More Injury News! Ty Hensley Done For The Year

It's been a a day or two since we've had any bad injury news.  Luckily VP of Baseball Ops Mark Newman, by way of Chad Jennings, was there to provide that much needed bad news to keep everything normal.

Remember Ty Hensley's recent hip surgery?  Remember how he was originally expected to miss 3 months?  Yeah, you can forget about that.  According to Newman, the team is now viewing "Spring Training" as his targeted comeback date.  As in, "next year."

That makes tons of big picture sense.  Hensley is still young, still very raw, and there's no need to push a comeback timetable for a player like him who wasn't going to to throw a lot of innings this season anyway.  Better to give him time to heal, give him another offseason to work out and prep, and see how he comes back in 2014.  At the same time, between Hensley and ManBan, the Yanks will have their top upper and lower level pitching prospects coming off major injuries and missed seasons next year.  That's not good.

Game 32 Wrap-Up: NYY 3 COL 2

(A well-earned high five.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

After going down quieter than could normally be on Tuesday, the Bombers were back after it last night in the Rocky Mountain air, and in a fashion that's become quite commonplace for this group they managed to squeak out another close win to knot up the series.  They jumped out to a very early lead, lost it almost immediately, then scratched for it back in the 9th on a combination of bold managerial calls, good luck, and hustle.  Scrappy doesn't even begin to define it.

Game Notes:

- That early lead came in the top of the 1st, when Vernon Wells deposited a 3-2 fastball into the left field seats for a 2-run homer.  He hit it like he knew it was coming.

- Yankee starter David Phelps didn't wait long to give that lead back, making a similar mistake to Todd Helton with 1 on and 1 out in the bottom of the 2nd.  3-1 fastball down Broadway, yard shot, 2-2 game.

- Phelps was very good after that hiccup, allowing just 1 more hit and no runs over the next 4 innings.  He gave up just the 2 in 6 IP with 1 walk and 4 Ks.  He mixed pitches well and had a decent curveball and good change.

- The Yankee lineup didn't do much after Wells' HR either.  2 singles and a walk over the next 7 innings, with no runs to show for it.  They headed into the late innings with that short bench working against them, and that's when Joe went to work.

- After an infield single and 2 walks to load the bases with 1 out in the 9th, Joe went to Travis Hafner for Chris Nelson knowing he didn't have any other infielders to use.  He played to win the game there and Hafner didn't come through.  But Joe stick with it, hitting Brennan Boesch for the pitcher and Boesch came through by beating out an infield single to score the go-ahead run.

- That left Wells to play third in the bottom of the 9th, which he actually did splendidly:

(Check the range!  Courtesy of RAB)

The combo of Preston Claiborne, D-Rob, and Mo worked 3 scoreless innings to secure the win.

What Nova Needs To Work On

(Courtesy of Reuters)

With his 15-day DL stint winding down and the make-up doubleheader against Cleveland scheduled for Monday, the prevailing thought is that Ivan Nova will be activated to pitch one of those games.  Joe didn't fully commit to it before last night's game, acknowledging that the team would first want to make sure Nova came through today's ExST outing without issue before making the decision.  Assuming the reports from that outing all come back positive, however, the combination of timing and situation makes too much sense for it not to happen.

Nova wasn't pitching particularly well prior to hitting the DL.  Joe's short leash was a clear indication that he had lost confidence in Nova, and rumblings had already started about the security of Ivan's rotation spot.  A return to pitch in a situation of need like a doubleheader is not a guarantee that Nova will get his rotation spot back, especially if he pitches poorly, but assuming he will be back and David Phelps is heading back to the bullpen here's what Nova needs to do to nail down that spot.

Where Was Brett Gardner Last Night?

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

To not see Brett Gardner's name included in last night's lineup was more than a bit surprising.  There hadn't been any reports of him being sick or injured, the team was coming off a scheduled off-day for travel and had actually had 2 scheduled off-days in the last 5 calendar days, they were playing in the notoriously offense-friendly Coors Field, and Gardner has been the best defensive player and one of the best all-around players on the team so far this season.  Yet there he was, plopped on the bench while Joe elected to send arguably the weakest lineup of the season out there to play, not score, and lose.

