Hey, Ivan...

Thanks.

ManBan Shut Down For The Season

Via Andrew Marchand, who is usually reliable on news-type stuff:

"The New York Yankees' top pitching prospect, Manny Banuelos, will not pitch again this year after throwing in six games all season, the team's vice president of baseball operations Mark Newman told ESPN New York on Monday.

'He's not going to be back this season,' Newman said.

The left-handed Banuelos, rated the Yankees' No. 1 prospect by ESPN's Keith Law prior to the season, has been out of action since the middle of May with what Newman described as a bone bruise in his left elbow."



My (admittedly negative) take on this news after the jump.

Why Did Joe Switch Jeter & Granderson In The Batting Order?

(I'M TELLING YOU THAT I WANT TO BAT GRANDERSON FIRST, DAMNIT!!!!)

I mean, I know WHY he did it.  With the lineup a little unbalanced over the weekend with A-Rod out and Chavez nursing an ankle, and the Yankees facing a trio of right-handed pitchers, Joe wanted to maximize the lefty output in the lineup and keep his L/R staggering in play as much as possible.  But How important is that staggering really?  And with what Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson have and haven't been doing lately in small sample sizes and over the course of the season, the timing of the switch just didn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

Game 107 Wrap-Up: NYY 6 SEA 2

(Curtis celebrates not having to field a line drive right at him. Courtesy of The AP)

The Yankees return home didn't exactly result in the kind of turnaround they were looking for.  Coming into yesterday afternoon's game, they were already assured of finishing the 9-game homestand with a losing record after getting shut down by King Felix on Saturday.  With a road trip scheduled to start in Detroit on Monday, a win to finish the homestand 4-5 would have been a lot better than losing a home series to Seattle and finishing 3-6, and facing Hisashi Iwakuma for the second time in less than 2 weeks, the Yanks were able to take advantage and score early to get the W, a milestone W for Freddy.

Game Notes:

- New York starter Freddy Garcia had some trouble getting the ball down in the zone in the top of the 1st, and got hit hard for 3 singles and a run.  The damage could have been worse had it not been for Nick Swisher throwing Jesus Montero out at th plate to end the inning.

- The offense got the run right back in the bottom half on a Mark Teixeira RBI single to score Derek Jeter, and then took the lead in the 2nd after a Chris Stewart 2-out double and a costly error by Dustin Ackley allowed him to score.

- Freddy's outing worked in reverse of how you would expect a pitcher to be as he tires. After giving up the 3 hits and 1 run in the 1st, he walked 3 batters over the next 2 innings, then retired the side in order in the 4th to keep Seattle at 1.

- Stewart helped create another run in the bottom of the 4th with a 1-out single and a steal of second, and he came home on Jeter's RBI single to make it 3-1 Yanks.

- Freddy's reverse outing hit a snag in the 5th when he gave up a run on a Michael Saunders double and Montero single, both with 2 outs.  But he coaxed an inning-ending grounder out of Kyle Seager and his day was done.

- Raul Ibanez provided some insurance with a solo HR in the bottom of the 5th to make it 4-2, and then a clutch 2-out, 2-run single in the 6th to make it 6-2.  Naturally, Stewart was in the middle of the action, starting off the 6th with a walk.

- The bullpen made sure that the 4-run lead would stand up, as Boone Logan, David Robertson, and Rafael Soriano pitched 4 scoreless innings of relief.  No matchup games for Joe yesterday, he was going with his big guns.  As a result, Freddy becomes the 12th Latin-born pitcher in MLB history with at least 150 wins.

AB4AR "Best Of The Month" Awards: July 2012

July was a tough month for the Yankees.  The hot streak they were on in June started to peter out a bit before the All Star break, and came to a screeching halt not too long after it.  Their last trip out to Oakland wasn't nearly as fruitful as the one in May, and since then the Yankees have played more bad baseball than good and experienced more bad luck than good.  Some of the feast-or-famine problems that hurt the offense earlier in the season came back, as did the inconsistencies of the starting rotation.  And don't even get me started on the continuing injury problems that only seem to affect the biggest names on the roster.

Despite all of that, the Yankee still found themselves comfortably in the lead in the AL East, and still find themselves comfortably out front today.  They're getting by with the guys they have, trying to establish some consistency in the lineup with some new faces and without some key missing ones, and one more strong 15-20 game stretch might be all they need to lock up the division.  It's a few days later than I planned on doing it, but let's take a look back at the best of July for the Bombers.

Game 106 Wrap-Up: SEA 1 NYY 0

('Twas a valiant effort by Hiroki.  Courtesy of The AP)

Hiroki Kuroda has been the Yankees' best starting pitcher for 2 months now.  With CC showing signs that he's starting to return to form in his last outing, that's a very encouraging sign for the Yankees.  Felix Hernandez, and I say this with no disrespect towards Kuroda or Sabathia, is a better pitcher than both of them, however, and the Yankees failed to take advantage of him when he wasn't at his best the last time they faced him.  They had an opportunity to right that wrong yesterday afternoon, but on this day Hernandez was at his best and then some.  A matchup between he and Kuroda should have been a pitchers' duel and it was, with Hernandez coming out the victor by the slightest of margins.

Game Notes:

- Kuroda was getting hit a little harder than he would have liked, and wasn't generating a ton of groundballs, but he still only allowed 1 run through 4 innings on a Mike Carp RBI single in the 2nd.

- Hernandez was even better, blanking the Yankee offense and holding them to just 2 hits through 5 innings.  He wasn't dominating them with strikeout stuff, but generated a lot of weak contact and 7 groundball outs.

- While Hernandez was cruising, Kuroda had to work harder to get his outs due to his shaky command.  He put 2 runners on in the 5th and 6th, and he tired in the 7th and was removed after he hit Bredann Ryan, the #9 hitter, with a pitch in what could have been a bit of revenge for Hernandez's plunkfest last time.

- The Yankee hitters helped make life easier for an already solid Hernandez by swinging early and not working many counts.  Hernandez threw just 88 pitches to get through 8 innings, and didn't walk a batter until the 6th.  The Yankees just didn't have any answers for him.

- The bullpen trio of Boone Logan, David Robertson, and Clay Rapada combined to pitch 2.2 scoreless innings of relief and keep the game at 1-0, but it made no difference.  On this day, Hernandez was just the best player on the field.

- By going 1-3, Ichiro set the new MLB record for most consecutive games with exactly 1 hit with 11.  It's an interesting record, but not one that speaks to how productive Ichiro has been at the plate since donning the pinstripes.

Kuroda Continues To Be Solid

Hiroki Kuroda pitched another good game today for the Yankees, but ended up the tough luck loser.  It was the 4th straight start in which he's allowed 2 runs or fewer, the 7th out of his last 10, and the 14th out of the 22 total starts he's made this season.  After an uneven start to his Yankee career, and some rough outings here and there since, Kuroda has settled nicely into his role in the starting rotation, a role that has become more important with the other problems that have beset the rotation this season.  Here's Kuroda's monthly ERA and FIP splits starting from April:

- ERA: 3.69, 4.25, 1.98, 3.60
- FIP: 4.41, 5.78, 2.43, 3.26

And after today's game, he's sitting at 3.19/3.78/3.76 for the season.  That's exactly the type of production the Yankees have been seeking and missing for years from their #2 starter, and they're finally getting it from Kuroda.  There are still some questions surrounding the rotation as a group, but there should be no more questions about Kuroda's ability to pitch and pitch well in the American League.  With him on board, the top 2 spots in the Yankees rotation are locked down and that's a good thing to know if you're a Yankee fan.

Game 105 Wrap-Up: NYY 6 SEA 3

(Check out that battery.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

Let's make one thing perfectly clear.  Kevin Millwood is not a good starting pitcher.  He's just not, and he hasn't been for quite some time.  The Yankees know this from firsthand experience, having had him in their MiL system for a short time in the recent past, so they should be able to destroy him every time they face him.  And yet that hasn't been the case in the 2 previous times they've faced him this season.  They had another chance last night, and while it wasn't the woodshed beating you might expect, it was certainly a better offensive performance than ones past, almost as good as CC's performance.

Game Notes:

- CC had has fastball working down in the zone and his slider dropping off the face of the earth from the first pitch he threw last night, two things he hasn't found since coming back to the DL.  He worked the first turn through the Seattle lineup perfectly, with 4 strikeouts and only 1 ball leaving the infield.

- He got some run support in the bottom of the 3rd, when an Ichiro/Curtis Granderson single sandwich with a Russell Martin double as the meat made it 2-0.

- Sabathia made his one mistake of the night in the top of the 4th, when he threw a first-pitch changeup to Casper Wells that stayed up and ended up out.

- After that HR, however, Sabathia recovered to strike out 6 of the next 8 batters he faced, all of them swinging and 5 of them on the slider, to keep it at 2-1 through the top of the 6th.

- Eric Chavez continued his awesome season off the bench with a Yankee Stadium Special 2-run HR in the bottom of the 6th to make it 4-1, effectively ending Millwood's night, and that was all Sabathia would need from there.

- Robinson Cano and Raul Ibanez each singled in a run in the 7th, and Sabathia gave up a late garbage time HR in the 9th, but he was absolutely dominant, and the Yankees cruised to the win.

- It's worth noting that last night was the first time in a while that Martin caught Sabathia instead of Stewart.  With the way CC pitched, I'd have to think Joe is going to keep it this way for now.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 8/3

I don't know about y'all, but for me the off day for the Yankees came at the perfect time yesterday.  My nerves were already shot from the nature of the losses they were taking, the continued injury problems, and the overall team slump.  It was all starting to affect my mood, even at work where I'm already pretty unlikeable and unpleasant to be around for the majority of the time.  So as a fan, to get a day off to unwind and put everything behind me was much-needed, as I'm sure it was for the team.  A new series starts tonight against the Mariners, and it sounds like there's an outside chance that Teix could be back in the lineup tonight.  That would be clutch, and another positive step towards turning this recent slump around.  Now onto the links!

- On Tuesday, Matt Keegan of Pinstripe Alley had an awesome post on David Phelps' pitch sequencing and how he's used it to his advantage.  Sequencing has been a point of contention for almost everybody when talking about Phil Hughes; nice to see Phelps already showing signs of getting it when it comes to that part of pitching.

- On Wednesday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog broke down the benefits of adding Casey McGehee, both in terms of helping boost the Yankees' ability to hit lefties and strengthening the bench.

- Chris Carelli of Yanks Go Yard picked apart Ivan Nova's 2012 monthly splits to show how Nova's performance this season hasn't lived up to the reputation he built for himself in 2011.

- Steve L. of Was Watching gave his opinion on the job Cash has done and the manner in which he's addressed building the roster recently in response to this season's trade deadline and fan reaction.

- Mike Axisa of RAB looked at Casey McGehee's platoon splits and contact rates to the opposite field to show how McGehee can be a valuable piece for the Yankees while A-Rod is out.

- On Thursday, Mike Eder of TYA continued the McGehee analysis by showing how his contact rates and recent bad BABIP luck could lead to some positive output in his new digs.

- Newest TYA team member Stacey Gotsulias of Aerys Sports took down Ian O'Conner for his POS article on Joba's return, and did it in a much nicer fashion than I did.

- Lisa Swan of Subway Squawkers had some suggestions for new Joba Rules to keep Joba healthy and productive.

- William Tasker of IIATMS put Derek Jeter's and Robinson Cano's offensive production into context, against both their present-day positional counterparts and past Yankee middle infielders, as a reminder of just how great they are.

- Fishjam25 of Yankees Fans Unite looked at some of Curtis Granderson's monthly trends, specifically his K rate, and gave his opinion on the continued increase in Curtis' 3 true outcome results.

- Jesse Schindler of Bleeding Yankee Blue compared the 3 leading candidates in the AL MVP race and weighed in on where he thinks Cano fits into that race.

- On Friday, el duque of It Is High... gave his realistic, and slightly pessimistic, view of what Ichiro can do and suggested what he should start to do as a member of the Yankees.

- Chris Barca of Bronx Baseball Daily handed out his Yankee report card grades for the month of July.

For the Friday Jam, we're going with a track from the new Childish Gambino mixtape "Royalty," which I highly recommend to anyone who hasn't heard it yet.  This song, "American Royalty," features both RZA from Wu-Tang and Hypnotic Brass Orchestra and is super-funky dope freshness to the max, if I do say so myself.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

How Have I Never Heard Of Jeter's New Side Piece?

Now I'm not nearly the hot female celebrity knowledge freak that I was in my early-to-mid teens, but I still consider myself pretty up to date on who's the new hotness and who's not.  So I was a little surprised when I started reading all these stories this week about Derek Jeter's latest notch in his belt, Hannah Davis.  Hannah Davis?  Who the hell is that??  Apparently she's a Victoria's Secret model, but if I haven't heard of her then she can't be that big time.  I mean, we're talking about the king of celebrity starlets here.  Jeter has had the best in the world when they were the best in the world.  Now he's moving on to no-names who are probably buried in the back pages of the monthly VS catalog?  You wanna talk about Jeter losing his range, let's talk about this.  I bet she's not even that ho-

Monthly Minor League Report (July): The Upper Levels

(The new Melkman straight raked in July.  Courtesy of Beverly Schaefer/For The Times)

Now that the younglings have been covered and we have the benefit of an off-day yesterday for the Yankees, let's use this morning to finish up the MiL reports for July for the upper levels of the system.  These teams saw a lot of roster movement over the past month, with promotions from the lower levels, demotions from the higher ones, and continued injury problems necessitating some player juggling.  There were some big pitching performances last month, the best ones coming from High-A Tampa, and there were also some guys who swung the bat incredibly well, 3 guys in Trenton in particular.  Which guys did what?  And how'd your favorite prospect handle his business last month?  Find out after the jump.

Ian O'Conner Should Probably Stop Talking

(Joba just minutes before his death.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

I regret to inform everyone that Joba Chamberlain, 27-year-old relief pitcher for the New York Yankees has died.  After a long battle with rehab from Tommy John Surgery and surgery to repair a severely dislocated ankle, Mr. Chamberlain passed away yesterday afternoon in his first attempt to make a comeback as a relief pitcher.

At least that's what Ian O'Conner wants you to think.  In its latest round of blatant trolling for comments and shameless bullshit writing strictly for pageviews, ESPN NY's O'Conner penned this disasterpiece today burying Joba, his future, his past, and pretty much his entire professional baseball existence after Joba's first outing on a Yankee mound yesterday didn't go so smoothly.  I expect this kind of garbage from the Wallaces Matthews and Andrews Marchand of the world, but I've never read anything this asinine from O'Conner.  Maybe I just didn't notice before, or maybe I was just lucky enough to not be exposed to anything else he's written that's this bad as part of my conscious effort to avoid all things ESPN-related when it comes to covering the Yankees, but this was impossible to miss.

As usual, I invite anybody who hasn't already read the story, and is a big fan of literary self-torture, to check it out in its entirety.  If you have enough intelligence to know that's a horrible idea, you can check out the lowlights and my comments after the jump.

Let's Take A Minute And Reset The Landscape

July was a bit of an eventful month, huh?  The Yankees ended it on a very rough 3-9 streak that saw them lose 6 games by 1 run right after starting the month 10-4 and looking like they were going to run away and hide with the division title sometime in early August.  They blew early leads, they blew late leads, and they made a couple comebacks that fell just short, all adding to a growing sense of frustration amongst the fans and some of the more pot-stirring writers.  Things have gotten a tad bit frazzled over the last 2 weeks.  I know I've been a bit more emotional and vocal with my displeasure this week, and the folks I write with for TYA can attest to that.  But as we rip another page off the calendar and put July in the rearview, I think it's important to take a step back and look at the overall landscape of Yankeeland heading into the stretch run of the season.

Game 104 Wrap-Up: NYY 12 BAL 3

(Courtesy of The AP)

The whole night game thing hasn't been working for the Yankees lately, so maybe a change of daytime setting would help shake the funk off of Tuesday night's gong show.  There weren't exactly sunny skies, but the Yankee bats certainly brightened up the atmosphere around The Stadium early and often.  For the second straight day the lineup jumped on Baltimore's starter, this time Zach Britton, and got the early lead.  For the first time in a few days, the lead was held onto and the losing streak was broken.

