Results tagged ‘ Yankee Stadium ’

Yanks Handle Marlins, Win 5-1

WOOOOOO
HOOOOOOO!!!! WOW….the Yankees handled a young pitcher!!! It’s almost
unbelievable that could happen, especially after that horrible
performance against the Nationals! They got to this kid West early and
didn’t look back scoring 5 runs off him in the first 3 innings and
holding on for the win. Now I have to keep this short and sweet because
I am on my way out…sorry!Have to give praise
to Pettitte, most importantly…he was clearly the Player of the game in
my book and he continued his dominance on the road. Andy went 7 strong
and struck out the same amount, while only giving up 1 run (off a Cody
Ross homerun) and only putting on 3 hitters…NO WALKS!!! He was flat out
dominant, and took advantage of a young upstart team, and he looked
like the Pettitte of old. Andy clearly still has it in him to be a
great starter for this Yankee team, and has backed it up with his
performances on the road, but what about him at home? There is
something wrong there…I don’t know if it’s just that he is pressing too
hard, or trying to over compensate for the fact that he has lost a
little off his ability due to age, but it is something that needs to be
addressed. He hasn’t been horrible at home, but he can’t keep giving up
4 – 5 runs every start he has in Yankee Stadium. Now maybe he is just
trying to be too cute with his pitches, and thus giving up runs, and
mostly homeruns, because of the rate at which balls are flying out of
the stadium, but he just has to trust his stuff and Pettitte can have a
very, very great year this year, probably one that no one would expect
out of him at his age. He may be getting old but he is still
performing, and if he figures it out at home, the Yankee rotation will
be feared.

Let’s give it up for the Yankee batters!!!! Every starter got at
least 1 hit, with Jeter, Damon, Teixeira and Posada each getting two
hits…who said Tex needed Arod in the line up to hit? What a great
performance by the Yankee hitter, very impressive and a great bounce
back victory against another team that they should take 2 out of 3
from. The Yankee bats were so hot, that EVEN PETTITTE got into the
action with an RBI double in the 2nd. The Yankees were clicking last
night, and it’s good to see that, from what I saw they were having fun,
and they looked more relaxed, probably thanks to an RBI single by
Posada in the first. If the Yankees get on the board early they relax
and have fun…GUYS PLEASE!!! WE NEED THAT FIRE BACK!!! I know I am being
ridiculous but it’s true, look at earlier this season they were just
having fun and enjoying the game and in return they were WINNING!!! We
need that back boys, let’s get it going!!! Side Track: Has anyone
noticed how hot Cano is right now? He has raised his average 19 points,
from 291 to 310, over the last 5 games, going 11 for 20 in that stretch
with 3 of those games being multi-hit….and he is a second half
hitter…pretty scary….needless to say the game last night was great, and
something the Yanks should take advantage of.

Short and sweet…Burnett vs Johnson…aka the Marquette matchup of this
series. Very interesting matchup as Johnson is the Marlins ace and one
of the better pitchers right now in the NL. Burnett is coming off a
great pitching performance against the Mets and hopefully can bring
that to his old team. Key to the game is how Burnett pitches, if he
pitches well the Yankee bats usually come around, hopefully he can hold
the Marlins to only 2 or less runs, considering that Johnson can, and
probably will hold the Yankees to only 3…very interesting game, that I
have figured to be a pitchers duel….if the Yankees are patient and can
play small ball behind Burnett, they can take this game…LET’S GO
YANKEES!!!

That’s it…Late

Stammen Bests Joba, Nats Take Series 2-1

ummmmmmmmmm…was I sleeping or something along those lines? Because I’m pretty sure I just had a nightmare that the Yankees couldn’t handle the WORST TEAM in baseball (possibly ever)…and dropped 2 of 3 to them. Really? Is that what you guys are about? I know teams go into slumps…yada, yada, yada…but right now? AGAINST THE NATIONALS??? I hope you guys didn’t have people fooled earlier this year when you looked like a championship caliber team…because this week you looked like you belonged in AAA. The worst part about it is that the pitching was there…BUT WHERE WAS THE HITTING!!! This team is an offensive juggernaut and they scored a total of 7 runs!!! 7 runs!!! Is this a joke or something? I understand the struggles hitters have when they don’t know a pitcher or have never seen him before…but a whole team? And whyyyyyyy are you swinging so early? They clearly had NO strategy going into this series…what a horrible performance by a team that should’ve averaged 6 runs per game against Washington…but I guess that’s what happens when you expect to win and become lackadaisical.

