The Wife and I ran errands yesterday afternoon and so we followed the game in fits and spurts with John and Suzyn. Wouldn’t you know it but the Yanks won, 7-1.
Today gives a stiffer challenge with the Reds throwing Johnny Cueto.
Bombers counter with our man Hiroki.
Never mind this dreamy cool weather:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Picture by Bags]
Overcast but pleasant July Saturday. Yanks and Reds again this afternoon at the Stadium.
Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Brian McCann C
Carlos Beltran DH
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Brian Roberts 2B
Kelly Johnson 3B
F what you heard:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Ann Street Studio]
Dag, I missed it. But when I checked the score–Yanks 4, Reds 3–I was happy. Especially with the Reds’ good starting pitching the rest of the weekend.
Chad Jennings has the particulars.
[Picture by Bags]
Yanks host the Reds. Phelps on the hill.
Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Brian McCann C
Carlos Beltran DH
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Brian Roberts 2B
Kelly Johnson 3B
Never mind the cobwebs:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Marvin E. Newman]
It was the second time around against the meat of the order that Chase Whitley got tagged. Not destroyed, but had for 3 runs.
David Huff relieved him and then Mother Nature relieved herself. The rain came and didn’t leave and in the end, the Yanks lost 3-1 in 5 innings.
Somehow, it was a fitting way to go into the All Star Break. They are 47-47.
[Photo Credit: Tara on the wander]
Man, the kid was good. Stands up tall on the mound, works quickly, has poise. Even when he got into trouble, he didn’t rattle. Shane Greene gave the Yanks exactly what they needed on Saturday afternoon as they beat the Orioles, 3-0.
Now, if only Chase Whitley can do likewise today.
Never mind the break:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Picture by Bags]
It’s Shane Greene again and all I can think of is Aaron Small. Please, let this guy be another Aaron Small.
Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Brian McCann DH
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Brian Roberts 2B
Kelly Johnson 3B
Francisco Cervelli C
Never mind the gap:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Drawing of Gaston LaGaffe by Andre Franquin]
Nice to see that the Banter faithful were out enjoying their Friday night instead of suffering through another characteristic 2014 Yankee loss.
Good starting pitching, good relieving, no hitting.
It all amounted to a 3-2 loss as the Yanks sink 5 games back of the AL East-leading Orioles.
Our man Hiroki–the last man standing–pitched well so it was dispiriting that he didn’t get more run support. But this is the way things go for a .500 ball club.
[Photo Credit: Bill Peppas]
The Yanks traded for Jeff Francis today.
They are in Baltimore this weekend to wrap up the first half of the season before the All Star Break.
Well, Hell. Eerything was going so well. David Phelps held the Indians scoreless through the first 6 innings and had a modest 3-0 lead. But he was relieved of his duties after giving up a couple of hits to start the 7th and by the time the inning was over, the Indians led, 4-3.
Biggest play of the game might have been the single that came immediately after Phelps left the game. Ground ball up the middle might have been a double play, but Matt Thornton reacted and knocked the ball down. Instead of getting through to Jeter, it was an infield single to load the bases. The triple that followed tied the game. “It’s reaction,” Girardi said. “But if you could think real quick, you’d say, ‘Matt Thornton, get out of the way.’ Then you’ve got a double play ball. It changes the complexion of the game. It changes who we use. It just changes everything. But it happens. It’s a reaction, it happens, and you want your pitchers to try to field balls, but that happened to be one that is the double play ball we’re looking for.”
Thornton on that play: “I know where Derek’s at in that situation. I know that we’re pinching up the middle there, but the ball gets hit hard back at you, that’s instinct. Love to look back and be able to jump out of the way of it, but that’s not how it works. … Anyone who’s been on the mound and had the ball hit back to them, you’re going to react to it. I reacted just slow enough to slap it, and not quick enough to get it. It changes the momentum of the game there big time.”
