This post is part of the MLB Draft 2008 get-to-know the draftees series.

Addison Maruszak, a 22-year-old shortstop out of the University of South Florida, was selected in the 2008 MLB draft by the New York Yankees. Maruszak, taken in the 17th round, was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida. He is 6-2, weighs 190lbs, bats right and throws right.

During his junior season Maruszak hit .362, compiling 72 hits, 52 runs, and 6 homeruns for the Bulls. He was named to the All Big East Team. He was also a candidate for the Brooks Wallace Award. In 2008 Maruszak came in second in the Big East in batting average, hitting .416 and compiling a .496 on base percentage. On April 26, 2008, Addison hit two home runs in the same game (against Villanova) to become the first Bull to ever achieve that feat.

During Spring Training, Addison was able to play with his USF team against the Yankees, in what he claims was his greatest moment in baseball to this date. With his solid bat, along with good defensive abilities as a middle infielder, look for Addison to become a special player in the major leagues someday!

This post is part of the MLB Draft 2008 get-to-know the draftees series.

Bobby MurcerA sad day it is in the Yankee universe as one of the most memorable figures passed away today. Bobby Murcer, Yankees player and broadcaster passed away today at the age of 62. Our condolences to his family. This is a terrible lose for baseball in general. More on Murcer and his life coming soon…

Update: Here is the official statement by the Yankees, which includes more about the great personality and his life.

After getting shut out by Roy Halladay on Friday, the Yankees look to get back on track today against the Blue Jays. The 12:07 start will feature Darrell Rasner for the Yankees, and Jesse Litsch for Toronto.

Rasner, 27, from Carson City Nevada is 4-7 on the season with a 4.94 era. He has lost his last three starts and 7 of his last 10. In his last four outings, he has only lasted five innings. Rasner is 1-0 on the season against Toronto, pitching 6 strong innings against them earlier in the season.

Litsch, the Pinellas Park Florida native is 8-5 on the season, with a 4.01 era. He is 0-1 on the season against the Yankees, after getting beaten earlier in the year (he lasted 5.1 innings in that game.) Litsch is 3-4 in his last 7 decisions and went 5.1 innings in his last start, in which he allowed 8 hits, and 6 runs in a 7-1 loss to the Angels. Yankee hitters have very limited experience against Litsch, but Damon, Cabrera, Rodriguez, and Matsui all are hitting over .300 on the year so hopefully they will be able to continue hitting. As for the rest of the lineup, much can’t be said.

Toronto comes into the game in fourth place in the AL East, barely ahead of Baltimore. The Blue Jays are 46-47 on the season, while the Yankees, sitting in third place are 6.5 games back with a 49-44 record.

Here is the lineup for tonight:
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi 1B
Posada DH
Cano 2B
Cabrera CF
Moeller C
Gardner LF
Rasner RHP

Go Yankees!

Tonight’s Yankees/Blue Jays game will feature two tough right handers squaring off in the first of a three game set leading into the All Star Break. For the Yankees, Joba Chamberlain will throw, while the Blue Jays will use former All-Star Roy Halladay.

Chamberlain comes into tonight’s action with a 2-2 record and a 2.45 ERA. In his last ten games, he only has one decision, that being a win on June 25 at Pittsburgh. In his last outing, Joba went 6 innings, allowing 4 hits, and 3 runs in a no decision against the Red Sox. The Yankees eventually won 5-4.

Halladay is 10-6 overall, and sits with a stellar 2.88 ERA. Roy is 11-5 in his career against the Yankees and won his last start against New York, going six strong innings. Roy has won his last two starts and is 6-1 in his last 7 decisions.

The Yankees are 49-43 overall, and 22-21 on the road. The Blue Jays are 45-47 overall, and 25-19 at home. The game is set for a 7:07EST start time.

Here is the Yankees lineup for tonight:
Gardner LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Betemit 1B
Cabrera CF
Chamberlain RHP

Time for the Yankees to gain some more momentum before the All Star Break! Go Joba!

The Yankees will take on the Pirates today to make up for the rain out on June 26th. It will be the last interleague game for the Yanks and will serve as a break against division rivals before we start a series with Toronto tomorrow. Momentum is fairly high after sweeping the Rays and splitting the series with the Red Sox, as we now sit only 6.5gb. Let’s see if we can push around the Bucs a bit to extend our winning streak tonight.

Moose will take the mound for the Yankees where he looks to continue his excellent season. Pittsburgh will counter with Paul Maholm, who is on a bit of a hot-streak himself. Maholm is 3-0 with an ERA of 2.74 in his last seven starts. On the season he is 5-5, with an ERA over four. One of those losses was actually against the Yankees, earlier this year. Let’s make it two tonight!

Here is the lineup for the Yankees, we really need some of these guys to pick it up soon (cough Melky, Cano, and Molina):

Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Posada 1B
Cano 2B
Cabrera CF
Molina C
Christian LF
Mussina RHP

Today is the second of the two-game series against the Rays. A win for the Yanks would be great because it would move us to 6.5 back and perhaps put a bit of a dent in Tampa’s high hopes. After last night’s wonderful 5-0 shutout, I think it is certainly plausible to predict another Yankee win.

