Blue Jays at Yankees

The New York Yankees begin a 2 game series with the Toronto Blue Jays tonight at 7:00PM on MY9. The matchup is Sergio Mitre vs Roy Halladay. Roy Halladay threw a 1 hit complete game shutout against the Yanks on Sept. 4th. Ramiro Pena had the lone hit a double. Sergio Mitre faced the Jays on Sept 6th and allowed 11 runs(9 of them earned) on 11 hits in 4 1/3 innings. He really didn't pitch that bad but the team was just out of it and played terrible defense and didn't help him at all. Here are the pregame notes and lineup from Peter Abraham. Brett Gardner has 21 stolen bases in 26 attempts this season. Over the last 50 years only 3 other Yankee rookies have stolen at least 21 bases in a season. Alfonso Soriano had 43 in 2001, Willie Randolph had 37 in 1976 and Jerry Kennedy had 25 in 1969. Gardner has been successful in 34 of his first 40 attempts in his career. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Gardner(CF) Andy Pettitte is being skipped because of shoulder fatigue. Chad Gaudin will start tomorrow in his place. They don't think its serious and should be knocked out with the extra rest.

Yanks love pie

The New York Yankees defeated the Tampa Bay Rays tonight by the score of 3-2. Nick Swisher hit a walkoff homerun in the bottom of the ninth to give the Yankees the victory. Chad Gaudin got the start and pitched really well going 6 strong and then tiring in the seventh. He gave up 1 run on 6 hits with 6 strikeouts. Phil Hughes who has been lights out gave up a solo homerun in the eighth but then Mo had a 1-2-3 ninth to set up the heroics. The Yankees were pretty much shutdown by David Price who was really good tonight showing the promise that he has. Nick Swisher hit a monster homerun to left field and A-rod had a rbi single. Derek Jeter went hitless once again disappointing many people and going through his longest hitless stretch of the season. He is now 0 for his last 13 and did not make himself available to the media after the game. That is very unusual for him so I wonder if it is getting to him a little bit. The Yankees magic number is now 15 and they are 40 games over 500. David Price became the first pitcher to strike out Jeter 3 times in a game since Curt Shilling did it on April 19, 2004. Nick Swisher's 2 homeruns were the 3rd time this season he has done it from both sides of the plate. Johnny Damon reached 100 runs scored for the 10th time in his career. Dave Robertson will meet with Dr. James Andrews on Thursday in Florida, that is never a good thing. This kid was really coming on this year so lets hope it is nothing too serious. Chad Gaudin has allowed 4 runs in 14 innings as a starter for the Yanks and they are 3-0 in those games. Joba Chamberlain will be on the mound tomorrow against Jeff Niemann. The Yankees will go for the 4 game sweep.

Yanks at A's(The Rubber game)

The New York Yankees will take on the Oakland A's at 10:05 tonight on the YES network. Chad Gaudin will make his first Yankees start against Brett Anderson. Here are the pregame notes and lineup from Peter Abraham. Chad Gaudin pitched for Oakland from 2006-08. He was 20-18 with a 4.00 era. He is 12-9 with a 3.71 era in 58 career games at Oakland Coliseum. Brett Anderson a 21 yr old rookie is 4-1 with a 3.12 era in his last 12 starts. He has faced the Yankees twice going 12 innings and allowing 9 runs on 18 hits and 3 walks. He last faced them on July 24th giving up 4 runs in 6 2/3 innings. Derek Jeter is batting 429 against lefties this season. The Yankees have not homered in their last 2 games, this can't be true is it, yes it is. 9 of Johnny Damon's last 11 hits have been for extra bases, I think he is trying to stay past this season. The Yankees are 62-30 since A-rod came off the DL. Big Tex is slumping a bit going 3 for his last 18 with 1 rbi in his last 5 games. Tex, Pujols and Adam Dunn are the only players with at least 30 homeruns in each of the last 6 seasons. Kurt Suzuki a yankee killer well he is hitting 407 against them in his career with 11 rbi's. This season he is hitting 448 against them with 5 xbh and 9 rbi's. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Swisher(RF) Cano(2B) Cabrera(CF) Molina(C)

Yanks lose opener in Oakland

There really isn't much to say about the Yankees lackluster performance last night in Oakland. They lost to Brett Tomko and the A's 3-0. Yes that is right that Brett Tomko who the Yankees DFA'D earlier in the year and who hadn't made a major league start in a year and a half. He pitched 5 shutout innings, the Yankees one big chance was in the 4th when they had the bases loaded and one out with A-rod up and he bounced into a rare 1-2-3 double play. The Yankees didn't do much else, the bullpen completely shut them down. A.J. Burnett pitched 8 innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits. He looked unhittable early on but had one bad inning where he gave up all the runs and 4 of the 6 hits but he deserved better then this. The Yankees will try and end a 2 game slide tonight with CC Sabathia on the mound in his hometown against Vin Mazzaro from New Jersey.

