BREAKING NEWS: Brett Gardner To The DL

Mark Feinsand is reporting that the Yankees have put Brett Gardner on the DL and called up righty reliever Cody Eppley to take his place on the active roster.

Gardner was a late scratch for tonight's game due to what was called right elbow stiffness, but a move made this quickly certainly suggests something worse.  Gardner had a great night last night, but could have hurt himself making that sliding catch in the 6th.

Little surprised to see Eppley get the call over better players.  Methinks it's Joe planning for a war of bullpen attrition against Bahhston this weekend, and that somebody like Dewayne Wise or C-Dick will get the call-up afterwards to replace the lineup depth.  More on this story to come as details become available.

** UPDATE- 4/19, 7:38 AM- Sweeny Murti reporting that Gardner has a bone bruise and a strain of the right elbow and confirmed that the injury was sustained when Gardner made the diving/sliding catch on Tuesday night. **

Raul Ibanez Is In Right Field Tonight

I wish I were joking people, but I'm not.  Joe gave Swish the DH spot tonight and he's Raul back in right.

On the negative side, this:

On the positive side, maybe he'll give me something new and even funnier to use tomorrow.

Game 11 Wrap-Up: NYY 8 MIN 3

After a so-so first 2 starts that were more about survival than dominance, everybody was hoping this would be the night CC Sabathia started to find his command.  After a rough first few innings, he certainly gave Yankee fans a lot to be happy about and turned in a vintage CC performance.

Game Notes:

- CC started off looking like he was going to put on an encore performance from his first 2 starts, allowing 3 ER and 4 hits through 3 innings.  Once the offense got him the lead in the bottom of the 3rd, however, he was a different pitcher and worked the next 4.1 scoreless.

- From the 4th inning on, Sabathia's fastball command was the best its been all year and he used it to pound the zone, throw strikes, and work from ahead in the count.  That's a dangerous place to be as a hitter against someone with CC's arsenal and the Twins had no answer, managing just a walk after the 3rd.  CC sat down 13 in a row from the first out in the 3rd through the 2nd out in the 7th.

- Francisco Liriano has never had much success against New York and that trend continued last night.  He was either walking guys or leaving meaty pitches over the plate to hit, and the Yankees didn't miss.  When Brett Gardner is taking you for ground rule doubles and Chris Stewart is smoking base hits to left, it's probably time to hit the showers.

- Almost everybody got in on the action for the Yankee offense, with 5 guys each getting 2 hits, 5 guys driving in a run, and 3 guys scoring more than 2 runs.  The biggest stars were the UNusual suspects- Gardner, Stewart, and Andruw Jones, who cracked his 2nd HR of the year.

- After CC departed in the 8th, D-Rob came on to get 2 outs and Cory Wade closed out the 9th to get the Yanks back in the W column and back above .500.