Results tagged ‘ A.J. ’

Yanks Hold Off Twins, Win 4-3

Despite
control issues, A.J. Burnett got his third straight win and continued
his streak of dominate performances, dominate would be a stretch for
last night, but he definitely did have his moments. Although A.J. did
put on 11 batters in 6.1 innings, he worked in and out of trouble and
escaped last night’s game only giving up 2 earned. The key moment for
A.J. was in the bottom of the 5th, after loading the bases Cuddyer came
up to the plate and Burnett struck him out swinging with a series of
horrible pitches that showed how anxious Cuddyer was, and how much
pressure he put on himself. Burnett’s wildness is just a key to how
good of a pitcher he is, even with his control issues he still put
batters away and kept them guessing all night and more importantly
didn’t make mistakes trying to correct those problems. The
Yankee bats, lead by the unlikely Brett Gardner, got to Swarzak early
and gave a cushion to Burnett. The lineup is molding and connecting at
a very high level right now and, besides Damon, every starter had at
least one hit again last night, Jeter and Posada were the only two with
multi-hit games. The Yankees were cruising going into the 5th inning
putting 9 runners on (8 hits, 1 walk) and scoring 4 of those runners by
the end of that inning, taking a 4-2 lead.

Arod provided an insurance run in the 5th to put the Yanks up by 2
and give them a little more room to work with, a run that ended up
being a necessity more than a luxury.

Burnett only had 2 ks last night but they came in very tight spots
where a strike out was needed desperately.  One I talked about earlier
with Cuddyer and the other came in the bottom half of the 6th when A.J.
struck out a scrappy hitter in Denard Span with his best curve ball of
the night that if even hit would’ve been a weak grounder to Teixeira.

Bobby Keppel would come in for the last 2 outs in the 5th, after
loading the bases by way of a walk to Posada (he did inherit 2 runners)
he got the Twins biggest out of the night when Cano flied out to left,
a collective sigh of relief swept over the place as Keppel has not had
much success in the majors, but that was as a starter.

Arod’s insurance RBI came into play in the bottom of the 7th when
Phil Coke was summoned to face M&M (Mauer and Morneau). Coke, who
has been one of the reasons this Yankee bullpen has been so great
lately, left the ball hanging on the outside portion of the plate to
Mauer and he drilled it over the left field wall, cutting the Yankee
lead to one run. Coke did half of his job and struck out Morneau on a
nasty breaking ball. Hughes followed and got a pop out to right on one
pitch to Cuddyer to end the inning. Side Track/Hughes Watch: Phil
Hughes has not allowed an earned run in his last 9 appearances or 11
innings pitched over that span his ERA has dropped 1.02 runs from 5.13
to 4.11 and has only allowed a staggering 6 runners on base. Hughes has
been almost mistake free out of the bullpen and has continued to
confuse and stifle batters, he is quickly becoming one of the best
relievers in the game right now.

Another note that might not make people happy, but might make them
understand how often an ump calls a guy out when the ball just beats
them to the bag happened again last night. Nick Swisher, who is not the
swiftest or fastest runner in the world, attempted to stretch a single
into a double in the top of the 8th. Although he was clearly out, at
least in terms of the ball getting there, the Twins short stop Brendan
Harris may have missed the tag. Of course factoring in all the angles
an ump has to fight with it would be hard to tell from his perspective,
but when reviewed and slowed down it appeared that Swisher foot was in
before the tag. My point being that, not as bad as Jeter’s mind you,
umps often call players out when the ball beats them to the bag, and
last night was another example, so even though Jeter had a point to
argue, the ump wasn’t that far off when he made his argument. I am not
saying that it is right, but it is something that happens every now and
then, I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens once a night around the
MLB, and will continue to happen, just think of the neighborhood rule
at 2nd base, it’s almost the same principle.

Back to the game, Mo came in to close it out and shut the top of the
Twins order down 1,2,3 to record his 22nd save of the year and
solidifying another series win for the Yanks.

The Yankees are on a roll right now winning 6 out of 8 games in July
so far and winning their last 5 series, they are 1 game out of the AL
East lead and are waiting to pounce on an opportunity to jump into at
least the share of first place.

