Wells’ Gem Just Another Nugget In A Golden Era

May 17th, 2012 Mike Posted in Features, Main

Championship seasons are fleeting and very difficult to attain. That is why organizations forever honor those years and teams which have achieved their sport’s ultimate goal. And it is why fans reminisce about those times as if it were the greatest moments of their lives. But there are generations of Yankees fans who have spent their lives living beyond these sporting parameters. Instead of one championship season, the Yankees honor decades of dominance. Dynasties that have marked the decades of the Twentieth Century. From Ruth to DiMaggio, to Mantle and on through to Derek Jeter, the Yankees seem to have always had, more times than not, a dynasty just waiting to be born. But the game has changed. It is now more difficult than ever to maintain that level of excellence.

Enter the latest Yankees Dynasty. An era that spanned six years and showcased some of the games most amazing feats as well as a historic tragedy in which the team helped a city, as well as a nation, heal. Each of the Yankees dynasties had their crowing in season moments. 60 home runs, a 56 game hitting streak, and the chase of Babe Ruth’s single season home run mark by the M & M boys to name a few. But none of those eras seem to have the multitude of accomplishments as the Bombers last dynastic installment.

Starting with Gooden’s no-hitter in 1996, the Yankees embarked on an era that saw so many special moments. Enough to fill another team’s history books. And in the middle of this era. In the midst of a record setting season, there was David Wells. The Yankee fan from San Diego. Who went to the same high school as Don Larsen (He of World Series Perfect Game fame). Pitching for his beloved Bombers on Beanie Baby Day. Wells, never the traditional athlete, spoke about being nervous during the game. He even joked (he was serious) about being out late the night before. But there he was being lifted upon his teammates shoulders in a moment of immortality.

It was a memorable moment in an era that was filled with memorable moments. Wells’ gem was followed by Cone’s Perfect Game just one year later, when the stars seemed to align for Yogi Berra’s return to the Stadium. Other moments came as well, none more painful than the aftermath of 9/11.

So today, remember where you were when Wells was mowing down the Twins. But also remember what you saw in the years leading up to and after this historic day. Because these moments are fleeting. Even for Yankee Fans.

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Is The Glass Half Full Or Half Empty?

April 26th, 2012 Mike Posted in Main

Here are the New York Yankees. Two-thirds of the way through the first real gauntlet of the 2012 season. Things haven’t exactly gone according to the blue print. But, depending on how you choose to look at it, the Yankees are in ok shape. Or they are headed for disaster.

First, the positives. They marched into Boston this weekend, weathered the hype of fabled Fenway Park’s 100th anniversary, and did what the have done to the Red Sox for seemingly the past 100 years, beat them. And beat them in dramatic fashion.

Next up was a trip to Texas, where the American League’s hottest team was waiting for what appeared to be a suddenly weary pitching staff. But a rainout in Boston on Sunday Night allowed the Yankees to push Sabathia’s start back. And when he took the mound on Monday, he looked like he was finally rounding into the pitcher the Yankees know him to be.

Despite the loss in an anticipated matchup with fellow countryman Yu Darvish, Hiroki Kuroda was solid against a powerful Texas lineup. Unfortunately, the trip ended on a sour note as Phil Hughes couldn’t seem to find his command and gain the poise that showed so much promise in the spring.

Couple that with the news of Michael Pineda’s impending surgery and the Yankees appear to be a team searching for answers. But maybe the situation isn’t as dire as it seems. After all, it’s all about perspective.

The Pineda issue is no doubt a setback. But The trade really must be viewed as an acquisition for the future. So, while it hurts the current rotation, it shouldn’t affect their season plans. It wasn’t that long ago that Girardi was saying, despite the hype, that Pineda wasn’t guaranteed a spot in the rotation anyway. The real issue is Hughes and Garcia. Pettitte’s return will alleviate one of these issues. But the other will remain, unless there is a trade or free agent signing. Hughes’ issue now seems to be his command. The Yankees believe he can still right the ship. His ineffectiveness is a conundrum. The question is how long do the Yankees stick with him. Freddy Garcia may just be running out of the magic that made him look so well in 2011.

The offense, no surprise, has been a boon for the Yankees. Led by the resurgence of their captain, they have no trouble scoring runs. Aside from the annual slow start by Mark Teixeira, things seem to be status quo as far as the bats go. Sure, there may be some concern for Cano’s slow start. And there is the fish bowl that Alex Rodriguez’s stats live in. But as one Yankee pundit always likes to say “Look at the back of the baseball card.”

