Why Can't You Be More Like Him?

Hey hey hey. Long time, no blog. Hopefully, those of you that have been here before and are now back for some more, are doing well and that life has been good to you. Life has been good to me. I can't complain about much. The only thing I wish I had more time for was the Yankees. Back in the day when the blog first started, which was 5-6 years ago, I was married without children. Now, I have 3 kids, age range from 4-1. They can be a handful and it's tough to take what free time I have away from them and devote it to the Yankees and this blog. When I last posted, I had no idea if I'd ever blog again. I figured I would if I had something to write about. Today is that day.

Hey Mark Teixeira! What's up with all the freaking infield pop ups? To quote the late great Phil Rizzuto, holy cow. It seems like every few ABs Teix is popping out. It's so bad that it's a running bit on Twitter. Time for a commercial (shameless plug): you can follow me on Twitter @jboogiedown. I am much more active there with the Yankees talk than I am here. Back to your regularly scheduled programming:

I decided to see if I could find out anything about how often Teix pops up and lo and behold there's a stat for that. It's called the Infield Fly Ball Rate, or IFFB%. A quick visit to Fangraphs and I have the info that I'm looking for. Here's a brief snapshot of Teix's IFFB% over the last few years:

• Career IFFB% = 10.8%


• 2011 IFFB% = 11.8%


• 2010 IFFB% = 13.6%

I tried, albeit not hard, to find out what the MLB average is for IFFB%. I didn't find it. I did though find a leaderboard on Fangraphs. Out of 145 people, Teix had the 43rd highest IFFB%. Not sure where the rest of the player pool is, I'm guessing it's just those who qualified for the batting title, but whatever. It's not really needed for where I'm going with this.

For those interested, the list includes 6 Yankees:

• Brett Gardner = 19.60%


• Mark Teixeira = 11.80%


• Robinson Cano = 9.10%


• Nick Swisher = 7.5%


• Curtis Granderson = 7%


• Derek Jeter = 2.30%

So here's where I'm going with this: Teixeira (and Brett Gardner) need to get with Kevin Long and review some tape. They need to study how Joey Votto goes about his ABs. I heard during some game last year about how Votto never pops up. Check out these #s:

• Votto Career IFFB% = 1.6%


• Votto 2011 = .6% (1 infield fly ball)


• Votto 2010 = 0% (yes, that's zero infield fly ball)


• Total career infield fly balls (since 2007) = 10

To again quote the Scooter, holy cow. Joey Votto has hit a total of 10 infield fly balls since becoming a big leaguer in 2007. Teixeira has a career total of 187, and 106 since 2007. To quote the hip-hop legends Cypress Hill, that's insane in the membrane. Insane in the brain.

So as the title of this blog post reads, why can't you be more like him? Enough with the pop ups already.

And I'm out. Mic drop.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

The End Of The Road

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time......

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Offense Absent In 4-0 Loss To Tigers

I had the full intention of watching tonight's Yankees/Tigers game but I opted not to after shortly after I turned it on. I flipped the TV to the game after one of the bedtime shows my kids watched ended just to get a quick update. I saw one pitch. It was the first and only pitch to Magglio Ordonez. He put it in the seats for a 2-run HR. After that I turned the TV off and got my kids ready for bed. When I finished my daddy duties I went back to the game. First pitch I see is an Alex Avila double. Woah. I see 2 pitches and neither yields a good result. Being the superstitious dude that I am I flipped the game off. I wasn't having any of that.

As it turns out staying away from the game did not help the Yankees at all. But it didn't make it worse. The game ended with the Yankees losing 4-0. I followed along a little bit online as I listened to the new Beastie Boys album (it's great - get it). The game was pretty uneventful and I'm glad I didn't watch because it would have been very frustrating. The Yankees offense is quite simply horrible and more often that not it seems that as a team they're struggling at the plate. They managed only 4 hits tonight and struck out 11 times. That's pretty brutal. Nobody is hitting either. Cano, Martin, and Teixeira are the only 3 hitting above .260. Hey Kevin Long!! Get to work my man!!

I'll give it up to Freddy Garcia tonight. Well, sort of. I was surprised when I saw that he was still pitching in the 8th. He didn't start out that great but it looks like he settled in right after I flipped the game off. Coincidence? Maybe. He allowed 8 hits and struck out 2 when I was "watching" and allowed 2 hits and struck out 6 when I wasn't. Hmm. Maybe I was bad mojo. If only yhr Yankees offense could have done something. Props to Freddy for battling.

