Yankees First Pick Is Cito Culver
June 8, 2010
Yankees First Pick Is Cito Culver:The Yankees searched within their home state to find high school shortstop Christopher “Cito” Culver, taking the promising switch-hitter with their first-round selection in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft.
New York used the 32nd overall pick on the 17-year-old athlete from Irondequoit High School in Rochester, N.Y. Culver also touched 94 mph from the mound as a right-handed pitcher, and has named the Yankees as his favorite team.
The 6-foot, 172-pound Culver had committed to attend the University of Maryland after batting .561 (37-for-66) with 10 doubles, five triples, nine home runs, 38 RBIs and 20 walks in 22 games as a high school senior. Those plans may change now that he has the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of one of his favorite players, Derek Jeter.
Named his team’s most valuable player in each of the last three seasons, Culver was also a three-time all-county selection and an Under Armour All-American. He played on the Yankees’ Area Code team last summer, working out at Yankee Stadium and participating in a tournament in California.
“We were able to draft a very athletic kid who can play a good shortstop,” said Damon Oppenheimer, the Yankees’ vice president of amateur scouting. “He has a plus arm, is a solid runner, and is an excellent hitter. He’s a player we are happy to have. It was an easy decision for us.”
Some observers may have questioned Culver’s effort levels at times, but his story is unlike many that will be told on Draft day. Culver has endured hardships away from the field in his young life — his father, Christopher Culver, Sr., will receive word of Culver’s selection by the Yankees from behind bars.
Culver’s father is scheduled to be imprisoned for at least six more years after pleading guilty to multiple charges, including first-degree burglary and third-degree arson, related to burning down the family’s Rochester home on Easter Sunday 2008. Culver has said that he still looks to his father as a motivational force.
“I know that people think it’s perfect now because of the success with baseball,” Culver told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle last month. “If people knew how much my father was involved with me playing baseball, they would know it’s not an ideal situation. He shared the dream with me. He pushed me to give my all, all of the time. I really do appreciate him doing that.”
Culver’s high school coach, Tim Mabb, told Rochester Your News Now that Culver finds release on the ballfield and “always has a smile on his face.”
Culver’s selection marks the second consecutive season that the Yankees have taken a high school position player in the first round. In 2009, New York took outfielder Slade Heathcott with the 29th overall pick from Texas High School in Texarkana, Texas.
Detriot Player Marcus Thames
May 18, 2010
Detriot Player Marcus Thames:NEW YORK — Now, what’s more remarkable? That the Yankees keep winning games no matter how many new injuries they discover? Or, that the correct answer to the question “name the Yankees’ most productive offseason acquisition” is Marcus Thames?
Alex Rodriguez tied the game against the Red Sox on Monday with a two-run homer before Thames won it with a two-run jack of his own, the final blow in the Yankees’ first walk-off victory of the season, an 11-9 win against the Red Sox.
The only reason that Thames was even in the game was because of Nick Swisher’s achy biceps. The switch-hitting Swisher or the catcher Jorge Posada would have been natural choices to pinch-hit in that situation. But neither was available for the Yankees, which meant that Thames (who fares much better against lefties than righties) was left to face the right-hander Jonathan Papelbon.
“Marcus has swung the bat great for us all year long,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said after the game. “(But) if I were to have those two guys available, Marcus probably wouldn’t have been in the game.”
Thames acknowledged as much. But Thames, who has carved out a major league career by learning how to hit off the bench, doesn’t allow such things to clutter his mind.
Said Thames: “It was my turn to go up to the plate and I went up there and didn’t think about any of that.”
Thames knew right away that he got all of Papelbon’s pitch, thus beginning a home run trot that was more of a semi-sprint.
“I couldn’t wait to come around and see the guys at home plate,” said Thames, a .365 hitting through 52 at-bats this season.
The first time Thames hit a homer with the Yankees was his rookie year in 2002 off Randy Johnson. Backup catcher Alberto Castillo nailed him with a pie. Thames earned the same fate following his third career walk-off hit, his first with the Yankees. This time, A.J. Burnett reprised his role, delivering the post-game pie strike.
The Yankees led the majors last season with 15 walk-off wins. Thames’s home run gave the Yankees their first this season.
“I don’t wait at home just waiting to pie somebody,” Burnett said. “But it puts me in a good mood to do it.”
Harlan Chamberlain,Joba Chamberlain
November 5, 2009
Harlan Chamberlain,Joba Chamberlain:The throng of media members around the makeshift stage seemed impenetrable, but Harlan Chamberlain motored his way through all of the cameras and notepads anyways. Reaching a blue barrier, he stopped his scooter, strained to look over a crowd of world champion Yankee ballplayers and tried to get a glimpse of his son. When that proved useless, he simply resorted to his considerable vocal chords.Burnett could and a few moments later, Joba Chamberlain(notes) put down the giant blue Yankee flag he had been waving up on stage. The big Yankees pitcher hopped off the stage, disappeared from the view of the Fox cameras and quickly made a beeline for his father. When they came together, they wrapped each other in a huge rocking bearhug.It wasn’t long before both were crying.
They said the same thing over and over.
“We did it, dad,” Joba said.
“We did it,” Harlan said.
“We did it,” Joba said.
“We did it,” Harlan said.
And on and on. They held tight for almost a minute. Their eyes were red when they let go.
You see the Yankees’ $200+ million payroll and it’s easy to get cynical. Same goes for their $1.5 billion new stadium, the seats that cost more than the average mortgage payment, the steroid controversies involving some of their team members and all the endless hype and hooey about mystique, aura and all the Yankee legends and ghosts.
But then you see this very simple and very real scene of a 24-year-old pitcher sharing the hug of a lifetime with his dad and you remember that those father-son relationships — one of the only things that really matter are at the very heart of this great game that we love.more info Yahoo
Yankees Win World Series 2009..Yankees World Series 2009
November 5, 2009
So how did they manage it? From the start of The Game the Yankees were predicted to win this series. By winning the 27th title, they have obliged their fans, who went berserk after the final score was announced.
The VICTORY march started with Hideki Matsui, who homered and drove in six runs to tie a World Series record, and Andy Pettitte ground through five and two-thirds innings for his second in five days VICTORY.
The final Five outs were collected by star Mariano Rivera, retiring Shane Victorino on a groundout to end it.
The 37-year-old Pettitte sort of set a record by becoming the second pitcher to win all three games of clinching a postseason.
In 2004 Boston’s Derek Lowe was the another guy to achieve this feat. In that series the Yankees had lost a three-games-to-none lead to the Red Sox in the American League Championship Series.
Also to mention is that Pettitte, Rivera, Posada and lives with Yankees have been since 1995. They have each earned five Championship rings, one more than Babe Ruth did with the Yankees.
Who Won The World Series In 2009,Serie Mundial De Beisbol 2009
October 29, 2009
Who Won The World Series In 2009,Serie Mundial De Beisbol 2009 taters helped put the Philadelphia Phillies in excellent position to win the series and putting the Yankees in a hole they’d rather not be in.
Consider the following numbers:
- Since the 1994 strike, the winner of Game 1 of the World Series has gone on to win the series 12 out of 14 times.
- Of that group, teams that won Game 1 on the road went on to win the series four out of six times.
- The Yankees have been involved in six of those 14 World Series, winning four of them and losing the other two. They lost Game 1 of the 2003 World Series at home to the Marlins and likewise lost Game 1 at home to the Diamondbacks in 2001. In 1999, the Yankees’ only year to begin the World Series on the road, they beat the Braves 4-1 on the way to a series sweep.
- In this year’s postseason, the winners of Game 1 in every series went on to win that series. The Dodgers were the only team to win Game 1 on the road, and they went on to sweep the Cardinals.
Of course, a team is only as good as the next day’s pitcher, and though Pedro Martinez has been impressive, A.J. Burnett seems like a better option than a man days removed from his 38th birthday. And, of course, history can’t determine the outcome of a baseball game, and if the Yanks drop Game 2 on Thursday, they need only look back to 1996. That year, the Yankees lost both Game 1 and Game 2 at home, but took four straight from the defending champion Braves to win the first of their four World Series.
Still, after one game, history strongly favors the Phillies, and Game 2 has become that much more crucial for the Yankees.
World Series Schedule,World Series Schedule 2009
October 26, 2009
World Series Schedule,World Series Schedule 2009:The Yankees clinched their first World Series appearance since 2003 on Sunday night, setting up what should be an epic clash between baseball’s biggest payroll and the defending World Series champs.
The Phillies get the short end of the stick for the Series this fall (thanks to the NL’s never-ending losing streak in the All-Star Game), but then, they got the short end last year and it worked out pretty well for them.
The Series kicks off on Wednesday. All games will be televised on FOX and Rogers Sportsnet. Here is the schedule:
Game 1 Wednesday, Oct. 28, 7:57 p.m. at Yankee Stadium
Game 2 Thursday, Oct. 29, 7:57 p.m. at Yankee Stadium
Game 3 Saturday, Oct. 31, 7:57 p.m. at Citizens Bank Park
Game 4 Sunday, Nov. 1, 8:20 p.m. at Citizens Bank Park
Game 5 Monday, Nov. 2, 7:57 p.m. at Citizens Bank Park*
Game 6 Wednesday, Nov. 4, 7:57 p.m. at Yankee Stadium*
Game 7 Thursday, Nov. 5, 7:57 p.m. at Yankee Stadium*
Read more: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/postedsports/archive/2009/10/26/yankees-phillies-world-series-schedule-set.aspx#ixzz0V4USROPz
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Yankees World Series Tickets,Yankees Tickets
October 21, 2009
Yankees World Series Tickets,Yankees Tickets:Yankees fans will have a chance to snatch up World Series tickets Wednesday when a limited number of seats go on sale at 10:00 a.m. on yankees.com.
The tickets, as always, are subject to availability and will be limited to two tickets to one game per fan. The tickets will only be available on the team’s website and at the Yankee Stadium Advance Windows.
In an effort to maximize seating capacity in the new Yankee Stadium, the Yankees will sell tickets for two new areas: Cafe seats, which are located on the Field Level concourse, and standing room tickets, good for standing room locations on the Field and Main levels. The tickets will sell for $156 and $93, respectively.
Of course, all of this will be moot if the Yankees don’t advance past the Los Angeles Angels in the ALCS.
