Congrats Derf and other Texas fans. I thought Texas matched up well with the Yankees. I was wrong, they were far better than the yankees. They beat them silly and made them look really bad.

rofl..em

Yankees get past the Twins and end up playing Texas it is not going to be a easy time. Texas matches up pretty well with the Yankees. It is going to be a battle. Thats if either of them gets to play the other.
I am off work for a bit so I get to watch some games. Looking forward to it.

Congrats to the Twins. They were able to turn it on at the right time of year.

I think it is in their best interest to let him rest anyway. We need him down the strech. You don't want to see this become something more serious and end up missing extended time.

I agree. He should be brought up so we can use him on the playoff roster. I think we would be better off having our pitchers bat than Cervelli right now. Everytime he comes up I wish they would just put the bunt on to advance the runner.

Cervelli was a nice surprise in the begining. He can catch but his bat has been awful for sure. I think it is time for a certain Catcher to come up from the minors and see what he has to offer in the Bigs.

Nunez is showing he can hit to all parts of the field. He isnt a 1 trick pony.. Just think if Thames got some more playing time.

MLB investigating Yankees' Ivan Nova

ESPN.com news services

NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball is investigating New York Yankees pitcher Ivan Nova and a former minor league teammate for allegedly injecting each other with B-12 shots, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to The Associated Press.

The person spoke Saturday on condition of anonymity because MLB is not discussing the matter publicly.

The New York Post first reported the investigation, saying that baseball was looking into whether Nova and pitcher Wilkin De La Rosa injected each other last season while they were teammates with Double-A Trenton.

"I didn't use it," Nova told the Post. "No comment. I was surprised."

B-12 is not on baseball's list of banned substances, but the Post said MLB is focused on the issue of whether the players injected each other and wants to make certain the shots were in fact B-12.

The person who spoke to the AP confirmed those details.

Nova is scheduled to start Sunday for the Yankees against the Chicago White Sox.

"We talked to him about it. We are unaware of any investigation at this time," New York manager Joe Girardi said Saturday. "We talked to him yesterday just to say you might be asked about it. I feel like his head will be in the right spot."

The 23-year-old Nova was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last weekend and pitched well in his first major league start Monday at Toronto.

De La Rosa is still at Double-A Trenton, where he has been used primarily as a reliever this year.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

They looked really bad. I put the Phillies game on. See if the Philles can start taking advantage of The Braves losses.

I just checked the guide for sports and saw there was a Yankee game. All I saw was a Chicago White Sox game. Didn't see any Yankees playing.

As Hamilton goes, so go the Rangers
Slugger's performance deeply tied to Texas' success

By T.R. Sullivan / MLB.com

08/27/10 12:18 AM ET


ARLINGTON -- The numbers suggest that when Josh Hamilton does well, the Rangers do well.

That's hardly a surprise, but here are some numbers to consider. The Rangers are 22-8 in games in which Hamilton hit a home run, they are 34-13 when he had at least two hits in a game and they are 16-4 when he had at least two RBIs.

All that does is reinforce his importance to the Rangers lineup, but they received another reminder over the past couple of weeks. Hamilton was 1-for-14 with one RBI during a four-game losing streak at Tampa Bay and Baltimore. But since then, Hamilton is 10-for-27 in seven games with four home runs and 11 RBIs.

The Rangers won five of those seven games.

"It's been OK," Hamilton said before Thursday's 6-4 loss to the Twins. "I still feel the remnants of that little lull. I'm hitting the ball hard, but there are some adjustments still to be made. I need to keep trying to hit the ball to left-center like I want to."

Hamilton went into Thursday's game hitting .356, the highest in the American League, with 89 runs scored, 30 home runs and 92 RBIs. He led the league in hits and total bases while ranking fourth with a .405 on-base percentage and second with a .634 slugging percentage.

He was also leading the league in three distinctively unique hitting categories. He ranked first with a .390 home batting average, a .381 batting average in night games and a .403 average against right-handed pitchers.

But for Hamilton, the most important ranking is that the Rangers remain in first place in the American League West. By focusing on winning, Hamilton doesn't get caught up in where he ranks in any offensive categories.

"If I focus on what it takes for the team to win, I feel my numbers are going to improve," Hamilton said. "If I'm driving in runs, it means I'm helping the team win. It carries over to defense. If I'm not hitting well, I can still do something in the field to help the team win."

Hamilton has put himself in position to finish strong. That's something he didn't do in 2008, when he had an outstanding first season with the Rangers. In '08 he had a .367 on-base percentage and .552 slugging percentage before the All-Star break. He then posted a .376 on-base percentage and a .498 slugging percentage after the break.

This season, he had a .390 on-base percentage and a .625 slugging percentage before the All-Star break. That earned him a third straight trip to the All-Star Game, but his numbers have gone up since then. He has a .440 on-base percentage and a .657 slugging percentage.

He said it all goes back to changing his approach back in May when he decided to concentrate on just putting the ball in play rather than the big-swing approach.

"The biggest thing for me, once I figured out what I wanted to do as far as hitting, is to be consistent the rest of the way," Hamilton said. "It's not about finishing strong, it's about being consistent."

T.R. Sullivan is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

lol I just don't understand it to this day. If your chosing between Damon and Johnson and some of the money they just throw around I am still scratching my head over. I was sooo hoping Damon would have said no to the Red Sox, I would have been sick seeing him back in that uniform.

I don't know what Cashman was thinking with Nick Johnson. Nick Johnson when healthy could have been and has shown he could be effictive. BUT his whole career it has been one thing after another. He is like the boy who should be in a bubble.

A good GM is hard to find that can put together a team the way it should be. But I do believe Mickey Mouse would do a better job than Omar.

I think the records should get out there. If a owner is going to cry publicly how they are so poor and need more money they should have to show publicly where and why they need the money.

So many of these guys want to keep playing and they don't say anything to the team and it ends up hurting the team in the end. I think there is more going on with Jeter to and he just doesn't want to say. There is a rumor about his heel to thats out there. I believe Jeter has dropped with some age but I don't believe he has dropped from where he was last year to how far he has dropped this year.

Ryan Howard just had to be restrained. No easy task. 3rd base ump said he swung on a appeal and struck out in a huge botton of the 14th with man on 2nd and 3rd. Roy Oswalt now playing left field with Ibanez going from left to 1st in place of Howard. True to form 1st hit goes to the guy out of place. Oswalt catches a popup to left.

Ivan Nova to start for Javy Vazquez

TORONTO -- It appears that Ivan Nova's guest appearance in the New York Yankees rotation on Monday was actually an audition for a regular spot on the pitching staff.
He passed.
Manager Joe Girardi announced Nova will replace the struggling Javier Vazquez for Sunday's start against the White Sox in Chicago, and perhaps longer than that.
"We liked what we saw out there," Girardi said before Tuesday night's Yankees-Blue Jays game. "I saw toughness. I saw resiliency. I liked his presence out there. And we think his stuff is even better than he showed."
It was a 180-degree turn from Monday night, when Girardi dismissed with a wave of his hand the question of whether the 24-year-old had earned another start. "It's way too early to think about that," he said.
Barely 12 hours later, Girardi had not only thought about it, but done it.
Called up from Triple-A Scranton on Sunday, Nova threw 5 1/3 innings of six hit, two-run ball in the Yankees' 3-2 loss Monday night, including one of Jose Bautista's two home runs. But Girardi and pitching coach Dave Eiland were especially impressed by the first inning, in which Nova was faced with a bases-loaded, none-out jam and the dangerous Vernon Wells at bat. Nova got Wells to pop out to short left on a 2-0 pitch, and Brett Gardner turned it into a key double play when Fred Lewis foolishly tried to score from third.
"He could have caved right there but he didn't," Girardi said of Nova. "He continued to make pitches."



The Yankees were also impressed by Nova's standing up to Bautista in the sixth inning, when the Jays slugger took a few steps toward the mound after a high, tight fastball flew past Bautista to the backstop, triggering an incident that cleared the benches but did not erupt into a brawl.



