It’s Tuesday morning and the good news is that the Yankees have been relatively healthy for the past few– you know what? I should know better. Every time I do that something catastrophic happens.

Strike that previous statement.

Michael Pineda threw a 35-pitch bullpen session this morning and came out of it alive. Another pitcher coming back from injury is Phil Hughes and he threw a bullpen session yesterday and also came out alive.

CC Sabathia is scheduled to throw a bullpen session today and will throw in his first live game on Friday.

Boone Logan threw a bullpen session this weekend with no issues. He had a balky elbow.

Man, the Yankees really do have a lot of injuries. It’s a little crazy.

Ivan Nova is making the start on the road for the Yankees this afternoon. The weather is a little iffy down in central Florida today but reports are saying that the Yankees and Rays should be able to get the game in.

Here’s today’s lineup:

Eduardo Nunez SS
Jayson Nix 3B
Travis Hafner DH
Juan Rivera 1B
Francisco Cervelli C
Melky Mesa CF
Thomas Neal LF
Zoilo Almonte RF
Corban Joseph 2B

That’s a “the Yankees are playing on the road in the Spring” type of a lineup.

Have a good day, everyone.

I think the Yankees may be trying to kill me or at least make me age at least 3-5 years every game they play this week.

This easily could have been one of those games, you know, the kind that makes you want to punch holes in your walls. And it actually was heading in that direction when the Jays took a 5-1 lead in the fifth inning. Phil Hughes was taken out of the game after surrendering all five runs on eight hits. He walked two batters, struck out four and gave up a home run. Yes, I know, shocker.

Derek Lowe came into the game to stop the bleeding and actually did what he was supposed to do. He pitched 1.2 innings of no-hit, no-run ball. Boone Logan also did his job by getting a left handed batter out and then even got a right handed batter out!

Amazing!

The Yankees scored one run in the sixth inning thanks to a Henderson Alvarez wild pitch which scored Nick Swisher from third. That pulled the Yankees to within three.

When the seventh inning started, two moves were made. Toronto replaced Alvarez with Brett Cecil and Joe Girardi pinch hit Eduardo Nunez in place of Eric Chavez.

The Yankees won that move when Nunez singled to start the inning.

Next, Toronto brought in Steve Delabar who promptly gave up a ground rule double to Derek Jeter to put runners on second and third with no outs. Ichiro Suzuki hit a sac fly to cut the lead to 5-3.

In one of the biggest at bats of the year, Alex Rodriguez, worked a walk against Delabar to put runners on first and second with one out.

Robinson Cano stepped in and hit his 46th double of the year which scored Jeter and pulled the Yankees to within one run, 5-4.

Toronto, once again made a pitching change, this time bringing in Aaron Loup who added his own wild pitch which scored Rodriguez from third to tie the game at 5-5.

Just as things were getting good for the Yankees, Nick Swisher lined into a bad luck double play to end the inning.

Still, the Yankees came all the way back to tie the game. Momentum seemed to be on their side.

After Lowe and Logan combined to pitch a scoreless bottom of the seventh the Yankees made things happen in the eighth. They scored two more runs thanks to a walk, a single, a sac bunt, a sac fly and a single. The run scoring sac fly was hit by Nunez and the single by Jeter.

David Robertson pitched a scoreless eighth and the Yankees came up big again in the top of the ninth.

Rodriguez singled, Cano singled and Swisher walked to load the bases against Jason Frasor. Then Curtis Granderson hit a rocket down the right field line for a double which scored both Rodriguez and Cano. The Yankees went up 9-5.

Now, you didn’t think things would end all nice and tidy with a 1-2-3 inning by Rafael Soriano, did you? Come on, kids. You know better than that.

Soriano had to make it so scary that most Yankee fans were looking for brown paper bags to breathe into. He gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs.

Then by the grace of God or some other force of nature, Soriano got Yunel Escobar to ground into a double play. Yes, a run was given up but hey, I’d give up one run for two outs any day of the week. Especially with a four-run lead.

Thankfully, he got Adam Lind to ground out to second to end the game.

