Results tagged ‘ All-Star Game ’
Starters making up for losses of CC and Andy
A sense of panic might have set in with the Yankees this week when CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte ended up on the disabled list on the same day. They represent the heart and soul of the rotation. Yankees manager Joe Girardi was quick to point out that the other three starting pitchers need not believe they have to do more than they are capable of to make up for the loss of the two lefthanders.
The skipper got exactly what he wanted from Ivan Nova, Hiroki Kuroda and Phil Hughes in the series against the White Sox, which the Yankees split. The trio combined to go 2-0 with a 1.21 ERA in 22 1/3 innings during which they allowed 15 hits and five walks with 24 strikeouts. The bullpen blew Nova’s game Thursday night, and the White Sox hammered the Yanks Friday night only to have Kuroda Saturday and Hughes Sunday limit them to two runs over 15 innings.
Hughes overcame a shaky start when he gave up two first-inning runs to pitch through the eighth on an uncomfortably scorching afternoon. Then again, if a collection of former Yankees could play three innings in the Old Timers’ Game in Sunday’s sauna, then why not a 26-year-old?
“He made some mistakes with location early on,” Girardi said of Hughes. “But the more they go out there the more they make adjustments. That was what Hughes did for us. He has been going it for the past 10 or 12 starts.”
True enough. Hughes (9-6) won for the sixth time in his past eight starts and improved his record against American League Central clubs to 6-0 this season and 17-6 in his career. Over his past 11 starts, Hughes is 8-2 with a 3.34 ERA in 72 2/3 innings to lower his season ERA from 7.48 to 4.29. The Yankees have three pitchers with at least nine victories this year while the rest of the AL has five.
Two-run home runs by Eric Chavez in the second inning and Robinson Cano in the third off Gavin Floyd provided all the support Hughes would need. After a two-out double by Alex Rios in the third inning, Hughes retired 16 of the next 17 batters.
“The big adjustment,” he said, “was that I changed the angle of my breaking ball.”
Cano started July with the same firepower he had throughout June. Small wonder that he made the leap over the Rangers’ Ian Kinsler for the starting berth at second base for the AL in the All-Star Game along with teammates Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson and Sabathia. CC cannot play in the July 10 game at Kansas City but plans to attend as an observer.
Cano became the first Yankee second baseman to earn three consecutive fan-elected starts. He and Jeter are only the second pair of teammates up the middle to earn fan-elected starts three years in a row, joining the Reds’ Joe Morgan and Dave Concepcion for the National League in 1975, ’76 and ’77.
Cano, who raised his average to a team-leading .310, has homered in nine of his past 14 games. His 17 home runs since May 18 are the most by any player over the stretch. Cano has 10 home runs in his past 18 home games. He has reached the 20-homer plateau for the fourth straight year, joining Hall of Famer Joe Gordon (1938-41) as the only Yankees second basemen to accomplish the feat.
Jeter, who was 1-for-5 Sunday and had his average fall below .300 (.299) for the first time since after the third game of the season April 8, became the third shortstop to be elected to start seven consecutive All-Star Games. The others were Hall of Famers Ozzie Smith (10 straight, 1983-92) and Cal Ripken Jr. (eight straight, 1989-96).
It marked the 13th time in Jeter’s career that the fans elected him to start in the All-Star Game. He is the fifth AL infielder to earn at least seven straight fan-elected start at one position, along with Ripken and three other Hall of Famers, first baseman Rod Carew (nine straight, 1976-84) and third basemen George Brett (11 straight, 1976-86) and Wade Boggs (10 straight, 1987-96).
Granderson will make his third All-Star Game appearance and is the first Yankees outfielder to make two straight fan-elected starts since Hall of Famers Rickey Henderson and Dave Winfield in 1987-88.
Ripken and Smoltz praise Jeter
During a conference call this week to talk about the All-Star Game voting for the July 10 event at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium, Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. and former National League Cy Young Award winner John Smoltz commented on Derek Jeter’s runaway lead for the American League shortstop starting berth.
Ripken will be featured with former Yankees pitcher David Wells and Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley on TBS’ All-Star Game Selection show at 1 p.m. Sunday when the All-Star squads will be announced. Smoltz will team with Brian Anderson on TBS’ coverage of that day’s game between the Yankees and White Sox at Yankee Stadium.
Jeter, who turned 38 this week, has received more than four million votes going into the All-Star balloting, which ends at midnight, topped only by the leading total of Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton. Ripken was 40 when he made his last All-Star Game appearance in his final season of 2001 at Safeco Field in Seattle where he homered and was named Most Valuable Player.
“When you get up in age, you’re scrutinized at a higher level,” Ripken said. “You can’t be [an All-Star] just on reputation. You have to go out there and still play the game. When we look at players now, you compare Derek Jeter with a younger Derek Jeter. When we start comparing players to themselves, it’s unfair. All the talk last year about [Jeter] losing a step, not being there defensively and losing some power offensively, I’m sure he internalized that and worked harder in the offseason. He’s a fantastic player and has been for a long time.”
“I’m a big believer that age is just a number and sometimes we get carried away with guys not having success later in their careers,” Smoltz said. “He plays in a great place and he knows how to play the game. The Yankees are being rewarded with a player who has a lot of pride and does not rest on his laurels with the career that he has had.”
Welcome back to the American League
So finally we are done with inter-league play for 2012, until the World Series, that is. No more pitchers not hitting, double switches and all that National League stuff as the Yankees got back to American League baseball Monday night at Yankee Stadium. In the long run, however, the Yankees can be grateful to inter-league competition because they increased their all-time lead in inter-league winning percentage by going 13-5 against the NL this year.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi could once again lean on the AL’s designated hitter rule to form his lineup. Monday night, the skipper decided it was time to give Curtis Granderson a night off from center field and used him as the DH. That opened a spot for reserve outfielder DeWayne Wise, who celebrated his rare start by hitting his first home run for the Yankees, a two-run shot to right field in the second inning. It was his first home run since Sept. 25 last year for the Blue Jays against the Rays.
Wise drove in another run in the sixth inning of the 7-1 victory over the Indians when he drilled a triple to right-center that scored Eric Chavez, who had walked with two out. In truth, Wise was fortunate to be credited with a triple because video replays showed that he was tagged out by third baseman Jack Hannahan before he reached the bag. Even though the play occurred in front of the Cleveland dugout, Tribe manager Manny Acta did not argue the call.
The Yankees scored two runs in each of the first three innings against Indians starter Josh Tomlin, who did not come out for the fourth. Robinson Cano was a particular problem for Tomlin. Cano got the two-run thing going in the first inning with a double to right that scored a pair. In the third, Cano and Nick Swisher hit back-to-back home runs as the Yanks continued to add to their major-league leading total of round trippers.
Cano, who took over the top spot at second base over the Rangers’ Ian Kinsler in the latest vote tally of All-Star Game balloting, has homered in six of his past eight games, including two long bombs, both off Miguel Batista, at Citi Field in last weekend’s Subway Series. Cano has 14 home runs over his past 34 games since May 18 after hitting only three homers in his first 38 games of the season.
Hiroki Kuroda pithed pitched brilliantly for seven innings and then sort of hit the wall at 100 pitches. He took a three-hit shutout into the eighth before giving up a single and double to the first two batters and was relieved by Clay Rapada.
Kuroda was nearly as dominant as he had been in a seven-inning one-hitter June 8 against the Mets at the Stadium. Of the 21 outs he recorded, only three were in the outfield. He got 10 outs in the infield and seven on strikeouts. One of the runners he put on scored, but his ERA dropped to 3.40.
It was a crowd-pleasing eighth inning for Swisher, who made all three putouts on running catches in right field and was treated to hearty cheers when he led off the bottom half. He even got cheered after he struck out.
Cano takes over AL All-Star vote lead at 2B
Yankees fans came to the aid of Robinson Cano big-time last week by pushing him past the Rangers’ Ian Kinsler and into first place at second base in American League balloting for the All-Star Game July 10 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
With four days remaining in the balloting (voting ends at 11:59 p.m. Thursday), Cano with 3,559,290 votes has a 97,000-plus vote lead over Kinsler in hopes of joining his shortstop partner, Derek Jeter, in the AL starting lineup. Jeter maintained a large lead over the Rangers’ Elvis Andrus at shortstop with 4,407,982 votes, a total topped only by Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton, who is the overall leading vote getter with 7,310,824.
Yankees center fielder Curtis Granderson is second among AL outfielders with 3,812,339 votes with the Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista running third. The Rangers’ Nelson Cruz moved ahead of the Orioles’ Adam Jones for fourth place. The Yankees’ Nick Swisher remained in the seventh spot while Brett Gardner, who has been on the disabled list since mid-April, dropped to 10th.
Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez moved ahead of the Rays’ Evan Longoria into third place but still trails the Rangers’ Adrian Beltre and the Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera. Also in third place at first base is Mark Teixeira while Raul Ibanez dropped to fourth at designated hitter with Russell Martin still in fifth place at catcher.
Major League Baseball’s All-Star balloting program last year produced a record-shattering 32.5 million ballots cast. More than 20 million Firestone All-Star ballots have been distributed at the 30 major-league parks – each of which will have 23 dates for balloting – and in approximately 100 minor-league yards. When the in-stadium phase of balloting concludes June 22, fans will have the opportunity to cast their ballots exclusively online at MLB.com until 11:59 p.m. June 28.
Firestone is the exclusive sponsor of the 2012 In-Stadium All-Star Balloting Program. The ballot features an All-Star sweepstakes, in which a winner will be rewarded with a trip for two to All-Star Week, including airfare, hotel accommodations, tickets to the All-Star Game and other MLB All-Star Week events.
Scotts is the sponsor of the retail All-Star Balloting Program that was launched May 4 in select Lowe’s stores and Chevrolet dealerships across the country.
All-Star rosters will be unveiled July 1 on TBS. The AL All-Star team will have nine elected starters via the fan balloting program, while the National League squad will have eight fan-elected starters. Pitchers and reserves for both squads – totaling 25 for the NL and 24 for the AL – will be determined through a combination of player ballot choices and selections made by the All-Star managers – AL skipper Ron Washington of the Rangers and retired NL manager Tony La Russa – in conjunction with MLB.
Bernie to manage in All-Star Futures Game
Former Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams will be back in baseball action during All-Star Game Week when he will serve as manager of the World Team against Hall of Famer George Brett, who will manage the U.S. Team, in the Futures Game July 8 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, two days before the All-Star Game.
“I am very excited to be managing the World Team in the Futures Game,” Williams said. “This game has grown in stature so much through the years, and it is remarkable how many of the young men who have played and starred in this game have become stars in the game today. That will be the case with hopefully many of the players I will have the honor of managing in Kansas City.”
Williams was a member of four World Series-winning teams in his 16-season career with the Yankees. The Puerto Rico native was a four-time Gold Glove Award winner and has more RBI (80) than any player in postseason history.
The Royals have not been the host club for an All-Star Game since 1973, which was the same year that Brett made his major league debut. The former third baseman won three batting titles in three separate decades and ranks 16th on the all-time hits list (3,154). Brett, who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1999, has spent 19 seasons as KC’s vice president of baseball operations.
Brett, a 13-time All-Star, also managed the Futures Game in 2005, and said last month that he’s looking forward to being a part of the All-Star Game again.
“I’m excited to share the city and stadium I love with today’s All-Stars and baseball fans around the world,” said Brett, who played in 13 All-Star Games. “It’s an honor to be a part once again of the Midsummer Classic and baseball’s special celebration.”
The switch-hitting Williams batted .297 with 287 home runs. He won won the American League batting title with a .339 mark in 1998. Williams has not managed at any level. He said that he played for two of the best in Joe Torre and Buck Showalter. Torre even let Williams manage one game down the stretch as part of a tradition in which he allowed players to sit in his seat.
“I got to help make out the lineup and go to the mound and make the pitching changes, and make some decisions like to hit and run or lay down a bunt,” Bernie said. “It was a lot of fun, but I also saw how hard it was to manage, where you have to be following every pitch, but also thinking ahead a couple of innings and worrying about every player on the other bench. So, I have a great appreciation of what it takes to manage every single day.”
Brett and Williams will have plenty of help from experienced coaches. Brett will be assisted by minor-league Duane Espy, Tony Franklin, Mike Jirschele and Jim Pankovits. The pitching coach for the U.S. team will be Tom Filer, who works in that capacity for Triple-A Indianapolis.
Williams will have minor-league managers Arnie Beyeler, Steve Buechele, Darren Bush and Turner Ward on his staff, along with Double A Akron hitting coach Rouglas Odor and Triple A Columbus pitching coach Ruben Niebla.
Williams has said that he may consider managing at some point in the future, but for now he is busy pursuing his musical passions as both a touring and recording guitarist. The Futures Game, a one-day celebration of the game’s coming generation, provided an opportunity to get back into the game.
“Being from Puerto Rico, I have a special appreciation how the game of baseball has grown to truly be a global game,” he said. “I know I will have the honor of managing players from many different countries. What really made me want to do this was after being invited, I was told that the players who will be playing in this game grew up following players like me in my era. While it makes me feel old, it also brought a smile to my face. This is a great showcase of the stars of tomorrow, and I am just thrilled to be a part of it and look forward to spending a couple of days with these kids.”
Cano closing in on Kinsler as All-Star starter
Robinson Cano made a big jump the past week in Major League Baseball’s All-Star balloting at second base in the American League and now trails the Rangers’ Ian Kinsler, who has been atop the voting all season, by only 15,260 votes. Since Cano has been named the AL captain for the Home Run Derby competition, it might be a good idea for him to make the league’s squad for the All-Star Game July 10 at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium.
Shortstop Derek Jeter and center fielder Curtis Granderson remain among the leaders for starting berths in the annual game between the leagues. Jeter’s total of 3,359,875 is still second only to Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton for the most overall votes. Despite missing most of the past week because of an intestinal virus, Hamilton has polled 5,414,880 votes.
Granderson is second among the outfielders with 2,818,535 votes. Moving into third place in the outfield was the Blue Jays’ Juan Bautista. The Rangers’ Nelson Cruz, who had been running third in the outfield, dropped into fifth place behind Bautista and the Orioles’ Adam Jones. The Yankees’ Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner ranked seventh and ninth, respectively, in the outfield.
Yankees fans need to throw some votes to first baseman Mark Teixeira, third baseman Alex Rodriguez, catcher Russell Martin and designated hitter Raul Ibanez to improve their chances for All-Star berths.
Teixeira is third at first base behind the Tigers’ Prince Fielder and the White Sox’ Paul Konerko; A-Rod is fourth at third base behind the Rangers’ Adrian Beltre, the Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera and the Rays’ Evan Longoria; Martin is fifth at catcher behind the Rangers’ Mike Napoli, the Twins’ Joe Mauer, the Orioles’ Matt Wieters and the White Sox’ A.J. Pierzynski; Ibanez is third at DH behind the Red Sox’ David Ortiz and the Rangers’ Michael Young.
Major League Baseball’s All-Star balloting program last year produced a record-shattering 32.5 million ballots cast. More than 20 million Firestone All-Star ballots have been distributed at the 30 major-league parks – each of which will have 23 dates for balloting – and in approximately 100 minor-league yards. When the in-stadium phase of balloting concludes June 22, fans will have the opportunity to cast their ballots exclusively online at MLB.com until 11:59 p.m. June 28.
Firestone is the exclusive sponsor of the 2012 In-Stadium All-Star Balloting Program. The ballot features an All-Star sweepstakes, in which a winner will be rewarded with a trip for two to All-Star Week, including airfare, hotel accommodations, tickets to the All-Star Game and other MLB All-Star Week events.
Scotts is the sponsor of the retail All-Star Balloting Program that was launched May 4 in select Lowe’s stores and Chevrolet dealerships across the country.
All-Star rosters will be unveiled July 1 on TBS. The AL All-Star team will have nine elected starters via the fan balloting program, while the National League squad will have eight fan-elected starters. Pitchers and reserves for both squads – totaling 25 for the NL and 24 for the AL – will be determined through a combination of player ballot choices and selections made by the All-Star managers – AL skipper Ron Washington of the Rangers and retired NL manager Tony La Russa – in conjunction with MLB.
Jeter, Granderson among All-Star voting leaders
Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson are still leading in the All-Star balloting at their respective positions of shortstop and the outfield, but other Yankees players need fans to get behind them and move them up the polls.
Jeter with 2,419,508 votes has a comfortable lead over the Rangers’ Elvis Andrus (1,448,544) in trying for his 13th American League All-Star squad selection. Jeter, who has received the second-highest amount of votes in the AL behind the 3,883,504 of Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton, has been elected by the fans in each of the previous six seasons.
Granderson ranks second among AL outfielders with 2,033,239 votes. The Rangers’ Nelson Cruz is running third, although he is being closely chased by the Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista and the Orioles’ Adam Jones. Robinson Cano has gained ground on the Rangers’ Ian Kinsler, whose lead at second base is down to 188,005 votes.
Elsewhere in the voting for the starters in the All-Star Game July 10 at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium, the Yankees are looking up at the leaders. First baseman Mark Teixeira and designated hitter Raul Ibanez rank third at their positions, Alex Rodriguez is fourth at third base, Russell Martin fifth at catcher and Nick Swisher seventh and Brett Gardner ninth in the outfield.
The Yankees’ totals that will be announced next week could be helped by the three sellout crowds at Yankee Stadium over the past weekend for the Subway Series against the Mets.
Major League Baseball’s All-Star balloting program last year produced a record-shattering 32.5 million ballots cast. More than 20 million Firestone All-Star ballots have been distributed at the 30 major-league parks – each of which will have 23 dates for balloting – and in approximately 100 minor-league yards. When the in-stadium phase of balloting concludes June 22, fans will have the opportunity to cast their ballots exclusively online at MLB.com until 11:59 p.m. June 28.
Firestone is the exclusive sponsor of the 2012 In-Stadium All-Star Balloting Program. The ballot features an All-Star sweepstakes, in which a winner will be rewarded with a trip for two to All-Star Week, including airfare, hotel accommodations, tickets to the All-Star Game and other MLB All-Star Week events.
Scotts is the sponsor of the retail All-Star Balloting Program that was launched May 4 in select Lowe’s stores and Chevrolet dealerships across the country.
All-Star rosters will be unveiled July 1 on TBS. The AL All-Star team will have nine elected starters via the fan balloting program, while the National League squad will have eight fan-elected starters. Pitchers and reserves for both squads – totaling 25 for the NL and 24 for the AL – will be determined through a combination of player ballot choices and selections made by the All-Star managers – AL skipper Ron Washington of the Rangers and retired NL manager Tony La Russa – in conjunction with MLB.
Cano named captain of AL Home Run Derby squad
Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano was named American League captain for the 2012 State Farm Home Run Derby July 9, the night before the All-Star Game at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium. His National League counterpart is Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp.
This year’s Home Run Derby will follow the format introduced in 2011 at Chase Field in Phoenix, featuring team competition between the leagues. Last year, the AL won, 76-19. Cano and Kemp will determine the other participants on their teams and will personally extend the invitations. Each captain will select a charity of his choice for which his team will be hitting in the Derby.
In his first career Home Run Derby appearance, Cano set a final-round record with 12 home runs, topping the previous mark of 11 set by Bobby Abreu in 2005 and matched by David Ortiz in 2010 and Adrian Gonzalez earlier in last year’s final. With his father serving as his pitcher, Cano, who joined Ryne Sandberg (1990) as the only second basemen to win a Home Run Derby, hit 32 home runs during the competition, placing him 13th on the all-time list. Cano says he will bring his father back again this year.
Major League Baseball and State Farm will donate a significant amount of money for charity through the event. Donations will be made of $150,000 awarded to the winning captain’s charity, $100,000 to Boys & Girls Club of America in the name of the winning captain and $25,000 to the charity of the captain of the losing team.
The total money amount will be determined by the home runs hit during the competition. State Farm and MLB will combine to donate $18,000 for every home run hit with a gold ball during the competition. The dollar figure was selected to coincide with the number of State Farm agents throughout the United States and Canada. State Farm will also give $3,000 for every non-gold ball hit during the Derby. Cano and Kemp are supporters of Boys and Girls Club of America and have participated in public service announcements.
Jeter AL All-Star vote leader at shortstop
Derek Jeter is the leading vote getter at the shortstop position for the American League in the All-Star balloting announced Tuesday. The Yankees’ captain, a 12-time All-Star, has received 1,698,777 votes, second only in the AL to Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton (2,587,991). Jeter has a lead of more than 650,000 votes over Texas’ Elvis Andrus in the voting for the All-Star Game July 10 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
Yankees center fielder Curtis Granderson ranks second among the outfielders between Hamilton and his Texas teammate, Nelson Cruz. Nick Swisher is seventh in the balloting, just ahead of teammate Brett Gardner, who has been disabled since April 18 because of a right elbow strain.
First baseman Mark Teixeira and second baseman Robinson Cano currently rank second at their respective positions while designated hitter Raul Ibanez is in third place and third baseman Alex Rodriguez and catcher Russell Martin fourth each.
The Yankees opened a six-game homestand Tuesday against division rival Tampa Bay and city rival the Mets, so Yankees fans will have plenty of chances of improving their favorites’ vote totals.
Major League Baseball’s All-Star balloting program last year produced a record-shattering 32.5 million ballots cast. More than 20 million Firestone All-Star ballots have been distributed at the 30 major-league parks – each of which will have 23 dates for balloting – and in approximately 100 minor-league yards. When the in-stadium phase of balloting concludes June 22, fans will have the opportunity to cast their ballots exclusively online at MLB.com until 11:59 p.m. June 28.
Firestone is the exclusive sponsor of the 2012 In-Stadium All-Star Balloting Program. The ballot features an All-Star sweepstakes, in which a winner will be rewarded with a trip for two to All-Star Week, including airfare, hotel accommodations, tickets to the All-Star Game and other MLB All-Star Week events.
Scotts is the sponsor of the retail All-Star Balloting Program that was launched May 4 in select Lowe’s stores and Chevrolet dealerships across the country.
All-Star rosters will be unveiled July 1 on TBS. The AL All-Star team will have nine elected starters via the fan balloting program, while the National League squad will have eight fan-elected starters. Pitchers and reserves for both squads – totaling 25 for the NL and 24 for the AL – will be determined through a combination of player ballot choices and selections made by the All-Star managers – AL skipper Ron Washington of the Rangers and retired NL manager Tony La Russa – in conjunction with MLB.
Jack O'Connell
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