BREAKING: Cervelli Leaves Game With Right Hamstring Injury (UPDATED)

It happened as he tried to beat out a double play at first base in the bottom of the 4th and it immediately didn't look good.  Francisco Cervelli grabbed at his right hamstring and collapsed to the ground after crossing the first base bag, and he just limped off the field and straight into the locker room.  At best, he tweaked the hamstring similarly to how Mark Teixeira did last week.  It looked a lot worse than that though, and the Yankees are really, really short on healthy infielders right now.

Kelly Johnson will probably have to move to 1st base for the rest of this game and Joe might have to play Jeter at short.  This situation gets worse and worse.  More on this story as it comes out.

** UPDATE 8:38 PM- Joe confirmed on the ESPN broadcast that it was a right hamstring injury for Cervelli.  Carlos Beltran has come in to play first base for the first time in his career and Ichiro will go to right field.  Check the live blog below for any more updates. **

Game 13 Yanks-Sawx Live Blog

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

There's been a lot to like from this first Yankees-Red Sox series of the 2014 season.  The Yanks have gotten generally good starting pitching in all 3 games, with only a few bad pitches making CC and Hirok's lines look worse than they actually pitched.  The D-Rob-less bullpen has looked very good, with Dellin Betances and Adam Warren looking more and more like legitimate middle relief weapons.  And the middle of the order is starting to come around now that Carlos Beltran and Alfonso Soriano are hitting consistently and Brian McCann broke out of his early slump with 2 jacks on Saturday.

The perfect capper to this positive series would be a victory tonight to secure the series victory, and that's a perfect situation for the first AB4AR live blog of 2014.  By now you know there won't be any Jeter in tonight's lineup.  Here's how the Yankee will look without him:

1) Brett Gardner- LF
2) Carlos Beltran- RF
3) Jacoby Ellsbury- CF
4) Alfonso Soriano- DH
5) Brian McCann- C
6) Yangervis Solarte- 2B
7) Kelly Johnson- 3B
8) Francisco Cervelli- 1B
9) Dean Anna- SS

SP) Ivan Nova

First pitch is a little over a half hour away.  Live blog goes live after the jump.

Jeter Out Tonight With A Tight Quad

Girardi: Jeter's quad got tight on Friday. Had yesterday off. He's getting today off because of it too. No tests scheduled.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) April 13, 2014

With a lefty on the mound tonight in Felix Doubront and a day off yesterday afternoon, there was no reason for Derek Jeter to not be in the lineup tonight.   Unless of course, there was something physically wrong with him.  Something was obviously up in that department when the lineup was announced a little over an hour ago and Dean Anna was listed as the starting shortstop again, and sure enough, something related to Jeter's legs is the cause for his absence tonight.

The reports on the quad don't make it sound like a big deal.  No tests are scheduled on it and Joe did tell the media he could use Jeter tonight in a pinch if he had to.  Sounds like more of a precautionary thing than anything else, giving him an extra day of rest when there's an easy opportunity to do so.  Right now, the plan is for Jeter to be back in the lineup on Tuesday.

Nova Needs To Throw Strikes Tonight

(Courtesy of Texas Leaguers)

It's been a tough start to Ivan Nova's 2014 campaign after a pretty good Spring Training.  His pitch plot for his first 2 starts is above and it tells the whole story of his first 2 starts.  He just isn't throwing enough strikes.  He's all over the place with his 4-seamer and his curveball, the 2 pitches that he leans on to be successful, and he can't afford a repeat of his early lack of command against a patient veteran Red Sox lineup tonight.  The fastballs need to be on the corner, the curveballs need to be somewhere near the zone to get hitters thinking about swinging at them.  If Nova can tighten up his command and shrink the spread of that pitch location plot tonight, it'll be a step in the right direction and could give him some positive momentum to build on.

P.S.- Don't forget about the live blog coming later tonight.  It should start sometime around 7:30 PM Eastern/6:30 PM Central.

Game 12 Wrap-Up: NYY 7 BOS 4

(Courtesy of the AP)

Friday night's game was a bummer.  The Yankee one, not the Brewer game that I went to.  CC was cruising along like he was in his prime and then that Grady Sizmore home run went out and it was like somebody pulling the e-brake.  I just wanted a win today.

Game Notes:

- He's not driving in a ton of runs, but Jacoby Ellsbury is making things happen in the 3-hole.  He bunted for a base hit with 2 outs in the bottom of the 1st, and 5 pitches later Carlos Beltran hit a 2-run homer to give the Yanks the lead out of the gate.

- That lead didn't last very long.  A leadoff single and an A.J. Pierzynski 2-run homer to start the 2nd inning and it was tied at 2.  Kuroda missed with a few sinkers, which is never a good sign for him.

- He managed to settle down after the 2nd and his offense picked him up again a few innings later.  Brian McCann finally broke out and clubbed his first Yankee HR to lead off the 4th, and Alfonso Soriano went back-to-back with him for his third of the season.

- McCann struck again in the 6th with his second homer in as many plate appearances, this time with Carlos Beltran on base to make it a 6-2 Yankee lead.

- Kuroda recorded an out in the 7th, but left after walking 2 batters.  Matt Thornton couldn't do the job in relief after K'ing David Ortiz and the Sox got 2 back on an HBP and a 2-run Mike Carp single.

- Not to worry though.  The rest of the 'pen held Boston at bay, Kelly Johnson tacked on an insurance HR in the 8th, and Shawn Kelley bounced back from his last tough outing to get the save.

Teix Says He Could Return Next Sunday

Mark Teixeira says he expects to be activated the first day he's eligible - expects its sunday in tampa
— Daniel Barbarisi (@DanBarbarisi) April 12, 2014

 Interesting little tidbit from Teix this morning.  He told reporters he expects to be activated off the DL as soon as he's eligible.  That would be next Sunday, when the Yankees will be in Tampa Bay to take on the Rays, and if that happens then it would be a huge boost to the Yankees.  They've scored 39 runs in their first 11 games, which puts them in the bottom half of the league.  They've got guys playing out of position almost every night to cover for Teix while he's out.  Getting him back in the lineup and back at first base would help settle the constant juggling Joe has to do and lengthen the middle of the order out again.

Nobody else in the organization has confirmed this yet, but Teix did start stretching and working out regularly this past week.  If he can get back to baseball activities early next week and the doctors see nothing wrong with his hammy, there's a strong possibility that his expectation can be met.

That Damn 6th Inning

(Courtesy of the AP)

I obviously didn't get to the recap of last night's game this morning, but there's really only 1 thing you need to know about it and that's the 6th inning.  CC Sabathia was absolutely dominant from the 1st through the 5th and equally so in the 7th.  It was vintage CC, more than good enough to carry an offense that only gave him 1 run of support.  But just like his last time out, it all fell apart for him in the 6th.

It started with a Jonny Gomes leadoff home run on a misplaced 4-seamer.  It continued with a pair of GB singles.  It ended with a Grady Sizemore 3-run shot to right on a misplaced slider.  2 bad pitches to make 1 bad inning and that was that.

Other than the 6th, CC looked great.  He was locating his fastball, his sinker had great movement, and he was getting a ton of swings and misses on his slider.  He looks like a much better pitcher than he was last year, much more comfortable with what he's doing out there.  But these bad innings are absolutely ruining his outings and making his stat line look much worse than it rightfully should be.  It's something CC either has to figure out or it's something we have to learn to live with now that he's reached his mid-30s.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 4/11/14

Since I blew the Yanks-Sawx ST live blog, I'm thinking it's time to break that seal  for 2014 and make up for it this Sunday night.  Don't mark it on your calendars yet, but be on the lookout for confirmation sometime this weekend.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits rifled through the last 20 years of bad, small sample size offensive seasons to find the 5 worst in team history.  No surprise that 2 of them came from last season.

- On Tuesday, Mike Axisa of RAB pointed out the great job the Yankee rotation has done commanding the strike zone so far.

- Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA put Masahiro Tanaka and his first MLB start under the PITCHf/x microscope to see what it could teach us about his approach going forward.

- Matt Mirro of Yanks Go Yard mused on ways to keep Yangervis Solarte's bat in the lineup when Teix returns.  If he keeps hitting like he has been, that's something Joe will have to figure out.

- On Thursday, Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Alley proposed the idea of trading Gary Sanchez for a useful Major League piece and looked for some previous trade comparisons to establish a baseline for return value.

- SJK of NoMaas broke down the Yankees' first 9 games to find their strengths, weaknesses, and explanations for the sub-.500 start.

- On Friday, Chad Jennings of LoHud had more on the budding relationship between Brian McCann and the pitching staff.

- El duque of It Is High... commented on the change in John Sterling's HR call agenda and how his calls have started to lose their luster as a result.

This Friday's jam is "Slacken" by Truckfighters.  These dudes couldn't sound more like they're from Cali if they tried, but they're actually Swedish.  They're swinging through Milwaukee in mid-May and I intend to see them when they do.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Examining Derek Jeter's Early Contact Trends

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

For all the concern about how he'd be physically this year coming into spring camp, concern that I admittedly shared, it was a pretty quiet Spring Training for Derek Jeter.  He was on his own schedule, he got into games early enough, he never reported any problems with his ankle or legs, never had any issues really.  He worked at his pace, felt good, and was ready to play when the regular season started.  What was a small concern was how quiet his bat was in ST.  Jeter hit .137/.214/.157 in 51 spring at-bats, striking out 10 times and hitting a ton of groundballs.

Regular season production is what really matters and Jeter's was going to be watched closely regardless of how he hit in the spring simply because he was a shortstop turning 40 and coming off a season lost to injuries.  He's played in 9 of the Yankees' first 10 games and so far that production has been pretty good.  Jeter wakes up today with a .290/.389/.355 slash line, 3 runs scored, 2 doubles, 4 walks, and a .342 wOBA.  After a weak-hitting spring camp, Jeter appears to have found his timing and his early contact rates are encouraging.

Yankees Leading The Early Charge In Pitch Framing

A few days ago, Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs posted a very cool piece analyzing each team's early pitch framing success.  Using an existing pitch framing model, he tracked all called pitches for each MLB team to determine how many more or less called strikes they were getting compared to the expected average.  The Yankees topped the list with +25 called strikes, 3 more than the next closest team and 9 more than the 3rd highest team, each of whom had a larger called pitch sample size than the Yankees.

There are plenty of disclaimers that have to be put on this.  Pitch framing is still a relatively new method of analysis and there are a lot of things that aren't factored into Sullivan's study, namely individual differences in strike zones by umpire and the effect that pitchers' command has on final pitch location and the catchers' ability to frame.  Based on those 2 factors, I'd say it's a little premature to start assigning run values to each additional called strike like Sullivan has, but at a high level this study shows that there is value in above-average pitch framing and speaks to the 2-sided skill set it takes to be an above-average team in that department.  Both Francisco Cervelli and Brian McCann rate as above-average framers, McCann decidedly so, and the Yankee pitching staff has a 6.1% BB rate, tied for 4th best in MLB.

When you're commanding the ball in or near the strike zone and have good receivers and framers behind the plate, you should have a very good frame rate like the Yankees do.  Over the course of a season, every additional called strike will add up to something positive for the Yankees in terms of win expectancy and that's always a good thing.

Game 10 Wrap-Up: NYY 4 BOS 1

(Courtesy of the AP)

It was an ugly finish to the season-opening home series.  The Yanks lost 2 in a row to Baltimore, 1 by way of blowout and the other by 9th inning pitching meltdown, fell out of the brief lead they held in the division, and dipped back below .500.  They could have used a series-opening win against the Red Sox as a way to get things going in the right direction again.  They had Michael Pineda and a very short bullpen with no Kelley or Warren, not necessarily an ideal pitching situation against the dangerous Boston lineup.  As it turned it out, it ended up being just dandy.

Game Notes:

- He gave up a few hard hit balls in the 1st, but Pineda settled in nicely and rolled through the Boston lineup the first time through.  Mixing 4-seamers, cutters, and sliders, he didn't allow a single hit and struck out 4 through 3.

- A fielding error to start the bottom of the 4th opened the door for the Yankees, and it was the big hitters in the middle who put a run together.  Carlos Beltran singled through the shift to put runners on the corners and Brian McCann yanked one inside the bag to plate a run.  An Alfonso Soriano GIDP made it 2-0.

- Hand substance or no hand substance.  Pineda was nasty through 6.  He only gave up 2 hits, struck out 3 more, and even started using his changeup a little bit.

- So obviously we all thought Dean Anna was going to hit his first HR of the season before McCann, right?  He did with 1 down in the 5th, starting another 2-run Yankee inning that ended with a Jacoby Ellsbury RBI single.

- Joe let Pineda start the 7th, but he ran out of gas quickly and it showed when he hung a cutter up to Daniel Nava that Nava hit for a solo HR.  1 more hit and it was over for Pineda and on to the bullpen.  Cesar Cabral struck out the 2 batters he faced and handed it over to David Phelps, who cruised through the final 2.1 innings in order to get his first career save.

Plenty Of Intrigue, As Always, To The First Yanks-Sawx Series Of The Season

(Courtesy of whoever did this originally.  Thing is baller)

The best rivalry in baseball heats up again tonight when the Yankees and Red Sox hook up for the first of what will be a 4-game weekend series.  Both teams are 4-5 to start their respective seasons and both teams have some disappointing and unexpected results that put them there.  The Yankees lost 2 of 3 to the Astros and lost the last 2 games at home to the Orioles heading into this series.  The Sawx got swept by the Brewers in their home-opening series.  Needless to say, neither of these teams is off to the start they were hoping for.

What adds to the importance (as important as an early April intra-league series can be) of this series is the vastly different offseasons each of these clubs had.  The Yankees are coming off a high-spending offseason in response to their failure to make the postseason in 2013, part of which included signing former Red Sock Jacoby Ellsbury to a very lucrative 7-year deal.  The Sawx had a relatively quiet offseason, losing more guys than they replaced externally and instead trying to re-up this year through prospects and returning internal young players.  They're still trying to find their footing, but they're also still the 2 big swinging dicks in the AL East, no matter what Tampa Bay has to say about it.  tarting tonight we get our first idea of how much each of them is still swinging...

P.S.- I'm really hoping somebody on the Yankee pitching staff remembers the A-Rod beaning from last year.  Last time I checked, they still owe Boston one for that nonsense.

Keith Law Scouts Double-A Trenton

This is almost a week old and I missed it initially, but Keith Law of ESPN attended the Opening Day game for the Trenton Thunder last week and filed a scouting report on some of the big name prospects playing.   Toronto pitching prospect Aaron Sanchez (not the "Chopped" judge) was the highlight of Law's report, but he also gave his takes on Yankee prospects Bryan Mitchell, Gary Sanchez, and Mason Williams.  The whole article is here and it's an Insider only piece, so here are the highlights for those without Insider access:

- Law isn't a big fan of Mitchell.  He liked his fastball velocity and believes Mitchell's cutter could eventually become his best pitch, but long-term he sees Mitchell as more of a relief prospect based on his lack of fastball movement and curveball command.

- Sanchez looked to be a little too much for Sanchez in 1 AB, but Law thought Sanchez looked pretty good behind the plate considering how often Mitchell was junking curveballs all over the place.

- Williams, despite hitting the ball hard a few times, still isn't showing enough maturity in his approach for Law's liking.  Law described Williams as "too aggressive for his own good" and said this is the year where we need to see some improvement in the finer points of Williams' game to match his tools.

Game 9 Wrap-Up: BAL 5 NYY 4

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

It was Tanaka Day for the second time of the 2014 season last night, and the first one ever to be held at Yankee Stadium.  After a rocky early going and a stellar finish to his MLB debut, Masahiro Tanaka took the hill in front of his new hometown fans looking to make a good first impression.  The first first impression may not have been the best one possible, but once again it was the finish to Tanaka's night that was the big story.

Game Notes:

- Tanaka worked around a leadoff double in the top of the 1st.  He wasn't so lucky in the 2nd.  A pair of singles put 2 runners on, and with 2 outs he hung a 1-0 slider that Jonathan Schoop clubbed for a 3-run HR.

- That early sting didn't face the lineup.  They came back with a pair of solo HRs in the bottom half of the inning, the first by Carlos Beltran (his first) and the second by Kelly Johnson (his second).

- Beltran got things started on the tying run in the bottom of the 4th with a leadoff double.  He moved to third on Brian McCann's sac fly and scored on a groundout by Alfonso Soriano to tie the game at 3.

- That early 3 was all the Orioles would get from Tanaka.  He allowed a measly 3 singles in his final 5 innings, striking out 7 batters for a total of 10 on the night and retiring the final 7 he faced in order.  He wasn't quite as sharp as his first start, but he was still very good.

- Unfortunately for him, the D-Rob-less bullpen couldn't repeat their Monday performance.  Thornton and Warren got through the 8th, but Shawn Kelley melted down in the 9th, giving up a leadoff double, 3 straight singles, and a sac fly to score 2 and put the game out of reach.

- The Yanks made it interesting by plating 1 run in the bottom of the 9th.  With a runner on 1st and 1 out, Yangervis Solarte came up and grounded into a heart-breaking game-ending double play.  Sucks.

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!