Untuck, Yankees win, all that jazz, breathe in, breathe out…

So the Yankees are still tied for a share of first place in the American League East because there was no way Baltimore was losing to Boston because Boston is absolutely horrible.

Anyway, hold onto your butts Yankee fans, these final three games are going to be frightening.

Maybe it’s because I truly do expect the Yankees to beat the Twins every time they face them, but this was a particularly tough one to swallow. Everything was just rolling along so smoothly until the 7th inning. Phil wasn’t great, but neither was the lineup he was facing. Nick Swisher and Russell Martin went deep against the impressive, young (and fantastically named) Esmerling Vazquez. Yup. This one had win written all over it. Alas, it was not written in the stars (Sidenote: I will not miss hearing Tiny Tempeh’s “Written in the Stars” this postseason. What an atrocious recording). Well, I’m not going to beat this one to death because it will hurt me to do so, but let’s have a look.

The only relief I enjoyed tonight came from the Tums I popped after dinner

I’m a fan and frequent apologist of Phil Hughes. It’s true. Tonight will be no different. Phil didn’t have his best fastball tonight (sitting at 91-92) but it was enough to keep the Twins at bay for 6.2 IP. Prior to the 7th inning, Phil was pitching like he should against this lineup at Target Field: lots of fastballs, lots of strikes.

The one run that scored while Phil was physically on the mound came in the Bottom of the 4th. Joe Mauer led off the inning with an opposite field 1B, one of his 3 hits on the night. Hughes looked to respond well initially, striking out Justin Morneau and getting that lumberjack Ryan Doumit to pop up. With 2 down, Chris Parmalee hit a seemingly harmless blooper down the line in shallow left that looked like it was going to dunk in for a 1B, which would have held Mauer at 3rd. Unfortunately, we were all treated to another installment of The Adventures of Raul, as the ball bounced away from Ibanez into foul territory and he failed to field it cleanly. Mauer scored from 1st to bring the Twins closer at 2-1.

Fast forward to the Bottom of the 7th. Hughes had been cruising, retiring 7 straight until Doumit singled to lead off the inning. Chris Parmalee (he of PH RBI 3B from last night fame) then grinded out a walk, fouling off several tough pitches from Hughes. Annoying, to say the least. After an at-bat like his, I generally start to shift in my seat, avert my gaze from whatever nonsense I’ve been getting into on the internet with the game on in the background, and prepare for Total Game Armageddon. With no one out and runners on 1st and 2nd, Phil Hughes got the streaky/occasionally dangerous Trevor Plouffe to pop up. Jamey Carroll followed with a grounder to SS that looked to be a run scoring 1B off the bat that Jeter was able to knock down, only allowing everyone to move up one base. Bases loaded, 1 out. At 93 pitches, Phil knew that the end was probably near. He bore down and threw 6 straight fastballs to Pedro Florimon, blowing him away for the 2nd on his 99th and final pitch of the game. Now, with the bases still loaded and 2 outs, it was time for some binder action. Final line for Phil: 6.2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 99 pitches.

Girardi decided to turn to Boone Logan to face Denard Span with the game hanging in the balance, and the move left many a fan shaking their heads. Span has a career reverse split (.293 vs. LHP, .282 vs. RHP) and came in hitting over .300 against lefties on the year. To boot, Phil had retired him 3 times on weak ground outs. The manager, we are not, but this move was tough to comprehend. As expected, things really got off to an enchanting start. On his first pitch to Span, Logan yanked a slider that bounced off the plate and threw the legs of Russell Martin for a wild pitch, allowing Doumit to score and cut the lead to 3-2. Later in the at-bat, Boone would back off on a slider, spinning it right into Span’s wheelhouse. The result? A 2-run 2B into the gap in right-center to put the Twins up 4-3. After issuing a free pass to Ben Revere, Logan was left in to allow another RBI knock to a lefty – this time a RBI 1B by Joe Mauer to put it out of reach at 5-3. And there it was: Total Game Armageddon.

Simply put, Boone Logan has not been very good in the month of September. Over-use may play a part (this was his 77th appearance) but whatever the reason, he is seriously struggling with his location right now. He’s blown 2 leads in his last 3 appearances, and doesn’t inspire any confidence in me that he’ll be able to retire someone like a Prince Fielder come playoff time. Hopefully he figures it out or Joe gives him the rest he needs.

Not enough home runs (a meager attempt at some positivity)

The Yankees’ offense was entirely one-dimensional tonight, after being nearly entirely one-dimensional last night. Nick Swisher continued his 2 week hot streak with a 2-run blast in the Top of the 4th to put the Yankees up 2-0. It was Swish’s second straight game with a HR, and his 3rd in the last week. For a guy who has suffered through serious late-season burnout in his career, it’s nice to see Nick heading into October on a high note this year. Let’s hope he keeps it up.

In the Top of the 7th, Russell Martin led off by ripping a line drive HR to left center that at the time felt like a glorious insurance run. It was Russell’s 19th HR of the season, exceeding his total of 18 from one year ago and matching his career high set with the Dodgers during his breakout campaign in 2007. As difficult as it was to watch Russell struggle through the first half, he’s actually rebounded well enough down the stretch that his year-end numbers will look okay when viewed through the lens of his plus-defense behind the plate. They will not, however, tell the whole tale. In addition to getting some big hits (Yanks’ only 2 walkoff HRs this year) Russell really impressed me by continuing to try to right the ship all season even though his season looked doomed after only 6 weeks.

I’m bummed, let’s wrap this up

• Derek Jeter’s 1B in the 1st inning extending his hit streak to 19 games. Shocking, but true, fact: Jeter is only 23 hits away from passing Paul Molitor on the all-time hits list. Significance? That would give Jeter the most hits of any player never to win a batting title. It’s sort of shocking to me that neither Molitor nor Jeter ever snagged one, and probably would be to others as well. Feel free to throw that trivia question around at happy hour this week.
• Derek Lowe pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 8th. Equally as shocking as the previous bullet point.
• Andruw Jones got the Yanks within 1 with a solo HR off of Glen Perkins in the 9th. It was only his 15th hit, and 3rd HR, of the 2nd half. Jones has looked very old for the last 2/3 of this season, so we may be witnessing the final few at-bats of what was a stellar career. I’m trying to look past how much he’s hurt the Yanks this year and enjoy it. You should too.

The Yanks will go for the series win tomorrow afternoon at 1:10pm EST, sending CC Sabathia (13-6, 3.47 ERA) against Samuel Deduno (6-5, 4.54 ERA). Hopefully CC can double up on his strong performance against the A’s last Friday night at the Stadium.

I saved this for the end because it makes me sick: The Orioles lost 4-0 to the Blue Jays tonight, so the Yankees missed an opportunity to go up 2 1/2 games in the AL East with 8 to play. The good news is that while no ground was gained, the magic number was reduced to 7. Final tidbit comes from the Department of OPTIMISM (YEAH!). With the Rangers extra inning loss to the A’s tonight, the Yankees remain only 2 off the pace for the best record in the AL. I’m trying not to focus on that, but it’s there folks. Now excuse me while I go console myself with Minnesota State Fair delicacies such as fried oreos and fried Twinkies. Enjoy.

(Apologies for the late recap. I was actually at the game and then watched some football when I got home.)

I had a good feeling heading into the Bronx today. I was riding a two-game personal losing streak and I was sure Hiroki Kuroda would put a stop to it.

After he recorded six strike outs for his first six outs of the game, my good feeling remained.

Thanks to timely – and in Russell Martin’s case – explosive hitting, the Yankees jumped out to a 5-0 in the third inning against Rays starter Matt Moore.

When the Rays answered with one run of their own in the top of the fourth, thanks to a solo shot by Ben Zobrist – his 17th of the year, the Yankees came right back and scored another run. This time it was aided by an error by Moore who overthrew the first bag allowed Eduardo Nunez to reach. With Derek Jeter at the plate, Nunez stole both second and third. After Jeter worked a walk and Nick Swisher popped out, Rodriguez hit a ball to the right field wall. Sam Fuld made a nice grab but Nunez was able to score on the sac fly putting the Yankees up 6-1.

