Tag: Yankees

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Red Hot Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays have been on some streak here. In their past 9 games (6-3) they have only allowed12 runs in that stretch – that is a 1.33 ERA. They have won their past 5 even though this streak started off pretty badly. Here is the 9 game stretch:

4/26 – Royals – Loss – 1-2
4/27 – Royals – Won – 5-2
4/29 – Red Sox – Loss – 0-1
4/30 – Red Sox – Loss – 1-2
5/1 – Red Sox – Win – 3-0
5/2 – White Sox – Win – 2-0
5/3 – White Sox – Win – 5-2
5/4 – White Sox – Win – 4-3
5/5 – White Sox – Win – 1-0

In that stretch, take a look at the Jays starting pitching staff going 7-1 in the 9 games:

Roy Halladay (1-1): 16 IP and 1.13 ERA
Dustin McGowan (2-0): 14.2 IP and 0.63 ERA
AJ Burnett (1-0): 7.2 IP and 0 ERA
Shaun Marcum (1-1): 12.2 IP and 1.48 ERA
Jesse Litsch (2-0): 14.1 IP and 1.91

As if the starting pitching wasn’t impressive enough the bullpen has been even better. They have pitched 13.0 innings in the 9 game stretch allowing only ONE (1) earned run. In that stretch they have lost 1 game while picking up 6 saves. You can do that math (or I can do it for you) that is a 0.69 ERA.

Let’s keep all this in perspective. Yes the Jays have won 5 straight but they are still 16-17, 4 games back of Boston Red Sox and 1 of the Yankees. It is still only the 5th of May and playoffs start in October. There is a long ways to go but certainly if the pitching can keep things rolling (certainly you won’t expect a staff to keep a 1.3 ERA although that would be amazing), the Jays offense really needs to start clicking. They can’t afford to lose games 2-1 and 1-0 in the AL East. They Jays are currently 4-8 in one run games and 1-2 in extra innings which will need to improve if they Jays want to contend down the stretch.

Speaking of pitching and the AL East, it was nice to see Darrell Rasner who got roughed up in the first inning to settle down and shut out the Marines the rest of the way. He can provide the Yankee staff quite the boost if he can provide quality starts every now and then with Wang and Moose clicking. Also, keep an eye out for an absolute pitching dandy on Wednesday when Chien-Ming Wang (6.0 – 3.00 ERA) of the Yankees goes up against Cliff Lee (5.0 – 0.96 ERA) of the Indians. That is going to be just a great game.

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Baseball Season Goal

Well we are a month into the season and here is where I stand on my (revised) goal. There is a constant update on the left sidebar about the Yankees and Blue Jays but I just thought I’d give you guys an update so far with yesterday being a month gone by.

For the Yankees I have caught all 29 games so far and here are some random stats. 23 (79.3%) of those games I have caught on the YES Network which at times I agree can be a bit painful to watch but maybe they are growing on me since I am such a fan of their team. I caught 2 (6.9%) games on radio (one when our apartment had no TV and the other one was the night I was driving down to DC with my roommates for the Cherry Blossom Festival), caught 2 games on ESPN (one vs. the Jays in the opening series for the season and one against the Red Sox in Fenway), there was one (3.45%) that I watched on MLB.TV from Silver Spring, Maryland which is quite unique since I live here and don’t often get a chance to go out of the viewing area during the season and just the other day against the Indians there was a game on TBS. I don’t remember if that game was blacked out on TBS and I watched it on YES but I have it on TBS in my sheet.

For the Blue Jays, it had started off real well when I had watched 8 of the first 9 games but since then it has only been 11 out of 19 games. Overall percentage is down to 67.86% and I still have 62 more games of theirs to catch to reach the goal. Obviously MLB.TV has been the dominant viewing preference because they aren’t on tv much here but I did catch them twice on YES (7.14%) and once on ESPN (3.57%). They have to find ways to start scoring runs again in this tough AL East. I knew New York (even with their injuries), Boston and Tampa would be tough but Baltimore really surprised me this month. Two losses in a row for the Jays where they only scored 1 run on the Red Sox but on the other hand, only allowed 3 runs total in the two games. The pitching has been solid (Halladay with 4 straight complete games but only one win to show for it)… so the offense really needs to start picking this up soon.

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Slow Monday…

Not sure what to make of the day today. Only had one class and there isn’t even a Yankee game on tonight. The first time in 21 days I believe (Yanks went 10-10 in the 20 games played so far). Played some Halo, racquetball and probably some Smash later on tonight.

I woke up much earlier than anticipated on a day where my only class (Differential Geometry) was at 2 PM. Shipped out a couple of books this morning that I had sold but didn’t make any money really cause the shipping and the relative cheap price for those books don’t really make it seem worth it at times. Oh well, it’s done now. Differential Geometry probably had its best class of the year. All the hype leading up for this class and not having to take a “math” final finally happened today. We have to know about 24 of these terms and definitions where the lowest grade for the class will be B (you can choose not to take a final and walk out with a grade of B). With success in the final, you can get B+, A- or an A… hopefully it won’t be very difficult. Not a bad deal if you ask me considering we were told today what will be on the final next Monday.

Played some racquetball with Joe, Krishna and Will Walker after class (with plenty of pleading from my mother to avoid getting hit in the face or having another injury). I played a majority of the day with my left that which I think has gotten much better in the past week or two. Krishna’s got a pretty mean serve which I can’t handle at all when playing righty but left handed I can handle it pretty good I guess cause it natually puts my racket in line with the wall. Joe for being a pretty big guy can move around and pulls out ridiculous shots out of no where and finds a way to win points and even sustain long rallies. I had a pretty long rally with Joe even though we were playing 2v2 which consisted of mostly us two running around and hitting shots to each other. I ended up losing the point, getting a gym burn on my arm but ultimately won the game. I must say it does give you quite a workout once you do start running around and avoid getting hit by the ball

On another random note, old school Gatorade just does not taste the same anymore once you’ve had some G2 or Gatorade Tiger (GT). I tried my favorite Fruit Punch which hands down would beat any other drink but since I’ve tried the G2 Fruit Punch or the GT one, the original just doesn’t do it for me.

Anyways, expect a random Facebook rant soon cause I’ve almost hit the threshold on that as well and maybe a Yankee post about Joba’s role in the pitching staff. Long day tomorrow, so probably no update but we’ll see how things go.

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22 Inning Baseball Game

I was just talking to my brother last night about lengthy baseball games after hearing it on Mike and the Mad Dog. They were talking about the long Yankee/Red Sox games that seem to take away from the rivalry now with the pitchers just unable to hand the two explosive offensive sides. This happens the very same day that the Padres and Rockies duke out a 2-1 game that lasted 22 Innings – MLB Wrap Up.

I’ve heard arguments that rosters should be expanded to more than 25 so teams can be allowed to carry an extra pitcher or two incase they get burned out the day before but I am totally against that. If a team is able to hit around your starter where you are forced to go to your bullpen rather early in the game or are unable to score runs in extra innings where you are forced to use multiple relievers, that is your fault and not your opponents. Your opponent should be rewarded for putting you in such a situation the next day where they face a tired team.

Yea we constantly hear that baseball has just become a hitters game with no respect being shown to the pitchers but I think most of these pitchers are just babied way too much. “Oh, we must put an innings limit on him” or “He’s on a pitch limit today”. Let these guys go out and pitch as long as they can. Let them get out of trouble and don’t bail them out and go to someone in your pen. None of the young guys ever learn that way and if they don’t get the experience now, you’re bound to pay for it later.

Let me know what you guys think… should the MLB expand rosters to say 27-28 where 2-3 guys are on reserve and a team is able to rotate players in and out on a given night to rest some players? So you always have 25 guys suited up for a game but in between games, a team can switch players and not have to option a guy or put him on a list. It’s an interesting idea to toss around.

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Weekend Forecast

I’m gonna head down to Washington DC for the weekend with a couple of roommates and a friend, hopefully the weather cooperates (like the 70 degrees today for the entire weekend would be nice). We’ll see how that goes. Anyways, so much going on in the world of sports. NHL Playoffs started yesterday, Masters Tournament started today and Yankees/Red Sox weekend series starts tomorrow night. Another hurdle towards the consecutive games streak comes into play tomorrow as I may be on the road during the game but I can always resort that radio although I would like the use that a little as possible.

NHL Playoffs started yesterday and from what I remember correctly my friend Rusty from High School was at the Devils/Rangers game handing out towels and whatnot to the fans in attendance. I haven’t talked to him since the game but I probably will tonight to ask him how it went. I’m sure he would have preferred a Devils victory but it’s only game 1. The Pens on the other hand looked pretty good, albeit it was against the shorthanded Senators who have really been short handed with a string of injuries and especially after their 15-2 start to the season this year. There have been rumors about the Penguins tanking their last game of the season so they secured a series with Ottawa instead of the Flyers and who knows to the truth about that statement but the Senators are really over-matched in this series.

I know some games have already been played but here are my predictions anyways. Continue reading “Weekend Forecast”