At the beginning of the season, a lot of people sounded off and criticized the Yankees about committing $400 million + C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Mark Teixeira. All three may have had shaky Aprils, but May was a complete turnaround for them. Sabathia has been pitching real good his past couple of starts. He was pretty much lights out against the Indians the other day. Pitching into trouble, getting out of it, and getting the win. Teixeira has been torrid every since Alex Rodriguez was put back in the line up. He's been getting his pitches and been hitting them out of the park. Yesterday was no different in the Yankee's loss to the Indians. A.J. Burnett has been pitching well. This past week he got his first win since mid-April. All along, it wasn't that he was pitching poorly. It was just that the bullpen wasn't holding leads for him and he would end up with no-decisions. All is well in Yankeeland. We are a 1/2 game into first place.

Continue reading "Offseason expenditures paying off for the Yankees. Joba pitching tonight"

There's a lot of media out there stressing how the balls are flying out of Yankee stadium. Good! As long as the majority of the homers are off Yankee bats, I'm not worried. Our pitchers can handle it as long as the offense gives them plenty of run support and the relievers don't mess up. Granted, there have been more home runs at the new stadium than in any other ball park, but that's also been the case at Citizen's Bank Ballpark in Philadelphia, the home of the Phillies. They've made adjustments: removed a few seats here and pushed the wall back there. Balls are still flying out and who are the defending World Champions? The Philadelphia Phillies. Why? Because their many of their sluggers like Matt Stairs and Ryan Howard took advantage of it. I believe the Yankees can follow suit and do the same this year. Already their home run total is among tops in the American League. They've been swapping the team home run lead with the Texas Rangers the past week and a half now. Are you ready for a homerun derby between the Yankees and the Rangers the next 3 days? I sure am. I love home runs. The longer the homers, the better. Keep them coming A-Rod. Keep them coming Tex (Mark Teixiera). Oh what the heck! Keep them coming Josh Hamilton. We love 'em!

Continue reading "Balls flying out of Yankee Stadium. Should we worry?"

Every pitcher has that one team that bangs him around, hit after hit, homer after homer. He wants respect so what does he do? He decides to plunk an opposing batter. This is what Texas Rangers pitcher Vicente Padilla tried to do against the Yankees last night: try to get respect by plunking Mark Teixiera, not once, but twice. It backfired on him. All this did was spark a 7-run rally in the 4th inning for the Yankees. That home run by Hideki Matsui put the nail in the coffin on another Yankee win to keep them 1 game up on the Red Sox in the American League East. It prompted Mark Teixiera to shout, "That's what I'm talking about!" while congratulating Matsui after running the bases. A word to the wise to any pitcher thinking of plunking a player on the Yankees: they are a close kni

Continue reading "Vicente Padilla beat the Rangers last night, not the Yankees"

He's won close to 20 games in each of his first three seasons. No pitcher in baseball history has gotten to 40 wins as fast as him. He's Chien-Ming Wang. This Taiwanese titan on the mound had a minor setback coming back from a foot injury this year. He didn't start too good this year posting an ERA of about 30.00. The average league ERA is about 5.00. It was determined that he had weakness in his hips. So Yankees management designated him to a rehab assignment down in Tampa. He came back last week out of the bullpen. After a few innings here and there to stretch him out much like Joe Girardi did with Joba Chamberlain last year after moving him from the bullpen. Now Wang is back in the rotation. Everybody is concerned. "Why is he back in the rotation?" they say. &qu

Continue reading "Wang is back in the rotation and Hughes goes to the bullpen"

He's been a Yankee killer for the past few years. He is a big hero up in Boston. Big Papi, yeah! What's been going on with David Ortiz? Bill Simmons wrote an article in the June 15 issue of ESPN the Magazine that will please Yankee fans everywhere. He's been slumping big time. Mr. Simmons compared him to Clark Kent in Superman II when he lost his powers and ended up getting beat down by a bully. He also said that in a game against the Twins that Big Sloppy couldn't even keep up with a 89 mph fast ball. Red Sox fans are even jokingly saying that they need to mail him some HGH. Well, they can do that all they want because it looks like Big Papi has become Big Sloppy.

