Bullpen Help Coming

As we noted in yesterday's recap, Joe Girardi burned through five of his seven relievers yesterday - but boy, he sure matched up well in doing so. Trotting out a spot starter with a 65 pitch limit is a recipe for a long day for the bullpen, but needing five pitchers to cover 5.2 innings seems a bit much to me.

Regardless, the Yanks head to Anaheim tonight and send Joba Chamberlain to the hill. Chamberlain has averaged less than five and a third innings over his last six starts and has needed an unmanageable 17.3 pitches per IP this year. So this isn't exactly the best night to be carrying a fatigued bullpen, particularly when the only rested pitchers in the pen are a struggling Brian Bruney and a Brett Tomko-like Brett Tomko. I didn't think it was possible to be short on arms with a seven man pen, but apparently it is.

To that end, Girardi hinted during yesterday's post-game that an arm might be on the way. Last night, indespensible Scranton beat writer Chad Jennings reported that Mark Melancon will rejoin the Yankees today (h/t RAB).

Melancon was up briefly earlier this year, making four appearances covering 3.1 IP. He wasn't good, allowing two hits, five walks, and two earned runs. In his final outing he walked all three batters he faced. That said, this move is long overdue. Melancon has been dominating the International League, with a 2.50 ERA and 0.86 WHIP in 39.2 IP. His K/9 is 9.5 while his BB/9 is just 2.0.

Unfortunately the pitcher who should go is one of the few fresh arms in today's pen, so Tomko gets yet another stay of execution. Jonathan Albaladejo and David Robertson both have options, so they would seem likely candidates for demotion.

However, between his 43 pitches Sunday and his 65 yesterday, Alfredo Aceves is spent until after the All-Star break. He too has options. While his performance certainly warrants continued presence on the Major League roster, he may be the best choice to farm out at present. Whoever is optioned out will have to stay down for at least ten days. Aceves is spent for the next three, then comes the three day All-Star break, followed by an off day next Thursday. Sending Aceves down will really only cost the Yankees his presence for three games while keeping the bullpen at full strength for this weekend's series. Plus, it looks increasingly likely that Aceves will be the new fifth starter. Sending him down today will allow him to make another minor league start or two to build endurance before the Yankees need him on the 21st.

We'll update on you the official move once it happens, which likely won't be until just before game time.

Twin Sweeps

(Photos via AP/ESPN)

Well it wasn't pretty, but the Yankees cobbled together enough offense and pitching this afternoon to complete their second sweep of the Twins in as many series.

After a scoreless first, the Yanks jumped out to an early lead in the second. Alex Rodriguez drew a lead off walk then stole second base. He was then joined on the bases by Jorge Posada as a 3-2 offering from Francisco Liriano hit Posada atop the foot. Robinson Cano then bounced an easy one to second baseman Matt Tolbert, who may or may not have been screened by the advancing Posada. Either way, Tolbert booted the ball, loading the bases with no one out. Melky Cabrera flew to right, but not deep enough to score A-Rod. Cody Ransom followed with a walk, forcing in the first run. A fielder's choice from Brett Gardner erased Ransom at second but plated Posada, then Derek Jeter dropped a bloop single into short right-center to make it 3-0. The Yanks then ran themselves out of the inning. A pick off attempt from Liriano had Jeter caught between first and third. Gardner broke for home, and the throw from Justin Morneau was in plenty of time to get Gardner. It wasn't quite as bold as Gardner's mad dash against the Twins in May, but it was close.

Alfredo Aceves gave two runs back in the second. After an efficient first that saw just a single, Alf jumped out 0-2 on leadoff hitter Jason Kubel. But his third pitch, a fastball that was supposed to be outside, caught too much of the plate and was bombed out to deep centerfield to make it 3-1. Things got a little rough from there. Michael Cuddyer walked on five pitches, then advanced to second as Alf threw away a pick off attempt. With one out, Mark Redmond grounded to third. Cody Ransom made a nice play on a tough hop off the lip of the carpet, but struggled getting the ball out of his glove and threw away his rushed throw to first, allowing Cuddyer to score and Redmond to advance to second. Alf then got the next two batters, but his own struggles and the error forced him to use up 26 of the roughly 65 pitches he had in the tank.

Both starters threw perfect third innings, then the Yankees struck again in the fourth. Posada led off with a single, despite a brilliant play by Nick Punto to field the ball deep in the hole. Cano promptly doubled Posada to third. After another Melky flyout, Cody Ransom atoned for his earlier error, collecting his second RBI of the afternoon by driving in Posada. Gardner followed with his second RBI, singling in Cano to make it 5-2.

Just as he had in the second though, Aceves struggled after his offense gave him some runs. Kubel led off again, and this time Aceves retired him on a little nubber in front of the plate. Cuddyer doubled and moved to third on a Brian Buscher single. Alf then plunked Redmond to load the bases, and was at his 65 pitch limit.

David Robertson had the uneviable task of entering a bases loaded one out jam. He struck out Punto for the second out, but proceeded to walk Denard Span and Tolbert to force in two runs. Robertson rebounded to retire Joe Mauer to get out of the jam, but the Yankee lead was down to one.

Mark Teixeira pushed the lead back to two in the top of the fifth, knocking his first HR in 95 at bats. That closed the scoring on the afternoon, but the adventures were not over yet.

Robertson fanned Justin Morneau leading off the fifth, but then issued his third walk in just one inning. Girardi yanked D-Rob in favor of Jonathan Albaladejo, who sandwiched a walk of his own between two Ks to end the inning. Albie then worked a perfect sixth, convincing the official scorer to award him the "W".

Girardi got a little match-up happy again in the seventh. With lefties Mauer, Morneau, and Kubel due up, Phil Coke was the obvious choice to start the inning. Mauer led off with a bunt single, was erased on a fielder's choice from Morneau, then Coke fanned Kubel. The Yankees had a two run lead in the seventh, two outs, a runner on first, and Michael Cuddyer coming up. The Twins run expectancy for the inning was just 0.2255 at that point, while the Yankees win probability for the game was 72%. While Cuddyer is a good hitter, he's not as a good as Mauer nor Morneau, and this year at least, he's even a tick below Kubel. But he's right handed, so even though Coke has held righties to a line of .167/.297/.296 - even better than what lefites are hitting off him - Girardi saw fit to make a pitching change.

Phil Hughes was summoned. I understand Hughes is probably the best non-Mo arm in the pen right now. I understand that Girardi loves him. But as discussed at several points earlier, Fack Youk is starting to worry about the way Hughes is being used. If Girardi absolutely needed to deploy Hughes mid inning, the bases loaded one out jam in the fourth was a much more opportune spot. Instead, Girardi brought him in to replace Coke, who's likely just a peg below Hughes in the bullpen pecking order. Hughes didn't even have to retire Cuddyer, as Morneau was thrown out at second trying to advance on a pitch that skipped away from Posada.

Hughes returned for the eighth. After retiring the first two batters, Ron Gardenhire set up a pinch hitter for Redmond: Jose Morales. So we have a close game, bottom of the eighth, two outs, and the mighty Jose Morales coming up to pinch hit. Sound familiar? While this was a Mo worthy situation on Wednesday night, apparently the extra run lead and the lack of a runner on first was enough to make Girardi comfortable to allow Hughes finish the inning himself this time. And that he did.

Mo pitched the ninth, working around a two out single for his 23rd save. In all it was a good day. It was a game in which the Yankees squandered some offensive opportunities and made a couple costly errors. It was a game in which they sent a spot starter to the mound, with a low pitch limit, and he didn't pitch particularly well, yet the still escaped with a win. Still they managed to go through five relievers, leaving mop-up man Brett Tomko and the struggling Brian Bruney as the only guys not to pitch. Tomorrow they send arguably their least reliable starter to the mound. I hope they have enough of a pen to piece that one together too. We'll see you then.

Game 85: Outshined

It's our second matinee in four days as the Yankeess and Twins wrap up their season series this afternoon. The Yanks look to sweep the season from the Twinkies for the first time since they went 7-0 in 2003. Barring a playoff matchup, this will also be the final time the Yanks play at the Metrodome.

Former phenom Francisco Liriano gets the start for the Twins. The lefty was part of the Twins' haul from San Francisco in the A.J. Pierzynski deal (nice work again Mr. Sabean). Liriano set the world on fire as a rookie in 2006, moving from the pen to the rotation in May and going 12-3 with 2.16 ERA (200 ERA+), a WHIP of exactly 1.00, and 10.7 K/9. An elbow injury allowed him just two starts after August 1st and cost him all of 2007.

Liriano returned last year. He got off to a rough start, carrying an 11.32 ERA after three starts, earning him a trip to AAA. He lit it up at Rochester, leading to his agent and the MLBPA investigating filing a grievance to get him recalled. He came back up in early August and went 6-1 with a 2.74 ERA, a 1.19 WHIP, and 8.2 K/9 over his final 11 starts. But the wheels have come off this year. Liriano leads the AL in losses with eight, has a 5.49 ERA (74 ERA+), and his WHIP has ballooned to 1.48. One of his better starts this year came against the Yanks on May 15th. He went six innings, gave up just one run, fanned six, but also walked six and took a no decision.

For the Yankees, Alfredo Aceves gets the spot start. Alf has been a revelation out of the pen this year, versatile and valuable, and has earned this start. In four MLB starts covering 23 innings last year, he went 1-0 with 2.74 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. He held opponents to a .238/.304/.393 batting line, but benefited from an absurdly low .236 BABIP. In four minor league starts this year Aceves was 2-0 with 3.80 ERA and a WHIP of just 0.97. He made two relief appearances against the Twins in May, pitching a perfect inning in both, and picking up two of his five wins on the year.

Alf last pitched Sunday, going four innings of scoreless relief, allowing just a single hit, and picking up his first Major League save. He needed just 43 pitches to cover the four innings. It would serve the Yanks well if he can be that efficient today, as he's expected to be capped at about 65 pitches.

The fifth starter spot won't be needed again until July 21st. There's no telling who will get that start, but it's looking increasingly likely that it won't be Phil Hughes - which is a huge mistake in my estimation. Aceves is likely the next best choice for the near future, and a good start today will go a long way towards ensuring he gets the ball again on the 21st.

As for the line-up, A-Rod will be the DH today with Cody Ransom starting at third. Might it have been better to DH him last night and play Hinske at third against a righty? Johnny Damon and his leftfield tightrope act get the day off, with Swisher moving into the two spot in the order and Melky playing in left. Posada catches the day game after catching last night's game.

There will not be a live chat this afternoon folks; sorry about that. While we still intend to do them for weekday afternoon games, doing two this week just isn't feasible. Feel free to use the comment section to discuss the game as it unfolds. I'll be kicking around there.

The good news is that if you're a Cablevision customer living in-market, and you're willing to pony up $20 to $50, you can watch today's game on your computer, which means my workday afternoon just got a little less productive.

Soundgarden got left out of our little Seattle inspired grunge-o-rama against the M's last week, so we'll make it up to them today. The Yanks will head to California after the game. But at 6-0 against the Twins this year, they're definitely feeling Minnesota as Alf tries to outshine Liriano.



I'm looking California
And feeling Minnesota
So now you know, who gets mystified
So now you know, who gets mystified

Show me the power child, I'd like to say
That I'm down on my knees today
It gives me the butterflies, gives me away
'Til I'm up on my feet again.
I'm feeling outshined.