Tampa was the only Yankee affiliate to come up completely empty tonight, as they struggled against Daytona. Meanwhile, Dante Bichette had the game-winning hit for Charleston who defeated Augusta in extra innings. Of course, while Charleston was seeing extra baseball, Trenton’s game got called an inning early as the rain held off just long enough for them to get the comeback win over Richmond. Unfortunately, Slade Heathcott was scratched before the game and it looks like he is headed to the DL – and we haven’t even gotten through April.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre was rained out – again.
Trenton beat Richmond 5-3(8 innings due to rain):
The Flying Squirrels struck early when Adam Duvall doubled in the top of the second. Mark Minicozzi drew a walk and Andrew Susac doubled in Duvall for the first run. A sac fly by Brett Krill put Richmond up 2-0. Jose Pirela flew a double to center in the third, scoring on a line drive single by Tyler Austin. The score stayed 2-1 through five and Richmond added a run in the sixth. The Thunder put together a big rally in the bottom of the seventh, however, which would prove to be the difference in the game. Ramon Flores got Trenton started with a single to left, moving to second on a ground out by Pirela. Austin drew a walk and JR Murphy doubled in both runners, tying the game 3-3. Kyle Roller struck out, but Rob Segedin kept the rally going by flying a double to left that plated Murphy. A wild pitch moved Segedin to third and Neil Medchill grounded a RBI single to left, giving Trenton a 5-3 lead. Richmond started the eighth with a double and a single, but the next three batters went down in order before the rain came and ended the game an inning early, giving Trenton a 5-3 victory.
Pirela went 2-4 with a double and a run scored. Medchill went 3-4 with a RBI. Segedin went 2-4 with two doubles, a run scored and a RBI. Austin went 1-3 with a run scored, a RBI and a walk. Francisco Rondon got the start, throwing four innings and allowing two runs on three hits, four walks and five Ks. Jeremy Bleich went 2.2 and gave up one unearned run on two hits and two walks, striking out one batter. Josh Romanski threw 1.1 innings of scoreless ball, giving up two hits, a walk and getting one K.
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I know other stuff happened in this game but the triple play was extremely important and occurred in a spot where it was desperately needed. In the seventh inning of a tied game, with men on first and second, with no outs and with a 3-2 count on Manny Machado, CC Sabathia looked like he was going to be in trouble. Then, it happened.
And this time when the play was over, it really was a triple play, unlike the play in the July 1, 2004 game that Michael Kay mistakenly called a triple play. Ahem.
Sabathia pitched eight strong innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on eight hits with nine strike outs. He didn’t walk a batter. The unearned run happened in the top of the seventh after Youkilis made an error at third and then first base umpire called a balk on Sabathia and the runner who advanced to second scored on a single.
Sabathia was angry and called the call “horse sh*t,” and he was right. It was. I’m not sure what Larry Vanover was thinking with the call but the Yankees struck back in the bottom of the inning thanks to a big miscue by a gold glove winner.
(Don’t you love when that happens?)
With the bases loaded and two outs, Vernon Wells stepped in agains Pedro Strop and launched a 2-0 offering to dead center field. It looked as if it were going to be a sure out but Adam Jones closed his glove before the ball actually reached it and it dropped. That miscue results in three runs scoring and Wells making it to second.
The Yankees were up 5-2 and thanks to that big triple play, that’s the way it would remain.
Some notes:
- The last Yankees’ triple play was April 22, 2010 in Oakland and it was only a 5-4-3.
- Before that, it was 1968 when they made a 1-5-3 triple play.
- Oh and by the way, CC Sabathia was pitching in that April 22, 2010 as well.
- The last time the Orioles had a triple play against them was in 1996.
- Eduardo Nunez was hit by a pitch and thankfully only has a bruised wrist.
- The 4-6-5-6-5-3-4 triple play was the first in MLB history (or at least the first since the 1870s)
- Kevin Youkilis had three hits and Brett Gardner and Francisco Cervelli had two walks apiece.
- That Mariano Rivera guy earned a save.
Having two rain outs in a row has stunk, and it’s possible that tonight could be a third. The weather is shaping up decently though, and the radar looks like nothing more than short patchy storms until later tonight.
The Yankees have skipped Ivan Nova and Phil Hughes, although Hughes will start tomorrow due to Andy Pettitte‘s back spasms, and this means CC Sabathia gets the ball against the Orioles tonight. I’m sure the left-hander will have his velocity heavily scrutinized, but all I care about at this point is his effectiveness. Meanwhile, Miguel Gonzalez will take the mound for the Orioles.
Here’s tonight’s lineup.
Brett Gardner CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Kevin Youkilis 3B
Travis Hafner DH
Vernon Wells LF
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Eduardo Nunez SS
Lyle Overbay 1B
Francisco Cervelli C
The game will start at 7:05 PM, (hopefully) and you can catch it on MY9. Go Yankees!
A report came out earlier today that said MLB was trying to purchase documents from Biogenesis, the Miami anti-aging clinic:
Major League Baseball’s investigation of an anti-aging clinic linked to performance-enhancing drugs has taken a new turn, with the commissioner’s office paying a former employee of the facility for documents related to the case. At the same time, two people briefed on the matter said, at least one player linked to the clinic has purchased documents from a former clinic employee in order to destroy them.
And now, we know who that one player is, allegedly.
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It has been an eventful day in Yankeeland. Okay, I’m lying, it has been an eventful past hour or so.
If you missed it, Carlos Carrasco was suspended for throwing at Kevin Youkilis and now there’s more news from the Bronx.
First up, Andy Pettitte‘s start on Sunday has been moved. Hiroki Kuroda will be pitching in his place. The reason? Pettitte’s back had been bothering him the past few days and it locked up on him last night.
I’ve had back spasms many times. They’re not fun. So the rotation for this weekend’s series against the Orioles will now be CC Sabathia tonight, Phil Hughes tomorrow and Kuroda on Sunday night.
Next, the Yankees are offering a pretty cool ticket package. From yankees.com:
The New York Yankees announced they have added four limited-edition collectible player bobblehead dates presented by AT&T to their 2013 promotional calendar. The set of four is the first series in a three-year collection of 12 Yankees bobbleheads. This marks the first time in 10 years the Yankees will hold a player bobblehead promotion.
The list of games for 2013 are:
- Derek Jeter (July 8)
- Hideki Matsui (July 28)
- Yogi Berra (Aug. 30)
- Mariano Rivera (Sept. 24)
And finally, the Yankees seem to have a rain cloud following them this week. After two rained out games in Cleveland, that same dreary weather has made its way to the NYC area and tonight’s game may be in jeopardy. If the weather does affect tonight’s game, the rotation they announced earlier today will more than likely be pushed back.
Stay tuned.
Here’s the press release from MLB:
Cleveland Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco has received an eight-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for intentionally throwing at and hitting Kevin Youkilis of the New York Yankees in the top of the fourth inning of the Tuesday, April 9th game at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Joe Garagiola, Jr., Senior Vice President of Standards and On-Field Operations for Major League Baseball, made the announcement.
Unless appealed, Carrasco is scheduled to begin serving his suspension during Cleveland’s home game tonight against the Chicago White Sox. If Carrasco elects to file an appeal, then the discipline issued to him will be held in abeyance until the process is complete.
The last time I talked about Vernon Wells, I was optimistic about some of the changes he made to his swing. Considering the money the Yankees dished out for the left fielder, I’ll assume the organization felt the same way. Over the last few years, Wells has fallen from one of the top outfielders to someone close to negative value. His walk and contact rates decreased and his swings outside of the zone and strike outs increased.
When talking to the media this Spring, he said that he’d fallen into a bad habit of trying to hit home runs, and after looking at video from last decade, decided to change his swing so that he could go to all fields. This was somewhat surprising, considering Wells hasn’t gone to opposite field in a very long time. Over his career he has a 21 wRC+ to right field, and when you total it up, only 22% of his batted balls have gone in that direction.
Above are all the batted balls he’s had over the first 8 games of the year. It’s a awfully small sample size, but it’s good to see that he is indeed hitting the ball to all parts of the park. It’s mostly fly balls we’re seeing in right, but those can translate very well in Yankee Stadium.
Not only is he spreading the ball around, but he’s taking pitches. His 5 walks thus far are already close to 1/3rd of what he had all of last season, and a quarter of what he had in 2011.
At the moment he’s hitting .360/.467/.720, but I wouldn’t make too much of that. He’s obviously not going to continue putting up Barry Bonds numbers. What I’m looking for is the type of contact he’s making and where the balls are landing. Obviously we’re seeing good hit placement, but the batted ball rates have also been strong. 25% of his hits have been line drives thus far, 45% have been fly balls, and only 30% have been ground balls. While this is small sample size, these are the exact things that Wells talked about fixing this Spring, and it’s good to see he’s on the right track.
We’re obviously going to need a few more months of data before we start to talk about him rebounding, but at least he’s on the right track. The Yankees will be in very good shape if the 34-year old can turn the clock back to his Toronto days.
The Yankees made the road trip to Cleveland, but only played one game due to rain. Outside of their division, this means that the Yankees are going to have a headache double header to play at some point in the future, most likely in September. Axisa at River Ave Blues is a little bit worried:
Now here’s where things get really messy: it’s supposed to rain all day in New York tomorrow. The heaviest stuff is expected in the morning, but the forecast right now says the showers will continue through the night. Three consecutive rain outs (in two different cities) would be pretty crummy. Not only would the bombers have three postponed games to make up just two weeks into the new season, but you also have to worry about the hitters losing their rhythm and what not. The Yankees’ bats did some major damage on Monday and Tuesday and I really would like that to continue.
I’m with him on the hitters out of rhythm part, but I’m still very happy about these rain outs. I’m not sure about 3 in a row, but I’d love to lose another 2 games this April due to rain.
Why? The Yankees are as weak right now as they are going to be all season. Starting in May, reinforcements start to arrive off the disabled list. I’d much rather play fewer games with Jayson Nix, Lyle Overbay, Ivan Nova, and Ichiro Suzuki in the lineup and more games featuring Michael Pineda, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter, and Alex Rodriguez. I’ll trade an off day in April for a doubleheader game in September any day of the week.
(Syndicated from An A-Blog for A-Rod)
In a blog post yesterday Wedneday discussing the Yankees’ outfield situation, Joel Sherman dropped this juicy little note about the decision to re-sign Ichiro Suzuki this past offseason:
“There was not unanimity in the Yankees front office about bringing back Ichiro Suzuki, specifically on a two-year contract. In fact, there were executives who would have preferred to see that money (two years at $12 million) directed to Russell Martin instead.”
Sherman also wrote that the “top of the Yankees hierarchy” demanded that Ichiro be re-signed after his strong finish to last season, and if you start to put those pieces together it looks like this was another “Cashman vs. Ownership” front office battle in which Cash came out on the losing side.
From the beginning, the baseball-specific logic of re-signing Ichiro was questioned, and the business/payroll logic of the decision was brought into question after the deal was announced as a 2-year deal. Now come to find out that, according to Sherman, the top decision makers in the front office (read: The Steinbrenners) DEMANDED the move be made and it reeks even more of ownership looking to cash in on Ichiro’s popularity and 3,000 hits chase.
This revelation by Sherman, if it’s even accurate to call it that, really doesn’t come as any surprise. I, and I’m sure many others, always felt the Ichiro signing was more about merchandising dollars and cents than baseball wins and losses. That doesn’t make it any easier to accept, though, both in that it’s just one more reminder that ownership’s continued spouting of the “we’re committed to building a championship-caliber team” line is complete BS, and also in that the baseball people in the front office still don’t have the authority to make the right baseball decisions when it comes to building this team. With decisions like this continuing to be made by the wrong people at the top, it makes the prospect of getting under $189 million next year even more frightening.
By the way, Ichiro’s off to a .185/.233/.296 start in his first 30 PA. But at least people are buying t-shirts, right?
(Photo courtesy of Getty Images)
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