Archives for 2013

Yankees hang on for 3-2 win over Royals

May 11, 2013 by Mike 49 Comments

Don’t look now, but the Yankees are on something of a roll. Saturday’s 3-2 win over the Royals was their fourth straight victory and 11th in their last 15 games. Since the 1-4 start, they’ve gone 21-9. Pretty remarkable. Let’s recap…

Dandy Andy: After two dud outings, Andy Pettitte rebounded to hold Kansas City to two runs in seven rock solid innings. He missed his spots a few times pretty badly — none worse than the pitch Billy Butler hit for a solo homer — but nothing like those last two starts. Pettitte struck out seven and walked just one, recording eleven outs on the ground compared to just three in the air. Needless to say, it was very good to see vintage Andy out there after that little hiccup.
Shields’ Two Mistakes: The Yankees were down 2-1 in the fifth inning when Royals’ starter Jamie Shields made two mistakes. First, he hit nine-hole hitter Chris Stewart with a two-strike pitch to leadoff the inning. Second, he grooved a 3-1 fastball to Vernon Wells with two outs, a pitch that landed over the left field wall for a go-ahead two-run homer. Shields pitched very well aside from those two mistakes, but they ultimately cost him and his team the game.
Leftovers: David Robertson struck out the side in the eighth and was absolutely disgusting. Just nasty stuff. Unhittable. Mariano Rivera allowed a double in the ninth but otherwise nailed things down for his 14th save in as many chances … Jayson Nix has reached base seven times in the series after picking up two hits and a walk in this game … the Yankees managed to win even though the one through five hitters went a combined 2-for-19 with a walk. One of those hits was the Wells homer, the other a Travis Hafner infield single … Lorenzo Cain walked on three balls in the fifth inning because apparently no one in the ballpark was paying attention. It was a long at-bat with a lot of pickoff throws to first, but still. How does no one catch that?

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs some other stats, and ESPN the updated standings. In case you’re wondering, the Yankees now lead the AL East by a full game. It’s early though, I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. They’ll go for the sweep on Sunday afternoon, when Hiroki Kuroda gets the ball against right-hander Ervin Santana.

Wang pitches into the eighth in latest AAA start

May 11, 2013 by Mike 18 Comments

The Yankees released IF Gil Velazquez, RHP Ryan Pope, and LF/DH Cody Johnson from their Triple-A squad today. OF Thomas Neal was activated off the DL while IF Alberto Gonzalez was officially added to the roster after being acquired in a trade last week.

Triple-A Scranton (4-3 win over Gwinnett)

2B Corban Joseph: 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K, 1 HBP — nine hits in 34 at-bats (.265) since being sent down
DH Curtis Granderson: 2-4, 1 RBI, 2 K — had a little more on him earlier
LF Zoilo Almonte: 0-4
3B Ronnie Mustelier: 1-4
CF Melky Mesa: 2-4, 1 R, 2 2B, 1 RBI — five hits in his last eight at-bats
RHP Chien-Ming Wang: 7.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HB, 18/2 GB/FB — he’s got three more starts left before his next opt-out date
RHP Cody Eppley: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 1/1 GB/FB — only six of 13 pitches were strikes (46%)
LHP Clay Rapada: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 1/1 GB/FB — seven of ten pitches were strikes

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Curtis Granderson singles twice in latest rehab game

May 11, 2013 by Mike 5 Comments

In his third minor league rehab game with Triple-A Scranton, Curtis Granderson went 2-for-4 with two strikeouts. He singled once to right and once back up the middle. Granderson spent the game at DH as planned, and he played all nine innings. Donnie Collins says Curtis is expected to remain with the team until the end of their homestand on Monday, so I suppose he could be activated off the DL and re-join the big league team as soon as Tuesday. I guess we’ll find out.

Game 35: Rebound

May 11, 2013 by Mike 202 Comments

The Yankees have won three straight and 20 of their last 29, but they need a rebound today. Specifically, they need Andy Pettitte to rebound from two dreadful starts and get back to being, well, Andy Pettitte. He says his cutter is the primary culprit, but when a pitcher that age had back trouble a few weeks ago, it’s hard not to wonder if there’s something more to the struggles. Here’s the lineup that will face righty Jamie Shields…

CF Brett Gardner
2B Robinson Cano
LF Vernon Wells
DH Travis Hafner
RF Ichiro Suzuki
SS Jayson Nix
1B Lyle Overbay
3B Chris Nelson
C Chris Stewart

And on the mound is the guy Baseball America ranked as the 49th best prospect in baseball prior to the 1995 season, left-hander Andy Pettitte.

I truly despise Saturday night games, but what can you do. The game is scheduled to start at 7:10pm ET and can be seen on YES. Enjoy.

Eduardo Nunez Update: Nunez still feels something in his ribcage and did not take batting practice on the field today as expected. He’ll take today off and try again tomorrow.

2013 Draft: Tim Anderson

May 11, 2013 by Mike 15 Comments

The 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.

