A Go Figure Sunday ended on the good foot for the home team. Here’s what you need to know: Alex Rodriguez and Alfonso Soriano homered, Mariano gave up two dingers, blew his third save opportunity in a row (the first time that’s ever happened in his career), and Brett Gardner hit a game-ending shot into the middle deck of the right field seats.

Rodriguez’s home run led off the second inning. It was a long pop fly, really. He hit a high, outside fastball for a line drive single in his second at bat and didn’t see where the ball went so he stood there at the plate looking like a dope (remember he pulled the same was-that-a-foul-ball? move when he hit a homer once at Fenway Park).

Lil’ Sori hit a solo home run, the 2,000th hit of his career and while Andy Pettitte was mediocre again, the Yankee bullpen held things together–Shawn Kelly and Boone Logan were especially good. They had a 4-2 lead in eighth when David Robertson gave up a solo shot and then an infield hit. Rodriguez made a nice play moving to his right and threw to second to get the lead runner. Never mind that the ump botched the call.

Gardner did him one better when he tracked a deep fly ball by Torii Hunter, caught it, and slammed against the wall. He flipped the ball to Soriano who threw it to the infield and doubled off Austin Jackson, who stood on second base confused as to what happened (he must have seen Gardner flip the ball and assumed that he had not caught it).

A relief, then, to have Miguel Cabrera lead off the ninth. Against Mo, again.

And Mariano had two strikes on him. But then made a lousy pitch and as we know, Cabrera doesn’t miss those. Another homer.

One out later…

Mo threw another horseshit pitch, this one to Victor Martinez who launched it deep into the seats in right.

So another save blown. And Michael Kay almost hyperventilated telling us that it’d never happened before, three in a row.

But Jose Veras, ah, Jose Veras, pitched for the Tigers in the bottom of the inning. Hunter made a nice catch to rob Eduardo Nunez of an extra base hit, Vernon Wells got out in front of a breaking ball and hit a long foul before striking out, but then Gardner hit the second pitch he saw into the second deck.

Gatorade bath and all those hurt feelings made better.

Final Score: Yanks 5, Tigers 4.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Phil Hughes didn’t pitch well. Neither did Joba Chamberlain. The Yankee hitters didn’t score much. Should I go on?

The Tigers put up 9 runs on 17 hits. About the only one who got relief for the Yanks is Alex Rodriguez who had the day off. Had he played, fans would have certainly had a fat target on which to direct their frustration.

Final Score: Tigers 9, Yanks 3.

And moving on…

[Painting by Matthew Davis]

What you need to know is that Ivan Nova pitched another good game and Rick Porcello wasn’t bad either. You should know that Alex Rodriguez was cheered and booed in his return to The Stadium, the boos becoming more piercing as the night wore on and he whiffed in three of his four at bats. You need to know that the Yankees had a two-run lead in the ninth and Austin Jackson on second with one out when Tori Hunter came to the plate.

Hunter’s one of those guys who has never had much luck against Mariano. So, what happens? He blisters a cutter back up-the-middle. It’s headed directly for Mo’s nuts, on one clean hop. But Rivera fields the ball, hops in the air, turns to second to freeze Jackson and then throws the ball to first for the second out.

Okay, now for one more for the money.

Miguel Cabrera, 0-4 in his career against Mo, popped the first pitch up in foul territory. Lyle Overbay edged his way near the camera well, reached over, extended his glove, the ball just out of his reach. If only he…damn.

Still, Mo got ahead 1-2 and then Cabrera fouled a pitch off his left knee. He called time, and hobbled around for a few minutes. Play resumed, he got back in the box, Rivera threw practically the same pitch and Cabrera fouled this one a few inches lower, same leg. He didn’t swing at the next pitch, a cutter outside but was ready when Mo made a mistake. Cause this next one may have been down  but it right over the plate. And Cabrera being the stud that he is, did not miss it. In fact, he murdalized it, and the fucking thing sailed well over the fence in center field. The game was tied.

Mo’s second straight blown save, some hurt feelings all around, and a bummer of the first magnitude. Yet it was hard not to be impressed. Cabrera is a beast, and hey, at least Mo didn’t get beaten by a chump.

Prince Fielder followed with a double and after an intentional walk Mo got out of it. His boys didn’t do dick in the bottom of the inning and the Tigers left two men stranded on base in the tenth.

Jayson Nix, who replaced Rodriguez in the ninth cause he’s a better glove, walked to start the bottom of the inning against Al Alburquerque. Curtis Granderson, not bunting, singled to right, Nix to second.

So I sat on my couch and asked Overbay not to hit into a double play (using my late night, inside voice, my pleading voice). He got ahead 2-1, swung through a tight, darting slider, fouled another pitch off, and then swung through a splitter, to strike out. The pitch was in the dirt, so low that got passed the catcher allowing the runners to advance. Nunez was walked intentionally for…Chris Stewart.

And I wondered if maybe a squeeze wasn’t in order. Stewart hit into a double player earlier in the game, you know.

Here’s out it went: Fastball, inside, ball one. Fastball at the knees for a strike, 1-1.Slider, inside, swung on and missed, 1-2. Outfield shallow, infield tight. Fastball, outside corner and he just stares at it for strike three.

Grimace, teeth grind, walk of shame.

Gritty Gritner took a strike and then slapped a little ground ball between third and short, an innocent little grounder, but one that found the hole and got into the outfield, which permitted the game-winning run to score.

Yanks 4, Tigers 3.

Exhale, y’all.

Things fall apart. It looked there for the taking. Alfonso Soriano hit a two-run home run in the first, the Yanks built up a 4-0 lead and it didn’t matter that they left a ton of men on base (and in scoring position, no less) because C.C. Sabathia was dealing. Until the 7th, that is, when the first two men reached and then Paul Konerko hit a double to score a run. But C.C. got out of the inning, thanks in part to an alert play by Robinson Cano, with the lead. And that lead held until two outs in the 9th. Mariano retired the first two batters then gave up a double and with two strikes to Adam Dunn, a single to left field which scored the tying run.

Blown save. Oy. Mo did pitch a scoreless 10th inning, though. And Robinson Cano looked to bail him out when he hit a solo home run in the top of the 12th but Adam Warren botched the save in the bottom of the inning–couple of base hits and a game-winning triple did him, and the Yankees, in.

Final Score: White Sox 6, Yankees 5.

A tough loss on a rough trip. That’s 1-5 against the sad-ass Padres and White Sox. Which makes the Yankees, what? Sad asses. Plenty of bruised feelings to go around.

[Photo Credit: David Banks/USA Today]

Alex Rodriguez wasn’t half-bad at the plate last night. He had a bloop single in his first at bat, drove a high fastball to deep center the next time up (hit it pretty well but it was just high enough for him not to center it), was late on an inside fastball in his third at bat and flied out to deep left, and then struck out looking to end his night. Unfortunately, Andy Pettitte wasn’t half-good. The White Sox scored 3 runs in the first inning and while nobody hit the ball hard and luck was on the home team’s side, things got worse after that and Pettitte was gone before the end of the 3rd inning.

Rough night for the Bombers. Final score: White Sox 8, Yankees 1. 

No, we aren’t talking about Alex Rodriguez. His nightmare is recurring and not likely to go away anytime soon. Tomorrow will bring official word that he’s being suspended and the coming days and weeks will give us more than we can stomach.

Today’s nightmare isn’t even Phil Hughes, who didn’t make it out of the 3rd inning today pitching in front of family and friends in San Diego. No, it’s Derek Jeter who has a Grade 1 calf strain:

“It’s been terrible,” Jeter said. “It’s been like a nightmare. The whole season has been a nightmare. I really don’t know what to tell you. I wish that wasn’t the case and we were sitting here talking about something besides another injury. We’ll see what happens. I have no idea.”

The game, a bummer (Padres 6, Yanks 3) but the news is more dispiriting than that.

..with more mishegoss on deck. Buckle up.

[Photo Credit: Matt Slocum/AP]

There is a sentiment within and around the Yankees that if they are to make the playoffs, they need CC Sabathia to pitch like CC Sabathia. This is a rather short-sighted point of view. The Yankees have five starting pitchers, and like most staffs, those pitchers can be easily ranked from one through five; the names shouldn’t matter. Contending teams need an ace, a pitcher they can count on to win big games down the stretch, and the Yankees happen to have two of them — Hiroki Kuroda and Ivan Nova. Their third and fourth starters are Andy Pettitte and Phil Hughes, which, in the event that the Yankees make the playoffs, would leave Sabathia as a left-handed specialist out of the bullpen.

So instead of worrying about Sabathia, we should instead be thankful for Nova. He was on the mound for the Yankees on Saturday night, and he did what aces do: he shut down the opposition to give his team a much-needed victory.

