Authors note:
Hey guys i’m sorry I haven’t been posting lately, but I am back now!
Crazy last couple of weeks in sports am I right?
NBA Playoffs.
Round 1 is over!
Bucks over Pistons in 4
Celtics over Pacers in4
Raptors over Magic in 5
76ers Over NETS in5
Warriors over Clippers in 6
Rockets over Jazz in 5
Nuggets over Spurs in7
Blazers over Thunder in5
Round 2:
Bucks and Celtics tied at 1
*76ers lead Raptors 2-1
Warriors lead Rockets 2-0
Nuggets and TrailBlazers tied at1.
Notice how round 1 was all chalk.
However, it did have it’s moments, with none being bigger than Blazers superstar Damian Lillard who knocked down a buzzer beating half court shot to propel the Blazers past the OKC Thunder in GM 5 118-115! Lillard has 50 in game 5, as his team looks to upset the Denver Nuggets in round 2.
*= Upset
NHL Playoffs:
This was the exact opposite of the NBA!
Blue Jackets stun Lightning in 4
Bruins over Maple Leafs in 7
Hurricanes stun the defending champion Washington Capitals in 7 games! This included a 4-3 2OT victory in game 7.
Islanders over Penguins in 4
Avalanche stun Flames in 5.
Sharks rally from 3-1 down to oust Golden Knights in 7 games, including a 5-4 OT thriller in the 7th and final game !
Stars stun Predators in 6
Blues stun Jets in 6.
Fun fact: This is the first time in NHL history , that all of the division winners( Flames Lightning, Predators, Capitals) have lost in the first round!!
UPDATE:
Round 2 so far:
Bruins and Blue Jackets tied at 2.
*Hurricanes lead Islanders 3-0
Sharks and Avalanche tied at 2.
Blues and Stars tied at 2.
NFL Draft takeaways:
With the 1st pick in the NFL draft the Arizona Cardinals selected star QB Kyler Murray from Oklahoma.
Jets:
They nailed it! With the 3rd pick, the Jets took RB Quineon Williams. He’s fast and the Jets could really use him as get try and bulk up their offensive line.
Giants:
Here comes the #firegetttelmen train.
The Giants didn’t have such a good draft, as with the 6th pick in the draft, Giants GM Dave Gettleman submitted the pick and instead of taking star QB Dwayne Haskins, he took QB Daniel Jones, Who wasn’t worthy of the 6th pick by many experts.
As for Haskins, the Giants rivals took him , as the Washington Redskins picked him up with the 10th pick.
The Giants also has pick 17 in the draft via the OBJ trade, and didn’t really hit the spot there by selecting Demarcus Lawrence in the eyes of many experts.
The Giants got another first round pick, when they swapped future late round draft picks with the Seahawks for the 29th pick in the draft and took Camron Baker who has great speed while running the ball.
Giants draft grade 50/100. But let’s see how this all pans out in the upcoming season.
Major Trades:
The Cardinals have given Kyler Murray the reigns at the QB position, as they traded young starter Josh Rosen to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for the 62nd pick in this years draft, and some other late rounders as well.
This is good for the Dolphins Who now have veteran Ryan Tanahil and now sophomore Josh Rosen at their QBs.
Leftovers:
Bryce Love to the Cardinals
Josh Allen to the Jaguars with the 7th pick
QB Drew Lock to the Broncos.
MLB:
Mets 16-15.
The Mets have an amazing offense. However, their lack of pitching depth and their bullpen have come back to haunt them lately.
But led by rookie Pete Alonzo, the Mets are still above .500 at 16-15.
Yankees: 17-13
I know I said I would do a fan letter on them, but since I didn’t end up doing it, I’m going to recap their last 18 games now.
A lot has happened since I last wrote about the New York Yankees, so I want to pick up where I left off.
Entering Houston, the Yankees were riding high. They were 5-4, and despite all the injuries they were ready to take on the Houston Astros in a three game showdown.
But deja vu struck in the first two games, as the Yankees got to Houston’s top starters Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole, while also getting good starts from Masahiro Tanaka and Jonathan Losiga.
But just when you thought the Yankees were automatically winning those games, their “Ruthless bullpen “ unraveled as Houston stormed back to take both games 4-3 and 6-3, before completing the sweep by jumping all over Yankees starter James Paxton in an 8-6 victory.
In that final game, the Yankees cut a 7-2 deficit down to 7-6, but once again, their bullpen failed to keep the momentum going, as the Astros tacked on an insurance run to complete the sweep.
The MVP for the Yankees in that series was Aaron Judge, as he continues to mash against Houston pitching in his young career, while also taking Verlander deep in game 1.
After that series, the Yankees (5-7) flew back home to take on the lowly Chicago White Sox. But just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, they did as Gary Sanchez went on the IL with a shoulder injury, making it the 12th Yankee to reach the injured list this season.
As for the series, the Yankees blew a 4-1 lead in the opener, as JA Happ struggled to keep the lead and the Yankees bullpen struggled to keep them in the game in a 9-6 rain shortened loss in 7 innings to the Chisox.
In game 2, the Yankees welcomed the return of CC Sabathia from the IL, who went five scoreless innings, while his teammates backs him up , as the Yankees offense backed him up with four runs, including a HR by Judge, while the bullpen secured the 4-0 win by pitching 4 scoreless innings.
Looking to win the series, the Yankees took a quick 2-0 lead in game 3, before losing it when Tanaka gave up a grand slam to Tim Anderson, as the Yankees offense wasn’t able to overcome that in a 5-2 loss that dropped them to 6-9 heading into a two game showdown with their biggest rivals the Boston Red Sox in the Bronx.
Once again, the Yankees best player in that series was their best player in Aaron Judge who shined both in the field and at the plate in the 3 game series.
As if things couldn’t get any worse for the Yankees, 1B Greg Bird went on the IL with a shoulder injury, as the Yankees Lose some bench depth heading into their series with the defending champions.
So as the injuries continue to pile up, the Yankees turned to their minor leaguers to come up to the big leagues and fill in the void as their stars recovered from their injuries, and step up they did!
This is the lineup the Yankees trotted out as they opened their series against the Boston Red Sox
DJ LeMahieu 2B Aaron Judge RFLuke Voit 1BGleyber Torres SSClint Frazier DHGio Urshela 3BBrett Gardner CFAustin Romine CMike Tauchman LF
I know what you are thinking, “Who are these guys ?” Who’s Gio Urshela?”
Well to answer your questions , the Yankees are turning into a Triple-A team with all the injuries and as for Gio Urshela, he was called up to fill the 3B void that Miguel Andujar left open when he went down.
Previously, the Yankees were keeping DJ LeMahieu there, but with all these injuries, they would have to rely on Urshela to produce at the hot corner.
Now that you know who these guys are, let’s jump right into the series!
Game 1:
The Yankees were facing Bosox Ace Chris Sale, Who had never lost against the Yankees in his career until this game , as the Yankees tagged him for 4 runs in 5 innings, including a HR by Clint Frazier, and an RBI Triple by Mike Tauchman.
As for the Yankees pitching, they were in good hands on this night, as James Paxton finally made a name for himself in Ny, as he pitched 8 scoreless innings while racking up 12Ks, allowing the Yankees offense to tack on some more runs, as Tauchman and Torres went deep to give the Yankees an 8-0 win, and put the baseball world on notice.
Game 2:
The Yankees crushed the Red Sox in game 1, but could they really sweep them with this banged up team?
That was the question heading into the series finale, as the Yankees sent their ace Masahiro Tanaka to the mound, against another Yankee -killer Nathan Evoldi.
Evoldi did his job for Boston, as he went 6 innings of 1 run ball ( 1 earned, as the lone run came on a Clint Frazier RBI double).
As for Tanaka, JD Martinez and Christian Vazquez went deep to give Boston a b early 3-0 lead, and a lead that would continue to hold up as the game went on.
But in the bottom of the 7th inning, the Yankees loaded the bases against the Bosox bullpen and with one out and 2 strikes on Brett Gardner, Boston reliver Ryan Brasier tried to get Brett to chase on a fastball, that Brett didn’t miss as he golfed one into the right field seats for the go ahead grand slam, that gave the Yankees a 5-3 lead, which would prove to be the final score in a series sweep over the Boston Red Sox.
The MVP of this series was Brett Gardner.
This gave the Yankees (8-9) confidence as they headed into a four game series with the lowly Kandas City Royals.
After a 6-1 loss in game 1, in a game where the Yankees bullpen faltered late.
The Yankees rode the left arm of CC Sabathia and the hot bat of Brett Gardner in a 6-2 victory over the Royals to even the series.
But it was in game 3, where everything changed for the Yankees.
It was shaping up to be the best day of the season to date for the Yankees, Tanaka was back on track, Mike Tauchman and Clint Frazier continued to stay hot, and DJ LeMahieu went deep for his first HR as a Yankee.
But In the bottom of the 6th with a 6-1 lead, a runner on 1st and Aaron Judge at the fish, the expectations of the Yankees changed with one swing.
Judge singled through the right side of the infield, but as he ran he was obviously hurt coming out of the box.
Judge looked hurt and was hurt, as he left the eventual Yankees 9-2 victory with an oblique injury, and onto the 10 day IL.
So despite being 10-10, the expectations for the Yankees had changed as they would now have to deal with a lineup of minor leaguers while Judge and the rest of the guys were out.
The Yankees were no longer the team that puts a scarce into opposing pitchers, but rather a team that would be lucky if they could win series with a lineup of
Brett Gardner LF/CF
Luke Voit 1B/DH
Mike Tauchman RF/LF
Mike Ford 1B/DH
Clint Frazier LF/RF
Gleyber Torres 2B/SS/ Tyler Wade 2B
DJ LeMahieu 2B/SS
Gio Urshela 3B
Kyle Higashioka/Austin Romine C
For at least the next few weeks.
The first obstacle for this minor league group, was to clinch the series against the Kandas City Royals in the Bronx in game 4.
They were doing that early on , as they took an early 5-0 lead, which Included a 3runHR by the red hot Clint Frazier.
As for the pitching, James Paxton went 6 scoreless innings, and once again racked up 12Ks as he kept the Yankees offense at bay.
But once again, the Yankees bullpen came back to haunt them, as they allowed 6 runs in the 8th, to give the Royals a 6-5 lead, and put the Yankees on their heals.
But Austin Romine wasn’t done, as he drove in the game tying run in the bottom half of the 8th with an RBI single, before wining it in the 10th, with another RBI single that gave the Yankees(11-10) their first walk off win of the season, as they defeated the Royals 7-6, to take 3 of 4 in the series.
As the Yankees headed West for a 9 game road trip against the Angels, Giants and D Backs , many questioned their bullpen and their stamina, as they were wondering how long would these guys be able to hold up, as the Stars recover from their injuries, and when will their bullpen live up to its “Ruthless Pen” nickname?
The answer was starting now, as as long as they need too as the Yankees bullpen went 8 innings of 1 run ball, Luke Voit continued his hot streak , with a HR, and Gio Urshela knocked in two go ahead RBIs in the 12th and 14th to lead the Yankees to a 4-3 14 inning marathon victory over the Angles.
In game 2, Domingo German continued his hot start to the season by going 6.1 innings of 2 run ball, as the Yankees offense backed him up with HRs.
As Luke Voit (2X) and Mike Ford (1st Career HR) went deep to give the Yankees a 7-1 lead, which is a lead they would hold onto in a 7-5 win.
In game 3, the Yankees turned to CC Sabathia, to keep the good vibes going, and extend this surprising Yankees winning streak to 6 games.
But unfortunately for the Yankees, CC didn’t do that as he gave up 5 runs in 5 innings, putting the Yankees in an early 5-0 hole.
But this group of Yankees doesn’t give up, and they showed it on this night, as they used “Small Ball” to engineer a stunning comeback over the final 4 innings.
Led by DJ LeMahieu, the Yankees just kept hitting, and drawing walks, as the pressure got to the Angels who started making errors and walking in rush themselves, as in the blink of an eye, the Yankees had come back to tie the game at 5.
As for the Yankees bullpen, Jonathan Losiga was brilliant as he kept the Yankees comeback hopes alive by going 3 scoreless innings, shutting down the Angles offense that was on fire earlier in game.
In the top of the 9th, the Yankees reaches the top of the mountain, as DJ LeMahieu drove in Tyler Wade for his 3rd and most important RBI of the day to give the Yankees a 6-5 lead, which would turn into a win as Aroldis Chapman would nail down the save in the 9th.
With a 3-0 series lead, the Yankees looked for the sweep, as they sent Masahiro Tanaka to the mound.
That quest got off to a great start, as Gio Urshela, Gleyber Torres and Luke Voit continued their hot hitting, as they staled Tanaka out to a 4-0 lead through 4.5 innings.
But after that, everything unraveled, as Tanaka allowed two 2 run bombs , before allowing another two runs to put the Yankees in a 6-4 hole, which would only grow deeper from there.
The Yankees bullpen couldn’t keep them in it, as they allowed five more runs, to put the Halos up 11-4, as the Yankees failed to complete the sweep in an 11-5 loss.
However the fact that the Yankees (14-11) took 3 of 4 from this veteran Angles team served confidence as the team headed to San Francisco to continue their road trip.
The Yankees entered Oracle Park knowing that pitching would be a key against a Giants team that Relys on pitching, to win the games, and in the opener of this series they went with their ace Madison Bumgardner, against the hot arm of James Paxton.
If the Yankees depth hadn’t been tested enough before, they would be in this one.
Bumgardner came out of the gates surprisingly flat, as the Yankees pounced in him led by “Small Ball Captain” DJ LeMahieu the Yankees took a quick 2-0 lead on the Giants.
As for Paxton, he was sharp but would need more runs on this night, (As he went 5.2 innings of 3 run ball, while striking out 8) and luckily for him, the Yankees got some more runs on the board.
Luke Voit, Gio Urshela, and another recent call up Thairo Estrada all drove in runs to give the Yankees a 5-1 lead after 5.5 innings.
The Giants would cut it to 5-3, and threaten in the 7th, as they had the bases loaded and two outs, with Buster Posey at the plate.
But it’s at times like this, why the Yankees don’t panic when it comes to their bullpen as Ottavino struck Posey out to end the threat and preserve the lead for the Yankees.
In the top of the 9th, Luke Voit came to the rescue with a big 2runHR that gave the Yankees a 7-3 lead , which would turn into their 7th win in 8 games.
In game 2, the Yankees sent JA Happ to the mound against Derrick Holland of the Giants.
The Yankees were on the front foot early and often in this game, as after a little bit of “Small Ball” to start the game, Gary Sanchez( In his 3rd game back from the IL) unleashed a mammoth grand slam that traveled 467FT to give the Yankees a commanding 6-0 lead.
As for Happ, he was brilliant as he went 7 scoreless innings, while the Yankees didn’t really need to use their core bullpen guys in this one except Chapman as the Giants made it interesting in the 9th by scoring 4 runs in the 9th before Chapman came in and locked down a 6-4 Yankees win.
The Yankees went for the sweep on Sunday, and got it with an amazing 11-5 victory!
Gary Sanchez got the party started with an RBI single in the 1st, to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.
Then in the second, with his team up 2-0, Luke Voit smashed a 2 run single to give the Yankees a 4-0 lead.
In the 3rd, Gleyber Torres got the HR party started with a 2 run blast that gave the Yankees a 6-0 lead, before Gary Sanchez went deep again, to give the Yankees an 8-0 lead in the 5th.
As for the starting pitching, Domingo German was dealing throughout first 5 innings, before running into trouble in the 6th, as he gave up 4 runs to let the Giants back into the game, as they cut the Yankees lead down to 8-4.
But the Yankees bullpen held their ground, and the Yankees offense picked up some insurance runs, as Camron Maybin , and Tyler Wade each picked up an RBI single in the 9th, ( With Wades single bringing home 2 runs), to give the Yankees an 11-4 lead, which would turn into an 11-5 win and a sweep of the San Francisco Giants.
Going into Arizona, the Yankees (17-11) were hot. They had won 9 of their last 10, 11 of their last 13, and had the reigning AL player of the week in Luke Voit.
But against D Backs ace Zach Grenkie, the bats cooled down. Zach’s 7.2 innings of 1 run ball to go along with 7Ks, was overshadowed by the feat Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia accomplished in a 3-1 Yankees defeat.
Coming into this game, CC needed 3 strikeouts, to become the 17th pitcher in MLB history to reach 3,000 career strikeouts, and in the second inning he did just that, as he struck out the side to reach K number 3,000!!!
After that emotional night, the Yankees looked to get back to work, split the series with the D Backs, finish the west coast trip 7-2, and win their 10th game in their last 13 contests.
To do this , the Yankees went with their best as Masahiro Tanaka went to the mound to face Merril Kelly of the D Backs.
Unfortunately for the Yankees, Tanaka got hit hard and gave up 3 runs in 4 innings putting the Yankees in an early hole.
As for Kelly, he was able to keep the Yankees offense at bay, by forcing ground balls and strikeouts through 6 innings of 1 run ball, as the lone run game on a Luke Voit HR to cut the Yankees deficit to 3-1.
The Yankees would get to the D Backs bullpen for a run in the final innings , but it was not enough, as they fell 3-2 to the Arizona Diamondbacks who swept the series, as the Yankees (17-13) finished the road trip with an astonishing 6-3 record.
In this game , Aaron Boone got ejected for using foul language at the umpires.
Yankees Transactions :
The Yankees main weak link of the bullpen was Chad Green, who was sent down to AAA to work on his mechanics as Stephen Tarpley takes his place.
The Yankees have also flip flopped between Jonathan Losiga and Joe Harvey,in the back end of the bullpen.
Depending on usage.
During the Yankees 4-3 victory over the Angles, Clint Frazier tweaked his ankle, and a few days later went on the 10 day IL himself.
Out of AAA OFs, the Yankees made a move, as they acquired minor league veteran Camron Maybin from the Cleveland Indians on Thursday for Cash considerations, and signed him to a major league deal, as he will now man the OF with Gardner and Tauchman until Frazier comes back.
Gio Gonzalez opted out of his deal with the Yankees, as he was never good enough to make the major league roster.
The Yankees had 48 hours to add him to their roster after the opt out but never did.
Gio then went back to the Brewers on a 1 year $2 million pact.
Thoughts:
This is amazing! Even with all these injuries, we are still winning and it’s insane! These guys are really showing what they are made of and it has been really fun to watch.
I hope they keep it up until we start getting guys back!
Up next :
The Yankees will host the Minnesota Twins (18-10) on Friday night in the first game of a 3 game set.
It will be James Paxton for the Yankees, against Kyle Gibson of the Twins.
Game time is 7:05 PM.
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