In what came to a shock to most people Roger Clemens was found not guilty on all counts of doping yesterday. Even though the case was long the jurors returned their verdict  relatively quickly, less than 10 hours over several days. This ended a 10-week trial and the verdict was the latest blow to the government’s legal pursuit of athletes accused of illegal drug use. Barry Bonds was only found guilty of one count of obstruction in a San Francisco court last year. Probably one of the most famous anti-drug cases was that of Lance Armstrong. After a two-year, multi-continent investigation of the seven-time Tour de France champion the case was only recently closed with no charges.

Clemens was accused of cheating the achieve and extend his successful career and he was charges with two counts of perjury, three counts of making false statements and one count of obstructing Congress when he testifies at a deposition and at a nationally televised hearing in February 2008. Clemens had denied multiple times that he never used steroids and human growth hormones during his 24-year career with the New York Yankees that produced 354 victories. The government had a strong case against Clemens when his longtime strength coach Brian McNamee testified against Clemens saying he injected Clemens with steroids in 1998, 2000 and 2001 and with HGH in 2000. He produced a needle with other materials he said were from those injections. But he was the only one who claimed he knew about Clemens using steroids and HGH. But the defense said that Clemens was injected by McNamee but not with anything illegal, but with vitamin B12. Whatever the case the jury had the final say and they decided that Roger Clemens did not do anything illegal, a decision many people do not believe because of the evidence that was brought up against Clemens.

Never too early to start talking Yankee trades. The Yanks were supposed to have great pitching depth this year, but Michael Pineda and Mariano Rivera are gone for the year, Phil Hughes is struggling and who knows what Andy Pettitte has left. Like every year the Yanks will be buyers at the deadline; who they can trade for will be based on who the sellers are and who’s out there.

The first guys they could look at are aging veterans whose contracts are up after the season like Tim Hudson, Gavin Floyd and Jake Peavy. All these guys would be very short term solutions who would really need to show something to be considered reliable again.

They could also look right in their own division at the man who’s pitching against them tonight, James Shields. There’s no way the Rays will be able to afford Shields after the season ends and he’s always pitched well against the Yankees. However, the Rays are tied for the best record in the AL right now so any big trade seems unlikely.

The best place to look would be the Brewers who may lose Shaun Marcum and/or Zack Greinke. It’s hard not to like Marcum more. The Yanks know him well from his time in Toronto and he’d be the cheaper option.

Everyone knew that the Yankees were going to trade top catching prospect Jesus Montero. But no one knew it would simply be a one for one swap.

Brian Cashman took a gamble in trading the mighty Montero for Michael Pineda, a good pitching prospect, but one who has yet to prove himself as Major League ready.

As a Mets fan, by nature it is hard for me to say anything positive about the Yankees, and I laughed when I first heard about this trade, thinking, “Wow, Cashman is a fool.” But after looking further into it, this may have been the move of the decade for the Yankees.

With a starting rotation that was less than stellar in the last few seasons, the Yankees have been looking to get younger with regards to starting pitching, as they have been letting Ivan Nova pitch more than expected. The Yankees kept this train of thought by trading for Pineda, the 6’8 290 pound right hander from the Mariners that makes CC Sabathia look like Steve Urkel.

The question is, who will have a bigger impact in 2012, Pineda on the mound for the Yankees? Or Montero at the dish for the Mariners? Montero showed massive power in his short stint with the Yankees, making the short porch in right field his friend rather quickly. It was a tough call to trade Montero at all due to his strong swing, but most fans knew it had to happen in order for the Yankees to upgrade their rotation (not to mention dumping AJ Burnett off on the Pirates).

The Yankees also are not lacking in the power department. With big bats like Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, and Alex Rodriguez holding down the heart of the order and Curtis Granderson providing a spark no matter where he is placed in the lineup, Brian Cashman felt that Montero was worth giving up for a good pitching prospect, and they got a good one.

Pineda has been clocked in the high 90’s, even topping 100 mph on his fastball several times. Many scouts say he has the potential to make an immediate impact this season for New York, and could even end up being the team’s number one starter by season’s end. CC Sabathia might have something to say about that, of course, but the fact that Pineda has a similar build and a very live fastball could create one of the best 1-2 pitching punches in the American League. With new free agent Hiroki Kuroda, Ivan Nova, and either Phil Hughes or Freddy Garcia behind them in the rotation, the Yankees pitching staff could be poised to help the Bronx Bombers to the World Series for the first time since 2009, when they defeated the Philadelphia Phillies for their 27th championship.

Overall, Pineda appears to be the real deal. Trading proven hitting talent for pitching is always a gamble, as pitching is never a sure thing in this day and age, but the Yankees appear to have reeled in an ace.

New York Yankees third baseman, Alex Rodriguez will be in the Yankees line up tonight against the Philadelphia Phillies. Rodriguez will bat clean up and will play as the designated hitter. Hopefully his minor groin injury will not affect his plate appearance and he can help the Yankees take another game from the Phillies. Rodriguez was batting a .317 in his last 10 games before his injury occurred.

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The New York Yankees have completely dominated the Minnesota Twins at home since 2002 with a record of 25-3 before Sunday afternoon’s game. It looked like the Yankees were going to win again yesterday afternoon when the unimaginable happened.

The game was in the bag, Mariano Rivera was summoned in the bottom of the eight inning to record a four out save. Rivera has been perfect all season, he didn’t let up any runs in all his save oppurtunites… until yesterday. Viewers might have thought they were dreaming, but it is true, Rivera facing Jason Kubel with the bases loaded let up a grand slam! Rivera has only let up four grand slams in his career and the last time Rivera let up a grand slam at home was back in 1995! With Kubel’s grand slam, he stopped Rivera’s consecutive save streak at home with 51, tied with Eric Gagne.

In the bottom of the 9th inning the Yankees tried to rally back. Teixiera got up as the tying run with two outs and a runner on first and second and struck out looking on a pitch that was clearly inside but ruled a strike. The Yankees haven’t brought out any pies yet this year, they had a chance yesterday to bring their walk-off magic of last year back, but they fell short.

Rivera is not a machine, he is human. It was bound to happen sometime. Sometimes he is so dominate it is completely shocking when he fails, especially in the fashion that he did yesterday. Every year this happens and fans think, “Oh no, he’s falling apart! Is he at the end of his line?” Then by the end of the year fans forget that his few early season mishaps even happened. Rivera may have a few more bad games to come but his good games will outweigh the bad ones so much that they will be forgotten like usual.

The Twins finally got the monkey off their back defeating the Yankess 6-3. (Yankees.com)

by Eric Heyer at the Sports Fan Blog Network

Yesterday afternoon, Vazquez pitched the first game of the Yankees day-night doubleheader in Detroit. Vazquez has struggled all season long coming into yesterday’s game with a 9.78 ERA. After being skipped in his last start against the Red Sox, Vazquez had an opportunity to redeem himself against the Tigers.

Vazquez showed why the Yankees traded for him by only allowing one hit over the first five innings. In the sixth inning Vazquez ran into a little trouble allowing two runs to score, but that was all the runs the Tigers scored in the game.

Vazquez wound up going seven innings allowing two runs on five hits. If it wasn’t for the stellar pitching of 21 year old Rick Porcello of the Tigers, Vazquez would have recorded his second win of the season. Porcello went seven innings of shutout baseball. Perry came in for the eighth to secure the hold for Jose Valverde who came away with his tenth save.

This was the first time the Yankees lost by a shutout all season and it is the first time they lost three games in a row this season. The only positive the Yankees can take from their loss is that Vazquez was finally back to himself. If he keeps on pitching like he did yesterday, his wins will eventually pick up and their rotation will be solid from top to bottom. (mlb.com) (yankees.com)

by Eric Heyer at the Sports Fan Blog Network

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Yankees president Randy Levine has heard it often, but he’s had enough of complaints from small-market owners about payroll disparity.

Milwaukee owner Mark Attanasio was quoted in Monday’s USA Today saying, “We’re struggling to sign (Prince Fielder) and the Yankees infield is making more” than the entire Brewers roster.

“As I’ve said, Mark’s a good friend, but he needs to stop whining and complaining about our player payroll,” Levine told the Daily News. “We play by all the rules, and we always have. We’ve contributed hundreds of millons of dollars in revenue sharing and no one complains when they get the money.

“But use that money to sign your players. Period. As you notice, the complaining always comes from others, not from us.”

Click here to read the full article – By PETER BOTTE of Ny Daily News

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