Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 6/1

Dude, it's June already.  June.  That whole "time flies when you're having fun" line is a load of crap.  Time flies when you start getting older.  It just naturally does.  I'm convinced there are only 20 hours in the day now that my irresponsible college days are well in my rearview mirror.  And I've traveled home twice in less than a week, so that's not helping the feeling either.  Anyway, onto the links!

- On Monday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog made a case for the Yankees pursuing a trade for OF David DeJesus.  Definitely wouldn't hurt to see Ibanez back in his DH-only role.

- On Tuesday, Vizzini of NoMaas followed up on his campaign to properly call out MLB umpires for the shitty jobs they do with some more thoughts.  I stood and applauded when I finished reading this.

- Dan Pfeiffer of NYY Universe unveiled his Top 15 Yankee prospects list.  In-season prospect rankings?  I'm there.  Definitely has Cito Culver too high, though.

- William Tasker of IIATMS wisely threw fire on the potential "Martin or Stewart" catcher debate before it could really even get started.

- Mike Eder of TYA once again worked his PITCHf/x magic to look at CC Sabathia's command issues this season.

- On Wednesday, Greg Corcoran of Bronx Baseball Daily went through the rotation man by man and gave reasons why there is still room for optimism moving forward.

- Donnie Collins of The SWB Blog had the details on Pat Venditte's mystery injury and they weren't good.  Good thing he's got another arm.

- Anthony Rushing of Yanks Go Yard commented on Curtis Granderson's continuing positive production.

- David Waldstein of The NY Times had some numbers and player thoughts on the lineup's bases-loaded futility this season.

- On Thursday, Joe Pawlikowski of RAB discussed Rafael Soriano and the success he's had since taking over the closer role.  I'm not a huge Sour Puss fan, but I have to give him credit.  He's done a good job.

** Also worth noting that Mike Axisa has started up his 2012 draft prep series, highlighting players the Yankees could target in the upcoming draft.  If you want to be well-informed about the draft, this stuff is must-read. **

- Speaking of the draft, EJ Fagan of TYA laid out his high-level strategic plans for the Yankees' draft this season.  Stay tuned for more stuff from EJ and Eric Schultz as the draft gets closer.

- Andrew Marchand of ESPNNY actually made some sense in this piece about flip-flopping A-Rod and C-Grand in the lineup.  I could have done without the A-Rod/steroids reference, but it's not worth picking nits when I'm actually on board with something Marchand writes.

- On Friday, Jesse Schindler of Bleeding Yankee Blue mused on Dellin Betances' command problems and hinted at a move to the bullpen, a move that I'm convinced is coming later this year.

- WhatWouldJeterdo of Pinstripe Alley explained why he has stopped hating Boone Logan for the time being, and with what Logan has done in the first 2 months, that lack of hate is well-deserved.

We're kicking it old school for the Friday Jam.  I know there's talk of bringing Jimi Hendrix and Marvin Gaye back as the next 3-D hologram performers after the buzz over the Tupac one, and I certainly hope that doesn't happen.  I like to remember Hendrix as he was in his prime, not as a money-making technological freakshow.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.  I know I will.

Bloop Singles, Huh?

("Line drives are better, you say?  I don't believe you.")

I hope I'm taking this quote out of context.  It certainly wouldn't be the first time I've done it.  But if I'm not, and Joe was serious when he dropped this line talking about A-Rod's lack of power yesterday, then this is a pretty big head scratcher.

“Everyone gets caught up in home runs.  I get caught up in runs and RBI. That’s what I get caught up in. You go out and try to swing for the fences every time and hit .200, that’s not what we want. We want him to get on base, and we want him to be productive. However that happens, I don’t care. I don’t care if it’s bloop singles with the bases loaded every time. I really don’t. I get on K-Long when guys line out. I say, ‘So?’ Bloop singles, I’ll take them.”

I agree that getting on base is always a good thing, and A-Rod has done a great job of that this season.  But to say you'd rather see your cleanup hitter hit bloop singles instead of line drives?  That's just comically wrong.  Bloop singles and just getting on base would be fine from A-Rod if he were hitting in the #2 spot.  But from the #4, you want line drives and hard contact because that's what gives him a better chance to drive in runs.

The Horse is healthy and he has been productive. And those are both good things.  It would be better to see the SLG, ISO, HR, and OPS numbers start to increase a little.  Less blooping, more lining drives.

P.S.- If Joe actually gives K-Long crap when people line out, Long should laugh in his face and/or slap him.

AB4AR "Best Of The Month" Awards: May 2012

It's that time again, gang.  Time to rip a page off the calendar, which means it's time to hand out some end-of-the-month awards.  Bit of a strange month for the Yankees, but there were still some good performances and memorable moments.  After the jump, check out the winners for May.

