Game 46. Teix wakes up. Yanks win 9-2.

Finally, Mark Teixeira seems to be over his respiratory ailment and seems to be waking up. Four hits, 2 HR and 5 RBI today.

Oakland got one off of the slow-starting CC in the first. The Yanks tied it up in the second on a HR by Cano (7).

Chavez doubled, went to second on a bunt and scored on a Jeter single to put the Yanks up 2-1 in the third. Hit #3153 for Jeter put him into 16th place on the all-time list passing Paul “Big Poison” Waner, but he wasn’t done.

A Hr by Josh Reddick tied it in the third at two apiece, but the Yanks went ahead 3-2 in the fourth on a HR by Teix (7, 321 career).

The Yanks broke it open in the fifth. Stewart singled, and Jeter beat out a bunt for a single. This bunt hit, hit #3154, put Jeter into a tie for 15th on the all-time list with George Brett. Granderson flied out, Stewart to third, then A-Rod made it 4-2 with a SF. Cano doubled, and Teixeira then singled in two to make it 6-2.

With the bases loaded in the 8th, Jeter got plunked. 7-2.

In the 9th, Teixeira got a 2-Run HR (8, 322). Finally, the Teix we have been waiting for. His HR made it 9-2.

Jeter had 2 hits, 2 rbi. Teix the 4 hits, 2 HR, 5 RBI. 3 hits for Cano. 2 hits apiece for Swish and Chavez.

CC 7 IP, 2 R, 7 H, 2 walks, 4 K. He goes to 6-2, 3.66.

Wade the eighth. 1-2-3 with 2 K. ERA to 2.08.

Eppley the 9th. 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 walk, 0 K. ERA 2.89.

A 9-2 win. Yanks now have won 4 in a row.

Game 46. Today’s lineup

This Memorial Day weekend, take time to remember what this weekend is for.

Here’s today’s lineup and stats.

Yanks 24-21, 3rd in A.L. East, 4 1/2 back.
Right now, in the 2nd W.C. slot. OPS+ 111, ERA+ 104.
Even with their Pythagorean record.

BA/HR/RBI  SB/att  OPS+
Comments at side and bottom

Jeter SS .339-5-16  3/4   127    leads AL in hits             
Granderson CF .262-14-25  1/3  141    still should run
Rodriguez DH  .285-7-18  6/6  118
Cano 2B .294-6-19  1/1  122
Teixeira 1B .231-6-23  1/2  86
Ibanez LF  .270-9-27  2/2  132
Swisher RF .243-8-29  0/0  110
Chavez 3B .279-3-6  0/0  105    .217, 1 RBI in last eight games
Stewart C .242-0-5  0/0  45     8 for 33

Sabathia LHP  5-2, 3.78  ERA+ 112

Jeter still at 3152 hits, tied with Paul Waner and two behind George Brett. Since May 4th, .240-0-1 in 75 at bats.

A-Rod is tied with the demoted (and now Dl’d) Nunez for the team lead in steals.

In his last twelve games, Teixeira is .286 with 2 HR. Maybe it’s a sign he is finally getting over the bug and coming around.

 

The minors tonight.

AAA: SWB (Empire State) won 8-7 in 10. Another lousy outing for Betances, however. 2 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 H, 4 W, 2 K. 5.59. This has been a very disappointing season for him so far. Walkoff HR by Jack Cust. ( 3 H, the HR, 3 RBI. .271-5-24). Ronnier Mustelier does it again. Just 1 for 4, but a HR, 2 RBI. AAA numbers? .293-4-11 after being called up from AA where he was hitting .353.

AA: 4-1 loss for Trenton. Shaeffer Hall 4 R, 3 ER in 6 IP. (4-5, 3.61).

High A: 7-1 win for Tampa. Sean Black 1 unearned run in 5 IP. Neil Medchill HR, 3 RBI. 3 h, 3 RBI Kyle Roller.

Low A: A 12-6 loss for Charleston. Evan Rutckyj (pronounced Root=Ski) 5 R in 1 1/3 IP. 2 h for Dante Bichette, Jr. (.250).

Game 45. 3 Hrs lead Yanks, Nova, 6-3.

The Yanks beat Oakland 6-3 behind homers by Teixeira, Cano and Swisher.

Ivan Nova went 7 and improved to 5-2, but with a still too-high ERA of 5.46. He went the 7, 3 R, 6 h, 1 walk, 4 K and 2 HR given up.

Boone Logan for the 8th, 1 Ip, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks, 1 K, 2.95.

Soriano got his 4th save. 1 IP. 0 R, 1 H, 0 walks and 2 K. 2.20.

The Yanks got 1st and 2d in the 1st, one out but got nothing.

They got a one-out double by Swisher in the 2nd, but nothing.

In the third, they got a break and capitalized on it. You never want to give a team four outs (or more) in an inning. With two out and Granderson on first, Coco Crisp (the Cereal Boy) misplayed Cano’s drive into a two-run error. 1-0 Yanks. Teix made them pay even further with a 2-run HR (#6, 320 of career). 3-0 Yankees.

The Yanks could have tacked on in the fourth. Chavez walked, Martin doubled. After Jeter made an out, Granderson was intentionally walked to load the bases. A-Rod, still looking for Grand Slam #23 to tie Gehrig’s record, GIDP.

Nova gave up a HR in the bottom of the fourth. 3-1.

The Yanks got three in the fifth. Cano led off with a HR, #6 for the season. Teix doubled but was thrown out going for 3 after the ball got away from the left fielder. Ibanez doubled and Swish hit HR #8 on the year to make it 6-1.

Nova gave one run back in the bottom of the fifth, then gave up a solo HR in the seventh.

That was it for the scoring. 6-3 Yanks, and they go to 24-21.

Game 45. Tonight’s lineup

A 10 p.m. Eastern start since the Yanks are in Oakland. I hate those West coast times (they mean staying up really late) but what can you do?

The Yanks signed John Maine to a minor league deal today. Maine didn’t pitch in the majors in 2011, nor has he this year. In 2010 the 31-yr. old RHP went 1-3, 6.13 in nine starts for the Mets. He is 41-36, 4.35 in his MLB career, ERA+ 98. His best year was 2007 for the Mets when he went 15-10, 3.91.

From Lohud’s blog:

Former Yankees outfielder Chad Curtis has been charged with five counts of criminal sexual conduct after accusations he inappropriately touched two students at a Michigan high school.

Now that’s odd. Curtis was a person who sort of ticked off some teammates because he was, as they put it, too pushy as far as his religion and beliefs. You may remember him for his two HR (one a walkoff) in Game 3 of the 1999 WS, and for catching the last out of that WS. Now to let the system find him guilty or not.

Yanks 23-21, 4th in A.L. East, 4 1/2 out. OPS+ 110, ERA+ 103. Even with their pythagorean record.

BA/HR/RBI  SB/attempts  OPS+

Jeter SS .348-5-16  3/4  134 Granderson CF .256-14-25  1/3  140 Rodriguez 3B .281-7-18  5/5  119 Cano 2B .297-5-18  1/1  122 Teixeira 1B  .226-5-21  1/2  79 Ibanez LF .263-9-27  2/2  130 Swisher RF  .236-7-27  0/0  102   really slumping lately Chavez DH .293-3-6  0/0  113 Martin C .173-4-10  1/1  74   needs to get off the “Interstate”

RHP  Nova   4-2, 5.69  ERA+ 74     Needs to do better

Jeter has 3152 career hits, tied with Paul “Big Poison” Waner and two behind George Brett on the all-time list.

A-Rod is 180 hits from 3000, and 89 RBI from 2000. The HR count is at 636, and he is 152 runs scored away from 2000.

The minors today.

AAA: 6-2 loss for SWB (Empire State). Adam Warren 4 R in 5 2/3. Steve Pearce, double, 2 RBI, .329.

AA: 4-3 win for Trenton. Cody Johnson 2 h, double, HR, 2 RBI.  23 years old, lefty hitter. 6’4″, 240. .296-12-30, 152 at bats. But 51 strikeouts. Left field. Surely not as good defensively as Gardner. But I would like to see him at AAA soon. The Strikeouts? A problem. The HR, lefty swing, RF porch?

High A: Tampa 5-2 in 10. Matt Tracy 1 R in 6 IP. Aaron Dott the win, 3 scoreless IP of relief and 5 K.

Low A: Charleston, as I write, is tied at 6 going to the bottom of the 13th. Dante Bichette, Jr. and Tyler Austin with 3 hits each.

The minors tonight.

AAA: SWB (Empire State) off. They are 24-20.

AA: 4-2 loss for Trenton. Mike O’Brien 4 R in 5 1/3. Cody Johnson (.291-11-28) solo HR. Kevin Mahoney 2 h, rbi

High A: 5-4 loss for Tampa. Kramer Sneed 4 R in 3 IP (0-4, 6.20) and Evan DeLuca 6 walks in 1 2/3. Ramon Flores, 3 h, triple. Rob Segedin 3 h, RBI. Solo HR Kyle Higashioka and Kyle Roller.

Low A: Not a good night for the minors as Charleston lost too. 6-3. Scottie Allen 6 R in 4 IP.

Game 44. Alex and Andy lead Yanks, 8-3.

Andy Pettitte proved that last week was no fluke, as he pitched seven strong innings against the Royals tonight in the Yankees’ 8-3 victory.

The win was #242 of Pettitte’s career, and enabled him to surpass fellow Yankee lefty great Herb Pennock on the all-time list. It’s Pettitte’s 205th win as a Yankee.

After Andy put down the Royals 1-2-3 in the first, the Yanks struck vs. Will Smith of the Royals. Smith, making his MLB debut, may turn out to be the Prince of KC, but he wasn’t the Prince of the Bronx—at least tonight.

Granderson homered (#14) to give the Yanks a 1-0 lead. This after he showed bunt. After a walk to Teixeira, A-Rod, who had hit only one HR since April 27th, finally hit #635 (sixth of the year) to give Pettitte an early 3-0 lead.

In the fourth, Jeter doubled for the first of his three hits for the night. Granderson singled him to third but Teix GIDP. The run scored, no RBI, Yanks up 4-0. A-Rod then homered again. #7 of the year, #636 for his career and the Yanks went up 5-0.

Pettitte gave up solo HRs in the fourth and fifth to cut the Yanks’ lead to 5-2.

The Yanks got three runs on only one hit in the fifth to push it to 8-2. Nix HBP, Jeter got a bunt hit (YAY! Littleball!) and an E-5 put men on 2nd and 3rd, no out. Granderson walked to load the bases and a walk to Teixeira forced in a run. A-Rod grounded into a force at the plate. He is still one behind Lou Gehrig’s record of 23 grand slams. Cano hit into a force, run scored. Swish HBP. Jones walked, forcing in a run.

Pettitte wound up going 7+, 2 R, 7 H, 1 walk and 8 K. He improves to 2-1, ERA to 2.53 (from 2.51).

Jeter’s 3 hits tonight tie him with Paul Waner on the all-time list at 3152. 16th on the all-time list. Next up? George Brett at 3154.

Phelps went the last two innings. 1 R, 2 H, 0 walks, 2 K. ERA to 2.87.

Hopefully this starts A-Rod on a streak where he can carry a team.

The Yanks are off Thursday as they head to the West coast. Yuk. Late night games.

One bad thing about tonight? The continued struggles of Martin, who left seven on and is down to .173.

Game 44. Teix back to 3rd in lineup today

The Yanks try to stay above .500 today. Teixeira is back up at 3rd in the lineup.

22-21, 4th in A.L. East, 5 1/2 back. Even with the Pythagorean mark, OPS+ 108, ERA+ 102.

Jeter SS .341-5-16  3/4  130  Hit count: 3149
Granderson CF .250-13-24  1/3  134  Still want him to RUN!
Teixeira 1B .229-5-20  1/2  78   Needs to get it going. 
Rodriguez 3B .276-5-15  5/5  109   See below
Cano 2B .304-5-17  1/1  127
Swisher RF .239-7-27  0/0  102  See below.
Jones DH .217-4-8  0/0  93    See below.
Martin C .179-4-10  1/1  79   See Below.
Nix LF .263-2-4  0/1  129  5 for 19. 

Pettitte LHP  1-1, 2.51. ERA+ 171.   3rd start of his comeback.

Jeter leads the AL in hits. 3 behind Waner and 5 behind Brett on the all-time list. But since May 4, hitting .231 (15 for 65), with last night’s RBI as his only RBI in that period (16 games). All hits are singles except for one double, and there have been 6 GIDP.

A-Rod has just 1 HR since 4/27. Of his 43 hits, only 10 are XBH. Where’s the power?

Swisher:  .177 since 4/28, 1 HR, 4 RBI.  11 for 62, 17 strikeouts in that span (compare lack of HR to A-Rod; same time period).

I have to wonder if Mustelier, at this point, would be a better option than Jones. Mustelier in 42 games AA/AAA? .337-8-29. 5/9 in SB.

I also have to wonder if a 40 year old Posada could hit better right now than Martin. (Not catch better, mind you…)

Pettitte is looking for career win #242, Yankee win #205.

The minors today

AAA: 6-2 win for SWB (Empire St.) Ramon Ortiz 8 IP, 2 R, 6 H, 0 walks and 4 K. Steve Pearce 2 h, .329. Mustelier 1 for 3, rbi (SF), double.

AA: Trenton with a 3-2 win. 2 h, double, RBI Cody Johnson.

High A: Caleb Cotham was promoted up here to start and he went six, one run. Nice job. Tampa got one in the 8th, 9th and 10th to win 3-2. Neil Medchill 2 h, RBI.

Low A: 5-3 loss for Charleston. Reliever Joel De La Cruz blew it by giving up 3 in the 8th. Bryan Mitchell, 2 R, 1 ER in 5 IP. Gary Sanchez (.308) 2 hits.