Yankees Pitching Staff is Falling Apart
The Yankees once had the best pitching rotation in baseball. Lately, things are starting to fall apart. Andy Pettite is out for around a month with a groin pull, Phil Hughes is starting to struggle in his last few outings not picking up a win, A.J. Burnett still isn’t straightened out, and Javier Vazquez is either on or terrible. The only pitcher that is going well right now is C.C Sabathia.
Then there is the bullpen, once the Yankees strength in 2009, 2010 is a completely different story. Right now as I am typing, David Robertson loaded the bases and luckily got out the jam, but he made things shaky. Vazquez started today’s game and once has a 6-0 lead and now in the bottom of the sixth the Angels are now only down by one 6-5. Luckily the Yankees offense is on fire right now, otherwise the Yankees would be losing a lot more.
Back to the bullpen, Joba Chamberlin is never a sure thing as Mariano’s setup man. When Chamberlin’s slider isn’t working he is very hittable, batter’s wait on his fastball when his slider isn’t on. When Chamberlin’s slider is on, it is hard to tell if a fastball is coming or a slider which leads to a lot of strikeouts. The bottom line is, Chamberlin is not reliable.
Where do I start when it comes to Chan Ho Park. What a terrible mistake for the Yankees. When Park comes into the game you know the Yankees are losing big or he’s the only pitcher available because every time he comes in it seems like the Yankees lose the game. Park is definitely the worst pickup for the Yankees in 2010.
The rest of the bullpen is made up of names like Boone Logan, Chad Gaudin, and Demaso Marte. Not one of them is a sure thing either. A stunning stat is the Yankees bullpen all have an ERA over 4.00 with the lowest being Logan’s at 4.05.
The Yankees are rumored to be looking at Scott Downs from the Toronto Blue Jays. Downs is an excellent setup man, he has a 2.52 ERA in the 44 games he pitched in this season. The Yankees need a guy like downs to straighten their bullpen out.
Again as I’m typing Chamberlin just came into the game and pitched the bases loaded just like Robertson the inning before, but he did get out of the jam also. These guys are always flirting with disaster.
Everyone knows the Yankees are going to make at least one trade for a bullpen pitcher and maybe a starter. The Yankees already showed they are looking for starting pitchers when they just about had Cliff Lee, just to let him slip through their fingers and go to the Rangers. I am surprised the Yankees let that happen. The Yankees do not like getting embarrassed and that certainly was embarrassing.
Some other starting pitchers that are on the block that the Yankees might pick up are Ted Lilly, who started his career with the Yankees, Roy Oswalt, Jake Westbrook, Fausto Carmona, and Dan Haren. (mlb.com)
By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network
Yankees Take First Two Games Against the Athletics
The Yankees set a new high water mark by winning the first two games against the Athletics in Oakland. The Yankees are now 21 games over .500 and have held the best record in baseball for the last three weeks. The Yankees are looking strong going into the all-star break. The Yankees have five games left, one more against the A’s and then a four game set in Seattle. If the Yankees stay on their hot streak they can easily win every game this week, which would give them more confidence in the second half.
In game one of the A’s series the Yankees had Javier Vazquez go against the A’s ace, Ben Sheets. Sheets has not performed the way the A’s hoped though and had only three wins to go along with seven loses going into the game. On the other hand Vazquez was looking to even his wins and loses. Going into the game Vazquez was 6-7.
This game turned out to be a pitchers duel. Sheets looked like his old self, the one that the A’s thought they were getting. Sheets ran into a little bit of trouble in the second inning when Curtis Granderson and Franciso Cervelli each had two out RBI’s. From there Sheets didn’t let up another run until the sixth inning when Mark Teixeira hit a solo home run. Sheets lasted seven and one-third innings only letting up three runs.
Unfortunately for Sheets, Vazquez was on. The Yankees have seen two sides of Vazquez this year, he either lasts five innings and lets up a ton of runs or he lasts seven or more innings only allowing three or less runs. Vazquez pitched seven innings this time, anytime Vazquez lasts that long people know that he hasn’t let up many runs. In this case Vazquez only let up one run on a Coco Crisp single that drove in Mark Ellis in the third inning.
Vazquez and the Yankees bullpen, only allowed the A’s to get three hits the whole game. It seems like anytime the Yankees have a starter pitch seven or more innings they win. The rest of the Yankees bullpen is weak, the only guys they can trust is Joba Chamberlin and Mariano Rivera and they did it again to secure the 3-1 victory for the Yankees.
In game two, the Yankees had C.C. Sabathia going for them. Sabathia has been on fire lately. After having a rough May, Sabathia has bounced back to win six straight games going into last night. Sabathia earned his was onto the all-star team with his phenomenal June, but he won’t be in it because he’s pitching Sunday. Andy Pettite took Sabathia’s spot on the roster.
The A’s has their surprising youngster Trevor Cahill take the mound for them who was 8-2 going into last night. Cahill is only 22-years-old and is in his second full season in the majors. Cahill was selected to pitch in the all-star game, that’s how good he has been for the A’s this year.
The game started off slow for Sabathia. I have noticed when Sabathia lets up any runs it is usually in the beginning of the game. As the game goes on Sabathia get stronger and stronger, this is why he is such a great pitcher. Sabathia let up a single to leadoff hitter Crisp. Then the next two batters grounded out to move Crisp over to third. Kevin Kouzmanoff then drove in Crisp, picking up a two out RBI single.
The game remained 1-0 A’s until the third inning. In the top of the third Cahill ran into trouble. Derek Jeter came to the plate with one out and the bases loaded. Jeter only has one career grand slam, all he needs is a base hit to drive in at least one run to tie the game. Instead Jeter grounds into a fielder’s choice after just making it to first before the throw that would have been an inning ending double play.
Teixeira came up next and was hit in the back by a pitch. Teixeira got hit right under the shoulder blade and it took him a while to walk over to first base because of the pain. Now the bases were loaded once again, this time for Alex Rodriguez.
Rodriguez is the man the Yankees want up in these situations. Rodriguez had 20 grand slams going into the game which is third all time. Rodriguez worked the count to 3-1 and then Cahill left one right down the middle and Rodriguez smashed it for another grand slam. Rodriguez moved up to a tie with Manny Ramirez for second place on the all-time grand slam list. That grand slam also marked Rodriguez’s third of the season.
Cahill came back down to earth this game. Rodriguez gave Cahill the final shove out of the game in the sixth inning when he hit another home run, this time a solo shot. The Yankees held a 6-1 lead behind stellar pitching once again from Sabathia. Sabathia went seven and two-thirds innings only allowing that one run in the first on seven hits and ten strikeouts.
David Robertson came in to pitch the rest of the game and the score remained the same 6-1 Yankees.
Tonight the Yankees have A.J. Burnett going for them who had one of his best games of the year last time out, but the Yankees couldn’t pick up the win for him. Burnett will hope to build on his last strong start after having a miserable June where he didn’t record one win.
The A’s will have Gio Gonzalez going for them who is 7-5 on the season with a 3.50 ERA. (yankees.com)
By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network
Subway Series: Yankees Take Two Out of Three
Game One:
After losing two out of three to the Mets at Citi Field, the Yankees looked to win the season series by sweeping the Mets at Yankee Stadium. Well, that didn’t happen the first game had Javier Vazquez going for the Yankees against the Mets new, young, Japanese sensation, Hisanori Takahashi.
Takahashi has been a godsend for the Mets. He pitched six scoreless innings, only allowing four hits. The Yankees were lifeless in this game. The only chance the Yankees had of winning came in the ninth inning against the Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez. Down 4-0 the Yankees had their first threat of the game with one out and the bases loaded for Derek Jeter.
Jeter came into the game in a slump and he wasn’t his normal self in the ninth inning. Jeter is known to be one of the best clutch hitters in the game, but he easily went down against Rodriguez with a strikeout. The Yankees last chance came down to Nick Swisher who already had two hits in the game and has been hot all year. Out of character again, Swisher who usually likes to work the count, swung at the first pitch popping the ball up in foul territory past third for David Wright to easily catch and end the game.
Vazquez again has had terrible luck when he pitches. He has put together five straight good starts now, but he never gets much run support. Vazquez pitched seven innings of one-run ball and had to be taken out because of his high pitch count.
Takahashi is now 6-2 on the season with a 3.13 ERA. Takahashi has proven that he is capable of being a number two starter for the Mets, just what they need if they want to make it to the playoffs.
