I woke up uncharacteristically early this morning – around 6:45 a.m. – and a few things popped into my head. Unsurprisingly, they were baseball related.

• I’m jealous of other teams’ fans because at least they’ve had signings and trades to complain about. Yankee fans have only complained about the team not doing much of anything.
• Winter needs to end. It’s cold and I miss baseball.
• Is Francisco Cervelli really going to be the starting catcher? I’m not sure I can deal with that or seeing him throw balls into centerfield that were meant to land in the second baseman’s glove. Russell Martin wasn’t a world beater but losing his and Nick Swisher’s double digit home run totals is a scary proposition.
• What will seeing Kevin Youkilis in Pinstripes be like? Will I want to hurl? (Probably not. I don’t mind Youk.)
• Will A-Rod actually make it back after the All-Star break or will he miss the entire year?
• Is CC Sabathia really in the best shape of his life?
• What is a FanFest and how come it seems like every other team has them but the Yankees?
• Are the Yankees too special for a FanFest?
• Could I even afford to attend said FanFest?
• Would I even want to go? I’m not a big fan of people.
• Speaking of not being able to attend something, tomorrow is SABR Day and I cannot afford to go. I’m really bummed about that.
• Does Carl Pavano have the worst luck of any human being, ever?
• Seriously, how does one rupture a spleen, falling while shoveling snow?
• Why didn’t he hire someone to shovel his driveway?
• Will I ever actually ‘get’ sabermetrics?
• Well, get it enough to be able to write about it and not sound like a dunderhead?
• Francisco Cervelli?
• Last year, I pulled off the dual stadium doubleheader – day game at Yankee Stadium, night game at Citifield. What will be the special feat this season?
• How soon will Yankee fans begin to panic? Oh, who am I kidding? They’re already panicking.
• How will it be in my new seats? (I am moving from 420A to 413. We’re still high up – because I will always be an upper deck kind of girl – but the seats are cheaper which is great for this currently unemployed lady.)
• Which songs will be overplayed during sports themed commercials this year? (This is not a drive by ay ay ay ay -MURDER!!!!!)
• Will we see another #HIROKtober?
• I’m really going to miss #UNTUCK
• How effective will Mo be after nearly a whole year away?
• Will his knee be 100% by Opening Day?
• Speaking of Opening Day, I have a feeling that even though the Yankees are saying guys – Chris Stewart, Cervelli and possibly Austin Romine – will have to compete for the starting catcher’s job, Cervelli is who they have in mind. Call me paranoid but that’s how I feel.

 

The past two days brought forth a flurry of activities in Yankeeland. The two major announcements were Mariano Rivera signing a one-year/$10M deal for 2013 and Russell Martin being scooped up by the Pirates for three years/$24M.

Earlier today the Pirates’ twitter account tweeted a picture of their newest acquisition who seems to be sporting a mustache for Movember. Or maybe he just forgot to wash his face.

Best of luck to Martin.

As for Mo, the terms of his deal are as follows, per Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports:

Rivera contract with #Yankees: One year: $10M plus following incentives. $500K for LCS/MVP, $1M for WS/MVP, $1M for winning Rolaids award.

And Rivera said in his statement: “I feel like we have…a team that can compete for a championship. I’m not just coming back to play. I’m coming back to win.”

I like that, a lot.

In other news:

From the YankeesPR Twitter account:

Yankees also claim RHP Jim Miller off waivers from Oakland; next up, Winter Meetings in Nashville

The Yankees designated both Mickey Storey and Jayson Nix for assignment to make room for Rivera and right-hander Jim Miller on the 40-man roster. Miller was picked up a short time ago from Oakland.

Nix was signed to a $900,000 major league contract and immediately designated for assignment. He agreed to accept the assignment in Triple A and if he clears waivers, he will report to camp in the Spring.

And earlier today a team spokesman announced that the Yankees “do not anticipate having any non-tenders” before tonight’s deadline. That’s good, I guess?

Two things stick out in the standings. Wait, no, three things.

1. The Yankees have sole possession of first place again.
2. The magic number is now 2 to clinch the Division.
3. Holy shit, the Red Sox are really 69-91 and 24 games out?!

This is exactly the game Yankees fans were hoping for this afternoon when the Red Sox lineup was posted.

