Grandy Trifecta Bails Out Hughes

When Curtis Granderson was struggling during the 2010 season, my Dad kept telling me how awful he was;what a mistake the trade had been. My brother and I kept telling him, just wait, this guy is a legitimate star. While we weren't the reason, we were right.

Granderson's bat was sluggish that season until he worked hard with hitting coach Kevin Long to make adjustments. Granderson got hot down the stretch and exploded last year with an MVP type year- 41 HRs, a .916 OPS, 26 doubles, 10 triples, and a league lead 119 RBI and 136 runs scored. The left-handed hitting Granderson was a notoriously poor hitter against southpaws, but actually hit better against left-handers than righties in 2011 (.940 OPS 16 HR in 191 AB).

Thursday night Granderson had the first three home run game of his career. Down 4-0 in the first after some shaky pitching from Phil Hughes and a costly error by Eduardo Nunez, Granderson started the Yankees hit parade with a solo home run in the bottom of the 1st off of lefty Anthony Swarzak. He took the Twins starter deep again an inning later, this time with a man aboard to give the Yankees a 6-4 lead.

In the 4th, Granderson's home run, his 6th of the year, proved to be the difference maker in the Yankees 7-6 victory. This time the victim was Twins' right-handed reliever Jeff Gray.

By the time Granderson stepped up to the plate again in the 6th, many people were no longer thinking about another rough start for Hughes. The right-hander hadn't made it out of the 5th inning in his first two starts and, for a time, didn't look like he would get out of the 1st inning Thursday evening. Granted his pitch count rose quickly in the first frame due to Nunez's throwing error from 2nd base.

Playing in place of Robinson Cano, who started at DH, Nunez fielded Joe Mauer's grounder with one out and one on and lollipopped his throw to 1st base. Mark Teixeira leapt up to grab the errant throw, but couldn't get a tag on Mauer. The Twins took advantage when Ryan Doumit stroked a 2-run single and Danny Valencia added a 2-run double.

Hughes got better as the game went on, but he walked Justin Morneau to start the 6th inning and then surrendered a 2-run home run to Doumit to end his night. But the Yankees bullpen was sharp. Boone Logan finished the 6th and was followed by the usual sequence of Rafael Soriano, David Robertson, and Mariano Rivera. The Yankees closer picked up his third save of the season to salvage a split of the four game series and put the Yankees back above .500 at 7-6.

The story line though was Granderson, who stepped up to the plate in the 6th against Alex Burnett and ripped a hard single to right. Nunez, who was on 2nd base, had to hold up to be sure the ball wasn't caught and had to stop at third. In the 8th, Granderson got one more chance to join the four-home run club, but hit a dribbler. The good news is that he beat the throw to first for a 5-5 night that raised his batting average 75 points.

The Captain Climbs The Ladder

Derek Jeter had just one hit on the night, and RBI single in the 2nd, but it was the 3,110th of his career. That was good enough to tie him with his idol Dave Winfield for 19th on the all-time hits list. Jeter needs 31 hits to catch Tony Gwynn for 18th place.

The Last Trifecta
According to the YES Network, August 14, 2010 was the last time a Yankee hit three home runs in one game. That was courtesy of Alex Rodriguez in KC.

July 4, 1983: Rags to Riches

Written for BaseballDigest.com

Dave Righetti had his All-Star break plans all set when he arrived at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1983. The man known as Rags would have liked to have been heading to the All-Star game in Chicago the next day, but wasn't selected despite a 9-3 record. Instead, he and teammate Graig Nettles were headed to Atlantic City for a good time. First though, Righetti had a game to pitch against the Boston Red Sox on the Nation's birthday.

The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry had rekindled in the late 1970's, culminating with the one game playoff in 1978. The Yankees entered the holiday 2.5 games behind first place Toronto while the Red Sox sat 4 games back.

All no-hitters are accomplished with solid defense. The Yankees had a bit of an unusual alignment behind Righetti on the 4th. Dave Winfield, who mainly played the corner outfield positions in his career, was in center. Nettles had the day off and was replaced at third base by veteran shortstop Bert Campenaris. The result was seamless.

Except for a walk, Righetti breezed through the first three innings, recording seven of the nine outs by strikeout. Rod Nichols drew a one out walk in the 5th, but Righetti picked him off with his patented snap move to first. A Jim Rice walk in the 7th was erased by an inning ending double play.

The Yankees meanwhile had built a 2-0 lead off Red Sox starter John Tudor as the Sox came to bat in the 8th. Right fielder Steve Kemp's time in the Bronx was not a favorable one, but he became a hero for a day when he leaped over the wall in foul territory to snare Dwight Evans pop up to star the inning and contributed some insurance in the bottom of the 8th with a 2-run single.

Righetti had to appreciate the breathing room of a 4-0 lead, especially after he walked Jeff Newman to start the 9th. But the lefty bounced back to retire Glen Hoffman and Jerry Remy on ground outs. That left things up to Wade Boggs.

The future Hall of Famer was leading the league with a sizzling .361 average entering play, but had gone for the collar against Righetti thus far. Moments later Boggs flailed at a strike three slider for the final out of the game. Dave Righetti had become the first Yankees pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Don Larsen tossed a perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

Righetti hugged his catcher Butch Wynegar and soaked in the applause of the 41,077 fans. It created a great holiday memory and a fantastic birthday present for one George Steinbrenner.

Righetti wouldn't have too many more big games as a starter. After finishing the season 14-8, 3.44, the Yankees moved the promising young pitcher to the closer role. He wasn't happy at first, but Righetti would flourish in his new position. At one time he held the major league record with 46 saves.

After retiring in 1995, Righetti moved into coaching and has been the pitching coach for the San Francisco Giants since 2000. But every July 4 he can smile and think back to one memorable holiday.

My All-I've Seen Play Team

These are just the Yankees players that I've actually seen play. Never saw Mickey in person and only had glimpses of him on TV in his last 2 seasons. I was only 6 or 7 then. So basically we are talking 1969 to today.

These are not players who had their best years in other uniforms.

Starters

C Thurman Munson

1B Don Mattingly

2B Willie Randolph

SS Derek Jeter

3B Alex Rodriguez

LF Dave Winfield

CF Bernie Williams

RF Bobby Murcer

DH Reggie Jackson

P Ron Guidry

Bench

OF Paul O'Neill
OF Lou Piniella
3B Graig Nettles
C Jorge Posada
1B Tino Martinez
UT Robinson Cano

P David Wells
P David Cone
P Andy Pettitte
P Jimmy Key
RP Mariano Rivera
RP Sparky Lyle
RP Goose Goosage
RP Dave Righetti
RP Mike Stanton

Manager - Joe Torre


Most of these were not decisions. As for the manager, I have to go with Torre's 4 titles over Billy Martin's 2. Roger Clemens best years weren't in Pinstripes and then there's the whole cheating thing.

Really all were no-brainers though I went with A-Rod after initially putting Nettles at 3B. And switched from Chris Chambliss to Tino Martinez off the bench. Also, Mike Stanton is the last man out of the pen because I couldn't think of anyone else.

Probably missing someone, but the brain is fried at nearly 5 P.M.

Where's Dave Winfield When You Need Him?

Cleveland's Progressive Field has apparently turned into Wild Kingdom. You saw the midges in that playoff game two years ago and now the place is suffering from sea gull infestation.

When the Yankees were in Ohio a couple of weeks back they were witness to the sudden influx of sea gulls. They were all over the place. The field, the stands, the roof. Michael Kay droned on and on about it. Well, he would have had a field day last night.

The Indians and Royals were tied 3-3 in the 10th inning when Shin-Soo Choo singled to center field. Mark DeRosa rounded third and headed for home. Center field Coco Crisp got himself lined up to make a throw to the play- but he never got the baseball.

The birds either deflected the ball or obliterated Crisp's view and the ball shot past him for the game winner. You can check out the play on the Indians' website.

Things might have been different had Dave Winfield been in town.

Yankees vs. Blue Jays - 8/19

The Yankees already had their work cut out for them before they arrived in Toronto. Now they have to face Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett as part of a three game series. Things get underway tonight at the Rogers Centre with Darrell Rasner squaring off against Burnett.

Rasner, for the moment, is back in the rotation due to the rotator cuff tendinitis that befell Dan Giese. Rasner pitched well in his last start, but like most of his pitching teammates, he lost, 4-2, due to a lack of run support.

Burnett has put together a 15-9 mark, despite a 4.67 ERA. However, he has excelled against the Yankees in his career, going 5-2, 2.85 in eight starts. He defeated the Yankees, 4-1 on, July 13, and struck out eight in 8.1 innings pitched.

Andy Pettitte faces rookie David Purcey on Wednesday, and the series concludes on Thursday with Sidney Ponson going against Halladay.

The Blue Jays have won 9 of 13, including 5 of their last 6 contests. They swept the Red Sox over the weekend, winning two games with a third rained out. They trail the third place Yankees by just two games.

The Blue Jays have gotten good pitching all season, but have begun to hit better as well. Vernon Wells missed a month, but recently returned and has driven in nine runs in his last seven games. Alex Rios leads the team in just about every offensive category - average, RBI, runs scored, and stolen bases. The Jays don't hit home runs, Matt Stairs leads the team with just 11.

Second year player Adam Lind is beginning to show the promise expected of him. After hitting just .238-11-46 in 290 at-bats last season, Lind is at .308-8-34 in 186 at-bats. He's also struck out only 28 times.