With bad news bookending the game (the Yankees pulled Derek Jeter from the lineup to rest his ailing leg and announced that he’d likely miss a game or two, and ESPN reported after the game that Alex Rodríguez will be suspended on Monday through the end of 2014), the nine innings in between were a welcome respite.

Nova took a few innings to find his groove, but he was able to work out of minor trouble early on. He gave up consecutive singles with one out in the first inning, then yielded a lead-off double in the second, but in each case he emerged unscathed. After that second-inning double off the bat of Alexi Amarista, Nova retired fifteen consecutive Padres and never really broke a sweat. Only one of those fifteen batters was even able to work a three-ball count; that was Chase Headley in the sixth, who then struck out on the next pitch.

The problem for the Yankees, though, was that San Diego starting pitcher Tyson Ross was just as good. Ross set down the first thirteen hitters he faced, and did so in fairly dominant fashion, striking out seven of them with a strong fastball, a quality changeup, and a devastating slider. Lyle Overbay broke the spell with a clean single in the fifth, but it wasn’t until the seventh inning that the Yankees were able to make any headway against Ross.

Alfonso Soriano lifted a fly ball that floated just over the infield and landed just in front of center fielder Amarista for a single. Soriano had given up on the play immediately and jogged to first, costing himself a double, but Curtis Granderson erased that minor mistake two pitches later when he launched a home run to right field to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead. Consecutive walks to Overbay and Eduardo Núñez pushed Ross from the game, but the Yanks weren’t able to do any more damage that inning.

Will Venable doubled to lead off the Padres’ seventh, but once again Nova simply bowed his neck against the yoke. He struck out Jedd Gyorko on three pitches, got Amarista to ground out, then followed his first walk of the game with his eighth strike out to end the threat. He had only thrown 85 pitches on the night, but he was done. His final line was impressive (7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K), but it was really just more of what we’ve come to expect from him. Over his last five starts — a significant sample size — Nova’s numbers look like this: 38 IP, 25 H, 7 R, 10 BB, 37 K, 1.66 ERA, 0.92 WHIP. If it looks like an ace, and walks like an ace, it must be an ace. He’s 3-2 over those five games, but only because the Yankees managed just a total of five hits in his two losses.

David Robertson pitched an efficient eighth inning, the Yankees scored another run in the ninth with a Granderson single, stolen base, and an RBI single from Jayson Nix, and then it was time for Mariano Rivera.

Each of Rivera’s appearances now are bitter sweet. It’s as if you’re eating the most delicious piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever had. Even as you’re delighting in each heavenly bite, you can’t help but feel a bit of sadness as you watch the piece on your plate growing smaller and smaller. And so it is with Rivera. How many more times will we get to see him take the mound? Fifteen? Twenty? Each one now is precious.

As chants of “Mar-ee-ah-no!” were filtering down from the San Diego crowd, the Great One produced another masterpiece. Venable and Gyorko were retired on fly balls that wouldn’t have scared anyone in a slow-pitch softball game, and Amarista struck out swinging on three pitches. All three men will tell their grandchildren about those at bats.

Yankees 3, Padres 0.

[Photo Credit: Denis Poroy/Getty Images]

Nineteen ninety-eight was a lifetime ago. Personally, I had only just started dating my wife, and we were still just imagining the three children we have now. The Yankees, meanwhile, won every single night and coasted through the first two rounds of the playoffs before sweeping the Padres in the World Series. It was all a lifetime ago, and last night’s game in San Diego was a harsh, harsh reminder.

For one thing, CC Sabathia used to be an absolute stud. Even when things were going well for the Yankees — and I’m not thinking back all the way to 1998 anymore — CC’s games stood out on the schedule. He was the horse who would always pitch seven or eight innings, and even on the nights when he didn’t have his best stuff, you’d still look up in the end and he’d have made it through seven innings while allowing just three runs and earning a hard-fought win. He was that rare quantity — the pitcher on the staff with the best stuff and the most heart.

Because of that, the fall of Sabathia has been perhaps the most unsettling part of this incredibly unsettling season. He was good in April, stringing together three straight quality starts, but it’s been all downhill since then. His monthly ERA numbers have looked like this: 3.35, 4.14, 5.11, and a whopping 6.60 in July. He has been the worst Yankee starter this season, it hasn’t even been close. If his name weren’t CC Sabathia, there would be talk of removing him from the rotation. But since his name is CC Sabathia, he will almost certainly take the mound ten more times this season, and there’s nothing to indicate that those starts won’t go like it did on Friday night.