Game Notes:

- It wasn't quite as dynamic as Tuesday night's 1st inning, but 2 runs is still a good start.  Curtis Granderson hit a solo HR and Andruw Jones made a Nick Swisher double worthwhile with a sac fly and the Yankees grabbed the early lead again.

- It wasn't quite as bad as Nova's 7 runs, but Phil Hughes did give 1 back in the top of the 2nd on an Endy Chavez RBI groundout.  Unlike Nova, however, Hughes was able to limit the damage after getting into a second-and-third and 1 out pickle.

- The offense tacked on 2 more runs in the bottom of the 2nd on a pair of RBI singles, got a shutdown inning from their starter for a nice change of pace, and then dropped the hammer in the bottom of the 3rd with a 2-out, 7-run inning of their own, capped off by Robinson Cano's grand slam to make it 11-1.

- Hughes wasn't as sharp as he has been, and wasn't overly efficient, but he did keep the Orioles at that 1 run through the 6 innings he was on the mound.  A day after seeing Nova bomb without his best stuff and no command, it was refreshing to see Hughes battle and work through.

- Joba Chamberlain made his official return in the top of the 7th in relief of Hughes.  His outing wasn't as smooth as he would have liked (solo HR on his 2nd pitch, 2 ER & 5 baserunners allowed in 1.2 IP), but that hardly mattered given the score at the time.  The important thing is that he's back.

- It was a tale of 2 RISP performances yesterday.  Yankees good (7-13), Baltimore bad (0-15).  It's fair to mention that the Yankee pitchers gave the Orioles plenty of chance, but Baltimore couldn't take advantage.

Bobby V Is Making This Tough For Me

On the one hand, the fact that Bobby V is wandering around the stadium in full uniform on what I presume is a game day, and taking the time to once again make himself the center of attention sets me up perfectly to call him out for doing just that instead of sitting in his office putting together the lineup card or talking to his coaching staff about how they can change things up to help the Fraud Sawx stay at or above .500 for more than a day or 2.  And to turn down an opportunity to rag on Bobby V would be almost criminal.

On the other hand, he did just straight up videobomb the SHIT out of Dan Shaughnessy, easily the most unlikeable sports writer and Bahhston sports personality in the history of sports and the perfect personification of everything that is wrong with the Bahhston sports fanbase.  That quick look of bewilderment on Shaughnessy's face at the 3-second mark when he first hears Bobby V's voice is gold.  It's gold, Jerry, gold!  Anytime Dan Shaughnessy is getting punked out like that, I smile both inside and out.

So I'm torn.  What do I do here?  What path do I take??  I'm stumped.  You've won this round, Valentine.  Well played.

Monthly Minor League Report (July): The Lower Levels

(2012 2nd-Round pick Austin Aune.  Courtesy of Bryan "BeGreen90's" Flickr page)

July is over, which means we're heading into the dog days of summer in August.  Or are we already in the dog days of summer?  It's been hotter than hell out in Wisco for the better part of July, so to me that constitutes dog days.  But then again, I don't make up the rules.  Maybe July is designated by another creature and August is officially the dog days and I'm breaking all kinds of seasonal description protocol by mixing them up.  Whatever.  The changeover to August also means it's time for another round of Minor League monthly recaps and there's plenty to recap.  All the 2012 picks are signed and playing, so that's exciting.  And the much-anticipated round of call ups took place earlier in the month for some of the higher-profile prospects.  We start the MMLR, as always, with the lower levels.

Game 103 Wrap-Up: BAL 11 NYY 5

("Bad luck," my ass.  Courtesy of The AP)

I almost can't put into words how awful this game was last night.  If you watched even the first third of it, you know exactly what I'm talking about and you're shaking your head in agreement right now.  I sat at my computer, already typing out the results of the 1st inning, and watched with each heartbreaking ESPN Gamecast refresh as Ivan Nova let the 5-run lead he was staked to evaporate and turn into a 2-run deficit in a matter of minutes.  I was so distraught by what happened that I actually called my dad at home in Connecticut and just started venting.  Eventually we steered the conversation towards "The Dark Knight Rises" and the stupidity of people complaining about Bane's voice, but that still didn't and doesn't take away from the collective crappiness that was this game.

Game Notes:

- I bet Chris Tillman didn't expect to get 5 runs thrown in his grillmix in the bottom of the 1st but that's just what happened.  The Yankees were swinging with authority, Tillman wasn't fielding his position, and things escalated quickly.  A Robinson Cano 2-run homer was the big hit of the inning and the Yankes were off and running.

- And like that,

... the 5-run lead was gone.  After needing just 6 pitches to get through the 1st, Nova couldn't locate his fastball, couldn't locate his slider, couldn't locate his curveball, and gave up 7 runs in the top of the 2nd after striking out 2 consecutive batters and getting ahead of Mark Reynolds 0-2.

- It was probably equal parts Tillman settling down and the Yankee lineup being deflated by the events that transpired in the 2nd, but they were held scoreless through the next 6 innings and managed just 4 hits in those innings.

- Meanwhile, Nova continued to get shelled like a bag of stadium peanuts.  He gave up a pair of doubles and a run in the 3rd, and another run in the 5th to make it 9-5 Orioles.  Of the 10 hits that were charged to Nova's tab, 5 of them were XBH.

- A change in pitchers did nothing to shake the offense out of their Nova-induced coma.  The Yankees manged just 3 singles after the 5th inning, 2 of them infield singles by Derek Jeter.  Not counting the Cano HBP, which I don't, the Yankees only advanced a runner to second base once after the 3rd inning.  Talk about laying down and dying...

- Clay Rapada gave up a 2-run homer to add insult to injury in the top of the 8th.  Curtis Granderson grounded into a game-ending double play in the 9th to put the game out of its misery.

Trade Deadline News: Yanks Get McGehee And Add Another Bullpen Arm...

The Dempster rumors turned out to be smoke, but the Yankees did make a small deal, acquiring infielder Casey McGehee from Pittsburgh for Chad Qualls.  McGehee, a former Brewer, hasn't come close to matching his career season of 2010 these last 2 years, but he can play third and has some pop from the right side.  With Teix missing at least the next couple of games, this was the Yankees' biggest need and McGehee is an upgrade over Ramiro Pena.

The bigger part of this deal is that by moving Qualls, the Yankees clear up a roster spot for Joba Chamberlain, who is going to be activated tonight.  I haven't seen any official reports of it yet, but it sounds like a done deal.  For the first time since June 5th of last year, Joba will be in a New York Yankee uniform and available to pitch out of the New York Yankee bullpen.  That's great news for him and the bullpen, who need another non-matchup arm in the worst way.

Welcome back, Joba.  Now somebody do me a favor and HIT THE FUCKING MUSIC!!!

Inside An Ugly Stretch Of Yankee Baseball

(Game-ending strikeouts are the worst kind of strikeouts.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

As the final few hours before today's trade deadline tick down, the Yankees find themselves in a strange position.  The high of their fantastic 34-13 run that stretched into the middle of this month has been replaced by the low of their current 3-8 streak that started, interestingly enough, in Oakland, the same city where the previously-mentioned hot streak started at the end of May.  The overall quality of play has been lacking, the W-L results have been less than satisfactory, and the injury problems that have plagued major contributors since Spring Training have stayed ever-present, now shifting their torture to the middle of the order.  The Yankees still have a relatively healthy 6.5-game lead in the division, 7 in the loss column, but the outlook is far less comforting as it was just a few weeks ago.

What, exactly, has been happening over these past 2 weeks to change the mood in Yankeeland?  How could the Yankees go from flying high to stuck in the mud so quickly?  The answer, as usual, is in the numbers.

BREAKING NEWS: Update On Teixiera's Wrist

Well at least we can all breathe a sigh on relief on this injury scare.

Via Chad Jennings of LoHud, the results are in on Teix's MRI and they're as positive as they could be.  The MRI showed no structural damage in his wrist and he was given a cortisone injection.  The official diagnosis is inflammation of the left wrist, and the plan right now is to see how he responds to the cortisone and evaluate the wrist again in 3 days.

