Giambi to the DL

by jeepsunday

Jason Giambi is expected to be put on the 15 day disabled list before the Friday game in Boston. He will be sidelined at least three weeks because of a partial tear of the left plantar fascia. Giambi was examined in New York on Thursday by Dr. William Hamilton. “He will be re-evaluated in three weeks,” Yankees spokesman Jason Zillo said.

by johnbutchko

It is clear that God hates us. First another freak injury to set Phil Hughes back, and now Giambi goes down right when he is starting to hit again. This is right before a series with Boston. There is some faint silver lining. Since the team is obviously not going to stick Johnny Damon on the DL, where he should have gone a month ago, this at least opens up the DH spot so he will not have to play the field. This at least will keep him fresh and get Melky Cabrera on the field, improving the team defense and getting the youngster consistent at bats. This will give him a chance to bust his slump. Maybe he can give this team the spark it needs. All of this still does not make up for the loss of Giambi’s bat for this long, though.

Yankees 10 Blue Jays 5 – The slide stops @ five

The Yankees ended their five game losing streak with a nice 10-5 win over the Blue Jays to avoid the sweep, and head into the weekend Boston series on a win streak of 1. While the Yankees scored ten runs, it should be noted that the offense was still unimpressive. 5 of the runs were scored off of the starting pitcher, Jesse Litsch, a rookie fresh from the minors, during the first inning. With the exception of a run scored in the 6th, when Melky Cabrera batted in Cano, there wasn’t any offensive action until the top of the 9th inning. The Yankees scored four more runs in a very bizzare situation. There were two outs, and Posada hit a pop-up. The Toronto shortstop, John McDonald was under the ball an by all means should have made the catch to end the inning, and still have a shot at winning in the bottom of the 9th. As McDonald sat under the ball, A-Rod was running the bases, and ran by McDonald. All of a sudden, McDonald turned away , and the ball dropped, and runs scored. McDonald complained that A-Rod yelled something as he ran by…. Anything to win a game…… It was pretty funny to watch, and A-Rod was trying his best to hold back a smirk. With all the bad calls on the Yankees this month, this was genuinely fun to watch, and in the end, the tack-on runs didn’t matter, as Mariano Rivera closed out the game and got his fourth save of the season. It should be noted that the ailing Johnny Damon got his 2,000th career hit in the game.

The Yankees pack up & head to Boston, where they have a day off (stay away from the strip clubs A-Rod!), and then have a weekend series against the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees trail Boston by 13 1/2 games, after Dice-K’s poor performance led to a rare Boston loss tonight. It should also be noted that Detriot lost as well. The Yankees trail them in the wild card race by 7 1/2 games. With WELL OVER four months left of baseball, by no means are the Yankees out of post-season contention. They most definitely are capable of going on a hot streak. Lets hope it starts in Boston as the Yankees send Wang, Mussina and Pettitte to the mound…

Blue Jays 3 Yankees 2 : Toronto “steals” a game from NY.

Not much to say tonight – Another 1 run loss. Another game with no offense at all. Plus, the Yankees found a new way to lose a game today – with runners on the corners, Andy Pettitte obsessed with Jason Phillips on first base, while Aaron Hill stole home from third. It was just unbearable to watch. Five straight losses now…..

No Rocket Relaunch In Boston

Oh well… I guess I was just HOPING the Yankees would have the balls to send Clemens out to pitch in Boston, but due to an off-day, they will pitch Pettitte on Sunday, instead of Clemens, who will most probably start a day later in Chicago vs the White Sox. The pitching matchups for Boston look pretty good with the 3 top pitchers set to start: Wang, Mussina, and Pettitte. This is an important series – a sweep could doom the season.

Can The Rocket “Right The Ship” ?

Roger Clemens pitched his third minor league game today in Scranton. He was spectacular, pitching six scoreless innings, striking out six, walking two, and giving up only two hits. 57 of his 89 pitches were strikes. It looks like Roger is ready for the big leagues. As fate would have it, his first start could be in Fenway Park against his old team, the Boston Red Sox. The whole season could rest on this one game. If the Yankees throw Clemens to the wolves in Boston, and he wins, it would most definitely send a message. “Not Dead Yet!” If he loses, well, I don’t even want to think of the repercussions…. I’m really not even concerned with the rest of the Toronto series at this point. The most important game of the season is now 5 days away. We can only wait and see what happens.

