Bonderman Leaves Yankees Clueless in Seattle

espn.com

By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

June 7^th, 2013

New York Yankees vs Seattle Mariners Post Game Recap

Final Score: Yankees 1 Mariners 4

In what looked like a sure thing for the New York Yankees on paper they were unable to beat Jeremy Bonderman and the Seattle Mariners, and they had their winning streak snapped at four. The loss moves the Yankees to two games behind the Boston Red Sox in the AL East.

Bonderman got the start again for Seattle after getting rocked in his first appearance of the season, but on Friday night Bonderman looked the best he has in years earning his first victory since 2010. The Yankees got on the board in the first inning against Bonderman with a Travis Hafner RBI ground out, but that would be all they could get off Bonderman. Bonderman would end up going six innings allowing just one run on three hits, and two walks. Letting Bonderman shut them down has to be disappointing for the Yankees lineup, who should have been able to get more than one run off of him.

Big Third Inning Gets Yankees Victory Over Mariners

northjersey.com

By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

June 6^th, 2013

New York Yankees vs Seattle Mariners

Final Score: Yankees 6 Mariners 1

The New York Yankees were able to keep their momentum from sweeping the Cleveland Indians on their trip to the West Coast, as they took Game 1 of the four-game series against the Seattle Mariners with a 6-1 victory. The win moves the Yankees to (35-25), and keeps them at 1.5 games behind the Boston Red Sox.

The good Phil Hughes showed up in Seattle, where he seems to enjoy pitching, as he now (4-0) with an ERA under one in Safeco Field. On Thursday Hughes picked up his third win of the season after pitching seven great innings. Hughes only gave up one unearned run due to a Kevin Youkilis error, and then Boone Logan allowing a RBI double Kyle Seager. Hughes struckout seven batters, while only allowing three hits, and two walks in what was a great bounce back start from Hughes, who seems to pitch much better away from Yankees Stadium.

Yankees Complete Sweep of Indians

pinstripedbible.com

By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

June 5th, 2013

Cleveland Indians vs. New York Yankees Post Game Recap

Final Score: Indians 4 Yankees 6

The New York Yankees were able to finish up their home-stand on a positive note, by sweeping the Cleveland Indians before they head out to the West Coast. The win moves the Yankees to (34-25) on the season, and are now 1.5 games behind the Boston Red Sox for the division lead.

Indians Starter Corey Kluber got hit hard early in the game by the Yankees, who did a very good job against Indians Starters throughout this series. Travis Hafner got the Yankees on the board in the first inning with a two-run homerun, which was his 10th of the year, and scored Robinson Cano, who was on Second Base due to Michael Bourn dropping a line-drive hit by Cano. The Yankees would tack on their final four runs of the game in the second inning, as Chris Stewart had a RBI single to score Lyle Overbay, and then Brett Gardner continued his power surge this season with a three-run homerun scoring Jayson Nix and Stewart. For Gardner it was his sixth home run already this season, which is just one shy of his career-high of seven in 2011. Kluber did settle down after the big first two innings for the Yankees, and was able to throw four scoreless innings.

Jason Kidd Announces his Retirement from the NBA

Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

By Kenneth Teape (@teapester725)

On Monday afternoon the NBA lost a highly respected veteran when Jason Kidd decided it was time to walk away from the game of basketball and call it a career.  Kidd said that he decided while at a wedding over the weekend that it was time to step away.

The career arc of Kidd was very similar to another respected veteran who walked away recently in Grant Hill.  The only real difference from Kidd was Hill’s inability to avoid the big injuries, missing only 119 games in 19 seasons compared to over 400 for Hill.  Kidd, like Hill, dominated his position in the NBA.  Kidd was a threat to go off for a triple-double every time he stepped on the court, finishing his career for third on the all-time list with 107.  Kidd also finished second all-time in assists with 12,091 and steals with 2,684 behind John Stockton.  Kidd was also named to the All-Star team 10 times and led the NBA in assists five times.

Week in Review with Kenny and Nick: June 2nd, 2013

This week on the Week in Review with Kenny (@teapester725) and Nick (@ziggy26x) on the Bob Sullivan Show (@BobSullivanShow) everyone's favorite radio hosts talks a little about the NBA Draft Lottery and a little preview of some players to keep an eye on and the early direction some teams are leaning on which players to take.  After they will get into the Eastern Conference Finals and break down everything you need to know heading into the winner takes all Game 7 between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers for the right to take on the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals.  Finally they talk about the week in baseball, including the hottest and coldest teams and Nick will use his powers to call out teams to start playing better or tell them to slow it down a bit.

Follow the link below to listen in to the whole show!

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the-bob-sullivan-show/2013/06/02/week-in-review-with-kenny-and-nick

Teixeria Blast's Yankees Past Indians

nytimes.com

By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

June 4^th, 2013

Cleveland Indians vs New York Yankees Post Game Recap

Final Score: Indians 3 Yankees 4

The New York Yankees were able to make it two straight wins over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night, beating the Tribe by a score of 4-3. The win moves the Yankees to (33-25) on the season, and keeps them 2.5 games back of the Boston Red Sox for the division lead.

For the second straight game the Yankees were able to get to and Indians Starter, this time being Scott Kazmir, who suffered his third loss of the season. Ichiro got the big third inning started for the Yankees with an RBI single knocking in Lyle Overbay for the first run of the game. The rest of the damage the Yankees would do in this game came a few batters later, when Mark Teixeira hit his second home run of the season and the second in as many days. Teixeira's three-run homerun scored Ichiro, and Jayson Nix, while giving the Yankees a nice four-run lead. Kazmir's final line was six innings, while allowing the four runs, on seven hits,and two walks, but he did strikeout seven batters.

Yankees Offense Bounce's Back After a Tough Week

nytimes.com

By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

June 3^rd, 2013

Cleveland Indians vs New York Yankees

Final Score: Indians 4 Yankees 7

The New York Yankees were able to bounce back from a difficult week against the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox on Monday with a nice 7-4 victory over the Cleveland Indians. The win moves the Yankees to (32-25) o
n the year, and 2.5 games behind the Red Sox for first place in the AL East.

Andy Pettitte made his return to the rotation on Monday, but it didn’t go to smoothly for Pettitte in the no decision. Former Yankee Nick Swisher got a nice ovation in his return to Yankees Stadium, and got the Indians on the board in the third inning with a RBI ground out. The rest of the damage the Indians did to Pettitte came in the fifth inning, when Mike Aviles hit a sac-fly scoring Drew Stubbs, and then later in the inning Carlos Santana hit a ground-rule double scoring Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher. The RBI double by Santana also chased Andy Pettitte from the game, as Pettitte finished going just 4.2 innings allowing four runs on seven hits, and three walks. Pettitte was going for his 250^th win, and was spotted a three-run lead, but he was unable to hold on to it, so he will have to wait for another attempt at win number 250 until later in the week.

MLB Power Rankings: Week 9

facebook.com

By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

Week 9 MLB Power Rankings

1.) St Louis Cardinals (37-19) – The Cardinals are certainly looking like the best team in baseball with a run differential of +84. It doesn’t seem to matter who the Cards use in the starting rotation, but they all have success, with a majors best team ERA of 2.99.

2.) Texas Rangers (35-21) – Texas looks good once again this year, as Yu Darvish is having a great sophomore season. Darvish is (7-2), with a ERA of 2.77, and a ridiculous 111 strikeouts already. Having an ace like Darvish should keep the Rangers high in the rankings from here on out.

3.) Cincinnati Reds (35-22) – Considering they play in one of the more hitter friendly ballparks in all of baseball it is amazing that the Reds have the third best team ERA in baseball. Good pitching and a talented lineup is the Reds recipe for playing so well thus far.

4.) Pittsburgh Pirates (35-22) – The Pirates started the week with an impressive series win over the Tigers taking three out of four games, and they finished the week with a thrilling extra-innings win over the Reds, as their bullpen went 10 scoreless innings in relief. The Pirates are 13 games over .500, and seem like a real threat to the Cardinals and Reds in the NL Central.

5.) Oakland Athletics (34-24) – The young arms for the Athletics seem to be looking like they did last year, which is why they have one nine out of their 10 ball games. The great stretch of baseball the Athletics have been on has put them right back behind Texas for the division lead.

Rain Ends Rubber Game in The Bronx Early

nytimes.com

By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

June 2^nd, 2013

Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees Post Game Recap

Final Score: Red Sox 3 Yankees 0

In the rain shortened game on Sunday Night Baseball the Yankees lost to the Red Sox by a score of 3-0 in six innings. The loss moves the Yankees to (31-25) on the season, and are now are three games back of the Red Sox in the division. A 45 minute rain delay when it never rained pushed the start time back, and may have cost the teams a chance to play a full game.

Yankees Starter Hiroki Kuroda suffered his fourth loss of the season even though he didn’t pitch bad, but he wasn’t on his “A” game. Kuroda pitched three scoreless innings before the Red Sox finally got on the board, as a Mike Napoli ground out scored Dustin Pedroia for the first run of the game. In the next inning Jose Iglesias hit his first homerun of the season, which was a solo-home run. David Ortiz scored the final run of the game before the rain started to really come down, as Big Papi hit a solo-home run, which was his 10^th of the season, and like always did his bat flip afterward. Kuroda's final line was 5.1 innings pitched, while allowing three runs on eight hits in the loss.

Boston Crushes Yankees and Hughes

nytimes.com

By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

June 1^st, 2013

Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees Post Game Recap

Final Score: Red Sox 11 Yankees 1

After snapping their five-game losing streak on Friday night behind a strong start from C.C. Sabathia, the New York Yankees go destroyed by the Boston Red Sox on Saturday night. The 11-1 loss moves the Yankees to (31-24) on the season, and puts them behind the Red Sox in the division by two games.

Yankees Starter Phil Hughes once again struggled, as his inconsistency this season has been remarkable. The loss is Hughes' fourth of the season, and his ERA is now at 5.37 on the season. The third inning was the downfall of Hughes, as Mike Carp got the Red Sox on the board in the third inning with a RBI double. After Joe Girardi elected to walk David Ortiz to face Mike Napoli, Napoli made Hughes pay hitting a Grand Slam to Right Center Field. Hughes finished the game going just 4.1 innings before getting pulled.