S.T. Game 3. Tulo homers, Yanks one-hit Jays 3-0 and Andy joins front office.

Troy Tulowitzki and Kyle Higashioka homered, and the Yankees one-hit Toronto 3-0 to go to 2-1 on the spring training schedule. Aaron Judge added a double.

Tulo, who was let go by Toronto and picked up for minimum wage by the Yankees, so far looks good after missing all of 2018 and after playing just 66 games in 2017. We’ll see if it continues. The Yanks are only picking up half a million of his $20MM contract, with the Blue Jays paying the rest.

If Tulo can get anywhere close to where he was before the injuries, the Yanks may have a steal to fill in at SS until Didi Gregorius returns from his injury. Tulo is a 5x All-Star, 2x Gold Glove winner and 2x Silver Slugger winner. He got MVP votes in six different seasons and finished in the top 10 3x (2009-2011).

He’s 34 and after having missed all of 2018 and most of 2017, will need to be monitored carefully. But people are being blown away by how good he looks. Hopefully it isn’t a mirage, and Tulo puts a good bid in for Comeback Player of the Year.

He is a .290 career hitter (granted, most in Colorado) but has hit 20 or more HR in seven different seasons, and has a career OPS+ of 118.

Like I said, if he can come somewhat close to what he used to be, the Yanks got a steal.

The Yanks’ pitching was great today.

Paxton 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 W, 2 K
German 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 3 K.
Cessa 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.
Chad Green 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K.
Diehl 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.
Holder 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.

Combined one-hitter, 2 walks, 10 K.  Cessa and German are battling for one of the few bullpen spots available. Betances, Chapman, Britton, Ottavino and Holder more or less have spots sewn up. You also have Loaisiga (who I think will continue to start, but at AAA), Farquhar, Colombe, etc. battling for those few spots also.

Andy Pettitte has agreed to join the Yankees’ front office as a special advisor, and yes, the Yankees’ great was approached by Derek Jeter to do the same for Jeter with the Marlins. At least the Yanks kept Andy. Just recently, Jorge Posada agreed to help out his old buddy Derek.

 

 

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Posada to work for Marlins and Jeter. Yanks’ pitchers and catchers report today.

Jorge Posada will be working for Derek Jeter and the Marlins. The former Yankees’ great will work as a special adviser to CEO Jeter. Just like with Jeter last year, it’ll feel funny to see a Yankees’ great working for another team.

Pitchers and catchers report today for the Yanks.

No logo for Mussina; Umpire McKean dies.

As what could be expected for someone who spent his HOF career almost even split between two franchises (10 years with Baltimore, 8 with the Yankees), Mike Mussina has decided to not have a logo on his cap on his HOF plaque.

The late Roy Halladay won’t either. In a somewhat surprising decision, his family decided no logo either. It was expected that Halladay may have a Blue Jay logo on his cap since he spent 12 years in Toronto, and 4 with the Phillies.

Mariano Rivera and Edgar Martinez only played for the Yankees and Mariners, respectively.

It was mentioned that Rivera will be the eighth HOF whose playing career was solely with the Yankees (Derek Jeter will be #9 next year). The others are Whitey Ford, Bill Dickey, Lou Gehrig, Phil Rizzuto, Earle Combs, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.

Veterans’ Committee choices Harold Baines and Lee Smith, both of whom played for various teams, will both be representing Chicago: Baines the White Sox, Smith the Cubs.

Former MLB umpire Jim McKean passed away at the age of 73. He umpired in 3 WS, 1979, 1985 and 1995.

Mariano is unanimous! Joins Halladay, Edgar and Mussina in HOF class

Mariano Rivera made history by becoming the first player unanimously elected by the writers to the baseball Hall of Fame.

Should others have been unanimous before? Sure. But what an honor.

The writers also elected the late Roy Halladay, along with Edgar Martinez and Mike Mussina.

The vote: You needed 75.0% or more. Mussina barely snuck in by seven votes. Under 5% and you are off the ballot. Fortunately, Andy Pettitte stays on.

Mariano Rivera: 425 votes (100%) — 1st year on ballot
Roy Halladay: 363 (85.4%) — 1st
Edgar Martinez: 363 (85.4%) — 10th
Mike Mussina: 326 (76.7%) — 6th
Curt Schilling: 259 (60.9%) — 6th
Roger Clemens: 253 (59.5%) — 7th
Barry Bonds: 251 (59.1%) — 7th
Larry Walker: 232 (54.6%) — 9th
Omar Vizquel: 182 (42.8%) — 2nd
Fred McGriff: 169 (39.8%) — 10th
Manny Ramirez: 97 (22.8%) — 3rd
Jeff Kent: 77 (18.1%) — 6th
Billy Wagner: 71 (16.7%) — 4th
Todd Helton: 70 (16.5%) — 1st
Scott Rolen: 73 (17.2%) — 2nd
Gary Sheffield: 58 (13.6%) — 5th
Andy Pettitte: 42 (9.9%) — 1st
Sammy Sosa: 36 (8.5%) — 7th
Andruw Jones: 32 (7.5%) — 2nd

——————— Falling off the ballot are:

Michael Young: 9 (2.1%) — 1st
Lance Berkman: 5 (1.2%) — 1st
Miguel Tejada: 5 (1.2%) — 1st
Roy Oswalt: 4 (0.9) — 1st
Placido Polanco: 2 (0.5) — 1st
Rick Ankiel: 0 –1st
Jason Bay: 0 –1st
Freddy Garcia: 0 –1st
Jon Garland: 0 –1st
Travis Hafner: 0 –1st
Ted Lilly: 0 –1st
Derek Lowe: 0 –1st
Darren Oliver: 0 –1st
Juan Pierre: 0 –1st
Vernon Wells: 0 –1st

I’d like to know who the hell voted for Placido Polanco. Really? Turn in your credentials, please.

A brief summary of the four new Hall of Famers.

Rivera. A record 652 saves. 13x All Star. 5x WS Champ. 1999 WS MVP. 2003 ALCS MVP. Led the majors in saves 3x. 2.21 career ERA. Record 205 ERA+. Record 42 postseason saves. 8-1, with an amazing 0.70 ERA in the postseason, and that too, is a record for someone who threw an x amount (I believe it’s 30 or more) postseason innings. 1995-2013 NY Yankees. 6x CYA consideration, runnerup once. MVP consideration 9x, including two top-10 finishes.

Edgar Martinez. Probably the toughest batter Mariano ever faced. 1987-2004 Seattle Mariners. 7x All Star. 5x Silver Slugger. 2 batting titles. Mostly a DH. .312 career batting average. Led league in runs scored once, doubles twice. RBI once. 100 or more RBI in a season 6x. Hit .300 or better 10x. 309 career HR. 147 career OPS+. 5x MVP consideration, twice in the top 10. .266 in the postseason with 8 HR.

Halladay. 203 career wins. CYA in each league. 2x CYA winner, 2 more runnerup finishes. 8x All Star. Perfect game. Postseason no-hitter. 3x 20-game winner. 3.38 ERA. ERA+ 131. Led league in wins 2x, games started once. Complete games 7x. Shutouts 4x. Innings pitched 4x.  7x CYA consideration, 2x top-10 MVP. 3-2, 2.37 in the postseason. 1998-2009 Blue Jays, 2010-2013 Phillies. Killed piloting his plane at the age of 40 in November 2017. I would think he would enter the HOF as a Blue Jay, since he had much more time with them.

Mussina. 270 career wins. Orioles 1991-2000, Yankees 2001-2008. 20 game winner once, in his final season, when he also led the league in games started (He did that twice). 5x All Star. 7 Gold Gloves. Led league in wins once, winning % once. Shutouts once, innings pitched once. ERA+ of 123, ERA 3.68 pitching in the AL East in home parks that were home run havens. 9x CYA consideration, runnerup once. MVP consideration 3x. 7-8, 3.42 in the postseason. He has said that he can’t decide between the Orioles and Yankees and may go in with a blank cap out of respect for both franchises.

If I missed something on the four above, forgive me. Just a brief thumbnail highlight for each. Can’t write forever!