And it may have gotten a little dicey in the sixth when the Rays cut the lead to 6-4, thanks to two walks and two singles, I still felt like the Yankees were going to win. Kuroda was able to get out of the inning by striking out BJ Upton who ended up finishing the day with four strikeouts.

Kuroda pitched six full innings, gave up four runs on four hits, walked two and struck out 10. It was his 14th win of the year – a career high. It was also his third career 10+ strikeout game – two have been with the Yankees.

Boone Logan, David Phelps, David Robertson and Rafael Soriano combined for three innings of scoreless ball with Soriano recording his 40th save of the season. Soriano became the fourth Yankee closer to record 40 saves in a season. He joins Dave Righetti (1986), John Wetteland (1996) & Mariano Rivera – who has done it eight times.

The Yankees will enjoy a day off tomorrow before starting a three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday. Andy Pettitte will be returning to the hill. HOORAY!

Some stats (Thanks to @yestoresearch on Twitter):

• Alex Rodriguez is now three RBI from tying Stan Musial for 5th all-time.
• Robinson Cano’s fourth inning double tied Tony Lazzeri for 11th on the franchise doubles list (327).

I apologize in advance for the not-so-clever Ivan Nova cliche but it must be said. Nova was super today. In his first outing since August 21, Nova pitched into the seventh inning surrendering only two earned runs – one was a Luke Scott single given up by Joba Chamberlain – and four hits while striking out eight Rays and only walking two.

Nova was on a pitch limit and when he surrendered a single to Jeff Keppinger to open the seventh inning he was taken out after having thrown 85 – 53 for strikes.

Offensively for the Yankees, Curtis Granderson and Eduardo Nunez went back-to-back in the second inning off Rays starter James Shields. Granderson’s two-run shot was his 39th of the season and Nunez’s solo shot was his first of the year.

In the bottom of the fifth, Derek Jeter hit an RBI single to put the Yankees up 4-0. The Rays got one back in the top of the sixth when Evan Longoria took Nova deep cutting the lead to 4-1.

After Nova was removed in the seventh – following the Keppinger single – Boone Logan replaced Nova and Ben Francisco bunted into a force out, Keppinger was out at second but Francisco made it to first. The next batter, Ryan Roberts, hit a double, advancing Francisco to third. Girardi replaced Logan with Joba Chamberlain, while Joe Maddon countered with Sam Fuld pinch hitting for Chris Gimenez.

That move worked out for the Yankees when Fuld grounded out to Chamberlain. The Yankees weren’t out of the woods yet and Luke Scott made them pay when he singled on a 1-2 pitch from Chamberlain, scoring both Francisco and Roberts, cutting the lead to 4-3.

Chamberlain got the next batter, Desmond Jennings to strike out on three pitches.

In the top of the 8th, David Robertson replaced Chamberlain and retired the Rays 1-2-3. In the bottom half of the inning, the Yankees scored an insurance run, thanks to the heroics of both Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez. Actually, we can add a third person to the equation, B.J. Upton who had trouble tracking down Cano’s ball and it turned into a double. Rodriguez followed with an RBI single, putting the Yankees up 5-3.

Rafael Soriano made things slightly interesting in the ninth. It felt like I was watching John Wetteland circa 1996. Things started off fine when he got Keppinger to pop out to Nunez. Francisco followed that up with a single and Ryan Roberts flied out to Granderson for the second out. Just one more out to go.

Maddon pinch hit Stephen Vogt for Jose Lobaton and he walked. So with two on, two outs and the go-ahead run at the plate, Soriano settled down and got Elliot Johnson swinging the end the game.

The crowd, both at the Stadium and watching on TV exhaled, Soriano untucked and the Yankees high fived, celebrating their 82nd victory of the year.