Truth be told I am usually not a fan that overreacts or flies off the handle like that…but this series was horrible and continued a trend that has been seen in years past. TEAMS WILL HAVE YOUNG PITCHERS IN THEIR ROTATION!!! You guys obviously have to prep better, because if you can’t hit off pitchers you have never seen before, it’s gunna be a longgggg year. How come a team of vets couldn’t work a walk off a rookie who is making his first start in Yankee Stadium? That’s crazy….young pitchers walk batters…YETTTT…there they go swinging away at the first pitch…I’ll give the John Lannan his due, because he pitched a good game and has at least been around long enough, but this kid Stammen is a ROOKIE!!! C’mon guys…YOU’RE THE YANKEES!!! Now I will admit that the Nats made some good plays in the field, saving a few big hits…but the Yankees looked flat the whole series and didn’t have that fiery attitude, like the one the exuded all through the first 2 months. I really don’t know what else to say about the performance of this past week so I am going to leave it along…butttt how do you get 7 hits in a game and not get one guy in? Where is the small ball?
I do, for a moment, want to talk about the pitching. THE ONLY BRIGHT SPOT TO THIS SERIES!!! All 3 starters pitched extremely well only giving up 3 runs each, and, more importantly, keeping the team in the game, and within striking distance at all times. But the praise doesn’t really fall to them, but I don’t want to overshadow their performance, it goes to the bullpen. If anyone has taken notice the ‘pen has been pretty solid lately and are becoming something, if they can keep it up, that the Yankees can rely on, and not be afraid to use. Over 8.2 innings (or basically a whole game) the bullpen didn’t give up ANY earned runs. Now you can go back to what I was saying earlier, and how the Nats are a bad team and all that…buttttthey are a product of bad pitching (starting and bullpen) and defense, they are actually a very good hitting team. So in my opinion the fact that the Yankees kept the bats at bay through the whole series is impressive, especially with all that power and the way balls fly out of Yankee Stadium right now. Side Track: The streak has been snapped at 35, there were no home runs hit in last nights game, pretty impressive. So there is the silver lining for this series and hopefully this is a trend they can keep up, a good bullpen will win you games and keep you in the hunt. And although I was “ranting” before about how bad this series was, the Yanks are only 3 games out of first, due to a Boston loss yesterday…so maybe I shouldn’t be going so crazy…but sometimes it’s fun to do that.

Tonite’s game: Pettitte vs West…a battle of south paws…and it should be a fun one to watch…I actually enjoy watching the Marlins play and think that this series is a very interesting one. Tonite’s matchup is hard to breakdown because this kid West is a rookie and has had ups and downs. He has shown a lot of potential and promise, including a June 8th performance that had him bringing a no-hitter into the 7th while facing a very intimidating Randy Johnson. The thing that scares me is that the Yankees haven’t seen this kid yet either…and if this series against the Nationals is any indication, then the Yankee bats will struggle tonite too. West is a hard throwing lefty who doesn’t put a lot of batters on to begin with, so this might be a long night, and Pettitte has to show up. Andy might be showing signs of his age, I hate to say it but it’s true, and you almost have to go into a game expecting him to give up 3 or 4 runs, so the bats have to wake up to give us a shot tonite. Now Pettitte has been much, much better on the road then at home this year, so I am hoping that we can see him perform at his highest level tonite. He is getting hit around a lot but Florida plays in a big ballpark and that should help him, considering that he has given up 10 homers this year, but only one of them has been on the road. This should be an interesting game, and should almost be a pitchers duel, unless the Yankee bats can wake up and hit this kid West, they are on a 2 game skid (I use that term loosely) so this game is important especially with Boston facing a struggling Braves team. Calling all Yankee hitters…we need you tonite, more importantly we need you on base…take your time against this kid, make him make mistakes, AND TAKE PITCHES!!! Don’t let him get comfortable…PLEASE!!!!…LET’S GO YANKEES!!!

