The Yanks capped-off a nice day with a 5-2 win last night, as they swept a doubleheader in Texas. Mike Mussina looked sharp for five innings, good enough to earn his first win of the season. According to Tyler Kepner in the Times:

“I was hoping five innings is what I would be able to do,” said Mussina, who threw 49 strikes and only 15 balls. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have any really long innings, 25 pitches or so. I had better command than I expected, and I might have had a little better velocity than I expected the first time back.”

Kyle Farnsworth and Mariano Rivera pitched again, and while neither was as crisp as they had been in the afternoon, both managed to work around the rough spots. The Yanks have now won three straight. Godzilla and Alex Rodriguez each had a couple of hits, Derek Jeter had three, and Doug Mientkiewicz hit a two-run dinger.

In the Tell-Me-Something-I-Don’t-Know Department, rumor has it that Carl Pavano will need Tommy John surgery, which would fittingly keep him on the sidelines for the duration of his misbegotten contract with the Yankees.

The Yanks won a close one in the opener, 4-3. Pettitte wasn’t great but was certainly dogged. Giambi hit a bullet solo homer, though he made a bad running mistake late in the game. Farnsworth ended the eighth with a nasty slider; Mo was his old self in ninth. One thing that jumped out at me watching the post-game. They showed a slow-mo replay of the Yankee congrats-line at the end of the game. They followed Rivera along, dutifully giving dabs to each teammate, Jeter went by, some other guys, and then A Rod walked by and was very amped. He slapped Mo’s hands with authority. Mo got really amped up about it, it was cool to see. A Rod getting Mo juiced.

A very nice win for the Yanks. Now, the bats need to give Moose a whole lotta love in the night-cap. It’s poured since the end of Game One and jeez, the last thing Moose’s fincky ass needs is a wet field to come back to, but what can you do about it? Here’s to the Yanks getting the led out.

The single-admission doubleheader is a rarity in baseball these days, but thanks to last night’s rain-out, and the fact that this is the Yankees’ only trip to Texas this year, the Rangers will be hosting one today. Of course, they’ve split the game times, starting the first at 3:35 (2:25 local time in Arlington) and keeping the original start date for the nightcap at 8:05 (7:05 local) regardless of how early the opener ends.

In Game One, Andy Pettitte resumes his quest for win number two, but now faces Kevin Millwood rather than Robinson Tejeda (good news for Andy as Tejeda’s been much better than Millwood in the early going). Tejeda will then start the nightcap against Mike Mussina, who will swap places on the roster/DL with Phil Hughes.

Mussina has been out exactly three weeks with what was originally considered a very minor hamstring tweak that might not even require a DL stay. It’s amazing to think about how thing have changed while Moose has been away. When he took the mound in Minnesota for his second start of the year, the Yankees were 4-3. They then lost that game after he pulled up lame and went on to surrender a pair of walk-off wins to the A’s in Oakland, but recovered to sweep the Indians at home to run their record to 8-6.

Then it all fell apart. With Mussina, Carl Pavano, Chien-Ming Wang, and Hideki Matsui on the disabled list, the Yankees rolled into Boston with Jeff Karstens and Chase Wright making two of their three starts and lost a trio of heartbreakers, the first of which saw Mariano Rivera blow his second consecutive save opportunity. Slinking into Tampa, Kei Igawa melted down and lost his rotation spot, ruining Matsui’s return, and the bullpen was unable to convert Chien-Ming Wang’s first start into a win, handing the Yankee ace the loss by allowing his bequeathed runners to score. Losses to the Blue Jays (in Phil Hughes major league debut) and Red Sox (an unexpected Andy Pettitte meltdown) followed, pushing the losing streak to seven before Igawa unexpectedly salvaged a game in which a comebacker on the very first pitch broke Karstens leg. Inclusive of that game the Yankees have won two of their last three, but their most recent win was tainted by the loss of Hughes to a serious hamstring injury . . . in the seventh inning of a no-hitter no less.

Oh the drama!

Meanwhile, Pavano, who hit the DL the same day as Mussina, has cut his most recent bullpen session short and hopped a plane to Alabama to see Tommy John specialist Dr. James Andrews. Meat’s back on the indefinite DL, and Hughes is likely out until the All-Star Break, so the Yankees hopes of a turnaround are largely on the shoulders of the two men who will be pitching today.

But no pressure.

Update: Chris Britton takes Hughes’s roster spot for the first game and will be optioned in favor of Mussina before game two. Mike Wood starts in place of Millwood in game one, giving the Yankees an even more favorable matchup (Mike Wood, Millwood, Millwood, Mike Wood, let’s call the whole thing off).

Bernie Carbo—Topps Company—1980 (No. 266)

Pictured here in his last Topps trading card, Bernie Carbo epitomizes the caricature of the 1970s flake. With his unusually permed hair and his slightly dazed look, Carbo appears to be preoccupied with thoughts that have nothing to do with baseball. (And I’m not sure what Carbo did to the pictured bat, which appears to have been slathered in mud from bottom to barrel!)

Like many fans of the game, I usually perceived Bernie Carbo as I viewed this card—with amusement. Recently though, Carbo offered some sobering revelations about his life during a lecture in Worcester, Massachusetts. Not surprisingly, the roots of at least some of his bizarre behavior could be found in a habit that is something other than amusing, specifically a steady drinking problem that evolved into full-blown alcoholism by the time that Carbo reached his 19^th birthday.