"That kid showed me something, standing up to the top home-run hitter in the game," one Yankee said. "He's the kind of kid who can help us a lot."



Clearly, the Yankees no longer felt that way about Vazquez, the 34-year-old right-hander who has struggled on and off all season and lately has suffered an alarming drop in velocity that no one seems able to explain.



Vazquez (9-9, 5.05 ERA) hasn't made it through the fifth inning in any of his last three starts, and was yanked just three innings into his last outing, against the Seattle Mariners on Saturday, after surrendering three home runs -- two to Ichiro Suzuki and one to Russell Branyan. Vazquez was told before Tuesday night's game that he would not be starting Sunday, although Girardi indicated his banishment to the bullpen could be permanent.



"I can't tell you right now," Girardi said when asked if Vazquez would remain in the 'pen. "I want to see where we are after Sunday, and we'll continue to evaluate how everyone's doing and how everyone's feeling."



Vazquez said he was disappointed but not surprised by the move.



"I haven't been doing my job, so I understand it," he said. "I'm feeling good but I'm just not throwing the ball well. That's why I'm a little frustrated."



With the Yankees in a dogfight for control of the AL East -- they are tied with the Tampa Bay Rays heading into Tuesday night -- their rotation now consists of CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and, with Andy Pettitte on the DL, three pitchers who were not full-time major league starters last year: Phil Hughes, Dustin Moseley and Nova.



Asked this afternoon if he could foresee Nova possibly starting a game for the Yankees in the postseason, Girardi said, "I think that's getting too far head."



Which is precisely what he had said Monday night about the possibility of Nova getting another start this weekend.



Wallace Matthews covers the Yankees for ESPNNewYork.com. Follow him on Twitter.

You might already know by now but yes, Boras is his agent. He is looking at the shiney new nickel he will get for next year. He isn't concerned how Damon feels.

One of his statements I had read ws he wasn't going to talk to his agent about it and have his agent talk him into it. So Sounds like the evil agent was all for him to go. So thats probably where the hurt him in free agency came from.

Johnny Damon going to stay with Detroit reports coming out of Detroit. No official word yet though.

I think the guy deserves a ton of credit. I always thought he was a pretty good manager but this year I think he has done a awsome job.

White Sox reportedly planning waiver claim on Manny Ramirez

Aaron Gleeman
Aug. 24, 2010, 1:10 PM ET


Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com wrote this morning that "claiming Manny Ramirez off waivers would be nuts." And now he's reporting that the White Sox plan to place a waiver claim on Ramirez.

General manager Ken Williams and the White Sox were said to be interested in Ramirez prior to the July 31 trade deadline, so Chicago's apparent willingness to take what now amounts to little more than a $4 million flier on the 38-year-old slugger certainly isn't surprising. Or particularly crazy, despite what Rosenthal suggests.

Ramirez certainly isn't the dominant offensive force he once was and has also been limited to just 62 games because of injuries, but if reasonably healthy he's still a damn good bat. He's hit .312/.404/.508 overall this season, which is good for a .912 OPS that ranks seventh among all MLB outfielders with at least 200 plate appearances.

Beyond that, the White Sox's have a gaping hole at designated hitter caused by the misguided decision not to re-sign Jim Thome at manager Ozzie Guillen's urging this offseason. Thome has been amazing for the Twins with a .269/.393/.583 mark that tops the measly .237/.308/.401 cumulative production from the White Sox's designated hitters by 267 points of OPS.

Ramirez can't get back the production and games lost by choosing to replace Thome with Mark Kotsay, but his still-powerful right-handed bat would fit very well into the White Sox's lineup and by using him primarily at DH they could cross "defense" off the list of potential issues.

Of course, just because the White Sox are planning to place a waiver claim on Ramirez doesn't mean a team in front of them won't do the same, and even if Chicago ends up with the winning claim they'd still have to work out a deal for him unless the Dodgers are simply willing to give him away to save money.

As usual, Ken Williams has plenty of gamble in him.

HALO Reach leaked by hackers.

Halo Reach Leaked To BitTorrent A Month Before Release Date

The latest installment of the highly anticipated Halo series, named Halo: Reach has found it's way to BitTorrent sites and other file sharing networks an entire month ahead of it's release by Microsoft.

The crafty work of some Halo addicts meant that they were able to download a full copy of the game from Microsoft's servers, patch it up in an ISO and share it with the masses on P2P networks. The vulnerability is due to a change in how Microsoft distribute games to reviewers. Games On Demand is a service that allows selected reviewers to download a games directly from Microsoft's servers, thus eliminating the need for hard copies to be sent via snail mail.

Microsoft has said they are "aggressively investigating" the leak.

The official release date & legal release is September 14

5 points for those that can guess what modded xbox owners have planned for this evening...

If they do it I wouldn't even feel it is a miracle. They had their slow start that really hurt them. You think about they gained that ground and have something like the top 5 records in baseball. This is where Francona is a better manager than Joe Torre ever was. He makes the right moves all the time. I know you can get frustrated when it doesn't work but what he has done this year I feel he should be a strong consideration for manager of the year.

lol I hope he stays to. One thing Damon could do is give them a spark I would prefer Boston not getting..lol His skills may not be what it was at one time but he is a gamer and will give his all. The man gives 100% of what he still has.

I think they definitly have a shot. I just think that window is closing faster and faster with them not gaining much ground. They have picked up what, 1 1/2 games since they played the Yankees. Yankees and Tampa are both looking tired the past few weeks. A month ago I would have said maybe 50/50 of them making the playoffs. They are playing great baseball to stay within this range considering how far back they were at one point. They have to start making a move soon.

I think Damon is really torn up about this. He said he loves it there in Detroit last week on ESPN But said his best time was with the Yankees. He would take them over Boston anytime. When the owner and GM talked a lot of crap about him when he left he felt hurt with the contract offer and they acted like he should take it just to stay loyal to the Red Sox. He is risking a lot and his pride going back and could very well still be sitting home come October.

Manny will probably hit the waiver wire tomorrow.

With Detroit he is going nowhere and there is a small shot Boston can become a wild card team. I give Francona a ton of credit for keeping them in the race with all the players that have been hurt. He seems to keep pulling the right strings. Damon could help give them a spark. It is unlikely they will make the playoffs but there is still a shot. They play Tampa 6 more times and they are 5 games behind them. 5 1/2 from 1st. They are still in it.

One side note also it will be interesting to see if Tampa tries to block the Yankees because the word is the Dodgers want to put Manny on waivers and Tampa is interested in a big time way. So will they wait to see whats up with Manny or will they just pull the trigger and take Damon. Damon is at the end of his career but as we both know he is not one to shy away from the spotlight and can come up big in big games.

Just when you thought you saw everything.Unreal!!!!

If the Yankees can get him they would definitly take him back. I don't think there was bad blood between them. It was more agent created. Listening to Damon last week before he signed with Detroit he asked Hal and Hal told him sorry, the window had closed. Boras tried to play hardball based onwhat the Yankees have done in the past and lost the Bluff. We wont see a, whats his name again, hmmmm, oh yea, Wait, slipped my mind again, Oh yea, Nick Johnson the rest of the year and the Injury bug is starting to hit us good.

Your right that Cabrera is having a monster year. But where would Detroit be without him? Still sitting on their couches at the end of the season. The same place as with him. I don't think Texas is as far as they are in the division without Hamilton. I think he is that big on that team.

Now if Jeter was the next batter than I could see them do it but A-Rod or Cano next? Bad move.

Josh Hamilton should win it hands down I think.

One of my biggest problems was always how great so many would be during their contract years. How many times we have seen that. Last year of someones contract and they have a career year. Then they are payed for what they might do after they sign their contract. They can do anything up there and they are going to get their money.

That was almost painful to watch. It looked like a bunch of guys just putting their time in. Iciro looks like he was the only one trying.

I can understand walking Tex to load the bases and try for the Double play. But the next batter is the best hitter on the Yankees. How do you try to go to the double play against the best hitter and 4th best hitter in the A.L.? I don't get that one.