The game is at 1:05EST and Sidney Ponson will make the start for the Bombers. I know it is always a nail-bitter when he starts, but thus far this season (with both the Yanks and the Rangers) the starter has actually done pretty good. He is 5-1 this season with an ERA of 4.19. His stats aren’t the greatest, but he is doing enough to get the team the victory most of the time and that is what matters. His only loss of the season came against the Rays on May 26, but hopefully that will drive him to do even better today.

For the Rays Edwin Jackson takes the mound. Jackson has been amazing in his last three starts, with an ERA of 2.57 and a win. His season record is 5-6 and his ERA is 4.08. Against the Yankees he is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA this year. Our batters have faced him in three games this season so maybe that experience will prove beneficial in today’s game.

Here is your Yankees lineup for tonight:

Gardner LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi 1B
Posada DH
Cano 2B
Cabrera CF
Molina C
Ponson RHP

Here is a something Jeter said earlier today about the game: “People make a big deal, obviously, because it’s Tampa.” Never though you’d hear that, did you?

If A-Rod had not opted out of his contract last year he would have made 100k a piece for making the All Star team and being first in votes. I’m sure he doesn’t really care about it because it is nothing compared to the $27 million he is making this year. The comfort of a long contract is probably worth losing the 200k as well. Anyway, he has bigger things to worry about right now with his divorce and the swarming Madonna rumors…

The Yankees and Rays will kick off a two game series at Yankee Stadium today. The game will begin at 7:05EST and features Andy Pettitte for the Yanks and Scott Kazmir for Tampa. Both pitchers last started against the Red Sox and both of them left with not-so-great performances. Currently Pettitte is 9-6 with a 4.22 ERA and Kazmir is 7-3 with an ERA of 2.63. Both pitchers have played the opposing team several times and they both boast great stats in those games.

Sadly for the Yanks that means that the offense has historically done poorly against Kazmir. We really can’t afford that in tonight’s game as we sit 8.5 games behind the Rays. This game is definetely a different situation than both teams are accustomed to at this time of year, but there is still a lot of baseball to be played. Let’s hope for a victory tonight and maybe a sweep tomorrow, that will get us right back in this thing.

Here is the Yankee lineup for tonight:

Cabrera CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Posada DH
Betemit 1B
Cano 2B
Molina C
Gardner LF
Pettitte LHP

With the first place Tampa Bay Rays looking as if they are not going to lose another game, the New York Yankees set their sights on the current wildcard leader Sunday night, the Red Sox. Thankfully we came away with a win to split the four game series at the stadium. As the Rays won their 7th straight game, the Yankees knocked off Boston 5-4 in ten innings. Tampa is now 5 games up on Boston, while the Yankees sit 9 back, but just 4 back of the AL Wildcard.

Alex Rodriguez’s solo shot in the bottom of the second put the Yankees on top first. The home run was his 18th of the season. Boston then grabbed three runs in the fifth off a wild pitch and a Dustin Pedroia single to make it 3-1 Red Sox through 5. Derek Jeter got an RBI single in the 6th to cut the lead back down to one. Kevin Cash would double home Julio Lugo to increase the Sox lead back to 2 runs. The Yankees would come back though as Robinson Cano hit a two run triple that tied the game in the 7th at 4-4. The game remained 4-4 until the 10th inning when Brett Gardner drove home Robinson Cano.

Mariano Rivera picked up the win for the Yankees, pitching a scoreless 9th and 10th, allowing just 1 hit, and striking out 2. Joba Chamberlain pitched six strong innings for the Yankees, allowing 4 hits, and 3 runs. For Boston, Johnathon Paplebon took the loss, giving up 2 hits in 0.2 innings.

The Yankees will take Monday off before starting a two-game series with Tampa Bay before traveling to Toronto before the break.

C.C. Sabathia is on his way out of Cleveland as the team traded the ace. But wait. I didn’t say it was to the Yankees. Instead, the Indians went to the other league and reached an agreement with the Brewers. In exchange Milwaukee is giving up (you guessed it) prospects including Matt LaPorta. The Indians, who are in last place, have a slim chance of making the playoffs this year and they knew that, which is why they dealt the Cy Young winner. Sabathia’s contract is up at the end of the season and this way the Indians get atleast something in return (it is very unlikely that they would be able to sign him for the type of money he is seeking.)

The Brewers on the other hand are not legit competitors in the NL Central, where they are currently 3.5 games behind the Cubs. If the playoffs were to start today the Brew Crew would get the wildcard and they are hoping that the addition of C.C. will keep them in the race for the playoffs and perhaps even help them rocket past the Cubs.

As for the Yankees, this will end all speculation about trading for Sabathia. It was very unlikely anyway due to how much Cashman doesn’t want to trade prospects. I for one am glad that this ended like this so that we don’t have to repeat everything we went through with the Johan Santana situation last year.

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