CC Sabathia may have given up 21 hits over his last 2 starts, but he’s actually gaining some velocity back. On opening day, the lefties’ four-seam fastball was sitting at 89.92 mph according to PITCHf/x, but in his start on Monday, Sabathia was sitting at 90.65 mph, and topping out at 92.4. His movement wasn’t nearly as impressive as we’ve seen in the past, and that was probably the reason why he gave up 11 hits with only 2 strike outs to the Orioles. Anyway, here’s an updated velocity chart of all the pitches he’s thrown this year.
He’s slowly building up arm strength, which is a great sign, but now we have to watch the movement on his four-seam, which averaged just under 8 inches of vertical movement on Monday. (Compared to 10+ inches on opening day)
Granderson CF
Cano 2B
Wells LF
Hafner DH
Overbay 1B
Adams 3B
Ichiro RF
Brignac SS
Romine C
Kuroda P
I wonder if this game will go to extra innings like the previous two have. (I’m hoping not.)
This is Part III of our sit-down interview with MLBPA Executive Director, Michael Weiner where we touch on (among other things) your beloved New York Yankees and some of the impending issues facing the organization as they creep ever-closer to an era of transition.
Obviously any conversation about the current state of the Yankee organization would not be complete without discuss, the much-publicized and much-debated Hal Steinbrenner edict to get payroll below that $189 Million luxury tax threshold. Prior to this season many fans and experts alike were predicting the Bombers demise given their age, injuries, and self-imposed salary cap. Some have even speculated that the Yankees reining in their spending would have a ripple effect throughout Major League Baseball and potentially hurt the game. Weiner, a big Yankees fan in his own right, when asked as to whether the Yankees shedding a significant amount of payroll would have a substantial impact on the game he posited:
“The way the economics of the game have moved, you know have all kinds of teams trying to win and all kinds of times spending a substantial amount of money on players other than the Yankees. Given that, I’m not sure that what the Yankees have decided to do in terms of cutting payroll has the same impact on the game as it might have in the late 90′s/early 2000′s. They are still the Yankees and are still the premiere franchise in Major League Baseball so what they do is important just like what the Dodgers, Mets, Giants and some other teams do has more importance than would others but it’s not as important as it used to be.”
Most Yankees fans are probably aware that the organization is trying to get under that $189 million threshold but not everyone knows what exactly the benefits are of doing so. Who better to ask than the man who brokered the most recent Basic Agreement that has seemingly prompted the Yankees to alter the way they do business:
(Click “view full post” to continue reading)
(Syndicated from An A-Blog for A-Rod)
It’s been just short of 3 weeks since David Phelps re-entered the starting rotation as Ivan Nova‘s replacement. He’s pitched better in each of the 4 starts he’s made in that time period, the best outing coming this past Saturday in the form of a 7-inning, 1-run, 8-K shutdown of the hapless Blue Jays. That start marked Phelps’ 15th of his professional career, by no means enough to definitively predict what he’ll do going forward but enough to make some reasonable observations. Phelps is the latest homegrown pitcher to break into the rotation semi-full time, after Ivan Nova in 2010/2011 and Phil Hughes in 2007/2008, and he’s all but earned the right to stay there with the way he’s pitched. Without getting back into the “the Yankees suck at developing starting pitching” argument, let’s just see how Phelps’ first 15 career starts stack up against Nova’s and Phil’s.
Click “View Full Post” to continue.
There’s an old saying that goes like this, “You can’t expect to win a ballgame when you give up two home runs to Chris Dickerson.” Okay, so I lied, that’s not an old saying but it should be.
Phil Hughes wasn’t terrible tonight which is a good thing considering how awful his last start was but he wasn’t spectacular either. He was serviceable and had a quality start in which he lasted six innings (Hooray!), only gave up two runs on five hits, walked two and struck out five (Yay!) Of course, it didn’t help that those two runs were solo home runs by the aforementioned Dickerson who I guess felt like showing off for his former team. It was the first multi-homer game of his career.
And after hitting three home runs last night, the Yankees only had one extra base hit tonight, a double by Brett Gardner. Much like Dickerson did for the Orioles, Travis Hafner was the Yankees’ offense tonight. He finished 2-4 with two RBI. This was his third game in a row with multiple RBI.
Orioles’ starter Miguel Gonzalez lasted seven innings and the rest of his numbers were similar to Hughes’: two runs, five hits, five strikeouts. The difference was in the walks and home runs – Gonazlez kept the ball in the park and didn’t walk a batter.
The game went into extra innings but didn’t last long.
Joe Girardi called upon Vidal Nuno to come in and pitch the 10th inning. He treated rudely by Nate McLouth who sent Nuno’s third pitch out of the park to win the game for the Orioles.
The Yankees fell for the first time this season when scoring first in a game.
Some notes from Jeff Quagliata of YES:
- The last Oriole to hit a walk-off HR vs. Yankees was Brian Roberts off Mike Stanton 6/28/05 and it also occurred in the 10th inning.
- The last walk-off homer against the Yankees occurred on 5/28/12. Mark Trumbo hit one off Cory Wade in Anaheim.
- David Robertson made his 289th career appearance which moved him into sole possession of 19th place on franchise list passing Fritz Peterson.
Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger wrote a story about tonight’s starter Phil Hughes. In it, Hughes describes how he felt after his last start, an outing that lasted only two-thirds of an inning – the shortest of his career – and in which he gave up seven earned runs on six hits. The big blow [...]
Gardner 8
Cano 4
Wells 7
Hafner 0
Overbay 3
Granderson 9
Adams 5
Nix 6
Romine 2
Hughes 1
Phil Hughes has a handful of brilliant starts, and a handful of abysmal ones. His last shot against the Mariners was an embarrassing dud where he lasted just 0.2 innings and gave up 7 earned runs. According to Chad Jennings of LoHud, the starter looked at video this week and came to the conclusion that he was “getting on the side of the ball”, a bad habit he has when he overthrows.
I wondered if we could see any difference between his mechanics from his last start and one of his gems from earlier in the year. Below is a side-by-side comparison of his four-seam fastball.
Click “View Full Post” to continue.
Well, this is interesting:
After three years of discussions and negotiations, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber announced on Tuesday that English Premier League powerhouse Manchester City FC and Major League Baseball’s legendary New York Yankees have teamed up to acquire MLS’s 20th expansion club.
The new team will be named New York City Football Club (NYCFC) and is expected to begin play in 2015.
I’m no futbol expert but Manchester City isn’t the team that wins all the time, right? That would be Manchester United.
Manchester City’s CEO Ferran Soriano is excited to partner with the New York Yankees:
“New York is a legendary sports town, as well as a thriving global city with a rapidly expanding soccer fan-base,” said Soriano. “We are thrilled to contribute to the energy and growth of New York City Soccer. In the Yankees, we have found the absolute best partner for developing a world-class sports organization and a winning team that will carry the New York City Football Club name with pride.”
Hal Steinbrenner, the managing general partner of the New York Yankees, also issued a statement:
“We are pleased to be associated with this major move by MLS to increase its presence in the New York market and to enhance the opportunity for New York soccer fans to enjoy high-level play in their own city.” Steinbrenner added, “We look forward to the opportunity to work with Manchester City to create something very special for the soccer fans of New York — and to bringing another terrific team to this city for all sports fans to enjoy.”
And finally, Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber issued a statement about the new team:
“We proudly welcome two of the most prestigious professional global sports organizations to Major League Soccer…This is a transformational development that will elevate the league to new heights in this country. The New York area is home to more than 19 million people, and we look forward to an intense crosstown rivalry between New York City Football Club and the New York Red Bulls that will captivate this great city.”
Ooh, so it would be like an MLS version of the heated Mets/Yankees rivalry? How exciting! (Yes, that was sarcasm. There is no rivalry between the Mets and the Yankees no matter how many times it is forced upon us.)
Of course, there are logistics to be sorted out like where this new soccer team is going to play. There have been ongoing talks about possibly building a stadium in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens but the club is also looking at other possible locations throughout the city.
MLS was founded in 1993, as part of the U.S.’s bid to win the 1994 World Cup and its first season was played in 1996. It is made up of 19 teams, three in Canada and 16 in the United States.
IIATMS MASTHEAD
Co-Founders and Editors Emeritus
Jason Rosenberg, Larry Koestler,
Moshe Mandel, Brien Jackson
Editors-in-Chief
Michael Eder, Stacey Gotsulias, Matt Imbrogno
Writers
Tamar Chalker, William Tasker, EJ Fagan, Mike Jaggers-Radolf, Brad Vietrogoski, Domenic Lanza
SNY
SNY
In Mo We Trust
