ByThe Yankees and Indians will play a doubleheader on May 13th to make up the two rainouts from earlier this week, the team announced. Both teams are losing an off-day (obviously), and the Yankees will have to make a quick one-day stop in Cleveland on their way back from Kansas City before returning to New York. As a result of losing the off-day, they’ll play 17 games in 16 days. Not too bad. · (19) ·
ByVia Matt Ehalt: Mark Teixeira was not cleared by doctors to swing a bat on Friday as he had hoped. “[The doctor] was very happy with how it looked, how it felt,” said Tex. “He wants it to get a little stronger before I swing so the next couple of days I’m really going to ramp up the strengthening because we’re kind of going week to week with it … He wants to make sure it’s really strong enough before I swing. But all good news, just not swinging yet.”
Teixeira, 33, hoped to start swinging a fungo bat this weekend and then take batting practice within two weeks. His May 1st target return date was always on the optimistic side — the original 8-10 week estimate put him on pace for a mid-to-late-May return — so I’m not sure this changes much. Sure, it would have been great for Teixeira to start swinging a bat this weekend, but I’d rather see them be extra cautious now and reduce the risk of a setback later in the summer. Given the nature of the injury, they need to make sure he’s 100% ready for any steps going forward. · (15) ·
Bichette helps River Dogs walk-off with win
By · CommentsJosh Norris says OF Slade Heathcott did not play tonight due to a stiff neck. Hopefully it’s nothing serious and he’ll be back in the lineup in a day or two, but you can never be too sure with neck problems.
Triple-A Scranton was rained out for the third straight day. They’re going to try to play a doubleheader tomorrow.
Double-A Trenton (5-3 win over Richmond)
- CF Ramon Flores: 1-4, 1 R, 1 K
- DH Tyler Austin: 1-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K – been in a bit of a rut
- C J.R. Murphy: 2-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB – six hits in his last 13 at-bats (.462)
- 3B Rob Segedin: 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 E (fielding)
- RF Neil Medchill: 3-4, 1 RBI — has been awesome early on
- LHP Francisco Rondon: 4 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 3/3 GB/FB — 34 of 60 pitches were strikes (57%) … still wish he was working out of the Triple-A bullpen, this seems kinda pointless
Source: FanGraphs
Friday night’s 5-2 win over the Orioles was one of the more interesting Yankees games we’ve seen in a while. Good pitching, timely hitting, catastrophically bad defense, insanely clutch good defense … this one had it all. Let’s recap…
- Big Time: PitchFX says CC Sabathia averaged 90.3 and topped out at 92.3 with his fastball in the blistering cold on Friday, but the radar gun readings didn’t really matter. The big man held the Orioles to two runs (one earned) in eight innings in the series opener, striking out nine and walking zero. The unearned run scored when Kevin Youkilis bobbled a ground ball, the runner was balked to second, and a ten-hop ground ball squeezed through the infield. Of course, Sabathia needed some help to escape a first-and-second, no outs situation in the eighth, but we’ll get to that in a bit. Otherwise, he was awesome.
- Smallball: With the game knotted at one in the fifth, the Yankees employed some good ol’ fashioned smallball to take the lead. Frankie Cervelli worked a ten-pitch walk to leadoff the inning before Brett Gardner bunted him over to second. Robinson Cano got a mistake first pitch fastball — Matt Wieters set up outside but Miguel Gonzalez caught too much of the plate — that he laced into left to score the run. The epitome of a manufactured run.
