Inside Robbie Cano's Slump

(Need to see more of this follow through.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

While Eric Chavez, Derek Jeter, and Nick Swisher have been carrying the offensive torch for the last week plus, the keyest of key middle-of-the-lineup bats, Robinson Cano, has been in a serious slump.  With A-Rod already on the shelf, Teix back nursing his wrist injury, and C-Grand only recently starting to break out his own slump, the middle of the lineup could really use Cano's production and has been a bit suspect without it, even as the Yankees have gone 6-3 in the 9 games since Cano started struggling at the plate.  In those 9 games dating back to August 11th, Cano is just 2-24 with 2 R, 2 RBI (none since 8/12), 5 BB, and 6 K.  What's been going on with Cano during these 9 games that killed his offensive momentum so quickly?  Let's take a look.

Game 121 Wrap-Up: NYY 4 BOS 1

(I got your left-handed power right here.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

It's been an interesting season for Hiroki Kuroda against the Fraud Sawx.  He didn't face them until July and actually faced them twice last month.  In his most recent outing, he pitched very well (8 IP, 2 ER) and got a no-decision, and in the outing earlier in the month he pitched very poorly and still got the win.  That start on July 6th was the last time Kuroda had a "bad" outing, and he's been almost lights out since then (43.2 IP, 7 ER in his last 6 starts).  He completely outmatched the potent Texas Ranger lineup on Tuesday, and last night he had the hammer in his hand to drive the last nail into the coffin of the Fraud Sawx's season.

Game Notes:

- The Yankees didn't waste any time getting to Josh Beckett.  Derek Jeter led off the game with a double to deep center and came around to score on Curtis Granderson's 2-out double to right to make it 1-0 Yanks after 1.

- They manufactured a run in the bottom of the 3rd on a Jeter double, Nick Swisher walk, a really smart double steal that took some pressure off a slumping Robinson Cano and opened the door for Jeter to trot home on a passed ball a few pitches later.  It was 2-0 Yanks through 3 and they were working Beckett hard.

- While this was going on offensively, Kuroda was picking up right where he left off against Texas on the mound.  He had the slider working, the sinker working, had good command of his fastball, and allowed just 1 hit and 0 runs through the first 4 innings.

- After seemingly pretending to foul off a similar pitch in ugly fashion the pitch before, Ichiro Suzuki squared up a 2-2 fastball that was up in the zone from Beckett and hit it for his 2nd Yankee HR to make it 3-0 Yanks after 4.

- There was no pretending the next time Ichiro came up in the 6th.  He got a thigh-high fastball from Beckett and he drove it out into the right field seats for his second consecutive homer on the night.

- There were signs that Kuroda was tiring and starting to lose his command a bit at the end of the 6th, and it became more apparent in the 7th when he threw a bad slider that Adrian Gonzalez hit for a solo HR to make it 4-1.  But Kuroda got out of the inning without further damage.

- I guess Hiroki had enough left in the tank, because Joe let him come out for the 8th and he mowed them down.  Soriano handled the 9th with ease, striking out Gonzalez on a nasty slider to end the game and the Fraud Sawx season.

Kiley McDaniel Scouts Ty Hensley

(Courtesy of The AP)

Kiley McDaniel of ESPN is back at it scouting Yankees prospects.  He's already covered the biggest names in the system in the A-ball levels (Sanchez, Williams, Austin, Heathcott); this past week he dropped down a few more levels to the GCL to take a look at 2012 1st-round pick Ty Hensley.  McDaniel brings the first real good scouting report we've seen on Hensley since he finally signed, joined the GCL Yanks, and started pitching.  It's an Insider Only piece, but it gives plenty of reasons to be high on Hensley's potential as a top-tier starter.  The highlights of McDaniel's report and my take after the jump.

Melky Cabrera: Master Internet Criminal

I didn't say anything about the Melky Cabrera steroids story this week for 3 reasons: 1) I wasn't all that surprised by it, 2) I didn't really care, and 3) He doesn't play for the Yankees anymore, so I wasn't going to start talking about him until he was officially a free agent.

But with the latest part of this story breaking today, now it's time for me to get involved.  This latest news is much more up my alley...

