Git it in gear, fellas. That sombitch Bautista hit a game-winning dinger and spit in yer grill last night. You gunna just take that?

We’ll be root-root-rootin’ you on…

Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

[Picture by Bags]

Yanks Jays.

No frills, just banter.

Ivan Nova, the World is Yours.

[Picture by Bags]

It was raining at the Stadium this afternoon when Robinson Cano launched a gram slam into the bleachers. That gave the home team a 5-0 lead for CC Sabathia, more than enough even after a long rain delay. When it was all said and done, Cano had a career-high six RBI and the Score Truck put a ten spot on the board as the Bombers cruised to a 10-0 win. That’s win number 17 for CC.

Wet and damp in the Boogie Down today. Yanks look to win the series.

Go git ’em, boys!

[Picture by Bags]

It started ugly but ended, if not pretty, than well enough for the Yanks today in the Bronx as they beat the Mariners, 9-5. Ichiro! led off the game with a home run against Javier Vazquez and then Russell Branyon became the first man to hit a home run into the right field upper deck at the new Yankee Stadium (Branyon is also the only player to hit the Mohegan Sun bar in center). The Yanks scored four in the bottom of the first (two-run single by Robinson Cano and a two-run dinger by Jorge Posada) but Vazquez gave it back and didn’t last long–three innings. This after not making it into the fifth in his previous two starts.

Right now, it’s CC Sabathia and pray for the Score Truck…

Jason Vargas, meanwhile, retired fifteen straight Yankees after the tough first inning. The score remained tied at four until the bottom of the sixth when Eduardo Nunez got his first big league hit–punching a high change-up, well out of the strike zone, through the hole in the right side of the infield for an RBI single. The ball came back to the infield and was passed over to the Yankee dugout. On its way, Nunez, briefly held it. He was standing on first, smiling. He kissed the ball, smiled some more and tossed the ball to Gene Monahan, the Yankee trainer, for safe keeping.

The Yanks added a couple of more runs, then another one in the ninth on their way to the win. Mariano Rivera, that bum, that zero, that dog, allowed a run in the ninth raising his season ERA to 1.18 (bum!). Otherwise, the Yankee bullpen was terrific, especially Chad Gaudin, who pitched three scoreless innings.

A nice win for the Yanks, though another rotten outing for Vazquez does nothing to help the digestion. On top of that, Alex Rodriguez is headed to the DL. “We’re going to play it safe,” Joe Girardi said after the game. “We don’t think he’s any worse than the time before.”

Right-handed pitcher Ivan Nova will take his place on the active roster. Nova will make his first major league start on Monday.

* * * *

Elsewhere, around the majors, Cliff Lee got beaten about the face and neck again today, this time by the Orioles (eight runs in 5.2 innings). The Red Sox and Jays play at 7, the Rays are in Oakland again later tonight.

[Picture by Bags]

The summer is almost over. The city is relatively quiet. The farmer’s markets are bursting with corn and tomatoes and peaches and all that good stuff.

Javier Vazquez hasn’t impressed lately. Perhaps he turns it around today. We’ll be root, root, rootin’ him on.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees.

It was over before it started. Ichiro singled to begin the game last night and Chone Figgins followed with a walk before Russell Branyon hit a long three-run homer, putting the Yankees in a hole that they would not climb out of against the dominant Felix Hernandez who tossed another gem at ’em in the Bronx. Actually, dominant might be overstating things, the man only threw eight shut-out innings this time, and didn’t have the nerve or reserve to finish them out. By that time, the game was in hand, however, as the Mariners skipped to a 6-0 win.

The bad news is that Alex Rodriguez had to come out of the game after just one at-bat. He hasn’t been placed on the DL but is back to being day-to-day.

Good news from out-of-town helped ease any hard feelings Yankee fans might have. The Red Sox were pounded at Fenway to the tune of 16-2, and the A’s staged a late-inning comeback to beat the Rays, 5-4. Yanks are still in first, ahead of the Rays by a game and in front of the Sox by six. And although Jason Vargas, today’s pitcher for the Mariners, has been outstanding this year, the Yankees can at least take stock in the fact that he’s not a King.

The Mariners are in town for a three-game series this weekend. As usual, our man Cliff has the preview over at the Pinstriped Bible.

Felix Hernandez has pitched thrown two complete games against the Yanks this year, allowing just one run. 

Here’s hoping to woim toins tonight and the Yanks show the King who is:

Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

[Picture by Bags]

In the second inning yesterday afternoon, Mark Teixeira chased a pop fly hit by Johnny Damon. Teixeira was in foul territory when he put a glove on the ball and started to slide. What followed will be sure to make those How About That? highlight reels that are played on Stadium Jumbotrons between innings. The ball popped out of his glove twice but he held on and made the catch.

The very next pitch Phil Hughes threw was lined to deep left center field. Curtis Granderson and Brett Gardner raced for the ball, headed straight for each other, giving viewers that sickening feeling that you get right before you see an accident. They arrived at the ball at the same time, both tried to make the catch. Granderson came up with the ball as Gardner spun away. Fortunately, neither man was hurt.

The Score Truck showed up in the sixth inning as the Yanks rallied for nine runs, more than enough to dispose of the angry Tigers.

For more on the game, check out:

River Ave Blues

The Yankeeist

It’s About the Money, Stupid

and The New York Times.

Yanks 11, Tigers 5.

The score truck brings treats.

Right, Nigel?

Fresh direct from the Lo-Hud Yankee oven, today’s line-up:

Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Austin Kearns DH
Ramiro Pena 3B

Also, Lance Berkman has been placed on the DL. Drag. Eduardo Nunez was been called-up.

Meanwhile, tough day for Mr. Clemens.

[Picture by Bags]

From his first pitch, which nailed Brett Gardner on the right leg and prompted some pointing (and possibly a warning, more on that later) from the home plate umpire Eric Cooper, Jeremy Bonderman exhibited the disposition of a dull teenager enduring the facts-of-life lecture from prattling parents. His annoyed expression and frequent shoulder shrugging suggested he wanted to anywhere else but on the hill at Yankee Stadium. Despite his best efforts to the contrary, he managed to stick around for five innings, seven runs and three homers. In fact, after he drilled Brett the Jet and let up back-to-back jacks (courtesy Teixeira and Cano) in the first, it crossed my mind that Bonderman just might rear back and fire one at Swisher’s melon to earn the automatic heave-ho and the warmth of an early shower. With times being tough all over, I guess the probable suspension was too much of a financial risk, and luckily for the Yanks, he stayed in the game.

As soundly as the Yankee hitters pounded Bonderman’s weak offerings, Dustin Moseley prevented the game from becoming a laugher. For awhile, he was holding the non-Cabrera portion of the lineup at bay, surrendering “only” two solo homers to Miggy through the first four innings. But when Don Kelly brought his .279 career slugging percentage to the plate in the fifth and deposited a hanging breaking ball a few feet over Austin Kearn’s outstretched glove for a two-run home run, the game took on an ominous, too-close-for-comfort feeling that persisted (for me anyway) until it was over.

The battle of the bullpens got interesting in the seventh when Boone Logan and Kerry Wood loaded the bases on three singles. With one out, Wood dug deep and produced big-time strikeouts of Santiago and Raburn. (Other than a few too many walks, Wood has had a really fine first nine innings for the Yankees) Then the Tigers tried to walk the same tight rope, but Austin Kearns played the bully and sent them spilling to the earth with a booming ground rule double to plate two runs and increase the Yankee lead to five.

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Jeremy Bonderman vs Dustin Moseley and the ball should be flying around the big mallpark in the Bronx. Couple of days ago, my wife goes, “Who is that guy?” Doseley? Muttley?”

Here’s hoping the Yanks get the last laugh tonight.

Let’s go Yan-Kees.

When you have a few extra minutes, do yourself a favor and check out this excellent piece by Mike Ashmore, beat writer for the Trenton Thunder. It’s about the less-than-glamorous life of a minor league ball player:

The minimum annual salary in Major League Baseball currently sits at $400,000. Meanwhile, most players at the minor league level who haven’t reached minor league free agency are lucky to make $10,000 over the course of a season; a survey of players revealed that those in rookie ball make $1,250-1,300 a month while players in Triple-A, the highest level of the minors, can make roughly $1,000 more per month while under the contracted amount.

“I think the way things are today, most people look at professional athletes and assume they’re rolling in money,” said New York Yankees Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations, Mark Newman.

“And these guys are not.”

Most players in the minor leagues — some estimates have the number as high as 90 percent — will not play in the big leagues. For most, dreams of a career at the highest level are nothing more than that, just dreams.

[Drawing by Robert Weaver, 1962]

Open skies! Pour forth your cleansing draught. Purify this field, this team, this season. Wash away age and rust. Leave gleaming life where spread decay and rot. And quietly, gently carry away the dead in your bubbling floodwaters. Give us the promise of a new day, with blazing sun, clean slate and the hope of…

What’s that? It stopped raining? Oh crap, they kept playing.

Javy Vazquez discharged pus for 105 pitches through four innings and made Sergio Mitre’s appearance a welcome sight. Until the ninth, the Yanks best offense was either a dropped pop-up or Francisco Cervelli’s feeble attempt to drive in the tying runs in the seventh (Granderson did have three hits, but batting in front Cervelli nullifies anything but a home run)

Just as Cervelli was failing in the seventh, Tampa was mounting a gutsy, late-inning comeback against Cliff Lee, the blazing sun, to settle the Rays into a first place tie in the AL East. They needn’t feel claustrophobic sharing the penthouse, the Yanks won’t be staying there long playing like this.

The ninth inning deserves its own paragraph. After Miguel Cabrera padded the lead to a really daunting 3-0, Valverde completely lost the strike zone and walked Cano, Cervelli and Gardner (none of them even took the bat off their shoulders) around one of Granderson’s singles. Derek Jeter’s season-long battle with his strike-zone judgment and weak ground balls reared its ugly head at the worst possible time. Instead of simply not swinging, he flailed at a 2-1 pitch out of the zone that would have made the count 3-1, and then tapped weakly into a game ending double play (amazing turn by Carlos Guillen) after the count ran full. By simply not swinging, I bet he would have walked and given the Yanks a real shot an undeserved victory.

Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher left the game with injuries. It seems the Yankees are really going to attempt to win the World Series with only a couple of guys having decent seasons. Color me skeptical. In losing to the reeling Tigers 3-1, they looked like a tired, broken-down mess.

After a herky-jerky motion Max Scherzer issues sick stuff from odd angles, so given the current state of the Yankee offense, he presented an insurmountable challenge. So much so that I was happy to see Curtis Granderson get a hit early, dispelling the very real chance of being no-hit. They looked slightly more comfortable against the bullpen, though they couldn’t break through until Valverde walked the park. As it was, that’s back-to-back games with eight total hits and one run. I ask that I be relieved of recapping duties until the Yankees produce a double-digit victory.

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Four game series against the Tigers starts tonight. Over at PB, our man Cliff breaks it down like only he can do. In the same space, Jay Jaffe takes a look at the Yankees’ catching situation. Not to be left-out, dig Steve Goldman’s post on Alex Rodriguez’s blustery RBI total.

Over at the Times, Ben Shpigel writes about Rodriguez’s season as well.

Yanks look to win the series today. AJ Delight is on the hill.

C’mon Score Truck, bring ’em home.

[Picture by Bags]

Lean Back…

For the first part of the game tonight, the Yankees hit one fly ball after another deep into the outfield at Kaufman Stadium. They just didn’t hit anything hard enough or far enough to carry over the fence. Whole lot of warning track outs. Mark Teixeira kept the Yankees in the game with a series of brilliant fielding plays–leaping, diving, picking–and eventually the fly balls started to carry. Alex Rodriguez broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the sixth with a solo home run to dead center. Jorge Posada and Curtis Granderson added solo shots of their own and the Yanks were up by three.

The Royals scored a couple to make it a game but then Rodriguez hit a pair of two-run homers (another one to center—the “lean back” shot pictured above,  and finally one up in the water fountain in left field). That was more than enough to finish the Royals. All three of Rodriguez’s homers came off fastballs, low and over the plate.  And that’s the fourth three-dinger game of Rodriguez’s career. He DH’d tonight and now has 21 homers on the season, to go 97 RBI.

Final Score: Yanks 8, Royals 3.

[Photo Credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images]

After last night, let’s hope the Yanks have a big, ol’ feast tonight.

Pile it deep and high.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

And here, dig this barbeque tour from Anthony Bourdain:

Part Two:

We want Jesus Montero. We want Eduardo Nunez. Well, maybe not we. At the very least, I want Montero and Nunez on the big league roster–and the sooner the better. As much as I think the trade deadline additions of Lance “Big Puma” Berkman and Austin “Big Ears” Kearns will help the offense and the outfield defense, respectively, more needs to be done to strengthen the bench.

After a dreadful start to his inaugural Triple-A season, Montero has been hitting torridly for Scranton/Wilkes Barre. He has lifted his season slugging to .495 and his OPS to .855, both impressive numbers for a 20-year-old catcher, even one who is defensively limited. I’m a firm believer in the Bill James philosophy of advancing players who have shown the ability to master a level of minor league play. And right now Montero is mastering pitchers in the International League. With the Yankees in the midst of a heated three-team pennant race, they need every roster advantage they can muster.

Let’s face it, Francisco Cervelli has been living off a hot April and May for the entire summer. He has been an offensive nonentity for months, and his defensive play has been far worse than his gilded reputation. The Yankees need more offense from the catching position; Montero can provide that, while also giving the Yankees a needed third catcher for those days when the frequently injured Jorge Posada needs to DH. So how do the Yankees make room for Montero, who could also provide another DH and pinch-hitting option? I would suggest cutting back to 11 pitchers–the horrors!–by releasing Chad Gaudin, who has become window dressing at the end of the bullpen. In two weeks, the Yankees will be able to add to their pitching staff anyway, as one of the benefits of the expanded September rosters.

While Cervelli can at least rest on his early season laurels, Ramiro Pena has no such fallback. He has been an offensive donut in every way: no batting average, no walks, and no power. At a different time, the Yankees could have afforded a no-hit, good-field utility infielder like Pena (does Chicken Stanley come to mind?). But not now, not with Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter needing more days off than ever. There is simply too drastic a drop-off from Rodriguez/Jeter to Pena, especially if the Yankees happen to be facing a top-tier pitcher that night.

With a player like Nunez, the Yankees would reduce the falloff. Nunez has extra-base power, can steal bases (21 in 26 attempts), and offers enough versatility to back up three infield positions, in addition to the outfield. Nunez is not the defensive shortstop that Pena is, but he is so much better offensively that he is worth the tradeoff.

So let’s get Nunez and Montero up here pronto. Traditionally a conservative organization when it comes to promoting their young players, the Yankees will likely wait to bring the pair up in September, once Scranton’s season has ended. I just hope such conservatism doesn’t cost the Yankees a game or two in the standings between now and then…

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