Day game tomorrow. That sucks. I hate day games. Work always gets in the way of paying attention to it. Hopefully I can figure out a way to give it a listen. Hopefully the Yankees can figure out a way to hit the ball. They're too good not to.

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

Freddy Garcia Exceptional As Yankees Beat Rangers 5-2

Take that Texas Rangers. Freddy Garcia just shut you down. Yankees win. Thuhhh Yankees win.

Freddy Garcia made his first start of the season and he was exceptional. He went 6 scoreless innings, giving up only 2 hits and 1 walk, on only 84 pitches. And he did all that against arguably the best performing offense in MLB. Not bad for your first start since March 29. Freddy wasn't overpowering by any means but he did what he needed to do to pitch well. I don't think he even hit 90 (could be wrong) and he only struck out one. But he hit his spots. He mixed his pitches and his pitches had movement. Phil Hughes needs to take note of this. You don't have to have a blazing fastball to pitch effectively. Just ask Mike Mussina. (Throwback call: Moooooooooooooooooooose!)

Garcia's outing goes to show that it's more important to do the 3 things I mentioned above more than anything else. There's a big difference between pitching and throwing. Garcia was definitely a pitcher today. I think it's safe to say that he's the Yankees "3rd starter" behind Sabathia and Burnett. At this point in time he has to be, right. It would be nice if Bartolo Colon could make a push for that. It'll just mean the rotation is stabalizing. I hope that Freddy keeps it up and that Bartolo matches him when he makes his first start.

Despite a semi-meltdown by Rafael Soriano I love the back-end of the Yankees bullpen. The formula of Joba in the 7th, Soriano in the 8th, and Mo in the 9th is working well. Soriano has definitely been a little hit and miss but I think he was a little better today than his final line. The Rangers didn't hit him terribly hard. Soriano, or as he's affectionately called, MFIKY, has definitely been the least stable to the trio, but for the most part his shakiness was confined to one outing, not counting today. Prior to today he's MFIKY has appeared in 5 games. Four of those went off without a hitch. I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm a little concerned about him, but I think he'll be fine long term.

Joba continues to impress me. When Girardi first unveiled Joba as the "7th inning guy" in his bullpen formula I was understandably worried. Those worries are decreasing with each outing. If the Yankees hit the 7th inning with a lead the game is pretty much over. Joba, Soriano and Rivera have been that good. Rivera of course the best of them all. Mo is not showing any signs of ineffectiveness. In fact it's the opposite. He's still vintage Mariano. God bless the man.

I didn't catch any of the postgame show so I'm not sure if this was mentioned but A-Rod got pulled early with lower back and oblique stiffness. Uh oh. The Yankees aren't planning tests so it doesn't strike me as serious and I really hope it's not. Fingers are crossed because Alex has been the team's biggest offensive threat. Coming into today's game Alex ranked 2nd in AVG, 1st in OBP, and 1st in SLG. He's off to one of the best starts of his career. If he misses any time it could be a big blow to the Yankees.

The Yankees continue with the power stroke. They've tied the record for most HRs by a Yankees team thru 13 games. Two more longballs today. Mark Teixeira went deep for his 5th and Robbie Cano hit his 3rd. Cano's HR was big as it put the lead back to 3 and gave Mariano cushion headed into the 9th, not that it was needed. Teixeira had a nice day at the plate with 2 hits. His April AVG is up to .234. Not great but considering how poorly he's historically been in April, I'll take it.

Nick Swisher is swinging a hot bat. He's gone 2-4 in back-to-back games and he's got his AVG up to .261. Prior to the start of the Texas series Nick was hitting .211. I guess it doesn't take much to raise your AVG 50 points, eh? Hopefully, this little hot streak comes along with some power. Swish is till homerless. That's surprising to me considering how many HRs the Yankees have hit as a team. You'd think he'd have run into one or two dingers by now. I just took a look at Swish's splits and situational stats and I don't really like what I see. He's hitting only .107 versus RHPs and he's hitting only .188 with RISP. There's a lot of room for improvement here. I hope 2011 is not the "Return of the Rally Killer."

The Yankees now get a pseudo day-off. Well, not really. They play tomorrow night at 8:05 on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. It'll be nice to get a few hours of extra rest before a big game. OK, maybe it's not a big game but right now the Rangers are top dog in the AL and taking two out of three from them would be pretty big. CC Sabathia vs. Alexi Ogando. This game has pitcher's duel written all over it, which probably means it'll be a blowout. Hopefully it's not a repeat of last Sunday when Josh Beckett shut down the Yanks. They haven't seen a whole lot of Ogando and he's off to a hot start. Should be a good game.

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

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

Joe Girardi Done Messed Up, Costs Yankees Game #5

Yeah, I'm all kind of pissed right now. Freaking Joe Girardi. What the heck are you doing my man? His bullpen management cost the Yankees the game tonight! And I don't want to hear from anyone that it's only April, or that it's the 5th game of the season, or that it's only one game or only one loss. Divisions are lost and playoffs are missed because of one loss. Every game matters and every loss counts, regardless of when the game is played. Tonight's loss didn't need to happen. If the Yankees miss the playoffs by one game this will be one of the losses that could have changed their fate.

I'm putting this loss on Girardi's bullpen management because he made a move that shouldn't have been made and it came back to bite him in the ass. Joe never should have opened the 8th inning with Rafael Soriano on the mound. The right play was open with David Robertson and go to Soriano if Robertson gets into trouble. That's how I would have managed it. Here's why: The Yankees were up 4-0. Soriano had just pitched the day before. Freddy Garcia is starting tomorrow and who knows what you'll need from your bullpen. I would have tried to save his arm as much as I could. David Robertson is a quality RP and has the stuff to get hitters out. Girardi should have let him take a shot.

The thing that makes me the most annoyed is how Girardi responded to questions in his post game press conference? When asked why he went to Soriano he responded because Soriano is "our 8th inning guy." Umm, what? Last time I checked every game has an 8th inning. What are you going to do Joe? Use him every game? You've got to be smart and pick your spots. Tonight wasn't the right spot. Many factors need to be taken into account. The biggest factors: What's the lead? (4 runs) When did he pitch last? (yesterday) When will he be needed again? (possibly tomorrow). Add all that up and your answer should be: open the 8th with another pitcher. Girardi also comment that he didn't want to bring Soriano in during the middle of an inning? Why not Joe? Soriano is a closer by nature, not a set-up guy. Everybody knows that closers do better when something is on the line? We've all seen Mariano Rivera falter in non-save situations. Maybe bringing Soriano in with a 4-run lead isn't a good idea. I'm sure he'd do better with a little pressure. Who knows? One last question for Joe: who's your 8th inning guy tomorrow?

Aargh. It's late and my brain is fried. I want to blog a little more but I still have some stuff to do before bed and in addition to being pissed I'm dead tired. Here are the rest of my game thoughts in quick-hit fashion:

• Great outing by CC. He was in mid-season form. He'll only get better. Too bad the pen couldn't hold it. CC deserved the win.


• Mark Teixeira hit another 3-run HR. Doesn't look like he'll struggle this spring. He's locked in.


• Andruw Jones. Welcome to NY. Nice first AB. He hits LHPs rather well. Keep it up.


• I hate lefty specialists. I've said it for years. Boone Logan didn't get it done tonight. He's there to get out Denard Span and Joe Mauer, not issue leadoff walks and singles. Shape up or you're getting shipped out.

After ranting about Girardi, let me add this: I know it's not all his fault. Players still need to execute. It was Rafael Soriano's job to get those guys out, He failed in that. But again, he shouldn't have been in the game to implode like that. Aargh.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Pitching To Blame In 10-7 Loss To Tigers

Well, you can't win them all. Today's loss was all about the pitching. When you score 7 runs, rack up 12 hits and 3 walks, and hit 4 HRs, you should win. The trio of Yankee pitchers today did not do anyone any favors. Whenever the Yankees would score a few runs the pitchers would give them right back. It was so frustrating to watch them go from down 2-0, to tied 2-2, to down 5-2, to down 5-4, to down 7-4, to down 7-6, to down 9-6, to down 9-7, to finishing down 10-7. Every time the Yankees scored they gave the runs right back. That won't win you games.

Phil Hughes was not terribly impressive today. He wasn't even close to impressive. His velocity was down and he had no out pitch. I don't have the exact count on how many batters he got 2 strikes on but he just couldn't put anybody away. He finished the game with only one strikeout. There wasn't a lot of swinging and missing with Phil's pitches. His decreased velocity didn't help any. I think he topped out at 91 MPH and was regularly hitting 89-90. A few extra miles on the fastball and his pitching line might have been drastically different. I didn't pay a lot of attention to Spring Training. Apparently, Phil's velocity has been down all spring. Last year he was steady rocking at 93-94 MPH. I would have thought he'd be at that level at this point. Not sure why he's not there and it doesn't sound like anyone knows. At this point all one can do is play the waiting game. I expect that he'll get those MPHs back in the next few starts. If he doesn't, time to worry.

Bartolo Colon made his regular season debut today and like Hughes he wasn't terribly impressive. Unlike Phil's outing, Bartolo was impressive at times. It was like I was watching A.J. Burnett pitch an entire season in a matter of 4 innings. Bartolo was either lights out or God awful. No idea what to make of his outing. It's early and you can't put a lot of stock into one bad outing, especially when it's the first outing of the year. I don't see Bartolo pitching when the Yankees have a lead so I'm not as concerned with how he did (yet). Then again, if he pitched a little better today the Yankees might have won. I hope he figure out how to consistently pitch well. I'm not sure he will.

Ugh. Joba Chamberlain. Here we go again. Are we going to do this again this year? Good outing, bad outing, good outing, bad outing. Get your act together please.

The Yankees offense had another big day and did everything they could to win this game. Stupid pitching. They took Tigers' pitchers deep 4 times. The Bronx Bombers are living up to that moniker. Through 3 games they've hit 9 HRs, which is a franchise record. Mark Teixeira stayed hot with his 3rd HR of the season. All signs point to no April slump for Teix. That would be a welcomed sight. Teix hitting will make the lineup a heck of a lot better.

How about Jorge Posada going deep twice? I don't know about you but I really think Jorge is going to have a great season at the plate. I think being a full-time DH is going to be the best thing to happen to Jorge. He swings a good stick and I think the wear and tear of catching had an impact on Jorge reaching peak performance. Now that he's not catching I think we'll see a significant uptick in Jorge's typical production. I think you can take that to the bank.

I continue to be impressed with the play of Russell Martin. Right now he's doing it all. I know it's early but me likey. Me likey a lot.

So the first series of the season is in the books. The Tigers are thought to be a pretty good team and you can't be unhappy about the Yankees taking two of three from them. If you are, well, I don't know what to tell you. You should always be happy with a series win. You win enough of those and you're golden. Next up they've got a 4 game set with the Twins. The Twins are another AL Central favorite. It shouldn't be an easy series but winning three of four is doable. I'm very interested to see the next two games. Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia will be making their 1st starts. I hope they bring it.

I'm so glad baseball is back.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Offense Explodes In 10-6 Win Over Tigers

Are you like me? Did you breathe a huge sigh of relief after A.J. Burnett's start? The last thing I wanted to see today was Burnett implode and pick up where he left off last year. A.J. wasn't lights out today but for my money it was a great start. He had exceptional control, throwing 2/3 of his pitches for strikes. I'm cautiously optimistic about how he's going to do this year. I'm not putting a lot of stock in this start but it was definitely a step in the right direction. I caution everyone not to think all is good with Burnett. His first start in 2010 was almost identical to his start today. Check out these game lines:

• 2011 - 5 IP, 5 hits, 3 runs, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, ERA = 5.40, win


• 2010 - 5 IP, 7 hits, 4 runs, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, ERA = 5.40, no decision

So don't get too excited. Last season for A.J. was one we all want to forget. I think I saw a stat flash during the broadcast that A.J. was the 1st Yankee pitcher ever to lose 15 games and have an ERA over 5. Or it was something to that effect. To quote Charles Barkley, he was turrible. He got off on the right foot today. Hopefully, it continues.

Speaking of getting off on the right foot and hoping it continues, how about that Mark Teixeira? Everyone knows that Teixeira underperforms in April. It's no secret. I'll take a .286 average with 2 HR and 6 RBI after 2 games. It's pretty safe to assume that Teix would take it too. So far he looks like he's in mid-season form. Hopefully, it continues.

