That’s all I can muster right now…

Jesus Montero will be among the September call-ups joining the Yankees when rosters expand tomorrow.

Hallelujah!

Montero was expected to compete for the starting catcher job this year in the bigs but did not make the team, even after Francisco Cervelli broke his foot in Spring Training.

He has spent the year in Scranton where he is hitting .290 with 18 home runs and 67 RBIs for the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate and has been on a bit of a tear hitting five home runs in his last seven games.

Per Joel Sherman, Montero is going to get opportunities to play and specifically hit – which is by far his best tool. If Montero has a big September he could possibly make himself viable for October at-bats as a DH.

The only time I can recall something like that happening was when Shane Spencer came up in September 1998 and bashed home runs like they were going out of style.

Hopefully Montero can make the most of his opportunity. I also hope people give him a chance and don’t count him out or call him a bust if he starts off slowly.

“It was the clap heard around the world…”

When Francisco Cervelli hit his home run last night in Fenway Park, it guided the Yankees to a victory and helped them pick up a game on the first place Boston Red Sox. But that’s not what’s important. Nor is the fact that it was his first ever home run at Fenway. No, the thing everyone is talking about this morning is the clap at home plate after he rounded the bases.

This morning, the Boston Globe had a headline: “Maybe Salty Should Have Fed Him the Alex Rodriguez Leather Sandwich Special.”

Really Boston?

I hate to break it you Sully but the most iconic picture in the history of your team only proved that Jason Varitek was a wuss who used his equipment to fight Alex Rodriguez. And didn’t Mr. “C is for Captain” grab A-Rod’s boys in the skirmish? Right.

Back to last night’s events, Red Sox starter John Lackey getting his undies in a bunch after the offensive clap didn’t help matters. He threw at Cervelli the next time he came up and after the game described the clap as “excessive.”

Actually, no John, throwing at Cervelli in his next at bat was excessive. It also showed how you let a back up catcher get to you. That action proves more about your character than it does about Cervelli’s.

Lackey’s battery mate “Salty” talked about Cervelli being an emotional player and also made it a point to mention that it was only Cervelli’s second home run of the year. True? Yes. Back handed? Definitely. Oh and to add to fuel to the fire Salty also said,

“It’s just the Latin players,” Saltalamacchia said about Cervelli’s passionate clap as he touched home. “That’s the way they play the game. It’s OK to an extent. If you go a little further than that, that’s when you need to step back.”

Open mouth, insert foot.

Congratulations Jarrod! Thanks to your comments and your douchey beard, you’ve now reached “True Red Sox” status.

More from NECN:

Saltlamacchia retracted his original statement and said he intended to say that younger players are sometimes brought up with a different code than some of the veterans in the league.

The young LATIN players, right Salty?

For his part, Cervelli stood at his locker and answered every question asked of him. He also coined a new phrase that I am sure will be used ad nauseam for the rest of the season and possibly for the rest of his career.

When asked about his enthusiasm during the YES Network postgame show, Cervelli answered as though he were channeling Rickey Henderson, he shrugged his shoulders and said, “That’s Cervelli.”

“When you hit a home run
and you clap at the plate
That’s Cervelli…”

I mentioned in last night’s recap the irony that the Red Sox of all teams were offended by Cervelli’s antics when they have David Ortiz on their team. Ortiz poses and admires his home runs then takes about three minutes to round the bases. After nearly eight years of this nonsense, the Yankees finally threw inside at him earlier in the season and who got upset? Poor wittle Ortiz.

Give me a break.

I really hope this is the only “controversy” this series though I won’t get my hopes up. Hope for the best, expect the worst as they say.

What in the holy hell is happening around here?! We’ve had Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Francisco Cervelli hit a home run, Adrian Gonzalez went 0-4 and CC Sabathia beat the Red Sox for the first time all season…it’s the end of the World!

Sabathia’s 18th win of the season was a hard fought battle. He finished with 128 pitches and was taken out after six but he struck out ten batters, only gave up two runs and even though Sabathia gave up ten hits, the Red Sox thankfully left a small village stranded on the bases.

The big story of the game involves Cervelli and it wasn’t his home run, it was what happened after he got to home plate and in his next at bat.

When he touched home plate after his improbable home run, Cervelli clapped his hands much to the chagrin of Boston starter John Lackey who stared him down as he made his way back to the dugout. Apparently, there is an unwritten rule about clapping.

» Continue reading “You Fist Pumpin’ Son of a Bitch: Yankees 5 Red Sox 2″

It’s that time of the month again, no not that time of the month, even though it feels like it, it’s Yankees-Red Sox series time! A time for excitement and heated rivalries and…Okay, you got me, I can’t even pretend that I’m looking forward to this series.

Have you ever looked forward to a root canal? Exactly.

The Good Guys
The big news for the Yankees offense is that Alex Rodriguez may be lost for the whole series because of his injured left thumb. An MRI revealed no structural damage to the thumb – thank God. He first injured it on the 21st while diving for a ball in Minnesota.

» Continue reading “Oh No, Not Again: Yankees (80-52) at Red Sox (82-51)”

When the ladies of Spreadin’ the News brought up names for this week’s honor, we realized, a good portion of the team had a great week.

Nick Swisher homered to help Freddy Garcia in his return Monday.

The “Curtis Granderson for MVP” can start now, as he passed Jose Bautista as the MLB leader in homers.

Ivan Nova posted his 10th consecutive win, and Brett Gardner filled in rather quickly at the leadoff spot over the weekend for our Player of the Week selection.

Over the week, Jeter went 10 for 32, including three walks and two RBIs during the series against Oakland.

But the more important note, is before he couldn’t play the second game against Baltimore on Saturday, the Yankee Captain edged his batting average up to .296, the highest it’s been all season, and during a season when his ability to produce and contribute to the team began to come into question.

In 2009 he finished the season with a .334 BA, and a .300 the year before that. Only last year did it dip.

For the shortstop, No. 2, and his persistence and determination this past week, we salute him with our POTW honors.

It’s a split! They salvaged a split! Ahem, excuse me.

After losing two of three to Oakland and starting this series against Baltimore with two losses, I’ll admit I was a little worried about the Yankees. Then, they won handily last night and I thought, “Awesome, now they can’t split the series with a win tomorrow!” And with the help of Freddy Garcia who came back to the Yankees’ rotation after a three week absence, the Yankees defeated the Orioles 3-2.

Garcia threw six strong innings, gave up only one run on two hits. He surrendered only one walk and struck out four.

The Yankees got the scoring started in the first inning after Curtis Granderson walked and Mark Teixeira drove him in with a double off Orioles starter Alfredo Simon.

Nick Swisher hit his 21st home run of the season in the fourth and put the Yankees up 3-0. The Orioles then cut it to 3-1 after a Mark Reynolds home run in the bottom of the fifth.

After Garcia exited the game, it was time for the bullpen to get to work.

Alfonso Soriano pitched a scoreless seventh. David Robertson did something he hasn’t done all year and gave up a home run. As J.J. Hardy rounded the bases, Twitter blew up. Everyone was shocked but luckily it only cut the Yankee lead to 3-2 and Robertson was able to get out of the inning by striking out Adam Jones.

The Yankees went down quietly in the top of the ninth and Mariano Rivera came in to close the game. As the Camden Yards crowd was chanting “Let’s Go Mo!” Rivera induced to groundouts and struck out Reynolds to end the game. Oh, they were chanting “Let’s go O’s!”? My bad.

Garcia started tonight in part because the Yankees didn’t want to throw him into the fire, so to speak, and have him make his first post DL start in Fenway Park against the Red Sox. He earned his 11th win of the season and showed no signs of being affected by the wound on his finger.

Tomorrow is game one of the 56th series of the year between the Yankees and Red Sox. Okay, so I exaggerated but it certainly feels like the Yankees and Red Sox have played that many times. The scheduled starters are CC Sabathia (17-7, 2.99 ERA) and John Lackey (12-9, 5.98 ERA).

Will tomorrow be the night Sabathia figures out how to solve the Red Sox lineup? Find out on the next episode of “As The Stomach Turns…”

It’s that time of the week again. Time to crown our OMGWTF Moment of the Week.

The Yankees had an interesting go of it this past week, struggling against two sub .500 teams – losing two of three from the Oakland Athletics at home and getting shellacked by the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night before having their doubleheader postponed on Saturday due to Hurricane Irene – which leads up to this week’s winner.

A.J. Burnett is involved again because OMGWTF why can’t he pitch?

So without further delay, the OMGWTF moment was Burnett’s second inning of work on Friday’s loss in which he gave up six extra base hits in a row including two home runs that bookended four doubles.

OMGWTF.

Matt Wieters grounded out to shortstop to start the inning and then all hell broke loose. Mark Reynolds homered to deep left. Ryan Adams doubled to deep right center. Nolan Reimold doubled to shallow left and Adams scored. Matt Angle -whoever he is – doubled to shallow right and Reimold scored. Then that person Angle stole third. Robert Andino doubled to right and Angle scored. J.J. Hardy – who has become a pain in the rear end of late – homered to deep left center, scoring himself (obviously) and Adino. Then to add insult to injury Burnett decided that wasn’t enough so he committed an error, allowing Nick Markakis to get to first base. Finally, and mercifully, Vlad Guerrero grounded into a double play to end the inning.

With the help of that inning, Burnett ended up surrendering nine runs in total to the lowly Orioles which led to a 12-5 loss.

And I know they’ve been playing well of late but they’re still the Orioles. Their elimination number is three – any combination of Boston wins and Baltimore losses equaling three, eliminates them from the playoffs.

As for Burnett, he may be eliminated from the playoffs if he keeps pitching so badly. His next test will be Thursday night in Fenway Park against Jon Lester and the Red Sox.

So will there be an OMGWTF three-peat?

Stay tuned…

So the Yankees were able to pick up a split today – thank goodness – and have a chance to split the now four game series with a win tomorrow.

Let’s talk about tonight’s game first since it was a win and wins are much more fun to discuss.

You get a home run and you get a home run! Everyone gets a home run!
Curtis Granderson hit two home runs to take back the Major League lead from Jose Bautista – a three run shot in the third inning and a solo shot in the seventh. Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher and Andruw Jones went back to back to back in the sixth inning to help lead the Yankees to their 8-3 victory over Baltimore.

Super Nova!
Ivan Nova won his 14th game of the year. He gave up three runs and seven hits in seven innings, striking out seven and only walking two. Nova is 10-0 in 11 outings since June 3.

Houdini
After Nova started off the bottom of the eighth by giving up a single to JJ Hardy and walking Nick Markakis, David Robertson was called in to limit the damage. Adam Jones rudely greeted Robertson with a single to load the bases and Robertson did what he seems to do best. He struck out the side, Vlad Guerrero, Mark Reynolds and Ryan Adams – all swinging – to end the threat.

No Jeter, No A-Rod, No Problem
Both Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez sat out Game 2. Rodriguez’s thumb was bothering him again and Jeter hit a foul ball off his knee in this afternoon’s game. Eric Chavez and Eduardo Nunez started in their place(s) and went 1-8. Okay, that’s not good but it helped that other guys on the team were launching home runs like it was batting practice.

And about this afternoon’s game…

It was a stinker. The offense couldn’t solve Zack Britton and poor Bartolo Colon was saddled with the loss after only giving up two runs in seven innings.

The makeup game for yesterday’s cancellation is scheduled for September 8th at 1:00 p.m. It’s the day before the Yankees head out to Anaheim for a three game series against the Angels. Thanks for nothing Baltimore.

Yesterday in Baltimore, Alex Rodriguez met with Major League Baseball officials in a two hour meeting to discuss a story printed by tabloid Star magazine about his involvement in a November 2009 high-stakes poker game at which a fight broke out and some of the attendees were using cocaine. For his part, ARod was not accused of fighting or of using drugs.

“All the lies, you just can’t put up with that kind of stuff,” he said. “You just want facts and you always want to be treated fairly and I think I have been.”

ARod arrived at the meeting, accompanied by his attorney, Jay Reisinger. Also in attendance were a lawyer from the Players Association and Major League Baseball’s senior vice president and general counsel for labor, Daniel Halem, and a MLB attorney and investigator.

When asked about the meeting, Rodriguez seemed satisfied about the results, but declined to give further details.

“I really can’t get into any more,” he said. “I’ll let them review it, chew on it and then and them come back to us… In fairness to them, I said what I had to say, I answered all their questions until they were tired, and then I’ll let them come back to you. But I thought it went well.”

Rodriguez’s attorney had no comment.

However, sources say that it is unlikely that Rodriguez will be punished.

Back in 2005, the New York Daily News reported ARod had participated in underground poker games in New York. Naturally, the Yankees and MLB were concerned that he could be robbed or injured by associating with potential criminals, so they told Rodriguez to stay away from the poker rooms. On the other hand, team and MLB representatives were far less concerned about house poker games because these games are set up in a controlled and secure environment.

Rodriguez understood the concern. “I didn’t have a problem with any of it,” he said. “They asked me a bunch of questions, I answered them. I feel good.” He continued, “I think they have information and I’m assuming they’ll make a report to the commissioner and that’s it.”

ARod understands the fascination with celebrity and the interest in tabloid rumors, but he’s not about to let that distract him from his job.

“I guess that’s just the world we’re in,” Rodriguez said. “There’s a moving goalpost. Those are the rules and it is what it is. Sometimes you just want to say uncle.”

As for the meeting’s impact on the team, Manager Joe Girardi simply stated, “I got a report that they had the meeting. If there’s an issue, I’m sure I’ll hear about it.”