An "Oofda" For C-Grand

Curtis, Curtis, Curtis.  This is not how it's supposed to work, my dude.  I scratch your back, you scratch mine.  I slobber all over your nuts, you slobber...

Well OK, I guess we don't have to go there.  But still.  The Golden Sombrero?  Really???  Not kosher, bro.  Not kosher at all.

Groundballs Are Good

The Yankee rotation is in the midst of one of its hot streaks again, hopefully one that lasts a bit longer than just one turn or a turn and a half through.  A big part of that has been the 2 strong outings from Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova, the biggest early underachievers on the staff.  It's probably not coincidental that Hughes and Nova have the 2 lowest GB rates amongst the starting staff, but those rates have been trending in the right direction since the start of the season and are likely a big part of their recent turnarounds.

Hughes GB Rate: 30.9% in April, 33.6% in May, 38.1% in June

Nova's GB Rate: 42.5% in April, 46.5% in May, 54.5% in June

It's Time To Call Up Dellin Betances

(Get the kid back in pinstripes.  Courtesy of Michael L. Stein/US Presswire)

On paper, Dellin Betances is everything you would want in a pitching prospect. He's a big, hulking kid with top shelf electric stuff. With that combination, saying his ceiling is a right-handed Randy Johnson is not outside the realm of possibilities, and Betances is the most decorated prospect currently in the Yankee system. He's appeared on more organizational top 15, top 10, and top 5 lists than anybody, and has been on Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects 3 times, including each of the last 2 editions. He's also having arguably the worst year in his 6-year Minor League career this year, and at age 24 he's rapidly approaching make-or-break territory. That being the case, I think now is the time to pull the trigger and bring Betances up to the show and stick him in the bullpen.

Game 55 Wrap-Up: NYY 4 TB 1

(Courtesy of The AP)

Things are never as bad and hopeless as they seem when they're going poorly and they're never as good as they seem when they're going well in baseball.  In such a long season, with so many games, there are always going to be peaks and valleys, and the Yankees, after wallowing in a deep valley a few weeks ago, have been slowly rising back up towards a peak since then.  Last night, they found themselves just a half game out of 1st place in the AL East, with a chance to leap over at least one of the teams still in front of them.  A good start from Ivan Nova would have been gone a long way in helping to make that happen.

Game Notes:

- The Yankees took an aggressive approach against Tampa starter Alex Cobb early, and it quickly paid dividends in the bottom of the 2nd when Mark Teixeira beat the hated shift by smoking a hanging curve into the second deck in right for a 1-0 Yankee lead.

- Nova gave up a leadoff single to Desmond Jennings, but he was solid through 3.  He was throwing strikes, working from ahead in the count, and generally locating his fastball down.  He did miss over the plate a few times, but they didn't lead to any trouble.

- In case you thought you could predict baseball, the bottom of the 4th was a reminder that you cannot.  After Alex Rodriguez drew a 1-out walk, he was picked off straying too far away from first base on a freak passed ball that bounced right back to Jose Molina.  On the very next pitch, Robinson Cano lined a HR to right for a 2-0 lead.

- He had to work a little harder in the 4th, but Nova cruised through 7.  He threw some good sliders and backdoor curveballs, but the fastball was his best pitch and he was getting a lot of GB outs.

- Cobb really didn't pitch a bad game at all.  He made 2 mistakes that cost him, and they were 2 of only 5 hits he allowed in 7+ innings of work, but for the most part he held the Yankee offense in check and gave his team a chance before tiring in the 8th.

- Swish and Chavez's back-to-back RBI doubles off of Cobb in the bottom of the 8th provided some comforting insurance runs.

- For a guy who's had a tough year to date, it was a bit surprising to see Joe leave Nova in for the 9th.  I would have rather seen him go out on a high note, and leadoff back-to-back triples by TB to start the 9th immediately made the decision look awful. Soriano came on and went 1-2-3 for the finish.

Thoughts On Day 2 Of The Draft

Now that we're deep into Day 3 of the MLB Draft, it's probably a good time to look back on Day 2.  As a guy who's admittedly not even remotely intelligent about the MLB draft, I've made more of an effort to follow the goings on over the past few days to try to learn some more about the guys the Yankees have taken and how they might fit into the team's future plans.  Ty Hensley was a strong 1st-round pick on Monday, and it appears that the Yankees had another strong day yesterday.  Here's my quick take after the jump.

Game 54 Wrap-Up: NYY 7 TB 0

Andy Pettitte is the best starting pitcher on the Yankees right now.  I know the Rays offense blows, but the guy just mowed them down like they didn't even exist yesterday.  Why did he retire again?

Game Notes:

- Pettitte didn't allow an XBH last night.

- He threw first-pitch strikes to 17 of the 25 batters he faced in 7.1 innings of work.

- He threw 70 total strikes out of 103 total pitches.

- 17 of those 70 strikes were swinging strikes (24.3%).

- 9 of his 10 strikeouts were swinging.

- His Game Score of 82 matched the season high for a Yankee starter that he set last month in his 8-inning gem against the Reds.

- Andy Pettitte is fucking awesome.

Curtis Granderson Is Just Dirty

(When it comes to making guys pay for poorly-located pitches, the Grandy Man can, and often does)

I've done a post where I wondered how Curtis Granderson was going to repeat his 2011 performance, and I've done a post where I questioned how he's been able to exceed his 2011 performance.  I was fully prepared to just do a post today where I stopped analyzing and just slurped him for how awesome he's been, but it looks like William Tasker of IIATMS had the same idea as me and already beat me to it.  Oh well, I'm going to slurp anyway.

- wOBA- .394 in 2011, .382 in 2012
- wRC+- 146 in 2011, 140 in 2012
- SLG- .552 in 2011, .551 in 2012
- ISO- .290 in 2011, .290 in 2012
- BB%- 12.3% in 2011, 12.6% in 2012

Simply put, C-Grand is mashing the shit out of the ball all the time.  He's still hitting line drives at an obscenely absurd clip (26.2%), he's still hitting home runs at an even more obscenely absurd clip (31.5% HR/FB), and he's managing to do it while still swinging and missing at a lot of pitches (11.4%).  He hasn't really gone on any kind of extended hot or cold streak, and his BABIP is actually down from last year, but when he gets ahold of one it's going to be trouble for the opposing pitcher.

There haven't been a lot of guys in the lineup who have met or exceeded expectations recently, but Curtis is one of the few.  He's been the most productive, and arguably the most valuable, Yankee for the past year plus.  I know Robbie Cano put on a hell of a show at the HR Derby last year, but I would love to see what Curtis could do this year.  They way he destroys anything that catches too much of the plate in game situations, just imagine what he could do with a BP pitcher of his choice lobbing them into his kill zone?

Introducing The Yankees' 2012 1st Round Pick- Ty Hensley

(Courtesy of Sarah Phipps/The Oklahoman)

Full disclosure, I don't really follow the MLB Draft at all.  There's always enough going on in Yankeeland for me to talk/write about, and I can cover that a helluva lot better than I can the draft.  I don't start getting too into prospects until I know they're a part of the organization, and there are already plenty of guys out there who are way more knowledgeable about the draft than me, so I just leave that heavy lifting to them.

That being said, I did stay awake last night long enough to see who the Yankees chose with the 30th pick in the 1st round and gather a little intel on the kid, and word around the cooler is that the Yankees got themselves a damn fine pick at 30.  So without further ado, please give a warm welcome to Mr. Ty Hensley.

Whatever Happened To The Ibanez/Jones Platoon?

The Raul Ibanez/Andruw Jones DH platoon was supposed to be the Yankees' cheap filling of the hole left in their lineup after Jesus Montero was traded away.  Brett Gardner's elbow injury and delayed comeback from the DL has thrown a bit of a wrench into those plans, and both players have been forced into more OF duty than the Yankees anticipated (especially Ibanez) while the DH spot in the lineup has become a revolving door.  Even with the loss of roster flexibility created by the Gardner injury, there's really no reason to get away from the L/R platoon plans for Ibanez and Jones, especially with a manager like Joe Girardi who loves to play the matchup game.  Lately, though, it seems as though Joe has gotten away from that tactic, particularly in late-game situations, which is puzzling considering that Ibanez and Jones were signed to fill those exact roles.