How about the start A-Rod is off to? His hot spring is carrying right over to the regular season. Alex is 3-5 (.600) with 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 BB and 2 RBI. Alex is locked and loaded. You can tell too just by watching him. When he hits the ball to the opposite field with power, he's on his game. I'm feeling very good about my pre-season AL MVP prediction right now. Hopefully, it continues.

I didn't see Russell Martin getting off to such an exciting start. He was a spark plug on Opening Day with his stolen base and run scored on a shallow sac fly to CF. Today he went deep to LF for a 3-run HR. Wow. I wish I didn't drop him in a fantasy league I'm in. I drafted him late but cut him to make room for a backup I needed at another position. Ooops. Same thing kind of happened last year with Teixeira. I had him in a sim league and he was terrible up until the moment I traded him. I'm happy to take one for the team if it means real-life performance improves once I'm done with them. Keeping with the running theme of this post, I hope Russell Russ's hot start continues.

Pretty good day all around for the offense. With the exception of Nick Swisher every Yankee starter had at least one base hit. But Swish knocked in a run with a sac fly so it's all good.

The only sore spot of today's game was the performance of the underbelly of the bullpen. Neither Boone Logan or Luis Ayala were terribly effective. Not worrying too much about it. I don't see Ayala pitching in big spots and Logan, well, I have a feeling we won't see him much either. Call it a hunch but I don't see him staying a Yankee for the entire season. Gut feeling. The only benefit of their suckiness was that it gave Mariano Rivera the chance to pick up a cheap save. As expected, he did. 3 pitches, game over. Mo = G.O.A.T.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's game. I've always been a big Phil Hughes guy. I didn't see him in action at all during Spring Training so tomorrow will be the first time I see him this year. I'm expecting big things from Phil this year. I'm hoping to kick off the Hughes call. After each PH win I do a Hughes call. I did the same for Mike Mussina with a Moose call. Basically, I add a "u" for every win. So last year's Hughes call looked like this w/18 Us: Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuughes! Go get 'em Phil.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Curtis Granderson's Bat And Glove Propel Yankees To Opening Day Win

Happy Opening Day Yankees fans! I'm sure I can speak for all of us when I say that today was a truly awesome day. Baseball is back. The Yankees won. All is right with the world.

As I do every year I took time off from work to watch the opener. I got together with a couple of buddies at a local watering hole for the game. You can't go wrong with beer, burgers and baseball.

The Yankees didn't play their best baseball today and quite frankly I didn't expect them to. I was pleased with what I saw and what I saw was good enough for the win. CC Sabathia was far from mid-season form but he was effective. Things could have got real bad real fast there in the 2nd inning when CC loaded the bases with no outs. But like a good pitcher does he got out of the jam with little damage. Overall a very solid 1st outing for CC. The big man usually gets better as the weather gets better. If that holds true, based on today's start he's going to have one heck of a year.

Great job by the Yankee bullpen. I guess we know now how Girardi is going to play it. It looks like the blueprint is Joba or David Robertson in the 6th/7th, Soriano in the 8th, and the great one to bring it home. My buddies and I were a little nervous when Joba took the mound. He kind of looks like a fat Sergio Mitre, doesn't he? Am I the only one who thinks that? Anyway, he had a solid inning. Half of us were expecting a meltdown. Joba has a lot of work to do to earn back our faith in him. Today was a step in that direction. I think Rafael Soriano is going to have a lights out year. He looked pretty sharp today. He could represent the most solid bridge to Mariano Rivera that we've seen in awhile. Speaking of the great one he's still the man. As if there was any doubt. I can't think of a better way to end the home opener than with Mo picking up the save.

It was good to see Mark Teixeira get off to a good start. Hopefully he can keep it up. I'm cautiously optimistic that he can. Pretty good day for A-Rod. On base 3 of 4 times and he came a few feet from going to deep. You know things are working for Alex when he hits the ball with power to right CF. I thought for sure that ball was gone and on a better day weather-wise it probably would have been. My only criticism of A-Rod is that he should have been busting it out of the box on that shot. He should have been standing on 3rd.

I think the biggest surprise today was the play of Russell Martin. I was shocked when he stole 3rd. I was more shocked when he scored from 3rd on a shallow sac fly. Who knew the dude had such wheels? He was quite the catalyst today.