Jokes were made about the Red Sox throwing the game. Even Boston’s beat writers were joining in on ripping on the lineup Bobby Valentine came up with.

And the Yankees needed to beat up on a team that was trotting out six guys who were in Triple-A at one point in the season and who was without both Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury.

It was a must-win situation.

CC Sabathia started things off with an eight-pitch two strikeout, first inning and the Yankees were on their way.

The Yankees, in a shocking turn of events, didn’t score any runs in the first inning which had been their specialty this year against the hapless Red Sox. Instead, they waited until the second inning tonight to drop a nine-spot on Boston.

Clay Buchholz started for the Red Sox but was not in the game as that second inning ended. He became the only Red Sox starter in the live-ball era to allow eight earned runs in fewer than 2 IP against the Yankees.

Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson, Russell Martin and Mark Teixeira who returned to the lineup tonight, all hit home runs in the second inning.

Cano’s was one of the longest hit at the new Stadium, Martin’s was reviewed – and upheld – and Teixeira’s was his 24th of the season. Oh and Cano, just for good measure, added a double in that second inning. He finished the night 3-5, all three were extra base hits.

Sabathia earned his 15th win of the season and thanks to a strong eight-inning performance, reached the 200 inning plateau. He gave up two runs on four hits with two walks and seven strike outs.

From Jeff Quagliata, research guru for the YES Network, “CC Sabathia one of just 2 pitchers since 1995 to throw 200 innings in 28 or fewer starts – the other was Cliff Lee in 2010.”

Freddy Garcia came in to finish the game in the ninth and induced two ground outs and struck out one batter.

The Yankees victory coupled with the Orioles’ loss in Tampa helped to give the Yanks a one game lead (again) in the American League East with two to play. The magic number is down to two.

In a cute moment, Melky Mesa came to bat in the bottom of the eighth inning and hit an RBI single – his first major league hit – which scored Eduardo Nunez. While he was running to first, the YES Network cameras caught Eric Chavez yelling, “Touch the base!!” from the dugout.

That guy Brett Gardner, remember him? He actually came to bat in the ninth, ahead of Mesa. He ground out but advanced Nunez to second. The good news is he didn’t break!

Some facts:

• Yankees have scored 9 or more runs in three of their last four games.
• Alex Rodriguez tied Stan Musial for 5th on the All-time RBI list with 1,950.
• Granderson and Martin hit back-to-back home runs in that explosive second inning. It was the 12th time the Yankees have done that this season.
• Nick Swisher hit the 250th double of his career.

 

(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).

This had the makings of another annoyingly frustrating game for the Yankees even though it seemed like it could possibly be a cakewalk at first – something the Yankees haven’t had in a while.

After three full innings of scoreless baseball by both starters Wei-Yin Chin and Phil Hughes, the Yankees struck first in the top of the fourth. Russell Martin provided the first blow – a three-run home run – and Steve Pearce provided the second – his own two-run home run. The Yankees were up 5-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth.

Hughes answered with a 1-2-3 bottom of the fourth. Yes, folks, the New York Yankees scored a bunch of runs and their starting pitcher didn’t surrender any of his own in the following half inning. Amazing. (Of course the bliss wouldn’t last but we’ll get to that later.)

In the top of the fifth, that guy Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run home run to put the Yankees up 7-0. Hughes, again, answered with a scoreless bottom of the fifth.

I jokingly predicted last night that Hughes would hold the Orioles homer-less tonight. I should have amended it and said, “…in the first five innings.”

After the Yankees were held scoreless in the top of the sixth, Adam Jones put the Orioles on the board with – you guessed it – a three-run home run to cut the Yankees lead to 7-3.

Cody Eppley replaced Hughes in the seventh inning and gave up a solo shot to Robert Andino to bring the Orioles even closer, 7-4. Joe Girardi replaced Eppley with Boone Logan who induced a ground out from Nick Markakis and got J. J. Hardy to fly out to left. No further damage was done.

The eighth inning was uneventful for both teams unless you count the fact that David Robertson came out without his signature high socks. Oh and that he threw some curveballs to make Adam Jones look completely silly during a three-pitch strikeout. He also got Matt Wieters to fly out to center to end the inning.

