Kiley McDaniel Scouts Ty Hensley

(Courtesy of The AP)

Kiley McDaniel of ESPN is back at it scouting Yankees prospects.  He's already covered the biggest names in the system in the A-ball levels (Sanchez, Williams, Austin, Heathcott); this past week he dropped down a few more levels to the GCL to take a look at 2012 1st-round pick Ty Hensley.  McDaniel brings the first real good scouting report we've seen on Hensley since he finally signed, joined the GCL Yanks, and started pitching.  It's an Insider Only piece, but it gives plenty of reasons to be high on Hensley's potential as a top-tier starter.  The highlights of McDaniel's report and my take after the jump.

Melky Cabrera: Master Internet Criminal

I didn't say anything about the Melky Cabrera steroids story this week for 3 reasons: 1) I wasn't all that surprised by it, 2) I didn't really care, and 3) He doesn't play for the Yankees anymore, so I wasn't going to start talking about him until he was officially a free agent.

But with the latest part of this story breaking today, now it's time for me to get involved.  This latest news is much more up my alley...

"The scheme began unfolding in July as Cabrera and his representatives scrambled to explain a spike in the former Yankee’s testosterone levels. Cabrera associate Juan Nunez, described by the player’s agents, Seth and Sam Levinson, as a “paid consultant” of their firm but not an “employee,” is alleged to have paid $10,000 to acquire the phony website. The idea, apparently, was to lay a trail of digital breadcrumbs suggesting Cabrera had ordered a supplement that ended up causing the positive test, and to rely on a clause in the collectively bargained drug program that allows a player who has tested positive to attempt to prove he ingested a banned substance through no fault of his own."

Really, Melky?  That was your plan?  Just hop on the old interwebs, get a sweet new Go Daddy domain name like Danica Patrick, and boom, problem solved!  It's brilliant.  It's no wonder you got caught in the first place.  You're an idiot.

P.S.- If they didn't name this phony company "Vandelay Industries," they did it wrong.

Game 120 Wrap-Up: BOS 4 NYY 1

(It was that kind of day for the Yankee bats.  Courtesy of The AP)

Things have been going prettay, prettay, prettay good for David Phelps this season, and he had a chance to audition on a national stage yesterday against the Yankees' greatest rival.  Things haven't been so hot for Jawn Lestah this season, and he had a chance to get his head kicked in again on a national stage yesterday.  Somewhat surprisingly, Lestah brought his A-game and actually carried the Fraud Sawx, something he hasn't done a lot of this season.  Phelps was up to the challenge, and pitched a great game in his own right, just not great enough to win.

Game Notes:

- Phelps made a mistake by hanging a pitch in the top of the 1st to Adrian Gonzalez that turned into a 2-run HR, but other than that he looked good early.  Phelps allowed just 1 hit and threw just 28 pitches in the next 3 innings, striking out 3 and retiring 7 in a row to end the 4th.

- The biggest problem was the Yankee lineup's inability to put enough hits together to do damage against Jon Lester.  They had at least 1 baserunner in each of the first 5 innings but had only Curtis Granderson's solo HR to show for it.

- It's never good to get burned by the bottom of the order, but that's what happened to Phelps in the 5th.  He gave up a double to Nick Punto (a near unforgivable offense) and new Yankee killer Pedro Ciriaco came around to score to make it 3-1 Sawx.

- The Yankees blew a golden opportunity in the bottom of the 7th after Granderson doubled and then moved to third on a groundout to give the Yankees a chance to score a run on an out.  But Jayson Nix and Ichiro Suzuki couldn't drive him in and it stayed a 3-1 game.

- Ciriaco continued to kill the Yankees in the top of the 9th, doubling Scott Podsednik to third with no outs and allowing to score an insurance run against Cody Eppley.  Ciriaco's batting line against the Yankees is unreal.

- It was a day of missed opportunities for the offense.  They put at least 1 runner on base in every inning except the 6th, and put the leadoff runner on in 4 innings without scoring in any of them.  Yesterday was a day that showed just how shallow that lineup can be without A-Rod and Teix.