I first heard of David Ortiz back when he was with the Minnesota Twins. He totally stunk back then. It just seemed to me that every time he went against Yankee pitching he was an easy out. He was flat. 2004 came around and he just kept getting clutch hit after clutch hit for the Red Sox against the Yankees. I was like, "What's going on here? He totally sucked back in Minnesota. Come on! Get him!" I tell you the last few years, no one has caused me to shut off the TV in the middle of a Yankee game more than this guy. Now Yankee fans don't have anything to worry about. The Red Sox still have a tremendous amount of faith in this guy. They are diluted enough to think that he's going to come out of it. If all goes well tomorrow against the Red Sox with A.J. Burnett on the mound, expect to see David Ortiz somewhere towards the bottom of the batting order and him not able to keep up with any pitches. I mean c'mon, not being able to hit an 89 mph fast ball? My 5 year old son can hit an 89 mph fastball and he plays t-ball. Mr. Ortiz is going to be in trouble. Joba's going to be blowing it by him. Hughes is going to be blowing it by him. Even a slower Mariano Rivera is going to be blowing it by him. So Yankee fans rejoice! Big Sloppy is on his way out.

Continue reading "Scouting the opposition: "Big Sloppy" David Ortiz - 1B: Boston Red Sox"

The losing streak against the Red Sox continues. Yankee management needs to set up their rotation so that they have their best against against Boston. They need to come up with some kind of plan to keep the Boston offense in check every game. This losing is PATHETIC! Are the Yankees going to bow down to Boston all season, slide into the playoff picture via the Wild Card without beating them and spanking the other teams? It's been done before. During their World Series years (96, 98-2000), they were getting spanked by the Angels and they still won the World Series those years. Back to pitching, how can you set up a rotation where 2 opposing pitchers face off against each other back to back?  Every time A.J. Burnett takes on Boston this year so far, it's been against Josh Beckett. Are they going to do this again in their series against Boston in August and September? I hope not, Beckett seems to have A.J.'s number this year. How about putting in C.C. Sabathia against him? The Milwaukee Brewers worked him like a Hebrew slave in the time of Moses last year, pitching him on 3 days rest to win key games during the season. How come the Yankees can't do that? Unfortunately, Girardi's strategy is to keep the pitch count down on the rotation because he doesn't want to tire them out. Starting pitching needs to improve against the Red Sox. Mark Teixiera tried to get something going last night going 3 for 4, but the offense as usual fizzled out leading to a 5-4 Yankee lost. Oh well! Tonight, it's C.C. Sabathia against Brad Penny. Can even C.C. hold the Red Sox down in the early innings? Can Texieira, A-Rod, and the boys jump on Brad Penny's flamethrowing fastball? We'll find out tonight.

Continue reading "The Yankees need to get it together against the Bosox"

Ball players and their fans are very superstitious creatures. Ballplayers will do anything to get a hitting streak going. Pitchers will do anything to get a winning streak going. The fans will go anything to get a rally going if their team is behind during a game. They'll do everything from not washing their socks, to putting tar on their helmets. When a pitcher is throwing a perfect game, the rest of the players stay away from him, thinking that their mere presence is going to mess up his chances to make that milestone. New York Yankees SS Derek Jeter, our beloved captain is very superstitious. If he or his team is approaching some kind of milestone that he is not aware of, he will dog the media and say that they jinxed the team by bringing it to his attention. Case in point: during a post-game interview a couple of days before the Yankees beat the 2006 Boston Red Sox team record for most consecutive games played without committing an error, Kimberly Jones brought it his attention. The first thing that he tells her is, "Why did you tell me that, it's bad karma, " then he answers the questions. In a commercial on the MLB Network, they show fans showing up at the gate to their favorite teams ballparks some of them have face-paint on. Others are dressed like Shamans carrying Voodoo beads. Come on, people. Enough with the superstitions all ready! How about praying for your team? I do it! Whenever the Yankees are behind in a game and they're rallying, I lean forward in my chair and put in my hands together and bring them to my face in a praying position thinking, sometimes saying, "Come on!" I do this because I believe it will bring God into the situation and the Yankees will bring home runs. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Either way, I praise the Lord because ultimately the game is in His hands. Only He knows the outcome, but I believe prayer does more than just spark up a rally a bring in runs.

Continue reading "Yankee fans for Jesus, arise! Pray for your team!"

