Triple Threat

Mariano -

Hinske -

min0 lee

Someone may be going down....
Swisher looked real good at the start of the season hit wise, actually he's decent on the road but his fielding isn't that good at all.

Triple Threat

I can't see them getting rid of Swisher. My vote goes to Ransom.

min0 lee

Mine too, but Hinske can cover third at least so that would mean Ransom may go.
Swisher has way more pop than Ransom.

min0 lee

HUGHES PHIL-ING THE BILL AS BIG BRIDGE TO RIVERA

THE concentration Sunday night was on whether Chien-Ming Wang would earn his first win of 2009 and Mariano Rivera would record his 500th career save, so you might not have paid much attention to what occurred in between: Phil Hughes delivered another eye-opening, offense- shutting performance. He threw an other 1 1/3 hitless innings against the Mets in a 4-2 Yankee triumph.

Hughes has relieved seven times this season and has a 1.50 ERA and a .122 batting average against. In his last five outings, he is scoreless over seven innings with three hits, one walk and nine strikeouts. Maybe this is just a short run of success, though Alex Rodriguez said, "[Hughes] is throwing the ball as well as anyone on our staff. He is a total asset."

For now, Hughes has qui eted the calls for Joba Chamberlain to be moved back to the bull pen. And there is irony to that, of course. Be cause everyone has long assumed that Chamberlain is really, in temperament and style, a late-inning re liever, and that Hughes, poker- faced and more cerebral, is a starter.

But remember what was being said about and by Rivera in 1996, his breakout campaign, the sea son he served mainly as closer John Wetteland's set-up man, but also picked up the first five of his now 500 saves.

Rivera had made 10 starts for the 1995 Yankees, going 3-3 with a 5.94 ERA. But that offseason, the Yanks re-signed David Cone to the largest pitching contract ever and also imported Dwight Gooden and Kenny Rogers. Those three joined Jimmy Key and Andy Pettitte and there was no room for Rivera. So he made the team as mainly a mop-up man, but pitched so well in April that manager Joe Torre started feeding him more vital tasks until he had usurped Jeff Nelson and Bob Wickman and was the primary set-up man.

However, pretty much that entire season, Rivera said he was enjoying the job, but that it was just a pit stop away from starting. History tells us it was a heck of pit stop.

Fast forward to Hughes, who in 28 career starts is 8-9 with a 5.22 ERA. In the past offseason, the Yanks gave CC Sabathia the largest pitching contract ever and also signed A.J. Burnett to work with Pettitte, Chamberlain and Chien-Ming Wang. There was no job for Hughes.

So when Wang returned from the disabled list, he was handed a long relief role, but he has quickly gained a more important designation. And would anybody be surprised if in the not too distant future it is Hughes -- not Brian Bruney -- who is doing the main set-up work for Rivera? And is it possible that it will be Hughes, rather than Chamberlain, who is the heir apparent to Rivera?

"Yes, I want to be a starter still," Hughes said, sounding quite like Rivera 13 years ago. "But it wouldn't be bad to have Mariano Rivera's career. I want to be pitching in the major leagues. That is what is important to me. I think too many guys are too picky."

General manager Brian Cashman said the plan is to still have Hughes eventually return to the rotation. But, for now, "our goal is to win as many games in 2009 as possible and make the playoffs." Translation: If Hughes could be an impact set-up man, like Rivera was in 1996, then Hughes will stay in that role, and the Yankees will deal with building up his innings again next year.

Cashman actually believes that pitching out of the bullpen will help Hughes when he returns to the rotation because "before [as a starter] he was nibbling too much away from contact. Now he is challenging guys."

Hughes has a tiny bit of Mo Rivera, circa 1996, about him right now. Suddenly, he is a relief revelation.

min0 lee

Yanks send Pena down

Well this is better for him, he'll get some practice in the outfield and get more playing time.

min0 lee

The Baboon was right!


So That's How Yankees Players Get the Flu?