For those not familiar with the life and times of Bernie Carbo, he compiled a long list of "eccentricities" during a baseball career that spanned the decade of the 1970s:

*After an early-career trade that sent him from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Boston Red Sox, Carbo received a stuffed gorilla from former Cardinals teammate Scipio Spinks. Carbo’s new friend earned the name "Mighty Joe Young," in honor to the legendary film character from 1930s cinema. When on road trips, Carbo did not like to travel alone; therefore, he usually took his "companion" with him. In order to ensure that his pet "gorilla" would remain by his side, Carbo often paid for an extra ticket. For Carbo, it was well worth the expense.

*Shortly after joining the Red Sox, Carbo gave $20 to an older gentleman who was in the Boston clubhouse and asked him to fetch a cheeseburger and fries. Carbo thought the older man was a clubhouse attendant. He didn’t realize that he was actually Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey. Ah yes, that’s the way to make the boss feel important.

*Playing on June 26, 1975 in a game against the rival Yankees, Carbo made a daring catch at the right-field wall at Fenway Park, robbing Chris Chambliss of a home run. Carbo crashed into the wall, somehow escaping injury but managing to lose the chaw of tobacco he had in his mouth. Carbo then asked umpires for time, so that he could search the outfield for the missing chaw. After holding up the game for nearly ten minutes, Carbo finally found the tobacco lying on the warning track. He picked up the filthy chaw and put it directly back into his mouth, most likely to the disgust of the fans watching from the right-field stands.

*Carbo was one of the few major leaguers who harbored interest in becoming a professional hairdresser. (Please don’t think that I harbor any ill feelings toward the profession of hairdressing; it just seems a bit unusual for a major league ballplayer.) Following the end of his baseball career, Carbo went to cosmetology school and operated a hair salon for eight years. During his playing days, Bernie coifed his hair in a permanent, which was certainly not out of the ordinary for 1970s culture but was fairly uncommon for ballplayers of that decade.

At the time, many of Carbo’s habits were considered quaint—some still are—but some of his on-field mental lapses were likely influenced by his addiction to alcohol and drugs. Carbo managed to keep his drug problems quiet for much of his career, but talked openly about them after his retirement from the game. "I was a drug addict and alcoholic for 28 years," Carbo first told The Sporting News in 2001. "I started drinking when I was about 16 or 17, started on marijuana when I was 21, did cocaine when I was 22 or 23, and got into crystal meth, Dexedrines, Benzedrines, Darvons, codeine. There wasn’t much I didn’t do."

In 1989, Carbo’s problems escalated. His mother committed suicide. A few months later, his father passed away. Carbo himself then went through a divorce. He contemplated suicide. "I did not want to live in this world," Carbo admitted.

Fortunately, two of Carbo’s former teammates with the Boston Red Sox learned of his plight. Ferguson Jenkins and Bill Lee, both of whom had experienced their full share of personal problems, placed calls to Carbo. They convinced him to address his drug problems by entering rehabilitation. During his time in rehab, Carbo learned about Christianity. Embracing the values of the religion, Carbo became a Christian minister while also performing as a motivational speaker.

Though his ascent from depression and drugs has been laudable, Carbo’s travails have not ended. In addition to losing his mother through suicide, Carbo watched his three daughters land in prison because of their involvement with selling drugs. One of the daughters remains behind bars, which explains why Carbo is attempting to adopt three of his grandchildren, all under the age of ten. Carbo’s efforts to gain custody of the children has stirred debate on some internet baseball sites, with some dissenters claiming that his past involvement with drugs and alcohol should preclude the adoption.

I have no idea whether Carbo should be allowed to adopt those children. I simply don’t know him that well. But I have to admit I’m rooting for him. He was a good role player, an underrated hitter with power who sometimes walked more than he struck out. He was a likeable and fun personality who brought life to clubhouses in Cincinnati, St. Louis, Boston, and a few other ports of call in the 1970s. He has also overcome serious drug and alcohol addiction—at least for the moment—and has come back from the verge of suicide to do some meaningful work as a counselor and social worker.

I hope that Carbo can make that final step and complete the transition from caricature of the 1970s to reliable grandfather in the new millennium.

Last fall, fans and media were calling for Joe Torre’s head. The Yankees had been eliminated from the ALDS in four games and the season long tension surrounding Alex Rodriguez, which had been rekindled by a back-biting Sports Illustrated article by Tom Verducci for which Torre had been a primary source, had culminated with Torre batting Rodriguez eighth in the elimination game. In response, Brian Cashman fired media relations director Rick Cerrone (well, technically he non-renewed him).

This spring, fans and media have been calling for Joe Torre’s head. The Yankees are languishing in last place after a dreadful April performance marked by a near complete collapse of the pitching staff. That collapse was touched off by poor performance by the starters, which lead to an increased strain on the bullpen, and has been perpetuated by a series of injuries to the rotation. Most curiously, three Yankee starting pitchers and Hideki Matsui have hit the disabled list with hamstring strains, the most recent being überprospect Phil Hughes, who went down in the midst of throwing a no-hitter. In response, Brian Cahsman has fired director of performance enhancement Marty Miller.

In both cases, Cashman gave the blood-thirsty hordes a head on a spike without disrupting the core of the team, a surgical strike, if you will, as opposed to a massacre. As for the hordes, blood has been spilled. Move along.

As for tonight’s game. Andy Pettitte looks to avoid the mysterious fifth-inning collapse he suffered against the Red Sox on Friday and pick up his long-delayed second win of the season. In his way stands 25-year-old Robinson Tejeda, who has been far and away the Rangers’ best starter in the early going.

Incidentally, for those who missed it, the Rangers made a couple of roster moves before yesterday’s game, placing Frank Catalanotto on the disabled list and calling up ex-Met Victor Diaz (who was promptly inserted into the clean-up spot and victimized by a monstrous Phil Hughes curve in his first major league at-bat in twelve months), and exchanging righty reliever Scott Feldman for counterpart Mike Wood.

It’s just been that kind of year for the New York Yankees.

The Bombers bust out with ten runs against the Rangers last night, driving Kameron Loe from the game in the fifth. Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano had the big days, both picking up a pair of doubles (the Yanks had six on the night), Jorge going 3 for 4 with a walk, 2 RBIs and 3 runs scored, Cano going 4 for 5 with 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Every Yankee starter reached base at least once. That includes the slumping Bobby Abreu (1 for 6), who moved to the leadoff spot in place of Johnny Damon, who got an extra day off following four chiropractic sessons and says he’s feeling great, and Doug Mientkiewicz (1 for 5, RBI).

While all that was going on, Phil Hughes was carving up the Texas Rangers’ lineup in just his second major league start. Hughes walked Kenny Lofton to start the game after getting ahead of him 0-2, but erased him on a double play off the bat of Michael Young and struck out Mark Teixeira. In the second, he walked Hank Blalock only to erase him on a double play as well, this one off the bat of the hot-hitting Ian Kinsler. Hughes didn’t allow a ball out of the infield until Blalock’s fly out for the second out of the fifth, and faced the minimum until he walked Kinsler following Blalock’s fly out. Along the way he simply dominated. He started the second by striking out Victor Diaz (just called up from triple-A to take the place of the just-DLed Frank Catalanotto) on a wicked curve ball that literally dropped from Diaz’s nose to his toes (it’s the first pitch shown in this ESPN highlight clip). He then started the third by pumping three fastballs past Brad Wilkerson. Hughes had been 0-2 on the two hitters he walked in the first two innings and when he got Wilkerson 0-2 he shook off Posada to get the fastball, sending Wilkerson back to the bench on three pitches. His fastball was clocked at 91-92 miles per hour by the YES gun, but had explosive late movement. That heater, the wicked curve, and his change combined to give Hughes six strikeouts through 6 1/3 efficient innings (83 pitches, 64 percent strikes).

Put simply, Hughes had no-hit stuff last night. Indeed, he didn’t allow a hit through those 6 1/3 innings. Then, with one out in the seventh and two strikes on Teixeira, Hughes reached back to break off an extra wicked curve ball, overextending as he followed through on the delivery, and felt his left hamstring pop.

That was it for Hughes no-hit bid. Hughes was removed from the game at that point and said after the game that there was no way he could have throw another pitch. He’ll remain with the team for the rest of this short three-game road trip and likely get an MRI when they return to New York, but a trip to the disabled list is a certainty. The ESPN highlight linked above says Hughes will be out four to six weeks, though I’m not sure where they got that information. Peter Abraham thinks it will be a couple of months. Obviously, the Yankees won’t be able to wager a guess themselves until Hughes gets his MRI.

The loss of Hughes is a blow to the rotation considering the fact that he was already delivering on his promise in just his second major league start, but in a twisted way this injury could be a good thing in the long run. Certainly the Yankees are lucky that it was Hughes’ hamstring and not anything in his right arm that went pop, and having him spend most of the next two months on the DL could go a long way toward protecting that right arm. Brian Cashman had said before the game that Hughes was in the major league rotation to stay; that his development would continue at the major league level. That’s a frightening change of plans regarding a 20-year-old pitcher who could be the most important asset this franchise has. Now, Hughes’ hamstring will force the Yankees to bring him back along more slowly, and will limit his aggregate innings pitched to a reasonable total rather than the 200-plus he could have thrown if left in the rotation for the remainder of the season.

I’m not saying I’m glad that Hughes is injured. Certainly you don’t want to see a young player hurt, and hamstrings have a habit of reoccurring, so you certainly don’t want to see that pattern develop in any player, particularly one as important as Hughes. I do think, however, that the injury will protect Hughes from the team’s desperation to overuse him this season, and I look forward to seeing more performances like last night’s once he returns to the rotation, which hopefully will happen by the All-Star break at the absolute latest.

In the meantime, with Mike Mussina coming back on Thursday and Kei Igawa installed back in the rotation after his tremendous emergency performance on Saturday, the Yankees can turn to Darrell Rasner or, as Abraham suggests, Matt DeSalvo to fill the fifth spot in the rotation while Hughes (and Carl Pavano, of course) is on the shelf (of course, DeSalvo isn’t on the 40-man roster right now).

As for the no-hitter, Mike Myers finished the seventh without incident, but blew the no-hitter and the shutout in the eighth. Still, thanks to another double play, the Rangers sent just 29 batters to the plate on the night, falling to the Yankees by the final score of 10-1. Luis Vizcaino finished the game in the ninth, marking just the third time all season that the Yankees completed a game with just three pitchers (the other two times both coming in their first road series in Minnesota in games started by Andy Pettite and, yes, Carl Pavano).

Really, everything that needed to go right for the Yankees last night did, with one glaring exception.

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First thing’s first. Joe Torre is not going to get fired, in part because George Steinbrenner is in no condition to fire him. If Joe’s going to be fired, Brian Cashman will have to do it, and that’s not going to happen. Cashman would have to go before Joe, and that’s a far more significant move now that Cashman’s finally executing his own vision for this team, which as poorly as this season has begun, has reaped benefits in the sense that the pitching reinforcements are finally coming in the form of young minor league talent rather than washed up veterans of the Sidney Ponson and Scott Erickson variety. Hell, Cotler Bean is on the 25-man roster. Colter Bean! If that’s not the indication of a significant change in attitude, I don’t know what is.

Further to that, Phil Hughes makes his second big league start tonight in Texas. In his first start, Hughes looked appropriately nervous in the first inning and understandably winded in the fifth, but put together three solid innings in between in which he allowed just a single and a walk while striking out three. Hughes peripherals for his entire 4 1/3 inning debut were excellent (5 K, 1 BB, the majority of his outs coming on the ground, and just one of his seven hits allowed going for extra bases). On the flip side, Hughes didn’t look very good against the experienced major league hitters in the Toronto lineup (Alex Rios, Vernon Wells, Frank Thomas, and Lyle Overbay were a combined 6 for 9 with a walk, a double, and no strikeouts against Hughes with two of their three outs coming in the air).

Obviously it will be interesting to see what Hughes can do now that he’s dealt with those debut jitters. That said, I still think he should be swapped out for Darrell Rasner regardless of his performance tonight, if only to keep his innings pitched limited for another month or so, at which point he can be safely loosed up on the American League for the remainder of the year.

On the mound for the Rangers will be Scott Brosius look alike and snake lover Kameron Loe. The Rangers’ fifth starter, Loe started the year in the bullpen, posting a 5.40 ERA after five appearances. He’s since earned his 1-1 record in two starts, throwing 5 1/3 innings of shutout ball at the weak-hitting A’s in the first and getting lit up over the same span by the heavy-hitting Indians in the last.

As for the rest of the Texas squad, sophomore second baseman Ian Kinsler has been tearing the cover off the ball, and reclamation project Sammy Sosa has been depositing mistakes in the seats like a late-career Jose Canseco, but the rest of the team is scuffling, including stars Mark Teixeira (always a slow starter) and Michael Young (a miserable .215/.236/.346). Out in the bullpen, closer Akinori Otsuka has been dominant, and lefties C. J. Wilson and Ron Mahay have been solid, but their cast of supporting right-handers has been a mess, as has most of the starting rotation, particularly high-profile off-season trade target Brandon McCarthy. Still, they’ve won a higher percentage of their games than the Yankees, but then that’s true of every AL team other than the Royals. May Day, indeed.

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By now, you’ve heard everything remotely possible breaking down the speculation of Joe Torre’s firing and George Steinbrenner’s statement, which added some slack to the leash on Torre and GM Brian Cashman.

The Yankees finished April losing eight of nine – including five of six to the Red Sox – a 9-14 overall record, a walking wounded list that an NFL team would envy, and numerous questions regarding the cause of their demise. The Yankees led in all five of those games. In four of the eight losses, the Yankees held leads in the seventh inning or later. They could easily be 15-8, 16-7 or 17-6; they’d still have the same flaws but because the victories would far outnumber the defeats, we wouldn’t be discussing the current state of affairs.

As we know, “losing is not acceptable.”

Torre is a convenient scapegoat. He is certainly part of the problem, but he’s not the sole reason for the poor start. He’s correct in that Torre didn’t re-sign a fragile Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte, or bid way too much for Kei Igawa, who should probably be a situational reliever in the Hideki Okajima mold. Torre hasn’t gone 1-for his last 20 like Bob Abreu. He isn’t whining about cramps in his forearm or calling throwing 20 of 45 pitches off a mound “progress.” He didn’t catch too much of the plate with a pitch to Marco Scutaro in Oakland or to Coco Crisp at Fenway. He isn’t the LOOGY (lefty one-out guy) who is throwing up loogies.

Don Zimmer told the New York Post that Cashman is the problem, and that the Torre criticism is unjust. Because he served as Torre’s consiglieri for eight seasons, his words can be taken seriously on one level. Don’t discount Zimmer’s bitterness toward the Yankee organization, however. When Zimmer and Steinbrenner had their tiff during the 2003 season – YES was prohibited from showing Zimmer on camera during games, he was forbidden from appearing on any network programs, and he declined several interview requests for the dot.com – Torre was affected. He’s never outwardly said it, but do remember the frequent camera shots where it appeared Torre was sleeping during games? You don’t see them too much anymore. From 1996-2003, Torre managed the egos and media — he still does — but he lost a great tactician in Zimmer. It’s not a stretch to conclude that the results would be better if Torre still had his right-hand man. Torre is on his fourth bench coach in as many seasons, and while all were capable despite never having comparable experience, none was as good as Zimmer. It’s not a coincidence that Zimmer’s absence and three straight years of “Fire Joe” talk have paralleled each other.

Three years ago, the Yankee rotation’s mediocre performance was the foundation for 61 comeback victories. What happened over the past weekend is similar to two years ago, when the Yankees started the season 11-19 — including losing six of seven to the Red Sox — brought up Chien-Ming Wang in late April and Robinson Cano in early May in Tampa. The team went through growing pains before rattling off 10 straight wins on a West Coast trip (Cano batted close to .400 on that trip after starting is Major League career 0-for-22), and eking out the Division in Boston on the season’s final weekend. Injuries befell the team early last season as well. There were no revelations like Aaron Small and Shawn Chacon going 17-3 as in 2005, but the team bore down and got through its funk.

The Daily News’ Bob Raissman pointed out that Sterling and Waldman are blaming the media for “looking for stories” over the course of April; that seasons aren’t decided in the first month. Tell that to the 1988 Baltimore Orioles or any Tampa Bay Devil Rays team prior to this season.

Steinbrenner is not forcing hair-trigger moves like the Raul Mondesi trade of 2002 following the inexplicable placement of Enrique Wilson in right field against the Mets (correction: I mistakenly wrote Red Sox). But while he’s only speaking to the media through his publicist, Howard Rubinstein, and to a lesser degree team president Randy Levine and COO Lonn Trost, for as long as he’s alive, he is omnipresent in that front office.

The culture he has created, where pressure to win is so intense that any letdown is considered failure, is a double-edged sword. Are the media creating the state of emergency when Brian Cashman tells Anthony McCarron of the Daily News that he’s “never felt secure” in his job? Are they formulating fiction when Torre likens this aspect of the job to “dancing with the heat”?

When Jerome from Manhattan calls Steve Sommers’ show and says, “They won’t come out of this. Torre and Cashman need to be fired,” is that a media creation or an extension of the spoiled Yankee culture?

Starting last Friday, when the Torre/Cashman smoke billowed, the coverage on all accounts – from broadcast – except Sterling and Waldman on WCBS – the papers and the blogosphere has deftly mixed hard-news reporting, analysis, speculation, projection, and the columnists like Joel Sherman have offered provocative and practical solutions. Scribes like Bill Madden have pointed out the unfairness of bringing in Don Mattingly at this point and questioned other possibilities like Larry Bowa. 

Mike and the Mad Dog – more Russo than Francesa – claim that Torre has continued to return and put himself in the line of fire for the financial gain. I don’t know Torre beyond my reporter/manager dealings with him, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that was true. Prior success is also a motivating factor. He basked in the glory of four championships and was arguably the most popular manager the city has seen. Wouldn’t you want to go out on a high note and recapture that high?

“(Torre) will be the manager when the Yankees play Texas, but I think he’s one or two more bad series away from being fired,” Buster Olney told Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic on ESPN Radio Monday morning.

Olney acknowledged George Steinbrenner’s desire to scapegoat Torre in previous years, noting – as did the NY Post’s George King on Monday– that Cashman talked him out of firing Torre. Two years ago, following Mel Stottlemyre’s resignation, the prevailing thought was that Torre would be gone. Cashman and Steve Swindal talked him into coming back.

Joe Girardi told Michael Kay Monday afternoon that the team still doesn’t have an identity. He said to see where things are on June 1. By then, Roger Clemens may be here, the Yankees could be in first place and for another year, we’ll be talking about the greatest managerial job Torre and Cashman have done.

The thing to remember while processing the “manager/GM job watch” story is this: the media haven’t created the environment, they are a product of it.

George Steinbrenner released a statement yesterday:

“The season is still very young, but up to now the results are clearly not acceptable to me or to Yankee fans. However, Brian Cashman our general manager, Joe Torre our manager and our players all believe that they will turn this around quickly. I believe in them. I am here to support them in any way to help them accomplish this turnaround. It is time to put excuses and talk away. It is time to see if people are ready to step up and accept their responsibilities. It is time for all of them to show me and the fans what they are made of. Let’s get going. Let’s go out and win and bring a world championship back to New York. That’s what I want.”

Chien-Ming Wang is able to survive his alarmingly low strikeout rate by keeping his walks down and by inducing ground balls, the latter of which not only turn into outs with great frequency, but also rarely go for extra bases. Yesterday, Wang illustrated that formula for success by failing to execute it. Though none of Wang’s three walks came around to score, he did give up four runs in six innings because of the three extra-base hits he allowed. In the first, he gave up a solo home run to David Ortiz with two outs. In the third he gave up a leadoff triple to Coco Crisp that scored on a subsequent groundout by Alex Cora, and in the fifth, after hitting Crisp in the toe with one of his sinkers, he gave up another home run to Cora, the Red Sox’s surprise star of the game.

The Yankees countered the first two runs on an equally surprising three-run homer by Doug Mientkiewicz in the third, but Scott Proctor and Sean Henn combined to allow three more Boston runs (a Cora triple off Proctor in the seventh that was plated on a sac fly and a two-run Manny Ramirez homer off Henn in the eighth) before the Yankees were able to add their fourth tally on a Derek Jeter solo shot in the bottom of the eighth.

As it turns out, Wang was pitching with a broken nail on his pitching hand from the third inning on, thus the three walks, one hit batter, wild pitch (all of which came after the third inning), and unusual number of extra base knocks (Wang, who allowed just 12 homers all of last year hadn’t allowed two homers in a single game since June 28, 2005). The nail on Wang’s right index finger cracked in half perpendicular to his finger. According to Peter Abraham, Wang has reportedly fixed similar problems with glue in the past and says he will make his next start.

Despite not being on his game, Wang could have done worse. He gave the Yankees six innings and got 13 of his 18 outs on the ground (plus one K), but the nail effected his control, causing him to leave too many balls up in the zone. In addition to the two homers, both booming shots, and Crisp’s triple, Wang got two of his outs in the sixth on booming fly balls. Those shots, combined with a walk and wild pitch in that sixth frame, motivated Joe Torre to remove him after just 84 pitches.

At the plate, Alex Rodriguez went 2 for 4, including a one-out single in the sixth with the Yankees down 4-3 and Derek Jeter on base representing the tying run, but did not add to his homer or RBI totals. He thus finishes April tied with Albert Pujols for the most home runs ever in the month of April and second to Juan Gonzalez for the most RBIs ever in April. His final April line:

.355/.415/.882, 23 G, 27 R, 7 2B, 14 HR, 34 RBI, 23 K, 2 SB, 0 CS

Bobby Abreu broke an 0-for-19 slump with a single in the eighth inning.

On the injury front, Jeff Karstens was placed on the 15-day DL with a fractured right fibula, he’s expected to miss six-to-eight weeks. Colter Bean was recalled from Scranton to fill Karstens’ spot. Bean, who was a high school and college teammate of Josh Hancock’s, will likely return to the minors when Mike Mussina comes off the DL on Thursday. Johnny Damon will see a doctor about his aching back during today’s off day. Pavano threw 45 pitches in the bullpen, 20 of them from the top of the mound. He’ll throw again mid-week, but will remain on the DL for at least three weeks (which I read as “indefinitely”).

Final note from the Abraham post linked above: “The Yankees used five pitchers for the 10th straight game. That is the longest such streak in at least 50 years according to the Elias Sports Bureau.” The Karstens/Igawa game seems like a bit of a technicality there, but still, that about sums it up. One of these days, Joe Torre has to let his starter throw 110 pitches and let a single reliever finish the game regardless of the score. It’s every bit as important to break that streak as it was to snap the losing streak that ended on Saturday.

Julio Lugo lined Jeff Kartsen’s first pitch off the pitchers’ right leg yesterday bringing to mind the lyric, If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all. “You can’t print was going through my head and coming out of my mouth at the time that happened,” Yankee GM Brian Cashman said after the game (he also added, “0-7 feels like 0-14 in New York”). Kartsens threw five more pitches before giving up a single to Kevin Youkilis and was removed from the game. Turns out the kid has a fractured fibula.

So with no out and two runners on in the first, Kei Igawa entered to face David Ortiz. Not a promising site for the Yankees. But Igawa got Cookie Monster to hit into a double play and pitched into the seventh inning without allowing a run. Brian Bruney, Kyle Karnsworth and Mariano Rivera held the Sox to just one run the rest of the way as the Yanks pulled out tense, hard-earned 3-1 win. Bruney was excellent, Farnsworth not so much. He struck out Manny Ramirez looking, throwing nothing but sliders for strikes. Manny didn’t even take the bat off his shoulder. When is the last time you saw that? Coco Crisp was called out on strikes to end the eighth inning. He angrily threw his bat and helmet to the ground and was promptly tossed. Though home plate ump Bruce Froemming called wide strikes equally for both teams, it was hard to blame Crisp for being vexed. He didn’t have a chance to do anything with those “strikes.”

Jason Varitek got his third hit off of Mariano Rivera this season to start the ninth. But Rivera was helped out by a slick bare-handed play by Alex Rodriguez and held on for the save. After the game, Cliff e-mailed me, “Was that the tensest 9th inning you can remember in a long time or is it me?” He added that the win was “Huge in like 900 ways.”

Jorge Posada’s two-run homer proved to be the difference. If the Yanks can pull out a win today, it will be a huge relief for New York. If they lose, we’re back to fret-con-one.

The Yankee offense did a decent job against D. Matsuzaka for the second time in a week, but Boston’s bullpen was excellent and New York’s pitching was absolute horses*** as the Red Sox rolled 11-4. Andy Pettitte was lousy and, adding insult to injury, Mariano Rivera was even worse. That makes it seven losses in a row for the Yanks. I guess it can get worse.

I know Steinbrenner isn’t what he once was, but if this keeps up, would anyone really be suprised if heads roll?

I know I said last week that I’d do a full breakdown in previewing this series, but frankly, I’m winded. While no one expected the Yankees to win more than on game in Boston last weekend, their being swept in a series that was actually more evenly matched than most anticipated was a bitter pill and their three loses this past week that have pushed their overall slide to six games has even the most optimistic Yankee fans shaking their heads.

The Yankees are languishing in last place with the third worst record in the AL and the fifth-worst in baseball, yet their Pythagorean winning percentage is .562. There are two reasons for that. The first is that the Yankee offense, despite being shut out for the first time all season last night, is still the most productive in baseball, scoring six runs per game. The second is that the Yankee bullpen, which looked like a major strength entering the season, has blown seven saves. Losing close and winning big, that’s how a team underperforms it’s Pythagorean, and that’s exactly what the Yankees have been doing. Only two of the Yankees’ 12 loses have been by more than two runs. Think about that. Eight times they’ve been a bloop and a blast away from tying or winning a game in their final at bat, but eventually lost (two of those close losses were walk-off jobs in Oakland) including five of their current six-game losing streak. On the flip side, three of their eight wins have come in their final at-bat (the two game winners by Alex Rodriguez and Giambi’s tie-breaker in extras in Oakland).

That’s exhausting baseball, and exhaustion is exactly the problem. The rotation was supposed to shape up before it shredded the bullpen. That didn’t happen. The offense is the best in the league but the best isn’t good enough to overcome the team’s pitching woes. Chien-Ming Wang and Andy Pettitte give the Yankees a powerful 1-2 punch atop the rotation, and both will face the Sox this weekend, but the Yankees have lost four of the five games those two have started because of the strain placed on the bullpen by the rest of the rotation. The pen appeared to get a reprieve with Wednesday night’s rain out, but having already soured on Japanese import Kei Igawa, who’s been pulled from the rotation, the team asked 20-year-old rookie phenom Phil Hughes to make his major league debut last night and thus needed another 4 2/3 innings from the bullpen. With the pen already exhausted, however, there was no one Joe Torre could turn to as a long man for mop up duty short of Igawa himself, so those 4 2/3 innings saw him burn through four of his seven relievers.

As a result the only fully rested relief arms for tonight’s game are Luis Vizcaino, Kyle Farnsworth and Mariano Rivera, who have been the team’s worst performers in the early going. Vizcaino was the pitcher most abused in the early going, but there’s reason for optimism with Farnsworth and Rivera. Rivera, of course, is Mariano Rivera, and pitched a scoreless inning on Monday, working around a hit to strike out two. Farnsworth, meanwhile, has turned in a scoreless frame in each of his last four outings, allowing just two hits and a walk over that span while striking out three (though three Ks in 4 IP is still a bit low for him).

In other good news, Wang looked like he was in midseason form in his debut on Tuesday, picking up the loss only because of the failures of the bullpen, and Hideki Matsui has also hit the ground running since being activated from the disabled list on Monday going 2 for 7 with a homer and five walks (.583 OBP). It may not seem like it, but the Yankees are a strong team than they were a week ago heading into Boston.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, were merely .500 on the week, dropping a pair at home to the Blue Jays by a combined score of 17-6, but beating the Orioles twice in Baltimore by a combined score of 11-3. The good news is that the Yankees will be facing the guys who pitched against Toronto (Tim Wakefield and Julian Tavarez), and not the ones who faced Baltimore (Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett).

Tonight, they get their second crack at Daisuke Matsuzaka. The Yanks touched Matsuzaka up for six runs in seven innings on Sunday, one of them coming on a Derek Jeter homer over the Green Monster. On the other hand, Matsuzaka struck out seven Yankees and walked just one. Meanwhile, Andy Pettitte excelled against the Sox a week ago tonight, holding them to two runs over 6 1/3 innings, but Andy’s peripherals were less impressive than Matsuzaka’s. I’m anticipating a pitchers’ duel tonight, which should simply add to the exhaustion factor for those of us watching the game, but could be a benefit to the Yankee bullpen.

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. . . you’re not in Trenton anymore.

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You can see why people are so high on Phil Hughes. He has a nice fastball–imagine that, a Yankee starter with the ability to throw a fastball past a hitter?!–a good curve and is unafraid to throw a change-up too (at one point early in the game he threw three straight change-ups). He fell behind too many hitters, and Alex Rios and Vernon Wells hit the ball hard off him in the first inning (Frank Thomas also connected for an RBI single; Hughes made a good pitch against him, fastball on the outside corner, but The Big Hurt showed why he’s a Hall of Fame hitter by slapping it into right). Hughes was just adequate last night, giving up four runs in less than five innings, but he’s certainly more promising than the likes of Kei Igawa, the Bombers’ new mop-up man in the bullpen.

“I certainly wasn’t disappointed,” Torre said. “I didn’t think he was out of his league, by any stretch of the imagination.”

…”The big thing I saw was even when he was down, he kept coming,” catcher Jorge Posada said. “That’s the sign of a good pitcher. I was really happy.”
(Tyler Kepner, N.Y. Times)

Unfortunately for the Yanks, Toronto’s answer to Nuke Laloosh, A.J. Burnett, was in fine form, pitching seven shut-out innings. The Bombers managed only four hits all night and lost their sixth straight game. Final score: Jays 6, Yanks 0.

How could Yankee fans be anything but glum watching the game last night? Oy and veh. The most exciting moment offensively came when Alex Rodriguez hit a ball to the warning track in dead center. It sounded great but came up just short. I did notice late in the game, both Johnny Damon and Alex Rodriguez smiling, so it doesn’t appear as if the players are too tight yet. After the game, however, Damon told reporters:

“There’s going to be panic soon, if the winning doesn’t start,” Johnny Damon said, although he quickly backtracked after realizing how that honesty came across. “We’re not panicking, but we need to get on track soon. It doesn’t matter who we get back on track with, we just need to start winning games sometime.”
(Peter Botte, N.Y. Daily News)

I think the Yanks will turn it around shortly. Surely, it can’t get much worse, can it? I’m more frustrated than panicked. It is dark and rainy in New York this morning with thundershowers in the forecast for much of the day. It is also supposed to rain tomorrow. I wonder how many games the Yanks and Sox will get in?

 

Last July, Steven Goldman and I headed down to Trenton to see 20-year-old Phil Hughes start against the Akron Aeros. The above and below are two of a series of photos I snapped during that game. Hughes dominated the Aeros that night, striking out eight in four innings, but a long rain delay ended his evening there. With Hughes due to make his major league debut tonight after just three triple-A starts, I thought these photos would explain what my words might fail to sufficiently communicate. That is, quite simply, that regardless of a players skill level, it’s still a long way from double-A to the major leagues.

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Ballard’s piece on Bobby V isn’t the only reason to check out SI this week. Tom Verducci deconstructs Alex Rodriguez’s hitting. Verducci gets the skinny from the Yankees hitting coach, Kevin Long, who “identified three major flaw” with Rodriguez’s 2006 swing:

• Rodriguez would sometimes drag his back foot forward rather than leave it in place as he began his swing, which decreased his leverage.

• He would let his hands drift too far from his body during the swing, making it longer and “looser.”

