Yanks Win 5th Straight With No Problem

Posted on June 17, 2008 by Yankees Blogger

The title says it all! The Yankees gave the opposition another crushing defeat today, with an astounding 8-0 victory. With the win we continued our win streak to five and we have won 10 of 13. Also, the Red Sox (and Rays) lost today, meaning that we are only 5gb now. Overall a great day and certainly a nice outcome after hearing about Wang.

The bats were swinging, the pitching was solid, and the defense was good; atleast on our side. Andy Pettitte pitched seven innings in which he racked up nine strikeouts and only gave up five hits. With the win he passed Ron Guidry for fourth on the franchise list for most wins with 171. Jose Veras and Billy Traber relieved Pettitte in the eight and Mariano Rivera got the save with a hitless ninth. They just made it look easy out there.

The offense did their part as well by scoring eight runs in eight innings of batting. The Padres helped with a few errors, but some of those scores were thanks to the lineup doing what they do best. Jason Giambi had an especially spectacular day, with two home runs and 3 RBI. Alex Rodriguez also went yard once today.

It looks like the Wang news hasn’t disturbed the team’s momentum much. Or maybe it’s that the Padres are just bad. Either way, it is a good thing for the Yankees and I for one am excited for tomorrow’s rematch against San Diego. Darrell Rasner will make the start against Jake Peavy at 7:05EST. Do I hear 6 straight?

Posted in Yankees News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Game Preview: Series Open vs. Padres

Posted on June 17, 2008 by Yankees Blogger

Game Time: 7:05EST
TV: Ch4, WWOR

Today is the first of a three-game series against the San Diego Padres. The Yankees are coming off a day of rest and four straight wins, but I’m not sure how they will do in the wake of hearing that Wang will be out until September. It will be a downer for sure, but I don’t know how it will play out.

On the up side, the Yanks have been on an offense tear lately (or should I say finally) and the defense has been good too, especially the pitching. Andy Pettitte will make the start and if there is anyone that knows how to keep going after rough news, it is Pettitte. Let’s hope we can pull through again and make it five straight.

Here is the Yankees lineup for tonight:
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Giambi 1B
Posada C
Cano 2B
Cabrera CF
Pettitte LHP

Posted in Yankees News | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Wang’s Injury

Posted on June 16, 2008 by Yankees Blogger

Get yourself ready for some bad news… Ready? Ok, well it turns out that Chien-Ming Wang’s foot injury is actually a partially torn tendon and a sprained foot. This is horrible news for the team because it is estimated that Wang will be out until September, which is quite a tough loss for the rotation. Hank Steinbrenner has come out once again to express his opinions on the matter, he certainly wasn’t very happy. He criticized the league for making AL pitchers run the bases, what Steinbrenner believes to be an antiquated rule “from the 1800′s.”

It has been long-debated on whether AL pitchers should run the bases in interleague games. I have to agree with boss on this one though, I really don’t see the need to make them run. Why not just let the NL teams use a DH? There are many AL teams that oppose the current rule and I don’t see why it isn’t changed.

For now, what’s done is done and the Yankees need to look forward. Possible replacements for Wang include Dan Giese, maybe Ian Kennedy, or perhaps a trade before the deadline for a pitcher like C.C. Sabathia is also possible. At the moment, Steinbrenner said that they will most likely look within the organization for a replacement, but that can definitely change as we approach the July 31st deadline.

C.C. Sabathia is currently one of the big names on the rumors list, but there are other good pitchers possibly availible as well. I haven’t seen the rumor thus far, but I think Erik Bedard would also be a good fit because it is clear that the Mariners don’t have what it takes to win at the moment and it is unlikely they will win next year either, in the last year of Bedard’s two-year contract. The Yanks couldn’t get him before because Orioles’ owner Peter Angelos refused to trade the ace within the division, but I’m sure the Mariners would have no problem sending him back to the East.

Posted in Yankees News | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Yankees Sweep Astros

Posted on June 15, 2008 by Yankees Blogger

The Yankees won in amazing style today over the Astros. They just dominated on both sides of the ball, finishing the game with a 13-0 shutout. Chien-Ming Wang had a great start, but a not-so-fabulous finish as he injured his foot while running the bases in the top of the sixth. In the five innings that he did pitch, the ace allowed only six hits and of course no runs. Sadly the big story of the day was the injury, which took Wang out of the game and was later examined and reported to be a foot sprain. How bad the injury is no one knows yet, but we have to pray that it isn’t something serious because the Yanks really need Wang right now.

After the game Girardi said that he would be “shocked” if Wang was able to make his next start, but the team won’t be sure of how long the pitcher will be out until he gets an MRI tomorrow. Let’s just hope it is something minor.

Other than the Wang injury, the game was all peaches and gravy for the Yankees. We simply feasted on the vulnerable Astros with 15 hits, 4 homers, 13 runs, and great defense on the other side of the ball. Four relievers took the field after Wang, each pitching a scoreless inning. Dan Giese was the only one to even let up a hit (he only gave up one) and he also got the save.

Overall a bitter-sweet day, but it was nice to get our fourth straight win. It was also nice to outperform the Red Sox, who probably thought they were all big and bad since they won 9-0 today. In other division news, the Rays lost, so we are one game closer to catching up to them (we still sit 6gb behind the Red Sox.) Tomorrow is an off day for the Yanks before they start a series against the Padres on Tuesday.

Posted in Yankees News | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Game Preview: Houston Sweep

Posted on June 15, 2008 by Yankees Blogger

Game time: 2:05EST
TV: YES, KTXH

The Yankees now sit six games behind in the AL East and spirits are high as they look to sweep the Astros and with it win their fourth straight. Chien-Ming Wang will make the start, in which he hopes to play like he did in his last start. He went into a sour patch for a few games, but hopefully his last outing ended that. Wang is currently undefeated on the road, so that’s a plus since the game is in Texas. On the bad side he has never won in three interleague starts. That is all just the past though, and he can certainly pave a different future.

