(Syndicated from It’s About the Money)

If you predicted that this ragtag, seems to have been formed by flinging excrement at a wall team of lovable rejects would be 24-14 at this point in the season, you are a lying liar who lies.

With that said, seeing these Yankees atop the American League East standings at this point in the season is still extremely satisfying. I know it’s still early and that anything can happen but for the moment, these Yankees are definitely must see TV.

Take yesterday’s doubleheader for example. Even though they dropped the first game, these guys made me want to keep watching. I got to see Corban Joseph make his MLB debut, David Phelps pitched a great game even though he picked up the loss in the first game and even going into the top of the ninth, I felt like they could possibly make a comeback.

Alas, it was not to be but I wasn’t too disappointed because there was a second game to follow.

And when that game started, I was excited to see Vidal Nuno make his MLB debut as a starter and to see what he could do. He also didn’t disappoint, throwing five innings of scoreless ball. Vernon Wells collected two more RBI, Lyle Overbay had another extra base hit and the aforementioned Joseph picked up his first MLB hit, a double. And he was driven in by Austin Romine who picked up his first MLB RBI. Even Alberto Gonzalez, who was called up just before the doubleheader, got in on the fun and got two hits in that second game.

I also can’t forget about young Adam Warren, who came in to relieve Nuno, got a four-inning save while only allowing two hits and striking out four.

Last year on May 13, the Yankees lineup looked like this:

There is one guy from that lineup, Robinson Cano, who went 1-9 in yesterday’s doubleheader. Isn’t that amazing?

Yesterday, the YES Network posted this graphic during their telecast:

We all know about the injuries, we’re reminded of them everyday when we read stories about the Yankees and as we watch games, holding our collective breath whenever someone hustles down the first base line or makes a diving catch but when you see all of them listed like that, it really hits you how amazing this season has been thus far.

Joe Posnanski posted a piece on Hardball Talk this morning called Yankees School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and while he focuses mostly on Vernon Wells, even he can’t believe what’s been happening this season.

I’ve been a Yankee fan all my life, even when I was just listening to a crowd cheering on the television while lying in bed as a young child and in recent years, I’ve become accustomed to seeing an All-Star or former All-Star at every single position. Honestly, this season has been more of a treat to watch. Seeing guys like Wells and Overbay contribute to the team when people were laughing at the Yankees for picking them up is extremely gratifying. And watching as the kids, like Joesph, Romine and even Preston Claiborne, seamlessly fill in while guys are making their way back has been a lot of fun.

Of course, this doesn’t mean I’ll be upset when those perennial All-Stars return to the lineup, I’m just not in that big of a hurry to see it happen because right now, I’m liking my first place ragtag team of misfits.

Brett Gardner’s return to the lineup this year has been a much needed support for the ailing Yankees, who have a number of superstar players on the bench. Losing Nick Swisher in the offseason left an opening in the outfield for Gardner, and he has taken full advantage of it, starting in all 32 games of the season.

Gardner is batting a .270 on the season, which can seem a little sub-par to some people, but with an OBP of .343 (5^th on the team), Gardner’s proving to be an essential and, at this point of the season, vital part of the roster.  He also leads the team in steals with five, ahead of Ichiro Suzuki and Vernon Wells.

Gardner’s true skill set has been on display in the last seven games, leading the team in multiple categories, including batting average (.353) and hits (six). He’s also shown his patience in the batter’s box, leading the team in number of pitches seen during his at-bats with 79.

If Gardner can stay healthy throughout the year, he can be a very useful tool on the base paths as well as in the batter’s box in a year that didn’t look to promising for the Yankees to begin with.

Yesterday was a good day.

The weather was beautiful. I was in my happy place, Yankee Stadium. I ate steak covered fries – yes, they exist. I scored the game for four innings – I ended up meeting up with some friends and didn’t score the rest of it because I was too busy chatting. Brennan Boesch and Lyle Overbay hit home runs. Phil Hughes pitched well again – though he had some bad luck in the latter innings. The Yankees won the game and even better, they swept a four-game series against Toronto.

And finally, I saw this for the first time since 2011:

I’ve seen Mariano Rivera enter a game hundreds of times in the past 17 years but for some reason, I felt like I needed to shoot some video of yesterday’s jog from the bullpen.

I guess, it’s different now knowing the close of his career is coming and that there is a definitive endpoint in sight. I also think Yankee fans took it for granted. We would always joke that Mo was going to pitch forever and that bravado was shattered last season when he suffered the season-ending knee injury in Kansas City.

Now, I won’t shoot video every time Mo makes that jog but I’m glad I did it yesterday. It just felt right. And, of course, he set the Blue Jays down in order in the ninth inning.

Ho hum. Business as usual.

(Syndicated from It’s About the Money)

You know it’s a good game when CC Sabathia gives up two runs while tossing over 30 pitches in the first inning and he not only picks up the win but lasts until the eighth inning and hands the ball off to Mariano Rivera for the save.

But before we get to that, let’s review what happened.

Paul Goldschmidt put the Diamondbacks up 2-0 with a line drive home run to the short porch in right field in the first. They scored again in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by A.J. Pollock while the Yankees couldn’t get anything going against Wade Miley.

In the seventh, the Yankees scored three runs to tie the game and snatch a win from Miley’s grasp. The first run was scored on a bases loaded walk by Jayson Nix that scored Ben Francisco. Miley was replaced by Tony Sipp who was immediately greeted by a two-out, two-run single by Brett Gardner to tie the game.

Sabathia threw 108 pitches in eight innings of work. He gave up the three runs on six hits, walked three and struck out six.

In the bottom of the eighth, Joe Girardi pinch hit Travis Hafner for Ben Francisco when David Hernandez was brought for the Diamondbacks. Hafner made the most of his chance by driving a ball out of the park on Hernandez’s first offering to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead.

Rivera came in and pitched a scoreless 1-2-3 inning to collect his 612th career save and fourth save of the season.

The hapless Yankees, the team people were predicting doom and gloom for are now 8-5 on the year. And yes, I know it’s only April but they’re winning games they need to win while they’re missing key players and it’s nice to see the new guys like Hafner stepping up.

They will try to get the series sweep tomorrow with Patrick Corbin facing off against Phil Hughes tomorrow night.

(Syndicated from It’s About The Money)

Last night, as you all know, the Yankees decided as a tribute to the city of Boston they would play “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond after the third inning of the game.

This decision was met with various reactions.

Some people were horrified because they feel the song and its lyrics, which we’ve come to find out in recent years was written about a young Caroline Kennedy, seem a tad creepy. Others thought it was nice of the Yankees to do that sort of thing for their bitter rivals – I was one of those people. And then there were others who were angry that the Yankees would ever dare to play that song in their Stadium, thus, completely missing the point of why the Yankees did it in the first place.

Some people argued that “Dirty Water” by Dropkick Murphys would have been a better choice or maybe even “Shipping Up To Boston,” also by Dropkick Murphys. I don’t disagree with those people but I think the Yankees more than likely chose “Sweet Caroline” because it’s more recognizable outside of Boston than the previous two songs.

“Sweet Caroline” was played in a lot of different ballparks last night in tribute to Boston and the only team I know of that strayed from it were the Milwaukee Brewers who opted to go with the Cheers theme instead. Brewers, beer, Cheers, Norm! Perfect.

Also, during last night’s game, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, was tweeting out the walk up songs of the Yankees as they came on. I found this to be a big help because when I went to Sunday night’s game, I had no idea what half the songs were – this included the walk up music and anything they played between innings. I’ve become one of those old people who refuses to listen to popular radio or even try to discover “new” artists. It’s kind of sad because I love music but I find so much of what’s out today to be torture on my eardrums.

That’s not to say that I don’t listen to any modern music. In fact, I spent nearly the entire month of March listening to Justin Timberlake’s new album on a loop.

Anyway, Hoch compiled that list for you:

Brett Gardner – “Guitar Slinger” by Crossin Dixon
Robinson Cano – “Started from the Bottom” by Drake
Kevin Youkilis – “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” by Soulja Boy
Travis Hafner – “Symphony of Destruction” by Megadeth
Vernon Wells – “Awesome God” by R. Swift
Ichiro Suzuki – “Drop it Like It’s Hot” by Snoop
Francisco Cervelli – “Pegaito Suavecito” by “Various Artists”
Lyle Overbay – (has not yet selected a song)
Jayson Nix – “No-Leaf Clover” by Metallica
Brennan Boesch – “Blueprint” by Jay-Z*
Chris Stewart – “Forsaken” by Skillet
Ben Francisco – “Da Rockwilder” by Method Man & Redman
Eduardo Nunez – “Ella Ta To” by Chimbala

Way back in the 1990′s, when I first purchased my season tickets and I would go to games with my girlfriends, I like picking their brains and asking them what song they’d choose for their walk up or warm up music because I didn’t actually assume they’d always want to be hitters. In fact, a few did choose to be pitchers so their choices were slightly different because you’d get to hear more of the song. With walk up music, you hear at best 15-30 seconds.

Some would answer me right away, others would have to think about it for awhile. They mostly chose songs they grew up listening to and would rarely pick a “modern” song which I thought was pretty interesting. Back then, I did the same thing. I always wanted to walk up to the opening notes of “A View To A Kill” by Duran Duran. They’re my favorite band of all time and I just thought it would be cool to sauntering out to that tune.

Now, nearly 15 years later, in 2013, I still want to come out to that song.

*One note, isn’t Blueprint the name of a Jay-Z album not a song?

(Syndicated from It’s About The Money)

Today is a special day in the history of the franchise we write about, read about, argue about, etc. On this day, 100 years ago, the New York Highlanders played their first game as the New York Yankees. The team had been called the Yankees for awhile but it was finally made official in 1913.

Here’s a link to the 1913 Yankees’ roster. It’s interesting to see the names, ages and height/weight of each player. There were quite a few “short” guys on the team – some as small as 5’5″. And the names are great. Guys like Birdie Cree, Rollie Zeider, Doc Cook and Dutch Sterrett are on the roster.

1913 was also the year the Yankees moved into the Polo Grounds from Hilltop Park. The Yankees had allowed the New York Giants to play in their park for two years from 1911-1912 after the Polo Grounds was badly damaged in a fire. Once it was repaired and open for business again, the Giants returned the favor and the Yankees were able to leave Hilltop park which was falling apart. The teams would share the Polo Grounds until 1923.

The 1913 Yankees finished with a record of 57-94 which ended up placing them seventh in the American League. They scored 529 runs and allowed 668 runs.

Also, in 1913, the Yankees didn’t have Pinstripes on their uniforms:

They abandoned that look for two seasons, 1913 and 1914, but returned to them in 1915.

Hall of Famer Frank Chance was the Yankees’ manager and also played in 12 games that season. He was the “old man” of the team at 36-years-old (he turned 37 in September 1913) and was nearing the end of his career – a career spent almost entirely with the Chicago Cubs. He was a member of their last World Series winning team in 1908. Chance played the final game of his career in September 1914.

With all of this in mind, I thought it would also be fun to go back 100 years to see what the big news was, who was born, who died in 1913.

• Two days before the Yankees played their first game, the seventeenth amendment was passed. That one dictates the direct election of Senators.
• Fashion designer Oleg Cassini was born the day after the Yankees’ first game.
• In May, the first Balkan War ends.
• In June, the second Balkan War begins.
• In July, a temperature of 134 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded in Death Valley, CA. It’s still the highest recorded temperature in the world.
• In August, the second Balkan War ends.
• Tyrone Power was born in May 1913.
• Vince Lombardi was born in June 1913.
• President Gerald Ford and actor Red Skelton were born in July 1913.
• Paul “Bear” Bryant was born in September 1913.
• Burt Lancaster, Vivian Leigh and Hedy Lamarr were all born in November 1913.

Happy Wednesday!

(Post syndicated from It’s About The Money)

(Syndicated from It’s About The Money)

Hooray!

Is anyone else as excited as I am right now? The excitement I’m feeling is not just because the Yankees won. It’s also not just because they beat Boston – I mean, who doesn’t love that? And it’s not just because we, meaning the people who live in the New York metro area, won’t have to hear about more doom and gloom tomorrow. The excitement I’m feeling is because two of the guys people like to make fun of the most, the ones fans of other teams like to say ” are as old as dirt,” Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera, were a big part of tonight’s victory.

Pettitte was the stopper the Yankees desperately needed. Well, fine, desperately is a little exaggerated and over the top but to save everyone’s sanity, at least in terms of what I mentioned above, the doom and gloom, this start was definitely needed.

The oldest man in the starting rotation came out and threw eight innings of one run ball. He gave up eight hits, induced double plays when he needed them and he struck out three batters.

Lasting eight innings was key because who entered in the ninth inning? Yep, the Sandman. And in his first appearance of 2013, Mariano Rivera made things a teensy bit sweaty at the end but was able to close out the game with a bunch of ones. One inning, one hit, one walk, one strikeout and he gave up one earned run. Oh and it was his first save of the year (obviously) and career save 609.

Now, I didn’t forget the offense and hey, neither did the Yankees! Not that four runs is a lot but the way they came about was pretty amusing.

In the second inning, Lyle Overbay hit an RBI single that scored Travis Hafner and Eduardo Nunez. I know, I still can’t believe Overbay and Hafner are Yankees either. Then in the bottom of the third inning, Brett Gardner hit a home run. Yes, you’re reading that correctly. But that’s not the funniest thing. Nope, I saved that one for last.

Get ready for it.

Here it comes…

Francisco Cervelli hit a bomb to left center field -it hit the back of the visitor’s bullpen – to put the Yankees up 4-1. Unfortunately, I missed it live. It figures the one time I get up to do something, I miss a Cervelli home run but thanks to the magic of the DVR, I was able to see it and laugh at it. I mean, come on. If someone told you that the two Yankee home runs hit tonight would be by Brett Gardner and Francisco Cervelli, would you believe that person? Probably not.

So the Yankees have a W, finally. People can step off the ledges and calm down at least for one night. And like I said, at least you’ll all be spared some doom and gloom articles for possibly 12 hours.

The Yankees lost again.

 

Seriously, don’t panic.

It’ll be okay. I promise.

The Yankees lost yesterday.

I’m sure you know this because according to lots of Yankee fans, it was the end of the world. Those same people were acting as if the season was one game in duration and that the Yankees’ Opening Day performance is a glimpse into how they’ll do the rest of the season.

It’s not.

Everyone knew going into yesterday’s game that it wasn’t your typical Yankees lineup – this was obvious when guys like Ben Francisco, Lyle Overbay and Vernon Wells were introduced. So you’d assume that expectations wouldn’t be that high and that if the Yankees were to lose, people would be accepting of that not-so-shocking result and not act like a relative just died. You’d be wrong.

Another thing most Yankee fans should know but seemed to forget yesterday is that CC Sabathia is a notoriously slow starter and that coming back from off-season elbow surgery is making that start even slower – at least according to the velocity readings we were bombarded with during and following the game. CC’s fastball was consistently around 88 mph which is down for him.

CUE THE PANIC.

Sabathia, for his part, said he wasn’t worried. And I wasn’t worried. This is not the first time he hasn’t performed well on Opening Day and it probably won’t be the last. Some fans, in their overreactions to CC’s start, are proving that they barely pay attention when watching games. If they did, they’d know that yesterday’s outcome wasn’t a surprise.

To my dismay, even some of my fellow bloggers have written things about CC that would make it seem that they’ve never watched him pitch in April before. Or even pitch against the Red Sox.

I think some Yankee fans would be better off not watching any sort of baseball coverage today.

Here are some things we can all do to pass the time this afternoon:

• Work. And I mean, actually doing your work, not pretending to do your work while listening to baseball or sneaking a peak of Gameday on your desktop. Just take a day off from it altogether.
• Avoid every newspaper, sports radio show and ESPN. Believe me, you’ll be better off.
• Go for a run or a walk.
• Watch the 50th Anniversary Episode of General Hospital. It’s on at 2 p.m. 
• Clean your closet – It’s Spring so it’s the perfect time for a Spring cleaning.
• If you’re a lady, maybe pamper yourself. Go get a mani/pedi during your lunchhour or after work.
• If you’re a dude, hell you can pamper yourself too! Get a massage.
• Bake some cookies. I may do that today – I’m thinking of baking walnut chocolate chip.
• Count out the change in your wallet/purse. It’s always fun discovering how much money you actually have.

Do any of these activities or something else you can think of, just don’t watch any replays of yesterday’s game, you’ll only make things worse for yourselves.

I’m disappointed because I was so excited for baseball to return. Spring Training seemed endless and I was like a kid on Christmas yesterday morning but if this season is going to be filled with ridiculous overreactions to every single game, I may need to take a break from blogging about baseball.

I wasn’t expecting much from the Yankees but today’s game was awful.

So awful, in fact, that I don’t even want to do a full recap.

What you need to know:

• CC wasn’t good.
• The lineup wasn’t great.
• Francisco Cervelli hit a two-run single which is all the Yankees could get (runs-wise at least).
• Jackie Bradley Jr. is the second coming of Jesus.
• And I’m glad there’s an off day tomorrow.

So heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere’s Jackie: