Bronx News Sports: She’s Getting Ready to Sing for Yanks

Bronx News Sports: She’s Getting Ready to Sing for Yanks: She’s Getting Ready to Sing for Yanks Tanaka on DL, CC Out Spells Trouble for Playoff Hopes Masahiro Tanaka to be on Disabled L...

She’s Getting Ready to Sing for Yanks

She’s Getting Ready to Sing for Yanks

Tanaka on DL, CC Out Spells Trouble for Playoff Hopes

Masahiro Tanaka to be on Disabled List for a Minimum of Six Weeks

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, JULY 11- Less than a week before the All-Star Game was to be played, the Yankees received their worst news of the 2014 season. It was announced that Yankee ace Masahiro Tanaka would be out of action for at least six weeks with a partial tear in his ulner collateral ligament (UCL) in his right elbow.

The first indication occurred last Tuesday when the rookie complained of soreness after being removed from his start after 6.2 innings. He was then placed on the 15 day DL. 

The problem was diagnosed after Tanaka underwent an MRI and flew to Seattle to confer with the Yankees physician, Dr. Christopher Ahmed, and other doctors. It was determined that the tear was small and Tanaka would undergo a six-week period of rehabilitation. He is to have a platelet-rich plasma injection next week. No surgery was proposed. 

If the rehab is not successful, he will likely have to have Tommy John surgery, which will put him out of action until the 2016 season.

The loss was huge as Tanaka joined three of the starters of the season beginning, C.C. Sabathia, Ivan Nova and Michael Pineda, on the disabled list. Only Hiroki Kuroda, 39, currently remains in the starting rotation. 

The importance of the loss of the rookie from Japan can easily be determined by his place in the individual pitching rankings in the American League this season. He ranks first in wins (12), and complete games (3), second in ERA (2.27) and fewest walks per 9 innings (1.3), fifth in winning percentage (.800) and innings pitched (122.2) and sixth in strikeouts (130) and opponents’ batting average against (.224). 

The amazing newcomer to MLB was a favorite to win the as the American League Rookie-of-the-Year Award and the Cy Young Award. He was also a rare rookie pitcher being seriously considered to be the American League starting pitcher in the All-Star Game. 

The two men, Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman, who have the prime responsibility for the success of the Yankees this year commented upon the loss of Tanaka. Yankee skipper Girardi tried, as always, to be optimistic, “We’ll keep our fingers crossed. It is what it is. It’ll be at least six weeks. I’m optimistic we’ll have him back.” When asked about how the rotation will now be devised, he responded, “We’ll figure it out.”

General Manager Brian Cashman spoke of his efforts to obtain a starting pitcher through a trade, “We’ve been aggressive because now we’ve got four starters that we were planning to use out. We are in a division fight, and we want to stay in the fight.”

Season Slipping Away for #Yankees?

Season Slipping Away for #Yankees?

Yanks Drop Fifth Straight

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, JULY 3- Unless the fortunes of the New York Yankees improve rapidly, the team’s brass will be under increasing pressure to make serious roster changes through the trade route prior to July 31.

The 6-3 loss to the Rays in Thursday’s matinee, the final game of the most recent homestand, was the team’s season-high fifth straight. The last such debacle occurred in June of 2013. It was also the fifth consecutive home defeat of the Yankees, a Bronx losing streak that last took place in May 2011. The 2014 record of the Yanks dropped to 41-42, their first time below .500 since April 11, when their record was 5-6.

The Rays came back from single run deficits three times to knot the score before scoring two in the top of the fifth to assume their first lead of the contest, which they maintained.

The winning blow, a two-run homer, was delivered by Sean Rodriguez in his first game at short since July 11, 2013. The awesome blast went more than 440 feet, Rays manager Joe Maddon commented, “How about Sean’s homer? That could have been out of the old stadium.” 

Rodriguez explained the home run was not his goal, “I was just trying to hit it hard. I just wanted to find a way to contribute to help us win.”

Although Rodriguez is only batting .215, 15 of his 26 hits have been for extra bases, a percentage second in the majors. He remarked with a degree of surprise, “It [power hitting] has become a bigger part of my game than people thought despite my record in the minors.”

Pitching was again part of the Tampa victory. Rookie Jake Odorizzi, the Tampa starter went 5.2 innings, yielding three runs, eight hits and one walk. Two of the hits were solo home runs, Brett Gardner in the first and Brian McCann in the third.

The winning pitcher fanned only four Yankees, but said, “I have the ability to throw strikes.” This was no understatement as Odorizzi’s mark for strikeouts per nine innings (10.56) is currently the fourth highest in major league history for a rookie pitcher.

The Tampa bullpen kept the Yankees scoreless with only two hits in 3.1 innings. After the game ther Tampa skipper stated, “They [relievers] all looked really good. [They’re] getting their confidence.”

The Rays, at the half-way point of the 2014 season, are moving in the opposite direction of the Yankees. Their win was a season-high fifth straight. The surging Rays have now won seven of their last eight games.

Manager Maddon explained, “We’re getting a different bus driver on a daily basis, that’s what we’re built for.” To continue winning in the future, he said, “We’ve been waiting for things to happen. We have to make things happen.”

The winning pitcher explained their recent success thusly, “Our pitching, our hitting, and our defense are all coming together at the same time.”

 

 

Bronx News Sports: Fans Boo Flat #Yankees

Bronx News Sports: Fans Boo Flat #Yankees: Fans Boo Flat Yanks Yankees at the mediocre .500 mark By Rich Mancuso BRONX, NEW YORK, JULY 2- The night before, Tampa Bay pitc...

Fans Boo Flat #Yankees

Fans Boo Flat Yanks

Yankees at the mediocre .500 mark

By Rich Mancuso

BRONX, NEW YORK, JULY 2- The night before, Tampa Bay pitcher Chris Archer put the New York Yankees a game closer to the mediocre .500 mark. David Price, rumored to be on the trade market, was on the mound Tuesday night in the Bronx for the Rays. He helped make it official, because the Yankees at the halfway point are 41-41 after a 2-1 loss, and second straight to the resurgent Rays.

The anemic hitting of the Yankees continued. Four hits and only one that went for an extra base says a lot, though Price was a primary reason why the Yankees failed once again to spark a rally. The left-hander, (7-7) through seven innings held the Yankees. He gave up one run and struck out nine.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi can’t find the answer, though he knows a veteran lineup has the capability to be more aggressive at the plate. “These guys have proven track records,”

he said without mentioning names. “These guys have to get it done. They have to grind it out. It’s not just a couple of guys going… it’s a number of guys.”

Struggling, that describes the Yankees who have matched a season high four-game losing streak and losing eight of their last 10 games.

Last year, it was the injuries that reduced the hits and run production. But a spending spree in the off-season and bringing in some power hitters supposedly was to be the answer. At the halfway point, more so in the month of June, the Yankees were near the bottom in the American League from an offensive standpoint.

That does not stand well with a fan base. They could be heard booing the Yankees in the ninth inning, their last at bat attempt to come from behind. Price was dominant, and the Ray’s bullpen finished the job with two scoreless innings and did not allow a hit.

“I don’t know,” Girardi said when asked again about the struggle to get hits and produce runs. “I don’t think you forget to hit in a year.” He was obviously referring to Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann, two of the high priced players on a team with a $200 million payroll who had productive years in the National league last year with the Cardinals and Braves.

The only high priced acquisition that has been respectable, but not incredible, has been Jacoby Ellsbury.

Archer, who has success against the Yankees, was dominant Monday night. And Price, who is on the radar of many teams as the trading deadline looms, was just as dominant. Good pitching will stop good hitting, but the Yankees have not been able to come up with the big hit indicated by a team hitting .249 with runners in scoring position.

Price almost reached 10-strikeouts for a sixth straight start. Had he accomplished that, he would have joined Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson and Nolan Ryan as an elite group to achieve that accomplishment, and he has been one of the reasons why Tampa Bay is 13-7 since June 11th.

“That would have been cool,” Price commented. It was his 23rd career start against the Yankees and he has never reached double digits against them. The Yankees could use another reliable starter but Price may not be going nowhere the way he has been pounding the strike zone.  

Pitching has not been the Yankees issue. They may get CC Sabathia back from the disabled list a few weeks after the all-star break. Hiroki Kuroda pitched eight good innings and he became the second pitcher to go eight or more this season, next to Masahiro Tanaka. James Loney hit his fifth home run in the sixth inning that was the decisive run.

The Yankees only highlight at the plate were the two hits from Derek Jeter, a leadoff double in the fourth inning, their first hit off Price. And for Jeter it was another milestone, his 534th career double tying him with Lou Gehrig for first place on the Yankees’ all-time doubles list.

“The guys we have- have to get it done. That’s the bottom line," Girardi said. And the Yankees better get it done soon, because at the halfway point it does not look promising for a happy summer ahead in the Bronx.    

Comment Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com  Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso www.newyorksportsexaminer.com

Bronx News Sports: #Yanks lose

Bronx News Sports: #Yanks lose: Rays Have Their Way with Yankees Archer did not get the decision but handled Yankees again By Rich Mancuso BRONX, NEW YORK, JULY 1- Again at...

Throggs Neck News: #Yanks lose

Throggs Neck News: #Yanks lose: Rays Have Their Way with Yankees Archer did not get the decision but handled Yankees again By Rich Mancuso BRONX, NEW YORK, JULY 1- Again at...