Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 8/24

As an avid, dedicated beer drinker, there's nothing more disappointing to me than watching bartenders empty the last remnants of a keg into a pitcher and just dump it when they're changing kegs over.  A couple of us from the office went to a bar for lunch today and I watched the bartender fill 4 large plastic pitchers with Sam's Summer and pour it right down the drain.  It broke my heart.  If I was a cat, I would have lost 4 lives just from witnessing that tragedy.  We offered to drink them, I even offered to pay for them, but she was having none of it.  I don't know if there's liability in that or something, but it just seems like a waste of money for the bar and a waste of precious alcohol for me when bartenders do that.  It might be a little skanky from being the ass of the keg, but it's still beer damnit!  Now onto the links!

- On Sunday, Josh Norris of Minor Matters was back with some more anonymous scouting reports on top Yankee prospects, this time guys from High-A Tampa and Double-A Trenton.

- On Monday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog crunched the numbers to show just how good Hiroki Kuroda has been at The Stadium this season.

- Bryan V of The Greedy Pinstripes gave his thoughts on Joba Chamberlain's future and why he sees Joba as a Yankee long-term.

- On Tuesday, Chris Carelli of Yanks Go Yard came up with the best idea for how to react to Derek Jeter's fantastic season, just sit back and enjoy it.

- Rob Steingall of Pinstripe Alley wondered about Michael Pineda and whether he will become the next Carl Pavano-type bust.  I hate that a comparison like that has to be already, but it's not entirely unwarranted.

- On Wednesday, Mike Ashmore of Thunder Thoughts caught up with former top Yankee prospect Dioner Navarro, now with the Reds.

- Greg Corcoran of Bronx Baseball Daily scored an interview with second base prospect David Adams.

- Got a pair from the TYA team.  On Wedneday, Mike Eder investigated Ichiro's slight power surge since joining the Yankees and the possible connections to Kevin Long's coaching and philosophy.

- On Thursday, EJ Fagan made a strong case for the Yankees getting in on any possible future trade action involving Elvis Andrus.  More than any other scenario, that move would make the most sense in replacing Jeter at short.

- Brien Jackson of IIATMS formulated a very intelligent and logical reaction to Skip Bayless' troll-tastic insinuation that Jeter could be juicing.

- Fishjam25 of Yankees Fans Unite looked at how the Yankees' 2014 payroll budget plans could be affected by the really poor 2012 results of their young crop of pitchers.

- Mike Axisa of RAB commented on Phil Hughes' increased use of his changeup in his last 2 starts, something that almost all of us have been calling for for some time now.

- It's not Yankee-related, but if you missed Mike Francesa's show-opening, voice-cracking, screaming-at-the-top-of-his-lungs rant about how horrible the Mets have been, do yourself a favor and check it out.  It's 10 minutes long, but worth every second.  I actually thought he was going to keel over in the booth at one point.

- On Friday, SJK of NoMaas laid out the landscape in Yankeeland right now and tried to pinpoint exactly what is and isn't the cause for their current struggles.

For the Friday Jam I'm going back to an old standby and all-time favorite, Queens of The Stone Age.  It's been a while since I've used them and there's certainly no shortage of awesome QOTSA material to choose from.  Today we're going with "A Song for the Dead," which was never released as a single but is still arguably one of the top 3-5 greatest QOTSA songs ever.  The fact that I missed their Sunday set at PJ20 last year when they played this song makes me sad.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Off Day Thoughts & Afterthoughts

(Hope that elbow is 100%.  Courtesy of The AP)

Yesterday was a much needed off day for the Yankees as they traveled to Cleveland for a weekend series against Harry Doyle and the Indians, whose manager Manny Acta just got the dreaded vote of confidence from upper management.  If there's a team that could help the Yankees get on track, it's probably one like the Indians who are playing poorly enough to get their manager the VOC.  And people, the Yankees need to get on track.

The 10-game division lead has evaporated down to just 2.5 games after Tampa Bay's win last night.  You have to give credit where credit is due, Tampa is playing out of their minds good right now.  Everybody in the rotation is pitching lights out, the offense is better with Evan Longoria and Matt Joyce back, and they're going out and winning game after game while the Yankees struggle to put 3 decent innings together.  This last month is shaping up to be an exciting one, and hopefully the injuries haven't caught up to the Yanks so much that they lose what should have been an insurmountable lead.  But before they get started in Cleveland tonight, I'd like to take this time normally reserved for game recaps to empty the old memory bank.

BREAKING NEWS: Nova To The DL

It's not a HUGE breaking story, I think we could all see this coming, but the Yankees have announced that Nova will be placed on the 15-day DL with what's being called inflammation of his right rotator cuff.

Via Chad Jennings, the plan for now is to treat Nova with medicine and rest, and he will not throw or even pick up a baseball for at least 5 days.  Given the injury problems they've already had this year, and the season-ending nature of Michael Pineda's shoulder injury, it wouldn't surprise me if that "no throw" ban goes much longer than just 5 days.  You can't take risks with a rotator cuff.

Nova going to the DL opens up a roster spot for CC to come off tomorrow, so at least there won't have to be any funky roster moves to accommodate the big fella, but this is still hardly good news for Nova or the Yankees.  After a promising 2011, Nova crashed back to earth this year and now he's dealing with a shoulder injury.  Major bummer.

If any new details come out later, I'll update as needed.

Ivan Nova's Shoulder Injury And Timing

(Courtesy of The AP)

As if the organization hasn't had enough problems with injuries to pitchers this season, that list got lengthened by 1 yesterday when it was reported that Ivan Nova felt something "pull" in his right shoulder during his 6th and final inning of work the other night.  Nova is already scheduled to go back to New York for tests and will miss at least his next start on Monday.  Beyond that it's unknown right now, but I imagine we'll be getting answers to those questions and find out if Nova needs a trip to the DL in the next day or so.  In the context of everything else that's going on with the starting rotation and the team right now, what does this injury to Nova mean?

Game 124 Wrap-Up: CHW 2 NYY 1

(The only guy in the lineup to do something meaningful last night.  Courtesy of The AP)

Facing a young, hard-throwing pitcher with a funky delivery who they'd never faced before wasn't a winning formula on paper for the Yankees.  Chris Sale has nasty stuff and he's proven multiple times this season that when he's on he can be unhittable.  Well he was on last night and there wasn't much the Yankee lineup could do against him.  Phil Hughes, who's been "meh" at best lately, had his work cut out for him last night to keep the Yankees in the game, but he did have a good history against the White Sox going in.  The stage was set for a pitchers' duel, and that's exactly what we got.

Game Notes:

- Hughes was a little uneven in the 1st, when he walked 2 batters, but he righted the ship quickly with some well-located fastballs and a 7-pitch 2nd.

- Hughes got into some more trouble in the 3rd inning when he gave up a leadoff double to Gordon Beckham.  He worked out of it, but not before giving up 1 run on a Kevin Youkilis sac fly.

- As you would expect, Sale started off dominating the Yankee lineup.  Mark Teixeira hit a fastball for a double in the 2nd, Robinson Cano hit a hanging slider for a double in the 4th, and that was all Sale allowed through a scoreless 4.  His stuff was nasty and he was making a lot of guys look bad.

- It took a third time through the lineup for something to click, at least for Derek Jeter, who took Sale deep on a fastball up with 1 out in the 6th to tie the game at 1.  It was Jeter's third straight game with a HR and the fourth straight HR he pulled to left field.  Who was saying something about that trend yesterday??  Hmmmmm...

- Almost on cue, Hughes came back in the bottom half of the 6th with a meatball that Alex Rios hit for a solo HR.  It was wildly disappointing, as Hughes actually pitched very well overall through 7 innings, allowing just the 2 runs and 5 hits.

- Sale was just too much for the Yankee lineup, striking out 13 and only allowing the 3 previously mentioned hits in 7.2 IP before turning it over to the bullpen, who finished things off with ease.

Derek Jeter's Sudden Pull Power

It's been another monster offensive month for Derek Jeter so far in August.  After predictably cooling down in May after his scorching hot April, and dipping down to a .608 OPS in June, Jeter started picking the batting average back up in July with a .346 month.  Since July has changed over to August, Jeter has been on an absolute tear, nearly matching the numbers he posted in April.  Jeter's rocking a .386/.407/.602 line in 92 August plate appearances, good for a .428 wOBA, a .324 season batting average that has him sitting 3rd in the American League, and some MSM whispers about Jeter garnering some votes on MVP ballots at the end of the year for the kind of season he's had.

The MVP talk is a bit of a stretch, but Jeter has been simply fantastic this year.  He's once again carrying the offense through an up-and-down stretch where the Yankees are battling injuries and slumps, and continuing to punch Father Time in the face while he does it.  In the past week I've noticed a new wrinkle to Jeter's game that hasn't been seen much in years.  Believe it or not, Jeter has started hitting the ball to left field with authority again.  Take a look.

