Game 96: Brandon McCarthy makes his Bronx debut

The Yankees kicked off the second half of the season with a 4-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Yankee Stadium last night. And thanks to Oakland's walk-off win over the Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees are just four games back of the AL East leading O's with 67 games left to play, meaning there is still life for this battered Yankees squad.

Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran and Jacoby Ellsbury didn't really live up to their contracts in the first half, but the Yankees' three biggest offseason signings got the job done last night, driving in all four Yankee runs, including a two-run shot from Ellsbury in the 5th that put the Bombers ahead, then hung on for the win.

The Yankees will have a tough time competing for a playoff spot with their rotation suffering the way it is, but it'll be almost impossible without the help from the offense, including those three signings. Maybe this second half will be the turnaround we've all be waiting for.

Today's lineup vs Cincinnati:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
C Brian McCann
DH Carlos Beltran
RF Ichiro Suzuki
2B Brian Roberts
3B Kelly Johnson

Pitching matchup preview:

Brandon McCarthy will be making his Yankee Stadium debut today, in what will also be just his second start since joining the Yankees a week before the All-Stare break.

McCarthy made his Yankee debut against the Cleveland Indians, where he allowed four runs (one earned) on nine hits over 6 2/3 innings; he ended up getting a no-decision. McCarthy said after the outing that he wasn't feeling as sharp with his pitches early on, which caused some issues. Hopefully that's not the case today.

Alfredo Simon will be getting the ball for the Reds today. An All-Star during the first half, Simon is tied with Masahiro Tanaka for the Major League lead in wins with 12. Saturday will be the fourth start against the Yankees in his career -- first since September 8, 2011, as a member of the Orioles.

In six career appearances (three starts), Simon is 0-2 with a 5.68 ERA against the Yanks in his career.

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Yankees 4, Reds 3: Jacoby Ellsbury's go-ahead homerun gets the Bombers past Cincy

The Yankees are off to a good start in the season half of the 2014 season.

David Phelps opened up the second half with 6.1 innings of solid pitching, and thanks to a go-ahead homerun by Jacoby Ellsbury in the 5th, the Yankees beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3, on Friday night at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

The Yankees took a quick 1-0 lead in the 1st inning on a Brian McCann RBI double. Brett Gardner walked to open the inning, the stole second base after a back-to-back outs by Derek Jeter and Ellsbury. After Mark Teixeira walked, McCann doubled to center field, scoring Gardner.

The two teams pretty much went back and forth scoring throughout the game.

Brayan Pena hit his first of two homeruns on the night against Phelps two innings later, in the 3rd, which put the Reds on the board and evened up the score at 1-1.

In the bottom half of the 3rd, Jeter and Ellsbury opened with back-to-back singles, then a few batters later, Carlos Beltran knocked an RBI single into center field to put the Yankees back up by a score of 2-1.

The Reds didn't trail for very long, though, as Zack Cozart lead off the 4th with a single. Todd Frazier grounded into a fielder's choice, then moved to third base on a groundout. Devin Mesoraco reached on an error by Jeter, which score Cozart to again tie the game.

An inning later, in the 5th, Jeter opened with a single for this second hit of the game, then a batter later, Ellsbury blasted a 1-1 fastball from Leake into the right field seats, putting the Yankees up 4-2, a lead that they would be able to cling into until the final out.

Leake was still able to get through seven innings for Cincinnati, giving up four runs on eight hits, with two walks and five strikeouts on 110 pitches.

Cruising into the 7th, Phelps gave up another solo homerun to Pena, which made it a one-run game. Phelps then gave up a single to Chris Heisey before retiring Ramon Santiago. That's where Joe Girardi decided to end Phelps' night and bring in Dellin Betances, who retired the next two batters, including a strikeout of Cozart on a 99 mph fastball up in the zone to end the inning.

I didn't see most of his start, but I understand that Phelps was pitching a pretty good game. Girardi probably could have left him in a couple of batters longer. Still, he tossed 6 1/3 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits, with a walk and seven strikeouts. As long as the Yankees can start hitting, they might just have a chance to compete with more quality outings like this.

Betances came back out for the 8th, and struck out the first two hitters in a three up, three down inning, lowering his ERA to 1.42 on the year.

David Robertson took over in the 9th, set down the first two hitters he faced before Heisey ripped a two-out single into left field, then got Santiago to pop out to end the ballgame to seal his 24th save of the season.

The Yankees and Reds will continue this three-game series tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 pm ET with Alfredo Simon and Brandon McCarthy on the mound.

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Game 95: First game of second half

With only 68 games to go in the regular season, the Yankees will be back in the Bronx to start the second half of the season against the Cincinnati Reds tonight.

The Yankees enter tonight's contest with a 47-47 record, five games behind first-place Baltimore. The Reds sit at third place in the four-team race for the National League Central Division Title. Cincinnati is just 1.5 games behind the Brewers, who despite recent struggles, still hold on to first place.

The Reds entered the All Star Break as winners of seven of 10, while the Yankees are 5-5 over their last 10 games as they try to overcome the inconsistency that has plagued the Bronx Bombers in the first half of the season.

Tonight's lineup against Cincinnati:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
 C Brian McCann
DH Carlos Beltran
RF Ichiro Suzuki
2B Brian Roberts
3B Kelly Johnson

Pitching matchup preview:

David Phelps will be on the mound for the Yankees against Mike Leake for the Reds. Phelps has a 3-4 record with a 3.94 ERA this season and has been especially good in July, as he has allowed just three earned runs in 13 innings pitched in the month for a 2.08 ERA. 

Leake is 7-7 in 2014 with a 3.54 ERA. In parts of the last three years, Phelps has always been there for the Yankees when they need him with a 13-13 record and a 4.05 ERA.

He's been leaned on a lot this year with 13 starts and 22 total appearances to match his appearance total for 2013. This season, however, he has allowed 86 hits in 89 innings with 76 strikeouts, 36 walks, 10 home runs allowed and a WHIP of 1.37.

Phelps' strikeouts per nine innings have gone down to 7.69 this year from a career-high 8.20 last season and his home runs allowed per nine innings have gone up from 0.83 last season to 1.01. His BABIP has gone down to .293 from a mark of .321, as he has dropped his ERA from a career-high 4.98 in 2013.

Phelps has just one career appearance against the Reds in his career. Back in 2012, he allowed one unearned run and one hit, while walking one and striking out three in two innings.

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Yankees turned down a Gardner for Brandon Phillips trade

The Yankees need a second baseman, and Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips has been a name that's been popping up a lot over the past few days.

Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com says that the Yankees turned down an offer from the Reds to would send Phillips to the Bronx in exchange for outfielder Brett Gardner.

As for why the Yanks would deny a trade like this, we just don't know. Phillips is a Gold Glove second baseman with power that would do a fine job of making up for the loss of Robinson Cano in the lineup now that he's with the Seattle Mariners.

Just speculation: Phillips is owed $50 millions over the next four-years, and maybe the Yanks are looking for the Reds to eat up some of his remaining contract. Another thing you could look at is that maybe the Yankees, who say they don't want to trade Gardner, are only looking to deal him if it involves bringing in a starting pitcher, which they are currently looking for.

Gardner is the Yankees' best trade chip since the team acquire Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran, giving them six outfielders. The Yanks would rather keep him, but Brian Cashman says he has been getting a lot of phone calls on Gardy, and is at least willing to listen.

Phillips is in sort of the same situation as Gardner. The Reds say thy aren't trying to move him, but if they can find the right deal, they won't hesitate to move him. They need a speedy center fielder like Gardner, and they apparently have interest in him.

Omar Infante has been one of the Yankees' leading candidates to replace Cano. However, the Kansas City Royals have been pressing very hard for Infante after losing the race for Beltran to the Yankees. Also, Infante is looking for a four-year deal, and some reports say the Yanks aren't willing to give him that fourth year.

But if you remember, they weren't willing to give Beltran the third-year he was looking for, yet they gave it to him anyway.

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