The New York Yankees have a 3-game series this weekend against the Florida Marlins. One of the pitchers they could be facing is Chris Volstadt. An interesting little article in the MLB Insider section of the May 18 issue of ESPN the Magazine shed a little light on his background. His dad was a golf tutor to Hall of Famer Jim Palmer. This was a great help to Chris when he was in little league growing up in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. He had a very awkward delivery. As a favor to his dad, Jim Palmer gave him some tips. The result: Chris Volstadt grew up to be 6'8". He's got a killer sinking fastball that causes opposing batters to hit a lot of ground balls. Through the month of April, he had an ERA of 2.67. How's will he fare against the Yankees? Well, since April his ERA ballooned to 3.46. His last start was against the Cardinals. He gave up a career high 6 runs in 5 2/3 innings in the Florida Marlins loss to them. I believe if the Yankees end up facing him at some point this weekend, it's going to be straight up domination. If the Cards can jump on Volstadt like that, so can the Yankees. Don't miss out on this upcoming series this weekend.

Continue reading "Scouting the Opposition: Florida Marlins P Chris Volstad"

Hazel Mae interviewed Ken Rosenthal from Fox Sports the other night on MLB Network’s show Quick Pitch. Mae brought out the point that the Yankees needed to improve their bullpen. Ken mentioned that the Yankees are all set with Brian Bruney and that they expect improvement in their bullpen upon his return. He also brought out some possibilities considering that Brian has been on the DL twice this season. Here are his picks along with my personal reaction to each pick:

 

Jose Valverde (Houston Astros) – Valverde is the closer for the ‘Stros. Last year he had over 40 saves for them for the 2nd year in a row. Last I read, he’s only got 3 saves this year so far. He’s been hampered by an injured calf and an injured foot from a comebacker hitting off his leg against the Dodgers earlier this year. He tried his best to work through it but ended up on the disabled list and ex-Yankee LaTroy Hawkins filled in for him. Do you think Houston will give him up if they fall out of contention? At first I thought, “He is their man. He is their closer. He’s their version of Mariano Rivera. He’s had 40+ saves the previous 2 seasons. They’re keeping him.” Then I looked at their place in the standings and found that they were in the cellar 6 games behind the 1st place Cardinals in the NL Central. If they fall out of contention by the trade deadline, I believe they might trade him to a team looking for a reliever.

Continue reading "Rosenthal’s Picks to Improve Yankees Bullpen before the trade deadline"

Dateline: last season. New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada injures his shoulder. He ends up needing season-ending surgery leading to a Pudge Rodriguez summer rental. Fast forward to this season. There is no doubt his shoulder's gotten better. It just seems like every time I turn on the Yankee game on TV, some baserunner is trying to steal 2nd and the throw from Jorge is...........IN TIME! He's caught a couple stealing in last week's series against the Washington Nationals. I remember him catching somebody stealing against the Marlins. I believe it was Hanley Ramirez and if I remember correctly Ramirez was perfect so far this season until he got caught by Posada. Cool, huh? There is no doubt that Jorgie is back to form before the injury. Throw in a couple of home runs here and there and you've got yourself one of the most exciting Yankee players to watch. I love it! Every time he throws the ball to second and catches a baserunner stealing, it shuts the mouths of all those skeptics out there who think he's coming off shoulder surgery and he's an easy stolen base. It shuts the mouths of all those skeptics out there that think he's done. It shuts the mouths of all those skeptics out there that think the Yanks should have kept Pudge. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against Ivan Rodriguez. Congrats Pudge on beating Carlton Fisk for most appearances as a catcher. I have a lot of respect for him. He's just too clutch against the teams I root for and a straight-up dud when he plays on teams I root for. This frustrates me just a little bit. Let Pudge be a journeyman going from team to team making history. I'll just stick with Jorgie, the best catcher in baseball as a staple on the New York Yankees.

Continue reading "Posada's shoulder holding up nicely for the Yankees"

There's a new face on the New York pro baseball scene. His name is Francisco. Sorry Mets fans, I'm not talking about K-Rod, who granted has been perfect this year in saves opportunities except for that 1 save opportunity that slipped away when a route pop fly by second baseman Luis Castillo was dropped. A.J. Burnett might as well have snuck behind him during his interview on SNY and stuffed a whipped cream pie in his face.

Anyway, I'm talking about Yankees rookie catcher Francisco Cervelli. In Wednesday night's victory against the Atlanta Braves, his home run brought revival to the Yankees offense. Check out the drama here: Joe Girardi gets kicked out of the game for arguing that call on a play at first base. (Replays show that Brett Gardner was safe) Next up is Frankie Cervelli.

Continue reading "Frankie serves up some spark for New York...(no, not K-Rod)"