The Yankees have activated Alex Rodriguez from the 15 day DL and have placed him at cleanup, his usual spot in the Yankees lineup. The Yankees have been 18-18 since A-Rod left the lineup
It is going to be a huge boost for this team to have his bat back in the lineup. The Yankees have been playing average baseball since he has left the lineup and they are hoping by bringing him back it will only strengthen the rest of the players around him
On Sunday it was announced that the Yankees went out and signed Derek Lowe from the Indians. When he was with the Indians the sinkerballer started 21 games, had a 8-10 record with a miserable 6.13 ERA.
So why was it a good singing? Because the Yankees are moving him back to the position that brought him the most success during his career. They are bringing him back to the bullpen. Someone that throws as many strikes as he does should not be starting every fifth day. They need him for an appearance every other day and makes that bullpen even more dangerous. When with the Red Sox he was a successful closer. Another great signing from Brian Cashman
All panic could rest for fans of the Bronx Bombers. The Yankees are back on a winning streak by taking the last two of the series from the Tigers. Calm down and lets break this down:
1. Eric Chavez is Hot
So a few days after writing an article asking if the Yankees are missing A-Rod, his replacement seems to be giving A-Rod a little bit of panic towards the hold of his job (only joking). Chavez had 2 homers in this series and was hitting the whole weekend. He looks like a good replacement for Alex now.
2. Joe Girardi Overmanages
Taking out CC in that game on Wednesday was a pointless move. Let him get his work in, and get the win. No need to over-manage and think about the rest of the season. CC has a rubber arm and can handle the innings
Also batting Curtis Granderson leadoff on Monday was not a smart move either. You need Curtis in the middle of that lineup to drive in the runs, not to ignite an offense at the top of the order.
3. Ivan Nova and Phil Hughes Need to Be More Consistent
Nova was just terrible on Monday, giving up 7 earned runs is not a good thing. I know that all he does is win, but that ERA is not impressive. It should be a focal point for him to improve that
Phil Hughes has a real problem with the long ball. He relies on his fastball a lot and when its not there the opposing team eats it up. He will need to improve his secondary pitches so when that fastball doesn’t have the life on it he could survive 5-6 innings
What’s Next: The Yankees take their talents to Canada to play the Toronto Blue Jays in a 3 game series
From F*** Yeh Alex Rodriguez Tumblr
Ever since the second game of the road series against the Mariners, when A-Rod got injured the Yankees bats have settled down a bit. Since A-Rod has gone down the Yankees are 5-6.
Furthermore, putting A-Rod in the cleanup hole was protecting Cano. But since A-Rod’s injury Cano was struggling mightily until this past weekend. In the 11 games since A-Rod has gone out Robbie has been batting .297 with 2 HR and 8 RBI. Those are not poor numbers at all, but not up to the par that he was hitting before injury happened.
Do you think the Yankees lineup needs Alex Rodriguez to get back on track?
Taken From Tumblr
Starting this week we will start a new weekly column about each date in New York Sports History.
August 2nd in New York Sports history marked the day that Yankees legend Thurman Munson died in a plane accident. Thurman Munson was the starting catcher for the Yankees between the years of 1969-1979.
He finished his career with a .292 batting average 113 HR and 701 runs batted in. More importantly while he was on the team the Yankees ended up winning 3 World Series. Munson was the first captain for the Yankees since Lou Gehrig who retired 30 years prior.
Thurman Munson was an integral part of the Yankees turning their franchise around after a few bad years. Before Jeter, he was the one all Yankee fans referred to as the Captain.
When he died his number was instantly retired.
Today it was announced that Ichiro Suziki of the Seatlle Mariners was traded for two pitching prospects in the Yankee Farm System. Those two pitchers are D.J. Mitchell and Danny Farquhar. Danny who?!?! Ichiro, a 10 time all-star and gold glover will fill a much needed roll in the outfield because of the injury to Swisher late last night and a slumping Ibanez and Jones. The Yankees have been more than fortunate to have gotten solid performances from Ibanez and Jones throughout this season. This move puts them back where they belong as DH’s and Pinch-hitters while Ichiro, someone who is used to playing everyday, takes their spot in the outfeild. A career .320 hitter and .360+ on base percentage, Ichiro will provide instant offense for the New York Yankees. What makes this even more dramatic is that the Yanks play the Mariners at 10:10pm tonight and Ichiro will be in pin stripes.
With Gardner possibly out for the rest of the season, this was a great move by the Yankees. The Yankees gave up virtually nothing for 10-time Gold Glover, 10-time All Star, an MVP and an almost guaranteed World Series appearance. Ichiro has always played well versus the Yankees and with that short porch in right field, Ichiro can now call one of his favorite hitting ball parks home. Ichiro will presumably bat in the back of the order, possibly even at the 9 slot to wrap around back to Jeter. Ichiro was unhappy with the Mariners and was averaging career lows this year. He has never played for a winning franchise in his 10+ big league years so I think its safe to say that the move to the Yankees will give him an extra pep in his step. It is clear Ichiro will be excited to be in Pin Stripes and to finally have a shot at a World Series. Ichiro is sitting on about 2500 hits and has averaged 200+ hits a year. It’ll take him into his 40′s to reach 3,000 and I don’t think the Yanks want to sign him into that age. This move will be a 2-3 month rental but it is still a GREAT move by the New York Yankees.
Twitter@CyrusSolomon0
Ichiro tipping his cap farewell to the Mariners. Welcome to the New York Yankees Ich!
The Yanks entered this 4 game series with the A’s with a sweep of the Blue Jays. But thats where it all went bad. The Yanks didn’t provide nearly enough runs for their pitching staff, and on top of that the pitching staff couldn’t hold on to anything either losing 2 games in walk off fashion. Robbie Cano was hot going into the series carrying a 21 game hitting streak, which unfortunately ended on July 21st, when Cano failed to reach base for the 1st time in 23 games. The yanks have been averaging close to 5 runs per contest this year and almost 6 rpg in the month of july before this series where they only scored around 3 per contest.
We also lost NIck Swisher to an injury in the midst of all of this. Hoping to get him back by the time we play Seattle, but it looks like he’ll sit this series out to heal up and be fresh for Boston on the weekend.
Although it all looks really bad there is still some good news to all of this…. The Yanks are heading to Seatlle today to start a 3 game series with the Mariners who are sitting at the bottom of the AL West with the record of 42-55. And even after such a bad sweep the Yanks are still leading the majors at 57-38 and 6 games up in the AL East.
I think the Yanks will easily sweep the Mariners and head back home to face Boston this weekend strong and refocused. Thats only a possibility if they get their hitting and scoring back to normal, at the rate they were playing against Oakland it would be slighty difficult to win this series, rather if they play the way they’ve been playing all year round easily they will have the sweep and be the first team at 60 wins this year
Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
Today the Yankees won a rain shortened game to complete the sweep of the Blue Jays. Lets break down the series for you:
1. Jeter Sets the Tone Very Nicely
In this series the Yankees bats were on fire. But the key to the big innings all started with Jeter getting on base. His OBP in the series was .426 and with his ability to get on base the Yankees always have a chance to put up big numbers.
2. Mark Texiera is Hot
A lot of Tex Messages have been sent since the All Star Break and Texiera had another homer today. At the beginning of the All Star Break one of the 3 key players I mentioned to the Yankees second half was Texiera and now that he is hot the offense has turned it around.
3. Nice Bounce Back Start From Kuroda
Hiroki Kuroda had a nice comeback start after two starts where he was struggling. It was nice to see because without Pettitte he is such a big part of the rotation. The Yankees need him to keep pitching like this
What’s Next: The Yankees have a day off before playing the Oakland A’s for 3
After getting off to a slow start the Yankees turned it around in May and June to finish with a 52-33 record and lead the standing in the AL East. Here are 3 players to watching going into the second half of the season:
1. Rafael Soriano
If the Yankees want to continue their success they will need consistency form the closer position. You cant expect Soriano to be Mariano Rivera but he needs to be as consistent as he could be.
2. Phil Hughes
With Andy Pettitte on the DL someone needs to step up to be the #2 starter. I understand that all Ivan Nova does is win but I think the person to watch become the #2 starter in the second half would be Phil Hughes. The velocity on his fastball is back and there is no reason he cant continue his recent success in the second half
3. Mark Texiera
Ever since 09 Mark Texiera has not been producing as much as he was during his career. His presence in the lineup is not as dangerous as it was his first year with the Yankees. He is a career .280 hitter and right now he is hitting way below that at .250. For the Yankees lineup to score runs they are going to need some production from Tex and for him to be that presence that he was his first year with the Yankees. That requires him to get some big hits for this team.
After a close loss in game 1 of the series and a pummeling loss in game 2, the Yankees seemed content to split a rather tough series against the Chicago White Sox.
In Friday’s game 2, the Yankees pitchers got hit so hard that Dewayne Wise, the young outfielder, was called up to pitch the final inning. It was the first time since 1968 that a position player was called on to pitch in a home game. He closed the ninth inning with a well-placed 79 mph fastball.
After a pitching mess in the earlier games of the series, the Yankees could hold on to great outings by Kuroda in game 3 and Hughes in game 4. Kuroda has been especially good as of late; in his last seven starts he’s 5-1 with 46 strikeouts against 11 walks with a 1.65 ERA. Hughes has not been bad himself; coming off eight scoreless innings in his previous start, Hughes gave up two runs in the first inning. He settled in nicely to limit the hard-hitting White Sox to just three more hits over his final seven innings.
Sunday’s game was also Old-Timer’s Day, which is always a fun day at Yankee Stadium with such great former players. Cano continues to be hot, now at 20 home runs and a batting average of .310. Derek Jeter went 1-5 on Sunday and his batting average lowered to .299. This is the first time since the third game of this season he has been under .300.
The lineups for the All-Star game came out over the weekend and the Yankees have three starters and one pitcher. Cano and Granderson will participate in their third All-Star games, while the captain Derek Jeter will participate in his thirteenth; Jeter is the only player on the team with more than nine appearances – David Ortiz will play in his eighth game. While CC was selected, he will not participate due to injury.
The Yankees now head into a three game series at Tampa Bay. They have Thursday off, a three-game set in Boston and then four days off for the All-Star break. These next six division games could set the early tone for the second half of the season.
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