W: Burnett (8-4 3.77 ERA)

L: Swarzak (2-3 4.50 ERA)

S: Rivera (22)

Tonight’s Game: Aceves (5-1 2.02 ERA [first major league start]) vs Liriano (4-8 5.49 ERA)

A very interesting match-up that puts Aceves on the mound, replacing
the injured Wang, as a starter for the first time in his Major League
Career. Aceves has been great for the Yankees coming out of the pen
this year and was the deemed the right pitcher to run out there for the
start. He faces a very talented but struggling pitcher in Francisco
Liriano who pitched very well his first start against the Yankees
earlier this year. The Yankees want Aceves to do to the Twins that
first time starters do to them and keep them guessing. I would be
surprised to see him going past 5 innings tonight so it is good that
only 2 pitchers were used out of the pen last night. This game is a
coin toss that obviously can go either way, if the Yankee bats keep it
up they win but if they are stifled I can see them losing. I think
Aceves will be fine but do think he will give up a few runs, hopefully
the Yankee bats back him up…LET’S GO YANKEES!

If I made mistakes I will correct them…I am running out to lunch lol ;-)

Yankees Dominate Twins 10-2 in Series Opener

CC Sabathia bounced back from his last start the only way you would
expect it, by putting together 7 innings of 3 hit, one walk ball while
giving up only one earned run. Although dominate performances are
somewhat expected you never really know, Sabathia did give up 6 earned
against a much less potent Seattle Mariners lineup just 5 days earlier.
It is worth noting that CC’s ERA is a whole run and a half (1.57
actually) better on the road than at home, that seems to be a trend
with Yankee pitchers this year.

While Sabathia put together a sparkling performance his counter
part, Scott Baker, was getting hammered by Yankee batters and couldn’t
find his way out of the 4th after loading the bases. At the end of the
inning Baker was charged with 5 earned runs, and if it wasn’t for the
defensive play of the game by Carlos Gomez, robbing a grand slam from
Alex Rodriguez, it would’ve been 7.

Baker has been struggling this year, posting a 6 and 7 record with a
5.31 ERA (last night factored in) after coming off a career year in
’08. Being one of the strong holds in, what the Twin anticipated to be,
a young talented rotation with a chance to compete, management might be
scratching their heads and wondering where the talent has gone. The
Twins rotation has put together a robust 4.40 ERA, that is including
Blackburn posting a 2.94, and their wonderkid Liriano has shocked the
baseball world with his sub-par performances all year. The Twins
pitching has caught the Yankees at the worst time, the Bronx Bombers
are streaking and putting up numbers (7.2 runs/game over the last 5
games) on teams all over the league. Tonight they face another young
struggling pitcher in Glen Perkins, who is substantially better at home
than on the road but struggled mightily against the Yanks in his last
start. Back to that shortly.

Matsui drove in the first run of the game with a single in the top
of the first and the Yankees didn’t look back. Two more in the top of
the 2nd provided all the offense that the Bronx Bombers would need, but
they didn’t stop there adding 7 more runs on their way to a 10 run
offensive onslaught. Side Track: Matsui has found his way into a 7 game
hitting streak with 3 homers in that run. Matsui might be coming to
form now and his knees might be feeling better, look out for a big July
from him.

Every starter in the lineup accounted for at least 1 hit, with
Teixeira, Cano, Cirvelli and Gardner having multi-hit games accounting
for 11 of the Yankees 16 total hits. Surprisingly enough, especially
being indoors, the Yanks won the game, and put up a 10 spot, without a
homer, one was robbed from Arod as mentioned earlier. The Bombers drove
home runners in scoring position by way of sacrifice flies (2), singles
(2), extra base hits (2) and one walk with the bases loaded. They were
patient at the plate and did what they had to do with the ball and
nothing more, small ball wins games too.

The Twins had no definitive answer for the Yankee bats as they
touched up reliever Brian Duensing for an additional four runs and R.A.
Dickey for one. Dickey finished out the last 3.1 innings and cooled
down the Yankee bats for the remainder of the game.

Yankees Player of the Game:

Mark Teixeira: 4 for 6 last night with 1 RBI. I chose him over
Gardner (3 for 5, 2B, 2 RBI) because this might be the spark he needed
to bust out of the slump he was in, and help him find his power.
Teixeira is homerless in his last 22 games.

Twins Player of the Game:

Carlos Gomez: Not for his bat, but for his glove. His home run,
grand slam, saving catch in the 4th actually kept the Twins within
striking distance of the Yankees before the game got out of hand.

