The Yankees imploded last night with shoddy defense and poor relief pitching, falling to the A’s 9-4. Jaret Wright was the loser while Joe Kennedy got the win. Things started well for the Yankees with Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui hitting home runs to give New York a 4-0 lead. In the fourth inning the Yankees’ defense sabotaged them. After giving up a one-out hit to Eric Chanvez, Wang got Frank Thomas to hit a......

The Yankees head into the season hoping to capture their 27th World Championship. Once again they have the highest payroll in baseball and once again anything less than total victory will be a failure in the eyes of their bombastic owner. Offensively, the Yankees should score close to 900 runs. Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter will set the table for A Rod, Matsui, Sheffield and Giambi. Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams and Robinson Cano fill out......

It was a season of lows and highs from an 11-19 start to 95 wins and a playoff spot the Yankees gave their fans a story with many twists and turns in 2005. There was the emergence of Robinson Cano and Chien-Ming Wang and the painful decline of Bernie Williams. In the end, the Yankees couldn’t keep the momentum they had built in September going and fell to the Angels in five games. The......

Most people were not expecting the Yankees to recover from their 11-19 start, so it is no surprise that most experts are picking the Angels to win their ALDS matchup, which starts tonight. After all, the Yankees are opening up a postseason series on the road for the first time since 2001 and the lack of home field advantage might tip the balance in a series where both teams are fairly evenly matched. Not......

With all the progress the Yankees made in their chase for the American League Wild Card spot over the weekend, one might think they would do well against the horrible Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Not exactly - the Yankees lost 4-3 to the Devil Rays last night. Looking at past performances this season against the D-Rays, you can see that the Yankees have had their problems. The Yankees have a dismal 4-10 record against the......

The Mets started the weekend with promise that quickly disappeared. After beating the Marlins 7-6 on Friday, behind the clutch hitting of Chris Woodward, the Mets returned to their inconsistent ways. On Saturday they jumped out to a 3-1 lead before collapsing down the stretch in a 7-3 loss. The only thing that drives Gothamist crazier than Jose Reyes leading off is the sight of Jose Offerman playing first base. His inability to handle a......

One of the most hideous games of the year will not be remembered as such. The Yankees came from behind to beat the Mets 5-4 on a two run Jason Giambi ninth-inning single. The win was much-needed for the Yankees, but their problems will not be erased by it. Both teams had shoddy defense, but the Yankees', which has been dreadful all year, imploded again. Robinson Cano booted what should have been an inning-ending ground......

The Yankees opened the 2005 season with a 9-2 win. Randy Johnson led the way with six innings of stellar pitching, though Hideki Matsui should be credited with an outstanding defensive play that prevented the Red Sox from scoring more than one run in the top of the second. Every Yankee starter contributed a hit or an RBI in the victory and Tanyon Sturtze added two innings of spotless relief while the outcome was still......

Clearly, we were looking to work in some homonyms today. Too bad they aren't playing the Twins anymore. Anyway, last night, the Yankees defeated the Red Sox, 31 (box score). The Yankees now lead the best of seven series two games to none. While Pedro Martinez has proclaimed the Yankees are his daddies, his performance last night wasn't all that bad. He threw for six innings, giving up four hits and three runs. His......

In a game billed as a must win, the Yankees did just that last night. They defeated the Twins 7-6 in the 12th inning (box score) to even the series at one game each. Unlike game 1, the Yankees brought their bats, hitting three home runs against Twins' starter Brad Radke. By the time the game was decided though, the starters were well gone and the bullpens ended up playing key roles. In the 7th......

It was the worst loss in the history of Baseball. Let that sink in. In over 100 years of baseball there has never been a loss as bad as the one the Yankees suffered from the hands of the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night. 22-0. It was the low point of the Yankee season. But, it only counted as one game in the standings. The next day the Yankees put it behind them and......

After a brutal six game stretch in which the Yankees lost five and saw there 10 game AL East lead dwindle down to 5 games, the Yankees needed to find someone playing worse than them to jump start there game. Cleveland was tailor made. Cleveland was in the tenth inning of a game with Minnesota last Sunday, one run away form taking the AL Central lead. Corey Koskie hit a two run home run and......

Orlando Hernandez looks flat-out amazing these days. He may be the best pitcher on the Yankees pitching staff and right now is the only one that you can count on for a solid start. Last night Hernandez took his record to 5-0 with a 5-1 win over the hard-hitting Texas Rangers. The first inning got off to a rocky start and Hernandez was visibly upset with his performance after allowing a double, a walk......

When Jason Giambi first came to New York, he struggled through April and then in dramatic fashion hit a Grand Slam in the rain against Minnesota in May to win the game. When Matsui came to New York, on opening day it launched a 5th inning grand slam to give the Yankees the 7-3 win. It is August and Alex Rodriguez has yet to have that moment, until last night that is. Alex Rodriguez hit......

The Yankees most consistent pitcher of late, Orlando Hernandez, officially became a Yankee pitcher yesterday when he pulled up lame in the 3rd inning. Hernandez suffered from a tight hamstring. No word yet on whether this will affect his next start. Somehow the likes of Juan Padilla, Bret Prinz, Scott Proctor, and Tom Gordon held the Blue Jays in check long enough for the Yankee offense to score 4 in the 8th inning and......

Thursday's matinee at the Stadium was a classic pitchers' duel that ended in dramatic fashion in the bottom of the ninth. Ted Lilly and Orlando Hernandez were nothing short of brilliant in their performances yesterday afternoon. It took a Ruben Sierra ninth inning walk-off home run to put the Yankees over the top 1-0. It was only the second time in Yankee history that the Yankees won on a walk off home run in the......

The Yankees desperately needed someone to step up and pitch a good game, and Jose Contreras was able to do that yesterday afternoon. Contreras pitched seven strong innings and then gave way to a familiar tandem to close the game down. Tom Gordon pitched a scoreless 8th inning for his 24th hold of the year and Mariano Rivera pitched a scoreless 9th, striking out two, to nail down his 34th save of the season and......

The Yankees entered the four game series in Detroit on Thursday with a spectacular performance by Jose Contreras and Mariano Rivera. The pitching problems were solved right? Not even close. Mike Mussina is now on the DL and will miss at least three starts. Kevin Brown is still not off the DL and Randy Johnson is still pitching in Arizona. Pitching was the reason the Yanks split (2-2) with the Tigers this weekend. Friday......

If your favorite team was 55-31, 7 games ahead in their division and had the best record in baseball, would you be worried? Or would you be enjoying a great season? That is the huge difference between the Yankee fan and the rest of the baseball world. Yankees fans are worried, even though right now they are the best team in baseball. If you break the Yankees into three parts, you will find two......

Prior to the Home Run Derby during last night's All-Star festivities, Jack McKeon and Joe Torre announced their starting lineups for tonight's game. Starting at catcher for the National League team will be Mets catcher Mike Piazza and three players for the Yankee infield will start for the American League - Alex Rodriguez at 3rd, Derek Jeter at shortstop and Jason Giambi at first base. There is a distinct Yankee flavor on the team -......

The much scrutinized Yankee pitching staff came up big in this four game series with the Devil Rays. The four starting pitchers and the relievers combined to give up only 11 runs in the four game set. Lead by the inconsistent Jose Contreras on Thursday and finished by the triumphant return of Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez. Contreras pitched well in Thursday's 7-1 win (see our post on that game here). On Friday it was newly......

Derek Jeter is hot. No ladies, not sexy hot, although we kind of understand what you mean, but Jeter is on a tear. Seven games after hitting a paltry .189, Jeter is now hitting .233, still well off his career average of .317. While Jeter's tear comes against Baltimore and Tampa Bay, there is no discounting the confidence that must have now. In last night's victory against the Orioles (box score), Jeter went 4-5 with......