(Syndicated from The Yankee Analysts)

I apologize for how late this “recap” is. I didn’t actually see the game, I was keeping track of it on my phone with my MLB At Bat 12 app. (Thank goodness for that thing.) Where I was today didn’t have the YES Network and I was stuck watching the Jets/Bills game.

Anyway, I was pleased to see the Yankees respond to last night’s ridiculousness with an explosive showing by the offense. The loss of Mark Teixeira, yet again, could be a huge deal down the stretch and other guys will need to step up.

Speaking of stepping up, how about Alex Rodriguez coming back and – horrible pun warning – getting right back into the swing of things? He now has a 13-game hitting streak and though he only finished the day 1-3, he hit the single that started the four-run fourth inning for the Yankees.

Another guy who seems to step up each and everyday and who has been unbelievable this season is Derek Jeter. He finished the 2-4 with three RBI. He’s batting .324 on the season.

Curtis Granderson didn’t start the game but he finished 3-3 with five RBI. He hit a home run on the first pitch he saw in the game from Jake Arrieta who had relieved Zach Britton. It was Granderson’s 35th of the season and he also had a single and double.

Poor Nick Swisher is in the midst of a pretty terrible slump. He was able to work a walk and get on base but he is having the worst luck at the plate. When he makes contact he’s hitting the ball well. I have a feeling he’ll turn it around.

Let’s talk about the pitchers – more specifically the bullpen who were incredible. (Not to take anything away from Freddy Garcia who while not dominant, wasn’t totally awful – 3.1IP, 3H, 3R, 1BB and 1K) Joba Chamberlain, who earned the win, and Cory Wade were both resplendent today. Chamberlain threw 1.2IP of hitless ball while striking out four Orioles. Wade pitched two full innings, also didn’t give up a hit and struck out three Orioles. In fact the only bullpen pitcher who gave up a hit was Boone Logan. He was the only member of the bullpen who got into any sort of trouble but he worked his way out of it.

The Orioles finished with only four hits on the day and miracle of all miracles, didn’t hit a home run!

The Yankees have a well deserved day off tomorrow before heading, excuse me, shipping up to Boston to take on the Red Sox.

You can all thank me for today’s win. I was there. Apparently I was all they needed to win a game. I hadn’t attended a game since July 1st and had missed being in my happy place.

Speaking of missing things, we missed the first inning thanks to construction on the Tappan Zee Bridge. By the time I made it up to my seat, the game was tied 1-1.

Did I mention how hot it was? Actually it wasn’t that bad for me. I sit in the penthouse, the top row of the upper deck. So even when it’s over 90 degrees, there’s a steady breeze. It’s annoying when you’re attempting to eat but it’s a welcome comfort when everyone in the seats below are sweating like crazy.

Speaking of sweating like crazy, Freddy Garcia started for the Yankees. If he were pitching against any other team he probably would have been knocked out after the first inning. Thankfully it was the Mariners who aren’t known for their offense.

As for the Yankees, their offense woke up a little today after yesterday’s swoon against Felix Hernandez.

In the fourth inning, Chris Stewart – the artist formerly known as CC Sabathia‘s personal catcher – singled, stole a base and scored on a Derek Jeter single to make the score 3-1.

Seattle pulled to within one in the bottom of the frame when Jesus Montero – currently known in some circles as the best player the Yankees traded away, ever – picked up another RBI on a single to right that scored Michael Saunders.

The Yankees added one more run in the fifth and in the sixth. Raul Ibanez hit a two-run home run, extending the lead to 6-2. It was his 15th home run of the year. On a personal note, it seems like Ibanez hits a home run every time I’m at the Stadium. I can think of at least four games he’s gone deep in while I was in attendance. See? It’s all me.

Boone Logan, David Robertson and Rafael Soriano combined to pitch four scoreless innings to help the Yankees salvage the series and pick up their 63rd win of the season.

Today’s win was Garcia’s 150th of his career. He pitched five full innings, gave up the two runs on five hits, walked four and struck out two batters.

Ichiro Suzuki extended his hitting streak and now has a hit in each of his 12 games with Yankees. According to Elias, he’s now tied with Don Slaught for most hits to start a Yankee career. Slaught’s streak was way back in 1988.