Russell Martin Tells Laz Diaz To Kiss His Rings

(Relevant)

Shitty umpiring in MLB is nothing new, and there's been a string of horrid examples of that recently.  There's guys like Joe West and CB Bucknor who are still convinced they're the center of attention.  There's Mark Wegner blatantly ignoring baseball code and tossing pitchers for no reason. There's Tim Welke just straight not giving a damn if first basemen are actually on the base.  But the whole Laz Diaz-Russell Martin "throwing balls back to the pitcher" thing from last night might take the cake.

Martin wasn't happy with some of the ball and strike calls earlier in the game, and rather than be a professional and just take it, Diaz decided to assert some false authority over Martin as punishment for Martin daring to question his umpiring abilities.

"He told me I had to earn the privilege (to throw the ball back to the pitcher). Even at the end of the game after I get hit in the neck. I’m like, can I throw the ball back now? He’s still like no. I’m like you’re such a (expletive). Like for real. Unbelievable. I even told him like when there’s guys on base, I like to keep my arm loose. No. I’m not letting you throw a ball back. That’s pretty strange to me."

"He told me I have to earn the privilege. Now, thinking back, I should have shown him the gold Rawlings sign on my glove. Unbelievable.” (Martin after the game)

Click "Read More" to get the full rantiness.

The Yankee Catching Conundrum

I know this is going to come as a complete shock, but the Yankees really haven't gotten much from the catcher position this season.  After breathing life back into his career last year, Russell Martin has regressed back to his 2009-2010 levels of offensive futility (.187/.333/.333, .309 wOBA, 90 wRC+).  And Chris Stewart, despite my best efforts to hype up his early production, has settled into the exact no-hit/all-field role we all anticipated him filling as CC Sabathia's personal catcher Martin's backup.  This adds up to a combined .196/.314/.313 tripleslash, .290 wOBA, and 77 wRC+ in 192 PA over the team's first 50 games from the catcher spot.  Production-wise, that wOBA ranks 19th in MLB, probably more of a testament to the overall offensive weakness of the position than anything else.  The Martin-Stewart tandem has been good for 0.8 WAR (T-16th in MLB), mainly on the strength of their positive defensive ratings, but with the up-and-down production of the lineup this season, some offensive improvement at the position would be helpful.

Game 50 Wrap-Up: NYY 6 LAA 5

(Whaddaya know?  Another HR for this guy.  Courtesy of The AP)

A couple of horrible innings from Phil Hughes and a couple of horrible pitches from Andy Pettitte ended the Yankees' winning streak and got them started on a new losing streak.  They were looking to get a rare win in Anaheim to avoid a sweep last night, and get things going back in the right direction before starting their trek back to the East Coast, but having Ivan Nova on the mound in that situation wasn't exactly the optimal option given his struggles this season.

Game Notes:

- Nova didn't waste any time making a mess for himself in the bottom of the 1st, hitting, giving up a single to, and walking the first 3 Angel batters. In a pleasantly surprising turn of events, Nova managed to limit the damage to just a single run on a sac fly.

- After stranding a RISP in the 1st and guys on the corners in the 2nd, the Yankees finally struck gold against Ervin Santana in the 3rd.  Russell Martin led off with a walk (the one thing he has been doing at the plate), Jeter singled, and Curtis Granderson (who doubled in the 1st) hit a 3-2 fastball over the heart of the plate for a 3-run HR to right-center and the Yankees led 3-1.

- After a free pass to A-Rod, Robinson Cano stepped in and launched a 1-2 fastball on the inner half into the right field seats and just like that it was 5-1 Yanks.  Santana was missing badly with everything and didn't look much longer for the game.

- Escaping the 1st inning bases loaded situation seemed to settle Nova, as he worked through the next 2 innings quickly and efficiently.  He was locating his fastball down in the zone and getting groundball outs.

- But in the 4th, he hit a pretty big pothole.  Nova walked Kendrys Morales on 5 pitches to start the inning, then gave up Mark Trumbo's third HR of the series to make it 5-3.  A pair of singles and a 2-RBI double by Mike Trout later, and it was a tie game again.

- Ervin Santana was pretty awful against New York as usual, but give him credit for getting through the 5th and not allowing any more runs.  In fact, after the 3rd inning the Yankees only put 1 more runner on base for the remainder of the game.  That runner was Raul Ibanez, who tripled and scored on a sac fly by Swish in the 6th, so it was an important runner.

- Nova battled his way through 6.2 innings of work, fighting his fastball and curveball command the whole time, but he held the Angels at 5 before turning the game over to the bullpen.  Cory Wade got 4 big outs (3 of them via K), and Rafael Soriano picked up the save despite putting 2 more runners on base.

Andy Not Immune To The HR Epidemic

("It's fun to stay at the... " Courtesy of The AP)

Home runs have been the biggest thorn in the side of the Yankee rotation this season, that's no secret.  And as last night showed, Andy Pettitte has not been spared from that trend in his first 4 starts back.  He has allowed 6 HR in those 4 starts, 2 per start minus the scoreless masterpiece he threw against Cincy, and those 6 HR are responsible for 9 of the 11 total ER he's allowed.

Mike Trout's RBI triple last night also scored a run, meaning 10 of the 11 runs allowed by Andy have been via the XBH, the even higher-level problem that has been a constant theme when discussing the rotation this year.  But the reality is that Andy has actually pitched really well since coming back.  Eliminate the handful of poorly-located balls up in the zone and we could be talking about Andy as the early favorite for Comeback Player of the Year.  His ERA is solid, he's giving up less than a hit per inning, he's not walking a lot of batters, and his strikeout numbers are more than acceptable for a soon-to-be 40-year-old.

It's that pesky 26.1% HR rate that's fucking him up right now, and hopefully we see that number start to come down as the IP sample size goes up.

Why The Hell Is Freddy Garcia Still On The Roster?

(I think your time has come, fella.  Courtesy of The AP)

Real talk for a minute, why the hell is Freddy Garcia still a Yankee?  Can anybody explain it to me?  What's the point?  He's been equally useless as a starter and a reliever this season (5.56 FIP as starter, 4.50 as reliever) and currently brings no value to the table as a bullpen option.  Since being demoted after his start on April 28th, he's worked 9.1 innings in relief in 5 appearances.  He went 10 days in early May without seeing any game action, and currently hasn't pitched since May 21st.  None of his appearances have been in games where the Yankees were winning, and only 2 of them have been in games where they were within 3 runs.  Both of those times Garcia allowed more runs to score, effectively killing any real chance of a Yankee comeback in the 8th or 9th.  On the 12-man pitching staff, he's firmly entrenched in the 12th spot, and is damn close to being 13th.

Game 49 Wrap-Up: LAA 5 NYY 1

(Shucks.  Courtesy of The AP)

Andy Pettitte has already exceeded my expectations and the expectations of many others with what he's done in his first 3 starts back after over a year way from the game.  But if there was anything left that was needed to legitimize his comeback, it would be a good performance on the road against a hot team.  That's exactly what he was facing last night in Anaheim, both at the plate and on the mound, and the outcome wasn't what he was looking for.

Game Notes:

- Pettitte started off solid, working quickly and cleanly through the first 2 frames, but he got into trouble in the 3rd when he started missing with his offspeed stuff.   Mike Trout hit an RBI triple to left on a slider that was up just enough with 1 out, and Albert Pujols hit a hanging cutter out for a 2-run HR with 2 outs to make it 3-0 Anaheim.

- Angels' starter Dan Haren looked just as good as he did against Seattle early, and he really had his splitter working down in the zone.  But the Yanks still managed to load the bases against him in the 3rd before he struck out Robinson Cano, so there was reason for optimism.

- That optimism turned into confidence in the 4th, when Raul Ibanez hit a 1-out double to right and came around to score on Nick Swisher's RBI single.  For once, the Yankee hitters didn't seem overmatched by a pitcher who was on his game.

- Pettitte seemed to find his game after the 3rd, retiring the next 8 batters he faced in order, 6 via groundout.  He was locating his cutter much better and the Angels' hitters couldn't do much with it.

- Only problem was that Haren and his splitter were even better, and he kept the Yankee lineup at bay after the run in the 4th.  He was constantly ahead in the count, pounding the strike zone with splitters and 4-seamers, and worked quickly out of any trouble he got into through 7.

- Pettitte left a cutter up to Pujols in the 3rd, and he left one even higher up in the zone to Mark Trumbo in the 7th and Trumbo took it out for a solo HR and a 4-1 Anaheim lead.  Andy left after giving up a leadoff hit in the bottom of the 8th, which eventually came around to score off of Cody Eppley.

- It wasn't a horrible outing for Andy.  He threw a lot of strikes, got a lot of groundballs, and didn't walk a batter.  3 bad pitches were what did him in, and the offense couldn't generate enough to pick him up.

The Yankees threatened in the 8th, putting runners on the corners with 1 out, but Peter Bourjos made a great catch on a deep drive to right center to rob Nick Swisher and kill the potential comeback.  It was the third time that Swish was robbed of at least a double in the gap.  Talk about bad BABIP luck.