Yankees vs Nationals Preview

Needless to say this series is a BIG one…if the Yankees play the way
they should, and exploit the horrible Nationals pitching this SHOULD
be a sweep, and there is no excuse if they don’t come out of this 2 to
1. The only concern I really have in this series is that the Nationals
have BIG bats and have shown their muscle in the past…plus they also
play in a bandbox in Washington so they know how to play on a ballpark
that is similar to theirs. The Yankees should be on a high after their
2 to 1 series win over the Mets and especially the win yesterday over
Santana, where their bats were absolutely on fire! If
that carries over, I wouldn’t want to be a Nationals fan, or pitcher
for that matter. I don’t see the Yankees coming out of this series as a
loser…the Nationals are too weak of a team and they must take advantage
of that to stay close to Boston who are facing the Florida Marlins, a
scrappy underrated team who needs this series to stay afloat…and in my
opinion have the pitching advantage in the first two games of this
series. If Florida can play Boston hard we can see the Yankees down by
1 in the standings….I can’t see the Sox getting swept at all…However
the Yankees can’t bank on Boston losing so they must take advantage of
the upcoming series.

Pitching Matchups

Game 1: Sabathia vs Martis

I don’t think I really have to say this buttttt….the advantage is
clearly Sabathia in this matchup. Martis has shown this season that he
definitely has potential, and even for a short period of time he was
looking dominate and was the best pitcher in the Nationals
rotation…however the batters caught up to him and exposed what he
really is and now he posses a bloated ERA but still has an impressive 5
and 1 record despite his ERA is 5.04…although over his last 2 starts
…or 12 innings…he has shown that promise again…only giving up 3 earned.
Still the pitching advantage is clearly in the Yankees corner with the
Veteran workhorse Sabathia. CC has had 2 bad starts in a row (for his
standards) and is looking to bounce back and against a weak opponent it
is a great time to do it. Sabathia definitely has not forgotten about
his performance in Boston and that loss has left a bad taste in his
mouth, no doubt. I really can’t see the Yankees losing this game, the
bats (even in losing efforts) have been hot lately, and they, for the
most part (except against Nieve), have been hitting bad pitching REALLY
hard! The Yankees must take advantage of teams they can beat and this
matchup should almost guarantee a victory…oh by the way Sabathia is 1
and 1 with a 1.65 ERA against the Nationals in his career…if they can’t
win this game…this might be a longggg series.

Game 2: Wang vs Lannan

The real ace of this Nationals staff is facing the once ace of this
Yankees staff, and has fans wondering if this will be the game where
Wang finally turns it around and salvages his rotation spot for this
year. I can’t believe I am saying this but Washington has the pitching
advantage in this one. The ONLY key to this game is if Wang pitches or
not…I think the Yankees can score off Lannan, but if they can’t they
definitely have to knock him out early and then attack the Nationals
less than stellar bullpen. However if Wang doesn’t show up and gets
hammered that allows Lannan, who is TERRIBLE on the road this season,
to calm down and pitch his game with a lead. Wang must pitch well and
eat up some innings…the bullpen will be rested, because of Burnett’s
performance and the day off today, but if he doesn’t eat up innings
that isn’t good for his progress and, truth be told, means that he
didn’t have a good pitching day. Wang, in my opinion, is the ONLY key
to the game…if he doesn’t pitch well I think the Yankees will have a
tough day…I think they can hit Lannan but if he has a lead he can pitch
the way he wants, anddddd if Wang is off against the Nationals line-up,
they will put up BIGGGG numbers on him…if he keeps the ball high in the
zone Zimmerman and Dunn will hurt him badly…and I am positive Dunn is
licking his lips and hoping he gets balls to hit…and if he does we will
see some of the longest homeruns we have ever seen fly out of Yankee
Stadium.

Game 3: Joba vs Stammen

Again the Yankees have the pitching advantage…I can’t see how they
can lose against a struggling rookie, especially at home. The key to
the game is Joba, he NEEDS to eat up innings, he can’t have another 4
inning performance…he must calm down and take his time and again, trust
his stuff…if he does it’s a no doubter to me…he’s too dominate when he
is on and I can’t see the Yankees NOT knocking around this kid.

Key to the Series:

Starting Pitching…bottom line! If they pitch well against this
potent, but underrated, lineup they should have no problem winning
these games, especially if it turns into a bullpen shootout…the
Nationals bullpen is abysmal so the Yankees should take pitches and get
the National starters out of the game…quickly.

The series has to go to the Yankees…I really see them sweeping the
Nationals but to me there is no way they don’t win at least 2 of 3,
especially at home. This is too big of a series for them to be flat and
not perform they must come out and play like the championship caliber
team that they are…LET’S GO YANKEES!!!

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.

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