Yankeeology.com

By Jose “Pepitone” Reyes

One man show it was but it could as well been a two-man show because CC Sabathia was great again! But A-Rod was amazing as he pushed in 5 of the total 6 runs all himself. Four the runs came on one swing in the third inning. In the highlights here you can see the grand slam blast but you also see the 5th run he knocked in, another homer. The Yankees didn’t generate many hits so A-Rod’s were very useful. Besides the two mistake pitches to Rodriguez, Cahill was great, just allowing 4 hits. Sabathia allowed 7 hits but just one earned run. The two homers were the difference. Yanks win! Box Score

Just like that Yankees are up two games on Tampa Bay and 3.5 ahead of the Bosox. See rest of the standings.

Extra Story: Hank Bauer (Article written in 1996):

JULY 22, 1957

In the 1958 Series, the last time before this fall that the Braves and Yankees met for the championship, Bauer was a hero. New York dropped the first two games in Milwaukee, then the Braves’ home, and seemed overmatched by the pitching of Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette. But when the Series moved to Yankee Stadium, the old Marine took command, driving home all four runs in a Game 3 shutout. Spahn won the next day, halting Bauer’s record 17-game World Series hitting streak, but New York swept the final three games to clinch the title. Bauer had 10 hits in the Series, four of them homers, and drove in eight runs.

Bauer was a typical Yankee of the Casey Stengel era, a hard man who played every game as if it would be his last. An ex-Marine who had won two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts during 32 months of World War II combat in the South Pacific, Bauer was keenly aware of his mortality. The war delayed the start of his 14-year major league career until he was 26, but he made the most of what remained. And he was at his clenched-fist best under the nerve-jangling pressure of a World Series.

The New York Yankee who graced our cover of July 22, 1957, had, in the words of comedian Jan Murray, “a face like a clenched fist.” It was an apt description, for, grizzled countenance aside, Hank Bauer played baseball with the taut fury of a clenched fist. “When Hank came down that base path,” Boston Red Sox shortstop Johnny Pesky once said, “the whole earth trembled.” Continue Reading

Hank Bauer was a real winner and the Yanks did prevail, as they came back after they were 2-0 to beat the Braves also. Here are his career stats.

Jose “Pepitone” Reyes

The Yankees just got a wake-up call as the Toronto Blue Jays showed them why their records are so closely alike. The Yankees are in for a long tough year. And if they are not careful and start producing, they will slide into third place. I’m very happy that we all have something to look forward to now. This year will be very exciting year and we cannot forget Boston, of course:

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Burnett did not give up too many hits but 4 of them were bombs! Take a look at the Box Score .

Recap from ESPN:

TORONTO — Brett Cecil had a good view for another nice night by Jose Bautista, and he was impressed once again.

“He’s just unbelievable,” Cecil said. Bautista hit two towering home runs, raising his major league-leading total to 18, and the slugging Toronto Blue Jays beat the Yankees 6-1 on Friday night, snapping New York’s five-game winning streak……Continue Reading

Will be right back

By Jose “Pepitone” Reyes

So Mo gives up a grand slam. Mariano pitched to Kubel just right, it was a battle and he lost. That pitch Kubel hit was curving down and inside, it almost hit him! Kubel swung at the right angle and got lucky, simple as that. You can’t save them all! Mariano came in with the bases loaded, not a familiar nor a favorable position to subject the Sandman to but that does not faze him. It was since 1995 that Mariano had given up a grand slam and it was the 4th his whole career, that’s unbelievable! That was the 61st HR that he has allowed in his career. Since 1995 when he gave up 11, he has not given up more than 7 in one season. checkout his career stats.

Joba was the real culprit here since the runs were charged to him and after all, he was the losing pitcher. Mitre pitched 5 complete innings and gave up 1 run. Robertson came in for him and pitched two hitless innings. The rest is history. Box Score Here’s the Recap from MLB.com

By Jose “Pepitone” Reyes

Yankees lost the 1st game 2-0 as Vazquez manage to pitch a great game but of course, the offense was simply not there. The tigers were only able to get one hit (infield hit) until the 6th inning. They picked up 4 cheap hits and took a 2-0 lead. Vazquez started and ended the 7th inning in 1,2, 3 fashion. Yankees had 3 innings to catch up as Yankee reliever Logan kept the Tigers in-check in the 8th. But Nothing! A real waste of effort by Vazquez to redeem himself as he really deserved a victory in this particular game.

The second game was another scoreless adventure as the Yanks behind “another” excellent performance by Hughes, blanked the Tigers 8-0. But the score doesn’t indicate or reflect the first eight innings because the Yanks only managed to score two runs until the onslaught. In the ninth the Yanks scored 6 runs to finally break out of their mini slump and end the three game losing streak. Highlights of game.

1st Game Box Score

2nd Game Box score

By Jose “Pepitone” Reyes

The Yankees continue their winning was and Pettitte pitches 8 strong innings. Jeter took the day of because of cold and Gardner goes 2 for three with a walk batting leadoff. Teixeira finally hits his first homer and Posada added with his 3rd. Look at the Box Score. That’s the Yankees 4th win in a row but Tampa Bay has a 6 game winning streak going on also. They are both tied in first place with 9-3 records. The Rays had problems with the bombers but not with anyone else, up to now and it is very early in the season. Take a look at the Yankee Hitting and Pitching stats so far and you see how that Jeter and Cano lead the team in RBI and Pettitte leads all pitchers in innings pitched (20) and ERA (1.35). The Yankees will be off Monday and will be playing a hot Oakland A’s club.

My Thoughts: AL Champs, Bring on the Phillies and Yankee haters!

By Jose “Pepitone” Reyes

So the Yankees have won their 40th Pennent, that’s remarkable, incredible! That’s fine and dandy but that’s not enough for Yankee fans. What’s more important is, the Yankees winning the World Series and they haven’t been there since 2003. And with the enormous payroll, they “have” to win it all. It’s all or nothing at all! Isn’t this the ultimate challenge? It’s amazing, just imagine, they had the best record in baseball and they are now the American League Champions but if they lose the World Series, they would be considered failures. The season would be wasted, that’s not right, that’s not fair! But with a payroll like this and an all-star lineup, they should go all the way. Is that the ultimate challenge, wouldn’t this be the ultimate test for any human. No room for mistakes?

Yet, the ones that are coming through again, are the veterans like Mariano, Pettitte, Jeter, Posada. If it weren’t for their steady example of class and leadership, these 2009 Yankees would

American League Standings as of September 20th

By Jose “Pepitone” Reyes

Well here we are, the season is coming to a close and things are getting a little tight. As you can see above, the Yankees have played 149 out of 162 ball games, so there’s not much to go for the season to end. Looking at the East, it’s a familiar scenario, one that did not occur last year when Tampa Bay had taken the Yankees place. But this year, our Yankees are there again and playing tough and steady! Boston is hanging in there and have won 9 out of the last 10 games but they are still six back and the season is almost done. The Magic number for the Yanks is “9″ now.

In the Central, things are changing day by day as the Twins are making that late surge again. It’s amazing how they always come on in the end of the year. They just took two games from Detroit as they play head-to-head. It’s only a 2 game lead now. I personally am hoping for Minnesota to take the division, so we can face Carl Pavano. We need to smack him around, just like he let the whole league did when he was a Yankee, what a waste of money he was!

The Western division is looking the same as the last few years. The LA-Anaheim Angels have a commanding 9 game lead over the much improved Rangers. Texas still has an outside chance of making the playoffs as a wild card but if Boston continues there winning ways, they will have to wait until next April. The Angels are neck -to-neck with Boston for home field advantage, when they face off in the playoffs. This is sure to happen, unless the Yankees choke it up and blow the American League East but then again, they rarely do. The Yankees really just have to win 2 games and they make the palyoffs but of course, we want the division back.

The Yankees will win those two games and more to take the division easy, in my opinion.

Are you satisfied?

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By Jose “Pepitone” Reyes

So? Are you happy with the way the Yankees are playing now? Are you confident they will continue to play like this for the rest of the season? Do you feel they will win the American League East? I’m sure you answered “YES” to these three questions, especially with the way we manhandled the Red Sox. But are you SATISFIED with that?? Most people would be but not Yankee fans, we expect even more. Making the playoffs is a given for us, winning it all, is the only goal we have from the beginning of each and every season. Before I continue on, I must say, we are not in the playoffs yet, we still have 38 games to play and many things can happen. We should make the playoffs though and I’m confident we will. Yankee fans will slightly be happy with this outcome and very far from being satisfied. No way, for us Yankee fans, making the playoffs is not such a big thrill, not at all. We want it all!

This might sound a little cocky for most baseball fans, it’s understood, but Yankee fans are spoiled. Very much spoiled, I must say but in a bad way. Yes, a bad way, that’s what I wrote and I’ll tell you why. We have won 26 World Championships already and unfortunately have not won since 2000, that’s a long time for us Yankee fans. So for every consecutive season we don’t win it all, the bar raises even higher, this is pressure to its fullest. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? It’s true and we can’t do anything about it, we’re doomed! This has been going on since 1921, that’s a long time and we have no control over history. So are you satisfied? It’s not easy being a Yankee fan but we’ll take the pressure that is placed on us, each and every game, because the feeling of winning it all cannot ever be beat. That’s what it’s all about!

Wow! My wish and sort of prediction is beginning to become true. All we need is to finish off