Yankees at Mariners

The New York Yankees take on the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field tonight at 10:10 on the YES network. Andy Pettitte is on the mound looking to keep it going. Here are the notes and lineup via Peter Abraham of the Lohud Yankees Blog. Seattle has scored only 3 runs in their last 32 innings. Andy Pettitte since the all star break has a 1.87 era and hitters are only hitting 210 against him. He is only 1-1 in 5 games though. Tonight will be Andy's 450th start. He is 224-133 for his career. He would become the 67th pitcher in history to win 225 games. Randy Johnson and Jaime Moyer are the only 2 active pitchers to have done it. Andy is 1-5 with a 4.26 era at Safeco Field so it isn't his favorite place. He is also 10-11 with a 4.58 against Seattle in his career so they aren't his favorite team either. The Indians are the only other AL team he has a losing record against. Johnny Damon is 17 of 43 in his last 10 games, 11 runs, 8 rbi's, 11 xbh and 5 strikeouts. Robinson Cano has hit safely in 11 straight games at 21 of 49. He is now hitting 318. Melky Cabrera is only 5 for his last 40 and Eric Hinske is 1 for his last 13. Brett Gardner needs to get well soon to give Melky a break. The team era of 4.29 is the lowest of the season. The Yankees are third in WHIP and second in K/9 in the AL. The Yankees have homered in 91 of their 115 games. Brian Bruney is starting to pitch better going 4 scoreless innings. He is from Oregon and has a lot of friends and family at this series. Joba will now start on Sunday and then not pitch again until they return home. I guess the Yankees got scared of having Mitre and Gaudin pitching on back to back days. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Cabrera(CF)

Yanks cap another great homestand with walkoff win

The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays by the score of 4-3 this afternoon in 11 innings. A.J. Burnett got the start and battled his way through 6 innings giving up 3 runs, he had 7 strikeouts with only 2 walks but Jorge Posada really had a tough time catching him today. He gave up a season high 10 hits. Dave Robertson and Phil Hughes each pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Robertson had a strikeout and Phil Hughes had a couple of strikeouts. Chad Gaudin making his Yankees debut got the win with 2 scoreless innings. He really looked good, he has pretty good stuff it is just a matter of him being consistand and having good location. He will get the start on Sunday with Sergio Mitre on Saturday. I know people have been asking why Mitre again and I feel the same way but with Joba being pushed back to Wednesday and it looking like this is what they have to do the rest of the year they need Mitre to be in the rotation and they figure there hitting can cover it up and win some of those games. I am sure also with a 6 game lead it is much easier to do this. I know a lot of people also don't believe in this innings cap but it is proven now in Baseball that you have to be very careful with young pitchers, the guys who pitched a lot of innings the last couple of years were Justin Verlander who had a couple off years after making the world series until this year, Mike Pelfrey who has struggled the Tampa pitchers etc, I think you get the idea. I do want to point out also though this is only the regular season the Yankees said it doesn't matter in the postseason so he will be pitching a game 3 or 4. The offense was led by Robinson Cano hitting a solo homerun and also having a walkoff single which would of been a double if it had to be. Derek Jeter got hit by a pitch in the first inning and had to leave the game, he wants to play tomorrow but I think he may have the day off. Jorge Posada got beat up also today but seems to be ok and the big news from after the game was that Mariano was creaky according to Joe Girardi, he said he isn't worried but of course with a older pitcher you have to be somewhat concerned. The manager said he expects him to be ok for tomorrow but we will have to see. A-rod got hit in the elbow in the 11th and was in obvious pain but stayed in and scored the winning run, he will be off tomorrow as was scheduled anyway but lets see after that, hopefully that will be all he needs. Johnny Damon had a couple of hits a walk and rbi. That was about it for the Yankees offense as they really didn't have a good game today. The Yankees will begin a 4 game series with Seattle tomorrow night.

Yanks beat Halladay and the Jays

The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays by the score of 5-3 tonight. Roy Halladay started for the Jays and you figured it would be a tough night but the Yankees jumped him for 2 runs early and then after settling in they hit 3 solo homeruns late off of him. Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira went back to back in the 8th and Matsui hit one in the ninth. Andy Pettitte was good again although more balls were hit hard today and he did have an inning where he struggled with his control walking a couple. He ended up pitching 6 2/3 giving up 1 run with 4 walks and 6 strikeouts. Phil Hughes got the last out in the seventh and after giving up back to back singles to start the 8th he struck out the next two and gave way to MO. Mariano was not sharp at all tonight giving up a 2 run double before escaping. Then in the ninth he gave up another bloop hit and got away with a hanger to Bautista who hit the ball to dead center, if he hit it anywhere else it is a tie game. He was down in the count 0-2 to the final hitter and he popped up on another bad pitch. The Yankees offensively hit 3 homeruns for the second time in a row off of Roy Halladay, I guess they finally have him figured out. Big Tex, Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon had solo homeruns. Robinson Cano had 2 hits, A-rod and Big Tex each had 2 hits and a rbi. Tomorrow they will face a guy whose name I can't say and can't spell so I don't think the Yankees have ever seen him and Sergio Mitre may be making his final start for the Yankees. I would think the Yankees have to score some runs to win this game but we will see what happens. If they win they will be in first place to start the big 4 game series with the Red Sox. As I am writing this the Sox and Rays are tied in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Yanks try to salvage a game in Chitown

The New York Yankees will try to win this last game of the series in Chicago before an off day tomorrow and then 2 in Toronto before coming home to face their blood rivals the Boston Red Sox. CC Sabathia is on the mound and needs to come up huge today, this is what he was paid for to be the stopper and they need him to go 7 or 8 dominant innings today and get out of town with a win. Here are some pregame notes from Peter Abraham. It all starts with pitching and in the last 2 games the Yankees have given up 24 runs on 24 hits and 11 walks. The Yankees have not lost 4 straight since May 2-7 when they lost 5 in a row. The White Sox have won 6 straight at US Cellular Field. CC Sabathia is 3-3 with a 4.62 era in his last 6 starts. He has allowed 45 hits in 39 innings. He is 14-4 with a 3.65 era in 26 career starts against the White Sox. He is 7-1 with a 2.98 era at US Cellular Field. This may be exactly what he needs to turn it around. Mark Buehrle is coming off setting the record by retiring 45 straight batters even though he did lose to Minnesota in his last start. He is 1-5 with a 6.11 era in his career against the Yankees. He is 0-4 with a 6.91 at home. The Yankees are batting 161 with RISP in this series. They are batting 200 on this roadtrip with RISP. This is what I hate about their offense, it is good but can be inconsistant. Big Tex has 10 homeruns, 30 rbi's and 26 runs scored in his last 32 games. A-rod is getting hot going 10 for 26 on this roadtrip with 4 rbi's and 3 runs scored. He has not hit a homerun in his last 49 at bats so he is due for a few quickly. Mark Melancon has not allowed a run in his last 4 1/3 innings so he is learning. I really like this guy but you have to remember he is young just like Dave Robertson but they will be go to guys in the future for this team. No lineup is posted yet, I will try to get that up later.

Yanks have good weekend

The New York Yankees won their last couple of games against the Blue Jays. On Saturday they won a dramatic game in 12 innings on a walkoff single by Jorge Posada after Robinson Cano bunted on 3-0 and the lead runner was thrown out at third base. He has been so bad with runners in scoring position also that finally Joe Girardi dropped him down to 7th in the order yesterday. The bad thing about Saturday's game was the Chien-Ming Wang had to leave the game with a shoulder strain and bursitis and is out indefinitely. He was actually pitching pretty good until he gave up a 2 run homerun which is when he felt the problem and then came out after the next pitch. The bullpen was great as it has been so often lately. Yesterday Joba Chamberlain was just awful and you do have to start wondering about him as he velocity is down and to me he doesn't have that slider anymore that used to devestate you when he would get 2 strikes on you. He has good stuff but something just doesn't seem right and I hope he is ok, they say they are going to do a lot of talking with him this week and try to get him right but I also get this feeling that he is kind of cocky and doesn't want to listen to anyone. Alfredo Aceves was just brilliant yesterday pitching 4 scoreless innings and picking up his first career save. The Yankees need someone to pitch Thursday and it looks like they will call up someone from AAA as Alfredo Aceves and Phil Hughes aren't stretched out enough. It seems to me that they want to keep Hughes in the pen this year as he has been so good out there. The Yankees will try and complete the 4 game sweep this afternoon with Andy Pettitte on the mound.

Pitching Matchups for Nats/Yanks series

Tomorrow- CC Sabathia vs Shairon Martis Wednesday- Chien-Ming Wang vs John Lannan Thursday- Joba Chamberlain vs Craig Stammen The Yankees really need to sweep this team as they are 16-45. Adam Dunn has more homeruns with 17 then the team has wins. Wednesdays game is big for the Yankees but also for Wang himself as this is his last chance, he has to pitch a good game or else he will be out of the rotation again. I really don't think Wang has lost it but this may just be a bad year as I think the Yankees screwed it up from the beginning with him. I think they should of realized he was hurt or at least favoring his injury and left him in Florida to start the year and brought him along slowly. When they did bring him back they did it in a emergency and threw him into the pen then bringing him back into the rotation against the Rangers and Red Sox which are two very good hitting teams. I think they should of kept him in the minors for at least another start or two but they didn't and they have to deal with what is there now. I think Joba will get back on track, he just had a rough start last time out never getting on the same page with Jorge Posada.

Yanks lose to Rangers

The New York Yankees lost to the Texas Rangers tonight 4-2. Andy Pettitte got the start and gave up 3 runs in the first inning, they probably only would have had one if Andy's leg didn't get in the way of a double play ball and lead to a couple of extra runs. Andy labored and got through 5 but only gave up one more run and kept the team in it. Brett Tomko came out of the bullpen for 3 great innings giving up a single and a bunt single to the first 2 guys he saw then retiring the next 9 in order. Dave Robertson pitched a scoreless ninth. The offense was stymied by Scott Feldman tonight though who pitched very well going 6 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits. The Yankees had a couple of chances early but couldn't get the big hit. A-rod had the bases loaded one out in the fourth but grounded into a double play to end the inning. He also came up with a runner on third and one out and struck out. He did have a rbi single in the first though and the only other run was a Posada solo homerun. The Yankees will look to get their hitting shoes back on in a Thursday matinee rubber match with Chien-Ming Wang getting the start against Brandon McCarthy. The big news of the day was that Wang is back in the rotation and Hughes is in the bullpen with everyone else getting pushed back a day. Wang can throw about 80 pitches tomorrow and we will see how he does. I think this was the right move because Wang is a starter and you can't just leave him out in the pen to rot. Phil Hughes could be used in a variety of ways out of the pen but they didn't say how they would use him yet, I guess tomorrow you could see him follow Wang since he will probably only throw 4 or 5 innings. It will be interesting but they did say longterm Hughes will remain a starter and he said he is fine with that as long as he goes back to starting eventually. I was supposed to go to tonights game but I thought for sure it would be rained out and of course it wasn't which was upsetting LOL but I will pick up another game when they come back home after the Boston trip.

Yanks go for another sweep

The Yankees go for 9 in a row with Joba on the mound. Here is the lineup and a couple of notes. Johnny Damon strained his neck trying to get Adam Jones homerun yesterday and Joe Girardi hopes it will only be one day so he is out for at leastiltonight. Phil Hughes will get another start on Monday in Texas and Chien-Ming Wang will pitch tomorrow for Scranton, the Yankees said they want to see what they saw in the bullpen the other day. Here is the lineup: Jeter(SS) Cano(2B) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Swisher(RF) Cabrera(LF) Cervelli(C) Gardner(CF)

Phil Hughes is Ready if called upon

Phil Hughes made the start for the AAA Scranton Yankees tonight and pitched well. If the Yankees are looking at bringing him up to take Chien-Ming Wangs spot in the rotation well he is trying to help make their decision. I honestly don't know what Wang has to show them tomorrow to make his next start which would be in Detroit on Tuesday but I am sure it would have to be something really fantastic. Here are Phil Hughes numbers so far this year including tonights start. He has pitched nineteen and a third innings giving up eleven hits with three walks and nineteen strikeouts. He is 3-0 with a 1.86 era, the most important thing for him is health and so far he has been healthy and pitching great. I really expect to see Phil Hughes up pitching in Detroit looking to redeem himself after a terrible year last year when he was trusted with a spot in the rotation. I would like to hear some thoughts on this topic, so please comment and let me know your opinions. The other question is if Phil Hughes comes up and pitches well you would think he would keep pitching but then what do the Yankees do with Chien-Ming Wang?? I would assume he would go to the bullpen and try and straighten himself out but if Phil Hughes grabs this oppurtunity then hey good for him. The bottom line is winning games and the Yankees have to do what they feel is best for the team so we will stay tuned.

What to do with Wang

It looks like the Yankees are going to skip Chien-Ming Wangs start on Friday in Fenway Park. They have a off day on Thursday and it looks like they may have Wang throw a simulated game of 80-100 pitches, they can also stop him during the game and correct some mechanical issues. They then will have him make his next start after that which would be Wednesday in Detroit. If he doesn't make significant progress whatever that is to them then they would call up Phil Hughes to take his spot and put him in the pen as the long man. Phil Hughes has been pitching well down in AAA Scranton and also pitched well in spring training. I think I would of put him on the DL and sent him down to Florida to work with Pitching guru Billy Conners but this seems like a reasonable compromise. I know a lot of people are worried about the pen but the back end of Bruney and MO is solid and honestly I think the rest has been affected by Wangs poor performances. I think Coke will be ok and Marte has his struggles but they will have to use him as the lefty specialist and try to get him right that way. Albaladejo has pitched well, I think in another month or so you will see Melancon and Robertson instead of Veras and Ramirez anyway which is the right way to go and those guys are strikeout machines and young. I know a lot of people say 7-6 is a bad start but in the games Wang doesn't pitch they are 7-3 so I think its just a matter of taking care of Wang one way or another and otherwise they are fine, A-rod will be back soon enough which will be a huge help and I wouldn't be suprised to see Melky playing more instead of Gardner if he continues to struggle, Melky has been playing well.

Minor league recaps

The AAA affiliate Scranton Yankees are off to a 6-0 start. They won their game this afternoon by a score of 5-3. Jason Johnson started and pitched five innings giving up eighthits, two runs, three walks and three strikeouts. Steven Jackson pitched 2 innings giving up two hits and one run. J.B. Cox gave up a hit and thats it in two innings. Mark Melancon pitched two innings giving up one hit and having four strikeouts. Kevin Russo led the offense going four for six. Angel Berroa went one for five with two rbis. Austin Jackson went one for three with two walks. Austin Jackson is batting 480 in the early part of the season. Kevin Russo is batting 406. Shelly Duncan had a rbi, he is batting 300 early in the year. If Xavier Nady is hurt for the long term I wonder if Shelly will get another shot as he had a great spring training. AA-Trenton was rained out A-Tampa was rained out A-Charleston- They won 2-1 today. Brett Marshall started pitching six innings, two hits, one run which was unearned. He had two walks and one strikeout. He is nineteen years old and was drafted last year, he is off to a good start.

CC is Back

CC Sabathia pitched a brilliant game tonight going 7 2/3 innings giving up 0 runs on 6 hits with 6 strikeouts. Jose Veras came in to finish the game with 1 1/3 innings giving up a couple of hits, 1 run with 1 walk and strikeout. The Yankees offense got out to an early lead again and then tacked on. Jorge Posada had a couple of doubles and 3 rbi. Nick Swisher continued to be red hot having a 2 run homerun and a rbi triple with 2 walks. Derek Jeter had a walk and a hit, Johnny Damon had a hit and walk. Hideki Matsui who has been struggling had a doube and walk and Xavier Nady had 2 singles. The Yankees go for the sweep tomorrow on Easter with Joba Chamberlain making his first start against Gil Meche, I wonder who will sit because I don't think Nick Swisher can be taken out of the lineup. Happy Easter and Passover to everyone, I will try and post in the morning but not sure how much I will be able to do tomorrow.

Mets vs Reds

Here is the Mets lineup for todays game against the Reds which begins at 12:30. Reyes(ss) Murphy(lf) Wright(3b) Delgado(1b) Beltran(cf) Church(rf) Castro(c) Cora(2b) Perez(p) The Mets are off to a good start going 2-0, Santana was good in the opener and yesterday the Mets scored some runs with help from bad defense by the Reds. The Mets pen was shaky yesterday but held on. Pelfrey did not have a good start, he did finish with 4 scoreless innings but threw way too many pitches. The Mets question this year is how much will they get out of 2,3 and 4 of the rotation?

Where is the pitching?

I don't know what to say, the Yankees are getting beat by the Orioles not the Red Sox. I just can't believe both Wang and Sabathia got crushed, they didn't not pitch well, they were horrible. This team better get it together quickly but remember the 98 Yankees were 0-2 and 1-4 to start the year and then finished 114-48. I hope AJ can do what he is capable of 7 innings 3 runs or less and maybe get us a win before we head to KC for the holiday weekend. The Yankees better win soon or I am sure the Joe Girardi watch will start which isn't fair but bound to happen. I don't really know what to say, the only positives were they tried to come back playing right to the last out and the bullpen was good. I will probably have a lot more tomorrow but this is it for now.