Kuzul

It was a rough night to be a pitcher in the Bronx last night. Nine pitchers in total were used in the contest between the Yankees and Red Sox. Of the nine, five gave up runs in the 11-9 Yankees win.

The starters were not good. Boston starter Daisuke Matsuzaka   had a bad first inning in which the Yankees scored five runs. The righty lasted 4.2 innings, giving up nine hits. Three of those nine were doubles. The Yankees scored seven runs off Matsuzaka before he was taken out with two outs in the fifth.

Yankees starter Phil Hughes   has been one of the leagues best pitchers so far this season. Last night, however, was not a good performance. He was able to battle and make his way through five innings, but Hughes gave up five runs on six hits and a walk. He gave up two home runs, one to David Ortiz   in the fourth and the other to J.D. Drew in the fifth.

The Yankees brought Boone Logan to the mound in the sixth with a 7-5 lead. The lefty gave up two hits and a run. The run came on a home run by Victor Martinez that cut the lead to 7-6.

With a 7-6 lead and Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson unavailable to pitch, the Yankees called upon Chan Ho Park to pitch the seventh inning. Park was activated off the disabled list prior to the game. He had been on the DL since April 16th with a hamstring injury. His performance showed the Yankees he should have stayed on the DL, or anywhere else other then on the roster.

Continue this story at Double G Sports .

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Double G Sports continues to struggle in the Battle of the Blogs.

For most of the week, my team had been ahead and staring at a week victory. Then the weekend came, and everything changed.

I was unable to hold on for the win, losing 11-9-0 to Royally Speaking .

For the season, Double G Sports is now 57-58-5, last place in the Willie Mays Division. I am 12.5 games back in the division and ranked 12th in the 20 team league.

Offensively, my team held its own this week. I was led by recent pickup Brennan Boesch. The outfielder from Detroit batted .458 with a home run, two doubles, and five RBI. Fellow outfielder Marlon Byrd batted .333 with one home run and three doubles.

My starting catcher, Rod Barajas, batted a healthy .400 with three doubles this week when in the lineup.

A couple infielders did some damage as well. Alberto Callaspo has taken over the starting third base position on my team. This week he batted .333 with three doubles and a home run.

Callaspo drove in six as well.

First baseman Mark Teixeira brought the wood this week. He batted .310, including a double and two home runs. Teixeira had nine RBI this week.

Royally Speaking had a fairly balanced week. His team was led to victory by Jason Bay , Vladimir Guerrero , and Michael Young. Those position players did just enough to bring Royally Speaking the win. His pitching staff got solid performances from Jason Vargas   and Mitch Talbot. David Price also had a nice week.

Continue reading this weekly recap at Double G Sports .

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The New York Yankees are returning home today to start a three game series with the Minnesota Twins. The Yankees just finished a four game series with the Detroit Tigers in which they lost three of the four.

It was a rather embarrassing four game series for the Yankees. You can blame it squarely on the lineup. The Yankees offense disappeared in this series, with the exception of one single inning in their lone win.

The blame can be spread throughout, as just about the entire lineup is now in a slump. Catchers Jorge Posada and Francisco Cervelli are the only two players with a series batting average over .250. Cervelli had just four at bats in the series but did manage two hits for a .500 average. One of his hits was a double. Posada returned from injury and went 4-for-9 in the series, a .444 average. Two of his four hits were doubles and he walked three times. That’s production if you ask me.

The rest of the lineup? Well, no, they did not produce very much at all. Overall, the team batted just .195 against the Tigers. The Yankees had only five extra base hits, three coming from Posada and Cervelli.

Continue this article at Double G Sports .

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Back in Spring Training , the Yankees put Phil Hughes into a competition with other pitchers like Joba Chamberlain , Sergio Mitre, and Alfredo Aceves. The four pitchers competed to see who would be the Yankees fifth starter. Obviously Hughes won the job and since then, he is making it seem like there never should have been a competition.

It’s tough to say Hughes has been the Yankees best starter, because most of them have been pitching extremely well this season. You can however say Hughes is right up there with CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Andy Pettitte   .

The young starter has show a new degree of confidence this season. He is dominating opponents on a regular basis.

Hughes has started six games so far this season and after last nights win, he is now 5-0 on the year with a very impressive 1.38 ERA. That is the lowest ERA of any Yankees starter this season.

Continue this article at Double G Sports .

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Javier Vazquez took the mound in game one of today’s double header against the Detroit Tigers. The veteran righty has been having a terrible season so far. Yankees fans, many of whom were upset the Yankees even brought him back, have been critical of him all year.

Today’s start was a big one for Vazquez, who was pushed back a few days in order to regroup himself. The extra days seemed to help Vazquez clear his head and fix some mechanical problems in his windup.

He did a lot of intense bullpen work the past week or so to fix the issues.

So Vazquez needed a big performance today against the Tigers in order to show Yankees fans and staff that he can indeed pitch well in a Yankees uniform. The Tigers do have a solid lineup, so it would not be easy.

See how Vazquez did at Double G Sports.

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The New York Mets wasted a quality start last night in the loss to the Washington Nationals . The two teams entered the night tied for second place in the National League East .

John Maine took the mound for the Mets and put together a very nice outing. Maine went six strong innings for New York, giving up two runs on seven hits. The two runs came on back-to-back solo home runs by Adam Kennedy and Ryan Zimmerman in the third inning.

Maine walked four batters but struck out five in the no decision. Most would think if your pitcher holds the Nationals to two runs through six innings, you should win. Not the case last night, as the Mets lineup struggled to put anything together against Nationals rookie Luis Atilano. New York managed just five hits off Atilano in 5^1/3 innings.

The Mets would score a run in the seventh and a run on the ninth on a Angel Pagan solo homer but the rally would be short lived ending on a Jason Bay strike out. The Mets had 12 hits in the game, but left 11 runners on base. Seven of those runners were left in scoring position.

The Mets bench was rather unproductive once again. Gary Matthews Jr. and Frank Catalanotto   each had a pinch hit appearance in the game. Matthews Jr. , struck out when pinch hitting for pitcher Hisanori Takahaski and is now batting just .136 on the season. Catalanotto led off the ninth by pinch hitting for pitcher Jenrry Mejia. Catalanotto promptly grounded out for the first out.

Find out what roster move was made, visit Double G Sports .

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Last week, Double G Sports battled Sports Page Network in Battle of the Blogs Fantasy Baseball. I was fortunate to come away with a 13-6-1 win over the blog network I write for.

My offense took over and capitalized on Sports Page Network missing it’s star catcher Joe Mauer. I won the week with a team batting average of .267. My team knocked seven home runs this week. Sports Page Network had just three home runs the entire week. The lose of Mauer may have hurt his team drastically. I ended up winning nine of the ten hitting categories.

My pitching staff once again struggled this week, going 1-3 with a 4.63 ERA. Fortunately for me, Sports Page Network’s staff had a horrific week. They went 1-7 with a 5.52 ERA. Phil Hughes is becoming the ace of my staff. He once again pulled together a solid performance. Hughes went seven innings in his lone start this week, giving up seven hits and allowing two earned runs. He struck out seven and only walked one in his quality start and win.

My bullpen received a boost from Carlos Villanueva and Peter Moylan. Each pitcher got two saves/holds this week.

Read more of the recap as well as a preview of this coming week when I battle Royally Speaking, visit Double G Sports.

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Long-time American League East rivals, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, battled it out in a three-game series at Fenway Park over the weekend. All three games were blowouts, as the Yankees took two of three from the Sox.

The Yankees are now 21-9 on the season, and sit a mere half-game behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the division. New York has won eight of its last 10 games, and is 11-7 on the road.

Here are some thoughts from the weekend series:

Pink is the color

Pink was the color of the weekend, as players all across the MLB wore pink wrist bands, necklaces, and used pink bats in support of breast cancer awareness and Mother’s Day.

A-Rod ties Robinson

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez has three home runs this season. His third, which he hit on Sunday, was the 586th of his career. That homer tied Rodriguez with Frank Robinson for seventh place on the all-time list. The tying home run was a fourth-inning solo shot off Boston starter Jon Lester.

It ended A-Rod’s homer-less drought at 61 at bats. Rodriguez had already passed Mark McGwire on the all-time list this season, and with one more, he will pass Robinson.

For more thoughts and a preview of whats next, visit doublegsports.com .

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The Mets were at home this past windy weekend taking on the San Francisco Giants. After Sunday’s game, the Mets now stand at 17-14, tied for second place in the National League East . They are two games back of the first place Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets are 5-5 in their last ten games.

Here are some thoughts from this past series with the Giants:

Back On The Winning Track

After losing the previous two series, the Mets won two out of three against the Giants this weekend at Citi Field . New York is now 13-6 at home in 2010.

Catch The Ball, Hit The Ball

The Mets catchers played a big role in the two wins this series. In Friday night’s opener, starting catcher Rod Barajas belted two home runs. One of those homers was a walk-off two run shot to give the Mets the win. Barajas now has nine home runs this season.

Henry Blanco got the start on Saturday in the day game after a night game. The ending was the same. Blanco hit his first home run of the season as the Mets got back to back walk-off wins. Blanco was 3-for-5 in the game.

For more thoughts and a preview of the next series, visit Double G Sports .

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The injury bug has been taking out Yankees one at a time. Is the Sports Illustrated cover curse taking its place in the Yankees locker room? The core four appeared on the cover this past week and three of the four have been battling injuries.

Jorge Posada is day-to-day with a calf strain, Mariano Rivera has missed a few games because of stiffness in his arm, and Andy Pettitte had to leave Wednesday’s game with stiffness of his own in his left arm.

The last man standing is Derek Jeter . How can we prevent Jeter from getting injured? Well, a New Jersey packaging company has a plan.

Sealed Air, a company in Saddle Brook, New Jersey is shipping the Yankees shortstop a large roll of bubble wrap. The Bubble Wrap is being shipped to Fenway Park for Jeter and is wrapped in pinstripes with a large number two on it.

Read more of this story at Double G Sports .

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