Anthony Arroyo's New York Knicks friend's fan blogs

John Sterling has been the radio personality for the New York Yankees for the past 15-20 years. His most popular call is when the Yankees finish off an exciting victory. He says, "Ballgame over. Yankees win! Thhhhhhhheeeeeeeee Yankees Winnnnnnnnnnnnn!" But what about when a Yankee hits a home run? He's come up with a few cool ones. Which one is your favorite? To see what it looks like from the booth, check this out!

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Continue reading "What is your favorite Home Run Call from New York Yankees Broadcaster John Sterling?"

Ball players and their fans are very superstitious creatures. Ballplayers will do anything to get a hitting streak going. Pitchers will do anything to get a winning streak going. The fans will go anything to get a rally going if their team is behind during a game. They'll do everything from not washing their socks, to putting tar on their helmets. When a pitcher is throwing a perfect game, the rest of the players stay away from him, thinking that their mere presence is going to mess up his chances to make that milestone. New York Yankees SS Derek Jeter, our beloved captain is very superstitious. If he or his team is approaching some kind of milestone that he is not aware of, he will dog the media and say that they jinxed the team by bringing it to his attention. Case in point: during a post-game interview a couple of days before the Yankees beat the 2006 Boston Red Sox team record for most consecutive games played without committing an error, Kimberly Jones brought it his attention. The first thing that he tells her is, "Why did you tell me that, it's bad karma, " then he answers the questions. In a commercial on the MLB Network, they show fans showing up at the gate to their favorite teams ballparks some of them have face-paint on. Others are dressed like Shamans carrying Voodoo beads. Come on, people. Enough with the superstitions all ready! How about praying for your team? I do it! Whenever the Yankees are behind in a game and they're rallying, I lean forward in my chair and put in my hands together and bring them to my face in a praying position thinking, sometimes saying, "Come on!" I do this because I believe it will bring God into the situation and the Yankees will bring home runs. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Either way, I praise the Lord because ultimately the game is in His hands. Only He knows the outcome, but I believe prayer does more than just spark up a rally a bring in runs.

Continue reading "Yankee fans for Jesus, arise! Pray for your team!"

The losing streak against the Red Sox continues. Yankee management needs to set up their rotation so that they have their best against against Boston. They need to come up with some kind of plan to keep the Boston offense in check every game. This losing is PATHETIC! Are the Yankees going to bow down to Boston all season, slide into the playoff picture via the Wild Card without beating them and spanking the other teams? It's been done before. During their World Series years (96, 98-2000), they were getting spanked by the Angels and they still won the World Series those years. Back to pitching, how can you set up a rotation where 2 opposing pitchers face off against each other back to back?  Every time A.J. Burnett takes on Boston this year so far, it's been against Josh Beckett. Are they going to do this again in their series against Boston in August and September? I hope not, Beckett seems to have A.J.'s number this year. How about putting in C.C. Sabathia against him? The Milwaukee Brewers worked him like a Hebrew slave in the time of Moses last year, pitching him on 3 days rest to win key games during the season. How come the Yankees can't do that? Unfortunately, Girardi's strategy is to keep the pitch count down on the rotation because he doesn't want to tire them out. Starting pitching needs to improve against the Red Sox. Mark Teixiera tried to get something going last night going 3 for 4, but the offense as usual fizzled out leading to a 5-4 Yankee lost. Oh well! Tonight, it's C.C. Sabathia against Brad Penny. Can even C.C. hold the Red Sox down in the early innings? Can Texieira, A-Rod, and the boys jump on Brad Penny's flamethrowing fastball? We'll find out tonight.

Continue reading "The Yankees need to get it together against the Bosox"

He's been a Yankee killer for the past few years. He is a big hero up in Boston. Big Papi, yeah! What's been going on with David Ortiz? Bill Simmons wrote an article in the June 15 issue of ESPN the Magazine that will please Yankee fans everywhere. He's been slumping big time. Mr. Simmons compared him to Clark Kent in Superman II when he lost his powers and ended up getting beat down by a bully. He also said that in a game against the Twins that Big Sloppy couldn't even keep up with a 89 mph fast ball. Red Sox fans are even jokingly saying that they need to mail him some HGH. Well, they can do that all they want because it looks like Big Papi has become Big Sloppy.

I first heard of David Ortiz back when he was with the Minnesota Twins. He totally stunk back then. It just seemed to me that every time he went against Yankee pitching he was an easy out. He was flat. 2004 came around and he just kept getting clutch hit after clutch hit for the Red Sox against the Yankees. I was like, "What's going on here? He totally sucked back in Minnesota. Come on! Get him!" I tell you the last few years, no one has caused me to shut off the TV in the middle of a Yankee game more than this guy. Now Yankee fans don't have anything to worry about. The Red Sox still have a tremendous amount of faith in this guy. They are diluted enough to think that he's going to come out of it. If all goes well tomorrow against the Red Sox with A.J. Burnett on the mound, expect to see David Ortiz somewhere towards the bottom of the batting order and him not able to keep up with any pitches. I mean c'mon, not being able to hit an 89 mph fast ball? My 5 year old son can hit an 89 mph fastball and he plays t-ball. Mr. Ortiz is going to be in trouble. Joba's going to be blowing it by him. Hughes is going to be blowing it by him. Even a slower Mariano Rivera is going to be blowing it by him. So Yankee fans rejoice! Big Sloppy is on his way out.

Continue reading "Scouting the opposition: "Big Sloppy" David Ortiz - 1B: Boston Red Sox"

He's won close to 20 games in each of his first three seasons. No pitcher in baseball history has gotten to 40 wins as fast as him. He's Chien-Ming Wang. This Taiwanese titan on the mound had a minor setback coming back from a foot injury this year. He didn't start too good this year posting an ERA of about 30.00. The average league ERA is about 5.00. It was determined that he had weakness in his hips. So Yankees management designated him to a rehab assignment down in Tampa. He came back last week out of the bullpen. After a few innings here and there to stretch him out much like Joe Girardi did with Joba Chamberlain last year after moving him from the bullpen. Now Wang is back in the rotation. Everybody is concerned. "Why is he back in the rotation?" they say. &qu

Continue reading "Wang is back in the rotation and Hughes goes to the bullpen"

Mariano Rivera is approaching 40. Retirement could come any year now. What are the Yankees' options? How about a switch pitcher? That's right. His name is Pat Venditte and he pitches both righty and lefty. You thought it was confusing enough with switch hitting. Rick Reilly wrote an interesting article for the May 18 issue of ESPN the magazine. According to the article, currently he's still in the Yankees farm system, pitching for the Single-A Charleston Riverdogs. Venditte's parents saw that he was doing everything both right-handed & left handed, so they fed it. His hispanic teammates call him "pulpo" which means octopus. I imagine it's because of the way he switches from 1 side to the other depending on whether the batter faced is righty or lefty.

Check him out warming up for the Staten Island Yankees:

Continue reading "Mariano Rivera's successor. Could it be switch-pitching Yankee prospect Pat Venditte?"

Every pitcher has that one team that bangs him around, hit after hit, homer after homer. He wants respect so what does he do? He decides to plunk an opposing batter. This is what Texas Rangers pitcher Vicente Padilla tried to do against the Yankees last night: try to get respect by plunking Mark Teixiera, not once, but twice. It backfired on him. All this did was spark a 7-run rally in the 4th inning for the Yankees. That home run by Hideki Matsui put the nail in the coffin on another Yankee win to keep them 1 game up on the Red Sox in the American League East. It prompted Mark Teixiera to shout, "That's what I'm talking about!" while congratulating Matsui after running the bases. A word to the wise to any pitcher thinking of plunking a player on the Yankees: they are a close kni

Continue reading "Vicente Padilla beat the Rangers last night, not the Yankees"

There's a lot of media out there stressing how the balls are flying out of Yankee stadium. Good! As long as the majority of the homers are off Yankee bats, I'm not worried. Our pitchers can handle it as long as the offense gives them plenty of run support and the relievers don't mess up. Granted, there have been more home runs at the new stadium than in any other ball park, but that's also been the case at Citizen's Bank Ballpark in Philadelphia, the home of the Phillies. They've made adjustments: removed a few seats here and pushed the wall back there. Balls are still flying out and who are the defending World Champions? The Philadelphia Phillies. Why? Because their many of their sluggers like Matt Stairs and Ryan Howard took advantage of it. I believe the Yankees can follow suit and do the same this year. Already their home run total is among tops in the American League. They've been swapping the team home run lead with the Texas Rangers the past week and a half now. Are you ready for a homerun derby between the Yankees and the Rangers the next 3 days? I sure am. I love home runs. The longer the homers, the better. Keep them coming A-Rod. Keep them coming Tex (Mark Teixiera). Oh what the heck! Keep them coming Josh Hamilton. We love 'em!

Continue reading "Balls flying out of Yankee Stadium. Should we worry?"

At the beginning of the season, a lot of people sounded off and criticized the Yankees about committing $400 million + C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Mark Teixeira. All three may have had shaky Aprils, but May was a complete turnaround for them. Sabathia has been pitching real good his past couple of starts. He was pretty much lights out against the Indians the other day. Pitching into trouble, getting out of it, and getting the win. Teixeira has been torrid every since Alex Rodriguez was put back in the line up. He's been getting his pitches and been hitting them out of the park. Yesterday was no different in the Yankee's loss to the Indians. A.J. Burnett has been pitching well. This past week he got his first win since mid-April. All along, it wasn't that he was pitching poorly. It was just that the bullpen wasn't holding leads for him and he would end up with no-decisions. All is well in Yankeeland. We are a 1/2 game into first place.

Continue reading "Offseason expenditures paying off for the Yankees. Joba pitching tonight"

Go Yanks! The Bronx Bombers continue their winning ways sporting the best away record in the AL. Only the Phillies and the Dodgers have better away records. Check out the standings. Tomorrow's pitching matchup is very interesting. Phil Hughes, who's been pitching really well lately, will go against Carl Pavano. Let me park on these 2 players for a second.

Phil Hughes - He's got a tremendous chip on his shoulder right now. Chien Ming Wang is knocking on the door for his old spot in the rotation before he went on the DL.  Can he continue to perform? It's questionable whether Joba will make his next start because of his knee. Do you think if Joba ends up on the DL, that both Hughes & Wang will be in the rotation?

Carl Pavano - After a disappointing tenure with the Yankees plagued with injuries, he goes to hill tomorrow afternoon. This is the 2nd time we're facing him this year. The 1st time around, the Yankees won. Not sure whether it was loss for him or a no decision though. The consensus is that he's been playing pretty good for the Indians. This is very disappointing to me considering all the money we spent on him the past 3-4 years. Why now of all times? We really could have used his arm more during those years. It could have made a difference in us making it farther into the playoffs. Sorry Carl. I hope the Yankee offense pounds you to pulp tomorrow afternoon.

Continue reading "Yankees win & Red Sox lose yet again. Lead up to 1.5 games. Hughes vs. Pavano tomorrow"