McCann's Slow Start Could Be Due To Lack Of Selectivity

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

Despite spending more than a few bucks to upgrade the offense this past offseason, the Yankees have been slow to see any fruit from their free agent labor.  They've scored 29 runs in their first 8 games, good for 18th in MLB, and their 3 HR are still just enough to keep them out of the basement in that category and tied for 29th.  The biggest reason for this sputtering offensive start is the lack of production from the middle of the order.  Mark Teixeira hit the DL before he even got going, Alfonso Soriano is just now starting to find his stroke after a rusty start, and both Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann are sporting sub-.500 OPS values in 60 combined plate appearances.

Obviously there's going to be improvement from all 4 of these guys as the season progresses, everybody gets settled in, and Teix gets healthy again.  But in looking at McCann's rough start, the roughest of all at .172/.200/.172, there could be a pretty simple explanation and an easy fix.

Infield Woes On Full Display Yesterday

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Question.  What do you get when you combine a 40-year-old shortstop with already severely limited range coming back from a series of various leg injuries, a 36-year-old second baseman who's played in only 29.6% of all regular season games since 2010, a 26-year-old MiL lifer playing third base, and a backup catcher playing first base for the first time since high school?  Why it's yesterday's starting infield, course!

Whether you watched it live or read about it later, you probably already know that yesterday afternoon's game was a disaster.  Ivan Nova and his poor command are mostly to blame for that, but the infield deserves its fair share too.  The argument could be easily made that nobody on that infield deserved to be a Major League starter as his position and yet there the 4 of them were.  On this day, this was the best a team with a near $204 million Opening Day payroll could muster.

What Was Nova's Problem Yesterday?

(Courtesy of Texas Leaguers)

The better question might be what WASN'T his problem yesterday.  That pitch location plot tells the story as simply and as straightforward as any game recap could.  He threw too many fastballs, 2 and 4-seam, up in the zone and then couldn't command his curveball near the zone.  Nova didn't have 1 pitch working for him yesterday and when that's the case and you're missing up in the zone a lot, you're going to get punished.

The good news is that he didn't walk anybody yesterday, though I'm not sure that counts for much when you consider how many hits he gave up and the fact that he walked 5 in his first start.  In 9.1 IP over these first 2 starts, Nova has put 23 men on base.  16 hits, 5 BB, and 2 HBP.  That's way too many of all 3 of those categories and Nova needs to be better than that.  He's had 2 starts with command issues.  Time to see if he really has matured and can make the adjustment next time out to correct them.

Game 8 Wrap-Up: BAL 14 NYY 5

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

I'm not even going to waste my time or yours with an intro to this recap.  This game was ugly.  U-G-L-Y and not an alibi to be found anywhere.  The first true stinker of the season.

Game Notes:

- Ivan Nova was on the hill again and he was even worse than he was in his first start.  He gave up 3 runs in the top of the 1st on 2 singles, 1 of which came on a potential double play ball that turned into a base hit thanks to Derek Jeter's horrible range, and a 2-run bomb by Adam Jones and the O's were off and running.

- A Carlos Beltran RBI double in the bottom of the 1st was negated by a Jonathan Schoop RBI double in the 2nd, and Nova really put the game away in the 4th when he gave up 4 singles in 5 batters and got charged with 3 more runs without finishing the inning.

- The good news from this game is that Alfonso Soriano seems to be coming around.  He led off the bottom of the 4th with a solo home run to make it a 7-2 deficit.  He also doubled in the 9th.

- The rest of the Yankee scoring came in the 4th on another ribbie double for Yangervis Solarte and a groundout by Brett Gardner, and in the 8th on a garbage time solo shot by Kelly Johnson.

- Cesar Cabral came in after Nova, but it was Vidal Nuno who really took one for the team in relief.  He got touched up for 7 more runs on 8 hits and 2 BB in 3.1 innings of work.  At least it gave all the guys from last night a day of rest.

Adam Warren, Shutdown Reliever

Gas face... Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

I guess that's what we get for being on the right side of the injury luck coin in Spring Training, huh?  After making it through March almost completely unscathed, the Yankees have now lost 2 key players as a result of last weekend's series in Toronto.  On Friday night, it was Mark Teixeira straining his hamstring and heading to the 15-day DL.  On Sunday night, David Robertson joined him when he strained his groin.  The team officially announced his DL trip yesterday afternoon, creating more stir in an already very new and unsettled bullpen and giving the Yanks another early-season obstacle to overcome.

