Giants Sign Jerome McDougle

Five years after they tried to acquire him in the first round of the 2003 draft and 1 day after the Eagles parted company with the oft injured former Hurricane, the Giants signed the DE to a one year 1M deal. Finally healthy and having had a great preseason, he will work in rotation and contribute some sacks in the absence of Osi and Strahan. This was a very good move for a championship team like the Giants to make. Well done. Go Giants.

Yanks Blow One

The Yanks blew a 6-2 lead today to fall further back in their desperate attempt to keep their postseason streak going. Every time they seem to turn a corner, they turn back. It's been a summer of slow death.

Mo!

Mariano had to get a 5 out save, but the Yanks finally beat Burnett, 2-1. It was another pathetic showing by the O, but Carl Pavano gave them 6 innings of 1 run ball and got the win. It was quite a surprise as was Girardi's use of the pen tonight. He removed Pavano after he had thrown 72 pitches threw 6. Then he went Bruney to a righty, and Marte to two lefties in the 7th. Then he had Veras start the 8th. Veras gave up and double and walk, so Girardi called in Edwar. Edwar K'd the batter he faced, then with one out in the 8th, he removed Edwar and brought in Mo. Mo got a one pitch grounder and a 4 pitch K to end it. Then he worked a one hit 9th for the huge save. They're not quite dead yet. Go Yanks.

Giants Win 19-14

David Carr started in place of Eli Manning in the preseason finale and cemented the back up job. He played most of the game and completed most of his passes. Darcy Johnson and Sinorice Moss caught TD's, and Moss, London and Mario Manningham were all impressive. Tuck and Pierce didn't play, but Kiwi, Tollefson and Wynn all had big sacks in the first half as the Giants dominated play of O and D. There are some tough cuts coming up, and we may be saying goodbye to some old friends. Beyond that, I'd look for a trade or claim for an extra passrusher and then the Giants will be good to go. This is a deep well coached team and they will go far again. Go Giants!

Giambi Ain't Quittin'!

The Yanks looked primed for the sweeping, down 2 after six. Giambi was not in the starting line-up against the Sox tough lefty Lester. But when called on to pinch hit with a man on, he homered to tie the game, then with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the ninth, he singled against Papelbon for the win. Nice showing. Is it too late? We'll see. Go Yanks.

The New York Tankees

In the second game of their must sweep series against the Red Sox, the Yanks failed to show. Bobby Abreu once again played a flyball into a triple near the wall and Pudge Rodriguez once again called all fastballs in fastball counts from relievers who's best pitches aren't fastballs. They are no 8-44 when trailing after 4! They seem to be missing some leadership.

Yanks Running Out of Time

The Yanks begun their must sweep series with the Red Sox by losing game one. I won't rehash it cause I'm trying to avoid blaming others for anything. But, the Yanks are in a deep hole, and they're gonna have to go on a tear to get out of it. Go Yanks.

Sweep

Robbie Cano had four hits today including two doubles and a gamewinning homer as the Yanks held on and swept the Orioles. Rasner didn't get the job done, and Robertson and Edwar both struggled before Vera, Marte and Mo contained things. The Yanks have an off day tomorrow, then begin a must-sweep series against the Red Sox in New York. Go Yanks.

Osi Gone For the Year

The Superbowl champs lost a major piece of the puzzle today when they discovered their only pro-bowler, Osi Umenyiora, will be lost for the season with knee surgery. Osi's knee was injured on a non-contact play where he tripped on the Giant Stadium turf.

The injury will force Matthias Kiwanuka back to his natural DE position. Gerris Wilkinson will probably move to SAM. The problems will come in dialing the exotic blitzes the Giants depend on. Until now, they have always had at least 3 premiere passrushers to use at all times in the Steve Spagnuolo era. Now they are down to two, and will have to use Wynn or Tollefson or Gilberry to play LDE and let Tuck slide to DT on passing down. Hopefully one of them will step up and produce.

Beyond that, the DT's, LB and DB's will all have to contribute more to the passrush.

It's sort of a shame that the Giants waited to trade Shockey, if they had made the deal during the draft, they were going to take Quentin Groves and would be in much better shape right now.

What the... ?

Carl Pavano was activated to start tonight's Yankee game -- and he won. Strange things are afoot. Pavano pitched 5 innings of 3 run ball on a pitch count. Giambi had a homer and another hit to knock in 4, then Matsui added a homer later. Bruney pitched a solid 6th and 7th and Veras contribted a scoreless 8th before Mo saved it. Yanks win 5-3. That's two in a row.

Yanks Pound Orioles Late

Bobby Abreu went 5-5, ARod had two doubles, Cano and Molina went back to back early, then Cody Ransom and Xavier Nady went back to back late as the Yanks eventually pounded the Orioles 9-4. Ransom is now 2 for 2 in his Yankee career and both are homers. Moose didn't qualify for the win which went to Veras in the 7th. Mo got 4 outs for the save. Big win. That's 1 in a row.

Yanks Drop Another Series

After winning one last night, the Yanks showed up unprepared to face Doc Halladay and the Jays tonight. Sidney Ponson's luck ran out, and Girardi was down to letting Traber eat innings in the 5th. It's stunning that they can't muster any offense, but if they're gonna miss the playoffs, they might as well keep losing and protect those picks.

On the bright side, the Yanks will be diving back into IFA to add more minor league talent over the next several months. They'll have to add a lot of MAJOR LEAGUE talent starting in November.

Can't Catch a Break

Johnny Damon dropped two flyballs tonight, the second one allowing the go ahead run to score with two outs in the 8th, and the Yankees lost as a result. Of course the fact that they couldn't score more than 1 run didn't help matters. As it stands the Yanks will either go on a run or keep playing like they have been and end up in the bottom 15. Ending up in the bottom 15 would protect all of their draft picks, and that wouldn't be that bad, since they're going to have to add some FA's in November.

Hixon Busts Out

With Plaxico Burress, Amani Toomer, Steve Smith and Mario Manningham all out tonight, Domenik Hixon decided to put on a show. Hixon caught two TD passes from Eli Manning, and scored another TD on a kick return after a safety. And he did it all in the first quarter. Where last week he failed to get both feet in a what could have been a TD pass, this week he got both feet in twice. He looks like he could be Toomer II, and of course that would be awesome for Eli and the Giants. The Giants starters left early in the second quarter with a 30-3 lead, and that was without Plax, Amani, Steve or Mario. They're looking good and deep. Go Giants.

Yanks Beat Royals, Win Series

Mike Mussina gave up three runs in the top of the first, then protected it through six while his teammates scored 15, including a 3 run ARod blast in the bottom of the first and a Giambi grand slam in the bottom of the second, for his 16th win. He has 8 starts to make it to 20, and seems to have a better shot at making his goal than the Yanks do of making their's. After an off day tomorrow, the Yanks go up to Toronto for a series they must really sweep. They haven't had much luck against Toronto or their next opponent Baltimore this year, so it will be make or break.

As you probably know by now the Yankees failed to sign their first round pick, Gerrit Cole by Friday's deadline. It is unclear how they ended up taking a kid who some time between the draft and the deadline decided he only wanted to join a middling UCLA baseball program rather than hear an offer from the Yanks. Still between missing out on Cole, spending their supplemental pick on a kid they could sign to a below slot contract, and drafting a reliever who they could not sign because of concerns over his shoulder, the Yanks top three picks now look like an utter trainwreck.

Bleich may turn out to be okay, but trying to go underslot on a supp pick, when there were so many high ceiling kids still on the board seems pennywise and pound foolish. We must assume they were only looking for a bargain there cause they expected Cole to be so expensive. It's unclear how long the Yanks knew they weren't getting Cole before the deadline, but it is surprising that they didn't end up moving the budget around to sign more picks like Anders, Dwyer, McMahan and Monar.

Taking all of this into account, the Yanks did sign a lot of good picks including Brett Marshall and Garrison Lassiter, but in order to maintain the A I saw for them right after the draft instead of the C/C+ they deserve now, they had to sign their top pick, and show a better strategy for the top 3. They will receive a compensatory first and second for Cole and Bittle next year, but those picks cannot be developed while they wait to use them. If anyone had said in June that August 15th would pass and the Yanks would have neither Cole nor Michel Inoa under contract, I think it would have been met with laughter. I wonder what's going on over there.

The Horror Show Continues

Joe Girardi thought it would be interesting to play Justin Christian and Melky Cabrera instead of Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi against Glen Perkins, a lefty who sucks against lefties tonight. It turns out it wasn't interesting at all. Justin and Melky grounded into outs and DP's and Girardi stuck with them as Perkins shut out the newfangled Yanks for 8 innings in the metrodome tonight. Girardi is the guy I wanted to replace Torre, I'm trying to remember why. The Yanks wasted another surprisingly good start from Ponson as their mission became ever harder tonight.

Yanks Give Another Game to the Angels

Dan Giese left with a 3-1 lead after six and after having pitched brilliantly. Jose Veras gave up two homers for the tie in the 7th, then Edwar Ramirez came in and gave up 4 runs, including a first pitch of the appearance homer to Vlad Guerrero before he was lifted with no outs in the 8th. The Yanks offense turned down their chances to break the game open, and Joe Girardi doesn't seem to favor switching relievers before the damage is done. One of the worst Yankee losses of the year.

The Champs are Back!

And Kenny Phillips is the real deal! The first team played for about a quarter in the Giants 13-10 loss to the Lions, but the reason to watch pre-season is the kids and the kids were impressive. Kenny Phillips sniffed out a reverse for a big loss, and was right there for a bunch of other stops. Terrell Thomas was impressive as a gunner and on D. Bryan Kehl looked like an absolute steal. Draft picks Jonathan Goff and Robert Henderson were both hurt. Goff looks like he'll be awhile with a fracture in his back. Henderson and Gilberry both hurt their ankles, but x-rays were negative. Carr looked better than Wright in the battle of the back-ups. And there were even a few Sinorice Moss sightings. Great to see Kiwi and Ward back and playing. Stat healthy, Giants!

Yanks Win!

Derek Jeter is coming out of his protracted duldrums, and Mike Mussina won #15 with 7 innings of shut out ball in Texas. The final was 3-0 on a Jeter homer and RBI singles by Jeter and Damon. It was like a game out of 1968. Still the Yankee pitching, which had given up so many walks and homers on this Texas trip was subperb. Bruney faced one batter and got an out. Marte faced two and got both out, and Mo came in for a 1-2-3 ninth. Really nice job. Keep it going, Yanks!

Mr. Lucky

Sir Sid broke the Yankees two game slide with another one of his luck/skill? driven quality start. The big play came when Bobby Abreu threw out Murphy to end Texas rally. Pudge Rodriguez blocked the plate to record the out, and both Pudge and Murphy would have to leave the game. IRod is day to day with a bruised knee. Jeter broke out of his contribution slump and drove in the go ahead run. This was a desperately needed win on a day when Joba went on the DL and both the Sox and Rays won.

Word has also come out that the Yanks have signed their 6th round pick Brett Marshall for 850K with an additional 200K for college, and a 7500 bonus of some sort. This is a huge signing as Marshall has a Joba-like upside. He currently tops out at 97 on his fastball and 91! on his slider. Whether he'll start or relieve will depend on one or two other pitches developing, but he is anothe great arm for the inventory.

Go Yanks!

Yanks Lose Joba, Then Lose Game

The Yanks lost Joba tonight as he was forced to leave the game pointing at his shoulder with two out in the 5th. The Yanks were down 5-4 after 5th had been extended by way of umpire incompetence. Xavier Nady would eventually tie it up, but Damaso Marte was allowed to walk the bases loaded before giving up a grand slam in the bottom of the 9th. He joined David Robertson and Edwar Ramirez as Yankee relievers who have given up grand slams in the last 7 days. That is more or less inconcievable. So are the chances of the Yanks making the post season if Joba misses time. The Yanks could have gained a game in the standing tonight, but instead they lost an ace.

Yanks Win a Wild One in the Bronx!

Man, what a wild one! Rasner put the Yanks behind the 8 ball by giving up 5 early runs as the O struggled against Lackey. They somehow failed to score on fly ball with the bases loaded when Abreu got thrown out at third before Jeter could score! The Yanks started coming back when Ivan Rodgriguez homered, and the Xavier Nady hit a two run double. The Yanks then took the lead on a three run homer by Nady in the 7th. But, in the bottom of the 8th, Edwar K'd the first two hitters, then loaded the bases through walks and a single before giving up a grand slam to Mark Texiera. The Yanks were down one to start the 8th, but Pudg singled, then was lifted for Justin Christian with a 3-2 count on Melky. Christian took, and Melky was safe on an error. Christian tried to steal third and Mathis threw the ball into left. Christian scored and Melky went to third. Some walks, another error and clutch hits from Cano, Nady and Christian, gave the Yanks a 14-9 lead going into the 9th. Veras came in, gave up a 1 out double, but then got the last two outs on a K and a flyball, for the win. Girardi can be questioned for leaving Edwar in when he didn't have it, but, he must also be praised for putting Christian in once the count went to 3-2 on Melky. This was a crazy game, but the Yanks really needed it and they GOT IT! Go Yanks!

Moose!

Mike Mussina bounced back from his poor start against the O's to totally dominate the Angels and give the Yanks their first win of the series. The Angels 2 runs were a result of an error, and Moose retired the last 17 batters he faced. Betemit, Abreu, MOLINA, and ARod homered, Veras pitched a perfect 8th, and Bruney, in his return put runners on the corners before ending it. Yanks win 8-2, and Nick Turley, their 50th round pick, a longshot to sign, has signed. Big day for the Yanks. Let's secure the split tomorrow

Yanks Lose Again

The Yankees wasted some of Sidney Ponson's best luck yet and an impressive performance by Damaso Marte, by taking 26 lousy ab's (there was a GIDP from Pudge) and losing 1-0 to the Angels at home. Mo continued his dead arm phase by giving up the game's lone run in the top of the 9th, and ARod, Giambi and Cano looked like they signed a non-competition pact with KRod in the bottom of the ninth. I've been a big fan of Kevin Long, the hitting coach, but there's been more hitting than missing so far and someone' got to fix it. Go Yanks.