River Avenue Blues

Game 106: Felix

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(AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

It’s amazing how the Yankees never ever seem to miss Felix Hernandez when they play the Mariners. He’s started a game in every series between these two teams since the second half of 2009, a span of ten series. I mean, just statistically speaking you’d expect him to miss at least one of those ten series, but no. Oh well, the Yankees have beaten him before (not often) and they’ll just have to beat him against this afternoon. Here’s the lineup, same as last night’s…

CF Curtis Granderson
SS Derek Jeter
2B Robinson Cano
1B Mark Teixeira
DH Raul Ibanez
RF Nick Swisher
3B Eric Chavez — tested the foot out in batting practice and he’s good to go
LF Ichiro Suzuki
C  Russell Martin

RHP Hiroki Kuroda

This afternoon’s game starts at 1:05pm ET and can be seen on YES locally and MLB Network nationally. Enjoy.

Giants tried to acquire Eric Chavez before trade deadline

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Via Buster Olney, the Giants tried to acquire Eric Chavez from the Yankees prior to the trade deadline by offering outfielder Nate Schierholtz. I’m curious about the timing of the offer; I assume it came before San Francisco acquired Marco Scutaro. That trade happened four days after Alex Rodriguez got hurt and five days after the Yankees acquired Ichiro Suzuki.

Chavez, 34, is having a fantastic season off the bench (113 wRC+) and is indispensable following A-Rod’s injury. I like Schierholtz more than most, he would have been a nice and cheap left-handed platoon outfielder for the next two years as the Yankees try to get themselves under the $189M luxury tax threshold in 2014. He ended up going to the Phillies in the Hunter Pence trade. I do think the offer was more than fair (if anything it favors the Yankees) but this isn’t a vacuum, the timing and roster pieces didn’t really fit. For shame.

CC dominates Mariners in complete game win

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Source: FanGraphs

Friday night’s win over the Mariners was pretty close to picture perfect. The offense scored early to take the league and then tacked on insurance runs late, all while the starting pitcher was in total control of a bad opposing lineup. Pretty great game. Let’s recap…

  • Non-Personal Catcher: Chris Stewart may never catch CC Sabathia again. Sabathia utterly dominated the Mariners in the complete game win with Russell Martin behind the dish, though a garbage time two-run homer from Dustin Ackley makes his pitching line deceptively average looking. He struck out ten, walked just one, and got another eleven outs on the ground. Just brutally effective, he had no-hit type stuff going.
  • Singles & Homer: The Yankees went 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position, and the first of the four was a nice solid single to right by Curtis Granderson to score a pair of runs in the third. Robinson Cano and Raul Ibanez singled in one run apiece in the seventh, the latter of which came off  left-hander (!). In between all that, Eric Chavez hit a cheap little two-run Yankee Stadium homer in the sixth. He was using Andruw Jones’ bat for whatever reason, but it worked.
  • Leftovers: Ichiro Suzuki beat out an infield single to start that third inning rally, extending his exactly-one-hit streak to ten games … every starter in the lineup had at least one hit while Cano (single and double), Chavez (single and homer), and Russell Martin (two singles and stolen base) had two each … Nick Swisher was noticeably flexing his left leg during his third at-bat, the same leg with the hip flexor issue from a week ago. He was moving fine around the outfield and played all nine innings though … the Yankees hit a homer for the 21st consecutive home game, two short of the franchise record set in 1963.

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs the advanced stats, and ESPN the updated standings. The Rays beat the Orioles to take over second place in the AL East, which the Yankees still lead by seven in the loss column. It’ll be Hiroki Kuroda against Felix Hernandez in the middle game of this three-game set on Saturday afternoon. Check out RAB Tickets for some last minute deals if you want to catch the game. I’ll be there and you should too.

Aune doubles twice in GCL win

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It’s Friday, so I’m going to take the easy way out tonight…

