Game 137 Wrap-Up: NYY 9 CHW 1

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

Now that's how you're supposed to play against the Chicago White Sox.  The last time the Yankees faced them, things didn't go so smoothly.  That wasn't case yesterday, weather notwithstanding, as the Yankees made quick work of an inferior opponent and did it without Phil Hughes gumming up the works.  Hughes, pushed back from his originally scheduled Sunday start, didn't last long in the game thanks to rain.  The bullpen crew behind him and a big 4th inning made it easy going for the Bombers in yesterday's series opener.

Game Notes:

- Hughes' outing lasted all of 1.1 innings.  He worked a scoreless top of the 1st, got 1 out in the 2nd, and then the rains came.  A Derek Jeter RBI single in the bottom of the 1st got him the lead, but he wasn't around long enough to get the win.

- The rains came and knocked both Hughes and Jose Quintana out.  David Huff replaced Phil and did another very good job in long relief.  He worked 5.2 innings of 1-run ball to save the bullpen aces from having to work and did enough to continue to debate over whether or not he should take Hughes' spot in the rotation.

- Things didn't work out so well for Chicago reliever Dylan Axelrod, who got absolutely trucksticked in the 8-run bottom of the 4th.  The inning started with 7 straight Yankees reaching base, including a 2-run Austin Romine single, and when the dust cleared the rout was on.  Chicago helped their own demise with some shoddy defense, and the Yankees didn't waste the extra outs.

- The White Sox got their lone run on a Paul Konerko solo HR in the top of the 7th, the only blemish on Huff's ledger.

- The benches got emptied in the late innings, and that gave everyone their first look at Cesar Cabral, who struck out 2 in a scoreless top of the 8th.  That fastball-slider combo is legit.

- It also gave J.R. Murphy an unexpected first career Major League at-bat in the bottom half of the 8th, and in a cool career moment for him he singled after working a 3-1 count.  Definitely no prospect in the entire system who did more to improve his stock this year than Murphy.

Atta Boy, Phil...

Hey, who was that out there today in the Phil Hughes jersey?  Was that him?  Throwing a scoreless outing?  With no walks??

Holy hell, that WAS Phil Hughes!  Way to be, Phil.  That's how you build free agent value.

Who Would You Rather Have In A 1-Run Game?

Joba Chamberlain w/ runners on base this season: 5.07 FIP, .345 wOBA against
David Robertson w/ runners on base this season: 2.33 FIP, .212 wOBA against

Joba w/ RISP: 5.38 FIP, .386 wOBA against
D-Rob w/ RISP: 1.57 FIP, .173 wOBA against

Joba in high leverage spots: 6.41 FIP/.397 wOBA in 2.2 IP
D-Rob in high leverage spots: 2.13 FIP/.190 wOBA in 17.2 IP

I love ya, Joe.  But I don't know what the hell you were thinking in the 7th yesterday.  There's no justification for bringing Joba into any close game anymore.  Not when every win counts.

Game 136 Wrap-Up: BAL 7 NYY 3

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

A sweep of the Orioles would have been a sweet way to end last week.  The Yankees climbed over them in the standings with their Saturday win, putting no teams between them and the final Wild Card spot.  They had a month to play, 4 games to make up on the Oakland A's, and Andy Pettitte on the mound yesterday looking to keep his good vibes going and finish off the sweep.  Andy did his job, at least the best version of his job he can do as a pitcher in his 40s, but an absolute and complete meltdown by the bullpen snatched defeat from what looked like the sure jaws of victory.

Game Notes:

- Pettitte had to work around a few singles here and there, including 2 to start the top of the 3rd.  He had his slider working pretty well though, and his 4-seamer velocity was sitting low 90s.  He was able to retire the 1-2-3 hitters in order to keep the game scoreless in the 3rd and through the first 4 innings.

- The lineup gave him his first bit of support in the top of the 3rd, when Brett Gardner led off with a double and came home on an Alfonso Soriano single.

- They chipped in even more in the next inning when a pair of walks sandwiched around an Eduardo Nunez double loaded the bases.  Gardner walked to force in another run and Derek Jeter plated one with a sac fly to make it 3-0 against Wei-Yin Chen.

