Blog Archives

Jimmy Rollins deposited the first pitch of tonight’s game between the Phillies and Yankees in the right field seats. That pretty much summed up the game right there as the Phillies snapped the Yankees’ nine-game winning streak with a 7-3 victory.

Seven home runs were hit in the game, four by the Phillies and three by the Yankees, but Philadelphia starter Brett Myers otherwise kept the Yankees off base, walking no one and allowing just five other hits. As a result, the Yankee taters—by Alex Rodriguez in the sixth and Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira in the eighth, the last reaching the suit level just under the upper deck in right field—were all solo shots. The Phils, meanwhile, added two-run jacks from Carlos Ruiz in the second and Jayson Werth in the fifth to build a 5-0 lead on A.J. Burnett, who otherwise struck out seven against just two walks in his six innings.

Chien-Ming Wang pitched the final three innings for the Yanks, but struggled to throw strikes or keep his pitches down. He started his first three batters off 2-0. The second man he faced, major league home run leader Raul Ibañez, crushed a letter-high pitch into the right-center-field bleachers, after which Wang put runners on the corners before getting Matt Stairs to ground out to strand them.

In the eighth, Wang gave up another run on singles by Pedro Feliz (on a 2-0 pitch), Jimmy Rollins, and Chase Utley (on 1-0), finally beginning to show some of his old form by getting Ibañez to ground into an inning-ending double play. Of the seven pitches Wang threw in the ninth that reached catcher Kevin Cash, six were balls (four of them walking Jayson Werth) and just one was a strike. His other three pitches that inning were put in play in the air, albeit for outs.

Wang showed good velocity, hitting 94 and even 95 on the YES gun, but he wasn’t locating or getting his pitches down in the zone. He gave the rest of the pen some much-needed rest, but he didn’t do anything that would threaten Phil Hughes’ place in the rotation for now.

After the game, Joe Girardi said Wang showed “definite progress,” noting his velocity and the few good sinkers he did throw, which makes you wonder how poor he looked in Scranton. Girardi added that Wang wouldn’t be available again until Tuesday, which is Joba Chamberlain’s next scheduled start, though Chamberlain insists his knee is already fine.

I picked the Phillies to repeat as National League champions this year because of their devastating lineup, the presence of Cole Hamels, and the weakness of their competition in the NL. Despite slow starts from Hamels and Rollins, the Phillies enter this weekend’s series against the Yankees in first place in the NL East, in large part thanks to the strength of their offense and the weakness of their competition.

The Phillies have scored 5.74 runs per game this season, tops in the majors and comfortably ahead of the second-place Yankees (5.66 R/G). They’ve done that despite the fact that Rollins was hitting just .195/.231/.268 with one stolen base on May 11. Since then, Rollins has hit .341/396/.500 and stolen four bases, and the Phillies have gone 7-3 while scoring an even six runs per game.

With Rollins having returned to form, the top two-thirds of the Phillies lineup is indeed devastating. Behind Rollins lurks Chase Utley (.295/.432/.597), Raul Ibañez (free from pitcher-friendly Safeco, he’s leading the majors in homers, total bases and slugging, and the NL in RBIs and OPS), and Ryan Howard. Behind them is my preseason breakout pick Jayson Werth, who is living up to my expectations by hitting .272/.371/.500 and leading the team with eight stolen bases in nine attempts (including a recent successful steal of home). Only then do you get to switch-hitter Shane Victorino.

Yes the bottom third is weak, it is a National League lineup after all, but playing in an American League park, as the Phils will be doing this weekend in the Bronx, they can slot in ace lefty pinch-hitter Matt Stairs (.304/.515/.609) as the designated hitter behind Victorino.

No NL team can rival that firepower, which is why the league has to be thankful that the Phillies’ pitching has been so bad in the early going. Only four teams, the Yankees among them, have allowed more runs per game than the Phillies this year, and no team has a worse starters’ ERA than the Phillies 6.31. Forty-six-year-old Jamie Moyer has had just two quality starts in eight tries; last year’s deadline pickup, Joe Blanton, has just three in eight tries and has allowed ten runs in 13 innings over his last two starts; and fifth-starter Chan Ho Park just got booted from the rotation altogether.

Fortunately for the Phils, Cole Hamels is emerging from his early season struggles. After starting the season nursing an inflamed pitching elbow, which pushed back his first start, Hamels was rocked in his first two outings (12 runs in 9 2/3 innings), then took a comebacker off his pitching shoulder in his third, and rolled over his ankle trying to field a ball in his fourth. He had to leave both of those latter games following those injuries, but over his last five starts, including those two, he has posted a 2.70 ERA and struck out 33 men in 26 2/3 innings, and he’s lasted at least six full innings in each of his last three.

With Hamels and Rollins rounding into form, it’s no surprise that the Phillies are on a hot streak. They’re 6-1 on their current road trip, which has fare more to do with how they’re playing than where. It’s not outlandish to treat this weekend’s series between the Yankees and the defending World Champions as a potential World Series preview, but it’s enough for me that they’re two of the best and hottest teams in baseball.

The Yankees will send CC Sabathia to the mound to take on fellow lefty Hamels in a rematch of Game One of last year’s NDLS on Sunday. Tomorrow they’ll face another lefty in 26-year-old J.A. Happ, Park’s replacement  in the rotation. Tonight, they’ll face the pitcher who has been keeping the Phils afloat through Hamels struggles, Brett Myers.

Myers hasn’t been pitching like a proper ace, he isn’t one, but he’s been consistently solid for the Phils, turning in a quality start in five of his last six outings. His last two have been his best, as he’s allowed just three runs in his last 13 innings and struck out eight Nationals in seven innings his last time out. Myers one bugaboo has been his major league leading 12 home runs allowed. That’s a bad weakness to have coming into the Bronx as the Yankees lead the majors in home runs (the Phillies lead the NL), and the new Yankee Stadium has been host to more home runs than any other park this year.

The Yankees counter with A.J. Burnett, who will look to push the Yankees’ winning streak into double digits. Burnett held the Twins to two runs in 6 2/3 innings his last time out while striking out seven, but he also walked six men. The Yankees have won just two of Burnett’s last four starts over which he’s posted a 4.61 ERA and walked 4.28 per nine innings. Those are his four starts since giving up eight runs in Fenway. Burnett is giving the Yankees length, but he’s thus far looked like little more than the league-average innings eater he was when not facing the Yankees last year, which means it will be up to the Yankee offense to take advantage of Myers’ gopheritis tonight.