"The scheme began unfolding in July as Cabrera and his representatives scrambled to explain a spike in the former Yankee’s testosterone levels. Cabrera associate Juan Nunez, described by the player’s agents, Seth and Sam Levinson, as a “paid consultant” of their firm but not an “employee,” is alleged to have paid $10,000 to acquire the phony website. The idea, apparently, was to lay a trail of digital breadcrumbs suggesting Cabrera had ordered a supplement that ended up causing the positive test, and to rely on a clause in the collectively bargained drug program that allows a player who has tested positive to attempt to prove he ingested a banned substance through no fault of his own."

Really, Melky?  That was your plan?  Just hop on the old interwebs, get a sweet new Go Daddy domain name like Danica Patrick, and boom, problem solved!  It's brilliant.  It's no wonder you got caught in the first place.  You're an idiot.

P.S.- If they didn't name this phony company "Vandelay Industries," they did it wrong.

Game 120 Wrap-Up: BOS 4 NYY 1

(It was that kind of day for the Yankee bats.  Courtesy of The AP)

Things have been going prettay, prettay, prettay good for David Phelps this season, and he had a chance to audition on a national stage yesterday against the Yankees' greatest rival.  Things haven't been so hot for Jawn Lestah this season, and he had a chance to get his head kicked in again on a national stage yesterday.  Somewhat surprisingly, Lestah brought his A-game and actually carried the Fraud Sawx, something he hasn't done a lot of this season.  Phelps was up to the challenge, and pitched a great game in his own right, just not great enough to win.

Game Notes:

- Phelps made a mistake by hanging a pitch in the top of the 1st to Adrian Gonzalez that turned into a 2-run HR, but other than that he looked good early.  Phelps allowed just 1 hit and threw just 28 pitches in the next 3 innings, striking out 3 and retiring 7 in a row to end the 4th.

- The biggest problem was the Yankee lineup's inability to put enough hits together to do damage against Jon Lester.  They had at least 1 baserunner in each of the first 5 innings but had only Curtis Granderson's solo HR to show for it.

- It's never good to get burned by the bottom of the order, but that's what happened to Phelps in the 5th.  He gave up a double to Nick Punto (a near unforgivable offense) and new Yankee killer Pedro Ciriaco came around to score to make it 3-1 Sawx.

- The Yankees blew a golden opportunity in the bottom of the 7th after Granderson doubled and then moved to third on a groundout to give the Yankees a chance to score a run on an out.  But Jayson Nix and Ichiro Suzuki couldn't drive him in and it stayed a 3-1 game.

- Ciriaco continued to kill the Yankees in the top of the 9th, doubling Scott Podsednik to third with no outs and allowing to score an insurance run against Cody Eppley.  Ciriaco's batting line against the Yankees is unreal.

- It was a day of missed opportunities for the offense.  They put at least 1 runner on base in every inning except the 6th, and put the leadoff runner on in 4 innings without scoring in any of them.  Yesterday was a day that showed just how shallow that lineup can be without A-Rod and Teix.

On Teix's Wrist Injury

Small picture, Mark Teixeira's continued wrist problems are a nuisance but not the end of the world.  He responded well to the first bit of rest and the cortisone shot and was able to come back and be relatively productive for the last 2 weeks (.259/.328/.463  in 59 PA) in a time where the middle of the Yankee batting order has been without some of it's important bats. 

Big picture, it could become more of a problem if allowed to turn into something that lingers.  Teix has been productive this month, but not nearly to the degree that he was in July.  His power is down, he isn't walking as much (8.2 %), and less than 3 weeks after the initial injury he's back to experiencing the same pain and inflammation as before and missing games.  It's starting to look like this is something more than just inflammation and soreness, and Teix playing every day can't be a good thing for it.  He said he originally hurt himself on a swing, so I imagine it can't feel too good for him every time he swings the bat.  All the initial tests showed no structural damage to the wrist, but what's to say that he isn't doing damage to it now or at least risking damaging it.  Is it really worth the risk of having a broken Teixeira in the playoffs or even losing him to not treat this injury properly?