- Pettitte worked briskly through the 5th and 6th, and started the 7th at 86 pitches.  He only needed 7 to put 2 men on base with no outs, and that was the end of his day and his chance to get the victory.

- Here's how it went after Andy left: Shawn Kelley in, RBI single, 3-run homer.  Boone Logan in, single, walk.  Joba Chamberlain in (WHYYYYYYY??!?!?!?!?!), pop out, 3-run homer.  In the span of 6 batters and 20 pitches, the game turned from a 3-0 lead to a 7-3 deficit.  Disgusting performance by all 3 involved and brutal decision by Joe to go to Joba in that spot instead of D-Rob.  Guess Preston Claiborne shouldn't have been sent down after all, eh?

- The Yankees stopped scoring runs after Chen left the game.  Nunez singled to lead off the 6th and they put 2 on in the 8th, but that was as close as they got to scoring anymore.  Tough way to lose.

Jeter's First Week Back Not Pretty

(Courtesy of Texas Leaguers)

That's Derek Jeter's spray chart since returning to action on Monday.  Needless to say, it doesn't look good.  Jeter has just 3 hits in 21 plate appearances this week, with 5 strikeouts and 3 GIDPs, and only 1 went for extra bases.  That was a line drive double down the right field line, the only real solid contact Jeter has made in his 5 games back.  Of all the other balls he's put in play, all except 1 have been ground balls.  Even his 2 singles up the middle were on groundballs, and that extreme GB split is indicative of Jeter still not being anywhere near ideal game shape.

The good news is that Jeter has been able to play a week's worth of games without suffering another leg injury.  The bad is that there hasn't been much in his performance at the plate to suggest there is a lot of strength in those legs.  Jeter isn't hitting the ball with any kind of authority and his high whiff rate against offspeed stuff suggests he might be cheating heavy on the fastball just to make that contact.  A turnaround would give hope that Jeter can get back to 100% for next season, but it doesn't seem like a very likely outcome given what we've seen this week.

First Round Of September Call-Ups Have Been Made

As expected, the Yankees made a batch of call ups today as part of September roster expansions.  Dellin Betances, David Adams, Brett Marshall, J.R. Murphy and Cesar Cabral were the 5 announced for today, with Preston Claiborne likely to join in the next day or so.

Betances, Adams, and Marshall don't come as surprises, with all 3 having spent some amount of time on the Major League roster earlier this season and all 3 being on the 40-man roster.  Murphy was a bit more surprising given that he started the year in Double-A and doesn't figure to see much playing time, and Cabral might be the biggest surprise of all.  He missed all of last season with a broken elbow and had worked his way back to Triple-A this year.  As I mentioned on Thursday, he's looking to audition for that LOOGY job in 2014.

Jayson Nix was moved to the 60-day DL to clear a spot for Murphy and in an extension of his bad luck, Melky Mesa was designated for assignment to clear a spot for Cabral.  Mesa would have joined this group today had he not injured his hamstring earlier in the week.  How's that for salt in the wound?

Report: Yanks To Call Up Murphy Today

As first reported by Joel Sherman on Friday, the Yankees intend to call up J.R. Murphy from Triple-A today to serve as their 3rd catcher.  The move comes as a bit of a surprise - Murphy isn't on the 40-man roster and hasn't really been talked about as a major September call-up candidate - but not an unearned surprise for the 22-year-old catcher coming off a career year.  After hitting .268/.352/.421 (.353 wOBA) in 49 games at Double-A Trenton, Murphy was moved up to Triple-A where he hardly missed an offensive beat.  In 59 games for the RailRiders, Murphy hit .270/.342/.430 (.350 wOBA) and overall he set career highs this season in hits (111), HR (12), and BB (47) while throwing out 37% of potential base stealers.

