Our old friend Phil Hughes put together another stellar performance this afternoon, going three-plus innings and yielding five runs (including three homers) with nine hits and two walks to no strikeouts against the O’s. You can say it’s early, but going back to last season he has averaged 4 2/3 innings and 4.4 runs over his last five starts.

He hasn’t thrown seven full innings since September 13 of last year (six starts ago) in Boston, and has thrown just two shutouts (the aforementioned 9/13 start and on 8/17 — in which he surrendered 4 unearned runs, so does that even count? — both against a flailing Red Sox club) in his last 19 starts.

I know it’s only two starts into the season — and I try to stay as optimistic as possible when it comes to baseball, I really do — but to say that Phil Hughes has been a disappointment would be an understatement. This kid, who will be 27 in June, was touted as the savior of the Yankees’ rotation; he was purportedly the first homegrown pitching stud the team has had since Pettitte. Now what?

He will probably bounce via free agency at the end of the season, leaving behind a 99 ERA+ in 639 innings (prior to Saturday’s start) over parts of seven seasons in New York. Even during his 18-8 campaign in 2010 his peripherals weren’t great (proving yet again that pitcher wins is a dumb stat).

Philip Joseph Hughes will always have a special place in my heart — he was the first pitching prospect I was old enough to follow all the way through the minors and we have the same middle name — but I expected so much more out of him. I hope he figures it out and makes me eat these words, but I wouldn’t count on it.

Remember when we thought we had it all? All we got was Phil’s empire of dirt.

 

Today is a special day in the history of the franchise we write about, read about, argue about, etc. On this day, 100 years ago, the New York Highlanders played their first game as the New York Yankees. The team had been called the Yankees for awhile but it was finally made official in 1913.

Here’s a link to the 1913 Yankees’ roster. It’s interesting to see the names, ages and height/weight of each player. There were quite a few “short” guys on the team – some as small as 5’5″. And the names are great. Guys like Birdie Cree, Rollie Zeider, Doc Cook and Dutch Sterrett are on the roster.

1913 was also the year the Yankees moved into the Polo Grounds from Hilltop Park. The Yankees had allowed the New York Giants to play in their park for two years from 1911-1912 after the Polo Grounds was badly damaged in a fire. Once it was repaired and open for business again, the Giants returned the favor and the Yankees were able to leave Hilltop park which was falling apart. The teams would share the Polo Grounds until 1923.

The 1913 Yankees finished with a record of 57-94 which ended up placing them seventh in the American League. They scored 529 runs and allowed 668 runs.

Also, in 1913, the Yankees didn’t have Pinstripes on their uniforms:

They abandoned that look for two seasons, 1913 and 1914, but returned to them in 1915.

Hall of Famer Frank Chance was the Yankees’ manager and also played in 12 games that season. He was the “old man” of the team at 36-years-old (he turned 37 in September 1913) and was nearing the end of his career – a career spent almost entirely with the Chicago Cubs. He was a member of their last World Series winning team in 1908. Chance played the final game of his career in September 1914.

With all of this in mind, I thought it would also be fun to go back 100 years to see what the big news was, who was born, who died in 1913.

• Two days before the Yankees played their first game, the seventeenth amendment was passed. That one dictates the direct election of Senators.
• Fashion designer Oleg Cassini was born the day after the Yankees’ first game.
• In May, the first Balkan War ends.
• In June, the second Balkan War begins.
• In July, a temperature of 134 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded in Death Valley, CA. It’s still the highest recorded temperature in the world.
• In August, the second Balkan War ends.
• Tyrone Power was born in May 1913.
• Vince Lombardi was born in June 1913.
• President Gerald Ford and actor Red Skelton were born in July 1913.
• Paul “Bear” Bryant was born in September 1913.
• Burt Lancaster, Vivian Leigh and Hedy Lamarr were all born in November 1913.

Happy Wednesday!

(Post syndicated from It’s About The Money)

Hmm, this is odd.

Why isn’t there a day game today? Doesn’t it feel like the Yankees have only played in day games and that they’ve only played in opening series? Oh right, it’s because they have, mostly. There have been two night games but so far, during this young baseball season, people who work regular 9a-5p have been screwed out of seeing baseball.

Of course, some of the baseball they’ve been missing hasn’t been too great but the Yankees are beginning to turn things around and they’re in the midst of a two-game winning streak! I know, I can’t believe I’m excited about a two-game streak either but that’s how it goes in April and how it goes when the team was looking so awful the first full week.

Yesterday, the offense exploded for 11 runs and it’s a good thing they did because once again, the middle relievers looked iffy. Pitching was supposed to be the strong suit for the Yankees and it’s what’s supposed to carry them through their Tex, Granderson and Jeter-less April.

Hiroki Kuroda struggled in the first inning and after the Yankees jumped out to a 3-0 in the top of the first, gave it right back in the bottom of the first. It looked like it was going to be a long day for the fans and a short day for Kuroda. Then, thankfully, he settled down and shut the Indians’ offense down until the sixth inning.

Phew.

Anyway, tonight, Andy Pettitte is looking for his second win of the season. He gave the Yanks eight strong innings in their first win of the season this past Thursday. They’re hoping he repeats his performance tonight.

So am I. And so are you.

I love games like today’s. And do you know why? I’ll tell you why. The pitching matchup was CC Sabathia vs. Justin Verlander and Yankee fans, and let’s be honest Tiger fans were counting on this to be a win for the Tigers. Now, CC is no slouch but he did have a rough go of it in the home opener and Verlander is Verlander. And with the lineups Joe Girardi has had to pencil in the past week, it was almost a foregone conclusion that Verlander would shut the Yankees down and that Sabathia would be the tough luck loser, right?

WRONG.

Sabathia was on his game and Verlander was slightly off his. He wasn’t terrible at all, giving up three runs in 7.1 innings of work with four strikeouts and two walks. The Yankees scored early off Verlander, in the bottom of the second. First when Francisco Cervelli hit an RBI double that scored Ichiro and then two batters later when Jayson Nix hit a two-run home run off Verlander to give the Yankees an early 3-0 lead.

Kevin Youkilis finished the game 2-4 with two RBI, Travis Hafner also finished 2-4 and Jayson Nix was 3-4 with the aforementioned home run and two RBI.

The Yankees scored some “insurance” runs in the eighth and ninth innings off Phil Coke and Octavio Dotel.

The Tigers couldn’t get anything going against Sabathia and they didn’t have an extra base hit all game. Sabathia finished with seven innings pitched and he gave up four hits, walked three and struck out four.

David Robertson came into the game in the eighth and made things slightly uneasy but did his usual Houdini act by giving up two hits and striking out two. He escaped unscathed.

Mariano Rivera, who was honored in a pregame ceremony because amazingly, this is the Yankees’ only trip to Detroit this season, came in to pitch the ninth. It was a typical Mo inning complete with bloop hits, broken bats and a strikeout. It wasn’t a save, obviously, but Girardi wanted to give the Tigers fans one last chance – unless the teams meet in the playoffs – to see Mo work his magic.

This was a game the Yankees needed. One, because no one wants to start their season 1-5. Two, because they didn’t want to see Sabathia have a second bad outing. Three, because Stacey didn’t want to have to take a Twitter break this early in the season.

Tomorrow, the Yankees will be in Cleveland to face an old friend in Nick Swisher with Hiroki Kuroda facing off against Ubaldo Jimemez. It’s an early game

Right now, the Yankees are playing the Detroit Tigers and trying to avoid a three-game sweep in Comerica Park. As this is happening, I figured it would be the perfect time to do a free association post of sorts and just write down what comes to my mind, baseball related and maybe not-so-baseball related.

Enjoy!