Game 119 Wrap-Up: NYY 6 BOS 4

(That swing doesn't suck.  Courtesy of The AP)

Weather looked like it was going to be a factor in last night's game from the get go, and it was a little bit early, but the Yankees found out before the game that Mark Teixeira wasn't going to be.  The re-emergence of his wrist inflammation has to be a concern for the Yankees, and as they have for most of this season, they found themselves in a shorthanded situation.  But as has happened most of the time this season, the rest of the lineup stepped up without one of their big pieces and got the job done to support a pretty darn good Phil Hughes, who had one bad inning in an otherwise dominant start.

Game Notes:

- Franklin Morales didn't get off to the start he wanted, giving up 3 solo HR in the first 2 innings.  Nick Swisher, Curtis Granderson, and Russell Martin all teed him up to make it 3-0 Yanks.

- Hughes got off to a great start through the first 2 innings, but it came off the rails quickly after he threw a ball away in the 3rd.  To a certain degree, I can understand him getting rattled because that was an AWFUL throw.  It put runners on the corners with no outs and ended with Dustin Pedrooyyyyahhhh hitting a 3-run homer to put Bahhston on top 4-3.

- The Captain continued to rake from the leadoff spot, hitting a 1-out homer in the bottom of the 5th to tie the game up at 4-4 and give him an even 250 for his career.  Impressively, it was on an inside fastball that he turned on and smoked into the left field bleachers.

- To his credit, Hughes shook off the bad 3rd inning, got it together, and worked through the next 4 innings without issue.  He gave up just 2 hits, got 5 of his last 6 outs on the ground, and got a boost from Jayson Nix's 6th inning single that gave the Yankees the lead back.

- One of Hughes' problems lately has been predictability in his pitch selection.  He has gotten away from his changeup, but he threw it a lot last night (29 times out of 106 pitches) and it was very effective to righties.

- Swish gave the Yankees their first run in the 1st and he gave them their last in the 7th on his second solo homer of the night.  He hit one from each side of the plate and is really starting to look locked in from each side.

- Hughes did the job through 7, and D-Rob and Sour Puss worked the 8th and 9th with relative ease to secure the win.  1 down, 2 to go to end the Fraud Sawx's season.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 8/17

No stories or random thoughts today.  I'm just looking forward to being able to watch Yanks-Sawx on Sunday night.  Believe it or not, I actually didn't watch either of the ESPN games against the Rangers this week.  Well, I caught part of Wednesday night's game at a bar I was at with some people, but I missed every single scoring play so it's hard to say I really watched it.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Mike Jaggers-Radolf of TYA looked at the decrease in Derek Jeter's OBP this season and how it's tied to a change in approach at the plate as he's gotten older.

- On Tuesday, Josh Norris had some good quotes from a scout who gave his opinion on a few of the bigger-name A-ball prospects.  Surprising take on Tyler Austin.

- William Juliano of The Captain's Blog commented on The Captain's historically-good offensive season and the potential for it to hurt the 2014 payroll plans.

- SJK of NoMaas got the exclusive scoop on the infamous Adrian Gonzalez text that started the latest Fraud Sawx calamity.

- Chris Carelli of Yanks Go Yard looked towards September and the potentially deep bullpen that could exist when rosters expand.  I wouldn't count on much, if anything, from Feliciano, but hope springs eternal.

- Steven Goldman of Pinstripe Alley mused on A-Rod's contract and the absurdity of the idea that the Yankees should be surprised by A-Rod's decline.

- On Wednesday, Mike Axisa of RAB examined Curtis Granderson's continuing slump and the potential root causes for it.

- On Thursday, Brien Jackson of IIATMS weighed in on the Melky Cabrera suspension and commented on the flawed logic in suggesting that the MLBPA "has to do something" to address guys who get caught/punished.

- El duque of It Is High... said exactly what I was thinking in relation to the upcoming Yanks-Sawx series when he talked about the opportunity to end the Sawx's season in August this weekend.

- Bill Ballew of MLB.com had a nice little write-up on Dante Bichette, Jr., and took a much more positive tone with Bichette's tough first year in a full-season league.

- On Friday, Curtis Clark of Bronx Baseball Daily unveiled his latest AL East power rankings.  No surprise as to which team was at the top.