The Padres didn’t waste any time, as they sent seven men to the plate in the first inning and scored two runs. The first run came on a bases-loaded walk, the second on a ground out to the pitcher. Sabathia made a highlight reel play to get that out, otherwise the inning might have lasted forever.

The Yankee hitters gamely answered with two runs of their own in the top of the second when Eduardo Núñez poked a double down the right field line to score Ichiro, then scored two batters later on a Sabathia ground out. There was reason for hope at that point, but the Bronx Bombers managed only three lousy singles over the next seven innings. Sure, there were at least three or four blistered line drives that died in Padre gloves, a horrific call at first base that robbed Núñez of a hit in the fourth, and another blown call at second in the fifth, but what you see in the box score tells the sad truth. Three San Diego pitchers named Andrew Cashner, Luke Gregerson, and Tim Stauffer held the Yankees to two runs on only seven hits.

Sabathia began to crumble in the top of the fourth. He gave up a long home run to Logan Forsythe with one out, then instead of covering first on Cashner’s ground ball to first, Sabathia stood on the mound like a statue and allowed the opposing pitcher to reach base without a throw. (As egregious as this mental error was, it shouldn’t have been a surprise; Sabathia has not recorded a putout at first base in more than two years.) Cabrera capitalized on CC’s non-error by launching a triple over Brett Gardner’s head in center field to score Cashner and give the Padres a 4-2 lead.

There was more of the same in the sixth inning. Nick Hundley drew a one-out walk, and Cabrera singled him to second two batters later. After Chris Denorfia singled to drive in Hundley, Joe Girardi had no choice but to pull his starter. Sabathia’s line on the night: 5.2 IP, 11 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 4 K.

Joba Chamberlain gave up a home run to Jedd Gyorko in the seventh, and Adam Warren coughed up another to Will Venable in the eighth, and soon enough it was all mercifully over. Padres 7, Yankees 2.

It can’t be worse on Saturday night, can it?

[Photo Credit: Denis Poroy/Getty Images]

Kuroda and Kershaw were both terrific last night. Kuroda gave up 5 hits, a walk and struck out 8 in 7 innings; Kershaw gave up 5 hits, didn’t walk anyone and struck out 5 over 8 innings. And so the game was tied in the 9th when Lyle Overbay got a pinch-hit single and then Mark Ellis and Yasiel Puig screwed the pooch on a fly ball allowing 2 more runs to score.

That was more than enough for Mo who got a couple of strikeouts and a ground ball as the Yanks said goodbye to Hollywood.

Final Score: Yanks 3, Dodgers 0.

Chad Jennings, as always, has the notes. 

[Photo Credit: Dimelo]

If you stayed up late you saw more of the same from the Yanks: good pitching, no hitting. In fact, you didn’t have to stay up too late. The game was played in less than 3 hours and the Dodgers won 3-2 when Mark Ellis singled with 2 men out in the 9th against Shawn Kelly.

Five hits in all for the Yanks,  who resemble the old Dodger teams in that they can pitch they just don’t score much.

[Photo Credit: Richard Mackson, USA TODAY Sports]

Sm

The Yankees honored Hideki Matsui before the game today and then Derek Jeter made like Derek Jeter and hit the first pitch he saw from Matt Moore over the wall in right field for a home run.

It was the first time a Yankee had homered since the All-Star break, the first time a right-handed Yankee batter homered since Christ was a cowboy.

By the end of the first the Yanks had a 3-0 lead. But then Phil Hughes made like Phil Hughes and he gave it away. Not once, but twice, both on impressive home runs by Wil Myers. The first, a 3-run job, came off a hanging slider that Myers hit it deep into the left field seats. Second one came off a fastball that Myers punched well over the wall in right.

Not to be outdone, Alfonso Soriano hit a 2-run homer–of the cheap-o right field seats variety. He got 4 of the Yankees’ 12 hits (Jeter had 2) including the game-winner in the 9th, a clean single up the middle. He didn’t whack any of them except his homer but hey, 4 hits be 4 hits, right?

So Jeter returns and is a stud, Soriano has a big day, our man Hideki is celebrated. A nifty win on a cool day in the Bronx. Should be mentioned that the Yanks don’t win this game without the stellar work by the bullpen. Preston Claiborne got six straight outs and then Boone Logan, David Robertson and Mariano Rivera each pitched a scoreless frame.

Final Score: Yanks 6, Rays 5.

Thanks, Yanks.

[Photo Credit: Brad Penner; Kathy Willens]

Tampa always seems to have good, young starting pitchers. This year we can add Chris Archer to the crop. He was outstanding today against the soporific, gluten-free Yankee offense. He allowed two hits, faced just two men over the minimum, and pitched a shutout. His fielders didn’t rescue him with memorable plays and the Yankees did not hit the ball hard. Archer just kicked their asses.

Another fine outing for the resurgent Ivan Nova wasted.

Rays 1, Yanks 0.

[Photo Via: Jacina Russell]

It’s hard to watch C.C. get abused but that’s what has happened over and again this year. Tonight, he got smacked around again–this time by the first place Rays. I don’t know about you but I don’t get angry with Sabathia, I feel bad for him. He’s a gamer, he doesn’t give up, but this year, man, he just hasn’t been his usual self.

Tough to watch as the Rays beat up on the Yanks.

Our boys trailed 10-1, then scored twice in the 8th and got a couple more runs in the 9th. The bases were loaded for Lil’ Sori, score 10-5, with 1 out. Those who stayed at the park now had something to cheer about. Jake McGee, the hard-throwing lefty came in the game to face Sori.

First pitch, Sori fouls off a fastball and has a good hack at it. Fouls off another heater, 97 mph. Got to figure, McGee will throw something out of the zone, try to get Sori to chase but he stays with the heater—misses upstairs for a ball and then Sori fouls another off, followed by another high fastball up and out of the zone. The next pitch is 98 and also high. Six pitches, all fastballs. The seventh pitch is also cheddar but this one is low and Sori grounds it to short. He’s fast enough to reach first without the game ending on a double play. Run scores and it’s 10-6 for Chris Stewart who has to wait for the bow-and-arrow man, Fernando Rodney to enter the game.

Stewart grounds out on a 3-2 pitch and the comeback falls short.

Final Score: Rays 10, Yanks 6.

[Picture by Bags]

The Yankees’ ace Hiroki Kuroda blanked the Rangers for 7 innings and then David Robertson and The Great Mariano Rivera polished them off in the 8th and 9th as the Yanks beat the Rangers 2-0. Good enough for the Yanks to leave town with a split.

Which, all considering, ain’t bad. Ayo, Austin Romine had 3 hits, man.

And you just gotta love that Hiroki, don’tcha?

Andy Pettitte pitched well but last night it was too much Garza and not enough gluten as the Rangers beat the Yanks, 3-1.

Chad Jennings has the notes. 

Moving on.

[Photo Credit: Jim Cowsert/AP; Brad Loper/Dallas Morning News]

Typical Phil Hughes performance. His boys stake him to a 3-0 lead, he holds the Rangers scoreless through 5 innings and then in the 6th…poof. Granted, it was Boone Logan, not Hughes that gave up the big home run, but it was Hughes that couldn’t get the final out of the inning. Either way, the Rangers took a 4-3 lead and that looked to be plenty, particularly in the 9th inning with their closer Joe Nathan on the mound.

“Honey, they’re going to win,” said The Wife.

“They’re losing,” says I.

“What will you give me if they win?” she said?

“What will you give me if they lose?”

“Nothing”

“Right,” I said.

Now for the stranger things part. Vernon Welles walked with 1 out, and took second on a wild pitch in the middle of a long, impressive at bat by Eduardo Nunez. That wild pitch was critical because it drew the outfield in which enabled Nunez’s fly ball to center field to get over Craig Gentry’s head, good for a triple. Brent Lillibridge made like the hero next and looped a 1-0 slider into left for the go ahead base hit.

The Rangers went down like lambs against The Great Mariano in the 9th to the tune of a couple of strikeouts and a ground ball to short.

Final Score: Yanks 5, Rangers 4.

The Wife is always right (unless she’s wrong).

It was an unexpected and pleasing win for the Yanks. And despite the lousy outcome, the home crowd was treated to a handful of terrific plays in the filed–diving catches by Nelson Cruz, and Brett Gardner, and two beautiful stops at third base by Jurickson Profar.

My favorite fielding play, however, was when Robinson Cano fielded a ball behind second base and, still moving toward left field, half-turned and side-armed the ball to first. It was as if he flipped it but you can’t flip a ball that far, with that much on it. It was my favorite play because it showed off just how special this Cano is. We watch these guys because they are the best in the world, because they do things we can’t do. That’s what Cano does at second base sometimes–making it look so fluid that it appears easy.

[Photo Credit: Lm Otero/AP]

Late night of travel+Yu Darvish+a Gluten-free offense=3 hits. That’s what the Yanks mustered tonight, spoiling a perfectly nice outing from Ivan Nova–who has really looked good, hasn’t he?

Final Score: Rangers 3, Yanks 0.

So, with the Braun news out of the way, figure for the news cycle to reset and then the inevitable Alex Rodriguez suspension to follow in the coming days, right?

Cause it won’t be pretty. According to T.J. Quinn: “Sources tell @OTLonESPN evidence on A-Rod far beyond evidence v Braun. Charges expected to include accusation he interfered w investigation.”

[Photo Credit: James B. Knight]

So C.C. did in fact pick up where he left off. Staked to a tidy 3-0 lead, he promptly screwed the pooch and gave it away.

“I suck,” he said after the game. “I wish I had an excuse or something. … It’s embarrassing. I’ll just try to get through it. Figure something out and try to stop hurting this team and (start) helping.”

Soon, it was 7-3 and that figured to be that. But the Yanks crawled back in it and tied the score, 7-7. Then, the game stretched on, the Yanks left a ton of runners on base, and when it went into extra innings any thoughts of a good night’s sleep went with it. The Yanks got some impressive bullpen pitching, David Robertson got out of a bases loaded jam, and were jobbed by a bad call in the 11th. The longer it went, the more you knew it wasn’t going to end well.

And it didn’t when Mike Napoli hit his second homer of the game, this one a solo shot, to end it in the 11th.

Final Score: Red Sox 8, Yankees 7.

Kind of felt like this:

Last week I was talking to a Red Sox fan about how much I hate Red Sox fans. But then we got around to Angels fans and Blue Jays fans and fans of other teams and I had to amend my thought. I love to hate Red Sox fans but I respect them, too. Remember when Joe Torre came back from cancer in 1999 and the crowd at Fenway gave him a nice hand?

Well, the Sox fans showed their character again today, giving Mariano Rivera a standing ovation when he took the mound in the 9th. Sure, the Red Sox have faired relatively well against Rivera over the years–relative being the key word. But the cheers today were not ironic or sarcastic, they were sincere. Mo was deserving and they gave him his due.

That’s what’s up.

A nice moment in the final act of what turned out to be a satisfying 5-2 win for the Yanks. Hiroki pitched well, as is his custom, five hits in the 7th got him the runs he needed and Robertson and Mo put heads to bed to end it.

[Photo Via: USATSI]

The Yankees returned from the All-Star Break in fourth place in the standings and somewhere around eleventy-th place in our hearts. The first-place Red Sox, palpably better than the Yankees a la 2008 or 1916, took the first game of this three-game series playing it close at 4-2 but without breaking a sweat.

Andy Pettitte pitched into the seventh and put himself in great shape for a win in any other year of his Yankee career, but allowing four runs in front of the 2013 Yankees is a death sentence. And though the bullpen did cough up that last run for Andy, his performance, marred by two early homers, was nothing special.

The Yankee lineup, weak as a kitten under normal circumstances, lost outfielders Zoilo Almonte (hurt ankle) and Brett Gardner (hurt feelings) mid-game to drop them to Threat Level Koala. Let’s put it this way – in the crucial eighth inning, the Yankees had the tying runs in scoring position, two outs, and Luis Cruz, who was released earlier this year by the Dodgers for failing to be a better hitter than any of their pitchers, was allowed to bat for himself.

The season will likely slip away from the Yankees in the next few weeks as they face superior competition on the road. They have one asset that might bring back a meaningful player for their future and that’s Robinson Cano. But will whatever they get back for Cano be better than just signing the best second baseman in baseball to a long term deal? If the Yankees want to keep Cano long term, then they become buyers, but with a long, non-2013, view. And that allows them more flexibility and less urgency at the deadline.

I hate contemplating the end of the season at the break but the team is filled with bad players playing badly. Ichiro, who has been much maligned, is the third best offensive player on the team. Derek Jeter crawled back into his Bacta Tank and I saw Curtis Granderson’s face on a milk carton this morning.

Alex Rodriguez is reported to be coming back though, so the good news is that, finally, we’ll have somebody to blame for all of this.