In other news, Brian Bruney’s elbow is hurting. He was unavailable last night and is unavailable again today. Given the hit the bullpen took last night after Joba Chamberlain’s first inning exit, the team has decided to activate Chien-Ming Wang to reinforce the pen. Jonathan Albaladejo, who gave up four runs in 2 1/3 innings last night, has been optioned to Scranton to make room for Wang.

(more…)

The Yanks got a scare last night when an Adam Jones line drive caught Joba Chamberlain on the outside of his right knee in the top of the first inning. Chamberlain picked up the ball and retired Jones at first base for the second out of the game, but was in obvious pain. He initially convinced his manager and trainer to leave him in the game, but after giving up singles to the next two batters and hobbling a bit on his way to back up third base after the latter, he was pulled.

Fortunately, X-rays on the knee were negative. Chamberlain was diagnosed with nothing more than a bruise and, while Joe Girardi labeled him day-to-day, Joba is confident that he’ll be able to make his next start on Tuesday.

Alfredo Aceves relieved Chamberlain, stranding both runners in the first. The Yankees then jumped all over Adam Eaton, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first on doubles by Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano (hitting second in place of an achy Johnny Damon), Mark Teixeira, and Melky Cabrera (who was then caught between second and third for the final out of the inning). After Aceves worked a scoreless second, the Yanks added two more on a two-run homer by Cano.

Aceves, who had pitched two scoreless innings on Wednesday night, pitched two more scoreless frames before yielding to Jonathan Albaladejo. Albaladejo gave up a solo homer to Brian Roberts on his very first pitch in the fifth inning, but Hideki Matsui got that run right back with a solo homer off Eaton in the bottom of the inning.

That made it 7-1 Yankees after five. The Orioles chipped away a bit, putting up two more runs on Albaladejo in the sixth and driving him from the game with a Nick Markakis solo homer in the seventh, but Jose Veras pitched out of a two-out jam of his own making in the eighth, and Mariano Rivera sealed the deal in the ninth, giving the Yankees a 7-4 win and extending their winning streak to nine games. Alfredo Aceves, who extended his scoreless streak to 9 1/3 innings, picked up his third, and most deserved, win of the current winning streak. Meanwhile, the Red Sox completed a sweep of the Blue Jays, putting the Yankees just 1.5 games out in the AL East with what is now the fourth-best record in the league.

As for Damon, he tweaked his neck leaping for Adam Jones’ homer on Wednesday night but isn’t expected to miss more than last night’s game. Meanwhile, Girardi did the right thing by pulling Joba last night. Even if all he had was a bruise, had Chamberlain altered his delivery to compensate for the pain in his knee, even unconsciously, he could have caused a more serious injury to his arm. As it was, the Yankees won the game anyway, and should now have a fully healthy Joba ready to take his next turn. Special bonus: the early exit saved him six innings or so toward his allotted regular season total.

Finally, the Yankees announced before the game that Chien-Ming Wang will start for Scranton today and Phil Hughes will make his next scheduled start in the majors on Monday. Said Girardi of Wang, “We just want him to have the stuff [in a game] that he had in the bullpen.” Remember, when Wang was struggling in early April, he would look good in the pen, then have nothing on the mound. Given Hughes’ continued improvement, this is very much the right decision, as well.

Phil Hughes announced his presence with authority last night, working a 1-2-3 first inning that concluded with strikeouts of Adam Jones and Nick Markakis, both swinging through fastballs. He then stranded two runners in the second and got out of a runners-on-the-corners, no-out jam in the third by striking out Jones and Markakis again, the latter in conjunction with Kevin Cash throwing out Brian Roberts stealing.

Meanwhile, the Yankees built a 5-0 lead against Jeremy Guthrie on a Johnny Damon walk and a Mark Teixeira double in the first, consecutive solo homers by Nick Swisher (his first at the new stadium), Robinson Cano, and Melky Cabrera leading off the second, and a pair of walks and an RBI single by Cano in the third.

Hughes gave two of those runs back in the fourth on a Melvin Mora single and a Ty Wigginton homer and another in the fifth on a solo shot by Jones, but while he didn’t cure his recent gopheritis, he did set a career high with nine strikeouts—eight of them swinging, most of them on fastballs, but three on curveballs—while walking just one.

Hughes threw 89 pitches through five innings and Joe Girardi decided to hand the 5-3 lead to Alfrede Aceves at that point. Ace pitched around a pair of singles for two scoreless frames and Phil Coke and Mariano Rivera combined for a scoreless eighth. Then the Yankees dropped a six-spot on Danys Baez and Jamie Walker, blowing the game open late just as they had the night before. Since he was warm and had thrown just three pitches in the eighth, Girardi left Rivera in to mop up in the ninth, which he did, but not before giving up a solo homer to dead center by rookie Nolan Reimold. Final score: 11-4 Yankees.

That’s eight straight wins by the Yanks, who are now just 2.5 games behind the Blue Jays (who lost another to the Red Sox) in the East.
Girardi said the team would likely make a decision on Wang (and thus Hughes) tomorrow, but the skipper was pleased with the progess Hughes has made in his last two starts, which at least bodes well for Hughes chances at a return engagement should he find himself starting for Scranton in five days.

Your turn, Joba . . .

I called in to “New York Baseball Today” this afternoon to talk about what should become of Phil Hughes upon Chien-Ming Wang’s return to the rotation, which could happen by Monday . . .

As I say at the top there, today’s start is very important for Hughes. Since dominating the Tigers in his first major league start this season (6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K), he’s gone 0-2 with an 11.81 ERA and in his last three. The narrative there is that Hughes, particularly in the opinion of his manager, was squeezed horribly by home plate umpire Jerry Meals in his second start (4 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 94 pitches against Boston), was unable to escape a second-inning jam in his third start (1 2/3 IP, 8 R, 0 K in Baltimore), but proved he could work out of jams in his fourth start (5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 2 K in a no-decision against the Twins). If Hughes can atone for that one truly awful start in his rematch against the Orioles tonight and build on his ability to work out of jams (or avoid them altogether), he’ll have gone a long way toward affirming his once-again strong standing in the eyes of the organization, regardless of the outcome of the game.

Hughes would also do well to invert his K/BB ratio from those last three games (4:10), and to keep the oposition in the park after allowing four homers in those three starts. Though I do like the idea of putting Hughes in the bullpen for the short term as a possible shadow for Wang, should the returning groundballer continue to struggle, as an occasional spot-starter for Joba Chamberlain, and simply to increase his exposure to major league hitting (and umpiring), Hughes would have to earn such a move by showing progress tonight. Otherwise, the seemingly inevitable option back to Triple-A will be as appropriate as it is obvoius.

Hughes also has the pressure of keeping the Yankees’ seven-game winning streak alive. I was watching something on Game 6 of the 1986 World Series recently (perhaps the MLB Network’s “Seasons” show on 1986). The show told of how every hitter that got to first base in the bottom of the tenth inning of that game told first-base coach Bill Robinson, “I wasn’t going to be the guy to make the last out of the World Series.” I feel as though the Yankee starters are doing something similar, each taking the mound thinking “I’m not going to be the guy who stops this winning-streak.”

Hughes will throw to Kevin Cash for the second straight start. Opposing starter Jeremy Guthrie has twice allowed three runs in six innings to the Yankees this year, doing so in a winning effort on Opening Day and a losing effort in Alex Rodriguez’s first game back from the DL, both starts coming against CC Sabathia.

The Yankees and Orioles split their first six head-to-head games this season, all of which were played in Baltimore, but the three Yankee losses were all directly attributable to poor starting pitching performances: CC Sabathia on Opening Day (4 1/3 IP, 6 R), Chien-Ming Wang the next day (3 2/3 IP, 7 R), and Phil Hughes two Saturdays ago (1 2/3 IP, 8 R). The Orioles scored just five runs against the Yankees in the other three games, while the Yankees have scored at least four runs in all six games and are averaging 5.83 R/G on the series.

That’s been par for the course for the O’s this year, as only the Nationals have allowed more runs per game than the O’s 5.92. That’s hardly come as a surprise. The first sentence of my season preview for the O’s back on April 6 attacked the quality of their starting rotation. Now, just shy of the quarterpole, the O’s starting rotation sports a 5.76 ERA, better than only that of the Phillies, who come to town on Friday.

The O’s are optimistic about the return of lefty Rich Hill from the disabled list, and his first start gave them reason to be, but the Yankees won’t see him this week. Nor will they face early-season staff ace Koji Uehara, who has held the Yanks to two runs over 11 innings thus far this season and sports a 4.34 ERA that’s nearly a run better than that of the O’s next best starter. Instead they’ll kick things off tonight against 23-year-old rookie Brad Bergesen, who has lasted six full innings just twice in five starts (and never more than six full) and has allowed at least three runs every time out, though he’s also not done worse than the five runs in four innings he allowed in his second major league start.

Bergesen and tomorrow’s starter, Jeremy Guthrie, who has two nearly identical quality starts against the Yankees this year, have been middling thus far, sporting .500 records and ERAs in the low 5.00s. Thursday’s starter, Adam Eaton, has been awful (2-4, 7.93 ERA). Things don’t look much better in the pen, though Danys Baez has made a nice return from Tommy John surgery and George Sherrill continues to cling to his closer job despite Dave Trembley announcing that the role would be shared.

At the plate, the O’s have lost one of their hottest hitters, DH/left fielder Luke Scott (.303/.384/.515) to the DL, and have been without their hottest, center fielder Adam Jones (.370/.426/.669), since Wednesday due to a tender hamstring.

Jones is expected to return to the lineup tonight, which is bad news for the Yankees, though CC Sabathia could help get him back off on the wrong foot. Sabathia avenged his Opening Day loss with a four-hit shutout of the O’s two turns ago. He then held the league-best Toronto offense to two runs over eight innings his last time out. After struggling with his control in three of his first four starts, Sabathia has walked just six men in his four (1.17 BB/9) and seems to have over come his one-bad-inning syndrome in his last two strong performances.

It’s easy to say that players like Sabathia and Mark Teixeira are starting to click with the Yankees riding a six-game winning streak, but those performances are part of why the Yankees are on a six-game winning streak to begin with. Tonight, CC looks to make it seven. I like his chances.

Hideki Matsui returns to the lineup today as the DH batting fifth, and Brian Bruney is supposed to be activated before game time. No word yet on which reliever is getting shipped out to make room for him, though I suspect Edwar Ramirez, who unlike Jose Veras has options left, could be on his way to Scranton.

(more…)

While Angel Berroa continued to sit idle on the Yankees’ bench, the team designated right-handed pitchers Steven Jackson and Eric Hacker for assigment to make room for catcher Kevin Cash, in wake of the injuries to both Jorge Posada and Jose Molina, and veteran right-hander Brett Tomko, in wake of the bullpen’s struggles and his own dominance in spring training and Triple-A Scranton.

This all amounts to very little as Jackson was on the 25-man roster for nine days in April without ever getting into a game, Cash is serving as a back-up to Francisco Cervelli and has gone 1-for-10 since being recalled, Hacker struggled in three starts for Scranton (0-1, 7.88 ERA), and Tomko has thrown just 2 1/3 innings since being called up. Still, it’s worth noting no that Jackson and Hacker have reached their destinations.

In both cases, that destination is Indianapolis, as in the Indianapolis Indians, the Triple-A club of the Pittsburgh Pirates. There they join former Yankee farmhand Daniel McCutchen and aspire to join the major league team which features former Yankees Ross Ohlendorf and Jeff Karstens in its rotation, those last three having gone to Pittsburgh along with outfield prospect Jose Tabata in the Xavier Nady/Damaso Marte trade. Here’s a quick look at each of these former Yanks as well as Romulo Sanchez, the hard throwing reliever the Yankees obtained in exchange for Hacker.

(more…)

It weren’t pretty, but the Yanks took a broom to the Twins last night, capping off their thrilling “Walkoff Weekend” (TM) with a 7-6 win to complete a four-game sweep of Minnesota and extend their winning streak to six games.

Unlike the previous three games, most of the action in last night’s contest took place in the first inning. The Twins pushed across a pair of first-inning runs against Andy Pettitte, with Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau each delivering an RBI single, the second enabled by Melky Cabrera missing the cutoff man on the first allowing Mauer to go to second.

Unfazed, the Yanks scored four against lefty Glen Perkins before making their first out as Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon singled then Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez each homered to left field. After Nick Swisher flied out to the warning track, a shot that looked like a third-straight homer off the bat, Robinson Cano sliced a ground-rule double into the stands along-side left field and Melky Cabrera singled him home. After a passed ball and a Ramiro Peña fly out, Francisco Cervelli hit a chopper up the middle that somehow missed Perkins’ glove, then hit the side of second base, avoiding both diving middle infielder. On the YES broadcast, Ken Singleton remarked that, “if there ever was a seeing-eye base hit, that was it.” Cervelli’s hit plated Cabrera with the sixth Yankee run and drove Perkins from the game with just two outs in the first.

Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey held things down from there with 4 1/3 scoreless innings, while the Twins tried to chip away. Michael Cuddyer led off the fourth with a solo homer to make it 6-3. Carlos Gomez singled, stole second, and scored on a Denard Span single in the sixth to make it 6-4. Span later hit a solo homer off Edwar Ramirez in the eighth, but that came after Teixeira added a solo shot of his own in the bottom of the seventh, this one from the left side of the plate, the second time he’s switch-hit homers in a game this season.

That extra run proved to be the winning margin. With Mariano Rivera having thrown 44 pitches over three innings the previous two days, Joe Girardi gave his closer the night off. Lefty Phil Coke, who relieved Ramirez and struck out Morneau for the last out of the eighth, was given the ninth in Rivera’s place. It wasn’t pretty. Coke’s first two pitches to leadoff man Joe Crede, who entered the game with a .296 on-base percentage, were balls. He recovered to go 2-2, but Crede fouled off four full-count offerings and ultimately drew a ten-pitch walk. Matt Tolbert then ran for Crede and moved to second on a wild pitch, to third on a groundout that required Teixeira to range far to his right, and home on another groundout. With two outs, Carlos Gomez, who entered the game with a .286 on-base percentage, nearly replicated Crede’s at-bat, getting ahead 2-0, then even at 2-2 and ultimately working a seven-pitch walk. Mike Redmond seemed to be doing the same thing (2-0, then 3-1, then a pair of full-count fouls), but mercifully grounded to Cano for the final out of the game. Coke’s performance made the news of Brian Bruney’s impending activation (expected tonight) all the more welcome, though to the always forthcoming Coke’s credit, he humorously confessed to having been unnerved by the situation.

As for Teixeira, he was hitting .182/.354/.338  with three home runs and 10 RBIs on May 3, but has hit .351/.397/.789 with seven home runs and 18 RBIs in his last 14 games. Though his average will take a while to rebound (he’s still at just .239), he’s on pace for 45 homers and 127 RBIs, even with that slow start factored in. On-pace numbers can be very misleading, and Teixeira’s current single-season best for home runs is “just” 43, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Tex comes very close to those numbers come late September. Teixeira’s career month-by-month splits show steady improvement with each flip of the calendar, and his defense was an important part of the Yankees’ sweep of the Twins. He’s going to be a lot of fun to watch the rest of the way as, by extension, are the Yankees.

(more…)

Here’s what a five-game winning streak will do for you. All of a sudden, the Yankees are just a game and a half behind the Red Sox and have the fifth-best record in the American League, a half-game behind fourth-best Detroit. They’re 7-3 over their last ten games, which is second in the AL to only the Rangers (8-2) over that stretch, and have won their last three series.

As for how this winning streak has come about, obviously the walk-off magic of the last three games has been the key feature, but the Yankees were only in position to make those comebacks because of how well they’ve been pitching, and how well they’ve been playing in the field (think Mark Teixeira’s game-saving dive and throw to home in yesterday’s game). Over the last five games, which is once through the starting rotation, the Yankees have allowed just 14 runs, or 2.8 per game. The only Yankee starter to last fewer than six innings or allow more than two runs in that span was Phil Hughes, who gave up three runs in five innings on Friday night. Collectively, the starters’ ERA has been 2.84.

The bullpen, meanwhile, has been even better. In 16 1/3 innings over the last five games, the pen has allowed just three runs for a 1.65 ERA. All three of those runs were charged to Phil Coke, and two of them came on solo home runs by Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. The only time a reliever has replaced a starter mid-inning during this streak came yesterday, when Jonathan Albaladejo replaced A.J. Burnett with the bases loaded and two outs and struck out Jason Kubel to strand all three runners. The Yankees also haven’t made an error since the first game of this streak.

Andy Pettitte got things kicked off with six innings of two run (one earned) ball in Toronto on Thursday. Now, the streak has wrapped back around is asking him to keep it going as well as to complete a sweep of the Twins, who have to be going slightly batty after losing three straight on Yankee walk-offs.

Alex Rodriguez gets a half-day off at DH today as Ramiro Peña fills in at third and Hideki Matsui rides pine against lefty Glen Perkins. The switch-hitting Peña has had just three plate appearances against lefties this season (one walk, two Ks), so it’s nice to see him getting some exposure from the right-side, though it again begs the question, “why is Angel Berroa still taking up a roster spot.”

As for Perkins, his first three starts of the season were excellent (8 IP each, 4 runs total), but since then he’s posted a 7.25 ERA, going five or six innings and allowing four or five runs in each of his last four outings, three of them Twins losses.

Last night’s contest between the Twins and Yankees felt like a loss for the home nine for most of it’s three hours and 37 minutes. Phil Hughes kept his team in the game by working out of jams in the second and fourth innings, but he used up a lot of pitches in doing so. The Twins took an early lead when Justin Morneau led off the second inning by golfing a curveball that dove well below his knees into the box seats in right. They got another run in the fourth on a sac fly, though that was all they got out of a bases-loaded, one-out situation. Morneau then went deep again in the fifth, on a cutter up in the zone that didn’t cut, to give the Twins a 3-0 lead.

Meanwhile, home plate umpire Wally Bell’s strikezone was ridiculous. He called Johnny Damon out on a pitch that traced the front line of the right-handed batters box in the first inning, then called him out on a pitch that traced the front line of the left-handed batters box in the third. That was too much for Damon to handle. After the second called third strike, Damon wheeled around and told Bell that was twice he had done that to him, holding up two fingers for emphasis. He then pointed to the location of the two pitches with his bat, immediately earning an ejection. As soon as Damon began to gesture with his bat, Joe Girardi sprinted to the plate to try to protect his hottest hitter, but he got there too late. As it turned out, what seemed like a bad break for the Yankees turned out to be one of their keys to victory.

The Yankees got on the board with a Derek Jeter solo homer in the bottom of the fifth, but Hughes had thrown 93 pitches over five innings, and Joe Girardi decided he’d rather take his chances in trying to get four innings out of his bullpen than to run Hughes back out there again. Jonathan Albaladejo pitched a scoreless sixth, but Joe Mauer greeted Phil Coke in the seventh with a lead-off homer into Monument Park. That made it 4-1 Twins with Joe Nathan lurking just a couple of innings away.

Francisco Liriano wasn’t sharp in his six innings of work, but he was effective. He walked six Yankees, but only gave up four hits and stranded two men in the second, three in the third, and two in the sixth. Jesse Crain relieved Liriano and got two quick outs to start the second, then Brett Gardner, who had replaced Damon after the latter’s ejection, came to the plate and shot a would-be double down the left field line. I say would be because in the fourth inning, Nick Swisher hit a ball to the exact same place, down the left field line toward where the stands turn to run parallel withe foul line. On Swisher’s hit, left fielder Denard Span hustled over, scooped up the ball with his back to the infield, and fired a strike to nail Swisher at second base. This time, Span looked ready to try the same trick, but rather than ricocheting off the wall, the ball took a sideways bounce off the grass and rolled past him toward the outfield wall. As soon as the ball got past Span it was clear Gardner had a triple, but third-base coach Rob Thomson kept his windmill going and Gardner came all the way around for an inside-the-park home run, flopping head-first onto the plate easily ahead of Span’s throw.

As exciting as Gardner’s inside-the-parker was, however, it only counted for one run, and the Yankees proceeded to load the bases and strand all three runners after it, then strand another man in the eight. So it was 4-2 Twins heading into the ninth with Joe Nathan coming in to shut the door. The one ray of hope for the Yanks was that they had the heart of the order due up and Nathan was pitching for the fourth night in a row.

Gardner, in Damon’s spot, led off by taking four pitches to run the count even at 2-2. He then fouled off a fifth. Took ball three to run the count full, then laced the seventh pitch of the at-bat deep into the right-center-field gap. Carlos Gomez botched the carom briefly and though Gardner slipped on first base, he was still able to scramble to his feet and pull into third with an easy triple. Mark Teixeira followed by grounding a single just to the center field side of second baseman Matt Tolbert, who playing Teixeira to pull. That plated Gardner to make the score 4-3 and brought Alex Rodriguez to the plate as the winning run. Nathan threw six balls to Rodriguez, who took all six though Bell called two of them, pitches which again traced the front line of the right-handed batters box, strikes. That put the winning run on base for Hideki Matsui. Matsui battled Nathan for six pitches, but ultimately struck out swinging on a full-count slider inside that bounced in front of the plate. Nick Swisher followed with what looked like a game-tying single to right, but Justin Morneau was playing far enough off the bag to make what seemed like a game-saving play, backhanding the ball and flipping to Nathan for the second out.

The runners moved up on Swisher’s out and with two out and the winning run in scoring position, Girardi sent Ramiro Peña in to run for Rodriguez. With first base open, Ron Gardenhire had Nathan walk Robinson Cano to load the bases and bring up Melky Cabrera. Nathan threw one pitch to Cabrera, a fastball right down the middle, and Cabrera served it into the gap in left-center for a single that plated Teixeira and Peña and gave the Yankees both the win and their only lead of the game.

Jose Veras got the win for retiring one batter in the ninth, though Edwar Ramirez pitched a scoreless inning and a third before him, but the win had many authors, not the least of which was Gardner, who didn’t start the game, but went 3-for-3 with eight total bases and two runs scored. You know things are going well when your best hitter gets ejected and the guy who comes in off the bench to replace him winds up as the star of the game. The Yankees have now won three straight and have pulled within 2.5 games of the Red Sox, who lost to the Mariners last night. Joba Chamberlain pitches today hoping to help the Yanks match their season-long win streak of four games.

(more…)

Minnesota Twins

2009 Record: 18-17 (.514)
2009 Pythagorean Record: 16-19 (.457)

2008 Record: 88-75 (.540)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 89-74 (.546)

Manager: Ron Gardenhire
General Manager: Bill Smith

Home Ballpark (multi-year Park Factors): Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (93/93)

Who’s Replaced Whom:

25-man Roster:

1B – Justin Morneau (L)
2B – Matt Tolbert (S)
SS – Nick Punto (S)
3B – Joe Crede (R)
L – Joe Mauer (L)
RF – Michael Cuddyer (R)
CF – Carlos Gomez (R)
LF – Denard Span (L)
DH – Jason Kubel (L)

Bench:

R – Mike Redmond (C)
L – Brian Buscher (3B)
R – Brendan Harris (IF)
S – Jose Morales (C)

Rotation:

L – Francisco Liriano
R – Nick Blackburn
R – Kevin Slowey
L – Glen Perkins
R – Scott Baker

Bullpen:

R – Joe Nathan
R – Jesse Crain
R – Matt Guerrier
L – Craig Breslow
R – Luis Ayala
R – R.A. Dickey
L – Jose Mijares

Family Leave List: OF – Delmon Young (R)

15-day DL: RHP – Boof Bonser (labrum and rotator cuff surgery)

60-day DL: RHP – Pat Neshek (TJ)

Typical Lineup:

L – Denard Span (LF)
S – Matt Tolbert (2B)
L – Joe Mauer (C)
L – Justin Morneau (1B)
L – Jason Kubel (DH)
R – Joe Crede (3B)
R – Michael Cuddyer (RF)
R – Carlos Gomez (CF)
S – Nick Punto (SS)

(more…)

I take a closer look at the AL-leading Blue Jays over at SI.com today:

Thus far the Jays have split their first two games against the struggling Yankees. Their one win came behind Halladay, but their loss on Wednesday night saw Richmond and Murphy get their BABIP comeuppance, Hill leave the game after fouling a ball of his shin and the offense manage just two runs despite receiving four free passes from Andy Pettitte. They’ll face CC Sabathia on Thursday night, with Sabathia coming off a complete-game shutout at Baltimore.

The Jays play two-thirds of their games against the AL East in the second half, but they have six games against the second-place Red Sox over the remainder of May, three games against the defending NL champion Phillies in June and a run of 13 games against the Phillies, Rays, Yankees and Rays again leading up to the All-Star break. We’ll have a much better idea of how good Toronto is by the end of that stretch . . .

Meanwhile, here are Ted Berg and MetsBlog’s Matt Cerrone on tonight’s pitching matchup:

In his previous start, Blue Jays’ starter Scott Richmond gave up five runs in the second inning in Oakland, but stayed in the game and pitched six subsequent scoreless innings. Wednesday night, Richmond gave up five runs in the second inning again, but didn’t survive that inning.

The Jays got an early unearned run against Andy Pettitte in the first inning of last night’s game, but that lead didn’t last long. The first three Yankee batters in the second—Melky Cabrera, Brett Gardner, and Ramiro Peña, the last two starting in place of Hideki Matsui (hamstring) and Derek Jeter (oblique)—doubled, homered, and tripled. After a Francisco Cervelli groundout, Johnny Damon tripled, driving in Peña. After a Nick Swisher groundout later, Mark Teixeira doubled, driving in Damon. Richmond then walked Alex Rodriguez on five pitches and battled Robinson Cano for ten more before Cano singled in Teixeira with the fifth run and drove Richmond from the game. The Yankees batted around in the inning, connected for five extra-base hits worth a total of 14 bases, and spent a half an hour at the plate.

That was all the Yankees needed, though they tacked on a run in the fourth (Damon double, Swisher groundout, Teixeira sac fly) off reliever Brian Wolfe and two in the fifth off lefty Bill Murphy (Cano double, Gardner triple, Cervelli RBI infield single). Altogether the fifth-through-eighth men in the Yankee order (Cano, Cabrera, Gardner, and Peña) went 6-for-17 with a walk, five runs scored, four RBIs, and 15 total bases (two doubles, two triples, and a homer). The home run was Brett Gardner’s first in the major leagues, a 330-foot wall scraper that tucked just inside the right-field foul pole. With that homer, a triple, and a walk, Gardner was the hitting star of the game, going 2-for-3 with three RBIs, two runs scored, and seven total bases.

Pettitte gave up a second run in the fourth on two singles, one of which didn’t leave the infield, and a walk. Pettitte wasn’t especially sharp; he walked four men and used up 106 pitches in six innings, but he didn’t need to be and kept the Jays’ league-best offense at bay. Alfredo Aceves pitched around a Vernon Wells double for two innings of scoreless relief, and Jonathan Albaladejo pitched into and out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth to secure the 8-2 win, smacking himself upside the head after inducing a game-ending double play for walking two men with a six-run lead.

Tomorrow night, the Yankees send CC Sabathia to the mound looking for the series win against the Jays and their second straight series win of their current road trip.

(more…)

Of course you want to win every game, but realistically, a baseball team enters a three-game series, particularly one against the team with the best record in the league, hoping to take two of three. Looking at this week’s series in Toronto, the Yankees had to assume last night’s game against Roy Halladay would be the loss, so really everything’s going according to plan, right?

Tonight, Andy Pettitte looks to keep the Yankees on track against Scott Richmond. Richmond is a 29-year-old rookie who went undrafted after graduating from Oklahoma State. He then posted a 14-19 record with a 4.37 ERA over three seasons with the Edmonton Cracker-Cats of the independent Northern League, during which the Vancouver native also pitched for Canada in the inagural World Baseball Classic, though again without particularly encouraging results. The Blue Jays signed Richmond after he made the move to the Cracker-Cats’ rotation in 2007. He split most of 2008 between Double- and Triple-A, going 6-11 witha  4.45 ERA, but also made five spot starts for the major league club. The first four of those starts were nearly identical (between five and 5 2/3 innings, three runs, no more than one walk and either four or five strikeouts in each), but left him 0-3. His last saw him shutout the Orioles in a rain-shortened six-inning ballgame on September 26.

Richmond didn’t get into a game before Canada was eliminated from this year’s WBC, but opened the season as the Blue Jay’s fifth starter and has thus far gone 4-1 with a 3.29 ERA. In the middle four of his six starts, Richmond went 4-0 with a 2.o5 ERA, turning in a quality start each time out with an average of nearly 6 2/3 innings pitched.  That streak was snapped his last time out, when he took his first loss after giving up five runs in the second inning against the A’s in Oakland. Still, Richmond recovered from that rocky frame to shut out the A’s the rest of the way, needing just 96 pitches to complete eight innings.

Richmond has been hit-lucky thus far as his opponents’ average on balls in play is just .245, and he’s always had good, but not spectacular control. The result has been a solid 1.2 WHIP. A fly-ball pitcher, he’s given up five home runs, a rate of 1.2 every nine innings, but three have been solo shots and the other two came with just one man on base. Richmond is also death on right-handed hitters (.155/.183/.182 in his young major league career), but can struggle against lefties.

Unfortunately, Hideki Matsui is out today after tweaking his hamstring in last night’s game. Derek Jeter (oblique) is also out for the second-straight day. Pete Abe reports that Jeter hasn’t swung a bat since Sunday, but “hopes to play tomorrow,” which is what he said yesterday. Ramiro Peña and Brett Gardner once again benefit from these aches and pains per this lineup:

L – Johnny Damon (DH)
S – Nick Swisher (RF)
S – Mark Teixeira (1B)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
S – Melky Cabrera (LF)
L – Brett Gardner (CF)
S – Ramiro Peña (SS)
S – Francisco Cervelli (C)

If there’s any upside there it’s that only Alex Rodriguez will hit right-handed against Richmond.

As for Pettitte, his last two starts have been shaky. Against the Angels on May 1, he walked four and gave up five runs in 5 2/3 innings, though the Yankees rallied to win that game 10-9. In his last start, last Thursday against the Rays, he gave up five runs in six innings courtesy of four Tampa homers. The Yankees also rallied to tie that game, but lost on two more home runs off Mariano Rivera. On the season as a whole, however, Pettitte looks like Pettitte: 4.38 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 6 1/2 innings per start.

It didn’t really matter what A.J. Burnett did last night given how well Roy Halladay pitched. Halladay faced the minimum through 6 1/3 thanks to a questionable call by second-base umpire Chuck Meriwether who called Johnny Damon out trying to stretch a single into a double in the first inning. Fittingly, it was a Damon double that broke Halladay’s streak with one out in the seventh. After Mark Teixeira struck out, Alex Rodriguez delivered a two-out RBI single to plate Damon, but that was all the Yankees would get. Halladay erased a Melky Cabrera single in the eighth with a double play and stranded a lead-off Ramiro Peña double in the ninth. He threw 72 of 103 pitches for strikes, got 17 of his 27 outs on the ground, five more by strikeout, and two more on pop-ups, and picked up his first complete game of the year, pushing his record to 7-1. The game took just two hours and 22 minutes to play.

Fun stat: Since 2003, Halladay leads all major league pitchers in shutouts with 36. CC Sabathia is second with 26. Since 2006, however, Sabathia leads Halladay 22 to 21.

As for Burnett, he gave up three runs in the fourth after loading the bases on an Alex Rios double and two walks. Scott Rolen doubled down the left field line to plate two, and after Lyle Overbay struck out, Rod Barajas brought the third run home with a sac fly. Still, it seemed we were getting the pitching duel we had hoped for when Burnett held the Jays there and took the mound in the bottom of the eight trailing Halladay 3-1. Then Aaron Hill homered to make it 4-1 and Rios and Rolen teamed up again to plate a fifth run (via a walk, groundout, and RBI Rolen single) to bounce Burnett from the game and set the final score at 5-1.

A.J. was booed lustily throughout the game by the betrayed Blue Jays fans. Chants of “A.J. Sucks” echoed throughout the Rogers Centre (as did “Steroids” chants during Alex Rodriguez’s at-bats). One fan held up a sign that said “Roy > A.J.” Well, yeah. I think even he’d admit that.

(more…)

Toronto Blue Jays

2009 Record: 22-12 (.647)
2009 Pythagorean Record: 21-13 (.618)

2008 Record: 86-76 (.531)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 93-69 (.574)

Manager: Cito Gaston
General Manager: J.P. Ricciardi

Home Ballpark (multi-year Park Factors): Rogers Centre (99/98)

Who’s Replaced Whom:

• Aaron Hill (DL) reclaims his playing time from Joe Inglett (minors)
• Travis Snider replaces Shannon Stewart and Brad Wilkerson
• Adam Lind replaces Kevin Mench and Frank Thomas
• Kevin Millar replaces Matt Stairs
• Jose Bautista replaces David Eckstein
• Raul Chavez is filling in for Michael Barrett (DL), who replaces Gregg Zaun
• Brian Tallet is filling in for Ricky Romero (DL), who replaces A.J. Burnett
• Brett Cecil replaces David Purcey (minors) and Dustin McGowan (DL)
• Scott Richmond replaces Shaun Marcum (DL)
• Robert Ray is filling in for Jesse Litsch (DL)
• Bill Murphy replaces John Parrish
• Scott Downs is closing in place of B.J. Ryan (DL)

25-man Roster:

1B – Lyle Overbay (L)
2B – Aaron Hill (R)
SS – Marco Scutaro (R)
3B – Scott Rolen (R)
C – Rod Barajas (R)
RF – Alex Rios (R)
CF – Vernon Wells (R)
LF – Travis Snider (L)
DH – Adam Lind (L)

Bench:

R – Kevin Millar (1B)
R – John McDonald (IF)
R – Jose Bautista (UT)
R – Raul Chavez (C)

Rotation:

R – Roy Halladay
R – Scott Richmond
L – Brian Tallet
L – Brett Cecil
R – Robert Ray

Bullpen:

L – Scott Downs
R – Jason Frasor
L – Jesse Carlson
R – Shawn Camp
R – Brandon League
L – Bill Murphy
R – Brian Wolfe

15-day DL:

RHP – Dustin McGowan (labrum)
RHP – Shaun Marcum (TJ surgery)
RHP – Jesse Litsch (forearm tightness)
LHP – Ricky Romero (oblique)
LHP – B.J. Ryan (trapezius)
C – Michael Barrett (right shoulder tear)

Typical Lineup:

R – Marco Scutaro (SS)
R – Aaron Hill (2B)
R – Alex Rios (RF)
R – Vernon Wells (CF)
L – Adam Lind (DH)
R – Scott Rolen (3B)
L – Lyle Overbay (1B)
R – Rod Barajas (C)
L – Travis Snider (LF)

(more…)

Pitching with a burst blood vessel in his right thumb, Joba Chamberlain looked shaky in the first inning of yesterday afternoon’s rubber game in Baltimore. Five of the seven batters he faced in that frame got a hit, and Aubrey Huff gave the Orioles an early lead with a three-run homer to right center. However, Huff’s was the only extra-base hit of the inning, Melvin Mora, who followed Huff with a bunt single, got picked off (2-3-6-2-4-3), and the Orioles failed to add to that early tally. Just as he did in his previous start, Chamberlain shut the door after the first, holding the O’s scoreless for his remaining five innings.

Koji Uehara’s line was similar, with a solo home run by Mark Teixeira in the top of the first being the only run he allowed in six innings. Uehara threw just 94 pitches in those six innings, but Dave Trembley decided to go to his bullpen in the seventh, calling on lefty Jamie Walker to face the bottom of the Yankee order. Walker struck out switch-hitter Nick Swisher (though it took him nine pitches), but gave up a solo home run to actual lefty Robinson Cano, who just happens to be crushing lefties this year (now .371/.405/.657 vs. LHP on the season). After Walker got switch-hitter Melky Cabrera to fly out for the second out, Trembley called on righty Jim Johnson to pitch to rookie catcher Francisco Cervelli. On 2-1, Cervelli hit a very slow ground ball into the second-base hole that he just beat out for an infield single. Derek Jeter followed with another infield single, a squib to the left side that Mora was unable to get to in time to make a throw. Despite playing matchups with the bases empty against Cervelli, who had two major league hits coming into the inning, Trembley left the righty Johnson in with the tying runs on base to face lefty Johnny Damon, who had hit .462 with four home runs over his previous six games. Damon took Johnson’s first five pitches to run the count full, then launched a three-run homer to right-center that gave the Yankees a 5-3 lead.

With Joba at 104 pitches, Phil Coke pitched a perfect seventh and worked around a one-out single in the eight to get the ball to Mariano Rivera in the ninth. Coming off his surprising loss in Thursday’s game, Rivera issued his first walk of the year, to Felix Pie with one out, but struck out ninth-place hitter Robert Andino and got Brian Roberts to ground back to the mound to end the game and give the Yankees the 5-3 win and a much-needed series victory.

It has become a common refrain during the Yankees’ slow starts the last few years, “this must be rock bottom, now they can start winning.” The Yankees seemed to hit rock bottom on Thursday after suffering a five-game losing streak at home that included two-game sweeps at the hands of both key division rivals, the Red Sox and Rays, saw both of their catchers hit the disabled list, and saw Mariano Rivera blow the last game of the homestand by giving up back-to-back home runs for the first time in his major league career. The Yankees arrived in Baltimore two games below .500, but the dramatic return of Alex Rodriguez, a strong showing from rookie backstop Francisco Cervelli, and CC Sabathia’s first Yankee shutout seemed to confirm that Thursday had indeed been rock bottom.

Then Phil Hughes couldn’t get out of the second inning yesterday and the Yankees took a humiliating loss followed by the news that today’s intended starter, Joba Chamberlain, had burst a blood vessel in the thumb of his pitching hand while flipping a ball underhand durring batting practice and was doubtful for today’s start.

Are you freaking kidding me?!

As I type this, the Yankees are still expecting Joba to make his start. Supposedly the burst blood vessell didn’t cause him any pain, and though the thumb comes into play on every pitch, there’s not as much friction against it as there is against the other fingers, particularly the first and second fingers. Still, if Joba decides during his warmups that he can’t go, Alfredo Aceves will take the ball. Either way, it doesn’t look good, as Koji Uehara, the 34-year-old former Yomiyuri Giants ace, has been sharp thus far this season.

Uehara didn’t strike out a single Yankee back on April 8, but he did hold them to one run over five innings for the victory. His next start, in Texas, was ugly, but since then he’s been sharp every time out, the one blight on his record being three unearned runs (on top of three earned) in his last start, though he struckout eight Rays against just one walk and no homers in that game. Throw out that one ugly Texas start, and Uehara’s ERA drops to 3.12 ERA and he’s walked just three men against 24 strikeouts in his other five starts. He gives up a lot of fly balls, which makes him homer prone, but otherwise he’s been everything the Orioles could have hoped for if not more.

