Granderson Out A Month? Javy To The 'Pen?

(Photo courtesy of Bill Kostroun, The AP)

From LoHud:

"Joe Girardi said at this morning’s press conference that he will probably be out a month. Granderson was limping a lot when he got to the clubhouse, but he said he was feeling a bit better from yesterday. For now, it’s Marcus Thames and Randy Winn in a left-field time share, with Brett Gardner shifting to center."

So things go from bad to worse for C-Grand, who hadn't exactly been killing it before he got hurt yesterday. A month for a speed guy like Granderson pretty much means he won't be playing in the Majors for at least 6-7 weeks. You don't strain your groin and then just start running full speed again after a month.

Interesting choice to call up Mark Melancon to replace Granderson on the 25-man. Between Gardner's D and continued production at the plate and Thames being a wrecking machine at the plate right now, I guess Joe feels confident that the Yankee lineup won't be greatly affected by C-Grand's absence. The Melancon move signals that Joe is more concerned with getting the bullpen righted and that Dave Robertson is probably getting bumped down in the bullpen pecking order as he still can't get it figured out this year.

Even more intriguing could be what the Melancon call up means for Javy Vazquez, who had arguably his worst outing of the year yesterday. Joe hasn't committed to letting him pitch in Boston next week and with another arm in the 'pen now, we could see Sergio Mitre get a shot in the rotation as Phil gets bumped up to the 4-spot. I would say Hughes' performance today and how Melancon handles his first work back at the Major League level will dictate whether Joe goes that route or not, but right now it's looking like everything is set up for Javy to get dropped in the bullpen to get his shit together.

Oh Captain, My Captain

(Photo courtesy of The AP)

Well he sure as shit doesn't have the same patience as he used to at the plate and I will probably end up with more walks than him at the end of the season, but Derek Jeter can still fucking hit.

3-4 last night with a 3B, HR, 2 runs scored, and 4 RBIs.  All but single-handedly giving the Yankees the comeback win they notched to finish 15-7 in April and chop 2 more games off the quickly-shrinking magic number to eliminate Fraud Sox Nation from the division title race.

And just in case you hadn't noticed, Jeter has 18 RBIs from the leadoff spot, which ties him with Cano for the team lead.  So while he and Bob continue to rake, somebody send out a search party for Teix and C-Grand.

Robinson Cano Is Pretty Good

(Photo courtesy of The NY Post)

Robinson Cano had a decent game last night. And I guess he's been playing alright over the last couple games.

- 2 home runs, both off left-handed pitching, on a fastball and a curveball to give him 8 on the year, and a laser double that was almost a 3rd bomb.

- 3-4 last night to raise his season average to .407 (best in MLB).

- The slickest of slick plays behind second base to rob the Orioles of a hit in the 3rd inning.

- 13 for his last 24, a .542 average.

We're not worthy!! We're not worthy!!

 

The Red Sox Are Actually More Hated Than The Yankees (Shocker!!)

A ground-breaking discovery from yesterday's Wall Street Journal:

Contrary to popular belief, the Yankees are only the fifth-most despised team in the majors, according to an Internet algorithm built by Nielsen Co. that analyzes how people feel about certain things. This service typically uses various keywords to find out whether people have positive, negative or neutral reactions to different brands and products. No team registered a negative mark on Nielsen's "sentiment scale," which ranges from -5 to 5, but the Yankees (1.8) were one of only six teams to score lower than 2. The Mets finished four spots higher, making them the ninth most-hated team.

"Even Yankee fans don't hate the Mets these days," says Benjamin Kabak, a writer for the River Avenue Blues Yankees blog. "We just feel bad for them." (courtesy of the Wall Street Journal)

Well there you have it, Red Sox fans. Despite your shameless bandwagon jumping over the last 6 years to create the greatest fan base of any team in any sport in the history of the world, the numbers don't lie. Nobody likes you and nobody likes your team. So pack up your green hats, tell your girlfriends to take off their pink Varitek jerseys, turn "Sweet Caroline" off on your iPod dock, and just go the fuck home.

You can bitch about the Yankees and their spending all you want, and why not? That's what everybody else does and that's surely the major source of most people's hatred for the Yankees. But at the end of the day, deep down people respect winning and people respect class. And the New York Yankees still represent the gold standard in American sports in both of those categories. Sure they get their fair share of hatred thrown their way, as their standing in this poll shows that the Bombers aren't winning any MLB popularity contests any time soon. But any real sports fan has to respect the honest tradition the Yankees have built on their own merit rather than the media-created falsehood that is Fraud Sox Nation.

I've known it forever, and I'm sure plenty other people have to. But it's nice to see it finally put out in the open. Thank you, Wall Street Journal, and thank you, Nielsen. You've done all of us true sports fans a great service with this research.

Just for shits and gigs, here's the top 10 list of the most hated teams, according to the research:

The Hatred Index

1. Cleveland Indians 0.9
2. Boston Red Sox 1.1
3. Cincinnati Reds 1.5
4 Houston Astros 1.8
5. New York Yankees 1.8
6. Washington Nationals 1.9
7. Chicago White Sox 2
8. Baltimore Orioles 2
9. New York Mets 2.3
10. Los Angeles Dodgers 2.4


P.S.- Kudos to Ben from RAB for getting the jab in on the Mets. Truer words have never been spoken.

That's More Like It

Well it wasn't quite 13-2, but it was still a solid ass kicking and a good time for the offense to wake up last night.

CC wasn't great, as his 13 baserunners in 7+ innings will show, but like Phil the night before, he battled all night and made pitches when he had to to get himself out of trouble. With the way the bullpen has scuffled lately, you can't really blame Joe for sticking with CC that long last night even when it was clear he wasn't on his A-game.

The offense pounded out 15 hits last night, including a 2-4 night from Jeet, 3-5 from Swish, 2-5 with a HR from Bob Cano, and 2-4 from Frankie, who continues to produce at the plate when he is in for Jorge. And hey! Teix went 1-5 last night to finally get his batting average over half his playing weight (now at .133).

About the only thing that wasn't good last night was this image:

(Photo courtesy of Reuters)

You never like to see your starting catcher leave with an injury, especially when he's older like Jorge. Time will tell how long that knee injury keeps Jorge out for. For now let's just move the Jesus Alert up to level Yellow.

Oh, and fuck you, Jeremy Guthrie. Get some fucking command of your shit.

Poo!

Yeesh! Talk about a Presidential hangover.

Bad bullpen support for Hughes, no hitting, no hitting with runners in scoring position, costly errors by the team leaders, and Mark Teixeira is still nowhere to be found. Not exactly what you want to or expect to see against the worst team in baseball. Then to top it all off, Nick Johnson and Chan Ho are both not progressing as expected in their rehab from their injuries.

Oh well. Nothing a little 12-3 ass whooping tonight can't cure.

Why Is Curt Schilling Still Talking?

(Asshat)

Somebody please get Curt Schilling off the airwaves and stick an X-Box Live headset on him if he wants to run his mouth. The World's Foremost Authority on Everything sounded off on Javy Vazquez and his struggles yesterday on Colin Cowherd's radio show.

"You're seeing what you're gonna get from him consistently all year. Having said that, he could turn around next week and throw a one-hitter with his stuff. I just don't see him being a consistent winner in the American League."

"It's hard to say this without sounding disrespectful and I don't mean it that way -- the National League is an easier league to pitch in, period. And some guys aren't equipped to get those same outs in the American League, and he's one of those guys." (used courtesy of the NY Post)

Now don't think I'm using this to run to Vazquez's defense. I'm already on record as one of the first to boo the shit out of him this year and I really don’t think there is a way to justify how awful he has been, especially when he currently sits last in the Majors in ERA amongst the 115 pitchers who have thrown enough innings to qualify.

Oh no, I am using this simply to call out Schilling for his continued idiocy and penchant for running his mouth about things he knows nothing about even after his playing career has long ended. Look, Curt, you can't say that the awful performances we have seen so far are going to be Javy's consistent output for the year and then turn around in the next sentence and say he could throw a one-hitter his next time out. That right there is the exact opposite of consistency. Pick one.

And as far as being equipped to get outs in the NL versus the AL, let's take a look at the numbers, shall we? Javy in 9 NL seasons: 90-93 record with a 3.58 ERA. Now Javy in 5 AL seasons: 53-49 record with a 3.21 ERA. Now maybe my vision is off after sleeping with my contacts in for 3 days in a row, but those AL numbers sure look like a higher career winning percentage and a lower ERA to me. Neither set is Hall of Fame-worthy, but what they do show is that Vazquez has been consistent in his performance regardless of which league he's pitching in. Vazquez has pretty much been the same pitcher whether it's the NL or AL, with his AL numbers actually being better over his career.

Your opinions are all well and good, Curt, but the numbers don't lie. Now Javy has sucked mightily so far this season and as the year moves forward I am sure he will suck plenty more times. But to suggest from a sample of 4 outings when the guy is obviously pitching without his best stuff that he's incapable of pitching in the American League when a simple check of the numbers proves otherwise is completely insane.

Javy needs to sack up and get his shit together, that's a fact. But sooner or later you have to figure that's going to happen. Schilling, on the other hand, needs to finally shut up once and for all. There's no reason for somebody so out of touch with reality and too tuned in to the sound of his own voice and creating false controversy to be spouting off on ESPN radio; they already have enough of that. If somebody needs advice on how to gain more mana in World of Warcraft, then by all means, Curt, speak up. But if it's anything other than that, do us all a favor and keep your mouth shut.

BOOM!!

How's that, America?  You likin' that shit, Fraud Sox Nation?

That's a little Core Four right in your eye.  Enjoy it.

This will instantly become my favorite issue of SI ever when I finally get it in the mail.  Matter of fact, I'm ditching out of work right now to go camp out in front of my mailbox to wait for it.

Presidential Pinstripes

(Photo courtesy of Getty Images)

"For a White Sox fan like me, its painful to watch Mariano's cutter.... Although, I do remember 2005, so don't get too comfortable," said Obama, referring to the White Sox World Series title five years ago.

Oh hahahaha-fucking-ha.  The President has jokes now.  Seriously, dude, shut the hell up and stand there with the jersey and then get back to work.  Just be thankful the Yankees were gracious enough to take time out of their busy schedule to show up at your place and bestow these priceless gifts upon you.  Holding the World Series trophy today was probably the closest you've been to feeling like a winner since November '08 so enjoy the moment, show a little humility and respect, and thank the Yankees for coming by to honor you with their presence.

P.S.- Does John Sterling even have facial muscles?  Look at the guy.  He looks exactly the same in every photo I ever see of him.  Creepy.

How's That Pitching And Defense Going?

(Yeah, I know it's old but that image pretty much sums up how Boston is playing right now)

It's good to know that even when the Yanks have a bit of a hiccup yesterday, we can always turn back to the good old Red Sox to put things in perspective. Here are some of the high(low)lights of Peter Abraham's article in the Globe today (courtesy of Boston.com).

The Red Sox finally admitted what everybody has known for several days, that Tim Wakefield is headed to the bullpen. Daisuke Matsuzaka will start in Baltimore Saturday.

And that's supposed to be an improvement?

Terry Francona tried to spin the move, saying the Red Sox weren't turning Wakefield into a reliever, they were just sending him to the bullpen until he makes his next start.

First off, if Francona is going to use that lame logic, he needs to cite his source. Cash and Joe already used the "starter coming out of the bullpen" gig for Joba at the end of Spring Training. Secondly, saying it that way is almost more insulting to Wakefield than just telling him he's getting demoted because he sucks. "Until his next start" is obviously code for "which hopefully isn't until somebody else in rotation gets hurt and we need him." If Wakefield was pitching well enough to make his next SCHEDULED start, he wouldn't have Dice-Gay taking his spot in the first place.

It's pretty grim when you allow 16 runs on 39 hits over three games to a team like the Orioles. They arrived in town hitting .225 with a .285 on-base percentage.

Wrong. Grim would be allowing 16 runs on 39 hits over 3 games against ANY opponent. Allowing that to the worst team in baseball who came in with team batting numbers like that is practically cause to sound the death knell.

The concern is that the Red Sox are not pitching well and have a roster full of mismatched pieces. There are two DHs...

Assuming his pathetic OPS still qualifies Big Sloppi to be called a DH.

...a catcher who can't throw...

2 catchers who can't throw, actually, if you count Varitek.

...and outfielders who hit at the bottom of the order more often than not...

But god-DAMN can they play some defense, huh?  I mean 14 errors and a 20th-place ranking in team fielding percentage??  THAT'S impressive!

In Wakefield, David Ortiz, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek, Francona also has four older players on the downside of their careers who believe they should be playing every day and aren't. Having two such players on the roster would be a lot to handle. He has four.

Just for the sake of comparison, the Yankees' 4 "old" guys currently have a .316 BA w/ 3 HRs and 12 RBIs (Jeter), .315 BA w/ 4 HRs and 11 RBIs (Posada), a 3-0 record w/ a 1.29 ERA and 1.07 WHIP (Pettitte), and 6 saves in 6 chances without allowing a run (Mo). Oh, and the Yankees are ranked 2nd in MLB in team fielding percentage and have only committed 6 errors so far.  No big deal.

 is If a team is winning, nobody can complain. But if 8-11 turns into 16-22, disgruntled players will find a forum in the clubhouse and Francona will have fires to put out.

And this is what happens when you commit to pitching and defense instead of winning. But hey, at least Boston doesn't have a shortage of options to use, right?. I'll take Javy Vazquez shitting his pants every 4-5 days over having to sift through the scrap heap that is Boston's bench for answers any day of the fucking week. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Joe Still Can't Make Up His Mind

Early reports from the team hotel this morning indicate Joe Girardi couldn't decide what he wanted for breakfast this morning. He first told the waitress he wanted bacon and eggs, but then thought about it and switched to sausage and eggs.

He walked over to her 10 minutes later and thought about changing back to bacon and eggs, but stopped before he could get there and decided to stick with the sausage. 10 minutes later, after he finally decided to take 3 creamers in his coffee instead of 2, Joe got his breakfast delivered to his table only to have Kendry Morales come over and smack the whole plate out the window before Joe could pick up his fork.

Thank God Morales won't be at The White House today to cut the line and be the first to shake hands with Barry O. Although I wouldn't be shocked to find out Joe invited Morales anyway since he spent the whole weekend trying to make Kendry as comfortable and successful as possible.
 

BOOOOO!!!

OK, it's been 4 bad starts in a row.  Can we start booing yet?  We can?  Great.

(Photo courtesy of The AP)

BOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!  BOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday News And Notes

- If you're keeping score at home, that's now 8 multi-hit games for Bob Cano already this year after his 4-5 job yesterday.  Dude has been stinging the ball since Spring Training and it hasn't stopped.

- The Human Take Sign, Nick Johnson, was out of the lineup with a sketchy back yesterday and now he's going to be out until Tuesday as a precaution.  The injury doesn't sound like it's enough to warrant getting the Jesus Watch up to threat-level orange, but you never know...

- Frankie Cervelli, in addition to being everyone's favorite neighborhood catcher, has been quietly holding his own and then some at the plate in his limited appearances so far this year.  After yesterday he's now 6-12 on the season with 5 RBIs.  He's had a hit in every game he's started and an RBI and 3 of the 4.

- Oh look!  Brett Gardner is hitting .340 on the year after 3 more hits yesterday.  Between Gardner's improvement at the plate early in the season and Marcus Thames being a lefty hitman, the Yanks should just cut Randy Winn right now and call up somebody from Triple-A to be the 5th outfielder.

- Javy goes up against retired Yankee killer Scott Kazmir today in the battle of struggling starters trying to get their shit together.  Let's see if he can get that fastball up over 90MPH today.

- If you're filling out your scorecard for the game today, here's the starting lineup:

The Captain SS
Swish RF
Teix 1B
The Horse 3B
Bobinson 2B
Jorgie DH
Thames LF
C-Grand CF
Frankie C

RHP Javy Vazquez

- No Linkapalooza today because quite frankly, I'm just too hung over and lazy to pull all the links together.  But I will plug LoHud, River Avenue Blues, and The Yankee U again as the best in the business when it comes to Yankee coverage.  So go to those sites and get some knowledge.

And just because I'm a nice guy, I'll put up this classic video of a turtle fucking a shoe.  It's a visual metaphor for what Andy did to the Angels yesterday.  Guess which one was the shoe?



Enjoy the rest of your weekend, Yankee fans.

Andy Pettitte Just Killing It Right Now

(Photo courtesy of The AP)

2-game losing streak?  What 2-game losing streak?

Andy was brilliant again yesterday, to the tune of 8IP, 6H, 1ER, 6K and 0BB as he picked up his 3rd win of the season, lowered his ERA to something that normal numeric fractions can't calculate, and set the Yankees up to win their 6th consecutive series of the year today is Javy can grow a little hair on his peaches.

The Yanks also roughed up Joel Pineiro yesterday, something they were unable to do in their meeting with him last week.  Although with the way Andy was dealing yesterday, they would have only needed a few hits and walks here and there to get the job done.

We haven't done this in a while so... START SPREADING THE NEWS, MOTHER F'S!!!!

And Down Goes Wilson! Down Goes Wilson!! (And The Yankees)

(Photo courtesy of The AP)

Well at least Teix is good for something, right?  After that hit to Bobby Wilson last night, word around the NFL Draft today is that Rex Ryan and the Jets are looking to take him in the 5th or 6th round.  With the way he's hitting right now (.117/.274/.250) Teix might want to consider that career change.

At some point somebody is going to have to explain to me why Joba was in the game against 2 dangerous lefties last night in the 8th inning, especially one, Morales, who completely owns him (4-6 w/ a HR career before last night).  I understand he is now the official setup man for Mo, but Joe's got 2 lefties in the 'pen out there and so far Joba and Mo have been the 2 guys with the most appearances so far this season.  Why not use Marte for the 8th and then maybe Joba for the 9th?

2-game losing streak?  No problem.  The stopper, Andrew Eugene Pettitte is on the hill today.  It's all good.

Marcus Thames Is A One-Man Wrecking Crew

(Photo Courtesy of The AP)

Flashback to February 8; the Yankees had just signed Marcus Thames to a $900,000 minor league contract. I said:

"While he's not guaranteed a spot on the team with the minor league contract, the signing of Thames... gives the Yankees what they needed, a righty power bat off the bench who can play the corner outfield if need be, at less than what they're going to pay Winn to be an unnecessary defensive replacement outfielder who can't hit a lick."

Flash closer back to April 2, when in my season preview for the bench I said about Thames:

"Thames, a righty, will be used mostly to match up with lefties, and his past success in the Majors more than likely gave him the boost over [Jamie] Hoffmann. He is a below-average outfielder, so expect to see Thames mainly as a late-game situational pinch hitter or getting starts on days where Gardner has a bad matchup."

Fast forward to today, where we are 15 games into the year and Marcus Thames is absolutely wrecking shit right now. In 12 at-bats he has 6 hits, including a 2B and a HR, 2 runs scored, and an RBI for a cool 1.372 OPS. He's already been more productive in 5 games this year than he was in his first stint with the Bombers back in '02.

Thames has been exactly what I said he would be and exactly what the Yankees wanted him to be: a guy who will step in for Brett Gardner and mash the crap out of left-handed pitching at a clip that will hopefully negate his incredibly awful defense. His performance thus far has somewhat overshadowed the fact that the Yanks wasted 2 mil on what's left of Randy Winn's rotting corpse (0-10 w/ 4 Ks so far), and even though the argument can still be made that Gardner's overall value created by his offense, defense, and speed on the base paths makes it unnecessary to platoon him with Thames, based on these early returns you have to chalk the signing of Thames up as another check in the "+" column for Cash.

Why Didn't Joe Play Jorge And C-Grand?!?!

Oh well, guess Joe's lineup tinkering didn't work out today.  After his typical shaky first inning when he was clearly too jacked up because he was pitching in Cali again, CC was magic.  But the Yanks couldn't muster enough offense off Dallas Braden to pick CC up.  I knew Joe messing with the lineup today was a bad idea.

Speaking of Dallas, somebody tell this kid to chill out.  Screaming at The Horse because he walked across the mound? 

“I don’t care if I’m Cy Young or the 25th man on the roster, if I’ve got the ball in my hand and I’m on that mound, that’s my mound…. He ran across the pitcher’s mound foot on my rubber. No, not happening. We’re not the door mat anymore.”- Braden after the game.

Dude, it wasn't like you were going into your windup.  The fucking play was dead!!  And then to talk about how hard you throw and what you may or may not do the next time these 2 teams meet?  It's shit talking like that that will get your teeth kicked in by The Horse next time.  And then you won't even have to worry about who's walking on your mound because you'll be laying in the ICU.


P.S.- Calm down with the "We're not the door mat anymore" schtick, bro.  Look around you.  You play for the biggest penny pincher in baseball.  The Oakland A's exist to basically be every other team's farm system.  They horde good young talent and then trade it off for more good young talent when it gets too expensive.  Just calm down with the chest pounding, pitch decent over the next couple years and enjoy the new contract you get from some different team in free agency.

Joe Farting In Oakland's General Direction

Here's today's lineup for this afternoon's series finale against Oakland via LoHud:

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson 1B
Mark Teixeira DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Marcus Thames LF
Francisco Cervelli C
Brett Gardner CF

LHP CC Sabathia

Wow, well that's a new one, ain't it? To be honest, I love it. It's only 14 games into the season and Joe is already trying to fuck with people. If you don't think this lineup is a big D-X crotch chop to the rest of the AL then you are out of your mind.

Johnson at 1st and Teix DH'ing? Swish going from day off to batting 6th? Thames getting the 7-spot for C-Grand? Frankie and Gardy rounding out the bottom of the order? Come on now.

No offense to anybody, but this isn't even the B-lineup that's going out there today, it's somewhere between B- and C+. And I love it because it's Joe showing confidence in his pitcher, CC, and his team. He's basically telling everybody "yeah, I'm going to start fucking with the lineup and give people day's off that don't need it because I know we're still going to come out and beat you with whoever I decide to throw out there in whatever batting order I choose. And while we're at it, I'll just throw Nick Johnson and his giant mascot head out there at 1st base for shits and giggles."

Now if only Joe would show up in the dugout today wearing the championship belt. Now THAT would be badass!

HUUUUUUUUUGHES!!!

(Photo Courtesy of The AP)

It's nights like last night that make me regret moving out to Wisconsin and losing my access to YES on cable and all the Yankee games that come with it.  Actually, maybe it's a good thing I didn't watch last night's game because my pants would have been off in no time and my TV would probably be a little sticky right now.

Phil Hughes was masterful last night, absolutely masterful. Kid was dealing from the time he stepped on the mound to throw his warm-up pitches to the time Joe came to take him out in the 8th inning. Everything about last night's performance was confirmation for why the Yankees have been so high on him for the last 5 years and why he was chosen to get the final rotation spot over everybody else.

You can say whatever you want about the 6 1/3 hitless innings he threw against the Rangers in '07 or the 6 shutout innings with 6 Ks against the Tigers last year, but last night was the greatest outing of Hughes' young career. And it wasn't because of the 7 1/3 no-hit innings that he threw before finally giving up that freak hit to Chavez or the career high 10 Ks (even though those were great). It was the way Hughes went about racking up those numbers that was impressive and showed the tremendous growth he has experienced as a pitcher over the last couple years.

Hughes threw 101 pitches last night, and all but 10 of them were four-seamers and cutters. That shows that not only were those pitches working for Hughes last night, but more importantly that Hughes recognized it early and stuck with those pitches, eliminating the fastball and changeup from his selections and only throwing 10 curveballs. The A's could do nothing with the 4-seamer and cutter last night, so he rode those pitches for as long as he could. He didn't waste time trying to mix pitches, set guys up, or pick at corners. He was on the same page as his catcher and he was just rocking and firing with what he knew the other team couldn't hit.
 
Our little boy is growing up.  Hughes is starting to think on the mound, recognize what his strengths and weaknesses are from outing to outing, and pitching to those strengths, and that is a scary thought for the rest of the AL.

Pre-Game Tidbits

- Joe has announced Joba as the officially official 8th-inning setup man for Mo.  Given the way he's looked the last couple times out combined with Dave Robertson's inconsistency and Chan Ho Park's injury, you can't even try to argue with that decision.

- Phil Hughes makes his 2nd start tonight.  How will he look on what should be a regular rest pattern but could seem a bit short considering he was skipped the first time through the rotation?  We'll find out in a few hours.  Seeing as how he's facing a lineup that features Kevin Kouzmanoff as its cleanup hitter, Hughes should fare well if his stuff is working like it was the first time out.

- What Ben Sheets will the Yankee lineup see tonight?  The guy who couldn't get one fucking out in a Spring Training start or the guy who's 1-0 with a 2.65 ERA so far and threw 6 shutout innings his last time on the hill? 

- Swish out and Randy Winn in for a start in right tonight.  I'm a little surprised by this move since Swish finally got off the schnide last night with a hit and a couple RBIs.  Is Swish hurt or sick?  If not, why is he getting a day off?  Call me crazy but I like Randy Winn right where he is as the 8th or 9th-inning defensive replacement.  I want Swish's bat (and patience) in the lineup against a good starting pitcher 25 hours a day, 8 days a week.

One Under The Belt For Vazquez

Well it wasn't an award-winning performance last night by Javy (5 1/3IP, 6H, 3BB, 3ER, 6K), but it was still improvement upon his first 2 outings, and it ended in another W for the Yanks, so that has to take a little bit of the weight off his shoulders and it should give him a little more lead on his leash with Yankee fans as he continues to try to solve his mechanical issues and build up his velocity.

(Photo courtesy of Reuters)

Of course, when the A-Horse is seeing the ball and mashing like he was last night, a pedestrian outing like the one Vazquez had yesterday will usually be enough to get a win.

Don't look now, but The Horse is now hitting above .300 and is tied with Bobby Cano for the team lead in RBIs with 10.

The Good Ship Vazquez Has Righted Itself

(Photo used courtesy of LoHud)

Alright! It's all figured out now. Javy was having problems with his mechanics, but he and Eiland worked it out over the last couple days and now he's ready to go tonight without dragging his arm behind him and killing his velocity.  And he's going up against a team of Punch and Judy hitters in a ballpark designed to murder potential extra-base hits.  It's full speed ahead for Javy tonight.

Yankee fans were a little tough on him last time out, but let's give Javy some encouragement for today, huh? Here we go!

How's That Pitching And Defense Working For You?

(Photo courtesy of Matt Stone/The Boston Herald)

Outfielders bobbling and misplacing balls all over the park?

Baby Huey getting his dick kicked in to the tune of 9 hits and 8 earned runs allowed in 3 1/3 innings??

0-30 with runners in scoring position over the whole series???

Mike Cameron still walking gingerly around with dick rot or a strained nutsack????

Crowd booing you off the field after a 5th consecutive loss?????

Happy Patriot's Day indeed!!!!

Andy Pettitte Is A Wizard On The Mound

(Photo courtesy of Jason Szenes/NY Post)

Another day, another brilliant outing for Andy Pettitte yesterday. He admittedly did not have his best stuff early in the game, but managed to limit the Rangers to just 2 runs in the first 3 innings and then shut them down from there.

I've talked before about how Andy's approach has been the key to his success over the last couple years, but this year he has been downright Maddux-like and Glavine-esque in his combination of situational pitch selection and plate location. Here's how yesterday's pitch breakdown looked compared to what he's done so far this year:

"Andy’s start yesterday marked apparently marked a bit of a departure from his previous two starts. He threw only five changeups and mixed in 16 cutters, 17 two-seamers, and 16 curveballs. He threw 53 four seam fastballs as well. The number that deviates from the norm is the number of four seamers. In his previous two starts against Boston and Anaheim, Andy threw just 61 four seam fastballs combined. All three games have featured single digit changeups (5, 8, 5), but the first two contained many more cutters (20, 25) and two-seamers (22 both times) than the last one. The number of curveballs (17, 14, 16) has stayed relatively consistent.

Why the spike in four seamers? That’s tough to answer. Maybe Andy was just feeling it more today, maybe Gameday had a labeling problem. Perhaps Andy had to mix his pitches more against the more patient Red Sox and Angels while he was able to go right at the more-free-swinging Ranges. Regardless of the reason, though, everything was working for Andy on Sunday...." (courtesy of Matt Imbrogno & The Yankee U)

Yesterday was the perfect example of Pettitte's veteran moxie and poise on the mound coming to aid him. Given that he said early on he wasn't very good, my guess is he knew he didn't have a good feel for his off-speed stuff early on so he decided to mix in more four-seamers, knowing the younger, undisciplined Rangers would take their hacks and help him get ahead in the count. Andy used that knowledge to his advantage and gave himself time to get the feel back for his off-speed stuff, which by the time the later innings rolled around, he had regained and started using again to further confuse the opposing hitters.

Yesterday's game just goes to show why there really is no book on Andy Pettitte. He's got 5 pitches that he will consistently mix in to all hitters, and has the smarts and guts to change his approach and stick with what's working based on the results he's getting in the game. When he's got all 5 pitches working, as he has so far in each of his 3 starts this year, there really isn't a way to prepare for him as a hitter. He can get you out on a curveball in the dirt, a cutter in on the hands, or a fastball on the outside corner.

Andy typically uses his fastball to set up the off-speed stuff as his out pitches, but yesterday was the opposite of his usual approach. He was working the four-seamer everywhere, getting batters to swing at what he wanted them to when he wanted them to, something that is tough to do when you don’t have dynamite power to fall back on. Maddux and Glavine made a living and a pair of Hall of Fame careers out of doing that, and while Andy most likely won't make the HOF, he has adapted his game to follow in their footsteps.

While it would be crazy to expect Pettitte to maintain these numbers over the entire season, it certainly should give fans confidence that Pettitte won't have too many games where he's getting smacked around when something isn't working like Javy Vazquez has experienced so far. Andy has plenty of pitches to fall back on and plenty of ways to work hitters, and he always saves his best pitches for the pressure situations. He's the #3 starter in the rotation, but with his stopper mentality and fearless, thoughtful approach on the mound, he might just be the Yankees' real ace in disguise.

Yankee Blogosphere Linkapalooza For The Week That Was (March 12-18)

Another week, another batch of success for the Bombers this week.  Home openers were played, rings were passed out, old friends returned home, pitchers pitched well (except Vazquez), and leads were taken in the division.  All of this while the Red Sox new commitment to pitching and defense worked to the tune of 4 consecutive losses.  With the season fully in gear now, most sites have shifted their focus more to game-by-game coverage, but there were still some good nuggets outside of the daily grind out there.

- 6 Pound 8 Ounce Baby Joba has some lessons learned from the first 2 weeks of the season.

- Rob from Bronx Basebally Daily dishes a dose of reality about Javy Vazquez to fans.  I agree with Rob's point that you can't expect Cy Young-caliber performances from Vazquez every night, but I also still say that and 0-2 record with an ERA of almost 10 and no confidence in your fastball isn't exactly quality 4th starter material either.

- Joe Pawlikowski from River Ave. Blues comments on the Yanks' hot start this season and how it compares to slow starts from the recent past.  As Joe states, the hot start means little in terms of predicting long-term success over a 6-month season, but it's still something you like to see as a fan, especially given the questions that came with the off-season moves.

- Steve S. from The Yankee U discusses Brett Gardner's added value that doesn't show up in the box score.  As a staunch Gardner supporter, I'm picking up what Steve is putting down here.  Get Gardy more at-bats!!

- Steve at TYU also has a great personal piece on his first Yankee memory.  I think for me, the first significant memory would be watching Game 6 of the 1996 World Series.  I had watched the series since it started, but as nothing more than a casual fan and 11-year-old kid.  By the time Game 6 came around, something inside me made me realize how important a game it was and I remember sitting down and watching that game from start to finish and feeling nervous about the outcome right until Charlie Hayes secured the catch in foul ground to clinch the win.  I would have to point to that moment as the beginning of my career as a "serious" Yankee fan and it was nice to read Steve's article and think back to that night.

- With each game being analyzed inside, outside, and backwards by the major blogs in the 'sphere, it's once again worth linking to LoHud,  Fack Youk, and River Ave. Blues, the best of the best when it comes to game coverage.

That's it for this week's batch.  A mini-palooza I'll admit, but still a good one.  Now it's back to the couch to check out the NBA Playoffs and see if I can manage to stay hooked to a full game before switching over to "American Gangster" or some FX reruns.