*BACK TO BACK DEFEATS*

   - *WHAT’S GOING ON TOMARROW?*

CC Sabathia (16-7) vs. Jeremy Guthrie (10-13)

   - *PAINFUL CONSECUTIVE LOSSES…*

   After a disappointing loss on one of the most memorable days in Yankee history, (Derek Jeter claiming sole possesion of the franchise hit record, surpassing the legendary Lou Gehrig,) the misery continued in an additional loss to the Orioles on Saturday. This is exactly what New York needs to steer clear of… We’ve seen the occasional slip-up, but we haven’t witnessed consecutive losses in what seems like forever.

   First of all… 7 runs in two games? C’mon now – we’ve seen the Yanks put up 7 runs in one inning before, let alone a combined 7 runs in consecutive outings against a team that’s 32 games behind first! Where do I begin?

   A.J. Burnett’s been looking more like Joba Chamberlain lately, hitting the mound hard one day, and letting up a mind-boggling 5+ runs the next. He exited this one in the 7th, which sounds like a solid day on the hill – but not before allowing 6 runs in the second inning alone. Luckily, the slugfest stopped right there – but it was still enough to give Baltimore a comfortable lead early on… and more then enough to win a ballgame.

BURNETT: 7IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 4 SO

   Run-support is the cure for the common cold, but it was a miserable day at the plate for New York as well. Through 9 innings, the Yankees combined for a pitiful 7 hits. 7 hits in 33 at bats… Truley a loss that was a “team effort.” None of our players could manage more then a single hit, and considering none of those hits were homers – the runs across the plate just simply weren’t there… A sad sight indeed.

   With Sabathia on the mound tomarrow, I’m expecting us to pull it back together. Jeremy Guthrie is no joke, so we need to bring these bats back to life! The Sox are now 7.5 out of first, and this certainly isn’t the time to start slacking down the stretch. My fingers are crossed… It’s been a while since we’ve had to worry about a series…

   - *ON PAPER*


NY Yankees AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Jeter, SS 5 1 1 0 0 2 5 .330
Hairston, J, LF 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .255
Teixeira, 1B 3 0 1 1 0 1 1 .281
Rodriguez, A, 3B 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 .286
Swisher, RF 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .251
Cano, 2B 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 .315
Duncan, S, DH 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 .200
  b-Gardner, PH-DH 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 .269
Cabrera, Me, CF 2 1 1 1 2 0 0 .278
Molina, J, C 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 .243
  a-Posada, PH-C 2 0 1 1 0 1 2 .284
Totals 33 3 7 3 2 6 14

NY Yankees IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Burnett, A (L, 11-9) 7.0 7 6 6 2 4 2 4.33
Towers 2.0 3 1 1 1 1 0 3.38

   - *WHERE THE HECK WAS I?*

   I have my internet provider to thank for my recent absence. It was great having no connection on the night that Jeter tied Gehrig’s record, and even better to be web-less on the night that his record was broken! (Sarcastic of coarse…) It feels good to be back. So good that I’ve decided to kick off a few new meters of my own:

TEIXEIRA’S RACE TO 4000 AT BATS: 3955

CANO’S RACE TO 400 RUNS: 396

GARDNER’S RACE TO 100 CAREER HITS: 86

   *Just for fun…

*DOUBLE OR NOTHING*

   - *WHAT’S GOING ON TOMARROW?*  

Chad Gaudin (5-10) vs. David Price (7-7)

   - *WHEN WINNING IS TWICE THE FUN…*

   Sabathia and Burnett came up huge for us yesterday, in an exciting double header against division rival Tampa Bay. In BOTH games, the Rays were held to one single run – and their hits never breached double digits.

   The star of the earlier game, (at the plate,) had to be A-Rod – going 3 for 3 with an RBI. Cano, Posada, and Hinske drove in the runs that ultimately sealed the deal, (in the 8th,) but Rodriguez batting 1.000 labels him “the best at bat” in my book…

   As for the mound, Sabathia dominated! 7 solid innings, with 10 strikeouts and 1 earned run makes him the real “player of the game.” Unfortunantly, CC came ouf of this one with a no-decision – but 17 wins is just around the corner. Yankees win game uno, 4-1.

SABATHIA: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 10 K’s

   - *ON TO GAME TWO*

   This game was a tad more exciting for Yankee fans to watch. Not because pulling ahead in the late innings isn’t exciting,  but because watching New York go on a scoring frenzy has you jumping out of your seat a whole lot more! The Yanks posted 8 runs in the 3rd inning alone, with a three-run shot from Teixeira, (among many, many other runs…)

   Burnett returned to form, and looked every bit as dominant as CC. Though 6 innings, AJ allowed one earned run, notched his own 8 strikeouts, and only let up 4 real hits. I’d crown him the “player of the game” in this one, but the true MVP had to be:

   “Big Tex.” Teixeira ended this one going 3 for 4, with 2 runs scored, 2 homeruns, and a commendable 4 RBI’s… I would say he sent us a “Teix message,” but I’m seriously getting tired of hearing that everyday lol. Let’s switch it up and say he made some “Teix-book plays.” That one isn’t nearly as played out…

BURNETT: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 8 K’s

   - *BUMMER*

   Jeter had a miserable day at the plate, going 0-8 and leaving Lou Gehrig’s record in-tact. I feel for you Derek… You’ll get ‘em tomarrow! We know the record’s coming…

   - *CONGRATULATIONS!*  

   I just wanted to send a special *high five* to my blog-buddies who made the latest Top 100 list! Jane, YankeesChick, and of coarse Virginia – GREAT JOB!! I’m jelous lol, but I’ll get there one of these months when I reach out to more then just the Yankee fans… (I can’t help it. I don’t enjoy watching any other team outside of the Pirates…) The only other teams I enjoy watching are the teams we beat, and you can’t hate a man for that! Good job ladies!

- *ON PAPER*

GAME 1:

NY Yankees AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Jeter, SS 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .332
Swisher, RF 3 0 1 0 1 1 0 .250
  1-Hairston, J, PR-RF 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .254
Teixeira, 1B 4 2 1 0 0 1 1 .279
Rodriguez, A, 3B 3 1 3 1 1 0 0 .282
Cano, 2B 3 0 0 1 0 1 4 .316
Posada, C 4 0 1 1 0 0 3 .286
Hinske, DH 3 0 0 1 0 2 0 .247
Cabrera, Me, LF 3 0 1 0 1 0 1 .277
Gardner, CF 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 .271
Totals 30 4 7 4 3 7 13

NY Yankees IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Sabathia 7.0 3 1 1 4 10 1 3.40
Hughes, P (W, 6-3) 1.0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3.07
Rivera, Ma (S, 39) 1.0 0 0 0 1 2 0 1.75

GAME 2:

NY Yankees AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Jeter, SS 4 1 0 1 1 0 6 .329
  1-Pena, R, PR-SS-2B 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .283
Damon, LF 6 1 1 1 0 1 6 .288
Teixeira, 1B 4 2 3 4 0 1 0 .282
  Gardner, CF 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .270
Matsui, H, DH 3 2 2 0 2 0 1 .269
Swisher, RF-1B 2 2 1 0 2 0 1 .251
  a-Hinske, PH-3B 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .246
Cano, 2B 3 0 1 0 1 0 3 .316
  b-Duncan, S, PH-RF 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Cabrera, Me, CF-RF 4 2 3 2 0 0 3 .281
  Cervelli, C 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .263
Hairston, J, 3B-SS 4 1 2 1 1 0 2 .257
Molina, J, C-1B 3 0 3 1 2 0 0 .245
Totals 38 11 17 10 9 2 24

NY Yankees IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Burnett, A (W, 11-8) 6.0 4 1 1 3 8 0 4.19
Ramirez, E 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4.58
Albaladejo 1.0 1 0 0 1 1 0 5.20
Dunn, M 1.0 0 0 0 2 2 0 10.80

   *Until tomarrow – it’s bed time!

  

  

*LABOR PAINS*

   - *WHAT’S GOING ON TOMARROW?*  

CC Sabathia (16-7) vs. Matt Garza (7-9)

   – *YANKEES SMOKED AGAIN*

   Where do I begin? Yesterday’s matchup in Toronto was one of those games that kicked off pretty exciting, and ended pretty brutal. With a redeeming win under our belt from the day before, New York actually led this one heading in to the bottem of the 5th… but it stopped right there. That’s when Sergio Mitre fell apart, and the Blue Jays posted 8 runs in the 5th inning alone… When Melancon was finally called upon, Mitre departed with a disappointing 9 earned to call his own. Josh Towers made his debut on the mound, and what a debut it was…

   - *IN YOUR FACE!*

   So what can top David Wright catching a 95mph fastball to the helmet? How about Randy Ruiz catching a Josh Towers bullet to the face. It doesn’t get much worse then this folks. Here’s the conversation Towers’ is expected to have with his grandchildren one day:

GRANDSON: “Grandpa… Who was the first batter you ever pitched to in the majors?”

TOWERS: “I’d rather not talk about it. Go to sleep…”

GRANDSON: “But you pitched for the Yankees! Tell me!”

TOWERS: “Ok you little brat! His name was Randy Ruiz, and I beaned him in the face! Are you happy now? Thanks for pouring salt in my wounds!”

   *It won’t be a pretty sight…

   - *CHASING HISTORY*

   Well, if there’s one positive thing we can take from this 14-8 slaughter – Jeter’s only 3 hits away from Lou Gehrig’s franchise record. Jeter went 3 for 3, and we can almost garentee we’ll witness history in tomarrow’s double header.

SWISHER: 2 for 4, 2 R, 3 RBI’s

   - *ON PAPER*

NY Yankees AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Jeter, SS 3 1 3 0 1 0 0 .334
  Pena, R, SS-2B 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .276
Damon, LF 5 1 2 0 0 1 3 .289
Teixeira, 1B 4 1 1 0 0 0 5 .279
  Cervelli, C 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .266
Matsui, H, DH 5 1 2 2 0 0 1 .266
Swisher, RF 4 2 2 3 1 1 2 .249
Cano, 2B 3 0 0 0 0 2 1 .318
  a-Hinske, PH-3B 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 .251
Hairston, J, 3B-SS 3 1 1 0 2 0 1 .254
Cabrera, Me, CF 4 1 1 3 0 1 2 .276
Molina, J, C-1B 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .223
Totals 39 8 13 8 4 7 17

NY Yankees IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Mitre (L, 3-2) 4.1 11 11 9 2 5 0 7.02
Melancon 0.1 1 1 1 2 1 0 3.95
Towers 3.1 3 2 1 0 1 0 2.70

*THIS HALLADAY WEEKEND*

   - *WHAT’S GOING ON TOMARROW?*

Andy Pettitte (12-6) vs. Brett Cecil (6-3)

   - *NOT SO HOT IN TORONTO*

   Well, I guess we’re not the “perfect team” after all… A day after making Ricky Ramiro look like a AA call-up – the Yankes got a taste of their own medicine from one of the AL’s finest. Roy Halladay held New York to one single hit through 9, and gave the Yanks their first loss in 7 consecutive victories…

   I can’t lie, Halladay did his thing. If he can hold the best team in the league to one hit, then the man deserves his praise. The unfortunate thing for New York fans however, is the lack of things to be proud of in this one… It was a miserable sight to see.

   1. Thanks to the “10 Joba Commandments,” Chamberlain was pulled in the 3rd to give Mark Melancon a shot on the mound. Let’s be honest though – the 3 runs Joba allowed probably would of gotten him pulled anyway… We’ll just say he needed to take a seat.

   2. Melancon allowed an additional run, and was plucked after a 2 inning stint to give Jonathon Albaladejo a shot. The name drops here are bringing back some memories, right? Faces we haven’t seen in quite awhile…

   - *THE RETURN OF EDWAR!*

   You read correctly! After a long ‘vacation’ from the majors, Edwar Ramirez resurfaced for the Yankees toward the end of yesterday’s game to prove he’s still alive. (*Kidding*) I can’t lie, I missed Edwar on the mound. I never really thought he deserved to be thrown in the minors for that long, but we’ve been winning so I have no reason to complain. I’m just glad to see him getting another shot… Goggles or no goggles!

RAMIREZ: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 SO

   - *ON PAPER*

NY Yankees AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Damon, LF 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 .289
Hinske, RF 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 .248
Teixeira, 1B 3 0 0 0 1 2 0 .279
Rodriguez, A, 3B 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 .273
Matsui, H, DH 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 .262
Posada, C 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 .287
  Cervelli, C 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .269
Cano, 2B 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .316
Cabrera, Me, CF 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 .275
Pena, R, SS 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 .278
Totals 28 0 1 0 3 9 5

NY Yankees IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Chamberlain (L, 8-5) 3.0 6 3 2 2 2 0 4.41
Melancon 2.0 2 1 1 1 0 0 3.38
Albaladejo 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5.40
Dunn, M 0.2 0 2 2 3 0 0 27.00
Ramirez, E 1.1 1 0 0 1 2 0 4.82


*RUN SUPPORT*

   - *WHAT’S GOING ON TOMARROW?*

Joba Chamberlain (8-4) vs. Roy Halladay (13-8)

   - *SETTING IT OFF*

   Chad Gaudin replaced Sergio Mitre in yesterday’s matchup, and despite allowing 3 earned before departing, his work on the mound was more then enough to get the job done. That’s because the run-support we witnessed has become the ‘norm’ for the Yankees this season. Even the great Aceves allowed 2 runs before getting plucked, but with Jorge having a 4 hit, 4 RBI game at the plate – this one was nearly over before it started…

   Ricky Ramiro was ripped apart early on, allowing 4 runs in the top of the 1st alone. By the time Ramiro called it a day, he walked out of this one with 7 earned on 6 hits. We saw a solid relief job from Toronto’s Brandon League and Shawn Camp, but things again went sour in the 9th, as Jason Frasor let up an additional 3 runs to seal the deal. Those runs were the result of a solo shot from A-Rod, and a 2-run shot from Jorge Posada.

   How about Damaso Marte’s 9th inning appearance? A lot people seem to hold Marte’s past against him, (which is fair, because the numbers never lie…) – But as of late, he’s been perfect on the mound. I don’t know if the DL knocked something loose, but when it comes to filling the gaps and making single inning appearances, the K’s have been there – as well as the outs. His ERA has gone from 10.00+ to 8.00+ in a matter of days… I don’t want to jump the gun, but it really seems like he’s getting it together heading into the post-season. Perfect timing…

MARTE: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K’s

   - *ON PAPER*

NY Yankees AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Jeter, SS 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 .330
Damon, LF 3 2 0 0 2 2 1 .291
Teixeira, 1B 4 2 1 0 1 2 1 .281
Rodriguez, A, 3B 4 2 2 2 1 2 0 .276
Matsui, H, DH 3 2 1 1 2 0 2 .265
  1-Hairston, J, PR-DH 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .256
Posada, C 5 1 4 4 0 1 1 .288
Cano, 2B 4 0 0 0 1 2 5 .318
Swisher, RF 4 0 0 0 1 1 3 .248
Cabrera, Me, CF 4 0 2 1 0 1 0 .277
Totals 35 10 10 8 8 13 15

NY Yankees IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Gaudin 3.2 4 3 3 3 2 0 4.98
Aceves, A (W, 10-1) 2.1 2 2 1 0 3 0 3.88
Robertson, D (H, 4) 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 3.38
Bruney (H, 10) 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 4.40
Marte, D 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 8.38


*OFF BY A HAIR-STON*

   – *WHAT’S GOING ON TOMARROW?*

A.J. Burnett (10-8) vs. David Hernandez (4-6)

   – *PETTITTE NEARLY PERFECT*

   Outside of Nick Swisher having an enormous day at the plate, the focal point of yesterday’s game in Baltimore had to be Andy Pettitte’s tremendous day on the mound. Pettitte carried the New York all the way into the 7th without allowing a single hit! You could smell a perfect game in the Camden Yards air, until suddenly…

   A fluke error from Jerry Hairston at third base extinguished the feat, and before we knew it – Pettitte’s quest for perfection abruptly became the quest for a no-hitter. In the blink of an eye, the history we were eager to witness became nothing more then a ‘solid day on the hill.’ (Not that there’s anything wrong with that,) – but man… that was close!

   Don’t get me wrong: I’m not shaking a stick at Hairston for the mistake, because things of that nature are what make perfect games so rare. You reach a point in games like these where the reality of what’s going on starts to sink in, and accomplishing the historical task becomes just as much of a team effort – as it does for the pitcher. Pettitte found his groove early on, but throwing a perfect game by striking out 27 batters is unheard of. You need your team to keep the fly balls under control, and in this case – the grounders as well.

Pettitte: 8.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 8 K’s

   - *ON PAPER*

NY Yankees AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Jeter, SS 4 1 1 0 1 0 3 .334
Damon, LF 5 1 1 1 0 1 3 .289
Teixeira, 1B 4 1 1 0 1 0 2 .283
Matsui, H, DH 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 .265
Posada, C 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 .278
Cano, 2B 4 1 2 2 0 0 1 .316
Swisher, RF 4 1 3 2 0 0 1 .248
Hairston, J, 3B 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 .259
Cabrera, Me, CF 4 0 2 0 0 0 4 .270
Totals 36 5 10 5 2 4 21

NY Yankees IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Pettitte (W, 12-6) 8.0 2 1 1 0 8 1 4.03
Bruney 0.1 1 0 0 1 0 0 4.30
Rivera, Ma (S, 37) 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.81

*YOU GET A FREE…*

   - *STEP UP THE GIFT GAME!*

   As I’m sure we’ve all witnessed, Yankee games are a tad more expensive to attend this season…(Yes – sarcasm at it’s finest.) My question is: What’s up with the lame gift-days?

   When I was younger, the gifts you’d get at games were sweet. Some games might toss the first 5,000 fans a hat, and other games might give the first 10,000 fans one of those sweet little souvenir bats. (Real wood!) If the prices for tickets weren’t so steep, I wouldn’t be obnoxious and complain about receiving something for free… but seriously:

A calculator?

Luggage tags!?

Koozies?

   *On second thought, a koozie is a pretty sweet gift to receive in Yankee form… But as for the calculator – c’mon “brass.” I realize that a calculator is something that kids can use, but can’t they see: it’s the equivalent of giving a kid a notepad for christmas lol. Just because they can use it doesn’t mean they’ll enjoy it, or hang it on thier wall. It’s time to step the gift game up for the sake of Yankee Nation:

Inaugural balls for everyone…

Sweet Yankees ankle socks?

Some bling, to cover entrance fees?

A giant banner for my room?

Hal Steinbrenner mask day?

   *Just a thought…

*SPANKING THE SOX*

   - *WHAT’S GOING ON TOMARROW?*

Joba Chamberlain (8-4) vs. Freddy Garcia (0-1)


   - *A TOTAL BLOWOUT*

   And to think – the skeptics were concerned about Mitre on the hill…

   A day after the world witnessed New York’s 12th walkoff of the season, Yankee fans got a glimpse of what games look like when they’re not close at all. In a display of heroics, Sergio Mitre took the mound and held the White Sox to one single hit over a 6.1 inning span. Chad Gaudin was given the daunting task of keeping that number in tact – and for the 2.2 innings he showed his face today, he did just that.

SERGIO MITRE: 6.1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 SO

   - *DAILY DOUBLES*

   Talk about repetative hitting… Robinson Cano, Jerry Hairston Jr, Johnny Damon, and Hideki Matsui all had individual doubles off of Jose Contreras in this one…

   - *RUNS BATTED IN-SANE*

   The Yankees also combined for an impressive 10 RBI’s on 14 hits…

   - *ON PAPER*

NY Yankees AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Jeter, SS 4 1 3 0 0 0 0 .333
  Gaudin, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .036
Damon, LF 4 1 1 2 1 0 2 .289
Teixeira, 1B 4 1 0 0 1 2 6 .283
  Cabrera, Me, CF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .268
Rodriguez, A, 3B 5 2 2 2 0 1 4 .269
Matsui, H, DH 4 1 2 1 0 0 2 .271
  a-Hinske, PH-DH-RF 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .255
Swisher, RF-1B 5 1 2 1 0 1 2 .243
Cano, 2B 5 1 3 2 0 0 1 .315
Hairston, J, CF-RF-SS 3 1 1 2 1 0 3 .261
Molina, J, C 3 1 0 0 1 0 2 .232
Totals 38 10 14 10 4 5 22

NY Yankees IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Mitre (W, 3-1) 6.1 1 0 0 1 2 0 5.65
Gaudin 2.2 0 0 0 1 4 0 4.90

*PIE IN YOUR EYE*

   - *WHAT’S GOING ON TOMARROW?*

Sergio Mitre (2-1) vs. Jose Contreras (5-12)

   - *ANOTHER WALK-OFF!*

   The White Sox entered New York yesterday with an even .500 record, and every intention of climbing the latter to first in their division. The Yankees were coming out of a shakey series with Texas, looking to get their act together and maintain their 6 game lead in the AL East. With Sabathia and Buerhle on the mound for this matchup – one could only speculate which team would come out on top…

   If you only caught a fragment of the game, it was clear heading into the 7th that the pitchers were doing their jobs. Jeter hit his 17th homerun of the season in the 1st, followed by Damon’s 23rd of the season in the 3rd. Outside of these clutch runs, Buerhle held the Yankees to a commendable 8 hits before being replaced with reliever Matt Thornton. Unfortunantly, Sabathia didn’t make it out of this one unharmed either  – allowing his own 2 runs before being replaced by Phil Hughes.
 
   With both sides unwilling to budge, the 9th inning came and went – and an extra inning fell into our laps again. Bruney was called in to handle the top, which left New York in position to finish the job in the bottom. The situation suddenly became all too familiar…

   With 2 runners on, (and 2 outs already established,) – Robinson Cano stepped to the plate. I have to admit, I expected Robby to get a single and juice the bases for Melky – but to our surprise, he opted to clobber one over the fence to give the Yanks their 12th walk-off win of the season! You couldn’t ask for a better outcome to get these guys hyped-up again… These “extra inning antics” almost always result in us catching fire – so sweeping the Sox and kicking off another win streak is surely in our forecast. Cue Burnett with the pie – and it’s a wrap!

   - *ON PAPER*

NY Yankees AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Jeter, SS 5 1 1 1 0 0 2 .329
Damon, LF 5 1 2 1 0 1 1 .290
Teixeira, 1B 5 0 1 0 0 1 1 .286
Rodriguez, A, 3B 4 0 1 0 1 0 1 .267
Matsui, H, DH 4 0 1 0 1 1 4 .268
  1-Hairston, J, PR-DH 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .260
Swisher, RF 3 1 0 0 2 1 4 .241
Cano, 2B 5 1 1 3 0 1 5 .313
Cabrera, Me, CF 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 .268
Molina, J, C 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 .239
Totals 39 5 10 5 4 5 20

NY Yankees IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Sabathia 7.0 8 2 2 1 10 0 3.56
Hughes, P 1.0 0 0 0 0 3 0 3.28
Rivera, Ma 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.83
Bruney (W, 4-0) 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.34

*PITTSBURGH ON THE HOT SEAT*

   - *OWNERSHIP UNDER FIRE*

  I was watching an episode of “Forbes Sports Money” last night, and they brought up some excellent points about the Pirates organization that I’d love to help surface…

   1. PNC PARK – The beautfiul stadium the Pirates call home… What good is having a beautiful ballpark if you never invest in a contending team?

   2. WHERE’S THE MONEY GOING? Forbes pointed out that the Pirates rake in about $16,000,000 in profit every season – and still refuse to acknowledge where it’s going. I found this tidbit of information extremely interesting, because I constantly hear Pittsburgh fans approving and disapproving the transactions that are made. It almost makes me feel sorry for us, because here we are making sense of their moves – when in reality, the owners “behind closed doors” are  up to no good. *NOTE: This isn’t an opinion I’m feeding you here, this is what Forbes investigated and discovered. The numbers aren’t adding up – and they even went as far as suggesting that Bud Selig step in and put his foot down.

   3. WHEN WILL IT END? Forbes pointed out that as an organization owner, you’re actually obligated to use a specific percentage of your profit for nothing outside of your organization. This is why they were so intent on promoting new management, and labeling the current ownership a “sham.” They litterally proved that the Pirates aren’t meeting this obligation…

   *When you take these facts into consideration, it really makes the recent trades seem that much more rediculous. A lot of fans were upset about the transactions because they didn’t agree with the equality of the trades… Unfortunantly, it seems as though the ‘rebuilding’ had less to do with baseball, and more to do with pocketing some money…

   FINAL NOTE: I’m not suggesting that every trade we witnessed this year was a hoax… I think a lot of the trades were fair game. What I am suggesting, (even before I heard it from Forbes,) is that Pittsburgh fans are without a doubt being short-changed.

   I expect some people to disagree, and possibly even speak up in the ownerships defense… The only opinion I’ll share in the matter is that I believe what I’ve stated above to be true. It makes an awful lot of sense when you consider the things the team has done to “improve” that have left you scratching your head…

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