Head, Shoulders, Knees, And Toes. Or The Endless Array Of Organizational Pitching Injuries

(Pick a part of the body and chances are somebody has injured it this season)

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a semi tongue-in-cheek post about the incredibly unlucky streak of injuries that had befell the Yankees this season.  The karma doesn't seem to have changed much since then, as both Brett Gardner and David Robertson are still a while away from being able to come off the DL and re-join the 25-man roster, and all the while names continue to get added to the disabled lists across the entire organizational network, most of them pitchers.  If you're not up to speed on who is or has been shelved at some point this season, here's a handy guide that breaks down the injury by body part.

** Disclaimer- AB4AR cannot be held responsible if the following list causes you to start drinking upon completion. **

Game 48 Wrap-Up: LAA 9 NYY 8

It's amazing what a team can do when they get good starting pitching.  The Yankee rotation has been excellent over their 5-game winning streak, providing both length and quality innings, and giving the lineup time to break out if its slump.  They've had the benefit of pitching against the hacktastic Royals and the downright weak A's lineups, and that luxury ended last night in the first game against Albert Pujols and the Angels.  California Kid Phil Hughes was starting and looking to keep both the rotation's, and his personal, streaks of success going against Anaheim ace Jered Weaver.

Game Notes:

- It's always a goal to get Weaver out as early as possible, but even the Yankees couldn't have hoped to get him out THIS early.  Weaver injured himself throwing a pitch to Robinson Cano in the top of the 1st after already allowing a run and that was it for him.  The Yanks managed to plate 2 more in the inning and quickly led 3-0 thanks to 2 Anaheim errors.

- Unfortunately, Phil decided he didn't want to spot his pitches and he gave the lead back and then some in the bottom of the 1st, giving up 4 runs on 5 hits.  By far the strangest start to a game for the Yankees so far this season.

- As he tends to do quite often, Curtis Granderson responded loudly in the top of the 2nd with his 15th HR of the season.  It was a line drive to right, and barely cleared the outfield wall, but it had just enough lift on it to make it a 4-4 game.

- Hughes gave up 2 more runs in the 3rd and 4th, and then it was time for the Mark Teixeira hit parade to continue in the top of the 5th.  Batting from the right side, he hit a 3-2 fastball over the Yankee bullpen in left to make it 6-5.

- The Angels extended to 8-5 in the 6th on a Kendry Morales 2-run double, but the Yankees came right back in the top of the 7th on a sac fly and a 2-run double by Russell Martin.  Neither team's bullpen was particularly effective in holding whatever lead they were given.

- After Boone Logan got them to the 9th, it took just 3 pitches for Cory Wade to give up the game-winning, walk-off HR to Mark Trumbo on a hanging changeup.  Life's tough without the G.O.A.T. closing games.

Think Mark's Getting Overage Charges This Month?

I call Teix out for making me look bad on Thursday afternoon.  From then on, here's his line over the last 3 games:

- 8-14, 3 2B, 3 HR, 3 R, 8 RBI

He's raised his batting average 28 points and his OPS 107 in that time span.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Game 47 Wrap-Up: NYY 2 OAK 0 (Abridged Version)

(Awwww.  Victory hug.  Courtesy of The AP)

Game Notes:

- Hiroki Kuroda threw 8 shutout innings for the second time this season.  For the first time in what seems like forever, he was able to locate his slider and sinker down in the zone.

- The Yankees got their first run in the top of the 2nd when Andruw Jones hit a first-pitch fastball for his 5th HR of the season.  He hasn't done much this year, but he's still going to crush an 86 MPH fastball over the heart of the plate.

- The other run came with 2 outs in the top of the 7th, when Curtis Granderson singled and then scored on Mark Teixeira's second double of the game.

- Kuroda put 2 runners on with 1 out in the bottom of the 7th, but got a big K and a flyout to end the threat.  This is the type of performance the Yankees were looking for when they signed him in January.

- Derek Jeter passed George Brett for 14th on the all-time hit list.  Yeah, the guy is definitely overrated.

/eyeroll

- Rafael Soriano got the save again, and once again he managed to do it without having a 1-2-3 inning.  Guess we're just going to have to live with that this season.

Game 46 Wrap-Up: NYY 9 OAK 2

(Lotta high fives for these 2 yesterday.  Courtesy of The AP)

CC Sabathia had a poor outing 2 starts ago, and a poor inning that tarnished an otherwise good start his last time out.  He was on the mound yesterday looking to correct his recent flaws and help lock up another series win for his team.  The weak Oakland offense was an ideal opponent against which to do both of those things, and with the percolating Yankee offense backing him up, everything played out quite nicely for the big fella.

Game Notes:

- CC did not get off to the start he wanted, giving up a run on a pair of singles in the bottom of the 1st, and loading the bases on a pair of singles and a walk in the 2nd before escaping unscathed.  His fastball command, the biggest issue he's had this season, wasn't there early.

