Salty Slams Yankees to the Mat

One might think the game was over Friday night after the Red Sox scored four runs in the 1st inning off of Hiroki Kuroda. But just as they had last week in New York, the Yankees rallied to tie the game at four apiece. Unfortunately, just like three of last week's games with Boston, the Yankees lost anyway.

The Red Sox have hit eight grand slams on the year, with Jarrod Saltalamacchia being the latest batter to go deep with the bases loaded. The catcher's slam came off of Preston Claiborne and turned the aforementioned 4-4 tie into an 8-4 Red Sox lead. That turned out to be the final score as the Red Sox won their 90th game and the Yankees fell two games behind Tampa Bay for the number two wild card spot.

Kuroda has been the Yankees ace since last year, but he's been extremely fatigued of late. Since he tossed eight innings of shutout ball against the Los Angeles Angels on August 12, Kuroda has not gone past 6.1 innings in any start. In fact, he recorded an out in the 7th inning only once and hasn't won since the game against the Angels. (In fairness, he was the pitcher of record in last Sunday's game against Boston, but Mariano Rivera blew the lead. The Yankees won in the bototom of the 9th on a wild pitch.)

Kuroda got into immediate trouble Friday night with a 33 pitch 1st inning. He gave up a lead off single to Dustin Pedroia, a 1-out double to David Ortiz, and an RBI ground out to Mike Carp that gave Boston a 1-0 lead. Given the opportunity to escape with a single run allowed, Kuroda got touched up for three more runs on a Daniel Nava single and a 2-run double by Stephen Drew.

The Yankees slowly chipped away against Sox starter John Lackey with an unexpected solo home run from Brendan Ryan in the 3rd inning. Lyle Overbay cut the lead in half in the 6th with a sacrifice fly as Kuroda hung tough and shut down the Red Sox red hot lineup.

The Yankees pulled even in the 7th with Ryan and Chris Stewart reaching on back-to-back singles to start the rally. With Curtis Granderson, Alex Rodriguez, and Robinson Cano due up, John Farrell sent for left-hander Craig Breslow. Breslow K'ed Granderson, but walked A-Rod to load the bases for Cano. The second baseman came through with a game tying 2-run double. Alfonso Soriano had a chance to put the Bombers ahead, but Brandon Workman induced an inning ending ground out.

The good times didn't last long- Joe Girardi sent Kuroda back out to start the 7th, but he gave up a single to Shane Victorino and departed. Lefty Cesar Cabral came on, but hit Ortiz. Claiborne, this year's Cody Eppley, wore down quicker than his predecessor after a surprisingly effective first half of the season. He was next to enter the fray Friday night and walked pinch-hitter Jonny Gomes to load the bases.

Claiborne struck out Nava, but Saltalamacchia deposited grand slam number eight over the right field fence to essentially end the Yankees night.

Alfonso Soriano's Beat Down of the Angels

Yankees fans who watched Alfonso Soriano embark on a promising career his first time around with the team hoped to see some of the same excitement when the 37-yr old return at this year's trade deadline. Soriano obliged on Tuesday and Wednesday when he knocked in a ridiculous 13 RBI in two games vs. the Los Angeles Angels.

In Tuesday night's 14-7 Yankees win, Soriano hit a 2-run home run in the 5th inning, added an RBI single, and then iced the cake with a 3-run blast in the 7th. The six RBI were a career high for the native of the Dominican Republic. That career high lasted all  of one day.

Wednesday's 9-3 shellacking of Jered Weaver and the Angels saw Soriano reach a new height. It began with a grand slam in the bottom of the first after Weaver had retired the first two batters he faced. But the first hit of Robinson Cano's 4-4 night, a double by Alex Rodriguez and a walk to Curtis Granderson walk set the stage for the left fielder.

He added a 2-run double an inning later and led off the 5th inning with a solo home run. He was a combined 6-9 with four home runs, a double, and even a walk in the last two games of the four games series. (Concludes with a 1:05 PM EDT start on Thursday.) The hot streak pumped up Soriano's Yankees' OPS to .858 and his slugging to .606 since his return on August 2.