Player of the game honors goes to Curtis Granderson. He came through with the big swing and picked up $20 for his charity. Allow me to explain: like I did last year with Nick Swisher's charity, I'm donating $ to Granderson's Grand Kids Foundation every time he goes deep. $15 per HR. Others have joined in to donate as well. You can check our progress in the upper left and if you want to chip in you're more than welcome. CG was also pretty slick in the field too. I thought there was no way that he was getting that ball that was hit over his head. He definitely had the best day in my opinion. Looks like his oblique is fine. Thank God and knock on wood.

Overall a great day. A great win. 1 down, 161 to go. I really wish there was a game tomorrow. I'm kind of bummed there's not. Oh well. There's a lot more baseball left to be played. Giggedy giggedy giggedy.

Did I just write my 3rd post in 3 days? Yeah, I think I did. Wow.

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

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

Yankees Take Game 1 Over Twins In ALDS

It's late and one of my kids will without a doubt be waking me up by 5:30 so I'm making this quick. here goes, buckle up.

• Big win tonight. Huge to take a game on the road especially in game 1 against their ace.
• CC wasn't great but he was definitely good. Not vintage CC but he pitched well enough and deserved the W. He almost blew it in a painful 6th inning but the team picked him up.
• Mariano Rivera is God. Do I need to expand on that? No.
• Took awhile for the offense to get going but they came through and picked up CC. Teixeira's blast sealed the deal. Gotta love getting a Tex-message.
• Can't believe how bad the umpires continue to be. They want nothing to do with instant replay but you wouldn't know it from the terrible calls. That non-out in the 9th was an obvious catch. Can't believe a 6-man crew couldn't get that one right. Actually, I can.
• TBS is terrible. Can't stand their broadcasts. Craig Sager has to be color blind, right?
• Pettitte vs. Pavano tomorrow. Last thing that can happen tomorrow is Pavano pitching a decent game. I'm hoping Yankees made right call by starting Pettitte over Hughes. We'll see. I would have gone with Phil.
• Roy Halladay is the man. Best pitcher in the game without question.

First pitch tomorrow @ 6pm. Leaving Minnesota up 2-0 would be killer. Take it to 'em Andy.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Beat The Rays, Lead Up To 2.5

Aw yeah baby. Two games into the series with the Rays and 2 Yankee victories. The lead in the AL East is up to 2.5 and if the Yankees can keep the pressure on (go for the jugular!) the lead could be up to a comfortable 4.5 games by end of play Thursday. Worst case scenario the Yankees drop the next two and we're where we were a few days ago. Nothing wrong with wiping 4 games off the schedule and keeping things the same. The Yankees do need to win at least one more against Tampa Bay. That would ensure the two teams would split the season series. That could be big if they happen to end the season tied for first. Not sure what the tie-breaker would be but 2 losses removes that from the equation altogether. A win tomorrow or Thursday and I'm a very happy camper.

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuughes! 17 wins for PJH. That's my boy. Not the best start for Phil but a really strong finish. It didn't look like he'd make it through 5 innings but he pitched into the 7th and that was big. The bullpen needed the rest. The walks were a little concerning though. Hopefully Phil figures his control issues out.

Add another $41 to the Swish's Wishes fundraiser. Swish got things started today with his 27th HR. That brings the total pledged up to $1167. Thanks to all for pledging. I'm hoping we can ger at least 3 more HRs from Swish before the year is up.

Looks like the offense has woken up. Back-to-back 8 run games and 30 in their last 4. Everyone hit tonight except for Teixeira. It was nice to see the A-team out there. It's been awhile since we have. Health is a good thing. The slump appears to be over.

The Red Sox are on the verge of losing to the Orioles. They're getting spanked 9-1 with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th. Nice job by the Sox bullpen: 3 IP, 9 hits, 8 earned runs. Papelbon gave up 4 runs on 5 hits in his one inning of work. Love it. Well sort of. He's on my fantasy team and I'm in the championship. That outing isn't going to help. Anyway the game just ended and the Yankees magic # of 3 to clinch a playoff spot. I think it's pretty safe to say they're on their way to the postseason. The Yankees would have to finish 2-9 and the Sox 11-0 for them to tie. No chance. Life is good.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nyger Morgan is a punk.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie