Hey everyone, Shortporch here!  Sorry for the 5 and a half month break.  School got busy towards the end of the year and I had a very busy summer.  Well, I’m very happy the Yankees won it all this year!  We had an excellent team and certainly deserved to win.  A-Rod had a wonderful postseason, finally contributing for us!  CC,Tex, and Posada came through as well.  AJ pitched a masterful Game 2 of the World Series.  And how can we not mention Damon’s double steal in Game 4?  Hopefully Cano can build on his excellent year this upcoming season.  Andy clinched every game in the playoffs for us, he was amazing and I hope he comes back for another season.  Matsui and Damon had good years with us, but I think it is time for them to move on.  Also, Jeter had an excellent year!  Jeter and Tex each won Gold Gloves ans Silver Sluggers at their respective positions.  All in all, we had a great year and I’m glad to say we are world champs!!!

The Yankees walked off for the second time this season today.

Jorge Posada lined a game-winning 2 run single to left-center in the bottom of the 9th, and the Yankees came back from down 9-4 to win the game.

The Yanks put up a 4 spot in the first, the big blow a Posada 2-run homer.  The Angels scored 6 in the 6th, and took a 6-4 lead.  Gary Matthews, Jr. had a 3 run triple in the frame.  The Angels tacked on 3 more in the 7th to make it 9-4.  The Yanks plated 4 in the 8th.  Ramiro Pena had a big 2-run single, and the Yanks trailed by a run, 9-8.  Brian Fuented tried to close it out for LAA.  Big Tex led off with a walk.  Matsui lined a single to left.  Cano lined a single to center.  Bases loaded, no outs.  On a 3-2 pitch, Posada lined one into the left-center field gap, scoring Teixeira and Angel Berroa, who pinch ran for Matsui.  Jonathan Alabedejo got the win for New York.  Coupled with our 7-4 win last night, we have taken the first two of this 4 game series, and have won 4 in a row overall.

Notes: The Yankees improved to 13-10 with the win, the Angels dropped to 9-13…  Tomorrows starters are CC Sabathia (1-0) vs. Mike Palmer (1-0)…

Source: yahoo!sports

Congrats to Bob, who correctly identified that Jose Molina was the last player to homer @ the original Yankee Stadium.  Here is today’s question:

What was Juan Gonzales’ nickname?

Good luck!

Here are my picks for tomorrow, Friday, May 1st:

Yankees over Angels
Chicago Cubs over Florida
Detroit over Cleveland
Pittsburgh over Cincinnati
New York Mets over Philadelphia
Toronto over Baltimore
Washington over St. Louis
Boston over Tampa Bay
Atlanta over Houston
Chicago White Sox over Texas
Milwaukee over Arizona
Minnesota over Kansas City
San Diego over Los Angeles Dodgers
Oakland over Seattle
San Francisco over Colorado

It was a so-so night for me.

Finally, something that hadn’t happened in nearly a week happened, the Yankees WON!!!

That’s right, as they clobbered the Tigers in Detroit, 11-0.  All the scoring happened in the 7th inning.  Jorge Posada was safe at first on a Tigers’ error, two runs scored.  Damon singled home a run, Matsui and Cano did, too.  Melky then walked, plating another run.  Then, to top it all off, Jose Molina hit a grand slam, his first HR of the year.  The Yanks led 10-0.  Nick Swisher connected in the 9th, and the Yankees beat the Tigers 11-0.  Phil Hughes pitched 6 innings of 2 hit, 6 K ball for the win.  It was a big win for us, we are now 10-10 on the season.  Now, hopefully Cleveland can defeat the Sox!

Notes:  The Yanks improved to 10-10, the Tigers dropped to 11-9… It was the Yanks first shutout of the year… Molina’s GS was the Yanks first of the year as well… Tomorrows starters are: Joba Chamberlain (0-0) vs. Rick Porcello (1-2)… Go Yankees!!!!

 

On another note, the New Jersey Devils season came to a shocking end.  We blew a 3-2 lead with 1:20 to go, and lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-3 in Game 7 in the first round of the playoffs.  Jussi Jokinen and Eric Staal scored 48 seconds apart to stun the Devils.  Staal ripped the game-winner past Brodeur with 31.7 seconds left.  The Devils played a great series overall, but ultimately failed.  We couldn’t get consistent goaltendin from Marty, like when Jokinen scored the game-winner in Game 4 with 0.2 seconds left.  Also, anyone that follows hockey knew the Devils struggled down the stretch.  We lost 6 in a row at one point!  Then, we face Carolina, a team that beat us 3 games to 1 in the season series.  This was a huge disappointment for the Devils.  We haven’t made it past the secon round since 2003, and that’s currently the last time we won the Cup!  The playoffs were an utter disappointment, and gopefully Lou Lamoriello will make some moves so we can win next year. 

And Julia, I will hope the Bruins beal the Canes, but overall I would like to see the Blackhawks win it all.  What a year they are having.  It’s nice to see a strugglin franchise get it together, especially an Original Six and tradition rich team like Chicago.

Go Yankees!

sources: www.wikipedia.com, www.yahoo.mlb.com

Another day, another loss.

That’s how life is right now for the Yankees.  They just can’t seem to win a ballgame.

After we swept Oakland, I thought we’d be OK heading to Boston.  We got off to a nice start on Friday.  Joba kept us in the game, and we clawed our way to a 4-2 lead heading to the 9th.  We load the bases off Javier Lopez, who had terrible control.  We should get an insurance run or two.  We get NOTHING.  Cano bangs into a 4-2-3 DP with the drawn-in infield.  Cabrera gets out.  We get no runs.  With 2 out in the 9th, Youkilis is on second.  A 2 strike pitch to Bay by Mo is drilled to center.  It just gets over the wall.  Tie game.  Youk hits a bomb off Marte in the 11 to win it.  Big Tex had runners on 2 and 3 with 2 out in 10th against Paplebon.  Struck out.  The Yanks were 4-20 with RISP.  The pen is terrible.  It is overused and weak.  On Saturday, we blew a 6-0 lead and lost 16-11.  Burnett struggled, pen was horrific.  Sunday we blow 1-0 lead, lose 4-1.  We flat out can’t hit.  We can’t get anyone in from second or third.  We had the same problem last year.  I don’t see how we can survive with this pen.  Only Mo is good.  Marte is an absolute disaster this year so far.  Our starting pitching isn’t great either.  We only go 5 innings.  With our bullpen, 5 innings is way too short.  We need a complete bullpen overhaul, like the Mets last year.

We lost to the Tigers in Detroit today, 4-2.  CC did pretty good, 4 runs over 8 innings.  Once again, we don’t hit.  This game was as close as it looks.  We got our 2 runs in the 9th inning.  I don’t see how our offense is not producing.  I think Girardi has to realize that Gardner is not an amazing guy and put Melky in CF.  Melky is CLEARLY the better player.  I personally want Girardi axed now, he can’t handle the pressure in New York, and some players tune him out.  I can’t stand how he uses the pen and we might not make the playoffs beacuse of him.  Dave Eiland must go to.  Our pitching is awful, we need a guy who can get our pitching going.  4 straight losses is NOT GOOD.  Especially for a team with high expectations and a monstrous payroll like the Yankees.

 

Who hit the last HR at the original Yankee Stadium?  (this is an easy question!)

Good luck!

Here are my picks for tomorrows games:

Yankees over Red Sox
Philadelphia over Florida
New York Mets over Washington
Texas over Baltimore
Minnesota over Cleveland
Cincinnati over Atlanta
Kansas City over Detroit
Milwaukee over Houston
Chicago White Sox over Toronto
Chicago Cubs over St. Louis
LA Dodgers over Colorado
San Francisco over Arizona
Seattle over LA Angels
Pittsburgh over San Diego
Tampa Bay over Oakland

Go Yankees!

As John Sterling loves to say, “The Melkman delivers again!”  That is what happened today as Melky Cabrera hit a walk-off, two run shot in the bottom of the 14th to win the game 9-7.  It was Melky’s second homer of the game.  He has 4 on the year.  Melky went deep from both sides of the plate today, an impressive feat.  But, this game got off to a rocky start for the Yanks.

Kurt Suzuki hit a 3 run homer in the 2nd.  It was reviewed, but the ball did clear the fence.  Oakland led 3-0.  CC Sabathia was in trouble.  In the bottom of the frame, the Yanks got 2 runs back, as Matsui and Cabrera went back-to-back.  The game was back and forth from there, with Jeter hitting a bomb to dead center.  The A’s tied it at 7 in the 7th on a Matt Holliday single.  The Yanks loaded them up in the bottom frame, but failed to score.

In the 14th, Nick Swisher led off with a walk.  Former Yankee Dan Giese was pitching.  Next, Matsui flew out.  Then, Cabrera drilled a pitch deep into the right field seats, and “New York, New York” blared in throughout the stadium.  Jose Veras got the win, with Giese taking the loss.  The Yankees swept the 2 game series, the postponed game will be made up in July when Oakland visits again.

NOTES: The Yankees improved to 10-6 with the win, Oakland dropped to 5-10… Chien-Ming Wang will be sent down to Tampa soon.  He will obviously be skipped in Boston, as a result.  He will try to regain his stuff in extended spring training… This was the first sweep by the Yankees at the new stadium…  Tomorrow is an off day, the Yanks take on Boston over the weekend, at Fenway.  Joba Chamberlain (0-0) will go against Jon Lester (1-2)… Gametime is 7:10PM…

Today’s Yankee game against Oakland was postponed because of rain.  It will be made up another day. 

The Yankees won yesterday, 7-3.  We split the 4 game series against Cleveland.  AJ Burnett didn’t pitch as well as usual, but he was good enough to keep the Yanks in the game, which he did.  The Yankees coudldn’t hit Pavano for some reason, but they attacked the Tribe bullpen.  Jorge Posada hit a pinch-hit 2 run homer, and Cody Ransom had a clutch 3 run double to put the game away.  Mo closed it out in the 9th.  The Yankees improved to 7-6, the Indians dropped to 4-9.

The NHL Playoffs continue.  My Devils took a 2-1 lead in their first-round series against Carolina.  Travis Zajac scored in OT to lead New Jersey to a 3-2 win in Game 3 in Raleigh.  Zach Parise and Brian Rolston scored for NJ as well.  The Sharks continued to struggle in the playoffs, dropping a 3-2 game at home to the Ducks.  Anaheim leads that series 2-0.  The Sharks would be a major disappointment if they don’t win this series.  The Rangers look to go up 3-0 on the Caps tonight.  Playing at the Garden, I think they have a strong chance to sweep the series.  Boston looks to go up 3-0 on Montreal tonight, with Chicago looking to do the same against Calgary.  Vancouver leads St. Louis, 3-0, Detroit leads Columbus 2-0, and Pittsburgh leads Philly, 2-1.  Go Devils!