The bullpen has also been a huge benefit to the Yankees. And a big reason why they are 10-8 heading into the weekend. The bullpen has erased numerous bad outings by the rotation.

So now it is on to the last leg of this gauntlet. Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers are headed to the Bronx for a weekend showdown with the Yankees. If I told you that the Yankees would be 3-2 versus Boston and Texas as they entered this series, with Kuroda looking like the pitcher they thought they were getting, I’m sure you would have taken it. And that’s exactly what has happened. They’ve dismantled their hated rivals and put up a respectable showing in Texas.

Sure, the Yankees have their issues, but what team doesn’t. But the question posed to you heading forward is this. Is the glass half full, or is it half empty?

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Yankees Rotation One of the Best in Baseball in 2012

April 5th, 2012 Matt Loede Posted in News, Opinions

With it being Opening Day, let’s break down the Yankees starting rotation:

1. LHP CC Sabathia

2. RHP Hiroki Kuroda

3. RHP Ivan Nova

4. RHP Freddy Garcia

5. RHP Phil Hughes

Sabathia and Kuroda provide a veteran presence ahead of the three youngsters until the eventual arrival of unretired LHP Andy Pettitte.

Hughes was the best of the bunch this spring, flashing the stuff that made him an 18-game winner and All-Star in 2010 and seemingly putting his dreadful 2011 season in the rearview mirror.

RHP Michael Pineda’s shoulder injury during his final spring start sent him to the DL, opening the door for Garcia to claim the fifth spot.

Hughes and Nova will have to prove themselves in April before Pettitte is ready, as someone will be demoted to make room for the lefty.

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Pineda’s final spring outing

March 30th, 2012 Rich Gonzalez Posted in Opinions

Today, Michael Pineda will take the mound for the final time this spring. Up to this point, the young righty has started in 5 games, pitched 16.1 innings, allowed 17 hits, 6 earned runs, 1 homerun, 7 walks, and punched out 16 hitters. Although these are not the greatest of stats, Pineda is only 23 years old. Only 3 years older than me. We could have been attending high school at the same time. He could have bullied me.

This winter Pineda’s main focus was on his command and developing his change-up. That may have caused his velocity to drop a significant amount. Michael’s command has shown. This spring Pineda has thrown 128 pitches and 97 have been strikes. Adding even more command to his arsenal makes him a dangerous pitcher. Assuming his velocity will pick back up, which I believe will happen.

Velocity this, velocity that, velocity, velocity, and more velocity. That is all that seems to buzz around Pineda this spring. A scout also said that in Pineda’s previous start, the young righty had a hard time reaching the mid 90s compared to last year when he effortlessly threw well into the high 90s. This does seem to scare me a bit. His velocity just disappeared and he did have that shoulder injury. But what needs to be taken into consideration is his age (I sound like a broken record), that he reported to spring fatter, and his maturity. The weight can easily be fixed, the age takes time but not many young guns can display impressive maturity at such a young age.

March 20th versus the Pirates, Pineda started off rocky allowing McCutchen to hit a 2-run homerun over the left field wall. After that inning, Rothschild let him know that he was opening up. Pineda went on to have a 5 strikeout 2nd and 3rd innings. “You don’t see that a lot from young pitchers,” said Girardi. “Sometimes they struggle to make an adjustment, but he made it pretty quick. I think he’s got a pretty good sense of what he needs to do and the adjustments he needs to make.” Pineda’s adjustment allowed him to continue pitching in the game and hold the Pirates to  those 2 runs. After a bad first inning you would expect a young pitcher to be a bit shook and have trouble the following innings. Pineda did the opposite and displayed great maturity.

“Nobody throws hard in spring training, because it’s spring training,” Pineda said this in response to a question about his velocity. His change-up and slider may have been overlooked this game, his change was a go-to pitch that he can throw for strikes now. Pineda’s slider has been a diabolical pitch since he came to the majors. Girardi said this on his slider, “It’s a little surprising that he does have an idea what he wants to do, he can make his slider bigger when he wants to and he can make it different for right-handers and left-handers if he wants to. It is surprising for a kid his age”. In exchange for a velocity loss, which will come back, Pineda has really grasped the concept of pitching. The young righty understands what he needs to do to get hitters out and stay away from what he wants to do, which in his case would probably want to strikeout everyone, even the fans.