  • Triple-A Empire State (loss): They only had three hits as a team — a single by C Frankie Cervelli and doubles by 3B Kevin Russo and LF Ronnie Mustelier. That was it. LHP Mike O’Connor allowed one run in 5.1 innings and RHP Cory Wade allowed an unearned run in 1.2 innings. Not a good game for the displaced SWB club.
  • Double-A Trenton (win): LF Jose Pirela had three hits including a double and the just promoted CF Adonis Garcia had four hits (including two doubles) in his Thunder debut. RF Zoilo Almonte hit a homer, C J.R. Murphy a double. LHP Vidal Nuno struck out nine in five innings, walking a pair and allowing three hits. RHP Kelvin Perez allowed one run and struck out three in two innings, a bump in the road of an otherwise dominant season.
  • High-A Tampa (win): DH Kyle Higashioka and 1B Kyle Roller each homered and drove in a pair while C Gary Sanchez and 2B Jose Toussen both doubled. The last three all had two hits. CF Ramon Flores went hitless in four at-bats and RF Tyler Austin singled. RHP Zach Nuding allowed a pair of runs in 6.2 innings, striking out five and walking one. LHP Jeremy Bleich chipped in two perfect innings with three strikeouts.
  • Low-A Charleston (win): They had five hits as a team and all five were singles, including RBI shots by 1B Saxon Butler and 3B Dante Bichette Jr. The others came from SS Cito Culver, RF Rob Refsnyder, and 2B Jamiel Orozco. Refsnyder stole two bases as well. RHP Phil Wetherell was stretched out to five innings, allowing one run on five hits and no walks while striking out six. The game was completed after six innings due to the weather.
  • Short Season Staten Island (loss): They had a dozen hits as a team but only one was for extra bases — a triple by SS Claudio Custodio: 1B Matt Snyder, CF Ravel Santana, 3B Matt Duran, and 2B Jose Rosario all had two singles apiece. RHP Corey Black allowed one run on four hits and a walk in six innings, striking out five while hitting 97 on the gun.
  • Rookie GCL Yanks (win): SS Austin Aune doubled twice and this year’s second rounder is up to .304/.400/.443 on the season. RF Yeicok Calderon, 3B Dalton Smith, and 2B Jake Anderson all had singles while C David Remedios homered. RHP Gio Gallegos threw two scoreless innings and has now started his career with a 16/1 K/BB in 16 scoreless innings. RHP Rookie Davis threw 2.2 scoreless in his return from a minor arm ailment.

Update: Eric Chavez fine after leaving game with foot issue

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9:59pm: Joe Girardi said after the game that it’s nothing serious and they took Chavez out just to play it safe. They’ll check him out again tomorrow just to make sure nothing lingered.

9:45pm: Eric Chavez left tonight’s game after the eighth inning, apparently with some kind of foot issue. He took a swing in the seventh and winced/hopped around a bit, but ensured Joe Girardi and the trainer that he was fine. Chavez finished the at-bat and was replaced defensively in the next inning. Pretty sure it was just a precaution, but you can’t be too sure with him.

Game 105: More Mariners

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(Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

Scheduled days off in the middle of a homestand are always kinda weird, but I’m sure the players love ’em. The Yankees lost four of the first six games on the homestand and now welcome the Mariners to the Bronx for three games. They took two of three from Seattle in each of their previous two series and a repeat showing would be nice. Here’s the different looking lineup…

CF Curtis Granderson — Joe Girardi doesn’t want to stack the lefties
SS Derek Jeter
2B Robinson Cano
1B Mark Teixeira — the wrist is fine
DH Raul Ibanez
RF Nick Swisher — first time back in the outfield since the hip strain
3B Eric Chavez
LF Ichiro Suzuki
C  Russell Martin — catching CC Sabathia for the third time this year

LHP CC Sabathia

Tonight’s game is scheduled to start a little after 7pm ET and can be seen on YES locally and MLB Network nationally. Enjoy.

More on Carlos Lee and the Yankees

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(Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

The Yankees only swung one move prior to the trade deadline, acquiring Casey McGehee from the Pirates for a bag of Qualls*. The Marlins tried to foist Carlos Lee on New York however, but the former Astros slugger invoked his no-trade clause to prevent a possible move to the Big Apple. Lee had previously vetoed a potential trade to the Dodgers while with Houston, mostly because he didn’t want to move far from his family. The Marlins were not included in his limited no-trade clause, so he had no choice to accept that move.

What the Yankees would have done with Lee is unclear, especially since their need was at third base and not first base or DH. Fernando Ballesteros has the answer after catching a conversation between Lee and a teammate, however. Here’s the translation**…

“Lee said that he talked with the Yankees and asked them what his role would be if (Mark Teixeira) was healthy. They told him that then he would be sent to left field and that they would alternate him in the lineup with Andruw Jones, Raul Ibanez, Ichiro Suzuki, and Nick Swisher. Lee said that he told them an emphatic ‘no.'”

Lee, 36, has been playing first base exclusively for just about a full season now and was a disaster in the outfield before the move. I mean, legit worst defensive outfielder in baseball type of stuff. He’s also been declining steadily at the plate, even against left-handers. Jon Heyman says the Yankees agreed to buy Lee from the Marlins for $1M before he put an end to things, but even at that price the move wouldn’t have made much sense. Lee just isn’t a fit for the roster he wouldn’t have helped the offense much either. McGehee makes immeasurably more sense.

* I have no idea who came up with that for where I first saw it, but it’s brilliant.
** The translation comes courtesy of Nick Collias, who digs up rumors from Spanish language media outlets for MLBTR.