THE IMPACT OF THE YANKEES-BLUE JAYS SERIES

It's September baseball, and the AL East is running a tight race. There is no room for mistakes. And this Yankees - Blue Jays series is huge for the Yankees. Coming in on Monday, the goal is to take the series, and hopefully, jump back into the lead in the AL East. If we don't? Well, let's hope we can get the wild card spot.

This series was an excellent display of all our problems. To make a viable run for the post season, there are kinks we need to work out. Our pitching and bullpen have been phenomenal for the most part. They've been able to come through in tight spots. Our hitting is an entirely different story. All season we've either hit really well or not at all. Many games our line-up is scoring in the double digits. Then we'll go two or three games barely getting runs, if at all.

Tuesday we were on. Well mostly, I guess. Luis Severino was our starting pitcher for the night. He managed to get through 6, only giving up 2 runs. Yankees held an uncomfortable 1 run lead until the bottom of the 9th. Andrew Miller gave up a solo home run to Dioner Navarro to tie the game. Greg Bird became our hero in extra innings, hitting a 3 run homer. We won 6 - 4 Tuesday.

Monday and Wednesday, not so much. Adam Warren on Monday, and Ivan Nova on Wednesday, both gave good starts. Neither pitcher had any run support.

We were 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position on Monday. We failed to capitalize on the few opportunities we were given. And we were given very few by David Price.

The Yankees just do not seem to be hitting well against him since his move to Toronto. I suspect it has to do with working with Russell Martin. Price throwing more cutters is in part due to Martin, who does well with framing pitches. The combination of Martin at catcher and Price on the mound has not been kind to our hitters. Although the Yankees bullpen did well in keeping us in the game, the fact that the Yankees simply could not score until the 8th inning was our ultimate undoing. We lost that game 4 - 2.

Wednesday was much worse. We were completely shut out. Nova, who hasn't been very reliable, actually did incredibly well. He went 5 innings without giving up a single run. Our bullpen faltered a bit, with Andrew Bailey giving up a 3 run homer to Martin late in the game. But honestly, you cannot win games if you aren't scoring any runs. The Yankees were shut out 4 - 0.

I'll repeat, this series was incredibly important for the Yankees. Even winning 2 out of 3 would have been great. Now we are 3.5 games back in the division. If we are going to make a serious run at it, they need to figure out what the problem is with our bats. When we are hitting, we're fantastic. But those days are far and few in-between. We cannot continue playing games the way we did this series, and expect to be real contenders for the World Series. It's not going to happen. Basic little league... move the runners! It's completely unnecessary to swing for the fences every single time. Just get guys on, and bring guys home. Play some damn small ball! We continue to struggle with runners in scoring position.

And I know, there is always the Wild Card. Look, if we have the chance at the division, we need to play for it. The one game elimination game for the Wild Card does not sound appealing. It'll be our luck that the team that shows up that night is the one that forgot how to hit. We really cannot rely on the Wild Card slot to take us into the post season.

Yea, this is a little bit of a rant. I know some of you may be saying "Have faith in the team." Let me be clear, I believe they can make it. THAT is why I am so frustrated. They have the ability to perform better. So why the hell aren't they?

Blue Jays take the series, and a bigger lead in the division, 2 - 1.

-Erica Morales BYB Senior Writer 
Twitter: @e_morales1804



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BULLPEN BATTLE ENDS IN A LOSS

Don't blame the Yankee pen for this one, even though they are responsible. I mean, do you realize just how good they've been all year?  It's a tough one to swallow, but we need to just get over it.  If the pen was consistently losing games after strong starts, I'd be pretty annoyed.  But between Dellin Betances, Matt Thornton and David Robertson, they've been pretty damn incredible.  Not today of course... but that's the game. That's why baseball is such an amazing sport... because, as John Sterling says... you never know what will happen next.

Shane Greene started today and did well.  I like this kid. 5.1 innings pitched, allowed 8 hits and only 3 runs.  Huff, Betances, Warren, and DRob followed.  It was in the ninth that former Yankee Dioner Navarro knocked in the go ahead run... and just like that, the Yankees couldn't tie in up in their part of the inning.

The Yankee runs went like this:

In the 5th, both Chase Headley and Francisco Cervelli homered... 2 solo shots.  In the 6th Brian McCann singled and knocked in Jacoby Ellsbury.  Don't look now, but McCann is actually being productive as of late.

In the bottom of the 8th, Carlos Beltran singled knocking in 1.  Those are the Yankees 4.  Unfortunately... the Jays scored 5.... and that's the final.

Final: Blue Jays 5 - Yankees 4

You forget this game and come back fresh for the next one... it's all you can do.

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DIONER NAVARRO SIGNS WITH THE CUBS

I only being up Dioner Navarro because he's an ex-Yankee, a former farmhand and again, someone who the Yankees groom and then ship off.  Now, let me be fair, the Yankees never expected Navarro to be a superstar, but he was decent in his young career in New York.  The point is, and we'll have plenty about this in a Saturday morning post on BYB, the Yankee farm will never be what the Yankee fans want it to be.  Sure, there will be a kid once in a while that shine in pinstripes...

Jesus Montero was the last "big thing" and that didn't last long, but for the most part, the Yankees ship all these guys to other teams for veteran talent, or, they end up getting hurt and are never the same. Anyway, I'm getting way off base in my post, I'll have the post tomorrow... look for it.

Dioner Navarro signed a 1 year deal with the Chicago Cubs.  Read the story HERE. As the Chicago Tribune writes: "Navarro's salary for next season is $1.75 million. He could earn another 250,000 in performance bonuses."

And to think Navarro started with the Yankees in 2001 and debuted in 2004 and it's already 2012... Damn I'm old.

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BYB EXCLUSIVE: SQUEEGEE GETS REAL

Back in September, BYB gave you a great interview with Luigi Squeggee, it was a BYB EXCLUSIVE about his book Clubhouse Confidential. Luigi was part of the New York Yankees historic championship run and beyond as a clubhouse attendant, from 1998 to 2005. We thought it would be fun to talk with him about 1 particular story that stuck with me. No, it doesn’t have to do with Derek Jeter or Roger Clemens. It had to do with Tanyon Sturtze, a relief pitcher for the Yankees around the time Squeegee was with the team. In his BYB interview, Squeegee told us this about Tanyon:

Squeegee: The most humiliating thing was get thrown into a garbage can by Tanyon Sturtze! He was in a bad mood at the time but later apologized and we became good friends.

I wanted him to expand on that, and he was nice enough to do so:

Squeegee: "It was September of 2004 and the last home stand at the old Yankee Stadium before the playoffs. The team was heading for a road trip for three days. Tradition is what the Yankees live by so to keep tradition going, rookie dress-up day was in effect. This is fun because the rookies don’t know that we, the clubbies, take their clothes from their lockers during the game and replace it with costumes. There were four rookies that year and Rob Cucuzza had ordered an extra costume for Tanyon Sturtze, but Tanyon wasn’t a rookie. It was Rob and the player’s playing a prank on him. He had no idea about it. Tanyon had pitched in this game and gave up some runs he was intense. I knew this was a bad idea that was going to take a turn for the worst. After the game, I collected the hats from the players to place in the hat box, when I hear Tanyon say 'Are you kidding me?! I’m not wearing that!' Rob Cucuzza, ARod, and Giambi are laughing now. I was on the other end of the clubhouse getting a hat from Dioner Navarro while he’s dressed up in a Hooter’s outfit. We were laughing at the costume. He asked me how he looked and my response was 'no comment.'

As I walked back with the hats to the hat box I was still laughing. Sturtze walking the same way and heard me and said 'What the fuck are you laughing at?' He grabbed me and threw me into the garbage can behind the pillar in the clubhouse. I held onto his shirt and we were eye to eye when I think he realized he snapped, so he let go. I felt weird at the moment, it was awkward but he apologized. Later down the road, we were in Boston at a club where we became friends."

Nice, they squashed the beef.

I was also interested in Squeegee's love for David Cone. The reason is because I’ve heard from several people just how great Coney was as a person and teammate. Don’t forget, I asked Jack Curry in our exclusive with him (Read EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: JACK CURRY) and Curry said this of David Cone:

Jack Curry: "Cone was so approachable that his willingness to talk to players ended up helping his teammates. Since Cone was willing to deal with reporters and was very good at it, other players were allowed to avoid interviews."

Squeegee also likes Cone and said this in our first interview with him:

Squeegee: "My idol was David Cone because I also pitch and he symbolized the greatness of the sport to me. He was technically at the top of his game, and yet he had the friendliest personality and was always relaxed and willing to talk. When I warmed him up during his 1999 perfect game it was a real honor."

So I had to do it. I asked Squeegee to compare Coney to Alex Rodriguez. Was that fair? No, but this is what he told me:

Squeegee: “David Cone is my idol, favorite player, and a great leader in the clubhouse for the team. Win or lose he sat at his locker and answered questions from the media about his teammates. He had the charisma to smooth tension or media frenzy for his teammates. He was creative on and off the mound. To me that had created chemistry amongst everyone in the clubhouse, created “UNITY”. On the other hand, ARod divided the clubhouse, being there when ARod was a Yankee was interesting. He tried hard to fit in with the gang and to me, that was the biggest mistake he made. He went as far as having a personal assistant just for himself when there were nine clubbies. He wanted to be different and stand-out, attention is what he craved. David Cone would play catch during batting practice with me and converse with the clubbies. ARod wouldn’t even acknowledge we were in his presence. I respected the old school players.”

Yes, that was expected, but to be honest, it hits home more when you hear it from a guy like Squeegee, someone who's with these guys all the time. Anyway, I found that interesting.

Finally, and this is a Bleeding Yankee Blue Exclusive because Squeegee hasn’t talked about it publicly...It turns out that MLB Network has a new show and coincidentally it's titled “Clubhouse Confidential.” That's the same title as Squeegee’s book. Seriously MLB, you couldn't think creatively on your own? You had to steal a title from a guy trying to make a few bucks on his own? I found it to be shameful and I asked Luigi to tell me what he thought about it. This is what he said:

Squeegee: “I am a little upset with MLB network because the title of my book is Clubhouse Confidential and their show uses the same name. When you Google the name of the show the logo appears to be the same, as well. I was watching Game 6 of the World Series and a commercial came on then my phone rang. A friend, Mr. Oates, starts the phone call off by saying 'Go to the bathroom and splash water on your face.' I was confused and so I asked what he was talking about. Oates answered saying 'They have a show called Clubhouse Confidential now; if I didn’t see the commercial, I would’ve thought it was your show Luigi!'

I guess my book has made an impact on the game of baseball, not just the Yankees and I have to thank everyone who has supported the journey!”

You have to give Squeegee huge props. He’s never shied away from talking with Bleeding Yankee Blue and we consider him part of the BYB Family. Over the past few weeks we talked and really wanted to give the BYB readers something new and fun. We hope we satisfied you. By the way, buy Clubhouse Confidential. It’s a terrific read! Thanks again Squeegee.

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