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July 20, 2007

Gaining Ground

by @ 4:56 pm. Filed under 2007 Season

Alright, the Yankees picked up a few games after a series win over the Jays and with the benefit of a three game losing streak by the Red Sox, the Yankees now sit a much more manageable seven games down.  We’re also going to see what Shelly Duncan can do at the big league level because he just got a bump and Philip Hughes has to be getting close.  Help is coming just in time.

And with the trade deadline coming up, you know the Boss is itching to make a move.  Starting pitching is the priority but it’ll be interesting to see who’s giving what up.  Dontrelle Willis would look good in a Yankee uniform.  Adam Dunn would also be a nice pick up.  So far, it looks like the Yankees aren’t biting with Andy Phillips doing a nice job at first base but Dunn would be a huge addition, you just have to consider the price.

Chien-Ming Wang is making a believer out of me.  I thought his 2006 season was a bit more then what we should expect from him but he’s come back this and done a very nice job.  He has ten wins and that’s after missing close to a month.  He doesn’t strike people out, but he doesn’t walk anyone either and he keeps the ball down and doesn’t normally get tagged with a big inning.

A-Rod is already coming up on 100 RBIs and if he doesn’t win the MVP, it’ll be a tragedy.  He’s three short of last year’s total and four short of hitting the 500 milestone.

The Yankees go up against the Rays again, and they’re down 4-0 in the opener.  If the Yanks can’t come back, it’d be nice if they took the last two and have something to build on heading into the new week. 

July 15, 2007

On Scene Report Of This Afternoon’s Game

by @ 5:02 pm. Filed under 2007 Season

A friend of mine who lives in Tampa went to the Yankees/Devil Rays game this afternoon.  Here’s what he had to say about the game…..

In front of a pack house at the Trop–estimated by RB to be 20,000 Yankees fans and 15,000 Devil Rays fans.  The Yanks fans were a lot louder too!

It was a fantastic game. The Rays got out to a quick start, jumping on Mussina. They scored 2 runs in the
first inning and 1 the next inning, while the Yankee bats were stagnant. A-Rod continued his terrible ways
as of late by watching a fastball down the middle blow by him. Edwin Jackson looked good early on.

Moose hung in there on the mound just enough to enable the Yanks to mount a comeback. The combination of Edwin tiring on the mound in my opinion, and Yankee determination opened things up for the Bronx Bombers.

The game moved into a seesaw affair starting in the 5th inning.  In the fifth, Robinson Cano started things off with a nice hit. Andy Phillips then came to the plate and was very aggressive, hitting the snot out of the ball–a triple. I was impressed with him today. He didn’t back down at the plate, and made two fabulous plays at first, one a game-saver. He looks like the real deal to me. The heck with that back-stabber Giambi. He’s DONE.

After back-up catcher Will Nieves knocked Philips in, the Yanks were down 3-2. Then came Jeter to the plate.  As usual, the crowd went ballastic, blowing the roof off the place in support. Jeter could run for
mayor in St. Petersburg and win easily. He doesn’t even have a residence in that dump either–it’s in
Tampa. Well, Jetes blasted a 2-run homer to right field. The crowd could barely contain itself. The
Yanks were up 4-3.

The Yanks trailed, 5-4, with one out in the eighth, when a Robinson Cano hit a solid sacrifice fly to deep
left field, scoring Alex Rodriguez to tie the game. Alex finally got a hit, but is 1-10 as of late, and
looks bothered by something–hopefully not all the media talk about his contract. He botched a weak hit
to him earler in the game. Once again, Andy Phillips came up big, smoking a single to left and advanced to
second as teammate Hideki Matsui beat the throw home for the go-ahead run. Derek Jeter then showed why he is all-world by beating out a bases-loaded single for an insurance run before the inning was over.

Joe Torre pulled a bone-head move by brining in lame Kyle Farnsworth in the 8th. The result was a run and string of nervous energy by the 20,000+ fans. Luckily, the Rays couldn’t muster anything else, leaving the Yanks up 7-6.

Mariano came in the 9th and made it interesting. If it were not for a great double play by A-Rod on 3rd to
Phillips on first, who knows what would have happened. But the end result was a save and 7-6 Yankees
victory! The boys are now +1 above .500 since June 22 with an 8-game homestand on deck.

July 11, 2007

Yankees Have Ten Games to Make Up

by @ 7:37 am. Filed under 2007 Season

Ten games.  That’s a nice even number and that’s how many games the Yankees have to make up in the second half of the season to catch the Red Sox.  More importantly, they’re just nine games back in the loss column so one of those games the Yanks can make up just by winning.  A big reason the deficit isn’t larger is because the Tigers helped us out by sweeping the Red Sox heading into the break.

The team MVP is a no brainer and that’s A-Rod.  In fact he’s the league MVP right now and he’ll need to keep up his current pace if the Yankees are going to make a run.  Jorge Posada is probably a close second with his best season of his career.  The guy who has to step it up is Bobby Abreu.  A .725 OPS isn’t going to cut it and we all know Abreu has it in him to put together a solid second half.  He may not provide the power, but he can provide a great secondary table setter to Derek Jeter.

Johnny Damon also has to step it up, although we all know he’s been playing through an injury.  His OPS is .683 and he’s hitting just .245.  If there’s one positive, it’s that he’s stolen 15 bases without getting caught but even turning some singles into doubles probably doesn’t even get his slugging up to .400.

Here’s one odd thing in looking at the Yankees’ team statistics.  You have A-Rod at 30 homeruns and no other then Hideki Matsui with 11, no other Yankee has more then nine.  Last year, the Yankees had four players with 23 or more.  One guy the Yankees are missing is Gary Sheffield, who’s shining at DH for the Tigers.

And we haven’t gotten to the pitching.  I’ll give them a chance to shine in the Yanks upcoming series before getting on them.  Anyway, I really enjoyed Bronx is Burning.  A little overly dramatic but it’s a cool hour of television especially after following the team over at Yankees History.

Next up is four against the Devil Rays.  Three of four is pretty much a neccesity and sweep would always be nice.  The Red Sox take on the Blue Jays so the Yanks will either pick up ground on the Red Sox along with the Jays or pass them up in the standings.  One of them has to lose, which is a good thing.

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