Game 2 Preview: Burnett (7-4, 3.83 ERA) vs. Perkins (4-4, 4.38 ERA)

It has been noted a few times that Burnett stated “once he hits his
stride, watch out”. We might just be witnessing his prediction coming
true. Over his last 4 starts (3-1) A.J. has only allowed 3 earned runs
in 27.1 innings pitched (0.99 ERA) with two of those starts coming on a
road, so he can pitch well away from home. In 5 starts against the
Twins in his career Burnett has put up decent numbers, 1-1 with a 3.90
ERA, but with his current trend we can almost expect a good performance
out of him. The Yankee bats are hot right now and should handle a
struggling pitcher, but Perkins, over his last two starts has only
given up 2 earned over 14 innings. His last start at home he pitched to
his ability going 7 innings while giving up 4 earned, so there should
be some expectation to at least produce that from the Yankee bats.
Perkins has struggled with the Bronx Bombers in the past going 1 and 3
with a staggering 7.71 ERA and only lasted .2 innings in his last start
against them giving up 6 earned before getting the hook. I am
predicting a Yankee win tonight with the bats being more of a driving
force, it’s hard to think that M&M will stay quiet during the
Yankees 3 game stay.

Other Notes:

Paul Konerko: 3 homers yesterday, what a performance and now I am 1
for 3 in 3 home run player being in my lineup (Votto last year, Ethier
this year were both on my fantasy teams bench)

Mets: Should they just give up? They are performing horrilby and
there is no great light at the end of the tunnel. Any big trades coming
up soon?

Hope you enjoyed the new and improved…let me know what you think… riveraverant@yahoo.com or just simply comment!

Thanks!

Yankees Crush Mets, 9-1

Well now the
Yankees are officially on a roll….with their 3rd win in a row most fans
finally let out that breath they were holding for so long! I, on the
other hand, let out a breath for a completely different reason…I know
most people believed that everything was fine with Sabathia, but I can
be a pessimist from time to time…so  until he put up a performance like
the one he did last night I wasn’t convinced….and not only is his arm
fine for pitching…but he brought his bat with him too!!! What can’t
this guy do?Sabathia did everything that we
expected him to last night…he destroyed the Mets batters and put up a
performance that Yankees fans expect every time he takes the mound. He
went 7 innings, struck out 8 and only gave up 1 run, which came on a
Sheffield homerun…so at least it came off someone that has a reputation
of doing that. Bottom line is that Sabathia is the real deal and now is
the time where he starts to be dominate…and that trend is starting to
show…Middle of the season, when it starts to get warm Sabathia become
almost unhittable….and that is what the Yankees need because right
after the all-star break the Saux usually struggle a little (of course
assuming that trend continues too)….and with the way the Saux are
playing right now the Yanks have to win just to keep their head above
water…OF COURSE THE SEASON ISN’T EVEN HALF WAY THROUGH!!! I have to
calm down lol.

But the real story has to go to the Yankee bats and how they are
absolutely on fire right now!!! And every Yankee fan should be just as
fired up as their bats because this is what we have been missing for
the past couple of weeks…now the weird thing is that Teixeira didn’t
get a hit AGAIN last night! Now….even superstars go through slumps…see
Arod…but that means he is swinging at bad pitches…which means teams are
still attacking Arod..ummm note to opposing pitchers…when Arod hits the
ball out to the opposite field… HE HAS BROKEN THE SLUMP!!! So I am not
worried yet…if Tex goes oh-for tonite then I might start questioning
what he is doing…because that means he isn’t being patient enough.
Butttttt I am very excited to see what Arod is gunna do…we all know
what he is like when he streaks so we should all just sit back and
relax….Three cheers to Gardner though!!! 5 for 6!!! This guys is
proving why he is almost worth of becoming a favorite Yankee for many
fans…he is a scrappy hitter and fielder that has range and speed (some
even say he might be the fastest runner in the AL if not the MLB) and
he just keeps getting better!!! Needless to say he was on fire last
night and also hit a bomb to right field…which is a triumph of its own
in that canyon in Queens. Put everything together and it was just a
great performance all around by a Yankee team that seems primed to go
on a streak…and hopefully everything carries over to tonite.

Well this showdown is clearly in the Yankees favor…Redding vs
Burnett…There is really nothing much to say here…Burnett has the clear
advantage in this matchup and is also building off 5 quality starts in
a row and has been magnificent in the last 2…A.J. might also be a
little bitter because he was out dueled in his last start against the
Marlins….and might feel he has something to prove…We also can’t ignore
the fact that Burnett shut down the Mets in his last start (which was
the 15-0 trumping) so we know he has the ability to shut down this
lineup…and they have also gotten weaker in that time…and became even
more riddled with injuries…Redding, simply put, is just not that great
of a pitcher and the Yanks have to sit back and let him make
mistakes…along with that 1st time seeing a pitcher thing, they seem to
struggle when they face HORRIBLE pitching…but I have faith in them
tonite and they are catching Redding at a perfect time…The Yankee bats
are on fire…Burnett has been great of late…so I can’t see the Yanks
dropping this one…LET’S GO YANKEES!!!

Other Notes:

Andre Either: 3 homeruns last night…3!!!….and he was on my bench.

That’s it…late

Yankees VS. Mets from Two Different Perspectives

First I would like to thank my good friend (and cousin) Richie, of Forth Quarter Punts, for his input and his perspective of this series from a Mets fan point of view. And awayyyy we go:

Well I don’t really have to set up this matchup because my good friend Richie, from Forth Quarter Punts, did it in the Mets P.O.V entry that I submitted earlier. But what the heck here we go…

The Yanks and Mets are both coming off horrible performances against
their biggest rivals in their respective divisons and are both looking
to bounce back against their cross-town/city rivals. This series is
traditionally just for bragging rights but it seems that this year, at
least this series, it means a lot more. They
are both caught in tight division races (even though it is early in the
season) and both need this series to keep afloat and within an arms
reach of the Saux and the Phillies. Needless to say each team will be
rooting for each others rival during this series as well. Okay, enough
about that let’s get into this matchup.

As Richie stated in his post, the Mets are chomping at the bit to
get to this stadium and out of the black hole they call Citi Field. The
Mets power numbers have been down this year and they would love to get
their swagger back in the bandbox in the Bronx. Both teams are going to
be fired up going into this series and they know how important it is,
not only for their fans but for the psyche as well. The most intriguing
pitching matchup of this series will be featured tonite with Joba vs Hernandez.
Hernandez might possibly be the Comeback Player of the Year and a key
element to the Mets success this year, especially with Maine now being
on the DL. Joba is the swingman for the Yankees, he has been pitching
very well over his past 6 starts and hopes to continue the trend
tonite, and he needs to perform at his best for the rest of the year. I
think the Yankees have the advantage in this matchup…Joba has great
stuff and can strike out these Mets batters, the only concern I have is
that the Mets have very strong fastball hitter and with Sheffield, more
than likely, being in the lineup as DH that makes the Mets even more
dangerous. Livan has not had success against the Yankees in the past,
6.37 ERA with a 1.89 WHIP, and this lineup is more potent than in years
past…in my opinion advantage Joba…Mets haven’t seen him as a starter
and the Yanks can, given the track record, give Joba a lead and let him
calm down, relax and pitch his game.

Tomorrow’s game is definitely advantage Yankees. Pettitte will be
squaring off against some kid from AAA that will probably be shaking in
the knees while standing on the mound. No reason to go into depth about
this…all that needs to be said is that the Yankees must take advantage
of early strikes and mistakes and if they can they will be golden…the
only thing that concerns me is that the Yankees struggle against young
pitchers in the past…but this year they seem to handle them pretty
well. Pettitte has not pitched well at all at home, which is scary, and
David Wright is probably licking his lips with the way this ball
travels to both sides of the field. As long as Pettitte can keep the
ball down and not float that curve over he will be fine and the Yanks
should roll to victory.

Well this is the matchup we will all be waiting for…Santana vs.
Burnett…this matchup scares me and both pitchers are coming off of
lackluster starts. Santana will most likely bounce back and we all know
what he is capable of…Burnett is another story and needs to start
showing his worth. Both pitchers can be dominate, you expect that from
Santana and hope for that from Burnett (at least for this year), so I
don’t think there will be a lot of offense in this game. If Burnett
struggles you can easily see a 5 earned type of game from him, and if
that was to happen you can say goodbye to the Yankees chances of
winning. Unfortunately Santana is the best pitcher in the game and that
gives the advantage to the Mets in this matchup. The Yanks do have a
glimmer of hope in that Santana has been worse on the road this year
than at his cushy home of Citi Field but of course not much worse. If
anyone gets into trouble in the new Yankee Stadium balls can fly out of
there…so it will be interesting to watch…especially since both pitchers
haven’t pitched particularly well against either team in their tenure
in the big leagues.

Key to the series: How the ballpark plays…this park makes mistakes
homeruns…so it should be interesting to watch considering both teams
have a good amount of power.

Series breakdown: Yanks 2-1…I think Santana will outlast Burnett…but I am looking for a good game out of A.J.

REMEMBER: Please comment we like to discuss this… you can bash us too we don’t mind…it’s all in good fun.

Thanks again to my good friend, and Cousin, Richie from Forth Quarter Punts for his insight into this series…LET’S GO YANKEES!!!

I am going to start with his view first (sorry for the formatting):

Ahhh, it must be spring.  The first round of the annual grudge match
for city bragging rights between the Mets and Yankees begins tonight
at Yankee Stadium.  There’s no need to set this series up, both teams
are coming off a horrific series against division rivals, and need to
win this series to keep pace in their respective division races.  It
may be the “Subway Series”, but this is for more than bragging rights.
The Yankees need to keep pace with the Red Sox and the Mets need to
just keep afloat until the reinforcements come back from the DL.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that when you break down these teams
by position the Yankees have a huge advantage, but this series being
played in Yankee Stadium actually sets up well for the Mets.  Normally
when an NL team plays in an AL park the AL team has a distinct
advantage.  The NL team is usually forced to designate a back-up
position player as DH, while the AL team usually has a specific hired
gun to DH.  But the Mets have some pretty good bats on the bench and
can play around with pitching match-ups accordingly.  It also allows
them to DH Gary Sheffield which improves OF defense and gives him a
break over the long run.  Having the DH allows Jerry Manuel to use
Jeremy Reed in LF for defense (although I think they’ll start out with
Ryan Church there) or get Murphy’s bat in the line-up in RF (keeping
Tatis at 1st).

Offensively the Mets bats are salivating at the thought of getting out
of the cavernous Citi Field and into the Yankee Stadium bandbox, but I
still think they’ll need to play NL small ball to drive the offense.
They’ll have to pick and choose their spots though.  A double in Citi
is a HR in Yankee and you don’t want to jeopardize a potential run by
making foolish decisions on the bases.

I like the pitching match-ups in 2 out of the 3 games.  The Game 1
match-up of Livan Hernandez vs. Joba might be the most interesting of
the series.  Livan has pitched lights out in his last four starts.
He’s gone deep into games (even a CG, not bad for a 60 year old) and
is 2-0 with a 1.57 ERA.  Of course he usually pitches horrible against
the Yanks and Jeter and Aroid traditionally hit him as well as they do
a batting practice pitcher.  But if he forces ground balls I think
he’ll be alright (or at least I hope he’ll be alright).  Joba is hit
or miss.  The key for the Mets will be patience.  Drive up his pitch
count, force some walks, steal some bases, and get him flustered.  If
they force the Yankees to the bullpen early they should put up some
runs.  In Game 2 some guy from AAA Buffalo is going against Pettitte.
Pettitte hasn’t pitched all that well this year, but he is at least a
major leaguer.  He also pitches well against the Mets.  This one could
get ugly for the Mets.  They need to get on Pettitte early and give
this Nieve kid some support if they want to have any chance.  Game 3
is the big name, big money match-up of the series, Santana vs.
Burnett.  Both pitchers are coming off shaky outings in their last
starts, but Santana is the more consistent pitcher and even though the
Yanks big bats have a pretty good history against him I think he’ll
step up here.  The Mets bullpen, believe it or not, has been one of
the best in the league (2nd in ERA behind Boston) and is a clear
advantage for the Mets.  While I’m not that confident to call it a
difference maker in this series it should help pull out a win in this
series, most likely Game 1.

As I said at the top the Mets are nursing a lot of regulars on the DL
(8 to be exact), but have been competitive against the better teams in
the league in this stretch (they are, after all, the only NY team to
beat the Red Sox this year).  If anything they’ve proven to be a
resilient bunch and it will carry over into this series.

The Pick: The Mets win the series 2-1, riding Livan and Santana in
games 1 and 3.

