Prospect Stock Up And Stock Down: July 2013

(Not a fun year so far for Mr. Williams.  USATSI)

It's been a while since I've done of these.  I said I was going to do a monthly MiL wrap-up this season back in May and then it didn't happen.  That one's on me, guys.  But I can't get too jazzed up talking about potential trade partners and targets just yet, so let's use this afternoon to catch up on who's been hot and who's been not in the last 2 months in the Minors.  It's going to be a rapid-fire round to make up for lost time.

Any Concern About D-Rob's Workload?

(Should the Yanks be worried about making it rain on The Fireman?)

With the Yankees standing to lose a few of their recent top homegrown players to free agency this offseason, Andrew Mearns of Pinstriped Bible looked ahead to the future free agency of 2 more players who fit that mold yesterday.  Both David Robertson and Brett Gardner are due to become free agents after the 2014 season and Mearns brought up the idea of re-signing them to team-friendly deals before they hit the open market, questioning how risky a move it would be on the Yankees' part to do so.

Gardner is a risk for obvious reasons, but D-Rob has never struck me as much of one.  He's still just 28 and will be at the start of next season.  He's never had much of a problem with arm injuries.  And he's been as reliable a reliever in front of Mo as there's been in the setup pool in baseball for the last few seasons.  But what about his workload? D-Rob was unavailable last night after pitching in 5 of the last 7 days, and he's on pace to reach new career highs in appearances and innings pitched.  Is there anything in D-Rob's seasonal workload totals to be concerned about moving forward?

Game 89 Wrap-Up: KC 5 NYY 1

(Courtesy of the AP)

It was strange to think that the Yankee lineup would be worse with the newly acquired Travis Ishikawa included, but that was the case heading into last night's game.  With Joe deciding to give a handful of guys the night off, the lineup took on another strange, pathetic appearance with Zoilo Almonte batting 2nd, Vernon Wells 5th against a righty, and a 7-9 of Cruz, Gonzalez, and Romine.  There wasn't a lot of support on paper for Phil Hughes, and there wasn't much for him on the field for the short amount of time he spent on it.

Game Notes:

-Not a good 2nd inning for Hughes.  He grooved a fastball to Billy Butler for a solo HR to lead off the inning and served up 2 doubles to score another.  3 XBH in 1 inning is never a good thing.

- It ended up being a short night for him thanks to the weather.  An hour plus rain delay was too long to bring Phil back and Joe went to Adam Warren in the 5th.  Tough break too.  Phil looked like he was starting to find it in the 3rd and 4th.

- It wouldn't have helped him because the lineup did nothing at all.  Like just 3 singles from Vernon Wells and Robinson Cano through 6 innings type of nothing.  Jeremy Guthrie, and the hour plus he waited before returning to the mound in the bottom of the 4th, shut them the hell out.

- It was a tough night for Travis Ishikawa, who went 0-2 for 2 strikeouts in his first 2 Yankee plate appearances and then had to watch Lyle Overbay hit a pinch hit HR in his place in the 7th.  But hey, it got the Yanks on the board.

- They couldn't capitalize on another good scoring chance in the 8th, and then the game got out of hand for Preston Claiborne as the sacrificial bullpen lamb in the 9th.  The Yankees' bottom half rally was perfectly representative of their offensive strength all night: bases loaded, no outs, no runs.

Joe Brings The Old Sac Bunt Out Of His Bag Of Tricks

(Smart play or wasted opportunity?  Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

There's perhaps no play in baseball that further divides old school fans and analysts from the more sabermetrically-inclined new school crew than the sacrifice bunt.  What one calls a gritty, smart "baseball play," the other calls pointless and a waste of a perfectly good out.  Personally, I've always been on the new school side.  I just don't like the idea of giving up outs and killing chances for a potentially bigger inning by sacrificing one.  I can, however, see the value in a sac bunt in certain situations or at certain times in certain games, and that's why I'm not sure how I feel about Joe bringing it back this weekend.  Joe has used the sac bunt a time or 2 in the past, usually in situations that left more people scratching their heads than clapping their hands.  Against the Orioles, he damn near featured it as the focal part of the Yankee offense.

Yanks Bench Could Still Use Some Work

The Yankees addressed a serious need yesterday by claiming Travis Ishikawa off waivers from the Orioles.  Ishikawa should immediately assume the role as designated lefty bench bat, a role the Yankees haven't been able to fill for the past few weeks and one that they could have put to great use at least a handful of times last week.  They were back up to 4 available bench players again after Eduardo Nunez took David Phelps' spot on the active roster this weekend, but all 4 of those players were right-handed and severely below-average hitters.  The anticipated replacement of David Adams with Ishikawa does bring a little balance back to the bench lineup.  It's not the final move the Yanks should make if they're looking to add even more bench flexibility.

MiL Rehab Roundup: 7/8/13

(Dude looks good in every uni.  Courtesy of the AP)

Another day, another pair of Minor League rehab outings for Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez yesterday.

Jeter- Went 1-2 with a groundball single, 2 BB, and 1 strikeout playing the full game at DH.  The plan was originally for a rest day today, but Donnie Collins reported yesterday afternoon that Jeter will start at shortstop again tonight.

A-Rod- Went 0-3 in 8 innings as the DH for High-A Tampa.  No official word from the team on where and when he'll play again.  Given how long he's been out and the slow approach being taken with him so far, there's little reason to expect anything other than him continuing to play for Tampa for now.

In case you missed it, Michael Pineda was officially activated from the 60-day DL yesterday and assigned to Triple-A where he's scheduled to start again on Thursday.  He should be down there for a couple weeks to fully stretch out his pitch count and to "buy back" the year of free agency that was lost last season.

Yanks Add Ishikawa To The Bench Mix

He's not the right-handed platoon bat the Yankees could use for Lyle Overbay at first base, but Travis Ishikawa can and will be the lefty bench bat this team definitely needs right now after the Yankees claimed him off waivers from Baltimore yesterday.

Ishikawa had just 2 singles and 8 strikeouts in 18 PA for the O's this season, making him a very expendable piece for them.  His .316/.413/.525 line he was putting up in 208 Triple-A PA and career .260/.324/.399 Major League batting line are more telling about what he's capable of bringing to the Yankee bench.  Ishikawa is a useful left-handed hitter with just enough power and just enough patience to make him dangerous playing with a short porch in right.  He's also a plus defender at first base, so he can be used to rest Lyle Overbay without losing much defensively.  His primary duty will be as a left-handed pinch hitter - a role the Yankees really needed to fill with their surplus of light-hitting righty left infield bats - and his career .739 OPS and .322 wOBA against RHP makes him viable in that role.

Ishikawa is another in the long line of small, marginal upgrades the Yanks have tried to make to this roster as the season has gone on.  He likely won't be a world beater, but he will be a better late-game hitting option than Stewart or Cruz or Gonzalez if the Yankees need a run.  I'd expect David Adams to be sent down to clear a spot for Ishikawa and I expect that move will happen later today.

Game 88 Wrap-Up: BAL 2 NYY 1

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

The shoe was on the completely different foot from where it was 1 Sunday ago for the Yankees this afternoon.  They were in position to sweep the Baltimore Orioles out of town and put a little bit of distance between them in the AL Wild Card race, as well as keep their new season-high 6-game winning streak going.  They had a returning Hiroki Kuroda on the mound after he missed a few days due to a hip flexor strain.  He came through his last bullpen without issue and the call was made to put him right back to work.  How did he fare on a hot day against Baltimore's Jason Hammel?  Not too shabby actually.

Game Notes:

- Although they didn't have much to show for it (Eduardo Nunez sac fly), the Yanks definitely made Hammel work.  They fouled off a ton of pitches and made him throw 53 pitches just to get through the first 2 innings.

- Kuroda didn't look bothered by the hip and got off to an excellent start.  He located well down in the zone, was constantly working from ahead in the count, and got around a couple of doubles with no issue to keep the O's scoreless through 4.

- Hammel was out after 5 innings, but with the Yanks only pushing the 1 run across they still needed to tack on against the bullpen.  They didn't do it over the next 3 innings and it came back to bite them later.

