Former Yankee Pitcher Hideki Irabu Found Dead
Former New York Yankee Hideki Irabu was found dead this morning. This is sad and stunning news for the tortured right hander, and reports are now out saying that he committed suicide.
In his rookie season in 1997, Irabu went 5-4 with a 7.09 ERA in 13 games (nine starts) for New York. In three seasons with the Yankees, he was 29-20 with a 4.80 ERA in 74 games (64 starts). Irabu has his best season in 1998, when he went 13-9 with a 4.06 ERA.
Irabu was never able to cut it completely in New York, and he was in and out of the news over the past several years for negative behavior. Either way, this is a sad ending for a former big leaguer, and our condolences go out to his family and friends.
New York Yankees Let Seattle Mariners Off of the Hook
There are other things that I’d like to discuss regarding the New York Yankees (61-41) so I’m not going to spend too much time recapping their series versus the Seattle Mariners (44-60). The bad news is that the New York Yankees allowed the Seattle Mariners to end their franchise long losing streak at 17 games. At least Felix Hernandez was on the hill and not one of their other lames (excluding Michael Pineda). I can’t stand it when the New York Yankees lose to whack starting pitchers. Anyway, the good news is that the New York Yankees did win the series and increased their lead in the Wild Card race over the Tampa Bay Rays during the series. A sweep would have been nice, but I’ll take two out of three more times than not. As Joe Girardi says, “if you keep winning series, you’ll end up as the champion” – or something like that. Another piece of good news is that Phil Hughes was decent. He definitely scattered some hits (nine in six innings) but all-in-all I wouldn’t call it a poor start.
Season Series vs. Mariners
3-3
New York Yankees In the Lead for Ubaldo Jimenez?
The New York Yankees won’t leave the Ubaldo Jimenez rumor mill, but who is surprised? Big names gravitate toward the New York Yankees and Ubaldo Jimenez is one of the biggest names on the trade market – if not the biggest. The New York Yankees, along with the Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox, have been rumored over the past week or so to be involved in negotiations with the Colorado Rockies. However, Danny Knobler at CBSsports.com says that the New York Yankees are the most likely to acquire Ubaldo Jimenez. Knobler tells us what most of us have already heard in that Brian Cashman has labeled LHP Manny Banuelos untouchable. Other prospects/youngsters like Jesus Montero, Austin Romine, Ivan Nova and Phil Hughes are mentioned as other names that could entice the Colorado Rockies to move their ace pitcher. Cashman has expressed and shown a reluctance to trade young players except for prime-time pieces. Ubaldo Jimenez is pretty prime-time if you ask me, but will it be enough to allow Cashman and the New York Yankees to loosen their vice grip on their top prospects?
New York Yankees Keeping Eyes on Chicago White Sox’ Edwin Jackson
The New York Yankees are mixed in with all sorts of rumors – especially those involving starting pitchers. The latest nugget that I’ve come across is that the New York Yankees had scouts at the Chicago White Sox game to watch RHP Edwin Jackson. A couple of months ago I talked in detail about some of the Chicago White Sox’ pitching and predicted that the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox would come together for a deal – specifically a deal for Edwin Jackson. The White Sox righty has been pitching pretty well of late and has lowered his ERA to 3.97 on the season. In his start against the Cleveland Indians yesterday, Edwin Jackson only surrendered two earned runs in six innings. Are the New York Yankees on the verge of making a move or is this just more smoke? (more…)
New York Yankees Look to Extend Seattle Mariners Losing Streak
The New York Yankees (59-40) took care of business this weekend against the Oakland Athletics (44-57). They didn’t pull off the sweep, but two out of three ain’t bad. I was a little disappointed that the New York Yankees were not able to finish off their ninth inning comeback in Saturday’s afternoon game, but you can’t really expect a lot of sweeps – not even against the Oakland A’s of the league. A more pressing matter for the New York Yankees is the ineffectiveness of Phil Hughes. He could not make it out of the fifth inning in his start on Friday night. He’s going to be a huge piece down the stretch as the New York Yankees push to secure a playoff spot and it would be nice for him to get into a nice groove.
Season Series vs. A’s
5-1
