Start Spreadin the News!

November 4th, 2009    Posted in Krnsports, MLB

Andy Pettitte did his job, and pitched 6 strong innings as the New York Yankees won their 27th world series by beating the Philidelphia Phillies 7-3 on Wednesday night.

“Winning it in Boston was amazing, but to come here and win it again, its an outstanding feeling.” stated Yankees fielder Johnny Damon, who was part of the 2004 Boston Red Sox world series champions.

Hideki Matsui hit a 2 runI homer, and the Yankees never lost that lead, he also added another 4 onto that tally.

Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez helped the Yankees wrap up a most successful season in their first year at the new $1.5 billion Yankee Stadium, in which they won their first world series since 2000.

After losing game 1, the yankees won games 2, 3, and 4, then lost game 5 at the hand of Cliff Lee, then went back to New York to take home the crown, under the wing of Andy Pettitte.

For Chase Utley and the Phillies, it was a frustrating end to another scintillating season. Philadelphia fell two wins short of becoming the first NL team to repeat as World Series champions since the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds.

Jorge Posada, Jeter, Pettitte and Rivera came up together through the minors and were cornerstones for those four titles in five years starting in 1996.

New York’s eight seasons without a championship was the third-longest stretch for the Yankees since their first one, following gaps of 17 (1979-95) and 14 (1963-76).

It had been nearly a half-century since players had won five titles with one team. The last to do it? Of course a bunch of Yankees: Yogi Berra (10 titles), Mickey Mantle (seven) and Whitey Ford (six) in 1962, according to STATS LLC.

Hideki Matsui took home the World Series MVP, being the only MVP to ever be a full time designated hitter, Matsui went 8-13.

Cliffhanger

November 2nd, 2009    Posted in Krnsports, MLB

FOXNews

PHILADELPHIA —  Chase Utley hit two home runs to raise his World Series total to a record-tying five, Cliff Lee won again and the Philadelphia Phillies staved off elimination with an 8-6 victory over the New York Yankees in Game 5 on Monday night.The Phillies hung on to close their deficit to 3-2. The Yankees scored three times in the eighth inning and put two runners on in the ninth before Derek Jeter grounded into a double play.

Utley hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the first off A.J. Burnett and added a solo shot in the seventh. Utley joined Reggie Jackson as the only players to hit five home runs in a single World Series.

Game 6 is Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, with Andy Pettitte pitching for New York against Pedro Martinez.

Burnett, who was pitching on short rest, allowed six runs, four hits and four walks in just two-plus innings, it was his shortest starting outing since 2007.

Pettitte will be pitching game 6, and for the possible game 7 Yankees ace C.C. Sabathia will be pitching.

No team has won a world series with 3 starting pitchers since 1991, when the Minnesota Twins won the world series.

Mark Texiera went 1 for 5 with a double late in the 8th inning, the Yankees were down 8-2 at one point, but fought and the game ended with an 8-2 win for the Phillies.

 

 

It took just eight pitches for Burnett to give up the lead, giving Phillies fans reason to wave those white rally towels.

Jimmy Rollins singled up the middle on the sixth pitch of his at-bat and, with Rollins running, Victorino squared and was hit in the hand by a pitch. Utley put the next pitch into the right-field seats.

Burnett got in more trouble in the third, when he walked Utley and Ryan Howard, then gave up run-scoring singles to Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez that put Philadelphia ahead 5-1 and finished Burnett’s night. Carlos Ruiz added an RBI grounder against David Robertson.

New York made it 6-2 in the fifth, helped by a strange decision by Howard. Pinch-hitter Eric Hinske — who homered for the Phillies in last year’s Series — walked with one out and took third on Jeter’s single. Damon hit a slow roller in front of first and Howard gloved it as Hinske held, then retreated to the bag for the putout as Hinske scored.

NOTES: Hinske appeared for Boston in the 2007 Series and joined Don Baylor (1986-88) as the only players to appear in three straight Series with three different teams

Yankees soar in game 3

October 31st, 2009    Posted in Krnsports, MLB

Associated Press

Philidelphia –  The camera never blinked but it did play a role in the two-run homer by Alex Rodriguez when video technology was used to reverse a call for the first time in World Series history.

A-Rod hit a disputed drive in the right-field corner that clanked off the lens of a TV camera above the wall at Citizens Bank Park, sparking the Yankees to an 8-5 victory Saturday night and a 2-1 series lead.

Rodriguez, who also homered in the first regular-season use of replay last year, hit an opposite-field shot with the Yankees trailing host Philadelphia 3-0 in the fourth inning.

“Well, it’s only fitting, right?” Rodriguez said.

Mark Teixeira was on first base with one out when Rodriguez sent an 0-1 pitch down the line off 2008 World Series MVP Cole Hamels, and the ball bounded back on the field.

Rodriguez stopped at second base, with Teixeira holding at third, and A-Rod signalled home run with his hand.

After Yankees manager Joe Girardi came out, the umpires convened and then went inside to check replays as Rodriguez spoke with Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, who had trailed him to second on the play.

About one minute later, they emerged and signalled home run, bringing New York within a run and prompting the crowd to boo.

“Our coaches started yelling they thought it hit the camera,” he said. “My eyes aren’t great, so it was hard for me to see.”

Even Matthew McGahan, the 29-year-old cameraman from Long Beach, N.Y., didn’t know for sure.

“I felt the ball hit the camera, but did not see the ball hit it,” he said. “I had no way of knowing whether it was a home run, or not.”

Baseball began employing video review starting in August 2008, with the umpires consulting replays shown from a control centre at Major League Baseball Advanced Media in New York.

In its first use, a home run by Rodriguez at Tampa Bay was upheld on Sept. 3, 2008. This was the first-ever use of technology in a post-season game.

Fox Television had 20 cameras covering the game and their positions were approved by Major League Baseball and the umpires, network spokesman Lou D’Ermilio said.

Rodriguez’s sixth post-season homer tied New York’s post-season record, set by Bernie Williams in 1996.

It stopped an 0-for-8 series slide for Rodriguez that included six strikeouts and was the Yankees’ team-record 17th homer of the post-season, one more than it hit in 1996, 2001 and 2003.

All five previous home runs in this year’s Series had been solo shots. Nick Swisher and Hideki Matsui homered for the Yankees later in the game.

“This was my first time coming to this ballpark. It just seems like you’re going to have a slugfest a lot,” Swisher said. “It was a great day for us.”

Added Pettitte, “It was an absolute grind tonight, that’s for sure. I can’t remember winning a game where I’ve struggled like I did tonight. So it’s very gratifying.”

The Phillies host Game 4 on Sunday.

Yankees even series with 3-1 win over Phillies

October 29th, 2009    Posted in Krnsports, MLB

NEW YORK — When the Yankees signed both A.J. Burnett and CC Sabathia, they bought themselves a potent combination they could stack at the top of the rotation. Together, they could provide new protection from losing streaks.

Call it a $243.5 million insurance policy.

In their first season in pinstripes, they delivered. Entering play on Thursday, Burnett and Sabathia pitched back-to-back 19 times. Only once — with the team in the clutches of an offensive swoon in June — did a team manage to beat both of them. And in Game 2 of the World Series, the Yankees cashed in on that policy yet again.

Burnett outdueled Yankees nemesis Pedro Martinez, beating the Phillies, 3-1, and saving the Yankees from the possibility of going on the road trailing the best-of-seven series two games to none.

Mariano Rivera closed out the game, pitching two scoreless innings as Yankees manager Joe Girardi avoided using the rest of his struggling relievers.

A loss could have been devastating for the Yankees.

Of the 51 teams that have fallen behind 0-2, only 11 came back to win the World Series. A notable exception came in 1996, when the Yankees kick-started their dynasty by coming back to win four straight to unseat the Braves as world champions.

“I do think this is an important game, I really do, because you don’t want to go there down two games to zero,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said before the game. “But I was also part of a club that was down two games to zero and we were going to see (Tom) Glavine, (John) Smoltz and (Greg) Maddux again. And we rebounded from that.”

Now, the Yankees won’t have to.

While Martinez garnered most of the attention — he made his sixth postseason start against the Yankees — it was Burnett who figured most prominently in the result.

The Yankees’ right-hander allowed just one run in seven innings, retiring 11 of the final 12 batters he faced. He walked three and struck out nine.

The Yankees needed Burnett at his best against Martinez, who struck out eight before leaving the game in the seventh inning.

After failing to homer in back-to-back games for the first time in the history of Yankee Stadium, they used the long ball to take the lead.

With the Yankees down 1-0, Mark Teixeira hit a solo homer off Martinez in the fourth. In the sixth, Hideki Matsui followed with one of his own.

The Yankees made it 3-1 in the seventh when Jorge Posada, pinch-hitting for Burnett’s personal catcher , Jose Molina, singled home a run. Jerry Hairston Jr., who replaced the slumping Nick Swisher in the lineup, started the rally with a leadoff single before he came around to score.

The Yankees could have had more if not for what appeared to be the latest blown call by umpires in the playoffs. With one out and runners on first and second, Johnny Damon hit a liner to Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard.

Replays showed that Howard fielded the ball on the hop. His reaction — he threw to second base — seemed to indicate as much. Instead, umpires ruled that Howard caught the ball on the fly. Shortstop Jimmy Rollins caught Howard’s throw and tagged second base, a double play.

The botched play could have loomed large as Rivera allowed a walk and single in the eighth. But he got out of the jam. And for the sixth time in the postseason, the Yankees came back to win.

Phillies outlast Yankees, take game 1

October 28th, 2009    Posted in Krnsports, MLB

 

Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) — Cliff Lee took a shutout into the ninth inning and Chase Utley hit two solo home runs as the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the New York Yankees 6-1 in the opening game of the World Series.

Lee tossed a six-hitter to beat former Cleveland teammate CC Sabathia and send New York to its first loss of the Major League Baseball postseason at Yankee Stadium.

Utley homered in the third and sixth innings, and the defending champion Phillies tacked on four runs over the final two innings to win the World Series opener for the second straight year. The Game 1 winner has captured the World Series six straight times and 11 of the past 12 seasons.

Overall, the Game 1 winner has captured the World Series 62 percent of the time since 1903. The Yankees were defeated in their previous two World Series appearances, in 2001 and 2003, after losing Game 1 in both.

Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is scheduled for tomorrow at Yankee Stadium, where A.J. Burnett will pitch for New York against the Phillies’ Pedro Martinez.

The Phillies are looking to become the first National League team to repeat as World Series champions since the Cincinnati Reds in 1975-76, while the Yankees are seeking their record-extending 27th world championship and first since 2000.

Bloomberg) — Cliff Lee took a shutout into the ninth inning and Chase Utley hit two solo home runs as the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the New York Yankees 6-1 in the opening game of the World Series.

Lee tossed a six-hitter to beat former Cleveland teammate CC Sabathia and send New York to its first loss of the Major League Baseball postseason at Yankee Stadium.

Utley homered in the third and sixth innings, and the defending champion Phillies tacked on four runs over the final two innings to win the World Series opener for the second straight year. The Game 1 winner has captured the World Series six straight times and 11 of the past 12 seasons.

Overall, the Game 1 winner has captured the World Series 62 percent of the time since 1903. The Yankees were defeated in their previous two World Series appearances, in 2001 and 2003, after losing Game 1 in both.

Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is scheduled for tomorrow at Yankee Stadium, where A.J. Burnett will pitch for New York against the Phillies’ Pedro Martinez.

The Phillies are looking to become the first National League team to repeat as World Series champions since the Cincinnati Reds in 1975-76, while the Yankees are seeking their record-extending 27th world championship and first since 2000.

No room for errors!

October 25th, 2009    Posted in Krnsports, MLB

Bronx, NY (Sports Network) – The Yankees scored three runs in the fourth to back six-plus solid innings from Andy Pettitte, and New York stamped its ticket to the World Series with a 5-2 win over the Angels in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series.

Pettitte tossed 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball, making the Yankees’ three-run fourth inning hold up to earn his 16th career postseason victory, the most in history.

Mariano Rivera made things interesting by giving up a run in the eighth to cut the lead to one, but the Yankees took advantage of a pair of Angels errors in the bottom of the eighth to stretch the lead back to two. Rivera closed the game with a scoreless ninth, clinching the club’s first trip to the World Series since 2003 and putting an end to the thoughts of another dreadful ALCS collapse.

The Yankees won the best-of-seven series, 4-2, avoiding a do-or-die Game 7 and giving them two days off before the defending champion Phillies invade the Bronx for Game 1 of the Fall Classic on Wednesday night. CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee – former Cleveland teammates and the past two AL Cy Young winners – will square off in Game 1.

For Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Rivera, the return to the World Series marks their chance at one for the thumb, while stars such as Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira will be making their first-ever trip to the Fall Classic.

A-Rod finished the series with a .429 average (9-for-21) with three home runs and six RBI, giving him a .437 average (14-for-32), five homers and 12 RBI in nine games t his postseason, erasing his reputation for disappearing in the playoffs. More importantly, it leaves him four wins from his first championship ring.

The Yankees stranded five runners on base in the first two innings, taking Angels starter Joe Saunders off the hook twice.

The Angels snapped the scoreless tie in the third, getting a leadoff double by Jeff Mathis – who else” – to start the rally, the seventh hit in the catcher’s last eight at-bats, five of them going for doubles. Bobby Abreu hit a hard single to right with two outs, driving in Mathis to give the Angels a 1-0 lead.

Robinson Cano walked to open the fourth inning and Swisher poked a single through the hole between shortstop and third, setting up another Yankees rally. Melky Cabrera bunted the runners to second and third, Derek Jeter walked, loading the bases for a second time for Damon.

Dodging the Dodgers, Again

October 21st, 2009    Posted in Krnsports, MLB

PHILADELPHIA - 

Series

PHILADELPHIA — Powered by Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth and all those other big bats, the Philadelphia Phillies are headed back to the World Series.

 

Werth hit two home runs, Shane Victorino and Pedro Feliz also connected and the defending champions beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-4 in Game 5 on Wednesday night to win their second straight NL pennant.

Brad Lidge closed it out and the Phillies became the first team to reach consecutive World Series since the New York Yankees in 2000-01.

Now, Jimmy Rollins and crew wait for their next opponent. They’ll go for their third World Series title beginning next Wednesday night at New York or Los Angeles. The Yankees lead the Angels 3-1 in the ALCS, which resumes Thursday night at Angel Stadium.

Yankees one win away from World Series

October 21st, 2009    Posted in Krnsports, MLB

Yankees, Angels complete sweep of their series

October 11th, 2009    Posted in Krnsports, MLB

BLOOMBERG.COM

Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) — Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada hit seventh-inning home runs as the New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 4-1 to reach to the American League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Angels.

The Yankees trailed 1-0 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis before Rodriguez and Posada hit opposite-field homers off Twins starting pitcher Carl Pavano. Posada and Robinson Cano added run-scoring singles in the ninth inning.

Andy Pettitte allowed one run in 6 1/3 innings to pick up the win for the Yankees, who completed a three-game sweep of the best-of-five AL Division Series. It’s the first time New York has won a Major League Baseball playoff series since 2004.

The Yankees will next face the Angels in the best-of-seven ALCS for a spot in the World Series. The Angels swept their division series against the Boston Red Sox by scoring three runs in the ninth inning for a 7-6 win earlier today.

In tonight’s other playoff game, the Colorado Rockies host the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 3 of their National League Division Series at Coors Field. The teams split the first two games in Philadelphia.

Pavano and Pettitte were locked in a pitchers’ duel over the first six innings at the Metrodome.

Pavano, who was with the Yankees from 2004-07 but was limited to 26 starts by injuries, allowed three hits and struck out eight over the first six innings. Pettitte shut out the Twins until the bottom of the sixth, when he allowed a two-out, run-scoring single to Joe Mauer.

Opposite-field homers

The Yankees finally got to Pavano in the seventh, when Rodriguez hit a full-count pitch over the right-centerfield fence for his second homer of the series. Posada followed two batters later with an opposite-field homer of his own into the first row of seats in left-center.

Rodriguez, who drove in one run for the Yankees in his previous three postseasons, went 5-for-11 against the Twins with two homers and six runs batted in.

New York maintained its one-run lead after a base-running gaffe by Nick Punto in the eighth inning.

After leading off the inning with a double off reliever Phil Hughes, Punto was thrown out at third when he was caught off the base following an infield single by Denard Span.

The Twins’ bullpen gave up two runs in the ninth, with three relievers issuing consecutive walks before Posada and Cano delivered run-scoring singles off Joe Nathan. Mariano Rivera got the final four outs to close out the Yankees’ victory.

Pettitte’s win was his 15th all-time in the postseason, tying John Smoltz for the most in major league history.

Angels Sweep Red Sox

The Angels overcame a 5-1 deficit at Fenway Park in Boston to complete their sweep.

Los Angeles’s winning rally came with two outs in the ninth inning against Red Sox relief pitcher Jonathan Papelbon, who hadn’t allowed a run in his first 26 playoff innings. Bobby Abreu had a run-scoring double to cut Boston’s lead to 6-5 and Vladimir Guerrero followed two batters later with a two-run single to give the Angels their first lead.

“That’s why you play nine innings,” Torii Hunter of the Angels said in a televised interview. “We battled against a good ball club, a good pitching staff and we came through.”

After winning the first two games in Anaheim, the Angels gave up three runs in the third inning and trailed 5-1 after four innings. Los Angeles got a run back in the sixth and then pulled within 5-4 on Juan Rivera’s two-run single in the eighth before Mike Lowell singled in a run for Boston in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Papelbon got the first two outs in the ninth, putting the Red Sox within an out of forcing a fourth game.

Erick Aybar singled, Chone Figgins walked and Abreu, who was 3-for-5, followed with a double to deep left field. Hunter was intentionally walked to load the bases and Guerrero’s single scored Figgins and Abreu to silence the crowd of 38,704.

The Angels lost to the Red Sox in the ALDS in 2004, 2007 and 2008.

Dodging the Cardinals

October 10th, 2009    Posted in Krnsports, MLB

ST. LOUIS – Unemployed in August, Vicente Padilla kept the Los Angeles Dodgers going in October.

The second-chance pitcher shut down Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals with a 5-1 victory Saturday night, putting the Dodgers back in the National League championship series.

“Anytime you win a series it’s good,” Casey Blake said. “But to sweep the Cardinals, it just doesn’t happen. I would have never guessed we would have swept them.”

Andre Ethier missed the cycle by a single, Manny Ramirez had three hits and two RBIs and the Dodgers didn’t need help this time from another St. Louis fielding blunder to sweep their division series opponent for a second straight season. Los Angeles scored all five runs with two outs.

Pujols and Matt Holliday were a combined 2 for 8 with a late RBI for the Cardinals, who never recharged after becoming the first National League team to clinch a division title. St. Louis was 1-9 after wrapping up the NL Central, and was swept for the first time in the division series or NLCS play and only for the third time overall in the postseason.

“From the get-go, they beat us to the punch all night,” manager Tony La Russa said. “So give them credit.”

Pujols, 3 for 10 with an RBI and no extra-base hits in the series, left Busch Stadium without speaking to reporters.

Closer Jonathan Broxton struck out Rick Ankiel for the last out and pumped his fist as the Dodgers ran out to the mound to celebrate becoming the first team to advance to the championship series. They await the winner of the Philadelpia-Colorado series that is even at a game apiece. The Phillies beat Los Angeles in the NLSC last season in five games.

Padilla, designated for assignment by the Rangers in early August, was 4-0 the final month with the Dodgers before shutting down the Cardinals on four hits over seven innings in his first career postseason appearance. After escaping a bases-loaded jam in the first inning he was dominant, retiring 19 of 21 hitters against a team he last faced in 2003.

“Big lineup,” Padilla said through an interpreter. “I just tried to make the pitches that I knew I capable of throwing.”

The Dodgers were already up 3-0 in the third inning when starter Joel Pineiro dropped Pujols’ simple toss at first for an error on James Loney’s grounder for the lifeless Cardinals, who were beset by bad play this series.

Holliday, who dropped a fly ball for what would have been the final out of Game 2, got a standing ovation from a sellout crowd of 47,296 before his first at-bat with two men on and one out in the first. Then he tapped out to the mound. Pfft.

Ramirez, only 1 for 8 the first two games amid suggestions by manager Joe Torre that he was trying too hard, gave the Dodgers the early lead with a two-out RBI double in the first.

“I was just was trying to be more aggressive,” Ramirez said. “Anything on the plate, I was ready for.”

Ethier, who had only one homer in the last 12 games of the regular season, jumped on a 3-1 pitch for a two-run shot that made it 3-0 in the third. It was his second homer of the series.

“To show up now and contribute and be a main guy, it’s nice to come through,” Ethier said.

Ronnie Belliard singled to start the fourth, stole second and scored on Rafael Furcal’s single for a 4-0 cushion.

That was more than enough for the Dodgers, who were 2-5 against the Cardinals during the regular season with all the games played when St. Louis was its best.

Joel Pineiro, a 15-game winner and the last of the Cardinals’ big three starters to come up empty, allowed four runs in four innings in an outing that matched his shortest of the season. The sinkerball specialist allowed only 11 homers in the regular season, but surrendered five in his last three starts.

The Cardinals’ demise, though, was due to the failure of an offense beefed up with the acquisitions of Holliday, Mark DeRosa and Julio Lugo since late June. St. Louis was 4 for 30 (.133) with runners in scoring position against an underrated Dodgers pitching staff, totaling six runs and stranding 28 runners.

One of them, Yadier Molina, doubled with one out in the seventh and than ran into an easy out on a groundball in front of him.

Furcal, the Dodgers’ leadoff man, had two hits and was 7 for 12 in the series with two RBIs. Ethier was 6 for 12 with three RBIs after getting no RBIs in his first 37 career postseason at-bats.

John Smoltz struck out five in two innings. The Cardinals finally broke through on Pujols’ run-scoring single off Broxton in the eighth.

The Cardinals totaled three or fewer runs in 18 of their last 33 games. They fell to 6-2 in division series in 14 seasons under La Russa.

“I’ve ended playoffs 14 times this way,” Smoltz said. “It’s never easy. You always think you’re going to win the next game.”

NOTES: Matt Morris, who pitched for five Cardinals postseason teams, threw out the ceremonial first pitch with Chris Carpenter on the receiving end. … Attendance of 47,296 was the largest at 4-year-old Busch Stadium. … Cardinals 3B DeRosa played for the Cubs last year and has been on the wrong end of Dodgers first-round sweeps the last two years.