Yanks Blank The Orioles

I'm keeeping this short and sweet tonight. I can get just about 7 hours of much-needed sleep if I fall asleep in like 15 seconds.

Robinson Cano is awesome.

That's all you're getting.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Offense Backs Up CC In 8-3 Win Over Orioles

Watched most of the game on fast forward tonight. The fam took me out for dinner figuring it would be a nice stress reliever. We didn't get back until the 2nd inning so I totally missed the Yanks score their first 2 runs. I DVR'd the game from the 2nd inning on and finally got caught up for the top of the 7th. It's been a struggle for me to start watching at first pitch. My kids start getting for bed around 7 and are down for the count by 8pm. We're in the process of getting our house packed up for our move and that took me away from watching until about 9:15 or so. It's interesting watching a game on FF. I usually stop it if something big happens. I stopped it quite a bit tonight as the Yankees poured on the runs. Love seeing that.

The bottom half of the Yankees order continues to impress. Not counting Posada, everyone 5-9 had a multi-hit game. Cano through Gardner combined to go 11-23. I talked yesterday about the mini-tears that Robbie Cano and Nick Swisher are on, each being 6 games long. You can now make that 7 games. Cano went 2-5 with a home run and Swisher went 3-5 with 2 runs and 2 ribbies. Cano is having a monster April. My prediction that he'll be the 2010 AL MVP is looking pretty good, eh? I can't believe he's hitting .390. I always knew Robbie was a good hitter. I didn't realize he was that good.

I see Posada is listed as day-to-day after being hit-by-a-pitch in the 2nd. I hope it's nothing serious and it doesn't sound like it is. If it happens to be, I'm glad we have Francisco Cervelli to fill in. He's having a phenomenal April. Maybe his oversized helmet has special powers? I can't help myself. Whenever I see him I say, "Gazooooo."

The top of the order had a better night tonight (4-17) than they did yesterday (1-18), but they're still under-performing. It's been the same story all year. Nick Johnson and Mark Teixeira are dragging ass right now. Johnson at least gets on base but his average (.143) and his SLG % (.232) leave a lot to be desired. And what's up with all the Ks? I thought Nick had this great eye. He's now walked 20 times and whiffed 20 times. Last year in 104 AB with the Marlins, Johnson struck out 18 times. He's got 20 in 56 AB this year. In his career, Nick strikes out once every 4.79 ABs. This year, it's once every 2.8 AB. Improvement needed. Just think for an extra million they could have resigned Hideki Matsui (.284/.359/.506).

CC Sabathia wasn't sharp tonight but still pitched pretty well. He gave up 11 hits and 2 walks but only gave up 3 runs. When you allow that many baserunners you're asking for trouble, unless of course you're a top-tier pitcher like CC. The best pitchers have an uncanny ability to get out of big spots. He got a big 2-out K to get out of a jam in the 1st. He got a big DP to end the 5th and another DP in the 7th. CC battled tonight and came out relatively unscathed.

One more tomorrow in Baltimore and then it's back home to the Bronx. A win tomorrow and the Yanks will return home with a 14-7 record. A loss will leave them at 13-8. Either way it was a pretty great month for the Yanks. They played a pretty tough schedule, complete with a west coast roadie and only 6 home games. A 13-8 start wouldn't be too shabby. But why settle for that? 14-7 would be so much better.

I'm so tired.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Identity Crisis

Today was the first day in I don't know how long where I didn't wear some form of Yankee apparel to work today. I would always be able to because we can pay to dress down every day (money goes to charity or company events). The new boss isn't a fan of our dess code so no more Yankee clothes. Sometimes I can get away with a t-shirt underneath my button down, but most of them you can read through the shirt.

Needless to say, I felt kind of lost and didn't quite feel like myself. It's been a rough couple of days at the old jobby-job and I was really looking forward to seeing the Yanks/O's game tonight as Yankee baseball is a great stress reliever. I just realized the game is on My9 so unless someone points me to a link to it online somewhere, it'll be another Yankee-free day in my life. I don't like those days. Somebody hook a brother up.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Javy Vazquez + Joe Girardi = Loss To Anaheim

Had another rough day at work today. Out the door at 7am and in the door at 6:45pm. Tomorrow I'm out at 5am and who knows when I'll get back home. Yay me. I don't have much time because the missus wants me to help her pack, so I'm going to try and make this quick. Here goes nothing.

Javy Vazquez needs to get better and fast. He can't keep going out there and pitching the way he is. He looks like he has no confidence. It's getting to the point where I get knots in my stomach whenever his turn in the rotation comes up. I'd be really irked if the Yankees had traded someone worth of value for him. Melky Cabrera isn't exactly a superstar. I'm especially curious to see what kind of reception he gets when he pitches during this homestand. Warm up the Bronx cheers.

I was eating dinner last night when Damaso Marte served up the longball to Kendy Morales. I was halfy paying attention. I saw the HR but not what led up to it. I had no idea that Girardi originally called for an intentional walk and then changed his mind. When I saw that in the postgame highlights I was a little irked by that. Not so much by him changing his mind, but because he didn't change it back after the count went to 3-0. Now I'm not a major league manager. Sure sometimes I pretend to be. Who doesn't? But even I know you call for ball four there. Or at least call for a pitch out of the zone that you hope he chases. It's on Marte too for throwing a meatball, but he never should have thrown a strike. Horrible call by the skip.

Gotta bolt. Wife is getting agitated that she's packing up the house and I'm blogging. We sold the house and closing is coming up. Busy times here. I really need it to cool down a little. My stress level is probably at an all-time high.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Who's The Man? Andy Pettitte's The Man. (And So Is Robinson Cano)

Didn't see any of the game today as it was my son's first birthday party. I got occasional score updates via my friend's Motorola Droid (gotta get me one of those) and I was very pleased when I heard it was 6-0 after 5. My immediate comment to him was that Andy Pettitte is awesome. I just got done looking at the box score and my conclusion is that Andy Pettitte is the man.

I don't think I needed to see the game to know that Pettitte dominated the Angels. Just look at his pitching line. 8 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 8 K and 65.8% of his pitches were strikes. It doesn't get much better than that. I haven't read any recaps of the game yet to know just how awesome he was. I'm not sure I'll get to tonight as the missus just realized she has to fill out report cards by Monday and she hasn't started yet. I'm sure I'll get to read something at some point but if anyone wants to share their thoughts on AP's outing, I'd appreciate that. I think it's fair to say that Andy Pettitte is the team's best pitcher right now, hands down. You can probably argue that he's one of the game's best right now too. I'll admit it. I didn't see that coming. You go Andy. Keep on rocking it.

Robinson Cano is also the man. He went 4-5 today and is 8 for his last 16. I'm definitely not backing down from my Cano = AL MVP prediction. He'd definitely get my vote for team MVP at this point. He's going to have a monster year. And to think, a lot of Yankee fans wanted him traded. For shame.

Brett Gardner had 3 hits and now he's sitting on a .340 average. He's put together a nice little run. Over his last 7 games, Brett is hitting 11 for 24. Wow. I didn't see this coming either but I'm loving it.

It's crazy that the Yankees are 12-5 and are on the verge of winning their 6th straight series tomorrow. It's a little hard to believe because they haven't received much production from Mark Teixeira or Nick Johnson. Teixeira's 1-5 performance today raised his average to .123. That's sad. You go 1-5 and your average goes up. Not good. Especially when it's from the reigning MVP. Nick Johnson isn't doing much better at .135. The Yankees need better production from those 2 and the sooner it comes the better.

The Yankees go for their 6th straight series win tomorrow. It's on Javy Vazquez to bring tomorrow's one home. Taking 2 of 3 from Anaheim in Anaheim would be mighty nice. I think it's pretty evident even if they lose that the Angels are no longer the Yankees' Achilles heel. Counting last year's ALCS, the Yankees have won 10 of their last 15 meetings (I think I did the math right). My how the tables have turned.

The team is definitely off to a great start. I don't think any Yankee fan could have asked for more. They're 12-5 and have gotten zero production from their 2-3 hitters and they've played the cream of the crop. The Red Sox are always among the best. The Rays are currently 12-5 and are widely regarded as one of the top 5 teams in baseball. The AL West is thought to be a toss up between the Rangers and Angels. Prior to running into the Yankees the A's were sitting on a 9-5 record. It's impressive that the team is 12-5 at this point. They're definitely the best team in the game right now. I don't think anybody out there can say they're not.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Nothing Is Worse Than Staying Up Until 1:30 Just To Watch The Yankees Lose

Today's the day first my son's 1st birthday party. The wife is out preparing and the little one is sleeping. I have about 10 minutes or so to crank out a blog entry before I have to move onto my next task. If I'm not getting it at work, I'm getting it at home. Anyway.....

The Yanks took it on the chin last night. It was one of those games that were both boring and exciting at the same time, if that makes sense. I couldn't wait for it to end but that had more to do with being exhausted and knowing I'd be lucky to get 5 hours of sleep (ended up with 4.5). A.J. Burnett wasn't exactly good last night. But he did what a SP is supposed to do and that's keep his team in the game and put them in a position to win. In my estimation he did that so I can't call it a bad outing. He definitely battled his was through 6-plus innings. I was surprised he lasted as long as he did. He threw want too may balls. About 57% of his pitches were strikes which isn't all that great. He got hit pretty hard too. But again, he had the team in a position to win so I don't view the outing as bad as it could have been. I think what drove me most nuts about his start was that as soon as he had the lead he gave it up. I hate seeing that.

