The Yankees, their fans, and even Derek Jeter himself have known that his days as the team's starting shortstop were numbered. That discussion was surely had with Jeter behind closed doors during his last contract negotiation and is more than likely the reason the final year of his deal became an optional one. That timeline got sped up some when Jeter suffered his season-ending ankle injury last October and now appears to be speeding up again after last week's announcementthat Jeter had re-injured his ankle, suffering a crack in the area of the original break that will put him on the shelf until at least the All-Star break. That revelation fell into the "disappointing but not surprising" category for many of us who questioned Jeter's progressafter the initial setback and cortisone shot, and now we, like the Yankees, have to figure out the best way to move forward without The Captain's familiar #2 anywhere on the lineup card.
I didn't think there wasany way for Vernon Wells to actually turn me into a fan of his, but yesterday, just for a brief moment, he did. After taking a healthy dose of boos from the still butthurt Toronto crowd for the entirety of the 3-game weekend series and dismissively wanking at them with his 7-15, 2 HR, 4 R, 3 RBI performance at the plate, Wells went the extra mile by making this great leaping catch to rob Toronto of an XBH and turn a double play and then "politely" doffing his cap to the crowd.
Telling an entire fanbase that has a legitimate reason to hate you for the way your career ended in that city, even if they should have gotten over it by now, to go fuck itself like that? That's good trollin'. Like I said, I didn't think there was a chance in hell Vernon Wells could make me a fan of anything he did in pinstripes this season, but Vernon, you magnificent bastard, you did it.
(Strikeout or back pain? Only Youkilis knows for sure. Courtesy of The Boston Globe)
Andy Pettitte returned to the mound Friday night and pitched 7 strong innings, easing concerns about the back issues that caused his last start to be pushed back. As one back problem seemingly goes away (for now), another took its place in the form of Kevin Youkilis. Youkilis left Saturday's game early after feeling some tightness in his back, and was a scratch from yesterday afternoon's game for the first time this season. Joe said he expects Youkilis to be back in the lineup tonight against Tampa, and as expected, Youkilis has talked down the seriousness of the issue since the moment Saturday's game ended. In the same way that Pettitte's back is still worth keeping on the radar, Youkilis and his back should also be closely monitored over the next few weeks.
Just as they did in their last series against Arizona, the Yankees found themselves with a chance to take an unexpected sweep against the Blue Jays yesterday. They also found themselves with Ivan Nova on the mound, which hasn't exactly been a recipe for success in the last year plus. Nova's questionable back-of-the-rotation mate Phil Hughes got things moving in a positive direction in his last start, and the Yankees would have loved nothing more than to see Nova follow suit. It didn't happen, and once again neither did the sweep.
Game Notes:
- It was business as usual for Nova in the first 2 innings: inconsistent fastball command, leadoff runners on, ill-timed walks, and cheap runs scored of sacrifice hits as a result.
- The Yanks got a run back in the top of the 3rd in the most unlikely of ways, a Chris Stewart leadoff home run. Moments like that are rare, like seeing a unicorn in a field of 4-leaf clovers, and this one made it a 2-1 game.
- Nova worked in and out of trouble without allowing any more damage through the 5th inning. He was actually in line for the win after the Yanks got 2 runs in the 5th on a pair of bases loaded walks and another in the 6th on a Brett Gardner sac fly to knock out Toronto starter Josh Johnson, but then the bottom of the 6th happened.
- Nova gave up a leadoff walk and a double to put 2 on with nobody out to end his day, then watched as Boone Logan and David Phelps combined to give up 4 more runs to give the lead back. It was truly putrid work from both of those two, and fitting that Nova got the extra runs tacked onto his ledger.
- Joe stuck with Phelps for the next inning and he gave up a 2-run HR to J.P. Arencibia that basically sealed the deal. A poor starting effort by Nova and an equally poor job of relief work behind him.
Ivan Nova was shaky at best again today, for the third time in his first three starts failing to inspire confidence that he can figure things out and improve on last year's problems. He hasn't been good by any means, but how bad has Ivan been in his first three starts? You decide.
Nova's First 3 Starts in 2013: 14.2 IP, 19 H, 10 ER, 8 BB, 16 K
Nova's First 3 Starts in 2012: 19 IP, 25 H, 8 ER, 2 BB, 20 K
Time to start pitching better, Ivan. Clocks ticking...
If you need a little something to do to kill time before this afternoon's game, go ahead and check out this FanGraphs interview of sorts with Yankee prospects Slade Heathcott and Tyler Austin. David Laurila spoke with both players and their Double-A hitting coach on their respective offensive games, approaches at the plate, and what they're trying to work on, and provided some brief scouting report information on each.
The best part about this is that it's not a typical "Q&A" piece where you just get little snippets of what each player said. The entire article is basically Heathcott and Austin talking uninterrupted about their games, swings, approaches, and it gives you a really good idea of where each guy is as a player. The overall theme for Heathcott, from his coach to the scouting report to his own first words, was the need to improve his approach and get more at-bats. Despite his age, he's low on reps for a Double-A player and he's already missed some time this year with a neck issue. Austin came across as much more mature in his approach and techniques at the plate, and the constant reference to his multi-field power is very encouraging when thinking about his future as a Major League prospect.
It's not often you get in-depth discussion like this from top MiL prospects like Austin and Heathcott, who were 3rd and 5th respectively in this year's AB4AR Top 30. Definitely a good read if you're a prospect hugger.
There were obviously far more important things going on in the US when the Yankees and Blue Jays took the field in Canada for the first game of their 3-game weekend series. But that didn't stop the Bombers from doing their job and it didn't stop them from putting a whooping on the new-look Jays in their first meeting of the season. They had Andy Pettitte back on the mound after an extended period of time off to recover from some back stiffness, and they had their regular lineup back on the field against right-handed pitcher Brandon Morrow.
Game Notes:
- They didn't waste any time getting to Morrow in the top of the 1st. A 1-out double-HBP-double sequence from Cano, Youkilis, and Hafner made it 1-0, and Vernon Wells chipped in an RBI groundout for another run.
- The Jays got 1 run back in the bottom half after a leadoff triple and RBI groundout by Melky Cabrera, but Pettitte was money after that, retiring 11 batters in a row through the 5th. He had a lively 4-seam fastball and a nasty slider going, and struck out 4 in a row at one point.
- He got plenty more help from his offense, starting with a Travis Hafner solo HR in the top of the 3rd and ending with an errant Colby Rasmus throw home that plated 2 more and made it a 5-1 Yankee lead.
- The onslaught continued in the top of the 6th. Lyle Overbay hit a 1-out solo HR and Francisco Cervelli hit a double to end Morrow's night, and Brett Gardner welcomed Brett Cecil to the game with an RBI triple of his own. One more RBI groundout tacked on and it was 8-1.
- Jose Bautista crushed a 2-run HR to center in the bottom half to make it 8-3, Pettitte's only really bad mistake of the night, but he still made it through 7+ innings on just 90 pitches, showing no signs of lingering back issues.
- Vernon Wells chipped in a solo shot of his own in the 7th and Shawn Kelley sloppily finished the game for Pettitte. Good start to the series if you're a Yankee fan.
I really don't know what to say about the manhunt situation in Boston only to just say that I can't stop watching it. I started last night, stayed up way later than I should have, and was right back online watching this morning at work. I actually took a half-day to go back home and continue watching because I really wasn't of any value work-wise just casually faking my way through my job with one eye on my other computer screen. It's an incredible, strange, and incredibly strange thing to watch play out in real time, like an episode of "24" come to life. Never seen a multi-faceted law enforcement operation quite like this. I just hope it ends soon and ends without any more American lives lost. And now, since I'm trying to keep some kind of normal routine going, onto the links.
- On Monday, Chad Jennings of LoHud broke down the early storylines, both good and bad, and addressed what we still don't know about this team.
- On Tuesday, Dan Barbarisi of The WSJ followed the life of David Aardsma after his Yankee release and gave a really cool look into what happens for players in those situations.
- Mike Ashmore of Thunder Thoughts profiled Trenton OF Neil Medchill, an injury-plagued former quasi-prospect who's been quietly mashing under the Heathcott-Austin-Flores radar.
- Bryan Van Dusen of The Greedy Pinstripes wondered about Ichiro and what's in store for himafter his slow start. Like Bryan, I expect a bounce back, but not a big one.
- On Wednesday, Bryan Hoch of Bombers Beats compiled and presented the collection of at-bat songs for the currently active Yankees. My rankings: 1) Nix, 2) Francisco, 3) Boesch.
- Greg Kirkland of Pinstriped Bible praised the Yankees' solid early defensive performance, which is worthwhile praise IMO. While they'll never be considered a great defensive team, they haven't shot themselves in the foot yet.
- Hunter Farman of Yanks Go Yard listed some other back end rotation options should Nova and Hughes continue to struggle. Probably a little early to think about that, but it never hurts to be prepared.
- Raimundo Ortiz of Bronx Baseball Daily reminded everybody of how valuable Brett Gardner is right now. Well-rounded piece by Raimundo, and if you still think Gardner and his defense aren't valuable, you're an idiot.
- SG of RLYW compared the production projections for Jeter and Nunez over a full season to see how much the Yankees stand to lose at shortstop while Jeter is out.
For today's Friday Jam, we're going with a little old school Boston. Just seems right after all that's gone on this week, and I have to think the people of the Boston area are going to need to blow off some steam and relax when this asshole is caught.
After his downright disastrous start last Saturday, I took a venture into the PITCHf/x realm on Monday and determined that, for whatever reason, Phil Hughes was not pitching inside to hitters. He really hadn't shown stellar command of his 4-seamer in either of his first two starts, and the fact that he was working away and missing away made it much easier for hitters to look for a certain pitch in a certain area and tee off on it. Having done that analysis just a few days ago, I couldn't very well sit by and let his start last night go un-analyzed. So let's play another round of America's newest favorite Yankee-related game, "Did Phil Pitch Inside Last Night?"
If you would have asked me before the first game of the season, I don't think I would have said I ever expected to see a 7-1 stretch of ball from this squad, especially not with how slow and lifeless they looked to start the season. But lo and behold, here we are, with the Yanks in that position and doing exactly what they need to do while their injured heal. They've had better starting pitching, a red hot Robbie Cano, a solid collective offensive performance from the rest of the lineup, and relatively clean defense. They had a series sweep on the line against the Diamondbacks last night, and Phil Hughes was tasked with making it happen.
Game Notes:
- Hughes got off to a great start, giving up just one single in the 1st and retiring the 2nd in order with 2 swinging strikeouts. He was mixing pitches and he looked comfortable.
- As he's apt to do, though, Hughes gave up a leadoff HR in the top of the 3rd on a thigh-high 1st-pitch fastball down the middle. He recovered to get out of the inning and the next 2 unscathed, and worked around runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out to do it in the 5th.
- The offense wasn't showing much early against Patrick Corbin. They got a few walks here and a single there, but he had sat down 7 in a row and kept the Bombers scoreless through 5.
- The bad pitch bug came back to bite Phil in the top of the 6th on an atrocious 1-1 fastball. It really was an unforgivable pitch and Martin Prado made him pay for a 2-0 D-backs lead. Hughes bounced back again to finish that inning and go 1-2-3 in the 7th for what was, all in all, a good start.
- Robinson Cano got the Yanks back in the game with his 5th homer of the young season in the bottom of the 6th, but he couldn't come through with the bases loaded and 1 out in the 8th, instead striking out on a pitch that hit him. Kevin Youkilis struck out too and the Yanks went to the 9th down 1.
- And there waiting to save them was Francisco Cervelli. With 1 out in the 9th, Frankie stepped in and hit a 1-2 pitch over the plate into the left field seats to tie the game at 2.
- The game went to extras, where the Yankees were unable to come up with anything. D-Rob handled the 10th and gave the ball to David Phelps, who wiggled out of trouble in the 11th but gave up 4 in the 12th for the loss. Just didn't seem to have his best stuff. Oh well.
This has all happened very quickly in the last half hour or so, but it was reported earlier by multiple Yankee beat writers that Derek Jeter returned to Charlotte today for an "unscheduled visit" with the surgeon who performed his ankle surgery last year. A quick press conference was set up by Cash to update everyone ont he results of that visit, and via Bryan Hoch, a CT scan on the ankle revealed a "small crack" in the part of the ankle that was originally injured.
This is obviously not good news for Jeter, who has been more or less spinning his tires trying to work his way back after suffering a setback late in spring camp. No word yet on how much longer this sets Jeter's return schedule back.. More on this story as it becomes available.
** UPDATE 3:37 PM- Via Mark Feinsand, Jeter's doctor told Cash that 95% of people who suffer this injury come back "just fine." I guess that's a little bit of good news. ** ** UPDATE 3:39 PM- Via Andrew Marchand, Cash said Jeter is expected to be out until "at least after the All-Star break. Bummer. **
Things weren't looking good for the boys last night. They were down 3-0 heading into the bottom of the 7th inning and hadn't shown many signs of offensive life against Arizona starter Wade Miley. He had cruised through 6 innings of work on just 77 pitches, the kind of efficiency that few Yankee starters have had this season, mainly on the strength of his 2-seamer. The Yankee lineup played into Miley's game plan by swinging early in a lot of at-bats, and the fact that Miley hadn't had to go to his curveball and changeup much didn't bode well for the Bombers as they opened the bottom of the 7th with the weakest part of their lineup. But as the old saying goes, that's why they play the game and the game the Yankees played in that half inning was the kind of smart, clutch, winning baseball that they were unable to play in so many close games last season.
Really, he doesn't. And I'm not trying to imply that it's a bad thing. Gardner has come up with some big hits early on, he's popped 2 HR, and he's starting to boost that tripleslash up to a respectable leadoff man level. I just find it incredible that the fastest guy on the team and one of the top base stealing threats in all of baseball doesn't have a single one in 13 games. For all the talk about how the Yankees were going to have to play small ball and run more this season to manufacture runs, they have just 3 SB as a team right now, one of them by Chris Stewart. That's right, THE Chris Stewart is currently the team leader in SB and Brett Gardner is not. Inconceivable!
It was back to the lefties for the Yankees last night, yay!!(not yay)! NL ROY runner-up Wade Miley was on the mound for the D-backs and Joe countered with an only slightly modified version of his last "vs. LHP" lineup. He had Vernon Wells in the 2-spot again, Ben Francisco 5th at DH, and Brennan Boesch in right field. He also had the hot-out-of-the-gate Francisco Cervelli hitting 6th ahead of Boesch. The Yankees also had their own lefty on the mound to counter Miley, the same lefty who'd allowed just 1 ER over 15 IP in his last two starts.
Game Notes:
- Unfortunately for the Yanks, CC Sabathia was not nearly as sharp to start as he was in those two outings. He struggled to throw his fastball for strikes in the top of the 1st, and left a couple of changeups up, one of which Paul Goldschmidt hit for a 2-run HR.
- CC settled down after that rough 1st, retiring 9 of the next 10 batters he faced to get through the 4th inning. He was getting a few more outs in the air than usual, but his slider and changeup were working.
- Miley was absolutely brilliant through 6 innings, giving up just 2 hits and a walk and keeping the Yankee hitters on their toes. He was at just 77 pitches after 6, and looked ready to go the distance.
- CC gave up another run on a leadoff triple and a sac fly in the 5th and that was all Arizona would get as he went 8 strong for the second straight start. His last 2 innings might have been his best of the game.
- The stage was set for a comeback, and a comeback the Yankees got in the bottom of the 7th, once again with 2 outs. Boesch doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd, Eduardo Nunez drew a walk to load the bases, Jayson Nix drew one to force in a run and chase Miley from the game, and Brett Gardner came through with a HUGE 2-run single off lefty Tony Sipp to complete the comeback and tie the game at 3.
- After the bottom of the order did the heavy lifting in the 7th, Travis Hafner gave New York the lead with a 2-out, pinch hit solo HR. Brilliant use of the bench by Joe pays off in a big spot and Mo shuts it down for the save.
I thought the slider was going to be the key for Joba this season, and truthfully he could stand to tighten up the location on that baby too. But his fastball has been an absolute disaster in his first 5 appearances. Not only is he throwing it over a MPH slower than he did last year (according to FanGraphs and Texas Leaguers), he's also not throwing it for strikes:
(Click to enlarge, courtesy of TL)
Sweet fancy Moses, that is terrible! Almost every pitch is either in the meaty middle portion of the strike zone or nowhere near the strike zone. He's thrown his 4-seamer for strikes less than 50% of the time in the 47 times he's thrown it so far, and if he wants to cut down on the walks and set up his slider more effectively he needs to start commanding it better.
P.S.- Yeah, I know I just mixed '90s references there with "Home Alone" and "Seinfeld." I'm that good. Deal with it.
Last Tuesday, in light of the middle relief corps' poor start, I questioned the decision making in letting pitchers like David Aardsma and the still injured at the time Clay Rapada go in favor of guys like Shawn Kelley and Cody Eppley. I also quickly questioned the logic in keeping the team's top two spot starters, David Phelps and Adam Warren, together in the bullpen as long relievers rather than sending one of them down to stay stretched out in case the Yankees needed a spot start or two. The middle relief issue has faded to the background a bit as the Yankees have gone on a nice little 6-1 run since their rough start, and Eppley has been banished to Triple-A thanks to the return of Phil Hughes to the rotation. But as that rotation has come together and everybody has gone through at least twice, the need for strong middle relief, particularly long relief, has continued to be put on display.
The Yankees returned to action last night after Monday's scheduled off-day, trying like so many others to get back a little sense of normality after the events that occurred in Boston. There was a moment of silence scheduled before the game, a planned playing of "Sweet Caroline" at the end of the 3rd inning, and because of the off-day the Yanks were using last night's game as their way to honor Jackie Robinson, so there was a little more emotion to last night's game than a normal early-April interleague game against an NL West team would have. And as they've been apt to do during this hot streak, the Yanks did just enough to get a W.
Game Notes:
- A shortage of scoring opportunities was no issue early. The Yanks loaded the bases with 2 outs in the bottom of the 1st and came away with nothing, and did the same thing in the 2nd against a shaky Brandon McCarthy.
- Ivan Nova matched McCarthy nibble for nibble, and was the first to crack in the top of the 3rd when he gave up 2 runs after loading the bases with no outs. He seemed to be struggling with his new sinker command and was inconsistent with his curveball, and Joe had the 'pen up when the trouble started.
- The lineup got another big opportunity in the bottom of the 4th after a pair of leadoff singles from the bottom of the order, and they finally cashed in when Robinson Cano CRUSHED a 3-run HR to give the Yanks a 3-2 lead. McCarthy tried to sneak a 302 change by him and Robbie knew it was coming.
- Nova recovered and made it through 5 without further issue, and then handed the game over to the bullpen. Boone Logan and Joba Chamberlain were up first and worked the 6th and 7th easily.
- Big insurance run tacked on in the bottom of the 7th after Kevin Youkilis singled and Travis Hafner doubled to lead off the inning. It involved another bases loaded situation, and they didn't get as much as they probably wanted out of it, but Eduardo Nunez's sac fly was still a big run.
- D-Rob and Mo nailed down the 9th in typical "D-Rob and Mo" fashion and the Yankees scratched out another close win.
The Yankees kick off their 20-game interleague schedule tonight when the Arizona Diamondbacks come to town. It'll be New York's first series under the new interleague scheduling setup that MLB implemented this season, and to be perfectly honest, I hadn't given much thought to the team's interleague schedule and how it can work for or against them this season. Every team is going to be impacted differently with the way MLB set this up, so now's as good a time as any to take a quick look at how things stack up for the Bombers and educate yourself if you're like me.
It was reported last week that Curtis Granderson had been cleared to start swinging a bat, and Granderson tweeting out a picture of his injured arm without a brace on it seemed to support that report. Yesterday, however, we were given some differing information via Dan Martin of The Post.
According to Martin's report and C-Grand himself, Curtis has yet to start swinging a bat and has not even been given a timetable for when he can begin. While the doctors have been pleased with his progress so far, they want to see how his arm holds up to throwing a ball before progressing to swinging.
This makes us 2-2 on "can't swing yet" updates following a similar report on Mark Teixeira this past weekend. As with Teix, this latest info on Curtis makes it seem like an early May return won't be possible, but also as with Teix, it's probably for the best that Granderson get more time to completely heal than less. Remember that he still needs to get a full compliment of rehab/prehab swings in before returning to full game action, so late-May/early-June isn't out of the question.
For a guy whose scouting reports I usually enjoy reading and give some weight to, I was very disappointed in Keith Law's feedback on the Saturday Low-A Charleston game he watched and reported back on, and not just because he didn't have much positive to say about any of the Yankee prospects.
Despite having two consecutive games rained out in the middle of a major offensive outburst, the Yankees didn't miss too many beats this past weekend against Baltimore, winning the series and continuing the positive trends that we started to see last week. Their top two starting pitchers each threw their best games to date on Friday and Sunday, combining to allow just 1 ER in 17 IP; they continued to get production from their collection of new guys as their injured lineup core mends; Robinson Cano and Kevin Youkilis continued to pace the middle of the lineup with patience and power, and even Brett Gardner started to show some signs of life at the plate.
There is still one key area on this team that needs to be addressed, however, and that's the lineup against lefties. It hasn't gotten much attention lately as the Yankees have faced a long string of right-handed pitchers, but against Wei-Yin Chen last night Joe made wholesale changes to his lineup card to try and generate some more offense and, save for one inning, his changes didn't lead to much.
(Pretty sure it's not the ball, buddy. Courtesy of the AP)
For a season that's only two weeks and eleven games old, it's already been an incredibly trying one for Phil Hughes. After losing a lot of ST time due to another back issue, Hughes returned to the rotation a week ago Saturday and got touched up pretty good by the Tigers. He made his second start this past Saturday, in place of Andy Pettitte after being skipped over for the top of the rotation after the rain-outs in Cleveland, and turned in an even worse performance, one of the worst outings of his career.
After picking out the flaws in Hughes' approach in 2012, I thought he would be able to turn things around this season if he improved his fastball command and cut down on his early-count fastball usage in favor of his offspeed stuff to keep hitters off balance. Not only has he failed to do that through his first two starts of this season, he added another frustrating wrinkle to his game on Saturday when he failed to pitch inside effectively to either right or left-handed hitters.
While the inclement weather in Cleveland did allow the Yankees to move back to the top of their starting rotation this weekend, they still ended up having to do some juggling when Andy Pettitte's back started bothering him. On Friday it was announced that his back had stiffened up on him during his last start and he was pushed back to Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, and then yesterday afternoon Joe announced that Andy will be moved back to Friday of this week to make sure his back has all the time it needs to get right.
For a rotation that started the season with health concerns at the top in CC and the bottom in Phil, this minor setback with Andy comes as a bummer. He had been the team's best starter through the first two rotation turns, and the importance of keeping older starters like him and Kuroda healthy this season has been repeatedly stated. It's for that exact reason that this decision by the Yankees is the right one. The off-day today allows them to push Andy back a few extra days without having to use a 6th starter and without having to juggle any other pitchers around. Using those few extra days to make sure this back issue stays a minor one is the smart move to keep Andy feeling good and pitching well in the long run.
The recent offensive turnaround may or may not have been triggered by a long run of games against right-handed pitchers, which gave Joe the opportunity to establish some consistency in his lineup cards. The offense was held relatively in check in Saturday afternoon's loss and got juggled against lefty Wei-Yin Chen in last night's series finale. Ben Francisco was back in the DH spot, Brennan Boesch got the start in right field over Ichiro, and Joe put Vernon Wells in the 2-spot in the lineup to bump Robbie and Youkilis back down to their regular spots. How did it all work out? Just well enough to win with the way Hiroki was dealing.
Game Notes:
- Both teams were swinging early and often through 2 innings, helping to keep the game scoreless and Hiroki Kuroda's pitch count down. He was working the sinker and splitter, and looked to have good command of both pitches early.
- Kuroda gave up a hit here and there, but he was fully in control through 5. He ended the 3rd with a perfectly-induced double play ball and got big strikeouts to finish off the 4th and 5th.
- Boesch was the Yankee offense early, with 2 singles in his first 2 at-bats. He came around to score on a single and a pair of sac flies by Overbay and Jayson Nix to smallball the first run onto the scoreboard.
- In a classic "who woulda thunk it?" moment, the inning went from a small victory to a big one when Brett Gardner took the first pitch he saw in his 2-out AB and hit it off the upper deck section of the foul pole in right for a 2-run homer and a 3-0 Yankee lead.
- 3 runs was all Kuroda would need as he breezed through the next 2 innings with more sliders and only 1 baserunner, and then worked around a pair of errors in the 8th and 9th to close out his own shutout.
- Mo was up in the 'pen in the 9th but was never needed. Kuroda deserved to get the chance to finish the game and Joe let him do it.
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