Yankees Postgame Notes

Joe Girardi officially named Joba Chamberlain as his seventh inning guy after the game.  He said "Right now that is what we are doing.  We love the way he threw the ball in spring training and he has the ability to get lefties out as well as righties."  Girardi said about the bullpen "That is what you want to have, and we have that luxury." 

Alex Rodriguez said some of the situations that Nova faced tonight were pretty hairy.  He was facing Joe Mauer in the fifth inning with the tying run on second base.  Nova said "You have to be careful with him"  He was but not so careful that he walked him or that he wasn't going to challenge him.  The thing that you have to love about Nova is he has that confidence about him that he is going to go out there and challenge people, it isn't quite cockiness but it is similar.  It is good to see from a young guy though instead of just trying to nibble around guys and being scared and then it ends up turning worse because you put too many guys on and run the pitch count up. 

Mark Teixeira got hit in the foot again in the first inning and had the same reaction I am sure that many of the fans and the coaches had.  He said oh no not again.  The pain wasn't too bad and he said that he is fine.  It actually caught him closer to the toes which apparently is better.  Alex Rodriguez two RBI gave him 1,835 for his career and tied him with Rafael Palmeiro for 14th on the all-time list.  He hit his 615th career homerun.  He said "I just got a good pitch to hit and smoked it." 

Posada is adjusting well to the new DH role, he has three homeruns in his last six at-bats.  It really is becoming unreal that the Twins just can't beat the Yankees especially in the Bronx.  They will try again tomorrow night.  C.C. Sabathia vs. Brian Duensing tomorrow night, enjoy your night everyone and we will be back at it tomorrow night.

JoSoMo leads Yankees to victory

The New York Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins by the score of 4-3 tonight.  Ivan Nova pitched well going six innings and giving up three runs on six hits.  He walked one and struck out three, he had a low pitch count and could of pitched the seventh if the lead was more.  The Yankees though have the formula now that it could be six inning games.  They have Joba Chamberlain in the seventh, Rafael Soriano in the eighth and Mariano Rivera in the ninth.  I like to call them JoSoMo and that is the second time in four games that formula has worked perfectly.  It will continue as Joe Girardi said tonight that Joba Chamberlain would be the seventh inning guy and we already knew that Rafael Soriano was the eighth inning guy and Mariano Rivera the ninth as the closer. 

The Yankees offense has been on fire early on hitting 11 homeruns which is one shy of the team record.  Jorge Posada hit another two run homer his third in the last two games as he has looked like he is taking to the new DH role.  Alex Rodriguez continues to be on fire, he has been all spring and carried it into the regular season.  He hit a two run homerun tonight also.  The only part of the order not doing its job is the top with Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter struggling but they will get it together and then really watch out.  The Yankees offense is hard to navigate with all the switch hitters and when you can have Russell Martin hitting ninth, he has been an all star in the past that is pretty amazing.  Martin has looked great not only at the plate but behind it as well and he has a couple of stolen bases, the Yankees haven't had a catcher that could run in a long time. 

The Yankees will play the Minnesota Twins tomorrow night with C.C. Sabathia taking on Brian Duensing.  The games is at 7:05PM on the YES Network.  The Yankees just own the Twins in the Bronx, the Yankees are 10-1 over them at the New Yankee Stadium and under Ron Gardenhire they just haven't been able to win there at all.  The Yankees are 26-4 in their last 30 regular season games in the Bronx.  The Yankees also have won 18 of their last 20 games over the Twins. 

Arod said this about Nova "He did exactly what we expect him to do.  Tonight he made some pitches where last year, I think maybe the game could have got away from him."  The Yankees felt best about the fact that Nova didn't unravel late in his start, maybe now that he got past that fifth inning hump it will be in the past and he can consistantly work into the sixth and seventh innings. 

Yankees/Twins Game Four of Season and One of Series

The New York Yankees will take on the Minnesota Twins tonight from Yankee Stadium.  The game is at 7:05PM on the YES Network.  Ivan Nova vs. Scott Baker is the pitching matchup.  The Yankees have had their way with the Twins in the Bronx since Ron Gardenhire became the Twins manager.  The Yankees are 9-1 over the Twins in the New Yankee Stadium.  The Yankees have hit nine homeruns in the first three games which is a franchise record.  The previous record was eight which was set in 1932 and 1984.  Mark Teixeira will try and become the first Yankee to hit a homerun in his first four games.  The Yankees are 2-1 on the season and will play a four game series vs. the Twins before heading to Boston for three games and then returning home. 

Here are the pitching matchups vs. the Twins.  C.C. Sabathia vs. Brian Duensing on Tuesday, Freddy Garcia vs. Carl Pavano on Wednesday and A.J. Burnett vs. Francisco Liriano on Thursday afternoon.  All the games will be on YES with Thursday being at 1:05PM and the other games at 7:05PM. 

Here is the lineup for tonight, it remains the same as the first three games of the season.  Brett Gardner, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher, Jorge Posada, Curtis Granderson, Russell Martin. 

Yankees go for the sweep

The New York Yankees are looking for the sweep Sunday afternoon.  They will look to open the season 3-0 for the first time since 2002.  Phil Hughes and Max Scherzer are the pitchers.  Here is the Yankees lineup which remains unchanged from the first two games.  Gardner, Jeter, Teixeira, Rodriguez, Cano, Swisher, Posada, Granderson, Martin.  The game is at 1:05 on YES, enjoy the game.

Mets at Marlins-The Rubber Game

Here is the Mets lineup for Sunday afternoon.  R.A. Dickey makes his first start and the Mets go for the series win and head to Philly with some confidence.  Reyes, Harris, Wright, Davis, Pagan, Duda, Murphy(2b),y Thole, Dickey.