Betances wild again; Charleston walks off with eighth straight win

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Eduardo Sosa and Kelvin Castro of the High-A Tampa Yankees. (Photo via Katherine Mitchell)

Josh Norris recently sat down for a long chat with pitching coordinator Nardi Contreras, who spoke about the Triple-A arms, Jose Campos, promotions, and much more. Make sure you check it out.

Triple-A Empire State (6-5 win over Norfolk)
CF Colin Curtis & C Craig Tatum: both 0-4 — Curtis walked, Tatum whiffed
2B Jayson Nix: 2-4, 2 R, 2 2B, 1 BB, 1 K — first game of the season after spending some time on the DL
RF Dewayne Wise: 2-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI — 13 for his last 29 (.448) with five doubles and a homer
1B Steve Pearce: 2-3, 1 R, 2 2B, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K — 12 for his last 27 (.444) with five doubles and a homer
DH Jack Cust: 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K — first homer of the season
3B Brandon Laird: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 SB
LF Kevin Russo: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K
SS Ramiro Pena: 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 E (throwing)
RHP Dellin Betances: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 6 BB, 3 K, 1 WP, 1 Balk, 3/3 GB/FB, 1 E (throwing) — 36 of 59 pitches were strikes (51.0%) … he walked two of the first three batters he faced and the two final batters he faced with two walks to 19 batters in between … that’s a dozen walks in eight innings across his last two starts
RHP Nelson Figueroa: 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 3/3 GB/FB — 22 of 34 pitches were strikes (64.8%)
RHP Chase Whitley: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 0/2 GB/FB — half of his 18 pitches were strikes
RHP Kevin Whelan: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K — eight of 11 pitches were strikes

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Rainy Sunday Night Open Thread

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(Photo via Fenway Fruit Girl)

The Yankees and Red Sox were rained out tonight, leaving us with a baseball-less Sunday night. There is an NHL playoff game on in a little bit (Kings-Canucks), but the Knicks have already played and there’s nothing going on locally. It will be nice to relax though, Sunday night Yanks-Sox games aren’t exactly good for the nerves right before the workweek. Feel free to talk about whatever your heart desires in this open thread tonight, but here’s a discussion question just for the heck of it…

If you could change one thing about the Yankees, what would it be? Could be a player, a bullpen role, the front office, Yankee Stadium concessions, anything.

Rained out: Yanks-Sox postponed tonight

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Tonight’s game has been postponed, the Yankees have announced. The makeup date has yet to be determined. The Yankees return to Fenway Park the series immediately before the All-Star break and right in the middle of September (11th-13th). They could play a doubleheader or make the game up during their mutual off-day on September 10th.

The good news is that the Yankees will be able to catch an early flight to Texas for their three-game series against the Rangers starting Monday. Hooray for that.

Low-A Notes: Bichette, Williams, Sanchez, Austin

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The Low-A Charleston River Dogs are one of the most prospect-laden teams in the minors, with four of the Yankees’ top seven prospects calling South Carolina a home this season. Keith Law was in attendance for Friday night’s game against West Virginia and shared his observations in a blog post yesterday. Here are a few highlights…

  • Dante Bichette Jr. did not play in the game but he did take batting practice. Law said he “has cleaned [his swing] up significantly since signing” and is better equipped to use the entire field. “He’s much more balanced and upright through contact without costing himself any of the hip rotation that helps him generate power,” he wrote.
  • Mason Williams appears to be selling out for power and didn’t show the same disciplined approach as he has in the past. He remains a top-flight defensive center fielder and Law believes there “will be plenty of power there when his body matures.”
  • Gary Sanchez‘s bat remains ridiculous, with power to all fields despite an exaggerated leg kick. His defense was a “pleasant surprise, as he’s substantially improved over where he was last year in both receiving and throwing.”
  • Mike Newman of FanGraphs got a look at Sanchez earlier this week and did not agree with Law’s assessment of his defense, for what it’s worth. The video above comes from Newman’s article, which you should read.
  • Tyler Austin has a swing that is “effortless [and] balanced throughout with a strong finish for line-drive power.” Law said he was unable to make adjustments to a series of changeups in the dirt and fastballs inside, however.
  • Kelvin DeLeon is the same guy he’s always been. He hits the ball a mile when he connects but can also swing and miss with the best of ’em. I saw DeLeon a few times back in his Staten Island Yankees days, the kid hadn’t met a pitch he didn’t think he could hit.

Charleston is the Yankees’ most interesting minor league affiliate this season and it’s not particularly close. The Triple-A pitchers are closer to helping the big league team, but most of the prospect star power — especially position players — is down in Low-A. They won’t all work out, that’s why it’s important to have so many of ’em.

Massacre: Yankees mount huge comeback in win over Sox

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Source: FanGraphs

Sometimes there’s just not much you can say. The Yankees were losing 9-0 after five innings, I had accepted defeat. It’s perfectly normal, losing is part of the game and sometimes you get blown out. Then FOX cuts away for the ninth inning of Phil Humber’s perfect game (how about that?) and comes back 15 or 20 or however many minutes later, and it’s 9-5. Neat. Twitter tells me Nick Swisher hit a grand slam and I’m glad they’re making the Red Sox sweat. Then Robinson Cano doubled and Mike Aviles made an error, and things got really interesting.

You start to think … wow, they’re really going to make them earn this win. That’s always appreciated. Then Mark Teixeira goes deep and it’s a one-run game. Down one with eight outs to go in Fenway Park? Oh hell yes, this is doable. The poor Red Sox never had a chance once they got to within one run. The Yankees scored fifteen unanswered runs from the sixth through eighth innings, turning this sure loss into one of the most memorable wins of my lifetime. Is that hyperbole? Maybe it is. I don’t care.

  • This is going to sound crazy, but at one point 18 of 21 Yankees reached base (!). That’s an .857 OBP (!!) for two and one-thirds turn through the lineup (!!!). Bananas.
  • Mark Teixeira hit two homers, one from each side of the plate. It was the 13th time he’s done that, extending his own Major League record. Believe it or not, the homer he hit from the left side cleared the Green Monster. It was his first opposite field homer as a lefty in three years and his second as a Yankee. Teixeira is hitting .288/.354/.508 following his recent hot streak. Hooray for that.
  • Starting with the number eight hitter and wrapping around the lineup to the two-hole, those four lineup spots went a combined 11-for-19 with three walks. Swisher had the grand slam and also hit the go-ahead two-run double in the eighth. He currently leads the AL with 20 RBI. Swish and Teixeira became just the 20th pair of teammates to each have 6+ RBI in a single game since 1918.
  • You know why the Yankees had a chance to win this game? Because the bullpen — specifically Clay Rapada, David Phelps and Rafael Soriano — kept it from getting out of control. It’s sounds funny that they kept a 9-0 then a 9-1 game close, but that’s what they did. With this offense and that ballpark, all they needed was a chance. Boone Logan and Cody Eppley did some fine work in the eighth and ninth innings.
  • The nine-run comeback ties the largest comeback in franchise history, done four other times. They’ve done it three times against the Red Sox. The last time they came back from nine down was The Jorge Posada Game. The Yankees also scored seven runs in back-to-back innings for only the second time in team history.
  • I don’t want to spend too much time on the negative given such an amazing game and comeback, so all I’m going to say this this: the Yankees can use Thursday’s scheduled off-day to skip Freddy Garcia’s next start and they would be foolish not to take advantage.
  • MLB.com has the box score video highlights, FanGraphs some more stats, and ESPN the updated standings. I can’t imagine we’ll see a better WPA graph this season and the one above. That’s glorious.

The weather forecast for Sunday is not good at all, so the final game of this three-game set may not happen. If it does, it’ll be CC Sabathia against Daniel Bard in the ESPN Sunday Night game. If not, the Yankees will head to Texas for their three-game series starting Monday.

Bichette returns in Charleston win

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Tim Bontemps spoke to David Adams about his injuries and goals for this season. In a shocking turn of events, he’s focused on staying healthy.

Double-A Trenton (4-1 loss to Harrisburg)
RF Abe Almonte: 0-5
LF Ronnie Mustelier & DH Cody Johnson: both 1-4, 1 K
CF Melky Mesa: 0-3, 1 R, 1 K, 1 HBP
1B Luke Murton: 3-4, 1 RBI — has hits in six of eight games since being promoted
2B Kevin Mahoney: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 K — a personal fave, as I’ve said before
3B Addison Maruszak: 0-3, 1 BB, 2 K
C Jeff Farnham: 0-4, 1 K
SS Walt Ibarra: 2-4, 1 2B
LHP Shaeffer Hall: 7 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 9/4 GB/FB — 60 of 87 pitches were strikes (69.0%)
RHP Kelvin Perez: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 1/0 GB/FB — seven of eleven pitches were strikes
LHP Francisco Rondon: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 2/1 GB/FB — just five of eleven pitches were strikes

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