Righties Still A Problem For A-Rod

(Courtesy of the AP)

It was nothing earth shattering, but some might say they were a little surprised at the results of Alex Rodriguez's first few games back from the DL.  He had a hit in each of his first 3 games against the White Sox, drew a few walks, put some good swings on balls, played the field well, and still looked like he had enough power at the plate to be an offensive threat once he gets his timing back.  But those 3 starts were against left-handed pitchers, the type of pitcher against whom A-Rod is most effective.  In his first game against a righty starter last night, things didn't look so good.

A-Rod went 0-3 with 2 strikeouts last night against Tigers starter Rick Porcello.  The same Rick Porcello who's the 5th starter in that rotation and not exactly a "blow you away" type of right hander.  A-Rod struck out swinging in his first 2 at-bats at nothing but low-90s fastballs and looked overmatched doing it.  His getting frozen by a nasty slider in his final at-bat in the 8th happens to the best of hitters, but the lack of bat speed against Porcello's fastballs was a flashback to last year's ALCS and a reminder that Alex has declined tremendously against right-handed pitching.

Joe has him out of the lineup today after batting him 5th yesterday.  It'll definitely be worth watching what he does with A-Rod against righties if Alex really struggles against them.

Game 114 Wrap-Up: NYY 4 DET 3

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

Whew!  Thank goodness for Brett Gardner's BABIP luck, because I don't think I could have taken 2 straight losses like that with blown Mo saves.  It's part of every season, we know this by now, but to have Mo blow 2 saves the way he did and lose those 2 games during a time when the Yankees have basically shoveled dirt on their own playoff hopes would have been crushing.  As it is, all he did was prevent Ivan Nova from getting another much deserved win.  Nova was on again and did all he could to pitch his team to victory.  He didn't come away with the win, but as long as the team did that's all that matters in the end.

Game Notes:

- The lineup staked Nova to an early lead against Detroit starter Rick Porcello on an Alfonso Soriano RBI groundout in the bottom of the 1st and a Robinson Cano 2-run double in the 3rd.

- Nova made that stand up through 7 strong innings.  He worked around some trouble, but didn't surrender a run until the 7th, when he gave up a leadoff double and a ribbie single to Miguel Cabrera.

- It was Cabrera that blew up Mo's spot in the bottom of the 9th.  Down 3-1 and already in a 1-2 count, Miggy fouled 2 straight pitches off himself and looked like he was going to swing and miss just to get the at-bat over with.  Mo tried to throw a 4-seamer by him 2-2 and left it over the heart of the plate.  Cabrera, on 1 leg basically, hit it out to dead center to tie the game.  Just gotta tip your cap.

- Jayson Nix walked to start the bottom of the 10th, moved to second on a C-Grand hit, third on a wild pitch, and with 2 outs came in to score the winning run on Gardner's seeing eye single through the left side.  Like I said, whew.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 8/9/13

Let's get right to it.  Onto the links!

- On Monday, SJK of NoMaas pointed out another glaring flaw in the front office's plan that Derek Jeter's continued injury problems this year have exposed.

- On Tuesday, Derek Albin of Pinstripe Pundits attacked the 2014 payroll plans from all angles with a hypothetically reduced A-Rod suspension factored in.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud had a collection of league-wide reactions to the Biogenesis suspensions.

- On Wednesday, Matt Imbrogno of IIATMS/TYA quickly and easily disproved Michael Kay's theory that David Robertson throws too many pitches to be a successful closer.

- SG of RLYW calculated the latest postseason probabilities to show just how bleak the Yankees' chances looked.  And that was before Wednesday night's game.

- Joe Pawlikowski of RAB, inspired by a cool exercise by Donnie Collins, analyzed the collection of Yankee homegrown Major Leaguers to show how little impact talent they've developed.

- William Juliano of The Captain's Blog looked back at another historic moment in MLB history involving the Yankees, one of their big stars, the MLB commissioner, and a bunch of shady business.

- On Thursday, Matthew B of Yankees Fans Unite looked back at just how good the last 12 years have been, in case this season has you so far down in the dumps that you're becoming a spoiled Yankee fan.

- El duque of It Is High... summed up this season in one perfectly eye roll-inducing photo.

- Mason Stark of Pinstriped Bible looked back at the history of the Yankees turning picks into prospects in Part 3 of his series investigating their development of young pitching.

- On Friday, Alex Pugliese of Yanks Go Yard mused on the idea of fan reaction for A-Rod tonight and discussed how her reaction towards A-Rod will change based on this new steroid accusation.

- Daniel Burch of The Greedy Pinstripes looked for a trade partner for Lyle Overbay as part of his series in selling off useful pieces now to build for the future.

In lieu of picking just 1 song from the QOTSA Lollapalooza set I missed last week, I'm going to throw the whole set up here for everyone to enjoy.  IMO, the highlight is "I Sat by the Ocean" and "I Think I Lost My Headache" back-to-back towards the end.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Adam Warren's Descent Back To The Mean

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Like David Phelps and Ivan Nova before him, Adam Warren stepped up to grab an opportunity that injuries presented in Spring Training.  He pitched well, got noticed by the coaches, and stepped into Phelps' vacated long man bullpen role when Phelps got bumped to the rotation.  Warren, always regarded as a consistently good but never great prospect in the Minors, projected to be a 4th-5th starter at best at the Major League level and his best chance to work his way onto the roster was probably through the bullpen.  Warren continued his impressive spring through the first couple months of the season, coming up with a couple big outings and displaying solid stuff.  Since the calendar flipped to summer, however, the going has gotten tough for Warren and the regression has brought him back down to just average.

When's Betances Coming Up?

This is a topic that's been covered extensively in the last month or so by the rest of the Yankosphere, so I'm really just piling on at this point.  But with the focus now transitioning from 2013 to 2014, it's a topic that still warrants mentioning here.  Dellin Betances was finally moved to a relief role permanently earlier this season in Triple-A after allowing 16 ER and 16 BB over 24.0 IP in his first 6 starts of the season.  The organization had seen enough of his command and delivery repetition issues and decided that a full-time relief role was the best way to get value out of Betances moving forward.

Shut The F*ck Up, Randy

(Courtesy of the NY Post)

Via AB4AR favorite Wally Matthews, who went to get Randy Levine's thoughts on the season:

""We've got great players, but it's up to the guys on the team to play better baseball. That's the answer...

The guys we brought in over-performed for a long time there, and now they're in a rough stretch, but I have a lot of confidence in the talent we have on our roster...

I hope they can still make the playoffs, but I don't know if they can."

Translation- "Don't blame me for this.  Look at all the players we brought in to cover for the injuries.  Front office did its job.  They just aren't playing well enough."

What a scumbag.  I'd give up a month's pay for one free shot to that face.  So punchable.

Friday Morning Small Sample Size Food For Thought

- Alfonso Soriano since the trade: .244/.279/.415, .303 wOBA in 43 PA

- Curtis Granderson since his return: .167/.348/.333, .318 wOBA in 23 PA

- Alex Rodriguez since his return: .273/.429/.273, .340 wOBA  in 14 PA

The Yankees are 3-8 since the Soriano trade, 1-5 since C-Grand returned to the lineup, and 0-3 since A-Rod came back.  So much for upgrading the lineup.

Done

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Monday night was supposed to be the night that turned the 2013 Yankee season around.  At least that was the narrative we were expected to believe after Dan Barbarisi posted his story on Monday night's postgame closed-door meeting.  There were words like "fun," "energy," and "intensity," and the obligatory "our postseason starts now" message was thrown out there.  The team didn't want to fall into a pattern of accepting the losing culture that has defined them since about mid-May.  They had to come together, they had to stay positive, and they had to start turning things around towards a playoff push Tuesday night.

The reality is that this team was dead where it stood and has been for some time.  The fact that a team meeting was called to rally the troops and get some positive vibes going served only to confirm that previous sentence.  I can't remember who said it, but I remember hearing a player once sum up team meetings like this perfectly: "Winners win.  Losers meet."  When it's reached the point where everybody in the clubhouse is unspokenly aware that they've become losers and a meeting has to be called to address it, it's already too late.  Hell, an unnamed player in Barbarisi's story practically admitted that when he spoke to him.

Sabathia's Fastball Struggles Continue

That's CC Sabathia's 4-seam fastball plot from his start last night.  It's noteworthy mainly because it shows almost no pattern whatsoever.  He's scattered throughout the strike zone, missing badly both up and down, and still leaving too many pitches in the meaty part of the hitting zone.  The fastball, be it due to velocity or location, has been at the forefront of any analysis of CC since Opening Day and he's been at his best when he's been able to locate it down in the zone.

Strangely enough, last night's ambiguous, inconsistent location plot was actually a step up from what CC's fastball has been doing for him lately.  3 earned runs allowed in 7.1 innings is much better than the atrocious results he put up in his previous 4 starts, and the collection of 4-seamers he threw in those starts looks like this:

Game 113 Wrap: CHW 6 NYY 5

("You know I hate your guts, right?"  "Yeah, I know."  Courtesy of Getty Images)

Not to talk like it's an overly arduous task or some kind of back-breaking work, because I fully recognize that it's not, but writing game recaps this season has been absolute torture.  This is such an unentertaining, uninspiring baseball team that it gets my morning off to a bad start more times than not reading about what they did the night before.  Last night was the coup de grace of bad losses this season, the rare game where you're treated to 2 losses in 1 game and the even more rare game where you see Mariano Rivera fail to close out a win.  If the Yankees' season wasn't already over before last night's game, it damn sure is now.

Game Notes:

- Alfonso Soriano got things off to a good start with a 2-run HR in the top of the 1st to give New York a quick lead.  They added to that lead with a Vernon Wells ribbie single in the 3rd and an Eduardo Nunez solo homer to lead off the 4th.

- Somewhat surprisingly, CC Sabathia made that lead stand up through 4 innings.  He actually retired the lineup in order the first time through and worked around a single in the 4th with a double play ball.

- The White Sox started to chip away in the 5th on a Gordon Beckham HR, the 25th of the year off CC.  The Yanks left the door open for them by leaving the bases loaded in the 6th and 2 men on in the 7th.

- Chicago struck in the bottom of the 7th, stringing 3 straight hits together and plating 2 runs on a double and a force out to pull within 1.  Those runs put a damper on what was starting to look like a really good turnaroud start for CC.

- It's always a surprise when Mo blows a save.  It's an especially big kick in the dick when it happens with 2 outs and strikeout machine Adam Dunn at the plate.  But Dunn found a hole in the left side on an 0-2 cutter and the game was tied.

- After failing to score with Brett Gardner on third in the 11th, the Yanks regained the lead on a Robinson Cano bomb of a HR to lead off the 12th.  Good to see he's still alive.

- Once again they couldn't hold the lead and once again they couldn't finish an inning with 2 outs.  Adam Warren, in his second inning of work, gave up 2 straight 2-out singles before catching too much of the plate with 1-0 fastball to Alejandro De Aza.  De Aza squared it up for a base-clearing triple and a walk-off win.

What About Cervelli?

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

While Alex Rodriguez has dominated the Biogenesis headlines, for reasons both valid and ludicrous, he was not the sole Yankee representative on that suspension list.  Francisco Cervelli was also connected and tagged with a 50-game suspension, one that he, like every other non-A-Rod player, did not contest and will begin serving immediately.  Cervelli has flown largely undetected and unmentioned under the cloud of A-Rod, for obvious reasons.  He's injured, he just got the standard first time suspension, and he's Francisco Cervelli.  In the grand scheme of things his 50-game ban means very little.  For Frankie, it marks the nail in the coffin on another strange and frustrating season in pinstripes and possibly the final season in his Yankee career.

This Offense Is Offensive: Part II

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

April- 4.62
May- 3.64
June- 3.26
July- 3.92
August- 2.20

Those are the Yankee runs/game splits for each month of the season to date.  Things are what they are with respect to the injuries and the offseason and the bad contracts and the suspensions, but the bottom line is this team has sucked offensively since the calendar turned to May.  It's right there in the numbers - not even up for debate like people have made it out to be the past few seasons - and each passing day it looks more and more like they're going to miss the postseason because of it.

The Yankees have scored 16 runs in their last 7 games, never scoring more than 3 in any of those 7 games.  They haven't scored more than 3 in 10 of their last 12 games overall and 12 of the 17 games since the All Star break.  This is a lineup that was supposed to be getting better with the returns of C-Grand and A-Rod and the addition of Soriano.  Instead it's barely putting 2 runs a game on the board this month.  That's unfathomably bad.  I don't know what else to say about that.  It's wild.

Good News On The Bad News About Pineda & Phelps

The dual diagnoses are in for the double dose of injury setbacks that have left the Yankee rotation paper thin and I guess you'd say they're both positive considering the alternatives, even if they put both players' returns this season in jeopardy.

David Phelps has another strain in his already strained right forearm.  He was scratched from his MiL start on Saturday with elbow pain and there was concern that problems had spread to the elbow.  He'll be completely shut down for 2 weeks and then start throwing again.  My guess is the team will take it slow with him when he restarts a throwing program and we won't see him until late September if at all.

The tests and MRI on Michael Pineda's shoulder all came back clean.  You'll remember that he made his start on Saturday but left after 2 innings due to shoulder stiffness.  The plan for him is to rest him 7-10 days, re-evaluate, and then see how he feels.  With the team already limiting his innings/pitch count in the final months of the season, I wouldn't expect much from him the rest of the way.

Sucks that each player will be unavailable during a time when they could help the team, but at least they aren't going to have to miss any serious time because of major elbow or shoulder problems.  That's a fair trade.

P.S.- Cash confirmed that Vidal Nuno is out for the rest of the year too.  Balls.

Game 112 Wrap-Up: CHW 3 NYY 2

(Safe.  Courtesy of the AP)

It took a while, but the talk for Hiroki Kuroda's Cy Young candidacy has really started to pick up in the last few weeks.  That'll happen when you toss up a 0.55 ERA for an entire month.  Not only that, Kuroda's recent work has been even more impressive when you look at the opponents he's dominated.  He's shut down some very good lineups and outpitched some very, very good starting pitchers to get wins.  He was facing another one of those very good pitchers last night in the form of Chris Sale, although the lineup he was facing was one equally as weak as Hirok's supporting crew.  It should have been a favorable matchup for him.  It ended up being a struggle and another disappointing loss.

Game Notes:

- The Yankees were lucky enough to catch Sale on an off night, but did not take advantage of the situation.  It took a bad throw, a stolen base, and a wild pitch to score a run in the top of the 1st, and they left runners in scoring position in consecutive innings in the 3rd and 4th.

- The 3rd inning could have gone differently had some things changed.  For one, the ump could have got the call right when Brett Gardner was called out at the plate to end the inning.  He was safe.  Gardner could have done the smart thing and slid.  He didn't, he was called out, and the run didn't count.

- Kuroda wasn't as sharp as he has been in his last few starts.  He had to work to strand 2 runners in the second and gave up the game-tying run in the 4th on a 2-out hit.  Very un-Hirok.

- Another great scoring chance went wasted in the top of the 5th.  With 2 on and 1 out, Alex Rodriguez lined out to center and failed to advance the runners.  After a Robinson Cano walk, Vernon Wells grounded out to leave the bases loaded.  The Yanks had 9 baserunners against Sale in 5 innings and only came away with a single run.

- A bunch of bad luck killed Kuroda in the bottom of the 6th.  2 straight groundballs found holes for singles, another well-placed one moved the runners up, and a failure to turn a double play with Paul Konerko running cost him a crucial run instead of getting him out of the inning.

- Insult to injury in the 7th.  Kuroda gave up a leadoff double, struck the next 2 hitters out, then gave up another double for the third run.  He just couldn't make a pitch with his sinker or splitter when he needed to.

Boone Logan's Deceptively Down 2013

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

At first glance, it appears as though Boone Logan is having a career year in 2013, the type of season that could and should get him a very good offer from a team or 2 after this season.  No longer being run out there a million times a week by Joe, Logan has put up new career bests in ERA (2.15), K rates (32.4%, 11.97/9), and BB rates (5.8%, 2.15/9) in 29.1 IP over 44 appearances, and his 3.31 FIP is just off his career high set in 2011.  By all general accounts, Logan is putting together another very good and slightly underappreciated season.

The Straight Up Most Ridiculous Anti-A-Rod Article I've Ever Read In My Life

I knew this was coming.  I predicted it.  But even I couldn't predict something of this magnitude, especially from someone who seems to be a relative nobody in the Yankee MSM world.

/says the guy with the most generic-looking blog template out there and no Twitter account

Jason Keidel of CBS NY just put himself on the map with his Alex Rodriguez smear article last night.  I'm talking in a big way.  I don't know what it takes to get into the NY media secret society with the Lupicas and Maddens and Marchands of the world, but I have to think after a piece like this Keidel is well on his way to getting an invite to a future society function.  The dude clearly has what it takes to hang with the big boys in the A-Rod bashing world, almost Mike Trout-like in just his raw, A-Rod bashing tools.  I'm actually going to link to this because it really does need to be read in its entirety to get a full appreciation for how over-the-top and ridiculous it is, but after the jump I'll tackle the highlights.

A Strict "On Field Only" Analysis Of A-Rod's First Game Back

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

It may have slipped past you yesterday, what with ESPN and the rest of the MSM completely ignoring the story, but Alex Rodriguez actually made his 2013 season debut last night.  The collection of circumstances surrounding that debut are their own topic of conversation, and one every other MSM outlet seems to be covering just fine.  For the purposes of this post, what you think about A-Rod as a person and whether you think he deserves to be on the field is irrelevant.  He is on the field, it looks like he'll be eligible to be for the rest of this season, and the Yankees can definitely use him.  Focusing strictly on what he did on the field last night, here's what I thought about Alex's first game back.

Kuroda, Nova, And Pray For Rain

It's been 1 turn through the rotation since I wrote my post calling out the Yankee rotation for its downward trend in July.  In that last turn, here's how the results broke down:

- Kuroda/Nova: 14 IP, 9 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 16 K

- CC/Hughes/Andy: 11 IP, 28 H, 17 R (all earned), 7 BB, 9 K

Hiroki Kuroda and Ivan Nova pitched near identical gems just 2 days apart, holding their opponents scoreless and yet they only came up with 1 win even though they deserved 2.  The other 3 combined for a 13.91 ERA and 3.18 WHIP in fewer total innings than Kuroda and Nova pitched, and each got the loss they undoubtedly deserved.  Obviously wins and losses are far from the best way to judge pitching performance, but when it's the kind of performances shown above they're more than accurate.  That's not night and day, it's night on the darkest side of the moon versus day on the surface of the sun.

It's hard for a team, any team, to stay competitive when 60% of its starting rotation is pitching this poorly.  It's even harder for a team to stay competitive in that situation when its offense is as weak as the Yankees still is.  They're now 6-10 since the ASB, the worst record in MLB.  It's not hard to understand why.

Game 111 Wrap-Up: CHW 8 NYY 1

(Courtesy of the AP)

Alex Rodriguez Alex Rodriguez Alex Rodriguez Alex Rodriguez Alex Rodriguez steroids steroids steroids Biogenesis suspensions appeals suspensions appeals suspensions appeals Alex Rodriguez Alex Rodriguez Bioigenesis.  That was basically the story in the baseball world yesterday, but for a few hours around 7 PM Central time that took a backseat to the actual game on the field, a game that A-Rod was playing in and batting cleanup.  A name that did not appear on the lineup card was Derek Jeter's, as he was put on the DL for the umpteenth time this season for his calf strain.  With the spotlight solely on him, A-Rod had a quiet first game back as the Yankees went down in even quieter fashion.

Game Notes:

- Andy Pettitte did his best to take some of the focus off A-Rod with a BABIP luck-aided 3-run bottom of the 1st.  Aided or not, it was another poor 1st inning for Andy, who set a new Yankee record by giving up a 1st inning run for the 7th straight start.

- A-Rod stepped in to mostly boos to lead off the 2nd, and after taking 2 balls he swung at a ball in and blooped it into left field for a single.  It wasn't much, but it was a hit and A-Rod's 2013 was off and running.  Naturally, the team still failed to score on a 2nd and 3rd and nobody out situation.

- There was nothing fake about the beating the White Sox put on Andy in the next 2 innings.  A lot of runs, a lot of hard contact, and no 2-strike location from Pettitte, who had 7 runs tallied against him on 11 hits in just 2.2 innings before hitting the showers.

- Really nice job by Jose Quintana, who held the Yankees scoreless through 6+ innings before finally surrendering a single one on a Brett Garder sac fly in the 7th.  One more former pitching prospect finding success elsewhere.

- Nice job by the bullpen, giving up just 1 more run in 5+ innings of relief of Pettitte, even if Preston Claiborne and Shawn Kelley really had to work to avoid major damage.  At least Joe didn't have to burn D-Rob or Mo.

- A-Rod hit a few deep flyballs in his next 2 ABs before striking out looking in his final at-bat in the 8th.  Final line 1-4 with a single and a few plays at third base.

BREAKING: Jeter Back To The DL

As first reported by Meredith Marakovits and just confirmed by a few other beat writers, Derek Jeter has been placed on the disabled list, presumably to cover the litany of leg issues he's dealing with but officially due to the latest one, a Grade I strain of his right calf.

In addition to adding Alex Rodriguez to the active roster, the Yankees also designated Brent Lillibridge for assignment this afternoon to clear a 40-man spot and recalled David Adams from Triple-A SWB.  For the next few days at least, they'll have A-Rod and Adams to handle third base and Nunez and Nix to handle short.  Trading 2 third baseman for 2 shortstops on the active roster.  No word from the team yet on plans for Jeter moving forward, but at least they aren't sending him back out there to have his legs snap beneath him as he tries to run to first.

Alex Rodriguez Officially Suspended By Major League Baseball (Updated)

From the league itself:

"Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig announced today that third baseman Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees has been suspended without pay for the remainder of the 2013 Championship Season and Postseason and the entire 2014 Championship Season for violations of the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program and the Basic Agreement.

Rodriguez’s discipline under the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program is based on his use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including Testosterone and human Growth Hormone, over the course of multiple years. Rodriguez’s discipline under the Basic Agreement is for attempting to cover-up his violations of the Program by engaging in a course of conduct intended to obstruct and frustrate the Office of the Commissioner’s investigation. The suspension, which will become effective on Thursday, August 8th, will cover 211 Championship Season games and any 2013 Postseason games in which Rodriguez otherwise would have been eligible to play.

Under the terms of the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, Rodriguez’s suspension will be stayed until the completion of his appeal if Rodriguez files a grievance challenging his discipline."

There you have it.  With the suspension not starting until Thursday it's a few less games than initially reported, but this is basically what was expected to come out of this announcement.  Now let the fun of the appeal process begin...

** UPDATE 2:26 PM- Bud Selig has issued his own personal statement, if you're interested in reading what he has to say. **

** UPDATE 2:47 PM- Yankees have released their official statement as well, and it contains a return of fire across A-Rod's bow in its denial of any involvement in the investigation.  Fun times. **

** UPDATE 3:39 PM- The MLBPA has issued a statement on all the suspensions, pledged their support to A-Rod and his decision to appeal, and said that they believe Bud Selig "has not acted appropriately under the Basic Agreement." **

Timing Of Latest Injury Setbacks Leaves Rotation Dangerously Thin

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

It was another poor outing for Phil Hughes yesterday, the poorest and shortest he's had since his 0.2-inning meltdown against the Mariners in May.  In his last 3 starts, Hughes has completed just 12.1 innings and has given up 13 R (10 ER) on 19 H in those innings with 8 BB to just 6 K.  His leash with Joe has gotten shorter to the point that were it a literal leash it would probably be choking him to death as soon as he took the mound, and his inability to work efficiently and deeply into games is becoming a burden on the bullpen.  Hughes needed 71 pitches yesterday to retire just 8 batters.

Combined with the unadulterated putridity that has been CC Sabathia's last 4 starts, suddenly the Yankees are rolling with an even worse rotation than they had a few weeks ago.  The group that needed to turn things around in concert with the offense if the Yankees were going to make a serious playoff charge has become an alternating "all or nothing" collection of some of the best and worst pitching we've seen this season.  For every great start Hirok or Nova goes out and pitches, Sabathia and Hughes pitch one equally as bad if not worse a day or 2 later.

Yanks Planning To Run Jeter Into The Ground Now?

(Courtesy of the AP)

That Derek Jeter is out of the lineup again and possibly heading back to the disabled list for leg issues is not surprising.  He's battled them since first starting his comeback from ankle surgery in Spring Training and 2013 has all but turned into a lost season for him because of it.  Based on comments made by Joe before and after last night's game, the Yankees' possible plan to handle Jeter moving forward does come as a bit of a surprise.

Today Should Be Fun, Huh?

It's a new week, the Yankees are further back in the playoff races than they have been thanks to another series loss, but fear not, people, because we should have a multitude of awesome stories to distract us from that today.

Sometime this morning, MLB should formally announce its suspensions of all the players connected to the Biogenesis clinic.  From the latest media reports, anticipation is that Alex Rodriguez will be handed a suspension through the end of the 2014 season but will not have his right to appeal blocked.  Barring any last minute injuries or changes in Bud's plan, A-Rod and all the great media coverage that comes with him should be back in the lineup tonight.

Later in the day, probably before the start of tonight's game, we could get news on the 3 latest injury setbacks to afflict the team.  Derek Jeter could be put back on the DL with a Grade I calf strain, Michael Pineda could have problems with his surgically-repaired right shoulder, and David Phelps could have a serious elbow problem.  Yaaaayyyy!!!

And if that wasn't enough, the Yankees could lose tonight to a former mid-tier lefty pitching prospect in Jose Quintana, a guy they basically let walk away after the 2011 season.  He's hooked on with the White Sox and has pitched to a 3.62/.378 slash in 22 starts this year, good for a 2.5 fWAR or more than any other non-Kuroda starter on the Yankees has this season.  And who says the Yanks can't develop pitching talent?

Yes sir, this is going to be an awesome day.  Suspensions, injuries, endless beat writer stupidity and A-Rod bashing, and former prospect reunions.  Great day to be a Yankee fan indeed!

Game 110 Wrap-Up: SD 6 NYY 3

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

Once upon a time, not too long ago, the Yankees were blessed with one of the nastiest trios of starting pitching prospects in all of baseball.  Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Ian Kennedy were supposed to be the boost of young pitching needed to help the aging core of the lineup stay competitive and in World Series contention as that generation of players moved to the ends of their careers.  Instead, all 3 will be remembered mostly un-fondly for their time in pinstripes.  Kennedy was the first to flame out in New York in an unfairly small number of starts, and 4 years later Hughes and Joba have followed him down and likely out of town at season's end.  Kennedy-Hughes was the starting matchup and Joba made an appearance, so all parties from that failed venture got to contribute today in a bad loss for the Yankees.  None more than Hughes.

Game Notes:

- Hughes got into trouble in the 2nd by not locating his fastball and failing to put guys away with 2 strikes.  He could have got out of it with just 1 run allowed, but he gave up a big 2-out, 2-run hit to Everth Cabrera that made it 3-0.

- With 2 on and 1 out in the bottom of the 3rd, Joe elected to intentionally load the bases, a questionable move given Hughes' fastball struggles.  After a sac fly and another 2-out hit allowed, San Diego had 2 more on the board and Hughes' day was done.

- The Yankees put a runner on base every inning from the 2nd through the 5th.  They could never string any hits together against Kennedy to break through and he made some big pitches to get 2 inning-ending double plays.

- Kennedy helped his own cause in the 4th, singling to start the inning and coming around to score on a Chase Headley single.  It was 6-0 and things were looking bleak.

- The lineup finally managed to break through in the 6th, and surprisingly enough they did it with 2 outs.  2 straight walks to Cano and Soriano and a pair of RBI singles for Curtis Granderson and Lyle Overbay made it 6-2 and abruptly ended Kennedy's day.

- An Austin Romine solo HR in the 7th made things interesting again, but the Yankee offense couldn't complete the comeback and 5.1 innings of very good relief work was wasted.  Another series, another series loss.