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(Meme: Facebook Baseball Memes)
They say a photo can say a thousand words, but this meme says a million. This baseball meme covers from soup to nuts what everyone thinks of the New York Yankees. This covers the haters, the fanatics and everyone in between when it comes to one of most storied and successful franchises in sports history.
Some people hate memes, but damn I think they are funny!
(Yahoo Sports) Yeesh. It sounds like even the great Stephen Strasburg isn’t impervious to feeling the burn a little more than is usually preferable.
In a somewhat mysterious episode on Tuesday afternoon, Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson told the team’s beat writers that Strasburg’s poor pitching performance was due in part to some “Hot Stuff” that “got to the wrong place.”
Some of you might say, wow, what a ridiculous prank to pull on the young phenom Stras before he takes the mound to hopefully continue what has been a fantastic start to his season.
Clearly, you don’t realize what was happening here.
You see, a guy we all know well here in Boston, Rocket Roger Clemens, used to love that Icy Hot/Hot Stuff shit. Used to love it so much in fact that he would lather it all over his twig and berries before every start. You see, Rocket never wanted to feel “comfortable” on the mound. He wanted to be on edge and pissed off. Well people, throw a little Icy Hot on your bag and tell me if you become irritable. I think it should do the trick. This animal used to lather up his genitals and snort and squeal as he ran to the mound like a wild pig running from the peeps about to slaughter him to make some bacon.
In conclusion, what we have here was simply a teammate rubbing a little Hot Stuff in Stras’ jock to test his toughness level. It obviously was in honor of the great Roger Clemens as he battles for his reputation in his perjury case. A sign of brotherhood. An act of solidarity. “We love you Rog.” We know you’re good Stras, but can you sling it like Rog as your private parts are on fire? We want even more out of you! Come on! You never want to be comfortable on the bump! You need to be on edge, foaming at the mouth like a rabid f*cking dog.
Anyway, Stras didn’t have the success that the Rocket used to when he heated up his southern region. The Nats lost 6-1.
Follow me on Twitter @Chuck_Hanf & be sure to check out my FanFeedr feature column, Chuck’s Two Cents, as well as my coverage of the New England Patriots
Having completed a 6 game home stand versus Tampa and Seattle, the New York Yankees took the road on Monday May 14th for a short, four-game road series in Baltimore and Toronto. The Yankees depart having won 4 and lost 2 and winning both series. Over the weekend they moved up from 4th place to 3rd place in the American League Eastern Division standings and have a 19W:15L record.
The Baltimore Orioles are currently 22W:13L and in first place in the American League East. They just completed a weekend series with Tampa. When the Rays arrived, they were tied for first place with the Orioles. But Baltimore won 2 of 3 games over the weekend to take sole possession of first place.
This is the third series of the season between the Yankees and O’s. During the first week of the season, the Yankees swept the Orioles in the first 3 game series in Baltimore. But, when Baltimore visited New York at the end of April, the O’s took 2 of 3 for a series win. This is a two game series and the game 1 starters are right hander Jason Hammel for the Orioles and righty Ivan Nova for the Yankees. Two lefties, Wei-Yin Chen and C. C. Sabathia go in game 2. .
Sabathia heads the Yankees starting staff and is 5W:0L in 7 starts. He is pitching to a 3.38 ERA. Due to the season ending injury of Mariano Rivera, the Yankees closer situation is in flux. In the last few games, David Robertson, Rafael Soriano, and Boone Logan have all recorded saves. Derek Jeter still leads the Yankees offense and comes into the series batting .372. Robinson Cano, Raul Ibanez, and Nick Swisher have been consistently contributing to the offense; Alex Rodriguez shows some signs of getting his bat on track; but Mark Teixeira is still struggling.
Chen and Hammel are leading the Orioles starting rotation—together they have 7 wins and 1 loss in 12 starts. There closer Jim Johnson is 11 for 11 in save opportunities. The Orioles offense is led by center fielder Adam Jones. He enters the series batting .291 and leads the team in hits, runs scored, home runs, and RBI.
Game 1 Summary: Monday, May 14th Yankees 8 Orioles 5
Hammel, a power pitcher, was making his eighth start of the season and had a 4W:1L record. He was pitching to an excellent 2.09 ERA and extremely low .98 WHIP. Hammel had not give up more than 2 runs in any of his seven prior starts and batters were hitting less than .200 against him. Hammel’s one loss was to the Yankees in a start in New York on April 30th. In that game, he pitched quite well and gave up just 2 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks in 6 innings. However, on that day Hiroki Kuroda, Dave Robertson, and Mariano Rivera limited the O’s offense to 5 hits and 1 run.
Nova had an excellent 4W:1L record, but has achieved that based on poor pitching stats. Most of his 6 starts have been characterized by a large number of base runner. In fact he has given up 51 hits in just 37.2 innings. Against Hammel today he needs to keep the Orioles’ batters off the bases.
The Orioles were on the scoreboard before Nova recorded an out. He gave up a double and single to Xavier Avery and J. J. Hardy, respectively. Then with one out he surrendered a run scoring double to Adam Jones. The O’s were up by two runs after 1 inning of play.
On the other hand, Hammel looked to be off to smooth start, but the Yankees caught up with him with 2 runs in the 4th and 1 in the 5th to take a 3 to 2 lead. The key hit in the 4th was Nick Swisher’s 2-run double and in the 5th Curtis Granderson hit his team leading 12th home run.
The O’s went ahead in the bottom of the 5th when Nova surrendered a run scoring triple to Avery and a 2-run homer to J. J. Hardy. But, the Yankees tied it up in the top of the 6th with 2 runs (1 unearned) of there own. Hammel loaded the bases without recording an out. Then Luis Ayala came on in relief. The first batter he faced grounded a ball to first based, but an error on the play allowed the two lead runners to score.
Hammel had an uncharacteristic start in which he gave up 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits and 3 walks in 5 innings. Nova, who was hit in the leg with a batted ball earlier in the game, twisted his ankle when he ran off the mound to field a high hopper in the bottom of the 6th. Click here to view the play on which he was injured. Nova went 5.1 innings and gave up 5 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks. The game was tied 5 to 5 when both Hammel and Nova left the game.
Five Yankees relievers, Clay Rapada, David Phelps, Boone Logan, Cory Wade, and Rafael Soriano, shut down the O’s offense on just 3 hits the rest of the way. On the other hand, Orioles’ reliever Luis Ayala gave up a game winning 2 run homer to Mark Teixeira in the 8th. He received both a blown save, his second, and the loss to make his record 1W:1L. Phelps got the win for the Yankees—his 1st win in 2 decisions.
Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira both had a very good game with their bat. Rodriguez went 3 for 5 and scored 2 runs, while Teixeira had 2 hits in 4 at bats, scored 3 runs, and drove in 2. Robinson Cano continued his hot hitting. He was 2 for 5 and scored 2 runs. The Yankees number 2 through 5 batters—Granderson, Rodriguez, Cano, and Teixeira—scored all 8 of the Yankees runs. Finally Derek Jeter singled in the top of the 3rd for his 3,143 hit, which put him in sole possession of 16th place on the all-time hits leaders list. Click here to see Jeter hit this single up the middle off Hammel.
After the game, Nova was diagnosed with a sprained ankle and he is questionable for his next start. Also, Raul Ibanez was removed from the game after being hit on the elbow with a pitched ball in the 9th. His status is not known. Also after the game Manager Joe Girardi informed the press that David Robertson had ribcage soreness and was not available to pitch.
Click here to see the detailed box score for the game.
How the Runs Scored
Bottom 1st Orioles (2R, 3H) Xavier Avery (LF), who was called up from the Norfolk Tides (AAA) over the weekend, led off and hit a drive up the right-center field gap for a doubled. This was his first major league hit. He scored the O’s first run when number 2 batter J. J. Hardy (SS) grounded a single up the middle. Click here to view a video replay of Hardy’s RBI single. With one down, Hardy came home when cleanup hitter Adam Jones (CF) lashed a Nova fastball off the left-center field wall for a double. Click here to see Jones get his team leading 22nd RBI.
Top 4th Yankees (2R, 3H) Leading off the top of the 4th Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano hit back to back singles to right and then both of them crossed the plate when Nick Swisher lined Hammel’s 1-2 delivery to the right-center field wall. Click here to see a video replay of Swisher’s game tying double.
Top 5th Yankees (1R, 1H, 1BB) With 2 down, Curtis Granderson crushed Hammel’s 2 ball, 1 strike pitch deep to right and onto Eutaw St. plaza to put the Yankees ahead 3 to 2. Click here to view a replay of Granderson’s solo home run.
Bottom 5th: Orioles (3R, 2H, 1BB) Robert Andino (2B) led off with a walk and scored on Avery’s triple to the right field corner. Click here to view a video replay of Avery’s second hit of the game and first major league RBI. Then, Avery came home when J. J. Hardy drove Nova’s 2-1 pitch deep into the left field stands for his 9th home run of the season. Click here to see a replay of Hardy’s homer that put the 0’s up 5 runs to 3.
Top 6th Yankees (2R, 1H, 3BB, 1E) To start the 6th, Hammel gave up a double to Robinson Cano and then walked Teixeira and Swisher to load the bases with no outs. Luis Ayala came on in relief. The first batter he faced, Raul Ibanez grounded a ball to O’s first baseman Chris Davis. The ball deflected off Davis’ glove and went into short right field for an error—both Cano and Teixeira scored on the play. Click here to see the Yankees score 2 unearned runs to tie the game at 5 to 5.
Mark Teixeira (Photo by: Rob Carr/Getty Images North America)
Top 7th Yankees (2R, 2H, 1BB) Leading off against Ayala, Alex Rodriguez lined a single to right and then scored on Teixeira’s homer to right. Click here to view a video replay of Teixeira’s 2-run homer that put the Yankees ahead 7 to 5.
Top 9th Yankees (2R, 2H, 1BB) With 1 down, Mark Teixeira hit reliever Dana Eveland’s pitch to right field for a double. Then Eveland intentionally walked Swisher to get to left batter Raul Ibanez. However, he hit Ibanez with the first pitch he threw to him to load the bases. Then he gave up a sacrifice fly to Eric Chavez that scored Teixeira with the Yankees 8th run. Click here to see Chavez knock in an insurance run for the Yankees.
Stars of the Game
Pitching:
Boone Logan (LHP), Cory Wade, and Rafael Soriano (RHP) held the lead for the last 2.1 innings without allowing a base runner. They struck out 5 of the 7 batters they faced. Logan and Wade got holds and Soriano the save.
Batting:
Mark Teixeira went 2 for 4 and reached base on a walk in a fifth at bat. He hit a double and home run. He drove in 3 runs including the game winning run and scored 3 of the Yankees 8 runs.
Bailey Butchers Braves
Homer Bailey (AP Photo)
It could be said that the Atlanta Braves went from Cincinnati’s best friend to their worst enemy on Monday. Atlanta just finished a weekend sweep of Cincinnati’s biggest rival, the St. Louis Cardinals and now took aim at the second place team in the NL central. Homer Bailey would have a say in that though, as the Red’s young pitcher threw his best game of the season last night. Bailey, who many believe is in a make or break contract year, allowed only one run in over six innings of work. The Braves came into Monday with hot bats and boasted the second most runs scored in the National League, but Bailey did a great job of keeping Atlanta off-balance all night. The Brave’s only real threat came in the eighth inning when Aroldis Chapman loaded the bases, but he made quick work of young stud Jason Heyward, to end the threat promptly.
Brandon Phillips, who is an Atlanta native, had a nice homecoming by sparking the only Red’s rally with a towering double off the centerfield wall, that gave Cincinnati the lead for good. “It feels good to do something here,” he said. “This was a big win for us.”
Brandon Phillips (Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)
Sean Marshall recorded his sixth save of the year and the Reds are now on a two game winning streak.
Player of the Game: Homer Bailey
Bailey pitched brilliantly and with his team only providing one run of support, he kept Cincinnati in it until the bats finally came alive in the late innings. Homer has now quietly achieved five quality starts in the back of the Red’s rotation.
The Reds finish up a short series with the Braves tonight at Turner Field in Atlanta.
Tuesday’s Probable Starters
Johnny Cueto 4-0 (1.12 ERA)
Tim Hudson 1-1 (4.50 ERA)
Tuesday’s matchup should be an extremely low scoring affair with two of the best aces in the National League going toe to toe. Cueto will also look to improve on his MLB leading starter’s ERA of 1.12.
(The Big Lead) Q: What does Theo Epstein bring to Wrigleyville that others have not?
A: Theo, even though in Boston he did inherit a good ball club, he has an idea, he’s young and astute and knows the direction needed. He won’t ill-advisedly spend money and he’ll carefully monitor what the strengths and weaknesses of this ball club and how to blend in the right pieces. He’s done it in the past and will only get better at what he does.
I choked on my Cheerios this morning when I came across this one…
Hey Hawk, ever heard of these gentlemen?
John Lackey, Julio Lugo, J.D. Drew, Matt Clement, Edgar Renteria, Carl Crawford, Mike Cameron….to name a few.
All of these fellas are examples of “ill-advised spending of the greenbacks”, Hawk. All of em. Now, I am a fan of Theo Epstein, don’t get me wrong. I thought the good he did in this town outdid the bad as he helped bring two championships to a city that hadn’t won one since 1918. That said, when Theo is jonesing to “spend quite a bit of cash ill-advisedly”, he will damn well do it and he will do it well. And then if he’s really feeling generous, he’ll take a player he spent ill-advisedly on and pay a chunk of their salary elsewhere just to get rid of said player.
Just to be clear, I like Carl Crawford and was glad the Red Sox got him prior to last year, but the money was ridiculous and made no sense. I feel the same way albeit to a lesser degree, with J.D. Drew. With Drew, they were totally bidding against themselves. Totally ridiculous. As I’ve said in the past, it’s not my money, so I could care less what the Red Sox spend on players, but when we’re talking “ill-advised spending”, these guys all fit the bill. And even furthermore, if it hampers signing other players because you’ve signed less deserving guys to big money deals, then that’s when I have a problem.
Follow me on Twitter @Chuck_Hanf & be sure to check out my FanFeedr feature column, Chuck’s Two Cents, as well as my coverage of the New England Patriots.