- Kuroda, working much more efficiently than Hammel, stayed strong and scoreless through 7.  As he usually does when he's feeling good, he started working his splitter more the second and third time through the order.

- He didn't appear tired after the 7th, but Joe played it safe with Kuroda at 88 pitches and decided to go to his overworked bullpen horses again.  D-Rob did the job in the 8th, but Mo didn't have a lot of movement on his cutter in the 9th.  After just missing giving up a HR to Nick Markakis, he did to Adam Jones on a ball down the middle to make it 2-1 Baltimore.

Cano & Rivera The Unsurprising (And Only Deserving) Yankee All Star Selections

The All Star Game rosters were announced last night and the 2 Yankee representatives were Robinson Cano and Mariano Rivera.  2 reps is a low number for the Yankees, but in this season of offensive decline in their everyday lineup it was the right call.

MiL Rehab Roundup

There are now a trio of notable MiL rehab assignments taking place in Yankeeland with Derek Jeter starting his last night for Triple-A SWB.  All 3 guys were in action yesterday at their respective levels.  Here's how they did:

Jeter- Went 0-2 with a groundout and lineout and played 5 innings at shortstop, getting just one chance to field a groundball and doing it successfully.  He'll DH in today's game and then be re-evaluated Monday to determine next steps.

Michael Pineda- Started the game for Triple-A SWB last night and had a much better performance than his previous outing.  Pineda pitched 5 innings and allowed 2 ER on 4 H and 2 BB while striking out 7.  He threw  78 pitches in the outing.  His 30-day rehab window expires tomorrow and with his pitch count that low I expect he'll be assigned to Triple-A for another few weeks to fully stretch out.

Alex Rodriguez- A-Rod went 1-2 w/ an HBP and a R scored for High-A Tampa last night and fielded all balls hit to him cleanly in 6 innings at third base.  No report on what the plan is for him today, but he needs ABs so maybe a DH day.

Game 87 Wrap-Up: NYY 5 BAL 4

(Welcome back, Eddie.  Courtesy of the AP)

It was a day of shortstop returns today.  Derek Jeter was returning to game action in his first MiL rehab game in Triple-A, and Eduardo Nunez made his return from the Major League DL when he started at shortstop and batted 8th today.  He was back in support of Andy Pettitte, who was looking to keep the team's 5-game winning streak going and looking to add some consistency to his performance now that the rotation lost another arm in David Phelps earlier today.  If he could get it, Joe would have also liked some length from Andy and a healthy cushion late to rest some of his key relievers.  Neither of those things happened, but the Yanks still came out on the winning side.

Game Notes:

- Tough start for Andy.  He gave up a 2-run HR to Chris Davis with 2 outs in the top of the 1st and then another on an Alex Casilla RBI double in the 2nd.  The fastball command wasn't there and Baltimore made him pay.

- The Yanks stayed in it thanks to 2 runs of their own in the 2nd.  Travis Hafner walked to lead the inning off and a string of singles and a sac fly made it a 3-2 game.

- The hit parade continued against Chris Tillman in the bottom of the 5th.  Another possibly ill-timed sac bunt (by Brett Gardner) was sandwiched between 4 singles to tie the game back up at 4.  But the rally stalled when Hafner went down looking and Zoilo Almonte grounded out.

- The Yanks had the chance to come back and tie the game, and then take the lead in the 6th on an Eduardo Nunez RBI single, because of how well Andy settled down after the 4th.  He gave up just 2 hits and no more runs into the 7th, and got a couple of big strikeouts of Davis and Markakis.

- Nunez's single was made possible by some effective smallball ahead of him.  Lyle Overbay singled and moved to second on a sac bunt by Luis Cruz.  I think they've been using the sac bunt way too much lately, but this time it worked.

- Tremendous job by the overworked bullpen to hold the lead and save the game. Shawn Kelly, David Robertson, and Mo combined for 2.1 IP of shutout ball with just 2 cheap hits and 4 strikeouts.

Remember To Take It Slow With Jeter

I've said this before.  I'm going to say it again now that Derek Jeter is returning to game action tonight for Triple-A SWB.  Don't get too excited about 1 game.  This needs to be a slow process in getting him all the way back and the Yankees have already been here before.  About 4 months ago, the Yankees and Jeter were in this same situation and all it took was 5 games - just the last 2 consecutively and only a few in the field - for Jeter to be shut down and eventually diagnosed with the re-break in his ankle.  That setback cost him 3 months of the season already and probably 4 when he finally is able to come back, and the Yankees can't afford to make that same mistake twice.

We know how the shortstop position has been one rotating cast of suck this season, and we know there wasn't any stability added to it by today's return of Eduardo Nunez because of another injury bug bite to Jayson Nix.  He's been placed on the DL with a Grade-2 hamstring strain, an injury that usually leaves guys out for at least a month.  But that can't be motivation enough to try to push Jeter back when that method has already failed once.

The Yankees need Derek Jeter back.  No question about that.  They also need a healthy Derek Jeter back, and the best way to ensure that is to take it slow with his MiL rehab and not over-do it trying to get him on the field ASAP.  It's great that he's back on a baseball field playing for real.  It'll be greater if he can stay on the field this time.

Give 'Em The Hook

That's just what Ivan Nova did to the Orioles last night.  He had his curveball working and he leaned on it big time on his way to a complete game victory that was arguably the best start of his career.  He threw 33 curveballs out of his 102 pitches, 15 of which were swung at and 9 that were swung at and missed.  As you can see above, Nova could locate it wherever he wanted.  He threw it down and away to righties to get them to chase and he threw it low and away and way down and way in to lefties, a sign that Nova was really feeling the command of the pitch last night.

Great fastball command (75.6% 4-seamer strikes) and a knockout swing-and-miss curveball.  Not a bad combo to have to shut down any lineup.  Nova had it last night and he might have forced his way back into the rotation discussion in the process.

(Pitch plots courtesy of Texas Leaguers)

Game 86 Wrap-Up: NYY 3 BAL 2

(Courtesy of the AP)

The Yankees rode back into town on the turnaround high of their 4-game road sweep in Minnesota, and they came home to find the Baltimore Orioles waiting for them.  The O's would be the first opponent in a critical 10-game stretch before the All Star break and the Yankees would face them a week after getting swept out of their place with Ivan Nova on the mound in place of the originally scheduled and banged up Hiroki Kuroda.  Nova proved to be more than up to the task of stepping in for Hirok and he pitched the Yanks to their 5th straight win with a little walk-off help from Vernon Wells.

Game Notes:

- Ivan had his stuff working from the start last night, but looked primed to crumble after he started the top of the 2nd by hitting Chris Davis and giving up a 2-run HR to Matt Wieters 3 pitches later.  The Yanks were in a 2-0 hole early and they needed the whole game to climb out.

- They got 1 back in the bottom of the 4th on a nice little 2-out rally.  Wells singled, Lyle Overbay walked, and shortstop of the week Luis Cruz came through with another RBI hit.

- Nova was, in all honesty, brilliant after the Wieters homer.  He retired the next 12 batters in a row, including striking out the side in the 5th, and he erased the 1 hit he did allow in the 6th on a double play ball.

- The offense blew a prime chance in the bottom of the 5th, loading the bases with 1 out on an intentional walk to Robinson Cano and then failing to drive a run across.

- Nova was undeterred by the lack of run support on his way to the best start of his career.  He allowed just 1 baserunner (walk) in the final 3 frames and racked up 4 more strikeouts.  He was absolutely electric.

- And it paid off in the bottom of the 9th.  David Adams singled to start the inning, Brett Gardner reached on an error, and they moved up on a sac bunt.  After another intentional walk to Cano, the Yanks were in a repeat situation of the 5th.  This time Travis Hafner drew a 4-pitch walk from Jim Johnson to force in the tying run and Wells followed up with a walk-off single to win it.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 7/5/13

Got the company tickets for tonight's Brewers-Mets game.  Requested 'em planning to catch a Matt Harvey start.  Missed him by 2 days.  Instead I got Zack Wheeler.  So pissed.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, el duque of It Is High... suggested another lefty DH option.  That short bench could probably use him too.

- A pair of good ones from the IIATMS/TYA team.  On Monday, Domenic Lanza visually represented the Yankees' offensive downturn which, if you're interested in that kind of thing, makes the numbers look even worse than they already did.  Holy balls, this team cannot hit!

- On Tuesday, Mike Eder constructed the worst team possible from the Brian Cashman Era.  That team would have been so bad that they almost would have been fun to watch.

- Martin Riggs of NoMaas pointed out a drastic change in trends for Robinson Cano's 2013 Home/Road batting splits.  Different approach with the short porch?

- Dave Dechenaux of Yanks Go Yard compared the careers of Andy Pettitte and Whitey Ford as Pettite passed The Chairman for the franchise K record this week.

- Daniel Burch of The Greedy Pinstripes had an interview with 2013 11th round pick Kendall Coleman.  Kid's toolsy, that's for sure.

- On Wednesday, Mike Axisa of RAB prioritized the Yankees' trade deadline needs.  If you were thinking "pitching depth," you would be wrong.

- Derek Albin of Pinstriped Bible examined the negative impact CC's diminished fastball might be having on his other pitches.

- SG of RLYW commented on how valuable Brett Gardner has been this season and on the different path he's taking to generate that value.

- On Thursday, Chad Jennings of LoHud had the latest on the A-Rod Rehab Tour and got A-Rod's thoughts on his first 2 games.

- On Friday, Craig Calcaterra of Hardball Talk took down Wally Matthews for his latest idiotic anti-A-Rod post.  Double kudos to Craig for doing it a lot more succinctly than I usually do it.  That's why he gets the big bucks.

For today's jam, we're going with a little more America music.  Since none of the major networks were smart enough to play this classic last night - and why would they with such great American artists like Swedish House Mafia and Rihanna who needed to be played? - we'll ride out on it today.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Cervelli Suffers Setback In His Rehab

Francisco Cervelli really can't catch a break, can he?  The broken hand from April continues to haunt him after the Yankees announced yesterday that he had suffered a stress reaction in his right elbow that will cause him to be shut down for at least 2 weeks.  The team believes he re-aggravated an old elbow problem trying to change his throwing motion to compensate for the hand.  He had been doing throwing and hitting drills in Tampa for a few weeks and was part of the mob expected back sometime after the All Star break but that's off the table.

The question now becomes what will the Yankees do in response?  They have been letting catching upgrade options go by on the waiver wire for the last few weeks despite an obvious need for an offensive upgrade over the Stewart-Romine tandem.  If Cervelli is now out until mid-August or later, will they take a more active approach in looking for that upgrade or will they go with with they've got?

Hey Thanks For Coming Out, Minnesota. We'll See You Again Soon

 

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

You gotta love the Twins.  You really do.  Every time the Yankees need a good series they always seem to be available to get stomped on.  Year after year after year after year; postseason series after postseason series after postseason series.  They're the most reliable opponent in recent Yankee history and this week's rendition of that reliability came at the absolute perfect time.  The Yanks were nosediving into the bottom of the AL East, with their starting pitching showing cracks to match the already shattered offense.  After 4 days in the Twin Cities, the Yanks have found their bats, found their bearings, got Robinson Cano completely locked in after a few good games to end June, and swept the Twins out of their own park as they head back home for an important 10-game stretch before the All Star break.  Heck, Minnesota was even nice enough yesterday to confirm once and for all that Joba Chamberlain should not be used in any situation other than an absolute blowout.  And they did it without affecting the outcome of the game.

Game 85 Wrap-Up: NYY 9 MIN 5

(Bump it.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

"Good job, Twins!  Good effort!  Thanks for playing.  We'll see you again next week when we need to dish out another season-saving ass whooping."

Seriously, that was a huge series for the Yanks.  They were down on the mat being counted out after the sweep in Baltimore and they answered the bell by responding with a 4-game road sweep of the lowly Twins.  The offense has woken up in a big way, and they put this game away early yesterday.  David Phelps had a nice start, something he really needed, and the Yanks head back home for 10 feeling good about themselves.  How's that for a nice 4th of July present?

Game Notes:

- The Yanks came out swinging against rookie Kyle Gibson, putting 3 runs on the board in the first 5 batters.  2 doubles from Ichiro and Travis Hafner and 2 singles from Zoilo and Vernon Wells (off a righty) around a Robinson Cano sac fly sandwich and the Yanks were off and running.

- They tacked 2 more on in the 3rd when Wells doubled home a run (off a righty again) and new SS Luis Cruz singled him in to make it 5-0.  Much better game for Cruz than his first one on Thursday.

- Minnesota got 1 back on a now rare Justin Morneau HR in the 5th, but Phelps was pretty good through 5. He gave up a few hits here and there, nothing new for him.  He also made pitches when he needed to and worked out of trouble well.

- The lineup put the game away in 6th, with more unusual suspects contributing.  Cruz doubled to put runners on second and third with no outs and Alberto Gonzalez singled home a run.  Ichiro came up with a big 2-run triple and scored on Zoilo Almonte's groundout and it was a 9-1 game.

- Phelps ran out of gas in the 7th and watched as Joba Chamberlain and Boone Logan combined to sully his final line.  Those 2 faced 6 batters and let 4 reach base.

- Shawn Kelley and David Robertson had to clean up the 8th and 9th innings and they did it properly, retiring all 6 men they faced in a row and striking out 3.

Happy 4th Of July From AB4AR

Hope everybody is having a great 4th already.  If you haven't yet, go outside, have a beer, and eat something grilled.  It's the American way.  Blog will be back tomorrow.

Game 84 Wrap-Up: NYY 3 MIN 2

(Courtesy of the AP)

Can the Yankees just play the Twins all the time?  Seriously.  The Yanks stumbled into Minnesota playing some of the worst and most inconsistent baseball you've ever seen and since arriving at Target Field it's like everything has started to come back together.  The offense is producing more regularly, they're back to making the most out of even small rallies, and they're getting hits when they need to.  They supported CC Sabathia in just 1 inning last night but it was enough to give him a lead and another shot at his 200th career win.  This time he came through.  Congrats, big guy.

Game Notes:

- Sabathia gave up a cheap run on a leadoff walk and an RBI double by Joe Mauer to start the bottom of the 3rd.  A Cruz error could have meant more but CC made pitches and got out of the inning without further damage.

- CC gave up another run on a Trevor Plouffe solo HR in the bottom of the 5th to make it 2-0, and the Yankees lineup did NOTING against P.J. Walters.  Through 5 they had just 3 total baserunners and only 1 hit.  Pretty it was not.

- When the batting order turned over to start the 6th, it was like everything clicked.  Brett Gardner walked on 4 pitches to lead off the inning, Ichiro and Robinson Cano doubled to bring in 2 runs, and a Lyle Overbay sac fly gave New York a 3-2 lead.

- That was all they'd get and it was all they would need.  CC made the lead stand up through the 7th and gave the ball to D-Rob and Mo to do what they do.  The Yanks are officially back on a winning streak.

Cano Locks Right Back In

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

June was a pretty mediocre month for Robinson Cano by his standards (.275/.395/.418, .345 wOBA).  The elevated BB rate was nice, but the low average and lack of power were crippling in the middle of the batting order when almost everybody else around him was regressing at the speed of sound.  And Robbie started to hear about it from the fans.  The calls for the Yankees to not re-sign him, foolish as they may be, became greater and the whispers about trading him at the deadline grew louder.

Cano has predictably turned things around quickly in the last handful of days.  He's 12-21 in his last 5 games with 4 HR, 8 RBI, 8 R, 1 BB, and not a single strikeout.  The switch has been flipped and he's locked in again.  But what was the real cause of his June swoon?  The guys in the ESPN broadcast booth on Sunday night, John Kruk in particular, were convinced that Robbie was struggling due to him expanding his strike zone and trying to do too much with everybody else around him slumping.  This made little sense to me considering Robbie's BB rate in June was as high as we've ever seen it as 15.8% in 114 PA, and including intentional walks he was given 23 free passes.  You just don't walk that much as a notorious free swinger if you're expanding your strike zone, and the pitch plots from last month agree:

A-Rod & Nunez Start Their Rehab Assignments

(Courtesy of the AP)

The ongoing below-replacement level saga in the Yankee infield got a boost for the near future yesterday when both Alex Rodriguez and Eduardo Nunez appeared in a MiL rehab game playing for Low-A Charleston.

For Rodriguez, it was his first rehab game of his 20-day window and he finished it without doing anything on the field to injure himself or saying anything off the field to cause a stir.  He went 0-2 at the plate with a K and a GIDP in 3 innings and a challenging day in the field on 2 bunt attempts that he came through without any reported physical issues.

For Nunez, yesterday was his third rehab game after playing 2 with High-A Tampa.  He went 2-3 yesterday and played 7 innings at short and now has 3 singles and a walk in 7 rehab PA.  He'll be eligible to come off the DL during the All Star Break, with A-Rod becoming eligible a few days later.  It's hard to think of Nunez as an upgrade, but both he and A-Rod will be welcome additions to the right side of that infield as long as they don't suffer any setbacks.

Kuroda To Miss His Next Start

As first reported by David Waldstein late last night, Hiroki Kuroda returned to New York earlier this week to have some tests run on a sore left leg issue.  An MRI revealed it to be a sore left hip flexor, nothing too serious but enough that Kuroda will be skipped when his spot comes up in the rotation again on Friday and Ivan Nova will start in his place.

Joe didn't sound overly concerned talking to the media about the injury after the game, which is good news.  It's still best to err on the side of caution with a pitcher Kuroda's age and missing 1 start isn't huge cause for concern.  I have to think the team would have put him on the 15-day DL if they felt it was necessary.  This probably explains why a move wasn't made with Nova yesterday to add a man to the bench after Nix's hamstring problem was announced.

Game 83 Wrap-Up: NYY 7 MIN 3

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

An already short and terrible bench got even shorter before last night's game when Joe announced that Jayson Nix was out with a tight hamstring and could miss a couple days.  The last thing the Yankees needed was to lose another position player, what with the amount of available reserves at a premium.  And maybe that was the reason they decided to not make a roster move to call somebody up before the game and only went with a 2-man bench.  Because that decision didn't really make a whole lot of sense to me, especially with Ivan Nova still unavailable after throwing that long relief session over the weekend.  But out they went, and win they did.

Game Notes:

- Strong start for Phil Hughes.  He gave up a run on a Joe Mauer single in the 3rd and looked primed for the big inning in the 4th after putting runners on second and third with nobody out.  But he got 2 straight strikeouts and a groundball out to escape without any further damage.

- He got picked up by his offense in the top of the 5th as a reward.  Alberto Gonzalez came up with runners on the corners and drove them both home with a double down the right field line, and Ichiro tacked one on with an infield single to make it 3-1.

- The Yanks really opened it up in the 7th.  A David Adams 1-out double and another Gonzalez hit scored 1 run, and a few batters later Robinson Cano put the game out of reach with a 2-out, 3-run HR.

- Hughes was solid after his 4th inning Houdini act.  He gave up just 1 hit and 1 walk in his final 3 innings of work and didn't allow a runner to reach second base.  Second straight really good outing for Phil.

- Bit of a rough go for Preston Claiborne in the 9th.  He got touched up for 2 runs and had to have Mariano Rivera come clean up his mess.  Worth it to give the regulars a night off though.

- 4 hits, 4 R scored, and 3 RBI from the 8-9 hitters, a 5th straight game of 2+ hits for Cano, and a second straight Yankee victory.  I'll take all that.

The Return Of The Old Guy Outfield Platoon

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

The Yankees won for the first time in almost a week last night.  And they did it with one of their most recently productive bats on the bench to start the game.  With a left-handed starter on the mound, Joe elected to sit Ichiro Suzuki, probably for rest more than anything, and start Vernon Wells in right field.  With Zoilo Almonte looking good in his Major League debut and solidifying his role as the starting left fielder, right field turned back into the L/R platoon the Yankees always envisioned it, for one night at least.  With the way things worked out last night, Joe might want to consider going to that well more often.