring and had a great appearance today in relief. I don't want to say that he was unhittable today but he was outstanding. He kept the Yankees in the game and gave them a chance to comeback and win. It's a shame he got saddled with the loss. If for some reason Hughes can't pitch effectively as a starter I have no problem whatsoever with the Yankees sliding him into that role. Anybody have a reason why they shouldn't?

Boone Logan on the other hand? I wouldn't have a problem if the Yankees got rid of him right now. The Yankees have always had somewhat of a problem with their so-called "lefty specialist." When Logan came into the game I blasted off the following tweet: "Odds the "lefty specialist" gets out the lefties? 50%? Less? I'm not that confident in Boone." Sure enough, as expected, Boone doesn't get out the lefties. Double by Ortiz. Single by Drew. 2 runs score. Terrible. Boone has now faced 6 lefties this season and has allowed 5 to reach base. Boone's job is to get lefties out and he's not doing it. As my buddy Mike tweeted during the game, "Ppl say give Logan a chance it's still early. Letting all 5 LHB on base so far means he's not doing his job. If I don't do mine, I get fired." Boom! Boone isn't doing his job. If he doesn't turn things around, and fast, he's got to go. I have no confidence in him at this point. I saw a lot of people on Twitter blasting Joe Girardi for going to Logan when he did. I have no problem with the move. You bring in the LHP to face the LHB. Statistically, the odds are supposed to be heavily in the pitcher's favor. Hence the "lefty specialist." It's not Girardi's fault Logan sucks at his job. Get your act together Boone!

No real comments on the offense. In closing, nobody should fear the Red Sox. They're arguably the most overrated team to ever step on a baseball diamond. There pitching is suspect and to assume that they would roll over everyone en route to a World Series title was silly. I did predict that they'd win the AL East. I think they're a good team but they were being called one of the best team's ever. I think one Boston writer said they were better than the 1927 Yankees. It was laughable than and it's laughable now. There was also talk of Boston setting the record for most regular season wins ever. Again, laughable. They've got a good club, no doubt. But they are nowhere near the team that "experts" and Red Sox fans think they are.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Win Free Tickets To The Yankees/Orioles Series From PepsiMAX

Got an e-mail earlier letting me know about an opportunity for people to get free tickets to the upcoming Yankees/Orioles series at Yankee Stadium. Here are the details:

On Saturday, the guys in the recently unveiled MLB Fan Cave are giving away 1,000 free tickets for all three games in the upcoming Yankees-Orioles series this week.

To win free tickets to Yankee Stadium, fans need to follow Pepsi Max (@PepsiMAX), MLB Caveman Mike O’Hara (@mikeyoh21) and his sidekick, Ryan Wagner (@rwags614), on Twitter. Starting at 11 a.m. Saturday morning, the three accounts will be driving fans to various locations around the city. When fans get to the location, they will be given a clue as to where to go to score the free tickets. The three accounts will be providing clues throughout the day.

For more info, check out this video:

Sounds like a fun little scavenger hunt for those of you in the NYC area. If you give it a try, good luck.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

A Really Quick Post About Today's Yankee Victory

Didn't see it. Listened to it on radio. Happy they won. Bring on the 0-6 Boston Red Sox. Ha ha ha. 0-6. Can you say "overrated?"

Told you. Really quick.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie