Good afternoon and happy Tuesday, fans. How was your Memorial Day weekend?

Ours was great thanks to a guy named Bartolo Colon, who threw the Yankees 806th complete game shutout Monday against the Oakland A’s.

CC Sabathia just accomplished the feat against Toronto last Tuesday.

Mike Axisa at River Avenue Blues compiled a list of some of the more recent CGSHO in Yankees history. They include CC’s complete gem May 8, 2009, against Baltimore and, of all people, Chien-Ming Wang against the former Devil Rays in 2006.

In addition to a very disturbing photo of Brett Gardner missing a diving catch — ouch, might I add — Blogging the Bombers at the New York Daily News writes that the Yankees remained idle at No. 6 in Anthony McCarron’s MLB power ranking.

Boston leapfrogged New York and now sit at No. 4, thanks to a week in which the BoSox went 5-2.

» Continue reading “Links Lineup: Colon, rankings, Jones and the draft”

The date: May 30, 2011
The occasion: The Yankees’ first shut out of the year
The pitcher: Bartolo Colon

Wait, what?

Yes. Bartolo Colon, the guy who started the season in the bullpen, the guy who didn’t pitch in the majors in 2010, the guy Yankee fans predicted would already be off the team was the one to pitch the first shut out of the season which coincidentally was also a complete game. It was Colon’s first shutout since July 2006.

Colon was quick, effective, only gave up four hits, had six strikeouts and didn’t walk a batter. After the eighth inning, Joe Girardi asked Colon how he was feeling and Colon told him he had two more innings in him. Girardi when recalling the conversation laughed and said, “I don’t wanna go two more. I want this to be it.”

Mark Teixeira started the game off right with a two run home run in the first inning. He now has sixteen on the season. Robinson Cano had an RBI double in the same frame – Alex Rodriguez scored – but was thrown out when he made too big a turn at second.

Russell Martin was a late scratch with a sore left toe. Francisco Cervelli started in his place and was 1-2 with a walk and two stolen bases. Cervelli is the first Yankee catcher to steal two bases in a game since his manager Joe Girardi did it in Baltimore on June 27, 1996.

Stat of the Day
The Yankees are now 13-3 in day games

Derek Jeter Countdown to 3000
19

Happy Anniversary!
Derek Jeter collected his first major league hit sixteen years ago today in Seattle

Going Streaking
The Yankees have now won two games in a row – oooh – thanks to strong starts by CC Sabathia and Colon

Tomorrow’s Matchup:
Freddy Garcia (3-4, 3.26) Brett Anderson (3-4, 2.84 ERA)

Tomorrow night’s game is at 10:05pm and will be shown on YES and for you out of towners, the game will be on MLB Network.

This is in response to Ashley’s post about Yankee Stadium ranking 21st out of 30 MLB ballparks

Image by Stacey Gotsulias 9/21/08

When the news broke that the Yankees were going to build a new Stadium I was very vocal in my disappointment. I couldn’t picture the Yankees playing in a new Stadium. I wondered, “What’s wrong with the old place?” I loved the old place. I especially loved my old seats. I was in the Upper Deck on the first base side: Section 11, Box 623, Row C, Seats 5-8 and I was lucky enough to have those seats from 1999-2008.

Yankee Stadium II was the first place I attended a professional baseball game. It was my favorite place on Earth – that’s what I told everyone. My friends would even say, “Will be at your happy place this weekend?”

Image by Stacey Gotsulias 9/21/08

I ended up attending hundreds of games there from 1983-2008. In fact, I was at the Stadium on the last night it was open for business – September 21, 2008.

» Continue reading “In Defense of New Yankee Stadium”

Yeah we couldn’t believe it either.

But while some fans might be surprised to see that number, I’m actually not all that surprised.

Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight, a New York Times political blog, noted that there have been several attempts to depict ratings of ballparks — whether by professional journalists actually attending every ballpark and writing about their experiences, or through fan surveys of a range of specific parts about each park.

He, however, recently looked at Yelp.com user ratings of ballparks.

I looked up the average rating — from one to five stars — for each of the 30 major league stadiums at the popular review site Yelp.com. It’s no more complicated than that. All of the ballparks have at least dozens if not hundreds of ratings from individual fans.

The winner by a country mile is Pittsburgh’s PNC Park. More than 80 percent of reviewers gave it the top, 5-star rating, and its average score was 4.77 points. It is followed by Boston’s Fenway Park (4.59 stars), San Francisco’s AT&T Park (4.57), Minneapolis’ Target Field (4.53), and Baltimore’s Camden Yards (4.47).

BUT, if you want to find the new Yankee Stadium, you’ll have to scroll down a little bit — past Citi Field (No. 15!), in fact — to No. 21 (3.92) on the list, just behind the Astros’ Minute Maid Park (3.96)  ahead of the White Sox’s U.S. Cellular Field (3.89).

