The Daily Yankeeland - 9/11

George King has a brief look at the Yankees final homestand and a Far East scouting trip.

Joel Sherman talks about Andy Pettitte's uncertain future.

Ivan Rodriguez sat out yesterday's game with the Angels and will do so again tomorrow against the Rays to serve his two game suspension.

Edwar Gonzalez stood out at Tampa and Trenton this year and may look to go to another organization next year.

The USA Today wonders "What happened to the National Anthem?".

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Minor League Playoffs Under Way

It doesn't appear that the Yankees and Red Sox will be meeting in this year's post-season, not at the major league level anyway. But their Triple-A and Double-A are going at in the first round of the International and Eastern League playoffs.

The Scranton Yankees took a 1-0 advantage in the "Best of Five" series, with a 7-1 win against Pawtucket Red Sox knuckleballer, Charlie Zink. Chase Wright started for the Yankees, but was pulled after 4.2 innings that included five walks. Stephen Jackson picked up the win by recording four outs. He and three relievers combined to shut out the Pawsox over the final 4.1 innings.

Justin Christian broke a scoreless tie with a 2-run home run off of Zink in the fourth. Catcher Chris Stewart would take Zink deep in the sixth inning with a solo shot, and Ben Broussard added a solo shot against Marcus McBeth ("out damn spot?") in the ninth.

It was a big night for Christian, who in addition to his home run, added a double and a walk, and stole a base. Eric Duncan also had a big night with three hits and a run scored, and Melky Cabrera drove in a run as well.

Game 2 is Thursday with Ian Kennedy facing Devern Hansack.


The Trenton Thunder opened their Eastern League playoffs with a 2-1 win over the Portland SeaDogs. Eric Hacker, who opened the season at Single-A Tampa, picked up the win after allowing one run in 5.2 innings pitched. He scattered five hits and struck out six.

A SeaDogs error allowed the Thunder to take a quick 1-0 lead in the first, but Portland tied the game up in the second inning on a Josh Reddick RBI single. An Edwar Gonzalez RBI single put Trenton up for good in the fourth.

Hacker ran into trouble in the sixth and was pulled with two men aboard. But Mike Dunn, who except for Monday's appearance, had not pitched above the Single-A level, struck out Reddick to preserve the lead. After retiring the first two men in the seventh, Dunn gave way to Jhonny Nunez, who retired all seven men he faced, four by strikeout, to pick up the save.


In regular season action, the Staten Island Yankees edged the Aberdeen IronBirds, 9-8. The Baby Bombers lead the Brooklyn Cylones by three games in the New York-Penn League's MacNamara division with three games to play.

Hector Noesi, who won a pair of games for the GCL Yankees, picked up his first win of the short season schedule. David Adams drove in three runs, and Dan Brewer and Jaedyn Pruitt added two RBI each as SI built a 7-1 lead. The pen nearly blew the game, as Aberdeen cut the margin to 7-6. The Yankees added a pair of insurance runs and Pat Venditte picked up his 22nd save after allowing two unearned runs in the ninth.

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Minor League Recap - 7/23

Games of 7/23

With Brian Cashman in attendance, Scranton starter Al Aceves had a chance to make an impression. A solid or stellar start could have meant a start at the major league level, but things didn't work out too well for the 25-yr old native of Mexico.

Aceves threw 65 pitches (he's still rehabbing from a groin injury) in a 3 inning stint in which he allowed 2 runs, 3 hits, walked 2 and struck out 6. The Yankees won the game 4-3 over the Richmond Braves behind Cody Ransom's 2-run home run, his 18th of the season. J.B. Cox picked up the win after 3 scoreless innings from Steven White. Brian Bruney also tossed one shutout inning and insisted he's ready to re-join the big club.

Chad Jennings spoke to Cashman about Aceves' performance. Jennings also reported that Jason Lane was put on the DL with a rib cage injury.

	July 22, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Richmond 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 5 0 Scranton/WB 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 X 4 4 1 Recap | Box | W: J. Cox (4-3, 3.76); L: D. Moss (3-9, 4.99); SV: S. Strickland (7) HR: RIC: B. Canizares (12). SWB: C. Ransom (18).

Tough night for Trenton Thunder pitcher Jason Jones. He got hammered for 6 runs on 10 hits in just 4 innings of work against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. He also walked 4 batters. New Hampshire won the game 7-2. Edwar Gonzalez hit his 8th home run for the Thunder and Austin Jackson stayed hot with a pair of hits in 4 at-bats.

Mike Ashmore reported that the Yankees traded reliever Bo Hall to the Astros for a player to be named later. Don't expect that player to have much value.

	July 22, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Trenton 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 8 1 New Hampshire 2 0 0 4 0 0 0 1 X 7 12 1 Recap | Box | W: B. Cecil (5-2, 2.76); L: J. Jones (10-4, 2.67) HR: TRE: E. Gonzalez (8). NHM: D. Smith (6).

The Tampa Yankees split a 7-inning twinbill with the Brevard County Manatees. The Yankees won the opener 4-2 behind a 3-run home run from Andres Perez and strong pitching by Mike Dunn, Phil Bartleski (2-0), and Jon Hovis.

The Manatees took the nightcap in a 16-2 blow out. Jason Stephens, who had been an All-Star at Charleston and and had started out well at Tampa, got lit up for 7 runs in 2 innings pitched as he continued recent struggles. Eduardo Nunez and Mitch Hilligoss each hit solo home runs to account for the Yankees runs.

	July 22, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Brevard County 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 7 0 Tampa 0 3 0 0 1 0 X 4 6 1 Recap | Box | W: P. Bartleski (2-0, 1.45); L: A. Rivas (0-1, 9.00); SV: J. Hovis (10) HR: TAM: A. Perez (7).

	July 22, 2008 Game 2
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Brevard County 1 6 3 5 0 1 0 16 16 0 Tampa 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 4 1 Recap | Box | W: M. Ramlow (2-0, 0.00); L: J. Stephens (2-4, 6.08) HR: TAM: E. Nunez (5), M. Hilligoss (1).

Lance Pendleton allowed 5 runs in 5 innings in the Charleston River Dogs 7-5 loss to the Greensboro Grasshoppers. Brandon Laird had a big night, going 4-5 with a home run and 3 RBI. Jesus Montero continued his hot streak with a 2-5 night.

	July 22, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Charleston 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 5 15 1 Greensboro 0 3 2 0 0 0 2 0 X 7 14 2 Recap | Box | W: B. Evans (1-1, 4.61); L: L. Pendleton (6-6, 3.60); SV: C. Madden (4) HR: CHA: B. Laird (12). GBO: R. Curry (10), T. Belcher (1).

The Staten Island Yankees came out on top of the Jamestown Jammers (sounds like a Roller Derby team) in a pitcher's duel, 1-0. Addison Maruszak drove in the game's only run in the 7th inning to make a winner of starter David Phelps, who went 6 innings. Pat Venditte struck out 2 of 3 in the 9th for his 9th save.

	July 22, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Staten Island 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 0 Jamestown 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 2 Recap | Box W: D. Phelps (3-2, 3.27); L: T. Koehler (1-3, 2.12); SV: P. Venditte (9) HR: None.

The GCL Yankees were edged out by their Braves countparts 5-4. Humberto Sanchez threw one inning, allowing 3 runs, 2 earned, as he continues his rehab from Tommy John surgery. Spencer Lucian drove in 2 runs for the Yankees.

	July 22, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E GCL Yankees 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 6 3 GCL Braves 3 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 X 5 8 2 Recap | Box W: D. Delgado (3-0, 2.49); L: K. Perez (0-2, 4.63); SV: S. Rodriguez (3) HR: None.

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Minor League Recap - 7/9

Games of 7/8

Ian Kennedy allowed 2 runs in a 4 inning start for Scranton last night. Unfortunately, for the Triple-A Yankees, that was the best that any of their pitchers did last night. The Toledo Mud Hens belted Scranton 10-2. Ben Broussard, back with the Yankees for the 2nd time this season (and his 5th organization this year), homered for Scranton.

	July 8, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Scranton/WB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 5 1 Toledo 0 0 0 2 6 0 1 1 X 10 17 0 Recap | Box | W: I. Ostlund (3-0, 2.95); L: I. Kennedy (1-1, 1.46) HR: SWB: B. Broussard (2).

Jason Jones is red hot. He threw 6 shutout innings last night in Trenton's 8-0 win over the Altoona Curve. Jones has thrown 13 straight scoreless innings for Trenton plus another 5 from his scoreless start for Scranton. Overall he is 10-3, 2.05 in 18 starts. Austin Jackson and P.J. Pillitere led a 14-hit attack with 3 hits each. Pillitere drove in a team high 3 runs and Edwar Gonzalez hit his 7th home run of the season.

	July 8, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Altoona 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 Trenton 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 4 X 8 14 1 Recap | Box | W: J. Jones (10-3, 2.15); L: J. Hill (4-11, 4.99) HR: TRE: E. Gonzalez (7).

Tampa was rained out for the second straight night, so they'll be trying to play two with St. Lucie today, beginning at 5:00.

The Charleston RiverDogs dropped their series opener with the Lexington Legends, 3-1. Noel Castillo pitched very well, allowing 2 earned runs in 7.2 IP, but the Dogs could push across just one run on a Brandon Laird double.

	July 8, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Lexington 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 3 6 0 Charleston 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 1 Recap | Box | W: A. Bello (3-5, 3.71); L: N. Castillo (7-5, 3.36); SV: J. Powell (4) HR: None.

Staten Island had the night off, but the Baby Bombers start a 3-game series at home tonight against Oneonta.

The GCL Yankees game with their Blue Jays counterparts was rained out, so they'll be playing two today.

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