The HOF tracker got about 55% of the vote that was publicized. Of the 45% not publicized, those writers were tougher and numbers went down. They also weren’t as kind to the steroid guys like Clemens, Bonds and Manny Ramirez. The 55% publicized had Schilling, Clemens and Bonds around 72%. You can see they all wound up with about 59-60%. Larry Walker was around 65%, wound up with 54.6%. Numbers are usually lower than what the tracker shows, steroids or no steroids. Halladay and Martinez were running on the tracker at 94 and 90%, both got 85%. Mussina was running at 81% and made it by seven votes at the 76.7%.

Of course, Mo stayed consistent, getting every vote.

With Bonds and Clemens gaining little from last year, it appears that neither will get in via the writers, and the veterans committee of former players years down the road may be a tougher row to hoe because those players may have an even bigger axe to grind against players who cheated against them.

Now will Derek Jeter next year be the SECOND unanimously elected player?

In other news…. Al Leiter is leaving the YES network to spend more time with his family. He will still do work for the MLB network.

Game 143. Yanks go 2 for 15 w/RISP, lose, 3-2, see WC lead shrink to 2 1/2 games.

The Yanks (89-54) are hearing footsteps.

By losing to Seattle, 3-2 today, the Yanks lead over Oakland for the top wild card spot shrunk to 2 1/2 games.

Time to get nervous, Yankees fans.

What killed the Yanks today was that they were 2 for 15 w/RISP.

This team doesn’t bunt, as I mentioned at our recent Lehigh Valley Yankee Fan Club Meeting. 10 sacrifices all year. I mentioned that in the old days, Phil Rizzuto would have had that many at the All-Star break.  (Rizzuto led the majors 1949-1952).

In 1930, Babe Ruth (BABE RUTH!) had 21 sacrifice bunts. Lou Gehrig had at least 10 each season from 1925-1930, including 21 for the great 1927 squad. Joe DiMaggio had 6 in 1939.

As recently as 2004, Derek Jeter had 16. That is 6 more than the WHOLE YANKEES TEAM has this season.

The game has changed, and not for the better. Instead of a well-rounded team, you have teams that rely strictly on the HR, don’t hit-and-run, can’t steal bases and don’t bunt runners over. Sound familiar?

MeanwAnhile, Seattle won the game because they DID bunt a runner over.

The Yanks scored in the top of the first when Stanton and Andujar had back-to-back doubles.

But after getting the first two guys out in the bottom of the first, CC gave up four straight singles. Two runs. Seattle up 2-1.

Now, for a rookie manager, I think Boone has done a good job. How can you argue with 89-54? But….

I realize he was hired to project more calm as opposed to Girardi’s tenseness. But still, there are times when you have to light a fire under the team and bitch them out if necessary.

Girardi’s strength was bullpen management. Some of Boone’s bullpen decisions I question.

But I think the most questions I have regarding Boone is his lineups. Nothing consistent, and the biggest problem I have is this:

Why does he continue to bat Gary Sanchez 4th (as he did today) or 5th in the lineup? Sanchez is now hitting .181 on the season. What other manager bats a guy hitting .180 something 4th or 5th in the lineup? When will Boone ride the hot hand and have Voit cleanup, Torres 5th and have Sanchez and Walker 6th or 7th, instead of Sanchez 4th and Walker 5th?

Here are the numbers and today’s lineup. Batting averages as of the game’s finish.

4th. Sanchez .181 (PR for by Wade later, Romine finishing the game).
5th. Walker .221
6th. Voit .306
7th. Torres .280

Now, based on that, who should be batting 4 and 5, and who should be hitting 6 and 7?

Really?

Three singles and a bases-loaded walk to McCutchen tied the game in the fourth. But they had the bases loaded, no out and only scored that one run. No bunt by Hechevarria or Gardner with the bases loaded, and Stanton grounded out.

Voit doubled to lead off the sixth. He was left stranded. Torres nor Hechevarria with a bunt.

In the bottom of the eighth, a walk, steal, sac bunt and fielder’s choice brought in the winning run for Seattle.

Littleball, which the Yanks need to employ.

You can’t just rely on the HR. They didn’t get any today, and lost 3-2 as a result.

Andujar 2 hits, RBI
Voit 2 hits (once again, why him 6th, and .181 Sanchez 4th?)

Sabathia 5 IP, 2 R, 7 H, 1 W, 4 K.  3.54
Green 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 3 K.  2.54
Betances (L, 4-5, 2.56) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 2 K.

Game 15. Yanks maul Marlins, 12-1.

You kind of wish this didn’t happen against two Yankees’ legends, CEO (Yankees #2) Derek Jeter and manager (Yankees #23) Don Mattingly of the Miami Marlins, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

The best way, it seems, for teams to get healthy right now is to play one of the Florida teams, the Rays or Marlins, because both stink.

Still, you have to win the game. The Yanks, playing after two days of rain outs, pounded the Marlins 12-1 to go to 8-7 on the season.

Going into the game, the Yanks were the perfect .500 team at 7-7. What do I mean by perfect? They scored 77 runs, and gave up 77 runs. The offense was 10% above league average, the pitching 10% below league average. If that isn’t a perfect .500 team, what is?

Before the game, some news. Jacoby Ellsbury is morphing into Carl Pavano. First a rib cage injury, then a hip injury, now it is his plantar fascitis. He hasn’t played a game for the Yanks yet, hasn’t played since how many weeks ago in spring training, is the #5 OF, is owed $68 million over this year and the next two…. Sheesh.

As for Brandon Drury, he is taking meds to calm down the migraines, but still has blurry vision. Blurry vision he says he has had over the last several years, and he admits to stepping in the batter’s box with the blurry vision! Which makes what he has done in the majors so far that much more impressive and scary. Blurry vision while facing a 100 MPH fastball? No thanks. Get that vision and migraines taken care of and hopefully, the situation isn’t major.

If he was a good player with blurry vision, what could he become with clear vision?

Now to the game. A mauling which you wish didn’t happen against Donnie and Derek, but what can you do?

Ex-Yankee Caleb Smith (there with the Yanks briefly last year) started for the Marlins and got mauled.

The Yanks scored in each of the first five innings.

In the first, Gardner singled,  Judge walked. Stanton walked to load the bases. After Didi popped up (He would make up for it later), Sanchez’ IF single brought home a run. After Hicks popped up, Austin walked to make it 2-0.

In the second, Judge homered (4) to make it 3-0. Judge became the fastest player ever to 60 career HR.

In the third, two more runs. Didi walked, Sanchez singled. Hicks doubled both home. 5-0.

In the fourth, with two out, Stanton was HBP. Didi hit a HR, his first of two on the night, to make it 7-0.

To the fifth, and the Yanks put up four more to make it 11-0. Austin led off with a double and Andujar doubled to make it 8-0. Torreyes singled Andujar to third. Gardner walked. Judge singled in a run. After two outs, Sanchez singled in two to make it 11-0.

In the seventh, Didi hit his second HR of the game (5) to make it 12-0.

Meanwhile, Severino was dealing. 6 IP, no runs, one hit. Miami got its only run of the game in the eighth, after Seve was out of the game.

15 hits, 8 walks, 1 HBP.

Didn’t realize. Jace Peterson back with the team…

Gardner 2 hits, walk, 2 runs scored.
Judge 2 hits, HR, 2 runs scored, 1 walk.
Didi 2 hits, both HR, 3 RBI, scored 3 runs. Walked. How he has developed.
Sanchez 3 hits, scored one run, drove in 3. Starting to heat up. Walk.
Hicks 2 RBI, walk
Austin 2 hits, rbi, walk.
Andujar 2 hits, scored one, drove one in. Walk. He’s starting to get hot.

Some guys, notably Andujar and Sanchez, seem to be picking it up. A good sign. Getting Hicks back helps, too.

Severino (W 3-1, 2.63) 6 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 8 K
Warren 1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 W, 2 K. 3.18
Shreve 1 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 W, 1 K. 0.00
Betances 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K. 7.04

Sad NBA note. #15 for the Philadelphia 76ers, G Hal Greer, passed away on April 14 at the age of 81. A great guard for the 76ers in the 1960s, and on their 1967 NBA title team.

From Wikipedia:

He played for the Syracuse Nationals / Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1958 through 1973. A guard, Greer was a 10-time NBA All-Star and was named to the All-NBA Second Team seven times. He was named to the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team and he had his uniform number retired by the 76ers.

Greer had an unusual but highly effective free throw technique, shooting a jump shot from the charity stripe. He is usually considered the third-best guard of the 1960s, behind Oscar Robertson and fellow West Virginia native Jerry West.

 

 

 

Game 5. 2 HR, 8 RBI for Didi in 11-4 Yanks’ win.

It is hard to follow a legend, but Didi Gregorius is doing a good job of doing so.

Last season, Didi hit 25 HR to set a new Yankees’ record for HR by a SS, breaking Derek Jeter’s record.

Today, in the Yanks’ home opener, he set a record for RBI by a Yankees’ SS in a game with eight.

He picked up Giancarlo Stanton, who in his first home game as a Yankee, went 0 for 5 with 5 strikeouts. If 0 for 4 with 4 strikeouts is known as the golden sombrero, is what Stanton did called the platinum sombrero?

But hey, it takes a team. When Didi cools off, that is when you hope Stanton and Sanchez (now 1 for 19) take off.

With the 11-4 win over the Rays on a miserable, cold, rainy day, the Yanks go to 3-2 on the season.

The Yanks struck first. In the bottom of the second, Didi, who was 4 for 4, scored 3 runs and drove in eight, hit a double. With one out, Neil Walker walked, and with two out, Tyler Wade singled in Didi. Wade would be robbed of his first MLB HR later in the game.

A single, walk and error by Drury enabled the Rays to tie the game in the top of the third. It would have been more, but Gardner, after catching a fly out, nailed ex-Yankee Rob Refsnyder at the plate as Refsnyder was trying to tag up and score.

Didi hit the first of his two three-run HRs in the bottom of the third to put the Yanks up 4-1.

Jordan Montgomery only gave up one run in five innings. The first time through the rotation, the starters have given up 0, 1, 2 (1 earned), 1 and 1 run. Good. Now to go deeper into the games, as they have lasted 5 2/3, 6, 5, 4+ and 5 innings. Need a little more length.

The bullpen was supposed to be a strength, but it has been shaky so far and was again today. Jonathan Holder replaced Montgomery in the sixth and after a strikeout, gave up a double, single, single to make it 4-2, and single to load the bases. Out he went and in came Kahnle. Kahnle got a big strikeout but then gave up a double that tied the game up before a ground out ended the inning.

In the bottom of the seventh, Tyler Austin doubled and Brett Gardner put down a sac bunt. An error on the bunt enabled Austin to score and Gardner to reach second. Aaron Judge singled Gardner to third and after Stanton struck out, Didi hit his second three-run HR of the game to make it 8-4.

In the bottom of the eighth, with one out, Tyler Wade and Tyler Austin walked. Brett Gardner beat out an infield hit to load the bases and Aaron Judge walked to force in a run. After Stanton struck out yet again, Didi blooped a 2-run single to make it 11-4 and complete his 4 for 4, 8 RBI, 2 HR day.

Gardner 2 hits. Scored 3 runs.
Judge 2 hits, scored twice. Walked twice. RBI.
Stanton 0 for 5 with 5 strikeouts.
Didi 4 for 4, 2 HR, double, scored 3 runs, Drove in 8.
Sanchez 0 for 5, 1 for 19 for the season. Slow start.

Montgomery 5 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 4 W, 4 K.
Holder (H) 1/3 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 0 W, 1 K. Silly hold rule
Kahnle (BS, Win) 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 4 K
Robertson 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K.
Shreve 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.

I won’t post stats until we are further along into the season.

Jacoby Ellsbury, trying to get over an oblique strain and expected back later this week, has apparently turned into Carl Pavano. Now, while rehabbing the oblique strain, he has hurt his hip. No timetable for him to be back.

With all the outfield injuries, the Yanks picked up Trayce Thompson off the Dodgers on waivers. Thompson’s dad, Mychal, played for the Lakers with Magic and Kareem in the late 1980s, and his brother Klay is with the Golden State Warriors.

Trayce is 27 and can play all three OF positions. A righty bat, he only got in 27 games for the NL Champion Dodgers last year, going 6 for 49, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 1 HR, 2 RBI.

He spent 2015 with the White Sox and 2016 and 2017 with the Dodgers. In 151 MLB games, 407 AB (about the equivalent of one full season), he has just a .233 batting average but does have 19 HR and 50 RBI. OPS+ 103. He didn’t play in the postseason with the Dodgers.