Silver notes that the old Yankee Stadium had an average rank of 3.96, so the new stadium is not so far out:

The two ballparks in New York receive fairly average ratings, with the Mets’ Citi Field (4.05 stars) slightly preferred to the new Yankee Stadium (3.92). For the Mets, this represents a major upgrade over Shea Stadium (3.45 stars). But the old Yankee Stadium (3.96 stars) received almost the same grade as the new one.

For Yankee Stadium on Yelp.com, there are currently (as of 1:30 p.m. on Memorial Day 2011) 238 reviews.

All the most recent posts had an average of 4-5 stars, and came from several varieties of fan — the Mets fan bummed that his team lost, 9-3, but still got the chance to sit in a luxury box (lucky.) to the Rangers fan who still prefers Arlington, but it’s a ballpark, nothing really to report.

One fan loved how volunteers were handing out sunscreen before one game, and another marveled at the cleanliness of the restrooms.

I guess different people look for different things in their ballparks, huh.

So I switched my search to show me results by rating, and I looked at what the lowest of the low had to say about the Mecca in the Bronx.

Some just like their own teams’ stadiums better. Another hated the dialect of the average effing New Yorker, ey, fuhgedaboutit.

Most of the reviews here? On the lowest of the low end of the spectrum? They’re fans who sound just like me.

The new stadium is over the top. It’s extravagant. What happened to the history, class and ambiance that the old stadium had? What happened to that breath-taking moment when you look at the field for the first time?

I think it got lost somewhere by the meat-carving station and in the city-within-a-city feel. Some fans love the bustling new stadium, with so many activities you don’t even have to go to watch a game if you didn’t want to.

Uh, but why would you go to a ballpark in the first place. And no, no mistake. That wasn’t a question.

Fans know what they like, and the majority of them don’t like to feel like a Steinbrenner or a Trump.

They don’t want their gourmet hotdog on a silver platter.

They just want to watch baseball, sheesh.

Stacey disagrees. Go read what she thinks of the ranking, and what fans dislike about the stadium.

…It must be time for Yankee fans to complain about the Stars and Stripes hats! It happens every year, like clockwork. The hats are revealed and people complain about how ugly they are, how they don’t go with the uniforms, etc.

From how people were reacting on Twitter, I expected it to be much uglier. It’s not that terrible.

Today should be a day when we reflect on the past and honor those who have lost their lives defending our freedom. That’s what Memorial Day is about. It is for honoring the men and women who have died protecting us and honoring those who made it back alive. We should also be thinking about the men and women who are overseas – still fighting to defend our freedom. But no, baseball fans are up in arms about the caps the teams will be wearing today.

God Bless America!

If the Yankees had lost this game, I was going to take a sabbatical for a few days. And I know they weren’t exactly expected to win the first two match ups because Michael Pineda and Felix Hernandez are so good but the Yankees could have – and should have – won those games.

The last line of last night’s recap was “Help us CC Sabathia, you’re our only hope.” Thankfully the big man came through – as he usually does. Sabathia threw eight innings, gave up only five hits and one run, with five strikeouts and three walks. This was Sabathia’s sixth win of the season.

The biggest defensive play of the game came in the bottom of the fifth when Sabathia induced a 1-2-3 double play to end the bases loaded, one out threat. Of note, the double play was off the bat of Ichiro Suzuki who in the past has had a lot of success off Sabathia. Not today, Ichiro was 0 for 4 today and he’s in a bit of a tailspin of late: He hitless in his last 11 at-bats and his average has dropped forty points since May 11.

Every Yankee batter had at least one hit but the hitting star was Curtis Granderson who was 3 for 5 with two doubles and two runs scored.

The biggest hit of the game came off Andruw Jones’s bat. He hit a bases clearing double in the third inning.

Nick Swisher who has been struggling so far in 2011, got the Yankees on the board with a solo shot – his first round tripper in seventeen games. Swisher also walked twice and scored on Jones’s big double.

Now, the most amusing moment also came in the third when Eduardo Nunez hit a triple and slid really awkwardly. I’m sure his teammates are not going to let him live that down for a while.

Stats of the Day
CC Sabathia is 8-1 in 11 starts at Safeco Field and today marked his sixth straight win against the Mariners.

Countdown to 3000
Derek Jeter is now only 20 hits from hit no. 3000. He had a single in the top of the sixth inning.

The Yankees are heading down to Oakland to start a three game series with the A’s. Tomorrow’s game is at 4:00pm EDT and Bartolo Colon gets the start.

From Mark Feinsand via Seattle Mariners’ public relations department:

Mariano Rivera is 0-2 with an 8.31 ERA (4 ER, 4.1 IP) in his last 5 outings vs. Seattle.

Holy crap!

Flickr Image by Ian Burt

In the two games in which they were supposed have trouble scoring off the starters, the Yankees were actually able to score off the starter. Last night, the bullpen blew the win for AJ Burnett. Tonight, Ivan Nova didn’t do himself any favors giving up four runs but the Yankees offense, was once again inept with runners in scoring position in the late – and extra – innings.

