Game 70: Yankees at Mets

                                  June 23rd, 2012, 7:15, Citi Field, Flushing, New York

The Yankees lost a tough one last night and they will play Game 2 of 3 against the Mets tonight.

Click Here for the probable pitchers for this series.

Here are the lineups:

Yankees (41-28)
Derek Jeter, SS
Curtis Granderson, CF
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Robinson Cano, 2B
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Nick Swisher, RF
Raul Ibanez, LF
Russell Martin, C
Ivan Nova, P

Pitching: Ivan Nova RHP (9-2, 4.32 ERA this season)

Mets (39-32)
Kirk Nieuwenhuis, CF
Jordany Valdespin, 2B
David Wright, 3B
Lucas Duda, RF
Daniel Murphy, 1B
Scott Hairston, LF
Omar Quintanilla, SS
Josh Thole, C
Chris Young, P

Pitching: Chris Young RHP (1-1, 3.06 ERA this season)


Enjoy the game!

Yanks' Drop Opener to Mets; Pettitte Struggles

Andy Pettitte delivers a pitch against the Mets Friday night. (Getty Images)

The Yankees weren't able to battle back against their early deficit as they fell to the Mets 6-4 Friday night.

Andy Pettitte started for the Yankees and he struggled early on. He gave up 5 runs in the first inning on 5 hits. The big hit was a three-run home run by Ike Davis. Pettitte would stay in the game and pitch 6 innings. He allowed 5 runs on 7 hits and struck out 6 batters. He issued 2 walks. He threw 102 pitches, 64 in which were for strikes.

Andy Pettitte was 1 for 2 at the plate with 1 strikeout.

The last time that Andy Pettitte allowed 5 or more runs in the first innng of a game was way back in September of 2001 in Toronto against the Blue Jays. They would end up losing that game 14-0.

The Yankee offense was quiet early on against Jon Niese. They had their chances early on to score, but couldn't come through with the big hit.

Alex Rodriguez got the Yankees on the board in the sixth inning with a solo home run that hit the big apple in center field. Andruw Jones hit a solo home run to left field in the 7th and Robinson Cano hit a mammoth two-run shot to right field in the eighth.

The Yankees would attempt to comeback against the Mets closer, Frank Francisco, in the ninth inning, but were to no avail.

Russell Martin hit a line drive to deep center field that was caught by Andres Torres. Raul Ibanez would walk and then Derek Jeter would single to left field. Curtis Granderson struck out on a fastball right down the middle and then Mark Teixeira would pop out to the shortstop, Ronny Cedeno.

The Yankees and Mets will play Game 2 tomorrow night.

Game 69: Yankees at Mets

                                 June 22nd, 2012, 7:10, Citi Field, Flushing, New York

The Yankees and Mets will meet in the Subway Series for the second time. The Yankees swept the Mets in the Bronx and they look to do so in Flushing. The Mets have increased the tension between the two teams with their comments about the Yankees.

Click Here for the probable pitchers for this series. 

Here are the lineups:

Yankees (41-27)
Derek Jeter, SS
Curtis Granderson, CF
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Robinson Cano, 2B
Nick Swisher, RF
Andru Jones, LF
Russell Martin, C
Andy Pettitte, P

Pitching: Andy Pettitte LHP (3-2, 2.77 ERA this season)

Mets (38-32)
Andres Torres, CF
Ronny Cedeno, SS
David Wright, 3B
Scott Hairston, LF
Lucas Duda, RF
Justin Turner, 2B
Ike Davis, 1B
Mike Nickeas, C
Jon Niese, P

Pitching: Jon Niese LHP (4-3, 3.82 ERA this season)

Enjoy the game!

Tension Rises Between Yankees and Mets

Joe Girardi and Terry Collins talk. (The Associated Press Photo)

2 weeks ago from today, the Yankees and Mets started the Subway Series in the Bronx. The Yankees ended up sweeping the series with the help of Russell Martin's walk-off homerun in the finale of the 3 game set. 

Terry Collins lashed out against Yankee Stadium bascially saying that the dimensions are too small.

"They can hit them out of here, too; it's just not quite as easy as it is over here."

You might say that the statement above isn't trash talking, but it does bring some tension to the plate for the second meeting between the two.

The Mets closer Frank Francisco has been doing some trash talking of his own lately when he called the Yankees "chickens".

"I can't wait to face those Chickens," Francisco said. "I want to strike out the side against them. I've done it before."

Francisco didn't answer the follow up question. He said that he "already said too much."

The Yankees and Mets will finish the Subway Series for the season on Friday at Citi Field.

--

Click Here for the probable pitchers for the series. 

Under the Hood: Chris Stewart

Chris Stewart crosses home plate in 2012 (The Associated Press Photo)

The Yankees traded for Chris Stewart before the season began, and they were focusing more on his defensive skills rather than his offensive skills.

Stewart has been behind the plate for the Yankees ace, C.C. Sabathia. Joe Girardi has stated that Stewart is not Sabathia's personal catcher, although Stewart has caught every start of Sabathia's besides Opening Day.

The Yankees weren't expecting much from Chris when he was at the plate. Stewart had a .204 batting average in 67 games for the Giants last year. He drove in 10 runs and had 33 hits in 162 at bats.

In his last 7 games, Stewart is posting a .375 batting average with 3 hits in 8 plate appearances. He has 2 doubles and has scored 1 run.

On the season, Stewart has played 20 games. In those 20 games, he has a .263 batting average with 15 hits in 57 plate appearances. He has drove in 7 runs and scored 6 runs. He has 3 doubles and 0 homeruns. 

Here is his line up to this point: .263/.276/.316/.592. (AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS)

You might be thinking that those numbers are below average, well those numbers are coming from a guy that starts every 5th day, or in some cases, a day game after a night game.

Francisco Cervelli batting in 2011. (Getty Images)

If you go back one year ago, Francisco Cervelli was the Yankees backup catcher. On June 21st, 2011, the Yankees were playing the Reds in Cincinnati. The game was postponed and there was a double header on June 22nd.

On June 22nd, 2011, Francisco Cervelli had started 20 games and had a .175 batting average. He drove in 11 runs and had scored 6 runs. He had 15 hits in 54 plate appearances. He has 2 doubles and a homerun.

Here is his line up to that point: .175/.238/.263/.501 (AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS)

Chris Stewart has a .993% fielding percentage this year and has thrown out 33% of the runners that attempt to steal on his. So far, he has thrown out 3 runners this year and 6 runner have stolen off of him. The league average is 27%.

If you all remember, Cervelli had a tough time throwing runners out. Last year, Cervelli through out 14% of the runners that were stealing. The league average last year was 28%. He allowed 24 runners to steal off of him and he only threw out 4 runners. His fielding percentage was .980. These stats are his total at the end of the year.

With many criticizing the move to send Francisco Cervelli down to the minor leagues before the season, maybe the move to acquire Chris Stewart will work in the Yankees favor.

In my defense, i am a Francisco Cervelli fan. I'm just saying that by looking at the stats, Chris Stewart has made a bigger impact than Francisco Cervelli had at this point last year.

Follow @YankeesAddict27