This week has been pretty terrible for the Yankees. I mean, losing two out of three to the Red Sox at home to open the season is bad enough but then attempting to fight off a three-game sweep at the hands of the Tigers and facing Justin Verlander? And I thought my week was bad.

I’m having computer issues. My four-year-old MacBook’s hard drive is on its way out and I’m crossing my fingers it lasts one more day until the new hard drive I ordered arrives. You can cross your fingers too if you’d like. Right now, I’m using my dad’s laptop which stinks of cigarettes and is making my hands and room smell but desperate times call for desperate measures. I’m a full-time blogger so I need a computer in order to work.

I don’t know about you guys but I’m finding myself turning Yankee games off in the middle innings – save the Pettitte game because it’s the only game they won and the only game in which the starter pitched well. The games have been torture. And not’s like I’m surprised by this. I figured they’d start off slowly because of all of the injuries but I was hoping the pitching would be okay. So far, it hasn’t been.

I’m also finding it hard to stay on Twitter during the games because some people are acting as if it’s September and the Yankees are in the middle of a pennant race. It’s April, it’s too early to panic and everyone needs to chillax.

The other thing that’s been bothering me this week is the reaction to the lineups when they’re posted. It’s not like we didn’t know Tex, Granderson, Jeter and A-Rod would be out so why all of the outrage? I mean, it’s every single day. This is how it’s going to be until May. It’s now April 7 so we have a while to deal with it. Get used to it already for the love of God.

I’m actually not in a bad mood but some of the stuff I’m seeing from my fellow fans and fellow bloggers makes me want to shake my head.

Let’s talk about something good that’s happening now: the weather. It’s gradually becoming more Spring-like which is nice. At this moment, it’s 55 degrees and I have both windows open in my room. It’s very pleasant. Although, I’m sure my nose and head will be angry with me later when I start sneezing and I develop a pounding headache.

A week from today, I’ll be attending my first Yankee game of the season. I went to Citifield on Thursday to see the Mets take on the San Diego Padres. The Mets lost. It’s amusing but I actually was watching the game but really don’t recall much of what happened. I think it was because I didn’t have a list of players in front of me and I had no idea who anyone was. It could have also been the 100 kids who were seated behind me who were yelling the whole time. They were there on a school trip. From looking at them I assume they were early high school or possibly late junior high/middle school aged. Who knows? I’m so bad at that. As much as the yelling and screaming was irritating me, I wanted to thank them for making me not feel bad about the fact that I am probably not having kids.

Back to the Yankees, it’s 3-0 in the bottom of the second. What the hell happened? Oh, I should point out, it’s 3-0 Yankees. Interesting, huh?

More interesting stuff, R.A. Dickey gave up five runs in the first inning to the Red Sox at the Rogers Centre. Oops.

I love baseball, don’t you?

(Syndicated from It’s About The Money)

Hooray!

Is anyone else as excited as I am right now? The excitement I’m feeling is not just because the Yankees won. It’s also not just because they beat Boston – I mean, who doesn’t love that? And it’s not just because we, meaning the people who live in the New York metro area, won’t have to hear about more doom and gloom tomorrow. The excitement I’m feeling is because two of the guys people like to make fun of the most, the ones fans of other teams like to say ” are as old as dirt,” Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera, were a big part of tonight’s victory.

Pettitte was the stopper the Yankees desperately needed. Well, fine, desperately is a little exaggerated and over the top but to save everyone’s sanity, at least in terms of what I mentioned above, the doom and gloom, this start was definitely needed.

The oldest man in the starting rotation came out and threw eight innings of one run ball. He gave up eight hits, induced double plays when he needed them and he struck out three batters.

Lasting eight innings was key because who entered in the ninth inning? Yep, the Sandman. And in his first appearance of 2013, Mariano Rivera made things a teensy bit sweaty at the end but was able to close out the game with a bunch of ones. One inning, one hit, one walk, one strikeout and he gave up one earned run. Oh and it was his first save of the year (obviously) and career save 609.

