The Yankees fail to win two in a row once again as they fall in Boston

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Boston Red Sox by the score of 4-3 on Tuesday night. The game took place at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. The Yankees haven’t won two in a row in nearly a month. Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees and he pitched ok. The Yankees bullpen was pretty good and their offense was not clutch at all. Derek Jeter is the only player that had a hit with runners in scoring position. Jon Lester did not have his control and he didn’t last that long but he battled, Dustin Pedroia led the Red Sox offense. 
Kuroda pitched 6 1/3 innings giving up three runs on eight hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out six. Boone Logan pitched to one batter and gave up a hit, Joba Chamberlain pitched 2/3 of an inning retiring both batters that he faced and Dave Robertson suffered his seventh loss of the season pitching 1 1/3 innings giving up three hits and a run with three strikeouts. Lester pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up five hits and three runs with seven walks and five strikeouts. Junichi Tazawa pitched 1 2/3 perfect innings with three strikeouts, Craig Breslow pitched a scoreless inning giving up a walk and Andrew Bailey pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out one to earn his first victory of the season.

Jeter had a hit and two RBI with a walk, Nick Swisher had two hits and Alex Rodriguez drew a walk. Robinson Cano had an RBI and drew a walk, Russell Martin had a hit and drew a walk and Steve Pearce drew a walk. Curtis Granderson drew a walk, Andruw Jones had a hit and drew two walks and Jayson Nix had a hit. Swisher, Nix, Martin and Jeter each hit a double. The Yankees were 1-12 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base. Nunez was caught stealing and Martin committed an error.

Jacoby Ellsbury had four hits and two RBI, Pedroia had three hits and two RBI and Cody Ross had a hit. Ryan Kalish had a hit, Pedro Ciriaco had two hits and Mike Aviles had a hit. Ellsbury, Ciriaco and Ross each hit a double and Pedroia hit a homerun. The Red Sox were 5-12 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Ellsbury had a stolen base.

In the first inning Cano hit an RBI groundout to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. They had second and third no outs though and that was all they got, it set the tone for the game. In the third Ellsbury hit an RBI single and Pedroia hit an RBI single to give the Red Sox a 2-1 lead. Jeter hit a two run double giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead in the sixth. In the bottom of the sixth Pedroia hit a solo homerun to tie the game at three. In the bottom of the ninth Ellsbury hit an RBI single to win the game 4-3.

The Yankees record fell to 79-62 and the Red Sox record improved to 64-78. This was the first game of a three game series. The two teams will play game two on Wednesday night. The Yankees are now once again tied for first place with the Baltimore Orioles.

Yankees pregame notes in Oakland

Here are the Yankees pregame notes on Friday night.  I won't be recapping the game tonight or do any postgame since it is a late game.  I figured I would provide these courtesy of the Lohud Yankees Blog and as always I throw my two cents in there. 

Consistency has become a real buzz word with these Yankees. I suppose that’s the case every year, but it seems especially true with this group. For the past two weeks, it’s been used to talk about the lineup, but the Yankees are still searching for it in the rotation as well.
Ivan Nova is no exception, he was so good last year and has struggled this year.  This should be a good night for him to get it going.

For a while there, Nova looked like the same guy the Yankees remember from last season, and even his last time out, Nova was able to use his big slider to finish with a career-high 12 strikeouts. Those strikeouts, though, came with five runs through six innings, and Nova has allowed at least five runs in four of his past five starts. There was one gem in the middle, but Nova’s been erratic.  He was better last game, he gave up a three run homerun that made it look worse.

“It’s location with him,” Joe Girardi said. “He gets up in the zone, he gets behind in the count, and then his fastball gets hit when it’s up in the zone. He had an awesome slider the other day and used it extremely well, but when he gets behind, he gets hurt.”

Nova hasn’t been in the league long enough to have much of a track record against anyone, but he’s never faced that Athletics, and today’s Oakland lineup has a total of five career at-bats against him (two by Josh Reddick, three by Seth Smith). The Yankees meanwhile, have won their past six games at the Coliseum and 10 of their past 11.

“I just think we’ve played well when we’ve played them,” Girardi said. “We’ve played pretty well out here as well. We’ve got to have that continue because you want to get on a roll, and that’s one thing that’s been hard for us to do this year.”  The Yankees are just a much better team and seem to like playing in Oakland.

Dave Robertson played catch yesterday and felt alright today. The Yankees plan to have him play catch again on Monday. “I think there’s some stiffness there,” Girardi said. “He’s had inactivity and hasn’t used that area in probably about 15 days. We have to be a little bit cautious in the beginning to make sure nothing’s there.”  The Yankees will be extra cautious here, this is where there depth really takes a hit as Joba having the ankle injury as he was coming back from Tommy John.  MO is out and now Robertson so they are down to Soriano, Boone Logan and then a mixture, they can't afford any more injuries to their bullpen.

 The Yankees still plan to have Brett Gardner begin swinging a bat on Monday.

 Girardi said it’s not likely either Robertson or Gardner will be back with the team before they get home a week from Monday. Robertson has said he’d like to be back by next weekend’s series in Detroit, but Girardi said he’s “not sure that’s going to happen.”

 Nova’s hamstring was a little tight after his last start, but Girardi said it didn’t affect any of the work he did between starts. Girardi considers it a complete non-issue. Nova came to the Coliseum yesterday to play catch.

 Good news on Manny Banuelos. Girardi said test on Banuelos’ sore left elbow showed no ligament damage — just like tests on Jose Campos’ elbow — so it doesn’t look like this is a Tommy John issue, just a sore elbow. Hard to know much more than that.  He has had a rough season so far but had a couple of good starts coming back from injury before this injury.

Oakland carries four left-handed relievers, and Girardi said that’s why Mark Teixiera was moved back into the No. 5 spot in the lineup. That leaves the Yankees with a right-handed or switch hitter between each of their left-handed hitters. “Clubs that have four left-handers, you really have to be careful how you construct your lineup,” Girardi said. “Could I change it? Yeah, but right now it’s what we’re going to do.”

 Obviously Girardi could put Nick Swisher fifth instead of Teixeira and have the same split-the-lefties result, but Swisher is hitting just .211/.295/.342 after left-handers this season. Teixeira is hitting .220/.259/.400 against them. Neither one has been a particularly good option this season. Ibanez, by the way, is hitting .200/.250/.267 against lefties.

Yesterday’s off day gave Teixeira yet another day to rest, but he doesn’t seem much different than he was a week ago. “I still hear him cough every once in a while,” Girardi said. “It’s not all the way gone. I wish it was, but it’s not.”

Yankees Thursday notes

Here are a bunch of Yankees notes from Thursday.  They beat the Washington Nationals 8-5 in Viera and will play them again tomorrow afternoon at home.  Chad Jennings of the Journal News and Lohud Yankees blog has all the coverage.

Both Joe Girardi and Freddy Garcia said pretty much the same thing today: It’s just too early to know anything for certain. Garcia had his right hand heavily wrapped this morning, but he’s still not sure how much time he’ll have to miss after being hit by a comebacker on Wednesday. I didn't think he would win the fifth starters job anyway so this may end up working out well with him going to the pen. 

“Right now I don’t think about it,” Garcia said, “because I went to the hospital yesterday, they took x-rays and everything is fine. So, I just have to wait. I move my fingers good, so I don’t think I have to have any problems.”

Girardi said he’s expecting at least one more day of treatment. The injury seems to be close to the same spot where Eduardo Nunez has experienced soreness for a week and a half now.
“I don’t expect miracles,” Girardi said. “When you’ve got swelling in your hand, it’s going to take time to get rid of it. I’m not going to scratch him, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he didn’t make his next start on his day. Maybe a couple of days later or something.”

 The entire Yankees rotation is supposed to get an extra day of rest next time through.

Two more notes about Michael Pineda’s fastball: 1) Girardi said he hasn’t seen any signs of Pineda trying to overthrow just to reach 95, and 2) Pineda said he’s much more focused on hitting his spots than hitting the mid-90s.  I don't think it is as big of a deal as it is being made out to be.  I agree with Girardi Pineda hasn't tried to dial it up just yet. 

 Russell Martin on Pineda’s fastball: “I think he was like 88-90 in Clearwater, so it’s coming along. I’m not worried about it. I just want to see the guy pitch. He’s a pitcher like anybody else out there. I just wanted to see him execute pitches. His velocity, he has it in him, it’s just a matter of time. As soon as you put on your uniform, you’re in New York and you get the juices flowing, the velocity is going to pick up no matter what.”

 And if you’re looking for more fastball specifics: “(Pineda) was a little inconsistent trying to throw his fastball away to right-handers. It looked like he was pulling off a little bit.” Martin said it’s an easy thing to correct and could be fixed in a single bullpen.