The Indians scored 5 more times in the 8th just to rub it in and what appeared to be a series win was lost.
Just like the Yanks lost their ace, and more than likely, the 2014 season.
We’ll keep watching, of course. There’s entertainment to be had, and this is our team, and we love baseball, so we ain’t going anywhere. Still, the Tanaka news was a Holly Hunter punch right between the eyes, wasn’t it?
Final Score: Indians 9, Yanks 3.
Specializing in injury law.
Looks as if poor Carlito Beltran will be placed on the 7-day concussive list.
Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Brian McCann DH
Francisco Cervelli C
Zelous Wheeler RF
Yangervis Solarte 3B
Brendan Ryan 2B
Phelps is on the mound as the Yanks try to win the series against the Indians tonight in Cleveland.
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Did ya think the Yanks were going to lose last night? I did. But then, I’m not an Indians fan and I’m sure they felt like they were going to lose, too. But after yesterday’s injury news–some dire (Tanaka), some minor (Gardner), some freakish (Beltran)–my Yankee spirits were dampened.
The Yankee bullpen was terrific after Brandon McCarthy gave them a good start. Brendan Ryan turned in some beautiful plays at short. A pair of homers by Mark Teixeira kept them afloat and in the 14th inning Jacoby Ellsbury hit a solo home run that proved to be the game-winner. Ellsbury’s shot came on an 0-2 curve ball with 2 out.
Final Score: Yanks 5, Indians 4.
[Photo Credit: Stephanie Klavens]
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Brian Roberts 2B
Brian McCann C
Mark Teixeira 1B
Carlos Beltran DH
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Zoilo Almonte LF
Zelous Wheeler 3B
Brendan Ryan SS
No Gardy. And Brandon McCarthy makes his Yankee debut tonight as we anxiously await from a medical update for Tanaka.
Never mind the weight:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Picture by Bags]
So, Tanaka might be in a slump but hell, he’s still damn fun to watch. Even after he gave up the second home run. I think watching him struggle some makes me like him even more. As well as he pitched early on he’s never felt dominant, not giving up so many dingers. Last night, Swisher’s homer wasn’t a solo shot and it cost Tanaka. Didn’t help that after scoring 3 early runs the Yankee hitters went sueno.
Final Score: Indians 5, Yanks 3.
[Photo Credit: Jurgen Heckel]
Tanaka time, the best part about the 2014 Yankees.
Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Mark Teixeira DH
Brian McCann C
Brian Roberts 2B
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Kelly Johnson 1B
Zelous Wheeler 3B
Never mind the World:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Picture by Bags]
The Yanks scored 5 runs off Justin Masterson in the first couple of innings last night then held things together for a 5-3 win. Dellin Betances pitched the final 2 innings in a steady rain to get the save but the story of the night was the nice start by Shane Greene. Making his big league debut, Greene featured a 95-mph fastball, sharp slider, as well as a change-up. He handled the Indians for the first few innings and worked out of a jam in the 6th. David Huff was pressed into duty to pitch the 7th as manager Joe Girardi wanted to rest the likes of Adam Warren, Shawn Kelley, and Matt Thornton.
Brett Gardner, Brian McCann and Ichiro! each had 3 hits. And Derek Jeter’s bit of misdirection helped turn a double play.
[Photo Credit: Nate Bittinger]
Shane Greene is tonight’s starter for the Yanks as they play the first of 4 games against the Indians in Cleveland.
Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Brian McCann DH
Brian Roberts 2B
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Kelly Johnson 3B
Francisco Cervelli C
Never mind nuthin’:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Patrick Joust]
Apparently there was an early Score Truck sighting (a rare breed this season) as the team decided to do a few things done early today; of import to the game was scoring nine runs off of surprisingly happless starter Ricky Nolasco and his understudy in the first four innings with contributions from just about everyone in the lineup (except Beltran, who might want to reconsider surgery to remove those bone chips in his elbow at this point). Of note, the Captain got hit number 3,400 for his career with a single in the ninth; the eighth player in baseball history to do so. That’s rather significant when you stop to take that in. Hiroki Kuroda pitched into the sixth and gave up four runs; he was fairly cruising in the early innings when the Yanks were scoring, but he started getting pretty iffy near the end. The tired bullpen (which has been a source of mostly inspiration for the Yanks this season) gave up a few more runs to turn a laugher into a near picklement, but managed to hold off a disastrous wave of bad karma (that seems to be the notion of the weekend), with Tha Hamma saving it once again for a 9-7 win. If this continues, the Yanks might convince themselves they can make a run at the playoffs (uh-oh…) and make some moves to help them in their endeavor. Let’s not hold our breaths on that just yet, though clearing some current roster flotsam might be in order.
Among the other things the Yanks did early was trading a sort-of young lefty starter in Vidal Nuño (who’s pitching had grown old a whole lot quicker) for righthander Brandon McCarthy from the Arizona Diamondbacks. If the name strikes a bell, he’s the same pitcher who was on the almost tragic end of a line drive through the mound a few years ago with the Oakland A’s and has since bounced around a couple of places and was having as much luck with the Diamondbacks as Nuño was with the Yanks. What the Yanks hope McCarthy brings, besides a veteran presence (he’ll be 31 on Monday, helluva birthday present) is a consistent ability to miss bats, a low walk ratio and a high propensity for ground balls; something the 26-year old Nuño was sorely lacking in a hitter-friendly park (and will likely continue to haunt him in a new hitter-friendly park). Both pitchers were having a rough time to the tune of plus-5 ERAs, though with McCarthy it seemed more a product of a porous defense. He still has to deal with the same issue of pitching in a hitters park, but the defense will be somewhat more of a help (more often than not, you hope). McCarthy will take Chase Whitley’s spot in the rotation, with Whitley moving to the bullpen and Shane Greene for now taking Nuño’s spot.
The other early move, which had become as much of an unfortunate necessity as sending down Port Jervis a few days ago was, was to DFA Alphonso Soriano. Sori had become a virtual black hole in the lineup, and this was coming like a Pinto stuck on a train track with a diesel engine bearing down on it, but it’s sad considering the trade for him brought about some positivity in a frustrating season last year when he made an immediate impact with several key homers and extra base hits (he finished with 17 HR for the Yanks, 34 for the season with 101 RBI in total with nearly identical numbers in each league) and nearly helped push the team over the hump and into the playoffs. Also, as thelarmis noted, Sori needed 11 stolen bases in order to join the exclusive 300-300 club (300 HR/300 SB). Sori is said to be considering retirement at this point, so it’s likely he’ll never reach the door for that club. And all nostalgia aside, it was the right thing for the Yanks to do as they were getting practically nothing from him in any part of the lineup and looking very bad in the process. For all the complaining and such we’ve done about Jeter’s visible decline this season, the decline and fall of Soriano, who was also a perennial All-Star at one point in his career, has been far more pronounced from last season to this.
I think in the balance he will be fondly remembered mainly for his early career when he was a young phenom international free agent signing who played in Japan and spoke Japanese as fluently as he spoke his native Spanish, wore his socks up to his knees and swung the bat like he was trying to smack the opposing team clear out of the old Yankee Stadium in one fell swoop. One can only think of what may have happened if Cashman had not answered the phone that February ten years ago…
Boy you said a mouthful, RI.
I’ll skip all the gory details and just note that when Francisco Cervelli, filling in for Brian McCann who had a sore foot before the game, tossed the salad in the bottom of the eleventh with the bases loaded and the score tied at one, soccer suddenly became a really interesting sport. All things considered, the Yanks would probably do well to switch to MLS at this point, wouldn’t you agree?
If you still care to know (and I can’t possibly imagine why you wouldn’t), Yanks lost 2-1.
[photo credit: AP/Peter Dejong]