As the third catcher, Murphy will see little if any playing time in September.  This promotion comes mainly as a reward for a strong MiL season and mainly because there isn't a single other viable catching option in the system right now.  Murphy will catch bullpen sessions and work with the team during pregame workouts, and there will be plenty for him to learn from watching and talking with the team's veteran players.  By choosing to bring him up for that purpose, the Yankees are showing a slight change in organizational philosophy.

Game 135 Wrap-Up: NYY 2 BAL 0

(Courtesy of the AP)

The Yankees got this hugely important weekend series against the Orioles started off right last night with an 8-5 win.  CC Sabathia wasn't very good again, but the offense picked him behind big hitting nights from Cano, Soriano, and Ichiro.  Every game is critically important at this stage and another win this afternoon would have been big.  The Bombers sent Ivan Nova to the mound as he continued to audition for a more important rotation role in 2014.  He was countered by Scott Feldman, one of the Orioles deadline pickups who's made a pretty smooth transition back to the AL and the meat grinder that is the AL East.

Game Notes:

- It was a very efficient start for Nova, who walked 6 in his last outing.  He gave up just 1 hit, immediately erased on a double play ball, and needed only 31 pitches to cruise through the first 3 innings.

- It didn't look like it was going to be as smooth for Feldman after he gave up a run in the bottom of the 1st on a pair of doubles by Brett Gardner and Robinson Cano.  He rebounded from that and worked the next innings hitless and scoreless.

- Nova continued to cruise through the middle innings.  He didn't give up his second hit until the 6th inning - a 2-out single by Manny Machado - and he immediately erased it with a second straight inning-ending strikeout.  68 pitches in 6 innings.

- The Yankees had chances to widen the lead with 2 runners on in the 5th and 6th innings.  A Derek Jeter GIDP and an Ichiro Suzuki flyout killed those chances and kept Nova's margin for error slim.

- Jeter repeated his double play to end the 7th, and it wasn't until Cano hit a solo HR to lead off the bottom of the 8th that Nova finally got an insurance run.

- Not that he really needed it.  Nova rolled through 8 scoreless on 89 pitches and finished off the CG SO by sitting down Machado, Chris Davis, and Adam Jones in order.  It truly was a masterful performance by Ivan.

Thank You, Joe

(Courtesy of the AP)

It took a while, but if last night was any indication Joe has finally figured out what he's got to do with CC Sabathia.  Sabathia was bad again last night, giving up 5 runs in 5.1 innings of work.  He gave up 3 2-out, run-scoring hits and an inexcusable 2-run home run to Danny Valencia in the 5th inning.  The offense got him the lead in the bottom of 5th and he promptly started to give it back in the 6th, at which point Joe came out to get him after just 86 pitches.  The bullpen gave the team a better chance to hold the lead and get the win they needed, and Joe made the right call to go to the 'pen instead of letting CC stay out there and "battle."  Good call, Joe.  Good call.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 8/30/13

College football is back, baby!  Love it.  Means the NFL is 1 week closer to starting and I'm 1 week closer to going home for Yanks-Sawx.  It's the 110th Harley-Davidson anniversary this weekend, which is a HYYYYYYUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE deal in the Milwaukee area.  With 100,000 bikers cruising around the area and concerts by the likes of Kid Rock, Toby Keith, and Skynyrd going on, I've already made the decision to barricade myself in my apartment all day tomorrow with a case of beer and the full CFB lineup on my TV.  The girlfriend is obviously psyched about that.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, el duque of It Is High... figured out exactly how many games the Yankees could afford to lose for the rest of the way and still have a realistic shot at the playoffs.  Suck on it, Marchand.

- On Tuesday, Mike Axisa of RAB made the case for why Monday night's start should have been Phil Hughes' final one of the season.  We'll see if Joe decides to rearrange the rotation this weekend.

- SJK of NoMaas put one last sad coat of perspective on Phil Hughes' season and his time as a Yankee starting pitcher.  Definitely not going to miss those.

- William Juliano of The Captain's Blog analyzed the rotation's month-by-month performance in 2013 and commented on how the poorer recent performance is hurting their playoff chances.

- Ben Lindbergh of Grantland looked back at Derek Jeter's defensive career with a breakdown of some of his best and worst plays.  Long read, but worth checking out.

- On Wednesday, Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA identified the mechanical changes Andy Pettitte's made to fuel his recent turnaround.

- Bryan Van Dusen of The Greedy Pinstripes wondered if the Yankees as presently constructed have enough to overtake their competition in the Wild Card race.

- Hunter Farman of Yanks Go Yard reopened the case on Mike Mussina's HOF candidacy with Moose set to be on the ballot next year.

- Rich Kaufman of Bronx Pinstripes reviewed Alfonso Soriano's career now that he's crossed the 400-HR threshold to see if he's worthy of HOF consideration.

- On Thursday, Chad Jennings of LoHud broke down the remaining schedule to give an idea of how the Yankees have done against their remaining opponents and what they have to do to make the playoffs.

- On Friday, Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits examined Ivan Nova's transition from groundball pitcher to strikeout pitcher.

- Jason Cohen of Pinstriped Bible broke down the numbers on Chris Stewart's passed balls to show one area where he hasn't been worth his weight in gold defensively.

This week's jam is "Albatross" by Corrosion of Conformity.  Sneaky catchy guitar riff and a tune that I think the Harley crew would enjoy too.  Closest I'm going to come to actually bonding with them this weekend.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Nunez's MRI Clean, He's OK To Find A New Way To Get Hurt

The possibility of Derek Jeter being the only healthy shortstop on the 40-man roster no longer needs to be considered.  Eduardo Nunez had his injured knee MRI'd yesterday and the results came back negative for any tears or structural damage.  He's listed as day-to-day and for the time being the Yankees are covered as long as Jeter doesn't sprain or strain something else in the next few games.

More importantly than that, Nunez should be able to get healthy and back on the field in enough time to injure himself in ridiculous fashion one more time this season.  He's hurt himself taking a practice swing, he's hurt himself just running on a field, who knows what shenanigans will crop up next?  My money is on him accidentally kicking his batting helmet when it flies off his head running the bases, bruising his foot in the process, and then tripping over it and spraining his wrist when he falls.

Don't let me down, Eduardo.

(Courtesy of Pinstriped Bible)

Searching For The Cause Of Kuroda's Regression

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

Hiroki Kuroda's last 3 starts have been decidedly un-Hirok: 15 ER, 29 H, 5 HR in 16.2 IP.  The timing of this extreme regression obviously couldn't have been worse, and the Yankees need their new ace to right the ship sooner rather than later if they're going to have even the slightest chance of making a run in September.  Before he can do that, however, the source of the problem needs to be identified.  A comparison of his last 3 starts to the monster 5-game run he had in July sheds some light on what might be causing the downtrend.

Ichiro Hitting The Wall Too

Let this be a lesson to all you pro-Ichiro Suzuki fans out there who were calling me a hater and giving me crap for ragging on the decision to sign him to a 2-year deal.  When it comes to late-30s, slap-hitting outfielders with no patience and diminished bat speed, I know what I'm talking about.  Ichiro's current batting line (.268/.301/.353, .286 wOBA) is almost identical to the .276 and .281 wOBA values he generated in his final year and a half in Seattle, and a lot of it has to do with the incredibly weak August he's had.

In 88 August PA, Ichiro is hitting .221/.239/.244.  That's a woeful .216 wOBA and 27 wRC+, just 2 BB and 2 doubles in a full month's worth of work at the plate.  I don't care who you are, what you've done, or how good you used to be, that flat out ain't cutting the mustard for 2 years and $13 million.  Reaching the 4,000 hit plateau is an incredible accomplishment and a testament to Ichiro's career greatness, but that greatness is in the past and the Yankees are still on the hook for one more year of this.  They made a decision against logic and the season-long sample size results have been exactly what the numbers predicted.

If Ichiro would just take a few more walks, he could maximize the value that his speed still brings on the basepaths.  He's shown no signs of doing that though, and the Yankees are going to be left to figure out how to get the most out of him.  If this minuscule production continues in September, there's no way Ichiro can be an everyday outfielder next year.

Looking At The Roster Expansion Call-Up Candidates

In less than 3 days the regular season will move into its final month, and with the calendar page flip will come the yearly expansion of the active rosters.  The Yankees, unsurprisingly still battling a ton of injuries and still looking to make any marginal upgrade they can to improve their playoff chances, figure to be one of the teams most likely to call up a lot of players.  At least on paper they do.  There are plenty of players who could help the Yankees in some capacity down the stretch, it's just that so many of them happen to be among the injured.  I know, ain't that a B?  There really isn't as much available on the current 40-man as you might think, so here's a quick preview of who will, may, and may not get called up to the show this Sunday.

A-Rod First To Home? Do It

(Courtesy of MLB.com)

Rob, what's the deal?  Did your forget who was rounding third base last night?  Do you see how far away he is from the plate when the ball is practically in the catcher's glove already?  Come on, guy.  Alex Rodriguez wasn't going 1st to home last night on a Vespa and you waved him home like he was Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez in his prime.

Not sending Ichiro when he more than likely would have scored; sending A-Rod when there wasn't a snowball's chance he was going to score.  Can we clean it up a little in that third base coach's box, Rob?  This team has a hard enough time scoring runs as it is without you mangling your send/hold decisions.

P.S.- Did I just nitpick a minor in-game, heat-of-the-moment coaching decision in what ended up being a 5-run loss?  You bet your ass I did.  Nobody escapes the watchful AB4AR eye.

Game 133 Wrap-Up: TOR 7 NYY 2

(Good send, Rob... Courtesy of the AP)

Well that was ugly.  With Robinson Cano out of the lineup for the first time since 2012 and a struggling Hiroki Kuroda on the mound, the Yankees needed to win last night to save this series and avoid heading home to face the O's with the lights dimming on their postseason hopes again.  They didn't do that.  They didn't even come close.  Whether it's regression or fatigue or injury, Kuroda has nothing right now and he had nothing last night.  The game was out of reach before it really got going and the Yanks head into today's off-day needing to regroup.

Game Notes:

- The early signs from Kuroda were not positive.  He was missing up in the zone with his sinker and out of the zone with his splitter and he needed 30 pitches to get out of the 1st inning with 4 runs on the board.  A cross-up between he and Chris Stewart and a subsequent Stewart throwing error on a strikeout led to 2 of the runs and one of the more Bennie Hill music-worthy moments of the season.

- Edwin Encarnacion took Kuroda deep for a 2-run shot in the 2nd, a pair of singles and a sac fly notched a run in the 3rd, and it was 7-0 Jays.  There was really no reason for Kuroda to be in the game anymore at that point.

- Yanks had their best chance to make a game out of it in the top of the 4th when a pair of walks and an Alex Rodriguez single put runners on the corners with no outs and a run in.  Mark Reynolds plated a second run with a double but a dumb call by Rob Thomson to send A-Rod home from first backfired and stalled the inning.

- There wasn't much else to talk about after that.  The Yankee lineup was overmatched by Toronto starter Todd Redmond and his bullpen buddies.  They didn't advance a runner to second base after the 4th.

- Joe elected to let Kuroda work his full pitch and he got 2 more scoreless innings out of him.  Joba, Shawn Kelley, and Boone Logan finished things up.

2013: Year Of The HBP

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

I'm sure the immediate reaction in Yankeeland to watching Robinson Cano take a fastball off the hand and leave the game in the 1st inning last night was not a fun one.  It was a near identical flashback to the J.A. Happ pitch that broke Curtis Granderson's forearm in ST, and I for one was almost a little relieved that I wasn't there to watch it happen live as it would have more than likely led to me making some kind of mean comment about Happ getting hit with another line drive.  Chalk it up as another one of the rare times when I'm glad I live in Wisconsin.

Wednesday Afternoon Food For Thought

Already in the 2013 Yankee season, we've seen:

- Francisco Cervelli play second base and Robinson Cano play shortstop in the same game

- Vernon Wells play every infield position except short and get 1 start at first base

- Lyle Overbay play 4 games in the outfield for the first time in his Major League career

- Alberto Gonzalez pitch

And after last night's injury scare to Cano, we can add "Mark Reynolds play second base" to that list.  He played the final inning at second last night as an injury replacement for the injury replacement, and naturally he turned the game-ending double play.  If you had any of those things picked as a prop bet before the season started,  you're a smarter person than I.

The Curtis Granderson Dilemma

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

There have been a lot of hitting headlines lately since the Yankees finally got their lineup upgraded to a competitive level.  Alfonso Soriano has hit 11 HR since being traded back to New York, Alex Rodriguez is a topic of discussion nearly every night and mainly because of his bat (.371 wOBA since coming off the DL), and Robbie Cano continues to shift the debate on what his contract should or should not be nightly with exploits at the dish.  Flying somewhat under the radar in that media storm is Curtis Granderson, whose been quietly productive and incredibly versatile since coming off the DL for the second time this season.

After last night's game, C-Grand is hitting .291/.412/.456 (.381 wOBA) in 97 August PA.  In 24 games back, Curtis has 23 hits, 17 walks, 3 home runs, 12 R scored, and 6 stolen bases.  He's started games in all 3 outfield positions and as the DH, has entered as a pinch hitter, and has hit 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th in the batting order.  He said all the right things before the season about doing whatever it took to help the team win when his center field spot no longer became his, and he's more than backed that up on the field since getting back.  In theory he should be doing everything to strengthen his value as one of the top free agent position players available after this season.  In actuality, it might not be that simple.

Andy Making A Late Season Charge

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

For the better part of this summer, Andy Pettitte has been more problem than solution.  The majority of his starts in June and July after coming off the DL were of the "5-6 IP, 4ish ER allowed" variety, and paired with the struggles of Hughes and CC helped hasten the team's fall in the playoff race.  His 7-run disaster against the White Sox earlier this month may have been the low point of the season, but after last night's excellent start it's looking like it also could have been the turnaround point for him.

Game 132 Wrap-Up: NYY 7 TOR 1

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

Last night's game was probably the first must-win game of the season for the Yankees.  3 losses in the last 4 games, offense sputtering again, and nothing of significance gained in the Wild Card race in the last week.  They couldn't afford to lock up a series loss to the lowly Blue Jays after sweeping them in the prior series if they wanted to be taken seriously as a Wild Card contender and they had a guy on the mound in Andy Pettitte who's pitched in more big games for this team over the years than anybody in decades.  He's no longer the big game Andy of old, at least his recent performance didn't suggest he was, but last night he put a lot of his old tricks on display in holding Toronto down to fuel a comfortably quasi-blowout.

Game Notes:

- Before we get to Andy, how about those 1st inning fireworks??  The Yankees started off with a Brett Gardner double and Derek Jeter RBI single to take a lightning quick 1-0 lead, then J.A. Happ hit Robinson Cano in the next at-bat.  Cano had to leave the game, and things were tense for a few innings waiting on the diagnosis, but there were no breaks and he's day-to-day with a contusion.

- With 2 on and nobody out after the Cano delay, Alfonso Soriano stepped in and demolished a 3-run home run to left field to make it 4-0.  In the first 4 batters of the game Andy had a 4-run cushion.

- That cushion was more than enough for Pettitte last night.  He retired 10 of the first 11 batters he faced and he had good life on both his 4-seamer and cutter.

- He put 2 runners on in the 4th and 5th innings, but worked around trouble with a couple of big strikeouts.  A pair of inning-ending GB double plays in the 6th and 7th and it was vintage Andy all over the place.

- The offense didn't need more runs, but that didn't stop them for tacking them on with too many home runs.  Soriano hit another to lead off the 3rd, Mark Reynolds yoked one to left to start the 6th, and Alex Rodriguez smoked on to center in the 7th.

- Pettitte left after 7 scoreless and Adam Warren handled the final 2 innings.  6 baserunners and 1 run, still rough going for the kid.

Yankees Running For Their Lives Lately

(Ballsy play.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

I guess things were going to balance back out eventually, huh?  After breathing life into their dying season with a 2-week stretch that saw them go 11-3, the Yankees have lost 3 of their last 4 games and looked pretty bad doing it.  The rejuvenated offense that slugged its way to 8 or more runs in 5 of 7 games has now scored 3 or less in 4 straight, 5 or less in 7 straight, and times are starting to get desperate.  The Yankees are damn near must-win territory for the rest of their 31 remaining games and it's starting to show in how Joe manages the offense during this offensively lean stretch of games.  Suddenly the Yankees have become one of the biggest base stealing teams in baseball.

Seriously, When Is Austin Romine Going To Get The Starting Catcher Job?

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

It's been a little over a month since I pointed out the turnaround in Austin Romine's offensive game.  He started putting things together at the plate in July and finished with a stellar .333/.385/.500 batting line (.385 wOBA) in 26 plate appearances.  That performance has earned him a little more playing time in August - 37 PA in 10 games - and he hasn't missed a beat production-wise, hitting .310/.417/.448 (.381 wOBA) this month.  What's strange is that the dramatic increase in production at the plate has not earned Romine the same dramatic increase in PT.  The bulk of the work is still going to Chris Stewart, even as the trends for he and Romine are moving in completely different directions.

Jeter's Latest Return Goes Mostly Unnoticed

Was it just me or was Derek Jeter's return to the lineup last night not even a blip on the radar?  Other than typing his last name into the batting order, I didn't even think about him in terms of having an impact on the game.  Jeter made it easy to not be considered, going 0-3 at the plate with a walk, strikeout, and GIDP and not doing anything noteworthy defensively for better or worse.  The best thing you could say about last night is at least Jeter came through the game healthy.  That's how low the bar has been set for him.

After 3 attempted comebacks, the novelty of Jeter returning has worn off.  This entire season has been a wasted one for him - he's played more MiL rehab games than Major League games - and the bigger concern now is how this lost season and the nonstop leg issues will affect him in 2014.  Expecting Jeter to provide a boost to the team is almost empty hope at this point and that was more apparent last night than in any of his other previous comeback attempts.  If he can manage to finish the season on the field and not the DL, that's about the best we can hope for.

Game 131 Wrap-Up: TOR 5 NYY 2

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

The last time the Yankees faced R.A. Dickey, he was knocking Jayson Nix out for the year with a broken hand and getting taken yard late by Alfonso Soriano to mar an otherwise stellar pitching performance.  Phil Hughes was surprisingly effective his last time out too, so in theory something had to give last night.  Derek Jeter was back in the starting lineup and back in the #2 spot in the order behind Brett Gardner, giving the Yankees arguably the best 1-9 batting order they've had all season.  Crazy to be saying that in the 131st game, but this year hasn't exactly been business as usual.  What has been business as usual is Hughes pitching poorly and he got back to that last night to get this series started off on the wrong foot.

Game Notes:

- The Yankees smallballed their way to a run in the top of the 1st on a Brett Gardner leadoff single, a passed ball, and 2 groundouts.  They scored in a much more conventional way in the 5th on an Alex Rodriguez solo HR, his third since coming off the DL.

- In between those innings, Hughes gave up 2 runs of his own.  His command was back to its usual level, and too many runners on base (4 hits and 2 BB in 4 innings) allowed Toronto to capitalize in the 2nd and 3rd innings.

- Hughes created more trouble for himself in the bottom of the 5th, putting runners on the corners with 1 out, but it was Ichiro who really mucked things up.  For whatever reason, he mistimed his jump on a fly ball at the warning track and dropped it, allowing a run to score and runners to stay at the corners.

- Hughes never recovered from there, giving up an RBI double to the next batter and allowing another run to score on a sac fly before being removed with 2 outs in the inning for David Huff.  No leash for you!

- The Yankees tried to get something going in the late innings, putting a runner on in the 6th, 7th, and 8th and stealing more bases to get guys into scoring position.  They just couldn't come up with a hit when they needed to and went down without much of a fight.

- Give Huff credit where it's due.  He allowed just a single baserunner in 3.1 scoreless innings and struck out 5, preserving the rest of the bullpen for the rest of the week.