Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Game 96 Wrap-Up: NYY 4 SEA 1

(Guess all the Yanks needed to get a win was another former All Star.  Courtesy of The AP)

Yesterday morning the headlines were dominated by the Yankees' getting swept out of Oakland and what it could mean (cue the scary music).  By the time yesterday evening rolled around, that all got pushed way onto the back burner to make room for the announcement of the Yankees trading for Ichiro Suzuki.  That story only got bigger as Ichiro sat down for a pregame press conference, was put on New York's active roster, and started the game in right field for the Bombers last night in Seattle.  Whether the Ichiro news served as a distraction in the clubhouse to get the Yankees' focus away from the Oakland sweep is unknown.  What is known is that they came out last night and got back in the W column.

Game Notes:

- The Yanks put a runner on in each of the first 2 innings only to have them erased by inning-ending double play balls off the bats of Alex Rodriguez and Raul Ibanez.  I still don't understand how Kevin Millwood does it against these guys.

- New York starter Hiroki Kuroda worked around his own trouble in the 1nd inning after an A-Rod throwing error (been a couple of those lately) put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs, but seemed to have his offspeed stuff working again.

- Seattle decided to run on Kuroda in the bottom of the 3rd and got a run because of it on a John Jaso groundball.  Seattle stole 2 bases off of Kuroda in the inning, but would only get the 1 as a strikeout of The Jesus ended the threat.

- The lineup finally solved the Millwood riddle in the top of the 4th.  A pair of doubles by A-Rod and Mark Teixeira sandwiched around a Robinson Cano walk scored 1 run, and follow-up RBI singles by Ibanez and Andruw Jones gave the Yankees a 3-1 lead that they would not surrender.

- Kuroda was absolutely filthy after getting the lead.  He faced the minimum from the 4th inning through the 7th and recorded all 12 of his outs on the infield (6 groundouts, 6 Ks).

- Attempting to further make up for his earlier defensive gaffe, A-Rod hit a solo shot to left center in the 8th for an insurance run.  It was on a ball a little bit down in the strike zone, so it was good to see A-Rod go and get it and hit it with power.

- No fooling around for Joe.  He went to D-Rob and Sour Puss to finish it off and they sat the sides down in order in the 8th and 9th, although Robertson had a scare when he slipped and rolled his ankle on his second-to-last pitch of the inning.  No hangover for Soriano from his blown save the other night.

- Final line on Ichiro in his Yankee debut: 1-4, 1 SB, 2 LOB.  He singled and stole second in the 3rd inning in his first career Yankee at-bat and got a much-deserved ovation from the Seattle crowd.

Monday, July 23, 2012

BREAKING NEWS: Yankees Trade For Ichiro

Via Jack Curry, the Yankees have acquired outfielder Ichiro Suzuki from the Seattle Mariners for MiL pitchers D.J. Mitchell and Danny Farquhar.  There are also reports out that Seattle picked up a significant amount of the money that is still owed to Ichiro.

This move is obviously in reaction to the Brett Gardner "out for the year" news, but could also be a sign that things are more serious with Nick Swisher's hip flexor injury than they appear.  More details to come on this story as they become available.

** UPDATE- 5:49 PM- No word on a roster move, but Chad Jennings is reporting that Ichiro will be on the Yankees' active roster for tonight's game. **

** UPDATE- 5:55PM- Multiple Yankee beat writers reporting that Dewayne Wise has been DFA'd to clear a 25-man roster spot for Ichiro. **

** UPDATE- 6:06PM- According to Curry, the Yankees are only on the hook for $2.25 million of what's owed to Ichiro this season.  He was on a 5 year/$90 million deal, so you do the math.  This is shaping up to be a good deal for the Yankees. **

** UPDATE- 6:37PM- During his press conference, Ichiro said he asked the Mariners for a trade a couple weeks ago, was excited to play for a contender, and didn't want to be in the way of younger players with the Mariners being in rebuild mode.  He also confirmed that he would not wear jersey # 51 (not a surprise), and Joe stated that the Yankees plan to play Ichiro primarily in left field. **

** UPDATE- 7:09PM- Ichiro in the Yankee starting lineup tonight, playing right field and batting 8th.  There you go. **

Don't Sleep On C-Dick

While the Yankees continue to be connected to every outfielder who could conceivably be considered available right now, and go through the process of considering the variables associated with each, there's an in-house outfield option flying under the radar right now.  With the way he's been performing of late, he probably deserves at least a blip or two on the radar.