Joe's explanation for this decision was, as you'd expect, matchups.  The Yankees were facing another left-handed starter last night in Jorge De La Rosa, and Joe wanted to put another righty bat in the lineup.  Unfortunately, the only available righty bat on the bench is Ben Francisco and that's where the decision making train starts to come off the tracks of logic.

Game 31 Wrap-Up: COL 2 NYY 0

("Little help here, guys?"  Courtesy of the AP)

Well this'll be something, huh?  A battered Yanks team kicked off an 8 game/7 day road trip in Colorado last night with one of the saddest lineups they've put on the field to date.  No Gardner, no Hafner, Nix batting 2nd, Francisco 5th, Nelson 7th, and Hiroki Kuroda hitting 9th and pitching as per the woefully outdated NL rules.  If there was a game setting the Yanks up for a poor stretch of games it was last night, and they didn't disappoint (or did they?).  0 runs and just 4 hits against Colorado pitching in what was one of the lamest 2-run games you'll ever see.

Game Notes:

- For as much as he talked about not liking pitching at Coors Field, Kuroda looked good early.  He was efficient, strong with his 4-seamer, and needed just 58 pitches to get through 4 scoreless.

- His offense wasn't doing much to help him through those innings.  Jayson Nix was stranded at second in the top of the 1st, then stranded Ichiro at third in the 3rd after Ichiro stole 2 bases.  The Yanks tried to create chances by stealing bases, but there weren't many and they didn't capitalize on any of them.

- Kuroda made one mistake on the night and one was all it took to lose the game.  With a runner on first and 2 outs in the 6th, he threw a 3-2 fastball right down the middle to Carlos Gonzalez.  Gonzalez hit it for a 2-run HR and that was the ballgame.

- If you're looking for small victories, Shawn Kelley managed to not give up a home run in his 1 inning of relief work behind Kuroda in the 8th.

Bob Klapisch Should Probably Stop Talking

("Hey, Alex, can you talk more about what it's like to be a poopyhead?"  Courtesy of the AP)

Lot going on in Yankeeland right now.  They're exceeding expectations early despite non-stop injury problems, and traveling out to Colorado to play a series in a National League park with what could be a severely shortened roster.  They've got 2 pitches expected to carry the load struggling with velocity and command problems, a pitcher most weren't sure what to expect from pitching lights out, and an early AL MVP candidate in Robbie Cano.  No shortage of legitimate, relevant topics to write about with respect to this team right now, which can mean only one thing... It's time for some good old-fashioned A-Rod trolling!!!!

Alex Rodriguez was part of the parade of injured rehabees who made the trek to the team's Tampa complex yesterday, and of course that got every MSM beat writer aflutter as their A-Rodars started beeping out of control.  Bob Klapisch of the Bergen Record took it a step further with a truly asinine article about the Yankees being better off without A-Rod.  I know I shouldn't link to this, because this type of attention and cheap pageviews is exactly what Klap is going for, but I can't help it.  Something this stupid needs to be given its moment to be recognized for its stupidity and then torn apart for it.

Cervelli Going To Be Out Longer Than Six Weeks

It doesn't come as much of a surprise, given how quickly the injury was diagnosed and the fact that he was recently moved to the 60-day DL, but Francisco Cervelli is not going to be back in 6 weeks as originally estimated.

Anthony McCarron is down in Tampa covering the massive Major League DL rehab effort ramping up there this week and he spoke to Cervelli earlier today.  According to Frankie, he's 3 weeks away from starting hand strengthening exercises and 5 away from starting baseball activities again.  It goes without saying that a catcher recovering from a broken throwing hand is going to need more than 1 week of rehab games to get back into full game shape, so expect Cervelli to be out of action until early July.

This news is another blow to a roster already stretched to the point of breaking.  They could be just 23 guys strong tonight with Nunez and D-Rob still nursing smaller dings, 22.5 if you factor in Travis Hafner's lack of a defensive position.  The obvious downside to this is more Chris Stewart in the lineup; the only upside is a longer opportunity to get a look at Austin Romine.

Prospect Stock Up & Stock Down: April 2013

(Well done, Mr. Murphy.  Courtesy of Michael Mancuso/The Times)

Slight change to the AB4AR in-season prospect coverage format this year.  There are already a ton of bigger blogs doing regular prospect coverage, so the idea of doing a full monthly recap really doesn't make a lot of sense.  By the time I get to it, y'all already know who's been playing well and who hasn't.  Instead, this year I'll close every month with just a quick hit on a prospect at each level who's performing well and could be in line for a promotion and one who's not.  Pretty simple, pretty standard, and yet still a pretty effective way to get an idea of what's going on in the system if you aren't a regular prospect watcher/hugger.

So without further ado, here are the "stock up/stock down" prospects for the first month of the season.

A Small Victory For Logic- C-Grand Might Not Play Center When He Returns

(Courtesy of US Presswire)

There was a time, long ago after the 2012 season had ended, when the idea first came up of swapping Curtis Granderson and Brett Gardner in the outfield this season.  Curtis' defense had drifted in liability territory over the past few seasons while Gardner consistently churned out some of the best defensive metrics in baseball, and it only made sense to make the move to a better defensive outfield alignment playing in YS3.  The plan, as far as we knew it, was beginning to take place early in spring camp until C-Grand stepped in for his first AB and promptly got his arm broken by an errant J.A. Happ fastball.

Once the extent of the injury was known, Cash came out and all but declared that plan dead.  This past weekend, however, there were implications that the plan could once again be changing, more than just implications actually.  According to Joe's pregame presser yesterday, the idea of keeping Gardner in center field and playing Granderson somewhere else (probably left) is still on the table and something the Yankees and C-Grand are working towards right now as part of his rehab in Tampa.  The natural reaction to this news?  Celebration.

Continued Injury Problems Stretching The Yanks Thin

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

After a 13-game stretch against sub-.500 opponents, the Yanks got a step up in competition this past weekend when the Oakland A's came to town and took 2 out of 3.  It was a close, competitive series in which the Yanks showed flashes of all the things that have made them successful thus far: good starting pitching, timely hitting, power, and solid defense.  But unlike games against Houston or Toronto, those flashes weren't enough to get the job done in two close games and weren't enough to overcome the continued erosion of the 25-man roster due to injuries.  In the same way this past weekend's series showed us that the Yankees still have steps to take this season, it also showed us how difficult those steps can be when your team is this beat up.

Cutter Problems Killing Andy Lately

(Courtesy of the AP)

After allowing just 7 ER in his first 4 starts of the season, and going at least 6 innings in each of those starts, Andy Pettitte has struggled mightily in his last 2 outings, the second of which came yesterday against Oakland.  In 9.1 IP over both starts, Pettitte has allowed 10 ER on 14 H and 5 BB, with just 5 K to show for his effort.  According to Andy, his cutter has been the source of his struggles in the last week.  He just hasn't had any kind of control over the pitch let alone command, and a quick look at the pitch location plot is proof of that:

Game 30 Wrap-Up: OAK 5 NYY 4

(Courtesy of the AP)

Andy Pettitte was not very good in his last start, which came on Austin Romine's first start of the season as the new backup catcher.  As a result, Chris Stewart got the start behind the dish for Andy's start today but it was more about Andy finding his command.  He didn't have much of it in his last start, especially on his cutter, and when you're an older pitcher like Andy who no longer has much velocity to speak of, that command is even more critical.  He didn't have it again today and really struggled to perform on the mound as the Yanks dropped a close one and the series against Oakland.

Game Notes:

- Andy flirted with disaster early, loading the bases in the 1st and giving up a leadoff double in the 2nd, and he finally gave up a run in the 3rd after a leadoff walk came around to score on a Robinson Cano error.

- Cano made up for it in the bottom of the 3rd by singling home Brett Gardner with 2 outs to tie the game, but Andy gave it right back on a leadoff HR the next inning.  He was really struggling with his fastball command and was throwing way more 4-seamers than cutters, which is never a good sign for him.

- The struggles continued in the top of the 5th, when Pettitte walked his fourth batter of the day and followed that up by giving up a 2-run HR to Yoenis Cespedes.  He made it through the inning, but he was at 100 pitches and had not pitched well at all.

- Oakland starter Dan Straily was much more efficient than Pettitte, needing just 70 pitches to limit the Yanks to 1 run through 5.  He got into trouble with 1 out in the 6th and got pulled, and the Yanks pounced on Jerry Blevins for 3 runs on an Ichiro RBI double and a Lyle Overbay 2-run single to tie the game at 4.

- Preston Claiborne made his MLB debut and pitched a solid 2 scoreless innings, and without D-Rob it was up to Boone Logan to handle the 8th.  He didn't, giving up a solo HR to Josh Donaldson.

- The Yanks had a great chance to get that run back in the bottom half, with 2 on and 1 out after singles by Travis Hafner and Ichiro, but unlike the 6th Overbay couldn't come through with another big hit.

- Got another chance with 2 on/2 out in the 9th before Grant Balfour struck out Vernon Wells to end the series.

Phil Phinally Starting To Phigure It Out?

(Courtesy of the AP)

Phil Hughes last night- 8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K

Phil Hughes last 4 starts- 28 IP, 23 H, 6 ER, 5 BB, 30 K

He's commanded his fastball, he's mixed his offspeed stuff well, and he's really starting to find the handle on The Slutter.  Hughes has lowered his ERA from 10.29 to 3.60 in those last 4 starts and he's been the best pitcher in the rotation in that time period.  Could this finally be Phil putting it all together and becoming the pitcher we all hoped he would be?

Game 28 Wrap-Up: OAK 2 NYY 0

(Courtesy of the AP)

If you're basing your assessment purely on W-L record, you could say the Yankees have gotten fat against inferior competition in the past week plus.  10 of their last 13 games were against the Blue Jays and Astros, both AL bottom feeders, and they won 8 of those 10 games.  They were set to face a bit stiffer challenge this weekend with the Oakland A's coming to town and they kicked off the series last night with CC Sabathia on the mound.  As he's done multiple times already this season, CC pitched good but not great and he got out-dueled by Oakland starter A.J. Griffin.

Game Notes:

- Trouble right from the start for CC, who gave up a leadoff HR on his first pitch of the game, an 89 MPH 4-seamer, to Adam Rosales.  He would limit the damage to just that 1 run, but it turned out to be all Oakland would need.

- Griffin didn't allow much through 5 innings.  He worked out of a second and third and 2 outs jam in the 2nd and basically cruised through the other innings, mixing his fastball, curveball, and change and generating a lot of weak contact.

- CC had to battle through his 6 innings, and wasn't nearly as efficient as he is when he's really on his game.  He gave up another run in the 6th on a leadoff walk and a pair of singles and finished the night with 10 baserunners allowed and 118 pitches thrown in just 6 innings.

- Kudos to Joe for making the right pinch hitting call this time, going with Brennan Boesch for Chris Stewart with a runner at second and 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th.  Boesch K'd, but it was the right move to make.

- Yanks went down quietly in the final 3 frames.  Adam Warren relieved CC and pitched 3 scoreless innings, so nice job by him.  Close game on the scoreboard, but never one the Yanks really got close to tying.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 5/3/13

So my buddy turned 30 yesterday and he's having a big rager of a house party tomorrow to truly celebrate the milestone.  I'm still in my prime, got a few more years before I cross that threshold into oldness, but goddamn do I not want to turn 30.  I really should have planned things out better and worked a regular trip or two into Neverland every year to stay in that 24-26 range because 30 just seems like it's going to be a drag.  And no offense to any of you dear readers who may already be 30 and older.  I'm sure you're all wonderful people who live wonderful lives.  I, on the other hand, am not.  I fell asleep right at the start of the Warriors-Nuggets game last night, around 9:30 PM, and woke up right as the game ended.  That's terrible.  Who does that?  By the time I'm 30 I might be in bed before the "Seinfeld" re-runs come on.  That'll be a tragic day.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits analyzed Vernon Wells' hot start to see how real it was and how likely it was to continue.

- On Tuesday, Mike Axisa of RAB searched for signs of an offensive breakout from Eduardo Nunez, who's been almost invisible with the bat thus far.

- William Juliano of The Captain's Blog pointed out the Yankees' weakness in hitting to the opposite field.  Not surprising considering the guys they signed and the lack of Jeter in the lineup, but something worth keeping an eye on.

- On Wednesday, Jack Moore of FanGraphs investigated the impact that hitting in the new Yankee Stadium is having on Travis Hafner's early-season resurgence.

- Daniel Burch of The Greedy Pinstripes mused on the idea of trading for Brian McCann, who's scheduled to  return from the DL soon.  He'd be an offensive upgrade at catcher, but I wouldn't want to give up much for him.

- Martin Riggs of NoMaas broke down the numbers from Phil Hughes' recent stretch of good starts to see what the causes were and if he can continue this trend of success.

- Greg Corcoran of Bronx Baseball Daily interviewed top prospect Slade Heathcott, and talked to him about a wide variety of topics.  Definite must-read if you're a Heathcott fan.

- On Thursday, Mason Stark of Pinstriped Bible examined the Yankees' April to see just how much luck and skill went into that 16-10 record.

- Hunter Farman of Yanks Go Yard offered up 3 predictions for the month of May.  I have to say, all 3 of them are pretty ballsy predictions.

- William Tasker of IIATMS/TYA looked back at some of Bobby Murcer's best WPA games in history, a fitting topic for Murcer since he's the all-time Yankee leader in 1-game WPA scores over .800.

- El duque of It Is High... confessed his baseball crush on Lyle Overbay, knowing that eventually he will have to say goodbye.  I feel ya, Duke, I feel ya.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud compiled some of Cash's thoughts on various players, both injured and healthy, from yesterday's conference call.

- SG of RLYW showed the team's offensive production by position, and where they rank in the AL, to give an idea of where they're hurting the most.

We're going acoustic for the Friday Jam today, and we're going with another cover.  Nirvana's version of "Plateau" from their "MTV Unplugged" performance is my personal favorite cover of theirs, and it's a good tune to relax to tonight in preparation for tomorrow's rager.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.  Don't be surprised if all you get is a game recap here tomorrow morning.

Lyle Overbay Is Doing A Pretty Good Mark Teixeira Impression

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

As was the case with most of the non-Hafner players the Yankees added late in spring camp, the feelings about Lyle Overbay were filled more with trepidation and worry than confidence and hope.  Overbay had been cut by Boston following a light-hitting Spring Training of his own, and he hadn't really hit with any kind of authority since 2009.  He was brought in almost solely because of his defensive skills, skills which he has showed off in his first month in pinstripes.  All defensive metrics rate him positively so far this season, and his .995 fielding percentage at first base has been right on par with what Mark Teixeira would have provided had he been healthy.

What Overbay was not expected to do was replicate Teix's offensive production, and it's what he's managed to do with the bat thus far that's made him another surprisingly smart and positive pick up by the Yanks.  That has a lot to do with the fact that Teix sucks in April, but if we're being honest here I think we can agree that, for at least the month of April, the Yankees really haven't lost much going from Teix to Overbay.

Preston Claiborne, Come On Down...

(Courtesy of the AP)

You're the next contestant on "Unheralded Yankee Minor League Relief Pitcher Breaks Into to The Show."  After Joba Chamberlain was put on the DL yesterday, the buzz was that Mark Montgomery would get the call up to take his place in the bullpen, buzz that only grew when Cash name dropped him among others yesterday afternoon.  One of those others was Preston Claiborne, and based on a round of tweets from teammates this morning it's all but confirmed that Claiborne is going to be the one to get that call.

Claiborne has been a steady fixture in the Yankee system since being drafted in 2010, but comes with none of the hype and fanfare of someone like Montgomery or Joba back in '07.  If you aren't familiar with Claiborne and his body of work, feel free to get brought up to speed after the jump.

Positive Injury News Roundup

Joba and D-Rob's ailments put a little damper on things yesterday, and added to the already too long list of injured regulars.  As new guys continue to get acted to the DL, however, the group of players already there continue to work their way back to the playing field and the reports on almost all of them have been very positive in the last day or so.  In case you missed any of it, here's your quick update.

- Curtis Granderson has been taking BP at the team's complex in Tampa, and Joe confirmed during his pregame presser on Wednesday that Curtis actually got 2 at-bats in an ExST game.  He still needs a full ST's worth of ABs to get ready, but he's progressing nicely.

- Mark Teixeira has started taking BP as well.  It was first reported that he was still limited to dry swings on Wednesday, but Teix himself confirmed that he hit in the cage on Wednesday afternoon.  Good news.

- Michael Pineda pitched in an ExST game yesterday, and Cash told reporters on a conference call that Pineda was sitting mid-90s with his fastball and touched 95 at one point.  For as early as he is in his actual in-game rehab work, this is incredibly encouraging to hear.

- Last but not least, everybody's favorite scapegoat, Alex Rodriguez, was cleared to resume full baseball activities yesterday and he will travel to the team complex next Monday to begin said activities.  A-Rod had begun running full speed this week, so he appears to be right on track for his July return.

Nothing on Derek Jeter, which is probably a good thing given his setback.  With the recent round of DL additions, it's good to know that there aren't any problems with this group of walking wounded.

Joba To The 15-Day DL With An Oblique Strain

Throw another log on the injury fire, folks, 'cause this DL party ain't over yet!

The Yankees announced earlier today that Joba Chamberlain has been put on the DL with a strained right oblique.  According to Cash, he felt something when he was warming up on Tuesday night and got an MRI this morning that showed the strain.  No replacement for Joba has been announced yet, although Cash did name drop Mark Montgomery, Sam Demel, and Preston Claiborne as three possibilities.  The strain is reportedly just a "mild" one, but as we saw with D-Rob last year, even a mild oblique strain can take a while to fully heal.

Oh, and speaking of D-Rob, he's being called day-to-day right now with a left hamstring issue suffered when he caught a spike and landed awkwardly throwing his pitch last night.  No DL needed for him, but I doubt he'll be available for the next few games.  Gonna need some length out of the starters this weekend.

AB4AR "Best Of The Month" Awards: April 2013

There's no other way to describe the Yankees' opening month of the 2013 season than to call it a rousing success.  Despite missing almost the entirety of the middle of their batting order and their Hall of Fame starting shortstop, they finished with a 16-10 record and found themselves 2nd in what was supposed to be a very competitive AL East.  There were a bounty of big moments and great performances in April, but it wasn't all that hard to pick out the biggest and the best.  After the jump, check out the award winners for the April 2013 AB4AR "Best of the Month" awards.

Yanks Acquire IF Chris Nelson From Colorado

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

This story came out yesterday, but in case you missed it and AB4AR is your number one source of Yankee news, here's the deal.  The Yankees acquired utility infielder Chris Nelson from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for either cash or a PTBNL yesterday.  Nelson, 28, is a former top prospect who had been on the Yankees' radar before.  The present situation in the infield made another righty utility guy a necessity, and that's what Nelson will be brought in to be for at least the next couple weeks.

Mike Eder of IIATMS/TYA broke down Nelson's game in great detail on Monday, but the long and short of it is Nelson is an OK hitter at best (.279/.322/.416 career slash in 664 PA) and a below-average fielder at best.  As is the standard with most former Rockies, Nelson has a pretty big home/road split and defensive metrics have never rated him positively as a shortstop, second, or third baseman.  It is that positional versatility and right-handedness that made this trade happen more than anything Nelson has actually done.  With Youkilis on the DL and Nix and Nunez not doing much, the Yankees are painfully thin on the infield right now and even thinner at right-handed bench bats.  They called up Corban Joseph initially to replace Youkilis, but his lack of skill at third forced the Yanks to look elsewhere.

As far as roster moves go, Francisco Cervelli was put on the 60-day DL to open up a 40-man roster spot, and it would make sense for CoJo to get sent back down to SWB so he can continue to play every day and get ABs.  It's not a flashy move, or one that will return too many dividends.  It's simply the Yanks putting a bandage on their infield wound for the time being.

Game 27 Wrap-Up: NYY 5 HOU 4

(Courtesy of the AP)

I'll say one thing about this series, it was a lot more hard fought than I expected it to be.  After getting walloped on Monday and holding onto a relatively close win on Tuesday, the Yankees came into last night's series finale against Houston with a chance to salvage a series victory.  It looked like it was going to be a breeze out of the gate as they went up 4-0 early, but give Houston the credit it's due.  They fought back, made the game close again, and made the Yankees earn their victory.

Game Notes:

- Ichiro Suzuki, leading off for Brett Gardner again, hit a triple to start things in the bottom of the 1st and scored on Jayson Nix's follow-up RBI single.  Erik Bedard walked the bases loaded in the 2nd and the Yanks got another run out of that.

- After playing the "manufacturing" and "patience" cards in the first 2 innings, New York went back to the power in the 3rd.  Robinson Cano and Ben Francisco each hit solo HR to make it 4-0 and it was looking ugly.

- Yanks' starter David Phelps cruised through the first 3 innings with no runs and 7 outs on the ground, but damn near lost it in the top of the 4th after giving up 3 straight hits and 2 HBPs.  Phelps would get it together to get out of the frame, but not before Houston had tied the game at 4.

- Eduardo Nunez led off the bottom of the 6th with a double, and in another one of those weird, "scrappy" plays came around to score on an inning-ending DP thanks to Lyle Overbay's heads-up baserunning to get caught in a rundown long enough to allow Nunez to cross the plate.

- Once they had the lead, the bullpen didn't let it go.  Boone Logan closed out the 6th and handled the 7th, and D-Rob and Mo needed a combined 19 pitches to close the 8th and 9th out in order.

Who's To Blame For The Youkilis Screw-Up?

(Who did this you??  Who hurt you???  Courtesy of USATSI)

We're never going to find out, and I ask the question knowing full well that it really doesn't matter in the long run.  What matters is that Kevin Youkilis get 100% healthy and not come back to play until his back is 100% healthy.  But just out of sheer, morbid curiosity I'd like to know what went on behind the scenes on Friday/Saturday that led to Youkilis' name being put on the lineup card so he could go out there and hurt himself again.  Cash's statement on the matter yesterday was pretty damning, about as clear-cut an instance of people getting thrown under the bus as I've seen in some time, and I work at a company that specializes in that.  It's pretty out of character for Cash to be that blunt and sell his own people down the river like that, so I'd be very interested in knowing what happened to inspire his comments.

Close Game Success Helping Drive Yanks' Strong Start

After all the hand wringing many of us did prior to the start of the season, the Yankees came out and surprised us with a 16-10 start in the month of April.  They've gotten good starting pitching, equally good work from their late-inning bullpen core, an MVP-caliber performance from Robbie Cano, and a tremendous team offensive effort driven by the overachievement of many of the new scrap heap pick-ups.  A big part of what has made all of this add up to the 16-10 start is the team's outstanding performance in close games.  After being a thorn in the side of writers and fans alike for what seems like every year since the World Series of '09, this year's team has really gotten the job done in that department.

Game 26 Wrap-Up: NYY 7 HOU 4

(PRONK!!!  Courtesy of Getty Images)

As my fellow IIATMS/TYA writer Stacey Gotsulias said yesterday, there was no reason to panic after Monday night's no-show against the Astros.  It was one of those nights where everybody was off their game and it happened to be on a night where the Yanks faced an inferior opponent.  It's not like it's never happened before and it's not like it won't happen again this season.  You chalk it up as a bad night and move on to the next game, which is exactly what the Bombers did last night, waking up the bats and getting another strong pitching performance from Hiroki Kuroda to even this series at 1.

Game Notes:

- Things didn't look so hot for Hirok early, as he struggled with his command and put 7 runners on base in the first 3 innings, 4 of them via walk.  He just didn't have the feel for his sinker and the Houston hitters weren't chasing it.

- His offense gave him some cushion to work with, plating 2 runs in the first 3 innings.  Brett Gardner led off the bottom of the 1st with a walk and came around to score on a Travis Hafner single, and Ichiro did the same after reaching base on a wild pitch to start the 3rd.

- Kuroda started to find it in the 4th and began working his slider more.  He allowed only 1 baserunner, who was caught stealing by THE Chris Stewart, through the next 4 innings, striking out 4 and recording all but 2 of the 12 outs in the infield.

- The lineup kept tacking on runs in the 5th and they would need them when D-Rob had a little hiccup in the 8th and gave up a 2-run HR to make it a 4-2 game.  Hate it when those cutters don't cut.

- Not to be denied, the offense came right back out in the bottom half and put up 3 more runs of their own.  Lyle Overbay hit a leadoff  HR, his 4th of the season, TCS singled home a run, and Travis Hafner drove in his third run of the game.

- Shawn Kelley made a mess of things in the 9th by giving up 2 more runs, and Joe had to go to Mo for the 1-out save.  Not a great night for the 'pen, but Mo is 10-10 on the year and he held down the victory.