ISSUE #17

6 Weeks Left

(August 15^th – August 21^st)

Yankees: Half Game Away

Mets: Officially Out of Play

New York Yankees

72 - 46

2^nd Place/ 1 GB

            The Yankees had a chance of completing the three game sweep of the LA Angels earlier in the week, but the one consistent man on the roster almost made the series become a 1-2 failure. Mariano Rivera gave up a two run bomb to Bobby Abreu in a 4-4 tie with 2 outs on Tuesday night. Shocking yes, however my belief is Rivera has been seldom used in the past few weeks and shut down type closers really have a bad time pitching in a non-save situation. I don’t know what it is or why this happens, but something mental fills the head of even the greatest player at the position at times and losing games become the outcome. The Yankees suffered the loss from the hands of Mo and the Wild Card lead becomes 6.5 after going into Wednesday.

            The Yankees then took full advantage of rookie Garrett Richards, a 23 year old who tried to make a successful debut in front of the hostel New York crowd in the Bronx. Curtis Granderson unloaded with two more homeruns after smacking one the previous day.  Total in two days was three homeruns…he would give more bang for his buck later in the week. Ivan Nova solidified a spot in the Yankee rotation after A.J. and Phil Hughes continue to be the streaky starters all fans wished they grew out of. Nova pitched 6 innings giving up three runs, but the rookie is now 11-4 with a 3.86 ERA and confusingly continues to pitch better then Hughes and Burnett combined.

            During the series closer the Angels refused to give up towards the last few innings of play. After the “35 Million Dollar Man”, Soriano pitched another effective inning (Two games in a row) Wade and Rivera found trouble again. The usual quiet bats in LA have seemed to wake up over the past few weeks as they continue to put a charge towards the Texas Rangers. Youngster Wade for the Yankees was only able to get one Angel out in the 9^th with a four run cushion and had to be replaced by Mariano with two men on. Then the impossible happen…Mo, who has not been his self by any means since his blown save in Boston last week, gave up a three-run blast to Russell Branyan. Russell has been used as a pinch hitter for most of the year and has struggled royally batting .197 on the season. Caulk it up as luck or maybe the right time right place for Branyan, but Mo ended up completing the save anyway. Curtis Grandy-man Granderson added another homerun for the series making it a hat-trick plus one. Amazing.

           

            Tampa Bay came in for the weekend series and at nine games over .500 they continue to prove that the Rays are no joke. With a decent pitching staff and some big bats in the lineup Tampa Bay would be right there in a race for a Division Championship, but not in the AL East. And that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Sadly no one in Florida cares about this team and in every way Joe Maddon has done everything right for fans to grow and be proud of what takes place in Rays World. The Rays came into New York with a four game win streak and knocked CC around for ten hits, five runs and get this folk and dedicated readers…five homeruns! Don’t count these suckers out totally. The “devils” have ten more games against the Red Sox this season and six more against the Yankees. If they want and continue to play top ball, this team can make a change in the race to the last Wednesday in September.

            After losing 5-1 and going 0 for 4 Curtis Granderson had to speak up…

Its high, it’s far! It’s gone! Curtis continued to knock baseballs to Yankee fans in the right field bleachers. What a guy! He diagonally slashed his tally to five homeruns for the week. The Yankees tied the series at one after losing the Price vs. CC battle the night before. After Sunday afternoons rain-out I feel the make-up game might be a very important one.

  

Yankees @ Royals

Monday thru Wednesday at 8:10pm

            I like this team. I said it during preseason and I still hold true to my feelings, even though at 50 – 71 currently at last place in the AL Central, I understand they give no fear into the strong and hard hitting New York Yankees. With Alex Gordon becoming who the Royals front office thought he would be over three years ago and Billy Butler, a resurgence from Melky and “rookie-phenomes” Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas, this team has so much upside it’s ridiculous. However their pitching staff from front to back (now including J. Soria) is terrible every inning they pitch, but Kansas City also has a heap of prospects in that area as well. 2012 and 2013 is going to be the brightest years for the Royals since the mid-eighties. Sit back and enjoy the prospects whether the Yankees have the best winning percentage against them than any other team since 2000 or not…rookies who play well are the spirit and heart of the game and Eric Hosmer of all people showed the Yankees his possibilities last time in the Bronx hitting 2 HR’s and wreaked havoc on a few games himself alone.

Yankees @ Twins

Thursday & Friday at 8:10pm

Saturday at 7:10pm

Sunday at 2:05pm

           

            I’m simply tired of this series as I’ve said earlier in the season because of all the playoff losses the Twins have suffered in the hands of the Yankees. The difference this time is that the Twins are dying slowly in the AL Central and the pitching staff has hurt by bad outings all year. The offense struggled without Joe Mauer for a bit and his diminishing power numbers. Also his partner in crime Justin Morneau has finally returned from a long stint on the DL and maybe it’s time for some Yankee payback. I don’t really think this is true, but hey, it never hurts to talk up a series that doesn’t have all the meaning in the world. A top team is playing the only two teams in the AL Central without a shot of making the playoffs unless they go on a serious streak.

            Yankees are a half game back from the Boston Red Sox and that is the story of what’s going on in the New York baseball world. Six weeks to play and the games are getting longer while the time continues to shrink.

New York Mets

58 – 62

3^rd place (20.5 GB)

           

            It’s bad…it’s real bad for the Flushing Crew. I have a rule that I just made up a second and a half ago. When talking about the Mets during this piece I will try to talk about the positive. So we can start at Monday night and end the conversation after Tuesday night’s game.

            Monday the Mets had one of their finest comebacks of the season. Best aspect about the comeback was that they scored the three runs in the bottom of the 9^th against a former Met set-up man in Heath Bell. Down by two in an up and down game the Mets caught fire and ripped base hit after base hit taking down a man that could’ve saved Mets fans from ever witnessing Frankie Rodriguez and his large sum of money gracing his presence in Queens.

            If that wasn’t surprising enough the Mets again took charge in the bottom of the 8^th in Tuesday night’s game scoring two to take the lead and secure two great victories against a last place team. Keeping hope for the future, keeping faith in the faithful…keeping seats in Citi Field occupied as much as they could. This team has always had fight in it, all year, but injuries and a debacle of an off season made no head way into the 2011 season. They are not an awful team; they just suffer from heartbreaking losses and a couple bad inexperienced players in the field. When I started writing in the preseason I stated that the second base position would be like a Merry-Go-Round until they found the right answer. Low and behold this whole damn team has been a Carousel of errors and miscues and…

Wait a second here…

I’m starting to talk negatively. See you next week.

Mets @ Padres

Monday & Tuesday at 10:05pm

Wednesday at 6:35pm

            With Angel Pagan sidelined just after taking over the lead-off spot for the bigger injury story of Jose Reyes the team lost even another spark. The flint is running out on this team’s lighter and I’m not sure how to salvage the 2011 season. Get some wins in the beautiful San Diego weather and then travel back home to see how many fans will show up to the weekend series against Milwaukee.

           

Brewers @ Mets

Friday at 7:10pm

Saturday at 4:10pm (FOX)

Sunday at 1:10pm

            Being under .500, late in August and no chance of making a run into the playoffs means two things…cheap seats for a professional baseball game and/or a chance to hurt the NL Central leading Brewers from running away with their Division. The Brewers have a very good team, but they are still under .500 themselves away from Miller Park, so the Mets can put up a good fight and spoil a comfortable lead for the Brew Crew.

           

Adam Hammer’s “Loose Lips”

-         Carlos Zambrano pulled a Carlos Zambrano and walked out on the Cubs on Friday night. The Cubs have placed him on the previously unknown disqualified list which means Zambrano will have no contact with the team and more importantly, the Cubs do not have to pay him. Upon learning of this, Cubs GM Jim Hendry attempted to put Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez on the DQ list as well.

-         After a shaky first game, Ubaldo Jimenez threw 8 innings without giving up an earned in his second start since being called up to the American League. Ubaldo is said to be happy competing in a league in which lineups contain more than two good hitters.

-         The Mets won consecutive games this week when trailing by two runs or more in the 8th inning or later. It was the first time in 46 years the Mets have accomplished such a feat. The last time this happened, Dr. Dre, Michael Bay and Chris Rock were a combined 6 months old, Tom and Jerry did not exist yet and Jack McKeon turned 47.

Rest In Peace, Shawn Tompkins. Thanks for everything....

And now for your reading pleasure…

 

***

The Future; According to the Late-Great George Carlin

“Genetic scientists will develop vegetables too big to be transported and they will have to be eaten right at the farm.”

Last Quip by Doctor Kas: “Maryland is beautiful as my travels’ around the globe continues. I just need to return to work for another few days so I can save enough money for Saratoga, NY. Not to take a trip there of course, just to have enough money to make a bet in the Travers Stakes.”

-          “Also I do not agree with Mr. Hammer about Ubaldo being “called up” to the American League. Just because you don’t let your pitchers swing a bat doesn’t mean you have a better League. Pitching, defense and more minute by minute decisions makes the National League American’s original past-time.”