Results from my 2020 predictions

Other than picking the Dodgers in 6 and Gio Urshela's batting average nearly on the nose, this year was another wash.

AL East 
1. Yankees INCORRECT (Rays)
2. Rays* INCORRECT (Yankees)
3. Blue Jays CORRECT

4. Red Sox INCORRECT (Orioles)

5. Orioles INCORRECT (Red Sox)

Results from my 2018 MLB predictions

Of course, the one year I pick the Yankees to win it all the Red Sox win it instead.

Weakest silver lining ever: I'm pretty sure this is my first year getting both of the Rookie of the Year picks right.

AL East 
1. Red Sox CORRECT
2. Yankees* CORRECT
3. Orioles INCORRECT (Rays)

4. Blue Jays CORRECT

5. Rays INCORRECT (Orioles)

Mattingly to take over for Torre next year

This is the news we all knew would come one day. Joe Torre and Don Mattingly have confirmed the report. Mattingly’s managing days will begin April 1, 2010 against the Giants. But I’m sure he already knows that.

Torre is 70 years old and a sure Hall of Famer. Mattingly is still young and finally has an opportunity to head a club. I hope one day Mattingly can manage the team that drafted him when he was 18 years old and the team he will always be known for, Hall of Fame or not.

I don’t think Torre will manage again and I look forward to watching Mattingly at the helm next season.

Cano finishes off comeback win with 10th-inning homer

The Yankees trailed 6-2 heading into the ninth inning, but scored four runs off closer Jonathan Broxton to tie it. Then Robinson Cano cranked a two-run homer to left-center off lefty George Sherrill in the top of the 10th and Mariano Rivera completed his second inning of work to give the Yankees an 8-6 win.

Best of All: What a comeback win it was. They were down by as many as five runs but beat a normally good bullpen to take the series.

Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run homer in the sixth to break up Clayton Kershaw’s shutout. Derek Jeter had three hits and got on base four out of five times.

Worst of All: Brett Gardner left the game after being hit by a pitch in his first at-bat and is considered day-to-day.

Coming Up: The Yankees are off Monday before facing the Mariners and Blue Jays at home this week. One more week on the west coast road trip after that and we’ve hit the All-Star break!

Like always, the season always seems to fly by.

Dodgers even series as Burnett’s struggles continue

The Dodgers took advantage of A.J. Burnett early, making for one of the longest, unexciting games of the year. The Dodgers won easily, 9-4, and Burnett was almost unbearable to watch.

Best of All: Mark Teixeira’s three-run homer in the first inning. It was the only positive moment of the game from the Yankees’ standpoint. His 13th of the year.

Worst of All: Burnett allowed six earned over three innings on six walks and six hits; he’s been the exact opposite of  CC Sabathia in June. He’s 0-4 with a 10.35 ERA. Burnett doesn’t consider pitching coach Dave Eiland’s absence an excuse, but I do.

Derek Jeter K’d three times on his birthday. He turned 36, by the way. But he did single, steal a base and score in the first inning.

Coming Up: Sunday night’s game should be a dandy now, right?

CC, A-Rod steal spotlight from Torre reunion in 2-1 win

Joe Torre met up with the core four before the game as planned, but Alex Rodriguez “didn’t see him,” supposedly. But I’m sure Torre saw him when A-Rod cranked the game-winning homer in the sixth to give the Yankees a 2-1 win — all while I was out bowling with my EIC team.

Best of All: CC Sabathia: W, 8 IP, 4 H, ER, 3 BB, 7 K. He’s now 5-0 with a 2.19 ERA in June. Can you say, AL Pitcher of the Month?

A-Rod also had a double and scored on Jorge Posada’s single in the second.

Worst of All: The bottom four combined to go 0-for-12, which includes Brett Gardner, who is red hot in June, and CC, who is one of the top hitting pitchers.

Coming Up: The Yankees can clinch another series win when they play tonight (a little earlier for us east coasters).

Yankees-Dodgers series preview

The Yankees are back in the spotlight this weekend, as two storied franchises square off for the first time in six years. First, a bit of history:

- The Yankees and Dodgers met in the World Series six times between 1947 and 1963. The Yankees won the first five meetings, but the ‘63 Dodgers, from L.A., swept New York.

- The Yankees got their revenge in 1977 and 1978 with World Series victories over the Dodgers, but the Dodgers had the last laugh with a 4-2 World Series win over the Yanks in 1981.

As much history as there is between the two teams, the focus is on one man. The man who the media tabbed as “Clueless Joe” when the Yankees hired him in November, 1995. That same “clueless” man went on to bring the Yankees four rings in five years and 12 straight postseason berths.

That man is Joe Torre, the new head of the Dodgers. He said:

“The odd thing for me is that I’m going to be over there in that dugout pulling against people I’ve never pulled against before.”

The Yankees core four showed very strong appreciation for their ex-manager.

“He’s been like a father figure to me,” Derek Jeter said. “It’s just out of respect.”

Jorge Posada reiterated Jeter’s statement, Mariano Rivera called him a “mentor” and Andy Pettitte raved how he supported him through the good times and the bad.

But you won’t see the players show those emotions on the field this weekend. And Torre won’t either, like always.

Also, don’t forget about Don Mattingly! He left the Yankees with Torre to be the Dodgers hitting coach.

Head to Head: 
These two old rivals haven’t faced each other since 2004 when the Dodgers took two of three at Dodger Stadium.

Pitching Matchups:

Date:	Yankees starters	Dodgers starters
Fri., 10:10 p.m.	CC Sabathia (8-3, 3.68)	V. Padilla (1-1, 6.67)
Sat., 7:10 p.m.	A.J. Burnett (6-6, 4.83)	Hiroki Kuroda (6-5, 3.06)
Sun., 8:00 p.m.	Andy Pettitte (9-2, 2.48)	C. Kerhsaw (7-4, 3.24)

Players to Watch:
Yankees: Brett Gardner. He’s hitting .396/.476/.566 in June. That’s bad news for opposing pitchers catchers.

Dodgers: Andre Ethier. He isn’t as hot as he was in April, but he may be back on track after a good series against the Angels earlier this week.

Prediction:
This should be a good series, culminating with the ESPN Sunday Night game. But the Dodgers are slumping lately, and the Yankees aren’t. I’ll give a 2-1 edge to the Yanks.

Yankees schedule analysis

My roommate did some research on the Yankees schedule this season, and he came up with some very interesting data. Here’s the breakdown of the schedule by month.

Month	Home	Away	Total
April	7	15	22
May	16	13	29
June	14	12	26
July	13	13	26
August	16	13	29
September	15	12	27
October	0	3	3
First Half	41	47	88
Second Half	40	34	74
Total	81	81	162

I guess the biggest noteworthy thing about the schedule is the Yankees are getting more road games out of the way in the first half, which gives them more home games down the home stretch.

Below are the dates of the series against the Red Sox and Mets, plus some notable games.

April 13 vs. Angels — home opener (ring ceremony)
April 4-7 at Red Sox
May 7-9 at Red Sox
May 17-18 vs. Red Sox
May 21-23 at Mets
June 15-17 vs. Phillies
June 18-20 vs. Mets
June 25-27 at Dodgers
Aug. 6-9 vs. Red Sox
Sept. 24-26 vs. Red Sox
Oct. 1-3 at Red Sox

MLB tells Yankees to speed up games

The Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers played the longest games and also happened to have the top three team on-base percentages in baseball last year. So that makes sense, right?

Well, major league baseball doesn’t think so. The Official Playing Rules Committee is asking the three aforementioned teams to speed up their games.

“We have hitters that see a lot of pitches. The Red Sox have hitters that see a lot of pitches. We haven’t played the Dodgers so I don’t really know. But that’s going to be a part of it,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

What are the Yankees supposed to do — give away outs? This is ridiculous. It’s not like they’re playing excessively long games consistently.

OK, maybe when the Yankees and Red Sox play against each other they do, but there are other contributing factors for that too.

I don’t think this committee has any valid point here.

Sports Illustrated: Yanks are team to beat

This picture pretty much recaps my recent question responses. Check out Ted Keith’s power rankings here.

This story got me thinking of who I expect the Yankees to face, and eventually beat in the World Series (I’m not superstitious). And I also will not fray from my preseason predictions. The Yankees will host and take down the Dodgers of Los Angeles in the World Series. I will tell you in how many games when the World Series comes around.

Why the Dodgers? They have one of the top offenses in the league when they are going right, and their lockdown bullpen. Here are a couple of names that you probably have never heard of: Ronald Belisario and Ramon Troncoso. Combined they hold an ERA of 2.28 in 138 games. Add on guys like George Sherrill, Hong Chiue Kuo, Charlie Haeger, Guillermo Mota and that guy with 36 saves, Jonathan Broxton. I would be scared to fall behind against that bullpen, even with a comeback-team like these ‘09 Yanks.

How about their manager? That guy who won four World Series championships with the Yankees, Joe Torre. This team is built all-around just like the Yankees but subtract a little power.

Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez do far more damage than Manny Ramirez and Andre Ethier. But I bet you didn’t know Ethier has 105 RBIs and Matt Kemp has 100. Not even the Yankees have two guys with over 100 RBIs.

Let’s face it. This is the World Series matchup that Major League Baseball is hoping for. It would yield by far the highest TV ratings than any other plausible matchup this year. With all of the history, the two Joes and the huge markets, MLB would be basking in gold. For me, I think it would be the most exciting, and the most pleasurable winning experience. But that’s just me.