Posts Tagged ‘Victor Martinez’

The New York Yankees got past Cleveland, 5-2, on a good pitching performance from Joba Chamberlain.  The sluggish Indians offense could only muster four hits against Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera, who pitched a perfect ninth to earn the save.

Half of Cleveland’s runs were scored on a Victor Martinez homer.  Martinez was doubtful to even play as he has a bruised right knee and sat yesterday.  He managed to DH and zinged Chamberlain’s only big mistake out of the park.

This is the last game between the two teams for this regular season.  The Yankees set a record for going 18 straight games without an error.  An unnanounced promotion, Alfred Hitchcock night, took place in right field as birds flooded Progressive Field.  Oddly enough, two years ago in the AL playoffs, you might recall Chamberlain being swarmed by bugs.  Joba sure knows how to cater to the Cleveland wildlife.

The Yankees got a two-RBI double from Nick Swisher and A-Rod had an RBI single.  Cleveland pitching gave up 11 walks, so the Yankees always had runners on throughout the game. 

For Cleveland, Shin Soo Choo stole a couple of bases.  Rafael Betancout joins Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner on the DL.  The Indians also released Davis Dellucci before the game. 

Been a crazy and hectic week.  Sorry for a couple of days of nothing new, I will hit it hard over the next couple of days.  I attended The Mahoning Valley Thunder practice earlier today and did a few short interviews with players and coaches to be featured over the next few weeks.  Without further ado… here are some great stories from other sites!

Sidney Crosby Doesn’t Have A Dark Side Or Kick Puppies * PSAMP
Author Bill Reynolds Discusses 1978 And Boston Baseball * Hugging Harold Reynolds
Briny Baird Hits Bullseye From 300′ Elevated Tee * Steady Burn
NBA Rookies: Here Is The money , Don’t Talk During The Commercials * NESW Sports
Seperated At Birth: NBA Playoffs Part 2 * Fansided
The 5 Scariest Ice Skating Lacerations Of All Time * Total Pro Sports
Did The Celtics Choke Or Puke On Themselves? * Zoner Sports
Washington Nationals Having All Sorts Of Problems and more * Sports Rubbish
The Top-10 Undrafted NBA Players * Hoop Doctors
5 Things The Indians Have To Differently To Get Better * Sports2Debate
“The Happy Youngster” Needs To Be Real * Detroit4Lyfe
Nuggets And WWE In A Smackdown Over Who Will Be On The Arena Floor Monday Night * FOX Sports
Jon Gruden Newest MNF Announcer: Chuck In The Box * Gear Up For Sports
Athletes And Their Ridiculous Cars * YepYep
Will The Indians Trade Victor Martinez? * Tribe Daily
Whats Wrong With Jimmy Rollins? * Baseball Reflections
NBA Conference Finals Schedule * Talk Hoops
Penguins Hockey Coverage * The Program
NBA Photo Caption Contest * In Game Now
NBA Western Conference Finals Preview * Sharapova’s Thigh

The New York Yankees opened the doors to their new home for the first time.  The Cleveland Indians were supposed to be the sacrificial lamb to help aid the baptism of a new park.  Cleveland turned out to be the rudest of guests, scoring nine times in the 7th inning and riding their best pitching start of the year to slap the Yankees,  10-2.

Cliff Lee looked sharp for six innings giving up just a homer to Jorge Posada.  Lee gave up seven hits and struck out four lowering his season ERA to 6.75.  Other than Posada’s bomb, Lee seemed to have good stuff and bent but didn’t break.  This has to be, by far, the best effort by a starting pitcher for The Tribe in all ten games.

Grady Sizemore had a grand slam and Victor Martinez homered for Cleveland as well.  Martinez is batting .381 and has been consistently productive.  Kelly Shoppach tacked on a couple of hits.

First Bank of Steinbrenner investment known as CC Sabathia, an overweight and overpaid baseball pitcher who happens to be worth half as much as the entire Florida Marlins roster, went 5 2/3 giving up five hits and walking five.  Sabathia didn’t figure into the decision.

Few things should make Cleveland sports fans happier than what happened in New York today.  The Indians, playing with their backs against the wall, played a complete game against the financially secure bullies.  This may well be the wake-up call Eric Wedge was hoping for. 

I’m sure Yankee fans everywhere will be making excuses, they have gotten really good at that in the last few years.  “What do you expect, we didn’t have A-Roid“, will be a popular one.  Here is one for the Yankee faithful from me.  One of your worst investments in recent times, and there have been plenty, failed to pitch his team to victory today.

Bonus: Mark Shapiro will bring in someone for the playoff push. That someone is going to be Roy Halladay. Another long reach here, but the Blue Jays are going to be unloading salary when they are eliminated by the break this year. Cleveland will look to add one more big arm for the push!