Red Sox 2 Blue Jays 5

We  needed that. Or maybe, I needed that. When you start questioning a life long love affair with baseball, a win is a needed thing.

We needed and got a great start from Marcus Stroman. 7 innings, 2 runs, 1 earned, 1 walk and 6 strikeouts. The best part was the 14 ground outs with just 2 fly outs. He gave up the 2 runs in the 6th but they weren't really his fault. Juan Francisco missed a pretty easy ground ball. A clean to center and another single right past Francisco (a couple of feet closer and it would have been a double play ball) loaded the bases. David Ortiz singled one home. Then Dioner Navarro whiffed on a pitch that bounce just to his right, I thought it should have been a passed ball, but it was called a wild pitch. I really hate that this is a judgement call for the scorer, just call them both the same thing and share responsibility between the pitcher and catcher. Marcus righted the ship, getting a ground ball hit back to him and then getting Daniel Nava to strikeout.

Brett Cecil pitched got the last 4 outs, 3 of them by strikeout. Boy he was good.

And we actually scored some runs for a change. Jose Bautista hit a home run in the first, giving him homers on back-to-back games. It would be nice to see him get hot again. And we scored 4 more in the 7th. The big shot was a pinch-hit. 3-run homer by Danny Valencia. Gibby brought him in to hit for Francisco, with lefty Tommy Lane pitching for the Sox, but John Farrell countered with Junichi Tazawa, who served one up to Valencia. So nice to have a big home run when we needed one. Kevin Pillar followed by legging out a double, great hustle. Munenori moved him up to third with a bunt. I wasn't thrilled with the move but it worked out. Pillar scored (making a great slide into home) on a ground ball to short by Jose Reyes.

It was so good to score some runs for a change. We only had 6 hits. 2 for Bautista and 1 each for Edwin Encarnacion, Navarro, Valencia and Pillar.

Jays of the Day are Stroman (.126  WPA), Valencia (.258), Edwin (.139 and i'm giving one to Bautista too. I'm also hoping that the slide into the right field wall didn't cause an injury. He was limping around after it. I thought they should have taken him out of the game. And I'm giving one to Cecil because we haven't had a nice clean save in a while.

No Suckage Jays, for a change.

We had a really nice GameThread, 690 comments. Spor led the way. Great job man.

Daytona edged closer to a postseason berth. Iowa kept their slim playoff hopes alive.

The Cubs hired Baseball Prospectus' chief minor league writer Jason Parks as a scout. So now every report that Jaron Madison gets is just going to say #want and will be written on the back of a copy of Steve Stone's Playgirl spread.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs hung on to beat the Tacoma Rainers (Mariners), 4-2.

Starter Dae-Eun Rhee pitched 6.1 innings and gave up just four hits and no runs. He walked two and struck out six as he won his second game for Iowa and seventh overall.

Armando Rivero got in trouble in the eighth inning. He gave up one run to make the score 3-1 and left with men on first and second with one out. Blake Parker entered the game and gave up an RBI single to the first batter he faced and put the tying run on third with one out. Parker then struck out the next two batters to end the inning and the first two batters of the ninth inning. The final batter of the game, Julio Morban, hit the ball hard and deep to left field, but it landed in Junior Lake's glove on the warning track. It was Parker's 24th save of the season.

Center fielder Jae-Hoon Ha and second baseman David Bote broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning with back-to-back solo home runs. It was Ha's first Iowa home run this season and sixth overall. It was Bote's first ever game for Iowa and it was his fourth home run overall

The win keeps Iowa's slim post-season hopes alive. They trail Oklahoma City by four games with four to play. Luckily for Iowa, all four games are against OKC in Des Moines. So they need to sweep the RedHawks and then hope Omaha loses at least two of four to Colorado Springs.

Tennessee Smokies

Getting ready for the final five-game showdown with Chattanooga.

Daytona Cubs

The Daytona Cubs destroyed the Dunedin Blue Jays, 8-2.

Juan Paniagua started and got the win. He allowed one run on four hits over five innings. He walked three and struck out two.

Catcher Willson Contreras hit a three-run home run in the third inning that made it 5-0 and put the game pretty much out of reach. Contreras went 2 for 5.

First baseman Dan Vogelbach gave opened up the scoring with an RBI single in the top of the first inning. Vogelbach was 3 for 5 and scored once.

Center fielder Jacob Hannemann was 2 for 5 with double and a run batted in. Third baseman Ben Carhart went 2 for 5 with an RBI double that scored Vogelbach in the fifth inning. Carhart scored twice.

Right fielder Bijan Rademacher was 2 for 5 with a run batted in.

Left fielder Kyle Schwarber extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single in the first inning. He was 2 for 5 wiht a run batted in.

Tampa lost, so Daytona now has a three-game lead with three games against Tampa to play. However, Tampa plays one more game with Clearwater tomorrow, and Daytona would clinch on an off-day if Tampa lost. If Tampa wins, then the Cubs just need to win one of the three games with the Yankees, of course.

Kane County Cougars

The Kane County Cougars lost to the Cedar Rapids Kernels (Twins), 3-2 in eleven innings.

Jen-Ho Tseng started and allowed one run on only two hits in six innings. Tseng gave up a home run to the first batter he faced in the bottom of the first inning and then didn't allow another hit until the sixth. He struck out two and walked no one, although he did hit one batter.

Michael Wagner entered the game in the bottom of the ninth and took the loss. He allowed one run on two hits in two-thirds of an inning. Wagner struck out one and walked no one.

The Cougars had five hits tonight. Third baseman Jeimer Candelario was 1 for 4 with an RBI double in the first inning. Candelario walked once.

The franchise record for wins will have to wait for another night.

Boise Hawks

The Boise Hawks dehydrated the Everett AquaSox (Mariners), 12-8.

Jake Stinnett started and allowed two runs on a home run in the fourth inning. His final line was 3.2 innings, allowing three hits and a walk. Stinnett struck out three.

Jeremy Null got the win with 4.1 innings of scoreless relief. Null gave up two hits and a walk while striking out five.

Trey Lang entered the game with a ten-run game in the top of the ninth and retired no one, giving up four runs and two walks. All six baserunners would score, but Alberto Diaz finally got the final out of the game.

First baseman Alex Tomasovich was 3 for 5 with a double and a triple. He had four RBI and scored twice.

Right fielder Charcer Burks was 3 for 5 with three RBI and two runs scored.

Center fielder Rashad Crawford went 2 for 5 with a double. He scored two runs and batted one in.

AZL Cubs

Split a doubleheader with the Athletics, losing game one 4-3 and winning the second one 3-2.

Last night featured one of the greatest innings of Yankee baseball this year. Today will hopefully feature a series win against the Tigers. Hiroki Kuroda will pitch against rookie Kyle Lobstein.

Before we begin, I suggest watching the Yankees' nine consecutive hits off of David Price. I've already bookmarked it. It is not boring to see again at all.

Comment of the Game

Yesterday's COTG goes to jt91thefuture, who appropriately posted a glimpse into whatever sorcery is causing the Yankees to play well these past seven games.

Best GIF of the Recap

Perhaps appealing to the NY Giants fans on PSA, River Ave U wins the BGOTR award with Victor Cruz dancing. Little do they know that this year is the Bills' year to shine. Hahaha....siiiiigh...

Honorable Mod Mention

Arun says it best at the bottom. Caitlin honorably put the Yankees needs above her own during this win streak. When they lost, she came back. Now they're winning again, so she can't leave. Sorry Pancakes!

The next HMM comes from yours truly. The Yankees had nine consecutive hits off of Price, so this GIF was needed as it might never get a chance to be posted again. Bravo Greg. /pats self on the back

Andrew then followed up with the always appropriate GIF for scoring a ton of runs at once. In fact, we mods did such an honorable job today that there's no need for the Best Comments of the Day section. (Plus there weren't really many Rec'd comments yesterday.)

Fun Questions

• The Yankees scored a ton of runs yesterday. Do you ever feel like they tend to not score any the next day? (Even when we had somewhat consistent offense)
• What personal habit can you simply not break out of doing?

After a great first start for the Royals, where does Liam Hendriks fit?

In a stunning reversal of fortune, Liam Hendriks played the role of Cy Hendriks in his first start for the Royals. Normally, it's some random Twins pitcher or some other such nonsense who turns in a Cy Young performance against the Royals. That guy normally goes on to do pretty much nothing. This time, the Royals were on the good side of that. Let's overanalyze his one start for our beloved playoff hunters and see where Hendriks might fit with rosters about to expand.

First, there was a clear gameplan, and it was simple. Throw all the strikes. The Twins, being a team that doesn't swing very much, would theoretically be vulnerable to a pitcher who can get the ball over the plate and get ahead in the count.

"I was getting ahead, I was getting my first pitch strikes...I was able to keep them off balance," said Hendriks. Indeed, Hendriks grabbed 20 first pitch strikes against the 25 batters he faced, including those who made contact on the first pitch. The MLB rate for first pitch strikes among starters is 61%, and Hendriks sat at 80%. As for keeping the Twins hitters off balance, Hendriks got 18 foul balls if I counted correctly from Brooks Baseball data. I don't know if that's average, but that sure seems like a lot.

Overall, Hendriks threw 70% fastballs and was very successful against a team with strong plate discipline. When GMDM acquired Hendriks, I was hopeful that a new team with a big park and a strong outfield defense would help him out. The Twins and Blue Jays aren't exactly known for outfield defense. Hendriks' plan was to pitch to contact, but he got ahead of so many hitters that even a few strikeouts came along for the ride.

For his career in the bigs, Hendriks is a fly ball guy who doesn't strike out many guys. He sounds a heck of a lot like Jeremy Guthrie, but he hasn't shown the contact management skills that Guthrie displayed as a member of the Orioles. After a strong first impression, I think there should be a place for Hendriks on the roster in September.

As we head down the stretch, the Royals are positioning themselves to be able to play different kinds of games. They have starters who can log innings, but they also have the middle guys who can take over if someone struggles. We've complained about the seemingly excessive pitching staff the Royals have through the main part of the season, but in September, the Royals are going to have tons of pitchers. I'm sure they trust Ventura and Duffy for now, but those guys are probably getting fatigued. Duffy hasn't thrown more than 100 innings since 2011. Ventura has skipped two starts now for apparently minor ailments, and he's also reaching a new maximum for innings very soon.

At the very least, Hendriks is a depth option. He's potentially an improvement over Chen as the 6th guy. I'm not sure I trust his offspeed stuff too much yet, but he can do some nice things with his fastball. I wouldn't want him exposed too much in a second or third turn through the order. He's a great spot starter/long relief guy.

A more interesting use of Hendriks would be as a piggy back for Duffy and/or Ventura. This strategy does run the risk of Ned over-managing, but the payoff is the possibility of reducing the times-through-the-order penalty while seeing if Hendriks can be successful over more than one start. Letting Ventura or Duffy throw 3-4 innings and then tossing Hendriks out there for 2-3 innings sounds pretty good to me. It also helps save Ventura and Duffy's arms. I think Hendriks can stay.

Jose Bautista talked to Arash Madani, and said that he would like to finish his career with the Blue Jays. Of course, what else is he going to say "well Arash, I can't wait to get out of this hell hole, say` this isn't being taped is it".

Jose goes on to say that it is 'out of his hands', that it is up to the team to offer an extension but that he would be very happy to stay with the Jays and he feels he can win here.

I'm always of two minds on this. I play OOTP Baseball way way too much (my 2016 Jay just cinched first, with 5 games left of the season, after finishing last in the AL East in 2014 and 2015), and my rule is to trade any player before his 34th birthday, as players (at least in that game) tend to take a sudden turn for the worse at about that age. You might get a good season after that age, but they are few and far between. And after that age other teams tend (in the game) not to want to take them in trade. In the latest version of the game, I couldn't trade him because he had 5-10 status and 'refused the trade'. In the game, it is easier to trade guys because they aren't people. There is no emotional attachment.

In real life, I've heard a lot of people saying he should be traded and, of course, I believe anyone should be traded, if you get good value in return. I think, in the case of Bautista, it would be very tough to get good value back but who knows.

I do think that bad teams (and bad fans) tend to blame losing on the team's best player. They think that if Bautista was any good, we would never lose. They think we aren't losing because we have black holes at second base, third base and center field and our pitching has been somewhere between inconsistent and terrible. The reason we are losing is because of the guy with the 4.0 bWAR and the league leading .398 OBP.

My Expos (a team that was badly run for much of their life) traded their best player, and my personal favorite, Gary Carter, after deciding that he was the reason that the team wasn't making the playoffs because of him, not the lack of a supporting case. It didn't matter that the team didn't have a major league middle infield, that wasn't the reason they lost, it was the major league best catcher we had.  We heard that Carter wasn't a leader, he smiled too much, he spent too much time talking to the media (he even leaved a bit of french),  he called too many breaking balls behind the plate. He was traded away for far to little, went on to win a World Series with the Mets and my Expos never made the playoff again.

We are getting the same sort of stuff about Bautista. He's not a leader (how anyone outside the locker room would know that is beyond me), he's selfish, he's not 'clutch', all sorts of stuff that can't be quantified. I've even been told, on more than one occasion, that Munenori Kawasaki is better than have on the team than Bautista (which makes me mourn what has happened to the education system in this country, but I digress).  Yeah, he's been through a slump but then everyone everyone slumps at some point. And, of course, he got ejected once this year, so he can't be any good.

I'm don't like the idea of trading Jose for the sake of trading him. We'd have to get something very good back. With out Bautista there would be a huge hole in the batting order. We haven't exactly been the offensive juggernaut that we were hoping for this year.

I think it is good for a team to have a player that is the 'face of the franchise'. Someone that the even most casual fan knows. I do believe that, at some point, Bautista will have to move to first base or DH, but we can deal with that when the time comes.

Let's have a poll.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have claimed outfielder Nolan Reimold off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays, as announced by D-backs Executive Vice President & General Manager Kevin Towers. A corresponding move will be made prior to tomorrow’s game.

Reimold, 30, appeared in 22 games with the Blue Jays this season, hitting .212 (11-for-52) with 2 home runs and 9 RBI. He began the season on the Baltimore Orioles' disabled list after undergoing surgery to repair a herniated disk in his neck. Reimold was then designated for assignment on July 1 and was claimed off waivers by Toronto on July 6.

In 6 Major League seasons with the Orioles (2009-13) and Blue Jays (2014), Reimold batted .250 (247-for-988) with 43 home runs and 135 RBI in 308 games. He hit 15 home runs with 45 RBI in his rookie season in 2009, including his first-ever homer on May 20 at Yankees off Mariano Rivera. Reimold was drafted in the second round (61st overall) of the 2005 First-Year Player Draft out of Bowling Green State University. The D-backs' 40-man roster is now at 40.

[One imagine Xavier Paul is the name most likely at risk, having gone 2-for-20 with one walk and eight strikeouts in his time with the team. Reinhold is a right-hander, which might platoon better with David Peralta and Ender Inciarte - most likely the former, as Reinhold has no major-league experience in center.]

The 30-year-old outfielder heads to Arizona in hopes of resurrecting his career.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have claimed 30-year-old outfielder Nolan Reimold from the Toronto Blue Jays, per a team press release. Reimold will join his third organization this season, as he began the year with the Baltimore Orioles before being claimed off waivers by the Blue Jays. He was designated for assignment earlier this week.

Reimold got off to a great start to his career, hitting .279/.365/.466 with a 2.6 WAR in 411 plate appearances as a 25-year-old rookie in 2009, before being saddled with injuries over the past few seasons, and watching his production slip when healthy. In 60 plate appearances this season, he has hit .212/.283/.404 with a 86 wRC+ and .300 wOBA.

Reimold, who is making just over $1 million this season and is entering his final year of arbitration eligibility next season, will probably be coming off the bench for the most part with the Diamondbacks, as he now profiles as more of a platoon slugger, batting favorably against left-handers. While health will certainly be a concern going forward, Reimold could provide some surplus value for Arizona with his bat, as he owns a 102 wRC+ for his career.

On August 29, 1985 the Blue Jays sent three minor leaguers, Matt Williams (no not that Matt Williams), Jeff Mays and Greg Ferlanda to the Texas Rangers for Cliff Johnson.

At the time of the trade the Blue Jays were in 1st place, 4.5 games up on the second place Yankees, but we were running a platoon of Al Oliver and Jeff Burroughs at DH. They weren't doing a great job at the position, though Burroughs (the right-handed hitting half of the pair) was hitting .261/.375/.422 at the time which doesn't seem that bad to me. Oliver, on the other hand, was hitting just .257/.298/.376, but the Jays, for whatever reason, decided to replace Burroughs not Oliver. Burroughs was just used as a pinch hitter the rest of the way.

The Jays didn't give up much for Johnson. Only Williams would ever play in the majors, and he just pitched in 5 games, for the Rangers, over the last month of the 1985 season and was never heard of again. The Jays were very familiar with Johnson, he played for them in 1983 and 1984, leaving as a free agent after the 84 season.

Even though Johnson didn't hit much for them, over that last month, just .274/.343/.315, with just one extra base hit, a home run, in 24 games, we did make it to the playoffs, losing out to the Royals in 7 games. Cliff hit .368/.400/.474 in those 7 games.

The Jays platooned in a few positions back then:

• Catcher, with Ernie Whitt and Buck Martinez (I wonder what happened to him).
• Third base with Rance Mulliniks and Garth Iorg.
• And, of course DH.

The Jays won 3 of the first 5 games of the series, then, starting with game 6, the Royals came up with a plan to neutralize the Jays platoons. What they did was start a right-hander, then fairly early in the game, replace him with a lefty (Bud Black and Charlie Leibrandt in game 6 and 7 respectively) and the Jays would replace their left-handed platoon hitters with their right-handed partners. Then, late in the game, they would use their right-handed closer, Dan Quisenberry.

The compromise that was reached following the strike was to set up a free agent compensation draft, through which a team losing a top-notch free agent would get to pick a player from a pool of players made available by the other Major League teams. Free agents were divided into three classes, based on playing time and performance over the previous two seasons: in descending order, these were Type A, Type B and Type C. Only losing a Type A player would activate the compensation draft; Type B players would continue to be compensated with draft choices, and Type C's would not trigger any compensation.

All teams could protect 26 players in their organization from the draft, except for teams who signed a Type A free agent that year, who would protect 24 players. Teams could opt out of the right to sign Type A free agents and therefore not have to place any names into the pool. As a result, the team losing a player could be sure to pick a player who would help immediately if that was their wish (although some lower-level prospects would also be available). The draft took place once a year, in January or February, between the end of the free agent signing season and the opening of spring training.

Cliff Johnson was considered an Type A free agent and the Blue Jays selected reliever Tom Henke from the Rangers as their compensation. Henke, as you know, went on to be perhaps the best closer in team history (Duane Ward might argue). Henke went on to save 217 games for the Blue Jays, over 8 seasons. The Jays got a pretty return for renting out Johnson for 5 months.

The Yankees come to town this evening as the teams kick off a weekend series at a time when both squads are hanging on the edge of the wild card battle. New York is 6-4 in their last ten games and recently lost two of three in Detroit to the Tigers putting themselves at a record of 69-63, which is 3.0 games back of the second wild card berth.

Mark Buehrle gets another start tonight against fellow lefty Chris Capuano who continues to fill one of the multiple holes in the Yankee starting rotation. If you'll recall, Capuano made his first start for New York in Toronto on July 26th and has made five more starts since then going 36.1 IP thus far in pinstripes pitching to a 4.21 ERA. Capuano has cleaned up his walk-rate since joining the Yankees (4.4%), which is also what has happened with Esmil Rogers so....it's still okay to hate New York.

Since moving to a starting role with the Yankees, Capuano is throwing his fastball much less in favour of increased changeup usage against both lefties and righties. The changeup is how Capuano gets outs and hitters are often either whiffing on it (26.4%) or grounding out off the pitch (12.69%). It's shouldn't come as a surprise then that the southpaw keeps the changeup low and away from righties:

Hopeful Lineup

1. Jose Reyes SS
2. Melky Cabrera LF
3. Jose Bautista RF
4. Edwin Encarnacion 1B
5. Kevin Pillar CF
6. Dioner Navarro C
7. Danny Valencia 3B
8. Steve Tolleson DH
9. Munenori Kawasaki 2B

Bullpen Usage

Everyone looks to be available for the Blue Jays, while standout Yankees reliever Dellin Betances has not pitched three days in a row all season, meaning he will not grace the mound in tonight's contest.

After only taking one out of three games in Detroit, the Yankees are looking to bounce back in Toronto. Taking this series would be a great opportunity to give the Yankees a little breathing room in the AL East. Chris Capuano hopes to make the opportunity into a reality tonight.

Comment of the Game

Not much more to be said on why GMan83201 won the COTG. As sad as it is, it was pretty accurate!

Best GIF of the Recap

The_Englishman wins the BGOTR award for this good description of how most of us felt after yesterday's loss.

Honorable Mod Mention

The mods were pretty honorless today. I mean, I got to go on the swings, but that's not honorable. Just fun.

Best Comments of the Day

This was originally going to be the Comment of the Game, but I felt that it deserved the honor of being the Comment of the Day. BlackandGoldTSgt's safe return home is joyous news for Pinstripe Alley members to hear. Welcome home, GIF Sgt.

Fun Questions

• Best Mascot in MLB?
• Worst Mascot in MLB?

Two innings of offense ended up being enough to win the game.

After the first few innings of tonights game, it looked like the Yankees might be shutout, which would have been especially disheartening following the other night's 9-hits-in-a-row game. Thankfully, they finally got on the board in the seventh inning, and those runs were enough to give them the win.

Tonight Chris Capuano earned his first win since becoming a Yankee, as he held the Blue Jays to just two runs. The first came in the fourth inning, a home run by Jose Bautista that carried into the second deck in left field. They didn't score again until the seventh inning, when Colby Rasmus worked the only walk of the night. Kevin Pillar then doubled to drive him in. On the next play, Jose Reyes ended up safe at first after hitting a grounder to Derek Jeter, who was charged with an error after Mark Teixeira was unable to dig his throw to first out of the dirt. At this point, Joe Girardi decided to take Capuano out of the game with two runners on and only one out, but he pitched well tonight overall, going 6.1 innings with four strikeouts.

The Yankees continued to struggle defensively after Adam Warren came into the game. Toronto's third and final run was scored on a sac fly by Melky Cabrera, however, Brett Gardner's throw to home plate beat the runner. Brian McCann just couldn't handle the bounce, so Pillar was able to score and for some reason Gardner was charged with the error. The Blue Jays also threatened to score in the eighth. With two outs, Munenori Kawasaki pinch hit, and Girardi decided to match that move with his own move. Newly acquired Josh Outman made his Yankee debut, and he failed to get an out, man (Sorry). Kawasaki singled up the middle and David Robertson was called on to get the final four outs of the game, which he was able to do with no problems.

It was a quiet night for the Yankees' offense up until the seventh inning when McCann hit a lead-off double over Bautista's head and off of the wall. Then Carlos Beltran worked a walk, and Gardner hit his own double over Bautista's head to score McCann. The cutoff man, Steve Tolleson, then airmailed the ball past third base, where he was trying to get Beltran, allowing Beltran to score. Gardner advanced to third, and there was some controversy over whether Gardner should have been allowed to score because of fan interference. The umpires said he shouldn't. Ichiro Suzuki came up next, and did what he does best, got on an infield hit. With one out, Dioner Navarro then decided to try and pick Gardner off of third base, but sailed the ball past third, allowing Gardner to score. The Yankees tacked on two more runs after Jacoby Ellsbury homered to right. According to the Blue Jays booth, that home run was the first that Aaron Loup has allowed to a left hander in his career.

They went on to add another run in the ninth inning, a home run off the bat of Chase Headley, who pinch hit for Stephen Drew earlier in the game. Ellsbury then tripled to center after the cutoff man didn't even attempt to make a play. This was followed by Jeter reaching on a fielder's choice, and Ellsbury deciding to try and score. Initially, Ellsbury was called safe at the plate after he slid and Navarro had to jump up for the ball. The Blue Jays challenged and the call was overturned. Girardi then challenged that there wasn't an open lane, and the call stood. Luckily, the outcome of the game didn't hinge on this decision. Ellsbury was wincing as he walked away from the plate, so hopefully he's okay.

Michael Pineda will get the start tomorrow afternoon against Drew Hutchison at 1:07 pm EST.

Box score.

The hump game of this three-game series gets underway today at 1:07 pm as Drew Hutchison takes on Michael Pineda. If you'll recall, Pineda started the season pretty amazingly including a dominating performance against the Blue Jays before getting caught with pine tar all over his body on April 23rd which ended up being worth a ten-game suspension. While pitching in a simulated game during the suspension he hurt himself and was out until about two weeks ago when he returned the Yankees rotation and picked up where he left off.

In total he's made seven starts this year (four before the injury and three after the injury) and hasn't allowed more than two earned runs in any of them. His ERA currently sits at 1.95 and his BB-rate is a minuscule 2.9%, so it makes you wonder where the Yankees would be right now if Pineda hadn't decided to take a shower in pine tar earlier in the season.

In terms of what he's throwing, Pineda has stuck to his trusty fastball and slider combination which is still having fantastic results regardless of if the baseball is doctored or not. He's not putting up huge strikeout numbers like he used to and he's living and dying on a currently low HR/FB rate (3.7%) as seen by his 33.0 GB%, but it's worked so far so who am I to judge. It's time to guess which is these slider dots represents April (with pine tar) and which of them represents August (presumably no pine tar):

If you guessed that the slider had more movement back in April then you would obviously be correct.

Hopeful Lineup

1. Jose Reyes SS
2. Melky Cabrera LF
3. Jose Bautista RF
4. Adam Lind DH
5. Edwin Encarnacion 1B
6. Dioner Navarro C
7. Colby Rasmus CF
8. Juan Francisco 3B
   
9. Munenori Kawasaki 2B

Bullpen Usage

Unfortunately I'm out of town today without internet so I have no idea who was used from the bullpen last night. Assuming that Mark Buehrle had a fairly good game, then all Blue Jays relievers should be available for this afternoon's game.

Find The Link

Find the link between Michael Pineda and the man in the news recently for throwing ice cream at a scout.

Michael Pineda takes the mound against Drew Hutchison and the Blue Jays in game two this afternoon. SEATTLE KNEW....oh wait, no. No they did not.

Comment of the Game

Once again,Pun Dog comes through for Pinstripe Alley. Blanky is technically the COTG winner, but the award probably goes to Pun Dog more than her.

Best GIF of the Recap

There really weren't a lot of GIFs in the Recap Thread yesterday. I would normally save this for the HMM, but since Matt's GIF is the only one that was blue'd, he wins the BGOTR award.

Honorable Mod Mention

See above

Best Comments of the Day

You know, I'm not sure what helped SteelNets win the first COTD more; the fact that his comment was blue or the fact that I first read his username as SteelNuts, due to the topic he was posting in.

Rorschach wins the second COTD award with his honesty about protecting the family jewels. For if there is anyone on Pinstripe Alley who knows about testicles, it is he!

Fun Questions

• Who do you currently think is the "ace" of the Yankees' staff?
• If you brought food to Yankee Stadium, what would you bring?

Brandon McCarthy will take the mound for the Yankees in today's rubber game with the Blue Jays. Again, I don't think the importance of scoring runs and winning can be stressed enough.

Comment of the Game

Yesterday's COTG winner was carp68. The Royals signed Jayson Nix and then Nix found himself in a bases loaded situation last night. Then Nix did what Nix does...Nix.

Best GIF of the Recap

Elcruzter55 is yesterday's BROTG winner. It showcases the dangers of bunting. Take a good look, Yankees. Take a good look.

Honorable Mod Mention

Weekends are always the hardest for the mods to be honorable. It's just non-stop debauchery!

Best Comments of the Day

There weren't a lot of comments. Again, it's the weekend. Non-stop debauchery!

Fun Questions

• Favorite Yankees moment of August?
• Least favorite Yankees moment of August?

Yankees 3 Blue Jays 4

The good news is that we have started hitting home runs again. We had homers from Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista (for the 5th game in a row) and Edwin Encarnacion (very happy to see him hit one). It is nice to see some power again, after a month of almost no power.

The go ahead run wasn't a home run. In the 7th inning, after Edwin homered to tie the game, Dioner Navarro took a base on balls. Gibby, bless him, put Tolleson in to pinch run for him. I kind of questioned the move at the time. After strikeouts to Colby Rasmus and Danny Valencia, Tolleson stole second (great time for a steal) scored on a soft single by Munenori Kawasaki. Tolleson made a great slide and was just barely safe.

J.A. Happ wasn't great, he was hit hard and often, but he didn't walk anyone and only allowed 3 runs in 7 innings. He gave up 9 hits (6 of them extra bases), but no walks and had 6 strikeouts. I thought there was some luck involved, he had a few hard hit flies caught, but lets give him credit for a pretty good start.

Brett Cecil threw a scoreless inning of relief, giving up a hit and a walk but getting 2 strikeouts.

Casey Janssen picked up just his 2nd save of the month. He gave up a bloop double, to Jacoby Ellsbury, that fell between Bautista. Encarnacion and Tolleson along the right field line.

Jays of the Day are Cecil (.124 WPA), Janssen (.169), Edwin (.173) and I'm giving one to Munenori Kawasaki for the game winning hit, even though his WPA was only .089.

Suckage goes to Colby Rasmus (-.109, on an 0 for 3, 3 strikeouts). He looked just awful at the plate.

It was (you might not have heard) Derek Jeter's last game in Toronto. He went 1 for 5 (-.159 WPA) and made the last out of the game, a soft pop to second. He was good and all but I've heard enough about him, over the last 3 days, to do me for the rest of my life.

We had a nice gamethread for a Sunday afternoon, 578 comments. Alan F led us to victory again. Good job sir.

Aaron Sanchez is putting together quite a run in the Blue Jays bullpen, but his ability to get whiffs remains a question.

It's very difficult to complain about what Aaron Sanchez has done so far.

Pitching as a multi-inning threat out of the bullpen, Sanchez has decimated hitters at the major league level out of the gate. The rookie has only allowed one extra-base hit in 21.2 innings of work and is making opponents look downright silly in the process. He has also demonstrated solid control, walking only three hitters, despite the fact he had serious problems with the free pass in the minor leagues.

Aesthetically speaking, Sanchez is great to watch. His sinkers have both potent velocity and dynamic movement, and he has the ability to throw a curveball that can be a thing of beauty. It doesn't take a scout's eye to see that the 22-year-old has incredible stuff.

However, eye-popping stuff can be deceiving. Countless pitchers have demonstrated what appears to be a top-notch repertoire only to fizzle out in the big leagues. It's important to pair what we see with objective data in order to complete the picture of player evaluation. Statistically speaking, Aaron Sanchez's first taste of MLB action has looked like this:

You can't ask for much more than that.

It appears that Sanchez has enjoyed a fair amount of luck on balls in play, but his sparkling 2.29 FIP indicates that's not the root of his success. The most impressive aspect of his performance has been his 6.67 K/BB ratio, which ranks 7th among MLB relievers with at least 20 innings pitched.

While all of this looks excellent, there is a red flag lurking in the shadows: Sanchez's inability to get whiffs so far. The right hander does have a healthy strikeout rate, but it is artificially inflated by the fact he already has 11 strikeouts looking.

Getting called strikeouts can definitely be a skill. However, it is a skill demonstrated by guys with outstanding control who can pick corners like Cliff Leeand, of course, Mark Buehrle. As a fireballer with a history of control problems, it seems unlikely that Sanchez is the kind of guy who can sustain a high called strikeout rate.

The location of the pitches that have gotten him these strikeouts looking helps confirm the notion that luck is likely to be heavily involved.

Source: Baseball Savant

Generally speaking, these are the type of pitchers hitters swing for. Sanchez has picked a couple of corners, but he has also left some pitches right in the heart of the plate. We know that he has some deceptive movement on his pitches, but it seems that hitters' lack of familiarity with his repertoire could also be at play here.

Whatever the case may be, Aaron Sanchez does not appear to be a master painter of corners and as he will have to create whiffs in order to maintain a strong strikeout rate going forward. Based on what he's demonstrated so far, that could be something of a problem. The following Brooks Baseball Zone Profile shows Sanchez's whiff rate this season by location:

This is not particularly encouraging. In fact, Sanchez's swing strike rate of 6.7% would be tied for 6th worst in the MLB among qualified pitchers.

There are a couple of caveats that should be noted here. Firstly, Sanchez's work at the big league level is a small sample. It is more useful to look at statistics like swinging strike rate in a small sample because they are based on hundreds of pitches rather than dozens of events, but the sample is still small. Secondly, Sanchez is young enough to improve significantly, develop a new pitch, or find a grip that changes his existing arsenal.

While both of those things are true, based on what we know about pitcher aging curves it's apparent that most pitchers don't increase their strikeout rate over time. In fact, the opposite is true.

Source: Jeff Zimmerman, FanGraphs

The fact that Aaron Sanchez hasn't had a K/9 above 8 since he was pitching for the Lansing Lugnuts may have been a clue that he was unlikely to be a huge strikeout guy. However, because he is young and his stuff is borderline legendary within the Jays organization, it was easy to assume the K's would just come.

And they still might. It just doesn't seem like the forgone conclusion that many had presumed.

The thing is that not all "great stuff" is the same. Getting whiffs is important, but another thing pitches with outstanding movement can do is produce weak contact. Striking out a tonne of hitters isn't the only way to be a great pitcher. It's always been easy to read an Aaron Sanchez scouting report and dream on him as the next Stephen Strasburg with the crazy velocity and the big curve, but it seems more likely his sinker is going to be what makes him his money.

With the relative bust that is Chad Jenkins fresh in the mind of Blue Jays fans, the notion of Sanchez as sinkerballer probably isn't all that appealing. It lacks the romance of "Aaron Sanchez: Power Pitcher", although there's no reason he can't be both.

Although his body ended up failing him, Brandon Webb proved that you can be a legitimate ace by getting groundouts rather than strikeouts. While a comparison to Webb might seem like a bit of a stretch, the minor league numbers the two pitchers put up were rather similar:

There are a couple of significant differences here. Webb wasn't as young as Sanchez for the levels he played at and he also demonstrated much better command. The similarity in win-loss records is more than of a curiosity than something to write home about, but that doesn't mean there's nothing here. The low home run numbers, similar WHIPs, and mid-range (for a legitimate MLB propect) strikeout numbers do stand out.

None of this is to say that Sanchez will harness the sinker and turn it into the one of the most lethal weapons in the game like Webb did. Webb was one of the greatest pitchers of his era and Sanchez has thrown just over 20 innings in the big leagues. The 65.4% groundball rate that Sanchez is sporting right now is downright Webb-esque, but it remains to be seen if he can keep it up.

Anyone who watches Aaron Sanchez can tell he has tremendous stuff. So far he has commanded it extraordinarily well and gotten off to an excellent start to his MLB career. As long as he can avoid the kind of control problems that plagued his years in the minor leagues there is no reason he can't be a great pitcher for the Blue Jays.

He just might not be the kind of great pitcher you were expecting.

Shi Davidi tells us:

Daniel Norris is the latest Toronto Blue Jays pitching prospect to graduate to the big-leagues this season after becoming one of the club's September call-ups, multiple industry sources told Sportsnet.

Daniel. who was number 3 on our top prospects list, has had a very interesting year. He started the season in Dunedin, went 6-0 with a 1.22 ERA in 13 starts and got moved up to New Hampshire. There he went 3-1 with a 4.54 ERA in 8 starts. Next came Buffalo, 3-1 with a 3.18 ERA in 5 games, 4 starts. And, tomorrow, he's in the big leagues.

In total Norris has thrown 124.2 minor league innings, allowed 96 hits, walked 43 and struck out 163.

I'd imagine Norris will be used out of the pen, though it might not hurt to give Drew Hutchison or Marcus Stroman a rest once through the rotation this month. Both have thrown a lot of innings.

The team seem to have a whole new minor league philosophy. In the past we've been giving players a full season at each level. This year, the top prospects are moving up quickly. It is a lot more fun for those of us that like to see the young players. Norris turned 21 in April, so he will beat out Aaron Sanchez for the youngest play on the Blue Jays roster.

Shi also tells us that Kendall Graveman is being considered for a call up, along with Sean Nolin. Anthony Gose , Ryan Goins and Dan Johnson will be coming up too. And John Mayberry, Jr will join the team tomorrow, so there will be a number of extra bodies for John Gibbons to use. And Brandon Morrow will likely be joining the team sometime soon too.

Davidi didn't mention any catchers coming up. I figured we'd see George Kottaras or, if they didn't want to free up a roster spot for Kottaras, A.J. Jimenez so that Gibby would have more freedom to pinch run for a catcher. We'll see tomorrow.

Congratulations Daniel, I hope your stay is a long one.

The Yankees scored eight runs in one inning for the first time this year! I'm going to pretend like that's where the week ended because I don't want to be sad!

Record: 3-4 (1-0 against the Royals, 1-2 against the Tigers, 1-2 against the Blue Jays)

Sigh.  What began as a promising week ended with the Yankees losing two straight series, including one to Toronto that saw New York play some pretty woeful baseball.  While the Yankees began the week with some offensive fireworks (winning 8-1 in Kansas City and 8-4 in Detroit), their bats decided that would be plenty and took the rest of the week off.  A 3-2 loss in Detroit on a walk-off single by Alex Avila and a 2-0 loss to the Blue Jays (that saw the Yankees muster one hit - ONE HIT! - all game long) proved particularly depressing, and are the very games a team fighting for a playoff spot desperately needs to win.  They're not out of it yet, but this week did not see the Yankees do themselves any favors.

Quick hits:

Terrible Tex: He may have been the Player of the Week just fourteen days ago, but that week marks just about the only stretch over the past two months where Mark Teixeira wasn't awful at the plate.  While Tex produced decently for the first three months of the season, he's been an absolute black hole in the lineup since then, hitting just .203/.302/.345 with an 82 wRC+ since July 1 - this week he continued to struggle, notching just two hits in 24 at bats.  While none of the other middle of the order "sluggers" are raking right now, at least Carlos Beltran (114 wRC+ in August) and Brian McCann (102 wRC+) have both been better of late.  Hey Tex, September would be a great month to remember how to hit...just saying.

Celebrating an offensive bright spot: Because this season has seen such a dearth of offense from Yankees, we've got to take note when they actually remember how to hit the ball.  Thus, we must celebrate Wednesday's game against the Tigers, as the Yankees had their best offensive inning of the season!  The Yankees scored eight runs in the frame on nine straight hits, and they did it all off of David Price to boot.  I just had to make note of this amazing inning because it's a welcome surprise when the bats actually do come alive. Wow, baseball can still be fun!

Ichiro's bat comes around: While he doesn't play everyday (which has probably contributed to his recent resurgence), Ichiro has found some success this month at the plate.  The Yankees fourth outfielder was five-of-sixteen this week, and he's hit .352/.357/.389 with a 107 wRC+ in August over 54 at bats.  He's not going to carry the Yankees to the playoffs, but, after an up and down season that has seen the legend take on a new and reduced role, it's worth noting he's been quite solid lately, in addition to providing sterling defense.

Position player of the week: Jacoby Ellsbury

Before he tweaked his ankle during Friday's game in Toronto, the Yankee centerfielder found himself in the midst of a phenomenal week of baseball.  Ellsbury hit .522 this week with a double, a triple, and four home runs.  He's certainly getting hot at the right time, and while he started off slowly in August, he ended the month on a tear, finishing with a 141 wRC+.  Let's hope the ankle injury isn't too serious, and Ellsbury can get back to beating the covers off of baseballs.

Pitcher of the week: Michael Pineda

Pineda has returned to the rotation with a vengeance, posting a 2.31 ERA and a 3.08 FIP in his four starts since getting off of the DL at the beginning of August.  This week, Pineda beat the Royals on Monday, giving up one run while striking out five and working into the seventh inning.  Saturday, he wasn't able to get the win, but he still only gave up two runs over six innings of work (a two-run blast in the first to Jose Bautista being his lone mistake).  Even though it's disappointing to see Pineda's fine work go to waste because of an inept offense, his performance this year has to get everyone excited.  If he can stay healthy, Pineda looks to be a terrific major league starter, and in the coming years, a rotation headed by him and Masahiro Tanaka looks to be quite fearsome.

The Philadelphia Phillies traded outfielder/first baseman John Mayberry, Jr. to the Toronto Blue Jays this weekend for infield prospect Gustavo Pierre. Here's a quick look at the newest member of the Phillies organization.

Gustavo Pierre, 3B-SS: :Pierre was signed by the Blue Jays out of the Dominican Republic in 2008. Earning a $700,000 bonus, he drew praise for outstanding arm strength, speed, and overall athleticism. Unfortunately those tools have not turned into baseball skills. He hit .255/.263/.383 in 115 games split between Low-A and High-A in 2013 with a combined 4/128 (that's not a typo) BB/K ratio. He improved that to 13/112 this year with a .260/.281/.388 line between High-A and Double-A.

Pierre was born December 28, 1991. Listed at 6-2, 200, the right-handed hitter still looks good in uniform, with a cannon arm and plenty of physical strength. He's lost speed and range with maturity and is mainly a third baseman now. He remains very error-prone. The big problem here is abysmal strike zone judgment and an eldritch, chthonic hyper-aggressive non-Euclidian hitting approach that bends time and space beyond all human sanity, reducing hitting coaches and sabermatricians alike to immortal, gibbering, endless shrieks of stuttering, howling, lunacy. Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Ted Williams R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

Norris is the latest in a wave of young arms graduating to the Blue Jays.

The Toronto Blue Jays have called up highly regarded pitching prospect Daniel Norris, according to Sportsnet.ca's Shi Davidi. The 21-year-old left-hander will pitch primarily out of the Blue Jays' bullpen over the final month of the season.

Regarded as a mid-first round talent in the loaded 2011 draft class, Norris fell to the second round due to bonus demands, ultimately signing for an above-slot $2 million deal. He scuffled in his first couple professional seasons, watching as his stock cratered to the point that many had written him off as a potential rotation mainstay by midway through last season.

However, after a strong finish to the 2013 season, Norris appears to have turned things around this year, jumping three levels from High-A to the majors, and once again putting himself on the map as a legitimate impact prospect. In 124.2 minor league innings spread across three levels, he posted a 2.53 ERA, 11.8 K/9, and 3.1 BB/9. In their midseason top 50 prospects list, Baseball America ranked him 25th overall, noting the potential for three plus pitches in his fastball, change up, and slider, to go along with a possibly average curveball. Similarly, Baseball Prospectus ranked him 33rd, adding that he is "now consistently tapping into the front-end stuff he'd always teased."

Toronto's plan to use Norris out of the bullpen this month should not come as a surprise. Earlier this year, former first rounder Marcus Stroman started off in the bullpen before moving into the rotation after just five relief appearances. Fellow top prospect Aaron Sanchez has pitched solely out of the bullpen since his July call up, posting a 1.66 ERA and 6.67 K/BB in 21.2 innings over 14 appearances.