Friday, July 4, 2014

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 7/4/14

Happy 4th of July, everybody!  Hope you're already well into whatever activities you've got planned for this glorious holiday and not stuck inside somewhere with nothing to do but read this.  I've got a double-dip of family cookout during the day and a concert later tonight, but since I'll be traveling to Germany for week on Saturday I won't be able to do my normal Independence Day partying routine.  It's a little bit of a bummer, but what are you gonna do?  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, SJK of NoMaas begged and pleaded for a Rob Refsnyder call up.  He must have been really disappointed to get Wheeler instead.

- On Tuesday, Katie Sharp of IIATMS/TYA explained how David Price has been able to pitch so underratedly well this year, and how he's done against the Yankees as food for thought.

- Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits reviewed the progress of his top 10 Yankee prospects.

- El duque of It Is High... riffed on the "great arm" talk about Jose Ramirez and how meaningless a term it really was.

- SG of RLYW looked back at the projection numbers to see how much better or worse the Yankee offense should have been and could be in the second half.

- On Wednesday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog pointed out a historically-significant display of age from the Yankees in one of their recent lineups.  Definitely not a good thing.

- Mike Axisa of RAB shone a light on the dwindling Yankee bullpen depth and how that may push them into the market for relief help at the deadline.

- John Beck of Pinstripe Alley made a case for the Yankees targeting Adrian Beltre at the trade deadline.  That would be pretty awesome actually.

- On Thursday, Brian Heyman of LoHud discussed Derek Jeter's playing time and had The Captain's thoughts on how the team has been playing.

- Daniel Burch of The Greedy Pinstripes called for Kevin Long's firing and made a suggestion for who should be hired to replace him.

We're going with all the American classics for today.  Wouldn't have it any other way.







Enjoy your long weekends, everybody.

Game 84 Wrap-Up: NYY 7 MIN 4

(Courtesy of the AP)

The games that Masahiro Tanaka pitches have really been the only ones in which the Yankees have had a good chance to win lately.  Even with the confidence he brings, the pitiful offense has been unable to support him enough to get wins his last 2 times out, and Tanaka entered last night's start on unfamiliar ground, saddled with a 2-game losing streak.  He was out there again, opening up a long weekend series in Minnesota against former Yankee reclamation project and probable All Star Phil Hughes, and despite pitching his worst game as a Yankee, he got enough support from newest lineup member Zelous Wheeler and the offense to end the Yanks' 5-game losing streak.

Game Notes:

- The Twins picked up runs in the 1st and 3rd innings thanks to some strong run manufacturing by the top of the Twins lineup.  Brian Dozier singled to start rallies in both innings and came around to score on a double and a groundout.

- The Yanks broke out against Hughes in the 5th with a quick single-single-3-run homer-groundout-solo homer stretch of at-bats that put them ahead 4-2.  Carlos Beltran hit the 3-run shot while Wheeler recorded his first MLB home run on the solo job.

- A pair of doubles in the 6th and 7th led to 2 more Minnesota runs.  Tanaka just didn't have much in the way of stuff or command.  Maybe the transition to regular rest hasn't been as smooth as it first looked.

- Those runs didn't hurt too bad thanks to a big 3-run top of the 7th by the lineup.  Brendan Ryan of all people doubled home a run, Brett Gardner singled 1 in, and Derek Jeter brought Ryan in with a groundout for the 7th and final run.

- Joe didn't play around late, removing Tanaka after 7 and going with Dellin Betances and David Robertson for the save.  Betances fanned 2 in the 8th and D-Rob struck out the side in the 9th.  Filth personified.