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Didn't get to watch the game today, but I see my boys did better this time around. w00t!

 

Watching the replay of the day game now. Even though i know they loose

 

My time to grrrrrr

 

Tough news, Yankee fans....



Mariano's future in doubt after tearing ACL

Closer also has partially torn meniscus after shagging fly balls

By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com | 05/04/12 1:37 AM ET

• KANSAS CITY -- The greatest closer in baseball history stood at the center of the visiting clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium, his head bowed and his eyes welling with tears, and Mariano Rivera could not say if he will ever pitch from a Major League mound again.​

"At this point, I don't know," Rivera said, repeating in a soft hush, "At this point, I don't know. We have to face this first."

The Yankees closer confirmed that he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, as well as a partially torn meniscus, in a batting practice mishap on Thursday. At the very least, the all-time saves leader is expected to miss the rest of the 2012 season.


"Mo is a vital part of this team on the field, off the field. He's going to be missed," Yankees captain Derek Jeter said. "There's no other way to put it. You don't replace him. Someone else can do his job, but you can't really replace him."
The Yankees were hitting on the field at around 7 p.m. ET when the injury occurred. Rivera regularly participates in shagging fly balls during batting practice, considering it part of his exercise regimen and one of his favorite times of the day.
Rivera lunged for a ball hit by Jayson Nix near the warning track in left-center field when his knee buckled and the 42-year-old lost his footing, landing on the dirt before crumpling against the outfield fence. Rivera immediately grabbed at his right knee in agony.
"He broke for a ball like he always does, and then it kind of went funny," said Yankees hurler David Robertson, who saw the injury up close. "At first, I thought it was funny -- and then all of a sudden I realized he was injured, he was down. That's when I really got worried. There's nothing I can do except stand there and watch. It's a miserable feeling."
Alex Rodriguez was one of the first Yankees near home plate to notice the closer writhing on the field, saying, "Oh my God," before drawing manager Joe Girardi's attention.
Girardi jogged to the outfield wall with members of the training staff to attend to Rivera, who was gingerly lifted onto a flatbed truck and carted back around the diamond. As the cart rolled away, Rivera waved to acknowledge fans behind the fence wishing him well.
"It's hard to even talk about it tonight," Rodriguez said in a hushed clubhouse. "Mo means so much to all of us on a personal level. Obviously there's a significance on the field, on the mound with his presence. The bottom line is we're the New York Yankees. Nobody is going to feel sorry for us."
Rivera was taken to Kansas University MedWest hospital for an MRI during Thursday's game, which revealed the tear. An initial diagnosis offered the more encouraging term of a "twisted knee," but Royals head team physician Vincent Key confirmed the Yankees' worst fears hours later.
"This is bad, no question about it," Girardi said. "This is not what you come to Kansas City to hear. But good teams find a way to overcome things. If we want to play in October, we're going to have to find a way to overcome it."
The Yankees want to have Rivera travel to New York to be examined by their own physicians, but they are not expecting a miraculous change of fortune. Rivera said he was in no hurry to get back to New York and that he would prefer to stay with the team in Kansas City.
"I just want to be here for the guys, make sure the guys are OK," Rivera said. "It's not an easy situation, but we've been through this before, and we're being tested one more time."
Rivera had strongly hinted this spring that the 2012 season could be his last, saying that he had already reached a decision about his baseball future and that it was "irrevocable." In a twist, he had even spoken about wanting to play center field in a Major League game for one batter before retiring, something Girardi fretted about because of the risk of injury.
But permitting Rivera to be in the outfield with other pitchers was never an issue, Girardi said.
"You have to allow him to be an athlete and be a baseball player and have fun out there," Girardi said. "I've never seen Mo do anything recklessly. I've never seen Mo dive or try to rob a home run, it's one of the ways he exercises. It's really unfortunate."
For most pitchers, the task of "shagging" in the outfield is something of a chore, helping gather up batted balls during batting practice. But Rivera always seemed to enjoy the exercise during his 18-year career, using the opportunity to prove his athletic skills are not limited just to the mound.
"I don't want to have it any other way," said Rivera, who has not been on the disabled list since 2003. "If it's gonna happen like that, at least let it happen doing what I love, you know? And shagging, I love to do. If I had to do it over again, I would do it again. No hesitation. There's reasons why it happens. You have to take it the way it is and fight, fight through it. Now we have to just fight."
Because of the retirement chatter, Rivera's future had been uncertain even before he laid under a Budweiser advertisement on a muggy Missouri afternoon, a billboard reading above him, 'Walk Off A Hero.'
But the Yankees were counting on having his services for at least the rest of this year, a season in which he had already compiled five saves -- the last of which came on Monday against the Orioles in New York -- to push his career total to 608.
Girardi said that he would sleep on how to patch his bullpen together, but it seems likely that Robertson will be pressed into service as the new closer, with Rafael Soriano elevated to eighth-inning duties. The Yankees have to find a way to get by without Rivera, perhaps forever.
"It's crazy. It's tough, but we'll do whatever we can to step up and try to fill the void of the best closer to ever play baseball," CC Sabathia said. "It's going to be real tough, but we have to keep going."
Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @bryanhoch and read his MLBlog,Bombers Beat. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League
Baseball or its clubs.

 

Can't believe that the great Mariano goes down shagging grounders in pre game. Terrible.

Picked up David Robertson in my fantasy league today though. He's a lights out setup guy, should be a great closer for the rest of the year.

 

"I'm coming back. Write it down in big letters," Rivera said. "I'm not going out like this."​

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I hope he does come back from it. ​

 

Okay, I hate the Yankees, but that really sucks. No one deserves to go out like that. Here's hoping for recovery before the season ends.



In other news, my Cincinnati boys are now 13-12. Awesome.

 

BoSox vs O's...bottom of the 17th, O's lead 9-6. Darnell McDonald (OF) gave up a 3 run shot in the top of the 17th. Chris Davis (Infielder) pitching for the O's.
And Adrian Gonzales just went 0-8 on the night so far.

edit: McDonald hit into a double play to end the game...Sox swept by the O's...god they suck this year...

 

Mariano Rivera has been an awesome pain in the ass to all Yankee haters for so long... tragic to see such a great competitor sidelined. I'd like to see him make a comeback if he can perform close to his accustomed level of excellence. He won't know until next spring, but I hope he's honest enough with himself to walk away with dignity if he hasn't got "it" anymore.

 

This may help the Yankee pitching staff a bit. But then again, he got knocked around by the Sox triple-A club, so who knows....


Andy Pettitte thrills record crowd at Frontier Field

Andy Pettitte talks about his pitching performance...: The star pitcher was inconsistent and left trailing the Pawtucket Red Sox, 5-2, in front of 13,584 fans at Frontier Field. Video by Marie De Jesus

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Written by​

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JIM MANDELARO​

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Staff writer​

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Purchase Image​

ZOOM​

Andy Pettitte pitches during baseball action between the Empire State Yankees and the Pawtucket Red Sox at Frontier Field in Rochester Sunday, May 6, 2012. / KRIS J. MURANTE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER​

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By the numbers​

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Here’s a by-the-numbers look at Andy Pettitte’s Sunday start at Frontier Field: ​

3.70 — Pettitte’s earned-run average in five minor-league starts. ​

12 — Media outlets who covered the game, including theNew York Post, Scranton Times and Buffalo News. ​

11 — Batters who reached base against Pettitte out of 24 faced. ​

89 — Pettitte’s fastest pitch, according to the Pitch Speed sign in left field. ​

13,485 — The old Frontier Field record for an official game, set on June 30, 1997, when Hideki Irabu pitched for Columbus against the Red Wings.​

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When Andy Pettitte was driving to Yankee Stadium to announce his retirement 15 months ago, he took a detour and found himself wandering the streets of New York.​

A driver in an SUV recognized the star left-hander and escorted him to the famous ballpark.​

Sunday afternoon, despite a minor-league start that was anything but smooth, Pettitte appeared to have found his way back to the Bronx.​

The left-hander, one month shy of his 40th birthday, threw an inconsistent but crowd-pleasing five innings for the Empire State Yankees in a 7-5 loss to the Pawtucket Red Sox before a standing-room-only, Pettitte-adoring crowd of 13,584 at sunny Frontier Field.​

That’s a stadium record for an official baseball game, and trails only the 13,723 who turned out to see Cal Ripken Jr. and the Baltimore Orioles play the Red Wings in 1997.​

“It was humbling,” Pettitte said during a news conference before about 30 people in the Silver Suite. “I appreciate it. Absolutely great.”​

Pettitte’s line: 5 innings, 8 hits, 5 runs, 3 earned runs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts and one very happy crowd.​

“I got my work in, but the feel for my off-speed stuff was just not there,” said Pettitte, who threw 59 strikes among his 92 pitches. “It’s good to get into trouble and have to work my way out.”​

Pettitte threw consistently around 86 mph, with a high of 89.​

Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli, who caught Pettitte plenty of times with New York the past three years, said the pitcher improved as the game went on.​

“The beginning was a little crazy, but he made adjustments,” Cervelli said. “He’s a warrior. He knows how to pitch.”​

Petttitte flew to New York after the game and expected to start Friday night for the Yankees against the Seattle Mariners.​

“It’s inevitable to get me up there and get me in the mix,” he said. “I’m ready, and I think they’re ready for me.”​

The first four batters of the game recorded hits before Pettitte thrilled the crowd with back-to-back strikeouts. Leadoff man Pedro Ciriaco and cleanup hitter Lars Anderson each collected two hits.​

Four of the hits off Pettitte were doubles.​

It was Pettitte’s sixth minor-league start this spring after ending a one-year retirement. Pettitte pitched his only 1-2-3 inning in the fifth. The crowd, sensing his departure, gave him a huge ovation and the veteran responded by tipping his cap and then waving with his gloved hand.​

But it wasn’t over. The crowd began chanting “Andy Pettitte! Andy Pettitte!” and the pitcher stepped out of the dugout to tip his cap again — the first curtain call in Frontier’s 16-year history.​

Empire State pitching coach Scott Aldred felt that Pettitte “didn’t have his best command.” Aldred perhaps summed it up best when asked about Pettite’s performance.​

“I’m not real sure what we’re expecting from him,” he said. “He hasn’t pitched in a year. I think he’s very competitive and things are likely to change when he gets to New York.​

“When that is, I don’t know.”​

JMAND@DemocratandChronicle.com ​

http://twitter.com/jmand1​

 

I turned down six tickets to Saturday's Cubs game. On one hand, it would have been an awful game to see based on the outcome. On the other hand it would have been an awful game to see based on the weather.

Sometimes it's easy to say "no" to front row seats.

 

Well, my braves got beat by the cubs last night. But it looked real cold there.

 

Yes I do.

 

I know how Maholm's game Sunday went, picked him up in my league. He looked great for about 3 innings. Then he started giving up home runs. Lost 0-6.

 

Just read where strasburg left the game the other day with tightness in his arm. Makes you wonder if he was worth all that money.

 

I think I read that it was minor tightness and they didn't even think it warranted an MRI. And baseball teams MRI everything.

 

Yes they do but you never know