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New York Yankees: Gardner going to doctor today

Posted by on 20 May 2012, 6:03 am

ESPN New York reported that New York Yankees speedster Brett Gardnerwould have his right elbow examined by doctors following the 1pm rubber match vs. the Cincinnati Reds today.

Gardy and Grandy - 06/15/2011

Gardner has rehabbd his elbow and said:

“If I could start swinging here in the next couple of days, I’ll be ready by next weekend for sure.”

The Yankees have been without Gardner for 29 games, and his return will be welcomed with open arms.

Whether Gardner will be the difference maker for the Yankees is a whole different issue, as the team has been painfully bad so far this season.

Without a doubt the Yankees are better with Gardner, as just his speed alone, 49 steals in 2011, adds another dimension that opposing pitchers have to deal with.

Gardner was posting a .321 batting average before he went down in April 18th but Yankee fans need to realize that he only played nine games so to think that will continue would be foolish.

Look I want Gardner back as much as anyone else but it is hard to think that the Yankees issue will suddenly disappear.

Yankee fans need to face the facts here, and that is the hitters are only getting worse and have shown zero signs of improving. Continue reading ‘New York Yankees: Gardner going to doctor today’ »

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2012 MLB Team Preview: Cleveland Indians

Posted by on 2 April 2012, 3:20 am

Cleveland Indians logo; aka 'the Tribe'

The 2011 Cleveland Indians came out of the gate hot last season, and were first in the AL Central up until July 20th having won 51 games.

Following that day, the Tribe only won 29 more games in 2011, and finished the season a distant second with 15 games separating them and the division leading Detroit Tigers.

Every team suffers injuries but in Cleveland players spent a total of 826 days on the DL in 2011, which certainly was higher than normal.

Now, with a new season just days away can a healthy Tribe finish off what they couldn’t in 2011?

Let’s take a look at the Indians heading into the 2012 season….

THE POSITIVES:

The emergence of shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera going from good to All-Stat, hitting 25 homers and 92 RBIs in 2011. The 26-year old ranked first in RBIs and hits out of all AL Shortstops and second in home-runs and doubles, and it earned him his first Sliver Slugger Award. This guy has a really bright future in Cleveland and his natural baseball ability leads many to believe that Cabrera will only get better.

The Indians have to take advantage of the April schedule. The Tigers play the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays and Rangers in the first month so the Indians have to pounce from the start, as the Tigers bats, aka Miguel Cabrera; tend to need a month to warm up before blasting everything out of the park. The Tribe needs to capitalize off every single opportunity if they plan on contending with the Tigers come September.  So, another hot start is in order in Cleveland.

THE NEGATIVES: Continue reading ‘2012 MLB Team Preview: Cleveland Indians’ »

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New York Yankees: MVP To Granderson, Honorable Mention To Verlander

Posted by on 21 November 2011, 4:57 am
Granderson Batting In 2011 ALDS Game 5 Vs. Tigers

2011 ALDS Game 5.

With the announcement of the 2011 AL MVP Award just hours away, the endless debate still continues about who is the rightful winner.

The  reason for all the hoopla is that Detroit Tiger, and recent crowned CY Young winner Justin Verlander has a good chance of taking the coveted annual award home later today.

So, everyone from baseball experts, MLB Players, and fans are weighing in with their own answer/opinion about pitchers winning the MVP Award over positon players…is it fair or not to give it to Verlander?

At this point, I have read a million answers from both sides of this argument, which at times have made me indecisive about my opinion in the matter.

Than after milling over pages and pages of stats and articles, here is why Justin Verlander is not the 2011 AL MVP and how New York Yankees Curtis Granderson is:

1999 Pedro Martinez vs. 2011 Justin Verlander

In 1999, Boston Red Sox’s ace Pedro Martinez was named the CY Young Award winner, just like Verlander was for this past season.

Both finished the regular season with impressive records, with Martinez going 23-4 in 29 starts; and Verlander going 24-5 in 34 starts.

The fact is the aces did not have comparable wins-losses; Martinez had an edge over Verlander due to making five less starts in 1999.

That is just one example of how Martinez edged out Verlander.

Now look at the two tables below to see that Martinez had a better 1999 season almost across the board in comparison to Verlander’s 2011:

All stats are courtesy of baseballreference.com

Martinez did not win the AL MVP in 1999; he came in second place behind Texas Rangers catcher Ivan Rodriguez. Continue reading ‘New York Yankees: MVP To Granderson, Honorable Mention To Verlander’ »

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CY Young To Verlander Honorable Mention To Sabathia, Rivera & Robertson

Posted by on 16 November 2011, 10:23 pm

Congratulations to Detroit Tigers Justin Verlander for his historic 2011 season. Verlander won the CY Young Award by a landslide, just as expected and well-deserved I may add.

Verlander went 24-5 in the regular season, posting a 2.40 ERA, 250 strikeouts and pitched 251 innings.

In all honesty, the rest of the CY Young voting is really irrelevant this season because Verlander’s performance was that superior, as he unanimously won across the voting across board. Still, even in a rare circumstance it is nice to acknowledge the other top pitchers around the American League for their hard work too, which included three Yankee arms.

Congratulations to all the nominees!!

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New York Yankees: Burnett Pitches ALDS Back To The Bronx

Posted by on 5 October 2011, 2:46 am
A.J. Burnett

Image by Keith Allison via Flickr

Last night’s ALDS Game 4 was a do or die for the New York Yankees, as they were down 2-1 in games to the Detroit Tigers.

So in an almost reckless effort to succeed, Yankees skipper Joe Girardi put the team’s fate in the hands of AJ Burnett.

To say Burnett’s time in New York has been rocky would be an understatement, as he is the definition of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the mound.

A majority of Yankee Universe couldn’t stand Burnett. And once enemy #1, Alex Rodriguez just continued playing too well for to even excusable Bronx booing, the fans road Burnett like Sea-biscuit, and he become almost to easy a target.

The difference with Burnett is that Yankee fans didn’t enjoy to booing him like they did with Javier Vazquez, Kyle Farnsworth or Sergio Mitre.

Speaking personally, I have never booed Burnett. Why? I am a huge Burnett fan and you can see he wants to do well for the team. Burnett’s teammates love him, and to be honest I bet he is a riot as a friend.

Regardless, (and apologies for my above girly mush) Burnett had to pitch well or season over, but either or, the Yankees were getting on a plane late Tuesday night back to New York.

Well, thanks to a great performance on the bump in Detroit, AJ Burnett made sure that the Tigers were coming back to the Big Apple too.

The Bombers in the eleventh-hour gave the Tigers a beat-down in Game 4 to a tune of 10-1.

Wonder what Detroit Tigers closer Jose Valverde thought about the game? If you didn’t know according to Valverde this ALDS was over last Sunday, and told Detroit fans to get ready to party following Game 4 because this series was not going back to New York, no matter what.

Some recommendations for Valverde… once in New York don’t leave your hotel because you pissed off a lot of Yankee fans here.

Look plain and simple, for any athlete to make such arrogant statements in the midst of a playoff series is just fueling the opposition. Valverde is just another athlete writing checks that his team just can’t cash. Continue reading ‘New York Yankees: Burnett Pitches ALDS Back To The Bronx’ »

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Yankees-Tigers: New York Not Losers Of ALDS Game 3

Posted by on 4 October 2011, 4:07 am

First of all time cannot be reversed, neither can wins and losses but there is nothing wrong with relaying the real truth after-the-fact.

The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers in Game 3 of the ALDS, but facts show that the game should have gone into extra innings.

Am I being a sore loser??

Yes, and no because I am not denying that I would have liked the Yankees to win, as any fan would especially in the Postseason, but the proof is undeniable so why can’t I point it out.

Before I get to the detail, let me tell you that the homeplate umpire was not calling the same strike zone and it wasn’t just one time, it was many wrong calls not in Sabathia’s favor.

It was maddening to watch, as the ump did not settle in even after ESPN’s Buster Onley tweeted that CC talked to the homeplate ump after the 1st inning, in the utmost respectable way about the calls.

Ok, now to the proof – - rewind to Game 3, in bottom of the 3rd inning; no outs; Brandon Inge is on second base and Austin Jackson comes to the plate.

Jackson had a seven-pitch sequence, which resulted in a walk and eventually he scored the tying run and it was 2-2.

Here is a chart of Jackson’s at-bat, pitch by pitch:

Need more proof? Here is the STRIKE ZONE pictures: Continue reading ‘Yankees-Tigers: New York Not Losers Of ALDS Game 3’ »

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ALDS Game Three: Yankees Lose To Tigers, But TBS Announcers Were Awful

Posted by on 4 October 2011, 1:22 am

First of all, I started writing this in the middle of Game 3 in the ALDS between the Yankees and Tigers.

Verlander has lived up to his CY Young reputation of the game, and now the Tigers just won 5-4 and what a great game played by both teams.

But this is not about the outcome of the game; it is about the TBS announcers I had to endure throughout it.

Three of the TBS crew consists of Brian Anderson, John Smoltz and Ron Darling, which translates into one failed Golf Channel announcer (Anderson), one ex-Brave/Red Sox (Smoltz), one ex-Met (Darling).

Whoever put that group together for this series should be fired. I mean Mets fans cannot even listen to Darling do home games in Queens.

Obviously as a Yankee fan, but also as a baseball fan the rah-rah Tigers and antiYankees was an absolute atrocity. It went along great with the two different strike zones the homeplate umpire had, with the Yankees being smaller than the Tigers.

I happened to be watching this game with a die-hard Phillies fan friend, and he described the announcing as “worse than listening to FOX’s Joe Buck.” And he also acknowledged, “I thought the Phillies got it bad, but that this was the most obvious hating he had ever heard.”

This commentating sounded more like a Tigers fan club meeting, or an anti-Yankees protester group. Look, I get that Darling and Smoltz probably can’t help themselves for obvious reasons, but the blame falls on TBS.

It is expected that a broadcasting station should be able to figure out a how to put together an even-keeled and neutral bunch of hosts.

As far as I am concerned, MLB should not sell TBS the rights to the postseason ever again. It is just total crap and it is not fun to listen to the announcers’ give zero credit to one team, but at the same time defend and excuse every mistake made by the other. Continue reading ‘ALDS Game Three: Yankees Lose To Tigers, But TBS Announcers Were Awful’ »

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