- Robinson Cano quickly erased the 1-run deficit in the 2nd, hitting his 2nd HR in as many days on a 2-1 fastball from Bartolo Colon.  It took a little longer than we hoped it would, but Robbie is locked in at the plate right now.

- A Derek Jeter RBI single in the 3rd gave the Yankees the lead, but CC quickly gave it back in the bottom half when he gave up a HR to Josh Reddick, his 2nd of the series.  CC really labored through the first 3 innings, and it was shaping up to be a battle of attrition on the mound.

- Mark Teixeira hit a solo HR in the top of the 4th to give the Yankees the lead back 3-2, and it was the way in which he hit it that was impressive.  Teix worked his way back from 0-2 to 2-2 before ripping a 2-seamer to right.  It was the type of AB he hasn't been having at all this season and a step in the right direction.

- From that point on, it was all Yankees.  The offense tacked 2 on in the 5th and CC started to find his command, retiring 9 of the next 10 batters he faced to work through the 7th and keeping the A's scoreless.  Once again, CC managed to turn chickenshit into chicken salad on a day where he wasn't at his best.

- More insurance runs came in the form of a Jeter RBI HBP with the bases loaded in the 8th and a 2-run homer by Teix in the 9th.  Cory Wade and Cody Eppley worked the final 2 innings cleanly.

Game 45 Wrap-Up: NYY 6 OAK 3

("Seriously, guys.  I thought I was going to make it to third."  Courtesy of The AP)

The Yankees had their travel day on Thursday, I had mine yesterday.  I still made it home in time to watch the majority of their series opener in Oakland last night, and it was a great feeling.  Ivan Nova was on the hill, trying to move away from the issues he's had locating the ball in the strike zone and giving up a ton of extra base hits, and the offense was trying to keep their positive trend going and hit more of them.

Game Notes:

- Nova said after his last start that he wanted to get back to generating more groundball outs and he was doing that early last night.  Through 4 innings, he hadn't allowed a run and had 4 GB outs and 2 Ks.  He was keeping the ball down and working efficiently against the light-hitting A's lineup.

- The Yankee offense didn't appear to have missed a beat after the travel day.  They were on Tyson Ross from the top of the 1st when they put 2 runners on.  A bad error led to 3 unearned runs in the 3rd, but credit Mark Teixeira for hitting the HR and making Oakland pay for their poor D.

- And it didn't stop there.  Robinson Cano led off the 4th with a HR to dead center field, and after Teix inexplicably tried to stretch a bloop double into a triple (and failed miserably), Raul Ibanez doubled to left-center and Nick Swisher homered to left to make it 6-1 Yankees.

- Nova got a little inconsistent with his fastball command the 2nd time through the lineup, giving up a solo HR to Josh Reddick in the 4th and another run thanks to a couple of hits and a sac fly in the 5th, but his offspeed stuff looked very sharp.

- His XBH woes continued to plague him in the 7th, when he hung a curveball to Kila Ka'aihue for a HR that made it 6-3 Yankees.  He made it out of the inning, and overall it was a better outing, but 3 runs and 6 hits allowed against the A's still isn't anything special.

- The offense pounded Ross, but went silent once the game got in the hands of the Oakland bullpen.  They were retired in order from the 6th-8th inning, and had A-Rod's 9th inning single represent their only baserunner after the 5th.

- Rafael Soriano threw a scoreless 9th for the save.  Strangely enough, he still hasn't thrown a 1-2-3 inning this year.

Site News: Light Weekend Coming Up

As I mentioned in the Linkapalooza earlier, it's a family weekend and a lacrosse weekend for me, so the site is going to be a little light on content over the next 3 days.  You'll get a game recap tomorrow morning (because I can actually watch the game tonight), a game recap Sunday, and a game recap on Monday.  Anything more than that, consider it gravy and consider yourselves lucky that I love you and love the Yankees enough to tell my family to pound sand while I hover over their laptop in the hotel.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 5/25

Memorial Day weekend.  Always a good time and this year should be no different.  I'm flying home this afternoon to join my family up at Foxboro for the NCAA lacrosse championships this weekend, which means getting buzzed in the parking lot drinking good beer with my old man and sneaking looks at college girls that I'm probably too old to even be thinking about now.  If the Rangers can pull their heads out of their asses and win tonight, there will also be some serious Game 7 viewing/boozing somewhere with one of my best friends from home.  Good times.  Onto the links!

- On Monday, George S. of Gutty Gritty Yankees, making his Linkapalooza debut, used math and logic to shoot down the MSM hand wringing over A-Rod's early lack of HR power.  What a concept!

- Rich Kaufman of NYYUniverse pointed out the lack of run support that Hiroki Kuroda has gotten so far, which is a very fair point to make.  Yes, Kuroda has been generally bad, but he also hasn't gotten the type of offensive support he probably expected going from the Dodgers to the Yankees.