Middle Relief Regression Is A Bummer

(They haven't all been "Booooooone" chants this month.  Courtesy of The AP)

Considering the injuries that they've had to deal with, the job the Yankee bullpen has done this season has been nothing short of outstanding.  Rafael Soriano has been even better than he was in his standout 2010 season that inspired the top Yankee brass to offer him his big contract, D-Rob has been quietly awesome again, and there have been big contributions from some very unexpected sources to help soak up middle innings while other guys were out.  It is those middle innings that have become a problem this month, as the 'pen has regressed to a 4.29/3.44/3.55 line in 50.1 combined innings of work.  The problem has been the bulk of the guys pitching in front of D-Rob and Soriano starting to struggle, leaving the pickings slim and risky when Joe has to manage the 6th and 7th innings.  The Yankees didn't make a move to add bullpen depth at the trade deadline, counting on the return of Joba Chamberlain being a stabilizing factor.  That hasn't happened and now the middle relief corps is turning into a weakness at the wrong time of the season.

Game 123 Wrap-Up: CHW 7 NYY 3

(Yeesh.  Courtesy of The AP)

Ivan Nova is a bit of a black hole right now.  He's got a 7.28 ERA in his 8 post-ASB starts, he followed up a great start against Toronto with another stinker the last time out, and if the pitching staff wasn't so decimated by injuries right now, he'd probably be out of a job as a starter.  Nova's problems have been consistent all year- inability to locate his fastball down in the zone, leaving his slider up too often, and just generally making bad pitches in very hittable spots in the zone that hitters pummel- and they were all present again last night against the White Sox.  With the way he's been going these last few months, it's now worth asking if Nova should keep his rotation spot when CC comes back on Friday.

Game Notes:

- Derek Jeter has been on an absolute tear lately and he kept it going right off the bat with the leadoff HR to start the game.  The Yankees loaded the bases behind Jeter and pushed another run across to make it 2-0 in the 1st.

- It wasn't a great start for Nova, but he managed to limit his trouble to just 2 runs through 4 innings.  He was giving up a lot of hard contact, his command wasn't great, but he wasn't getting killed.

- That changed in the 5th inning when Nova loaded the bases on a double, walk, single and then watched everybody trot home after he hung a to Kevin Youklis for a grand slam and a 6-2 White Sox lead.

- Meanwhile, Francisco Liriano gathered himself up and shut the Yankees down through the next innings.  He struck out batters ( on the ) and limited the Yankees to just one baserunner reaching 2nd base.

- The one good thing the Yankee lineup did do was work Liriano, who left after 6 innings and 108 pitches.  Russell Martin welcomed Jesse Crain to the game with a HR to lead off the top of the 7th, but the top of the order behind him did nothing to keep the rally going and it stayed 6-3.

- With a pretty taxed bullpen out there, Joe went to Derek Lowe to soak up the late innings.  Lowe got dinked and dunked on some soft hits and gave up a run in the 8th, but he still looked OK out there.  OK wasn't good enough last night and the Yankees had their second straight loss.

Any Chance Of Overworking Hiroki?

As I was enjoying the latest pitching gem from Hiroki Kuroda's 2012 Greatest Hits on Sunday night, something the ESPN broadcast team commented on piqued my interest, and not in the normal way where I immediately run to the computer to bash them for their idiocy. In their praise of Kuroda, they made multiple references to his age (37) while discussing the durability he's shown in his career and rattling off the more noteworthy numbers speaking to both his durability and dominance this season. Francona and Hershiser then went on to discuss the option of resting Kuroda down the stretch to keep him and his 37-year-old body as fresh as possible for the postseason. That got me thinking, with the load he's had to shoulder already this season, and the injuries that have befallen the other 30-and-over Yankees' starters, is there any chance of Kuroda being overworked and being at risk of some drop-off in the playoffs?

Game 122 Wrap-Up: CHW 9 NYY 6

(High fives all around for this guy.  Courtesy of The AP)

- Derek Jeter was a boss again (4-5, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI) and carried the offense.

- Mark Teixeira rejoined the lineup and had a couple hits and a couple ribbies.

- Freddy Garcia shat the bed hard in the 5th inning after a really good first 4.

- The bullpen got their collective heads kicked in in the later innings.

- I got really shitfaced at the Brewers-Cubs game last night and didn't wake up early enough to recap and write about the game.

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.