Game Two:
This was definitly the most exciting game of the series. The Yankees had Cy Young Award candidate Phil Hughes against the Mets Cy Young Award candidate Mike Pelfrey. Pelfrey and Hughes had the same record of 9-1 going into Saturday’s game. These two pitchers are proving to their teams that they are the aces this year.
This game was the only game of the series that was close throughout. In the first inning the Mets started quick, scoring one run on the re-born Jose Reyes’s home run to lead off the game. The Yankees came right back in the bottom of the first with Brett Gardner leading off with a single followed by Nick Swisher who also hit a single which allowed Gardner to make it to third. With Mark Teixeira coming up the Yankees had a good chance to score a lot of runs quickly, but the struggling Teixeira grounded into a double play, which allowed Gardner to score and tie the game.
In the third inning for the Mets, Reyes hit another home run, this time a two run shot that gave the Mets a 3-1 lead. Once again the Yankees didn’t let the Mets keep that lead for long. In the bottom of the third the Yankees also hit a two-run homerun by Mark Teixeira to tie the game back up at three.
From the fourth inning on Hughes turned things up a notch pitching brilliantly not allowing any more runs. On the Mets side Pelfrey couldn’t keep things together. In the bottom of the fourth the Yankees broke out the long ball again with another two-run homerun from Curtis Granderson this time making the score 5-3 Yankees.
The Yankees bullpen held the score at 5-3 with Joba Chamberlin coming in to pitch the eight to set thing up for Mariano Rivera’s 16th save in the ninth.
Game Three:
This is the game everyone was waiting to see, C.C. Sabathia against Johan Santana. Both pitchers, who are supposed to be their teams aces, have struggles somewhat this year. Sabathia really showed up yesterday though, in a game the Yankees had to win if they wanted to tie the overall subway series.
Both pitchers pitched well actually, the only blemish came in the bottom of the third when with the bases loaded Teixeira hit a grand slam. Even though Teixeira’s average is much lower than usual, his home run numbers are still up. If it wasn’t for that grand slam, the game would have been tied 0-0 into extra innings. That was the only mistake Santana let up in the game.
The Yankees got their revenge this time blanking the Mets 4-0 behind Sabathia’s stellar eight scoreless innings. The Yankees tied up this year’s subway series when it looked like the Mets had it in the bag.
The Yankees continue their inter-league schedule in Arizona against the Diamondbacks tonight. The Yankees, who now stand alone in first place and have the best record in baseball, should expect nothing less than a sweep against the last place and fourth worst record in baseball Diamondbacks. (Yankees.com)
By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network
Yankees Lose Two Out of Three to the Blue Jays
When it comes to facing teams with a winning record the Yankees have been having some trouble. The same was true this weekend when they lost two out of three to the Toronto Blue Jays who have move within two and a half games behind the Yankees and are tied with the Boston Red Sox for third place in the division.
On Friday night Burnett had a rough outing facing his old team. Burnett was charged with all six runs scored by the Blue Jays. Burnett’s undoing came with his usual suspect, the long ball. Burnett let up three home runs in six innings pitched. Usually when Burnett struggles he gets hammered and again that was the case. The Blue Jays are leading the lead in home runs and they weren’t afraid to show their home run power on Burnett’s mistakes.
On the other side, the Yankees only scored one run against the Blue Jays starter, Brett Cecil. Cecil mixed up his pitches well and kept the Yankees off balance. Cecil became the first pitcher to go eight innings against the Yankees all year.
The Yankees wound up losing 6-1, it was a wake up call for the Yankees who just faced easy competition in the Orioles who were swept by the Yankees.
Saturday afternoon the Yankees had Andy Pettite on the hill and he pitched a gem. Pettite went seven and two-thirds innings striking out 10 batters and allowing two runs on two solo home runs. That should have been enough for the Yankees to win the game, they average 4.5 runs a game on the road. That wasn’t the case though, the Yankees were abysmal at the plate matching the Blue Jays with two runs thanks to Derek Jeter’s two run blast in the fifth inning.
The Yankees wound up striking out 14 times in 14 innings, with the strikeout leader being Mark Teixeira with five. Ricky Romero matched Pettite with a solid eight innings pitched and seven strikeouts. With the lack of offense the game remained tied for 14 innings when the Yankees bullpen couldn’t handle any more. Chad Gaudin recently re-acquired from the Oakland Athletics let up the winning run on an Aaron Hill line drive to center that scored Fred Lewis from second.
Game three of the series was another close game with solid pitching performances from Javier Vazquez and Brandon Morrow. The biggest story of the game was Vazquez who has made it back to his old form and keeps getting better and better from start to start.
Vazquez had a no-hitter going through the first five innings of the game. His only mistake came in the sixth inning when he let up a two run home run to the resurgent Vernon Wells. Vazquez wound up going seven innings with nine strikeouts and only allowing the two runs from Wells.
On the other side, the Yankees were held scoreless for the first seven innings against stellar pitching by Morrow who struck out eight Yankees. It looked like Vazquez who hasn’t been getting any run support all year, may have another tough loss. That wasn’t the case though because the Yankees finally woke up in the eighth inning on relief pitchers Scott Downs and Jason Frasor. The Yankees scored four runs that inning when Francisco Cervelli and Brett Gardner led off the inning by both getting hit by pitches. Jeter then hit a line drive double to score Cervelli. Then there were some fireworks when Nick Swisher was called out on a check swing that he clearly held up on. Giradi came out to argue and was thrown out of the game by the home plate umpire. Giradi may have done that to fie up his team and win the game and it worked.
Teixeira was up next and was intentionally walked. The Blue Jays wanted to set up the double play with Alex Rodriguez coming up. With Rodriguez down 0-2 in the count Frasor threw a wild pitch that allowed Gardner to score. Rodriguez eventually struck out, but no worries the Yankees best hitter of the season was up next, Robinson Cano, Once again he came through with a two run double to give the Yankees the lead which they never surrendered.
Joba Chamberlin came in to pitch the eight allowing one run to score making the game 4-3 Yankees. Then Mariano Rivera came in for his easiest save of the season. Rivera only had to throw five pitches to record his 13th save of the season.
At least the Yankees salvaged the last game of the series to boost their momentum for another easy stretch of schedule this week with the Orioles and Astros. Phil Hughes will take the hill tomorrow night against the Orioles where he looks to get a team leading 8 wins for the season. (yankees.com)
By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network
Javier Vazquez Finally Gets A Break
Last night Javier Vazquez took the mound for the Yankees pitching seven stellar innings only allowing a solo home run to Corey Patterson.
Brian Matusz pitched for the Orioles and matched Vazquez only allowing a solo home run to Curtis Granderson.
In the seventh inning Matusz was pulled from the game with a man on second and third,two outs and Alex Rodriguez coming up to bat. The Orioles brought in a righty, David Hernandez, to face the righty Rodriguez.
Hernandez got Rodriguez to hit a routine ground ball to third baseman Miguel Tejada. Inning over? No! Tejada wound up throwing the ball in the dirt to first baseman Ty Wigginton who could not scoop it. This error led to two runs for the Yankees and let Vazquez off the hook.
Joba Chamberlin came in to pitch a scoreless eighth inning to set up the save for Mariano Rivera and secure the victory for the Yankees.
Thanks to Tejada, Vazquez got the win and finally caught his first lucky break of the season after recieving many unlucky breaks previously.
Vazquez will look to build on his strong start on sunday against the Blue Jays in Toronto. (yankees.com)
by Eric Heyer at the Sports Fan Blog Network
Javier Vazquez can’t catch a break!
Yesterday afternoon, Vazquez pitched the first game of the Yankees day-night doubleheader in Detroit. Vazquez has struggled all season long coming into yesterday’s game with a 9.78 ERA. After being skipped in his last start against the Red Sox, Vazquez had an opportunity to redeem himself against the Tigers.
Vazquez showed why the Yankees traded for him by only allowing one hit over the first five innings. In the sixth inning Vazquez ran into a little trouble allowing two runs to score, but that was all the runs the Tigers scored in the game.
Vazquez wound up going seven innings allowing two runs on five hits. If it wasn’t for the stellar pitching of 21 year old Rick Porcello of the Tigers, Vazquez would have recorded his second win of the season. Porcello went seven innings of shutout baseball. Perry came in for the eighth to secure the hold for Jose Valverde who came away with his tenth save.
This was the first time the Yankees lost by a shutout all season and it is the first time they lost three games in a row this season. The only positive the Yankees can take from their loss is that Vazquez was finally back to himself. If he keeps on pitching like he did yesterday, his wins will eventually pick up and their rotation will be solid from top to bottom. (mlb.com) (yankees.com)
By, Eric Heyer
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