I'm talking about AB4AR favorite Chris Dickerson, AKA C. Diddy, AKA C-Dick.  He missed a lot of time early in the season with injuries, but since coming back he has posted a .281/.377/.451 slash line in 183 PA for Triple-A Empire State, good for a .380 wOBA.  He's been on a quiet tear in the last week too, with 11 H (3 2B, 3 3B, 1 HR), 10 R scored, and 6 BB in 37 PA.

Granted his production has been against lesser competition, and C-Dick has never shown a real ability to replicate his MiL success in the Majors, but he possesses a similar skill set to Gardner (takes walks, speed on the basepaths, plays above-average outfield defense) and could conceivably replicate what Gardner brings to the table if used properly.  The Yankees also wouldn't have to give up anything to add him to the 25-man roster, something that can't be said for the Shanes Victorino or Justins Upton of the world.

Just sayin'...

** UPDATE- 10:47PM- Just kiddin'... **

A Little Oak-Town Perspective

(Sad Yankees are sad.  Courtesy of The AP)

The sweep at the hands of the Oakland A's this past weekend sucked, no doubt about it.  Any time another team does something to the Yankees that they haven't done in 40 years it stings, but before everybody starts buying into the MSM's attempts to stir some shit up and raise the panic level to DEFCON 2, let's just take a step back and look at everything that went down.

Game 95 Wrap-Up: OAK 5 NYY 4

(#staytucked.  Courtesy of The AP)

Yesterday's loss was a bad one, no other way to say it.  The Yankees had a 4-0 lead in the 4th inning, appeared to have former teammate Bartolo Colon's number, had their ace on the mound, and still managed to lose their 4th straight 1-run game to Oakland.  The offense went completely to sleep after the 4th inning, scoring 0 runs for the rest of the game, Colon started to get things together long enough to give his team a chance to come back, the ace started giving up runs, and the bullpen completed the collapse by blowing the save in the 9th and giving up the winning run in the 12th.  It had already been a tough series for the Yankees, but yesterday's loss made it even worse.

Game Notes:

- After the teams traded scoreless frames through 2, the Yankees struck with a barrage of 4 straight singles to start the top of the 3rd, the last one an RBI knock for Mark Teixeira.  An Alex Rodriguez 2-run double with 1 out gave the Yankees an early 3-0 lead.

- That lead was extended on Curtis Granderson's solo homer in the top of the 4th inning and the Yankees looked like they were off and running.  They were jumping all over Colon's 2-seamer and it looked like only a matter of time before he completely caved.

- The A's finally got on the board in the bottom of the 5th, thanks to a pair of solo homers by Brandon Inge and Kurt Suzuki.  CC had been leaving some offspeed pitches a little higher in the zone than he wanted and it finally caught up to him, although there's no excuse for giving up a HR to Suzuki.

- After CC put a couple more runners on in the 6th, Jayson Nix's inability to smoothly turn 2 led to another Oakland run.  Nix was starting for Derek Jeter at short and bobbled the transfer before getting the ball to Robinson Cano for the throw.  4-3 Yanks.

- Despite the lack of offense after 4, the Yankees were still in position to win in the bottom of the 9th, but just as Sabathia had done, Rafael Soriano left a slider up just enough and Seth Smith hit it for a game-tying home run.

- The offense had 2 runners on in the 10th and 12th innings and could not bring anybody in.  After putting up 4 runs on 7 hits and 1 walk through 4 innings, the Yankee lineup mustered just 4 hits and 2 walks in 8 scoreless innings from then on.

- David Phelps came in for the 10th, got 2 strikeouts to start the 11th, and then was inexplicably removed for Clay Rapada to face Smith.  Going lefty-lefty for 1 batter in extra innings is a questionable move, regardless of what Smith had done earlier, and Phelps deserved to stay out there longer.

- The matchup game would come back to haunt the Yanks in the bottom of the 12th, when Joe went to Cody Eppley to replace Rapada and immediately watched Eppley repeat his Friday night performance, giving up 2 hits and the game-winning one to lefty-hitting Coco Crisp to finish up the sweep.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

How "In On Everybody" Are The Yankees, Really?

(How much does this guy really know?)

Jon Heyman helped stir the trade talk pot with his report yesterday that the Yankees were "in on everybody" in looking for a replacement for Brett Gardner in left field.  His report built off of some of the already-existing rumors out there connecting the Yankees to guys like Shane Victorino, Denard Span, and Justin Upton, and also off of Thursday's news that Gardner will have arthroscopic surgery on his injured elbow and will likely miss the remainder of the season.  There hasn't been a whole lot of real evidence to support the Yankees really being THAT interested in any of the available trade targets, despite Heyman's quoting of a "rival executive," and in my opinion there's too much about these 3 that doesn't fit with the Yankees for any of them to be considered serious trade targets right now.

Game 94 Wrap-Up: OAK 2 NYY 1

- More good starting pitching.  7.2 innings of 2-run ball from Phil Hughes.

- More of this from the offense:



- A couple of solo home runs should never beat you, but that's essentially what this series has come down to so far.  The Yankees have one more chance to get something out of this series today.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Joba Back Before The End Of The Month?

(Joba's rehab has been smooth sailing so far.  Courtesy of John Munson/The Star-Ledger)

The question of whether or not Joba Chamberlain would be able to pitch by the end of this season seemed almost out of the question months ago.  Questioning whether or not he could come back by the end of July would have seemed certifiable, but that's just the scenario that George King of the NY Post posed this morning:

"The plan is for Chamberlain to throw a bullpen session Monday. The next test will have Chamberlain throw in back-to-back games. If he comes through that exercise with no problems, he could come off the disabled list before the end of July."

Joba's latest rehab outing was last night for High-A Tampa, and it was his first tough one.  He gave up a couple hits and an earned run, the first he's allowed since starting his rehab schedule, in 2 innings of work.  Reports of mid-to-high 90s speeds on the fastball have been consistent since his first outing, and there have been absolutely no reports of Joba feeling any kind of discomfort in his elbow or ankle, so assuming all goes well in this next week a return by the end of July isn't out of the cards.  But Joba does have until August 8th to complete his 30-day rehab assignment, and coming off of 2 serious injuries to his arm and leg is no joke.  I'd feel much more comfortable with the Yankees giving him more time than he needs to complete the assignment than just enough, current bullpen situation being what it is.

Extra Base Hits Still A Problem For Nova

Ivan Nova's early-season extra base hit issues took a backseat to a lot of other storylines over the past 2 months, but they've still always been there and are starting to become more problematic again.  Nova gave up 4 doubles and 1 triple last night, and in his 4 July starts he has allowed 14 total XBH in 24.2 IP, accounting for 45.16% of the total hits Nova has given up this month.  Nova's very good at limiting damaged when he puts runners on, but it's hard to overcome that many XBH.

For the season, Nova is still the AL leader in XBH allowed with 64, and he's comfortably ahead of second place man James Shield (52).  Nova has only walked 7 batters this month, so he's clearly made strides in improving his control and has seen some positive results from it.  But his command of his stuff is still not a great strength, and Nova's ability to establish some consistency there and locate pitches better inside the strike zone is what will determine whether he can be more than a #4 starter.

Game 93 Wrap-Up: OAK 3 NYY 2

(Still too many extra base hits, Ivan.  Courtesy of The AP)

I don't know if the Yankees left their bats in New York before making the trip out to Oakland or if Tommy Milone is really that good, but they didn't do a whole lot of damage again last night and lost another close game because of it.  Ivan Nova wasn't particularly sharp, but he did what he usually does and limited the damage to 2 runs to give his team a chance.  The Yankees just never mustered up enough offense to support him and ended up losing on a walk-off single in the 9th after coming back to tie the game at 2.

Game Notes:

- Nova loaded the bases in the bottom of the 1st but managed to escape without allowing a run.  He gave up 1 in the 3rd on a triple and a sac fly and another in the 4th on an RBI double by Brandon Inge.

- The Yankee offense didn't get a runner to second base until the top of the 6th when Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira singled.  Teix was thrown out trying to go first to third in the 4th inning, and Milone was just dominating the Yankees with his changeup.

- 6.2 innings of 2-run ball isn't terrible, but Nova struggled with his command in the strike zone all day, and the A's pounded him when he did.  5 of the 9 hits he gave up went for extra bases.

- Nick Swisher left the game after running out a ground ball in the 7th inning.  It looked like it was his pesky groin again, but postgame it was revealed to be a left hip flexor.  Doubt we'll see him for the rest of the series.

- Milone exited after 7 innings and 10 strikeouts, and the Yankees were finally able to put some runs on the board.  Russell Martin hit a solo HR to lead off the 8th inning and Robinson Cano hit one to lead off the 9th and it was a 2-2 game.

- With the game tied, Joe decided not to go with Soriano in the 9th and it cost him.  Cody Eppley came in after Clay Rapada got a strikeout and gave up 3 consecutive singles to allow the winning run to score.

- The Yankees' streak of consecutive games with at least 3 runs was broken at 43.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 7/20

I don't have much to say today, people.  I'm tired, I'm cranky from a long week at work, I haven't slept particularly well all week, and all I want to do right now is get the hell out of my office so I can go watch "The Dark Knight Rises."  I honestly debated whether or not to wear my Batman t-shirt to work today to honor the occasion, and I plan on marking out really hard when I'm in the theater tonight.  I am such a child.  Onto the links!

- On Monday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog attempted to educate the Yankee masses on the flawed logic in constantly booing A-Rod.  I was going to write something up on this same topic on Monday night.  After reading William's take, I'm glad I didn't; I couldn't have said it any better.

- On Tuesday, Matt Keegan of Pinstripe Alley examined the maturation of Corban Joseph's game that has led to his great MiL season.

- Vizzini of NoMaas offered a reminder of how the last couple Yankee trades worked out to put the upcoming deadline into perspective.

- On Wednesday, Greg Corcoran of Bronx Baseball Daily commented on the starting pitching logjam at the lower levels of the MiL system.  You can never have too much starting pitching, right?

- Matthew B of Yankees Fans Unite looked at Mark Teixeira's recent turnaround and hot July.

- Mike Eder of TYA analyzed CC's first start back from the DL with the PITCHf/x microscope and showed that the results were positive.

- On Thursday, el duque of It Is High... listed the top 10 moments in Darnell McDonald's long and storied Yankee career.

- Steve Goldman of Pinstripe Alley peered into the future to talk about what the Yankees can/will do to replace Nick Swisher.

- Chris Carelli of Yanks Go Yard discussed the solid all-around production coming from the Yankee bench recently, and the benefits of that production.

- On Friday, Mike Axisa of RAB released his much-anticipated post-draft Top 30 Prospects list.  Let the debates begin!

- William Tasker of IIATMS weighed the "Garcia or Phelps" options after Freddy's most recent rough outing in Oakland.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud broke down the current situation in left field with Brett Gardner now looking like he's going to miss the rest of the season.

For the Friday jam, we're going with some Rage Against The Machine.  If there's one band that I want to see officially get back together and record a new album, it's Rage.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Game 92 Wrap-Up: OAK 4 NYY 3

("Try not throwing it over the plate."  Courtesy of The AP)

I hate West Coast trips.  The whole concept of time zones really becomes a bitch when you're going to bed and the Yankee game is still in the top of the 4th inning.  The Yankees certainly seemed to share my sentiments last night in the opening game of their 4-game weekend series in Oakland.  They didn't generate much firepower with their bats and Freddy Garcia got knocked around for the second straight time.  The A's are no joke, and they've been playing some good baseball over the past 2-3 weeks just like the Yankees have.  This is going to be a series.

Game Notes:

- No fast start for the lineup last night.  Instead the tables were turned when it was Oakland who struck in the 1st inning thanks to a Yoenis Cespedes 2-run HR.

- Garcia loaded the bases in the bottom of the 3rd and gave up 2 more runs when Seth Smith lined a 2-run single into center to make it 4-0 A's.

- The offense put runners on base in each of the first 2 innings, then got sat down in order through the 5th.  They were finally able to do something against A's starter A.J. Griffin in the 6th, when they loaded the bases with singles and cut the lead to 4-2 on a Mark Teixeira sac fly and a Nick Swisher single.

- David Phelps relieved Garcia in the 6th and threw 2.1 perfect innings of relief with 4 strikeouts.  Hmmm, maybe they should have started the kid, huh?  Phelps is locked in with his fastball command right now, and should get Garcia's rotation spot.

- Swish made it interesting in the top of the 9th with a solo HR to make it a 4-3 game, but Ryan Cook managed to close things out and put a temporary end to the Yankees' hot streak.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Keep Doing The Damn Thing, Boys

With all the negative storylines that have dominated the Yankee talk this year, it would be easy to think they were having a down season.  They traded away their best prospect and lost the pitcher for whom they traded him for the season due to injury.  They've had major injuries to their most important relief pitchers and their best starters.  They've gotten inconsistent performances and declining production from key spots in the middle of their lineup.  And they are too one-dimensional without their speedy starting left fielder and rely too much on the home run to score runs and win games.

And yet despite all of that negativity, the Yankees find themselves 23 games over .500 with an MLB-best 57-34 record.  They've won 5 of 6 since the All Star break, 10 of 14 since the start of July, 26 of 35 since the start of interleague play, and 34 of 47 since their last West Coast trip.  They've got a +80 run differential, which is 2nd best in baseball by 1 run, they lead everybody in team wOBA (.348) and wRC+ (115), and are top 3 in the AL in team ERA (3.72) and FIP (3.88).  They've built a 10-game division lead in what is widely considered to be the best division in Major League Baseball, and have already started shoveling dirt on their competition for the division title.

Despite all the negative press from the MSM and occasional nitpicking from the blogosphere, it turns out that the Yankees are actually a pretty damn good baseball team.  They're also in the middle of a stretch where they're playing damn good team baseball.  They're hitting for average and power, getting good work from their pitching staff, and playing solid defense.  Everybody on the 25-man roster is getting a chance to contribute and it seems like everybody is contributing something when their name is penciled into the lineup card or their number is called from the bullpen.  It's good times in Yankeeland right now.

Game 91 Wrap-Up: NYY 6 TOR 0 (7 Inn.)

(How the game ended.  Courtesy of The AP)

Does any player better personify the continued irrelevancy of the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East than Ricky Romero?  Every year we hear about how the Blue Jays are better than they were and ready to take the next step, and every year they underwhelm and finish 4th.  And every year we hear about how Ricky Romero is a future stud young lefty who can be a key to Toronto's rotation improvements, and every year he ends up being the same talented but underwhelming middle-of-the-rotation arm that he is.  He was facing Hiroki Kuroda yesterday in a series finale matinee, and he didn't fare too well at all.

Game Notes:

- The offense came out swinging in the bottom of the 1st.  A Derek Jeter double, Nick Swisher single, and Mark Teixeira 2-run homer and it was 3-0, and a Robinson Cano double and Andruw Jones single made it 4-0 before Romero had even recorded 2 outs.

- Kuroda was back on his game after a couple of subpar outings earlier in the month and it showed from the word "go."  He allowed just 1 hit through 3 innings, and got 8 of the 9 outs via the strikeout or groundout.

- After the top of the order got things started, it was the bottom half's turn to build on the early lead.  They tacked a run on in the 4th after Jayson Nix doubled and scored on a Dewayne Wise RBI single.  That duo teamed up again in the 6th for a pair of singles and the Yankees' 6th run of the day.

- He didn't rack up a high K total, but Kuroda finished just as strongly as he started.  He worked around a leadoff double in the 5th and a 2 on/1 out situation in the 7th, and he was in control all day.  He had the sinker working, the slider working, and the splitter working, and the Blue Jays were helpless against them.

- The only thing that was able to slow the Yankees down yesterday was the weather.  And when the rains came in the bottom of the 7th, the game was called and the Yankees had their sweep.  Perhaps more importantly, the bullpen got some rest.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

I Don't Like This David Phelps Move Unless...

... it means he's taking Freddy's spot in the rotation and starting tomorrow night's game.  Any other reason would be completely stupid and unacceptable.  Phelps is finally stretched back out as a starter, struck out 8 in his most recent Major League appearance, and has been lights out in his last 2 MiL starts (0 R, 18 K in 13.1 IP).  To take a young prospect on that kind of a roll, who has already been shuttled back and forth between starter and reliever multiple times already this season, and swap him for the last man in your current Major League bullpen would be beyond idiotic.

I don't care if it's to showcase him to other teams as a possible trade piece or not.  Phelps is a better pitcher than Garcia and it's already a not-so-big secret that his starting schedule is matched up with Freddy's anyway.  And Freddy wasn't exactly sharp in his last outing.  Anything the Yankees get from him is gravy, and he's shown the ability to be effective as a reliever, so better to move him back to a less-important role now and possibly improve your rotation in the process.

Justin Upton: Yay Or Nay?

(Courtesy of The AP)

The Yankees have been and continue to be without one of their starting outfielders.  The Diamondbacks are rumored to be interested in trading a young, talented outfielder.  The trade deadline is less than 2 weeks away.  It doesn't take a Mensa International-qualifying IQ score to connect these dots.  When somebody like Justin Upton is supposedly on the trade block, of course the Yankees are going to be involved in the rumors.  There hasn't been a ton of discussion about just how heavily involved the Yankees are in the Upton market right now, but my expectation is that the discussion will only intensify once the latest diagnosis on Brett Gardner is revealed and the deadline draws closer.

Regardless of what happens with Gardner, I don't think the Yankees are in a situation where they NEED to make a move, especially one that will incur as much lost-prospect cost as Upton.  But it's not every day that a player of Upton's caliber ends up being available, so what I'm struggling to answer for myself is whether or not the Yankees SHOULD go after Upton if Arizona is serious about moving him and he's serious about being willing to accept a trade to New York (one of his no-trade clause teams).  There's a lot of factors in play here, so allow me to work them all for myself to see if I can come to a conclusion.

Game 90 Wrap-Up: NYY 6 TOR 1

(It was all about this guy last night.  Courtesy of The AP)

I said the time off was going to be good for more than just his groin strain, and CC Sabathia proved me right, at least for last night.  He looked about as good as we could have hoped for in his first start back last night; he was sharp with his command, he had good life on his fastball, and he was efficient with his pitches, throwing 87 to get through 6+ scoreless innings.  The offense gave him a little run support early and then shut the door on any comebacks attempts with some insurance late.  Bing, bang, boom, Yankees win again.

Game Notes:

- It wasn't the 1st inning, but I suppose the 2nd was acceptable for the Yankees to score their first runs of the game.  Robinson Cano led off with a single, Nick Swisher walked, and Andruw Jones brought everybody home with his 12th HR of the year.

- Sabathia worked around a couple of Toronto doubles in the 2nd and 3rd innings, and looked just as good out of the stretch as he did out of the full windup.  His slider was really working as a swing-and-miss pitch early.

- Much like they did on Monday against Henderson Alvarez, the Yankee offense went a bit dormant against Brett Cecil in the middle innings.  They left 2 on base in the 4th inning and the last 8 hitters Cecil faced went down in order to keep the game close through 6.

- CC gave up a leadoff single to start the 7th and that was it for him.  After the game, he mentioned 85 pitches being the planned limit, which I can totally get on board with for a first game back.  Cody Eppley and Boone Logan teamed up to finish the inning.

- In the bottom half, the offense finally put the game away.  Heart of the order, Jayson Nix and Chris Stewart, got things started with a single and a double to score 1 run, Derek Jeter followed up with an RBI knock of his own, and A-Rod scored Jeter with a groundout for all the insurance New York would need.

- Chad Qualls gave up a cheapy in the 8th, and for some reason Joe went to Soriano again to clean up the mess in the 9th (5th appearance in the last 6 games), but it was still a no-doubt win for the Yanks.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

What To Do About The Brett Gardner Situation

(How do you replace that kind of grit??  Courtesy of The Daily News)

I got an interesting variance in responses after posting the news of Brett Gardner's latest elbow setback on The AB4AR Page last night.  There were calls for the Yankees to get more involved in the trade market (in a big way or small), calls for them to focus on re-signing their own free agents, and my personal thought that they don't really have to do either.  It's not clear what direction they are going to take, but what is clear is that the Yankees are going to react in some way to this latest setback.  They were in "wait and see" mode again, but they've waited and they've seen that Gardner is no longer an option to be counted on.  So what route are Cash and Co. going to take to address this issue?  Let's review the options.

Stabilizing The Pitching Staff With Some CC

All things considered, the Yankees have handled the double-whammy loss of CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte from their rotation about as well as anybody could have hoped.  The team has gone 9-6 since that fateful day of June 27th, hardly world-beating, but taking into consideration the fact that their AL East lead has expanded to 9 games in that time, that's a damn fine way to get through a 3-week stretch without your 2 best starters.

It hasn't exactly been the smoothest of sailing these past 3 weeks, something that should come as no surprise.  Adam Warren blew up spectacularly in his emergency start in Chicago, so much so that the Yankees demoted him and turned to the still-not-fully-stretched-out-as-a-starter David Phelps to take Warren's spot in the rotation on Independence Day.  Freddy Garcia had been more than adequate in his 3 starts this month, allowing only 6 earned runs, but he hasn't provided a lot of length (17 IP total in 3 starts).  Combine that with a couple of clunkers from Hiroki Kuroda and Ivan Nova and the overall team pitching line over the past 15 CC-less games isn't nearly as sparkly as what we saw from the rotation in early June:

Game 89 Wrap-Up: NYY 6 TOR 3

(Everybody happy.  Courtesy of The AP)

With Hiroki Kuroda and Ivan Nova coming up a bit small this last time through the rotation, Phil Hughes is going to continue to be a key piece of this undermanned rotation.  He was hittable in his most recent outing and looking to tighten up the command against a dangerous lineup and Toronto starter Henderson Alvarez.  The Yankees were also playing the first of 15 games they will play against the Blue Jays over the final 74 this season, so start getting familiar.

Game Notes:

- Alvarez wasn't fooling the Yankees at all early.  They loaded the bases on him in the 1st, hit a solo HR in the 2nd (Russell Martin), and hit back-to-back doubles in the 3rd (A-Rod & Cano) to take a 2-0 lead.

- Hughes worked the first 3 frames scoreless, and worked around a 2 on/no out situation in the 2nd to do, but he was a little spotty with his command.  He missed with a in the 4th and Adam Lind hit it for a solo HR to make it 2-1.

- I don't know what happened, but Alvarez made the adjustment and pitched the next 3 innings clean.  He retired 7 in a row to start off the run, then got a key inning-ending DP grounder from Raul Ibanez to escape the 6th.

- Hughes gave up an RBI double to Edwin Encarnacion in the 6th to tie the game at 2, but he didn't pitch horribly on the night.  7 innings of 2-run ball should get it done 10 times out of 10.

- Scary moment in the 8th when Jose Bautista hurt himself on a swing.  He looked like he tweaked something in his left wrist on a follow through, and it turns out it .  Sucks for you, brah.

- The Yankees had to get something out of that bases loaded situation in the bottom of the 8th.  They hadn't fully capitalized on all the opportunities they had earlier in the game, and with 2 outs Raul Ibanez made sure they wouldn't blow this one when he hit a game-winning grand slam to right.

- I was a little surprised to see Joe go to Soriano so quickly.  I think Cody Eppley has at least earned the right to try to work out of trouble with how he's pitched recently, but Joe went to Raffy and it was Untuck Time for the win.

Monday, July 16, 2012

SURPRISE!!!- Brett Gardner Suffered Another Setback With His Elbow


You mean to tell me that the guy who took longer than normal to recover from a simple elbow strain, and had setback after setback in his attempts to come back from said elbow strain, usually right after he tried to resume full baseball activities, has had ANOTHER setback to his strained elbow???  Get the hell outta town!

Believe it or not, that's where we stand on the Brett Gardner Injury Carousel again.  He got 4 at-bats in a simulated game yesterday, felt sore today, and according to Ken Davidoff, Gardner is scheduled for another MRI tomorrow.  Even if this MRI comes up clean, I think it's safe for us to stop expecting anything from Gardner this season.  Clearly there's something more here than just a strain, and to continue to risk further damage to Gardner's elbow by having him continue to ramp his rehab back up would be foolish.   Until Skynet upgrades the world's MRI technology to something advanced enough to show what the real problem is, just shut the BG-1000 down until further notice.

On Ty Hensley's Shoulder "Abnormalities"

(Need to get some navy and white on this kid, stat!)

There was very little real drama to the Ty Hensley signing last Friday.  It was reported early in the week that the sides had wrapped up negotiations, and the signing going down to the final day before being announced as official was more Hensley's agent doing his job than anything.  Hensley made it clear very early that he intended to sign with the Yankees, and there was never anything that came up in the time since then that should have caused anybody to think that wasn't going to be the eventual endgame.  The ink has dried, Hensley is a Yankee, and now we can hopefully see him in action in a SS league and start to get an idea of where he fits in the Yankee prospect hierarchy.

What did cause a little bit of drama to stir up was the report from Jim Callis that Hensley went for a pre-deal MRI that showed some "abnormalities" in his pitching shoulder.  This discovery likely led to Hensley signing for a below-slot $1.2 million, and was quickly dismissed as nothing major.  But should we be concerned about our fresh new 1st-rounder?

Game 88 Wrap-Up: LAA 10 NYY 8

(Wah-wah-waaaaaaahh.  Courtesy of The AP)

Ivan Nova has been pitching pretty well of late. He had gotten his ERA below 4.00 prior to yesterday's game, and was the first Yankee starter to 10 wins.  But he's never been super effective against the Angels, and that was a trend that he couldn't break yesterday.  Nova's command wasn't particularly sharp and he had a short bullpen behind him, which was a shame because the Yankee offense caught Angels' starter Jered Weaver on a day where he wasn't at his best either.  They just couldn't do enough against him to pick up Nova.

Game Notes:

- Nova's stuff looked good in the 1st, but he threw a couple of pitches down the middle and gave up solo homers to Erick Aybar and Albert Pujols for a 2-0 Angels lead.  He was noticeably upset with himself leaving the mound after K'ing Mark Trumbo.

