Yankee News For Yankee Fans

[Yankee4Life]

Jacoby Ellsbury of the New York Yankees runs home to score in the seventh inning during a game against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on August 25, 2014 in Kansas City, Missouri. Ellsbury scored on a Brian McCann sacrifice fly.

[sabugo]

Yankee hitters 4-7 BA for tonight's game:

.231

.242

.236

.232

And Prado is hitting 3rd.

[Yankee4Life]

Yankee hitters 4-7 BA for tonight's game:

.231

.242

.236

.232

And Prado is hitting 3rd.

Good Lord what a bunch of losers.

[Yankee4Life]

Yankees offense explodes in third inning against David Price as they cruise to win over Tigers

No team this season had recorded nine straight hits in an inning, while the Yankees became the first AL team since the 1996 Tigers to accomplish the feat.

The smiles are back out for Mark Teixeira (c.), Martin Prado and the Yankees during a blasting of the Tigers in Detroit Wednesday.

DETROIT — Is it possible for a team to erase a season’s worth of futility in a single inning?

If the Yankees make a run to October, they may look back at the third inning Wednesday night as the turning point.

The Bombers exploded for eight runs in the third against David Price, cruising to an 8-4 win over the Tigers to pick up a game in both the wild-card and AL East races.

“A lot of fun,” Brett Gardner said. “That doesn’t happen very often, especially against a pitcher like that. Just overall a great win for us.”

The Yankees started the third with nine consecutive hits, driving Price from the game before he could record an out in the frame. They were 8-for-9 with runners in scoring position during the inning, a stark contrast from their season-long situational hitting frustration.

Shane Greene puts together another solid outing for the Yankees.

“It’s a lot of fun to be a part of,” said Jacoby Ellsbury, who had a leadoff hit and a sac fly in the inning. “We haven’t done that too often this year. Definitely enjoyed it, and hopefully we can keep swinging the bats well and play well tomorrow.”

The victory moved the Yankees within 2.5 games of the Mariners and two games of the Tigers in the race for the second AL wild-card. They also pulled within six games of the first-place Orioles in the AL East. “It’s important; we’re talking about winning series, but the other thing is who we’re playing,” Joe Girardi said. “This is one of the teams in front of us. It’s the last time we see them and the only chance to make up ground that we can rely on ourselves, so we need to win.”

Shane Greene (4-1) allowed two runs on five hits over seven innings, walking one while striking out eight.

Price, who had allowed a total of eight runs in his first four outings with the Tigers, gave up eight on a season-high 12 hits in a season-low two-plus innings. Price hadn’t lasted fewer than five innings in a game this season, while his high for earned runs allowed had been six. “I’ve had bad games before — not that bad,” Price said. “That’s probably the worst game I’ve ever had in my life.”

David Price (l.) is removed from the game in the third inning.

The Yankees looked like the same old Yankees during the first two innings, collecting three singles and a walk while going 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, striking out three times and hitting into a double play.

The third inning started out in similar fashion as Ellsbury singled and stole second base. Unlike the first two innings, however, the Yankees went on a roll unlike anything all season.

Derek Jeter doubled in Ellsbury, then Martin Prado singled to put runners at the corners. Mark Teixeira doubled in Jeter, then after pitching coach Jeff Jones visited the mound, Carlos Beltran singled in Prado to make it 3-0.

“We just kept the line moving,” Girardi said. “Guys didn’t try to do too much.”

Jacoby Ellsbury gets some high-fives after scoring on Derek Jeter’s double.

Brian McCann drove in Teixeira with a single, then Chase Headley loaded the bases with another single, the seventh consecutive hit. Gardner reached on an infield hit to push the lead to five runs, then Francisco Cervelli picked up the Bombers’ ninth straight hit, making it a 6-0 game while sending Price to the showers.

“It’s fun, but you don’t see that very often,” said Jeter, whose sac fly against Blaine Hardy drove in the eighth run of the inning. “We had some good at-bats. We were lucky, we found some holes. Price is as good as anyone in baseball, so we were fortunate — but we needed it.”

No team in the majors had recorded nine straight hits in an inning this season, while the Yankees became the first AL team since the 1996 Tigers to accomplish the feat. The Yankees hadn’t scored more than seven runs in an inning or had more than five hits in a single frame all season, while Price hadn’t allowed as many as nine hits in a game in his last 14 starts dating back to June 4.

The Yankees failed to score again and had only two hits after the third, but it hardly mattered thanks to Greene, who had little trouble making the prolific inning stand up with seven solid innings.

The Tigers scored in each of the final two frames to pull within four, but Dellin Betances struck out Miguel Cabrera to end the game.

[Yankee4Life]

Yankees GM Brian Cashman reveals how the last-minute deal for spark plug Martin Prado went down

Prado has been invaluable, playing four different positions while injecting the Yankees' clubhouse with energy and selflessness that seems to have changed the vibe.

Martin Prado sparks the Yankees offense to life since trade-deadline deal with D-backs.

Lately Martin Prado has provided a much-needed spark for the Yankees’ revived offense, hitting .417 with six doubles and three home runs while his ballclub was winning seven of nine games to get back in the wild-card chase.

Though he went 0-for-4 in a 5-2 loss to the Tigers on Tuesday night, Prado has been invaluable, playing four different positions while injecting the Yankees’ clubhouse with energy and selflessness that seem to have changed the vibe.

And to think, by about 3 p.m. on July 31, an hour before the trading deadline, Brian Cashman had pretty much given up on trying to make a deal for Prado.

Cashman had engaged Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers for several days on the possibility, and the rebuilding D-Backs were willing to trade Prado, no doubt at least partly because he is owed $22 million over the next two seasons.

The deal for the versatile Martin Prado got done with about a half hour to spare, says Brian Cashman.

But Towers was looking for a bigger haul in return than simply Pete O’Brien, the slugging minor league catcher. In the days leading up to the deadline, and for much of that Thursday, he proposed multi-player deals asking for various Yankee prospects Cashman wasn’t willing to trade.

“I was saying no a lot that day,” Cashman recalled by phone on Tuesday.

It was only when the Yankee GM felt he reached a dead end, about an hour before the deadline, that he took a stab at something different, texting Red Sox GM Ben Cherington to ask if he’d be willing to trade Stephen Drew.

When a rare Yankees-Red Sox trade then came together quickly, as the Sox had decided to move Xander Bogaerts back at shortstop in place of Drew, Cashman thought he was done for the day.

Martin Prado is a welcome addition to a Yankee team fighting to keep up in the wild card race.

Within minutes, however, Towers called back to say, OK, he was willing to trade Prado for O’Brien. Cashman was exasperated because the Drew deal, which meant taking more than $3 million in salary, was suddenly an obstacle.

“I said, ‘Dude, we just did a deal (for Drew),’ ” Cashman recalled. “I told him I’d have to talk to ownership.”

Cashman called Hal Steinbrenner and explained how important Prado’s versatility could be both this season and beyond. He also told him he thought Prado’s intangibles make a difference as well.

“He has a great reputation around the game as a tough kid and a gamer,” Cashman said of Prado.

Steinbrenner immediately signed off on the proposal, and Cashman called Towers back and said they had a deal, with a half hour or so to spare.

“It was a crazy, pressure-filled time frame,” Cashman said. “I had my entire scouting crew and my analytics staff in the office all day, trying a lot of different ideas.

“I didn’t want to give up O’Brien because he has power that trumps all but maybe two or three guys in the minors. But we needed Prado and we had to give something to get him.”

O’Brien, whose all-or-nothing numbers raise questions about how his power will translate at the major league level, has played only four games in the minors since the trade, out since fouling a ball off his lower leg. Prado, meanwhile, has provided just what the Yankees needed.

SINKING CAPTAIN

Derek Jeter has given about as much as the Yankees could have expected in his final season, able to play shortstop at age 40 on a near-daily basis after the broken-ankle problems last year, while hitting enough to contribute offensively.

But if this team gets into a down-to-the-wire race for a wild-card berth, is the day still coming when Joe Girardi will have to swallow hard and move Jeter down in the lineup?

As a team, the Yankees seem to be warming up offensively, but Jeter is either in a deep slump or wearing down from age over the course of the long season.

He is hitting .222 in August with a .237 on-base percentage and a .268 slugging percentage. His last extra-base hit was a double on Aug. 11.

Can a team scrapping for offense afford those numbers in the No. 2 spot in the lineup?

Overall Jeter is down to .266 for the season with a .317 slugging percentage, which as of Tuesday ranked second worst among all qualifying major league shortstops, ahead of only Zack Cozart.

Meanwhile, was it coincidence that Jacoby Ellsbury has erupted, going 6-for-9 with three home runs the last two games since moving back into the leadoff spot because of Brett Gardner’s minor foot injury?

Ellsbury has a leadoff hitter’s mentality but has had to hit in the No. 3 spot because Carlos Beltran’s poor season left the Yankees without a true No. 3 hitter.

In addition, the team-wide offensive struggles made Jeter’s numbers among the least of their problems for much of the season. But now more Yankees are hitting, and surely Girardi will be tempted to slot Ellsbury-Gardner in the 1-2 spots down the stretch. He could use a seemingly revived Beltran in the No. 3 spot, or perhaps the hot-hitting Prado there, especially against lefties.

Obviously Girardi doesn’t want to demote Jeter in his final days as a Yankee, but he’s also the one who said months ago that he’s not running a farewell tour for the Captain.

At what point does it become an issue the manager can’t ignore?

TIGERS MISS JACKSON

The Tigers' expected march to the ALCS after acquiring David Price hasn’t gone as expected, and one reason is that scouts say they miss center fielder Austin Jackson, who was shipped to Seattle as part of the three-team deal for Price.

Rajai Davis is now the primary center fielder, and scouts say he is costing the Tigers runs on a near-daily basis.

“He’s killing them," said one scout. “He takes bad routes to balls and makes everything an adventure. They miss Jackson badly."

You might recall that Ezequiel Carrera made a spectacular catch in Yankee Stadium in center for the Tigers a couple of weeks ago, but he hasn’t hit enough to justify playing him regularly.

Center field defense obviously isn’t the only issue for the Tigers as they’ve slipped behind the Royals in the AL Central. But it seems to be a significant one. Will the Yankees be able to take advantage of it?

[Yankee4Life]

Keeping Jeter in No. 2 spot is sentimental … and very risky

Derek Jeter

DETROIT — They just kept coming and coming and coming, a one-inning charge reminiscent of their 1998 ancestors. The first nine Yankees came to bat in the third inning Wednesday night at Comerica Park, and all nine recorded a hit, all off longtime nemesis David Price. The next two batters added sacrifice flies.

And when the dust cleared later, en route to the Yankees’ 8-4 thumping of Price and the Tigers that allowed them to gain ground in both the American League East (they’re now six games behind Baltimore) and the race for the second AL wild card (they’re 2 ½ behind Seattle), you looked down the RBI column of your scorebook, and you saw single lines running down your page like raindrops.

The only player with two lines in the RBI column was the only guy still around from 1998: Derek Jeter, who contributed an RBI double (his first extra-base hit since Aug. 11) to break a 0-0 tie and the inning’s second sacrifice fly to wrap up the explosive inning. And so we received another example of why Joe Girardi will very likely keep Jeter high in his batting order through the captain’s impending retirement.

“I’ve said this many times,” Girardi told The Post Wednesday afternoon, proactively diminishing the news value of his words. “It’s not like we have a bunch of guys hitting .300.”

I had asked Girardi if he thought it was just too difficult, too hairy, to drop Jeter down in his lineup. This question emanated from Girardi’s decision Wednesday to keep Jacoby Ellsbury in the leadoff spot, where he had thrived the two prior games, and demote Brett Gardner, who had missed three games with a right ankle injury, to the eighth spot. That marked the first time that Gardner, Jeter and Ellsbury all started and didn’t bat 1-2-3 since May 9, when Ellsbury and Jeter kicked things off and Gardner hit seventh.

To Girardi’s assertion that the rest of his hitters weren’t dominating, I acknowledged its accuracy. Yet certainly, I offered, he has more lineup choices than he did a month ago thanks to the Yankees’ revamped roster.

“Yeah,” Girardi said. “But it’s not like we have a bunch of guys hitting .300. So that’s why we’ve kept it.”

What Girardi understandably neglected to point out, and what has changed the equation of this conversation, is just how awful Jeter has been in August. Even after his productive night (he added a walk in the eighth), which contributed to an easy night for winning pitcher Shane Greene, Jeter owns an awful .226/.247/.290 slash line for the month. While it’s true, as Girardi stated, that no regular on the team carries a .300 batting average, Jeter’s .315 on-base percentage ranks him seventh on the team and his .634 OPS 11th; his .267 batting average places him fifth.

Jeter’s .308/.392/.462 line against Price, against whom he memorably homered for his 3,000th career hit in 2011, made Wednesday’s reconfiguration simple, as did the rest of the Yankees’ numbers against the 2012 AL Cy Young Award winner. Ellsbury singled twice off Price and hit the first third-inning sacrifice fly to lift his overall numbers against the tall lefty to .352/.368/.593, whereas Gardner’s soft infield single in two encounters lifted him to a lowly .136/.269/.136. Throw in Ellsbury’s power surge Monday and Tuesday, when he totaled three homers from the pole position, and Girardi didn’t have to think too much.

The rest of the season won’t be simple, now that Girardi has Martin Prado to deploy along with a somewhat improved Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann and even Ichiro Suzuki along with the track records (if not necessarily great Yankees performances) of Stephen Drew and Chase Headley.

As Price said after the game, in agreeing that the Yankees are a tougher foe now than earlier in the season, “The guys they acquired have done really well, Prado and Headley, those guys, they add a lot of versatility to that lineup.”

You could argue the Yankees are prioritizing the ego of their fading legend, whom the Tigers honored in a nice pregame ceremony, over their team fortunes. Then again, given how many times Jeter has returned from the dead and how much he enjoys proving his critics wrong, the mere printing of this column probably ensures he’ll have a bounce-back September and render this discussion moot. Shoot, he got the ball rolling in that direction Wednesday. As Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said, Jeter’s double was “his vintage swing, an inside-out line drive to right.”

Do the Yankees have enough room for error to bet on one last Jeter hot streak?

We’ll find out, with Girardi set to maneuver many but not all of his pieces to try to produce a miracle. On this night, against a bona fide ace, they managed pretty well.

[Yankee4Life]

New York Yankees' Jacoby Ellsbury singles against the Detroit Tigers in the first inning of a baseball game in Detroit, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014.

[Yankee4Life]

Detroit Tigers shortstop Eugenio Suarez, left, cannot handle the throw as New York Yankees' Jacoby Ellsbury (22) steals second base in the first inning of a baseball game in Detroit, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014.

[Yankee4Life]

Shane Greene of the New York Yankees pitches against the Detroit Tigers during the first inning at Comerica Park on August 27, 2014 in Detroit, Michigan.

[Yankee4Life]

New York Yankees pitcher Shane Greene throws against the Detroit Tigers in the first inning of a baseball game in Detroit, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014.

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New York Yankees' Mark Teixeira hits a one-run double in the third inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers in Detroit, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014.

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Brian McCann of the New York Yankees singles against the Detroit Tigers during the third inning to drive in Mark Teixeira at Comerica Park on August 27, 2014 in Detroit, Michigan. The Yankees scored eight runs in the third inning and defeated the Tigers 8-4.

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New York Yankees' Chase Headley singles against the Detroit Tigers in the third inning of a baseball game in Detroit, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014.

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Dellin Betances of the New York Yankees pitches against the Detroit Tigers during the ninth inning at Comerica Park on August 27, 2014 in Detroit, Michigan.

[Yankee4Life]

Chris Capuano, Jacoby Ellsbury lead Yankees to 6-3 win over Blue Jays

The offense looked dead for the first six innings, but the explosion against Mark Buehrle and Aaron Loup

Chris Capuano turns in a solid performance for the Yankees, allowing three runs, two earned, on eight hits while striking out four over 6 1/3 innings.

TORONTO — When the Yankees face Mark Buehrle, it’s like they can’t lose.

Friday night was no different.

The Yankees looked dead for six innings against the pitcher they have owned. But sure enough they came alive in the seventh, plating five runs en route to a 6-3 win over the Blue Jays Friday night at Rogers Centre.

Buehrle has struggled badly against the Yankees this season, going 0-3 with a 6.65 ERA in four starts. He hasn’t beaten them in his past 16 starts dating back to 2004, going 0-11 during that span while giving up four or more runs 10 times.

“That’s baseball; sometimes you play games and funny things happen,” Derek Jeter said. “It’s not like we’re all running to the bat racks when Buehrle is pitching.”

Jacoby Ellsbury is one happy fellow after lining a two-run home run just over the wall which proves to be the difference in the game.

The seventh inning marked the third time in five games on the road trip that the Bombers have scored at least four runs in a frame, a stark contrast from the recent 11-game stretch during which they failed to score more than four runs in an entire game.

“Our team is going to continue to fight,” Joe Girardi said. “We weren’t doing much off of Buehrle, but then we got to him.”

The Yankees scored four runs in the seventh inning Monday to bust the game open against the Royals, then exploded for eight runs against David Price in the third inning of Wednesday’s win over the Tigers.

“We didn’t get anything going with the exception of that one inning, but that’s how it goes sometimes,” Jeter said of Friday’s seventh-inning breakout. “You get a couple guys on, you never know what’s going to happen.”

The Yankees had managed just four hits before the seventh. The outburst helped the Yankees win for the seventh time in the past nine games. They remained three games behind the Tigers in the race for the second wild card and moved to within two games of Seattle.

The past two wins have come after losses as the Yankees have avoided falling into a losing streak, something they hadn’t been avoiding earlier in the year.

“It’s something we’ve needed to get a handle on and do more often,” said David Robertson, who recorded the final four outs for his 35th save. “You don’t want to get in the habit of losing two or three games at a time. You want to be able to shake off a loss and come right back the next day, grind out a win. That’s how good teams advance and get to the playoffs.”

Chris Capuano (2-3) allowed three runs (two earned) on eight hits and a walk, striking out four to win for the first time in seven starts since joining the Yankees a month ago.

Ellsbury celebrates his home run with Derek Jeter.

But as Buehrle was easing his way through the Yankees lineup quickly and quietly, Capuano was on the losing end when Jose Bautista tagged him for a fourth-inning home run to the second deck in left that gave the Jays a 1-0 lead.

Then came the seventh.

A leadoff double by Brian McCann and a Carlos Beltran walk put two runners on base. Mired in a 3-for-27 slump, Brett Gardner lined a double to right, scoring McCann to tie the game, while second baseman Steve Tolleson’s relay throw to third was wild, allowing Beltran to score the go-ahead run.

“To get a big hit in a big situation — Buehrle was dealing and we were losing 1-0 — it felt good,” Gardner said. “I’ve been watching everybody else contribute, so it was nice to pick guys up.”

Once again, the Yankees knock Mark Buehrle around, this time for four runs on seven hits over six innings.

Another Toronto error allowed the Yankees to score a third run, then Ellsbury — who is day-to-day after twisting his ankle on a slide into home plate in the ninth — capped the big inning with a two-run homer to right off Loup, a lefty specialist who had never allowed a lefthanded hitter to take him deep in 232 at-bats.

“Loup is very tough on lefthanders; we’ve seen that the last couple of years,” Girardi said. “For him to hit that homer to make it 5-1 was obviously really big.”

The Blue Jays countered with two runs in the seventh, driving Capuano from the game. But Adam Warren retired Edwin Encarnacion with the tying runs on base and Robertson ultimately closed the game with a four-out save, getting an extra run from Chase Headley’s ninth-inning homer to right center.

“We can’t afford to have letdowns at this point in the season,” Warren said. “We need to win the majority of our games, so we’ve put the emphasis on if we lose one, we have to try and bounce back right away. That’s how you go on a run.”

[Yankee4Life]

New York Yankees starting pitcher Chris Capuano throws against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, Aug. 29, 2014, in Toronto.

[Yankee4Life]

Stephen Drew of the New York Yankees turns the double play in the third inning during MLB game action as Colby Rasmus of the Toronto Blue Jays slides into second base on August 29, 2014 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

[Yankee4Life]

Brett Gardner of the New York Yankees hits an double in the seventh inning during MLB game action against the Toronto Blue Jays on August 29, 2014 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

[Yankee4Life]

Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees throws out the baserunner in the ninth inning during MLB game action against the Toronto Blue Jays on August 29, 2014 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

[Yankee4Life]

In Derek Jeter's final season, looking like Yankees will not send him out with a playoff run

Other than a periodic winning spurt against dreck teams like the Chicago White Sox or the equally hitting-challenged Tampa Bay Rays, there has been nothing about this Yankee team to suggest it might be postseason-worthy.

Derek Jeter acknowledges the crowd in Toronto as it is looking more and more like he will not be retiring from baseball with a berth in the postseason.

It has gotten late early for Derek Jeter and the Yankees — probably too late.

Yes, with all of September to go, they are very much mathematically in play for a wild-card berth, although there aren’t a lot of reasons to believe they can snag that consolation prize in this otherwise deflating and utterly unacceptable season given their $200 million payroll. Not after losing two of three to the packed-it-in Toronto Blue Jays, on top of two out of three to the staggering Detroit Tigers and their banged-up, compromised super slugger, Miguel Cabrera. Not with a minus-27 run differential, the 13th fewest runs in the American League and the ninth worst average with runners in scoring position after five months of the season.

When it’s all said and done, it’s going to be hard to pinpoint just where the Yankee season turned from faint hope to grim reality. Was it Sunday, when they blew a 3-0 lead behind a seemingly-cruising Brandon McCarthy and lost, 4-3, to the Blue Jays, going 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position — with Jeter, symbolically, making the final out, stranding Ichiro Suzuki at third base with a weak liner to second?

Or was it last Thursday in Detroit, the day after they’d pummeled David Price for eight runs in the third inning, only to be held to two runs over six innings by Tiger rookie Kyle Lobstein in a mind-boggling 3-2 loss? Or was it losing those first two games to the lowly Houston Astros to start the last home stand?

Other than a periodic winning spurt against dreck teams like the Chicago White Sox or the equally hitting-challenged Tampa Bay Rays, or the “go figure Suzyn” breakouts against two of the best pitchers in the AL, Price and James Shields, there has been nothing about this Yankee team to suggest it might be postseason-worthy.

Brandon McCarthy is unhappy with home plate umpire Chad Fairchild as he exits the game.

Even the eternally optimistic Joe Girardi looked and sounded resigned and whipped Sunday in the aftermath of the loss to the Blue Jays, who looked lifeless for five innings, suddenly clubbing three home runs off McCarthy, who has been a godsend since coming over from Arizona in early July.

“Obviously it makes it a lot harder to score runs if you don’t hit with runners in scoring position,” the dejected Yankee manager said. “We got a real important home stand coming up now. Nine games — and we’ve got to win a lot of them.”

He didn’t say it with a whole lot of confidence.

Still, putting aside the Yankees’ own uninspiring play, there is something to be said for all the teams ahead of them in the wild-card hunt being almost as flawed. A month ago, the Oakland A’s, fresh off acquiring Jon Lester, had the best record in baseball and were leading the majors in runs scored. Since trading their cleanup hitter, Yoenis Cespedes, for Lester, they have gone 12-17, with the 20th worst runs output in the majors.

Blue Jays' Steve Tolleson scores the winning run past a diving Francisco Cervelli Sunday.

And, before being swept by the Angels Sunday to fall five games out of first place, they went out and got White Sox windmill Adam Dunn in a desperate attempt to restore some power to the middle of their lineup. It’s a wonder now if they’ll be able to hold off the third-place Mariners, who are also ahead of the Yankees for the wild card.

The Yankees can take some solace over the prospect of the A’s and Mariners beating up on each other in the six games they have remaining together, as well as the Tigers, with Cabrera severely hampered by an ankle injury, also having three games with the Mariners. But there’s also Terry Francona’s Cleveland Indians who have made a late run into the wild-card race.

As Girardi has been saying for weeks, however, the Yankees can’t concern themselves with what all the other contenders are doing. Besides, there’s too many of them. The Yankees have to win their own games, something they have not been able to do with any consistency despite a very favorable schedule against so many out-of-contention teams.

And even though it might be a tad premature to begin administering last rites, there’s already been sufficient evidence to declare them the worst Yankee team since 1993 — the last time they missed the playoffs multiple seasons in a row.

[Yankee4Life]

Girardi must reduce Jeter’s role to give Yankees best chance

Joe Girardi talks with Derek Jeter in the Yankees dugout.

You feel compelled to begin with the proviso because there are a sect of fans who treat a criticism of Derek Jeter’s 2014 results as an attack on the man or his career.

So, let’s get it out of the way: Jeter is among the greatest players ever, on the short list of best shortstops in history, a special ambassador for the sport, a shining light in Yankees history.

But if you don’t think he is hurting the Yankees on both sides of the ball in 2014, then you are participating in the baseball version of the emperor wearing no clothes.

He should have stopped batting second in the Yankees order months ago. He should be replaced defensively late in close games because the Yankees have not one, but two far superior fielding options. He should DH rarely, if ever. Quite frankly, there should be many days he does not play at all.

This is no joy to write. The better story had Jeter – like Mariano Rivera – going out near top form, lashing singles to right, same as ever. But after being central to so much success for so long, Jeter is not helping this playoff run.

Actually, let’s put the blame where it belongs. The person who could have done something to minimize the impact of Jeter’s subpar results is Joe Girardi.

In mid-April, the Yankees manager played the tough guy by saying he was not putting on a farewell tour with Jeter in explaining why Jeter was not playing one day. But, as it turns out, of course, this is exactly what Girardi is doing.

Derek Jeter waves to fans in Toronto on Aug. 31 as his farewell season winds down.

The guy who managed Jeter’s pal, Jorge Posada, out from behind the plate and to the bottom of the lineup and, ultimately, to irregular play has not had the stomach to do the same with Jeter. As you see with how I led this piece – with the proviso – it is certainly tough to take on the Jeter cult, those who feel that historic greatness means Jeter has emeritus status, never to be dropped in the order or removed for better options.

This is his last year – don’t embarrass him.

But this is not a punishment, an attempt at humiliation. Jeter has defined himself by winning, and he just hasn’t helped the Yankees win in 2014. If the worry was that dropping Jeter in the lineup or not playing him would undermine the clubhouse, then Jeter’s bona fides as a captain should be questioned – he, after all, should not be the captain in good times for him, but in all times, which means backing the manager if the manager plays him in a different fashion.

Consider that the combination of tepid offense and troubling defense got Brian Roberts released. Jeter, though, keeps getting penciled in as the regular No. 2 hitter and shortstop. If his last name were not Jeter, he would not have those distinctions and – with the Yankees’ otherwise demanding standards – he might even have been released.

Instead, Girardi has played along by saying, for example, that no one in the Yankees order has hit much this year. But even among jockeys there are the tallest and shortest, and Jeter has been arguably the smallest Yankees hitter in a year in which they have collectively come up tiny.

His .261 average is devoid of much impact. He has 18 extra-base hits. That is tied with Stephen Drew, among others, for 253rd in the majors. But Jeter has come to the plate 539 times and Drew 225. So while Drew is hitting just .167, I am not sure he is a worse option that Jeter – at least the potential to hit for impact is greater.

And the fact Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner, the two Yankees who have risen above the muck and produced at a high level this year, are not hitting 1-2 is a blight on the concept of the sport as a meritocracy. Again, are the Yankees trying to win or put on a farewell tour?

Ellsbury has performed better recently hitting leadoff than third, but even if you wanted to keep him third (assuming he is healthy enough to play), what would be the case for batting Jeter behind Gardner and in front of Ellsbury rather than batting Martin Prado second?

Brendan Ryan

Girardi’s lone concession has been to use Jeter as the DH more regularly. But with rosters expanding so the Yankees can bring up a third catcher as late-inning protection, wouldn’t they be better off with Francisco Cervelli and Brian McCann flip-flopping between catching and DHing? Instead, the Yankees continue to DH the player who had, by far, the AL’s worst OPS in August at .487 (minimum 100 plate appearances).

And when Jeter does play, he should not be spared when better options arise during the game.

For example, even when he was a great hitter, Jeter could not produce against Casey Janssen. Yet, with the tying run on third and two outs Sunday, Girardi let Jeter (1-for-17 at that point against Janssen) bat against the Toronto closer.

Yes, McCann was hitless in five at-bats against Janssen, but he had a far better chance in that situation to drive in the run. Girardi stuck with Jeter, who lined softly to second.

Also, why have a state-of-the-art defender such as Brendan Ryan on the roster if you are not going to use him to his strength, especially when it lines up with a Jeter weakness? No doubt Ryan and Drew are far better defensive options to protect a close lead late in games.

Once more, if the last name were not Jeter, then Ryan would defend late in game at short.

But the last name is Jeter and for five months – despite his strong words to the contrary – Girardi has favored a farewell tour to giving his team the best chance to win. Will this continue in September as well?

[Yankee4Life]

I agree with every word of that last article.

[Yankee4Life]

Yankees beat Red Sox, climb within four games of American League wild card spot

Hiroki Kuroda fired seven superb innings of one-run ball, holding the Red Sox to four hits and no walks, striking out eight.

Carlos Beltran is tagged out by Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez (r.) but the Yankees show some fight while trying to remain in the AL wild card chase.

One down, four to go.

The out-of-town scoreboard was working in the Yankees’ favor as the Indians were blanking the Tigers in Cleveland.

All the Bombers had to do was take care of their own business and they would slash their deficit in the race for the second wild card to four games.

“You look at the teams that are ahead of us, it becomes very important to try and gain ground on them,” Joe Girardi said. “Especially because we don’t see them anymore.”

The Yankees took care of their end, beating the Red Sox, 5-1, Wednesday night at the Stadium to snap their three-game losing streak and make their fading postseason hopes slightly less bleak.

“We needed one badly,” Girardi said. “We had lost three in a row. As I’ve said, this is a very important home stand and we need to win a lot of games.”

Hiroki Kuroda did his part to lift the Yankees, as did his batterymate, Brian McCann, who came up with one of his biggest nights in pinstripes.

Kuroda finished August with a 2-1 record and 3.45 ERA in five starts, a vast improvement from the 1-4 and 5.12 he posted during the same time a year ago.

Wednesday, Kuroda fired seven superb innings of one-run ball, holding the Red Sox to four hits and no walks, striking out eight.

“Every game we play from now on is going to be a must win for us, so I wanted to shift the momentum,” Kuroda said through an interpreter. “Especially last year, I didn’t have a good month of September, so I just wanted to change that. I just wanted to contribute to my team.”

McCann gave the Yankees a lead they would never relinquish with a two-run home run to right in the second inning, part of a 4-for-4, three-RBI night by the catcher. The four hits tied a career-high for McCann.

“It’s just good to contribute,” McCann said. “We’re at that point in the season where we need to win as many games as possible.”

Hiroki Kuroda follows up his solid August with an excellent start on Wednesday.

The Yankees and Red Sox will play a rubber match Thursday before the Royals and Rays come to town for a pair of three-game sets to complete the nine-game home stand.

Things didn’t look promising in the first inning when Derek Jeter and Brett Gardner ran themselves into an inning-ending double play on a botched double-steal attempt that saw both runners thrown out. It was the second straight night the Yankees helped run themselves out of an inning.

“I wasn’t real happy about it,” Girardi said. “But we made up for it, and that mistake didn’t cost us dearly, fortunately.”

That’s because McCann belted a two-run homer off rookie Anthony Ranaudo in the second, his second blast in as many days and sixth longball in his last 17 games.

“He had a great night,” Girardi said. “He did a great job with Hiro and he did a great job swinging the bat.”

Derek Jeter scores on Brian McCann's base hit.

Kuroda retired the first seven batters he faced, sitting down 15 of 17 overall through five scoreless innings.

Jacoby Ellsbury’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly to left in the fifth pushed the lead to three runs. Ellsbury later tripled to center, showing no problems with his sprained left ankle.

The Red Sox finally got to Kuroda in the sixth when Kuroda hit No. 9 hitter Jemile Weeks before allowing Brock Holt’s run-scoring double to left to make it 3-1. With the tying run at the plate, Kuroda got Mookie Betts to fly out, then retired David Ortiz on a long fly ball to left field to end the threat.

“Last year he talked about getting a little bit fatigued,” Girardi said. “We’ve done a lot of things to try to keep him from getting to that point. He had a very good August; his September is started off well and we need him to continue.”

Gardner and McCann each singled in a run in the seventh, stretching the lead to four runs.

Kuroda completed seven innings before handing the lead off to the bullpen as Dellin Betances and David Robertson closed out the win.

“It’s big,” McCann said of picking up a game in the standings. “At this point, our mind-set here is to just win as many games as we can. We’ve got one month to turn it on and we plan on doing that.”

[Yankee4Life]

New York Yankees' Derek Jeter hits a first-inning single in a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium in New York, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014.

[Yankee4Life]

Ichiro Suzuki of the New York Yankees hits a single in the fifth inning against the Boston Red Sox in a MLB baseball game at Yankee Stadium on September 3, 2014 in the Bronx borough of New York City.