Burnett Stuggles Against Boston

Well I have to admit all my predictions yesterday were horrible!!! I
went 0 for 3 (Wings lost, Lakers lost, Yankees lost). Now I do have to
defend myself to some degree, at least about my Yankee prediction. I
said the Yankees only have a shot if Burnett pitched to his
ability…ummmmm that obviously didn’t happen AT ALL!!! So I’ll take the
hit for that prediction…but I really wasn’t wrong, vagueness can work
for you sometimes (thumbs up!)…Anywho let’s dive right in to that
debacle yesterday…what a despicable performance by Burnett and the
Yankee batters. Side Track: Even though the Yanks only got 2 hits
yesterday no one likes giving credit to how good Beckett’s performance
was and it seems like people generally, me too I will admit (see
above), blame the bats and never give credit to the pitcher. Beckett
only gave up 1 hit in 6 innings and fanned 8 batters…he was on his “A”
game and just flat out dominated the Yankee batters…so I will chalk
this one up to a great pitching performance and fatigue on the Yankees
part after a tough series with the Rays but they MUST show up these
next two games…so what’s up with Burnett?Going
into this year A.J. was 5 and 0 with a 2.57 ERA against Boston…that’s
for his entire career…it is not based on home or away just against
Boston in General. A.J. hasn’t faced them in Yankee Stadium yet and if
he pitches them the way he has so far this year we can see his 0-1
record and 12.91 ERA against the Sox get a whole lot worse…he has to
focus and step up, especially in these games…they are obviously our
biggest rivals and down the stretch the team we will most likely be
battling for first place…now everyone will go crazy and say skip him
during the Boston series from now on but I think it really is just him
pressing too much and trying to make perfect pitches in hitters counts.
THAT’S NOT AN EXCUSE but at least it can be an explanation. Burnett is
wayyyy to talented to be pitching like this and he will work his way
out of the funk…he is simply (in my opinion) letting this rivalry get
to him and trying to throw the entire game on his back…Burnett, relax,
pitch your game and make the pitches you know you can make…don’t press
and try to strike everyone out…ground balls win games…long balls lose
them…I have faith in Burnett and know that he will pitch well against
them in the next series (if he is slated to start) and once he has a
game at home against Boston he will settle down and let his talent do
all the work…once again…NO REASON TO FREAK OUT!!! BURNETT WILL BE
FINE!!!

Side Track: It is typical that Ortiz hit only his 3rd home run of the season last night…classic.

I’m not gunna talk about the over matched bats today…like I said
earlier Beckett was on fire and made a great lineup look silly…they are
resilient though and will come back tonite against a pitcher who they
usually dominate, Tim Wakefield…more on that to come…the only bright
spot for the Yankees last night was their bullpen…hey wait…Burnett only
gave up 3 earned? Not too bad!!…hahaha just kidding…I know, not
funny…back to the bullpen…against a very tough offense the bullpen
showed up…only giving up 2 earned over 5.1 innings and Brett Tomko
showing how much of an asset he can be, he can eat up innings and be
used in any long relief situation…him and Swisher might be 2 unsung
signings this year…very interesting…Tomko only put 2 guys on as
well…very impressive and a good sign for future games where a situation
like this happens…more than that if there is a close but high scoring
game he becomes even more of an asset in that he can keep the game
close and keep the Yankees in the game…Jose Veras actually looked
impressive for once…now I know there was really no pressure on him…the
game was out of reach in the 3rd inning…but it’s still good to get his
confidence up so we can get him into tight situations and he will
perform…believe it or not this guy has good stuff and can be very
effective…but when he is off he is flat out terrible…Now granted
Robertson has only been here for a little bit, I am sold on this kid.
His composure and collectiveness on the mound is amazing for a kid who
is only 24 years old, he is perfoming and putting up great numbers so
far. He is 1-o out of the pen and posts a 1.86 ERA over 9.2 innings
pitched…and averages over a strikeout per inning with 13 so far…he is a
huge contributor to the success of this bullpen and I see him being a
big component as long as he is used efficiently and effectively…Side
Track: I hate to showoff for the Red Sox but there bullpen is truly
amazing right now…WOW!!! Yankees have to hit their starters hard!!

Tonite!! The most interesting matchup of the series in my mind…Wang
vs Wakefield. This is a HUGE start for Wang and his role with the
Yankees this year…and that is an understatement…with his last start
behind him he has to do the same thing, forget about that start and
focus on this one. I truly believe this is his biggest test…if he
succeeds he gets the rotation spot if not he gets put in the pen and
Hughes is back in…this is just my speculation I didn’t hear this from
anyone but it seems to be going that way. Wang happens to also find
himself in a good matchup due to the fact that he is facing someone the
Yankees generally have great success against. Wakefield’s career ERA
against the Yankees is a robust 5.03 with a well below .500 record at
10-17 over 32 starts…at home this year Wakefield has pitched great and
if the weather is on his side, which right now doesn’t seem to be a
factor, he can flat out dominate the Yankee hitters. Unfortunately you
really can’t go on trends with a knuckleball pitcher…things change day
in and day out and it really depends on how their arm feels that day
and how their fingers tips are on the ball…so there is really on
telling what can happen…The Yanks are hoping he is flat in the early
going and can bash him and not have to try and score off their very
impressive bullpen, especially if Wang is off tonite. Wang simply needs
his sinker…he had it through the first 2 innings of his start against
Texas but then fell apart…if the sinker is working it can be a long
night for the Red Sox…Wang is also in the precarious position of having
to eat up innings while working with a pitch count…The bullpen had to
eat 5.1 innings last night due to Burnett’s horrific performance…I
truly believe we see the resurgence of Wang with this start…the Yankees
NEED to win tonite…over dramatic I know!!…so I think he will step up…I
have a feeling Wakefield will be strong for the first few innings then
the Yankees will handle him and eventually win the game…I hope my
predictions are better than yesterday’s….LET’S GO YANKEES!!!

Other Notes:

Raul Ibanez: I was listening to Mike and Mike this morning and
apparently there was a report that a blogger was accusing Raul Ibanez
of using PEDs. Now I understand baseball is tainted right now, but just
because a player starts to perform he’s using drugs? How about the
other factors? For one the majority of his career he was on a losing
ball club with no protection in the lineup. Two he also hit in a not so
friendly ball club for the past 5 years, facts are facts Safeco is a
very friendly pitchers ball park. Three he is hitting in a bandbox
right now…Philly has been notoriously known for their very friendly
hitters ball park, which elevates average and power numbers. Fourth the
Phillies have a pretty damn good lineup…they can’t pitch around
everyone and Ibanez is getting pitches to hit because Howard, Utley and
Rollins are harder outs (well at least for their careers). And a point
I can’t prove…maybe he is more comfortable and enjoys his new role…out
in Seattle it was him and Ichiro, that was pretty much it, he can be
more relaxed and have more fun on this team and wait WIN MORE GAMES!!
Please can we stop accusing guys because they are playing better? Just
because someone is having a huge year it doesn’t mean they are doing
PEDs and also did anyone say that about Posada in 2007? People have
great years here and again please don’t turn this into something that
will hurt the game PLEASEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Citi-Field: A ball park that is looking like it should be called
death valley, due to its huge dimensions and unforgiving space,
actually yielded 7 homeruns last night! I just had to comment on that
because of another segment yesterday on Mike and Mike in which they
asked if Citi Field would actually hurt the Mets and their power
numbers…but of course that is just one game.

Ryan Howard: This is just a funny point…he ran out of the box
yesterday like he didn’t know if his homerun ball would make it over
the fence…it cleared it by at least 50 ft. hahaha…Just showing how much
of a BEAST he really is, he didn’t think he got all of it and it hit it
further than anyone last night.

Red Wings: Sloppy hockey last night…the Wings missed a lot of
opportunities last night but then again so did the Penguins…game 7 is
gunna be an epic battle…but I really think the Penguins are still over
matched and Osgood is gunna be too good at home…I’m going Wings 3-1.

Lakers: Very weird game that made me think the Lakers would come
back and win or at least get it to overtime…Kobe fumbled the ball by
trying to drive the lane between 2 defenders…gotta give it up to the
Magic though they held strong the last minute of the game.

Andre Either: He was on my bench last night and hit 2 homers…FML

MLB Draft: Surprise Pick at #1: Strausberg. I really think this kid
is gunna be good as long as the Nationals sign him…hopefully Boras
thinks about the kid before his own pocket and gets him signed and onto
a pro team…Yanks opted for Slade Heathcott out of Texas HS…a speedy
center-fielder who needs some polishing and work…but he is still in
high school he can still be molded and all of his imperfections can be
ironed out…predictions have him developing average power but being an
asset more in the field because of his speed, however range and read on
flyballs is something he will have to work on…hopefully he develops
into something huge and we get to see him in 5 – 6 years.

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