LUCKY 7! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BYB!

“I love you guys! The greatest Yankee site I've ever read! It's in my bookmarks!"

--BYB Reader

I woke up looking at my clock today.  6:35am... and September 14th. I literally stared at it for a moment. I felt like I had something to do today, my mind was a fog. I got up, grabbed my clothes and hit the shower.  Then I remembered... today's BYB's 7th birthday.  I cannot believe it.

It's an amazing thing when you think about it.  Some of our readers have literally been with us since the beginning, and they're still here.  But luckily for us, they aren't just readers now... they are our friends these days.  They root us on, support us, share us and wear us.

We have newcomers coming in once in a while. They ask questions, sometimes they hate because they just don't understand what we do here on Bleeding Yankee Blue. A lot of times they just come into our site and expect us to spew our opinions and to hell with everyone else. 

Never been the case here... and once they recognize that... the banter starts and relationships form.  We are here for the fans... we're not here to try and be right.  Opinion matters... all of it, and that is what I have put together here.

My writers are tops.  No one better in the blog community and the reason why I know that is because readers tell us, like... almost every day.  I love that. It gives me chills, because what started as a toy for me and my friends really became an appointment for all of you. 

You look for the latest from Suzie Pinstripe or Jeana Bellezza.  You like to hear the harsh and sometimes true opinions of Barry Millman. You enjoy Michael Carnesi and always want check in on Mike O'Hara, because, well... he's Mike O'Hara, and while he's not writing a ton these days, trust me, he is still a vital piece of the BYB community.

BYB is 7 because you guys didn't give up on us.  Through our rough patches... through the times where we were rolling and readership was up.  Some how, some way we did it our way and gained success.  Remember, I know nothing about the Internet. I learned.  I started this blog on September 10, 2014 with not a clue in the world of how it worked. But I did like to see that people checked in on my opinions. Next thing you know, I did another story, and it happened again.  And then more readers, and suddenly I was on my way. These days, we are on our way.

It's been quite flattering and amazing actually.  We have interviewed top Yankees, top YES network talent, and for me personally, there are big time people in my own life that I have always admired and always wanted to meet, and over time, through this "train that could" of BYB... I was able to shake their hand in person and let them know face to face that I admire them.  It's quite wonderful.  It proves something very significant to me;  while not as big as Beacher Report at this very moment... we're huge among the grassroots and loved by many of our readers.  Not only that, we are respected.

Photo: Bergen Record's Pete Caldera

Respect is a powerful thing.  It's that thing that lets me know that there's a stature that now comes with BYB.  Guys like Jack Curry and Bob Lorenz and Nancy Newman and Pete Caldera and Bryan Hoch follow us.  They like to read and sometimes laugh, but they can dig in on our "fan anaylsis" as well. Again, we're honest, and I think that's refreshing. It's real. It's very real.

Thank you.

I mean that from the bottom of my heart.  As I write this I get emotional.  You are the reason we write this blog every single day.  You are the reason we wake up early or stay up way to late.  You like our product, and we love that you love it.  That means we have connected.

I was told so many times that this was "stupid".  "Why would you have such an ugly blog with a family underlining message. IT'S ABOUT THE YANKEES! Don't insert yourself!"   True email by the way who no longer writes me.  And to respond here publically... Why? Well, because the Yankees ARE family, and if you see baseball and life as being very similar, you will understand the universe. I swear to God.  Baseball and life share the same highs and lows, and if you understand the stepping stones, you will get it.  And while BYB didn't start that way, there is no question that this is what we have evolved into.

Vintage photo of Marci Hensley, mother of Ty Hensley

Family.  That's us, folks.  7 years on the map is no joke, and it's a perfect combination of timing for us here at BYB.  My writers have come and gone, but the ones that left still support us, and we have very solid friendships. The writers we have now are bonding like crazy with our readers.  I have regular pow-wows with my own writers. I answer questions, have done seminars for Suzie Pinstripe, made speeches for small groups of bloggers that want to know the "secrets". Here's the secret, folks... be honest, be nice and work hard.  That's what my writers do here.  If you can't do that, good luck.  That's the formula, write it down.

I leave you all with this, a story I wrote in 2014 that will forever stay close to my heart. It's titled I THINK WE HAVE BLEEDING YANKEE BLUE FANS NOW! Here's a portion of it:

" Recently I was out with a friend of mine and we literally ran into a guy wearing a Bleeding Yankee Blue “What’s your blood type?” Shirt on the streets of Manhattan.

I nudged my buddy and pointed over at the guy.

“Holy Shit, go tell him who you are?”

“No. What the hell does that even mean?” I said.

“Do it, I want to see his face!”  Now look, I’ve known this guy for 20 years.  He’s a ball buster and a trouble maker and I should have dropped him a long time ago. But he’s a loyal friend and so, we see each other once in a while.

Anyway, I refused make a scene. Besides, it's more gratifying for me to see you guys wearing my BYB stuff and me sitting back and enjoying it. I’m a regular dude with a regular life and I don’t need the fanfare.  I do however, appreciate you wearing us and supporting us.

As the guy was buying a pretzel, my buddy went over to him. “Where’d you get that shirt?”

“BleedingYankeeBlue.com!" He rattled it off the tongue like he knew it was coming.  “I gotta get me one of those”, my buddy said with a smirk. The guy turned around quickly. “You can’t get this shirt anymore. I’ve been reading them for years. It’s vintage now.”  He started to laugh.  My pal, always the jokster, laughed harder, and patted him on the back like they'd known each other for life. They looked like 2 old friends or something.  “See that guy," he pointed at me, "He’s Casey.”
“Crap”, I said under my breath smiling.  I knew it was coming.

“Get the F**k outta here!”  The man walked over to me. There was pretzel mustard in his mustache. He was happy to see me.

“Are you F**king with me right now?”

“No, it’s me," I said, "Nice shirt!” We shook hands.

“I love you guys! The greatest Yankee site I've ever read! It's in my bookmarks," he said."

My fondest day as the BYB Chief.  And today's a happier one.  Happy 7th birthday to Bleeding Yankee Blue.  A special thanks to my writers who never quit on me or you... and a huge thank you to our readers who read us, share us and wear us... and most importantly... talk to us about what we've written every single day.

You guys made this. We appreciate you dearly.

Thank you. God Bless.




--Robert Casey
BYB Chief, Managing Editor & Head Writer
Twitter: @BleednYankeeBlu

65% OFF Aaron Judge Rookie Season Game Used Baseball Fan Box with 2017 Random Locker Room Nameplate. Just $149.99 at SteinerSports.com, no code needed.

A YANKEE FAN TELLS IRMA WHO'S BOSS

I've been following Irma's angry red eye bearing down on me all week like some raging bloody sock here in the Sunshine State, and with Wednesday's Yanks-O's game rained out I'm at the mercy of an army of grim-faced weather prognosticators and scary images overwhelming my flat screen.

Sure wish they'd played. I could've used the diversion.

It's due to hit sometime this weekend. Some forecasters now say the storm track could break to my right. Others still say it will stay outside and still more now seem convinced it may burn right down my Main Street.

Velocities. Angles. Averages. The weather graphics are all starting  to blur together.

Is it just me or are they all starting to resemble fangraph heat maps?

Damn I wish the ballgame was on. Should the batter swing? Should he take? How many outs are there? What's the count?  Is it late and close? Should the baserunner take off on the first move?

Oh wait, it's still only Wednesday.

Not quite a late and close situation. Not yet anyway.

And this baserunner isn't going anywhere.

Evacuation isn't an option for me. Too many good reasons to stay and too few good ones to leave. I've never scared easy even when there was good reason staring me six inches from my face, and certainly not when it's still more than a thousand miles away and several days away from it.

I've pre-prepped about as much as my available time,  personal resources, native New Yorker common sense and long experience dealing with many of these dicey storms will allow. I've prioritized based on the odds and now I've done all I can for myself and others and all that's left to do is hope with a little luck I can weather this one like I have all the others.

Sept. 4, 2017 - Source: Rob Carr/Getty Images North America

So here I sit wishing our Yankees-O's game didn't get postponed. And trying not to watch any other baseball  news or highlights because I heard the Red Sox won and they'll mention it.  Or worse, because they'll show replays of  that last ball Dellin threw to Machado yesterday.

Yesterday really sucked.

Then I saw a story in the Post yesterday titled "Hurricane Irma can really mess with the Yankees' schedule" that had Joe venting his spleen a bit over  how the storm may force the team into playing a twin bill with the Rays at the Trop.

"You would prefer not to play a doubleheader, especially at this time of year," he said. "But Mother Nature has been something we have never really been able to outwit."

Not with a binder you haven't, Joe.

But these Florida heat maps sure look promising. You should look into them sometime. Say, next year. With the Marlins.

Now THERE'S an image  to make Irma dwindle in the mind's eye in the absence of a ballgame.




And I can think of another. A magazine cover featuring another Florida transplant like me accompanied by the quote: "Winning is the most important thing in my life after breathing. Breathing first, winning next."

To all my fellow Floridians who are hunkering down and sticking, help out, hold tight and hang tough. We'll all show Irma who's the real boss.

Breathing first. Winning next.




--Barry Millman
BYB Writer
Follow me on Twitter: @nyyankeefanfore

THE YANKS HAVE 1 MORE CHICKEN BONE TO PICK WITH BOSTON

Photo: Getty Images

In a series finale Sunday that mattered more than it should, the Yanks finished off their four-game set with Boston in a way that made you wish it mattered even more.

Playing out of their shoes to win a series that barely a hundred hours earlier had begun as a battle for sheer survival in the division race,  the entire team raised their game to a level that made one's jaw drop at the looming juggernaut GM Brian Cashman is assembling -- not just for this season but going forward.

Photo: Getty Images

Or as ESPN's Andrew Marchand more colorfully put it:  "The New York Yankees can dream. They can do it for the next month. They can do it for the next few years. They can do it because Sunday was another night in this surprising 2017 season in which remnants of the next Core Four showed their talent. It's not hard to imagine Luis Severino, Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge playing in even bigger games than Sunday's series finale against the Boston Red Sox. But Sunday did hold a certain significance, as the Yankees tried to maintain a chance to catch the Red Sox in the American League East.

"Sunday night was all about the young guns, starting with Severino, the Yankees' 23-year-old ace, who looked Red Sox ace Chris Sale in the eyes and didn't back down. Then there was Sanchez, who in the sixth inning beat out a two-out RBI infield single that, thanks to a replay review, turned into a six-run inning. The exclamation point of that inning was Judge crushing his 38th homer of the season..."

Photo: Getty Images

Now, as scope-locked as Andrew was on the young guns, he did make a point of underscoring key contributions from the older guys -- in particular  Headley, Holliday, Castro, and I'll personally add that Ells had himself quite a game as well.

In fact, by winning the season series for the third time in four years and holding the Sox to a single hit in 27 at bats with runners in scoring position over their final four games; by dropping three dingers on Boston  ace Chris Sale (not to mention a fourth on coveted trade deadline pickup Addison Reed), forcing the Cy Young candidate's earliest exit of the year and leaving him winless in five starts against our boys,  NY surely served notice to both  Boston and the rest of the league the Bombers have the balls as well as the arms to make some serious noise this postseason if they manage to get there.

Photo: Getty Images

And while it's true, as Andrew noted, "The Yankees’ chances of winning the AL East are still slim," it somehow feels to this writer like Boston continues to overlook them.

The Boston Herald consoled their readers thusly following Sunday's  9-2 drubbing under a barrage of  pinstripe artillery:

Photo: Getty Images

"Don’t worry, Red Sox fans. The going-out-of-business Toronto Blue Jays are staggering into Fenway Park tonight to begin a three-game series against the American League East leaders. ...What the Sox do have going for them is six more regular-season games against the Jays. They also have three home games against the Oakland A’s, who are languishing in the barrel shed of the AL West. Oh, and there’s a three-game set in Cincinnati against the Reds. They, too, are in the bottom of the standings in their division, the NL Central. ...As long as they keep playing the Blue Jays, A’s and Reds, that shouldn’t be a problem."

That's admittedly a pretty cushy path shaping up for the Sox in their home stretch that has even Sale himself sounding like he expects smooth sailing now that he's put his Big Apple beat-downs behind him.

"We have a good home stand coming up," he said.  "So we’ll put in some good work and come out of there being where we need to be.”

Must be nice to feel so cocksure about an upcoming home stand. I hope they don't forget to order the fried chicken and buckets of beer...

But as I noted in my own cheery consolation to Yankee fans following our Indians sweep,  the Yankees continue to have one of the best home-field winning percentages and by far more home games scheduled down the stretch than any other team in MLB -- a path that's already borne them fruit with a convincing must-win series  against Sale and company.

Simply put, the Sox are  hoping to coast down Easy Street to the division crown, while the Bombers are looking to mount their assault on the title by blowing all comers to smithereens at their River Avenue bombing range.

I honestly don't know if our guys can catch them by their 162nd game or not. Obviously, Boston thinks they've seen the last of them.

I sure hope they're wrong.  It would be such a fitting end to this wild rebuilding year if our guys fought their way deep into the playoffs and suddenly, upon reaching the League Championship, found themselves face-to-face with an opponent whose ace and ass they already own.

Because original recipe or extra crispy, the last bird this Boston team wants to see in a ballpark again is ours.

--Barry Millman
BYB Writer
Follow me on Twitter: @nyyankeefanfore

THE YANKS & THE LONG, HARD SWALLOW

Photo Credit: David L. Pokress

OK, everyone. Take a long, hard swallow of the strongest beverage you can stomach and repeat after Jack...



Now that THAT'S out of the way, let's not dwell on what a kick in the gut getting swept by Cleveland was.  Or on how awful it felt watching our boys put it all together for their first back-to-back series wins in months only to give it all right back again and then some.

Or on how frustrating it was to see them drop three games further back in the division race in only half the time it took them to make up two and a half games on Boston -- the leader of the pack by 5.5 games now and their opponent for the next four games.

Photo: Getty Images

Another sweep and they'd be facing an almost  insurmountable 8.5 game deficit with 26 games left to play on September 4th.

For some perspective, a comeback of that dimension would require both a hotter winning pace by the Yankees the rest of the way than they displayed in the season's first half  AND a bigger choke from Boston than their record-setting 2011 tank job that saw them eviscerate a nine-game lead on September 1st by losing 20 of their remaining 27 games.

Photo: Getty Images

So for the Yankees, the looming four-game series is no longer a juicy opportunity to overtake their rival to the north. It's now a battle to remain in contention and avoid getting blown out of the race -- and they know it.

“At this point, you’re going to be able to say those are the most important games of the season because we won’t run into them and [because of] where we are in the standings,” said Joe Girardi, who's usually the master of painting smiley faces on fugly situations.

Photo: Getty Images

“The calendar’s going to flip to a new month here pretty soon and we’re running out of time to catch those guys,” added the eternal optimist Brett Gardner.

And speaking of "running out of time to catch,"  the league decision on the timing of suspension appeal hearings for the team's entire major league catching contingent should drop anytime now.

More good news on the way there too, no doubt.

When it comes though, just remember to swallow hard and repeat what Jack said -- unless you're not a drinker. Or prefer to simply hope for the best.

If that's the case, Jack's got another line tailor-made for you.

--Barry Millman
BYB Writer
Follow me on Twitter: @nyyankeefanfore

BYB Stack Merchandise (2017)

FROM FUTILITY TO FAVORITES... HERE COME THE YANKS!

2.5 games back. What a difference a week makes.

Photo: New York Daily News

Seven days ago when the Yankees were five games down in the division race and it felt like forever since they'd even sniffed back-to-back hits with runners in scoring position much less a winning series, I strongly urged my more dispirited brethren not to overlook the strategic vantage point of being prematurely left for dead by a division leader and some up-and-coming wild card chasers on hot streaks.

"The likelihood they could do better than they are now is still pretty good, and that prospect coupled with the possibility some other teams cool off a bit might just get them the October surprise nobody expected before the season started," I wrote. "...If they can bag themselves series wins against the Tigers, Mariners and Indians before they face Boston a final time and take them as well, this team could roll into September  fortified by fresh call ups and returning starters in a full-speed blitzkrieg on a division title."

(AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Needless to say I took some razzing at the time for my optimistic Yankee-blue colored glasses view -- as have, I imagine, some of my like-minded BYB colleagues. But my optimism was actually rooted in long experience with both the unpredictable ebb and flow of  AL East races and the Yankees' own peculiar habit of pulling a Seabiscuit whenever it heads into the home stretch glimpsing the ass of a lead horse galloping away in front of them. Something just clicks and they always seem to find another gear.

Photo: NJ.com

And this past week, find another one they did as the offense finally woke up with a boom thanks to a couple of wounded warriors returning to the lineup and some deep rotation turns. The result: A pair of long overdue back-to-back series wins against the aforementioned Tigers and Mariners, a 4-2 record on the week and the end to a nauseating 0-for-11 streak in rubber games.

(AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

As NY's winning pace picked up speed, Boston's (not unexpectedly to this writer) skidded to a 2-5 mark, including a sweep at the hands of the .500 Orioles. (See my piece last Wednesday entitled YANKEES GOT BOSTON RIGHT WHERE WE WANT THEM for more on "this jungle of division cannibals where everyone who isn't in the race always tries extra hard to take down those who are.")

Photo: New York Daily News

All in all, a pretty positive start in the right direction. A series win against the Indians is next on my must-do list.

That's where things start to get really interesting.

If our boys manage to take two or more games from Cleveland, regardless how Boston does against Toronto, it's going to be damn hard to maintain this underdog advantage heading into the Labor Day weekend series against them-- and damn near impossible after that against anyone else if they take down Boston as well.

The good news, though, is they may not need it anymore after that. To date, no team in the American League has a better home winning percentage than the Yankees and no team in the majors has played fewer home games either. That means that with 21 of their remaining 33 games at home, no team in the majors is set up more favorably schedule-wise for a stretch run.

If they can just sneak by some Indians this week and bloody some Sox this weekend, the team nobody gave a chance and then everyone left for dead are poised to end this crazy 2017 marathon with a September sprint to the finish line nobody saw coming.

Except, of course, anyone wearing Yankee-blue colored glasses.

--Barry Millman
BYB Writer
Follow me on Twitter: @nyyankeefanfore

BYB Stack Merchandise (2017)