No Shortage Of Drama These Next Four Games

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

It feels like it's been a long time since the Ryan Dempster-Alex Rodriguez beanball incident took place.  In reality it's been less than 3 weeks, but as almost everybody hypothesized right after that fateful game on August 18th, the Yankees have used that moment and that game as a rallying point.  They've picked up 18 wins in the 26 games since and have been slowly marching their way towards the front of the Wild Card line.  This weekend's series is indescribably important as it starts an 11-game stretch away from the dregs of the American League and against tough AL East competition.  The Yanks need to go at least 7-4 to stay within striking distance of the Rays and keep their playoff hopes alive.

They also have a little score to settle with their rivals from that 8/18 game, a score they didn't get the chance to settle when Brian O'Nora went quick trigger with the bench warnings.

Tyler Austin Can Play For My Team Any Day

Austin, on facing Syndergaard: "It's going to be a long night. For him."
— Nick Peruffo (@nickperuffo) September 4, 2013

He didn't have the best season, but that's some badass shit from Tyler Austin in Game 1 of last night's Double-A playoffs, a game the Thunder won 6-5.  Not only did he talk trash about the opposing starting pitcher, top Mets prospect Noah Syndergaard, he backed it up with a 3-5 night at the plate with 2 doubles off Syndergaard and 2 RBI.  That's the kind of stuff prospect evaluations don't measure and that's why I'm still on board the Tyler Austin bandwagon.

Come out, talk some trash, whoop some ass, and raise a little hell.  If you're down with Tyler Austin, give me a hell yeah!

Gardner Swinging A Mean Bat Again

(Courtesy of the AP)

Maybe that extra rest Joe has been giving Brett Gardner, when he's been perfectly healthy and when he maybe hasn't, is starting to pay off.  After being below average for the better part of the last 2 months, Gardner has turned it back on in the last week plus.  He's 12-38 in his last 10 games (.316 BA) with 7 XBH, 8 R, 4 BB, and 4 RBI.  7 of those 12 hits have gone for extra bases (6 2B, 1 3B) and Gardner has 2 hits in 4 of his last 5 games, so the pop is definitely back in his bat.  Throw in 1 HBP and that's 17 times on base for Brett in 10 games.  That's good leadoff hitting.

The Yankees' turnaround in late August was due primarily to the return of the power to the middle of their lineup.  With Cano hitting like he was and Alfonso Soriano leading the AL in home runs, it was easy to overlook Gardner's offensive inconsistency at the top.  Whether he was or still is hurt or not, Joe recognized that something was amiss with Gardner, got him a few extra days off, and it appears to have done the trick.  With Gardner raking again in the leadoff spot, some of the pressure comes off the middle of the lineup to keep up their pace, which has slowed in the last week, and the team becomes more dynamic and flexible offensively.

Game 139 Wrap-Up: NYY 6 CHW 5

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

Not like I'm trying to toot my own horn or anything, but you're all welcome for sparking this turnaround.  On August 8th, you may recall, I wrote this post declaring the Yankees done and the season over.  Since then they've gone 17-8, changed the entire atmosphere around the team and the stadium, and pulled within 2.5 games of a playoff spot.  If you've been an AB4AR reader for long enough, you know I can jinx with the best of them and that's exactly why I wrote that post.  I jinxed the season being over, thereby reversing the fortune of said season and acting as a reverse jinx to get the team back into contention.  It was the AB4AR jinx at its finest and I'm glad I pulled it out when I did.  Just wish I knew how to use it to turn CC around...

Game Notes:

- White Sox starter Erik Johnson made a rookie mistake hanging a first-pitch curveball to Robinson Cano in the bottom of the 1st and Cano slammed it for a 2-out solo HR.  Johnson almost unraveled, loading the bases after the at-bat, but recovered to strike out Ichiro.

-  Sabathia, after giving up a run on a double and 2 walks in 1st, settled down and managed to work safely through the next 5 innings.  His command wasn't much better - he walked 4 batters total in the game - but he managed to work around potential trouble every inning.

- After not imploding in the bottom of the 1st, Johnson did in the 4th.  An error put 2 on and nobody out and Johnson gave up a run-scoring double to Lyle Overbay and a 2-run triple to Brett Gardner to make it a 4-1 Yankee lead.

- After working a 1-2-3 7th with 2 Ks, CC put 2 men on in the 8th and that was it for him.  A better outing, thanks in part to the White Sox sucking, than what CC's been giving this summer.  Good to see some GB outs again.

- A Cano RBI single and Alfonso Soriano sac fly to make it 6-1 seemed like enough to cruise to victory with D-Rob on in the 8th but Robertson struggled and only retired 1 of the 5 batters he faced after CC left.

- A 5-run lead evaporated into a 1-run lead and Joe went to The G.O.A.T. to finish the 8th and the 9th.  It was Mariano Rivera's first 4-out save since 2011 and he handled it without issue.

Joe Speaks For Us All With His Comments About Mo's Retirement

“It’s just a man who has retired talking to another man who’s thinking about retiring, and just telling him my feelings on it. It’s not me lobbying him to come back, because as I've said along, I would never want a player to come back if he didn't want to come back.  I’ll just talk to him, because I want to make sure that his heart is right when he decides it’s time.”

Those were some of Joe's very candid words to the media after last night's game about his feelings on Mariano Rivera's retirement.  Joe, you sly devil.  I see what you're doing there.  Of course you aren't lobbying Mo to come back.  Why would you want to lobby the greatest relief pitcher of all time, greatest athlete at doing 1 thing in the history of organized sports, the most beloved Yankee since Mickey Mantle, and arguably the all-around best teammate and person in sports to come back for another year when he's clearly still got it?  Nobody would want that.

In all seriousness, I like that Joe was that open and honest about the situation with Mo last night.  He said what he felt and even though he didn't come out and admit it, Joe obviously doesn't want Mo to retire and wants Mo around next year.  It's a feeling that everybody else in that clubhouse surely shares and a feeling that we all as Yankee fans share, and good on Joe for expressing it.

Hughes Out, Huff In

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Guess those 1.1 scoreless innings he tossed on Monday wasn't enough to save his job, huh?  Joe announced last night that Phil Hughes will be removed from the starting rotation and moved to the bullpen for the rest of the season and David Huff will be taking Hughes' place in the rotation this Saturday against Boston.  This comes on the heels of Huff's latest solid long relief appearance, also on Monday, and ends weeks of growing speculation about how much longer Joe would stick with Hughes.  Time wasn't on his side after the Yanks failed to find any good offers for him at the deadline, and after another month of mostly poor starts Joe finally decided he had seen enough.

Game 138 Wrap-Up: NYY 6 CHW 4

(Courtesy of the AP)

The beauty of Monday's rainout/blowout was that it allowed Joe to save the bulk of his bullpen horses.  The way Hiroki Kuroda has been pitching lately, Joe needed all his best reinforcements at the ready and he had to be equally ready with a quick hook if Hirok didn't have it.  The Yankees are at the point where they need to be doing everything possible to win every game, even with them being much closer to the second Wild Card spot than they were a few weeks ago.  They had a tough battle against Chris Sale on their hands and needed a good start from Kuroda or a big time bullpen performance to increase the odds of winning.  A little late timely hitting didn't hurt either.

Game Notes:

- Kuroda got bit by some textbook Eduardo Nunez bad defense in the top of the 1st, leading to an unearned run for the White Sox.  Still, his stuff didn't look all that good and his command wasn't sharp.

- The Yanks tied the game back up in the bottom of the 2nd in a really unorthodox way.  Vernon Wells singled and moved to second on an error, then third on another error.  With Chris Stewart batting and 2 outs, Wells went for the steal of home and got it on a delayed double steal attempt, completely catching Sale and rest of the White Sox off guard.

- Hirok seemed to right the ship by retiring the 3rd and 4th innings in order.  But he got into trouble when he put the first 2 runners on in the 5th and an Alexei Ramirez triple brought them home to give Chicago the 3-1 lead.

- Joe should have taken what he could get by getting Kuroda through the 6th and been happy, but he let him start the 7th and Kuroda left a sinker up that turned into a solo home run to extend the deficit.  Bad decision in hindsight.

- After stranding a Nunez leadoff double in the 5th and doing a whole lot of nothing against Sale, the lineup finally broke through in the bottom of the 8th.  A couple of 1-out hits chased Sale from the game and Alfonso Soriano came through with a 2-run single against Nate Jones to pull New York back within 1.

- As questionable as Joe's decision was with Hirok, his decisions with the hitters in the bottom of the 8th made up for it.  He took his chances with Curtis Granderson against a lefty 2 batters later and it worked, and he let Nunez face a righty with runners in scoring position and it worked.  A little comeback turned into a 5-run go-ahead inning and a chance for Mo to do what he does.

AB4AR "Best Of The Month" Awards: August 2013

It seems like it's been a while since we've started one of the "best of the month" posts on a positive note.  That's because it has.  May and July were kinda "blah" months and June was a disaster.  To be fair, the Yankees' 16-12 record in August doesn't stand out as overwhelmingly good.  Their stumbling, bumbling start to the month has a lot to do with that.  Now that they've got some more guys healthy and have an everyday lineup that's more befitting of the team's reputation, things are on the upswing and the Yankees closed the month of August in much better shape than they were when they started.  They're back in the playoff hunt, they're as healthy as they've been all year, and they had a month chock full of great performances and great moments.  See the best of the best after the jump.

Have A Year, J.R. Murphy

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

When he stepped into the batter's box in the bottom of the 8th yesterday, J.R. Murphy helped set a new Yankee franchise record by becoming the 52nd different player used this season.  It wasn't just a throw-away at-bat either.  Murphy patiently worked a 3-1 count before lining a hard hit groundball single through the left side for his first career Major League hit in his first career at-bat.  He got to be a part of Yankee team history while adding to what has already been a very big year for him personally.  With the season he's already had in the Minors, the call up, and the hit, Murphy has thrust himself into the conversation for top organizational prospect and put himself firmly on the map to not only secure a 40-man roster spot and avoid being exposed to the Rule 5 Draft after this season, but to make next year's Opening Day roster.

What To Do With Hughes Now?

(Courtesy of the AP)

Thanks to his gross ineffectiveness in his 9 previous starts, the Yankees elected to push Phil Hughes back to yesterday, preventing him from pitching in a meaningful game against an AL Wild Card competitor over the weekend.  Strategically it was a smart decision, although the same argument could be made for CC Sabathia, and it almost paid off in spades when the Yankees came within 9 outs of sweeping the Orioles.

Now they face the same dilemma with Hughes heading into this weekend's big series with Baahhhhhston and yesterday's rain-shortened outing did nothing to move the confidence needle in either direction.  Yes, it was Hughes' first scoreless outing since May and we should all be very proud of him for that, but his overall body of work this summer still isn't nearly good enough to trust him with the ball in an important game.  If he wasn't good enough to pitch against the O's, why would he be good enough to pitch against a team 8 games better than the O's?

Impressive Debut For Cesar Cabral Yesterday

September roster expansions means guys getting first looks in the Majors and Joe used garbage time yesterday to get a few players their first taste Major League action.  The most notable of MLB debuts was that of Cesar Cabral.  The 2012 Rule 5 pick worked a scoreless inning in the top of the 8th, allowing 1 base hit and striking out 2 on 13 pitches.

It wasn't exactly the heart of the order, if there even is one of those in the White Sox lineup these days, but Cabral looked very good in his short appearance.  Of those 13 pitches, 11 of them were strikes and 4 of those strikes were swinging.  Both of his strikeouts were against the left-handed hitters, and Cabral displayed a fastball-slider-splitter trio of pitches that he could get over the plate for called strikes and then throw down in the zone to get swings and misses.  As far as 1-inning appearances go, it was as impressive a small sample debut as you could ask for.

Cabral looked like a favorite for a bullpen job coming out of spring camp in 2012 before his elbow fracture derailed his momentum.  The Yankees keeping him around this season while he rehabbed shows how highly they think of him, and with Boone Logan set to hit the free agent market after this season Cabral could work his way into the leading contender spot to take over that role.  Expect to see a lot more of Cabral this month after what he did yesterday.

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.