Michael, at the age of 23, has shown extreme maturity. And I strongly believe that he has the power to go to the high 90s whenever he needs to. It’s just a gut feeling I have. Pineda will go into his start tonight with a lot to prove. Starting the season in the minors has also been a topic of conversation but I strongly disagree with that, which is a topic for another day. Pineda will be fine this year. If I’m wrong, I’ll gladly eat my crow at the end of the season.

The Yankees take on the Phillies tonight at 7:05 pm at George M. Steinbrenner Field. All eyes will be on the radar gun.

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Ibanez Homers, Garcia Pitches Well as Yanks Beat Tigers 4-2

March 24th, 2012 Matt Loede Posted in Game Stories, News

Raul Ibanez hit his first home run with the Yankees, Freddy Garcia pitched into the fifth inning and New York beat the Tigers 4-2 in 10 innings Saturday.

Ibanez had two hits to raise his average to .075. He hit a two-run shot off Tigers starter Max Scherzer in the seventh inning.

Garcia, vying for the fifth spot in the Yankees rotation, was making his first since bruising his hand 10 days ago. He went 4 1-3 innings and allowed one hit and two walks. He struck out four.

D.J. Mitchell got the win but allowed two runs in the ninth, one on a homer by Audy Ciriaco.

Dewayne Wise hit a two-run double in the 10th.

Scherzer went seven innings and allowed three hits and two runs for the Tigers, striking out eight.

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Hughes Solid in Start for Yankees

March 21st, 2012 Matt Loede Posted in Game Stories, News

Phil Hughes isn’t feeling any extra pressure because of Andy Pettitte’s return to the Yankees.

Focusing on his changeup, Hughes allowed three hits in five innings Wednesday as the New York Yankees beat the Rays 5-2.

With CC Sabathia and Hideki Kuroda assured rotation spots, Hughes began spring training competing with Ivan Nova, Michael Pineda and Freddy Garcia for the final three slots. Pettitte’s decision to end his retirement after one year adds another arm to the mix.

“There’s always a need for good pitching, and as long as I go out and pitch well and am one of those guys, there’s going to be a spot,” Hughes said. “I’m making strides every day. Up to this point, I’m happy where I’m at.”

He walked Carlos Pena leading off the second, and Matt Joyce connected on a first-pitch cutter for a two-run homer, his third home run of spring training.

“You could look over your shoulder every day in this business. That’s the bottom line,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “You have to learn to look forward, and if you take care of your business and do what you’re supposed to do, chances are you don’t have to worry about looking over your shoulder.”

Pettitte, a 39-year-old left-hander, is a five-time World Series champion. He is not expected to be ready for the start of the season.

Hughes, coming off an injury filled season and a 5-5 record, struck out three and walked one in his fourth outing and threw 50 of 73 pitches for strikes. Hughes said he threw about 15 changeups and got a few of his strikeouts with the pitch, which he said he didn’t have a great feel for in the past.

“It was very good,” Yankees catcher Russell Martin said. “He wasn’t as consistent early on with it, but as the game went along he kept getting better and better I think he’s gaining confidence the more he throws it.”

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Who’s hot, Who’s not

March 21st, 2012 Rich Gonzalez Posted in Main

Hello Fellow Yankees Fans,

This entry is pretty self-explanatory, we will be going over players who are shining and players who are not so hot. Although Spring Training stats don’t really matter, it is always nice to get an idea of the good and bad. So let’s jump into it:

Who’s Hot:

Alex Rodriguez: .345/.441/.655

11 G, 29 AB, 4 R, 10 H, 3 2B, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 5 BB, 7 SO, 3 SB

Rodriguez is tearing the cover off of the ball this spring. Just like last spring, Alex is looking like the Alex we all want to see. Who would have seen last season’s injury coming? An injury that held Rodriguez to 99 games. Let’s put that behind us though, we are at the dawn of a new season. The number that caught my eye was his RBI total. Leading the team in runs batted in is just what you want your 4 spot hitter doing. Not only that but he also has 5 walks this spring meaning he is seeing the ball pretty well. Rodriguez is also using his legs for running as he’s stolen 3 bags this spring. Hopefully A-Rod can carry this into the 2012 season, his bat is a big key to the Yankees’ success.

Curtis Granderson: .385/.467/.731

10 G, 26 AB, 8 R, 10 H, 6 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 4 BB, 4 SO

Coming off an MVP caliber season, Granderson seems to have picked up where he left off. Granderson has scored eight runs only trailing Justin Maxwell by one. Granderson’s strikeout totals amount to only 4. The reason I say ‘only’ is because Curtis was no stranger to the third strike last season stricking out 169 times. I’m sure strikeouts are a number Granderson would like to keep to a minimum this upcoming season. Although Grandy only has 1 homerun and has not displayed that 2011 power, he has hit a team-leading 6 doubles. Curtis has been swinging the bat with authority this Spring Training.

Justin Maxwell: .435/.519/.652

14 G, 23 AB, 9 R, 10H, 5 2B, 0 HR, 6 RBI, 4 BB, 5 SO, 3 SB

If centerfield was up for grabs this spring, I would not want to be Girardi (or maybe I would) because Maxwell is making one hell of a statement. What Maxwell does extremely well is hit and round the bases. I mean, who doesn’t like that? Justin has not played anymore than 70 games at the Major League level. It does not seem like he will exceed that number unless one of the designated hitters goes down or one of the starting outfielders is seriously hurt. It’s great to have a bat like this ready for calling whenever it is needed.

Who’s Not:

Raul Ibanez: .059/.111/.088

12 G, 34 AB, 0 R, 2 H, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 7 SO

Raaaaaaaaaaul, poor guy, only he knows how terrible it feels to struggle so, so badly. Although Ibanez has been to the plate the most times out of any Yankees player this spring, he has only compiled a measly two hits. He has struck out seven times, only driven in two and walked twice. This is not what the DH role should hold for the Yankees this season. These numbers are not acceptable. Ibanez said he has been working on timing and making less movement, let’s hope he gets his time down.

Francisco Cervelli: .167/.192/.250

10 G, 24 AB, 1 R, 4 H, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 6 SO

“That’s Cervelli”. If you guys recall, that was his response to a question asked about a little altercation between the Sox and Yanks back last season. Cervelli has not been Cervelli, if there has ever been one, this spring. He is struggling mightily at the plate striking out six times and only hitting the ball for a hit 4 times out of 24 chances this spring. Catchers are not known for their bats, but it’d be nice to see some, any, kind of production out of that position. The high intensity catcher is having is not having a spring to his liking.

Eric Chavez: .125/.125/.167

10 G, 24 AB, 0 R, 3 H, 1 2B, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 6 SO

The back-up to A-Rod is not having a good spring. It is a bit tough to swallow the fact that Chavez was re-signed this offseason because the only question to ask is, when will he go down with an injury. Most of his career Chavez has been beat up by injuries and last season was just another chapter added to his medical records. Chavez’ glove never fails though, his gold glove caliber defense is one of the best at the third base position. Although his glove is smooth, an injury prone third baseman backing up another injury prone third baseman in A-Rod is something to question this season.

 

Although numbers during the spring do not mean much, we can use them to see where key players are headed. We still have a couple weeks left before opening day, let’s hope the hot players can continue being hot and the cold ones turn it around.

 

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No Surprise – Yankees First of List of MLB’s Most Vaulable Teams

March 21st, 2012 Matt Loede Posted in News

The National Pastime is flourishing thanks to cable companies’ desire for live baseball programming. The Yankees as expected, leading the way, coming in as the most valuable team in MLB.

The average Major League Baseball team rose 16 percent in value during the past year, to an all-time high of $605 million. In 2011, revenue (net of payments to cover stadium debt) for the league’s 30 teams climbed to an average of $212 million, a 3.4 percent gain over the previous season. But operating income (in the sense of earnings before non-cash charges and interest expenses) fell 13 percent, to an average of $14 million in part due to a 5.1 percent increase in player costs (including benefits and signing bonuses for amateurs), to $3.5 billion in 2011.

Rights fees paid by cable television channels are behind the growth in team values. Aggregate cable television revenue for baseball’s 30 teams has increased to $923 million from $328 million over the past 10 years. And thanks to new television deals inked by teams like the Houston Astros, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Texas Rangers that have yet to kick in, as well as the pending deal for the San Diego Padres and a likely rich deal that will begin in 2014 for whom ever buys the Los Angeles Dodgers, local television revenue could exceed $1.5 billion in 2015.

The top 10:

1. New York Yankees ($1.85 billion)
2. Los Angeles Dodgers ($1.4 billion)
3. Boston Red Sox ($1 billion)
3. Chicago Cubs ($1 billion)
5. Philadelphia Phillies ($723 million)
6. New York Mets ($719 million)
7. Texas Rangers ($674 million)
8. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim ($656 million)
9. San Francisco Giants ($643 million)
10. Chicago White Sox ($600 million)

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