This is certainly better than any kind of worst-case scenario we could have imagined after hearing about Joe's "big concern" last night.  There's no word on whether or not Teix will have to go on the DL for the injury, and I wouldn't expect one until the re-evaluation of his wrist is done in 3 days, but for now this is good news.

Game 102 Wrap-Up: BAL 5 NYY 4

(At least Ichiro had something to smile about.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

It's been slowly bubbling beneath the surface for the last 2 weeks, started to rise on Sunday night after the second straight not-quite-comeback loss to Bahhston, and can completely surface after another loss in similar fashion last night.  That "it" is the fact that the Yankees aren't playing good baseball right now.  They aren't getting great start pitching, they aren't getting timely hits, and their bullpen work has been uneven at best.  They're 3-8 in their last 11 games and things have become more of a struggle since A-Rod went on the DL.  They're doing just enough to stay in games, but not enough to win them, and it's frustrating.  More potential injury problems to key members of the lineup only adds to the frustration.

Game Notes:

- Eric Chavez put the Yankees on the board first with an RBI single in the bottom of the 2nd.  Gonzalez helped the cause by balking Raul Ibanez to second with 2 outs, but give Ibanez credit for scoring from second; seems like the Yanks haven't been doing enough of that lately.

- Garcia worked easily through the 1st, but after that he started to get hit hard and hit often.  He gave up a double to Adam Jones to lead off the top of the 2nd, a HR to Wilson Betemit to lead off the 3rd, 2 more hits in that inning and in the 4th, and only a trio of double plays prevented the damage from being worse.

- Ironically enough, it was a pair of sac flies that gave the Orioles a 3-1 lead in the 5th.  But they came after Garcia gave up 2 hits to start the inning.  He just wasn't hitting his spots and wasn't fooling anybody with his stuff.

- Ibanez scored the Yankees' first run in the 2nd inning, and he scored their 2nd in the 5th.  Didn't have to hustle too hard for that one, though, as he smacked another HR to right to make it 3-2.

- Boone Logan hadn't pitched since last Tuesday, and had only faced 4 batters in the last 10 days, and it showed after he struck out the first 2 batters relieving Garcia in the 7th.  Logan completely fell apart, walking Omar Quintanilla, giving up an RBI double to Nick Markakis, and having another run charged to him when David Phelps came in and gave up a single to J.J. Hardy.

- The real news on that play was Mark Teixiera leaving after making a diving attempt at Hardy's single. He was shaking his left hand after the play and although X-rays were negative after the game, Joe didn't sound optimistic in his postgame comments.

- Chavez answered right back in the bottom half with a solo HR and his 2nd RBI of the night to make it 5-3.  And then Ichiro followed that up with his first career Yankee homer to make it 5-4.  At least the bottom of the order was nice enough to show up last night.

- After Joe almost overmanaged his bullpen into more late-game innings allowed, the Yankees had a great chance for a 9th-inning comeback after Nick Swisher led off with a ground rule double.  But the bottom of the order, who had been the only source of offense all night, couldn't get it done and the streak of mediocrity continues.

BREAKING NEWS: Mark Teixeira Leaves Tonight's Game With Wrist Injury

When the injury clouds rain on Yankeeland, they pour.  Mark Teixiera left tonight's game against the Orioles in the 7th inning after injuring his left wrist diving for a ball off the bat of J.J. Hardy.  He was shaking his hand and flexing his wrist on the field right after the play and was replaced on the field in the next inning.

Multiple Yankee beat guys are reporting that Teix is scheduled to go for tests on the injured wrist tomorrow, and Joe Girardi called the injury a "big concern."  There are some reports that he got an X-ray after leaving the game, but that hasn't been confirmed and results are unknown.  Needless to say this is not good news if  you're a Yankee fan.  More details on this story as they become available.

** UPDATE- 9:33PM- Joe confirmed that Teix is scheduled for an MRI tomorrow and said "we'll keep our fingers crossed."  That statement paired with the "big concern" line pretty much tells the story of where this is going.  Not good at all. **

** UPDATE- 9:53PM- Teix said he actually hurt the wrist on a swing in last night's game but tried to play through it tonight and aggravated it on the dive in the 7th. **

** UPDATE- 10:08PM- Via Marc Carig, X-rays on Teix's wrist came back negative, so at least that's a little bit of good news. **

Gary Sanchez & Mason Williams Get A High-A Education

(Sanchez photo courtesy of Tim Priddy/Four Seam Images, Williams courtesy of Tyrone Walker/The Post and Courier)

No matter what order you'd rank them personally, there's little doubt that Gary Sanchez and Mason Williams are the 2 best Yankee position prospects right now (and yes, the order in which I just mentioned them is how I would rank them).  With the way the top-tier pitching prospects have faltered this season, it's not much of a stretch to say that Sanchez and Williams are the best Yankee organizational prospects period.  When you're blessed with the natural physical gifts and core baseball tools in the way that these guys are, you're going to rise up the prospect board pretty quickly and that's exactly what Sanchez and Williams have done in the early part of their careers.

Their individual successes in 2012 earned them each a promotion to High-A Tampa recently, and last Friday Kiley McDaniel of ESPN posted a scouting assessment of the Tampa Yankees, including a very detailed scouting report on Sanchez and Williams based on what he'd seen since their call-ups.  It's an Insider-only piece, and the details of McDaniel's report paint a very positive picture of where both players are right now in their development.  The report also points out the weaknesses in Williams' and Sanchez's respective games, weaknesses that are starting to be exposed more now that they're facing a better level of competition, and sets the stage for the next step in their prospect evolution and future scouting evaluations as they finally get to a level where natural tools aren't enough to get by.

Andy Pettitte's Non-Setbacking Setback

There was a bit of breaking news prior to last night's game involving Andy Pettitte and his rehab from his broken ankle.  There were reports that he had pushed himself too hard while working out in Seattle (which I still say is completely stupid) and was going to have to back off for an undetermined amount of time.  Seeing as how he was already scheduled for a return sometime in September, that undetermined amount of time could put his return at all this season into jeopardy.

Quick to quell the rumor mill before it could get started too much, Cash, via Ken Davidoff, said that Andy did NOT suffer a setback but rather experienced the "ebb and flow of rehab."  I don't know about you, but that sounds like the definition of a setback to me.

So that raises the all-important question.  Is what happened to Andy, whatever it was, a setback or not?  Is it a setback... or isn't it?  That's the question.

/grabs a bottle of Hennigan's



Think about that for a while.

Game 101 Wrap-Up: BOS 3 NYY 2

(Sad Raul is sad.  Courtesy of The AP)

It was a frustrating game last night.  The Yankees got great starting pitching from Hiroki Kuroda but couldn't do much against an inconsistent Felix Doubront.  They were able to muster up a little late-game offense to tie it up and force extra innings, but that ended up being nothing more than a moral victory after they lost the lead and the game in the 10th.  If you're interested in my thoughts on the game as it unfolded, check out last night's live blog.

Game Notes:

- Need proof that Kuroda got jobbed last night?  Of the 24 outs he recorded, 15 of them were on the ground and only 2 left the infield. 2 of the 7 hits he allowed were groundballs that found holes, and 1 was a line drive right at Derek Jeter that Jeter probably should have caught.

- Kuroda was very good last night.  He once again had his slider working to perfection to right-handers, and although he couldn't get the downward break on his splitter that he had the previous 2 starts, he made up for it by having a solid sinker and a lively 4-seamer.

- Doubront had really good stuff last night, and he should get credit for that.  15 swinging strikes out of 64 (23.44%) is nothing to sneeze at.  But he also battled inconsistency with his fastball, and left more than a few hittable pitches over the plate.  The Yankee offense just didn't do much with them.

- The 1-4 hitters for the Yanks last night (Jeter, C-Grand, Teix, Cano) were a combined 1-19 with 1 BB, 6 K, and 6 LOB.  That's just not going to get it done against any pitcher, whether he's commanding his stuff or not.

- Of course Russell Martin showed up on a night where nobody else did.  As I told my buddy Gary last night via text, Martin has one of these games every 12-15, so we probably shouldn't expect to hear much from him offensively until about the second week of August.