Week Twelve
(June 20th – June 26th)
“Happy Daze Ahead”
Here is a list of the next few issues…
-Next week WEDNESDAY JUNE 29th: Mets vs. Yankees Part 2 will have another breakdown of both ball clubs’ advantages/disadvantages. WEEK #13
-Following week - JULY 6th, this is another special WEDNESDAY issue WEEK #14. It will deal with the 1st half of the 2011 baseball season. This will contain all the good, the bad, the ugly and the surprising throughout the MLB.
-I will not return with a new issue until July 25th. However, I will jump in periodically with some thoughts as one thing will never stop no matter where I am and that’s Adam Hammer’s Loose Lips. He can’t be stopped for no wedding or any distraction what-so-ever, so he will, like my-self drop a few thoughts as the days pass. So keep checking out baseballintheboroughs.blogspot.com for anything new over those two weeks. It will surely be interesting.
-JULY 25th “The Catch-up” issue will cover from All-Star Break to that week.
Again I thank all of you and your honesty.
Enjoy another issue for your reading pleasure,
Doctor Kas
New York Yankees
(41 - 29)
2nd place/1.5GB
The Past: (Week Eleven): Texas Rangers: (Sweep 3-0) Power! Power! Power! The Yankees exploded in the first two games of the series against the 7-0 Alexi Ogando, who pretty much has had two bad starts all year. Bad thing for the Rangers is that those two bad starts are against the Yankees. A team they could face in the first round of the playoffs. The Yankees won 12-4 in part because of another big day from Curtis Granderson hitting his 21st HR of the season already in month three and knocking in 4 RBI’s. Then in game two the Yankees put on almost an identical show winning again 12-4 this time against Mr. Holland’s Opus. This time the Yankees hit 5 HRs in the game, two by Mark Teixeira from both sides of the plate and Cano’s second in as many games. The Captain’s replacement, the error throwing Nunez showed unprecedented power by hitting his 2nd of the season and Pena smacked his first into the bleachers at Yankee Stadium. It would’ve been tough for Ivan Nova to lose this game, but he tried. He fell into a hole early giving up two runs in the 1st inning and two more in the 3rd as the Yankees needed to battle back from a 4-3 deficit after the first three innings. The Yankees bullpen of virtually unknowns (Ayala, Wade & Marquez) at the beginning of the season held off the heavy hitting Ranger lineup for the last 3 and a third innings giving up only three hits. Game three of the series took a bit longer to capture the “W”, but the fans needed to see a little Mariano Rivera anyway. He pitched two innings of scoreless ball in the 9th and 10th on Thursday afternoon appearing in his 1,006th game. Mo moved to 13th on the all time appearance list and helped keep Texas at bay while the Yankees required 11 innings to win 3-2 to sweep the series. The confidence is riding high even without the Captain at short-stop.
Jeter’s replacement Nunez helped out in the first two games before going 0-3 in the rubber match. As I said, he had one of the 5 home runs in game two, exciting the crowd in the Bronx in a long overdue effort. The fans are content with the Yankees position on top of the Wild Card race, but being only 1 ½ games out of first and nine of your losses are to the division leading Red Sox still has to make all Yankee fans damn comfortable. You don’t want to see Boston win the AL East, but in the long run you just want to get into the postseason…that’s the ultimate goal and the Yankees are getting the job done. Everyone’s bat, excluding Francisco Cervelli's, are having no trouble smacking the ball around the field and over the wall at will.
.On Thursday the Yankees threw in a curveball starting Brian Gordon on the hill and the guy got the job done. With only three relief appearances in his past for Texas in 2008, the question brew…why did they go with him? Who knows, with all the prospects they have in the system you figured you might recognize thee someone/anyone Girardi puts on the mound. Maybe Adam Hammer has the answer to that. Gordon did pitch well, like I said, going 5 and a third giving up 2 runs while walking 3 and striking out 3. Not too shabby against a tough lineup. Our little big man Curtis is staying hot, Cano’s bat is coming around (especially if you give him a hanging breaking ball), and very interestingly Brett Gardner has worked his average up to .286 as he came into the game late and went 2 for 2 delivering the game winning hit. When the Yankees are working on all cylinders they are such a thrilling team to watch. Russell Martin was back behind the plate after missing seven of the last eight games thriving in a funk of 2 for his last 31 before yesterday. He went 2 for 4 with an RBI and a walk. After the game he said his back feels better than last week, it’s “pretty much a non-issue for me as long as I take care of it before the games and make sure I stretch and stuff”. Duh. Martin continued, “...I felt good.” Good, cause Cervelli is a prom-night dumpster baby.
Chicago Cubs series: (2-1) Well the Yankee fans across the nation did it again in Chicago this weekend. Record breaking crowds filled Wrigley Field with every game. On Friday afternoon the Cubs ivy covered walls was witnessed by the biggest crowd of the season. By Saturday’s 4pm start the place held 17 extra fans, on Sunday night 41,828 people showed up to see a great game until the top of the 9th. That’s when things got sloppy.
Before this, the Cubbies came out big in game one beating New York, who seemed to forget their bats back at in the Yankees locker room. Doug Davis pitched his best game of the season lasting 7 and a third and taking the Cubs to a surprising series opener win 3-1. On the positive side Freddy Garcia did his job pitching 7 innings himself, but the run support was non-existent. Game two was on FOX across the country and Ryan Dempster and A.J. Burnett went at it. Both were a bit wild and both only lasted into the 6th inning. Oddly enough it was only 3-2 at that point. By the 8th inning the Yankees had 18 base runners and only 3 runs…very very confusing. By the skin of their teeth the Yanks pulled out a hard fought 4-3 victory and the interested fans went into Sunday night’s rubber match understanding that CC was going up against Randy Wells…
Former Yankee lead-off man Alfonso Soriano set the stage in the third inning and hit his 14th homer of the season off of CC giving the Cubs a quick 4-1 lead, but if you are a 29-41 record team and only 16-21 at home you can almost foresee the future. The Bronx Bombers fought and scrapped their way back to tie the game at 4-4 until the Top of the 8th. With the regularly reliable Sean Marshall on the mound for the Cubs after pitching a scoreless 7th, Alex Rodriguez led off the 8th with a base hit. Robinson Cano then ripped a single making it 1st and 3rd with no outs. Time for a pitching change. What would normally be Kerry Wood’s spot in the game, the Cubs manager had to rely on Chris Carpenter (not of St. Louis) to get some outs. First pitch high and outside to left hand hitting Nick Swisher…second pitch, high and outside for a 2-0 count. Third pitch Nick was swinging…high and over the plate…I think they refer to this as the “wheelhouse”. Nick Swisher pulled a bomb over the right field fence and the Yankees never looked back. The added three more runs in the 9th and won 10-4. It was an exciting series in the famous Wrigley Field ballpark and Yankee fans can fly away happy. The Yankees have won 8 out of their last 10 games and seem to be headed in the right direction.
THIS WEEK
Monday - Wednesday
Yankees @ Reds
7:10pm, 7:10pm, 12:35pm
Great American Ballpark is known for being a paradise for the long ball hitters, and we know how well the Yankees are at putting some distance on the ball when their bats take a swing. The Reds are sitting behind St. Louis and Milwaukee by only 2 games in the NL Central and looking to prove last year was no fluke. Johnny Cueto will face Ivan Nova tonight to get things going and Brian Gordon will get his chance to make another impression again on Tuesday night as Bartolo Colon is not ready to go yet. The Reds could be a playoff team this year with Joey Votto and the surging Jay Bruce leading the offense this season. This series should be offensively charged and I can already see leads being blown late in the game by both sides. If you like power and watching hitters earn their millions this is one series to catch.
Friday – Sunday
Rockies @ Yankees
7:05pm, 1:05pm, 2:05pm *(Old-timers game at 11:30am)
Another great offensive team rolls into Yankee Stadium as the Car-go and Tulo tandem takes center stage this weekend. The Rockies are certainly playing less than stellar ball and are worse off than were projected at the beginning of the season. They are one game under .500 at 35-36 after a great start in April. The Yankees scored 42 runs last week topping the majors and they will need every bit of their lineup to be working on all cylinders to have a winning record for this week. Two very interesting interleague match-ups this week for the Yankees should really keep all eyes tuned in as the reach for Boston needs to stay close as we head towards the end of the first half of the 2011 season. The Rockies and Reds still have the potential to make a run for the World Series so it will be interesting seeing how these two series play out.
EXTRA NEWS: For the Staten Island Yankees, Phil Hughes pitches 61 pitches, throwing 41 for strikes as he muscled through 4 and a third innings on Sunday night. “The main thing right now is that the arm feels good,” Phil stated after his appearance. His fastball was clocked at 94 MPH and his biggest blunder was a solo homerun he gave up.
(An extended “weak” long prediction 4 - 2)
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New York Mets
(35 - 37)
Tied for 3rd place/9.5 GB
The Past (Week Eleven): Atlanta Braves: (Won 2-1) Oh, those Mets…should’ve had an 8-2 road trip, but it was 6-4. Should’ve swept the Braves, but they won the series 2-1. Not bad, not negative and not awful, but certainly could have made a stronger statement before leaving Atlanta on Thursday night.
Jose Reyes and the Flushing Crew have been playing competitive ball the past couple weeks and at this point they are 29-21 over the past 50 games after a dismal 5-13 start to the season. Of course the team has many question marks and unresolved problems but they are by no means dead in the water. There is life in Queens and as the Mets fans say, “You gotta believe!”
Jon Niese out pitched Atlanta’s best in Jair Jurrjens, who has now given up more than one run in only two games this season…both against the Mets.
On Wednesday night, possible rookie of the year, Dillon Gee could only be stopped short of his eighth victory by Mother Nature. 
Dillon Gee and the Mets were up 3-0 as the lightning struck and rain pissed on down from the heavens in the Top of the 5th inning. Just short of an official game. Gee had 5 strikeouts in 4 innings and only surrendered one hit up until that point. After the second rain delay of the night DJ Carrasco came out to finish what Gee started and did so willingly. He pitched two strong and then Bobby Parnell earned his first victory of the season after pitching two scoreless innings himself while striking out 5 Braves. The Atlanta Braves bats must have been water-logged as nothing was done to attack the Mets early lead.
The final game of the series was Chipper “Larry” Jones day again against the Mets. He went 3 for 4 with a monster HR and 5; count them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 more RBI’s. The Mets had their chances though to sweep the series in style with a 2-0 lead, then a 6-5 lead after 5 innings. R.A. Dickey pitched average ball once again, not dominating with his crazy knuckle-yuck pitch. The Mets continued to add on to their comeback lead and made it 8-5 after all but one inning was left in the game. This of course was until Frankie “sucks under pressure” Rodriguez blew the game up in the 9th. He gave up a 2-run shot to the pinch-hitting Conrad and the Carrasco couldn’t hold the Braves in the 10th. Actually he did hold something…the god damn ball too long a balked the game running run home from third. That’s right, he BALKED. Wow. Another Mets heartbreaker, but we’ve seen it all before and we continue to never be fully surprised.
Angels of Anaheim series: I’m not going to lie, because I refuse to do that to my loyal readers who take time out of their busy day to read this piece…I completely missed the first two games of this series. No highlights, no radio, no paper trail, no nothing. It wasn’t about losing interest; it was about simply missing all 18 innings in the first two games flat out. I heard the Angels and Mets split the first two. I heard Jason Bay was actually getting on base. I heard Mike Pelfrey not only won a game, but pitch a complete game to boot, the first to do so for the Mets this season. I heard Jose Reyes was still hot. I heard the Angels old-ass outfield is working against them. I questioned about Mike palfrey and was told “yeah, he pitched real well…one run in 9 innings from our ‘ace’ isn’t bad.” I heard all this and made sure I caught the last game. Jon Niese was on the hill looking to keep the Mets in the right direction and possibly win 3 out of their last 4 series with one being a 2-2 tie against the Pirates. No dice. Niese, like my-self the past two days forgot the Mets even had a game. He gave up eight hits in 4 innings, giving up 4 ERs and departing after only 67 pitches. How does a guy pitch so well against the Braves earlier in the week then fall apart on Father’s Day? Manny Acosta continued to disappoint his father by giving up two HRs in the 6th and 7th innings and the Mets fell flat losing 7-3.
THIS WEEK
Tuesday - Thursday
A’s @ Mets
7:10pm, 7:10pm, 1:10pm
The Yankees took care of business sweeping the Oakland A’s a little over a week ago and now it’s the Mets turn to do so. The A’s come in riding a 5 game winning streak, but their offense is filled with nothing. Josh Willingham added a small about of power to the struggling offense and the other two new comers in Matsui and DeJesus are both batting a miserable .222 and .229. The Mets continue to flirt with .500 and if they can keep it this close without two of their best bats in Wright and Davis you have to understand that this team is not doing as bad as people perceive. Let’s not forget about having staff Ace Johan Santana all year as well. They have a ton of work to do, but continue to be involved in the Wild Card race. The aging Coco Crisp can cause havoc in a ballpark like Citi Field if he hits some gaps, but his .262 average shows less threat then his speed can show on the base paths.
Friday – Monday
Mets @ Rangers
8:05pm, 4:05pm, 3:05pm
This is the series that doesn’t look to be a fun experience for the Mets. The rangers are only 2 games over .500 on top of the AL West, but we all know they are better than that. They’ve lost 7 of their last 10 games, but continue to play hard at home. 20-13 against a Met team who is 19-18 away from the confined space at Citi Field could even things out, however like a Phillies series, if the Mets steal one here on the road it’s possible to be a positive note for a team that has had awful DL luck and the hard-nose media on their backs all year. It will be exciting for the Mets to play in front of a Texas crowd and I’m sure this will pump their blood and fuel a fire that needs to be struck with a match first if they take care of business at home against Oakland first. The possibility of a Mets turn-a-round this year is still in the cards as they sit only 4 ½ games back in the Wild card situation. I’ll tell you one thing, Florida is on a 10 game skid and we know the Mets are a better team than the Nats, so the taking of 3rd place should be all there’s this week.
EXTRA NEWS: David Wright threw some long toss with a trainer and took some ground balls on his knees. Ha! (Exactly what a report said in the NY Post). Second baseman or third basemen or whatever, Justin Turner said his bruised thumb is not an issue to be concerned about.
(An extended “weak” long prediction 4 - 2)
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Living in a Fantasy 1-2-3:
- Who Thrilled It? – 1& 2. The New York Yankees coming into Chicago to play at the historic Wrigley Field really made me reflect on my love of this game. No matter how bad and embarrassing at times the Cubs are they will forever be a part of the long history of baseball. This series made me think of great conversations with my grandfather and father about the sport and to have it all go down on Father’s Day weekend it really sent a chill down my spine. 3. I’m sorry, I apologize, but I have to go back to Detroit here and talk about Justin Verlander. The guy has been so damn dominant that it seems he’s unhittable. He has pitched no less than eight innings in each of his last seven starts and after pitching 2 consecutive CG’s this week bringing his total to three for the year. Add a thrilling adventure to the already spectacular 2.54 ERA, he took a no hitter into the 7th inning in his first game earlier this week.
- Who’s on Deck? – 1. I’m tired of being wrong so much in this section because every time a young player has a sweet week and I mention his name the bastard turns cold and makes me want to bury my head in the sand. I’m personally having a down year in the Fantasy World so maybe I just have too much confidence in the wrong players. For these reasons I will make this quick. Keep your eyes on Anthony Rizzo the San Diego 1B. 2. Seattle’s new 2B Dustin Ackley, who hit his 1st home run this past week, and is batting .273 in two weeks of play. 3. The Royals have a ton of talent in the minors so I can choose from many, this week I’ll go out on a limb and say Danny Duffy has potential. He has struggled in seven starts so far, but could be turning the corner as he struck out 9 St’ Louis batters in only 3 and two thirds. Earlier in the week he picked up his first career win against Oakland. I bet you thought I was going to say Mike Moustakas, but no no my friends…not yet.
Adam Hammer’s Loose Lips
- The Yankees visited Wrigley and the Brewers visited Fenway. The visits were similar to the last visit Sharon Tate received. Despite playing mediocre baseball, the Yankees won 2 of 3 from the Cubs and destroyed them on Sunday. Forget sending the Astros to the AL, how about the Cubs to Triple A?
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Francisco Rodriguez blew a save in the 9th and the Mets lost in the 10th on a balk-off. The Mets really won here, one less game finished by K-Rod!
- Jack McKeon at the age of 80 is going to be named the new manager of the Marlins. In other news, The Marlins have sold the naming rights to the new stadium. It will be called "Depends Field."
ON A SIDE NOTE
- ESPN came out with their franchise rankings this past week. The Angels, a team that acquired Vernon Wells and his $86 million left on his deal, is paying Gary Matthews Jr. $11 million to play for the Reds Triple A team, is paying Scott Kazmir $14.5 million not to be on the team came in first. The Marlins, Pirates and Orioles were among the teams that finished ahead of the Yankees and Red Sox who came in at 22 and 24 respectively. Sometimes you just can't make a joke.....
And now for your reading pleasure…
***
The Future; According to the Late-Great George Carlin
“The oceans will dry up, and people will find things they dropped in the toilet many years ago.”
Last Quip by Doctor KAS – “R.I.P. Ryan Dunn.”
NEXT WEDNESDAY
Week “lucky” 13
(June 29th 2011)
Mets vs. Yankees (Take II)
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