Mariano Rivera came into the game when it was tied in the bottom of the twelfth inning. He ended up surrendering three hits and one run and he picked up his first loss of the season.

Although that wasn’t the strangest thing to happen in this game. No. The strangest thing – or things, if you will – were the four people who ran onto the field – at different times – during the game. One of them was naked. Yes. Someone decided to do his best Frank the Tank impression and ran onto the field with his manly bits flopping around for everyone to see.

Too much caffeine maybe?

The thing that angers me the most about the past two nights is that fans were worried about how the Yankees were going to score off Michael Pineda and Felix Hernandez. Especially Hernandez, the Yankees hadn’t been able to score off him the last few times they faced him. Well, they didn’t have a problem with that. They scored four runs off him. The problem for the Yankees: their pitchers had trouble holding leads.

I really can’t wait for the time when all facets of the team are operating at a high level at the same time – hopefully it will actually happen.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Yankees. After they finish this series in Seattle tomorrow they head to Oakland to start a three game set with the A’s on Monday.

Help us CC Sabathia, you’re our only hope.

Well that started out great for New York.

Elena Caldwell at First and Edgar and I take a look at what went well and what failed for each team in Friday’s first game of this series.

Out West! — Seattle Mariners

My, oh my.

The team that started this season at 4-11 and was quickly counted out came back to beat the Yankees last night and now sits at .500, half a game out in the AL West, going into tonight’s game.

Last night, the Mariners relied on good old ground ball base hits to get passed the Yankees, who, contrarily, relied on pure power.  Texeira hit the 76th home run for the Yankees yesterday in the first inning off Prince Pineda. Compare that to the 27 that the Mariners have hit all season…

The Mariners got runners in scoring position and batted them around to score their runs in the 5th and 6th.  Last season, the M’s struggled to get runners around and left runner upon runner stranded.

Although Prince Pineda showed signs of struggle for the first time this season — walking five and fighting to find the strike zone — but the bullpen helped him out. David Pauley and Jamey Wright stepped in in relief and held the Yanks, and even Brandon League managed to not give up any devastating hits.  It’s always nerve racking seeing him get put in with a one run lead.

The M’s have now won 17 of their last 27 and go for number 18 with King Felix on the mound tonight.  If they can continue to play small ball the way they have and the bullpen keeps up this amazing run we can expect the M’s to be a contender further along the road.

» Continue reading “Quick Draw — Lineups Game 50: Yankees (27-22) at Seattle (25-25)”

Last night on Twitter I noticed a retweet from the account of Red Sox starter Jon Lester. He mentioned that a close friend of reliever Daniel Bard’s was missing and hadn’t been seen nor heard from since May 24th. So I joined in and retweeted Lester’s tweet to spread the word.

Yes, a New York Yankees fan who intensely dislikes the Boston Red Sox is helping out because in the end, the rivalry is only on the field and for the fans, it’s only in the stands.

Matt Hill is 26 years old and was last seen in the DC area at the Verizon Center around 10:30a. Both Matt and his car are missing.

His friends have set up a Facebook page and a Twitter account to spread the word. All of the Red Sox players who have Twitter accounts are also spreading the word.

Below is an article from a local station in Charlotte, North Carolina where Matt is from:

CHARLOTTE — Family members and friends are turning to the public for help finding Matt Hill. The East Mecklenburg High School and Elon University graduate was last seen Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C.

Hill’s father, Holger Hill, said he works for Campus Outreach at George Washington University. His father said Matt dropped a student off around 10:45 a.m. near the Verizon Center and hasn’t been seen since.

On Friday, Matt’s father said D.C. Police upgraded the case to a critical status and the FBI is expected to get involved as well.

Matt’s phone was used around 11:45 a.m. and his debit card used at a gas station in Arlington, Va, around 12 p.m. Authorities are currently working to get surveillance pictures. Matt Hill played baseball at East Mecklenburg High and Elon University. His dad said he is outgoing and easy to get along with.

“Matt is the type of person every mother dreams their daughter brings home. That’s what kind of guy he is. Compassionate, tender hearted, rational, very logical,” said Holger Hill.

Andrew Holbrook knows Matt Hill through the outreach program at Christ Covenant Church in Matthews. Holbrook saw him last weekend and said nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

“We’re holding out hope,” said Holbrook. “We don’t know where he is, we believe in a God who does know where he is.”

A Facebook page has been set up to help with the search. If you have any information that could help in the investigation, call D.C. police at (202) 715-7378.

If you live in the DC area and you want to volunteer to help in the search you can contact:

Family Contact: Holger Hill 704-839-9699
DC Metro Office Contact: RW Kennedy 202-715-7300 (precinct number)
Detective McClam: 202-730-1903
Missing Persons Case # 073-157
Detective in Montgomery County: Rod Stevens