Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting

What a busy Saturday April 21, 2012. A perfect game, a 9-0 comeback win, a double header between two powerful teams, and several great pitching performances.

Lets start off with The Humber Games. The 21st perfect game in MLB history goes to the 29 year old Phillip Humber. Collecting 9 strikeouts against The Seattle Mariners Humber enters baseball history as another pitcher to complete baseball immortality. A very exciting game for baseball fans all over the country and congratulations to Phillip Humber.

The next thing to talk about is the greatest rivalry in sports history. The Yankees beat the Red Sox in the first game of a 3 game set 6-2. In game 2 of the weekend series The Red Sox looked dominant through the first 6 innings. Starter Felix Doubront pitched 6 innings and gave up just 1 run, a solo home run to Mark Teixeira. Doubront was taken out after the 6th inning with a 9-1 lead. The problem for The Red Sox this season has been the bullpen and yes they did not perform well. A grand slam and a 2 run double for Nick Swisher and a 3 run homer and a 2 run double for Teixeira lead The Yankees to  an momentous 15-9 victory over The Red Sox.

A double header between The Tigers and The Rangers took place on Saturday as well. In the first game Rick Porcello got rocked pitching only 1 inning while giving up 8 runs. The Rangers got an easy victory in that game. In the night game Justin Verlander took the hill for The Tigers and Neftali Feliz took the hill for The Rangers. Feliz went 8 innings giving up 3 runs and Verlander went 6 innings giving up only 1 unearned run. The two teams split the double header.

AJ Burnett made his first start of the season after recovering from an injury in spring training. He pitched 7 shutout innings against The Cardinals. He was acommponied by Justin Verlander, Stephan Strasburg, Clayton Kershaw and Phillip Humber as starters to not allow a run on Saturday.





What will Sunday hold?

The New York Yankees

The Yankees finished 2011 with a record of 97-65, but were eliminated in the ALDS by The Tigers. They made some changes this off season to make sure that doesn't happen again.

The major changes The Yankees made were changes to the starting rotation. They traded Jesus Montero for Michael Pineda. This was probably one of the most even trades of the year. Montero had 69 plate appearances with 4 home runs and 12 RBI's. It was a small sample size for the Yankees, but pitching was more important. The Yankees also signed Hiroki Kuroda to a 1 year $10 million contract. A very efficient deal. With these two acquisitions the Yankees' pitching rotation will probably be the following:



CC Sabathia: 19-8, 147 ERA+, 237 IP, 230 K.
Hiroki Kuroda: 13-16, 121 ERA+, 202 IP, 161 K.
Michael Pineda: 9-10, 103 ERA+, 171 IP, 173 K.
Ivan Nova: 16-4, 119 ERA+, 165 IP, 98 K.
Freddy Garcia: 12-8, 122 ERA+, 146 IP, 96 K.

By the way all their names end with "A." Can you think of a good name to call them. Like the Phillies had H2O in 2010.

The bullpen for the Yankees is also a strong point. They have the great Mariano Rivera, David Robertson, and Rafael Soriano. Rivera had a 1.91 ERA, 44 saves and 8.8 K/9 rate. Robertson had a 1.08 ERA, and 13.5 K/9 rate, As for Soriano, he had a rough season, part of it being injured. He had a 4.12 ERA in 2011, but he has a 2.86 ERA over his career. The combination of these three pitchers gives the Yankees the best 7th, 8th and 9th inning relief pitcher combination in baseball.

The Yankees also have one of the best lineups if not the best. The only two teams that compare to the compare to The Yankees' lineup are The Boston Red Sox and The Texas Rangers. Robinson Cano, Mark Teixeira, Nick Swisher, and Curtis Granderson all hit over 20 home runs. Nick Swisher, Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Curtis Granderson all had an on base percentage of .350 or greater. Curtis Granderson, Robinson Cano and Mark Teixiera all drove in more than 100 RBI's. That's a quick summation of the power provided by The Yankees. In 2012 Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter will be back for the entire season. Also I predict that Brett Gardner will have a break out season.

The Yankees are currently working out a deal to trade AJ Burnett to the Pirates for salary relief and probably a couple of minor league players. As for Phil Hughes he may be fighting with Freddie Garcia for the 5th spot in the rotation or Hughes can be the 6th inning man in the bullpen. Also The Yankees are on the verge of signing or trading for a DH. They would prefer a left handed DH to face right handed pitching, because he will platoon with Andruw Jones, who will face left handed pitching.