The numbers don't lie. Alex Rodriguez is having trouble in the clutch again this season. What are those numbers? ONE 9th inning RBI all season? It's the end of August and he has ONE 9th inning RBI! A-Rod is really trying his best out there but what happened to the A-Rod we got last year? The one who hit 8 9th inning HR's? The guy who hit 2 walk-off HR's in the first month of the season in 2007? I don't know. Maybe it's the huge contract he got in the offseason, maybe he's comfortable now, maybe he's distracted by all the off field stuff. Nobody knows for sure but A-Rod himself.On Saturday afternoon Rodriguez had a chance to redeem himself and his team. On an afternoon where his team blew a four run lead, Alex came up to the plate in the bottom...

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Tags: Alex Rodriguez, Baseball, Yankees

The Yankees are finding new ways to lose. This time, they found a way to blow a four run lead on an afternoon where the offense showed up and scored some runs, not to mention a decent outing by their starting pitcher Darrell Rasner.The game slipped away from the Yanks in the top of the 7th.With the Yanks up 6-3 and Toronto had a man on first base and no outs. A groundball was hit to Robinson Cano, he fielded it, and flipped it Derek Jeter at second. Problem was, Cano's flip was erratic and got away from Jeter. This puts runners on 1st and 3rd with no outs. A walk later loaded the bases, and Joe Inglett singled to center. This shaved the Yankee lead down to 6-5. In the top of the 8th Brian Bruney gave up a single to Vernon Wells, next up Adam...

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Tags: Alex Rodriguez, Baseball, Bobby Abreu, Brian Bruney, Cody Ransom, Darell Rasner, Demaso Marte, Derek Jeter, Edwar Ramirez, Mariano Rivera, Yankees

How great is Mariano Rivera? We have said this many times before but he's as close to a sure thing in baseball as you can get. He's quiet possibly having the best season of his career. With the Yankees in state of urgency as the season winds down, each game is a must-win. How badly do the Yanks need to win games these days? Rivera has pitched more than one inning in five of his last six appearances. That's a strecth that is usually reserved for October. "You don't want to do it for a long time," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We're very careful with how we use him. Mo, obviously, is so economical with his pitches. We would never abuse a pitcher."Rivera allowed a hit last night to Vernon Wells with one out in the 9th inning that ended a...

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Tags: Baseball, Joe Girardi, Mariano Rivera, Yankees

The Yanks got a big win last night as they defeated the Blue Jays 2-1. Clutch hitting and clutch pitching delivered the "W" for the Bombers.Carl Pavano pitched 6 strong innings to record his second win of the season. Joe Girardi mixed and matched his bullpen in the late innings in a game the Yanks had to win. Mariano Rivera came on for a 5 out save and the rest was history."The biggest thing, obviously, is that I haven't been here for my teammates. A lot of these guys don't even know me because I haven't been around the team that much. To come in here and do my job is all I ever wanted to do. It's better late than never."With 28 games remaning in the regular season, the Yanks still find themselves back 6 games in the wild card. The Yanks face...

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Tags: Baseball, Carl Pavano, Joe Girardi, Mariano Rivera, Yankees

The Yankees took out their brooms yesterday in Baltimore as they completed a 3 game sweep of the Orioles. It got a scary towards the end in the ninth as the O's had the tying run on 3rd base with two outs but Mariano Rivera struck out Nick Markakis to end the game.Robinson Cano went 4-for-5 with a HR,two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored. He hit the go-ahead HR in tghe top of the 7th to break a 7-7 tie. Cano called it the biggest hit of the season for him. Johnny Damon added a 3-run HR while Bobby Abreu added three hits. “Being able to sweep Baltimore definitely puts us in a much better situation against Boston,” Damon said.Boston comes into town on Tuesday to start a huge three game series with the Bombers. Their lead on the Yanks is five...

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Tags: Baseball, Bobby Abreu, Darell Rasner, Joe Girardi, Johnny Damon, Mariano Rivera, Robinson Cano, Yankees

The countdown to October is here, a week earlier than usual but the time is now to watch the scoreboard. 34 games remain for the Yankees on the 2008 season. Here is how they fare in the race for the Wild Card.Carl Pavano goes for New York on Saturday against Baltimore. Boston sends Jon Lester to the mound against Toronto.Chicago sends ex-Yankee Javier Vazquez to the hill against Tampa Bay.Time to keep track of the opposition, the Yanks put themselves in this position, lets see if they can grind it out and reach October. Yanks 2nd Half Record:18-15My Yanks 2nd Half Prediction: 39...

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Tags: Baseball, Playoff Watch, Yankees

The Yankees mounted a late inning rally last night against the Baltimore Orioles as they won 9-4. Bobby Abreu went 5 for 5 and homeruns by Robinson Cano, Jose Molina, Cody Ransom, and Xavier Nady all contributed to the victory. Mike Mussina wasn't able to further along his quest for 20 wins for the first time in his career as he went six innings and allowed four runs and left when Baltimore had a 4-3 lead. "I kept us in the game. We were never out of it,” Mussina said. “We got the at-bats we needed in the end.”Moose entered the game with an 11.29 ERA against his former team entering last night's game so giving up four runs was an "accomplishment" on his part. “To hold them to four runs the way I pitched the last two times against them, this...

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Tags: Baseball, Bobby Abreu, Cody Ransom, Derek Jeter, Jose Molina, Mike Mussina, Robinson Cano, Xavier Nady, Yankees

On a bright Sunday afternoon the Yankees were the Bronx Bombers again. They hit 4 homeruns and scored 15 runs against the Royals at the Stadium in the series finale and took 2 of 3 this weekend.The Yanks were down 3-0 quick after Mike Mussina gave up 3 runs in the top half of the 1st but New York answered back in the bottom half of the inning. With 2 men on Alex Rodriguez came to the plate and drilled one out to left center tying the game at 3. A few batters later, the X-Man, Xavier Nady hit one off the right field foul pole to give the Yanks a 4-3 lead. In the the 2nd, Jason Giambi and his new 'stache hit a grand slam into the bleachers in right that busted the game wide open. Later in the game new-comer Cody Ransom hit a 2-run HR, his first...

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Tags: Alex Rodriguez, Baseball, Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, Mike Mussina, Xavier Nady, Yankees

In the last 14 years or so there has never been such a sense of panic around the Yankees like there has been lately. At this time of the year the Yanks usually go on a roll and make things happen and get themselves in a position to make a serious run at October.This season was no different. They came out of the All-Star break with an 8-game winning streak. The Yankees were alive and well. A few weeks later, they're left for dead.Losing 11 of their last 16 would do that, especially an inconsistent team like the 2008 group we have in the Bronx. I've gone on the record as saying this team needs more than luck to make it to October...a point I can't stress enough and it's as realistic as I can be with this team. But they have shown if everyone...

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Tags: Baseball, Yankees

When the leader of the team speaks, you listen. When it comes to the Yankees, when Derek Jeter speaks, you listen to what he says. The captain of the Yanks spoke about the current state of the team. This should tell you enough...“It was a bad trip, you can’t sugarcoat it,” he said. “We need to fix some things.”He was then asked if his teammates were as confident as he is, he responded...“They better be”. The Cano's and Cabrera's better have a fire in them in these last 40 games or else heads are going to roll. Alex Rodriguez said it best the other night. he was asked if time is running out on the season and the Yanks' chance at making the postseason, he replied "Yep". That tells you all you need to know. A-Rod hit the go ahead homerun in Tuesday...

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Tags: Alex Rodriguez, Baseball, Derek Jeter, Melky Cabrera, Robinson Cano, Yankees

You know some things just boggle the mind no matter how hard you try to understand it? Last night Joe Girardi did a mind boggling thing. He sat down Johnny Damon in favor of Justin Christian. Yes, you read that right. Why he would make such a move when the Yankees DESEPERATLY need a win? Especially against a team that they need to pass in order to gain control of the wild card.Girardi's explanation:“The turf sometimes can beat up his body,” Girardi said before the game. “We’ve got three days in a row with a short turnaround on Wednesday.”His replacement Christian, went 0 for 4. Girardi then added this to reassure all of us why sitting Damon, who leads the American League in hitting was the right move to make..“It’s tough, but the other thing...

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Tags: Baseball, Joe Girardi, Johnny Damon, Justin Christian, Yankees

Situation: Top of the 7th inning, 1 out, scored tied 3-3.At Bat: Xavier Nady, 20 hits in his last 45 at bats, 13 RBIAlex tried to steal third base but was thrown out. This was an interesting play. If he makes it, all the Yankees need is a fly ball and they take a 4-3 lead. If he's out, then it costs the Yanks a runner in scoring position with a red hot batter at the plate. The play was close enough to go either way but A-Rod was called out. Not a bad play in my book because I like the aggressiveness but it's also something you can second guess.Here's A-Rod's take on the play:“I’m always looking to make something happen. They have such a great bullpen. You can’t sit around and wait for things happen. … I was safe.”Joe Girardi's take:“I believe...

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Tags: Alex Rodriguez, Chasing 800, Joe Girardi

This 10-game road trip has been a disaster for the Yankees. They are 2-5 through the first 7 games, they have lost 3 games in the AL East to Tampa and 1.5 to Boston in the wild card. Not to mention, they lost their ace-to-be Joba Chamberlain. What's interesting to note is that the Yanks had a lead in each of the 3 games against the Angels this weekend and could not hold any of them. Ian Kennedy got rocked again Friday night and said..“I felt like I made some good pitches,” he said. “I’m not too upset about it. … What was it, a bunch of singles and three doubles? I’m just not real upset about it. I’m just going to move on and I’ve already done that.”...wow, did he really say that? That earned him a first class ticket back to AAA Scranton. Good...

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Tags: Alex Rodriguez, Bobby Abreu, Chasing 800, Damaso Marte, Dan Giese, Ian Kennedy, Joba Chamberlain, Joe Girardi

Now what I saw yesterday was just down right terrible. The combination of Edwar Ramirez, David Robertson and Jose Veras did their best Kyle Farnsworth impression. They blew a 3-1 lead and most importantly, they blew a solid performance by Dan Giese. That's something the Yanks can not afford to do given their situation. With 45 games to go, the Yanks must win the games their pitchers allow them to win. During the 8-game winning streak a few weeks ago, everything was clicking on all cylinders. The pitching, the hitting, the bullpen, the defense, the clutch hitting. Now, the Yanks have lost 9 of 14 and are really pushing towards the possibilty of no postseason. While everyone, myself included wait for the Rays to fall on their face, it doesn't...

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Tags: Baseball, Dan Giese, David Robertson, Edwar Ramirez, Ian Kennedy, Joba Chamberlain, Joe Girardi, Kyle Farnsworth, Phil Hughes, Yankees

Chasing 800 follows the chase of Alex Rodriguez and his pursuit of the All-Time HR record, currently held by Barry Bonds (763). Many people believe Alex Rodriguez ro be one of the best players to ever play the game and believe his talent has endless possibilities. A-Rod is on his way to baseball immortality if he has stays healthy. The feat..800 Career HR's. A feat that no man may ever approach. But Alex is in a class of his own. Here at Chasing 800, I will follow his pursuit at sports' most prestigious record.Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Frank Negron Jr. I follow the beloved New York Yankees on the website www.HotStoveNewYork.com and www.OnTheBlockNY.blogspot.com. My work can be found there as well as here. I will give you my thoughts...

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Tags: Alex Rodriguez, Chasing 800

Yesterday was a special day at Yankee Stadium. It was the 62nd Old-Timer's Day and more importantly, it was the last one at this stadium. It's always a special event and always a joy to watch guys from back in the day don the pinstripes one more time to bring back the memories of some of the greatest moments in Yankee history.With all due respect to everyone else, there is no organization that can assemble the quailty of players and memories like the Yankees can. Old-Timer's Day lets you remember and relive the greatest moments, it never lets you forget them. A nice addition this year was the 1996 Yankees. 13 members of that championship team were on hand for this year's festivies. At least one player from each of the last 16 world championship...

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Tags: Baseball, Yankees