Good afternoon everyone.

Here are some links for you.

David Waldstein wrote a piece about Hughes’s resurgence in the New York Times.

Matt Keegan of Pinstripe Alley writes about Curtis Granderson’s performance vs breaking balls. It’s not funny and it’s not fun.

Bryan Grosnick of Beyond the Boxscore tells us something you might know about Alex Rodriguez. It’s pretty interesting to read and showcases something that a lot of people overlook when discussing A-Rod.

Jon Bois of SB Nation wrote an amazing piece about Ken Griffey Jr’s 1996 Presidential Campaign. It’s long, it’s imaginative and definitely worth your time, believe me.

Eric Schultz wrote about prospects and the impact injuries have on them for River Avenue Blues.

Brad Vietrogoski of The Yankee Analysts wrote about the guys in the minors who haven’t been hit with the injury bug.

And finally, I had to share this with everyone:

Presenting The Worst Dive Ever.

Happy Tuesday!

Welcome all to Minor League Monday! I am Stephen Crociata, an aspiring sports general manager and all around sports addict. Here I bring you the weekly wrap-up of what has been going on for all the Yankees’ minor league affiliates.

Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees (Triple-A):

Record from 7/2-7/8: 2-5

Year to Date Record: 48-43

Team Leaders:

• HR: Jack Cust (19)
• RBI: Cust (57)
• AVG: Russell Branyan (.309)

Trenton Thunder (Double-A):

Record from 7/2-7/8: 4-3

Year to Date Record: 50-38

Team Leaders:

• HR: Luke Murton  (18)
• RBI: Murton (50)
• AVG: Ronnier Mustelier (.353)

Tampa Yankees (Class A Advanced):

Record from 7/2-7/8: 3-4

Luis Sojo Broke the FSL wins record with the Yanks 1-0 win over the Manatees on July 5^th.

Year to Date Record: 40-45

Team Leaders:

• HR: Kyle Roller (11)
• RBI: Roller (47)
• AVG: Tyson Blaser (.364)

Charleston RiverDogs (Class A):

Record from 7/2-7/8: 5-2

Year to Date Record: 50-35

Team Leaders:

• HR: Tyler Austin (14)
• RBI: Gary Sanchez (56)
• AVG: Ali Castillo (.333)

Staten Island Yankees (Class A Short Season):

Record from 7/2-7/8: 4-3

Year to Date Record: 8-13

Team Leaders:

• HR: Saxson Butler (5)
• RBI: Butler (15)
• AVG: Taylor Dugas (.358)

GCL Yankees (Rookie):

Record from 7/2-7/8: 2-4

Year to Date Record: 13-5

Team Leaders:

• HR: Ericson Leonora/Mikeson Oliberto (2)
• RBI: Leonora (13)
• AVG: Jerison Lopez (.364)

Any questions or comments about the Yankees minor league affiliates. Leave a comment!!

Stephen Crociata
Twitter: @SCrociata
email: SA.Crociata@gmail.com

The Yankees signed a Mattingly earlier today! 24 year old Preston Mattingly, son of my favorite Yankee of all time Don Mattingly, agreed to a minor league contract.

Mattingly was drafted by the Dodgers – the team his father currently manages – in 2006. He last played with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in the California League in 2011. He appeared in 37 games, played right field, left field and his father’s old position, first base. Preston batted .231, hit two home runs and had 11 RBI.

Good morning Yankee fans. It’s Sunday July 3, 2011 and here is the Daily Rundown.

Today’s matchup is Freddy Garcia (7-6, 3.28) vs. R.A. Dickey (4-7, 3.77). Dickey and Garcia met in the Yankee Stadium portion of the Subway Series on May 20 with Dickey getting the 2-1 victory.

The Yankees will go for the sweep against the Mets and will also be looking for their eighth win in a row overall. The Mets are looking to snap a three game losing streak which started on Thursday against the Detroit Tigers and Justin Verlander.

As for yesterday, it was all about the return of Bartolo Colon to the rotation. Colon played the part of ‘savior’ yesterday by pitching six innings of shutout ball. Without even making a rehab start, Colon made coming back from his injury look easy as he kept the Mets offense at bay and collected his sixth win of the season.

Marc Carig of the Star-Ledger writes about the Yankees’ unsung hero and how he simply came in, threw fastballs, got people out yesterday and how he is one of a few guys who have stepped in this year and helped the Yankees have a 2 1/2 game lead in the American League East Division.

Derek Jeter was 1-2 in his rehab game yesterday in Trenton. Drew Silva of NBC Sports writes about Jeter’s day.

“I feel good,” Jeter said after the game. “There are no problems whatsoever. It’s just getting at-bats and playing, but I feel good. We play this game every day for a reason. You have to get into a rhythm.”

Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News writes about the tradition of established veteran players buying food spreads for the teams they’re rehabbing with.

“It’s kind of making up for taking someone’s time away down there and you never feel good about that,” says Hughes. “And when you’re down there, you appreciate that stuff because the food is pretty bad in the minors. Whenever you get that MLB rehab guy come in, it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah – food!’ Nobody told me to do it, but pretty much anyone who’s been in the minor leagues has had a guy come through to rehab and do it.”

The Kids Are All Right And Some Are Walking Off

The Scranton Yankees swept both games of a doubleheader against the Pawtucket Red Sox, 7-0 and 3-0.

The Trenton Thunder walked off against the Altoona Curve and won their game 3-2.

The Tampa Yankees entered the bottom of the ninth in their game, down 7-5 and yep, you guessed it, they walked off beating the Brevard County Manatees 8-7.

But wait, there’s one more walk off…

The Staten Island Yankees also had a walk off victory against the Brooklyn Cyclones in extras 6-5 and now have twelve wins in a row.

The Charleston Riverdogs dropped their game 6-5 to the Rome Braves.

The GCL Yankees defeated the GCL Braves 4-1.

The Yankees are looking to take their third series in a row with a win tonight against the Chicago Cubs. CC Sabathia (8-4, 3.28 ERA) will be facing Randy Wells (1-1, 5.62). Sabathia will be seeking his team leading ninth victory of the season.

Even though AJ Burnett won his seventh game of the season yesterday afternoon, the big story was the play at the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning. Carlos Pena collided with Russell Martin, Martin held onto the ball and the Yankees got out of the inning unscathed. It turned out to be the play that saved the game for the Yankees and preserved a win for Burnett – at least at that moment. Marc Carig from the Newark Star Ledger writes about Martin’s instincts behind the plate.

“I’m a competitor,” Martin said. “It was a big play in the game, got out of the inning like that, so I enjoy it.”

Chris Hine of the Chicago Tribune also writes about the collision at the plate.

“I was telling (Nick) Swisher I hadn’t had a play at the plate in a long time, and I got what I asked for …” Martin said. “I was showing (the ball) to Pena no doubt. That’s just how I reacted. It’s the feistiness in me.”

Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News writes about the Yankees mistakes in yesterday’s game. It definitely could have gone either way for them. If they were playing a better team who could capitalize on their mistakes, it could have been miserable. Feinsand also had this quote from AJ Burnett, on his start.

“I had a great curveball that I used whenever I needed to, probably one time not enough,” Burnett said. “That ball that leaked over and he put a good swing on it and hit it in the seats. Besides that, everything else was pretty decent, except the fastball command wasn’t really there.”

Carlos Zambrano doesn’t appear to be on the Yankees’ radar. Marc Carig writes that if the Yankees were interested in a Cubs pitcher it would be Ryan Dempster.

Dempster seems to be a more likely trade target, though if today was a job interview, he failed. In a 4-3 loss, the Cubs starter lucked out, giving up three runs in 5-plus innings despite allowing 14 baserunners.

The big news in the Minors is Phil Hughes’s rehab start with the Staten Island Yankees tomorrow against the Brooklyn Cyclones. Frankie Camp of Pinstripe Alley writes that Hughes will be limited to 65 pitches but if that things go well, they’ll bump it up to 80 pitches in his next rehab start.

He last threw on Tuesday during an intrasquad game at the Yankees Minor League complex in Tampa, Florida. During the outing, Hughes threw 49 pitches, struck out six, and allowed only two hits while completing 3.2 innings of work. Most encouraging, his fastball topped out at 93 mph.

Minor League Scores from Last Night:

Scranton Yankees 4 Columbus Clippers 0

Binghamton Mets 7 Trenton Thunder 4

Staten Island Yankees 3 Brooklyn Cyclones 2

Hickory Crawdads 5 Charleston Riverdogs 3

Happy Father’s Day! And don’t forget, the Yankees and Cubs are playing the Sunday Night ESPN game. It’s an 8:05pm start.

Okay you can stop laughing. Yes, the Yankees have signed Carlos Silva and according to Jon Heyman, he’s been signed to a minor league deal. The Yankees will only be responsible for the league minimum per Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports. Jack Curry of the YES Network said the signing occurred because of Phil Hughes’s recent issues. Silva was released by the Cubs in late March and according to Rosenthal had a few teams interested in him. Oh fine, you can laugh.