- The Yankee offense wasn't going to wait around to strike back in the bottom half.  Curtis Granderson lined a 1-out single on the first pitch, tried to steal on the next pitch, and then trotted home on the pitch after that when Alex Rodriguez drove it to right for a game-tying 2-run homer.

- One play that helped Nova big time was Curtis' absolutely OUTSTANDING catch for the 2nd out in the top of the 3rd.  Back to the plate, running full speed, and reaching up to make a catch just a step or 2 from the center field wall.  For that one play, the C-Grand defensive critics had to suck it.

- From absolutely outstanding to mind-numbingly stupid, the Yankees made the transition smoothly in the bottom of the 3rd.  After singling back-to-back with 1 out, A-Rod and Robinson Cano somehow both managed to get tagged out after Cano was picked off of first base on the old "fake throw to 3rd" play that's being outlawed after this season.  There's really no way to explain what happened without using the phrase "fucking stupid" in some fashion.

- Nova worked the next 4 innings scoreless after the 1st, but got into some more trouble in the 6th that gave the Angels a 5-3 lead.  I don't care who you are, there's no excuse for giving up home runs to Erick Aybar and Maicer Izturis.

- On TBS, David Wells said Curtis was deserving of something at plate after making another nice catch in the 6th, and sure enough he came up in the bottom half of the inning and hit a bomb to right field for his 25th homer and a 1-run deficit.

- The teams traded runs in the 6th to make it 6-5.  After Nova left with no outs in the 7th, and with a short bullpen after the previous 2 games, it was Chad Qualls' job to keep the game close.  It was a job he would fail be allowing 3 runs in the 8th, and the Yanks would fail to close out the sweep.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Can Kosuke Fukudome Help The Yankees?

(He wears his shin guard well, I'll say that.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

In another under-the-radar free agent signing on Friday, the Yankees added former Chicago Cubs outfielder Kosuke Fukudome on a MiL deal and assigned him to Triple-A Empire State.  The Yankees were loosely connected with Fukudome when he was first in the process of joining Major League Baseball, but he has never lived up to the "Hideki Matsui Lite" comparisons during a career of marginal improvement and very quick regression.

Strictly from a depth standpoint, this is another solid low-risk deal for the Yankees.  By the time they get away from their current 5-man bench setup and have Brett Gardner return from the DL, they are going to have to put Dewayne Wise on waivers and will likely lose him to another team.  To make sure they have enough OF coverage in case Gardner or somebody else gets hurt again, it's only smart to bring in another veteran player who fits their needs.  Fukudome fits this description in theory, but if he is needed at some point, can he actually do anything?

Game 87 Wrap-Up: NYY 5 LAA 3

(Robbie and Curtis practice their "Hey Arnold" handshake.  Courtesy of The AP)

It was a little MVP mano y mano yesterday at The Stadium as Mike Trout and Robinson Cano put on displays showing why they should be considered the top 2 contenders for the award right now.  Trout went 3-5 with a double, a run scored, and 2 stolen bases, and Cano went 2-4 with a home run, a run scored, and 3 RBI.  In the end, Cano's hits ended up being a bit more timely and he carried his team to the win and put them in position for a sweep today.

Game Notes:

- More 1st-inning fun for both teams.  The Angels plated 2 in the top half after stringing some singles together off of Yankees' starter Freddy Garcia, and the Yankees followed up with 2 of their own in the bottom half on Cano's 2-out, 2-run HR.

- The Yankees took a 4-2 lead on their second 2-run homer of the game in the bottom of the 3rd, this one by Curtis Granderson.  Certified rally starter Chris Stewart scored after leading off the inning with a single.

- Garcia settled down a bit after the 1st, but he still had to battle his way through 5 innings.  He put one runner on base in each inning, but managed to work out of trouble most of the time.

- The only other run Garcia allowed came in the 4th inning, and it was more due to the Angels manufacturing it than Garcia giving it up.  His biggest out of the game came at the end of the inning, when he got Albert Pujols to ground out with 2 runners on.

- Alex Rodriguez doubled to lead off the bottom of the 6th, and he was quickly driven in by a Cano single for an insurance run, and that was more than enough for the Yankee bullpen, who pitched 4 scoreless innings in relief of Garcia.

- The Yankees only managed to pitch 2 1-2-3 innings on the day.  Good thing one of them was the 9th, where Rafael Soriano struck out Trout and Pujols swinging for his 22nd save of the season.