Matt Thornton Getting Put On Notice

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Hey, Matt.  You got a minute, bud?  I wanted to talk to you about something.  I know you're still the #1 lefty in the bullpen right now and the only one Joe would consider going to in a key lefty-lefty matchup situation.  And I know it may look like you're maintaining that "kinda-sorta pretty good/mostly unlucky" level you were at last month to the untrained eye, so you think you shouldn't have anything to worry about.  But here's a word to the wise.  Don't get too comfortable, brother.  Because the Yanks are making moves to find a replacement for you, whether you realize it or not.

Draft Day 1 Recap: Yankees Select Jacob Lindgren

(Courtesy of hailstate.com)

It was a long wait for the Yankees to make their first pick in last night's opening night of the 2014 MLB Draft.  Thanks to their offseason FA spending spree, they did not have a selection until the 2nd round, the 55th overall selection to be exact.  The rumors coming into the draft were that the Yankees were targeting a lot of prep catchers, some young HS arms, players with California ties (no surprise there), and most recently Indiana first baseman Sam Travis.  When the time came to make their pick, the Yankees went against all the rumors and selected Jacob Lindgren, left-handed pitcher from Mississippi St.

Game 59 Wrap-Up: NYY 2 OAK 1

(Lotta these talks today in the 4th and 5th.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

Masahiro Tanaka was on the mound for this afternoon's series finale against AL kings of the mountain Oakland and he was the team's best chance to win.  Actually, he may have been their only chance to win with the way they've been playing.  The A's had yet to experience Tanaka and all that comes with him, and even though they made him work for it they were unable to solve the riddle and get enough against him to get the sweep.

Game Notes:

- The Oakland hitters knew how to approach Tanaka even without any experience against him.  John Jaso got a first-pitch sinker that stayed up on the second AB of the game and hit it out for a solo home run and a quick 1-0 lead.

- The Yanks created plenty of early chances against Oakland starter Drew Pomeranz.  They blew one stranding runners on second and third with 1 out in the bottom of the 1st, but made up for it with an Alfonso Soriano (!!!) RBI single in the 2nd and Brett Gardner solo HR in the 3rd.

- Tanaka and Pomeranz each traded zeros after the 3rd, with Tanaka's coming much more difficultly.  He lasted 6 innings and needed 104 pitches to get through them, with only 4 strikeouts.  Pomeranz pitched 7 on 101 pitches and struck out 7.

This early scoring chances disappeared in the later innings.  The Yankees only managed to get 1 baserunner to second after the 3rd inning and failed to put more than 1 runner on in any inning.

- Joe went back to his bullpen horses to maintain the lead this time and they were back to normal.  Dellin Betances struck out 2 in a perfect 7th, Adam Warren pitched around 2 RISP with 2 BIG strikeouts in the 8th, and David Robertson locked down the 9th with 2 whiffs of his own.

AB4AR 2014 MLB Draft Preview

Everybody knows I'm not a big draft guy.  I don't follow the pre-draft rankings that much and I don't read too many scouting reports on players.  But I can say I did make an honest effort to follow some of the players and storylines involving the Yankees for this draft and I do have a few SCORCHING HOT TAKES on tonight's proceedings.

• Love Grant Hockin as a potential top pick for the Yankees at 55.  Love him.  Righty HS pitcher out of Los Angeles.  Good frame (6'3"/195), throws 4 pitches, 2 of them already decent-to-good offspeed pitches, smooth delivery, easy mechanics, very good makeup.

• Hockin could be a bit of a reach at 55, but I think that's a risk worth taking with the 55th pick being the Yankees' first pick.  After that, I expect them to go with mostly cheaper college players for the next few rounds and save their amateur money for the big international spending spree.

• Case in point, Pat Connaughton, righty pitcher out of Notre Dame.  The Yanks have been reportedly linked to him, prep catchers Chase Vallot, K.J. Harrison, and Jakson Reetz, and Indian first baseman Sam Travis by name as early round targets.

• Travis is a very polished college bat with power potential, similar to Jagielo last year.  If they could somehow manage to get him in the 2nd and Hockin in the 3rd, I'd be ecstatic.

The draft starts at 6 PM Eastern tonight and it'll be a few minutes before the Yankees' turn comes around.  Most of my draft recap and analysis will be coming tomorrow, but if I can hop online later tonight and touch on the Yankees' picks I will.

More On Soriano's Slump

On Tuesday, I took a painful look at Alfonso Soriano and his middling production this season.  He's been a major drain on the middle of the order and even more un-productive than Brian McCann, and it looked like it was attributable to nothing more than him being old and losing bat speed.  On that same day, Matt Bove of IIATMS/TYA also pointed out Soriano's drastic decline in power and spike in strikeouts, which inspired me to dig a little deeper.  Turns out Soriano has a major platoon split this season.  He's got an .805 OPS against right-handed pitching and a .563 against lefties, with more walks and strikeouts against southpaws.

Knowing that Soriano has been getting beaten badly by the fastball this season, is it possible that Soriano is getting a little of the Derek Jeter treatment and being pitched to in a way by righties that exploits his apparent loss of bat speed?

Joe Searching For Some Life On A Lifeless Ballclub

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

I didn't watch much of last night's game even though I had it on ESPN because the Rangers were obviously the priority, but I did have the Gameday feed up so I followed along enough to know that last night was another in what's become a common theme of Yankee losses.  It was their 4th in a row, 6th in their last 8 games, and the 6th straight game in which they failed to score more than 4 runs.  They scored early, with 4 runs in the 3rd inning, then never scored again as their below replacement-level 5th (4th??) starter and Quad-A middle relief corps slowly and methodically killed the 4-run lead they were given.

In boxing terms, last night's game was like a Floyd Mayweather fight.  The A's were the better team, the Mayweather in the matchup, and they knew it.  Instead of changing their approach, they stuck with what they do best, played their game, and slowly picked the Yankees apart by outclassing them as a baseball team and winning an easy decision.  Outclassed is a perfectly appropriate term here too, because last night the Yankees were outclassed by the A's.  The A's did everything better than the Yankees last night.  There was never any doubt, in my mind, that they were going to come back and win that game the minute Yoenis Cespedes hit his first home run to get them on the board.

Beltran To Return Today? (UPDATED)

Nothing's official yet, and won't be until later this afternoon, but all signs point to Carlos Beltran returning to the Yankee lineup tonight today.  He came through his ExST games without any problems in his elbow, he was on his way back to New York to rejoin the team yesterday, and when asked about his status before last night's game, Joe had this to say:

“He could possibly be in the lineup tomorrow. We’ll make a decision tomorrow, see how he feels, and he could be in the lineup tomorrow.  I just didn't reveal it because sometimes if a guy has a day setback, it becomes a huge story. And I don’t want it to become a huge story.”

So as long as Beltran doesn't wake up with pain in his elbow today or hit his funny bone really hard on anything in the clubhouse, he should be good to go.  The Yankees have been on a bad streak when it comes to setbacks, so smart move by Joe not saying anything until he knows Beltran is good to go.

Beltran returning could be huge if he truly is over the pain in his elbow.  There's no way of knowing how long that will last, but with Joe planning to use him as the primary DH he should be able to limit the wear and tear on that elbow.  The more Beltran can give them, the better.

** UPDATE 10:37 AM- Beltran has indeed been activated, with Scott Sizemore getting sent down, and is batting 5th in today's lineup as the DH. **

Game 58 Wrap-Up: OAK 7 NYY 4

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

Lineup shakeup on Tuesday night, bullpen shakeup on Wednesday afternoon.  If anybody thought Joe and Cash hadn't noticed how horrible the Yankees have been playing, there were your answers.  Joe stuck with Murphy behind the plate again last night while McCann DH'd and Ichiro got the start in right field against the righty Jesse Chavez.  In the 'pen, he wasn't sure if he was going to have Betances and Warren available after Tuesday night, so newbies Jose Ramirez and Wade LeBlanc were both good bets to get called upon if Vidal Nuno had another rough start in The Stadium.  It wasn't rough, but the collective pitching effort wasn't enough to hold onto a lead provided by another "one and done" offensive output.

