Triple-A Scranton (11-6 loss to Louisville)
Justin Christian: 2 for 4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB
Jason Lane: 3 for 4, 1 R, 1 BB
Juan Miranda: 0 for 4, 1 BB, 1 K - .313-.459-.478 vs RHP … .147-.196-.176 vs LHP
Cody Ransom: 2 for 5, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Eric Duncan: 1 for 3, 1 R, 1 BB
Nick Green & Greg Porter: both 1 for 4 - Green K’ed .. Porter scored a run
JD Closser: 1 for 2, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 2 BB - .368-.478-.474 in 7 games with Scranton
Heath Phillips: 1 IP, 6 H, 8 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 E (throwing) - spot starting has not been kind to him
Bo Hall: 3.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 1-8 GB/FB
Steven Jackson: 2.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K - 28 of 38 pitches were strikes (73.7%)
Scott Patterson: 1 IP, zeroes, 1 K - no baserunners, 4 K in his last 3.2 IP

Double-A Trenton (10-6 loss to Portland)
Kevin Russo & Austin Jackson: both 0 for 5 - Ajax drove in a run, K’ed, committed a fielding error & threw a runner out at the plate
Colin Curtis: 0 for 4, 1 K
Edwar Gonzalez: 3 for 4, 2 R, 2 2B, 1 CS - picked off first
Jose Tabata: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 RBI - he’s 7 for 18 (.389) against Portland, and only 24 for 120 (.200) against everyone else … Portland is the Red Sox’s Double-A affiliate, is it too soon to call him a Sox killer?
Joe Muich: 1 for 3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB
Reegie Corona: 2 for 3, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB, 3 E (all fielding, ouch) - 10 for his last 26 with 5 doubles & a triple
Phil Coke: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 6-5 GB/FB, 1 E (throwing)
Mike Gardner: 2 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HB - already allowed 30 baserunners this year … he allowed 50 baserunners all of last year
Eric Wordekemper: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 1 K

High-A Tampa (1-0 loss to Lakeland)
Damon Sublett: 0 for 4, 1 K
James Cooper: 1 for 3, 1 BB
Mitch Hilligoss: 1 for 2, 1 BB - on pace for 121 hits after racking up 161 last year
Jose Gil: 1 for 4, 1 SB
Seth Fortenberry, Kevin Smith, Luis Nunez & Tim Battle: all 0 for 3 - Fortenberry K’ed twice to give him 48 K in 35 games … Battle threw a runner out at first from LF
Al Aceves: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HB, 8-6 GB/FB
Josue Selenes: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 0-4 GB/FB

Low-A Charleston (1-0 loss to Greeneville)
Austin Krum: 0 for 4, 2 K
Carmen Angelini & Danny Cox: both 0 for 2, 1 BB - Angelini K’ed
Justin Snyder: 1 for 3 - 15 hits in his last 11 games
Jesus Montero, Brian Baisley, Taylor Holiday, David Williams & Walt Ibarra: all 0 for 3, 1 K - Montero & Ibarra GIDP’ed
Jason Stephens: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 1 Balk, 10-3 GB/FB
Jesse Hoover: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

The Yanks bats though will be facing quite the challenge this evening. James Shields, who threw a one-hitter in his last start, takes the mound for the Rays. There’s nothing like trying to break out of a slump against a legitimately good pitcher.

For the Yanks, Mike Mussina will attempt to continue his career resurgence. Moose has won his last four starts, throwing 22 innings to the tune of a 3.27 ERA. He strikes out only a few batters these days but walks even fewer. Moose will have to be on his game to give the lethargic Yankee offense any chance against Shields.

Joe Girardi mixes the batting order up today. Again.

Damon LF
Abreu RF
Jeter SS
Giambi 1B
Matsui DH
Cano 2B
Cabrera CF
Ensberg 3B
Molina C

Mussina P

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Somewhere out there, in between a rock and a hard place, is a free agent with the offensive skills to boost the Yanks. This free agent hit .276 last year with a whopping .480 OBP and a .565 slugging percentage. Of course, that free agent is also facing a federal indictment and has featured prominently in the steroids scandals that have rocked baseball over the better part of the last five years.

I’m talking about none other than Barry Bonds.

Now, these days, it sure is easy to consider Bonds. From what we know, he’s basically waiting for some team to pick up the phone and call him. He can probably be in playing shape in quick order, and installing him in the middle of any Major League lineup makes the lineup better.

For the Yankees — a team not afraid to court controversy and attention — Bonds would be a bit anathema to the supposed youth movement in place. But — and this is a fairly significant but — Bonds would have a role on the team. He’s the splashy sort of signing that Hank Steinbrenner would love, and he would be a valuable insurance piece.

For all of those who say the Yanks have too many first basemen and too many DHs, as we’ve seen with Jorge and A-Rod, when one or those seemingly spare parts goes down, then what? If Jason Giambi gets hurt, the Yanks lost his awakening bat. If Johnny Damon goes down and Hideki Matsui has to slide into left, the Yanks have a gaping hole in their lineup. There is, in other words, always a place in the lineup for a bat that can still hit .276/.480/.565, and Damon and Giambi have been far from paragons of health over the last few years.

I’m not suggesting or advocating for the Yanks to sign Bonds. I’m simply saying that he’s out there, lurking and waiting. He could fix the offensive woes and create all sorts of headaches for the Yanks and for their opposing pitchers. What would you do?

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Attitude? Fire? Is that what’s really wrong with the Yankees? A team like the Yankees always looks old and slow when they’re losing, and here’s why — they are…

If a young Yankees pitcher went 5-15, would he keep his spot? Tom Glavine went 7-17 before becoming an ace for the Braves. Greg Maddux went 6-14 before becoming an ace for the Cubs. Among the many things Hank Steinbrenner has said is that he will be patient with young pitchers. Yet Steinbrenner also burns to win immediately.

Those can be conflicting goals, and that is why this attempt at a transformation of the Yankees’ culture is so fascinating. They may never be as young and outwardly energetic as the Rays; that’s just not the Yankees’ makeup in this era of the YES Network and the new Yankee Stadium.

But if Steinbrenner wants to be more like the Rays – and whoever thought we’d hear that? – he might have to live with a year or two of transition.

It’s spot-on analysis from Kepner, and one that win-now fans are grappling with as the 19-21 Yankees are struggling through some growing pains.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Update: At the urgings of a commenter, here is Hank’s entire quote: “There’s no question we need to turn it around and we have the talent to turn it around. We’ve got the team in place, and now they just have to go out and do it. This is going to get turned around. If it’s not turned around this year, then it will be turned around next year, by force if we have to.” Even when we consider the whole thing, he still sounds rather blustery and ridiculous. His point — that the Yanks are playing poorly — can be seen for miles, and I doubt the players are going to feel motivated just because Hank sort of threatened them. Their contracts are, after all, guaranteed.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Anyway, the Yanks lost a heart-breaker tonight. The Chien-Ming Wang ground-ball machine that we know and love showed up in place of Chien-Ming Wang, the strike out artist. Wang went seven strong, allowing 7 hits and 1 run on 3 walks and 2 strike outs. He lowered his ERA to 2.90, and for the second straight outing, he walked away without a win. Over his last 14 innings, Wang has allowed 4 ER on 12 hits, and the Yanks have scored a grand total of zero runs with their ace on the hill.

Meanwhile, tonight’s loss belonged to Mariano Rivera in the record books, but he doesn’t carry the blame. The run he allowed tonight raised his ERA to 0.56, and it was bound to happen with some dinky hit as it did last night sooner or later. So instead of blaming Rivera, let’s play the Blame Game, Yankees Edition.

Alberto Gonzalez: The Former Attorney General comes up with runners on the corners and one out in the top of the second. He hacks at the very first pitch against a pitcher known for his control problems and hits into an inning-ending rally-killing double play. This set the tone for tonight, and if you don’t think the Yanks miss A-Rod, keep on enjoying those Morgan Ensberg/Alberto Gonzalez outs at the bottom of the lineup.

Bobby Abreu: Abreu put up perhaps the most pathetic 0 for 4 I’ve ever seen (and, yeah, in a week, I’ll look back on this fine piece of hyperbole and smile). The defining at-bat came in the 6th inning after Derek Jeter hit a one-out, Eric Hinske-assisted triple. Abreu came up and did exactly what the Yanks didn’t want by tapping out to short. When Jeter hit the triple, I just knew the Yanks wouldn’t score, and my prophecy sadly came true.

Jason Giambi: After watching a fieldable grounder roll by Giambi in the bottom of the 11th, I yearned for the days of yelling at Joe Torre for taking Giambi out in the late innings of a close game. Defensive replacments, where have ye gone?

Jose Molina: Great throw there in the 11th, buddy. Way to nail a runner.

But of course, the point of this blame game is moot. The Yankees are not going to win by scoring one run a night off of pitchers like Edwin Jackson. While it’s true he had good stuff, it seems like the Yankees have run up against a good number of pitchers who just happened to have good stuff against the Yanks. The American League just isn’t that deep in pitching.

Whenever the offense wants to wake up, I’ll be ecstatic. But this team is just putting too much pressure on their pitchers. Allowing two runs over 11 innings is fantastic, but with the way the Yanks’ bats are going, it’s not enough. No wonder the team is losing.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Triple-A Scranton (Marquez pitched like crap again, Andy Phillips batted cleanup for the other team, JB Cox made his Scranton debut)
Double-A Trenton (might be time for everyone to chill out on the whole “call-up Dan McCutchen” kick)
High-A Tampa (the opposing pitcher was Jonah Nickerson, who threw 388 pitches in an 8-day span to help Oregon State win it’s first ever College World Series in 2006)
Low-A Charleston (Montero’s at it again)

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

For the Yankees, their ace takes the mound. Chien-Ming Wang is 6-1 this year with a 3.12 ERA. He has struck out 36 in 52 IP and opponents are hitting just .233 off Wang. Last time around in the Bronx against Tampa, Wang threw six scoreless innings, giving up just four hits en route to win.

The Rays counter with Edwin Jackson. The righty, once a highly touted prospect, has shown signs of putting it all together this year. He’s only 2-3 but with a 4.03 ERA. Opponents are hitting just .241 off of Jackson, but he’s walked 20 in 42.1 innings. Last time around against the Yanks in Tampa, he lasted just five innings, giving up five earned runs on four hits and four walks. I’d take that again.

Damon DH
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Matsui LF
Giambi 1B
Cabrera CF
Cano 2B
Gonzalez 3B
Molina C

Wang P

Game Notes: Melky Cabrera is 3 for his last 19 and is hitting just .205/.244/.359 in May…Robinson Cano has hit in seven straight games. He is 9 for 25 during that span and has seen his average climb by .040…Mark Melancon has been promoted to AA, J.B. Cox is now in Scranton and Alan Horne is nearing a return. Chad Jennings has the news and a mea culpa of sorts.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog