NYCurve Yankees Blog

MLB Draftees: Erik Lovett, Nikolas Turley

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

Erik Lovett, a first baseman and outfielder from Mount Olive College was selected by the New York Yankees in the 2008 MLB draft. Lovett, who will turn 23 in August is a 6’1, 220lbs. lefthander.

As a junior, Erik played in all 64 of Mount Olive’s games. He hit .371, with 28 doubles, 18 homeruns, and 77 RBI’s. His walk to strikeout ratio was 52:44. In the field Erik split time between first base and outfield. His fielding percentage for the 2008 season was .990. We see Erik best served as a first basemen. If he continues to develop, he could have a serious career in the big leagues.

In the 50th round (1502nd overall) of the 2008 MLB draft, the New York Yankees selected Nikolas Turley, a southpaw out of Harvard- Westlake High School in La Canada, California. He turns 19 years old on September 11th and is a 6’3, 210lbs lefthander.

At Harvard-Westlake, Nikolas led his squad to a 14-13 record his senior season after going 13-12 his junior year. As the last pick, it would appear Turley has a lot of work to do to improve his mound presence, but that is nothing a little collegiate baseball can’t help solve. It will be interesting to track Turley’s performances from here on out, especially as we (and scouts) track his progress on whether or not he is MLB material.

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

Yankees Trail by 3.5

After another victory tonight, the Yankees have extended their win streak to 5 (and the home streak to 9.) With a Tampa loss, we sit only 3.5gb with a 55-45 record. Tomorrow is the last game of the series against the Twins and after that the Yanks have a day off before starting a series with Boston (who are only 2.5 games ahead of us [likely to go to three later tonight as the BoSox are winning right now] at this point for the wildcard.) The Yankees are far from out of it and if we can keep the momentum going we could see ourselves in second or maybe even first place in less than a week. So, who said that the Yankees are done for this year?

Yankees look for sweep!

After coming away with a thrilling 13 inning win on Saturday the Yankees look to sweep the Oakland A’s on Sunday. The 1:05pm start will feature Andy Pettitte and Justin Duchscherer as the starting pitchers.

Duchscherer is 10-5 this season with a 1.82 ERA. With those numbers it is no surprise that he was a member of the 2008 All Star Game. Justin has won 7 of his 9 decisions, with his last start a 7.2 inning no-decision, in which he allowed 5 hits and 2 runs against the Anaheim Angels. The A’s lost that game 4-3. In Duchscherer’s last start against the Yankees, he went 7 strong innings and allowed just 5 hits and a run. He is 1-1 in his career against the Yankees. Newcomer Richie Sexson has the most career at bats against Duchscherer, going 4-14 with 2 doubles and a homerun. Alex Rodriguez is 4-11 career against Justin with a homerun and 5 RBIs.

For the Yanks, Andy Pettitte will look to pick up his 11th win of the season. Andy is 10-7 with a 4.03 ERA on the season. Pettitte is 9-5 in his career against the A’s including a victory against them earlier this season. Pettitte is 6-2 with 2 no decisions in his last eight starts.

Let’s finish the series with a sweet sweep!

Yankees/A’s Game Two

After a big win Friday night, the Yankees will battle the A’s again on Saturday afternoon at the stadium.

For the A’s, 22 year old rookie Sean Gallagher will throw. Sean is 1-0 since coming over in the Rich Harden deal before the All Star Break. In his last start, Gallagher went 7 innings, allowing just 2 hits and 2 runs in a 9-2 win over the Angels. Gallagher, a 12th round draft pick by the Cubs in the 2004 draft is 4-4 overall, with a 4.25 era. As a Cub, Gallagher had lost his last three starts before coming over to Oakland. No current Yankee player has faced Gallagher in their career.

For the Yankees, Joba Chamberlain will be on the hill. Joba is 2-3, with a 2.62 era on the season. Chamberlain has pitched in 47 games in his career, with 2008 being his first full season in the majors.  He has made five starts at home this season, going 1-1 with a 3.41 era. His last start was on July 11th against the Blue Jays and he went 6.2 innings, allowing 7 hits, and 3 runs in a 5-0 loss. His last win was June 25th at Pittsburgh, a game in which he pitched 6.2 scoreless innings. Frank Thomas is the only current A’s player to face Chamberlain, and he is 0 for 2.

This game is scheduled to begin at 1:05pm.

Richie Sexson a Yankee

Buster Olney of ESPN reports that the Yankees have agreed to a tentative deal with Richie Sexson. With the offense doing not-so-well, Cashman seems to think that Sexson may be able to help us. The Yanks are going to be paying him the minimum, so if it doesn’t work out then oh well. The main reason that he is appealing is because he bats right-handed, which can certainly be useful for the lineup. We have struggled against left-handed pitchers all year and Sexson may be able to help out that cause a bit. I know Sexson isn’t nearly what he used to be, but I think we should give him a shot (atleast until he starts to play poorly) because there is a [slight] chance that he might help out the team a bit, just look at how the Ponson signing is working out so far.

Yankees/A’s set to battle

After the AL won the marathon of an All Star Game, the New York Yankees, and Oakland A’s, both coming off four days off will tango Friday night for the first of three at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees are coming off a loss to Toronto, and sitting at 50-45, 6 games back from Boston, and 5.5 from Tampa Bay, while Oakland has lost their last two, and are 51-44, and 6 games out in the AL West.

For the A’s, Joe Blanton will take the mound. After the A’s lost Rich Harden, Blanton along with Dana Eveland will have to take the responsibility of carrying the load for Oakland starters. Blanton has had some troubles this season, but looks to get off to a better second half. Joe is 5-12 on the season with a 4.96 era. In his last outing against the Yankees, he went 6.2 innings, allowing 6 hits and 4 runs- all earned in a loss. Blanton is 3-6 in his last 9 decisions. For Yankee hitters, Derek Jeter is 4-12, Alex Rodriguez 4-7, and Jorge Posada is 2-5, but no one else has had great success off Blanton. Rodriguez has 2 homeruns and 5 RBI’S, in those 4 hits.

For the Yankees, the Moose, Mike Mussina will take the mound. Mussina has been solid for another season. The 39 year old right hander is 11-6 on the season, with a 3.61 era. For his career, Mike is 17-10 against Oakland. Mussina is coming off a 6 inning no decision in a 4-2 loss to Pittsburgh last week.

Time for the Yankees to show what they are made of here in the second half. Let’s get a win!