Those diehard Yankee fans who stayed up to watch all (huh?) or at least part of last night’s game vs. Seattle, saw Matt Carpenter foul a pitch off of his back foot in his first at bat. YES announcer Cameron Maybin was right on it when he said that there are a lot of small bones in your feet and this is not a good thing. Well, sure enough, Carpenter broke a bone in his foot and may miss the rest of the season. Not clear yet.
Carpenter has given the team a huge lift from the left side of the plate for the Yankees – hits with power and RISP. This is a big loss but helps Cashman in achieving his dream of fielding a mostly right-handed lineup in a stadium that favors left-handed hitters. SU believes that they will recall Miguel Andujar for the 71st time this season to fill in for Carpenter but it’s a big, big blow to the team if Carpenter indeed misses the rest of the season. He’s hitting .293 at Scranton and he must take advantage of this chance while Stanton is out. Rizzo is still suffering from a bad back. Benintendi is showing signs of life – 2 doubles last night – so that helps from the left side. And of course Aaron Hicks is a switch hitter and makes outs from the 9-hole as needed batting left-handed. Tonight will be a good test vs. Castillo who they will face for the 3rd time this year. Will anyone make an adjustment? Bunt against the shift?
Josh Donaldson with 3 home runs last night. It is still shocking to see him get hits with RISP. Yankees have to hope he can stay hot for some stretch of games.
For you diehard Yankee fans, for the upcoming Sunday night game between the Red Sox and Yankees on ESPN, Michael Kay and A-Rod who do the alternate broadcast on ESPN2 will be joined by Derek Jeter. This is worth watching just for the awkwardness between these two former stars and former friends. Definitely worth checking it out for a few minutes.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
It feels like Donaldson always gets hot as the season enters August.
Joey Gallo hits a 3 run opposite field pinch hit home run last night. I have never seen him go opposite field for an HR. This is the bad omen that tells me Yankees will disappoint again
Speaking of interesting in-game commentary, yesterday’s game at the Field of Dreams offered two fantastic half-innings. First was with Johnny Bench in the booth. His insight remains amazing. He is funny and charming and had great interaction with Smoltz. I’d tune into any game with him in the booth. Then they did a half inning with Joey Votto conversing with them while he played 1st base. It was even better. I don’t usually care for gimmicks like that and they could have had just as good a conversation with him from the dugout. But he had a full conversation, told stories and answered questions, taking breaks to deal with matters on the field. Had the decency to turn off the mic while he was talking to a runner who reached 1st base. He was smart and insightful and should have a future in broadcasting. This came as I heard how thrilled the Yankees are with Beltran and Maybin. I think they’re fine. But they’re not nearly as good as Votto was while he was playing the game.