- Errorball: This was too good. After the O’s tied the game in the top of the seventh, the Yankees answered right back thanks again to Cervelli, who worked another walk (six-pitch) to leadoff the inning. Gardner bunted him over to second again, but this time Cano grounded out to short. Southpaw Troy Patton was ordered to intentionally walk Youkilis to setup the left-on-left matchup with Travis Hafner with two-outs, but Pronk worked a full count before taking a pitch to the left thigh. The bases were loaded with two outs when Vernon Wells lifted a hard-hit but certainly playable fly ball to center. Rather than the final out being recorded, this happened…
He just muffed it. All three runners came around to score and the Yankees took a decisive three-run lead. (GIF via DERP) - 4-6-5-6-5-3-4: A half-inning after the Jones error, Alexi Casilla (infield single) and Nick Markakis (single to left) started a comeback rally by reaching base to leadoff the eighth inning. Sabathia’s pitch count was getting up there and David Robertson was warming in the bullpen, but then this happened in the blink of an eye…
Yep, a 4-6-5-6-5-3-4 triple play to end the inning. It’s the first of its kind in MLB history and the second triple play the Yankees have turned in the last three seasons. You might remember the around-the-horn job in Oakland back in April 2010. Sabathia was on the mound for that one as well. This was the team’s first triple play at home in over 40 years. Very heads up play by Jayson Nix at second base to go to third there. That was a smart play even if they only turn a boring double play. (GIF via @GoldAndOrSmith) - Leftovers: Mariano Rivera allowed a single in an otherwise uneventful ninth inning for his second save of the season … the Yankees only had six hits (all singles) on the night, and Cano (two) and Youkilis (three) accounted for five of ‘em. Lyle Overbay had the other … Gardner drew two walks in addition to the two sac bunts while Hafner walked in addition to the hit-by-pitch … Ichiro Suzuki went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and continues to look just awful. I wonder how long his rope will be … Eduardo Nunez left the game after taking a pitch to the right wrist, and he is day-to-day with a contusion. Wrist injuries can be very scary, he and the Yankees got lucky the x-rays came back clean.
MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs has the nerd score, and ESPN has the updated standings. Hooray for being over .500 and tied for first place in the division. Yes, it’s only April, but still. These same two teams will meet Saturday afternoon, when Phil Hughes gets the ball against Jason Hammel. Check out RAB Tickets if you want to catch the game in person.
ByIndians right-hander Carlos Carrasco has been suspended eight games and fined an undisclosed amount for intentionally throwing at Kevin Youkilis earlier this week, MLB has announced. He was making his first start after serving a six-game suspension for throwing at Billy Butler. That incident happened back in 2011, but Carrasco’s Tommy John surgery got in the way.
In case you forgot, Carrasco threw at Youkilis on Tuesday after Robinson Cano had taken him deep one batter earlier. Given his history of throwing at people, the suspension isn’t surprising. Just glad Youkilis wasn’t hurt more than anything. · (9) ·
By8:27pm: Nunez has a right wrist contusions and is day-to-day, the team announced. X-rays were negative.
7:49pm: Eduardo Nunez left tonight’s game following a hit-by-pitch. Replays showed it got him in theleftright wrist. He remained in the game to run the bases but was removed after being unable to throw a ball between innings. Poor guy finally gets a chance to play everyday and he’s getting hit by pitches left and right. Stay tuned for updates. · (12) ·
By7:46pm: Mike Fish and T.J. Quinn say MLB has no physical evidence connecting A-Rod to payments for Biogenesis documents, so … what the hell is going on exactly?
5:31pm: Via Michael Schmidt: MLB may have evidence that a representative of Alex Rodriguez purchased documents from the Anthony Bosch-led clinic Biogenesis for the purpose of having them destroyed. Unsurprisingly, A-Rod’s camp has flatly denied the allegations. MLB has purchased documents from a former employee of the clinic to help further their investigation into players who may have received performance-enhancing drugs from Bosch and Biogenesis, and the league recently filed a lawsuit against numerous parties involved (no players) as well. · (75) ·
Game Nine: Back to the Bronx
By · Comments
(AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
First, the good news: the Yankees are back home in the Bronx to open a three-game weekend series with the sudden division rival Orioles, who just took two of three from the Red Sox in Fenway Park. They used both Darren O’Day and Jim Johnson in each of the last two days, so the back-end of Baltimore’s bullpen might be a little short the next day or two.