The grand salami was the fifth of Soriano's career and landed in Monument Park. It was his first bases loaded whack with the Yankees since he hit a pair in the 2003 season. The 13 RBI in two consecutive games are the second highest total in franchise history. Hall of Fame second baseman Tony Lazzeri had 15 RBI with an American League record 11 in one game.

Ivan Nova appreciated some run support for a change on a night he didn't have his best stuff. He still managed to go 7.1 innings and lowered his ERA to 2.99 to go along with a 6-4 record. He's allowed 11 earned runs over 52.1 innings in his last seven starts (1.90 ERA) and is, in effect, the Yankees number two starter right now.

A-Rod finished the night 1-4 and is 8-31 with a slash line of .258/.343/.419. He's hit one home run, driven in four runs, and scored three, and has been pretty solid defensively. The mixed response from the crowd has been no different so far and will be nothing compared to what A-Rod will experience this weekend in Boston.

Derek Jeter took part in some drills on Wednesday and will fly down to Tampa today (Thursday) to continue his rehab from a calf injury. He's eligibile, but won't be activated for the Red Sox series.

Hurricane Martin Slams A's

The Oakland A's had already won the first two games of a three game series with the Yankees and had lambasted Phil Hughes to take a 7-1 lead Thursday afternoon. No one could have blamed Oakland for thinking they had a three game sweep wrapped up. But that was before Russell Martin and the Yankees had more grand slams than Denny's serves for Sunday morning breakfast.

Martin, who earlier hit a solo home run, added a grand slam to put the Yankees on top for good 10-7 en route to a 22-9 victory. Robinson Cano's grand slam had cut the A's lead to 7-6 and Curtis Granderson later added some extra icing on the cake with a Major League record third grand slam. Boone Logan struck out all four batters he faced for a well deserved win.

It was Martin though that ignited the Yankees with a 5-5, 6 RBI day. Unfortunately, his battery mate could match his success. Hughes gave up single runs in each of the first two innings and then was hammered and knocked from the game in the 3rd. The right-hander, who came in to the game with a 2.08 ERA in his last five starts, left the game down 4-1 and with two men aboard. Corey Wade then served up a gopher ball to Cliff Pennington for his sixth home run of the season.

Martin hit his solo shot off of A's starter Rich Harden in the 4th and the veteran right-hander would be deprived of a chance to win the game when he couldn't make it out of the 5th inning. Derek Jeter reached on a lead off single and Curtis Granderson followed with a walk. Harden struck out Mark Teixeira, but gave up a single to Alex Rodriguez to load the bases. Cano, who entered the game with a 1.221 OPS this season with ducks on the pond, crushed his second grand slam of the season to cut the A's lead to a single run. When Nick Swisher doubled, A's manager Bob Melvin had no choice to go to his bullpen. It wouldn't help.

Craig Breslow hit Granderson to start the 6th and out later Fautino De Los Santos walked Rodriguez. De Los Santos managed to strike out Cano, but after a wild pitch had moved both runners up, Melvin decided to intentionally walk Swisher to face Martin. The catcher went the opposite way for his third career grand slam to give the Yankees their first lead of the day.

The Yankees offense wasn't done though; they added six more runs in both the 7th and 8th innings, including Granderson's record settting slam and a long solo blast by Andruw Jones. A's rookie pitcher Bruce Billings took the brunt of the damage with seven runs allowed in just 1.1 innings pitched.

Notes

Granderson's home run pushed him over the decade mark in RBI (103) for the first time in his career. The home run (#36) also moved him one behind league leader Jose Bautista. The centerfielder also scored four more times to give him a Major League best 119 runs scored.

Derek Jeter was 3-6 and temporarily reached the .300 mark before making an out his final time up to drop him back to .299. He's had multiple hit performances in nine of his last 11 games.

Robinson Cano extended his hitting streak to 16 games.

Mark Teixeira was 0-4, but had 2 RBI to give him 98 on the season.

Jorge Posada finally made his big league debut at the position he was originally drafted at, second base. The final out of the game was a grounder to Posada, who wound up and fired a bullet in the dirt. Luckily, Nick Swisher made a terrific scoop to save Posada from an error on his one and only chance.

The start of the game was delayed nearly 1 and 1/2 hours by rain.

It was the first multi-grand slam day by the Yankees since Paul O'Neill and Bernie Williams both connected on Sept. 14, 1999 against Toronto.

The 22 runs were the most allowed by the A's since they gave up 29 in a game in 1955.

A-Rod and the Yankees Slammin' the Competition

Brett Gardner adds to the Yankee GS total

Alex Rodriguez's grand slam last night was his third this season. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Hall of Fame member Jimmie Foxx is the only other player to have more than two slams in a season in four different years.

A-Rod also had multiple slams in 1996, 1999, and 2007.

The Yankees are the first team with nine grand slams prior to the All-Star break. In getting number nine last night, the Yankees eclipsed the 2000 A's, 2005 Red Sox, and 2006 Indians.

Yankees slam totals this season:

A-Rod 3
Jorge Posada 2
Brett Gardner 1
Curtis Granderson 1
Mark Teixeira 1
Robinson Cano 1

photo courtesy of nj.com

A-Rod's Day to Remember

Do not intentionally walk Mark Teixeira.

Manny Acta certainly wasn't paying attention when Twins manager Ron Gardenhire intentionally walked Mark Teixeira to loaded the bases back on May 14. For that matter, neither manager may have looked at A-Rod's career numbers when a player is intentionally walked in front of him. Just as A-Rod did with Gardenhire, he quickly made Acta regret his decision by belting his 20th career grand slam. It helped the Yankees roll to an 11-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians and a series win (3 out of 4).

Rodriguez drove in six runs all told and is now 5-5 with three home runs and 18 RBI when Teixeira gets a free pass in front of him. Andy Pettitte was the recipient of the run support, but he didn't need it.

Pettitte tied Whitey Ford on the all time MLB career wins list with his 236 triumph. He allowed just four hits over seven innings, and, just as A.J. Burnett did on Sunday, gave the bullpen a much needed rest. In doing so, Pettitte lowered his ERA to an AL third best 2.48.

For the second straight game, it took a while for the Yankees offense to get going. They led just 2-1 against Indians starter Mitch Talbot entering the 7th inning. That's when the game changed quickly.

Derek Jeter had a sore hamstring from being hit by a pitch earlier in the game, but delievered a one out single to knock Talbot from the game. Curtis Granderson greeted left-handed reliever Raffy Perez with a single of his own to send pinch-runner Ramiro Pena to third and set up the big decision for Acta.

After the walk to Teixeira, Acta called on righty Chris Perez to face Rodriguez, who is now in sole possession of third place on the all-time grand slam list behind Lou Gehrig (23) and Manny Ramirez (21). The Memorial Day crowd had barely settled back in their seats from celebrating Rodriguez's heroics when Robinson Cano ripped a solo shot to right for his 11th home run of the season.

Notes

The Yankees open a three game series tonight with the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium. Javier Vazquez starts things off against left-hander Brian Matusz.

photo courtesy of Yahoo Sports

Field of Screams

photo courtesy of Yahoo Sports

Written for Baseballdigest.com

"Field of Screams", the perfect title for a post about the New York Yankees sweeping the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium. The perfect title for the Yankees abusing the AL Central leaders once again.

It in fact turned out to be the perfect title, but not for the original reason I expected. Sometime during the 3 o'clock hour on Sunday, there was a blood curdling scream heard throughout the Metropolitan area. You know, the kind of scream you hear in movies. The kind of scream that scares all of the pigeons from their perches in Central Park.

The kind of scream you hear from Yankees fans when Mariano Rivera gives up the rarest of rares, a game losing grand slam. Rivera may have been screaming inside, but he did his best not to show it. Working for only the third time since April 30, Rivera was asked to protect a 3-1 lead by recording the final four outs of the game.

But after the Twins loaded the bases with two outs against Joba Chamberlain, Rivera walked pinch-hitter Jim Thome to force in the tying run. While fans and the media scrambled to figure out when it was that it had last occured, Jason Kubel then became the first major leaguer since Bill Selby (in 2002) to go deep against the Yankees closer with the bases loaded. A sure fire Yankees win turned into a 6-3 defeat before a stunned Bat Day crowd.

It was the Twins first win in the Bronx since 2007. Oh, for the record, May 6, 2005 was the last time Rivera issued a bases loaded walk. The A's Keith Ginter was the lucky recipient on that day.

By now the pigeons should be back in the park.

Help Wanted: Twins Interim Manager

photo courtesy of Yahoo Sports

At the conclusion of tonight's game with the New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins general manager Bill Smith announced the team is looking for an interim manager. Don't worry, Ron Gardenhire, one of the best managers in the game, has not been fired. It's just that Smith figures maybe someone else will have better luck when his team plays the Yankees.

Okay, so all of the above is bs, but you could understand Smith thinking that way. With tonight's 7-4 Yankees victory, the Twins have lost 24 of the last 27 games played in the Bronx. Add to that playoff losses in 2003, 2004, and 2009. Things weren't much better in the Metrodome where the Twins won only 11 of their last 29 games with the Yankees.

Like many of their previous encounters, the Twins had a chance to win tonight's ball game. They rallied against Damaso Marte to take a 4-3 lead in the 7th, but the Twins' pen imploded in the bottom of the 7th.

Francisco Cervelli led the inning off with a single against Twins starter Scott Baker and Derek Jeter followed with a bullet off of Baker's leg for a double. Lefty Brian Duensing retired Brett Gardner, but Gardenhire made the dangerous decision to intentionally walk Mark Teixeira and face Alex Rodriguez with the bases loaded.

Gardenhire had the unenviable task of picking his poison, but Rodriguez was 4-6 lifetime with a trio of home runs against the reliever, Matt Guerrier, that the Twins' skipper opted for.

Quicker than you could say, well, Gardenhire, A-Rod launched a grand slam to left to put the Yankees back on top for good. The Yankees third baseman also scored points in the post-game by taking the high road when YES' Kim Jones wondered if getting intentionally walked irritated him.

Joba Chamberlain (three K's) and Mariano Rivera made quick work of the Twins over the final two innings to hang yet another "L" on Gardenhire and the Twins.

Notes

Per Sweeny Murti on Twitter: "Joba has struck out 7 of last 10 batters (over 3 apps)." And this from Jack Curry on Twitter: "Memo to ML Managers: According to STATS, Inc., A-Rod is 4-4 w 2 HRS and 14 RBI in six plate apps after Teixeira was intent walked b4 him."

Nick Swisher left the game after one at-bat due to his bad bicep. (Correction) He went for an MRI, which showed nothing out of the ordinary a slight tear. He's listed as day to day.

Francisco Cervelli continues to be remarkable. Two more hits tonight, threw out a would-be base stealer, and delivered an RBI triple for an insurance run in the 8th inning. He's now 10-13 with runners in scoring position. Cervelli was even impressed by it during the post-game. "That's pretty good", he said with a chuckle.

A.J. Burnett started the game with a shaky first inning, but settled down and left the game with a 3-2 lead in the 7th. He did give up a scorched home run to Joe Mauer.

Matsui Birthday Slams Athletics

Hideki Matsui likes to hit grand slams in big moments. In his rookie year in 2003 he went deep with the bases loaded on opening day against the Twins and then in first game of the day-night, two fields doubleheader against the Mets. In 2004, there was a grand slam up in Fenway and another against the Mets. He hadn't it another grand slam since, that is until last night when he celebrated his 34th birthday with a grand slam home run that supplied all of the Yankees runs in their 4-1 win over the Oakland Athletics.

Andy Pettitte was pitching beautifully, but the Yankees trailed 1-0 entering the 6th inning. A's starter Joe Blanton had allowed just 3 hits through the first 5 innings and the Yankees had stranded runners in scoring position in two of them. 2nd baseman Mark Ellis made a diving stop of Derek Jeter's grounder to start the 6th, but had no play. Then Blanton hurt himself with his propensity to walk hitters. He issued back to back free passes to Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez with no one out. That's when Godzilla stomped on McAfee Stadium, sending a Blanton change up well over and above the 362-ft sign in right-center field.

Then it was all up to Pettitte and the veteran came through with his best performance of the season. He retired the last 11 men he faced, coming up with 1-2-3 innings in the 6th, 7th, and 8th. The victory was the 170th of his Yankees career, tying him with Ron Guidry for 4th place on the all-time team list. And what would a milestone victory be for Pettitte without Mariano Rivera to nail it down.

Pitching for the fourth time in five days, Rivera recorded his 18th save in as many chances, and the 53rd in a game in which Pettitte was the winning pitcher. He issued a lead off walk to Eric Chavez, but retired Ellis on a fly out and struck out Emil Brown and Carlos Gonzalez to end the game.

The lone A's run came in the 2nd inning when Ellis doubled, moved to 3rd on Brown's ground out to the right side, and scored on a Gonzalez single.



News and Notes

Relief pitcher Jonathan Albaledejo is out for the year after additional tests revealed a stress fracture in his elbow. It was originally thought to be just a strain.

According to Peter Abraham, Matsui also hit grand slams on his birthday in Japan in 1996 and 1998.

Kim Jones reported on the YES pre-game that Joe Girardi told Melky Cabrera to stop sliding head first into 1st base, and characterized the play as "overhustling".

Anthony McCarron of the NY Daily News reported that Yankees 2nd round draft pick Jeremy Bleich will start Stanford's opening round game in the College World Series this Saturday against Florida State.

Bobby Abreu had his modest 7-game hitting streak snapped.

Matsui Birthday Slams Athletics

Hideki Matsui likes to hit grand slams in big moments. In his rookie year in 2003 he went deep with the bases loaded on opening day against the Twins and then in first game of the day-night, two fields doubleheader against the Mets. In 2004, there was a grand slam up in Fenway and another against the Mets. He hadn't it another grand slam since, that is until last night when he celebrated his 34th birthday with a grand slam home run that supplied all of the Yankees runs in their 4-1 win over the Oakland Athletics.

Andy Pettitte was pitching beautifully, but the Yankees trailed 1-0 entering the 6th inning. A's starter Joe Blanton had allowed just 3 hits through the first 5 innings and the Yankees had stranded runners in scoring position in two of them. 2nd baseman Mark Ellis made a diving stop of Derek Jeter's grounder to start the 6th, but had no play. Then Blanton hurt himself with his propensity to walk hitters. He issued back to back free passes to Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez with no one out. That's when Godzilla stomped on McAfee Stadium, sending a Blanton change up well over and above the 362-ft sign in right-center field.

Then it was all up to Pettitte and the veteran came through with his best performance of the season. He retired the last 11 men he faced, coming up with 1-2-3 innings in the 6th, 7th, and 8th. The victory was the 170th of his Yankees career, tying him with Ron Guidry for 4th place on the all-time team list. And what would a milestone victory be for Pettitte without Mariano Rivera to nail it down.

Pitching for the fourth time in five days, Rivera recorded his 18th save in as many chances, and the 53rd in a game in which Pettitte was the winning pitcher. He issued a lead off walk to Eric Chavez, but retired Ellis on a fly out and struck out Emil Brown and Carlos Gonzalez to end the game.

The lone A's run came in the 2nd inning when Ellis doubled, moved to 3rd on Brown's ground out to the right side, and scored on a Gonzalez single.



News and Notes

Relief pitcher Jonathan Albaledejo is out for the year after additional tests revealed a stress fracture in his elbow. It was originally thought to be just a strain.

According to Peter Abraham, Matsui also hit grand slams on his birthday in Japan in 1996 and 1998.

Kim Jones reported on the YES pre-game that Joe Girardi told Melky Cabrera to stop sliding head first into 1st base, and characterized the play as "overhustling".

Anthony McCarron of the NY Daily News reported that Yankees 2nd round draft pick Jeremy Bleich will start Stanford's opening round game in the College World Series this Saturday against Florida State.

Bobby Abreu had his modest 7-game hitting streak snapped.