Tuesday Morning News And Notes: 4/8/14

There was a lot of stuff happening late in the day and early in the night yesterday.  I was a little preoccupied with UConn winning the national championship (again), so I didn't get to all of it.  Here's a quick recap of the big late day stories:

- Obviously the biggest was D-Rob heading to the DL with a Grade I groin strain.  He says he doesn't expect to miss much more time than the 15 days.  Cesar Cabral has been called up to take his place on the active roster.

- The Yanks managed to get something for the recently DFA'd Eduardo Nunez when they traded him to Minnesota for 20-year-old lefty A-ball pitcher Miguel Sulbaran.  Sulbaran is small with what scouts have generally called "average" stuff, so he's no high-ceiling prospect.  But he's a lefty who can start and the Yanks have been good about working with pitchers like that recently.

- The official diagnosis came in on Mark Teixeira's hamstring after a morning MRI and it's also a Grade I.  Teix was hopeful to be out for close to the minimum 15 days as well.  We'll see.

Game 7 Wrap-Up: NYY 4 BAL 2

(Just a few rings out there... Courtesy of the AP)

It was a strange season-opening schedule for the Yankees.  They started off on the road in Houston, then bounced to Toronto for a 3-gamer before heading back to The Stadium for their home opener today.  It got even stranger when they had to win yesterday just to salvage a .500 record in those first 2 series, but that will happen when you don't hit much.  A dose of home cooking, an Opening Day atmosphere in The Stadium, and Hiroki Kuroda on the mound should have been a recipe for some more runs and a W.  In the end, it was just enough.

Game Notes:

- The Yankees created plenty of opportunities with their patience against a shaky Ubaldo Jimenez early.  They had 2 on, 1 out in the bottom of the 2nd and runners on the corners with no outs in the 3rd, but only managed to push 1 run across on a Jeter GIDP.

- Kuroda looked sharp in his first 3 innings, but he did cough up the lead in the top of the 4th on a pair of well-placed singles up the middle to beat the shift.  Kudos to the O's hitters for hitting 'em where the Yankee infielders weren't.

- The lineup struck back immediately to regain the lead, continuing to stay patient and making Jimenez work.  A 2-out walk and a Yangervis Solarte single in the 4th plated 1 run.  A flurry of hits and walks (including a Jeter leadoff double) led to 2 more runs and the end of Jimenez's day in the 5th.

- As the Yanks grew the lead, Kuroda settled in.  At least until the 7th.  Just like CC yesterday, Hirok ran into trouble in his last inning of work.  A Chris Davis leadoff double and a pair of singles made it a 4-2 game and ended Hirok's day.

- D-Rob was unavailable for the 9th today, for what we now know to be injury-related reasons, so it was an "all hands on deck" audition for the rest of the crew.  Matt Thornton and David Phelps escaped Kuroda's jam in the 7th, Adam Warren worked around a leadoff walk with 2 Ks in the 8th, and Shawn Kelley handled a 1-2-3 9th for the save.

D-Rob To The DL With A Groin Strain (UPDATED)

Guess this explains why he wasn't available for today's game.  Joe told reporters after the Yankees' win today that David Robertson will be going on the 15-day DL with Grade I groin strain.  Apparently he hurt himself some time during his appearance in yesterday's game.

No word yet on how long they expect him to be out, but it could take longer than 15 days.  Groin strains can be tricky.  D-Rob said he was confident that's all he would need.  Also no word from Joe on who will be called up to take Robertson's place on the active roster, although Joel Sherman says it will be either Cesar Cabral or Shane Greene.  For now, Shawn Kelley becomes the interim closer.  Wouldn't shock me to see Adam Warren become the new setup man based on how good he's looked so far.  More on this story as it comes out...

** UPDATE 7:29 PM- Via George King, it's going to be Cesar Cabral who gets called up to take D-Rob's 25-man roster spot.  That would put 3 lefties in the 'pen. **

What Is Up With David Phelps?

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

When Joe made his selections for the Opening Day roster, I expected nothing but good things for David Phelps.  Even though he didn't beat out Michael Pineda for the final rotation spot, he entered the season as one of the more experienced pitchers in the bullpen.  With all the changes in that group and the middle relief hierarchy in front of D-Rob unsettled, I thought this was going to be the year that Phelps established himself as a key part of the bullpen going forward.

Yanks Running Wild To Make Up For Early Lack Of Power

It took about 5 and a half games for the Yankees to hit their first home run of the 2014 season.  Naturally, that home run came from Brett Gardner yesterday and not one of the power hitters in the middle of the lineup.  For the most part, those players have gotten off to slow starts at the dish and it's guys like Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Yangervis Solarte who have carried the offensive load in their place.

The lone HR puts the Yankees 29th in MLB in that department, ahead of only the Royals, the last homer-less team in baseball.  While that level of power production won't cut it long-term and there's no reason to expect that it will continue on this slow path, the impact of the outage has been lessened somewhat by what the Yanks have done on the basepaths.  Their 8 stolen bases ties them for the most in MLB with the Dodgers, a position that's very unfamiliar for the traditionally powerful and patient Yankee offense.  Gardner and Brian Roberts each have 2, Ellsbury has 3, and as a team the Yankees have yet to be caught stealing once.

The expectation was that the addition of Ellsbury and Roberts would add more speed and balance to the lineup and so far that's exactly what has happened.  Once the middle of the order starts picking up their end, the offense could be good enough to get by even without Teix.

Happy (Home) Opening Day, Everybody

(Courtesy of Erik Boland)

The field looks great, the weather looks like it's going to be good enough to get the game in, and the Yanks wake up this morning winners of 3 of their last 4.  It's a near perfect setup for the 2014 home opener and the Yankees will welcome AL East rival Baltimore to town for the festivities.

Hiroki Kuroda gets the ball today for his first home start of the season, and newbies like Ellsbury, Beltran, and McCann will get their first taste of the Yankee Stadium home crowd.  I expect loud cheers and ovations for all 3 of them, although they'll all be dwarfed in comparison to the cheers that Derek Jeter will receive in his final Yankee Stadium home opener.  And don't forget about that big Core Four first pitch ceremony.  That'll be a helluva photo op.

Yes sir, it's shaping up to be a great day at The Stadium.  Let's go Yankees!

Game 6 Wrap-Up: NYY 6 TOR 4

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

The Yankees have had a rough first trip to Toronto.  On Friday night they lost their starting first baseman to injury and on Saturday their punchless, Teix-less lineup wasted a very good debut starting performance from Michael Pineda.  A win today would have been a nice way to finish off this tough series and head back home for Monday's Yankee Stadium opener with a series victory and some momentum.  The rotation had cycled back around to CC Sabathia, and the big fella was looking for a continuation of his strong Opening Day finish.

Game Notes:

- He got staked to a 3-run lead in the top of the 1st thanks to some patience (2 walks), some speed (Brett Gardner SB), and some power (2-run double by Kelly Johnson) from the lineup.

- Just like on Opening Day, things didn't start off well for CC.  He gave up a solo HR to Melky Cabrera to lead off the bottom of the 1st, but didn't let it snowball into anything more and quickly found his groove.  He retired 15 of the next 17 hitters he faced to cruise through the 5th.

- A leadoff walk got the Yankee offense going again in the top of the 4th.  Another Yangervis Solarte double plated 1 run and a follow-up 2-run homer by Brett Gardner made it a 6-1 game.

- Bad GB luck hurt Tanaka on Friday night, and it bit CC a little bit in the bottom of the 6th.  With 2 outs, he gave up a bloop single, a deflected GB double, and a GB single that snuck up the middle to plate 3 Toronto runs and get the Jays back in the game.

- The offense didn't score any more after the 4th but they didn't need to.  Adam Warren, Shawn Kelley, and David Robertson combined for 3 scoreless innings after CC and gave the Yanks their first series victory of 2014.

Pineda's First Start Highlights The Need To Develop His Changeup

(Courtesy of the AP)

For reasons related to my post-UConn victory celebration last night, I was unable to recap yesterday's game.  The game marked the second straight Yankee debut for a highly-touted young pitcher, only this time it was a player coming back from injury rather than pitching in his first MLB game.  Michael Pineda was outstanding yesterday, allowing a single run in 6 innings of work, walking nobody, and striking out 5.  He threw 83 pitches, 58 for strikes, and his stuff looked very good.  His fastball was lively and averaged 94 MPH and his slider was very sharp, drawing 7 swings and misses.  He even mixed some cutters in.

If there's one negative to take away from Pineda's start yesterday, it was the lack of changeup usage and the problems it caused him against left-handed hitters.  He faced lefty swingers 12 times and they were responsible for 4 of the 5 hits he gave up, including 2 hard-hit doubles and an RBI single.  The development of Pineda's changeup was supposed to be what helped him against lefties, but there wasn't much sign of it yesterday.  He only threw a change once.

We had heard that Pineda was working on his changeup during his MiL rehab starts and bullpen sessions last year, and I thought I read somewhere that it looked better early in spring camp.  If yesterday's start was any indication, however, he still has a long way to go to make it a useful pitch for himself.  Hopefully he starts to work it in more and gets more comfortable with it.  He's going to need it to keep lefty hitters honest.

Teix To The DL, Romine Called Up

#Yankees place 1B Mark Teixeira on 15-day DL with right hamstring strain; recall C Austin Romine from Triple-A @swbrailriders.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 5, 2014

The beat guys have all the details, but the team made it official a few hours ago.  Teix has been put on the 15-day DL and Austin Romine has been called up.  It sounds like the team is going to go with the exact plan I described earlier this morning.  Johnson will be the primary first base man, Cervelli will work in some when the matchups are favorable, and Romine will get some time behind the plate.

Early indications are that Teix's hamstring strain isn't that bad and the team is hopeful he can return right after the 15 days are up.  That would be the best possible outcome, as long as he's fully recovered.

Teix's Hammy Not Looking Good

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

And all this time I thought it was his wrist we had to be worried about.  I guess when you consider how much worse it could have been, last night's injury to Mark Teixeira wasn't as bad as it would have been had it been the wrist.  Teix had to leave last night's game in the bottom of the 2nd after taking an off step fielding a foul ball and tweaked his right hamstring.  He called the trainer out onto the field after stretching his leg a few times and after a brief conversation with him and Joe, left the field quickly and angrily.  It's the same hamstring he tore running to first in the 2010 postseason.

The official diagnosis right now is a hamstring strain, although no MRIs or tests have been done to formally evaluate and diagnose the severity.  The plan is for Teix to get some further tests on it when the team returns to New York, but based on how quickly he left the field and his comments after the game about how it felt, it doesn't sound like something that's going to heal up in a few days.  A DL stint appears imminent and could happen as soon as today.

Game 4 Wrap-Up: NYY 7 TOR 3

(Ooooooh, trippy.  Courtesy of the AP)

However you felt about the Yankees' 1-2 showing in their season-opening series against Houston should have been immediately washed over by a tidal wave of excitement about last night's game.  If it wasn't, you need to reevaluate your fandom.  Last night was the moment we've all been waiting for since late January, our first chance to see the $155 million man in action.  Masahiro Tanaka made his MLB regular season debut last night in Toronto, and it was everything we hoped for.

Game Notes:

- Well, except for the first batter of the 1st inning.  Melky Cabrera led off the game for Toronto with a solo HR on a hanging splitter, but Tanaka sat down the next 3 in order to limit the damage to 1 run.

- He got into trouble again in the 2nd thanks to some ridiculously bad BIP luck on a slew of groundballs and a Mark Teixeira throwing error, giving up 2 more runs and giving away the lead.  After a brief injury delay for Teix (more on that later), Tanaka regrouped to strike out the final 2 batters of the inning.

- While these early problems were going on, the offense was doing its part to support Tanaka.  4 of the first 5 Yankee hitters got hits, including RBI singles by Teix and Carlos Beltran, and they tacked on additional runs in the 3rd (Yangervis Solarte RBI double) and 4th (Brian McCann RBI single).

- Tanaka shook off the rough start to the game and went into absolute shutdown mode after the 2nd.  He allowed just 2 more baserunners through the 7th, neither of which advanced passed second base, and got plenty of weak GB outs.  He was dealing.

- As Tanaka gave way to the Yankee 'pen, the lineup put up 2 more insurance runs in the 8th and 9th innings.  Matt Thornton, Dellin Betances (kinda), and D-Rob combined to finish the final 2 frames and get the Yanks back to .500.

It's Tanaka Time

(Courtesy of the AP)

The initial Tanaka Watch was a success.  Tanaka Watch 2014 was equally successful.  Since arriving at Spring Training the anticipation has only grown for his officially official MLB debut, and based on what we've already seen it's a safe bet to assume that the excitement isn't going to die down anytime soon.

And now tonight, after 5 ST games, 21.0 ST innings pitched, and 26 ST strikeouts, Masahiro Tanaka will take the mound and make his first meaningful start as a New York Yankee.  It's a big night tonight anyway you look at it, and based on his reputation for pitching his best when the lights are the brightest, we could be in for a show.

Go get 'em tonight, Ma-kun.  We're all cheering for you.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 4/4/14

Big sports weekend this weekend.  HYYYUUUUUUUGE weekend.  Tanaka's debut tonight, Pineda's tomorrow, Final Four on Saturday night featuring my alma mater and the biggest school in the state I'm currently living in, full slates of MLB games on Saturday and Sunday, Blackhawks-Blues Sunday afternoon, and WrestleMania Sunday night.  Hope everybody's cleared their schedules accordingly.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Chad Jennings of LoHud got some early insights on Joe's bullpen management strategy for this season.

- William Juliano of The Captain's Blog dished out his predictions for 2014.

- On Tuesday, Andrew Mearns of Pinstripe Alley took a look back at some of the big Opening Day debuts in Yankee history.  Too bad none of the new guys this year added to the list.

- On Wednesday, Derek Albin of Pinstripe Pundits tried to put this year's starting infield in the right perspective by examining where their projected output would rank them in Yankee history.

- Nick Peruffo of Minor Matters had all the highlights from Double-A Trenton's media day.

- On Thursday, Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA analyzed the differences in Mark Teixeira's swing during Spring Training and Opening Day to see if he was compensating for his wrist.

- Mike Axisa of RAB broke down CC Sabathia's Opening Day pitch location plot to try to find the cause of his turnaround from the first 2 innings.

- On Friday, SJK of NoMaas reminded everyone of who Masahiro Tanaka is replacing in the rotation and what standards he has to live up to.

Today's jam is "Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart" by STP.  Hadn't heard this in a long time and I caught the end of it on the radio the other day.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Joe's Lineup Decisions Suggest Lessons Learned From Last Year

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

When you're coming off 2 straight losses to what was the worst team in MLB by a wide margin last year and you decide to sit your leadoff hitter, cleanup hitter, and starting third baseman in the 3rd game of the season, that's normally a decision that will draw some questions.  I certainly had a few in my head when I got a look at the lineup before last night's game.  I didn't understand why Joe would want to rest Brian McCann already when he's got a Friday night/Saturday afternoon setup this weekend in Toronto, and I really didn't understand why he felt the need to play the platoon matchup game with Kelly Johnson and a guy making his MLB debut in Yangervis Solarte when Johnson has a higher career OPS against lefties than righties.

First Inning Woes

Yankee Starters in 1st Inning: 3 IP, 6 H, 6 ER

Yankee Starters in All Other Innings: 14.2 IP, 11 H, 4 ER

If you don't have a calculator handy, that's an even and ugly 18.00 ERA in the 1st inning and a much prettier 2.45 ERA in every other inning pitched by the Yankees' starters in the first 3 games.  They haven't done themselves any favors by giving up early runs and putting the offense in early holes and that's a trend that can't continue once the opponents start being better teams than the Astros.  Nothing to really be worried about long-term though.  Pitchers are still working themselves into full game shape and there's always some extra adrenaline flowing in your first start of the season.  Just strange to see the Yanks stumble out of the blocks 3 games in a row.

Game 3 Wrap-Up: NYY 4 HOU 2

(Courtesy of the AP)

I'm smart enough now to not be at all concerned about starting the season 0-2, but it's not like I would have been happy to see the Yanks open the season getting swept by a team that lost 111 games last season.  In that sense, last night's start was the first big test for Ivan Nova in 2014.  He was the starting pitcher tasked with preventing the sweep and he was supported by an offense that had produced 3 runs in 18 innings and was without its leadoff hitter, cleanup hitter, and starting third baseman.

Game Notes:

- Nova, like those before him, didn't get off to a good start.  2 sharp singles and a HBP and it was bases loaded, nobody out in the top of the 1st.  A force play scored a run, a walk loaded the bases again, and in what turned out to be a HYYUUUUUUUUGE play, Nova escaped the inning on 4-6-3 a double play.

- Interestingly enough, it was Ellsbury and Johnson's replacements who got the rally started in the top of the 3rd.  Ichiro and Yangervis Solarte singled with 1 out, then came around to score on a Brett Gardner single and a Carlos Beltran sac fly to give the Yankees their first lead of 2014.

- Nova breezed through the next 3 innings, mainly on the strength of some well-timed double plays to end the 3rd and 4th, but then hit the skids again in the 5th when he gave up another run.  A 4th double play ball of the night kept it at only 1.

- The offense managed to keep tacking on with a Derek Jeter RBI single in the 5th and what was scored as an RBI single for Solarte on an infield pop-up that the Astros decided not to field.

-The 4-2 lead they built held up thanks to some stellar bullpen work behind Nova.  Adam Warren and Shawn Kelley didn't allow a baserunner and struck out 4 in 2.1 IP and D-Rob went 1-2-3 for his first save of the year.

Home Opener On Monday's Not Going To Be Sweet Or Anything...

Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte will throw out the first pitches to Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada at the #Yankees’ home opener on Monday.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 3, 2014

Nope.  Not at all.  Just my 3 favorite Yankees of all time and the greatest Yankee catcher I ever got to see play, the foundation of the most recent run of World Series success in team history, throwing out the first pitch to each other.  Nothing sweet about that.

If you have tickets to that game, I hate/envy you.

Thoughts On The Minor League Rosters

(Should be the starting Triple-A catcher.  Courtesy of Kim Klement/USA Today Sports)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

The Minor League season gets started tonight, and while I don't want to steal any of Tamar's team-by-team season preview thunder, I did want to comment on some of the roster decisions.  Each club officially released their Opening Day rosters yesterday, some more complete and correctly than others.  There are some surprising and not so surprising decisions at almost every level, which is pretty par for the course in the world of managing a wide range of prospects and non-prospects.  Here's my 2 cents on the early roster breakdowns for the 4 full-season MiL teams (click the team names for the full rosters).

Soriano's Early Results Show Signs Of Lingering Spring Training Rust

(Courtesy of Texas Leaguers)

That's Alfonso Soriano's swing plot through the first 2 games of the season.  As you can see, it's all over the place.  Soriano has seen 36 pitches in his 8 plate appearances and he's swung at 19 of them.  Of those 19 swings, he's swung and missed 8 times and put the ball in play 4.  None of those balls in play have gone for hits and the other half of his 8 PA have ended in strikeouts.  Needless to say, that's not the production you're looking for from a player in a run-producing spot of the lineup.

Soriano missed a fair amount of time early in Spring Training because of his bout with the flu and the time needed to catch back up limited the number of in-game ABs he got.  That swing plot above is indicative of a hitter who's not seeing the ball well and doesn't have his timing at the plate and that's almost certainly a direct result of that early missed time.  Soriano is expanding his strike zone all over the place and taking a lot of bad swings at bad pitches to hit, but there's no reason to panic based on 8 PA.  As he gets more reps, gets more comfortable at the plate, and gets his timing back, this issue should correct itself.  If the rest of the lineup had hit over the first 2 games, Soriano's struggles wouldn't stick out as much as they do.

Game 2 Wrap-Up: HOU 3 NYY 1

(Pinch hitting Solarte for Johnson??  Courtesy of Getty Images)

It wasn't the start to the season that any of us had in mind on Tuesday night.  Thanks to some very poor starting pitching and some shoddy defense, the Yankees found themselves down 6-0 before the game was an hour old.  They were hoping for a better result in game 2 with Hiroki Kuroda on the mound last night.  Instead they got the same one, only half as bad.

Game Notes:

- Once again they were down after the 1st inning.  Dexter Fowler hit the second pitch of the game, a hanging sinker from Kuroda, for a leadoff HR and a quick 1-0 Houston lead.

- Fowler tripled with 1 out in the bottom of the 3rd and scored on a fielding error by Mark Teixeira to make it 2-0.  Rough start at first base for Teix.  Rougher than his start at the plate.

- The lineup managed a measly 4 singles through 5 innings off Astros starter Jarred Cosart and they squandered a 2 on/1 out situation int he top of the 5th with a pair of groundouts.

- Cosart went out after 5, but the failure to capitalize didn't end there.  The Yanks wasted another 2 on/1 out setup in the 6th inning on a strikeout by Teix and a groundout by Alfonso Soriano.  Even the run they scored in the 7th, after a leadoff walk and a Brian Roberts single, was a wasted opportunity thanks to a GIDP by pinch hitter Yangervis Solarte.

- Hirok retired 9 of the last 10 he faced to make it through 6 innings without any more damage and gave way to David Phelps to start the bottom of the 7th.  Phelps gave up a 2-out solo HR to Matt Dominguez to seal the deal for the 'Stros.