Bronx News Sports: Subway Series Turns into Batting Practice for Yank...

Bronx News Sports: Subway Series Turns into Batting Practice for Yank...: Bombers Derail Met Fans Dreams of No Hitter (Photos by Gary Quintal) By Howard Goldin BRONX, NEW YORK, June 9- Yankee Stadium was sold out ...

Subway Series Turns into Batting Practice for Yanks

Bombers Derail Met Fans Dreams of No Hitter

(Photos by Gary Quintal)

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, June 9- Yankee Stadium was sold out for the opening game of the 2012 Subway Series. Many of the 48,566 in the stands came with the expectation of seeing Mets starter Johan Santana tie the 74-year-old mark of Johnny Vandermeer by pitching his second consecutive no-hitter. This did not happen, but the fans did get to see Yanks starter Hiroki Kuroda limit the Mets to one-hit in his seven innings on the mound.

Santana retired the first three batters he faced, but ran into trouble in the second. After walking Alex Rodriguez, who led off, Robinson Cano followed by hitting a two-run homer into the rightfield seats to put the Yankees on the scoreboard.

Santana retired the first two batters in the next inning, before the onslaught began. A-Rod singled to begin the rally. Cano again followed with a two-run homer. 

After the game, Cano spoke about hitting against Santana, “He’s a guy who throws a lot of strikes. That’s the kind to be aggressive against. You have to be lucky to be successful against a pitcher like that, one of the best in the game.” Cano has been more than lucky against Santana as he has hit successfully 10 times in 26 at bats.

The home run barrage did not end with Cano. The next two batters, Nick Swisher and Andruw Jones, hit homers to left. The three back-to-back- home runs were last accomplished by Yankees batters on August 28, 2011 in Baltimore. Interestingly, the feat was done by the same three batters in the same order.

Yankee manager Joe Girardi said of his team’s output, “He [Santana] got the ball up a little bit and our guys took advantage of it. They put some pretty good at bats on him.”

Santana had never given up four home runs in a single game. Mets manager Terry Collins again proved to be a stand-up leader by his remarks taking responsibility for Santana’s performance, “Because of that decision [giving Santana two extra days of rest since his last start], I’m responsible for how he pitched tonight. That’s what caused him to be rusty tonight. He doesn’t make those kinds of mistakes [keeping the ball up]. He just wasn’t sharp. We erred on the side of caution. It cost us the game tonight.”

The fans were close to seeing a no-hitter by Kuroda. The 37 -year-old veteran hurler from Japan did not yield a hit until two were out in the sixth when shortstop Omar Quintanilla doubled to right center. Girardi opined, “He had great command of his slider and curveball, His fastball was effective.

Kurida left the game after seven innings, having retired 20 of 23 batters, Jeter made an error in the fourth and Lucas Duda walked in the seventh. Of Kuroda’s stint on the mound, Collins remarked, “That’s the best I’ve ever seen him pitch.”

The Subway Series continues on Saturday night at 7:15 pm, weather permitting, with Phil Hughes (5-5) facing Dillon Gee (4-3).

Bronx News Sports: Yanks Don’t Get the Job Done

Bronx News Sports: Yanks Don’t Get the Job Done: A-Rod Drops the Ball, CC Comes up Short as Yanks Fail to Sweep Rays By Howard Goldin BRONX, NEW YORK, June 8- The Yanks failed to sweep a th...

Yanks Don’t Get the Job Done

A-Rod Drops the Ball, CC Comes up Short as Yanks Fail to Sweep Rays

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, June 8- The Yanks failed to sweep a three-game series with Tampa and go into first place in the American League East as they lost to the Rays, 7-3 on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium in a lengthy and rain delayed contest.

Baseball purists happily anticipated the seventh meeting of mound aces, CC Sabathia and David Price. Although neither pitched at his best, each did not pitch badly.

Price tied James Shields on the Tampa starting staff by earning his eighth win of the 2012 season. His lack of control in the second, two walks and a wild pitch led to the only run he surrendered. He limited the Yankees to three isolated singles in the five innings he pitched.

The key opportunity the Yankees had to score several runs came in the final inning Price hurled. Chris Stewart singled to lead-off the inning. Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira each walked. With one out, Alex Rodriguez came to the plate. Many in the stands were hoping A-Rod would tie the game at 5 by blasting his 23^rd grand slam homer. The blow, if hit, would have tied the major league mark of Lou Gehrig. The 11 pitch at bat ended with A-Rod striking out. Robinson Cano ended the contest by grounding out to second.

After throwing 109 pitches, Price was removed from the game at the conclusion of the fifth inning. Yankees skipper Joe Girardi credited Price with a game well pitched, “He threw well. I thought Price pitched pretty good. (sic) We had some opportunities, but we couldn’t get much off him. That’s the bottom line.”

The workhorse of the Yankees rotation, CC Sabathia, hurled 121 pitches in seven innings. All the seven hits and five runs he surrendered came in three frames, the second, third and fourth. Teo of the runs in the third were unearned, coming off a throwing error by third baseman Alex Rodriguez.

Sabathia, the ultimate team player, said of the error, “It’s just part of the game.” He took responsibility for the runs by blaming “just not hitting the location.”

The Yankee ace improved as the game continued. He said, “The last three innings, I felt pretty good.” His feelings were reflected in his work as he retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced, six by strikeout.

Sabathia fanned 12 batters. The game was only his third career loss in a game in which he struck out 10 or more batters.

The first installment of the annual Subway Series will begin on Friday night. The Mets will be traveling across town to visit Yankee Stadium. Johan Santana (3-2) will attempt to tie the mark of Johnny Vandemeer by pitching his second consecutive no-hitter. Hiroki Kuroda (4-6) will take the mound for the Yankees.

Now This is How You Pitch

New York Yankees Dynasty Banner Flag

Pettitte Shows Youngsters How Things Get Done

(Photos by Gary Quintal)

The Yankees Old Man of the Mound Andy Pettitte schooled his younger teammates on how to be a dominating pitcher last night. The nearly 40-year-old struck out 10 Tampa Bay batters and allowed only two hits through 7 innings.

Andy’s dominance shut down the Rays as Yankee bats became hot. Russel Martin’s grand slam topped Yankee hitting leading to a 7-0 win over the Rays.

Manhattan College Captures MAAC Championship

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, June 4- In the early weeks of the 2012 college baseball season, few Manhattan College rooters would have expected their favorites to be facing the two-time defending NCAA champions, South Carolina, in the first game of the NCAA playoffs on June 1st.

During the off-season, Kevin Leighton, the coach who headed a resurgence of the Jaspers during the past half-dozen years left the college to accept the vacant head coaching position crosstown at Fordham University. He was succeeded at Manhattan by Jim Duffy. Duffy, a standout player at Seton Hall, served as an assistant baseball coach at his alma mater for seven years.

The year started very disappointingly for Duffy and his players as the Jaspers only won one of the first 15 games they played. At that point, things changed. Manhattan won 32 of the remaining 43 contests to capture the MAAC regular season title, the MACC Championship Tournament and enter the NCAA Tournament with a 33-25 mark. 

Duffy explained the change, “We just worked really hard, strung together some wins and battled back and figured out what worked.”

Manhattan’s 18-6 record in the MAAC earned it the regular season title for the fourth time in the last five years, missing it only in 2010. The Jaspers were victorious in the conference championship for the second straight year. The only other conference title won by Manhattan was in 2006.

The team was exceptionally comfortable in its own home field, a public park, Van Cortland Park, as it was the only Division I club to go undefeated at home, 18-0, during the 2012 season.

Manhattan dropped its first game in the double elimination MAAC championship, which took place in Troy, New York.  The Jaspers then relied on their submarining righty Taylor Sewitt to go all the way to the title.

The senior from Highland Mills, New York won each of Manhattan’s final three contests. He began by hurling a nine-inning shutout. On the following day, he pitched the last two innings without surrendering a run and earned the win after the jaspers came from behind. In the final game he won with an 11 inning relief appearance victory over Canisius. His tournament mark was 22 innings of scoreless pitching during which he threw 296 pitches. His efforts earned him the award as Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week.

Manhattan’s reward for winning the MAAC title was a trip to Columbia, South Carolina for the first round of the National Tourney. In the opening contest, the Jaspers were scheduled to meet the two-time defending national champion University of South Carolina Gamecocks.

Sewitt, Manhattan’s starter, entered the game with a scoreless streak of 33.2 innings. Sewitt and South Carolina starter Colby Holmes hooked up in a sterling pitching duel in which neither hurler gave up a hit or a run in the first five innings.

Sewitt’s scoreless streak ended at 39.1 innings Adam Matthews doubled in two of the gamecocks with two out in the sixth. Two more scored in the inning to put South Carolina ahead, 4-0.

Joe Rock of Manhattan singled to left with two out in the eighth. The hit was the first given up by Holmes. The winning pitcher left the game after the eighth having surrendered only one hit and one hit batsman while fanning nine.

Manhattan relievers gave up three runs in the eighth to conclude a 7-0 victory for South Carolina.

The next opportunity for the Jaspers in the double elimination tourney was a Saturday contest against Coastal Carolina. The game was tightly contested during the first five innings as the score stood 1-1.

The Carolina tide covered Manhattan as the Chanticleers scored 10 runs during the next three innings to end the season for the Jaspers.

Although the Jaspers lost both games at the NCAA in South Carolina, Duffy and his players can savor the pride of a MAAC regular season and tournament title and the opportunity to represent the Bronx on the national collegiate baseball stage.

Finally for Mets Fans

"MLB 16 oz. Crystal Freezer Mug - New York Mets""New York Mets Citifield Bronze Infield Dirt Keychain""MLB Canvas Chair - New York Mets"

Santana no-hitter one of those good moments for a Mets fan

By Rich Mancuso

BRONX, NEW YORK, June 3- There I was, night off from the ballpark, listening and watching my favorite alternative rock band “Weezer” in Atlantic City New Jersey in the Bogata Hotel showroom. It was planned, the birthday gift from three weeks ago. What wasn’t in the plan was Johan Santana throwing a no-hitter at Citi Field on the first day of June.

A Friday evening at Citi Field where, I would usually be situated, upstairs in my perch in the comfortable press box, but the first no-no in New York Mets history, 50-years of futility and I was not there to see it.

Yes, frustration. And moments after Mets SNY Television voice Gary Cohen said after being questioned, ‘did he ever think it would happen, his response, ‘No, but now it has’ Weezer would finish their last number.

That number, “Say it Ain’t So.”

But it is true. After 8,020 games, Mets radio voice Howie Rose, and fans of the second baseball team in New York, can now say, the New York Mets have made baseball history. They are no longer one of two teams to not have a pitcher throw the illustrious no-hitter.

It is so, and the San Diego Padres have that lone distinction.

Mike Baxter, the kid from Queens, crashed into the center field wall on the warning track to keep the suspense going. The Carlos Beltran ball that hit the chalk beyond third base appeared to be an extra base hit. The umpire, according to replays may have got it wrong.

To Mets’ fans, and to Santana, the call went their way. The no-hitter is in the record books and well deserved for a pitcher who many said was finished.

It was back in late March. Santana was not supposed to come north with the team at the end of spring training. The comeback from shoulder surgery, which shut Santana down all last year, was slow and cautious. However, it was soon, according to Santana, working according to the plan.

That plan, which was heard since his opening day start in early April, was continue to make adjustments as this Mets team had trouble scoring runs, but staying competitive. Then the last three starts you sensed the plan was ahead of schedule.

Santana was throwing more pitches, going deeper into games. The change up was effective, so was the slider. The fastball was getting close to his velocity, clocked close to 90, or more.

The manager, Terry Collins was more concerned about the pitch count. Last Saturday, at Citi field, Santana threw 94 pitches, the complete game shutout over the San Diego Padres. Collins let him continue, as he did Friday night with a career high 134 pitches, concerned about the shoulder.

After that sixth inning, Collins asked Santana, “How do you feel?” The ace, who said afterwards, he came to New York “to win a championship for the organization and fans,” told his manager, ‘I feel good, let me continue.’

It was a momentous occasion for a franchise that has been troubled with financial issues .And nothing has seemed to go right since that last game of 2006, when Beltran struck out with runners on base, at Shea Stadium, in game seven of the National League Championship Series. 

That was against the same St. Louis Cardinals who go in the record book as victims of the Santana no-hitter.

It was the first and real significant moment at Citi Field for Mets baseball. Santana erased the close calls of Tom Seaver, the last Mets pitcher to take a no-hitter into the ninth inning. The first one, of three close calls, a perfect game broke up by Jimmy Qualls of the Chicago Cubs in 1969.

It will be remembered what Johan Santana did Friday night. The umpire, Adrian Johnson, at third base, may have missed that Beltran call in the sixth inning. But that does not matter now. Johan Santana may have put the New York Mets back on the map with that outing on the mound at Citi Field.

Just hope “Weezer” does not get in the way again for another possible and maybe another no-hitter in New York Mets baseball history, or perhaps another first, a perfect game as they go into game number 8,021.

E-mail Rich Mancuso:  Ring786@aol.com