Joe Girardi featured a lineup switch last night in an attempt to give the Yankees lineup a bit of a spark. Robinson Cano, who is in what seems to be his first extended slump ever, was moved back to the number five spot due to his 2012 power outage.However, in order for Cano to break out of his slump quicker, his ideal spot should be in the #2 hole.Before Girardi, there was Joe Torre, and he would often use the number two spot in the lineup for slumping players. And ...
The New York Yankees have a problem on their hands, the likes of which they haven't had to deal with in many years. For the rest of the season, the Bombers will not have Mariano Rivera around to close games in the ninth.Rivera, as you well know, tore up his right knee shagging fly balls during batting practice in Kansas City on Thursday. He has a torn ACL and a torn meniscus in his knee, according to a report from Wallace Matthews of ESPNNewYork.com.This is as depressing as it gets, ...
Mariano Rivera tore his ACL shagging fly balls during batting practice on Thursday night in Kansas City, and while the loss of the Yankees' top relief pitcher will certainly be felt over the remainder of this season, it will not be as catastrophic as many think.This is primarily because all closers, even Mariano Rivera, are overrated.I realize this is not a very popular stance, especially among Yankees fans - a group of which I am a member - but that doesn't change the fact that it's true.ESPN.com's Jim Caple crafted ...
The New York Yankees (13-12) and Kansas City Royals (8-16) will continue a four-game American League series on Friday night at Kauffman Stadium, with the first pitch scheduled for 8:10 p.m. ET.Las Vegas oddsmakers have established the Yankees as -165 road favorites, while the total remains at 8.5 but is facing downward pressure in the betting market.New York is in desperate need of a lift after learning that longtime closer Mariano Rivera is likely to miss the rest of the 2012 campaign due to suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament ...
Everyone in Yankee Nation is fretting right now over the knee injury sustained by Mariano Rivera.What will New York do? Who will replace the best closer of all time? Can the Yankees survive this setback? Seeing a future Hall of Fame player go down with a season-ending injury is never a good thing. But if you have to lose a piece of your puzzle, this is the one any team can afford to lose with the minimum amount of concern. The simple reality of baseball is this: closers don't matter. Throughout baseball history, ...
The good news for the Red Sox is at least the playing field is now even. Neither they nor the Yankees have an elite closer anymore. When Mariano Rivera tore his ACL shagging fly balls on Thursday, it was just about the most devastating thing that could have happened to the Yankees. It robbed them of their most important player. Just two days ago, the Star-Ledger's Marc Carig posed the question, "Do [the] Yankees boast [the] top bullpen tandem in Mariano Rivera and David Robertson?" Not anymore. The transition to closer is ...
Marty Appel, in Pinstripe Empire, makes an understatement that sadly will never be more appreciated than it is today.
Appel relates how, when New York Yankees closer John Wetteland signed with the Texas Rangers, the team turned over the closer’s role to Mariano Rivera, “…confident that his spectacular work as a setup man in ‘96 would translate.”
For many years, right-handers Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson were considered the greatest pitchers of all time. Among left-handers, the choice was almost always Lefty Grove.
Then along came Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver, Bob Gibson, Roger ...
The New York Yankees signed Rafael Soriano to a three-year, $35 million deal after he turned in a 45-save, 1.73 ERA and 0.80 WHIP-season in 2010 with the Tampa Bay Rays.At the time it was a "if we can't beat him, sign him" type deal for New York. Rather than let the Rays have a closer of their own, the Yanks brought him in to be the set-up man for Mariano Rivera. It hasn't gone as planned, but now the Yankees and Soriano have a chance to prove that deal wasn't a ...
With Mariano Rivera out for the season, as it stands today, the Yankees will not win the World Series. They can't. They simply do not have the pieces a championship caliber team requires to win it all.Losing Mariano Rivera is a devastating loss for the team as well as all of baseball and its fans. If George Steinbrenner were alive today, you can bet he would have released one of his trademark eccentric, over-the-top dramatic, press statements declaring that the Yankees reflect on the loss of an all-time great from their ...
Mariano Rivera’s torn ACL is obviously one of the most devastating injuries to ever befall the storied New York Yankees. While most will be concentrating on how awful the loss may be for the Bombers, there has to be some kind of silver lining to the all-time saves leader’s injury. Instead of creating a potential controversy by removing Phil Hughes from the starting rotation, Rivera’s injury allows the Yankees to make a smooth transition with Hughes. The Yankees can task Hughes to return to 2009 and capture an important role ...