Good morning!
As always, here's an extremely brief recap of last night's game before the real news. Tampa Bay topped the Yankees 3-2 despite a towering home run by Robinson Cano and a great performance by Bartolo Colon. However, fear not, as the Yankees still own a six game lead in the loss column over the Rays. Baltimore defeated Boston last night, so the Yankees remain only one game back in the loss column for the AL East race.
- Rafael Soriano took a big step in the right direction yesterday by pitching for the High-A Tampa Yankees. He pitched a scoreless first inning before running into some trouble in his second. He surrendered a home run and a single that would later score while recording another out before being pulled from the game. Earning that paycheck like a boss. Thanks to Kim Jones for the tweet on that.
- Here's an awesome article about the upcoming HOPE Week at Yankee Stadium that has become an annual event every July. This will be the third year for it and all the stories are very heartwarming. Teaser below.
Five different deserving organizations have been chosen, and each day various Yankees will go out and share some happy experience with the lucky recipients. Yes, absolutely every Yankee on the team has volunteered to spend time away from the park with people who have suffered some setback in life.
Last year, for example, Manager Joe Girardi went out to New Jersey, surprised an elderly blind Yankee fan, and came to the stadium with her and her guide dog exactly as she normally made the trip: 2 1/2 hours of train, subway and sidewalk.
I suggest you check out the article. It's very well written.
- Now this is interesting. Yankees centerfielder Curtis Granderson asks "Where are the black baseball fans?" Curtis, I'm not really sure how to answer that question. So I won't.
- We already discussed this yesterday, but Sergio Mitre was shelved on the disabled list with an illness. Chad Gaudin was also released by the Washington Nationals today. All we need now is Chan Ho Park and the 2010 bullpen could be nearly completely available for the Yankees!
Not much else going on in the Yankee Universe. Game is at 7:10 tonight.
Random question:
1) If you had to pick one reliever to get out of a bases loaded jam, which of the following would you choose? A) Chad Gaudin, B) Sergio Mitre, C) Chan Ho Park, D) Kyle Farnsworth, E) Kei Igawa. No, Nick Swisher is not an option.