Tagged: All-Star
Severino Quiets Tribe To Collect His First Victory
GAME 122
YANKEES 6, INDIANS 2
In his first three Major-League starts right-hander Luis Severino received a total of two runs of support in the 17 innings he had pitched. Despite giving up a run in the first inning on Saturday, the 21-year-old rookie got five runs of support in the first two innings of the game.
He pretty much took control of things from there.
Severino pitched six solid innings to notch his first Major-League victory and Brett Gardner and Brian McCann both homered in the first inning as New York downed Cleveland on Jorge Posada Day with a paid crowd of 47,031 on hand at Yankee Stadium.
Severino (1-2) held the Indians to one run on just three hits with three walks and six strikeouts in a workmanlike 100-pitch outing.
The only run he gave up was when fellow rookie Francisco Lindor laced his eighth pitch of the game into the right-field porch for his sixth home run of the season to give the Indians an early 1-0 lead.
It did not last long, however, as Gardner lined right-hander Danny Salazar’s seventh pitch off the top of the right-field wall for his 12th home run of the season. It came with Jacoby Ellsbury on first on a single and it gave Severino a 2-1 lead that he never relinquished the rest of the afternoon.
One out later, McCann crushed a 0-1 fastball into the bleachers in right-center for his 22nd home run of the season.
The Yankees added a pair of runs in the second inning after Stephen Drew and John Ryan Murphy opened the frame with singles to put runners at first and third with no outs.
Salazar then botched a potential double-play ball off the bat of Ellsbury by throwing wide of second base for an error. Ellsbury got credit for an RBI and Murphy was safe at second. After Murphy advanced to third on a fly ball by Gardner, Carlos Beltran scored him on a sacrifice fly that made it 5-1.
After entering the game pitching at least seven innings in his previous seven starts with a 1.45 ERA in that span, Salazar (11-7) was charged with five runs on eight hits with no walks and six strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.
Meanwhile, Severino got some help in keeping the Indians from mounting a comeback in both the third and sixth innings.
After Jason Kipnis drew a one-out walk and Lindor singled to advance him to third, Michael Brantley hit a hard one-hopper to rookie first baseman Greg Bird. Bird whirled and threw the ball high and wide to shortstop Didi Gregorius at second base.
Second base umpire Dan Iassogna ruled that Gregorius kept his foot on the base to retire Lindor. But, inexplicably, Kipnis elected to stay at third base on the play.
Indians manager Terry Francona asked Iassogna, the crew chief, to review the play using replay but the crew chose only to discuss it amongst themselves. Francona was ejected from the game by Iassogna during an ensuing argument.
In the sixth inning, Severino appeared to be wobbling as he approached the 100-pitch mark by issuing two-out walks to Lonnie Chisenhall and Abraham Almonte, However, he got out of the inning when Gregorius ranged to grab Roberto Perez’s ground ball and he retired Almonte at second base on a throw from the seat of his pants.
The Indians added a run in the eighth inning off right-hander Dellin Betances on a two-out bloop single by Chisenhall that scored Lindor, who led off the frame with a double.
The Yankees got that run back against right-hander Jeff Manship on a one-out double by Gregorius, a single by Drew and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Murphy.
The victory snapped a slight two-game skid and gave the Yankees a season record of 68-54. They remain a half-game ahead of the second-place Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East. The Indians, who are in last place in the American League Central, dropped to 57-65.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- Severino actually pitched much better in his previous three starts than he did on Saturday. But run support is essential to his success. Fortunately, Severino got it and he still was able to keep the Indians from coming back despite the four walks he issued. He is 1-2 with a 2.74 ERA and manager Joe Girardi announced on Saturday that he will remain in the rotation for now.
- In only the second game he used it, McCann was able to hit a home run with a new batting stance that puts a lot more weight on his front foot to prevent him from flying open too early with his right shoulder. It also was fitting on Jorge Posada Day that McCann (who was the designated hitter) and Murphy each got a hit and drove in a run.
- Gardner’s homer was a product of the short porch in right-field, but it still counts and it was a bit overdue. That was Gardner’s first home run since July 28 at Globe Life Park in Arlington, TX. Gardner is batting .274 with 12 homers and 54 RBIs on the season.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
- My only issue was the lineup Girardi chose to use against the Indians after they had lost the first two games of the series. With Mark Teixeira still nursing a sore right shin, he elected to bench Alex Rodriguez, which left Beltran hitting third, McCann fourth and the rookie Bird fifth. On Friday, Girardi benched both Ellsbury and Gregorius against a right-handed pitcher and the team lost. The Saturday moves did work but this resting philosophy with the Blue Jays breathing down the Yankees’ necks is just a bit silly.
- Odd stat of the day: The Indians collected as many hits off Betances and left-hander Andrew Miller in the final two innings than they did against Severino in six. Linder doubled and Chisenhall singled off Betances in the eighth and Miller was touched by a leadoff single by Perez in the ninth. It is rare the “Twin Towers” give up any hits at all much less as many as the starter.
BOMBER BANTER
Right-hander Michael Pineda will come off the 15-day disabled list to start for the Yankees on Wednesday against the Houston Astros to push Masahiro Tanaka’s next start back to Friday, Girardi told reporters on Saturday. Pineda yielded one run on three hits with no walks and three strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings in his second rehab start for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Friday. He has been on the DL since July 30 with a right forearm flexor strain. Girardi said he had no plans to remove anyone in the rotation. So it appears the Yankees will use a six-man rotation in the final month. . . . Posada was honored before Saturday’s game by having his No. 20 officially retired and a plaque placed in Monument Park. Posada played for the Yankees for 17 seasons and hit .273 with 275 homers and 1,065 RBIs. He was part of five world championship teams and was a five-time All-Star. On Sunday, the Yankees similarly will honor one of his battery-mates, left-hander Andy Pettitte.
ON DECK
The Yankees will have a chance to split the four-game series against the Indians with a victory on Sunday.
Left-hander CC Sabathia (4-9, 5.24 ERA) will go to the mound for the Yankees. Sabathia, 35, gave up four runs on five hits and three walks with five strikeouts in a no-decision that the Yankees won against the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday.
Right-hander Trevor Bauer (9-10, 4.62 ERA) will pitch for the Indians. Bauer, 24, was shelled for five runs on six hits and one walk in just 1 2/3 innings in a loss to the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday. In his previous start on Aug. 13, he gave up six runs in 3 1/3 innings to the Yankees at Progressive Field.
Game-time will be 1:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast by the YES Network.
Beltran’s Big Blast Blows Blue Jays Back To Second
GAME 114
YANKEES 4, BLUE JAYS 3
Carlos Beltran has 180 career postseason at-bats and 16 home runs. So he knows a lot about pressure situations. On Friday, he used that experience to hit what could be one of the most memorable home runs in New York Yankees’ history.
The 38-year-old outfielder came off the bench to deliver a mammoth three-run home run off right-hander Aaron Sanchez with one out in the top of the eighth inning to propel New York back into first place in the American League East with a victory over Toronto at Rogers Centre.
Beltran’s blast capped a clutch four-run rally to overcome a 3-0 deficit against left-hander David Price and also ended the Blue Jays’ 11-game winning streak.
Price held a 3-0 lead, having scattered eight hits with no walks and striking six batters, heading into the eighth.
Mark Teixiera singled to center with one out and Brian McCann followed with s single to left. Chase Headley then drove in the Yankees’ first run and chased Price with a ground-rule double into the gap in left-center.
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons replaced Price with the hard-throwing Sanchez and Yankees manager Joe Girardi countered that move by sending up the switch-hitting Beltran in place of Chris Young.
After swinging and missing two high fastballs, Beltran allowed a head-high fastball go to make the count 1-2. Sanchez then delivered a belt-high 97-mile-per-hour fastball that Beltran sent high up into the first deck of the bleachers in center-field to give the Yankees a dramatic come-from-behind victory.
Price was charged with three runs on 11 hits in 7 1/3 innings. Sanchez (6-5) was saddled with the loss.
Dellin Betances pitched a perfect eighth to protect the victory for right-hander Ivan Nova (5-4) but left-hander Andrew Miller had to withstand a nail-biting attempted rally by the Blue Jays in the bottom of the ninth to earn his 26th save in 27 tries.
Pinch-hitter Chris Colabello drew a one-out walk and Kevin Pillar followed with a single to left. On the first pitch to Ben Revere, Miller crossed up McCann and threw a wild pitch to allow pinch-runner Cliff Pennington and Pillar to move into scoring position.
Miller subsequently struck out Revere swinging, but he ended up locked into a dramatic 11-pitch showdown with newly purchased All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki in which Tulowitzki was able to foul off seven sliders from Miller – three in a row after the count reached 3-2.
But on the 12th pitch, Tulowitzki’s bat swung under Miller’s 86-mph slider for strike three. The normally stoic Yankees raced from the dugout onto the field to congratulate Miller as a sellout crowd of 46,689 at Rogers Centre saw their team get ambushed after they swept the Yankees last weekend at Yankee Stadium.
The Beltran home run and the Tulowitzki-Miller showdown overshadowed what was a very good outing from Nova, who Price had defeated 6-0 on Saturday.
Nova was charged with three runs on only five hits and one walk and three strikeouts. He also hit two batters and one of those ended up costing him in the third inning.
Nova hit Pillar on an 0-2 pitch to open the frame. Revere singled to left to advance Pillar to third. Tulowitzki then scored Pillar on what was an amazing recovery by shortstop Didi Gregorius to record a fielder’s choice.
Tulowitzki hit a hard come-backer to the mound that Nova attempted to grab with his bare right-hand. But the ball deflected behind him and Gregorius scooped it up between shortstop and second base and touched second with his glove to retire Revere.
Josh Donaldson singled to left and Jose Bautista scored Tulowitzki on a double to left and Edwin Encarnacion scored Donaldson on a sacrifice fly.
The victory gave the Yankees a season record of 63-51 and restored them to a half-game lead over the Blue Jays in the division. The stunned Blue Jays dropped to 64-53.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- There is no doubt that Beltran has been a bust as a free-agent signing since 2014. He was ineffective last season playing with bone chips in his right elbow and he got off to a terrible start this season in April. Since then he is 71-for-.239 (.297) with 10 homers and 32 RBIs. He also has been the Yankees’ hottest hitter in August with a .323 average and three homers and six RBIs. His big home run tonight was reminiscent of Raul Ibanez’s heroic home runs during the 2012 season. Perhaps this is why the eight-time All-Star is on the roster.
- Also lost in the drama was the clutch hitting of Headley on Friday. He was 3-for-4 with a single and two doubles and one huge RBI off Price. Headley, 31, turned his season around after the All-Star break by sacrificing power for contact. As a result, he is 31-for-91 (.341) with just one homer and 17 RBIs since the break and that has raised his season average to .274.
- Nova, 28, was valiant through seven innings on Friday. If you take away the three-run third inning, Nova shut out the powerful Blue Jays on just two hits and one walk over the other six innings. Of the 21 outs Nova recorded, 14 of them were on ground balls, which indicates that his sinking fastball and sharp-breaking curve had the Blue Jays off balance. Yankee fans may have forgotten than Nova was 16-4 with a 3.70 ERA in 2011. This was a great effort.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
- Miller, 30, may have won the 12-pitch battle with Tulowitzki to earn the save but his recent outings continue to be very shaky. In his past three outings, Miller has given up three runs on six hits. He blew his first save on Tuesday and came close to blowing two others in the past two days. If it continues Girardi might have to consider switching to Betances to close out games.
BOMBER BANTER
The Yankees announced on Friday they will conduct a pregame ceremony to celebrate Alex Rodriguez’s 3,000th career hit on Sept. 13, against the Blue Jays. Rodriguez, 40, became the 29th player to reach the 3,000-hit plateau on June 19, hitting a first-inning home run off the Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers. Rodriguez and Derek Jeter are the only players to join the 3,000-hit club while wearing a Yankees uniform.
ON DECK
The Yankees will have another chance at blessed retribution against the cocky Blue Jays on Saturday in Game 2 of the weekend series.
Right-hander Masahiro Tanaka (8-5, 3.79 ERA) will pitch for the Yankees. Tanaka, 26, lost but gave up only two runs on three hits with five strikeouts against the Blue Jays on Sunday. He has seven consecutive starts in which he has pitched six innings or more.
Right-hander Marco Estrada (10-6, 3.21 ERA) will start for the Jays. Estrada shut out the Yankees on three hits and three walks with three strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings to defeat Tanaka on Sunday. His career ERA against the Yankees is 4.50.
Game-time will be 1:07 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast nationally by the MLB Network and locally by the YES Network.
Yankees Rally Past Twins On A-Rod’s 3 Home Runs
GAME 96
YANKEES 8, TWINS 5
There are certain baseball sluggers than fans flock to see do magical things at the plate whether they loved them or hated them. Players like Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson and, yes, even Alex Rodriguez. The 40-year-old designated hitter had one of those historic nights you would have wanted to see at Target Field in Minneapolis on Saturday.
With the Yankees trailing 5-0, Rodriguez proceeded to hit three long blasts – his final home run tying the game in the top of the ninth – and John Ryan Murphy later added a tie-breaking three-run shot in the same inning off All-Star closer Glen Perkins as New York pulled victory out of the jaws of defeat on a stunned Minnesota team.
Rodriguez’s three home runs in a game marked the fifth time in his career he has done it and – two days shy of his 40th birthday – he also became the fifth oldest player in Major-League history to hit three home runs in a game behind Stan Musial (41, 229 days), Jason Giambi (40, 131 days), Jackson (40, 125 days) and Ruth (40, 108 days).
His first home run was a solo shot into the left-field bleachers off left-hander Tommy Milone with two out in the fourth inning. That was the only hit the Yankees could muster off Milone in the first six innings.
After losing to the Twins 10-1 on Friday, the Yankees were looking at a possible potential sweep of the series by the Twins on Sunday after managing just two runs in the first 15 innings of the series.
But the Yankees turned the game (and possibly the series) around after the Twins had loaded the bases with out the benefit of a hit of a hit off left-hander CC Sabathia after two were out in the sixth inning. Sabathia walked Kurt Suzuki, hit Danny Santana with a pitch and then walked Brian Dozier.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi replaced Sabathia with right-hander Adam Warren, who managed to work into a 3-2 count on Aaron Hicks. His 3-2 pitch was called a strike by home-plate umpire Jeff Nelson.
Twins rookie manager Paul Molitor argued the call so vehemently that Nelson ejected him from the game.
The Yankees then opened the seventh with a leadoff single by Chris Young and Rodriguez followed by depositing Milone’s 1-1 pitch into the center-field bleachers for a two-run homer.
Mark Teixeira then doubled and left-hander Brian Duensing was summoned to replace Milone. Carlos Beltran launched a deep line drive to center that advanced Teixeira to third and Chase Headley scored Teixeira on a sacrifice fly.
Trailing 5-4 in the ninth, Rodriguez launched Perkins’ first offering into the center-field bleachers for his third home run of the night and 23rd of the season to tie the game.
Perkins (0-2) closed out the American League’s 6-3 victory in the 2015 All-Star Game and had blown only one save this season prior to Saturday. He carried a 1.37 ERA and a American-League-leading 29 saves into the contest.
With one out and Carlos Beltran at first after an out call at first base by umpire Tom Woodring was overturned to negate a double play, Headley laced a single to center to advance Beltran to third. Murphy, who entered the game with one career homer and none in 81 at-bats this season, sent a long drive into the center-field bleachers for a three-run home run to complete the improbable eight-run comeback.
Warren (6-5) pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief to earn the victory. Left-hander Andrew Miller pitched a perfect ninth inning to notch his 23rd save in 23 chances this season.
The Twins took an early 2-0 lead on Sabathia and the Yankees when the light-hitting Hicks followed a leadoff single by Dozier with only his fourth home run of the season.
Hicks created more trouble in the third with a leadoff bloop single to center. One out later, rookie slugger Miguel Sano rolled a ball against the shift to the right side for an infield single. Torii Hunter then cranked an opposite-field homer to right to give the Twins their seemingly insurmountable 5-0 margin.
The victory improved the Yankees’ season mark to 54-42 and they are 5 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East. The Twins dropped to 52-45.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- These are the games that stoke legends and Rodriguez’s magical night drew the Yankees back from the depths of despair. His numbers defy explanation after missing most of the past two seasons. He is batting .277 with 23 homers and 58 RBIs. If anyone saw this coming you are a better man than me. He and Mark Teixeira have combined to hit 47 homers and drive in 123 runs with 66 games left in the season.
- The Yankees were more than content to go to the bottom of the ninth with a tie score but Murphy’s home run provided a three-run margin. Give Murphy, 24, credit for putting up a tough battle with a good closer. Backup catchers are paid to play good defense and give the starter a rest. If they provide anything offensively it is a bonus and Murphy is now hitting .271 with a homer and eight RBIs in his 23 starts.
- Sabathia may have yielded five runs on six hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings. But give him credit for this: From the moment Hunter cranked his 16th homer of the season, Sabathia, Warren and Miller held the Twins to just one hit (a two-out single by Suzuki in the eighth) the rest of the game. If the pitching did not keep the Twins off the board the Yankees likely would not have won.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
- The Yankees pretty much were sleepwalking through this series until the seventh inning on Saturday. They had just one hit in the first six innings and ended the night with 10. In fact, they outhit the Twins 10 to 7. Phil Hughes shut them out for seven innings on Friday and Milone held them to one run in six until he finally unraveled in the seventh. That is embarrassing.
- Michael Pineda and Sabathia combined to yield 10 runs on 14 hits and three walks in 10 2/3 innings the past two nights. That is an 8.44 ERA. Starting pitching had been a strong suit of the Yankees 9-2 run up until Friday. The starters have to keep the Yankees in the game in order for them to unleash their strong bullpen.
BOMBER BANTER
Girardi told reporters on Saturday that the Yankees will not pitch Masahiro Tanaka on Tuesday against the Texas Rangers in order to give the 26-year-old right-hander an extra day of rest. The Yankees likely will start either Warren or left-hander Chris Capuano and give each pitcher about 50 pitches. Girardi said top pitching prospect Luis Severino and right-hander Bryan Mitchell, who are both pitching at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, are not viable options. The right-handed Severino pitched on Friday and Mitchell pitched on Saturday. Tanaka will start against the Rangers on Wednesday because the team is managing his innings in the wake of his partially torn elbow ligament that sidelined him for two months last season. . . . The Yankees signed right-hander Nick Goody to a Major-League contract and called him up from Scranton to add a fresh arm to the bullpen. In order to get Goody on the 25-man roster right-hander Branden Pinder was sent back to Scranton and to get him on the 40-man roster the team designated for assignment infielder Gregorio Petit. Goody, 24, has a 1.35 ERA in five appearances at Scranton after being promoted from Double-A Trenton. Pinder, 26, had a 2.92 ERA in 11 appearances with the Yankees this season. Petit, 30, hit .167 with no homers and five RBIs in 42 at-bats with the Yankees.
ON DECK
The Yankees will now look to build upon their miracle comeback victory to win the three-game series with the Twins on Sunday.
Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (9-2, 4.43 ERA) will start the finale. Eovaldi, 25, gave up two runs on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings in a game the Yankees eventually won against the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday. He has never faced the Twins.
Eovaldi will be opposed by right-hander Kyle Gibson (8-7, 3.19 ERA). Gibson, 27, was shelled for six runs on 10 hits and one walk with six strikeouts in five-plus innings against the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday.
Game-time will be 2:10 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast by the YES Network.
Gardner, Ellsbury Help Tanaka Overcome Oakland
GAME 85
YANKEES 6, ATHLETICS 2
Masahiro Tanaka was well aware of the whispers after he went 0-2 with a 6.26 ERA in his past four starts. They were saying that he was not pitching well because of that slightly torn right elbow ligament.
On Thursday he got a chance to silence those naysayers and he did it in style.
Tanaka (5-3) pitched two-hit baseball over 7 2/3 innings and newly selected All-Star team replacement Brett Gardner homered while Jacoby Ellsbury added two RBIs as New York won the three-game series over Oakland in front of paid crowd of 40,084 at Yankee Stadium.
After Gardner hit his 10th home run with one out in the first inning to hand him an early 1-0 lead, Tanaka struggled in the second inning.
Josh Reddick reached on a rare catcher’s interference call on Brian McCann. Billy Butler followed with an RBI double to left that scored Reddick. Two outs later, Mark Canha plated Butler with an RBI double off the center-field wall.
Though the Athletics did not know it, Tanaka would then go on to retire the next 18 batters he faced without giving up a hit or a walk. Butler did reach first with one out in the fourth inning after striking out on a wild pitch.
So Tanaka ended his day being charged with two runs (one earned) on two hits and no walks and he struck out six in a masterful season-high 114-pitch performance.
The Yankees, meanwhile, were able to tie the game in the bottom of the third inning against right-hander Jesse Chavez.
Ellsbury drew a leadoff four-pitch walk and Gardner followed with a single to center as part of his three-hit day. Mark Teixeira then scored Ellsbury on a single up the middle for his 62nd RBI of the season, which leads the American League.
The Yankees took the lead for good in the fourth after Chavez issued Stephen Drew a one-out walk and Cole Figueroa, who was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre earlier in the day, delivered one of his two doubles on the afternoon to advance Drew to third. Ellsbury then laced a two-run single to right to score Drew and Figueroa.
Chavez (4-2) surrendered four runs on seven hits and three walks with three strikeouts in five innings.
The Yankees added a pair of unearned runs in the eighth inning off right-hander Fernando Rodriguez.
Chris Young drew a one-out walk and Figueroa followed one out later with a ground-rule double to right. Both Young and Figueroa scored when Marcus Semien fielded Ellsbury’s ground ball but committed his major-league-leading 28th error of the season when first baseman Ike Davis was unable to catch his errant throw.
Left-hander Chasen Shreve and right-hander Adam Warren combined to throw 1 1/3 scoreless innings to close out the victory for Tanaka.
With the victory the Yankees are now 46-39 and they have opened up a three-game lead over the second-place Baltimore Orioles in the American League East. The A’s dropped to 39-49.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- Tanaka’s final start before the All-Star break was just what he needed to build upon after he missed more than a month with an arm injury unrelated to his elbow ligament tear. He is 5-3 with a 3.63 ERA in 11 starts. In order for the Yankees to maintain their lead in the division it will be important for Tanaka to pitch closer to the 13-5 and 2.77 ERA he recorded last season in 20 starts. I would not want to bet against him doing it after seeing him on Thursday.
- Ellsbury’s return to the lineup on Wednesday after being activated from the disabled list paid big dividends in this game. He and Gardner combined to go 4-for-9 with a walk, a home run, three singles, two runs scored and three RBIs. They reached base in seven of their 10 at-bats. Gardner was 3-for-5 and is now hitting .303 on the season. This speedy tandem is going to create a lot of havoc on the bases in the second half as long as they stay healthy.
- Figueroa, 28, was called up to play third base in the absence of Chase Headley, who has some minor inflammation in his right calf. All Figueroa did was go 2-for-4 with two doubles and he scored two runs in his first major-league game. Figueroa was hitting .317 with three homers and 36 RBIs in 77 games at Scranton.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
Nothing negative here. The Yankees got a great effort from their ace right-hander and with Gardner and Ellsbury getting on base often it is going to be difficult for teams to keep the Yankees from scoring runs in bunches. The rest of the division better watch out.
BOMBER BANTER
In order for the team to call up Figueroa the Yankees sent Jose Pirela, 23, to Scranton. Pirela was hitting a disappointing .212 with one home run and four RBIs in 29 games. Pirela hit.305 at Scranton last season and batted a robust .370 this spring. But he has not found his stroke with the Yankees this season. In addition, the Yankees had to designate for assignment outfielder Taylor Dugas, 25, to make room on the 40-man roster for Figueroa. . . . In the fifth inning the public address announced that Gardner, 31, had been selected by Ned Yost of the Kansas City Royals – who is managing the American League All-Star team – to replace outfielder Alex Gordon of the Royals on the roster. Gordon suffered an injured groin in a game on Wednesday and will be sidelined for a minimum of six weeks. Gordon had been selected to start for the American League in the fan vote. For Gardner it was the first time he had been selected for the team. Gardner is batting .303 with 10 home runs and 40 RBIs this season.
ON DECK
The Yankees will open their final pre-All-Star Game series with their hated rival Boston Red Sox on Friday at Fenway Park.
Right-hander Michael Pineda (8-5, 3.79 ERA) will start the series for the Yankees. Pineda pitched a brilliant seven innings of shutout baseball. yielding only five hits and one walk while striking out 10 against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday. He did not get a decision but the Yankees eventually won the game in the ninth inning.
Right-hander Clay Buchholz (7-6, 3.27 ERA) will start for the Red Sox. Buchholz threw nine innings of one-run baseball, giving up six hits, no walks and striking five in a complete-game victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday.
Game-time will be 7:10 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast nationally by the MLB Network and locally by WPIX.
Tex Hits Two Homers But Drew’s Blast Downs A’s
GAME 84
YANKEES 5, ATHLETICS 4
Sometimes an insurance run in the late innings is just a meaningless addition to the score. Other times it ends up being the difference between winning and losing.
Stephen Drew’s two-out solo home run in the eighth inning on Wednesday off left-hander Fernando Abad proved to be in the latter category.
Mark Teixeira hit a pair of solo home runs and CC Sabathia pitched into the sixth inning but Drew’s home run proved to be the difference as New York edged Oakland in front of a paid crowd of 41,626 at Yankee Stadium.
Though the Yankees trailed 2-1 heading into the fourth inning, they got a break when left-hander Scott Kazmir was forced to leave the game with tightness in left triceps.
Athletics manager Bob Melvin sent in right-hander Evan Scribner and Teixeira greeted him by blasting a 1-2 high and outside fastball deep into the bleachers in right-center for his 21st home run of the season to tie the game at 2-2.
The Yankees were able to take the lead for good in the same inning when Chris Young drew a walk and John Ryan Murphy singled to left-center. After Young stole third and Murphy was able to advance to second on a wild pitch, Jose Pirela launched a one-out sacrifice fly to right to score Young.
The Yankees added to their lead in the sixth inning when Teixeira led off with almost a carbon-copy drive into right-center on a 2-2 high outside fastball from Scribner for his 22nd home run of the season. It also was his second two-homer game of the season.
Drew, who entered the game in the seventh inning as a defensive replacement at second base for Pirela, then added his 12th home run of the season in the eighth to give the Yankees a nice 5-2 cushion heading into the ninth.
But closer Andrew Miller, who was just activated from the 15-day disabled list earlier in the day after not pitching since June 9, show some rustiness in the ninth inning.
Mark Canha stroked a one-out single and Marcus Semien followed with a two-run homer into the left-field bleachers to bring the A’s to within a run.
After Stephen Vogt reached second on a two-base throwing error by third baseman Gregorio Petit, Miller retired Ben Zobrist on a groundout to Petit in which Teixeira had to make a long stretch that barely nipped Zobrist.
Sabathia (4-8) did have a rough second inning in which he was touched for five hits. Josh Phegley and Canha hit back-to-back one-out RBI singles to score Oakland’s only two runs until the ninth inning.
Sabathia was charged with two runs on seven hits and two walks with one strikeout in 5 1/3 innings for his first victory since June 7 against the Los Angeles Angels at Yankee Stadium.
The bullpen trio of right-hander Bryan Mitchell, Justin Wilson and Dellin Betances held the Athletics hitless and scoreless for 2 2/3 innings before turning the game over to Miller in the ninth.
Despite Miller’s struggles in his first game back, he still was credited with his 18th save in 18 opportunities this season.
Scribner (2-2) took the loss after yielding three runs on four hits and one walk with three strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings. He leads all relievers in homers allowed this season with 11.
With the victory the Yankees improved their season record to 45-38 and they remain two games ahead of the second-place Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East. The Athletics dropped to 39-48.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- Teixeira’s potential American League Comeback Player of the Year run continues. His 22 home runs matches his total from all of last season and he still leads the league in RBIs with 61. In addition, Teixeira made several sparkling plays in the field. His selection to the American League All-Star team was well deserved. His is one of the main reasons the Yankees are in first place in the division.
- Give Drew some credit for a nine-pitch at-bat against Abad with two-out in the eighth. His 12th home run of the season proved to be the decisive run in the game. Drew may be hitting an anemic .179, but his 12 home runs and his steady infield defense have somewhat up for it.
- Betances was victimized on Tuesday by a 10th inning home run by Brett Lawrie that lost the game for the Yankees. But he got back on the horse in the eighth on Wednesday and looked very sharp. He struck out Billy Butler and Lawrie and retired pinch-hitter Josh Reddick on an outstanding fielding play by Teixeira.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
There was not to much to complain about on this night. Sabathia was unable to get through six innings and Miller did look shaky in the ninth. But you have to give Miller a mulligan on this one. The Yankees are in first place and Teixeira is leading them.
BOMBER BANTER
In addition to Miller, 30, the Yankees also activated center-fielder Jacoby Ellsbury from the disabled list on Wednesday. Ellsbury, 31, started the game and was 1-for-4 with an infield single. He had been on the disabled list since May 20 with a strained ligament in his right knee. To make room for Miller and Ellsbury, the team optioned right-hander Nick Rumbelow and outfielder Ramon Flores to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Rumbelow, 23, was 0-0 with a 2.70 ERA in four appearances. Flores, 23, was hitting .219 with no homers and no RBIs in 32 at-bats. . . . Third baseman Chase Headley was held out of the game on Wednesday with inflammation in his right calf. Headley is listed as day-to-day. Petit started in Headley’s place and was 0-for-4.
ON DECK
The Yankees will have a chance to claim the rubber game of the three-game series against the A’s on Thursday.
Right-hander Masahiro Tanaka (4-3, 3.94 ERA) will start of the Yankees. Tanaka pitched much better in a no-decision against the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday. He yielded three runs on six hits and one walk with five strikeouts in six innings.
The Athletics will counter with right-hander Jesse Chavez (4-8, 3.20 ERA). Chavez lost to the Seattle Mariners on Thursday after giving up four runs on nine hits with four strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.
Game-time will be 1:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast nationally by the MLB Network and locally by the YES Network.
McCann’s Walk-Off 3-Run Homer Eclipses Rays
GAME 80
YANKEES 7, RAYS 5 (12 INNINGS)
Extra innings is a just a war of attrition and in the top of the 12th on Friday it looked as if the Yankees had just run out of ammunition to battle the Rays. The bullpen had coughed up two runs and it seemed the game was well in hand with the visitors.
But Brian McCann was not ready to give up in an important divisional game.
McCann blasted a three-run home run in the bottom of the 12th off right-hander Steve Geltz to cap an improbable four-run rally that handed the Yankees their first walk-off victory of the season in front of a paid crowd of 43,141 at Yankee Stadium.
With the victory the Yankees claimed first place in the tightly bunched American League East, one game ahead of the second-place Baltimore Orioles and two games ahead of the Rays, who have now lost six consecutive games.
Right-hander Chasen Shreve (6-1), who had a hand – along with Adam Warren – in allowing the Rays to score two runs in the 12th, was credited with the victory in relief. Geltz (1-4) took the loss.
Brett Gardner opened the 12th by drawing a walk. Alex Rodriguez followed with a one-out single and Mark Teixeira, whose three-run home run in the eighth sent the game into extra innings, laced an RBI single to score Gardner.
McCann then laced a 1-0 fastball from Geltz deep into the right-field bleachers for his 13th home run of the season and his 10th at home.
His teammates streamed out of the dugout and Gardner doused him with bucket of water after he touched home plate. It culminated in an unlikely victory on a night the Yankees had to battle from behind from very the first inning.
The Rays took an early lead against right-hander Masahiro Tanaka when Grady Sizemore led off with a double. Joey Butler drew a walk and Evan Longoria slashed a double to left to score Sizemore.
James Loney, who was activated from the disabled list earlier in the day, then plated Butler on a sacrifice fly.
The Rays added a run in the fifth on a leadoff triple off the bat of Kevin Kiermaier and a sac fly by Rene Rivera.
The Yankees, however, were unable to solve right-hander Chris Archer, was entered the game 5-0 with a 2.02 ERA in seven starts against the Yankees in his career.
In 6 2/3 innings, Archer shutout the Yankees on three hits and three walks with eight strikeouts.
But with one out in the eighth inning the Yankees mounted a rally against right-hander Kevin Jepsen.
Chase Headley hit an opposite-field single to left and Rodriguez followed with a bloop opposite-field single to right to set the stage for Teixeira.
Teixeira laid into a 1-0 change-up and drove into the second deck of the right-field bleachers for his 20th home run of the season. His four-RBI night gives him 58 on the season, which now leads the American League.
The victory improved the Yankees’ season record to 42-37. Tampa Bay fell to 42-40.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- The stuffing of the All-Star ballot box by the Kansas City Royals may rob McCann of a much-deserved trip to the All-Star Game. McCann is hitting .264 with 13 home runs and 52 RBIs. Salvador Perez of the Royals is batting .263 with 13 home runs and 34 RBIs. By any measure you want to use McCann is better than Perez. But the hicks in the sticks of K.C., who booed Robinson Cano for not selecting singles hitter Billy Butler for the Home Run Derby two years ago, are now keeping more deserving players off the All-Star team. Let’s hope the commissioner shoves it up that city’s rectum by taking the fan vote away for good. You abuse it, you lose it!
- Teixeira’s magical season continues and the injury to Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers certainly will improve Teixeira’s chances of making the All-Star team. Royals fans had Eric Hosmer starting at first base despite the fact he is hitting .286 with only eight home runs and 40 RBIs. But Cabrera overtook him in the voting and the league is under no obligation to take Hosmer at all. So Teixeira has a great chance to start at first. Suck it, Kansas City!
- After the first inning Tanaka actually pitched exceptionally well. After two shaky outings, Tanaka was charged with just one run on four hits with no walks and five strikeouts in the five innings after the first. Hopefully, this is a sign he has regrouped.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
- One of the things that Archer does to the Yankees is to elevate his pitches. The Yankees just do him a great favor by swinging at them despite the fact they are balls. In addition to his eight strikeouts (some on the high fastball), Archer also induced nine air outs. If the Yankees lay off that pitch Archer ends up walking about six more hitters and he loses. But the Yankees never adjusted.
- Chris Young was the hottest hitter on this team a week ago. But being forced to start against right-handers in the absence of both Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran has exposed some weaknesses. He was 0-for-5 on Friday with two strikeouts and he also hit into a double play. Ouch!
ON DECK
The Yankees will continue their three-game weekend home series with the Rays on Saturday.
Right-hander Michael Pineda (8-5, 4.08 ERA) will start for the Yankees. Pineda yielded three runs (two earned) on seven hits and struck out eight in eight innings in a loss to the Houston Astros on Sunday.
The Rays will counter with right-hander Nathan Karns (4-4, 3.21 ERA). Karns gave up two runs on nine hits and two walks with seven strikeouts in a loss to the Cleveland Indians on Monday.
Game-time will be 1:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast nationally by FOX Sports 1.
After Rally Yankees Fall To Phils In ‘Ruf’ Ending
GAME 18
PHILLIES 7, YANKEES 3
Darin Ruf broke up a 3-3 tie with a leadoff home run in the eighth inning and the Phillies added three more in the ninth as Philadelphia outlasted New York on Thursday at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, FL
Ruf’s blast into the right-field bleachers came off right-hander Nick Goody (0-1). Left-hander Andy Oliver (2-0) pitched 1 2/3 innings and fanned four batters to pick up the victory. Right-hander Luis Garcia pitched a perfect ninth to notch his third save of the spring.
The Yankees trailed from the first inning until the bottom of the sixth when Didi Gregarious singled, Stephen Drew walked and Carlos Beltran followed with an RBI single up the middle off left-hander Joely Rodriguez.
The loss drops the Yankees to a 10-7 record in Grapefruit League play.
FIELD FOCUS
Ever since Robin$on Cano took his bat, ball and glove to the Pacific Northwest in an angry huff, second base has been sort of a mess for the Yankees.
General manager Brian Cashman tried to replace a Michelin tire with a well-worn B.F. Goodrich with a blowout patch on it in Brian Roberts last season.
The 37-year-old veteran batted .237 with five homers and 21 RBIs in 91 games until he was released on Aug. 1. The former All-Star who suffered through four previous seasons of injuries just had nothing left in the tank. He announced he was retiring on Oct. 18.
The Yankees shifted gears and dealt infielder Kelly Johnson to the Boston Red Sox for Drew with the intention of making him a second baseman.
Drew played 46 games for the Yankees and ended up batting .150 with three home runs and 15 RBIs. To say that second base was a black hole for offense in 2014 would be putting it mildly.
It is also why there were raised eyebrows when Drew was offered a one-year, $5 million contract to stay with the Yankees and he was quickly named this spring by manager Joe Girardi as the team’s starting second baseman.
Eyebrows were raised even farther when Drew began spring training 1-for-13 (.077).
Since then Drew has picked up his offense and he is in the middle of a very encouraging hot streak. He was 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI against the Phillies on Thursday.
That means in his past three games, Drew is 3-for-7 (.429) with a home run and four RBIs. Even when he is making outs now they are loud outs to the outfield.
The Yankees would like for Drew to return to his form of 2013 when he batted .253 with 13 home runs and 67 RBIs for the Red Sox. Those numbers for a second baseman with the Yankees would look great compared to what they got from the position last season.
Drew is just hopeful that he can continue his steady progression with the bat throughout the rest of the spring. He may not be a Michelin but he just might still have a decent amount tread life left at age 32.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- Considering the Yankees only managed four hits, the best thing you can say is that no one got injured. That is a positive, I guess.
- Chase Headley continues to swing a red-hot bat. Headley cracked a solo home run with one out in the second inning off Phillies starter Aaron Harang. Although it seemed unwise last season for the Yankees to trade for a third baseman who was struggling with back issues, Headley seems to be over the back problems and he seems primed for a big season. He is batting .370 with two home runs and three RBIs.
- Gregorius was 3-for-3 on Wednesday against the Braves in Lake Buena Vista, FL, and one of the hits came off a left-hander. On Thursday, he started a rally that tied the game in the sixth with a hit off the lefty Rodriguez. Perhaps he might be on the road to solving them after hitting below .200 against them for his career.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
- Yankee starter Esmil Rogers, competing to replace the injured Chris Capuano as the team’s No. 5 starter, was not sharp at all on Thursday. After not being scored upon this spring, the Phillies touched Rogers, 29, for single runs in the first three innings. Ryan Howard tagged him for a two-out RBI single in the first. Cody Asche hammered a leadoff homer in the second and Carlos Ruiz added a two-out RBI single in the third off Rogers.
- Left-hander Chasen Shreve, acquired along with right-hander David Carpenter from the Braves in exchange for left-hander Manny Banuelos, is vying to become a third lefty in the bullpen behind Andrew Miller and Justin Wilson. But Shreve, 24, took a step backwards when he was shelled for three runs (two earned) on three hits in the ninth inning.
BOMBER BANTER
Jacoby Ellsbury told reporters that despite being restricted from all baseball activities for a week that he will be ready for Opening Day. Ellsbury, 31, sustained a mild oblique strain throwing in the outfield prior to Sunday’s game against the Phillies. “I think the good thing is we do have time and I’m fully confident that I’ll be there Opening Day, ready to play,” Ellsbury told reporters. . . . Right-hander Jared Burton, 33, sustained a strained lat and will undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the injury. Burton is a non-roster invitee who is competing for a bullpen spot this spring. . . . Backup infielder Brendan Ryan, who has been sidelined all spring with a mid-back strain, is scheduled to make his spring debut on Friday.
ON DECK
The Yankees will travel to Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland FL, on Friday to face the Detroit Tigers.
Adam Warren, who is battling Rogers for the fifth spot in the rotation, will start for the Yankees. Warren is 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA in three starts this spring.
The Tigers will counter with right-hander Alfredo Simon, who is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA in three starts.
Game-time will be 1:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be not be broadcast via TV or radio.
Yankees Dump Bosox On Galvez’s 3-Run Triple
GAME 12
YANKEES 5, RED SOX 3
Non-roster invitee Jonathan Galvez laced a two-out, bases-loaded double in the fourth inning to give the Yankees a lead they would not relinquish as New York downed Boston on Friday at jetBlue Park in Fort Myers, FL.
With the Yankees trailing 2-0, Garrett Jones and Brian McCann opened the frame with back-to-back singles to chase right-hander Rick Porcello. One out later, Rob Refsynder loaded the bases on a slow-roller single between home plate and third base off reliever Dalier Hinojosa.
With two out, Galvez, 24, lofted an opposite-field fly ball that dropped out of right-fielder Daniel Nava’s glove as he hit the side wall for a triple.
The Yankees added a pair of runs in the seventh inning off right-hander Edward Mujica on a two-run double by Mason Williams.
Yankees starter Adam Warren (1-0) yielded two runs on four hits while striking out two in three innings to get credit for the victory. Left-hander Jacob Lindgren pitched a scoreless ninth to get a save.
Hinojosa (0-1) was saddled with the loss.
The Yankees earned a split in their two Grapefruit League games with the Red Sox. They lost to the Bosox 10-6 at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Wednesday. Their spring record improves to 7-4.
FIELD FOCUS
The majority of players enter spring training camp with very long odds of making a team and Galvez is looking at some of the longest of odds.
He was signed by the Yankees as minor-league free agent and given an invitation to spring training after he batted .280 with 10 home runs and 52 RBIs in 103 games for the San Diego Padres’ Triple-A El Paso team in the Pacific Coast League.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Dominican entered camp knowing that starter Chase Headley is just beginning a four-year contract and that three-time American League Most Valuable Player Alex Rodriguez is next in line to play third base.
But Galvez is hoping that he might open enough eyes in the Yankees front office to stay in the organization to provide infield depth at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. If not, there is a chance he might catch some interest from another team needing a third baseman with some power.
Galvez actually began his minor-league career as middle infielder with the Padres. But he has not played shortstop since 2011 and he has played only one game as second baseman since 2012. He now mostly plays first base, third base and left-field.
The Yankees have used him primarily at third and in one game as a left-fielder. After Friday’s game, Galvez is 4-for-15 (.267) with no home runs and the three important RBIs he picked up against the Red Sox.
Even if Galvez fails to stick with the Yankees this season he can take comfort in knowing he helped the team beat its bitter rival in their own ballpark. That is pretty good feather to have in your cap.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- Galvez finished the evening 2-for-3 in what was, by far, he best game of the spring. The Yankees only sent veterans McCann, Jones and Chris Young on the long bus ride to Fort Myers but it was Galvez who ended up being the hero.
- Williams entered the game in the bottom of the fifth inning and began the day just 2-for-10. But his opposite-field, ground-rule double in the seventh scored Galvez (who singled earlier) and Aaron Judge (who had doubled). Williams, 23, is coming off a disappointing season in which he hit .228 at Double-Trenton.
- If you throw out the innings that Warren and right-hander Branden Pinder (who gave a run in the seventh) pitched the other four Yankee relievers combined to give up one hit and three walks with eight strikeouts in five innings. Those pitchers included Chasen Shreve, Jose Ramirez, Nick Goody and Lindgren.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
- Warren was nicked for two hits and a run in the first inning as Mookie Betts scored on a Hanley Ramirez groundout. Then in the third Betts doubled and scored on an infield single by David Ortiz. Warren was supposed to pitch four innings but he left after three because his pitch count was up to 58. He threw 29 pitches in the third inning alone. Warren has to be sharper in order to limit his pitch count.
- Young was 0-for-3 with a strikeout and he did not get a ball out of the infield. Young, 31, is now 3-for-18 (.167) with four strikeouts in what has been a slow spring with the bat. The Yankees are looking to the former National League All-Star to provide power from the right side, some speed on the bases and solid defense in the outfield.
BOMBER BANTER
Manager Joe Girardi told reporters on Friday that left-hander CC Sabathia will make his spring debut at home on Tuesday against the Toronto Blue Jays. Sabathia is coming off surgery on his right knee after he was limited to just eight starts last season. In addition, Girardi announced that Masahiro Tanaka will make his second start on Wednesday against the Atlanta Braves at Champion Stadium in Lake Buena Vista, FL.
ON DECK
The Yankees will play the second of three split-squad games scheduled for this spring on Saturday.
At their complex in Tampa, FL, the Yankees will host the Detroit Tigers, who also are fielding a split squad.
Right-hander Michael Pineda will make his second start of the spring for the Yankees. The Tigers will counter with left-hander Kyle Lobstein.
Game-time will be 1:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast by the YES Network.
Meanwhile, the Yankees will send a team to play the Toronto Blue Jays at Florida Auto Nation Stadium in Dunedin, FL.
Right-hander Esmil Rogers will start that game for the Yankees. He will be opposed left-hander Daniel Norris, who is competing for the No. 5 starter’s job.
Game-time will be 1:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast by MLB Network on a delayed basis at 11 p.m.
Betances, Miller Lead Yankees Revamped Bullpen
With the opening of the New York Yankees spring training camp in Tampa, FL, we will now look at each position on the team to assess their chances in 2015. After a disappointing 2014 season with a roster riddled with significant injuries the Yankees have reshuffled the deck with a lot of fresh faces to join some old ones. Let’s look at them.
BULLPEN
Co-closers: Dellin Betances, 26 (5-0, 1.40 ERA, 1 save, 70 games), Andrew Miller, 29 (5-5, 2.02 ERA, 1 save, 73 games)
Set-up man: David Carpenter, 29 (6-4, 3.54 ERA, 3 saves, 65 games)
Lefty specialist: Justin Wilson, 27 (3-4, 4.20 ERA, 70 games)
The Yankees have had somewhat of a revolving door at the closer position for the past three seasons and 2015 will the fourth consecutive season they will be featuring a new closer or closers.
In 2012, an early-season injury to Mariano Rivera forced the Yankees to use Rafael Soriano as the team’s closer. In 2013, Rivera returned to health to complete a great final chapter to Hall-of-Fame career. And in 2014, David Robertson assumed the closer’s role and all he did was go 4-5 with a 3.08 ERA and convert 39 of his 44 save opportunities.
However, Robertson was unhappy that the Yankees did not look to extend his contract. So he declined their qualifying offer and signed a four-year, $46-million deal with the Chicago White Sox on Dec. 9.
Once again the Yankees will be auditioning another new closer in 2015.
The obvious choice is Betances after his meteoric rise from a spring training curiosity to the devastating setup weapon he became in 2014. The numbers speak for themselves.
He allowed only 46 hits and 24 walks in 90 innings. Batters hit an anemic .149 against him. He fanned 135 batters. The 6-foot-8, 265-pound right-hander dominated hitters from Opening Day to the end of the season.
The question then becomes could he do what he did last season in the ninth inning in 2015?
Manager Joe Girardi and pitching coach Larry Rothschild believe that he can but they are not going to leave that question to chance without a Plan B.
On Dec. 5, the Yankees signed left-hander Andrew Miller to a four-year, $36-million contract with the intention of making him a setup man for what was Robertson at the time. Miller struck out 14.87 batters per nine innings and held opponents to a .153 batting average for the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles last season.
For now, Girardi says that although the Yankees would prefer to have one set closer when they begin the season, they are not averse to having Betances and Miller work as co-closers.
“I’m sure we’ll have a lot of meetings about that,” Girardi told reporters last Sunday. “We’ll decide what’s best. We want to see how they’re both throwing the baseball at the end of spring training. There will be just a lot of discussion of how we feel our team is built. Could they be interchangeable? Yeah.”
There is no doubt that however they are used both Betances and Miller have great stuff and are nearly impossible to hit consistently. That gives the Yankees two powerful weapons at the back end of the bullpen.
Betances was originally drafted as a starting pitcher out of New York City and his high-octane fastball seemed to have him on a fast track to the Yankees’ starting rotation. But control problems plagued him and got worse as he progressed through the minor-league system
His status as a top prospect diminished until the Yankees decided to try him in the bullpen in 2013. That turned everything around. Betances found a delivery that he could repeat and that devastating fastball and slider combination left batters baffled.
He impressed Girardi in a spring game when he faced Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion of the Blue Jays with the bases loaded and retired both of them to get out of the jam unscathed. It was inevitable Betances would make the roster as a reliever from that point on.
That led to Betances’ impressive first season with the big club and his reward could be eventually becoming the team’s closer.
Ironically, Miller’s career path was very similar.
Miller was a former No. 1 draft pick of the Detroit Tigers who just could not harness his control as a starter. After a short and unsuccessful stop with the then-Florida Marlins, Miller reached rock bottom when he was 6-3 with a 5.54 ERA in 12 starts with the Boston Red Sox in 2011.
Miller walked 41 batters in just 65 innings.
Then the Red Sox shifted him to the bullpen and he has not looked back. From 2012 through 2014, Miller has developed into what could be considered the most devastating left-handed relievers in all of baseball.
His walks have dropped, his strikeouts have increased and Miller is now in line to perhaps share a closers role – a job he also has never had before.
The Yankees are obviously thrilled they have both of these pitchers available for the ninth inning.
A curious thing happened after the 2014 season. For the first time in a very long time, the Yankees basically reshuffled the deck on the rest of the bullpen. David Phelps, Shawn Kelley, Matt Thornton and Preston Claiborne are gone.
Phelps was dealt to the Marlins in the trade where the Yankees acquired starting right-hander Nathan Eovaldi and first baseman/outfielder Garrett Jones. Kelley was shipped to the San Diego Padres for minor-league right-hander Johnny Barbato. Thornton was waived last August and is now with the Washington Nationals. Claiborne was released and signed with the Marlins.
So behind Miller and Betances will be a whole new cast of characters.
The team’s primary setup man will be Carpenter, who was acquired from the Atlanta Braves along with left-hander Chasen Shreve for left-hander Manny Banuelos, who was once considered the best pitching prospect in the Yankees’ organization.
Carpenter comes to the Yankees highly recommended by Brian McCann, who was his primary catcher in 2013 when Carpenter was 4-1 with a 1.78 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 65 innings over 56 appearances.
Carpenter’s numbers slipped considerably last season but he is very excited to be reunited with his former battery mate.
“B-Mac is the kind of guy that you love going to battle with,” Carpenter told reporters. “He’s a team guy, he busts his butt out there, he’s everything you could ask for in a leader, especially a catcher. To be reunited with him, it’s going to be really, really special.”
The Yankees also made a deal for a second left-hander by trading veteran catcher Francisco Cervelli to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Wilson, who like Carpenter had a sensational 2013 season.
Wilson, a converted starter, was 6-1 with 2.08 ERA in 58 games with the Pirates in 2013. Last season his numbers slipped a bit but general manager Brian Cashman said Wilson will remind Yankee fans of Boone Logan, who had a very successful stint with the Yankees as their primary left-hander.
Beyond these four, the makeup of the rest of the bullpen will be up for grabs this spring, although Adam Warren eventually will be part of it. It is just unclear when that will be because Warren is slated to pitch as a starter in spring training.
The Yankees are looking to possibly use Warren as a sixth starter in the first six weeks of the season because several Yankee starters are coming off injuries and the Yankees face a stretch in late April and early May in which they are scheduled to play 30 games in 31 days.
Warren, 27, is coming off a sensational year in the bullpen. He was 3-6 with a 2.97 ERA in 69 games, all in relief. Between Warren’s ability to pitch in almost in any role, including that of a starter, and the fact that he pitches effectively in those roles, it is easy to see why he was one of the few relievers the Yankees opted to keep for 2015.
Warren will be a big help either in the middle or late innings when he finally is shifted back in mid-May.
Right-handers Chase Whitley (25), Esmil Rogers (29) and Bryan Mitchell (23) also will get opportunities to start this spring. All three have started in the past but Whitley is better suited to be a relief pitcher. Rogers has not fully developed as a starter or a reliever but he has been better in the bullpen. Mitchell is a capable starter but the Yankees will evaluate him for both roles this spring.
Mitchell likely will be sent to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre so that he could be available as a emergency starter this season. The Yankees really like his ability.
There are several relievers on the 40-man roster who will get a look this spring including Danny Burawa, Jose De Paula, Branden Pinder and Shreve.
Burawa, 26, is a right-hander who was 3-1 with a 4.70 between Double-A Trenton and Scranton last season. De Paula, 27, was signed out of the San Francisco Giants system and the left-hander was 4-3 with a 4.21 ERA at Triple-A Fresno in 2014. Pinder, 26, is a right-hander who was 3-0 with 2.04 ERA in three minor-league stops last season, ending with a stint in Scranton. Shreve, 24, was acquired along with Carpenter in the Banuelos trade and was 5-3 with a 2.67 ERA at stops in Double-A and Triple-A in 2014.
Most of the time non-roster pitchers are invited into camp for a look but they don’t make the team. But the Yankees invited a veteran right-hander reliever to camp who was the American League Rookie of the Year in 2009 and a two-time All-Star with the Oakland Athletics.
He is 30-year-old Andrew Bailey, who saved 75 games in 84 opportunities for the A’s from 2009 through 2011, but has suffered through a series of injuries that have hindered his effectiveness and kept him off the field.
Bailey was released by the Red Sox in July 2013 after posting a 3-1 record with 3.77 ERA in 30 games. Bailey suffered a torn capsule and labrum in his right shoulder and underwent surgery in 2013. The Yankees signed him to a minor-league contract in 2014 knowing he would be unavailable to pitch until 2015.
The Yankees extended him an invitation this spring and Bailey will have an opportunity to test where he is in his rehab. If he is healthy, Bailey could be a valuable addition to the bullpen. Though his closing days are over he could land a spot to pitch in the middle innings. If he is anywhere close to the pitcher he was in Oakland the Yankee bullpen will be even more formidable.
Another intriguing pitcher to watch this spring will be former starting prospect Jose A. Ramirez, 25, who was converted to relief because of recurring oblique injuries.
Ramirez was once a very highly touted prospect as a starter and he did make his major-league debut with the Yankees as a reliever last season. He was 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA in eight appearances in relief.
At Scranton, the Dominican right-hander was 3-0 with a 1.46 ERA in nine appearances after spending an early part of the season on the disabled list with an oblique strain.
The Yankees see their 13th-ranked prospect as a full-time reliever and they hope it does for Ramirez what it did for Betances. Ramirez just maybe could make a leap to the majors this season because of his change-up, which is the best in the organization – including those in the majors now.
He also features a plus fastball though he lacks overall command and he is working hard to develop his slider. Because he has struggled to work more than 115 innings the Yankees believe keeping in the bullpen will lessen his injury issues and keep his arm fresh for a full season.
Another young pitcher to watch is 21-year-old right-hander Jacob Lindgren, who pitched Mississippi State to the 2013 College World Series title as a starter and then was shifted to the bullpen by the Yankees last summer.
The Yankees selected him with their first pick of the 2014 draft in the second round and he immediately paid dividends by advancing all the way to Trenton. In his four minor-league stops he combined to go 2-1 with a 2.16 ERA He struck out 48 batters in 25 innings.
Lindgren was able to increase his fastball speed up to 95 mph and his slider (82-84 mph) has enough bite on it to make it a wipeout pitch. It is very possible that Lindgren could make the Yankees’ bullpen in 2015 if he shows that he can throw strikes consistently in the minors.
He is ranked as the team’s No. 9 prospect.
OVERALL POSITION ANALYSIS: EXCELLENT
The bullpen has been the strength of the team for the past two seasons, though the team as a whole has not had much success. Even with the reshuffling of a lot of new faces and new roles in the bullpen, it remains one of the team’s strengths.
Another reason is that Girardi has been a master at selecting the best organization arms and utilizing a bullpen to the team’s advantage. No one gets overworked because Girardi is strict about not using pitchers three days in a row if he can help it.
This season the big test will be if Betances can take the reins as the team’s closer. The odds are that he is capable and he should be successful. If he isn’t Miller is there back him up. Whether they work as setup man and closer or as co-closers, the fact remains they are two very nasty hombres that hitters do not feel comfortable hitting against.
Neither pitcher also has a decided bias pitching against right-handed or left-handed batters. They are equal-opportunity strikeout artists. That will make it awful difficult for teams who are behind come the eighth inning.
Carpenter will likely ease into what was Kelley’s role last season. He will set up for Miller and Betances. Though Carpenter struggled a bit last season, he still is considered a good young pitcher with a very good arm.
Once Warren finishes his role as a starter in the early part of the season he will join Carpenter in a setup role. Though Warren came out of the minors as a starter, he has had great success pitching out of the bullpen and he can pitch multiple innings if needed.
The Yankees also traded Cervelli for a second left-hander in Wilson and he provides a great opportunity for Girardi to match him up against a tough left-handed hitter in the middle innings.
With these five players set in their roles, the other three spots are up for grabs this spring.
Whitley and Rogers have a great shot at winning two of those spots because they both are former starters. Whitley is ideal for the long-relief and spot-start role Phelps once had. Rogers has not harnessed his ability yet and time is running out. But he is veteran with a good arm.
The last spot will be decided in spring training with a lot of potential candidates.
One good thing is that a lot of those candidates such as Burawa, Pinder and Shreve are young, Behind them are a pair of up-and-coming prospects like Ramirez and Lindgren.
There is good chance you may see both Ramirez and Lindgren on the 25-man roster this season. The Yankees have developed a lot of great depth here.
END OF SERIES
Beltran’s Health Key To Yankees’ 2015 Outfield
With the opening of the New York Yankees spring training camp in Tampa, FL, we will now look at each position on the team to assess their chances in 2015. After a disappointing 2014 season with a roster riddled with significant injuries the Yankees have reshuffled the deck with a lot of fresh faces to join some old ones. Let’s look at them.
OUTFIELD
RIGHT-FIELD: Carlos Beltran, 37, (.233, 15 HRs, 49 RBIs, 109 games)
CENTER-FIELD: Jacoby Ellsbury, 31, (.271, 16 HRs, 70 RBIs, 39 SBs, 149 games)
LEFT-FIELD: Brett Gardner, 31, (.256, 17 HRs, 58 RBIs, 21 SBs, 148 games)
In the Yankees’ 2009 championship season they featured at outfield of Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon and Nick Swisher that combined to hit 81 home runs. The 2014 edition of the Yankees only managed 48.
That tells you a lot about a team that limped to a 84-78 record and finished a distant second to the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East and missed the playoffs for a second consecutive season.
The Yankees had envisioned a speedy and defensive outfield that also featured some power from Beltran and Ellsbury. Instead, Gardner wound up out-homering the group and doesn’t that say a lot on how bad things were last season?
Beltran was a major disappointment but it was not through any fault of his own. In late April, Beltran was suffering through a very painful bone spur in his right elbow. It was easy to see how it affected his offense, too.
On April 23, Beltran was batting .307 with five homers and 13 RBIs in the middle of the Yankees’ lineup. From that point until he was placed on the disabled list on May 13, he hit .132 with no homers and two RBIs.
The Yankees can be faulted for signing the aging outfielder to a three-year contract. However, general manager Brian Cashman felt compelled to give in to Beltran’s demands for a third year after Robinson Cano left the team in a huff after the signing of Ellsbury to a seven-year, $153-million deal. The Yankees needed to find a solid No. 3 hitter and Beltran was the choice.
Beltran did return to the Yankees in June after attempting to rehab the elbow rather than have season-ending surgery. But he never was really the same hitter the rest of the season, batting .208 with 10 homers and 34 RBIs.
Beltran was basically playing with one arm and it showed. Even though he did return, he was unable to play the outfield until very late in the season because the bone spur in his elbow did not allow him to throw freely.
So Beltran decided to have surgery to remove the spur in September. He reported to training camp healthy and ready to prove himself as the player who hit .296 with 24 home runs and 84 RBIs for the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals in 2013.
So heading into 2015 the Yankees are counting on the switch-hitting Beltran to bat third and put up big home run and RBI numbers. As a player who has hit 373 career homers and driven in 1,376 runs while batting .281 over 16 major-league seasons, Beltran is certainly capable of doing that if . . .
Yep, there is that big if. The big if is can he remain healthy throughout the season? Beltran and the Yankees are anxious to find out.
“I trained hard, I did everything that I did in the past,” Beltran told reporters. “I want to be out there, no doubt.”
The Yankees are counting on Beltran, Mark Teixiera and Brian McCann to post numbers that will prevent the Yankees from ending up with the third-fewest runs scored in the American League as they did last season.
Much was also expected of Ellsbury after he signed that big contract to leave the Boston Red Sox.
For the most part, Ellsbury did deliver what was expected of him except when Beltran and Teixeira succumbed to injuries and Ellsbury was taken out of his comfortable leadoff spot and placed in the third spot in the batting order.
Ellsbury did not produce the runs the Yankees would have expected and his bat cooled off considerably as the season wore on. He ended up batting .155 in September and he did not even get close to the .298 average he put up in 2013 with the Red Sox.
By virtue of batting third, Ellsbury also did not get as many opportunities to steal bases, ending up with 13 less from his major-league-leading total of 52 in 2013.
The bottom line is that Ellsbury still led in the team in hits (156), doubles (27) and stolen bases while posting his best home run and RBI totals since 2011. He was, by all accounts, the Yankees’ most consistent hitter in 2014.
“Ellsbury is Ellsbury,” Cashman told reporters. “I thought he was basically right where he was when he left Boston. I thought he was terrific last year.”
There were moments last season that Gardner appeared to be on the verge of having a breakout season.
On June 20, Gardner was batting .290 with six homers, 28 RBIs and 15 SBs. For a club struggling with offense, Gardner was providing opportunities to score by getting on base.
But as the season wore on, a core muscle injury in his abdomen dragged Gardner down. He hit a terrible .218 with eight homers and 21 RBIs after the All-Star break. It ruined what looked to be what would easily be Gardner’s best in the majors.
After Gardner underwent surgery in October to correct the problem, he is reporting to camp at 100 percent.
With his return to health the Yankees would like for him to be more aggressive on the bases. After stealing 47 bases in 2010 and 49 in 2011, Gardner has regressed to just 24 steals in 2013 and 21 last season.
Manager Joe Girardi must also decide how to deploy Ellsbury and Gardner in the batting order. At this point, it appears Ellsbury will resume his leadoff role and Gardner will bat second. But Girardi likely will flip the two throughout the spring to get a feel how best to bat them.
One thing is clear, however. Both Ellsbury and Gardner give the Yankees excellent defense in the outfield. It stands to reason since they are both legitimate center-fielders.
Ellsbury won a Gold Glove with the Red Sox in 2011 and his fielding in 2014 was just as superlative. He committed only one error all season and playing the wide-open spaces of center in Yankee Stadium is not an easy assignment.
Gardner has never won a Gold Glove but he should have. Last season, Gardner committed just two errors and he was able to blend well with Ellsbury. Between the two of them it takes a lot to get a ball past them in left-center.
Beltran won three Gold Gloves with the New York Mets from 2006 through 2008. However, he will not be winning anymore of them. Knee problems have robbed Beltran of the range he used to have as a center-fielder.
He was charged with three errors in 31 starts in the outfield last season. But the good news is that right-field does not have as much ground to cover so the Yankees will only ask Beltran to catch what he can reach.
Though the Yankees realized his best days were behind him they will still miss the defensive prowess of Ichiro Suzuki in right-field. Suzuki has moved on to the Miami Marlins.
The Yankees have some depth in the outfield with a pair of players who have a lot of experience.
Garrett Jones was obtained in trade with the Marlins and is slated to have some important roles with the team this season.
Jones, 33, batted .246 with 15 homers and 53 RBIs in 146 games with the Marlins last season, primarily as a first baseman.
The Yankees would like the lefty-swinging Jones to be the team’s primary designated hitter this season because his swing is perfect for the short dimensions in right-field. In addition, Jones will back up Teixeira at first base and Beltran in right-field.
Jones is not a great fielder at first base (13 errors in 129 games in 2014) but he holds his own in the outfield. He does not have much range but he can make the plays. The Yankees feel they now have a serviceable backup for both Teixeira and Beltran and they are glad to have him.
The Yankees also have 31-year-old veteran Chris Young back after an impressive late-season audition with the team in 2014.
Young was cut loose by the Mets in early August and the Yankees signed him to a minor-league deal on Aug. 27. In the final month of the season, Young batted .282 with three homers and 10 RBIs in 23 games.
On that basis the Yankees elected to re-sign the veteran to a one-year, $2.5 million contract. He will be the team’s fourth outfielder and as a right-handed hitter he can give Gardner or Ellsbury a rest against a tough-left-handed pitcher.
Young is a power hitter who hit 20 or more home runs in four of five seasons between 2007 and 2011, including 32 in 2007. However, Young has never batted above .257 in any of his eight major-league seasons and he enters 2015 as a career .234 hitter.
Young still has some speed. He has 130 career steals and eight in limited play last season.
The former 2010 National League All-Star also can play all three outfield spots and he is an above average defender.
The additions of Jones and Young give manager Joe Girardi some flexibility in making out lineups and they are solid insurance policies should someone land on the disabled list.
One of the biggest failings of Cashman and the scouting department has been the inability of the Yankees to develop minor-league outfielders who can contribute to the Yankees. It seems that whatever prospects have been in the system are languishing and they aren’t progressing.
Zoilo Almonte, 25, has been up and down with the Yankees the past two seasons and has a .211 batting average in 47 games to show for it. The Yankees elected to let him go as a minor-league free agent and Almonte has since signed with the Atlanta Braves.
The other prospect names are virtually the same from last season: Mason Williams, Tyler Austin and Ramon Flores. Further behind them is Slade Heathcott.
They all will get another look this spring but they all will not make the roster unless there are some injuries.
Williams, 23, was once considered one of the top prospects in the Yankees’ system but he has slid to No. 16 this season after batting a horrible .223 with five homers and 40 RBIs in 128 games at Double-A Trenton.
Williams is a gifted athlete and he is sensational defensive outfielder. But at the plate he has become more of a slap hitter and it is obvious that he not making enough contact. Williams’ hustle has also been questioned and he was arrested on a DUI in 2013.
Austin, 23, also dropped as a prospect to No. 15. But he was a bit better at Trenton. He batted .275 with nine home runs and 47 RBIs in 105 games last season. But after he batted .322 with 17 homers and 80 RBIs in 2012, Austin has been dogged a persistent sprained right thumb.
The Yankees still have hope that he can he can develop. The Yankees think he can become a high-average power hitter. Austin is mainly a corner outfielder and likely would figure in as a right-fielder in the majors.
Flores, 22, is ranked as the team’s 14th best prospect after he batted a .247 with seven homers and 23 RBIs at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. A high-ankle sprain kept him from progressing as the Yankees would have liked.
Right now Flores is pegged as all-fields hitter who lacks power. It’s that reason why he is beginning to look like more of a fourth outfielder than a starter. Though he can play all three spots he works out best as a left-fielder because he lacks speed.
Heathcott, 24, was a former first-round pick of the Yankees in 2009 and he was not tendered a contract offer by the Yankees in December. Yet the Yankees re-signed him and invited him to camp as a non-roster player.
Though Heathcott has great talent, his all-out style of play has landed him on the minor-league disabled list many times. In 2013, it was a knee injury that required surgery.
He played only nine games at Trenton in 2014 before re-injuring the knee and missing the rest of the season. It looks like the Yankees are offering Heathcott one last make-or-break attempt because he is 24 and he has not advanced past Double-A.
One non-roster player that the Yankees can’t wait to check out is 6-foot-7, 230-pound Aaron Judge, who was a first-round selection by the Yankees in 2013 First-Year Player Draft.
Judge, 22, has a resemblance to NBA forward Blake Griffin and because of his size he has drawn comparisons to Dave Winfield and Giancarlo Stanton. But Judge does not just look the part.
In 131 games in two Class-A stops in 2014, Judge batted .308 with 17 home runs and 78 RBIs. His right-hand power stroke is awesome to see. Scouts say he does not just hit balls; he crushes them.
With his long swing he is prone to fail to make contact and strike out a lot. But the Yankees see him fitting nicely into right-field because for a big man Judge can move pretty well and he is a decent outfielder defensively.
He is rated as the No. 5 prospect in the organization and the Yankees can’t wait to see what he can do this spring.
The No. 8 prospect is 22-year-old Jake Cave, who hit a combined .294 with seven home runs and 42 RBIs between Class-A Tampa and Trenton.
Cave hits consistently from the left side. Not a big power threat, he mostly is a gap hitter. Cave is a above-average outfielder and as a former pitcher he has a great arm in center-field. He has good but not great speed but scouts love his max effort.
OVERALL POSITION ANALYSIS: GOOD
The Yankees have been snakebit for the past two seasons with injuries and the one to Beltran really derailed the outfield and caused a significant drop in run production in 2014. It is easy to say that Beltran, Ellsbury and Gardner are an excellent mix of speed, power, run production and defense but they all have to stay healthy.
The fact that Beltran has not missed a lot of time in the past indicates the odds he will be able to play a full season and he should be able to provide some power (20 plus homers) and 90 or more RBIs. The Yankees will need that from him in the No. 3 spot in the order.
Ellsbury and Gardner combined for 60 stolen bases but they should steal a whole lot more this season.
The shift of Ellsbury to the third spot cut his steals to 39 and Gardner has seemed more and more reluctant to run the last two seasons. It is hard to figure out why.
But the Yankees need both of them to get on base, advance and score runs if the team is going to succeed. There is not as much power on this team as there once was and that is why Ellsbury and Gardner will have to make the engine go.
The fact the two combined to hit 33 home runs was a bonus. The Yankees would love to have a repeat of those numbers in 2015.
The Yankees are blessed to have two backup outfielders capable of hitting double-digit homers in Young and Jones.
Young can play all three positions and Jones is a corner outfielder. But Jones likely will get more work as the team’s primary DH and as the backup to Teixeira at first base.
But Jones could also end up as a starter in right-field if Beltran goes down for any length of time.
Most of the Yankees’ most advanced outfield prospects have been major disappointments. Williams, Austin, Flores and Heathcott have all been highly touted prospects but they have flamed out so far.
Of that group, only Austin appears capable of turning it around if he can overcome his injury problems.
The best news on the farm is that Judge appears to the man-mountain power threat he appears to be. The Yankees just have to hope he can keep the strikeouts in check and keep his average up. The Yankees would like to have Judge be more like Winfield rather than Dave Kingman.
He is worth watching this spring.
NEXT: STARTING PITCHERS
Bottom of the Ninth 