The Yankees entered Sunday’s game looking to complete a sweep against the Toronto Blue Jays.  CC Sabathia put together a strong showing, while the Bombers used some big hits from Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher and Alex Rodriguez to take a 9-3 victory.

New York scored first, as Brett Gardner started the game with a walk and stole second.  Mark Teixeira knocked a single to short, plating Gardner.  They added some more runs in the third, as Jesus Montero led off with a single to left.  Gardner was hit by a pitch and Jeter connected with his fifth homer of the season, giving the Bombers a 4-0 lead.

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Scranton lost to Buffalo 5-1 in Game 1 of their doubleheader:
Buffalo drew first blood, scoring two runs in the third.  They took a four run lead after five innings and Greg Golson knocked a solo homer to start the fifth, for the Yankees first and only run of the game.  The Bison scored one more run in the sixth and took a 5-1 win over the Yankees.   Golson went 2-3 with a run scored on his solo homer.  Dellin Betances had a rough start, going five inning and giving up five runs on six hits and two walks.  He did manage to strikeout seven in the process.  Andrew Brackman pitched two innings and gave up just one hit, likely ending a rough season on a positive note.

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The dominant narrative this morning was that, by defeating Tim Lincecum last night, Ian Kennedy and the D-Backs solidified their NL West title.  They are six games up with three weeks to play and, moreover, they have only three games left against winning teams.  However, those three games do come against the team chasing them, so if the reigning champs find a way to win this afternoon, they’ll only need to make up two games in two weeks in order to have a shot…

That shouldn’t be an unreasonable proposition.

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There’s been a lingering lament over losing Ian Kennedy for much of 2011, as the Yankees have been searching for an additional front-end starter and Kennedy, the former Yankees’ farm hand, has become a legitimate Cy Young candidate in Arizona. The arguments don’t tend to go very far, but I’ve seen plenty of people sort of imply that the trade was a mistake, or that it exposes some flaw with the Yankees’ development system or their famous lack of patience with young players. In the wake of Kennedy out-pitching Tim Lincecum and quite possibly sealing the N.L. West for the Diamondbacks, Steve S. over at The Yankee Analysts jumps on the bandwagon as well.

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I don’t really know why, but the Daily News is downright obsessed with moving Bartolo Colon to the Yankees’ bullpen. Today’s bit from Anthony McCarron seems like at least the 4th or 5th item I’ve seen on the subject from them in the last two weeks or so. Suffice it to say, I don’t really see what the point of pulling Colon from the rotation is, especially given that I think he’s obviously better than A.J. Burnett and probably more dependable than Phil Hughes. But this Anthony McCarron article nicely lays out the reasons behind it anyway, so it’s a good chance to spot the flaws in the logic.

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The Yankees fell behind the Blue Jays on more than one occasion Saturday afternoon, but their offense always seemed to have an answer.  Jesus Montero picked up his first hit of his major league career, singling off Ricky Romero in the bottom of the sixth.  Bartolo Colon kept letting Toronto back in, but some big hits helped the Yankees come up with a 6-4 victory.

Adam Lind started the top of the second inning with a solo homer, giving Toronto the lead.  Edwin Encarnacion singled to third.  Kelly Johnson lined one to left and Encarnacion scored on a sac fly by J.P. Arencibia, giving the Blue Jays a 2-0 edge.

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Triple-A Scranton lost to Pawtucket, 12-7
Pawtucket scored in only two innings, the first (five runs) and the eighth (seven), but it was enough to give them the win. For Scranton, Kevin Russo, Ramiro Pena, and Jordan Parraz each had two hits, and Parraz tripled. Mike Lamb hit a home run. Manny Banuelos was unfortunately terrible, giving up five runs in just 1.2 innings, with five walks (!), as was Kevin Whelan, who blew the save and got the loss with five runs in an inning.

Scranton will not be appearing in the International League playoffs this season, as Lehigh Valley made sure of that with their victory today.  Ramiro Pena is back in Scranton, after he spent quite a while on the DL due to having his appendix removed.  The GCL Yankees may be done, but Dante Bichette, Isaias Tejada, Taylor Morton and Mariel Checo will continue playing, as they all headed to Staten Island.

