From the AP:

I was thinking a bit about Luis Vizcaino because of this Roger Clemens quote from Mark Feinsand:


It's been a funny year for Mr. Vizcaino, a pitcher who, coming into this season, had thrown 3 consecutive seasons of at least 65 games and an ERA no higher than 3.75. Nothing to bowl you over, but a solid mid to end of the pen guy. He had a terrible April (15 G, 1-1, 1 BS, 5.79 ERA) and a horrific May (10 G, 1-0, 1 BS, 9.00 ERA) and (a lot of) Yankees fans wasted no time dismissing him. As often happens in the fan base (and the blogosphere), we can be too quick to throw someone aside. It reminds me a bit of what happened with Proctor.

Of course, if you were just tuning in today, you wouldn't know that because Luis has been on fire for 3 months now, providing a huge rock where one was desperately needed. Dating back to May 28, he is 6-1 with 1 BS and a 1.27 ERA. When it seemed, at least, like everyone around them was hit or miss depending on your luck, Viz and Mo held it down. With some, he went from DFA candidate to bullpen savior in a relatively short period of time. Prospects aside, by himself, he's made the Randy Johnson trade look like a great one. He's been an important piece to the puzzle.

The first seven innings are a breeze to recap.

Chien-Ming Wang: He's GRRREAT. For the Yanks, Wang carried a no-hitter through 6 innings (not a perfect game as he had control issues for much of the game - 4 BBs over 7 innings). Wang gave up a single to Mike Lowell in the 7th to break up the no-hit bid, putting runners on first and second with no out (error by Jeter had put Youkilis on earlier). Of course, he's the Worm Killer, so he was able to induce a ground ball DP and a strikeout of Jason Varitek to get out of further trouble.

As good as Wang was, Schilling was just as good against all the Yankees... except for Robbie Cano who took him deep TWICE (in the third and the fifth and the second shot was longer than the first). Schilling also had issues with Jeter who was 4-for 4 for the game but was stranded early by Abreu and A-Rod.

Joba came in for the 8th and, though he gave up a 2-out double to Dustin Pedroia, got through the inning unscathed.

The same can't be said for the Red Sox pen as the Yankees scored a couple of insurance runs to try to put this game away. Okajima comes on for the 8th and after getting Damon to ground out, gives up a single to Jeter, a double to Abreu (scoring Jeter) and intentionally walked A-Rod. With Hideki Matsui up, Abreu and A-Rod advanced on a double steal and scored when Varitek threw the ball away making the score 5-0.

Top of the ninth... and to everyone's surprise Joba comes out. I dunno why. I mean, wouldn't it make more sense to pitch him one inning and give him a days rest so he can be ready when IPK is pitching on Saturday? It's not like like there's no one else in the bullpen, i.e. FREE CHRIS BRITTON! In any case, it works out to be an abbreviated inning as, after a Ortiz fly-out, Joba gets tossed from the game. Why, you ask? Well, according to the ump, he was deliberately throwing at Kevin Youkilis... whatever. Edwar comes in and walks Youkilis before striking out Mike Lowell and getting J.D. Drew to pop out to foul territory. 5-0. Yankees Win. Yankees Sweep. Yankees take first in the WC by percentage points. A good game and a good day for Yankees fans...well, except for maybe Joe P.

Jim Baumbach from Newsday talked to Ian Kennedy in Syracuse and the video was just posted at On The Yankees Beat. He seems pretty soft-spoken, polite and genuine. It's definitely worth a look if only to get a feel for what kind of guy he seems to be. Everyone will see what kind of pitcher he is soon enough.

The final episode of The Bronx is Burning aired last night. And the Yankees won! I knew they would. Good team. ;)

At any rate, I thought I'd see what everyone thought about the series, now that it's over. I enjoyed it and, in all, have the same thoughts I had after I watched the first episode. It was about the Yankees and I'm a Yankees fan. I'm not going to take it as the gospel, but I'm going to sit back and enjoy it for what it is and that's what I did.

Favorite moments? The funny ones tend to stick out to me. Munson and Lou in the shower, Steinbrenner watching the game with the college kids and Reggie and Billy telling Gabe Paul to relax a bit. The part with Joe D and Reggie in the last episode was cool, too.

"When haven't we been friends, Gabe?"

Since the trade deadline:

Joba: 8 G, 0-0, 0 S, 0 BS, 10.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 HR, 3 BB, 17 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.70 WHIP, .121 BAA.

Gagne: 11 G, 1-1, 0 S, 2 BS, 10 IP, 18 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 1 HR, 4 BB, 13 K, 9.00 ERA, 2.20 WHIP, .383 BAA.

Baseball Tonight had a great stat, care of Brent Nycz:

After going down 5-0 after the 1st inning, the Angels outscored the Mariners over the next 8 innings, 10-1, to win 10-6. With our win, we are just 1 game back in the Wild Card.

Men (that's Mike plus Ben) have word that Ian Kennedy will take Mike Mussina's next start on Saturday.

Going into this season, who would have thought that all 5 of Joba, Phil, DeSalvo, Clippard and Kennedy would see Major League action... it's been an interesting year.

Behind 7 good innings (6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 Ks) from Andy Pettitte, the Yankees took the first of the final 6 games against the Red Sox, 5-3. They got on Matsuzaka early. After loading the bases with 1 out, Matsui grounded into a fielder's choice for RBI number 91 and Posada doubled to score Abreu to make it 2-0 to end the first inning.

The Red Sox picked up 1 run in both the 2nd and 3rd innings, thanks to a Manny Ramirez home run and a David Ortiz sacrifice fly. Manny would leave the game in the 7th with back spasms. The score remained 2-2 until the Captain took Dice-K deep to right to get the lead once again, 3-2. The Red Sox would tie it up once more with a Jason Varitek lead off homer in the 7th.

But, the Yankee struck right back in the bottom half of the inning. It started with an Andy Phillips single. Wilson Betemit ran for him and Melky sacrificed Betemit to second. Johnny Damon came up and came through with a huge 2 run shot to make it 5-3.

The Red Sox got their first taste of Joba in the top of the 8th. He faced (and walked) Kevin Youkilis first. He then got a fly out from Ortiz and a strike out from Eric Hinske. After a Mike Lowell single, he K'ed J.D. Drew to end the 8th. That's 10 innings for the big man - and 0 ER.

Mo came in to face the bottom 3rd of the Sox order in the 9th and it couldn't have gone better. He struck out Varitek and Crisp before retiring Lugo on a line up.

Both teams had 7 hits and 3 walks. The Red Sox left 15 runners on base to the Yankees 8. Damon (2 for 4, 1 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI) and Jorge (2 for 4, 1 2B, 1 RBI) were the only Yankees to collect more than one hit. Jeter, Cano and Phillips each had a hit.

Tomorrow at 7:05 PM ET, we have Roger Clemens (5-5, 4.34) up against Josh Beckett (16-5, 3.21). It'll be Roger's first start against Boston this season.

Eagle-eyed Joe P. over at River Ave. Blues points out that Chris Britton has finally been recalled. He found the blurb at the end of Tyler Kepner's game recap. I would read the rest of the article - Moose's quotes seem so desperate. As someone who has liked him for a while, I honestly feel for the guy.

Here it is. 2007 New York Yankees, this is your life. I feel pretty good about these next 31 games because of who we are playing. We have 6 with the Red Sox and 3 with the Mariners. Besides those 9, we have 22 games against bad or mediocre teams: 6 games with the Devils Rays (.389 winning percentage), 3 with the Royals (.442), 6 with the Blue Jays (.504) and 6 with the Orioles (.450).

I believe we can still win the division. Even at 8 games back. Crazy? Maybe. Optimistic? Yes. But, the reason I feel that way is because of those 6 games with the Red Sox. We can get it down to 2 games back all on our own. But, I think that that is what we need to do - win all 6 games. That's not gonna be easy, but it can be done. We swept them in a 5 game series last year - different time, different circumstances, whatever, I don't care - we can do 6 this year. If we do that, I think we'll win the division. If we lose one game (if we win 5 out of 6), we'll be 4 games back and, though we could make that up, I don't see it happening. So, we take those 6 games, we win the division. The Red Sox also have a weak schedule the rest of the way out, except for us, so we need to sweep them twice.

Even if we fail to do that, we're only 2 games back of the Mariners (thank goodness). I've said all along that all we need to do is get in the playoffs. Get in the playoffs and anything can happen. We have 3 games against the Mariners, as I said. So, that'll be our opportunity to gain ground. Hopefully we can maintain pace with them to where we don't need to sweep them, but at least we'll have the chance. In their final 33 games, they have 6 against the Angels (.588), 3 against the Tigers (.542) and 5 against the Indians (.562), in addition to the 3 against us. So, they've got a bit tougher schedule than we do.

And that's a part of my optimism here. The good teams that we play are the ones that we need to pass. Every other team we play is below .500 except for the Blue Jays, which are just above. It's funny how that worked out. The stage is set. Now, like always, all we have to do is go out and win. Easier said, then done. But, it begins with a single game. Let's go, Yankees...

After watching the first few months of the season where the Yankees struggled despite such a high scoring margin, a lot of Yankee fans probably thought that it's a shame that scores aren't cumulative over the course of the season and run into the next game. After an 18-9 roasting earlier in this road trip via the Angels and now a 16-0 loss in Detroit in the thick of a pennant race, the only consolation is that tonight's game against Boston will start with a score of 0-0. The loss last night puts the Yankees a full 8 games behind the Red Sox, deeming this upcoming series more important for the Yankees in terms of keeping up with the Mariners in the wild card chase than anything else. Seattle lost to the Angels, so they remain 2 back, but fell 4 behind the Angels, which can become significant should the Mariners catch them in the standings.

Mike Mussina logged yet another awful outing, going only three innings and allowing 6 runs off 9 hits in a game he knew was especially crucial, considering all the speculation about what may happen to his spot in the rotation. Obviously he's not going to be replaced by Kei Igawa (I say "obviously" but there are no surprises with this staff), but as we approach September 1, we may see a young guy like Ian Kennedy or Steven White get a shot once the roster expands to 40 players.

As for the Yankees' offense last night...oh wait, there was none (/paragraph).

The Yankees will be coming off a 2-5 road trip heading into tonight's game against the Red Sox, but on the bright side the momentum from other games always seems to be totally discarded coming into these series as if there is a separate season that consists only of Yanks. vs. Red Sox games. The Yankees will send Andy Pettite (11-7) to the mound to face Daisuke Matsuzaka (13-10) in a matchup featuring two pitchers who all in all have both pitched better than their won-loss records. Game starts at 7:05 ET.

George King reports that Scott Boras says that Andrew Brackman will have Tommy John surgery. Not a surprise, of course.

This is my weekly recap of the performance of the YanksBlog.com teams in the Yankees Bloggers Fantasy Baseball League.

Last Week

James lost to Aziz (Pride of the Yankees), 7-2. Aziz took runs (by 6), runs batted in (by 1), stolen bases, batting average, saves (by 2), ERA and WHIP (by 0.07). They tied in home runs at 10 and James won wins and strikeouts - both by healthy margins.

James' offense was led by Brandon Phillips, who hit .400 with 8 runs, 3 home runs and 8 runs batted in. Bengie Molina hit .429. Aziz's greatest contributions came from Magglio Ordonez (6 R, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 1 SB, .440 AVG) and Brian McCann (4 R, 3 HR, 10 RBI, .258 AVG). Howie Kendrick scored 8 runs, drove in 1 and hit .423, Bobby Abreu scored 3 runs, stole 4 bases and hit .417 and Ichiro Suzuki scored 4, drove in 4, stole 2 and hit .464.

James took 7 pitching victories this week, coming from Kelvim Escobar (2, 12 Ks), Adam Wainwright (12 Ks), Billy Wagner, Jake Peavy (11 Ks), Matt Garza and Chad Billingsley. His saves came from Jose Valverde (3) and Bobby Jenks (2). For Aziz, wins were collected by Matt Cain and Heath Bell with C.J. Wilson (2), David Weathers (2), Francisco Cordero, Takashi Saito and Heath Bell picking up saves. Even with the loss, James has now clinched a playoff spot.

I came up with a 6-4 victory over 1st place Mike (River Ave. Blues), thanks in large part to my offense, which won 4 of 5 categories. I took R, HR, RBI, AVG, S and Ks while Mike took SB, W, ERA and WHIP. A-Rod had a great week, hitting .333 with 9 runs, 4 home runs, 8 runs batted in and 2 stolen bases. Matsui hit .440, Carlos Lee hit .414 and Aaron Rowand hit .440. Mike got 8 stolen bases out of Jose Reyes, which was 6 more than my entire team. Reyes also hit .310 with 7 runs. B.J. Upton (7 R, 3 HR, 8 RBI, .250 AVG) was a force for Mike.

My wins came from Brian Bannister, Andy Pettitte and Scott Kazmir (21 Ks) with saves from Joe Borowski (3) and Manny Corpas (2). Felix Hernandez, Derek Lowe, Yovani Gallardo (9 Ks) and John Smoltz gave Mike wins while Francisco Rodriguez (2), Joe Nathan and Jeremy Accardo gave him saves. Despite winning, I fell from 5th place to 6th place as I hold a tenuous grasp on the final playoff spot.

Seamus lost to Dave (Pride of the Yankees), 8-2. Seamus was able to take stolen bases (he had 10 of them) and batting average, but Dave took the rest, mostly by a good margin. Vladimir Guerrero (5 R, 2 HR, 6 RBI, .214 AVG) led his side. For Seamus, it's David Wright once again, with 7 runs, 1 home run, 7 runs batted in, 3 stolen bases and a .533 average. Rickie Weeks hit .450 with 6 runs, 1 homer, 2 runs batted in and 2 stolen bases.

Joaquin Benoit (2) and Dan Haren (19 Ks) won games for Dave while Brandon Webb and Jered Weaver did the same for Seamus. Dave had saves from Jason Isringhausen (5!), Al Reyes (2), Matt Capps (2) and Alan Embree. Both of Seamus' came from Todd Jones.

Top 3 teams in the league:

1. Mike (120-82-8)
2. James (108-88-14)
3. Dave (109-90-11)

Clinched playoff spots (3 available): Mike, James and Dave.

This Week

We now enter the final week of the regular season. If it ended after this week, the playoff teams would be Mike, James, Dave, Ben (River Ave. Blues), Joseph, (River Ave. Blues) and me. But, those last 3 spots aren't locked in yet. I'm a half game behind Joseph, Jen (NoSenseWorrying.com) is lurking just 2.5 games back of me with Aziz only a half game behind her. So, with 4 teams within 3.5 games of each other, there will be some battling over the last 2 spots specifically, as Ben looks pretty secure right now, even if he loses his game this week, as long as it's not a total blowout.

Games of interest to those final spots: 4th place Ben faces 1st place Mike, 5th place Joseph faces 7th place Jen, 6th place me faces 3rd place Dave and 8th place Aziz faces 9th place EJ (Pinstripe Potentials and Pending Pinstripes). Good luck to everyone still in the race.

The YanksBlog.com blogger match ups are as follows:

James (2nd, 108-88-14) vs. Seamus (10th, 74-125-11)
Patrick (6th, 102-101-7) vs. Dave (3rd, 109-90-11)

Phil Hughes only surrendered four hits in six innings but three of them were home runs. Curtis Granderson led off the game with a fly ball down the line in left which Matsui couldn't reach and the ball went by him to the wall. Speedster Granderson circled the bases for an inside the park home run.

With one on and two out, Hughes then got behind Yankee killer Carlos Guillen and he smashed a two run homer to right to make the score 3-0.

Jason Giambi homered to put the Yankees on the board but Phil Hughes lost location again and Marcus Thames launched a two run home run to left to end the scoring.

Robinson Cano hit a big three run homer to pull the Yankees to within one but they couldn't get any closer for the remainder of the game. The Tigers bullpen had to work just about the whole game when the starter left with shoulder stiffness.

Joel Zumaya worked the eighth and closer Todd Jones shut down the Yankees in the ninth with the help of a game ending 3-6-3 double play from Guillen.

The series concludes tomorrow night with troubled Mike Mussina against Tigers young ace Justin Verlander.

After stringing together 3 iffy starts (though the 6 IP, 3 ER last one is plenty manageable), I guess some people were a little worried about Mr. Wang. I don't know any of those people, but I have read about them. This should help relax them a bit. Wang pitched a gem last night, allowing just 2 runs (1 earned) on 5 hits, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts over 8 innings to pick up win number 15.

The Yankees offense gave him 7 runs and that was more than enough. Jeremy Bonderman had held them to 3 runs through the first 5 innings, but the 6th is where they blew it open, thanks to back to back RBI triples - the first from Melky that scored Betemit, Cano and Matsui and then, right after, another one from Johnny that scored Melky. In his first appearance since August 5, Brian Bruney pitched a 1-2-3 9th, retiring Marcus Thames, Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen in order.

Melky's 3 RBIs (1 for 4, 1 3B, 1 R) led the offense, but Johnny (2 for 5, 1 3B, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI) and Matsui (3 for 5, 1 2B, 1 R, 2 RBI) were right behind them. Abreu (1 R, 2 BB, 3 SB), A-Rod (1 R, 1 SB) and Cano (1 R) all collected a hit. Betemit was 0 for 3, but had a walk and a run. The only Yankees that failed to reach were Jeter and Posada.

Back to Matsui for a second, check out his numbers since July 3 (a span of 48 games): .365/.423/.651 (1.074 OPS), 49 R, 8 2B, 1 3B, 15 HR, 44 RBI, 23 BB, 23 K, 2 SB and 5 SF. Hot. Here's some other numbers that will make you happy:

Johnny Damon since July 21 (26 games, 23 started): .358/.420/.557 (.977), 24 R, 10 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 19 RBI, 12 BB, 18 K, 4 SB and 1 SF.

Bobby Abreu since July 2 (47 games, 44 started): .361/.418/.622 (1.040), 41 R, 10 2B, 3 3B, 11 HR, 50 RBI, 19 BB, 29 K, 8 SB and 2 SF.

A-Rod since August 2 (21 games): .372/.474/.705 (1.179), 23 R, 2 2B, 8 HR, 20 RBI, 14 BB, 1 IBB, 10 K, 7 SB and 2 SF.

Meanwhile, could the White Sox play any worse right now? Come on guys, just beat the Red Sox once. They'll get their last shot today at 2:05 PM ET. They've got Javy Vazquez going against Julian Tavarez, so you'd think they'd have a decent chance, but who knows. They've lost the first 3 games of the series by a combined score of 35-6.

Oh my gosh - the Mariners actually lost a game! I wondered when that would happen again. The Rangers didn't put up 30 runs, but 5 was enough, apparently. So, we gained a game in the Wild Card and are now down 2 games, while remaining 6 and 1/2 back in the division.

We have 33 games left in the season (6 against Boston and 3 against Seattle). Boston has 32 and Seattle has 35. Today, at 1:05 ET, we'll have a match up of 21 year olds as Phil Hughes (2-1, 4.96) will go against Jair Jurrjens (1-1, 3.29).

Funny note that I ran across the other day. It seems that Joba started off the year and not one of the first 16 hitters he faced made contact with his slider.


In other talented Baby Bomber news, Alan Horne was named the 2007 Eastern League Pitcher of the Year by the Eastern League. He's had a couple of rough outings the last few times out but it couldn't diminish how great he was for much of the year.


Hat tip to Pending Pinstripes and River Ave Blues for the Horne news.

From George King:

To make room for Bruney, Villone was placed on the DL:

It was bad enough that the start of the game was delayed for four hours due to heavy rain, but the ending was a heartbreaker for the Yankees as Jose Guillen hit a walk off three homer with two outs off of Sean Henn to win the game.

The Yankees went ahead early with the help of A-Rod's 43rd home run but the Tigers belted around the Rocket for six runs in five innings and had a 6-3 lead mid way through the game.

The Yankees fought right back and tied the score on a two run double from Posada and a single from Matsui to score Posada with the tying run. Actually Posada should have been at third easily but eased up on his way into second for which he drew the ire of Larry Bowa and Joe Torre. Matsui, however, rescued him with his RBI single.

Joba Chamberlain pitched another perfect inning with a strikeout and Mariano Rivera escaped a bases loaded, one out situation. The Yankees could not get the big hit and it looked like Henn would escape but left a pitch to Guillen down and in and he hit it over the left field fence to win the game for the Tigers 9-6.

With the loss and a doubleheader sweep by the Red Sox the Yankees are now 6 1/2 games behind Boston in the AL East. They have also fallen 3 games behind Seattle in the wild card race.

The series resumes tonight with Chien-Ming Wang on the hill for New York.

Yankees at the Tigers. HUGE series for both teams. Here are the pitching matchups:

Tonight: RHP Roger Clemens (5-5, 3.92) vs. LHP Andrew Miller (5-4, 4.42), 7:05

Saturday: RHP Chien-Ming Wang (14-6, 4.10) vs. RHP Jeremy Bonderman (10-6, 4.65), 7:05

Sunday: RHP Phil Hughes (2-1, 4.96) vs. RHP Jair Jurrrjens (1-1, 3.29), 1:05

Monday: RHP Mike Mussina (8-9, 5.22) vs. RHP Justin Verlander (13-4, 3.63), 7:05

My prediction? Pain...for the Tigers. Yankees take 3 of 4.

If you want to catch the Sunday game for free, check it out; MLB.tv is giving away the game.

Brian Bruney is back in the majors. No word on whose spot he takes but it's probably Henn since he has options. If that's the case, Ron Villone is still on the roster and Chris Britton is not...unacceptable. Bruney actually didn't do so hot down in AAA while Britton has been well, fantastic. I don't really care who he rubbed the wrong way but the Yanks are in a playoff chase here, put that aside and bring up Britton!

I am becoming more and more amused at John Sterling getting annoyed at home plate umpire Paul Emmel for calling balls and strikes clearly. Really John? You're gonna get on someone for not being clear? John Sterling gets so amped up for his (patented) HR calls that he breaks them out on seemingly all deep fly balls. I mean, how often can someone hear "It is High, It is Far...It is...Caught (Several Steps In Front of the Warning Track)" before getting confused? Really, I don't mind Sterling most of the time - it's just apropos that he's getting a little annoyed.

And as an aside, to any Yankee management who reads this, I get that you need other revenue streams just to cover the payroll but still, the sheer volume of ads during the radio broadcasts is just...wow.

The Orioles lost 30-3 today. 30-3. Texas went 29-for-57 with 8 walks, 2 doubles and 6 home runs. Jeez, just look at these pitching lines:

Cabrera 5 IP, 6 ER, Burres 0.2 IP, 8 ER!, Bell 1.1 IP, 7 ER, Paul Shuey 2 IP, 9 ER. See: Ron Villone isn't that bad in comparison!

On a brighter (for the Yankees) note, Gary Sheffield will probably be sitting out the rest of the Detroit homestand. He's had a bum shoulder for a couple months now apparently and they're gonna sit him for a little bit. I say, great. As Yankees fans, we've seen what Sheff has done with a bat, even with a bum shoulder so if he's out of the line-up, I'm all for it.

It was over real quick on Tuesday night as the Angels came out and scored early and often, putting the game at 13-5 after 4 innings. Ouch. It would end at 18-9. Ouch again. We trotted out Moose (1.2 IP, 7 ER), Villone (.1 IP, 4 ER), Edwar (2 IP, 2 ER), Henn (3 IP, 3 ER) and Vizcaino (1 IP, 0 ER) in this beating.

The offense did manage to score 9 runs. Of course, that doesn't mean much when you allow 18. A-Rod hit 2 bombs, bringing his total up to 42. He drove in another 3, putting him at 121. Betemit also homered and drove in 3, Abreu doubled and drove in 2 and Matsui had an RBI, as well. Garrett Anderson drove in more runs than our entire team - going 4 for 6 with 3 runs, 10 runs batted in, 2 doubles and 2 home runs (one of which was a grand slam). So... yeah, not a bad night for Anderson.

Of course, the Red Sox and Mariners had to win, so we fall to 6 games back in the division and 2.5 games back in the Wild Card. Tonight at 10:05 PM, we'll throw Andy Pettitte (10-7, 3.80 ERA) against John Lackey (15-7, 3.32 ERA). If we win, we'll avert a sweep and, after a day off, will be headed to Detroit for a 4 game set.

This is my weekly recap of the performance of the YanksBlog.com teams in the Yankees Bloggers Fantasy Baseball League.

Last Week

James scored a slim victory over EJ (Pinstripe Potentials and Pending Pinstripes) by the score of 5-4, largely in thanks to his domination of the offensive side, where he won 4 out of 5 categories and tied in the other. Lance Berkman (9 R, 3 HR, 5 RBI, .400 AVG) was the star. Mike Lowell (3 R, 1 HR, 5 RBI, .348 AVG) was the leader on EJ's side.

Meanwhile, EJ dominated the pitching categories, winning 4 out of 5. The one category that he lost was saves, but his pitchers put in a very good performance overall (5 W, 2 S, 67 K, 3.09 ERA, 1.14 WHIP). Johan Santana (21 Ks), J.J. Putz, Eric Gagne, Ian Snell (17 Ks) and Rich Hill picked up victories with Putz picking up both of his saves. James had victories from Kelvim Escobar (9 Ks) and Matt Garza and saves from Billy Wagner (3) and Jose Valverde (2). Jake Peavy and Chad Billingsley each had 11 strikeouts.

My team had a horrible week and Jen (NoSenseWorrying.com) had her way with me, winning 8-2. Check out my offensive line: 28 R, 4 HR, 22 RBI, 3 SB, .244 AVG. Argh. Really, it was pretty ugly all the way around for both teams as Jen's team wasn't much better (they won runs by 1, home runs by 1, stolen bases by 1 and average by 10 points). In the end, 4 categories were decided by 1. Her offense was led by Miguel Cabrera (4 R, 1 HR, 6 RBI, .227 AVG) and Orlando Cabrera (5 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB, .350 AVG) and mine was led by Hideki Matsui (4 R, 5 RBI, .346 AVG).

My pitching wasn't that pretty, either (3 W, 6 S, 39 Ks, 4.93 ERA, 1.34 WHIP) while Jen's was a bit more solid (5 W, 2 S, 40 Ks, 3.34 ERA, 1.23 WHIP). My victories came from Mariano Rivera, Brian Bannister and Andy Pettitte and I had saves from Joe Borowski (2), Manny Corpas (2), Mo and Huston Street. Jen's wins were pitched by Shaun Marcum, John Maine, Pat Neshek, Roy Halladay and Chien-Ming Wang. Both of her saves were recorded by Trevor Hoffman.

Seamus lost to first place Mike (River Ave. Blues), 9-1. Mike dominated all aspects of the match, except for batting average, which Seamus won - .288 to .249. Seamus' team hit 0 home runs and recorded 0 saves. Adam LaRoche (5 R, 1 HR, 6 RBI, .355 AVG) and Russell Martin (7 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 SB, .240 AVG) led Mike's offense. Orlando Hudson hit .417 for the week. David Wright continued to be a force for Seamus, hitting .423 with 6 runs and 5 runs batted in.

For Mike, victories were pitched in by John Smoltz (16 Ks), Fausto Carmona (10 Ks), Francisco Rodriguez, Felix Hernandez (11 Ks), Derek Lowe and Cole Hamels. Francisco Rodriguez (2), Jeremy Accardo (2) and Joe Nathan had saves. Seamus' one victory was picked up by Brandon Webb.

Top 3 teams in the league:

1. Mike (116-76-8)
2. James (106-81-13)
3. Ben (103-88-9) (River Ave. Blues)

Clinched playoff spots (5 available): Mike.

This Week

James (2nd, 106-81-13) vs. Aziz (Pride of the Yankees) (8th, 91-101-8)
Patrick (5th, 96-97-7) vs. Mike (1st, 116-76-8)
Seamus (10th, 72-117-11) vs. Dave (Pride of the Yankees) (4th, 101-88-11)

Since the trade deadline:

Gagne: 8 G, 1-1, 0 S, 2 BS, 7 IP, 16 H, 10 ER, 3 BB, 11 K, 12.86 ERA, 2.71 WHIP, .444 BAA
Joba: 5 G, 0-0, 0 S, 0 BS, 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 11 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.57 WHIP, .091 BAA

From Murray Chass:


Via Steve.

From Dan LaTorraca:


Via Steve.

Posada started off the scoring with a solo homer in the 2nd. Posada was 3 for 4 on the day with 2 runs. Detroit took a 2-1 lead thanks to them scoring a run each in the 4th and 5th. But, in 6 innings, that is all that Clemens would allow. He scattered 10 hits, walked none and struck out 8.

But, the Yankees roared back for good in the 6th, batting around and scoring 4 runs. Here's how it shook out:

- Jeter single.
- Abreu 2 run home run.
- A-Rod single.
- Matsui pops out for the 1st out.
- Posada single, moving A-Rod to second.
- Giambi pops out for the 2nd out.
- Cano single, scores A-Rod and moves Posada to second.
- Phillips single, scores Posada and moves Cano to second.
- Cabrera strikes out for the 3rd out.

Kyle Farnsworth threw a great inning in relief in the 7th, retiring Sean Casey, Gary Sheffield and Magglio Ordonez in order. The latter two struck out swinging. Vizcaino threw a scoreless inning of his own and Mo did the same, for his 20th save of the year. The Yankees pitchers only walked 1 batter all day while striking out 11. Every Yankee had a hit except for Matsui, who was 0-4.

Andy Pettitte pitched eight strong innings and Jason Giambi hit two home runs and the Yankees ended a three game losing streak on Friday night vs. the Tigers with a 6-1 victory.

The Tigers struck first with Brandon Inge scoring Ryan Rayburn on a double down the line. It looked like they had a chance at the plate, but Andy Phillips cut off the throw trying to catch Inge going to third. Unfortunately, he was able to return to second safely.

The Yankees caught a break when they scored their first two runs. Bobby Abreu hit a bouncer up the middle which struck a hard spot and bounced over shortstop Guillen's glove into center to tie the game. A-Rod followed with a doulbe to the wall in left to give the Yankees the lead.

Giambi followed later with the first of his two home runs and the Yankees tacked on three more insurance runs to end the scoring at 6-1. Pettitte was strong all night long and the ninth was wrapped by rookie phenom Joba Chamberlain.

Chamberlain only allowed a single in the ninth and constantly heard the crowd shout "Joba", "Joba", "Joba". He struck out Ivan Rodriguez to end the game.

The series resumes this afternoon with a nationally televised contest with Roger Clemens on the hill for the Bombers returning for the first time after his five game suspension.

Well, that was anti-climactic. Here come the Tigers to start off a 4-game set and they lead off with their best starting pitcher, Justin Verlander. The Yanks countered with Mike Mussina, who had been pitching well (against lesser teams). Well, I'd love to be more explicit and go into detail but it was a really annoying loss and the losing streak has now hit 3. Honestly, most of the drama was taken out of the game in the first inning when Moose got into trouble (which was not helped by an A-Rod error) and ended up giving up a grand slam to Carlos Guillen. All told, Mussina was lit up for seven runs (six earned) and gave up nine hits, two walks and struck out two. Low K rates do not help Moose as his resurgence over the past month had a lot to do with him bringing his K rate closer to his career average.

The Yankees weren't getting horrible at bats against Verlander, they simply didn't capitalize when they could have. Leaving 11 guys on base certainly didn't help their cause. Still, the Yankees did what they usually do, i.e. work deep counts to try go get the starter out of the game...and it worked. However, Jim Leyland kept Verlander in for 5 1/3 innings and a 119 pitches and the Yankees continued to underperform against power pitchers (87 OPS+ vs. 112 OPS+ against finesse pitchers).

The bullpen was OK for the most part with everyone (including Farnsworth) working scoreless appearances except for Ron Villone who gave up a homer to Pudge Rodriguez in the seventh. The Yankees scored two runs off of Todd Jones (how is he still a closer?) in the ninth (RBIs from Matsui and Jorge ) but that just made the game seem a lot closer than it really was.

It was a disheartening loss and moved the Yankees to .5 back of Seattle for the Wild Card. Am I bummed about a 3 game losing streak? Yep. Am I in a panic? Nope. I fully expect the Yankees to bounce back to take the next three games and for Boston to lose 2 out of three to the L.A. Angels. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen...but I'm not panicking just yet.

From the AP:

From MLB.com:


He's been added to the 40 man and Chris Basak has been DFAed.

According to various reports, the Yankees are close to signing first rounder Andrew Brackman. From Ed Price:


Peter Abraham has a list of signings that have been confirmed by the team:

Peter Abraham reports that Edwar Ramirez and Sean Henn have been promoted back to the Major League squad while Jim Brower and Jeff Karstens are no longer with the team. Karstens is headed back to the minors and Brower was probably DFAed, according to Abraham.

Update: Abraham says that Brower agreed to an option when he signed, so he's headed to the minors, as well.

What to do say about last night? Terrible. Karstens (3 IP, 5 ER) and Brower (2 IP, 4 ER) got smoked. And the Yankees were 2 hit by the combination of Daniel Cabrera, Paul Shuey and Rob Bell. Ouch.

Kyle Farnsworth and Luis Vizcaino each threw 1-2-3 innings to end it. But, of course, it was way out of reach by then. The Sox won (Al Reyes blew a 1-0 lead in the 9th), but the Mariners lost. So, we're 5 back in the division and still tied in the Wild Card.

I have Scott Kazmir on all of my fantasy teams. He's having a good year. He's managed to win 9 victories, despite the best efforts of his run support. He's pitched 7 games where he's allowed 1 ER or less. He is 2-0 in those 7 games. Argh.

At 1:05 PM ET (about 20 minutes from now). We've got Phil Hughes (2-1, 4.64) up against Erik Bedard (12-4, 3.11 ERA) and Joba can pitch tonight. So, let's forget we played on Tuesday.

This is my weekly recap of the performance of the YanksBlog.com teams in the Yankees Bloggers Fantasy Baseball League.

Last Week

James took a 6-3 victory of Joseph (River Ave. Blues). All 3 of Joseph's victories were on the pitching side (strikeouts, ERA and WHIP) and the two sides tied on stolen bases with 1. James' offense was led by Miguel Tejada (5 R, 2 HR, 10 RBI, .320 AVG) and Chipper Jones (6 R, 1 HR, 8 RBI, .375 AVG). Matt Holliday (6 R, 1 HR, 5 RBI, .385 AVG) was the biggest contributor for Joseph.

James got a 2 win week out of Jake Peavy (10 Ks) with Kelvim Escobar winning a game, as well. His saves came from Jose Valverde (2), Joakim Soria (2), Billy Wagner and Bobby Jenks. Joseph had wins from Aaron Harang and James Shields (9 Ks) and saves from Jonathan Papelbon (2).

I lost to Ben (River Ave. Blues) in a close one, 5-4. We tied in runs (27) with RBI (27 vs. 26), average (.291 vs. .286), wins (4 vs. 3) and saves (6 vs. 5) all very close. Prince Fielder had a big week for me, hitting .318 with 6 runs, 4 home runs and 5 runs batted in. Carlos Lee hit .435. Barry Bonds (6 R, 3 HR, 6 RBI, .462 AVG) and Chone Figgins (4 R, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 4 SB, .391 AVG) were the leaders on Ben's side.

I had wins from Andy Pettitte (2) (11 Ks), Scott Kazmir and Justin Verlander (13 Ks) and saves from Mariano Rivera (2), Joe Borowski (2) and Manny Corpas. Let's get Huston Street back into that closer role! John Lackey, Brandon Hennessey and Roger Clemens handed Ben victories while Chad Cordero (3), Brett Myers (2) and Bob Wickman turned in saves. Tim Lincecum had a 16 K week.

Seamus lost to Jen (NoSenseWorrying.com), 7-3. He had good pitching, but Jen's offense was just too potent, allowing her to sweep all 5 offensive categories. That offense was led by Robinson Cano (4 R, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 1 SB, .429 AVG) and Carl Crawford (8 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 SB, .469 AVG). Nick Markakis hit .417 while Johnny Damon hit .412. David Wright (6 R, 3 HR, 7 RBI, .333 AVG) was the biggest player for Seamus.

Meanwhile, he picked up 3 pitching victories, thanks to Brandon Webb (10 Ks), Jered Weaver and Mike Mussina as well as 3 saves, all from Todd Jones. Jen's staff failed to pick up a single save, but did manage 4 victories, with Tom Gorzelanny (13 Ks) picking up 2 and Shaun Marcum and Roy Halladay picking up the others.

Top 3 teams in the league:

1. Mike (107-75-8) (River Ave. Blues)
2. James (101-77-12)
3. Dave (98-81-11) (Pride of the Yankees)

This Week

James (2nd, 101-77-12) vs. EJ (Pinstripe Potentials and Pending Pinstripes) (9th, 76-102-12)
Patrick (5th, 94-89-7) vs. Jen (T7th, 82-96-12)
Seamus (10th, 71-108-11) vs. Mike (1st, 107-75-8)

From ESPN:


We've got 25 minutes until the deadline. Looks like he's going to remain a Yankee.

Via Tony Gicas.

Phil Rizzuto has died at the age of 89.

A hall of famer, 5 time All-Star and MVP winner, Rizzuto played 13 seasons with the Yankees (missing 1943 through 1945 due to war). He had a career batting average of .271 and played on 9 pennant winners, leading to 7 World Series championships. Rizzuto would later be known by generations of Yankees fans as a broadcaster, a role he played for over 40 years. For more on Rizzuto and his life, see his Wikipedia entry.

Rizzuto was a good man and he will be missed. Our thoughts are with those close to him.

Before yesterday's game, the Yankees honored A-Rod before the game for reaching the 500 HR mark. And hilarity ensues. Watch it on MLB.com. Some funny moments. Notice how Cashman is first Yankees executive to draw applause (Afterman does, as well, but that could just be because Cashman warmed them up).

The Yankees are now winning every which way possible, this time in the form of a 7-6 walk-off victory over the Orioles, who actually look a lot more scary at this point than all these "powerhouse" teams the Yanks face in the coming weeks. A win by Boston keeps the Yankees 4 games back of the A.L. East lead.

After the Orioles tacked on 3 runs in the top of the 1st off Chien-Ming Wang, the Yankees got two back via a home run off the bat of Bobby Abreu. Wilson Betemit put the Yanks up 4-3 in the 2nd with a two-run shot of his own. Wang eventually settled down a bit, but still finished the game with a line of 5 runs on 8 hits in 6 innings. He left the game with a 6-4 lead before Tike Redman was able to score on a wild pitch by Ron Villone to bring the Orioles within a run.

Redman would be the catalyst again in the top of the 9th, as he singled in Melvin Mora off of Mariano Rivera, who struggled for the second straight day but still recorded only his third blown save of the season, to tie the score at 6 apiece.

Baseball players don't receive paid overtime, and knowing that, the Yankees went straight to business in the bottom of the inning. After Melky Cabrera was hit by a pitch, Jason Giambi singled to right, advancing Cabrera to third. Derek Jeter followed that up with a ground ball to second. The throw by Brian Roberts was late, allowing Melky to score the winning run.

Consider this: After all the talk all year about how bad the Yankees have been and considering the fact that they were at one point 21-29 and 14.5 games behind Boston, the Yankees now have the third best record in all of baseball and have a better record than every team in the National League. They are now within 4 games of not only catching Boston, but also gaining homefield advantage throughout the postseason.

Also, I gotta say I like the way Jason Giambi's come along so far in the few games since his return just last week. He seems to have adapted to the pinch-hit, spot starter role (no telling how long Torre plans to keep him in that role) quite nicely. He's 4-10 with 2 HR's in the four games since he's been back. It's probably a good role for him to have. The guy can still be deadly but let's face it, that body can't handle a 500 AB season anymore.

The series resumes in the Bronx tonight as Jeff Karstens will be making his first start since he was hit in the leg by a batted ball against Boston earlier this year. He is 0-2 with an E.R.A. of 10.13 including two starts earlier in the year and a couple of relief appearances earlier this month. His counterpart will be O's pitcher Daniel Cabrera. Game time is 7:05 E.T.

I think that this will be an interesting comparison to watch for the rest of the season. That is, what Gagne does for the Red Sox and what Joba does with us. So far:

Gagne: 5 G, 4 IP, 0-0, 1 BS, 10 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 15.75 ERA, 3.00 WHIP, .455 BAA
Joba: 2 G, 4 IP, 0-0, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, .083 BAA

From The Columbian:


Via Ben.

Peter Abraham reports that Jeff Karstens is scheduled to start on Tuesday, when the Rocket will miss his start due to suspension.

Jason Giambi started the scoring with a two run homer and the Yankees added another later. Melky Cabrera extended his hitting streak to 17 with a homer and Derek Jeter's clutch RBI single in the ninth added insurance as the Yankees held on to beat the Tribe 5-3.

Andy Pettitte started and was sharp through 7 1/3. In the sixth he loaded the bases with no outs and then got the biggest out of the game when he and Andy Phillips pulled a stunning play to pick off Jhonny Peralta from first base. Cleveland would score to make it a 3-1 game at the time but they should have had much more.

Cabrera's homer gave a Yankees a three run lead and Pettitte tired in the eighth allowing two runners on. Luis Vizcaino entered and got to two outs but another run scored and the tying runs were on base.

Rivera came in and hit Garko with a pitch but got Peralta to hit into a force play to end the inning.

The Yankees would add an insurance run in the ninth with an RBI single from Jeter. Rivera was not sharp and allowed the first three batters in the bottom of the ninth to get hits and one run to score. With runners on second and third and the Yankees having only a two run lead, Rivera struck out Cabrera and Sizemore and got Blake to fly to right to end the game.

The Yankees now head home to start a series vs the Orioles with Chien-Ming Wang on the hill tomorrow night.

Moss Klein, a Yankees beat writer during the time of "The Bronx is Burning", reflects on the series and that team.


Via Ed Price.

You could say that Paul Byrd had a rough day today. He threw 56 pitches in 2 innings, allowing 7 earned runs on 7 hits, 1 walk and 1 strikeout. While the Indians struck first (a Victor Martinez sac fly with 1 out in the 1st), the Yankees struck loudest and struck last to blowout the Tribe, 11-2. The Yankees offense had 19 hits and 2 walks.

It took him 381 games, but Jose Molina had the first 4 hit game of his career, going 4 for 5 with 1 2B and 1 run. But, A-Rod led the offense with 2 home runs (he is now 1 short of 40), as he was 2 for 5 with 4 RBIs. Besides that, the rest of the lineup starters posted the following numbers: Damon was 2 for 6 with 1 2B, 1 R and 2 RBI, Jeter was 3 for 6 with 1 R, Abreu was 2 for 5 with 1 R and 2 RBI, Matsui was 2 for 5 with 2 R, Cano was 1 for 4 with 1 2B, 1 R and 1 BB, Melky was 1 for 4 with 1 RBI and Phillips was 1 for 2 with 1 R, 1 RBI and 1 BB. So, every one of them had at least 1 hit. And if that wasn't enough, Jason Giambi had a pinch hit, solo home run in the 9th inning. It was his first homer since May 29.

As the title of this entry indicates, the Yankees had a big 7th, scoring 7 runs. It went a little something like this: Matsui singled. Cano doubled. Melky sac flied (scoring Matsui). Phillips walked. Molina singled. Damon doubled, scoring Phillips and Cano. Jeter struck out. Abreu singled, scoring Damon and Molina. A-Rod homered, scoring Abreu. Matsui grounded out.

Not to be lost in this effort, of course, is the fact that Moose was terrific, pitching 7 and 2/3 innings, allowing just 2 ER on 8 hits, no walks and 6 strikeouts. It was Moose's 100th win as a Yankee. Congrats to him. He was relieved by Vizcaino, who threw a scoreless 1/3, leaving a runner stranded at 3rd. Villone pitched the 9th. After allowing the first two hitters to single, he struck out the next batter and got Asdrubal Cabrera to ground into a double play to end it.

A very satisfying win, all the way around. It gives us the series win against Cleveland and it's a good thing we won, because the Red Sox and Mariners did, as well. Tomorrow, we'll have Pettitte (8-7, 4.00) against former Yankee Jake Westbrook (3-6, 5.00) at 1:05 PM ET.

ESPN reports that the Padres have been awarded a waiver claim for Kei Igawa. The two teams now have until 2 PM on Tuesday to negotiate a trade.

Via Ben.

Phil Hughes pitched six strong innings, allowing only one run via a homer to Josh Barfield and Joba Chamberlain followed up for two with four strikeouts. Rivera pitched a perfect ninth to preserve a 6-1 Yankees win.

A-Rod got the scoring started by hitting his 37th homer off of Cleveland starter Fausto Carmona. The Yankees would add a few more when the Indian infield couldn't make some routine plays on routine ground balls.

Hughes looked great after coming off a self admitted poor outing. His curve ball was breaking sharp and he was getting ahead of hitters all night long. Chamberlain was even more impressive than his first outing, hitting 99 on the radar gun and having a devastating slider.

The series continues tonight with Mike Mussina going up against Paul Byrd.

From Tyler Kepner:


Via Jim Johnson.

The hammer has come down and Clemens has been given a 5 game suspension. Joe Torre was given a 1 game suspension.

Josh Towers, Matt Stairs, Brian Butterfield, Alex Rodriguez, Tony Pena and Larry Bowa were all given fines.

If you have missed an episode of The Bronx is Burning, you can watch it online at ABC.com.

Via Kyle Pott.

Remember oh so long ago when Karstens broke his leg? The kid tried to stay in the game...but after one pitch, they made the kid leave his start. Not on my watch, says Jason Hirsh.

Colorado Rockies pitcher Jason Hirsh suffered a broken leg when he was hit by a line drive in the first inning last night and he stayed in the game! Heck, he pitched five more innings and got the win! Jeff, when you get back in the big leagues, you'd better step it up - you've officially been shown up.

Joel Sherman at the Post is reporting that Farnsworth has cleared waivers.

Via Steve.

If you want to see some video of yesterday's excitement, you can watch some at MLB.com. Check out Shelly Duncan running out to catch Matt Stairs. Nice.

By the way, the Sox lost. We're 5 back in the division.

Clemens started this game, pitching a very impressive 6 innings, allowing just 1 run on 2 hits and 1 walk, striking out 6. But, Clemens outing wasn't ended by himself or Torre, it was ended through ejection. In the 3rd inning of this game, Josh Towers hit A-Rod in the leg. I only just watched a quick replay of it on ESPN, so I can only speak to it so much, but after being thrown behind yesterday, A-Rod wasn't too pleased and Towers was saying some things... which led to the benches clearing.

After A-Rod took his base, apparently Towers still had some more to say and A-Rod didn't care for that. Benches cleared again. Nothing happened, but both benches were warned and all that. In the top of the 6th, Shelly Duncan made a hard slide into 2nd. He definitely slid a little late... but, he slid into the base and the guy was on the base. Anyway, it led to the guy covering the base being unable to catch the ball, making it 1st and 2nd with no outs, helping to set up a 2 run inning.

Back to Clemens. To start the 7th, he went up and too far in and hit Rios in the back. He was ejected and Torre was ejected, as well. He was replaced by Jim Brower, who pitched the 7th inning and was given 1 ER when Rios scored on a double. Following him, Joba got his first taste of the majors, pitching the 8th and 9th.

After retiring the first 2 batters in the 8th, he walked Lyle Overbay and allowed a single to Rios. However, he got Vernon Wells to fly out to end the inning. In the 9th, he struck out the lead off hitter, walked the next guy and then got Aaron Hill to ground into a DP to end it. Nice to see. Congrats to Joba. His line is 2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 2 K.

Offensively, the Yankees gave the pitching more than enough to work with. Damon was 2 for 2 with 3 R, 1 RBI and 2 BB, Jeter was 2 for 5 with 2 RBI, Abreu was 2 for 5 with 1 R, 4 RBI and 1 3B, A-Rod was 0 for 4 with 1 R, Posada was 3 for 5 with 1 2B and 2 RBI, Cano was 0 for 1 with 3 BB (lol... nice!), Phillips was 1 for 5, Duncan was 1 for 4 with 1 R and Melky was 3 for 4 with 2 2B and 3 R. Giambi got into the game, as well, grounding into a fielder's choice in the 9th.

Detroit won, so we stay at .5 back in the Wild Card. As I write this, Boston is losing to the Angels 9-4 after 6. If they lose, we'll be 5 games back in the division.

Tomorrow, we'll get a great pitching match up, as Wang (13-5, 3.49) will go up against Roy Halladay (12-5, 4.12) at 7:07 PM ET.

Jason Giambi was activated and Joba was promoted. To make room for them, Miguel Cairo gets the DFA and Brian Bruney gets sent down to Scranton.

Since July 31, we've added Jeff Karstens, Phil Hughes, Jim Brower, Jason Giambi, Joba Chamberlain and Wilson Betemit. That's a good lump of talent, I'd say. The cost? We traded Scott Proctor and have had to DFA both Mike Myers and Miguel Cairo. We've demoted Chris Basak, Colter Bean, Sean Henn and Brian Bruney in that span, as well.

From The Boston Globe:


Via Steve.

The Omaha World-Herald reports that Joba will be in the majors for tonight's game against Toronto. We'll have to see whose spot he'll be taking on the roster.

Via Ben.

The Yankees won another series opener yesterday, this time a matinee victory over Toronto by the score of 5-4 at Rogers Centre. The victory keeps the Yankees a half game behind the Tigers in the wild card race (they've pulled even with Seattle for second), and a late loss by Boston in Anaheim brings the Yankees within 6 games of the A.L. East lead.

The bulk of the damage was done in the 6th inning in which they scored four runs, highlighted by a go-ahead, two-run double by Robinson Cano and an RBI single by Melky Cabrera. Cabrera was 3-4 in the game, raising his average to .298. Alex Rodriguez and Johnny Damon also had two hits each.

Andy Pettite was mediocre in his start, giving up 3 runs on six hits in only 5 and 2/3 innings, but picked up his 8th win of the season. Luis Vizcaino gave up a home run to Aaron Hill in the 8th, but recovered to hold the lead. Mariano Rivera struck out Alex Rios, Vernon Wells and Frank Thomas in succession for his 18th save.

The Yankees will send Roger Clemens to the mound tonight to face Josh Towers. Game starts at 7:07 E.T.

Just two weeks off (July 23rd) his second career BOA Player of the Week honors, Robbie Cano didn't waste any time in winning his third. He has to share the award with a D-Ray again as Carl Crawford was co-winner (it was Crawford's teammate, B.J. Upton last time) but that's some good company to be in.

Matsui and Cabrera homered and Bobby Abreu had three hits to lead the Yankees to an 8-5 win over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday afternoon at the stadium.

Mike Mussina was strong into the seventh only surrendering two runs. However, the bullpen of Bruney and Myers gave up three runs to make the game a save situation which Rivera was able to achieve.

The Yankees have now come within 1/2 game of the wild card lead and remain seven games behind the AL East leading Boston Red Sox.

The Yankees now go on the road to Toronto with an afternoon affair on Monday.

This is my weekly recap of the performance of the YanksBlog.com teams in the Yankees Bloggers Fantasy Baseball League.

Last Week

James (2nd place) took a 6-2 victory over Dave (Pride of the Yankees) (3rd place). They managed to tie in runs (31) and wins (3). Home runs (9 vs. 8) and RBIs (32 vs. 30) were also very close. Both of Dave's victories came on the offensive side, in stolen bases and batting average, as the two teams split the batting categories. James' offense was led by Garrett Atkins (4 R, 2 HR, 14 RBI, .375 AVG) while Dave's was led by Vladimir Guerrero (6 R, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 1 SB, .379 AVG). Hanley Ramirez chipped in 4 stolen bases to go along with 6 runs, 2 home runs, 4 runs batted in and a .333 average.

The pitching side is where James stormed ahead, taking saves, strikeouts, ERA and WHIP in convincing fashion. Wins came from Ted Lilly (11 Ks), Jose Valverde (8 Ks) and Jake Peavy (10 Ks) with saves from Bobby Jenks (2), Valverde (2), Billy Wagner and Joakim Soria. Kelvim Escobar had 9 Ks and Chad Billingsley had 8. Meanwhile, Dave's got victories out of Tom Glavine, Dan Haren (9 Ks) and Joaquin Benoit. His lone save came from Jason Isringhausen. Gil Meche struck out 8.

I topped Joseph (River Ave. Blues), 9-1. My offense produced a lot of runs, scoring 45, hitting 14 homers and driving in 44, even without the batting average (.293) to show it. Joseph's lone victory came in average, but stolen bases and strikeouts were also very close with both categories being decided by 1. Jorge Posada made the biggest mark on offense, scoring 8 runs, homering 3 times, driving in 7 and hitting .444. Hideki Matsui (9 R, 3 HR, 7 RBI, .348 AVG) had a huge week, as well. David Ortiz was huge on Joseph's side, hitting .478 with 9 runs, 3 home runs, 7 runs batted in and 1 stolen base (?!).

My pitching victories came from Andy Pettitte, Chuck James, Scott Kazmir (9 Ks) and Mark Buehrle. Manny Corpas (2), Mo and Joe Borowski picked up saves. Joseph got a 2 victory week from Erik Bedard with 17 strikeouts while both of his saves came from Jonathan Papelbon. Chris Capuano had 8 strikeouts, as well.

Finally, Ben (River Ave. Blues) defeated Seamus in a close one, 5-4. Wins (4) was the tied category with runs decided by 2, RBIs decided by 2 and batting average decided by 9 points. Seamus won the offense side by winning RBIs, stolen bases and average. David Wright was the biggest contributor for Seamus, hitting .409 with 7 runs, 1 home run, 2 runs batted in and 2 stolen bases. Ben's offense was led by Adam Dunn, who scored 5 runs, hit 3 homers, drove in 6 and hit .300.

The pitching side was Ben's, as he took saves, strikeouts and ERA. He got a 2 win week from John Lackey (and 10 Ks) to go along with wins from Chad Cordero and Brett Myers and saves from Cordero (2), Bob Wickman and Brad Hennessey. Seamus had a pair of 2 win weeks - one from Brandon Webb (11 Ks) and one from Mike Mussina (9 Ks). His single save was thrown by Todd Jones.

Top 3 teams in the league:

1. Mike (105-70-5) (River Ave. Blues) (congrats on being the first team to reach 100 wins)
2. James (95-74-11)
3. Ben (93-81-6)

This Week

James (2nd, 95-74-11) vs. Joseph (6th, 85-82-13)
Patrick (5th, 90-84-6) vs. Ben (3rd, 93-81-6) (yes, I finally have a winning record)
Seamus (10th, 68-101-11) vs. Jen (NoSenseWorrying.com) (T8th, 75-93-12)

Peter Abraham mentions that Giambi is on his way up to Toronto. He didn't get activated today, but may be activated tomorrow.

Abraham also mentions that reliever Scott Williamson has been released. Williamson was signed a couple weeks ago and had pitched in 4 games for Scranton, going 0-1 with a 9.82 ERA.

Michael Morrissey and George King had been reporting that Joba would be activated for today's game. But, it doesn't appear that that happened. Still, it could be soon.

Finally, the Boston Herald (via Y! Sports) is reporting that the Yankees have some interest in the recently released Bobby Kielty.

Mike Myers has been designated for assignment. Myers seemed to be a good guy, so I feel a little bad for him. He pitched well this year, overall: 3-0 with a 2.66 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and .247 BAA against in 55 games. His problem was that he pitched well against batters on the wrong side of the plate. Meant to get lefties out, he's been doing the opposite: righties are hitting .182 against him while lefties hit .312. Check out his home and away split:

Home: 2-0, 0.68 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, .208 BAA.
Away: 1-0, 6.43 ERA, 1.71 WHIP, .310 BAA.

Wow. Throw out the one game in June where he allowed 4 ER in 2 innings (the only game this season where he's allowed more than 1 ER) and his ERA drops to 1.86.

Anyway, in his place, we'll get Jim Brower, a 34 year old journey man who has pitched in the majors for Cleveland, Cincinnati, Montreal, San Francisco, Atlanta, Baltimore and San Diego. He's also been in the Texas and Florida organizations, as well. His best season in the majors would be 2004 when he pitched in 89 games for the Giants, going 7-7 with 1 save and a 3.29 ERA. At Scranton this season, he's 4-1 with 20 saves and a 1.65 ERA.

Here's how Joba's two innings of work went yesterday:


In his 4 innings of relief work, he's faced the minimum number of batters - 12. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 walks, 10 strikeouts. Fire.

Via Peter Abraham.

Peter Abraham:


Via Steve.

A-Rod finally got that huge gorilla off his back by hitting a 3 run HR for number 500. A big congrats to him. Hopefully, we can get back to the business of winning an MVP award now. Even with this little slump, coming into today, A-Rod still led the AL in home runs by 7 and RBI by 14. He's the only player in the game with 100 RBI (he has 105). Magglio Ordonez is next with 91.

Phil Hughes had a bit of a rocky return, throwing 92 pitches over 4 and 2/3 innings, allowing 6 ER on 7 hits, 2 walks and 5 strike outs. But, the pen was OK, allowing 2 ER in 4 and 1/3 IP. Myers, who relieved Hughes, allowed an RBI double (charged to Hughes) before retiring Alex Gordon to end the inning. Kyle gave up one of those earned runs (he wasn't brought in until we had a 5 run lead) and Villone gave up the other in the 9th. But, Bruney and Vizcaino pitched scoreless frames.

But, like I said, the Yankee O powered us through this one. 16 runs, 21 hits, 5 walks. Everyone who started reached base except for Johnny Damon, who had a rough day at the plate, going 0 for 6 and striking out 3 times. Everyone who started except Damon and Posada collected a hit, although Posada walked twice and scored 2 runs.

Jeter was 2 for 5 with 1 2B and 2 R, Abreu was 3 for 5 with 1 Hr, 4 R, 2 RBI and 1 BB (hitting .282), A-Rod was 3 for 4 with 1 HR, 3 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB and 1 SB, Godzilla was 3 for 4 with 1 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI and 1 BB, Cano was 4 for 5 with 1 2B, 1 3B (a HR short of the cycle), 2 R and 3 RBI, Wilson Betemit was 3 for 4 with 1 R and 3 RBI and Melky was 1 for 5 with 1 2B and 2 RBI.

Back to A-Rod, he becomes the youngest player ever to reach the 500 home run mark, beating Jimmie Foxx by 330 days.

With a win under our belt today, our attention now turns to the Tigers (who are half a game back to the Indians in the Central now and, as such, are the Wild Card leaders) and the Red Sox. The Sox have Matsuzaka going up against Jerrod Washburn of the Mariners while the Tigers have Jeremy Bonderman facing Javy Vazquez of the White Sox.

Tomorrow, we'll have Moose (6-7, 4.75) vs. Gil Meche (7-8, 3.70) at 1:05 PM ET.

Peter Abraham reports that Phil Hughes has been activated for his start today, Sean Henn has been sent down to Scranton and and Colter Bean has been DFAed to make room for Phil on the 40 man.

Thanks to YankeesNumbers.com, we know the answer. Charlie "King Kong" Keller wore number 99 in 1952 when he returned to the Yankees for 2 games after playing 2 seasons in Detroit.

Who's the only Yankee to have a jersey number in the 80s? This one is a bit more recent: Ryan Thompson wore 88 in 2000. No Yankee has ever worn a number in the 70s. Besides that, all numbers 1-69 have been worn by at least one player.

How many jersey numbers have only been worn by 1 Yankee? The answer is 4. The numbers are 4 (Lou Gehrig), 69 (Alan Mills and then Thompson and Keller.

Franz Lidz at Portfolio.com talks about his experience meeting George Steinbrenner in June, the future of the team and more.

Meanwhile, Forbes has an article titled "The dismantling of the Yankee empire" (bah), talking about the potential sale of YES, which could be done in order to ensure that the team will be able to stay in the Steinbrenner family.

Via Peter Abraham.

From mlb.com:

From the Trenton Thunder's site:


Via Tony Gicas.

Best pitching match-up that the White Sox have had this series as they try to avoid the sweep by sending Jon Garland up against Roger Clemens. The newest Yankee, Wilson Betemit, starts at SS as Derek Jeter gets a much-deserved day off. Johnny Damon is back in the line-up, starting at DH and leading off. Two other games of note are going on this afternoon as well; Cleveland is up 1-0 on Grady Sizemore RBI single while Boston will go up against Jeremy Guthrie of the Orioles.

First inning is uneventful. The second inning is not. Singles by Konerko and Pierzynski start off the inning followed by a double from the recently rejuventated Jermaine Dye. Two more singles from Darin Erstad and Juan Uribe make the score 3-0 with 2 on and still no one out. A fly out from Danny Richar is the first out but Robbie Cano misplays a Jerry Owens grounder (should have been one, could have been two) and we have the bases loaded for Alex Cintron with one out. Pressure's on but Roger's able to get one more out; Cintron grounds to Clemens who goes home for the force. Bases still loaded, two out with Jim Thome up. Clemens gets up 1-2 but loses the batter as Thome singles through the left side, plating 2 more runs, 5-0 White Sox. Konerko up now as the White Sox have batted around and he doubles on the second pitch, moving Thome to third and scoring Cintron, 6-0 White Sox. Pierzynski up with a single up the middle on an 0-2 count and that's now 8 runs in the inning. I guess you could call this payback for the last two games, huh? The inning isn't over but Clemens' day is as Jermaine Dye doubles (second time in the inning) off a 2-2 pitch, putting runners at second and third with two outs. Mike Myers is now in..and he proceeds to walk Darin Erstad. Jeez - here comes Karstens...and he finally gets the Yankees out of the inning when Uribe flys out on the first pitch he sees. Clemen's final line: 1.6 IP, 39 pitches, 9 hits, 8 runs allowed (3 earned). Yeesh.

Here we go to the bottom of the second. Matsui single to start...followed by a Posada double. Hey, I like the inning so far. Here comes Robbie Cano to try to redeem himself...and he does with an RBI single! 8-1 now with runners at first and second for Wilson Betemit. Man, a homer here would endear him to the crowd huh? AND HE COMES THROUGH! Can't find a Betemit!!! 8-4 Yankees and all of a sudden, this game doesn't seem so lost. Garland gives up another single to Andy Phillips and we still have no one out in the inning. Wait, scratch that - Damon with the K. Way to come through there Johnny - good job earning that starting spot. Cabrera up now and let's see if he can continue making me look good...and he does, single to left; first and second, one out for the heart of the order. An Abreu walk and a A-Rod jack to tie would be sweet...but not meant to be as Bobby decides to drive in a run himself with a single. A-Rod up now as the tying run - a homer here sure would be sweet Alex...but the single you provide is almost as good! 8-6 White Sox, men on first and second, still only one out and Matsui back up as the Yankees have batted around. Here comes Guillen and there goes Garland. That has got to be disappointing - after getting hammered for two straight games, your team goes on a run rampage and stakes you to an 8 run lead...and you cough up most of it. Ouch. Here's comes Boone Logan for the White Sox. At this point, just don't go Groundzilla on me now Hideki...or strike out. Nuts. Matsui Ks but A-Rod and Abreu pull off the double steal. A 2-out hit from Posada would be sweet right here though...AND HE DELIVERS! Ground-rule double! TIE GAME! If anyone has ever underrated Posada during his Yankees tenure, they can't possibly do it after this year. Robbie comes up and grounds into a FC and the inning is over but wow, 8 runs to tie. If this doesn't decimate the White Sox morale...I don't know what will.

Here we go, 8-8, a brand new ball game - and Karstens gets through the 3rd with no problems. The bottom of the inning is much of the same as outside of Damon's single, the Yankees go quietly.

Top of the fourth - here comes the meat of Chicago order so let's see what Karstens can go against some good hitters. Umm..no idea what just happened but Scott Podsednik just replaced Jim Thome. Well, that's a step down...and naturally Podsednik doubles to start off the inning. Groundouts from Konerko and Pierzynski and maybe he can get out of it. Nope - there goes Dye again - 2 run HR and the Yankees are back down. 10-8. Darin Erstad singles with two out but Juan Uribe pops out to end the inning.

On a side note, Cleveland will win their game so the Yankees need this game to keep pace. The Orioles and the Red Sox are knotted at 3 through 5 and a half.

Bottom of the fourth. Abreu grounds out to start and we have a new pitcher, Ryan Bukvich in to face Alex. A-Rod promptly singles off him but both Matsui and Posada follow up with a groundout.

Top of the fifth - Karstens give ups another leadoff double but gets groundouts from Jerry Owens and Alex Cintron. He can't stop the run from scoring as Podsednik singles to get Richar home. Karstens then strikes out Konerko to get out of the inning. 11-8 White Sox.

Bottom of the fifth - the Yankees get two runners on but Melky can't deliver with two-outs.

Top of the sixth - Ron Villone comes in and breezes through the inning.

Bottom of the sixth - Bobby Abreu homers to cut the lead to 11-9 but A-Rod pops out and Matt Thornton comes in and strikes out Hideki and Jorge.

Top of the seventh - Villone strikes out Juan Uribe to start off the inning but a walk to Richar and a single to Owens puts men on first and third with one out and Josh Fields up at bat. Villone gets Fields to pop out to Cano...and Richar tries to score! Ain't happening buddy as Cano nails him at the plate - double play and the Yankees are out of the inning.

Time for the bottom of the seventh and it's starting to get late early as both Boston and Cleveland have won their games. Robbie Cano works out a walk (!) on 8 pitches and that's a good start to the inning. I would pinch hit Jeter here (and Joe listens) though I was tempted into thinking about letting Wilson swing away and then pinch hit for Damon later on. Ozzie counters with Mike MacDougal from the pen...which is odd since Jeter is hitting .333 with 7 of his 8 homers against righties. Well, Jeter strikes out so Ozzie's move works out. Andy Phillips comes up and singles on the first pitch to put runners on at first and second with one out for Johnny Damon. Nuts, on an 2-0 count, Damon lines out hard to Uribe who doubles up Cano off second.

Top of the eighth. It's Farnsworth time! No really - it's as if Joe realizes that Kyle can't be used in high leverage innings...and does it anyway. Well, Podsednik flies out to start so hey, that's one down...maybe he's getting better. Nope - there goes that idea, HR Konerko. Piersynski strikes out...but hey, here's another HR off the bat of Jermaine Dye! He gets out of the inning but gives up two runs, 13-9 White Sox. Also, what a game for Dye - 4-for-5 with 2 doubles and 2 HRs and 4 RBIs and he raises his OPS from .745 to .780 in one game.

Bottom of the eighth; can the Yankees put up 4 runs off of Mike MacDougal and Bobby Jenks in the next two innings? Well, we'll see. Melky grounds out to start off the inning and MacDougal strikes out Abreu and A-Rod for the second and third outs.

Top of the ninth - Sean Henn in, 3 up, 3 down. See how it's done Kyle?

Bottom of the ninth - Bobby Jenks in...and man is he a big boy. The most runs he's given up in an appearance this year has been 2 so scoring 4 would be a minor miracle. Matsui down on strikes, Molina flies out and down goes Cano to the K. Game over. It was a rollercoaster of a game but here it is in an nutshell. What the heck? (Clemens), Holy Cow (Bottom of the second), Awww (Karstens giving up the lead), BOOOOOOOOOO (Farnsworth).

As an update, the situation with SFX Baseball has been resolved. For now, at least. Hopefully, forever.

Because they traded Gabbard the other day in the Gagne deal, the Red Sox are forced to start Julian Tavarez tonight. The guy's a decent reliever but he was shelled in his last three starts. He's going right back to the pen when Shilling comes off the DL so these opportunities aren't going to last. In addition, the Red Sox are going up against Jeremy Guthrie on Thursday, he of the 2.89 ERA and the guy who shut down the Yankees TWICE.The Red Sox, who have lost to him earlier in the season, counter with Wakefield.

Why bring this up? Well, looking at the match-ups on paper, it wouldn't unimaginable that the Red Sox lose both those games. Now, and dream with me here, if the Yankees can win the next two against White Sox (certainly not a given) and Boston's games go the right way, the Yanks would be 5 games out with 54 games to go (and with 6 games left against Boston). I might be dreaming...but that wouldn't be too bad of a situation to be in.

The logos and marks for the 2008 All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium have been unveiled. Here they are:

Primary Logos

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Peter Abraham reports that Phil Hughes will pitch Saturday.

From Kat O'Brien: