Both A.J. Burnett and Joe Girardi declined comment after the game about the righty’s new shiner, though A.J. did say it was not baseball related. So here’s your chance to tell us what you think happened. I bet Brian Cashman did it, you don’t think he shows up to games four hours away from home just to talk to the guys, do you?
(h/t James for the screen grab)
Manny Banuelos will be going to the Arizona Fall League after all. The Yankees were able to convince the Mexican League club that controls his winter ball rights to let him go to the AzFL, where he’ll throw 35-45 innings before being shut down. Dellin Betances, meanwhile, will go to Instructional League to work exclusively on his fielding, he will not pitch. He really hurt himself with some bad errors in the playoffs.
Double-A Trenton (5-0 loss to Altoona) Altoona now leads the best-of-five series two games to one … the fate of the season lies in Banuelos’ hands tomorrow
Austin Krum, CF & Luis Nunez, 2B: both 0 for 4 – Nunez K’ed
Justin Snyder, 2B: 2 for 4, 1 2B, 1 K, 1 E (fielding)
Dan Brewer, RF: 2 for 3, 1 BB
Austin Romine, C, Marcos Vechionacci, 1B & Damon Sublett, LF: all 1 for 4, 1 K – Romine allowed a passed ball
Rene Rivera, DH: 0 for 3, 1 BB, 1 K
Matt Cusick, 2B: 0 for 3
Adam Warren: 5 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 1 HB, 2-4 GB/FB – the heater was sitting 91-94 … the wheels kinda came off in his final inning of work
Wilkins Arias: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
Adam Olbrychowski: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 0-2 GB/FB
Pat Venditte: 1 IP, zeroes, 2 K, 0-1 GB/FB
Ryan Pope: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 2-0 GB/FB
High-A Tampa beat Charlotte on Monday to win the Florida State League Championship, their second consecutive league title.
Low-A Charleston, Short Season Staten Island, and the Rookie GCL Yanks are done. None of the three qualified for the postseason. Triple-A Scranton‘s season ended when they lost to Columbus in the first round of the International League playoffs.
Eight of ten. Eight losses in ten games is what the Yankees have in their rearview mirror, but thankfully that’s behind them. The road is wide open in front of them, and they control their own destiny as far as clinching a playoff spot and winning the AL East. Yesterday’s off day gave everyone a chance to regroup, re-gameplay, and wipe that horrible slate clean. Tonight, it’s time to get back on track, and Brian Cashman is there to make sure it happens.
The Orioles are coming in very hot, having just swept the Blue Jays to cap off a stretch in which they’ve won nine of 11 games. Buck Showalter’s got his team playing very well, but they’re not unbeatable. Kevin Millwood, tonight’s starter, has faced the Yankees three times this season, and has a 7.56 ERA and 2.22 WHIP in those starts. How about we make those numbers go up, shall we?
Here’s the lineup…
SS Jeter, Derek
CF Granderson, Curtis
1B Teixeira, Mark
3B Rodriguez, Alex
2B Cano, Robinson
DH Berkman, Lance
RF Kearns, Austin
LF Gardner, Brett – so happy to see him back
C Cervelli, Frankie – oh that silly catcher rotation
And on the mound, it’s Allen Burnett.
First pitch at Yankee Stadium South Camden Yards is set for 7:05pm ET, and this one can be seen on YES. Enjoy.
Via Bryan Hoch, the Indians have claimed outfielder Chad Huffman off waivers. The Yankees designated Huffman for assignment just two days ago to make room on the roster for Royce Ring. The 25-year-old had a nice season in Triple-A Scranton (.339 wOBA) and a pretty awful showing with the big league team earlier in the year (.229 wOBA in 21 plate appearances), but as a defensively limited corner outfielder/first baseman, he really had no long-term chances in New York. I wish him the best in Cleveland.
According to more reports than I care to cite, former Yankees’ manager Joe Torre will step down as Dodgers’ manager after the season and hand the reigns off to former Yankee megastar Don Mattingly. Donnie Baseball has basically zero managerial experience at any level, but he was always considered a candidate to manage the Yanks at some point in the future. In the unlikely scenario that has the team looking for a replacement for Joe Girardi after the season, Mattingly is no longer an option.
Mattingly will get his managerial feet wet this offseason with the Phoenix Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League next month. Among the players on his roster: Yankee farmhands Austin Romine, Brandon Laird, Corban Joseph, George Kontos, and Craig Heyer. Please don’t break them.
Via Marc Carig, the Yankees have recalled Romulo Sanchez from Triple-A Scranton. As you probably remember, Romulo hit the disabled list in late-August with an apparent elbow injury, and we perhaps foolishly assumed he was done for the season. Anyway, I guess the elbow’s fine and Joe Girardi will have another option for low-leverage relief work. Sanchez made one appearance with the Yanks earlier in the year, throwing 3.2 scoreless innings at Fenway Park.