Scranton lost 4-3 to Pawtucket:
Kevin Russo started the game with a leadoff homer to left. Pawtucket answered with two runs in the bottom of the first and had a 4-1 lead after six.  The Yankees put together a small rally in the eighth.  Mike Lamb singled to third and moved to third on a single by Jorge Vazquez.  Jordan Parraz lined a RBI single to right, plating Lamb and Kruml followed with a grounder to center that scored Vazquez.  Parraz was thrown out at third, however, and the Yankees fell 4-3.  Russo went 2-5 with a solo homer.  Lamb was 2-3 with a run scored and a walk.  Romine made his first start in Triple-A and picked up a hit, striking out twice in his four at bats.  Adam Warren threw six innings and gave up four runs on seven hits and two walks.  He struck out five.  Andrew Brackman had a scoreless, hitless inning of relief, but he issued three walks and picked up no strikeouts.

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(originally published at the ESPN Sweet Spot on 8/31/2011)

Every year, it seems a controversy accompanies the end-of-year awards process. This year won’t be any different. On Monday afternoon, Sports Illustrated reporter and sabermetric lightning rod Jon Heyman released an early version of his ballot for the year-end season awards. Sure enough, his article set Twitter and the blogosphere afire with his position on the MVP selection process:

“But since the award is for most valuable player, and not most outstanding, the effect a player had on the pennant race should be vital. If someone else wants to interpret most valuable as synonymous to best, they can. And if someone else wants to interpret it as being valuable to a particular team, they can, too. But there is plenty of precedent to suggest it means valuable in the league.

Of course, some will argue that precedent shouldn’t count, and past mistakes should not be repeated. But I say the players understand going into a season that the criteria counted by most voters includes the team’s standing to some degree. Players also know that winning is the goal. And I have yet to see a player on a non-contender publicly claim to be MVP.”

The root problem behind the controversy plaguing the Most Valuable Player Award voting process is the word “valuable.” What does it mean? How should we define it? It’s pretty vague, and the rules provided by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) do a poor job clearing up the confusion. Not surprisingly, the lack of clarity about the rules leads each writer to create his own subjective interpretation of what the word means. When these interpretations don’t jive with our own expectations, we tend to react emotionally, often with anger and disdain.

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With the struggling A.J. Burnett on the mound for the Yankees, facing off against a strong Jon Lester, it looked like the most exciting part of the game could be the debut of Jesus Montero.  Instead, Burnett looked more like the pitcher the Yankees expect him to be and the Bombers pulled off a come-from-behind 4-2 victory to take the series win over the Red Sox.

The Yankees had a chance to break the game open right off the bat, as they made Lester throw 43 pitches in the first inning.  Curtis Granderson singled to right and Mark Teixeira flew a single to center.  A double from Robinson Cano pushed Granderson across the plate and the Yankees had the first run of the game.  Andruw Jones walked, loading the bases for Montero’s first major league at bat.  Montero struck out swinging, but the Bombers held a 1-0 lead.

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First, another congratulations to the GCL Yankees. With their defeat of the GCL Marlins, they have avenged the 2003 World Series and are champions of their league.

Double-A Trenton lost to New Hampshire, 2-0
New Hampshire led from the beginning, as they scored in the first and tacked on an insurance run in the seventh. Corban Joseph was 2-for-4. After this game, catcher Austin Romine was promoted to Triple-A Scranton for their last few games. Schaffer Hall threw seven innings of eight-hit, two-run ball (just one earned), with a walk and five strikeouts.

The Yankees had a couple opportunities to pull out another win against the Red Sox, but their pitching was unable to hold on.  Hughes looked alright in the first couple innings, but struggled to keep the ball down as the game went on.  The bullpen did little to keep the Yankees in it, as New York took a 9-5 loss.

Eduardo Nunez started the third inning with a double to left.  He moved to third on a groundout by Francisco Cervelli.  Derek Jeter drove a two out single to center, plating Nunez for the first run of the game.

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Tonight we’ll go out of order, as the big news was the GCL Yankees wrapping up their season with the GCL title.  It is the fourth time the Yankees have won the GCL crown since joining the league in 1999.

GCL Yankees beat the GCL Marlins 3-1:
The Marlins drew first blood, as they scored a run in the third inning.  The Yankees got it back in the fourth as Dante Bichette drove a solo homer to center.  The game stayed tied until the eighth inning.  Jose Rosario reached on a throwing error, landing on second.  Dante Bichette flew out to right and Rosario scored, thanks to a missed catch by the Marlins’ third baseman.  Matthew Duran led off the ninth with a single to center.  Jackson Valera doubled and Duran scored on a single from Isaias Tejeda to take a 3-1 victory.  Bichette went 2-4 with a run scored, a double, a homer and a RBI.  He hit .429 for the playoffs.  Duran was 3-3 with a run scored and a walk.

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