Bronx Bomber Ball

Just over one year has gone by and I remember it as if it was only yesterday. I was sitting in my dorm room and watching the game on my laptop with the lights turned off. It wasn’t the most comfortable experience for watching the game, but I wasn’t going to miss my favorite player of all time’s last home game for the world. For most of the game, I thought I thought we had it in the bag, that is until David Robertson blew the save. At that moment in time I was pissed, but little did I know that it was all set up for a perfect ending. I had noticed that Jeter was going to get a chance to hit, but I thought it sounded too good to be true. But, then again, it was Derek Jeter. When he came up to bat with pinch runner Antoan Richardson (yes, I remember his name) at second, I had so good of a feeling I even starting recording the at bat for my Snapchat story. That night was one of the most magical nights for me and it was truly a blessing to be able to watch such an icon play while gro...

When I was looking into Greg Bird’s stats, I noticed something that was very intriguing to say the least. Greg Bird is a much better hitter in day games than night games. Through his first 31 games, Bird is hitting a solid .280 (14/50) with 4 home runs and 11 RBI while at night he’s hitting a not as solid .226 (18/82) with 6 home runs and 17 RBI. Now this is just a small sample size, and he could just happen to face tougher pitching at night, but it could be something to keep an eye on as he gets more at bats. If this trend ends up a reoccurring thing, a platoon between Bird and Teixeira for day and night games next season might not be a bad idea. Before the injury, Teixeira was batting .283 (75/265) in night games while only batting .197 (25/127) in day games. This may just be a silly idea, but if they did such a thing next year, it could pay big dividends.   Article by: Julian Bussells Follow me on twitter @JuneYank6 Follow the blog on twitter @BronxBomberBlog

The Yankees and White Sox opened up a 4-game series at Yankee Stadium, beginning the stretch toward the end of the regular season. After losing two of three to Toronto and essentially losing any chance of winning the American League East, the Yankees focused on locking down a playoff spot and home-field advantage in the one-game Wild Card playoff. Rob Refsnyder finally got his first start since being called up. Yankee legend Yogi Berra, who passed away earlier this week, was honored with a touching tribute prior to Thursday's game. Chris Sale (12-10, 3.47 ERA) faced off against Michael Pineda (11-8, 4.10 ERA), with the Yankees beginning Thursday's game 4 games in front of Houston in the Wild Card standings.

Anybody who has read anything I’ve written for this blog will know by now that I am no fan of Joe Girardi. I can’t comprehend how any person who watches the Yankees on a daily basis can think Girardi is a good manager. In fact, I think he is one of the worst in the league. This recent series against the Blue Jays, which essentially determined whether or not the Yankees would have any chance at winning the AL East, featured Girardi’s shortcomings as a manager on full display yet again. It infuriates me that Girardi decided to manage the most important games since the 2012 ALCS as if it were April. In July, the Yankees led the division by eight games over the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays have been virtually unstoppable since their trade deadline acquisitions, and although Cashman’s complacent approach is also to blame, Girardi has made many decisions that have cost the Yankees games. Throughout the early part of the season I kept a list of decisions made by Girardi that led to Yankee losses,...

After hearing of the passing of Yankee all-time great Yogi Berra, the Yanks looked to honor Yogi with a series win on Wednesday night in Toronto. In their last head to head matchup of the season with the division leading Blue Jays, the Yankees would send Ivan Nova to the mound in place of Masahiro Tanaka who is nursing a hamstring injury. Despite a solid spot start from Nova, the Yankees offense was completely shut down by young Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman. Any hopes of a first place finish are slowly dwindling, thanks to an inconsistent Yankee lineup.

After losing Game 1 of the series on Monday night to Toronto’s Ace and AL Cy Young favorite David Price, the Yankees found themselves once again in a must win situation. Going into Tuesday’s matchup, the Yankees had lost 12 of 17 games against the division leading Blue Jays this season. With just over a week left in September, each game becomes more important than the last. After failing to capitalize in game one, the Yankees received a much needed win on Tuesday evening, thanks to a complete team effort.  

Tonight (Sunday night) was one of the most critical games of the year for the Yankees. After Toronto lost this afternoon, the Yankees needed to win to capitalize on the Blue Jays loss. Matt Harvey, coming back after a near two-week absence from the rotation, started for the Mets against CC Sabathia of the Yankees. Sabathia has been inconsistent all year, sometimes showing signs of consistency but followed up with poor outings. He needed to be on his best against Harvey. Although Harvey started, he was limited to only five innings so the Yankees had a chance to go after the Mets bullpen if they were behind. The Yankees started slowly on offense, relied on Sabathia's pitching to stay close, and then exploded for a five-run sixth inning to lead them to a win in the series finale.

After losing Game 1 on Friday night due to a terrible offense and poor bullpen management by manager Joe Girardi, the Yankees headed into today's game 4.5 games back from the Blue Jays in the AL East. The Yankees really needed to win today's game as they cannot lose any more ground if they hope to win the division and avoid the one-game playoff. In a day game at Citi Field, Michael Pineda faced off against Noah Syndergaard.

The Yankees started a three-game series in Citi Field on Friday night. Masahiro Tanaka and Steven Matz faced off on a humid Friday evening in Flushing Meadows. In Tanaka's three starts in September, he's gone 2-0 with a 2.11 ERA, allowing just five earned runs in 21.1 innings while striking out 22. Meanwhile, young Steven Matz still has not lost in his rookie season and he's pitched well in September, recording a 2-0 record and a 2.61 ERA in two starts. The Mets rode their offensive firepower and excellent pitching to an easy win over the Yankees, who have been struggling offensively.

An off-day. How blessed we are as fans. No need to struggle over the Yankee offense and lackluster bullpen. One more day where we can pretend we have a chance to win the division. Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller, the rest of the embarrassing bullpen, and the Yankee batters, especially Jacoby Ellsbury, who has struggled recently, can heal their bodies. However, the pain, both with players and fans, will probably resume soon. Tomorrow, the New York Yankees head into Flushing Meadows and Citi Field to face the National League East leader New York Mets in the second half of the 2015 Subway Series. The Mets currently lead the National League East by over seven games and are most likely going to win the division. The Mets rotation is absolutely stacked, with Steven Matz, Noah Syndergaard, and Matt Harvey pitching this weekend. They already have one of the best rotations within the majors and their best pitchers, outside of Jacob deGrom, who lost to the Yankees already this year, are...

The Yankees and Rays faced off in a three-game set, which started Monday at Tropicana Field. The Yankees came in after losing three out of four against the Blue Jays at home and were struggling with their pitching. CC Sabathia, Adam Warren, and Luis Severino started in that order against the Rays. In Game 1, Slade Heathcott played hero as his tie-breaking 3-run home run in the 9th gave New York the win. The Rays's consistent offense on Tuesday gave them a 6-3 win; however, in Game 3, the Yankees capitalized on Greg Bird's 2 RBIs and another solid outing by Severino and the bullpen to win the series.

The Yankees and the Blue Jays faced off in a critical 4-game set in the past weekend in the Bronx. The Blue Jays pounced on the Yankees with its loaded offense to win the first three games of the series, including sweeping the single-admission doubleheader on Saturday. This led to many fans leaving the ballpark and the stadium being very empty for Saturday night's game. Toronto scored nine or more runs in Games 1-3 and knocked out the Yankee pitchers early. This led to an overused bullpen, and if not for expanded rosters, we would have seen more than one position player take the mound for New York. However, the Yankees salvaged Game 4 with a gem from Masahiro Tanaka, but by then they had lost three games to the Jays in the American League East and now trail Toronto by 3.5 games with just three weeks to go in the regular season. 

I haven’t written a rant in about a month, but after today’s disgraceful showing against the Toronto Blue Jays in the middle of pennant race I felt I was obliged to share my frustrations. This Yankees team has rolled over, and essentially surrendered any hopes of winning this division. I’ve had this four game series with Toronto circled on my calendar for two months because I knew this would be the most important series for the Yankees since the 2012 ALCS. Guess what? The Yankees failed miserably. After getting slaughtered by Toronto on Friday night, they went into Saturday’s double-header with hopes of winning at least one game, but this sorry bunch doesn’t even seem capable of as much. For those of you who haven’t read it yet, I predicted this collapse a while back after our general manager failed to improve our deeply flawed roster at the trade deadline CLICK HERE . I have tickets for Sunday’s game, and I must admit I am very apathetic towards going. In fact, if Alex Rodriguez were...

The Yankees came back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Rays 4-3 in the finale to win the series against the visiting Tampa Bay Rays. On a Labor Day matinee, the Yankees started a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees started Michael Pineda (10-8, 4.07 ERA against Wei-Yin Chen (8-7, 3.36 ERA). Pineda has pitched 10.1 innings since his return from the DL and has allowed ten hits and six earned runs. Wei-Yin Chen has been strong all year; in August, he pitched to a 3-1 record with a 3.79 ERA. He’s been consistent all year, recording quality starts in 17 out of his 26 starts.

Game 1 (Friday, September 4) - Tampa Bay Rays 2 @ New York Yankees 5 The Yankees returned home following a series in Boston, where they won two games out of three. The Yankees sent Luis Severino (2-2, 2.17 ERA) to the hill to face Jake Odorizzi (6-7, 3.18 ERA). Severino has won his last two games and pitched a combined 12.0 IP; he allowed seven hits, only one earned run, and struck out eleven batters. Odorizzi struggled in his last time out, giving up four earned runs and seven hits in 4.2 IP against the Royals.

With CC Sabathia on the disabled list, and hopefully gone for the rest of the season, Ivan Nova has officially supplanted him as the Yankees worst starting pitcher. I am writing this on the heels of last night’s demoralizing loss to the Red Sox so maybe it is a little unfair to scapegoat Nova. In no way, shape, or form am I blaming him for the loss in its entirety, however there is no questioning that he’s the weak link in this suddenly formidable starting rotation. Ivan Nova has been with the Yankees since 2010, and it’s apparent that he will never be able to overcome his inconsistencies. Some nights Nova will look very good and fool us into believing he can be a solid middle of the rotation arm, however we should know by now that he is capable of imploding at any time. What makes Nova’s struggles even more infuriating is that we have a pitcher who is a better option than him to start games rotting away in the bullpen. Poor Adam Warren.