Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Tanaka

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Tanaka: One Slip Sinks Tanaka Jon Lester Tops Masahiro Tanaka in Impressive Pitcher’s Duel at Yankee Stadium By Howard Goldin BRONX, NEW YORK, JUNE ...

Tanaka

One Slip Sinks Tanaka

Jon Lester Tops Masahiro Tanaka in Impressive Pitcher’s Duel at Yankee Stadium

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, JUNE 29- On Saturday night, a sold-out house of 48,433 at Yankee Stadium, the third largest crowd of the season, was attracted to another contest between the biggest rivals in baseball, the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

The two courageous and talented starting pitchers, Jon Lester of Boston and Masahiro Tanaka of New York hooked up in an outstandingly performed and fast moving pitcher’s duel.

Lester, 30, was starting his 237th game in the majors. The number of starts would be even higher, but Lester missed large parts of his first two seasons with Boston, 2006 and 2007, after being diagnosed with lymphoma in the summer of 2006. Tanaka, 25, was making his 16th start of his first season in MLB.

Lester pitched no-hit ball for the first five frames. The first hit he yielded was a single up the middle by Brett Gardner, leading off the sixth. After Gardner was thrown out trying to stretch his single to a double, the next two batters, Derek Jeter and Jacoby Ellsbury, each singled, but were left on base when the inning ended.

The only run given up by Lester was scored without a hit. Brian Roberts was safe on an error to begin the Yankee third. The next batter, Yangervis Solarte, was hit by a pitch. Gardner pushed them each up one base with a sacrifice bunt. The unearned run was scored on an infield groundout by Jeter.

Lester’s superlative performance of pitching eight innings without allowing an earned run, while only yielding five hits, was last equaled by a Red Sox pitcher in the Bronx when it was accomplished by Lester on July 3, 2008 in the original Yankee Stadium’s final season.

When asked to describe Lester’s outing, Yankee skipper Joe Girardi remarked, “He does what he always does. He cuts it; he sinks it; he locates. He pitched extremely well tonight.”

The leading Rookie-of-the-Year candidate, Tanaka, pitched his third complete game of the season. He walked one batter and surrendered seven hits, but only two pitches were responsible for his loss.

Catcher David Ross took a 1-0 pitch into the stands for a solo home run with one out in the third.

The winning run came with two out in the ninth on the 112th pitch thrown by the Yankee starter. With the count 1-2 on Mike Napoli, who had two hits and homered off Tanaka in their previous encounter on April22, Tanka threw a fast ball over the plate that Napoli sent into the right field stands.

Through his translator, Tanaka explained what happened, “The sign was for a breaking ball, but I wanted to go hard outside. That’s why I shook him [catcher Brian McCann] off twice. He asked for a splitter and a slider. I wanted to set up for a breaking ball on the next pitch, but I missed my spot.”

After the game, Girardi was asked why he didn’t remove Tanaka in the ninth. He responded with the following statement, “He’d been excellent all night. His stuff was really outstanding. I liked how he’d been throwing the baseball.” 

Neither deserved to lose such a well-pitched game yet one did. Both deserved to win such a well-pitched game yet only one did. That’s baseball, a game of inches.

 

Highbridge News: Pick Pocket

Highbridge News: Pick Pocket: Sticky Fingers Shops Along #Fordham Road Cops Release Pic of Pick Pocket By Dan Gesslein BRONX, NEW YORK, JUNE 27- Call her ...

Pick Pocket

Sticky Fingers Shops Along #Fordham Road

Cops Release Pic of Pick Pocket

By Dan Gesslein

BRONX, NEW YORK, JUNE 27- Call her Fordham’s most wanted. Cops are looking for a serial pickpocket who ripped off shoppers along Fordham Road over a six-month period.

Police released a photo of a sticky-fingered suspect, they say, struck at a Marshalls store seven times. The thief also struck other businesses in the Fordham shopping district including a Children’s Place, a cell phone store and a Burlington Coat Factory.

In incidents dating back to January, cops say the suspect repeatedly robbed shoppers at the Marshalls store, located at 2501 Grand Concourse, and made off with cash and credit cards. In those cases, the suspect took either victim’s wallet or purse and made off with cash ranging from $200 to $5. 

As spring arrived, the crook upped her game. On April 17, the thief struck at a T-Mobile store on Fordham Road. The suspect made off with a 63 year-old’s bag which contained a laptop, two cellphones and chargers.  

On May 3rd, the thief made off with a 70-year-old woman’s paycheck worth $1,044. The victim had put her property containing her paycheck on the counter of a supermarket when the thief helped herself.

The suspect is described as a 40-year-old black woman who is 5 foot 5 and weighs 135 pounds. She was last seen wearing a turquoise shirt and a beige hat.

Anyone with information is urged to call CRIMESTOPPERS at (800) 577-TIPS. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

All calls are strictly confidential.

Highbridge News: Old Timers' Day Photos

Highbridge News: Old Timers' Day Photos: From Yogi to Tino to Goose and Rickey legends returned to Yankee Stadium to take part in the 2014 Old Timers' Day festivities. (Phot...

Old Timers' Day Photos

From Yogi to Tino to Goose and Rickey legends returned to Yankee Stadium to take part in the 2014 Old Timers' Day festivities. (Photos by Ken Carozza)

Yankees Headin’ Back to the Top?

Yankees Headin’ Back to the Top?

Fans Think So

By Rich Mancuso

BRONX, NEW YORK, JUNE 20- A three-game sweep over Toronto has the New York Yankees feeling confident. And it should carry towards more momentum Friday night when the Baltimore Orioles come to Yankee Stadium for three more But the Blue Jays are a team the Yankees have to chase in the AL east and Thursday night they got closer to the first place Jays.

David Phelps continued to be a momentum builder on the mound, and the Yankees once again scored first and tacked on runs. The bullpen took over as the Yankees won their third straight, 4-2.

A week ago, the Yankees had that continued issue of situational hitting missing from the lineup. The captain, Derek Jeter, struggled and Carlos Beltran, one of their key off- season free agent acquisitions, was coming off the disabled list. The past three nights in the Bronx, and against a powerful Toronto lineup, the Yankees looked like a first place team.

They are now tied in the loss column with Toronto, 1/1-2 games from first place. Does a chase for first place in mid-June have anything to do with this resurgence, or is this just the part of a long baseball season?

 “There is a lot of meaning to these games,” manager Joe Girardi commented. His team has won seven of their past nine games. “We all understand that, and we know they understand that. When you face each other 19 times, you look to try to catch people, put some distance between some people and win series."

The Yankees swept a series for the fourth time this season. This one, though, had significance with a stretch of 15 consecutive games against divisional opponents. The Orioles will present a challenge and Tampa Bay, in the cellar, always does. These were the first place Blue Jays who have gone 3-9 over their last 12 games, and been on top since the 22^nd of May.

"Hey, if you're going to play in prime time, you've got to perform on the big stage and we didn't do it," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "We're fully capable of doing it. We just didn't do it. It'll be definitely good to move on.”

The Blue Jays move on. They will have time to figure out a way to break a 16-game losing streak at Yankee Stadium. Their next stint in the Bronx is scheduled at the end of next month.

The Yankees are looking at the positive side of things. The past three games everything came together, something they projected themselves to do with their off-season spending spree that surpassed $450 million in free agents. Brian McCann, the catcher, who had a go ahead home run the night before, realized the significance of winning three against the front runners.   

“We were able to score some runs,” he commented. “Swinging the bat better…It’s hard to pinpoint one thing. We’re putting together better consistent at bats. It’s big to win games. Obviously when you play teams in your division, you want to win.”

McCann is swinging the bat better. “We’re playing better baseball than we were the past couple of weeks,” he said. Jeter has been getting on base, a .405 clip in his last nine games and Brett Gardner, 1-for-3, Thursday night is batting .366, 15-for-41 over his last ten games.

"Big series for us," Adam Warren said. The reliever earned his second save of the season after retiring two Blue Jays’ in the ninth. The closer David Robertson needed a night off after pitching the first two games of the series.

 "It's nice to kind of see our team click a little bit and play some good baseball,” said Warren

These are words being said by a Yankees team that was looking for answers last week. That included the final two games out in Oakland that did not go their way. And, yes, everything is clicking, even with this contingency of a starting rotation because three quarters of the regulars are on the disabled list.

Aside from Masahiro Tanaka, and his 11-1 record, the manager is elated what he is getting from Chase Whitley and Vidal Nuno. Then there is David Phelps, (3-4) who tossed seven-innings and gave up two runs with a good back door cutter and curve, but allowed a home run to Melky Cabrera in the third inning.

“Refreshing to see guys like Chase (Whitley), one of the biggest things that motivated me,” Phelps commented. The sweep, it’s huge. We gotta win games against them.”

And winning games during this divisional stretch is what the Yankees did. Time will tell if this division will continue to be bunched with teams in September, and that also includes the Red Sox who may not be ready to give up their World Series crown.

We do know this though: Three games have sent a message that the Yankees intend to be a part of this equation by September.  

Comment Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com  Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso  www.newyorksportsexaminer.com