Tag Archives: Yankee Stadium

10 Sep

fizzling finish

The big game on Monday’s MLB docket was Kansas City-New York, a battle between two playoff-bound clubs at Yankee Stadium. It proved to be a big disappointment for the visiting Royals. The KC bullpen — namely Ole Miss alum James McArthur and Mississippi State product Chris Stratton — imploded, handing the Yankees a 10-4 victory. New York leads the American League East by 1.5 games; Kansas City sits second in the AL Central and the wild card race. A home run by ex-MSU star Hunter Renfroe — his 13th — gave the Royals a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning. In the bottom of the seventh, with one out, McArthur — the team’s former closer — came on to face the top of the New York order. Gleyber Torres singled, Juan Soto walked, Aaron Judge singled in the tying run and Austin Wells hit a three-run bomb: 7-4 Yankees. Down goes McArthur. It was his seventh blown save in 25 chances; his record fell to 5-7 and his ERA jumped to 5.01. “We know that is a big spot in the game,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said in an mlb.com article. “We felt really good about him there. It was just one of those nights he wasn’t able to put them away.” It was still 7-4 in the eighth when Stratton came on. He gave up four hits, a walk and three runs, pretty much ending any hopes the Royals might have had of a ninth-inning rally. Tupelo native Stratton, who won a ring with Texas last year, saw his ERA balloon to 5.34. The Royals get two more cracks in this series at the AL’s top team.

09 May

good luck

Here’s hoping that Brent Rooker’s memorable appearance on MLB Network’s MLB Central show this morning won’t be some kind of jinx for the great season he is having. The former Mississippi State star, who leads the big leagues in OPS and has 10 homers in 29 games, did the breakdown segment with Mark DeRosa. Rooker was insightful, engaging and funny. The hosts jokingly invited him to stick around and do some more network shows later in the day. He talked about the swing changes he made at State before his junior year in 2017, when he was the SEC’s player of the year, Triple Crown winner, Ferriss Trophy recipient and 35th overall draft pick. He also noted the commitment he made last spring to an open stance and a pull mentality. “That’s what I’m good at. That’s what’s going to keep me (in pro ball),” Rooker said. Oakland is Rooker’s fourth stop on the MLB circuit. After getting limited chances at the other three, he seems to have found a niche with the A’s. Rooker and Co. face the New York Yankees tonight at the stadium. Here’s hoping he doesn’t go 0-for-4. P.S. On this date in 1996, Russ Johnson of the Jackson Generals hit for the cycle in a Texas League game against Wichita at Smith-Wills Stadium. It was the first cycle for a Generals player since the Houston Astros placed their Double-A club in Jackson in 1991. Making it even more unique: There was a promotional photo giveaway that night and, yes, Johnson was the featured player.

23 Apr

denied

The anticipation was high. Kirk McCarty, the ex-Southern Miss star from Hattiesburg, was scheduled to make his big league debut today, starting on the bump against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. It’s not happening. Cal Quantrill has come off the COVID-19 list and will get the ball for Cleveland. McCarty, brought up from Triple-A earlier in the week, might still get in the game as a reliever, of course, but a start against Aaron Judge and Co. would have been so much cooler. (In Friday’s game, a Cleveland loss, Mississippi State alum Konnor Pilkington threw two scoreless innings in relief for the Guardians in his third big league game. He has yet to yield a run.) … In other MLB news: Former State standout Nathaniel Lowe extended his hit streak to eight games, raised his average to .412 — tops in the American League — and belted his first home run in Texas’ win against Oakland. … Anthony Alford, the former Mr. Baseball from Petal, made his 2022 debut for Pittsburgh, coming off a rehab assignment, and went 0-for-3 as the leadoff batter at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. The Pirates won the game over the Cubs 4-2, with ex-State star Chris Stratton getting the save. … Ex-East Central Community College standout Tim Anderson was handed a one-game suspension for flipping off the Cleveland crowd in a game on Wednesday. Anderson issued an apology, then appealed the suspension and played Friday. He went 0-for-4 and his eighth-inning throwing error — his sixth E in three games — proved costly in the Chicago White Sox’s 2-1 loss to Minnesota. MSU alum Kendall Graveman suffered the blown save and took the loss in that game.

08 Sep

must see tv

Tonight’s marquee game in the big leagues has to be Toronto at New York, slated to be televised by MLB Network at 6:05 CDT from Yankee Stadium. Three Mississippians are among the cast: McComb natives and Mississippi junior college products Corey Dickerson and Jarrod Dyson play for the suddenly sizzling Blue Jays; Louisville native and East Central CC product Marcus Thames is the hitting coach for the Jekyll-and-Hyde Yankees, currently in an ugly slide. The Blue Jays (75-62) have won six in a row and nine of 10 to move within 2 games of the second wild card berth in the American League. They lead all of MLB in homers and have hit seven in the first two games of this series. The Yankees, who had ripped off a 13-game win streak that moved them to the top of the wild card standings, have dropped four straight and eight of 10. New York (78-60) lost the first two games of this series 8-0 and 5-1, failing to record a walk or an extra-base hit in successive games for only the fourth time in team history. Dickerson (Meridian CC) is batting .277 with three homers and 12 RBIs in 29 games for the Jays since he was acquired in a trade with Miami. He’ll lead off tonight against Yankees rookie right-hander Luis Gil. Dyson (Southwest CC), a recent waiver claim from Kansas City, serves mainly as a defensive replacement and pinch runner. He is at .220 for the season with 10 steals, two for Toronto. It’s surely been a frustrating season for Thames, in his fourth year as the Yanks’ hitting coach. A lineup loaded with sluggers ranks 11th in the league in scoring, first in grounding into double plays and seventh in strikeouts. Only one batter in tonight’s lineup is batting above .266.

10 Jun

welcome to show

It has only happened 30 times in major league history. First career at-bat. First pitch. Home run. Louisville native Marcus Thames did it on this date in 2002. And he did it against a future Hall of Famer, no less: Randy Johnson. Thames was batting ninth for the New York Yankees before a crowd of 45,000-plus at Yankee Stadium. Johnson was pitching for Arizona in an interleague rematch of the 2001 World Series. Johnson threw a fastball up and over the middle and the right-handed hitting Thames deposited it over the left-center field wall. The two-run bomb in the third inning gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead – yes, Thames got a curtain call from the amped-up crowd — and the Yanks went on to beat the Diamondbacks 7-5. Thames, now the Yankees’ hitting coach, wasn’t drafted out of high school and wasn’t picked until the 30th round out of East Central Community College by the Yankees in 1996. Defying the odds, he went on to play parts of 10 MLB seasons. And that show of power on June 10, 2002, was no fluke. He hit a bunch of big home runs, 115 all told in the big leagues on top of 147 more in the minors. … Other notables on the list of batters to homer on the first pitch they saw: Bert Campaneris, Jay Bell, Kaz Matsui, Starling Marte and Willson Contreras, the last to do it in 2016.

09 Oct

rough night

Mississippi college products Lance Lynn and Jonathan Holder each had a hand in a history-making event on Monday night at Yankee Stadium. But not one they’ll want to remember. They were two of the six pitchers used by the New York Yankees in their 16-1 loss to Boston in Game 3 of the American League Division Series. It was the worst postseason loss by any Yankees team, and the 16 runs were the most they’ve allowed in a postseason game. It was the most lopsided win by any visiting team in postseason history. The New York Times called the defeat “humiliating.” Holder, the Mississippi State alum, allowed two hits, a walk and a run in two innings in his first career postseason appearance. That’s a 4.50 ERA – and the best effort by a Yankees pitcher on Monday. It was 10-0 by the time Holder got in in the sixth inning. Lynn, the ex-Ole Miss star, worked in the pivotal fourth, when the Red Sox scored seven runs. He had pitched well in a relief outing in Game 1 last week but not on this night. He faced four batters and retired one. He walked in a run and yielded a three-run double. He was charged with three runs. Game 4, a possible clincher for Boston, is tonight at Yankee Stadium.

29 Aug

bronx fever

Yankee Stadium must be an awesome place to call home when you’re winning. On the other hand, when things aren’t going well … . The boo birds were out in force in the sixth inning on Tuesday night. The central object of their derision was Jonathan Holder, the ex-Mississippi State standout who has pitched exceedingly well of late. He hadn’t allowed a run in eight straight appearances when he replaced Lance Lynn, the former Ole Miss star, in the sixth inning with two outs, two runners on and New York down 1-0 to the awful Chicago White Sox. Holder promptly gave up two hits. Three runs scored. Yankees fans were not happy. To his credit, Holder endured. He got out of the sixth and followed with two scoreless frames. And, yes, mystique and aura showed up and the Yankees came back. Two in the sixth, two in the eighth, a walk-off homer by Neil Walker in the ninth. Yankees fans were happy. The stadium rocked. And, hey, it’s only going to get crazier from here. … Lynn, coming off two rocky starts, is 1-1 with a 3.98 ERA in his six games with the Yankees. Holder now has a 3.05 ERA in 49 appearances. P.S. Southern Miss product Brian Dozier hit his 20th homer of the year, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers, also in a fevered playoff race, beat Texas. Dozier has reached the 20-homer level in each of his last five big league seasons. He hit a grand total of 16 homers in four minor league seasons.

27 Jul

time for a breakout

It is a three-team scrap, at the moment, in the American League East. Boston clings to a 1-game lead over the New York Yankees with Tampa Bay hanging 2.5 back. The Rays are visiting Yankee Stadium for a four-game series that starts tonight. Boston hosts surging Kansas City, an AL Central and wild card contender, for three starting on Friday. It’s not a good time to be in a slump, but both Corey Dickerson of the Rays and Mitch Moreland of the Red Sox are in one. Former Meridian Community College star Dickerson, a first-time All-Star this year, is batting .209 with one homer and four RBIs over his last 23 games. His average has plunged to .303. Yankee Stadium is a great hitter’s park for lefties, and Dickerson is batting .343 with three bombs against Yankees pitching this season. So … a breakout might be coming. The Rays would love to see it. Moreland, the ex-Mississippi State standout, is hitting .124 without a homer in his last 24 games and went 2-for-17 on the club’s recent road trip. His average is down to .239, and he’s been dropped in the BoSox’s order. He suffered a broken toe in mid-June but played through it and says it’s fine now. If there is a positive for Moreland entering the weekend, he is a better hitter at Fenway Park: .253 with six of his 12 homers and a .341 on-base percentage. He doesn’t have a hit in seven at-bats against Royals pitchers this year, so … perhaps he is due. The Red Sox surely hope that’s true.