Tim Anderson | SS

Background
Primarily a basketball player at Hillcrest High School in Tuscaloosa, Anderson went undrafted in 2011 and headed to East Central Community College in Mississippi. He came into the weekend hitting .503/.564/.911 with nine homers and 36 steals in 45 games this spring, and he’s committed to attend the University of Alabama at Birmingham next year.

Scouting Report
Listed at 6-foot-1 and 175 lbs., Anderson is an excellent athlete whose best present tool is his speed. He has bat speed and a level swing from the right side, but he doesn’t use his lower half well and hasn’t shown much power. He’s basically a slap hitter at this point. Defensively, Anderson is one of the few players in this draft with a legitimate chance to remain at shortstop long-term thanks to his quick feet and reactions. His arm leaves something to be desired and his overall game is raw for a college sophomore because he’s only been playing baseball full-time for two years. The speed, swing, and pure athleticism point to a very high ceiling but also a lot of risk.

Miscellany
Baseball America (subs. req’d) and Keith Law (subs. req’d) ranked Anderson as the 34th and 43rd best prospect in the draft in their latest rankings, respectively. The Yankees love those toolsy up-the-middle athletes, so Anderson is right up their alley. He needs a lot of work and won’t climb the ladder all that quickly despite being two years removed from high school, so it’s fair to consider him a project. The athleticism will get him drafted early despite that lack or refinement, and the Yankees have three picks right at the end of the first round (26th, 32nd, 33rd).

Feinsand: Yankees plan to call up David Adams on Wednesday

May 11, 2013 by Mike 71 Comments

Via Mark Feinsand: The Yankees are planning to call up infielder David Adams this coming Wednesday, the first day he is eligible to be added to the big league roster after being released and re-signing to a minor league contract last month. The team will give him a chance to play third base everyday.

Adams, 25, is hitting .314/.404/.477 (153 wRC+) with two homers and 99 plate appearances for Triple-A Scranton this year. He’s been a full-time third baseman since last July, but he came up as a second baseman and even spent some time at first this year. Although Ben Francisco seems like the obvious candidate to lose his roster spot, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Yankees cut Chris Nelson in favor of Adams instead. Kevin Youkilis has just started working out in Tampa according to Chad Jennings, so he isn’t close to returning. Pretty great opportunity for Adams, who I ranked as the team’s 18th best prospect before the season.

Thoughts on a Random Saturday

May 11, 2013 by Matt Warden 29 Comments

Note from Mike: Just a heads up, Matt wrote this Thursday, so some of it sounds kinda weird after the blowout win over the Royals.

1. The Yankees offense looked pretty anemic against the Rockies, which is kind of surprising given the fly ball tendencies of Colorado’s ballpark. Then again, maybe it isn’t all that surprising as half of the Yankees lineup belongs in AAA (you know it’s bad when soon-to-be-canned Ben Francisco is batting fifth) and Travis Hafner is stuck on the bench. The Yankees pitching is pretty solid, but they’ll need to plate more than a couple runs on the board if they’re going to be successful this season, unless they plan on taking a page out of the 2012-Orioles-win-by-a-run-every-night handbook. When Hiroki Kuroda gives the team seven strong innings of two-run ball you’d like to see a W. On a side note, it’s really too bad CC Sabathia’s start was cut short by rain. He was looking really sharp prior to the delay.

2. Speaking of run production deficiencies, I can’t stand watching the pitchers hit. Don’t get me wrong, I love interleague play – especially since the Yankees have generally fared pretty well through these matches. But I can’t stand pitchers hitting. Aside from the fact that they are generally terrible hitters at the plate (yes, even the “good” ones), the risk of injury is simply too great. Frankly, I cringe every time I see CC step up to the batter’s box in general, but now more than ever, the Yankees depend on him taking the ball every five days with half their team out of commission. Here’s to the AL and the designated hitter.

3. Not really Yankees related, but I thought I’d mention the fiasco in Cleveland. For those not familiar with the situation, Oakland’s Adam Rosales was ripped off of what would have been a game tying home run. Here’s the video. The umpires had an opportunity to reverse the incorrect call but they didn’t despite the replays showing definitively that they screwed up. I find this pretty inexcusable. I get the argument (though I don’t necessarily agree with it) that it’s nice to have the “human element” in the game (aside from the players apparently). But for goodness sake, get the damn call right when the tools have been implemented, are easily accessible and are designed specifically for that purpose.

4. During Thursday afternoon’s chat, I received a number of comments mentioning Joe Girardi’s nomination for the Manager of the Year award should the team make the playoffs. First, that seems a bit arbitrary to me – if the team has a successful season but just barely misses the playoffs by a game or two, shouldn’t that still count? Kind of like when he won the award with the Marlins? Second, Girardi’s doing the best that he can with the pieces that he has, and keep in mind those pieces are generally veteran players. That said, I don’t know that you can give him credit for the performance of the players. Guys like Hafner or Vernon Wells or Kevin Youkilis are going to do what they’re going to do. I’m just not sure how much Girardi has to do with it. At the end of the day, the players are accountable for their own performance. Just my $0.02.