New York Yankees

The New York Yankees lost a heart-breaker to the Texas Rangers in the 10th inning, final score 4-3.

It’s no big secret that the Yankees are losing, winning only 4 of last 11 games and falling fast.

The Bombers first place lead is dwindling down, now just a half-a-game over the Tampa Bay Rays. The Boston Red Sox are playing catch-up sitting at five games back and also making the AL East a three-team event again.

With the way that the game has changed over the past few decades, relief pitching has become a substantially more integral part of baseball.

At SeatGeek.com recently launched pages that analyze average MLB ticket prices in the secondary ticket market on a weekly basis and provide a ranking of all 30 teams, with the ability to drill down by team (i.e. for Yankees ticket prices here).

Looking at the MLB standings today, I couldn’t help but notice just how strong the AL East is so far this season. Even the fourth place team, the Toronto Blue Jays, are seven games above .500, and the only bad team in the division is the Orioles.

I thought it might be interesting to see what the differences are when an AL East team is playing in its division as opposed to playing teams in other divisions. 

Here are the results with in-division records first:

New York Yankees: 26-18, .591 winning percentage; 43-24, .642

The Yankees offense didn’t show up yesterday as they lost 2-1 to the Boston Red Sox thus splitting the four-game weekend series. Phil Hughes was on the mound and struggled through the first two innings before settling down and giving a strong performance.

I have witnessed Cliff Lee torment my New York Yankees at the Stadium while he was a Cleveland Indian, a Philadelphia Phillie in the 2009 World Series, and recently a Seattle Mariner.

Now Lee is a Texas Ranger, but his uniform is irrelevant because most Yankees fans have no problem identifying Lee on the mound. I still remember our first encounter, like it was yesterday.

It was May 7, 2008 and I was bringing one of my best friends to her first Yankees game at the Old Stadium. Bringing a virgin is always a treat because the Yankees usually impress newbies.

After splitting a series 2-2 with the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees head down south, deep in the heart of Texas, to face the Rangers.

The Rangers have been at the mercy of the Yankees for over a decade, and this season has been no different, as the Bombers swept the Rangers in their last meeting back in April.

The Yankees have enjoyed playing in Texas, posting a 15-4 record since 2005.

Remember a couple of months ago when Stephen Strasburg was ready to advance to the majors? The anticipation was as high as ever before. Nationals Stadium was sold out within hours of the announced date of his debut. It seemed as though the world of the Washington Nationals was waiting for the future to thrust upon them.

In the aftermath of Alex Rodriguez's 600th home run, many have downplayed his milestone because of his admitted usage of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), and have compared him to another user, the current home run king, Barry Bonds. 

Upon his return to the Bronx this season, Javier Vazquez was clearly a divisive figure among Yankee fans.

Some saw the potential in the one-time Yankee, thinking that the man who dominated for the Braves in 2009 after finishing fourth in National League Cy Young voting had learned enough since his uneven 2004 stint in pinstripes to be a solid back end of the rotation starter. After all, the rotation was much stronger this time around, lessening the pressure on Vazquez to be a front of the rotation type starter.