THAT TRADE BETWEEN THE NATS & JAYS? IT'S OFFICIAL!

The Washington Nationals are in the midst of a makeover after their disappointing season last year— one punctuated with Jonathan Papelbon choking Bryce Harper in the dugout late in the season.

In their latest move, the Nats have unloaded the guy that Papelbon replaced—closer Drew Storen is heading north of the border to Toronto in return for outfielder Ben Revere.

Revere adds another lefty bat in the lineup (in addition to 2B Daniel Murphy who the Nats added this week) and plugs a hole in the outfield left by Denard Span. Span was signed by San Francisco as a free agent on Thursday.

(In Photo: Daniel Murphy)
Storen performed well with 29 saves and a 1.73 ERA until the Nats got Papelbon. Storen was asked to take over eighth inning reliever role and didn’t get another save for the rest of the season—which ended in September after slamming his dumb in his locker. I don’t see his role changing since the Jays have Roberto Osuna as their main closer, but a fresh start and new locker room for Storen may help him get back to his performance level.

This trade should also give some indication to the looming question for Nats fans on whether the team would keep Papelbon as their closer.

GM Mike Rizzo repeatedly told reporters that he would keep both Papelbon and Storen in the bullpen unless a real baseball offer was made. With this trade of Storen, it’s likely that Papelbon will remain in D.C. unless Rizzo can get another quality arm for unloaded Papelbon.


   
--Alexis Garcia, BYB's "Eye on MLB" Columnist &
Los Angeles Dodger fan
Twitter:  @heylexyg



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AN UGLY GAME AGAINST A BEATABLE TEAM

The hot-cold streaks just keep coming. Unfortunately, we pulled a snow cone from the freezer instead of a nice hot plate of arroz con gandules from the stove top. It was another pitching failure as the Yankees dropped a bad one against the last-place Phillies. To make matters worse, Michael Pineda who at one point in the season was considered the ace of the staff, had what was easily his worst start of the season.

Let's look at some stats to show how streaky the Yankees have been of late. For the fifth consecutive time and the sixth time in seven games, Yankees have either scored or allowed 7 runs in a game, though not necessarily in the same game. In 19 games played in June, the Yankees have scored two or fewer or scored seven or more in 11 of those 19 games. The worst stat of the night: the Yankees are now 1-4 against teams ranked as worst in their respective league. At least we're headed to Houston after this series.

Maikel Franco was clearly the star of the night for the Philadelphia Phillies. He had four hits on the night including two home runs and five runs batted in. With Ben Revere and Cesar Hernandez, the top 3 in the order went 9 for 16 with 8 runs scored and eight runs batted in. As a team, they scored 11 runs on 18 hits. They began their scoring against Pineda, continued it with Chris Capuano, and got one more run in the ninth against Branden Pinder. It didn't matter that Kevin Correia couldn't make it to the 5th inning, or that Jake Diekman couldn't find home plate on most of his pitches. It's tough to win when the other team scores in double-digits.

The Yankees were not without their honorable mentions. One was Brett Gardner and his 3-run home run to go with an opposite field hit and two bunt singles. I've often wondered why the Yankees don't bunt more when opposing teams put on the shift. Brett Gardner showed how it's done. Carlos Beltran also continued his hot streak with a pair of doubles tonight. It's nice being able to use Beltran's name in the same sentence as "hot streak". Another nice moment, Diego Moreno made his major league debut, becoming the third player in three days to wear number 65. He showed some impressive velocities in the upper 90's with his fastball. He did hit the first batter he faced and proceeded to load the bases, but then he struck out Maikel Franco to get out of the inning.

All in all, this was not the Yankees night. The Phillies are a team that the Yankees should be beating. They did make a nice stand in the ninth inning and hopefully that will carry over to tomorrow night's game. It'll be CC Sabathia's turn to straighten this out.

I need some arroz con gandules.

Final: Phillies 11 - Yankees 8

--Ike Dimitriadis, BYB Senior Staff Writer
Twitter: @KingAgamemnon
My blog is: Shots from Murderer's Row







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MY NIGHT AT CITIZENS BANK PARK

Crazy right?  Yeah, as a Yankee fan, it almost seems unusual that I would ever step foot into Philly territory.  The fact of the matter is one of my friends had organized a trip to the Phillies-White Sox game last Friday night and with the rain coming into Pennsylvania that day, it was moved to Saturday night. We were in PA at a Little League Tournament, but it was important to venture off and try to catch some pro ball... it's for the kids after all. That's an inside joke. Anyway, the plan was in place, we had our tickets in hand and we headed off to the park.

I’m here to make a statement; Citizens Bank Park was outstanding! And, I must say,  the Phillies fans were awesome too!  What a breath of fresh air and what a terrific ballpark!  I mean sure, there was a drunk dude behind my son trying to hit him up for a bite of his Turkey Hill Chocolate Chip Mint ice cream, but it was more playful than anything. The fans were welcoming and our group appeared to have a blast!

We got to see John Mayberry Jr. crank out a home run that night, my son's first live homer of the year, if you can believe that.  The place erupted like it should if you're a Phillies fan and Mayberry is clearly loved in Philly! The night was clear after a rainstorm had come in earlier in the day, so even though it was humid, it was a great night for baseball...No rain, thank God. 

The Phillies were playing the second game of their double header that night.  Earlier in the day, Ben Revere busted his foot on a foul ball. I was hoping to see Revere that night, I'm a fan of his. No matter, the atmosphere at the Park made me forget.  I ordered 2 hot dogs and a coke and it was about 10 bucks cheaper than Yankee Stadium.  I almost fell over.  My son, a baseball fan, not only a Yankee fan, bought a Phillies cap to remember the night.  My buddy bought one of those commemorative baseballs and a few Phillie Phantics for his younger kids... spreading the baseball cheer...

Overall, the night was great and the Phillies won Game two.  As we were leaving, tragedy struck.  My buddy’s son forgot his mitt.  We ran up to the stands to look for it.  At one point I yelled down the row, “Anyone see a baseball glove under their chair?” Everyone in the City of Brotherly Love scrambled,  not only in the row, but in the whole section.  They could see it in our faces… we were worried.  You know… a mitt is a very special part of a child’s life and losing it, well, it’s sort of devastating.  Suddenly, 2 rows up, someone held it up! “I found it!”  Then… all smiles and alittle applause!  A night in Philadelphia we would never forget for sure.

So, I’m here to say, if you get a chance, get to Citizens Bank Park, catch a Phillies game, hang with the fans, eat there, enjoy yourself and if you get a moment to just sit and look around from your seat, do it, because it was a terrific experience and something I’d love to do again.

That being said… there’s something great about being in the Bronx and trust me, being a Yankee fan, I wouldn’t trade it for the world, but venture out once in a while... you just might like it.  

Oh yeah... and Go Yanks!

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