On a personal note, I want to thank John for allowing me to post daily recaps. I have been a fan of his blog for years now. I always look forward to his take on my favorite team, and I am honored that he has asked me to share “my” take now. A little about me: I was born to be a Yankee fan – literally! I was born in the Bronx, very close to Yankee Stadium, and I just love to visit my home town as often as I can. I average 30-35 games a year, and if I’m not “at” a game, I’m watching it on TV, or following the live pitch-by-pitch on my Blackberry. I love the sport, the players, the team, the history, the pinstripes, the passon….. I look forward to recapping the games here, and I especially look forward to reading your responses and opinions. Please, if you like or dislike what I have to say, let me know! This is a blog – feel free to join in!

Jason O.

Blue Jays 7 Yankees 2 : No Holiday In Toronto

After the miserable weekend series at home, the Yankees headed up to Toronto for the Memorial Day Holiday. Maybe a change of scenery would do them good. Maybe facing a team doing poorly would spark them. Hell, maybe the Canadian water would help….. Joe Torre called an extended hour long team meeting, addressing the team’s lack of personality, energy and passion. Whatever the manager said did not help the cause. The Yankees were downed for their fourth straight game by the struggling Blue Jays. Matt DeSalvo gave up three earned runs in the 4 2/3 innings he pitched for the Yankees. It would have been fine if the Yankee offense was hitting. They weren’t, and Toronto pitcher Dustin McGowan shut down the Yankees until he gave up a two run home run to Hideki Matsui. The Yankees looked lethargic yet again, and have now fallen 13 games behind The Boston Red Sox.

Rock Bottom?

The New York Yankees were swept by the Angels at home over the weekend. Joe Torre had made a questionable pitching change, pulling Mike Mussina (95 pitches), who was in the midst of pitching a gem, to bring in Scott Proctor, who for the most part, has been good this year. Proctor had his worst outing in his Yankee career, giving up a hit, and walking three straight batters, literally handing the Angels the game. For the first time in the Joe Torre era, the manager was booed when leaving the mound after pulling Proctor. It should be noted that this booing happened during a commercial break, and the YES network made it a POINT to show it on the air once they came back on. This really seemed like rock bottom – the kind of incident that would FINALLY spark this team out of their funk and get them on the path to winning….

Introducing Jason

When I moved this blog from AOL last October, I did it for a number of reasons. One of them was differences I had with the company. Another was the superior features on this server. Another was that this server allowed me to add new writers, while AOL did not. I wanted to make sure that content would not suffer if my schedule did not allow me to post as often as I would like. Unfortunately I do not write this blog for a living. I do not make a cent. I do it for the satisfaction I get writing about my favorite team. As my schedule has become busier in recent weeks, it has become evident that this site has suffered, and something had to give.

It is on that note that I am proud to introduce a new writer, JeepSunday, a.k.a. Jason. He has been one of the best and most loyal readers that this blog has known from its outset. He has agreed to help keep up the content on this site. What does this mean? This blog is going to have a great writer joining the staff. What does it mean for me? Jason has offered to take game recaps. I am still going to contribute as often as I can. At times this will be a lot. When I am pressed for time, now this blog will not be starved for content.

Please welcome our newest writer to TheYankeesBlog.com.

Yankees 8 Red Sox 3: 46>38

The Yankees beat the Red Sox by an 8-3 margin on Wednesday night. The win moved New York back to 9.5 games behind Boston in the standings. It also gave the Yanks their first series win against their archrival in 2007. The biggest game so far this season was not even close.

The Red Sox took control of Tuesday’s game from the outset. The Yanks did the same on Wednesday. The Yankees led 1-0 two hitters into the game on Derek Jeter’s RBI single. Hideki Matsui followed that with a homer, giving New York a 3-0 lead before the team had made an out. The offense never let up against Curt Schilling and Boston’s bullpen, scoring single runs in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, 7th and 8th to build up an insurmountable lead. The lineup battled, ketchuped, and bruised 38pitches.com to the tune of 6 runs on 12 hits in 6 innings. Derek Jeter had 3 hits to pass Joe DiMaggio on the career hit list, a testament to the man’s greatness, although anybody with a brain knows just how special Derek is. Doug Mientkiewicz and Johnny Damon joined Jeter in the 3 hit club. Robinson Cano and Hideki Matsui both had a pair. Every starter had at least a hit aside from Jason Giambi. Schilling failed to shut 55,000 New Yorkers up. On this night 25 Yankees quieted his big mouth.

Andy Pettitte took the hill for the Yanks needing to come through in a big way. A 7 inning outing of 1 run ball certainly did the trick. For all the talk about how the pitching on the roster is getting annually weaker, there has been nobody on the team since 2003 who thrives under pressure like Andy. Like his counterpart on Wednesday, Andy is a gamer who thrives in big spots. He also does it without shooting his mouth off or blatantly promoting his own greatness. Pettitte was not a big name on the market over the offseason. This should be a lesson to the Yankees. The very good player who thrives in pressure is sometimes a better fit than the brand name superstar. That was the way it worked in the 1990’s for this club.

Kyle Farnsworth did his best to turn a laugher into a nail-biter. He gave up 2 runs in his inning of work. Boston was a hit away from making it a game before Kyle escaped trouble. It is a wonder that this guy still has a roster spot. He does nothing to pull his weight and runs his mouth to the press about Roger Clemens’ perks being unfair. Here is a newsflash to Kyle. A guy who performs well every fifth day is more valuable to a team than a guy who performs poorly every day. All that Farnsworth is good for is pitching poorly and providing his teammates with unnecessary distractions. If he was a horse, he would be shot.* With Chris Britton, a younger and cheaper option, dominating AAA, the Yankees should call him up and look to trade Farnsworth. His overrated reputation and raw ability will make him attractive in a market starved for relief help. He is worthless to the Yanks.

Mariano Rivera got some work and decimated Boston’s lineup. After a weak grounder by Wily Mo Pena went for a leadoff double, Mo struck the next 3 hitters out and made them look foolish in the process. It is amazing what getting consistent work can do for one’s stuff. It makes pitches much sharper. If Joe Torre can get Mariano into enough games, we might see more glimpses of this dominance.

A loss in this game would have been catastrophic. The win, though, does very little. It simply shaves a game off the lead and gives the team confidence it is back on track and can play with Boston. There is still a long road ahead. The first objective is to get back to .500. This team has a stern test this weekend against an Angels team that always plays its best against the Yanks. New York can gain confidence with a series win, but a loss probably sends this team back to the first square.

*I do not think that Kyle Farnsworth should be shot.

Red Sox 7 Yankees 3: Moose Stops the Momentum

The Yankees lost to the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium last night by a 7-3 score. The loss sets up a rubber match of the series tonight in the Bronx. All positive feelings from the modest winning streak ended early in the game. The offense was held down by Julian Tavarez, which should not happen. This loss can still be pinned on a single person, Mike Mussina.

Mussina’s 6.2 inning, 10 hit, 7 run line is more frustrating when one puts it into context. The Yankees were riding high after wins on Sunday and Monday night. The ballpark was electric at the start of last night’s game. All the air was taken out of the stadium in the 1st inning. Mussina was squeezed by Ed Hickox on a 2 strike pitch to Kevin Youkilis, which was ironic since Hickox’s strike zone grew exponentially for Derek Jeter’s at bat in the 9th inning. Youkilis should have been rung up. However, bad calls are a part of the game. Major League umpires are too arrogant to work on their craft and get better. Mike temporarily became unraveled, giving up hits to Youkilis and David Ortiz. Manny Ramirez then crushed a Mussina offering to give Boston a 3-0 lead. An early edge gives a lousy pitcher like Tavarez confidence and energizes a team. An early deficit demoralizes a lineup that sees a large hill to climb. To his credit, Mussina recovered to pitch into the 7th. He held Boston at 4 and gave his lineup a fighting chance, trailing 4-2. With 2 outs, Coco Crisp tried to steal second base. Jorge Posada threw him out, but Crisp was called safe. Moose again let this get to him as he gave up back to back hits. The Red Sox scored 3 in that inning to all but put the game away. The inning should have ended with Crisp caught stealing, but there is always adversity in pressure games. Moose had to find a way to pitch through them. His mental weakness last night cost his team a big game. The offense struggled to come up with the big hit, but a frontline pitcher like Mike is expected to shut the opposition down in key spots and keep the momentum on his side.

The Yanks now send Andy Pettitte to the mound against Curt Schilling. Schilling certainly will be up for a game at Yankee Stadium. He might even break out some ketchup to smear on his sock. The Yankees absoultely need to win this game. There are not enough games against the Red Sox left to fall 11.5 games out of the division lead. There also are the psychological aspects. Boston has dominated the season series to this point. If the Yankees drop another series, an intimidation factor might come into play. The Yankees might stop believing that they stack up with Boston. They might resign themselves to second place. A win will show this team that it can play with the Sox. There is no way around it. This game is enormous.