Strange things happen in Toronto, maybe it's the 7:07 start time. Derek Jeter suffered that devastating shoulder injury back in 2003, and last year there was the infamous Alex Rodriguez "HA" incident. And of course there was the Dave Winfield seagull brouhaha back at old Exhibition Stadium in 1983.

UPDATE 3:33 PM

As expected, Justin Christian was optioned to Scranton to make room for Hideki Matsui's return. Chad Jennings also reports that Jason Lane has been released and will most likely sign a minor league deal with the Red Sox.

Yankees vs. Blue Jays - 8/19

The Yankees already had their work cut out for them before they arrived in Toronto. Now they have to face Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett as part of a three game series. Things get underway tonight at the Rogers Centre with Darrell Rasner squaring off against Burnett.

Rasner, for the moment, is back in the rotation due to the rotator cuff tendinitis that befell Dan Giese. Rasner pitched well in his last start, but like most of his pitching teammates, he lost, 4-2, due to a lack of run support.

Burnett has put together a 15-9 mark, despite a 4.67 ERA. However, he has excelled against the Yankees in his career, going 5-2, 2.85 in eight starts. He defeated the Yankees, 4-1 on, July 13, and struck out eight in 8.1 innings pitched.

Andy Pettitte faces rookie David Purcey on Wednesday, and the series concludes on Thursday with Sidney Ponson going against Halladay.

The Blue Jays have won 9 of 13, including 5 of their last 6 contests. They swept the Red Sox over the weekend, winning two games with a third rained out. They trail the third place Yankees by just two games.

The Blue Jays have gotten good pitching all season, but have begun to hit better as well. Vernon Wells missed a month, but recently returned and has driven in nine runs in his last seven games. Alex Rios leads the team in just about every offensive category - average, RBI, runs scored, and stolen bases. The Jays don't hit home runs, Matt Stairs leads the team with just 11.

Second year player Adam Lind is beginning to show the promise expected of him. After hitting just .238-11-46 in 290 at-bats last season, Lind is at .308-8-34 in 186 at-bats. He's also struck out only 28 times.

Strange things happen in Toronto, maybe it's the 7:07 start time. Derek Jeter suffered that devastating shoulder injury back in 2003, and last year there was the infamous Alex Rodriguez "HA" incident. And of course there was the Dave Winfield seagull brouhaha back at old Exhibition Stadium in 1983.

UPDATE 3:33 PM

As expected, Justin Christian was optioned to Scranton to make room for Hideki Matsui's return. Chad Jennings also reports that Jason Lane has been released and will most likely sign a minor league deal with the Red Sox.

Our Fave 9

Here's some good food for thought. Figure out your favorite team of all-time. No, not just any Yankees. Don't pick the Babe unless you're well into your eighties. We're talking about your favorite team from the time you can really remember. So we really can't pick Mickey Mantle since his last year was when we were only 7 (coincidence?).

1st Base - Donnie Baseball. Don Mattingly was the guy who got us through those win less 1980s. Tino Martinez and Chris Chambliss get honorable mentions.

2nd Base - Willie Randolph. No question about it. Is there even a guy to get an honorable mention? Steve Sax, Knobby, Horace Clarke...we don't think so.

Shortstop - Derek Jeter. We were big Chicken Stanley fans, but this is a no-brainer.

3rd Base - Graig Nettles. Doesn't matter that A-Rod might be the greatest player off all-time. Nettles was the man back in the day.

Left Field - Dave Winfield. If only he hadn't clashed with King George the Unreasonable. Honorable mention to Roy White.

Center Field - Bobby Murcer. Bet you thought we were going to say Bernie Williams. Wait for that one. Honorable mention to Bernie, Mickey Rivers, and Elliot Maddox.

Right Field - Paul O'Neill. Reggie was never one of our faves.

Catcher - Thurman Munson. Sigh. Honorable mention to Jake Gibbs, Joe Girardi, and Jorge Posada.

DH - Bernie Williams. Okay, Bernie didn't do a whole lot of DH'ing, but he had to be on this team.

Starting Pitcher - Ron Guidry. This was a tough call between Gator and Catfish Hunter.

Closer - Mariano Rivera. Honorable mention to Sparky Lyle and Dave Righetti. We won't say Goose Gossage so this way he'll campaign and complain about the list.

Manager - Before choosing lets go through the list. We had Ralph Houk, Bill Virdon, Billy Martin, Bob Lemon, Billy Martin, Dick Howser, Gene Michael, Bob Lemon, Gene Michael, Clyde King, Billy Martin, Yogi Berra, Billy Martin, Lou Piniella, Billy Martin, Lou Piniella, Dallas Green, Bucky Dent, Stump Merrill, Bucky Dent, Buck Showalter, Joe Torre, Joe Girardi. Phew...quite amazing when you consider that Buck Showalter's first year was 1992. That's a lot of turnover.

So we would have to go with Joe Torre. No one else was there long enough. We really like Ralph Houk, but we were quite young. And the managerial ins and outs of the '80s or the Billy Martin eras (plural on purpose) was mind bending. Especially when you realize all those changes were basically the same core group of people.

If we had to put a lineup together, it would go like this:

2B Randolph
SS Jeter
C Munson
1B Mattingly
LF Winfield
RF O'Neill
CF Murcer
DH Williams
3B Nettles

We could switch that lineup many different ways, but boy would it score runs. Leave your Fave 9 in the comments section.

Our Fave 9

Here's some good food for thought. Figure out your favorite team of all-time. No, not just any Yankees. Don't pick the Babe unless you're well into your eighties. We're talking about your favorite team from the time you can really remember. So we really can't pick Mickey Mantle since his last year was when we were only 7 (coincidence?).

1st Base - Donnie Baseball. Don Mattingly was the guy who got us through those win less 1980s. Tino Martinez and Chris Chambliss get honorable mentions.

2nd Base - Willie Randolph. No question about it. Is there even a guy to get an honorable mention? Steve Sax, Knobby, Horace Clarke...we don't think so.

Shortstop - Derek Jeter. We were big Chicken Stanley fans, but this is a no-brainer.

3rd Base - Graig Nettles. Doesn't matter that A-Rod might be the greatest player off all-time. Nettles was the man back in the day.

Left Field - Dave Winfield. If only he hadn't clashed with King George the Unreasonable. Honorable mention to Roy White.

Center Field - Bobby Murcer. Bet you thought we were going to say Bernie Williams. Wait for that one. Honorable mention to Bernie, Mickey Rivers, and Elliot Maddox.

Right Field - Paul O'Neill. Reggie was never one of our faves.

Catcher - Thurman Munson. Sigh. Honorable mention to Jake Gibbs, Joe Girardi, and Jorge Posada.

DH - Bernie Williams. Okay, Bernie didn't do a whole lot of DH'ing, but he had to be on this team.

Starting Pitcher - Ron Guidry. This was a tough call between Gator and Catfish Hunter.

Closer - Mariano Rivera. Honorable mention to Sparky Lyle and Dave Righetti. We won't say Goose Gossage so this way he'll campaign and complain about the list.

Manager - Before choosing lets go through the list. We had Ralph Houk, Bill Virdon, Billy Martin, Bob Lemon, Billy Martin, Dick Howser, Gene Michael, Bob Lemon, Gene Michael, Clyde King, Billy Martin, Yogi Berra, Billy Martin, Lou Piniella, Billy Martin, Lou Piniella, Dallas Green, Bucky Dent, Stump Merrill, Bucky Dent, Buck Showalter, Joe Torre, Joe Girardi. Phew...quite amazing when you consider that Buck Showalter's first year was 1992. That's a lot of turnover.

So we would have to go with Joe Torre. No one else was there long enough. We really like Ralph Houk, but we were quite young. And the managerial ins and outs of the '80s or the Billy Martin eras (plural on purpose) was mind bending. Especially when you realize all those changes were basically the same core group of people.

If we had to put a lineup together, it would go like this:

2B Randolph
SS Jeter
C Munson
1B Mattingly
LF Winfield
RF O'Neill
CF Murcer
DH Williams
3B Nettles

We could switch that lineup many different ways, but boy would it score runs. Leave your Fave 9 in the comments section.

And Hold the MSG

Major League Baseball has already branched out to Japan with a series of regular season games - this year's games pit the Red Sox against the A's. And now Bud Selig is ready to bring the game to China.

The San Diego Padres and LA Dodgers will be playing a 2 game exhibition series at Wukesong Field, the site of this year's summer Olympics. Joe Torre and Dave Winfield made the trip to Beijing to join U.N. ambassador to China, Clark Randt, and Chinese baseball official Meng Wei in making the announcement.

Both teams promised to field top notch players for the series, and players' union COO Gene Orza said his membership was excited about the series.

And Hold the MSG

Major League Baseball has already branched out to Japan with a series of regular season games - this year's games pit the Red Sox against the A's. And now Bud Selig is ready to bring the game to China.

The San Diego Padres and LA Dodgers will be playing a 2 game exhibition series at Wukesong Field, the site of this year's summer Olympics. Joe Torre and Dave Winfield made the trip to Beijing to join U.N. ambassador to China, Clark Randt, and Chinese baseball official Meng Wei in making the announcement.

Both teams promised to field top notch players for the series, and players' union COO Gene Orza said his membership was excited about the series.