Game Notes:

- Nuno's first 3 innings were typical Nuno.  Lot of deep counts, lot of pitches fouled off, and the inability on his part to puts guys away with 2 strikes.  They were also scoreless and sometimes that's all that matters.

- He got a bigger margin for error in the bottom of the 3rd thanks a nice little 4-run inning.  Ichiro started it off with a leadoff walk, Derek Jeter singled him in with an infield hit (as only Jeter can), and Jacoby Ellsbury cranked a 3-run home run to right-center for the big blow.

- Good thing Nuno had the margin too, because Yoenis Cespedes hit a home run off him on the second pitch he saw to start the top of the 4th.  Nuno escaped further damage with a double play ball and then limited the damage to 1 run when he worked into trouble again in the 5th before exiting with 2 outs.

- Matt Daley took the first crack at bridging the middle inning gap and got burned on a classic Yankee Stadium cheapie home run by Cespedes in the 6th.  A Jeter error extended the inning and came around to score on a sac fly to tie the game at 4.

- As they always seem to do, the Yankee bats went stone cold after the 3rd inning.  They stranded 2 in the 4th and 7th innings and the A's kept hammering away at the Yankee 'pen.  Ramirez gave up a solo HR in the 2 innings of work and LeBlanc got tagged for 2 in the 9th to put the game out of reach.

Let The Roster Shakeup Commence! Yanks Make 2 Bullpen Moves

Well that's one way to make a statement about the recent poor play from the front office.  The Yankees announced 2 25-man roster moves in preparation for tonight's game.  Alfredo Aceves has been designated for assignment and replaced by lefty Wade LeBlanc, who was claimed off waivers yesterday.  Also removed from the Major League bullpen was Preston Claiborne, who was optioned down to Triple-A SWB while Jose Ramirez was called up.

The writing was on the wall for Aceves after the LeBlanc claim went through.  He had pitched terribly ever since his scoreless 5-inning first appearance and there was really no use for him anymore.  The Claiborne move comes as a bit more of a surprise.  It's not undeserved on his part.  He had given up 4 ER and 4 BB in his last 5 appearances.  But Ramirez has only recently come off the MiL DL and only has 7 relief appearances under his belt for the RailRiders.

Both good moves for the Yankees.  They remove 2 guys who had given up 21 ER in 37 IP and replace them with a versatile left-hander who can be LOOGY insurance for Thornton and a high-ceiling power arm who's been striking out over a batter per inning in Triple-A.  The fun part will be seeing if these are the only roster shakeup moves made.

The Looming Albatrossity Of CC's Contract

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

After a rough patch there for the better part of the last 2 weeks, it looks like the Yankees' injury fortune may be changing for the better.  They could get Carlos Beltran back by the end of this week, maybe Shawn Kelley next week, and Francisco Cervelli has been playing in ExST games.  Michael Pineda's latest setback wasn't the worst case scenario, so there's still hope that he can come back and help at some point, and Mark Teixeira returned from his latest bout of wrist inflammation to go 2-5 with a HR and be the only player in the lineup responsible for driving in runs last night.  Everybody (knock on wood) seems to be coming around nicely.

Except for CC Sabathia.

Wednesday Morning Food For Thought: How Bad Have The Yankees Been Against Left-Handed Pitching?

Joe took a big swing at his lineup last night to try to get some offense going.  He loaded up on right-handed bats against southpaw starter Scott Kazmir, inserting John Ryan Murphy and Scott Sizemore into the lineup for Kelly Johnson and Brian McCann, and giving Brendan Ryan a night at shorstop while The Captain DH'd.  The results weren't there again (2 runs and only 1 XBH against Kazmir), and it made me wonder if the Yankees just stink against lefties this year.  Have they been so bad that it necessitated all the moves Joe made?

Not really.  As a team, the Yankees have a .716 OPS against LHP this season.  It's not great by any means, but at 17th in MLB it's hardly the worst in the world.  The Yanks have actually been worse against right-handed starters with a .697 team OPS and an 18-19 records against them compared to 11-9 in 20 games against lefties.

There's certainly no harm in changing things up when your team isn't hitting, and with somebody like McCann I have no problem with Joe using the L/R matchup game to give him a day of rest.  Production against southpaws has not been the Yankees' biggest problem this year, however, and Joe might be better served tweaking his batting order against righties (coughcough, move Jeter down, cough cough!!) to help pull his club out of this offensive funk.

Game 57 Wrap-Up: OAK 5 NYY 2

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

It's been a rough handful of games recently, so Joe decided to shake things up for last night's series opener against the Oakland A's, arguably the best team in all of baseball.  He had Scott Sizemore in the lineup at third base against the lefty Scott Kazmir, John Ryan Murphy too behind the plate, and for once he had Brendan Ryan starting at shortstop to help GB-heavy starter Hiroki Kuroda.  He also had Mark Teixeira back in the lineup after a few more days off to rest his ailing wrist.  None of it helped, as the Yankees failed to crack the 3-run barrier for the 5th time in 7 games.

Game Notes:

- Naturally it was the untweaked guys who gave the Yankees their first run.  Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Teix all singled to maufacture a run against Kazmir in the bottom of the 1st to grab the early 1-0 lead.

- Hirok breezed through the first 3 innings by mixing his pitches well.  He was getting called strikes on early offspeed pitches, locating his sinker down in the zone, and got help from Ryan turning a double play to eliminate the 1 hit he gave up.

- Kuroda's sinker started to drive up in the middle innings, however, and the A's cashed in on that in the 5th when Brandon Moss hit a game-tying home run on a 3-2 sinker that was up and over the plate.

- That 1st inning run loomed large for the Yanks because it was all they sniffed of scoring into the 6th.  Kazmir struck out the side in the 2nd, dominated Alfonso Soriano, and didn't give up another hit through the 5th.

- When he did flinch again, it was against Teix in the bottom of the 6th.  Kazmir missed with a 2-seamer for ball 1, tried to throw another one by Teix, and watched as Teix smashed it to left-center for the go-ahead HR.

- Kuroda handed the game over to Dellin Betances with 2 outs in the 7th.  Betances promptly struck out Moss but had an uncharacteristic hiccup in the 8th with a walk and a 2-out double to tie the game.  The offense couldn't generate another run late and the game went into extras.

- Moss didn't need long to get over the 7th inning K.  He came up to face Adam Warren to lead off the 10th and crushed his second dinger of the night into the right field seats.  Warren fell apart from there and the lineup couldn't muster up a rally in the bottom half.

Tuesday Evening News And Notes

A couple of notes before tonight's game:

- The Yankees called up Scott Sizemore from Triple-A and put him in the starting lineup for tonight, when they play the first of 4 games in the next 7 against left-handed pitchers.  Zoilo Almonte was sent back down to clear a 25-man spot.

- The Yanks also claimed lefty reliever Wade LeBlanc off waivers from the Angels.  He's been working as a long man/spot starter, but could be used as extra insurance for Matt Thornton.

- In a corresponding 40-man roster move, Michael Pineda was transferred to the 60-day DL to open up a spot for LeBlanc.

- Masahiro Tanaka was named the AL Pitcher of the Month for May.  Now I don't have to feel bad for picking him over Betances in the AB4AR monthly awards.

AB4AR "Best of The Month" Awards: May 2014

In April, the Yankees went 15-11 and outperformed their negative run differential.  The reaction was mostly one of "let's wait and see" heading into May and now that month has been checked off the calendar.  The Yankees posted a 14-14 record in May with a -12 run differential, worse results on both fronts.  The rotation continued to lose key members to injuries, the lineup continued to stagger and sputter and not even come close to clicking as some of its older members saw a dip in production, and once again we're left waiting and seeing what this month will have in store in terms of recovery from injuries and team performance.  There was a lot of "blah" in May, but as always, there were the players,  plays, and games that stood out for the better.  My picks for the best of the best after the jump.

Tuesday Mid-Morning Injury News Roundup

- Carlos Beltran went 0-3 in an ExST game yesterday.  The plan, according to him, is to play in 2 more games and rejoin the Major League club on their next road trip.

- Francisco Cervelli has also been playing in ExST games.  Yesterday he went 1-2 at the plate and caught 3 innings.  He's a few weeks away from being eligible to come off the 60-day DL, so he'll continue to ramp up at a slow, deliberate pace.

- Shawn Kelley will throw a sim game tomorrow.  If that goes well, he'll start an official rehab assignment later in the week.

- Mark Teixeira should be back in the lineup tonight against a left-handed starter.  The decision on whether he played Wednesday will be made after he sees how he feels tonight.

- CC Sabathia had a follow-up on his knee with the team doctor earlier this week and he has begun walking on a "low impact" treadmill to test his knee.  He says he "feels great", but the only baseball-related plan is for him to play catch later in the week.  Nothing beyond that.

Alfonso Soriano Sucks

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

This worked pretty well to paint the picture of how bad Brian McCann has been last week.  I figured, why not keep that fun going and do it again for Alfonso Soriano, he of the team-worst -0.4 fWAR through 56 games.  He's been just as big a drain on the offensive production as McCann but hasn't gotten nearly the coverage.  Until now.

• Soriano hit .220/.233/.378 in May with a 34.9% K rate and 2.3% BB rate
• He hasn't hit a home run since 5/17 and only hit 2 in May
• He has just 2 RBI since 5/17, only had 9 in May, and doesn't have a single multi-RBI game this year
• Among the 20 players with 100+ plate appearances who qualify as DHs this season, Soriano ranks 19th in OBP (.256), 13th in SLG (.399), 16th in wOBA (.282), 16th in wRC+ (73), 15th in fWAR, 3rd in K rate (28.2%), and dead last in BB rate (3.1%)

Game 56 Wrap-Up: SEA 10 NYY 2

(Always good to run yourself out of a bases loaded situation.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

When you're the Yankees and you're not hitting worth a damn, the last person you want to see on the mound in Yankee Stadium is Felix Hernandez.  The Mariners were in town for their April rainout makeup game, and wouldn't you know it!  Who could have been the starting pitcher except for King Felix??  Love how baseball works like that sometime, don't you?  The Yankee lineup did about what you'd expect them to do against him and the resulting loss was quickly-executed and well-earned.

Game Notes:

- It didn't take long for David Phelps to put his offense in a hole.  He gave up a leadoff triple and an RBI single to start the top of the 2nd and allowed another (sorta) leadoff triple to come around to score in the 4th for a 2-0 Seattle lead.

- The Yanks actually singled in each of the first 3 innings against, and they finally broke through in the bottom of the 4th with 2 runs to tie the game.  Ichiro knocked home Brian McCann (single) and Yangervis Solarte (double) with a deflected base knock.

- To his credit, Phelps retired the 5th and 6th innings in order once his lineup scored for him, but he tired in the top of the 7th, gave up a double and a walk to the first 2 batters of the inning, and the back-breaking 2-run single to Brad Miller that ended his day and the Yankees' chance to win.

- King Felix did 1 inning better than Phelps, sitting down the next 9 Yankee hitters in order to complete 7.  His bullpen gave him 2 strong, scoreless innings and he had another win at The Stadium.

- Phelps' bullpen was atrocious behind him.  Matt Thornton gave up another 2-run single in the 7th to tack 6 runs onto Phelps' ledger and Alfredo Aceves gave up 4 runs on 2 home runs to turn it into a rout in the 9th.

Kendrys Morales, Anyone?

(Courtesy of the AP)

It's been 2 steps forward, 1 step back for the Yankees with respect to their various injury situations lately.  Actually, 1 step forward, 2 steps back is more accurate.  Carlos Beltran and his right elbow have responded well to early hitting activities and the team could get him back in the lineup by week's end.  Mark Teixeira and his wrist haven't been so lucky, as he's still feeling pain and stiffness and received another cortisone injection after leaving Saturday's game early.  With all that left-handed uncertainty and a painful-to-watch lack of pop in the lineup, is it time to seriously consider signing Kendrys Morales?

Can Everybody Please Not Freak Out About D-Rob?

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

I'd like to think that most of the people who read this site regularly would not be foolish enough to start panicking after David Robertson's blowup in the 9th inning yesterday.  But driving back from Delaware with my family, I was taken aback by the number of people who were calling into WFAN to complain about D-Rob and suggest that Dellin Betances be put into the closer role and so I feel like it's my duty to write this post and remind everybody that there's no reason to do that.

Beltran Heading To Tampa For MiL Rehab Games

While the offense continues to sputter and injuries continue to linger, the Yankees did get a small bit of good news on the health front after yesterday's loss.  Joe told reporters that Carlos Beltran will be heading to Tampa to get some game situation at-bats over the next few days and could rejoin the team later this week.

Beltran's right elbow has apparently responded well to the cortisone shot he received a few weeks ago.  He progressed quickly through his light rehab workouts last week, quicker than I thought he would if I'm being honest.  He went from dry swings with a fungo bat to live BP in less than a week, and he hasn't felt any pain or discomfort in the elbow after any of the workouts.

Because the MiL teams' schedules aren't conducive to a formal rehab assignment, the plan is for Beltran to play in a few ExST games.  That actually could work out better than a true assignment, as Beltran will be able to get a lot of at-bats in those informal games and really test his elbow on swings.  Joe didn't give specifics on how long Beltran would be down there, but did leave the possibility open for him to rejoin the team by the end of the week. As bad as the offense has been lately, that would be ideal.

Game 55 Wrap-Up: MIN 7 NYY 2

(Big time oofda for D-Rob today.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

There's no better example of the Yankees' player development failures than Phil Hughes.  Once the team's top prospect and one of the top prospects in baseball, Hughes went from not living up to the hype to being just plain bad in his tenure with the team before leaving via free agency this past offseason.  The change of scenery has done wonders for him in Minnesota so far.  Amazing what can happen when you get out of a flyball park and throw more strikes, huh?  Hughes made his first appearance as an opponent this afternoon, and in a frustrating display that was all too typical, he shut down the Yankees for 8 innings and gave his team a chance to make their furious 9th inning comeback.

Game Notes:

- Chase Whitley danced around 2 baserunners in the 2nd to keep the Twins off the scoreboard.  He couldn't repeat the feat in the 3rd and they took the early lead on a Brian Dozier RBI single.

- A Brett Gardner leadoff triple got the Yanks started in the bottom of the 4th.  2 more singles, a walk, and a sac fly gave them 2 runs off Hughes and a 2-1 lead.

- Whitley didn't go deep again, only 5 innings, but he held the lead and handed it off the bullpen.  Dellin Betances got the call for the 6th and 7th and retired the sides in order with 5 strikeouts.

- The 2 runs in the 4th was all the Yanks could muster.  Hughes settled in after that and retired the next 12 batters in a row to complete 8 innings.  Talk about a knife in the heart of Yankee fans.

- Adam Warren navigated the 8th and gave way to David Robertson for the close.  D-Rob promptly gave up a solo HR to Josh Willingham to lead off the 9th, the start to an ugly 6-run inning that saw him walk 3, get pulled, and get more runs tacked onto his line thanks to the Matts- Daley and Thornton.  Brutal.

Game 54 Wrap-Up: NYY 3 MIN 1

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

When all else fails, when everybody in the lineup forgets how to hit, when players are suffering injury setbacks left and right, the Yankees still have Masahiro Tanaka.  He was on the mound yesterday in the second game of this weekend series against the Twins, and once again he stepped and gave his team a big outing when they needed one to lead them to victory.

Game Notes:

- The lone blemish on Tanaka's ledger came in the top of the 1st, once again thanks to bad infield defense.  Brian Dozier got on base to lead off the game on a Kelly Johnson error, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Josh Willingham base hit.

- It was slow sailing for the Yanks against Kevin Correia through 3 innings.  They loaded the bases in the 1st, put 2 on in the 2nd, and 1 on in the 3rd and came away with nothing, ending the first 2 innings on double plays.

- They broke through to tie the game in the bottom of the 4th on a Yangervis Solarte solo home run.  It was his 6th of the season and it came with 2 outs.  Not a bad way to break out of a slump.

- Tanaka was lights out after the 1st.  He put runners on in the 2nd and 3rd as he was finding his command, but he retired the final 8 batters he faced in order and kept the Twins off the scoreboard again through 8.

- They waited long enough, but the offense finally got him some runs to put him ahead in the bottom of the 8th.  Jacoby Ellsbury singled, stole second, and moved to third on a bad throw, Brian Roberts walked, and Brian McCann double Ellsbury home for the go-ahead run.  Johnson singled in Roberts for insurance and D-Rob struck out the side in the 9th for the save.

Saturday Afternoon Bad News Post

I'm really getting tired of writing this negative injury update posts.  It really fucking sucks.

- After making it through last night's game fine, most likely because he walked 3 times and didn't have to swing much, Mark Teixeira was removed from this afternoon's game early when his wrist started acting up again.  The team is continuing to call it "inflammation" and Joe said Teix won't play tomorrow or Monday before being re-evaluated Tuesday, but he did get another cortisone shot today.  Cue the DL stint countdown.

- Michael Pineda was also shut down before he could make his scheduled ExST start tomorrow.  He felt soreness in his shoulder area after playing catch yesterday and an MRI today revealed inflammation in the same area that his initial back/shoulder muscle injury occurred.

More on these stories as it comes out...

Power Outage

May 17th- Yankees hit 5 home runs and 1 double in a 7-1 victory over the Pirates.

12 games since- Yanks have hit 4 HR, 2 triples, and 9 doubles.

6 XBH in 1 game, 15 total XBH in a dozen games.  That's not bad, that's awful.  The Yanks haven't hit a home run since 5/25 and the complete lack of power in their lineup was never more exposed than last night against Ricky Nolasco, the guy who came into the game with the second most hits allowed and second highest ERA among all qualifying pitchers in the AL.

They're all saying the right things about the power problem, but talk is cheap.  They don't know what they're going to get from Teix or Beltran in the power department thanks to their arm injuries, they already know they're not going to get much from guys like Jeter and Roberts, and at this point who knows what to expect from Soriano and McCann.  The lack of pop is a huge problem and it needs to be addressed.  They can't continue to hit this weakly with this patchwork rotation.

Game 53 Wrap-Up: MIN 6 NYY 1

(That pretty much sums it up.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

Safe to say that game wasn't one of the games that the team will look back on as part of their best at the end of the year.  The Yankees looked flat in their first game back at The Stadium after a week on the road.  They didn't pitch, they didn't hit, they didn't run the bases, and they got it handed to them by the Twins.  That's never a good thing.

Game Notes:

- Minnesota got started early against Vidal Nuno with a solo HR by Oswaldo Garcia in the top of the 2nd.  0-2 fastball right over the heart of the plate, gone.

- They got 3 more in the top of the 4th, once again off of Nuno's weak fastball.  He threw a bad 0-2 one to Josh Willingham to start the inning and another bad one in a 2-1 count to Trevor Plouff with a runner on.  Both guys hit them a long way and the Twins had a 4-1 lead.

- The 1 Yankee run came in the 3rd on an RBI double down the right field line by Jacoby Ellsbury.  Brett Gardner was on 2nd after a force out earlier in the inning.  That was all the offense they'd get.

- They had themselves to blame for ruining a couple other good scoring chances against Twins starter Ricky Nolasco.  Derek Jeter rounded first base too far on a single in the 5th and started a rundown that eventually got Brett Gardner tagged out trying to score from 3rd.  Brian Roberts got picked off first base in the 2nd and thrown out at the plate to end the 6th.

- The best thing Nuno did, the only good thing, was pitch into the 7th.  Preston Claiborne took over there and gave up 2 more runs in the 8th on a back-breaking walk-single-single trifecta with 2 outs.