Mark Teixeira's collision with the Angels' catcher was a nasty hit. I think it was a clean play but I think it shouldn't have happened. I'm sure a lot of it had to do with getting hit but again, clean play. Plays at the plate always run that risk and I don't think it was a blatant attempt to injure the catcher.

Joba Joba Joba. That was painful to watch. I can't decide if it would be more painful to watch as a SP or RP. I'm glad he's in the pen and I think he'll turn out to be an above-average RP, but last night I could do without. He got hammered and ended up taking the loss. I think it's safe to say that Kendry Morales owns JC. Morales is now 5-7 against him in his career. Put that in the the little playbook Joe. Remember that. I'm not saying to let the #s dictate the decision, but just remember it.

Nick Swisher hit his 2nd HR of he season. If you're new to the blog or just plum forgot, a few of us Yankee fans have gotten together to donate $$ to Nick Swisher's charity, Swish's Wishes. Basically, every HR Nick hits earns money for the charity. We're up to $37 per HR and also have a flat donation of $40 added to the mix, so the current amount that's going to the charity is $114. There's a "tracker" in the upper left sidebar that's updated with the total. Check if out if you feel inclined to look. Also, we'd love it if we could get more support. Drop me a line or leave a comment if you're interested and I'll add you to it. As you can see, no amount is too small. We've got as little as $2 per HR being donated. Anything and everything helps.

The game today is at 4:10pm on Fox. First pitch is about 30 minutes after the start of my son's party so I'll probably miss all of it. Andy Pettitte has been rock solid all season. I think he'll have a good start. Enjoy the game.

I went over my allotted time by about 15 minutes. Don't tell my wife.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

A-Rod Walked Across Your Mound? So What!

Since I missed yesterday's game because of my what is now my crappy job, I missed the episode between Alex Rodriguez and A's pitcher Dallas Braden. I still haven't seen the replay of it but it was definitely a hot topic on XM's MLB Network radio shows (at least I think it was, I only heard about 1.5 hours of it today because of my job). Anyway, here's my take:

A-Rod was just using his head. MLB's goal is to speed up games. Everybody knows that the quickest way to get from point A (3rd base) to point B (first base) is to go in a straight line. In this case the straight line happened to go right across the pitcher's mound. Alex was just using his melon and was trying to help speed the game along. Hopefully that makes Bumpkin' Joe West happy.

Seriously though, it sounded like a dick move on A-Rod's part, especially if it's some kind of unwritten rule or against the game's etiquette. Personally, I don't have an issue with it and I say that because A-Rod is one of my guys. I look at it as his attempt at getting inside Braden's head. But what do I know?

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

I Hate My Job & Miss My Yankees

Ugh. We have a new boss where I work and he's running us ragged. I don't know if any of you watch The Office but if you do, it's kind of like the St. Patrick's Day episode where everyone worked late because the boss worked late. My The worst part is my commute is already 35-45 minutes so I now have to get up at about 5:30 or so to get to work on time. Ugh.

I crashed last before 9pm so I didn't see any of Phil's masterpiece. I would have punched myself in the face 100 times if he threw a no-no. I haven't seen any highlights but it sounds like the hit was a bad beat. Wish I saw the game.

I was in a meeting so I missed the beginning of today's game. I turned on the radio after it was already 3-0.

I'm going to try and blog later tonight but am making no promises. I hope too, but for all I know I'll be getting home at 8pm.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Stay Hot With Victory Over A's

I stayed up for about half the game last night. I actually fell asleep right before the A's pulled Gonzalez and woke up when A-Rod went deep to make it a 6-0 game. Then I turned it off and went to bed. I woke up today and saw the team held on for a 7-3 win to push their record to 10-4. I didn't get a chance to do a deep dive on the game but here are some things I noticed and/or have questions on.

Robbie Cano walked 3 times??

What happend to Javy? I thought he was cruising (I was half-awake) and noticed that he only lasted 5.1 IPs and threw 107 or so pitches? He run out of gas or something? At least he one his first game?

Jeter's hit streak was snapped. Bummer.

7 runs on 5 hits and 10 walks. That's timely hitting. Big up to Nick Swisher for his 2-out bases loaded two-run single. He wasn't a rally killer.

That's it for now. Gotta date. Can't be late. Hey, the girl's..oops, forgot where I was. BBD forever!

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie