Yankees Get a Dose of the Green Wave

His name sounds more like a character from an old southern novel, but Preston Claiborne is indeed a pitcher. Make that, Major League pitcher. The 25-year old will be donning the pinstripes of the New York Yankees this evening (Friday).

Claiborne's call up came when Joba Chamberlain was placed on the 15-day DL with a strained oblique. I'm sure Cody Eppley was getting ready for the Scranton-Bronx shuttle, but instead Eppley was designated for assignment so Claiborne could be added to the 40-man roster.

The native of Dallas, Texas was drafted in the 23rd round of the 2006 MLB amateur draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but turned them down to attend Tulane University. The Yankees selected Claiborne in the 17th round in 2010 and the reliever put pen to paper on a deal.

Claiborne overwhelmed younger hitters in rookie ball (Staten Island) to the tune of 10.4 K/per 9 innings. That earned him a promotion to Tampa where he spent the entire 2011 season.  After he posted a 2.22 ERA and struck out better than nine batters per nine innings in 498 games at Double-A Trenton, Claiborne got finished up the 2012 season at Triple-A Scranton. That's who he was playing for this season when he got the call.

In 10.1 innings pitched, Claiborne had struck 10 hitters and walked just one. That new found control may have been the ticket to his promotion. Claiborne had previously walked three or four batters per nine innings. He's likely to be used in mop and long man roles, and it should inherit the job of carrying the pink backpack of supplies from fellow rookie Vidal Nuno.

The Hurts Just Keeping On Coming: Joba DL'ed

"Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww"

The Yankees had Thursday off, but that didn't keep them from making yet another roster move due to an injury. This time it was reliever Joba Chamberlain who will be sidelined at least 15 days with a strained oblique.

No corresponding move has been made to add a pitcher to the 25-man roster, but it's likely to be Cody Eppley since he's already on the 40-man roster.

David Robertson created some worry in Wednesday night's 5-4 win over the Houston Astros when he hobbled off the mound at the end of the 8th inning. Robertson said he had tweaked his hamstring, but is fine and doesn't expect to miss any action.

The Yankees added to their roster at the end of the game when they acquired infielder Chris Nelson from the Colorado Rockies for a player to be named later and/or cash. Nelson has experience at second base and third base and will fill the utility role that opened up when Jayson Nix replaced the injured Kevin Youkilis at third base.

Second baseman Corban Joseph, called up when Youkilis went down, will likely be returned to Scranton to open a spot on the 25-man roster. Room was made on the 40-man roster by moving Francisco Cervelli from the 15- to the 60-day DL.

Nelson had a breakout season for the Rockies last year when he .310-9 HR-53 RBI and sported an .810 OPS. This season he struggled (.600 OPS) and became expendable with the emergence of Josh Rutledge at second base and the recall of third base prospect Nolan Arenado (ranked as the #52 prospect by Baseball America; drove in 122 runs two years ago).

A correction on my part - I had stated that when Youkilis was injured third baseman David Adams was the favorite to fill the spot. However, I forgot to take into account that since Adams was released during Spring Training and then re-signed, he was not eligible to be added to the Major League roster until May 15.

In other injury update news - Curtis Granderson had a couple of at-bats down in Florida yesterday and would have had more had rain not stopped everything. The Yankees hope to have him back in a couple of weeks (at most). Mark Teixeira is probably not coming  back before June 1, but he has started hitting off a tee and has taken soft toss swings.

Ronnier Mustelier banged up his knee in Spring Training when he collided with a dugout railing. He's back in Scranton after completing a rehab down in Florida. Mustelier was impressive with his bat and could join the big ball club at some point this year.

Yankees Dig The Long Ball

Grandy goes yard - courtesy of WIBX.com

Former Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver must love watching this version of the New York Yankees. The Earl of Baltimore was known for playing for the 3-run home run, and while the Yankees may not have it it as a strategy, they indeed live and die by the long ball. Yesterday was a good day to be alive.

Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson supplied the power in the Yankees 5-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels at Yankee Stadium. Starter Freddy Garcia sweated and battled his way through five innings to pick up the victory with much help from the Yankees bullpen.

Down 2-0 after the top half of the 1st inning, Cano quickly tied the game with his 21st home run of the season off Angels starter Jerome Williams. (He later added an RBI single in the 6th after the Yankees lead was cut to one.)

Two innings after Cano's heroics it was Granderson's turn to hit one out with a man aboard. Williams, just off the DL, laid in a fat one that Granderson crushed for 4-2 Yankees lead.

Garcia allowed five hits and issued five walks, and worked out of trouble every inning. The 35-yr old improved to 4-2 on the season and is 2-0, .3.17 in the three starts he's had since he was returned to the rotation on July 2.

The Yankees bullpen stepped up again after Garcia used up his pitch count after five innings. Cody Eppley (2 IP), David Robertson, and Rafael Soriano finished off the win with Soriano striking out Albert Pujols on a check swing to end the game.

Michael Kay was joined in the YES booth by Paul O'Neill and David Cone, an excellent trio of entertainment and knowledge. But Kay made one error concerning Chris Stewart. Kay remarked on how well Stewart has hit on the season (a .265 average at that moment), but Stewart's batting average is truly not an indicator of the season he has had at the plate. After a 1-3 performance on Saturday, Stewart's OPS sat at an incredibly weak .572. That's pitcher-worthy not a number a positional player would want to have.

Mike Trout continued his remarkable rookie season on Saturday. Three more hits, two stolen bases to give him a league leading 30, and a run scored. In July alone, Trout is hitting .429 with a 1.321 OPS, four home runs and eight RBI. He's an amazing player to watch and very mature for a 20-yr old.

Alex Rodriguez got a temporary reprieve from the idiot boo-birds with a two hit game and his 10th steal of the season. Players get booed, it happens, but when your team is in first place, 21 games over .500, you really need to shut up.

I almost never give Nike any props (I hate their company and it's CEO Phil Knight), but this "Chicks Dig The Long Ball" campaign is still classic. Especially consdering Mark McGwire was fully pumped with 'roids (and possibly HGH among other things) at the time.


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Yankees Throw Away Winning Streak in 9th

photo courtesy of NY Post

The Yankees had everything going their way last night against the Chicago White Sox. They had built 3-1 lead behind a strong 7+ inning start from Ivan Nova, a Mark Teixeira solo home run, and a pair of hard hit doubles by Alex Rodriguez.

But what the Yankees didn't have was Rafael Soriano to pitch the 9th inning and that's when the Yankees met their Waterloo. Rather than start the inning with David Robertson, Joe Girardi stayed with Cody Eppley, who had entered the game in the 8th inning. When Eppley allowed a lead off single to Alex Rios, Girardi opted for lefty Clay Rapada to face left-handed hitting A.J. Pierzynski.

Rapara got just what he needed, a groundball right at him. But instead of starting a 1-6-3 double play, Rapada threw well wide of Derek Jeter, who was covering second base on the play, and the ball sailed into centerfield. Instead of two out and none on, the White Sox had runners on the corners with no one out.

Girardi then went to Robertson, who promptly served up a gopher ball to Dayan Viciedo and the Yankees trailed 4-3 just like that. Dewayne Wise reached on a lead off single to start the bottom of the 9th against White Sox closer Addison Reed, but Eric Chavez and Andruw Jones both made outs without advancing the runners.

Derek Jeter gave the fans a momentary reason to roar when he ripped a line drive to deep right field, but Rios playing deep in a no doubles defense, snared the ball in front of the wall. Game over. 5 game winning streak over.

Robertson said after the game that he prefers to start the inning, but admitted he's come in these situations before and he didn't get the job done. It was a toss up for who felt worse, Robertson or Rapada, whose face sank when Jeter made the last out.