One story from the game:  Trayvon Robinson who was playing leftfield for Seattle hit into three line drives in his last three at bats. The first two were to Teixeira and to Jeter. Tex’s catch was funny. It was one of those, “Oh look at what’s in my glove?” types of catches. When Robinson came up in the ninth, my brother said, “Wouldn’t it be funny if he lined out again?” Well, would you know it? He did, right into Soriano’s glove for the first out of the ninth. My brother felt bad. I didn’t.

It was a bad day for guys who throw with their left arm as CC Sabathia was placed on the DL before today’s game and poor Andy Pettitte was hit in the leg with a comebacker, suffering a fracture which will keep him away from the team for at least six weeks.

WHAT THE HELL BASEBALL GODS?!

Of course this happens just when things were getting good for the Yankees.

They have been playing fantastic baseball for over a month and now they have lost 2/5′s of their starting rotation within a few hours of each other.

Ugh.

At least CC, for now, is only due to miss two starts but poor Andy Pettitte, what a bad break. (For lack of a better phrase)

I can’t even deal with this news. I was at the game and when I saw the news of Pettitte’s fracture on Twitter I actually almost threw up. I was so sick to my stomach. I almost felt as bad as I did when Mariano Rivera was lost for the season though I didn’t cry.

But at least the Yankees won the game and swept the series from the Indians – thank goodness Soriano didn’t blow the save, though it was iffy there for a few moments. And big props to Freddy Garcia who stepped up in a big way and won the game with a great performance  in relief.

More props to Robinson Cano for putting the Yankees ahead for good with a bomb to left field. I was getting my Johnny Rocket’s shake when he hit it and I missed it. MORE EVIL HOME RUNS!

It’s great that the Yankees have now won five in a row but I feel like we can’t even be happy right now because of what happened to Pettitte.

Oh and like I said in the title of this post, someone can watch over Boone Logan and make sure nothing happens to him? Thanks.

You can all exhale. The Yankees are above .500 again.

Was it pretty? Not particularly. Are their offensive problems solved? Not by a long shot. But right now, a win is a win is a win. Who cares how they got it as long as they got it.

Phil Hughes improved to 4-5 on the season after a six inning, two run performance that included seven strikeouts. He lowered his ERA to 4.94 from 5.23.

One issue Hughes has been struggling with this season is giving up home runs. Tonight was no exception as Jeff Francoeur took him deep with a solo in the fourth inning. He has served up 11 home runs in 47 1-3 innings this year and he’s allowed at least one in all nine of his starts. The last time a Yankee pitcher had a streak like this was Jack MacDowell in 1995.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Yankees had the bases loaded with no outs and actually managed to score two runs. Considering how the last few games have gone, this is a big deal. Derek Jeter singled, scoring Mark Teixeira and then Curtis Granderson grounded out with the bases loaded, allowing Russell Martin to score. After Hochevar walked Robinson Cano to load the bases again, both Alex Rodriguez and Raul Ibanez struck out ending the Yankees’ scoring threat.

A combination of Cory Wade, Boone Logan, Cody Eppley, Clay Rapada and Rafael Soriano kept the Royals scoreless after Hughes exited the game. Soriano picked up his third save of the season.

Tomorrow night Luis Mendoza (2-2, 5.03 ERA) faces off against Andy Pettitte (1-1, 2.51 ERA) in the rubber game of the three-game series.

A Yankees Haiku:

First month is done and
Yankees are pretty good
They can be better…

Okay, so the haiku is pretty awful but that’s because it has been a while since I’ve written one. Honestly, I think the last time I wrote a haiku was when I learned about them in elementary school way back in the 1980s.

Anyway, it’s April 30 and the first month of the season is almost over. So far, the Yankees have been ordinary. They’ve had some highs – an epic nine run comeback against the Red Sox and they’ve had some lows – losing Michael Pineda for the year and Freddy Garcia’s pitching woes just name a couple.

» Continue reading “New York’s First Month: A Yankees Haiku, Some Facts and Some Stats”