Here is the lineup for the Yankees:

Damon CF
Jeter SS
Matsui LF
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi 1B
Posada C
Cano 2B
Cabrera RF
Wang RHP

Posted in Yankees News | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Moose Gets 10th Win

Posted on June 15, 2008 by Yankees Blogger

Three straight! We won again last night against the Astros and Mike Mussina got his AL-leading 10 wins (Cliff Lee also has 10.) The veteran pitched six solid innings in which he allowed three runs on six hits. Ross Ohlendorf, Kyle Farnsworth, and Edwar Ramirez would each pitch an inning afterwards. Ohlendorf was the only one to give up a run. It wasn’t enough to help the Astros though as they ended the game with four runs opposed to the Yankees’ eight.

The eight runs is a good sign because the Yankee offense has been in a bit of a cold streak of late (although we have still won most of the games due to excellent pitching.) Today they combined for twelve hits including a fan-aided inside-the-park home run by Alex Rodriguez. Johnny Damon accounted for three of the twelve hits as he continues to hit well this season.

Let’s see if we can pull the sweep against the Astros in tomorrow’s afternoon game (2:05EST.) Chien-Ming Wang will start for the pinstripes and Roy Oswalt for Houston. You can catch the game on YES.

Posted in Yankees News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Yankees-Astros Preview: Three Straight?

Posted on June 14, 2008 by Yankees Blogger

Time of game: 7:05 EST June 14, 2008
TV: YES, FSH

Mike Mussina will take the mound against the Astros tonight, looking to lead the Yanks to our third straight win. He has had a terrific year so far with an ERA of 3.82 and nine wins. Momentum is currently high as the Yanks went to 2 games over .500 for the first time since late April after yesterday’s win over Houston. Let’s hope Moose can keep throwing the good stuff. His only appearance against the Astros was in 2003, when the Yanks won, 5-3.

On the down side, Moose hasn’t been too great against the NL of late, with a 1-4 record and an ERA over five in his last seven starts against teams from the other league. The Astros aren’t exactly stellar either though, with a 1-3 interleague play record thus far this year and a horrible 3-12 record in their last 15 games overall. Hopefully this will turn out to be an easy one for the Yanks.

Posted in Yankees News | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Joba Great vs. Astros, Yankees Win

Posted on June 13, 2008 by Yankees Blogger

We are past one game above .500! I had to start with that because it seems like forever that we have been either one game under, one game over, or exactly at .500. With tonight’s win over the Astros, the New York Yankees are 35-33, this could be the start of something great! Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, but I really am excited to break the irritating trend. We now sit in third place, only six games behind the first-place BoSox. The past 10 games have actually been pretty good for the Yanks as we have won 7 of them. Let’s get 8 more wins and make it 10 straight!

Ok, now to the game review… Joba Chamberlain made his third career start and again improved greatly compared to his last outing. He pitched for six innings, giving up only one run on six hits. Jose Veras would get the W though, because the game was close one. Farnsworth would close out to get the save.

The Yankee offense had another slow day, as ex-Yank Shaun Chacon pitched well. Alex Rodriguez drove in the first run for the Yankees in the first, but another score wouldn’t come until the eight when Jeter went yard. Final score: 2-1. Not the most glorious win, but a win’s a win.

We play the Astros again tomorrow at 7:05EST. The game will be aired on YES where you will be able to see Mike Mussina take on Wandy Rodriguez of Houston.

Posted in Yankees News | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Pettitte and Matsui Lead Yanks to Victory

Posted on June 13, 2008 by Yankees Blogger

The Yankees won in the last game of the A’s series last night with a score of 4 to 1. Andy Pettitte pitched eight solid innings of only one run ball. He allowed only five hits as Oakland’s offense couldn’t get anything going. Mariano Rivera successfully closed it out for the Yanks, getting his 18th save of the year.

The Yankee offense wasn’t exactly spectacular either, accumulating a measly 6 hits. There was a bright spot though, in fact it was a very bright spot. In the top of the 6th Hideki Matsui hit a grand slam sending in Jeter, Rodriguez, and Abreu. That was enough run support for Pettitte and the Yanks won in a nice one.

Next up are the Astros and we are back to Joba’s turn on the rotation again. Houstan will start familiar face Shaun Chacon. The game is at 8:05.

Posted in Yankees News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rasner Struggles Against A’s

Posted on June 12, 2008 by Yankees Blogger

Darrell Rasner had his first bad game of the year against the Oakland A’s yesterday. He lasted a little under 4 innings in which he gave up sevens runs on nine hits. The bats were really swinging for Oakland, especially during the 6-run third. They eventually cooled off, but the margin was too great for the Yanks to overcome. The final score would be 8-4 as the Yankees see themselves back at .500. I don’t think anyone could have put it better than Joe Girardi did postgame:

“We seem to take a couple steps forward and then take a couple steps back. That’s frustrating because we’re a better team than what we’ve showed. Some days it’s our offense, some days it’s our pitching. It’s a combined effort. “

There really isn’t much more to say about it. The only bright side of the game was probably the good job the relievers did. Ross Ohlendorf, LaTroy Hawkins, Kyle Farnsworth, and Edwar Ramirez all pitched about an inning and Ohlendorf was the only one to give up any hits/runs (he let up one run on two hits.) The ninth inning was good, with three runs by the Yanks, so maybe that momentum will rollover into today’s rematch against the A’s.

The game is at 10:05EST again and Andy Pettitte will start for the Yankees. Joe Blanton will take the mound for the A’s. You can catch the game on YES.

Posted in Yankees News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments