Father’s Day Open Thread

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Yay wins. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)

Happy Father’s Day to all of you dads out there. I know we have some long-time readers who became fathers for the first time within the last few months, so I hope you folks are enjoying the day. Hopefully all of you are spending the night with your dad and the family or have at least talked to him today; there’s a lot of us who can’t but wish we could.

Anyway, here is tonight’s open thread. The ESPN Sunday Night Game is the Red Sox at the Cubs (Morales vs. Maholm), a historic matchup between two last place teams. Game Three of the NBA Finals is also on (8pm ET on ABC), but talk about whatever your heart desires. Go nuts.

Joseph & Mustelier lead Triple-A to win

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Triple-A Empire State (6-3 win over Syracuse)
LF Chris Dickerson: 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K — 8-for-29 (.276) with seven doubles and seven walks since coming off the DL
2B Corban Joseph: 2-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI — six homers in 175 PA this year after hitting five homers in 564 PA last year
RF Ronnie Mustelier: 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K, 1 SB — 12 hits in his last 29 at-bats (.414) and .333/.378/.536 on the season
DH Jack Cust: 2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K
1B Russell Branyan: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 K
C Frankie Cervelli: 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K — has very quietly turned it around after the brutal April
CF Colin Curtis: 1-4, 1 R, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 K
3B Kevin Russo: 0-3, 1 K
SS Ramiro Pena: 0-2, 1 RBI, 1 K
RHP Ramon Ortiz: 7.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 14/3 GB/FB — 59 of 92 pitches were strikes (64.1%) … as far as veteran filler goes, he’s been as good as it gets
LHP Justin Thomas: 0.1 IP, zeroes, 0/1 GB/FB — threw just two pitches, one for a strike
RHP Manny Delcarmen: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1/0 GB/FB — 12 of 14 pitches were strikes (85.7%)

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Read: David Waldstein’s article on Russell Martin and catching

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I can’t let the day pass without directing you to this great article by David Waldstein not just about Russell Martin, but about the rigors of catching overall. Martin, like Jorge Posada, is a converted infielder and doesn’t have as much wear-and-tear as most guys his age, but hearing him talk about taking a foul ball to the neck in Anaheim reinforces just how brutal the position can be. The article gets RAB’s highest level of recommendation, so make sure you check it out.

Game 65: Nine would be fine

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(Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

It’s been a long time since the Yankees last won nine consecutive games. They’ve had eight-game winning streaks in each of the last two three seasons but you have to go back to May 2009 for their last nine gamer. It’s not easy to go a week and a half without a loss, especially in the AL East, but they have a chance to do just that against the Nationals today. Here’s this afternoon’s the lineup…

SS Derek Jeter
CF Curtis Granderson
3B Alex Rodriguez
2B Robinson Cano
1B Mark Teixeira
LF Raul Ibanez
RF Andruw Jones
C  Chris Stewart — no surprise after Russell Martin caught all 14 innings yesterday
RHP Ivan Nova

Today’s game is scheduled to start at 1:35pm ET and can be seen on YES locally and TBS nationally. Enjoy.

Nick Swisher Update: Swisher (quad contusion) arrived at the park carrying — but not using — a set of crutches. He described the injury as “the worst Charley Horse ever.” He is not available at all this afternoon, though it sounds like he’ll be able to avoid the DL.

2012 Draft: Yankees sign fourth rounder Corey Black

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Via Jim Callis, the Yankees have signed fourth round pick Corey Black for $215k. Slot value for the 157th overall pick was $275k, so the team saved a little draft pool space. Four of their top ten rounds selections remain unsigned, including first rounder Ty Hensley. All of New York’s picks can be seen at Baseball America.

Black, a right-hander out of Faulkner University, is one of the most intriguing arms the Yankees selected this summer. He had Tommy John surgery a year ago and is a huge arm strength guy, running his fastball into the mid-90s regularly with a few 98-99s mixed in. His changeup is his second best pitch but he also throws a slider. Black is undersized — listed at 5-foot-11, 175 lbs. — but he has the stuff to start. If that fails, he could be a dynamite power reliever.

Joba, Aardsma getting closer to return

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Via George King, right-hander Joba Chamberlain (elbow, ankle) will face hitters in nine days for the first time since having Tommy John surgery last June. He’s been throwing bullpen sessions and the next step is live batting practice. Meanwhile, David Aardsma (elbow) is likely to appear in his first minor league rehab game with the Rookie Level Gulf Coast League Yankees sometimes next week. That will start his 30-day rehab clock and put him on track to return in mid-July. Hard not to be excited about the progress these two have made in recent weeks.

Yanks outlast Nats in 14 innings, win 8th straight

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Source: FanGraphs

There were a lot more Yankees fans in Nationals Park on Saturday than the day before, likely because a bunch came down after work on Friday. Lots of cheers for the road team and lots of groans when Mark Teixeira doubled in two go-ahead runs in the 14th. The Yankees won 5-3 and outside of one Cory Wade meatball, got some pretty fantastic pitching. It was a great win. Really was. Here are some miscellaneous observations…

  • First thing that stands out to me: Bryce Harper looked just awful. Andy Pettitte completely manhandled him early, and overall the wunderkind went 0-for-7 with five strikeouts. He saw 24 pitches total, swung and missed 11 (!) times, and grounded out weakly to end the game on the first pitch he saw from Rafael Soriano. That’s about as bad as a player can look in a single game.
  • The Yankees almost got no-hit by Washington’s bullpen, which threw seven hitless innings from the start of the seventh through the end of the 13th. The Brad Lidge meltdown was as predictable as it gets — he has been unbelievably terrible this year — but Teixeira was their last hope in that 14th inning. The pitcher’s spot was behind Robinson Cano and he wasn’t going to see a hittable pitch again all day.
  • New York’s bullpen was pretty awesome as well, with only four hits allowed — one being the game-tying homer by Ian Desmond in the eighth — to go with five strikeouts and a 10/4 GB/FB. I thought it was only a matter of time until someone hit a walk-off once Freddy Garcia entered the game, but give it up to him, dude threw two nearly flawless innings despite making just one appearance in the last 25 days.
  • I haven’t seen a replay yet but frankly I don’t want too. The home plate ump called Tyler Moore out at the plate on Dewayne Wise’s throw in the eighth and that’s good enough for me. I had no idea Wise has that kind of arm, he got the ball to Russell Martin on the fly.
  • Derek Jeter had the loudest 1-for-7 ever, he scalded three line drives right at defenders for outs. Eric Chavez was also hitting the snot out of everything and even made a few standout defensive plays at the hot corner. Outside of the two homer game at Fenway, this was probably his best game of the season.
  • Nice little game for Jayson Nix, who came into the game as part of a double switch and had the dinky little infield single that started the 14th inning rally. He also stole a big base that inning, got down a sac bunt when asked earlier in the game, and made one nice play defensively in left. Most utility players are terrible, but I definitely think Nix has been a notch above that during his brief time with the Yankees.
  • Pettitte gave up five hits and how many were on broken bats, at least three right? Jesus Flores’ two-run double to the wall was clearly the most annoying only because Jesus Flores has no business hitting the ball to the wall in the first place, broken bat or not.
  • I was surprised to learn that this was only the Yankees’ third extra-innings game this season. The other two came in Baltimore during the second series of the year. Also, I have to admit I’m kinda disappointed they won despite not hitting a homer. Part of me was hoping to see them win 95 games and go 0-30 when not hitting one out. Woulda be … unique.

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs the nerd score, and ESPN the updated standings. The Yankees have won eight straight games and that’s kind of a big deal. They’ve also won 11 of their last 12, 13 of the last 15, and 18 of the last 22. I mentioned this last game, but this might be the best baseball they’ve played since 2009. Ivan Nova gets the ball against Edwin Jackson on Sunday afternoon, hoping to give his club their third consecutive three-game series sweep.