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Welcome to BomberBanter.com, a blog on all things New York Yankees! Below, you can select blogs on Yankees topics from this year and previous Yankees seasons. Check out our virtual tour of the new Yankee Stadium! Follow us on Twitter or check us out on Facebook.

Albaladejo!
The Yankees have called up Jonathan Albaladejo. This calls for a song:

Albaladejo!
Al-ba-la-de-eh-eh-jo!
Albaladejo come and pitch the ball

pitch all night on a drink of rum!
Albaladejo come and pitch the ball
pitch the ball till the morning come!
Albaladejo come and pitch the ball

OK, had to get that out of my system; love that name! Oh and the banana song is awesome, too. His numbers at triple A are outstanding this year: in 46.2 innings, he's struck out 61 batters and allowed only 25 hits and 12 walks. If you're wondering what took the Yankees so long to call this guy up, well, me too - maybe he's out options, I don't know... but if he can bring some of that success up to the big league level, he could be a big help to a bullpen that's having a hard time finding it's way. I know Albaladejo has struggled at the MLB level in the past, but he deserves a chance this year - and given the inconsistency of the Yankees bullpen, I think he's a good option; or rather, at least worth a try.

Randy Johnson's Geico Commercial
Check it out here. It's a funny premise. I guess they don't run off after the conclude that the damage to the garage door won't go unnoticed because Johnson has no cartilage in his knees.

Pettitte's Injury
Andy Pettitte incurred a grade 1 strain to his left hamstring,which sounds like it hurts a lot. After the game, it sounded like Joe Girardi favored placing Pettitte on the DL, despite the grade 1 designation - meaning it's not too bad, he could probably skip a start and come back OK. I think Girardi has the right idea: get Pettitte as close to 100% as possible, and if that means missing 3 starts, so be it. The Yankees will live through it; if Burnett and Hughes can regain some of their pre June form and the offense continues to get more of it's pistons firing, the Yankees can do without Pettitte for 3 starts and send out... I don't know, Ian Nova, or maybe a rehabbed Sergio Mitre, somebody like that - or, God forbid, Chad Gaudin. Pettitte should relax and prepare for August and September, when the Yankees face the Red Sox 7 more times and the Rays 6 more games. True, Pettitte is probably going to miss the Rays series at the end of July, but whatever. It's in Tampa, and I feel like the Yankees always play well there. The Rays are 26-20 at home and 29-16 on the road; try and figure that out. By contract, the Yankees are 30-14 at Yankee Stadium and 28-19 on the road.

Taking 2 of 3 from the Rays
I missed most of this series, but what I saw, I liked - good thing I missed the Saturday game entirely, huh? Nice effort by the bullpen on Sunday; not perfect, but still pretty good. Most of the guys in the pen have the talent to get it done, it's just not happening with regularity this year. Not yet, anyway. CC wasn't sharp on Friday, but he was good enough to keep the Yankees in it. Both teams gave up 19 runs in the series. Weird. AJ Burnett took a step backward - no control at all, it seems, from the little I saw via replay. As long as he's making it to the mound, he'll find a way to straighten himself out and keep the Yankees in the game.

The 2nd half
Through their first 88 games, the Yankees are 56-32 with 74 games to go. If they play .500 ball and win half of those remaining games - 37 games - they'll be 93-69. And I'll bet anyone a million dollars the Yankees go 1 game over .500, so that takes them to 94-68. So yeah, lets start printing those post season tickets already.
Unless they suffer a ton of injuries. Then they're probably screwed. =)
Who will be the Yankees DH in the 2nd half?
I've been watching the Yankees closely for a while now, and my Yankees intuition tells me that there is no way Marcus Thames or Juan Miranda have a chance at being the Yankees everyday DH for the stretch. The Yankees are going to bring someone in, it's just a matter of getting a deal done. Who are the candidates? Well, anybody who can hit on a team that is no longer in contention. Off the top of my head, we're looking for sluggers from the Orioles, Pirates, Mariners and Nationals, just to name a few. Oh, and the Yankees seem to have a pretty good relationship with the Pirates and the Nationals - that's probably why I thought of them first. Adam Dunn springs to mind - a terrible fielder who strikes out a lot, but he's got power, and the Yankees seem to be a bit short on that this year, and he's not going to command a top level prospect in return, and if he leaves, we get draft picks for him. I'm not exactly campaigning for the guy, but he'll do. I'd like to see the Yankees get some relief help, but I have no idea where that would come from - and even if the Yankees got somebody, there's no way to know how he'd react to New York, or if he's a closer, how he'd react to changing his role. We'll have to wait and see, but the Yankees will make some sort of supplemental moves at some point soon.

Boston reacts to passing of Yankees Legends
At Fenway:
The Red Sox observed a moment of silence before the game for former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and public address announcer Bob Sheppard.

From Spaceman:
video - What an asshole. Stay classy, Boston.

All Star Game Results
So the National League finally got one. Good for them. Now, the NL gets home field advantage in the World Series... that makes sense. But then, the "This time, it counts," doctrine never made any sense. I heard on 1050 ESPN Radio today that the ratings are NOT up, and that was the idea behind this experiment: generate more interest, ratings, revenue... it's not working. It's time to end this thing.

Mr. Steinbrenner's passing
Another Yankees legend has headed to the club house.
George Steinbrenner didn't set out to win admirers by the way he did business, but you can't refute his core strategies for making the Yankees a winner:

1. he reinvested the profits in the product time and time again
2. he understood what a lot of small market franchises do not - if you win, the fans will come. Mr. Steinbrenner understood that a losing team wasn't a successful, particularly profitable team, and there were times when this pushed him to extremes that I won't revisit in this space, but his goal was always for his team to win, and in my mind, that meant that his goal was to keep Yankees fans happy. Who could ask for a better sports owner?

Thanks, Mr. Steinbrenner - you're a legend.

Here are some classic Steinbrenner quotes - there's no other word for them - classic!

"Mattingly! I told you to shave those sideburns! That's it! You're off the team! For good!"
"Fine! ... Still like him better than Steinbrenner."

All Star Selection
I've been thinking abut what it means to be an All Star, and the more I think about it, the less I think it means. Consider: voting starts early in the season and ends well before the All Star game (for almost all roster spots), yet All Star selections are always referred to by year. What that means (if you haven't been in the league very long) is that you had a good April and May, not even a good first half - because the first half doesn't truelly end until we get to the 81 game mark, but voting is over before then. If you have a bad June, most baseball fans aren't going to notice this unless you play for their favorite team or are playing against their favorite team. Then there are the guys that get voted on by reputation, or career body of work. I'm pleased with ARod's RBI production this year, and he's the guy I want at the plate in the big situation as he isn't trying to do too much this year, just hit the ball hard, often resulting in a single to left field. But he's not exactly tearing the cover off the ball in traditional fashion, but he's ARod. How are you going ot have an All Star Game without him?
In any case, you get to see great players decide which league gets home field advantage in the World Series... a silly idea, but there it is. Still, it's better than the snooze fest that is the Home Run Derby. There is no fixing that thing... well, they could make the first round only 5 outs, that would help a lot.

Mr. Shepard's passing
Bob Shepard was the Yankee Stadium announcer for over 50 years. His voice, referred to as 'the voice of God,' had come to be almost as synonymous with the Yankees as the interlocking NY. He also had a lovely, genuine singing voice, which he regalled us with every Mother's Day. He will be missed, and never truelly replaced.

Mariano Rivera in the NY Times
If you didn't catch this a few weeks ago, it's here. Interesting insite into the greatest reliever of all time - and a lot of reiteration of things we already know.

Stop doing the wave
I'm hardly the only person to voice this complaint this year, or any other year - but, just to reiterate: the wave has no place at Yankee Stadium. Don't participate. And if people near you are participating, politely ask them to stop. Watch the game - you paid for it, and its what you went there for in the first place. The wave disrupts other people's ability to watch and enjoy the game - they paid for their tickets, too!

Paying attention where attention is due
Now that Stephen Strasburg’s major-league debut has become the big story of MLB, the perfect-game-umpire-controversy has sunk into the background. Still, I think the major umpiring tragedy of the 2010 season has gone largely unnoticed.
I'm talking about Rays at Jays in June. Carlos Peña wasn't granted a timeout during his at bat in the ninth inning, by, you guessed it, Umpire Angel Hernandez, and Kevin Gregg struck him out. Since the Tampa Bay Rays won the game anyway, you might say Hernandez just delayed the inevitable, but there's really no way to know that. Good umpires, like good children, should be seen and not heard. But the Hernandez and Joe Wests of the world make their names known through infamy. I know this all goes back to the silly game pace argument, and I don't want to rehash that again at this late date - I'm sure it'll come up again in August when the Yankees finally reunite with the Red Sox, but again, this game pace monitoring needs to go the way of the Doe Doe bird.

Nick Swisher makes the All Star team!
I'm just happy he beat Kevin Youk at something! Suck it, Youk! But again, if any of the Yankees get hurt in the game, you'll hear a fair- OK, exuberant - amount of complaining in this space about the All Star game!

Yankees sweep As
The Yankees' offense were the kings of the big inning in Oakland. Well, not in game 1, where Javier Vasquez pitched another good one. Game 2 saw the combination of the big inning with ARod's grand slam (he also hit a solo home run in this game, his first multi home run game of the year) and CC Sabthia's powerful performance, and Game 3 had the Mark Teixeira 3 run jack (two out rally started by the lovable Brett Gardner) and the AJ Burnett come back tour. I don't feel this series warrants a lot of analysis; I felt like the Yankees left a lot of runners on base, but, given that they swept, I'm not going to complain about it, although it does make me worry about games to come against better teams with tougher pitching and better offense.

George Steinbrenner turns 80
On July 4th, 2010, the New York Yankees enigmatic owner, George Steinbrenner, turned 80. It's been a while since we've seen him up front in center - remember when they got Gary Sheffield instead of Vladimir Guerrero? When they traded Javier Vasquez for an ancient Randy Johnson (who was still pretty good, but still...) - or how bout when he said he didn't want to see Kenny Lofton in center field again? I applauded that last one! Just a recent memories of the man known as The Boss. He drove Kramer nuts, but it was fun to watch. Sometimes, he brought us great players, but most of the time, he depleted the farm system and gave us fans massive headaches. Still, he did a lot of good things for baseball and the Yankees, too - YES is brilliant, by the way; everyone is copying that little gem of an idea. What I admire the most about the man is his willingness to invest his profits back in his product. Even if he made mistakes, there was no doubt he was trying.
Here's to you, Mr. Steinbrenner! Many happy returns!

NOTES:
Robinson Cano is opting out of the Home Run Derby. LOVE IT! That thing is a swing killer.
Mariano Rivera is opting out of the all star game to nurse some nagging injuries to his knee and his oblique. If I had my way, not a single Yankee would risk injury in that damn thing.
If you saw the Inside Baseball tease for Joe Lemire's column on SI.com, when he said, "Summer's here and the NL East is the hottest division in baseball," he meant closest race. Hottest, used in the context aforementioned, gives one the impression that the NL East is the most exciting division, filled with the best teams. Even 'closest' is a stretch... the AL East has three legitimate playoff contenders (unless the Red Sox injury juggernaut keeps rolling), and I'd love to see what the Blue Jays would do in the NL East. Just something to think about. Suck it, Lemire.

Nick-Picking
As of this writing, the Yankees are 20 games over .500 and in first place in the AL East. Yet the team is not yet playing their best ball. AJ Burnett finally had a good start after a month of struggles. The bullpen has been inconsistent, aside from Marian Rivera. Mari Teixeira has finally started to hit, but to call his start to the season slow is a bit of an understatement. Although ARod has produced in the RBI category, his power numbers are down. Curtis Granderson hasn't hit the way I thought he would.
Yet the Yankees have the best record in the league. It's hard to complain when the Yankees are getting the results in the win column and recent complaints are often centered around some Yankees not getting into the All Star game, although it looks like Andy Pettitte can take Clay Bucholtz roster spot and we can all vote Nick Swisher in, hence the 'Nick-picking.' It's really astounding how much better the Yankees record is this year when compared to last year's record at this time, especially given the performance difference between some players, like Derek Jeter, who was incredible last year and this year is just really good. It's really about the starting rotation; Chein-Ming Wang's performance and the hole he left was difficult to fill. This year, although Javier Vasquez started out slowly, he's really come around, but more than that, guys like Phil Hughes, CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte are having great first halfs and are all All Stars this year, no matter who makes the team. Besides his June struggles, Burnett had a pretty solid two months before he lost his way. Starting pitching is really the difference between '09 and '10 - a lot more consistency there, and that's what makes a winner. The only other major change is the upgrade in outfield defense when the Yankees have Curtis Granderson and Brett Gardner out there; otherwise, it's pretty much the same team. Here's to a monster second half!

The Fowl Balls
I'm a contributer at The Fowl Balls - my new post can be found here.

Yankees go 4-2 on west coast trip
Despite too awful AJ Burnett starts (yep, both loses were Burnett starts), the Yankees won their road trip. Kinda makes you wonder what would have happened if Burnett had pitched to form during the trip, huh? Oh well. The biggest highlight of the trip was the last game against the Dodgers, when Joe Torre worked his stellar, legendary bullpen management, and, amongst other moves I didn't get, brought in a lefty to face Robinson Cano, who promptly gave up the winning home run. Poor Joe was looking at old stats rather than a stat from this year; namely, Cano's average against lefties in 2010: it's .301.

UPDATED YANKEE STADIUM SECTION
The Yankee Stadium section has had a significant update, including new pictures and new pages, like the old Yankee Stadium page and the Bleacher Creatures Feature, which includes all of the chants I can remember, video links and history.

WTF: The AJ Burnett story
I didn't watch last night's west coast debauchery, but one look at AJ Burnett's pitching line tells me all I need to know. Four innings pitched. Four? Effing four? That's it? 9 hits, 7 ER, including 3 homers. That's what they call sucking hard, make no mistake about that. Burnett is now 0-4 in his last four starts and has limited the opposition to 4 earned runs during that time, or, to put it another way, he's surrendered 23 runs over 20 innings. Yep, 4 games, only 20 innings. Just great.
Now don't take my complaining to be akin to a lack of faith; I fully expect Burnett to turn it around and pitch to form, and I'm betting it happens soon. He's just too good, and from what I've seen, he doesn't seem to be harboring any injuries, so I think he'll get it together shortly. But, he pitched badly for the fourth time in a row, and he deserves to get bitched out. I'm sure he's not pleased with his last few performances. However, even when you don't have your best stuff, I expect you to find a way to win when you're facing the 28-43 Arizona Diamondbacks.
Chad Gaudin put up another good line against a bad team, while Park's line... yeah, not so good. It's a battle between these two to see who gets DFA'd first!
NOTE: Chad Moeller has been DFA'd. Colin Curtis, a AAA outfielder, has been called up to replace him on the roster. Curtis was hitting .280 with 12 homers and 46 RBIs in 35 games with Scranton Wilkes Barre Yankees.
JUST FOR GIGGLES: Kei Igawa has a 5.45 ERA in 12 starts at AAA. Can't they trade this guy back to the Japanese league?

Yankees take series from Mets
Oh inter-league play, how I loathe thee.
After getting shut out in game 1 by the Mets' Takahashi, the Yankees bats awoke and supported Phil Hughes, like they always do, then pretty much went back to sleep, against one really load snore from Mark Teixeira via Grand Slam. Brett Gardner got it going with a little single, Jeter beat out an infield hit and, in a comedy of errors, Nick Swisher came up with a brilliant push bunt that was just supposed to get everybody over, but with Johan Santana and the 2B covering (ugh can't come up with his name right now) both covering first, they just didn't get it done. During Teix's at bat, Santana through him what looked like a change up low and inside that Teixeira missed - Santana was apparently so pleased with the result that he promptly through him a fastball in the exact same spot, accept it was several inches higher, and Teix destroyed it into the seats for a grandy - a "Teix message!" as John Sterling would say. CC Sabathia was awesome, 8 IP of no run ball. There was a brief rain delay that probably cost him the complete game, but whateva. The Yanks are in 1st place, doggs!

The 3 game losing streak
After the Yankees smacked Roy Halladay around in game 1 of the 3 game series at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees offense went to sleep for the next two games against the Phillies and the first game against the Mets. This has led the NY Post to conclude that the Yankees need to add at least 1 more bat before the trade deadline, which I do not agree with. At all. Robbie Cano is hitting out of his mind, and I still believe ARod, Teix and Posada will put up good numbers over the summer, like they have pretty much every single summer of their career. Sure, ARod had that awesome August when he grounded into a million double plays a few years back, but whatever. I also believe we haven't seen the best of Granderson yet, and when Marcus Thames comes off the DL, there's your bench bat. So I know the Yankees offense went to sleep for a few games there, but lets not panic. Remember last year's tour through the NL, when they played the Nats, Braves and Marlins? I don't remember them hitting too well in those series until Brian Cashman showed up in Atlanta. And one more point: the Yankees are in first place in their division and as of today, LEAD ALL OF MLB BASEBALL WITH 43 WINS. Let's effing relax, OK? Also, the Lady Gaga thing... ugh. I've already lost interest in this topic, so check the link if you care.

Are you kidding?!? For $940,000...
I will shave the Yankee insignia into my fucking head! here's the pic. LOVE IT.

Jamie Moyer's Revenge
The Ancient One, who was mercilessly pounded at Fenway by the Red Sox in his last outing, threw 8 innings of 2 run ball against the Yankees. I missed most of the game, but what I saw was fascinating - hitters could make contact, but hitting the ball squarely was almost impossible (excluding the two homers, of course). AJ Burnett through up another clunker, but he'll round back out to form. The Yankees almost got to Phillies closer Brad Lidge - that curve ball called strike 3 on Derek Jeter for the first out might have been what saved him. That was a horrendous call! I'm familiar with the strike zone rule, but you hardly ever see any strikes get called above the belt and you NEVER see strikes get called at the letters. Just horrible.

Yankee offense lights up Roy Halladay
Ah, the baseball media - you know how much I love those guys from my guest post at The Fowl Balls. I wasn't expecting much out of Halladay last night; I didn't get a chance to check, but I doubt he's pitched against an AL team in an AL Park yet this year, so that customary break you get when facing an NL line up was absent for the first time this year. I'm sure he found the NL to be delicious - most of the hitters have limited at bats against him, he's a great pitcher, and he only needs to get 8 (pitcher is an easy out) outs at most against NL teams, and some times 7 (catcher can't hit either) and as few as 6 (somebody else also sucks) against the crappier NL offenses. I didn't get to see the entire game; was Halladay really missing his spots? Or did he just have to call the Yankees his daddy? Or both?

Yankees Sweep the Houston Astros
It might have been a forgone conclusion, but games aren't played on paper. But the Yankees got it done against an inferior team. Hey, that's what good teams do - they beat up on crappy teams. Bring on the Phillies!

Are the Toronto Blue Jays for real?
Even after the Yankees went north of the border and lost a series to the Toronto Blue Jays, I'm still not sure if they're for real. True, the Jay took two of three from the Yankees, but it was the manner in which the three games went down that sticks out at me. The Jays won the first game 1-6, a bad start by AJ Burnett. I didn't get to see much of this game, but in any case, I just don't buy the idea that the Jays mighty bats overpowered AJ - rather, he was off his game. Pitchers are going to go out there and throw up a clunker every now and then, it happens. Then, game 2 gave us two masterful starting pitching performances, but the Yankees bullpen fell short when they sent in Chad Gaudin, who really needs to be DFA'd. The guy just hemorrhages runs. So that game went either way, and its always pretty tough to win extra innings games on the road when they go more than an inning or two. Then, the Yankees salvaged the final game. So are the Blue Jays good this year? Yes, absolutely. Did they start well last year and crash and burn? They sure did - and this year, they don't have Roy Halladay. Come August 1st, I expect the Blue Jays to have about faded away as their schedule gets tougher during the late spring and summer months.

Sweeping Baltimore
Wow, Baltimore really stinks this year - even by Baltimore standards. You just expect the Yankees to sweep the bad teams, and the Orioles certainly qualify. Nothing from this series sticks out at me as particularly memorable... just that the Os suck hard.

Yankees take 3 of 4 from Indians
The Yankees could have easily swept this series. During the Saturday game, they had a 12-3 lead and they blew the game. I was there - it was painful. CC Sabathia was bad, but Joba Chamberlain and the bullpen were worse. This, coupled with that 5 run lead they blew to the Red Sox during that short 2 game series are two wins the Yankees gave away. I still think the Yankees best baseball is ahead of them and expect them to win the AL East, but if they miss a playoff spot by two games, these two loses will really stick out in my mind as the reason why.
Oh, and I got sun burn on the tops of my knees - hurt like a bitch.

How do I spell relief? Yankees beating the Twins twice in one day, that's how!
So there's the good part: the Yankees beat the Twins twice in one day. The bad part: The Yankees didn't score hardly any runs. 4 runs combined is pretty dreadful. I know the Yankees are beat up right now, but that's no excuse with this line up. Read more...

Yankees notes May 25 2010
Got a bit behind on my posting, but then, the Yankees have had a tough few days, so I needed a break. But lets get into it! Read more...

Yankees blow lead, lose a gimme game to Red Sox
The Yankees' Monday night walk off win against the Red Sox shielded them from the lead the bullpen gave up, but in Tuesday night's loss, it really stuck out. Read more...

Arod and Thames homers power win over Red Sox
It pretty much sounds the same... in New York, at least. The NESN guy was sad... I can't blame him for that; as he said, it was a tough loss. Read more...

Yankees take 2 of 3 from Twins
Who's got new road uniforms? The Minnesota Twins do, that's who!
I'm a big, "What was he thinking?" guy, but in this situation against ARod, I really have no idea what Twins Manager Ron Gardenhire was thinking. Read more...

Yankees split double header with Tigers, lose series
[May 13, 2010 by jamie] - Ah, the joy of the double header... or not. Day games are pretty impossible for us working folks to follow (like today's getaway day game; but I'm sure the Yankees are excited to actually get a getaway day game) and for the Yankees to win - I don't have the stat in front of me, but away afternoon games have been death for the Yankees this year, or it seems that way. Its hard to complain; only the Rays have more wins than the Yankees. Read more...

Tigers escape with win over Yankees
I didn't get to watch the entire game, but that's probably for the best. I understand that it appears as though there is a lot to be upset about, but its not as bad as it seems. Read more...

Yankees take another series from the Red Sox The Yankees are 4-2 against the Red Sox so far this year; a much better start than last year, that's for sure! Read more...

Bomber Banter Fantasy Team May Update
Things have changed on the Bomber Banter Fantasy Baseball Team as the season rolls on. I've gotten off to a 3-2-0 start, which is good enough for a tie for second place with a zillion other teams, but there is a long way to go. Read more...

Orioles, Zito and Brown
Yankees sweep Orioles, Barry Zito is pitching like an ace (shocker there) and comments on Yahoo!'s David Brown article. Read more...

Teixeira good, Javy bad
Another series, another W for the Yankees as they send the White Sox and manager Ozzie Guillen packing. I wouldn't normally single out a manager this way, but Ozzie really gets under my skin. Read more...

Yankees wrap up April
April is over, so lets wrap up the Yankees series against the Orioles at Camden Yards, the end of a long road trip. Read more...

Posada: We've done it since '03 because Andy's been retiring since '03
Jorge Posada talking about a picture that he and some of the Yankees take together with Pettitte every year in Sports Illustrated. Classic Posada!

Yankees lose their first series of the year
Is it just me, or is the earliest the Yankees have taken this west coast trip? I'm kinda glad they got it out of the way... it seems like they always play poorly on these trips and especially poorly in Anaheim, so it wasn't much of a surprise when the Yankees let the series drop to Angels. Read more...

Yankees at Oakland
I'm not going to weigh in too much on this Oakland series, or any west coast series that takes place during a week day, because frankly, when I am able to watch the games, I'm pretty tired. That being said, lets talk Yankees v Oakland Athletics highlights. Read more...

You can't buy MLB championships
As a Yankees fan, I know better than most MLB fans that you can't buy a championship just by shelling out more money than the other teams. Trust me on this. I should know: I watched the Yankees try it year after year, and it didn't work. Now I do think money helps, and furthermore, it helps a lot. Read more...

Chuck Norris furious after Yankees sweep Rangers
Or one would presume that Norris, the Walker Texas Ranger star is unhappy about the play of the Texas Rangers in the 3 game series at Yankee Stadium. As much as I would like to celebrate this as a showing of superior play by the Yankees, the Rangers should be embarrassed by their sloppy play in the Bronx this weekend. Read more...

Hughes, CC and Park Hughes pitched OK agains the Angels and Sabathia DOMINATED the Rangers. Park is on the 15 day DL, but everything else is coming up YANKEES! Read more...

Joe West, Game Pace and Duration
By now, you've heard Joe West's tirade on the length of games between the Yankees and the Red Sox. Read more...

Where have you gone, David Robertson?
I had to work today, so I'm hoping to catch this game on Yankees Classics sometimes as it turns out I'm going to miss the rebroadcast too. I heard there were great moments when the guys got their rings, and an especially nice ovation for Hideki Matsui, who was there with his visiting Angels. Read more...

Yankees on the Road to 100 Wins
After Friday night's spanking, my expectations were high for the Yankees to come back and even the series at a game a piece. To say they answered the call would be a drastic understatement. Read more...

Rays spank Yanks
Javier Vasquez's return to the Yankees didn't end so well, as promising as it started. Nick Johnson may be the fastest man alive! Read more...

Chan Ho Park invites NoMaas.org to suck it
NoMaas.org, the hilarious photoshopping Yankees blog, has criticized the signing of Chan Ho Park and his performance on opening day at length, and this morning, I expected to see an apology, a photoshop of Sensi John Kreese eating one of the crows from Dumbo or something. Much to my surprise, it didn't happen. Read more...

Any win is a good win
The Yankees made errors in the field. They loaded the bases and didn't score. AJ Burnett didn't pitch well. Still, the Yankees won the game, and that's good enough for me. Read more...

Slugfest is a euphemism
Yankees vs Red Sox Opening Day coverage and more. In all the years I've watched baseball, it never occurred to me that the term slugfest is a euphemism until last night. Somebody, at some point, came up with a political way to say pitchers on both teams stunk up the joint. Read more...

When there's nothing to write about, Verducci just makes something up
No matter what MLB team you're a fan of, it's been a slow spring; not that spring training isn't always slow, because it is. So what is a sports writer to do? Well, when there's nothing to write about, just make something up. Read more...

Bomber Banter Fantasy Team
It's ironic; my fantasy team is not the team I would draft in an ideal world; in many cases, its the guys I got stuck with because I had the 10th pick. Read more...

Brown writes a great Matsui article
[March some-brutal-day-in-spring-training by jamie] - I just don't understand why people feel the need to write these articles out of the side of their butts. I usually let it go, but I just can't today. Read more...

MLB Mascots Suck
[March some-brutal-day-in-spring-training by jamie] - "I'd like to thank the good lord for making my mom a Yankees fan." Jeez, will you look at these terrible mascots? Read more...

Schilling and Verducci Theory is Weak
As usual, I have no idea what SI's Tom Verducci and Curt Schilling are talking about it. Read more...

Yankees 2010 opening day roster
The Yankees pitchers and position players have trickled into camp (which will get off and running post Derek Jeter contract press conference), so we're going to try and get a handle on who's going to make the opening day roster. Read more...

Yankees left field battle
The Yankees announced the signing of Marcus Thames to a minor league deal and finalized their deal with Randy Winn, which will be for 1 year at $1.1 million plus $900,000 in performance bonuses, creating a bit of a log jam in spring training with outfielders looking for roster spots or defined rolls when you realize that Brett Gardner and Jamie Hoffmann are also in the conversation. Read more...

Because sometimes, you paint naked guys playing baseball on your office wall
Apparently, there is a mural of naked guys playing baseball at the Library of Congress. Check out the Greek Gladiator styled art here. Makes sense. Just a fun link for today sent to us by our friend at JeepGarage.org

SI likes the Javier Vazquez acquisition
Sports Illustrated writer Sky Andrecheck likes the Javier Vazquez pickup. We know Yankees fans are split on Javy, but we also like the bolstering of the rotation with one of the National League's best arms in 2009. Read more...

Yankees 2010 batting order
I believe the Yankees will sport three different batting orders this year, and they all hinge on Jorge Posada. Read more...

Yankees.MyTriState.us is now BomberBanter.com
Just FYI: Yankees.MyTriState.us is now BomberBanter.com. If you type either address, they'll both redirect to here.

Goodbye Johnny Damon, Hello Brett Gardner and Randy Winn
The Yankees signed Randy Winn, who we assume will platoon with Brett Gardner in center field, or left field... whatever. This pretty much spells the end of Johnny Damon's career with the NY Yankees. Read more...

Yankees 2009 - 2010 Offseason Notes
If you read columns in the local papers and throughout the blogosphere, you'll see that a lot of folks think the Yankees need to go out and get a left fielder. Also, Javier Vasquez is a great addition for the Yankees, and they didn't part with much to get him. Pettitte is back in pinstripes, where he belongs. Brian Cashman pulls off a great trade for Curtis Granderson. What's left on the shopping list, you ask? Read more...

Yankees 2009 Blog:
Yankees win 27th World Series!
We just want to take a second to pat ourselves on the back - skip down to 'Yankees top Angels and head to the World Series,' where we predicted that the Yankees would beat the Phillies in six games! OK, we're done patting ourselves on the back.
The Yankees outpitched the Phillies - it's that simple. Read more...
Yankee Stadium Area Businesses Not Happy
We find it puzzling that Yankee Stadium Area Businesses thought they were going to make more money in 2009 than they made in 2008 with a new Yankee Stadium opening. Read more...
Yankees and Phillies split 2 games at Stadium - Games 3 & 4 preview
Game 1: CC Sabathia was good, despite struggling with his control, but Cliff Lee was genius. Game 2: AJ Burnett delivered. Pedro Martinez was surprisingly good, but Burnett was better. Games 3 & 4: Cole Hamels, who was last year's World Series MVP, has not been the same guy this year. The Yankees have to be pumped that the Phillies are starting Joe Blanton in Game 4 instead of Cliff Lee on short rest. Read more...
Yankees top Angels and head to the World Series
Can't say enough good things about Andy Pettitte, but part of this Yankees victory belongs to the Angels. Read more...
Angels take games 3 and 5, Yankees take game 4 in ALCS
Recap of ALCS Yankees vs Angels with commentary on games 3, 4 and 5 as well as a look at the umpires' blown calls. Read more...
Yankees take games 1 and 2 from Angels
The Yankees are shinning their brightest in the playoffs with big hits and dominant pitching while the Angels look to be headed in the other direction. Read more...
Yankees move on to the ALCS
The Yankees completed their sweep of the Minnesota Twins in the final game at the Metrodome as Andy Pettitte pitched a beauty and the Yankees finally got a little just deserts off Carl Pavano. Read more...
ARod, Teixeira big hitters in Game 2 of ALDS
Sometimes, the ball bounces your way.
Amidst all of the silly controversy over Joe Girardi starting Jose Molina or Jorge Posada to catch temperamental AJ Burnett, the ghosts from across the street made 3 appearances in the game 2 victory of the Yankees over the Minnesota Twins. Read more...
Yankees win Game 1 of ALDS against Twins
One victory down, ten to go as the Yankees begin the race to eleven victories with the 7 other playoff teams. Read more...
Yankees Update October 2nd 2009
Sorry the Yankee blogs have been few and far between lately, but when the Yankees are this much better than their competition, what's there to say? Actually, we have quite a few thought provoking tidbits! Read more...
Yankees 2004 Roster vs 2009 Roster
In most recent memory, the farthest the Yankees have made it into the postseason is to the American League Championship season in the historic 2004 collapse. Read more...
Yankees sweep Red Sox
A Boston Massacre in the Bronx is hyperbole, but, did you expect anything less from the New York Post? The New York Yankees swept the Boston Red Sox and now have a 6.5 game lead in the AL East. Read more...
Yankees at Blue Jays
Validation at the end of the road trip! The Yankees are going home after a 5 and 4 journey spanning Tampa Bay, Chicago and ending with a two game quickie in Toronto. Read more...
Yankees take 2 of 3 from Rays
AJ Burnett was filthy in game 1. CC Sabathia wasn't great and neither was the rest of the team in game 2. Joba Chamberlin pitched 8 scoreless innings, looking nearly unhittable in game 3 - only 3 hits and 2 walks, that's it! Read more...
Yankees take 3 out of 4 from As
The Oakland Athletics are not a great team, and they are sellers at the trade deadline - Matt Holliday departed after game two to play against the Phillies for the St Louis Cardinals - but, anytime you can take 3 of 4, you're playing pretty good ball. Read more...
Yankees Update July 2009
The Yankees are rolling of late - here's some tidbits from the last few weeks: Derek Jeter out at 3rd, Chien-Ming Wang back to the DL, Kei Igawa has a win record, Francisco Cervelli and Ramiro Pena and Roy Halladay may be available via trade... Read more...
Yankees Update, June 2009
Bye Jose Veras and Wild Card Destiny for Yankees in 2009. Read more...
Yankees at Marlins, June 2009
Another sub .500 opponent, another series loss for the Yankees. Read more...
Nationals at Yankees, June 2009
Oh, the humanity! The Yankees bats have gone to sleep. Read more...
Mets at Yankees, June 2009
The Subway Series, 2009, edition 1, was a lot like a day at Great Adventure: a lot of waiting around followed by moments of pure excitement or sheer terror. Read more...
Yankees at Red Sox
"Oh the pain! The pain of it all!" Here's a simple breakdown of the Red Sox sweep of the Yankees at Fenway Park... Read more...
AccuWeather.com says Yankees Stadium RF wall design to blame for homers
AccuWeather.com posted a report that says the right field wall in the new Yankee Stadium is to blame for the increase in home runs and not wind from the stadium's old design. They say that the right field wall is lower and a bit shorter in spots. Read more... or check out more from our Yankees Blog
Yankee Update, June 2009
What a difference 4 players make!
The Yankees 25 man roster is had 4 fundemental changes since last year, and these guys are a making a huge difference in the standings. Read more...
Yankees at Rangers, May 2009
Game 1 is just what you want to see - a young prospect playing to form and an injured veteran doing the same. Read more...
Phillies at Yankees, May 2009
The streak is dead and dies at the hands of the World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies and to make matters worse, the Phillies took the series, too. Read more...
Orioles at Yankees, May 2009
CC Sabathia pitched a nice game and looked like he was going to come out for the 8th inning until the Baltimore Orioles' bullpen imploded to allow 7 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning. Sabathia had a nice inning, which is good to see after his slow start (typical of Sabathia), particularly against a team like the Orioles who have a decent lineup, although a bit top heavy in the 1 through 5 holes. Read more...
Yankees at Orioles, May 2009 - The Return of the ARod
Before we get into ARod's moment, lets talk about CC Sabathia, who's Friday night performance tended to get overshadowed by Alex Rodriguez coverage - that's an issue for another day. Someone could be performing an emergency appendectomy with a steak knife and if Arod ran out of the room and vomited, the press would all follow him. "Is he afraid of blood?" one reporter would ask. "Is he pregnant?!?" a reporter from the Post would ask. Read more...
Rays at Yankees May, 2009
The first game was a heart breaker, no question. You don't want to lose extra inning games at home, that's for certain. But once the Yankees got deep into their bullpen, confidence begins to wane. You can see it in everyone's faces, their body language and the end result. Read more...
Red Sox at Yankees May, 2009
You hear someone struck out 12 hitters in one game and you think, that pitcher must have won the game. Well, not this time. Joba Chamberlin pitched 5 and 2/3 innings and did strike out 12, but he let up four runs in the first inning. Read more...
Angels at Yankees May, 2009
After a 2-4 road trip, the Yankees return to the comfy and soggy confines of Yankee Stadium. And we've got pictures! Read more...
Yankees at Indians April 2009
After getting swept by the Boston Red Sox during the Sunday Night Baseball, the Yankees trudged into Detroit with CC Sabathia on the mound. Although he went 8 innings, he gave up 4 runs. Read more...
Reactions to new and old ARod steroid allegations
New excerpts obtained by the New York Daily News from the upcoming book "ARod" make allegations that ARod took steroids in high school and probably continued to use performance enhancing drugs after high school and after he was with the Texas Rangers, meaning he was using PEDs when he was with the Yankees. Our reaction is simple: so? Read more...
Yankees at Red Sox, April 2009
Now here is a great example of a rough weekend on the road for the New York Yankees; you come into Boston and run into the Red Sox who are red hot, winners of their last seven games, and things just don't go right for you. You have Mariano Rivera on the mound with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th inning and a 2 run lead and Rivera gives up a two run homer and Joba Chamberlin's gritty outing is wasted and you lose in extra innings. Read more...
Athletics at Yankees, April 2009
The Monday night game for the first meeting of the year between the Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees was washed away, and since this gave the Yankees the opportunity to send Chien-Ming Wang down to pitch in an extended spring training game in Tampa, things worked out for the best. Andy Pettitte started for the Yankees and went seven strong innings of well pitched ball, allowing no walks. Read more...
Indians at Yankees, April 2009
The Yankees would have probably preferred to open up the new Yankee Stadium's first official game with a win, but that didn't happen. They also probably would have preferred to not have the first series be a four game series, which are more often then not split between the two teams, in this case, the Indians and the Yankees. The game looked like a tight pitcher's duel between CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee. Read more...
Fan sues Yankees and city of New York over ejection from stadium during God Bless America
A man named Bradford Campeau-Laurion was ejected from an August 26 Yankees vs Red Sox game when he attempted to leave his seat during the playing of God Bless America to use the bathroom, and he's suing. His lawsuit says that when he tried to pass a police officer, the officer grabbed his right arm, twisted it behind his back and two officers marched him out of the stadium and apparently suggested that he leave the country if he wasn't a fan of God Bless America. Read more...
Yankees at Rays April 2009
The Yankees finished off their road trip at the Tampa Bay Rays, arriving just in time to see them raise their American League Championship banner, a day many of us (probably including many people in the Rays organization) thought would never come. Read more...
Yankees at Royals April 2009
Andy Pettitte started Friday's game against the Kansas City Royals, their home opener. Our old friend Sidney Ponson started for the Royals and, well, as you can imagine, the Yankees roughed him up and won the game. We'll say this for Royal's - Koffman Stadium's new big screen is really impressive, just as nice as the one at the new Yankee Stadium. Otherwise, their team is not so great. Read more...
Yankees at Orioles on opening day
The New York Yankees squared off against the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards for their first game of the season. CC Sabathia, the crown jewel in the Yankees off season triple crown, struggled with his control, particularly with his fastball. His curve ball looked good, but it appeared he was trying to throw a two seam fastball to the corners and kept missing. Read more...
Yankees about face against Orioles and avoid sweep
Starting pitcher AJ Burnett gave the Yankees what they desperately needed: five and a third innings reasonably pitched baseball. Burnett gave up 1 home run, allowed 7 hits, 1 walk and struck out 6 for a total of 2 earned runs. Read more...
Yankees at Orioles Game 2 April 9
We didn't get to watch Yankees at Orioles, Game 2 on April 9 of the 2009 season, but the box score speaks volumes. Chien-Ming Wang didn't make it through the fourth inning, and when you're starting pitcher can't get through five innings, you have a very low percentage of winning that game, as we saw in game 1 when CC Sabathia got knocked out early. Read more...

Yankees 08 - 09 Off Season Blog:
ARod surgery was the right choice
Arod had his surgery on March 9, and we think this was the right choice. From what the doctors are saying, it sounds like ARod will return mid May at 99% - that sounds pretty good! Two days after the surgery, and he's already been cleared to begin rehabbing - more good news. Read more...
ARod News Cycle Fatigue Syndrome
We're sad to report that we've contracted ANCFS - yes, that's right, the dreaded ARod News Cycle Fatigue Syndrome. We understand why it's such a big story, we're just tired of it - not that we ever cared much in the first place - but we understand. Read more...
Reaction to ARod Press Conference
Alex Rodriguez told us more or clarified more about his steroid use - we didn't really care, but, you just can't ignore a media event of this size. How often do you hear someone asking reporters to make sure they don't trample anyone? This is probably why we pity the guy more than we loathe him - a veritable three ring circus follows him around everywhere he goes. He doesn't help the situation, but that's the reality. You have to wonder if its worth more money than you could possibly spend in a life time... well, Hammer could probably spend it! Read more...
Reactions to ARod Steroids "allegations"
First off, are we nuts, or did this story already break two years ago? ARod ran around and denied it... anyone? Hello?
We have to ask ourselves, at the end of the steroid era day (and in terms of being interested in this, it is the end of the day for us), we just don't care. We thought we cared about this issue, but we don't. ARod is an entertainer, and entertainers do stuff like this for... hm, maybe money, fame, even immortality? We can't say, but we just don't care any more. Professional athletes use steroids? Yes, we knew this. We've seen Olympians stripped of their medals, football's "False Glory: Steelers and Steroids : The Steve Courson Story" and yes, the amazingly boring Barry Bonds saga that seems like it will never end. Read more...
Yankees sign Mark Teixeria
In their best move of the off season, the Yankees have signed Mark Teixeria to be their first baseman for eight years at $180 million. This is a big pickup for them as they've done several things at once: kept Teixeria out of Boston, which would have been a disaster for the Yankees; plugged a big hole at 1st base; picked up a desperately needed #3 hitter to replace Bobby Abreu and gotten the team younger and more athletic. This was the best business and baseball decision the Yankees could have made. Read more...
Yankees sign AJ Burnett
The Yankees have reportedly signed AJ Burnett for $81.5 million over five years. Like the CC Sabathia deal, it's an order of broccoli saut�ed in garlic sauce, extra spicy. Was this a good move? Yes, we think so - we always prefer free agent signings because we want the Yankees to hold on to their best prospects and only use them for emergency in season trades. Some of the Yankees brightest stars of recent memory have been home grown. Read more...
Yankees sign CC Sabathia
Well, everyone is saying CC Sabathia has signed with the New York Yankees for $161 million over seven years. That's a spicy falafel ball. There are at least two very different ways of looking at this deal. For the Yankees, not making the playoffs last year is akin to not playing "God Bless America" during the seventh inning stretch. They're opening a new ballpark for 2009, and they need a serious product they can market to advertisers and their fan base who'll see a ticket price increase during a season when most of us aren't exactly flush with cash. Oh yeah, and they're really short on starting pitchers. Read more...
Mike Mussina Retires
After 18 seasons in the big leagues, Mike Mussina is calling it quits. Mussina is the second pitcher in history to retire after a 20 win season. He finishes his career with 270 wins, 2813 strike outs and less than a hit per inning pitched. Mussina pitched for the Baltimore Orioles for ten years before making his way to the Yankees in 2001. Although Mussina never won a world series, he had some great moments with the Yankees: coming out of the bullpen in game 7 of the 2003 ALCS; a near perfect game in Fenway that was broken up by a single in the 9th inning; winning multiple gold gloves and, of course, his unpredictable rebound 2008 20 win season that kept the Yankees in the playoff hunt for nearly the entire season. Read more...
Yankees tade for Nick Swisher
The Yankees have traded Wilson Betemit for Nick Swisher (other minor leaguers you never heard of were also exchanged). Betemit, who saw time at first base as well as being the backup infielder, is probably best known for making his trips to the plate accompanied by Pearl Jam's "Better Man." We consider Betemit to be a bit too big to play middle infield positions and is probably more of a corner infielder without the power to back it up, but he's a decent enough player in a pinch - when longer injuries loom, he becomes more of a liability. Read more...
Yankees sign Demaso Marte for three years
The Yankees have resigned left handed reliever Demaso Marte for three years with a club option for the fourth year. With the emergence of Phil Coke at the end of last year, you might say the Yankees went a bit too long and expensive on Marte, and, coupled with Marte's poor second half, you might be right. But, Marte has late innings experience (and experience in general; Phil Coke is something of an unknown), and Marte was a bit over exposed during the first half of the year while still with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Read more...
comments on Joba Chamberlin's dui
On October 18, Yankees right hander Joba Chamberlin was arrested for "allegedly driving under the influence, speeding and having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle." yawn. Chamberlin is due in court this December, so one way or the other, this situation will resolve itself in that respect. Whenever Chamberlin returns to New York, he'll have the fun of answering questions from the media, but he seems to know how to do that. So where does this leave us? Reaction. Our reaction, as previously stated, is a yawn. Who cares? It's not like he ran somebody over and killed them.Read more...

Yankees 2008 Blog: Yankees post season hopes die
There's no putting it off any more - the Yankees 2008 season is over, and their run of consecutive playoff apperances has ended at 13. Read more...

Yankees 07 - 08 Off Season Blog: Yankees set 25 man roster
New York Yankees pitcher Jeff Karstens has gone down with yet another injury. Read more...

Yankees 2007 Blog: Season Synopsis
As the season closes, this is the best Yankees team since 2001. When the season started, there were a number of starting and relief pitching question marks as well as a weak bench. Now, a team seemingly transformed after the first two months, in attitude as well as roster, sporting a new bench and a vibrant young core of new talent, lead by Joba Chamberlin on the pitching side who is joining Melky Cabera and Robinson Cano on the position player side. With the wildcard in their back pocket, it remains to be seen if the Yankees have a good enough starting rotation to make it through the post season, the biggest standout in early post season exits in recent years. Read more...