The Yankees scored an insurance run in the ninth inning thanks to a single by Derek Jeter and a bit of a miscue by Robert Andino that allowed Ichiro Suzuki to score.

Rafael Soriano came in to pitch the ninth and got Mark Reynolds to strike out. The Yankee killer finished the night 0-4. Chris Davis was up next and flied out to left. Manny Machado decided he wanted to join the home run party and hit a laser out to left to make it 8-5.

Soriano regrouped and got Andino to strike out on three pitches to end the game.

Alas, a cakewalk was not meant to be tonight but at least the Yankees were still able to prevent Baltimore from taking sole possession of first place in the AL East.

Some notes:

• Tonight’s victory was Phil Hughes’s 50th of his career.
• Hughes has now given up 33 home runs this season.
• A-Rod’s home run was his 300th as a Yankee.
• From ELIAS: Rodriguez is the 6th player to hit 300 home runs for the Yankees. The Yankees have more 300-HR players than any other team – both the Braves and Red Sox have five each.

(Syndicated from The Yankee Analysts)

In the past, Yankee fans have experienced “What’s Wrong With Mo Week.” This is a phenomenon that occurs when Mariano Rivera doesn’t seem like himself and has some bad outings. They usually happen in a cluster. It also usually seems to happen some time in either July or in August. You guys know those weeks when everyone in the media declares Mo done and then he comes back better than ever.

Well, now it seems like we are right smack in the middle of “What’s Wrong With The Yankees Week.” This year, the entire team is in a bit of a funk at the same time.

Some recent facts about the Yankees that you need to know:

1) They are 3-8 over their last 11 games.
2) All eight of those losses have been by two runs or less and six of them have been by one run.
3) Their last nine losses have been by a combined 12 runs.

Tonight’s game was another one of those one-run losses, this time to the Baltimore Orioles.

The Yanks scored first on an RBI single by Eric Chavez in the second inning.

Baltimore came back in the next inning with a run of their own off the bat of Wilson Betemit who hit a Freddy Garcia offering into right field – it was Betemit’s 12th home run of the year.

The Orioles scored again on back to back sacrifice flies by Omar Quintanilla and Nick Markakis in the fifth inning to pull ahead 3-1. Wow, what a novel concept. Sacrifice flies? Hmm.

They scored yet again in the seventh on an RBI double by Markakis and a J.J. Hardy single to right.

So with the score 5-2, the Yankees had to try and mount a comeback. Again. This movie is beginning to look awfully familiar.

In the bottom of the seventh, it looked like the Yankees would have a chance to do just that. After two quick outs by Nick Swisher and Raul Ibanez to start the inning, Chavez and Ichiro Suzuki hit back to back home runs.

Do not adjust your monitors, you are reading that correctly. Ichiro hit a home run – the 100th of his career – to pull the Yankees to within one run.

After a quiet bottom of the eighth, Nick Swisher got the bottom of the ninth started with a ground rule double to right center off Orioles reliever Jim Johnson.

What’s that? A blip on the heart monitor? The Yankees still had life. Or so everyone thought.

Joe Girardi replaced Swisher with pinch runner Ramiro Pena. Ibanez came up with a chance to tie the game and struck out swinging. Chavez followed that up with a walk and Ichiro came up to bat.

Would he be the hero? Nope. He grounded into a force play i.e. it would have been a double play if someone else were running. So Pena advanced to third and there were two outs.

It was up to Russell Martin to try and tie the game. Last night’s would be hero, if the Yankees hadn’t coughed up another late lead to the Red Sox struck out to end the game.

Ballgame over, Yankees lose.

Poor Freddy Garcia. He wasn’t that bad tonight. He pitched six full innings and gave up three runs on nine hits. He also walked three and struck out two. On the flip side, Orioles starter Mike Gonzalez won his third game of the season. He gave up all four runs to the Yankees on six hits, struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter.

Anyway, I’m really not enjoying WWTYW and I hope they snap out of it soon.

I’ve never been so happy to see a road trip end. The Yankees were awfully close to finishing this West Coast swing 1-6 but thanks to some late game heroics by Jayson Nix of all people, they salvaged a series win against the Seattle Mariners.

HALLELUJAH!

Just like in last night’s game, the Yankees struck early. This time it was a solo home run by Derek Jeter in the first inning but after that they were shut down Hisashi Iwakuma for four innings.

Iwakuma pitched five innings, gave up one run, six hits, struck out three and walked three.

As for Ivan Nova, he struggled mightily with his control today and because of that his outing was over after only five innings. He gave up two runs on two hits – in the first inning – and walked a career-hit six batters. He also struck five and threw 107 pitches.

After Nova walked the first two batters in the bottom of the sixth, Joe Girardi called on Clay Rapada who got Mike Carp to ground into a 3-6 double play. Then Girardi brought David Phelps into the game and he got Casper Wells swinging. The Yankees went down quietly in the top of the seventh, as did the Mariners in their half of the inning.

Another thing that was similar to last night’s game was that the fireworks happened in the eighth inning, only this time the fireworks were four runs by the Yankees to give them a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

FINALLY!

The inning started with Derek Jeter getting hit by a pitch thrown by Josh Kinney. Hmm, that’s weird. A Yankee batter getting hit by a pitch by a Seattle pitcher? It’s not like that’s happened at all this series…

The Mariners brought in Lucas Luetge to face Robinson Cano who greeted him rudely with a single. Mark Teixeira followed Cano with a single of his own to load the bases.

Now, this is the time in the game when everyone – including me – began to get nervous. Bases loaded with no outs and the Yankees have not mixed well at all lately. And when Curtis Granderson popped out to Kyke Seager in foul territory, everyone’s sense of deja vu was kicking in.

Girardi reached into his bag of tricks and sent Jayson Nix to the plate to pinch hit in place of Raul Ibanez. The Mariners countered with a change of their own, bringing in Shawn Kelley to face Nix.

This time, thankfully, the Yankees won the battle. Nix rewarded his manager with a hard hit double to the left centerfield gap. Jeter, Cano and Teixeira all scored and the Yankees were up 4-2.

THANK GOODNESS!!

Following an intentional walk to Eric Chavez and an Andruw Jones strikeout, Russell Martin singled to left scoring Nix.

The Yankees were up 5-2 and that’s how it would remain.

HOORAY!

David Robertson relieved Phelps and threw a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts and a groundout. After the Yankees’ quiet top of the ninth, Rafael Soriano came in to close the game. He got two quick outs before giving up a soft single to Casper Wells – which turned out to be the only hit the bullpen would give up today. He got Carlos Peguero to strikeout swinging to end the game and picked up his 26th save.

I think the Yankees are probably as happy as we are to be heading home. I’m sure they want to forget all about this road trip.

Today’s victory puts the Yanks back at the 20 games over .500 mark and amazingly enough, despite their 2-5 record in their past seven games, their run differential was 0 – they scored 21 and gave up 21.

That was some game, wasn’t it?

I’ll admit, I had a feeling of doom when the Yankees were down 5-2. After Mark Trumbo hit that three-run home run in the top of the seventh to make it 4-2, I felt like that was it. The Yankees were stranding runners – at one point they were 0-8 and finished 2-11, couldn’t get anything going and I was all set to write a pissy recap.

And then the bottom of the eighth inning happened.

• - D. Jeter doubled to right center
• - C. Granderson walked
• - M. Teixeira homered to left, D. Jeter and C. Granderson scored
• - A. Rodriguez grounded out to third
• - R. Cano lined out to right
• - N. Swisher walked
• - K. Jepsen relieved S. Downs
• - D. Wise ran for N. Swisher
• - R. Ibanez hit for A. Jones
• - D. Wise stole second
• - R. Ibanez intentionally walked
• - R. Martin singled to shallow right, D. Wise scored, R. Ibanez to third
• - E. Chavez hit for J. Nix
• - E. Chavez at designated hitter
• - E. Chavez grounded into fielder’s choice, R. Martin out at second

The key plays, of course, being the game-tying home run by Mark Teixeira and game-winning hit by Russell Martin.

Martin has been struggling all season so to see him get that big hit when the Yankees really needed it was great. I’ll admit that it is possible that one of my eyes became slightly moist. He also ended the game nailing Howie Kendrick at second trying to advance on a passed ball.

As for Teixeira, he finished with two home runs and five RBI on the night.

Hiroki Kuroda pitched into the eighth inning giving up all five earned runs, striking out six and only walking one. CJ Wilson was the tough luck starter having held the Yankees to two runs in seven innings. His bullpen betrayed him and thank goodness for that, right Yankee fans?

Some interesting tidbits:

• The Yankees have 28 comeback wins this season which is tops in the majors.
• The Yankees now have a 37 game streak of scoring 3 or more runs which tied for the third longest streak by Yankee team since 1920.

Two words: Andy Pettitte.

Two more words: Holy crap.

And one more: Shutout.

The New York Yankees have four shutouts this year and two of them have been started by Andy Pettitte. The man missed a whole season and he made the Tampa Bay Rays lineup look like Little Leaguers for a while there. At one point he had five straight strikeouts – he finished with 10 on the night.

He lasted 7 1/3 innings and gave up two hits – one to B.J. Upton and one to Carlos Pena. It was Pettitte’s 14th double digit strikeout game of his career.

On the way to the game my brother said, “We need to bring the Yankees some luck. We’ve done it for the Mets and the Boulders.” He was referring to us going to Citifield and seeing RA Dickey pitch a shutout with 10 strikeouts on May 27. Hey, wait a minute. A shutout and 10 strikeouts? Now, that’s weird. And also to the Rockland Boulders who are part of the Can-Am League. They play in Rockland County, fifteen minutes from my house and we saw them on May 26 taking on Jose Canseco’s Worcester Tornadoes. The Boulders won a great game in which they overcame a four run deficit in the seventh inning.

Anyway, my brother had a personal three-game losing streak he was trying to snap and I was riding low on a two-game losing streak. So now, thanks to Pettitte and Russell Martin’s grand slam, I am 3-2 on the year. Thanks boys.

“Big Game” James Shields did not have a big game for Tampa Bay. He gave up seven runs – five of them earned – and seven hits in five innings. Shields has now lost his last three decisions, dropping him to 6-4 on the year. Shields has not fared well against the Yankees in the Bronx. He was 2-7 with a 5.00 ERA at Yankee Stadium coming into tonight’s game.

Hideki Matsui made his first appearance as a Ray in Yankee Stadium, batting clean up and playing right field for the first time since 2008. He got a nice ovation each time he stepped up to the plate but finished 0-4. He shouldn’t feel too badly about it, Pettitte was making everyone look silly. Matsui said before the game that he chose to wear #35 for the Rays in part because of his former teammate Mike Mussina. Okay, now how awesome is that?

The Yankees got the scoring started in the first inning with two runs off an Elliot Johnson error. They were also 0 for 2 with the bases loaded in that same first inning and were hitting just .153 overall with the bases loaded before Martin’s grand slam in the fourth.

Nick Swisher hit an RBI double and finished with two hits, Robinson Cano also had two hits and Martin finished the night with three hits. He seems to be snapping out of his two month long slump. Thank goodness.

The Yankees have won seven of their last 10 and are now only a half game back out of first place behind Tampa and Baltimore who beat Boston tonight in Fenway.

Yes, it’s June 6 (it’s after midnight) and the Baltimore Orioles are still in first place. 2012 is just plain weird.

Well, that sucked. The Yankees’ five-game winning streak is no more thanks to a walk off home run by Mark Trumbo in the bottom of the ninth to help lead the Angels to 9-8 victory.

The Angels lost starter Jered Weaver 12 pitches into the game which you’d think would be to the Yankees’ advantage. Especially since the Yanks ended up scoring three runs in the top of the first inning.

Nope!

Phil Hughes apparently couldn’t pitch in front of his friends and family and wound up surrendering four runs in his half of the first inning. But still, he somehow lasted over five innings and kept the Yankees within striking distance. You know, by not giving up 12 more runs…

And wouldn’t you know it? The Yankees came all the way back on a game tying RBI double by none other than Russell Martin in the seventh inning.

With the game tied 8-8, things were looking good until the bottom of the ninth when Trumbo ended the game.

As usual there were missed opportunities for the Yankees hitters but what can you do? You just dust yourself off and come back tomorrow, or later today in the case of Yankee fans on the East Coast. Thanks to the wacky scheduling this game ended at 12:45am EST. Can you try and schedule a day next year guys? Some people – not me – have to work in the morning.