• His front leg kick, a trigger mechanism, had become grossly exaggerated. Rodriguez would sometimes lift his left knee as high as his waist, then step toward the pitcher with that leg — a maneuver that would cause him to bring his front foot down late and violently, which created a tightness and imbalance in his swing.

“His leg kick was getting to a point where it wasn’t getting down on time,” Long says. “Your front foot has to land when the ball is about halfway to the plate. His was coming down much later than that. When that happens, you have to catch up a lot. You rush, and your body tends to drift [toward the pitcher].”

Long drastically cut the height of Rodriguez’s leg kick and virtually eliminated the stride, instructing him to simply move his left foot up and down, not toward the pitcher. Now Rodriguez’s left foot lands much softer and earlier, which gets him into a loaded, better-balanced position to hit. The changes also eliminated his drift and allowed him to keep his hands in tighter to his body, improving his core rotation. Think of a spinning figure skater: The closer the hands are to the body and the more stable the axis, the faster the skater spins. For Rodriguez, a faster, tighter spin has created better bat speed and power.

Rodriguez grooved his rebuilt swing through the winter to hit balls on a line into the back of the cage’s net, an approach that de-emphasized lift and the temptation to pull the ball. Whereas Rodriguez actually fretted last season about how many home runs he hit in batting practice, Long has encouraged Rodriguez to maintain his line-drive approach in batting practice this year. Indeed, A-Rod did not hit one batting practice home run on Friday at cozy Fenway Park.

Over at The Baseball Analysts, Jeff Albert has a great take on Rodriguez’s April, complete with images. Albert concludes:

While I am not so sure A-Rod will top 120 HR this season, I don’t feel that this is simply a hot streak. What we are seeing is a great player making great adjustments and setting himself up for a great year.

Our good pal Jay Jaffe also tackles Rodriguez’s hot start over at BP and The New York Sun.

Meanwhile, Jon Heyman has the latest on The Boss and the boys at River Ave. Blues tell us everything we need to know about Phillip Hughes (but were afraid to ask).

In the late 70s my father had a brief stint as a production manager for SNL. I remember him going to the Mets spring training camp (where they filmed the “Baseball been berry, berry good to me,” sketch). When he returned, I peppered him with questions about who his favorite players were and was disappointed when he answered, “Bobby Valentine.” Who? Bobby Valentine was a scrub. But years later, I understood perfectly well why Valentine appealed to my father. Bobby V is smart, articulate, charming, and just a tad egotistical (plus, he’s generally convinced that he’s Right about most things). Valentine has made it and he’s done it His way, my dad’s kind of guy. Even when I find him abrasive, I never really dislike Valentine, probably because he reminds me of my old man. And I just find him very amusing.

There is an entertaining (and lengthy) piece on Bobby V this week in SI by Chris Ballard. Check it out.

Andy Pettitte was scheduled to pitch last night, but after the game was warshed-out, he’s being pushed to Friday, when Boston comes to town for a weekend series. Which means Phillip Hughes will start tonight as previously planned. After Chase Wright’s poor outing at Fenway last weekend, the Yankees are intent on keeping the pressure off Hughes, who’ll be plenty anxious anyhow, as he makes his big league debut (Cliff will be at the game tonight and hopefully will have some flicks for us to check out in the a.m.).

“I don’t know how he’s going to handle it,” catcher Jorge Posada said. “We all hope he is going to handle it well. He’s very smart. He understands what’s going on. The last two spring trainings he carried himself real well so we’re looking forward to it.”

…”I feel like I’ve really come a long way in just a few starts,” Hughes said, “especially that last start that I had went real well.”

That last start was against Syracuse, Toronto’s triple-A team. Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said they’ll learn what they can from the Chiefs but they expect Hughes to pitch well.

“He’s thought very highly of,” Gibbons said. “Arguably, they say the best pitcher in the minor leagues. So we know he’ll be bringing it pretty good.”
Jay Cohen, Toronto Sun,

A.J. Burnett, who can be awfully tough to handle when he’s on will start for the Jays.

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I wrote a little something about the Blue Jays over on Fungoes while filling in on Alex’s AL East beat while he was off getting nuptualized. The crux of what I had to say was that the simultaneous injuries to B. J. Ryan and Troy Glaus are going to make it awfully hard for the Jays to compete because of the resulting thinness of their bullpen and lack of offense. Since that post went live on Monday, the Jays swept a quick two-game series in Boston by a combined score of 17-6 while the Yankees got swept by the same Devil Rays that I claimed Toronto and Baltimore had “fattened up” upon.

Heh.

The injuries just keep on coming for the Jays, however. The lastest to hit the DL is catcher and on-base machine Gregg Zaun, who was hit on the throwing hand last night by a foul off the bat of ex-teammate Eric Hinske. In a fantastic bit of irony, Zaun is being replaced on the Jays’ 25-man roster by ex-Yank Sal Fasano, who arrives accompanied by this gem from one-time Billy Beane disciple and current Jays GM J. P. Riccardi: “The nice thing is we’ve got Fasano to come up. Between him and [Jason] Phillips, we’ve got a veteran presence.”

Things are the same all over.

Tonight the Yankees send April pitching MVP Andy Pettitte (three quality starts plus two scoreless relief innings) to the hill against Josh Towers. The 30-year-old Towers had a solid season in 2005, but pitched his way off the Jays last year only to win the fifth starters spot out of camp this spring when free agent John Thomson hit the DL. Towers dominated the Tigers two starts ago, but has been roughed up by the Royals and Orioles in his other two outings.

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