- On Tuesday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog looked at the numbers breakdown to try to get to the root cause of the Yankees' recent struggles hitting with RISP.

- Brien Jackson of IIATMS commented on the lack of Brett Gardner in the lineup and how his absence is hurting the team's production.  Who woulda thought that it was the #9 hitter who held the key to the Yankees' offensive success?

- Mustang of It Is High... posted something quick on the Yankee radio broadcast, but the only thing that really matters is the hilariously awesome screen shot of John Sterling that was used.  Good stuff.

- Mike Axisa of RAB looked into how the Yankee lineup is handling pitches in the strike zone, and the numbers suggest that problems there could be a contributing factor to the recent stagnant offense.

- On Wednesday, Steve Goldman of Pinstriped Bible mused on the team-wide issues and what kind of team the Yankees are with them as well as what kind of team they can be without them.

- Michael Augustine of Bronx Baseball Daily handed out his latest round of player grades after 42 games.  Not a lot I can argue with there.

- Frank Campagnola of Pinstripe Alley discussed the disconnect between the eye test and the numbers when it comes to Curtis Granderson's center field defense.

- Mike Eder of TYA broke down Phil Hughes' pitch selection in May to find the adjustments he's made to improve his game.

- On Thursday, Jorge Arangure Jr. wrote a piece chronicling Ivan Nova's path to the Yankee starting rotation.  Regardless of how you feel about how he's pitched this season, this is a must-read and better than anything Wallace Matthews writes.

- Fishjam25 of Yankees Fans Unite continued the Nova discussion by delving into the 2 different Novas we've seen (GB pitcher vs. K pitcher) and stating that Nova needs to find a pitching identity.

- Anthony Rushing of Yanks Go Yard commented on Phil Hughes' strong May and the need for him to be consistent.  It's something we've heard plenty of times regarding Hughes, but it still rings true.

With the Yankees on the West Coast for their first long-distance road trip of the season, it only seems fitting to go with something Cali-themed.  I've already done Biggie this year, but so the F what?  Truth be told, I've always thought this was a better song than "California Love."  There.  I said it.  I ride East Coast 'til I die.



Enjoy your long weekends, everybody.  Happy Memorial Day and go Yankees!

Minor League Prospect Wrap-Up

(Stone Cold Tyler Austin.  Courtesy of Brian Bissell/Future Star Photos)

Since yesterday was a travel day for the Yankees and there's no game to recap, what better time than now to catch up on the goings on in the Yankee farm system?

Team Notes:

- The Triple- A rotation was struggling early and it's still struggling now.  Manny Banuelos had a couple of great starts but is now back on the DL, Adam Warren is still not pitching well (4.98 ERA/5.00 FIP), and Dellin Betances' numbers look even rougher (5.24/5.89, 7.66 BB/9).

- There have been a couple of good offensive performances, but not from anybody you'd see popping up on a Top Prospects list.  Jack Cust has finally found his stroke, and he's up to 4 HR and 21 RBI on the season, and Ronnier Mustelier has continued his hit parade since being called up earlier in the month.

- With some players ahead of him moving on, Brett Marshall is poised to break into a lot of Yankee Top 10 lists this year, and on the surface he's been very good (2.98 ERA, 2.65 BB/9, .227 BA Against).  But his strikeouts have dipped dramatically this season (just 27 in 54.1 IP) and it'd be nice to see him start flashing his swing-and-miss stuff again.

- Their lineup has been ravaged by injuries, but Double-A Trenton has got both Corban Joseph and David Adams back as they both try to work all the way back from health issues.  And after missing a significant chunk of time, Zoilo Almonte made his return to the lineup last night.

- There's been some shuffling in the High-A Tampa rotation, as Nik Turley and Jose Ramirez have both hit the DL.  Zach Nuding continues to pitch well, and with Matt Tracy returning and Caleb Cotham and Evan DeLuca being promoted, there's plenty of guys to keep an eye on until Turley returns.

- Offensively, Rob Segedin continues to get it done (.301/.369/.489, .396 wOBA) and he's starting to get some help from Ramon Flores, who is up to .272/.338/.348 on the season and has hit the ball much better in May.

- Down in Charleston, the Tyler Austin train just keeps rolling on.  He had 4 hits last night, including the game-tying and game-winning ones, and currently sports a .443 wOBA with 30 XBH.  There's really no reason NOT to promote him to Tampa; he's got nothing left to learn at this level.

- Jose Campos is still on the DL with elbow inflammation, but Bryan Mitchell has stepped up in his absence with a 2.53/3.11 ERA/FIP split and a MiL career high 9.07 K/9.  Evan Rutckyj has joined the rotation to help cover for the loss of Campos as well.

Wondering About David Phelps' Role

(Courtesy of The AP)

The late-spring injuries helped, but David Phelps definitely earned his spot on the Yankee 25-man roster with the job he did in Spring Training, and quickly made people take notice of him after his first few successful appearances out of the 'pen.  Since then, he's had a couple of rough outings, made a pair of spot starts, and been used in a variety of different scenarios as the pitching portion of the Yankee roster continued to change due to injuries.  The roster has been relatively stable since D-Rob hit the DL, and it seems like a good time to talk about just how, and where, Phelps fits in the bullpen hierarchy moving forward.

Mark Teixeira Is Still Powerless (And It's Not OK Anymore)

(CRIPES!!!  Courtesy of The AP)

Exactly 5 weeks ago, I wrote a post preaching patience and positive vibes in regards to Mark Teixeira's slow start. Stumbling out of the gate in April was nothing new for Teix, he was still in the process of getting used to the stance, swing, and approach changes that he worked on in the offseason to improve his performance from the left side of the plate, and there were enough positive things to take from his peripherals to suggest that he would eventually put everything together and get back to being the all-around effective hitter we thought we were getting when he signed his new contract in '08.

Well 5 weeks later and not only are we not seeing that putting together of everything, we're seeing Teix's production regress back to and beyond the troubling downward trend he's already been on. He currently sports a .229/.291/.386 tripleslash, a .294 wOBA, a .155 ISO, and a 81 wRC+. His .227 BABIP ranks 163rd out of the 172 hitters with enough ABs to qualify for the batting titles, and he's not drawing walks anymore (8.1% BB rate, which was boosted by his 3-walk night last night). Of the 14 extra base hits, 21 runs scored, and 21 RBI to his credit, 5, 6, and 8 of them respectively came in 2 games (4/21 against Boston and 5/14 against Baltimore). Teixeira has truly been all or nothing in the season's first 7 weeks.

Yankees For Sale?

I'm sure the Steinbrenners are happy to see the team put 2 consecutive wins together after this recent rough stretch of games, but I wasn't expecting to wake up this morning and read about them being interested in selling the team.

The Daily News ran a piece this morning speaking to exactly that, and they quoted multiple sources.  Both Randy Levine and Hal Steinbrenner were quick to shoot down the details of the story, but with what the Dodgers were able to fetch in their sale it's understandable for the Steinbrenners to at least be interested in seeing what they could get for the most decorated franchise in American sports history.

I don't expect to hear a lot more about this potential story given how emphatically Levine and Hal denied the report, but it's worth keeping on mental back burner for the next few days.

Game 44 Wrap-Up: NYY 8 KC 3

(The home run canter.  Courtesy of Reuters)

If you would have asked me before the season, I would have said that "Andy Pettitte vs. Will Smith" had to be among the most unlikely possible pitching matchups for the 2012 season.  And yet, those were the 2 guys on the mound last night for their respective clubs as the Yankees and Royals played the final game of this series.  Joe bumped Mark Teixeira up to the #3 spot against the lefty Smith, a move I'm not sure Teix has earned with the way he's been hitting lately.  But that's why he's the manager and I'm the lowly blogger.

Game Notes:

- The Yankees getting out to early leads is not something that has happened with regularity recently, but that's just what they did against Agent J in the bottom of the 1st.  In a move he probably learned from Ivan Nova, Smith threw a belt-high slider over the heart of the plate that Curtis Granderson absolutely crushed into the right field seats to put the Yanks on the board.

- After walking Teix 2 batters later, Smith had to face The Horse, and he went about it all wrong.  A-Rod might not have the same kick that he did in his prime, but he's still not the type of hitter to whom you can throw 6 consecutive fastballs and get away with it.  The 6th was lined into the left field seats for a 3-0 lead.

- You would think Smith had learned his lesson the first time, but there he was firing fastball after fastball again when A-Rod came up in the 3rd.  He fell behind 3-0, threw a fastball for strike 1, and then threw another one 3-1 that Rodriguez hit for his second 2-run HR of the game.  5-0 Yankees.

- Oh yeah, Andy Pettitte was pitching too.  He worked quickly and efficiently through the first 2 innings, but had to battle at times from then on.  He needed a great double play started by Teix to bail him out of the 3rd, and allowed a run each in the 4th and 5th on solo HR.

- The Yankee offense answered right back in the bottom of the 5th, plating 3 more runs after getting into another bases loaded, no outs situation.  It wasn't the most glamorous means to an end, more about patience and bad pitching than good hitting, but runs are runs.

- One thing Andy was last night was efficient, and that allowed him to pitch deep into the game again.  He threw a ton of strikes and he had really good stuff as he worked through 7 innings of 2-run ball, finally giving way to David Phelps to finish things off after walking Alex Gordon to start the 8th.

- No more runs for the offense after the 5th, even though they loaded the bases again in the 7th, but they didn't need any more.

- It was an all-around good night for the lineup, but they aren't totally out of the woods yet.  The RISP Fail issues are still present and the team only went 1-6 in that situation last night.

Yankees About To Get Jiggy With It?

I was already a little concerned about the prospect of the struggling Yankee offense facing a member of a fictional junior hockey team from the "Mighty Ducks" movies.  But now, come to find out that the Royals are pulling Luis Mendoza from his scheduled start tonight and inserting Will Smith and I'm even more concerned.

It's a diabolically genius plan by KC.  Not only are they playing to the continually-growing legend of the Yankee lineup being unable to handle starting pitchers they've never faced before, they're adding the allure and star power of one of the biggest Hollywood leading actors and greatest family-friendly rapper of all time into the mix as an additional distraction to the Yankee hitters.

On the other hand, if Smith's pitching is as bad as MIB 3 appears to be, and there are indications that it could be, maybe this is just what the Yankee bats need to break out of their cold streak.  Whatever the case may be, you can take it to the bank that there's going to be some jigginess in The Stadium tonight.

Now hit the fucking music!

Game 43 Wrap-Up: NYY 3 KC 2

(Looks like a base hit to me.  Courtesy of Reuters)

Hey look at that!  The Yankees won a game!  And they're not in last place!  This is certainly a surprising event.  All kidding aside, last night was a step in the right direction for the Yankees.  They got a good starting pitching performance, knocked a few hits with RISP, and started to show some signs of life after basically being a bunch of zombies over the last 10 games.

Game Notes:

- Phil Hughes actually looked pretty sharp early last night.  He was primarily fastball-curveball again, but he did mix in some changeups here and there.  He gave up a run in the 3rd on a Humberto Quintero, but he also got 4 strikeouts and 4 groundouts.

- I don't know if there's any truth to it, but it feels like Jeff Francoeur always does something against the Yankees.  In the 4th, he got a belt-high fastball from Hughes in a fastball count (2-0) and belted it into the left field bleachers for a solo HR and a 2-0 KC lead.  Even when they're pitching well, the XBHs are still hurting the Yankee starters.

- After being silent through the first third of the game, the Yankee offense finally stirred in the bottom half of the 4th when Robinson Cano smacked his 5th HR of the year to cut the lead in half.

- Hughes threw up a quick 0 in the 5th and the Yankee O went right back to work.  A pair of singles by Teix and Dewayne Wise sandwiched around a Russell Martin HBP put them in another bases loaded, no outs situation and this time they didn't waste it. Derek Jeter singled home a run, Curtis Granderson plated the go-ahead on a groundout and it was 3-2 Yankees.

- More runs could have been scored in the inning, but Luke Hochevar struck out A-Rod and Raul Ibanez to end the inning.  With the team coming into the game on a 6-72 skid with RISP, you take the baby steps and hope they can build on it.

- Hughes started to run out of gas in the 6th and got the ball up in the zone a bit, but he managed to work around trouble and keep the Royals off the board to maintain the 3-2 Yankee lead as he turned it over to the bullpen.

- Joe played mix-and-match with the 'pen in the last 3, using Cory Wade for 2 outs, Boone Logan for 1, Cody Eppley for 1, and Clay Rapada for 2 on a lineout DP to Teix to end the 8th.  Soriano worked a scoreless 9th for the save.  They had to be good, because the offense didn't put any runs on the board after the 5th, and they were.

Too Many Extra Base Hits

You can basically name any part of the game of baseball and the Yankees aren't doing it well right now.  It's hard to remember a time when the team has collectively played this poorly for an extended period of time, and for once I'm actually glad I don't have the ability to watch them on TV every night.  Whether you accept them or not, there are some quasi-viable excuses for the poor performance from certain groups.  The lineup as a whole is old and dealing with the un-fixable problem of age-related decline, and the bullpen has been decimated by injuries and burdened by a heavy workload.

The starting rotation, however, really doesn't have an excuse to fall back on to explain themselves.  Losing Michael Pineda's services before they even had a chance to see them sucked, but they still have a healthy CC Sabathia, a healthy Hiroki Kuroda, 2 young guys in their primes in Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova, and the recently-added Andy Pettitte, who looks like he's got plenty left in the tank.  And yet the Yankee rotation currently ranks 26th in MLB in team ERA at 4.93 and 28th in FIP at 4.60.  I've touched briefly on the fact that Nova and Kuroda are getting absolutely killed on balls in play going for extra bases when they miss in the strike zone in a couple posts, but in looking at the bigger picture it seems that the XBH problem is a rotation-wide one.