For the Friday jam I'm going back to the pick I originally had planned for last week before Deftones showed up on scene.  It's "Wires" by Red Fang and it's a completely kickass rock song.  It works for every situation.  You can rock out to it, hang out to it, cook out to it, chill out to it, smoke out to it.  It's a 5-tool rock song, the Matt Kemp of rock songs.  The video ain't bad either.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Relax With Joba, People

(Give the guy a break, folks.  He's just coming back.  Courtesy of The AP)

I appreciated Joba's openness and matter-of-fact assessment of his performance yesterday.  In the same vein as Eric Chavez's straightforward comments about the losing streak last week, Joba's real talk when discussing the job he did on the mound yesterday was refreshingly honest and the type of thing I would expect Joba to say.  He's a professional, he wants to do well, he wants to help the team win, and he's smart enough to recognize that he hasn't been doing that since coming back from his long injury layoff.  Joba has never been one to shy away from blame when he doesn't get the job done, and going just on the numbers so far it's pretty clear that he hasn't been getting the job done.  6 ER on 13 H and 4 BB in 6 IP is an ugly line for a reliever, and normally well within the parameters for determining a guy's worthiness of receiving some Bronx cheers.

Game 118 Wrap-Up: TEX 10 NYY 6

(Be the ball, Ivan.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

It was Yankee Pitching 3 Texas Hitting 0 coming into yesterday afternoon's series finale against the Rangers.  But at long last, the Texas bats managed to wake up and put together the kind of offensive day we all know they're capable of.  Ivan Nova wasn't as sharp as his last outing in Toronto, especially not with his offspeed stuff, and the bullpen wasn't much better behind him.  But a 3-1 series win is still pretty damn good against Texas, so that end result makes yesterday's dud a little easier to take.

Game Notes:

- Nova struggled right out of the gate yesterday, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits in the top of the first, including a badly hung curveball to Josh Hamilton, and it looked like it was setting up to be over quickly.

- The top of the 3rd was even uglier, as Nova loaded the bases with no outs on a leadoff double and back-to-back walks.  But in a display fitting of his "works out of trouble" rep, Nova struck out Hamilton and David Murphy and got Adrian Beltre to ground out to strand all 3 runners.

- For their part, the lineup didn't do much to help Nova through the first 5 innings.  The only baserunner they managed was a single by Jayson Nix in the 3rd.  Derek Holland had his sinker working, and the Yankee bats were lifeless against it.

- Nova couldn't repeat his 3rd-inning escape in the 6th, giving up 2 more runs on a collection of hits, walks, and hit batters.  He couldn't locate his curveball where he wanted to and his fastball command was not very good, and Nova didn't make it out of the inning, leaving with a 4-0 deficit.

- In the bottom half of the 6th, the Yankee offense finally solved Holland, striking for 5 runs to take the lead.  A bunch of singles got the action started, and the big blow was a 2-run HR by Andruw Jones that I honestly didn't think even needed to be reviewed in the first place.

- Boone Logan came on to hold the lead and basically puked on his shoes in giving it up in 4 batters.  Joba Chamberlain came on to replace him and wasn't much better through the 8th.  He's allowed 17 baserunners in 6 innings since coming back.

- The Yanks got 1 run in the 7th on a Mark Teixeira groundout, but that was as close as they would get again.  Just a tough day for the pitching staff all around.

Hey, Where'd Andruw Jones Go?

(All he's done lately is high five people.  Courtesy of Debby Wong/US Presswire)

About 5 weeks ago, Andruw Jones was starting to percolate.  He was fresh off a 4-HR, 6-RBI binge against the Fraud Sawx in the final 3 games before the All Star break, he had his season batting line up to .244/.326/.535, and he had people talking about how he was primed to come out and have a big second half of the season just like he did in 2011.  Since coming out the other side of the ASB, that break out hasn't exactly come to form, despite the fact that Joe tried to ride the hot hand and gave Jones far more playing time and plate appearances in July than he had gotten in any of the months prior.  What gives?

Game 117 Wrap-Up: NYY 3 TEX 2

(That'll do, Fred.  That'll do.  Courtesy of The AP)

Good starting pitching always beats good hitting.  The Yankees know that better than most from some of their recent postseason exits, and they've been on the giving end of that in this series against the Rangers.  They got 2 great pitching performances from Phelps, Lowe, and Kuroda in the series' first 2 games and got another one last night from Freddy Garcia to secure another win in a close, low-scoring game.  The Yankee pitching has kept the Rangers' lineup in check all 3 games, and that's been the difference.

Game Notes:

- Freddy retired the first 7 hitters he faced and really had his slider working for him from the start.  He was efficient, he was throwing strikes, and cruising through the first 3 innings.

- The lineup got him all the run support he would need in the bottom of the 3rd against Scott Feldman, who was not nearly as efficient or effective as Garcia.  Back-to-back singles by Jayson Nix and Derek Jeter and an RBI double by Nick Swisher made it 1-0 before an out had been recorded.  A sac fly from C-Grand and a 2-out RBI single by Eric Chavez pushed the lead to 3-0.

- The one thorn in Freddy's side last night was Josh Hamilton.  He hit a solo HR in the top of the 4th to get Texas on the board, and a bomb in the 6th to pull them within 3-2.

- But the rest of the Texas lineup was stifled by Freddy's slider, and the trio of Boone Logan, D-Rob, and Sour Puss held them to 2.1 hitless innings of relief to save the win.

David Phelps' Big Chance

(Same expression in every picture of him.  And I like that.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

I've written about David Phelps a pretty fair amount this season.  I can't help it, I think he's an underrated pitcher and I'm fascinated by the way his season has gone down.  Phelps' 2012 campaign has been a continued series of fortunate opportunities created by unexpected circumstances affecting the rest of the pitching staff.  He got a 25-man roster spot out of Spring Training because of Michael Pineda's shoulder injury; he got a lot of early chances to show what he could do thanks to some horrific early outings by Ivan Nova and Phil Hughes; he got the chance to start because of Freddy Garcia's unfathomably bad start to the season and the Yankees not being able to wait for Andy Pettitte any longer; he's slowly worked his way up the leverage ladder out of the bullpen as other middle relievers have regressed.  Now he's got another chance to shine in a starting role because CC landed back on the DL.  It's been at the expense of others' misfortune, but Phelps himself has had some pretty good situational luck this year.

X-Rays On A-Rod & A-Pett Are A-OK

Via my girl Meredith Marakovits:

"X-ray showed fracture is healing ... Expects to long toss this week ... After that running would be next step b4 mound"

And from the lovely and talented Mike Axisa:

"An x-ray performed during a routine check-up showed that the broken bone in Alex Rodriguez‘s hand is healing well. ... A-Rod will shed the brace he’s been wearing and continue his rehab."

It's good to hear that both guys are healing well from their respective breaks, especially after Andy's little setback scare.  Pettitte was scheduled to start a long toss program this week and hopefully start to get some running in to test the ankle out, and The Horse has reportedly been taking some one-handed swings off a tee to stay fresh, but I'm still keeping my expectations tempered for now.  Both guys are pegged for a mid-September return at the earliest, and at their age they can't exactly just be thrown back into the fire.  They're both moving forward, but they both still have a long way to go.

Game 116 Wrap-Up: NYY 3-0

(Definitely earned that hug.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

There's almost no sense in recapping this game because the one and only story from it was how awesome Hiroki Kuroda was last night.  There's normal awesome, like he's been in his 2 or 3 best starts before this one, and then there's what he did last night.  Just absolute domination and total command of the game from start to finish.  He gave up 2 measly hits on the night against a stacked Rangers lineup, neither of which was hit hard at all, and just beat them to death with his slider.  Kuroda racked up 17 GB outs last night out of the 22 that were in play, 22 of the 27 total either on the ground or via the K, and only 5 balls in play left the infield.  Hiroki Kuroda was the absolute man last night, and all the Yankee lineup had to do to help him was have one inning where they scored a few runs.

Game Notes:

- Kuroda recorded his 2 walks on the night in the first 3 innings.  After the second one to Mitch Moreland, he retired the next 10 in order to keep a no-hitter intact through 6.

- Rangers' starter Matt Harrison showed that he wasn't an All Star for nothing and matched Kuroda's 0s through 6.  The only good chance the Yankees got against him was a bases loaded, 2 outs chance in the 3rd that ended with Curtis Granderson flying out.

- Kuroda lost the no-hitter in the 7th on an infield hit by Elvis Andrus that Jayson Nix actually made a nice play on.  From there, Kuroda calmly sat down the next 3 hitters, erased the next hit he gave up in the 8th with his second DP of the night, and killed any hope Texas had left.

- The Yankees only needed to score once and that was all they did in the 7th.  Alexi Ogando relieved Harrison with 1 out and lost an 8-pitch battle with Nick Swisher that ended up a Swish HR to right to make it 2-0.  Just for fun, Teix came up next and hit a solo shot of his own for the insurance.

- I wouldn't have blamed Joe if went with Rafael Soriano for the 9th.  In fact, that's what I wanted him to do.  No sense in playing games against a lineup that can turn a couple of mistakes into a tie game in a 5-pitch span.  But he trusted Kuroda and Hiroki didn't let him down, finishing the Rangers off in order in the 9th for the CG.

- By any measure, statistical, situational, opponential (not a word), or otherwise, that was the best Yankee pitching performance of the 2012 season.

The Fraud Sawx Have Done It

They've done it.  I'm actually impressed that it happened as early as it did.  I expected the downward spiral to take a lot longer than it has since I first started this blog in August of 2009, but it has officially happened on the afternoon of August 14, 2012.  The Bahhston Fraud Sawx have become so pathetic as a professional sports organization that it's almost not even fair or funny to try to make fun of them anymore.  The story that came out today is so perfect, so deliciously enjoyable if you're a Fraud Sawx hater like I am, that there's no need to comment on it.  You just sit back, read, and then laugh.

Derek Says HELLOOOOOOOOOWE!!

(Not an image I expected to see.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

See what I did there?  That's clever shit.  It's gold, Jerry.  Gold!

In all seriousness, I, like many others, was not excited about the prospects of Derek Lowe joining the Yankee pitching staff, even if it was as a temporary bullpen arm to help cover for the loss of CC Sabathia.  There wasn't much in his final days as a Cleveland Indian (10.03 ERA/5.45 FIP, 0.57 K/BB in 23.1 IP) to suggest that he was going to going to be anything more than a batting practice pitcher for the opposing team.  And despite his claims that he had "fixed" what was wrong, without actually seeing it in action it was hard to take that as gospel coming from an older, no-stuff guy like Lowe.

Life Without CC: Part Deux

(I feel ya, CC.  I'm pretty bummed about it too.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

Despite the idiotic argument of "yeah, but he hasn't been pitching like an ace this season" coming from the contingent of mouthbreathing Yankee fans and writers who have nothing better to do than stir the pot, there's no denying that CC Sabathia is the best and most important starting pitcher on the Yankee staff.  When he's healthy and in the rotation, a 4some of CC, Hiroki Kuroda, Ivan Nova, and Phil Hughes can be pretty formidable, even with Nova and Hughes pitching as inconsistently as they are right now.  When he's not, a top 3 of Kuroda, Nova, and Hughes is a bit suspect, especially with Nova and Hughes pitching as inconsistently as they are right now, and the lack of depth on the back end becomes a little more exposed.  That's why it's frustrating to see CC go back on the DL for a second time in less than 2 months after never once landing on it in his first 3 years in pinstripes.

Game 115 Wrap-Up: NYY 8 TEX 2

(Determined face!  Courtesy of The AP)

Well the Yankees finally got to reap the benefits of sending David Phelps back down to the Minors to be stretched out as a starter.  It was about 5-6 weeks too late to really be called a benefit, but that's just details.  Phelps sais he felt like he was good for 75-90 pitches before the game, and with Derek Lowe as his caddy in the bullpen it probably would have been a solid strategic move for Joe to let Phelps throw that many if he was pitching well.  As it turned out, Joe was smart enough to let Phelps pitch as deep as he could AND Lowe ended up pitching big innings well.  Who knew??

Game Notes:

- It was a shaky beginning for Phelps.  Some bad BABIP luck led to a Texas run and a 26-pitch 1st inning for him, and then David Murphy led off the 2nd with a solo HR to right to make it 2-0.  That pitch count was coming in a hurry.

- But then Phelps got his Andy Pettitte on and started picking guys off left and right.  He got Ian Kinsler at first to end the 2nd inning and Elvis Andrus at second with 2 on and just 1 out in the 3rd.

- It was at that point that the offense finally decided to show up.  They loaded the bases with 1 out against Ryan Dempster and then unloaded them on a Nick Swisher grand slam.  A walk and a couple more singles and they loaded them up again to push another run across on a Curtis Granderson sac fly.

- From there, Phelps was golden, working the 4th and 5th effortlessly.  He found the command of his 4-seamer a little better in those innings and really threw his curveball well.  After the start he had, to get through 5 and only give up 2 against that lineup is a job well done.

- The offense didn't stop once Phelps left.  Eric Chavez hit a leadoff solo HR in the 6th, showing that the few days off over the weekend didn't cool his hot streak.  Then a triple-double-single combo by Ichiro Suzuki, Derek Jeter, and Swish brought in 2 more in the 7th to make it 8-2.

- The story of the night was Derek Lowe.  There was reason to be wary of bringing him in with the way he pitched on his way out of Cleveland, but Lowe was money last night.  In 4 scoreless innings of work he got 4 groundball outs and 4 strikeouts, and his sinker and slider were both on.

- Whatever he said he figured out before coming back, it sure looked like Lowe knew what he was talking about last night.  The Yankees didn't need to use another bullpen arm for the rest of the game and cruised to the finish in the series opener.

Thoughts On Ichiro Since The Trade

(Still too early to call on this trade, right?  Courtesy of Dan Levine/EPA)

I thought the trade to bring Ichiro Suzuki to New York was a good one for the Yankees.  Not good in the sense that I thought he was suddenly not going to be 38 years old anymore and revert back to the way he played in his prime.  But it was good in that he gave the Yankee lineup exactly what it was missing on paper with Brett Gardner out, and I did think there was some legitimacy to the idea that he could step his play up a bit being out of baseball purgatory in Seattle and in the middle of a divisional playoff race in New York.  It's been 3 weeks since that trade was made now, so enough time has passed that, even with small sample sizes, I think I can attempt to talk intelligently about Ichiro in New York and what kind of impact he's had.

Game 114 Wrap-Up: TOR 10 NYY 7

(Damn 4th inning'll getcha.  Courtesy of The AP)

The Yankees hadn't swept a 3-game series in Toronto since early 2003, which is almost impossible to believe considering what the Yankees have been and what the Blue Jays have been in the time since, but it's true.  They had a chance to do it yesterday afternoon with Phil Hughes on the mound against J.A. Happ.  It was a matchup that should have heavily favored the Yankees on paper, even with Hughes coming off a short, rough outing in Detroit the last time he pitched.  But as they old saying goes, that's why they play the game.  There was plenty of offense in this one, just not enough from the Yankees' side to complete the sweep, and not nearly enough good pitching from Hughes.

Game Notes:

- Hughes wasted little time in making a mess of things, retiring the first 2 batters in the bottom of the 1st before giving up a 2-out double to Edwin Encarnacion and a follow-up single to somebody named David Cooped to give Toronto a 1-0 lead.

- Derek Jeter led off the game with a single for the Yankees, then Happ retired the next 11 batters he faced in order through the 4th, 12 if you include Jeter on a doube play in the 1st.  This game had one of those "let's just get the hell outta here" feels to it.

- That feel was strengthened greatly in the bottom of the 4th, when the Hughes meltdown commenced.  With the bases loaded and 2 outs, Hughes gave up a 2-run double to Rajai Davis, RBI single to Mike McCoy (???), and a 2-run bomb to Encarnacion to turn it into a 7-0 game.

- Casey McGehee got the Yanks on the board with an RBI double in the top of the 5th, but Ryota Igarashi, in the relieve Hughes after just 4 IP, gave up 3 more runs in the bottom half to balloon the lead to 10-1.

- Give credit to the Yankees for not completely folding their sails here.  They tried to battle back with HRs from Jeter and Robinson Cano in the 6th to make it 10-4, and scored 3 more runs in the 7th to pull within 10-7, but that was as close as they would get.

- Props to Davis for a fantastic catch at the wall on McGehee for the first out of the 7th.  If that goes over the wall, the Yanks really take the momentum there.

- Cody Eppley, Clay Rapada, and Joba Chamberlain finished the game off from the 'pen to at least ensure that Joe wouldn't have to use David Phelps, and the Yanks will have to wait until next time to try for that sweep.

Checking In With The AB4AR Sh*t List

It's been a staple of the sidebar of this site for quite some time now, but it hasn't been officially recognized in over 5 months.  That "it" is the AB4AR Shit List, the running list of things Yankee-related, and sometimes not, that are pissing me off.  It's a representation of my more irrational fan side, and the more immature early days of this site, but it's something that everybody can relate to on a personal level, and even if it's a few days too late now that the Yankees have started to turn things around (today's game aside), why not finish off our weekend with a little bit of hatred, huh?  I know I could certainly stand to blow off a little steam.

The long-updated list after the jump.  Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate!

Middle Innings Unkind To Phil

Here's Phil Hughes' combined line from his last 2 outings, including today's:

8.1 IP, 17 H, 11 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 7 XBH

Here's his combined line from just the 4th and 5th innings in those 2 starts:

2.1 IP, 11 H, 10 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 6 XBH

Without trying to dig too deep into such a small sample, I'll just be broad and say that's pretty fucking terrible.  For 2 consecutive starts now, each and every one of Hughes' issues (inefficiency with pitches, failure to put batters away, predictable pitch selection, poor location) has come to the surface the second time he gets through the order.  That's just not going to get it done, by any measure.  4-inning starts are acceptable in the GCL, not in the Majors.  Clean it up, guy.  That's a piss poor effort.

Game 113 Wrap-Up: NYY 5 TOR 2

(It was a good day for a return to form for Nova.  Courtesy of The AP)

It has not been a good go for Ivan Nova in the month of August.  He had gotten shelled in his last 2 starts before taking the mound in Toronto yesterday, to the point that it was almost universally agreed by bloggers and fans alike that he would benefit from being sent down to Triple-A to work on his issues if the Yankees had a replacement option for him available.  Things have been starting to trend back up for the Yanks after 2 straight wins in Detroit and a beatdown of Toronto on Friday night, so another Nova bombjob outing would have been a step back.  Fortunately, the good Ivan showed up yesterday afternoon.

Game Notes:

- The first time through the order was unkind for the Yankee offense, as they got very little going against former short-time Yankee Aaron Laffey.  Nova matched Laffey with 3 perfect innings of his own.

- The offense broke through in the top of the 4th, and once again it was with 2 outs.  Jayson Nix singled home Mark Teixeira to put the Bombers on the board, and newest Yankee Casey McGehee followed up with a 3-run HR to open the gap to 4-0.

- After a strong first 3, Nova stumbled a bit in a shutdown bottom of the 4th, giving up a pair of singles and a balk to give 1 run back to Toronto.  But he would recover to end the inning on a strikeout and a groundout.

- McGehee got the next scoring run started with a 1-out double in the top of the 6th, and came around to score on a Derek Jeter ground-rule double to make it 5-1.

- Nova was outstanding after the 4th, and pitched all the way into the 8th inning before tiring out and giving up another run.  His slider and curveball were absolutely dominant, and for the first time in a while he was able to keep them down in the zone.  Nova got 15 swinging strikes out of 66, K'd 10, and looked the best he has in over a month.

- D-Rob and Soriano finished things up for the win, and the Yankees have now won 4 games in a row.

- Jeter's RBI double in the 6th gave him 150 hits for the season for the 17th straight year, tying the MLB record for most consecutive 150-hit seasons with Hank Aaron.  Regardless of what anybody thinks about Jeter, that's an impressive record.

BREAKING NEWS: CC Going Back On The DL

Via Chad Jennings, CC Sabathia is going back on the 15-day disabled list after feeling soreness in his left elbow in his last few starts.

Apparently he first felt something after his start in Seattle and took an MRI that showed no structural damage, but the same soreness was there earlier this week against Detroit and was the likely cause for Joe removing him after just 94 pitches in the 7th inning.

Joe said the concern on the team's side was "pretty low-level" and this DL trip is more preventative than anything.  But that's the same thing we heard when Manny Banuelos and Jose Campos first hit the DL in the Minors this season and neither of them made it back.  Any time you're talking about soreness in a pitcher's pitching elbow, there has to be a bit more concern than the Yankees are letting on.  They just can't seem to shake the injury bug this year.

Sabathia was scheduled to start on Monday, so the Yankees need to come up with a replacement plan quickly.  As of right now, no starter has been named for that game in his place.

** UPDATE- 5:42PM- Via Marc Carig, David Phelps will start in CC's spot on Monday, with the newly-signed Derek Lowe backing him up out of the bullpen.  Smart move. **