Now, the bad news: the weather still sucks. After having the last two games against the Indians rained out, the Yankees are back home and are staring at another potential rain-interrupted game. It’s been raining on-and-off all day in New York, with most of the heavy stuff coming this morning. The forecast calls for another shower tonight and maybe possibly a playable window later on. Getting a little sick of this weather nonsense.
Also, some more bad news: right-hander Miguel Gonzalez will be on the mound for the Orioles. Between the regular season and postseason last year, he held the Yankees to four runs in 20.2 innings (1.74 ERA) with 24 strikeouts and just one freaking walk across three starts. Goodness. I guess it’s good nearly the entire lineup looks different right now than it did last year. Here’s the starting line…
- CF Brett Gardner
- 2B Robinson Cano
- 3B Kevin Youkilis
- DH Travis Hafner
- LF Vernon Wells
- RF Ichiro Suzuki
- SS Eduardo Nunez
- 1B Lyle Overbay
- C Frankie Cervelli
And on the mound is the would-be 2000 Olympian, CC Sabathia. He was called up to the big leagues and had to be removed from the Olympic roster. USA won the gold anyway.
Tonight’s game is scheduled to start a little after 7pm ET and can be seen on My9. Yep, the first My9 game of the season. Obviously the rain may change things. If they do play, and I really hope they do, enjoy the game.
ByAndy Pettitte is dealing with a stiff back and will not start Sunday as scheduled, Joe Girardi announced. It first bothered him during his last start and then again last night. The left-hander threw his usual between-starts bullpen, however.
Phil Hughes will start tomorrow, Hiroki Kuroda will start Sunday, and then Pettitte will hopefully start either Tuesday or Wednesday following the off-day on Monday. They have to see how he feels the next few days before finalizing their plans for next week, obviously. The schedule allows the Yankees to push Pettitte all the way back to next Saturday before having to come up with a replacement starter, if need be. · (7) ·
2013 Draft: Casey Meisner
By · CommentsThe 2013 amateur draft will be held from June 6-8 this year, and between now and then I’m going to highlight some prospects individually rather than lump them together into larger posts.
Casey Meisner | RHP
Background
Meisner attends Cypress Woods High School in Cypress, Texas, which is a Houston suburb. He pitched for the Texas Scout Team Yankees last fall, a showcase club the Yankees use the team to familiarize themselves with top Texas high schoolers during the Perfect Game World Wood Bat Championship each year. His college commitment is to Texas Tech.
Scouting Report
The first thing that stands out about Meisner is his size. He’s listed at 6-foot-7 and 185 lbs. so he’s tall and lanky with an awful lot of projection remaining. Meisner’s fastball typically sits about 86-88 these days, but he has shown 92 in the past, so there is some more velocity in there somewhere. His loopy mid-70s curveball looks like an out pitch on some days and still-developing pitch on others. A low-80s changeup that needs a lot of work rounds out his repertoire.
In addition to his size, Meisner stands out because he’s a very good athlete who has shown the ability to repeat his mechanics and keep his delivery in order better than most pitchers his size. He also throws strikes and draws rave reviews for his makeup and mound presence, which has been described as “business-like.” There are a bunch of short video clips on YouTube.
Miscellany
Neither Baseball America (subs. req’d) nor Keith Law (subs. req’d) ranked Meisner among the top 50 draft prospects in their latest rankings. Baseball America (subs. req’d) did, however, rank him as the 89th best high school player available in this summer’s draft. That’s roughly in the fifth to seventh round range. The Yankees love physically huge pitchers and players with good makeup, so Meisner sounds like someone who is right up their alley. We know he’s at least on their radar after playing for their Texas Scout team late last year. Meisner is a definite project, but he also has the tools to come out as a potential top ten pick in three years if he follows through on his college commitment.