Catching Up With The AB4AR Top 30

(Gone but not forgotten... )

A little over 5 months ago, I dipped my toe in the prospect pool and made my first attempt at creating a top Yankee prospects list.  Over a week at the end of December/early January, I unveiled my inaugural AB4AR Top 30.  Some picks were actually pretty good (ranking Rob Segedin 17th when many others didn't even have him on their lists).  Some were downright horrible (ranking Tyler Austin 30th).  Mine was really the first list that came out prior to the 2012 season, so I think for a first try it wasn't bad, but now that it's MLB Draft time, everybody is coming out with their updated pre-draft lists (see here and here).

To be quite honest, I've never really understood the value of re-doing the rankings so early in the MiL season.  Too much credit can be given for a really hot start, too much punishment can be given a really crummy start, and I don't think guys deserve to be bumped down the rankings just because they are hurt.  And let's not forget that the SS and GCL leagues haven't even started up yet.  It's no knock on the guys and sites that do it, but personally, I don't see how I'm supposed to honestly say that I think one guy has moved up over another when he hasn't even gotten 1 PA this year.

I can't.  And I won't.  But what I will do is revisit my Top 30 list from late last year/early this year and give a quick run-through of what each guy is doing and how that may affect his stock moving forward towards the eventual unveiling of the 2012/2013 edition of the AB4AR Top 30.  So if you're ready, I'm ready.  Let's take a look.

Monthly Minor League Report (May): The Upper Levels

(Where are the strikeouts, guy?  Courtesy of Martin Griff/The Times)

The lower levels were covered on Saturday before I went AWOL for the wedding, so I'm playing catch-up today.  One day late isn't that bad, right?  I mean, when you were faced with the kind of spread I was faced with at this wedding (Brooklyn Brewery beer on tap, top shelf liquor, killer after-party bar), it would have been downright un-American to curb my celebrating so that I could wake up early enough to write this yesterday.  So here it is today, the completion of the AB4AR Monthly Minor League Report for the Month of May.

Game 53 Wrap-Up: NYY 5 DET 1

(Who are you and what have you done with Phil Hughes??  Courtesy of The AP)

Being on the losing end of a walk-off win sucks.  It sucks even more when it happens on a game-winning sacrifice fly.  That's exactly how the Yankees lost on Saturday to even up this series in Detroit, and it put a major damper on their chances to get out with a series win considering yesterday's pitching matchup was Phil Hughes vs. Justin Verlander.  Now the Yankees have hit Verlander before, but with Hughes been so hot-and-cold this season, it's almost impossible to predict what kind of outing he would give in comparison.  As luck would have it, yesterday was a Good Phil outing, and not just a regular one but possibly the best Phil outing we've ever seen.

Game Notes:

- The Yankees didn't waste any time jumping on Verlander, as Derek Jeter hit the first pitch he saw, a changeup that was up in the zone, for a leadoff HR and a 1-0 lead.  They followed it up with a pair of walks, a passed ball by Omir Santos, and a sac fly from Mark Teixeira to make it 2-0.

- Verlander wasn't sharp early, and it showed.  His trademark electric stuff was there, but he couldn't establish consistent command of any of his pitches and his pitch count quickly increased.  He made a rookie mistake to Alex Rodriguez in the top of the 3rd, throwing him 5 straight fastballs.  The Horse turned the 5th one (a 3-1 pitch) into a souvenir and it was 3-0 Yanks.

- In direct contrast to Verlander, Hughes had much better fastball command than he usually displays.  He worked both sides of the plate well with it, generally worked from ahead in the count, and kept the Detroit hitters off balance.

- After working through 3 scoreless frames, allowing a hit and 2 walks, Hughes made his first and only mistake of the day in the bottom of the 4th when he hung a first-pitch curveball to Prince Fielder.  The Tigers were on the board, but Hughes was money from then on.

- The Yankee offense quickly got that run back in the 5th on a double by Curtis Granderson and a 2-out RBI triple by Robinson Cano, who scored on a throwing error to make it 5-1.  Yay for hits with RISP!

- After giving up a run on 2 hits and 3 walks through 5, Hughes really hit his stride in the final 4 innings.  He gave up only 2 more hits, didn't walk a batter, and struck out 5 of his 8 total on the day.

- It was truly an outstanding performance for Hughes.  His fastball command was excellent and his curveball was working well as a swing-and-miss out pitch.  He definitely proved to Joe that he was worthy of finishing this game off, and he did it on 123 pitches for his first career 9-inning complete game.

I Like This Phil Hughes

It wasn't enough to trick me into falling back in man crush love with the guy, but that was a fantastic job on the bump by Phil Hughes today.  He was confident, aggressive, and totally in command out there.  He used his fastball, curveball, and changeup brilliantly to keep the Detroit lineup guessing, never wavered from his approach, and actually got stronger as the game went on.  Round of applause for you, Phillip.

Can we get some more of these performances and fewer of the batting practice stinkers from Anaheim, please?  That'd be awesome.

Belated Site News: Slow Weekend

I thought I was going to be able to work my usual weekend work rate in this weekend.  I really did.  Obviously that didn't happen.  Apologies for the missed game recaps and other stuff, but there was just too much going on this weekend and way too many drinks consumed, and I had way too good a time to drag my sorry ass in front of the computer the next mornings

Things will start getting back to normal tomorrow.  Game recap will be done, and I still owe everybody the MiL Report for Triple-A and Double-A.  So check back tomorrow for that stuff and we'll get back into the usual routine.

Monthly Minor League Report (May): The Lower Levels

(This dude can play a little bit. Courtesy of Brian Bissell/Future Star Photos)

I promised it last week, and I'm delivering it this week.  The latest installment of the AB4AR Monthly Minor League Report.  Let's dive right in and see how everybody's favorite prospects are doing, shall we?

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 6/1

Dude, it's June already.  June.  That whole "time flies when you're having fun" line is a load of crap.  Time flies when you start getting older.  It just naturally does.  I'm convinced there are only 20 hours in the day now that my irresponsible college days are well in my rearview mirror.  And I've traveled home twice in less than a week, so that's not helping the feeling either.  Anyway, onto the links!

- On Monday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog made a case for the Yankees pursuing a trade for OF David DeJesus.  Definitely wouldn't hurt to see Ibanez back in his DH-only role.

- On Tuesday, Vizzini of NoMaas followed up on his campaign to properly call out MLB umpires for the shitty jobs they do with some more thoughts.  I stood and applauded when I finished reading this.

- Dan Pfeiffer of NYY Universe unveiled his Top 15 Yankee prospects list.  In-season prospect rankings?  I'm there.  Definitely has Cito Culver too high, though.

- William Tasker of IIATMS wisely threw fire on the potential "Martin or Stewart" catcher debate before it could really even get started.

- Mike Eder of TYA once again worked his PITCHf/x magic to look at CC Sabathia's command issues this season.

- On Wednesday, Greg Corcoran of Bronx Baseball Daily went through the rotation man by man and gave reasons why there is still room for optimism moving forward.

- Donnie Collins of The SWB Blog had the details on Pat Venditte's mystery injury and they weren't good.  Good thing he's got another arm.

- Anthony Rushing of Yanks Go Yard commented on Curtis Granderson's continuing positive production.

- David Waldstein of The NY Times had some numbers and player thoughts on the lineup's bases-loaded futility this season.

- On Thursday, Joe Pawlikowski of RAB discussed Rafael Soriano and the success he's had since taking over the closer role.  I'm not a huge Sour Puss fan, but I have to give him credit.  He's done a good job.

** Also worth noting that Mike Axisa has started up his 2012 draft prep series, highlighting players the Yankees could target in the upcoming draft.  If you want to be well-informed about the draft, this stuff is must-read. **

- Speaking of the draft, EJ Fagan of TYA laid out his high-level strategic plans for the Yankees' draft this season.  Stay tuned for more stuff from EJ and Eric Schultz as the draft gets closer.

- Andrew Marchand of ESPNNY actually made some sense in this piece about flip-flopping A-Rod and C-Grand in the lineup.  I could have done without the A-Rod/steroids reference, but it's not worth picking nits when I'm actually on board with something Marchand writes.

- On Friday, Jesse Schindler of Bleeding Yankee Blue mused on Dellin Betances' command problems and hinted at a move to the bullpen, a move that I'm convinced is coming later this year.

- WhatWouldJeterdo of Pinstripe Alley explained why he has stopped hating Boone Logan for the time being, and with what Logan has done in the first 2 months, that lack of hate is well-deserved.

We're kicking it old school for the Friday Jam.  I know there's talk of bringing Jimi Hendrix and Marvin Gaye back as the next 3-D hologram performers after the buzz over the Tupac one, and I certainly hope that doesn't happen.  I like to remember Hendrix as he was in his prime, not as a money-making technological freakshow.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.  I know I will.

Bloop Singles, Huh?

("Line drives are better, you say?  I don't believe you.")

I hope I'm taking this quote out of context.  It certainly wouldn't be the first time I've done it.  But if I'm not, and Joe was serious when he dropped this line talking about A-Rod's lack of power yesterday, then this is a pretty big head scratcher.

“Everyone gets caught up in home runs.  I get caught up in runs and RBI. That’s what I get caught up in. You go out and try to swing for the fences every time and hit .200, that’s not what we want. We want him to get on base, and we want him to be productive. However that happens, I don’t care. I don’t care if it’s bloop singles with the bases loaded every time. I really don’t. I get on K-Long when guys line out. I say, ‘So?’ Bloop singles, I’ll take them.”

I agree that getting on base is always a good thing, and A-Rod has done a great job of that this season.  But to say you'd rather see your cleanup hitter hit bloop singles instead of line drives?  That's just comically wrong.  Bloop singles and just getting on base would be fine from A-Rod if he were hitting in the #2 spot.  But from the #4, you want line drives and hard contact because that's what gives him a better chance to drive in runs.

The Horse is healthy and he has been productive. And those are both good things.  It would be better to see the SLG, ISO, HR, and OPS numbers start to increase a little.  Less blooping, more lining drives.

P.S.- If Joe actually gives K-Long crap when people line out, Long should laugh in his face and/or slap him.

AB4AR "Best Of The Month" Awards: May 2012

It's that time again, gang.  Time to rip a page off the calendar, which means it's time to hand out some end-of-the-month awards.  Bit of a strange month for the Yankees, but there were still some good performances and memorable moments.  After the jump, check out the winners for May.

Russell Martin Tells Laz Diaz To Kiss His Rings

(Relevant)

Shitty umpiring in MLB is nothing new, and there's been a string of horrid examples of that recently.  There's guys like Joe West and CB Bucknor who are still convinced they're the center of attention.  There's Mark Wegner blatantly ignoring baseball code and tossing pitchers for no reason. There's Tim Welke just straight not giving a damn if first basemen are actually on the base.  But the whole Laz Diaz-Russell Martin "throwing balls back to the pitcher" thing from last night might take the cake.

Martin wasn't happy with some of the ball and strike calls earlier in the game, and rather than be a professional and just take it, Diaz decided to assert some false authority over Martin as punishment for Martin daring to question his umpiring abilities.

"He told me I had to earn the privilege (to throw the ball back to the pitcher). Even at the end of the game after I get hit in the neck. I’m like, can I throw the ball back now? He’s still like no. I’m like you’re such a (expletive). Like for real. Unbelievable. I even told him like when there’s guys on base, I like to keep my arm loose. No. I’m not letting you throw a ball back. That’s pretty strange to me."

"He told me I have to earn the privilege. Now, thinking back, I should have shown him the gold Rawlings sign on my glove. Unbelievable.” (Martin after the game)

Click "Read More" to get the full rantiness.

The Yankee Catching Conundrum

I know this is going to come as a complete shock, but the Yankees really haven't gotten much from the catcher position this season.  After breathing life back into his career last year, Russell Martin has regressed back to his 2009-2010 levels of offensive futility (.187/.333/.333, .309 wOBA, 90 wRC+).  And Chris Stewart, despite my best efforts to hype up his early production, has settled into the exact no-hit/all-field role we all anticipated him filling as CC Sabathia's personal catcher Martin's backup.  This adds up to a combined .196/.314/.313 tripleslash, .290 wOBA, and 77 wRC+ in 192 PA over the team's first 50 games from the catcher spot.  Production-wise, that wOBA ranks 19th in MLB, probably more of a testament to the overall offensive weakness of the position than anything else.  The Martin-Stewart tandem has been good for 0.8 WAR (T-16th in MLB), mainly on the strength of their positive defensive ratings, but with the up-and-down production of the lineup this season, some offensive improvement at the position would be helpful.

Game 50 Wrap-Up: NYY 6 LAA 5

(Whaddaya know?  Another HR for this guy.  Courtesy of The AP)

A couple of horrible innings from Phil Hughes and a couple of horrible pitches from Andy Pettitte ended the Yankees' winning streak and got them started on a new losing streak.  They were looking to get a rare win in Anaheim to avoid a sweep last night, and get things going back in the right direction before starting their trek back to the East Coast, but having Ivan Nova on the mound in that situation wasn't exactly the optimal option given his struggles this season.

Game Notes:

- Nova didn't waste any time making a mess for himself in the bottom of the 1st, hitting, giving up a single to, and walking the first 3 Angel batters. In a pleasantly surprising turn of events, Nova managed to limit the damage to just a single run on a sac fly.

- After stranding a RISP in the 1st and guys on the corners in the 2nd, the Yankees finally struck gold against Ervin Santana in the 3rd.  Russell Martin led off with a walk (the one thing he has been doing at the plate), Jeter singled, and Curtis Granderson (who doubled in the 1st) hit a 3-2 fastball over the heart of the plate for a 3-run HR to right-center and the Yankees led 3-1.

- After a free pass to A-Rod, Robinson Cano stepped in and launched a 1-2 fastball on the inner half into the right field seats and just like that it was 5-1 Yanks.  Santana was missing badly with everything and didn't look much longer for the game.

- Escaping the 1st inning bases loaded situation seemed to settle Nova, as he worked through the next 2 innings quickly and efficiently.  He was locating his fastball down in the zone and getting groundball outs.

- But in the 4th, he hit a pretty big pothole.  Nova walked Kendrys Morales on 5 pitches to start the inning, then gave up Mark Trumbo's third HR of the series to make it 5-3.  A pair of singles and a 2-RBI double by Mike Trout later, and it was a tie game again.

- Ervin Santana was pretty awful against New York as usual, but give him credit for getting through the 5th and not allowing any more runs.  In fact, after the 3rd inning the Yankees only put 1 more runner on base for the remainder of the game.  That runner was Raul Ibanez, who tripled and scored on a sac fly by Swish in the 6th, so it was an important runner.

- Nova battled his way through 6.2 innings of work, fighting his fastball and curveball command the whole time, but he held the Angels at 5 before turning the game over to the bullpen.  Cory Wade got 4 big outs (3 of them via K), and Rafael Soriano picked up the save despite putting 2 more runners on base.

Andy Not Immune To The HR Epidemic

("It's fun to stay at the... " Courtesy of The AP)

Home runs have been the biggest thorn in the side of the Yankee rotation this season, that's no secret.  And as last night showed, Andy Pettitte has not been spared from that trend in his first 4 starts back.  He has allowed 6 HR in those 4 starts, 2 per start minus the scoreless masterpiece he threw against Cincy, and those 6 HR are responsible for 9 of the 11 total ER he's allowed.

Mike Trout's RBI triple last night also scored a run, meaning 10 of the 11 runs allowed by Andy have been via the XBH, the even higher-level problem that has been a constant theme when discussing the rotation this year.  But the reality is that Andy has actually pitched really well since coming back.  Eliminate the handful of poorly-located balls up in the zone and we could be talking about Andy as the early favorite for Comeback Player of the Year.  His ERA is solid, he's giving up less than a hit per inning, he's not walking a lot of batters, and his strikeout numbers are more than acceptable for a soon-to-be 40-year-old.

It's that pesky 26.1% HR rate that's fucking him up right now, and hopefully we see that number start to come down as the IP sample size goes up.

Why The Hell Is Freddy Garcia Still On The Roster?

(I think your time has come, fella.  Courtesy of The AP)

Real talk for a minute, why the hell is Freddy Garcia still a Yankee?  Can anybody explain it to me?  What's the point?  He's been equally useless as a starter and a reliever this season (5.56 FIP as starter, 4.50 as reliever) and currently brings no value to the table as a bullpen option.  Since being demoted after his start on April 28th, he's worked 9.1 innings in relief in 5 appearances.  He went 10 days in early May without seeing any game action, and currently hasn't pitched since May 21st.  None of his appearances have been in games where the Yankees were winning, and only 2 of them have been in games where they were within 3 runs.  Both of those times Garcia allowed more runs to score, effectively killing any real chance of a Yankee comeback in the 8th or 9th.  On the 12-man pitching staff, he's firmly entrenched in the 12th spot, and is damn close to being 13th.

Game 49 Wrap-Up: LAA 5 NYY 1

(Shucks.  Courtesy of The AP)

Andy Pettitte has already exceeded my expectations and the expectations of many others with what he's done in his first 3 starts back after over a year way from the game.  But if there was anything left that was needed to legitimize his comeback, it would be a good performance on the road against a hot team.  That's exactly what he was facing last night in Anaheim, both at the plate and on the mound, and the outcome wasn't what he was looking for.

Game Notes:

- Pettitte started off solid, working quickly and cleanly through the first 2 frames, but he got into trouble in the 3rd when he started missing with his offspeed stuff.   Mike Trout hit an RBI triple to left on a slider that was up just enough with 1 out, and Albert Pujols hit a hanging cutter out for a 2-run HR with 2 outs to make it 3-0 Anaheim.

- Angels' starter Dan Haren looked just as good as he did against Seattle early, and he really had his splitter working down in the zone.  But the Yanks still managed to load the bases against him in the 3rd before he struck out Robinson Cano, so there was reason for optimism.

- That optimism turned into confidence in the 4th, when Raul Ibanez hit a 1-out double to right and came around to score on Nick Swisher's RBI single.  For once, the Yankee hitters didn't seem overmatched by a pitcher who was on his game.

- Pettitte seemed to find his game after the 3rd, retiring the next 8 batters he faced in order, 6 via groundout.  He was locating his cutter much better and the Angels' hitters couldn't do much with it.

- Only problem was that Haren and his splitter were even better, and he kept the Yankee lineup at bay after the run in the 4th.  He was constantly ahead in the count, pounding the strike zone with splitters and 4-seamers, and worked quickly out of any trouble he got into through 7.

- Pettitte left a cutter up to Pujols in the 3rd, and he left one even higher up in the zone to Mark Trumbo in the 7th and Trumbo took it out for a solo HR and a 4-1 Anaheim lead.  Andy left after giving up a leadoff hit in the bottom of the 8th, which eventually came around to score off of Cody Eppley.

- It wasn't a horrible outing for Andy.  He threw a lot of strikes, got a lot of groundballs, and didn't walk a batter.  3 bad pitches were what did him in, and the offense couldn't generate enough to pick him up.

The Yankees threatened in the 8th, putting runners on the corners with 1 out, but Peter Bourjos made a great catch on a deep drive to right center to rob Nick Swisher and kill the potential comeback.  It was the third time that Swish was robbed of at least a double in the gap.  Talk about bad BABIP luck.

Head, Shoulders, Knees, And Toes. Or The Endless Array Of Organizational Pitching Injuries

(Pick a part of the body and chances are somebody has injured it this season)

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a semi tongue-in-cheek post about the incredibly unlucky streak of injuries that had befell the Yankees this season.  The karma doesn't seem to have changed much since then, as both Brett Gardner and David Robertson are still a while away from being able to come off the DL and re-join the 25-man roster, and all the while names continue to get added to the disabled lists across the entire organizational network, most of them pitchers.  If you're not up to speed on who is or has been shelved at some point this season, here's a handy guide that breaks down the injury by body part.

** Disclaimer- AB4AR cannot be held responsible if the following list causes you to start drinking upon completion. **