min0 lee

Mark Teixeira picked up more than 1.4 million votes in the final three days of balloting to pass Boston's Kevin Youkilis and land the starting job at first base for the American League in this year's All-Star Game.
He will represent the Yankees along with Derek Jeter, the top AL vote recipient, and Mariano Rivera on July 14 at St. Louis' Busch Stadium. Youkilis led Teixeira, 1,915,303 to 1,875,256, on Tuesday. In the final three days before voting closed at midnight Thursday, Teixeira's vote total nearly doubled. He finished ahead of Youkilis 3,309,050 to 3,069,906.
"It shows how passionate Yankee fans are," said Teixeira, who was a Rangers All-Star in 2005. "There's probably four or five first basemen that deserve to go and deserve to start, but you've got to give credit to the Yankee fans for getting me there."
Jeter is a .474 hitter in All-Star play and Rivera - selected in league-wide player voting - has made seven appearances, recorded three saves and not allowed an earned run in seven innings.
"We've been together for so many things and having Derek is great," Rivera said. "Now also we have Mark there. It's not 10 for him, but he will have more than that."
Jeter's 4,851,889 votes were the most for an AL player, the first time he's done that. After going 4-for-5 with a two-run homer in the Yanks' 10-8 win over Toronto, that news seemed genuinely important to him.
"It makes you feel good when people respect the way you play, even though they may not be Yankee fans so it means a lot," he said.
Joining Jeter and Teixeira in the starting infield are Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia and Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria. The outfielders are Boston's Jason Bay, Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki and Texas' Josh Hamilton. The catcher is Minnesota's Joe Mauer.
"Every player wants to be a part of it," Jeter said. "If they tell you they don't, I think they're lying to you. There's a lot of great players so it's an honor."
Teixeira said he will not participate in the Home Run Derby because "I did it in 2005 and I was terrible. I embarrassed myself."
The Red Sox put six players on the team, including starting pitcher Tim Wakefield, who becomes the second-oldest player to make his first All-Star Game appearance. Wakefield (10-3) will be 42 years and 346 days old; Satchel Page made his first All-Star Game at 46 years and one day. Youkilis and pitchers Josh Beckett and Jonathan Papelbon are the other three Sox.
Rays manager Joe Maddon selected three of his players, outfielder Carl Crawford and infielders Ben Zobrist and Jason Bartlett. Carlos Pena, the AL home run leader and the fourth Rays infielder, can get the last spot on the team through fan voting at MLB.com. He is in the "Final Vote" contest against the Angels' Chone Figgins, Texas' Ian Kinsler, Detroit's Brandon Inge and Toronto's Adam Lind.
The other pitchers on the AL team are Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson (Tigers), Zack Greinke (Royals), Roy Halladay (Jays), Mark Buehrle (White Sox), Joe Nathan (Twins), Brian Fuentes (Angels), Andrew Bailey (A's) and Felix Hernandez (Mariners).
The other AL reserves are Adam Jones (Orioles), Victor Martinez (Indians), Curtis Granderson (Tigers), Torii Hunter (Angels), Aaron Hill (Jays), Justin Morneau (Twins) and Michael Young (Rangers).

Yankees' Mark Teixeira gets All-Star nod over Red Sox' Kevin Youkilis

min0 lee

Brett Gardner has been decent. His speed on the bases (he leads all rookies) and in the outfield has been a plus.


.287 BA with 17 stolen bases.

fyredup1286

Im glad they swept the Twins!

You are born small and weak, and you die small and weak. What you do in the middle is up to you.
There is ALWAYS room for improvement

min0 lee

Reports of Jeter's decline have been greatly exaggerated.
I hate to say this but he's playing real good at short also.

Derek Jeter #2 SS


2009 STATS
BA HR RBI OBP SLG
.324 11 43 .402 .462

Triple Threat

Well NY pissed away that lead in one short weekend series. Now they're all even in the loss column, which means NY is effectively in 2nd place due to the tiebreaker.

IainDaniel

And Cashman did shit at the trade deadline. Especially knowing they are down on pitching.

Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.

Michael Jordan

min0 lee

The other teams wanted too much.

IainDaniel

Detroit looked like they got washburn for a good deal

Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.

Michael Jordan

Triple Threat

That's the truth! I wonder how long they'll go with Mitre. So far he's been terrible. And CC needs to get his ass in gear. He's lucky to have gotten the win yesterday. 5 ER in 7 innings isn't exactly stellar pitching.

min0 lee

They all want Hughes or Chamberlan in the deals, I wouldn't trade them at all.

min0 lee

These games are important to the Yanks, if they can win both series this in my opinion can be the turning point of the season.
Even though the Yankees lost those 8 games to Boston they still managed to stay in first place so it should be interesting.
BY Mark Feinsand
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Updated Tuesday, August 4th 2009, 10:21 AM






The dog days of August started out fittingly for the Yankees. They will need to bite back this week if they want to hold on to first place.
Having caught their breath Monday with their first day off following 17 consecutive games since the All-Star break, the Bombers return to action Tuesday with the first of two games against the Blue Jays to cap a nine-game road trip.



That is merely the appetizer this week, of course, as the Red Sox and new catcher/first baseman Victor Martinez invade the Bronx on Thursday for a four-game series that could give one of the AL East powerhouses the upper hand in the division entering the final eight weeks of the season.
The Yankees may lead the Red Sox by a half-game, but until they can beat Boston head-to-head - they are 0-8 this season - questions will linger.
"We feel as though if we play well, we can beat anybody," Derek Jeter said. "If we don't play well, anybody can beat us."



The Yankees salvaged a lost weekend with Sunday's win over the White Sox, but while CC Sabathia gutted his way through seven-plus innings to earn his 11th win, his final line continued a trend of spotty pitching.
After posting a 3.03 ERA during their 11-2 stretch to start the second half, the Yankees have allowed 31 runs in the past four games, an 8.29 ERA. If the staff continues to struggle this week, that first-place lead could

disappear quickly - and so could their hold on the wild card, for that matter.
While many people expected him to be playing elsewhere this month, Roy Halladay is still a Blue Jay, starting tonight against the Yankees.



Halladay held the Yankees to one run in a complete-game victory in Toronto on May 12, but the Yankees returned the favor in the Bronx on July 4, roughing him up for five runs in seven innings at Yankee Stadium.
The latter game marked his second start back after missing two weeks with a groin injury, also falling in the middle of his trade saga. Halladay has pitched well at the Rogers Centre, going 7-2 with a 2.57 ERA and four complete games in 11 starts at home.



The Yankees' three-game slide in Chicago represented more than a hiccup in the schedule; it marked three days mired with mistake-filled baseball, a brand of play the Yankees had not experienced since the beginning of the season.



Andy Pettitte - who starts tonight against Halladay - pitched well on Thursday, but his error in the seventh helped the White Sox emerge with a one-run win. Friday and Saturday saw the Yankees surrender 24 runs, though sloppy fielding and poor decision-making by the outfielders resulted in several extra bases for White Sox runners who went first-to-third at every opportunity.



"You can tell them and tell them and tell them, but they have to execute," Joe Girardi said. "Hit the cutoff man, because when we miss the cutoff man, they've been taking extra bases. Any issue that we have defensively is always a concern. We try to correct it as soon as possible."



It showed on Sunday, as outfielders hit the cutoff man every time, helping overcome Sabathia's third-inning struggles. The manager praised his team for its clean game, something he expects to see going forward.
"We need these guys to play at a high level," Girardi said. "When you make mistakes, when you're not pitching and you're losing games, everything seems to get people more aware of it. It's just three games. It's not like we've lost 20 out of 22."



Sunday's win gave the Yankees something other than a four-game sweep to think about yesterday as they departed for Toronto.
"I thought it was a real important day for us going into the off-day," Girardi said. "We had been playing so well until we got (to Chicago), so to be able to win this game and salvage something was big for us."



The last time the Yankees lost three straight games was right before the break, when they were swept by the Angels in Anaheim. The break gave the Bombers four days to wipe it out of their minds, so Alex Rodriguez is hoping the off-day can have the same effect after their disappointing weekend in the Windy City.



"We had a couple of games like that in Anaheim, so we just have to get back to playing good baseball," A-Rod said. "We know what we have to do - and we'll do it."

min0 lee

Nice play by Melky...he's playing real good this year.

min0 lee

Back to back homers by Damon and Tex.

Hughes pitched out of a game in the 7th, but got into a jam letting 3 runners on..he did strike 2 out before Joe took him out.
I didn't like the move too much, you have to let a young pitcher like Hughes know you have confidence in him.

Mo let those 2 runs in...

Triple Threat

True, but any time there's a chance to win a game when Halladay is pitching, you gotta go for it. Let him get his confidence against the KCs of the world.

Ready for this weekend?

Double D

Go Puljos!!!!

Damn the Yankees!

Triple Threat

I saw the replay on ESPN. Damon didn't exactly win any Gold Glove votes on that play.

Double D

I gotta watch ESPN today and get back to you guys. God knows they cover your Yanks and the Bo-Sox more than any other team.

Triple Threat

Hey, this is a NY Yankees thread. Keep to the topic.

Double D

That was the point, I would start a St.Louis Cardinals thread....but I would be the only one in there talking. That my friend would me LAME

Triple Threat

Nah, min0 and I would chime in, and IAB would probably stop in to say how everyone on the Cards is a homo.

IainDaniel

I have never been a big fan of him. But I think he is a horrid fielder.

Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.

Michael Jordan

min0 lee

I didn't know how bad he was till he came over here, he can't throw either.
That double off Mariano was catchable. This is his last year on his contract and although his bat is good but he is a DH now, same for Matsui.

It sure is overkill to be honest.
They play the Mets today...who suck by the way.

IainDaniel

He honestly throws like a chick. I think his swing is horrid to, but he does good with it.

Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.

Michael Jordan