River Avenue Blues

Aceves strong as Scranton wins again

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Jesus Montero was the fourth hottest prospect in baseball this past week.

Make sure you scroll down for tonight’s game thread.

Triple-A Scranton (6-2 win over Rochester)
Doug Bernier & Eric Duncan: both 1 for 4, 1 K – Bernier drew a walk … E-Dunc drove one in
John Rodriguez: 1 for 5, 1 R, 1 K
Todd Linden: 3 for 5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K – 14 for his last 29 (.483)
Shelley Duncan: 2 for 5, 1 R, 1 RBI
Juan Miranda: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
Austin Jackson: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 3B, 2 RBI – 3 for his last 12 following an 11 for 21 stretch (.523)
Angel Beroa: 0 for 4, 2 K
PJ Pilittere: 1 for 4, 1 R
Al Aceves: 6.2 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 7-7 GB/FB – 61 of 83 pithes were strikes (73.5%) … easily his best start of the young season
Anthony Claggett: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 2-2 GB/FB – 7 of 13 pitches were strikes (53.8%)
Eric Wordekemper: 1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 2-1 GB/FB – all 9 pitches were strikes … this was his first ever AAA appearance

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Game 16 Spillover Thread

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Nice job getting out that little mess by Joba. We’re a third of the way through the game, so let’s keep the party going here.

Game 16: From one hitter-friendly park to another

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There’s nothing like the first Yankees-Red Sox game of the year. It’s like coming back to school after summer break and finding your nemesis waiting by your locker. It’s time to renew the rivalry and get things going. The Yanks and the Sox look to do just that tonight, sending two of their finest young pitchers to duel it out.

You might remember the last time Joba Chamberlain started a game in Fenway Park. That was easily my favorite game of 2009. Joba vs. Beckett, and the pitching duel was everything it was hyped to be. We even got a Kyle Farnsworth signature meltdown, though Mo had mercy on him. The Yanks did let Beckett off the hook that night, putting 10 men on base against him and plating just one of them, as was their wont last year.

Joba has started one other game against the Red Sox in his career, going six innings and allowing three runs on four hits and four walks, striking out five. That’s not terrible, but the Yanks could use a bit more tonight. Jon Lester absolutely dominated them last year, giving up just three runs over 22.2 innings, striking out 24 to just three walks. We could be in for another low-scoring affair, my favorite kind of game.

Girardi did a good job with the lineup today. The bottom third of the order is a black hole no matter which way he lays it out, so we can kind of disregard that. I like that Jorge is DHing in place of Matsui against the lefty. This means that Jorge can catch tomorrow afternoon’s affair and Matsui can slide in against the righty Beckett. Girardi also gets the bat out of Brett Gardner’s hands, which is fine considering 1) it’s a lefty, 2) Gardner hasn’t been very good, and 3) Melky’s the hot hand right now. It would take a pretty big night from Melky, I would think, for him to get the start again tomorrow.

Lineup:

1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Johnny Damon, LF
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Jorge Posada, DH
5. Nick Swisher, RF
6. Robinson Cano, 2B
7. Melky Cabrera, CF
8. Jose Molina, C
9. Cody Ransom, 3B

And on the mound, number sixty-two, Joba Chamberlain.

To tide you over until the game

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Just because there’s nothing going on heading into the game, here’s an episode of Wired Science which discusses science and baseball. Please do not misread: this is not Weird Science. I misread it at first myself, and got a little excited over vintage Vanessa Angel (I watched the show as a 12-year-old solely for her).

Anyway, this should tide you over until game time.

RAB Live Chat

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Balls flying all around baseball

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Sorry, couldn’t resist the headline. Apparently, the homer-friendly atmosphere in the new Yankee Stadium might not be some kind of park effect. While we’ve seen a record number of gopher balls over the first six games at the park, Brian Cashman notes that homers are traveling further throughout baseball. On average, they’re going an extra eight feet, something which “may even out over the course of an 81-game home schedule.” Let’s hope this is the case. While a more homer-friendly park would obviously benefit the Yanks’ offense, opposing teams have the same advantage. I prefer the Yanks’ pitchers keeping the ball in the park.