Last season, the New York Yankees were able to ride through the playoffs with a three-man rotation. This year's staff is not built for that. The Yankees will likely need a regular four-starter rotation when the playoffs begin. This causes a dilemma for manager Joe Girardi. Who is going to be the fourth starter? CC Sabathia is the clear ace and will get the ball in a Game 1 and pitch as often as possible. Following Sabathia will likely be Phil Hughes and Andy Pettitte, in that order to split ...
I am the George Steinbrenner Plaque. I am 760 pounds of solid bronze living in my new digs in Monument Park. I’m seven feet wide, wider than CC Sabathia is tall. And I’m five feet tall, taller than CC Sabathia is wide. I dwarf all these other plaques around me of famous Yankees. Because I am the Boss. People walk by and look my way and say, “God, look at the size of that plaque.” It’s 35 square feet of STEINBRENNER!
When I say I am bronze, ...
New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi won a World Series last season and also was voted Manager of the Year in 2006 with the Florida Marlins.
The Chicago Cubs currently have an interim manager, Mike Quade, after Lou Piniella left the team in August to take care of his ailing mother. Quade has led the Cubbies to a 20-11 record in his short time as skipper.
They are known as the Cubbies or Baby Cubs because they are using all their young players. These kids are producing at a high level and much ...
The Yankees magic number was down to one, but they never really had a chance to clinch last night thanks to an absolutely terrible performance from starter A.J. Burnett, who couldn’t even last three innings as he gave up seven runs over 2.1 innings in a 7-5 loss in Toronto.
Here are some highlights:
Burnett’s line: 2.1 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 HR.
He is the first Yankees pitcher since 1992 to post 15 losses in a season.
The offense struggled against Mark Rzepczynski, who struck ...
So many marvelous players have been on the Yankees.This season is different.Yes, New York has the lovable Core Four. However, there have been some absolute monstrosities this season, and I am convinced that these following five players will not return.Keep in mind this is not a bashing of the Yankees. I am one of the biggest Yankee fans ever. Yet, there are some players who have been robbing the team, and they have to be clarified.Begin Slideshow
“There are three kinds of lies,” the age-old adage goes, “lies, damned lies, and statistics.” While Sabathia’s poor outing (5.1, 10-7) against the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night probably put an end to his AL Cy Young Award aspirations, the Hernandez vs. Sabathia debate was certainly a fascinating one while it lasted. It all seemed to boil down to which statistic is more important: Felix Hernandez’ 2.31 ERA or C.C. Sabathia’s 20 wins? The most fascinating element of this debate was that the statements out of both sides were, ...
Mariano Rivera has been as consistent a player as any in professional sports. His prowess in the playoffs is simply unmatched by all challengers. While every year there seems to be a hot new closer that everyone is in love with, the New York Yankees' not-so-secret weapon has been terrorizing opposing hitters for years.
In the past month, however, Rivera has looked decidedly mortal. He has blown three saves this month, as well as an ERA that is a very un-Rivera-like, 5.04, which nearly triple his career average. Despite these facts, ...
This is not a panic post about Mariano Rivera struggling, because as always, I have full faith in him. At the same time, it’s hard to ignore what’s been going on.
Rivera’s struggles go back to September 11. On September 10, he pitched two innings in Texas. It was a strong performance. He needed just 23 pitches to get through those two innings so Joe Girardi decided it was okay to go with him the next night.
That day things went wrong for Rivera. He needed 21 pitches to get just ...
It only took six days for Joe Girardi to finally realize the Yankees needed to start winning games or they wouldn't be going to the playoffs. On Sept. 20, I wrote how there was a very real chance of Boston pulling within 4 1/2 games of New York with a sweep at Yankee Stadium and that Girardi needed to stop counting his chickens before they hatched by throwing Chad Gaudin and Jonathan Albaladejo into every game and continuing the farce of Phil Hughes' innings limit. The skipper finally wised up ...
The Yankees needed to win last night's game so they went with Phil Hughes, but Hughes was long out of the game by the time this one ended on a Juan Miranda walk-off walk in the bottom of the 10th inning as the Yankees beat the Red Sox 4-3 to lower their magic number to one.
Here are the highlights:
Hughes came up big when the Yankees ndeeded him to. His line: six IP, three H, one R, one ER, four BB, four K, 0 HR.
David Robertson came ...