As for Joba, throw out his worst start (five runs in 4 2/3 against Cleveland in the second game at the new stadium), and his ERA drops to 2.63. His last two starts have been very encouraging as he held the Tigers to one run on three hits over seven innings, then recovered from an ugly first inning to strike out twelve Red Sox against just two walks his last time out. Aceves, who could wind up playing a key role in this game, even if he doesn’t start, has pitched just once since being recalled, throwing 4 1/3 innings of relief following Hughes’ previous start. He struck out seven Red Sox in that outing, with the only runs against him coming on a two-run home run by Jason Bay. Aceves started against the Orioles on September 20 of last year and threw six shutout innings as the Yankees won 1-0.

I’ll get to the Orioles in a second. First here’s what’s new about the Yankee roster:

• Alex Rodriguez is back, playing third and hitting fourth in the tonight’s lineup.

That’s huge. Joe Girardi has posted a lineup without Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada in roughly one third of the Yankees’ games this season (nine of 28). Amazingly, the Yankees have scored 5.67 runs per game in those nine games, but their record in those games has been 3-6, and four of those games have occurred during the team’s current five-game losing streak, with the Yankees averaging just four runs per game in those four games. Losing Posada for a month or so has undermined the impact of Rodriguez’s return, but Rodriguez’s return similarly negates the impact of the loss of Posada. Yankee third basemen have hit .202/.248/.283 in Rodriguez’s absence. It’s difficult to underestimate the importance of his return.

• Jose Molina is on the DL with a Grade 2 strain in his left quadriceps. Kevin Cash, who hurt his right shoulder on a slide in April and was just activated from the DL on Tuesday, has been called up to take Molina’s place.

Francisco Cervelli draws the start tonight. I have no idea how Girardi is going to dole out the starts going forward, but I would be surprised if Cervelli and Cash are much more productive in place of Posada and Molina than the Yankee third basemen were in place of Alex Rodriguez. Here’s what I wrote about Cash in my Yankee Campers piece back in February:

Kevin Cash is only three years younger than Chad Moller and a whole lot worse at the plate. He has a great arm, but that simply makes him a younger, less-productive version of Jose Molina. At 31, he’s a career .184/.248/.285 hitter in 557 major league plate appearances. His career OPS+ is 38. He’s among the worst of a worthless breed. The Yankees should be publicly apologetic for not being able to do better.

And here’s what I said about Cervelli:

Cervelli played just 21 games for Trenton last year, but hit .315/.432/.384 in them. That high on-base and poor power is typical of Cervelli, a strong defender who turns 23 in early March and could yet emerge as a major league starter. The Yankees hope Cervelli, the leader in their parade of low-minors catching prospects, will advance quickly, but they’d be wise not to rush him out of desperation. He looked completely overmatched in his five major league plate appearances last September.

And here’s what I wrote about Cervelli when he was called up earlier this week:

After losing most of last year to a broken arm, Cervelli now looks not unlike the catcher-version of [Ramiro] Peña. He’s a strong defender, easily major league quality, with little to recommend him at the plate other than a good batting eye. Cervelli looked overmatched at the plate in his very brief September call-up last year, while playing for Italy in the WBC this March, and in spring training after Italy’s elimination from the tournament. The sample size is minuscule, of course, but the competition in each was something less than what he’s likely to see in the majors in May, and he went a combined 4-for-25 (.160) with just one extra base hit and, despite that good batting eye, just one walk across those three appearances. Thus far this year, he’s hitting just .190/.266/.310 for the Trenton Thunder.

Though I did temper that a bit with this:

I’m not particularly worried about the Yankees “rushing” the 23-year-old Cervelli because Jesus Montero is now just a level behind him at High-A Tampa and is crushing the ball. Montero’s defense is far from major-league-ready, if it ever well be, but he’s nipping at Cervelli’s heals. Peña has handled the jump to the majors wonderfully. Cervelli, who has a veteran disposition—despite his lack of production he was a clubhouse leader on Team Italy—seems as likely as anyone to do likewise.

The way I see it, Girardi might as well start Cervelli and hope for the best given that Cash has already proven himself to be an incompetent major league hitter. That said, if one of these guys has a good day at the plate, he should ride the hot hand.

• Mark Melancon has been optioned to Triple-A Scranton.

That makes room for Rodriguez, but it doesn’t clear a 40-man roster spot for Cash, so another move is coming. If it doesn’t involve Angel Berroa getting designated for assignment, I’ll hit the roof. The problem is that the need to add Cash takes that 40-man spot away from Shelley Duncan, but then Shelley sat out Scranton’s double-header yesterday with a sore shoulder (his left, not the one he separated last year). Oy.

My suggestion for adding another bat is that the Yankees release the perpetually injured Christian Garcia, who is taking up a 40-man roster spot while working out in extended spring training. The hope there being that they could resign him like they did Humberto Sanchez. John Rodriguez or a recovered Duncan could then take Berroa’s 25-man spot while Berroa and Garcia will have made room for Cash and the extra bat.

(more…)

I taped the below segment with Ted Berg yesterday, before Jose Molina tore his quad and left the Yankees without a major league catcher, and before Mariano Rivera gave up back-to-back home runs for the first time in his career and later had his manager explain he’s having issues with his arm strength. How Brian Cashman rejiggers the roster with Molina heading to the DL and Alex Rodriguez coming off it tonight is crucial. Can he find a catcher better than Chris Stewart or Francisco Cervelli? Will he drop Angel Berroa, demote a reliever, and bring up a couple of bats (preferably Shelley Duncan and John Rodriguez) who can hit for that catcher in the late-innings? Will he add Brett Tomko to the struggling bullpen? Have things really gotten so bad that we think Tomko can help?

That the Yankees have allowed more runs per game than any other team in baseball can no longer be blamed on Chien-Ming Wang. Even if you just flat out erase the 23 runs Wang allowed in his three starts, rest of the team has allowed allowed 5.54 runs per game, which would be better than only five teams in baseball.

The Yankees have Sabathia, Hughes, and Chamberlain lined up to pitch in Baltimore this weekend. Those three could go a long way toward making us all feel better if they’re able to build on the flashes of brilliance they’ve each shown in their recent starts. As a friend just said to me, “I won’t take the toaster into the bathtub until I see what happens this weekend.”

I’m still not quite ready to panic, but I’m a lot closer than I was when we filmed this: