June 2009
New Address
For all of my readers out there who have made this blog worth my while to write, I’d like to let you know that I am switching URL’s. My current one is http://demboysfromthebronx.mlblogs.com. My new one is below.
This blog is called “Living the Baseball Life.” So if you see a link to it on the MLBlogs home page you’ll know that’s where I’m at.
I am done righting only about the Yankees (and how great they are). I will now start to write about everything around the baseball community. I will be covering the top stories from the MLB, or anything baseball. From the MLB, the MiLB, to little league, to wiffle ball with my friends in my backyard. You never know what is going to come out on this new blog. I wanted to let all of you know that this blog is going to bigger and better. I will cover more than just the Yankees and I hope everyone will continue to read. Please visit my new blog. I hate having my hit counter so low. I have worked hard here to get this one really high. So it would be great if all of you readers out there continue to make it worth my while to write this new blog. Thanks everyone.
-Dillon
The Yanks Look Like All-Stars; and Speaking of All-Stars
The Yanks now have the top record in all of the American League. If this is not a confidence booster for the Yanks, I don’t know what is. The Yanks have earned this record with their STELLAR play of late. After the very slow start to the season, in which we were as low as fourth place in the AL East, we have turned our season around immensely. A huge part of this has been the return of A-Rod.
A-Rod has been hitting a lot of homers since coming back, including the first pitch he saw in his first game back that he cranked to left in Baltimore. Most of his hits this year have been homers but he has started to inch that batting average up game after game. Now, although A-Rod’s all around play hasn’t been there, his return has helped one of our other big stars that had been very quiet. Mark Teixeira. Since A-Rod has come back, Tex has blown up on offense. His defensive play has been there all year. But now his offense is here too and he is just that much better.
The Yanks have first place in the AL East still but you can never get a big enough lead when you have the Red Sox and Blue Jays in your division. Right now, the lead is one game. Not a lot. But definitely something. If we continue to play the way we have of late, we should be fine.
Last night, the Yankees played the Rangers in the first of a three game series. The Yanks prevailed coming off the field with the 12-3 win. It was an offensive explosion, especially in the fourth when we scored seven runs. The inning included many big at-bats from the Yankee hitters and the balls were just jumping off their bats. Hideki Matsui’s three run blast was the high point in the Yankees’ fourth inning supernova. His offense has been lacking so far this season. Maybe it’s because of injury, or maybe he has just been in a slump. His offense was there yesterday for sure. After the fourth inning, the lead for the Yanks was 9-3.
The Yanks also scored two in the second inning and three in the sixth. The three runs in the sixth were on a Jorge Posada three run blast. The offensive game was great and everyone contributed.
The pitching was also fantastic. AJ Burnett took the bump with his 3-2 record. And he had it going on last night. An eight strikeout performance ended after seven innings of work. In his seven inning effort, Burnett gave up eight hits, one a homer, three runs, and also walked one guy. An overall good performance. Burnett didn’t really have any huge problems. His only tough inning was the third where the Rangers scored all three of their runs. Not bad.
Brett Tomko and Jose Veras came in after Burnett came out and each pitched perfect innings. Tomko had a strikeout in his one inning effort. The ‘pen actually pitched pretty well and that pleased me immensely. It was great to see, especially Veras, pitch well. I don’t think you can get any better than pitching one inning, not giving up a hit or a walk or any runs. They both were great.
Here are my top performers from yesterday’s game.
- Derek Jeter: 3-4, 1 run
- Johnny Damon: 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 run, 1 walk
- Alex Rodriguez: 0-3, 1 RBI, 2 runs, 1 walk
- Robinson Cano: 2-5, 1 RBI, 2 runs
- Jorge Posada: 3-5, 4 RBI, 2 runs, 1 HR
- Hideki Matsui: 2-5, 3 RBI, 2 runs, 1 HR
- AJ Burnett: 7 innings, 8 K’s, 3 ER, 8 hits, 1 walk
- Brett Tomko: 1 inning, 1 K, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 ER
- I can’t believe I’m saying this but, Jose Veras: 1 inning, 0 K’s, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 ER
Now here’s another interesting topic sprouting from yesterday’s game. The two plunkings of Mark Teixeira. Vincente Padilla was the culpret of both and they both came in the fourth inning. The first one came and went with Tex taking first and nothing else happening. But when the second one happened, there was definitely a lot of sparks coming from all over the place. There was a ton coming from the stands. A chorus of Bronx boos were pouring out of the stands on a non-stop flight to Padilla’s ears. Tex had some choice words for Padilla as he threw the bat to the ground. Jarod Saltalamacchia and the home plate umpire had to get between Tex and Padilla as he walked down to first. Joe Girardi also came out of the dugout to try and cool Tex down. Padilla is now a member of the Yankee fans’ “People to Hate” list. Good luck Padilla….. yeah right, I hate you Padilla. You suck!
So the game ended and the Yanks got the win.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this. The Yanks broke the record for errorless games in a row in the series finale with the Indians. Well, that record is now set, but the record is only a game longer than it had been. On an attempt to throw out a Ranger baserunner, Jorge Posada threw the ball into center field and the errorless streak was gone. Well, it was a good run fellas. Get ‘em next time.
We’ve still got two games with the powerful Ranger offense. The first game blowout was surely a shock to all but you can never count them out. The loss of Josh Hamilton will be huge for their team, but they still have a very good offense. That guy Nelson Cruz has been tearing it up. He hit another shot yesterday off Burnett. Hopefully we can stop him and silence his bat.
We send Andy Pettitte to the mound tonight and we’re all hoping he can get the job done against Scott Feldman. Let’s get it done.
Now, speaking of All-Stars, All Star weekend is coming up closer and closer every day and the debate on who should be sent to St. Louis this year continues to rage on. Here are my picks for both the AL and NL.
AL
P: Roy Halladay
1B: Mark Teixeira
2B: Ian Kinsler
3B: Evan Longoria
SS: Derek Jeter
LF: Jason Bay
CF: Curtis Granderson
RF: Ichiro Suzuki
C: Joe Mauer
NL
P: Johan Santana
1B: Albert Pujols
2B: Chase Utley
3B: Ryan Zimmerman
SS: Hanley Ramirez
LF: Ryan Braun
CF: Raul Ibanez
RF: Adam Dunn
Go Yanks!
-Dillon
Joba Lays Out- Just One of the Highlights of the Yankees-Indians Series Finale
Well, I said it. Joba layed out. And I mean layed out. Usually when you lay out for a ball, you catch it before you hit the ground again. But Joba, well, I don’t think he knows the concept of laying out for a ball. But you can’t blame him. He’s a pitcher, not a fielder. You do have to give him props for his athletic play, though. And after all the anxiety of the play was gone, after he had thrown the ball to Jeter who was standing on second to trun the double play, he still had his fist pump going. Way to go Joba. Here’s the link to the video, because I have yet to figure out how to get a video on this blog.
http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=4820689&c_id=nyy
That was just one of the exciting parts of the game. Definitely the best play of the game. Overall, the game was excellent. The Yanks came away with the 5-2 win. Joba got the win, after a STELLAR eight inning, five strikeout performance, and the Yankee offense was able to get to the young Jeremy Sowers, who took the bump for the Tribe. Here’s the breakdown.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I was able to watch the game again last night because it was on ESPN’s Monday Night Baseball.
Breakdown
Joba took the bump for the Yanks agaisnt Jeremy Sowers. Sowers went five innings giving up three hits, five walks, and only one run. The night ended well for Sowers who left the game in the sixth after walking Jeter, Swisher, and Teixeira back to back to back. It was a tough way to leave the game but Sowers was definitely losing his stuff. Not a bad outing though. More on the sixth inning later.
The story of the game was surely Joba Chamberlain’s performance. He went three innings of perfection, and almost went four, but Victor Martinez spoiled the perfect game with a blast to right center. It was a no doubter after it left the bat. Tough luck, but it only tied the game. Joba would bounce back after after giving up a bunt single to Shin Soo Choo, a stolen base from Choo, and a walk to Jhonny Peralta. Oooh that Jhonny Peralta really gets on my nerves. But he didn’t go anywhere after walking so that made me happy. Joba got out of the inning by striking out Mark DeRosa on three straight pitches.
Let me make note that through the first four innings, Joba’s breaking ball was absolutely deadly. It was breaking with perfect accuracy, only missing a couple times. He used the breaking ball on first pitches, strike out counts, and even with three strikes. It was nasty.
Joba went the rest of the game with the nasty curveball still working. He only gave up one more run (7th inning). A STELLAR performance for Joba must give him such confidence. He is definitely having a good year. He is in the midst of a good stretch of baseball. He has pitched relatively well of late, especially last night.
The offense performed big too. It took a little to get to Sowers, only getting one run off him. They had a chance at some more when they chased Sowers from the game with the bases loaded in the sixth. Greg Aquino came in to try and save the inning. He did just that. He got the next three guys out absolutely saving Sowers’ behind.
The Yankees’ big inning was the seventh. Here’s a play-by-play recap of the inning.
- Melky Cabrera grounds out to first base.
- Hideki Matsui pinch hits for Angel Berroa, walks. Ramiro Pena pinch runs.
- Gardner walks.
- Derek Jeter walks.
- Nick Swisher doubles off left field wall to drive in Pena and Gardner.
- Mark Teixeira intentional walk.
- Luis Viscaino comes in to pitch.
- Alex Rodriguez singles to drive in Jeter and Swish. Teixeira is thrown out after rounding too far past second.
- Jorge Posada walks.
- Robinson Cano pops out to left field.
This was the big inning in which we scored four of our five runs. This was the end of the offense so the rest of the game isn’t really in need of explanation.
Overall, the Yankees played great. The pitching was there, the offense was there, and the defense was there, led by Joba’s outstanding diving catch. Everything was running smoothly and it was a great game to watch.
The series with the Tribe is over. We took 3 of 1 from them and it was an overall successful series. It was an exciting one too. It was a good thing the bugs didn’t show up this time, although the birds definitely did. In yesterday’s game, the whole outfield was covered in them. There were birds all around the right fielder Shin Soo Choo at one point and at another point they were all around Ben Francisco in center. It was crazy.
We play the powerful Texas Rangers for a three game series. It’s going to be a crazy one with the heavy hitting Rangers in Yankee Stadium (home run heaven). I am predicting many balls to leave the yard tonight.
We’ve got AJ Burnett going against the inconsistent Vincente Padilla. He has been inconsistent for most of his career. Sometimes he has good stuff but other times he is so crazy, you never know what is coming. Hopefully we can get to him and score big. We’ll definitely need the offense to come up big if AJ can’t control the Ranger offense.
Let’s go Yanks!
-Dillon
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