In a Pretty Good Spot

The poor start seems to be behind the Yankees, and they now are in a fairly good spot to make a big move.

The Yankees are only 5-5 in their last 10, but over the last 3 weeks or so they have made up a good amount of ground.

They sit 5.5 out of first in the east and 5 out of the wildcard.

They also have a big month of July to look forward to. In July they play 18 games at home and only 7 on the road.

They'll host both Boston and Tampa Bay who are currently both ahead of the Yankees in the east.

They'll also host both Oakland and Minnesota, who are ahead of them in the wild card.

They are in a position to make up a lot of ground in the next 30 days or so.

The Sinking Ship That is Darrell Rasner

He helped keep the Yankees a float and pitched great when the offense was struggling, but teams have now figured him out.

It's not rare for this to happen really. Teams get video and send out advanced scouts, and they find something about a pitcher. After that it's up to the pitcher to adjust and figure out a new way to get hitters out. Rasner hasn't done that, and he's getting the tar knocked out of him.

Rasner is 1-4 in his last 5 starts, with a 7.00 ERA. In 27 innings he's given up 39 hits. Opposing teams are also hitting .313 off of him with men on base.

Rasner was spectacular for a few weeks but his time in the majors might be up. Ian Kennedy has started rehabbing and could be back in a few weeks. Jeff Karstens seemed to have a leg up on Rasner during spring training before he was hurt and just won pitcher of the week honors in AAA so he's another option.

It'll be interesting to see if he makes his next start or not.

This is the video of Pat Venditte that's floating around.

I'm sure everyone has seen it already, but it's still so incredibly entertaining.

Heres the link to it from River Ave.

Be sure to check it out.

Yankees Keep Rolling

Not much more to say right now.

The Yankees seem to be clicking on all cylinders lately.

They do face a hurdle tonight though, when they face Padre's ace Jake Peavy.

Peavy pitched for the first time since May 14th last Friday against the Dodgers and was outstanding. 6 innings, 3 hits, no runs, no walks and 4 strikeouts.

There are still some who feel the Yankees may have just been beating up on bad pitchers and bad teams the last couple weeks. How they play tonight will say a lot about the team when it has to face someone of Peavy's skill level.

Fanning the Flames

Brett Gardner was 2 for 4 with his 9th triple of the year last night. This raised his average to .297

Melky Cabrera is 1 for his last 18, dropping his average to .261, and also dropping his OBP to .312.


I'm just saying...

Yankees Drafted Ambidextrous Pitcher

The Yankees drafted a switch-pitching pitcher named Pat Venditte. Apparently they have drafted him before.

This time around he's a senior.

Check out his video, it's pretty wild.

Melky's Time Running Out?

A couple weeks ago I jumped on the wagon with those fans who were seriously questioning if Melky should stay as the Yankees starting CF.

Since then he has hit a little bit better. In his last 13 games he's hitting at .348, which has raised his average to .270 for the season. But more times than not, he looks lost at the plate.

Enter Brett Gardner. The movement in his favor was small at the beginning of the season, but has since grown with both River Ave Blues and the LoHud blog seemingly jumping on board with the idea of giving him a chance.

And why not? Even if he can't hit higher than .270, he has speed and is a smart base runner. (So, for example, you won't see him slide head first into first base) He can steal, he can cover more ground in the OF and now in AAA he's even hitting for power and getting extra bases.

So far in Scranton Brett has hit .295 with a .414 OBP (compare that to Melky's .322) . He has already stolen 25 bases, and only been caught 8 times. He has also hit 9 doubles and 7 triples on the season.

It's hard to say how long he'll be ignored. One thing working heavily against him, is that he is a left handed hitter. The Yankees are so loaded with lefties, I'm not sure they want to add another one permanently into the lineup.

It'll be interesting to see what happens, but right now the call for him to come to the big league is getting louder. Melky should be hearing footsteps.


Just for comparison purposes:

Jacoby Ellsbury 2007 in AAA-
87 games, .298 Avg, .360 OBP, .380 Slg, 14 doubles, 5 triples, 33 SB, 6CS


Brett Gardner 2008 in AAA-
61 games, .295 Avg, .414 OBP,448 SLG, 9 doubles, 7 triples, 25SB, 8CS