 Ramiro Pena was trying to steal second base, and just as he went into his slide, his spike stuck in the dirt. That’s when he sprained his right ankle, not when he actually made contact with the bag. He estimated that he’ll miss only two or three days, but Girardi said that might be optimistic. “We’ll see about that,” Girardi said. “I imagine it’s going to be pretty sore tomorrow. Sometimes adrenaline helps you out in a situation like that.”

 Nick Swisher told Girardi that his tight groin didn’t get any worse last night, and he was fine when he came to the stadium this morning. Girardi hopes to have Swisher in the lineup tomorrow.
Other injury updates:

 Dave Robertson was scheduled to play catch today and on track to throw a bullpen this weekend.
 Russell Branyan still hasn’t played this spring and is getting an epidural for his sore back.
George Kontos threw another batting practice.
Manny Delcarmen is throwing off a half mound.

Martin was knocked down on the play that left Wang injured. “It happened in slow motion,” Martin said. “It was weird. I tucked pretty good. If I had fell differently, it could have been worse. I kind of just rolled with it. It’s the ninja coming out right there.”

 Apparently the Yankees saved all of their excitement for after the media was down in the clubhouse. They won the game 8-5, having rallied with four runs in the seventh and two runs in the eighth. Jose Gil is hitting .750 this spring and had a two-run single. Melky Mesa and Bill Hall both doubled in the game. Hall and Justin Maxwell each had two hits, continuing a nice spring for Maxwell (he’s hitting .375 with two stolen bases). Maxwell, Jayson Nix and Andruw Jones each stole a bag today.

 Clay Rapada pitched into and out of some trouble, but finished with 1.1 scoreless innings. Mike O’Connor and Adam Warren combined for a scoreless ninth. In between, Brett Marshall allowed two runs in 2.1 innings and Juan Cedeno was charged with a run in his two-thirds of an inning

Yankees postgame notes after CC dominates the Mariners

Here are the Yankees postgame notes, mostly to do with CC Sabathia and his almost no hitter perfect game that was screwed up by the rain.  It was a special night anyway for him, he was just so dominant and set a career high in strikeouts and only gave up one hit.  He unraveled after the second rain delay, walking three batters and got taken out of the game. 

Through most of CC Sabathia’s career with the Indians — including his Cy Young season — the Cleveland manager was Eric Wedge, who tonight sat in the Mariners dugout and watched his former ace dismantle his current lineup.

“That was about as good of stuff as I’ve seen him have,” Wedge said. “He had a better fastball than we’ve seen him have a times. He’s always had a good fastball, but at times, but he was really consistent with it tonight. His secondary stuff was as good as we’ve seen it too.”

“He was so sharp before the rain delay, and I thought his slider got a little bit bigger after the rain delay,” Girardi said. “I didn’t think he was quite as sharp, and we’ll never know, but golly, for that (six) and a third he was brilliant… It’s one of those nights, he’s rolling along so well, it’s just like, please don’t stop this game. But you can’t stop mother nature.”

Francisco Cervelli: “The whole game, I had in my mind, no-hitter… The first inning, the way he was throwing the ball in my glove, sliders in the dirt, I thought we had a chance to do it. They’re professional hitters, but CC was really good today.”

Mark Teixeira: “He was so dominant. You always figure someone’s going to bloop one in or you’re going to make a mistake, someone’s going to get a hit. But the fourth or fifth inning, he was dominant, and we figured, alright, if he can keep this up, I think he’s going to get it… You never know. No rain, he might have had a perfect game.”

Eric Chavez: “There was no doubt in my mind he was going to throw a no-hitter.”

CC Sabathia: “You know you haven’t pitched out of the stretch the whole game. Some guys say they don’t know, but I know from the first pitch until I get out of the stretch that I’m in the situation I’m in.”

 Girardi said the first delay could have gone quite a while without Sabathia needing to come out of the game. His pitch count was low enough, that the Yankees could have let Sabathia throw simulated innings every 15 minutes or so and just counted that against his game pitches. Sabathia said it didn’t matter. There was no chance Girardi was taking him out. “I was going back out,” he said.

 Sabathia guessed that he’s shaken off Cervelli two or three times since Cervelli became his regular catcher. As soon as he started his postgame press conference, Sabathia gave a ton of credit to his catcher. Cervelli, of course, deflected the praise right back to his pitcher. “He’s a liar,” Cervelli said. “He’s got the ball, so he throws what he wants. I just try to be on the same page.”

The single by Brendan Ryan was a 2-0 fastball. It extended Ryan’s hitting streak to 10 games.  When you get behind in the count things can happen and he was sitting on the fastball and hit a single.

 The Yankees had a total of 18 strikeouts tonight, their highest nine-inning total since Ron Guidry’s 18-strikeout game in 1978… This was the first time the Yankees held their opponent to one hit since September of last year when Sabathia beat the Athletics… This was the first time the Yankees held the Mariners to one hit since 2002 when Freddy Garcia was opposing starter for Seattle.

 Curtis Granderson momentarily took sole possession of the team lead in home runs tonight, but just a few innings after he hit his 28th, Teixeira responded with his own 28th homer in the eighth inning. “It’s a lot of fun,” Teixeira said. “We don’t like sitting on whatever number we’re at, so we enjoy going back and forth.”

 Dave Robertson has been amazing, he is the unsung hero of this game and probably the team. That was still a three-run game when he came out of the bullpen with the bases loaded and no outs in the eighth. He allowed one run on a routine grounder to third, but got two quick outs to limit the damage. “He does it every time, doesn’t he?” Teixeira said.

 By the way, Girardi said he’s still not sure whether Rafael Soriano will be activated tomorrow or Friday. He also refused to say whether Soriano will take back the eighth inning. “The first thing is, let me get him back, and then we’ll make decisions as the game goes on,” Girardi said. “We need to get him pitching well, that’s the bottom line, and get him comfortable. He had four outings, which is not a ton of outings. It’s somewhat of a short spring training, but we feel that we need him and then I’ll make those decisions.”  I don't think you can throw him right back in the 8th inning the way Robertson has pitched but I can see Girardi doing that, he is loyal to his guys almost to a fault at times.

Chavez said everything felt fine in his return from the disabled list. He was tested a little bit — and made some nice plays at third — but he came out of the game with no pain, having gone 1-for-3 with an RBI single.

 Here is one last thing about Robertson, When he struck out the first batter he faced in the eighth, it was his 10th consecutive strikeout with the bases loaded. No pitcher since at least 1965 had a bases-loaded strikeout streak that long in a single season. Robertson has faced 12 batters with the bases loaded this season: 10 strikeouts, one ground ball out and one double.

Yankees News and Notes

Here are some Yankees news and notes from Thursday.


Yankees reliever Dave Robertson spent his off day back home in Alabama checking on the devastation left by the tornado that ripped through Tuscaloosa last month. He has set up a foundation, not exactly sure what he saw or who he met with but he is trying to help in any way that he can.  Robertson is a really good guy that has also played really well this year. 

“It’s way worse than I thought it was,” Robertson told the Tuscaloosa News. “You can hear about it and see it on TV, but it’s not the same as being here. It’s total devastation.”



If you would like to donate visit the David and Erin website.  David and Erin Robertson and you can help out there, it is just a horrible tragedy with all these storms out there.  In New York we don't have to deal with this kind of stuff but we do know all too well about tragedy and getting through it.

Donnie Collins reported tonight that the Yankees have released left-handed reliever Andy Sisco. He must have requested his release. He was pitching pretty well in Triple-A, but with Randy Flores onboard, Sisco’s role was pretty much non-existent. The team put him on the DL when Amauri Sanit was optioned down.

After Buster Posey’s injury, the Giants called up former Yankees catcher Chris Stewart. He never got much big league time with the Yankees but he will now get a chance with the Giants.  He has a reputation of being a very good defender.

The Yankees will be playing all three west coast teams, the Mariners, Athletics and Angels.  The three teams aren't that good but they have very good pitching and that will be a challenge for the Yankees with their offense that has struggled most of the season but has seemed to maybe turn it around the last couple of days.  The Yankees will see phenom Michael Pinada in Seattle and King Felix.  They will see Dan Haren and Jered Weaver in Anaheim.  The three teams they will play against have the three lowest team ERA in the league.  I never like west coast trips, this is the longest trip of the season and it will be tough.  If they can go 4-5 or 5-4 I would be happy. 

Yankees Win Theeeee Yankees Win

The New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-1 in their grapefruit league opener today. Dave Robertson loaded the bases in the ninth but escaped. Arod had a 2 run HR and 2 walks. The only pitcher to give up a run was Jose Veras who had a rough day with 2 walks, a hit and giving up a run. Arod said the crowd didn't bother him and that he hopes they bring the same people to fenway. I will be back later with some more notes from the game.