Now, I didn’t forget the offense and hey, neither did the Yankees! Not that four runs is a lot but the way they came about was pretty amusing.

In the second inning, Lyle Overbay hit an RBI single that scored Travis Hafner and Eduardo Nunez. I know, I still can’t believe Overbay and Hafner are Yankees either. Then in the bottom of the third inning, Brett Gardner hit a home run. Yes, you’re reading that correctly. But that’s not the funniest thing. Nope, I saved that one for last.

Get ready for it.

Here it comes…

Francisco Cervelli hit a bomb to left center field -it hit the back of the visitor’s bullpen – to put the Yankees up 4-1. Unfortunately, I missed it live. It figures the one time I get up to do something, I miss a Cervelli home run but thanks to the magic of the DVR, I was able to see it and laugh at it. I mean, come on. If someone told you that the two Yankee home runs hit tonight would be by Brett Gardner and Francisco Cervelli, would you believe that person? Probably not.

So the Yankees have a W, finally. People can step off the ledges and calm down at least for one night. And like I said, at least you’ll all be spared some doom and gloom articles for possibly 12 hours.

The Yankees lost again.

 

Seriously, don’t panic.

It’ll be okay. I promise.

The Yankees lost yesterday.

I’m sure you know this because according to lots of Yankee fans, it was the end of the world. Those same people were acting as if the season was one game in duration and that the Yankees’ Opening Day performance is a glimpse into how they’ll do the rest of the season.

It’s not.

Everyone knew going into yesterday’s game that it wasn’t your typical Yankees lineup – this was obvious when guys like Ben Francisco, Lyle Overbay and Vernon Wells were introduced. So you’d assume that expectations wouldn’t be that high and that if the Yankees were to lose, people would be accepting of that not-so-shocking result and not act like a relative just died. You’d be wrong.

Another thing most Yankee fans should know but seemed to forget yesterday is that CC Sabathia is a notoriously slow starter and that coming back from off-season elbow surgery is making that start even slower – at least according to the velocity readings we were bombarded with during and following the game. CC’s fastball was consistently around 88 mph which is down for him.

CUE THE PANIC.

Sabathia, for his part, said he wasn’t worried. And I wasn’t worried. This is not the first time he hasn’t performed well on Opening Day and it probably won’t be the last. Some fans, in their overreactions to CC’s start, are proving that they barely pay attention when watching games. If they did, they’d know that yesterday’s outcome wasn’t a surprise.

To my dismay, even some of my fellow bloggers have written things about CC that would make it seem that they’ve never watched him pitch in April before. Or even pitch against the Red Sox.

I think some Yankee fans would be better off not watching any sort of baseball coverage today.

Here are some things we can all do to pass the time this afternoon:

• Work. And I mean, actually doing your work, not pretending to do your work while listening to baseball or sneaking a peak of Gameday on your desktop. Just take a day off from it altogether.
• Avoid every newspaper, sports radio show and ESPN. Believe me, you’ll be better off.
• Go for a run or a walk.
• Watch the 50th Anniversary Episode of General Hospital. It’s on at 2 p.m. 
• Clean your closet – It’s Spring so it’s the perfect time for a Spring cleaning.
• If you’re a lady, maybe pamper yourself. Go get a mani/pedi during your lunchhour or after work.
• If you’re a dude, hell you can pamper yourself too! Get a massage.
• Bake some cookies. I may do that today – I’m thinking of baking walnut chocolate chip.
• Count out the change in your wallet/purse. It’s always fun discovering how much money you actually have.

Do any of these activities or something else you can think of, just don’t watch any replays of yesterday’s game, you’ll only make things worse for yourselves.

I’m disappointed because I was so excited for baseball to return. Spring Training seemed endless and I was like a kid on Christmas yesterday morning but if this season is going to be filled with ridiculous overreactions to every single game, I may need to take a break from blogging about baseball.