Game 44: Between The Lines

The Yankees' current struggles can be traced back to their series with the Tigers that started two Mondays ago, but the heartbreaking loss they suffered at the hands of the Twins last Saturday began a shorter but much more ugly stretch. The Yanks were poised to sweep the Twinkies for the fourth straight time (including last year's ALDS) but Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera couldn't nail down the final 6 outs without surrendering a two run lead.

Including that game, the Yanks, thanks to a combination of more bullpen implosions, poor starting pitching and the inability to get runners in from third with less than two outs or hit with them in scoring position in general, have dropped six of eight. While the team evaded the slow start that plagued them in recent years, the last two weeks have erased much of the cushion they built up in their first 30 or so games.

And because the team has been losing, players whose struggles had been camouflaged by the team's winning ways are now being spotlighted. Rivera's hiccups, A-Rod's lack of home runs, Derek Jeter's supposedly declining defense, CC Sabathia's rough patch, Brett Garnder's recent skid, and of course, Mark Teixeira's continued struggles have all been splayed out across the interwebz in recent days.

One of those stories could have been (and probably was) written about A.J. Burnett. After sporting an earned run average of 1.99 through his first seven stats, Burnett has given up 18 runs over his last three outings (17 2/3 IP) and seen his ERA nearly double. Over that time he's given up 25 hits, walked 11 and struck out 12, and thrown 55% of his pitches for strikes. During his strong start, he was allowing just over a hit per inning, striking out twice as many as he walked and throwing 60% strikes.

If there's one positive that can be taken from Burnett's last three outings it's that the best one of the them (6.2 IP, 3R) came against Minnesota. As it will be tonight, Burnett's opponent in that game was Scott Baker.

The 28 year old right hander has thrown a couple of gems this year and because he can get batters to whiff, hardly walks them and doesn't give up too many home runs, his FIP is a solid 3.72. However, his ERA of 4.88 indicates that he just hasn't been able to put together quality outings on a consistent basis.

Last Friday, the Yanks touched up Baker for five runs in six innings en route to a 8-4 victory - their second in a row over the Twins. At that time it appeared that the Yanks had put the tough series against Detroit behind them, only to spiral out of control in the ensuing eight games. When they get back between the lines this evening after a much needed day off, they'll have a chance to right the ship with another Burnett vs. Baker matchup.

Road trips, turn to head trips,
Became a hunger for sedatives and essentric etiquette,
Optimism needs to feed off self-esteem,
But it seems as if he doesn't see it or hasn't felt a thing.

[Song Notes: Atmosphere is a Minnesota-based hip hop group that I use for these previews quite a bit, so it's only appropriate that I bust one of their songs out when the Yanks are in the Twin cities.]

-Lineups-

Yankees:
Matt here with the lineup. Tex gets another half day off, unfortunately it's not the half that's brutally struggling right now. Francisco Cervelli makes his eighth consecutive start behind the plate. And, even with a right hander on the mound, Kevin Russo gets the start in left field.

Derek Jeter SS
Brett Gardner CF
Mark Teixeira DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Juan Miranda 1B
Francisco Cervelli C
Kevin Russo LF

Twins:

Denard Span CF
Orlando Hudson 2B
Joe Mauer C
Justin Morneau 1B
Michael Cuddyer RF
Jason Kubel DH
Delmon Young LF
J.J. Hardy SS
Brendan Harris 3B

Minor League Injury Notes

Good morning Fackers. Did you enjoy your off day? Feeling rested? I hope so. We've all been stressing a bit too much about the way things have gone over the past week or so, so yesterday's off day came at a good time.

The minor league affiliates did not have yesterday off however, and there are some notes coming out of the system. It appears the injury bug that was ravaging its way through the Yankees clubhouse a couple weeks back has now made its way down the organizational ladder.

As we mentioned last week, Trenton placed starting pitcher Jeremy Bleich on the disabled list with shoulder stiffness. He was sent to the team's complex in Florida for evaluation and yesterday the worst case scenario was realized. Bleich has a torn labrum, will require surgery, and is looking at ten to twelve months before he can return.

If there's any silver lining to this, it's that perhaps the labrum problem accounts for some of the control issues Bleich has had over the past year. Aside from his stellar performance against New Britain earlier this month, he has been wild, posting at 26:28 K:BB. The downside is that Bleich, who many considered a bit of reach with the 44th overall pick two years ago to begin with, has already dealt with elbow issues in college and is now facing the far more uncertain prospect of a shoulder operation.

Also in Trenton, second baseman David Adams, off to a torrid .309/392/.507 start this year, injured his ankle breaking up a double play Friday. He too is on the DL and is expected to miss two to three weeks. Adams is tied with teammate Austin Romine for the Eastern League lead in doubles and is in the top ten in batting, on base, slugging, OPS, runs, RBI, hits, triples, and total bases.

In positive news, Curtis Granderson is three games into a rehab stint at Scranton. He's DH'd twice and made an appearance in center field, going for 4 for 11 with a walk. He could rejoin the team as early as Thursday, which would be very helpful in firming up the bottom of the lineup. [UPDATE 10:15 AM: Granderson will be activated for Friday's series opener against Cleveland.]

Off Day Linktacular

Mark Teixiera put his beautiful 7,000 square foot house in Vaquero, Texas on the market for the second time, for the princely sum of $4.55M, down from $5.75M. I doubt too many of you have an extra five mil laying around and feel like picking up and moving to Texas but that link is good for some serious house porn. The game room on the right with a pool table, card table, big TV and a bar looks like an ideal place to kick it with several of your closest homies.

According to Bryan Hoch, someone apparently sent Nick Swisher a plush tan bathrobe with #33 and his initials embroidered on it and he was rocking it in the locker room. You know you've got a good job when people send you stuff for free and you can wear a robe around the office.

Hoch also got a great story about the late Jose Lima from Yanks' bench coach Tony Pena. Lima was certianly a character and Joe Posnanski captured the enigmatic hurler's quest for the spotlight beautifully. Walkoff Walk directs us to this video of him ad libbing to Sweet Home Alabama and Craig points us towards a eulogy from his former teammate C.J. Nitkowski.

Has Derek Jeter lost his fade? During last night's game, they showed this shot of him in the dugout and as you can see, it appears as though he has opted for a cut of a more uniform length all around instead of having it longer on top. Is this a recent development?

Although it certainly hasn't hindered his love life, he's caught a fair amount of flack for having an outdated coiff in the past from various haters. Ladies (or metro dudes), care to offer an opinion on the new look?

Katie Sharp of ESPN's TMI (sub. required) blog thinks that the Yankees should move Derek Jeter out of the leadoff spot and notes that he has zero walks in 78 plate appearances when he's leading off an inning. We already discussed why the move not going to happen, but that's a troubling stat.

Hardball Talk had an NBC Sports interview with the Fackin' Youkstah.

Hey look, someone crossed the mound forty years ago without the pitcher throwing a temper tantrum.

The WSJ profiled Kevin Russo and talked about what it feels like for him to finally make his Major League debut on the team his father (who passed away in 2007) rooted for.

Austin Jackson's eye was swollen almost completely shut after getting hit by a pitch on Saturday. The ball hit his helmet but in turn forced the helmet down on to his eye. He wasn't seriously hurt but missed yesterday's game and might be out of the lineup for another couple of days.

Carson Cistulli digs up some purple prose used to describe an extra innings, walkoff grand slam by Babe Ruth.

Joe Girardi did an interview with the Harvard Business Review and talked a lot about his approach to managing.

Baseball-Reference now features photographs of almost every player who made their debut before 1960. It's a pretty cool addition that really brings the site to life.

It appears as though the Roy Oswalt sweepstakes is heating up. David Golebiewski at THT asks how much he's really worth and Aaron Gleeman wonders whether the Twins should make an effort to acquire him but ultimately rules that it's not work the prospects plus salary.

And finally, a bit of whimsy from the Sports Pickle.

Like the Yanks, we are going to take it easy today. If anything comes up, we'll try to get to it, but chances are we won't have anything until tomorrow.

Wrapping Up The Weekend

Good morning, Fackers. After Friday night's game, it really seemed as if the Yankees had righted the ship. Javier Vazquez came up with a terrific performance and covered up the offense's difficulties cashing in all the baserunners they had accumulated. A narrow 2-1 victory seemed like it was a step towards taking the first installment of the 2010 Subway Series and an escape from the malaise that they had spent the last two weeks in. To boot, both the Red Sox and Rays had lost against the Phillies and Astros, respectively.

However, Saturday and Sunday did not go according to that plan. The Mets got excellent performances from Mike Pelfrey and Johan Santana and although their bullpen gave the Yankees a glimmer of hope in the late innings, the final two games of the series went to the team from Queens.

Outside of the two pitchers that picked up wins against the Bombers, the Mets rotation is in a state of disarray. Oliver Perez has been moved to the bullpen due to his ineffectiveness while John Maine and Jon Niese are both sidelined with injuries. It just so happened that the Yanks drew both of the Mets healthy and effective starters in a three game series and were on the losing end of two strong performances. It just seems like that's the way things are going for the Yanks as of late.

The Bombers have now dropped five of their last seven games and ten of the last 15. Even the excitement surrounding weekend's most notable bright spot, Vazquez, has to be tempered because he had to be taken from the game with an injury to his right index finger that he got while attempting to lay down a bunt. The Yankees pushed his bullpen session back until Tuesday and he is expected to make his regularly scheduled start against the Twins on Thursday. Still, there should be concern that the injury could affect his stuff when he takes the mound again.

While the Yankees were getting beaten by the Mets, the Red Sox and Rays both salvaged the last two games of their respective series, moving Tampa six games ahead of the Yankees and Boston just two and a half games back. Down in Philadelphia, the Sawx got eight shutout innings both from Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield in the final two games of the series to eek out a victory. The Rays did what they should have and came up with consecutive victories of 4-2 and 10-6 against the Astros.

No story of the Yankees current struggles would be complete without talking about the injuries they've suffered and for a while the bullpen was blowing every lead they got their hands on, but over the past week, their starting pitching has been the real culprit. The last time through the rotation, Burnett, Hughes, Pettitte and Sabathia have combined to give up 22 runs in 22 1/3 innings pitched.

Couple that with the fact that the Yanks are a combined 19-76 (.250) with runners in scoring position over the last seven games and went the entire series in Flushing without hitting a home run and you've got a recipe for a tough stretch of baseball.

As a frame of reference, the Yankees are still tied with the Twins for the second best record in the American League and have as many wins as any team in the NL, a testament mostly to how well they were playing early in the season. But between the bullpen implosions, the constant flow of injuries, the RISP struggles and the late inning comeback teases the last 15 games have been really tough to watch. Luckily, we know that none of those problems are going to last forever. It's just hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel right now.

Today is the team's first scheduled off day in two and a half weeks and hopefully they can collect themselves before they head out to Minnesota for yet another tough series against the Twins.

Game 43 Recap

1. The Mets got on the Yankees early in this one and didn't let up until the very end. CC Sabathia wriggled out of a one out, bases loaded jam in the first inning when he got David Wright to swing over a 1-2 slider and Angel Pagan to line out to second base. Unfortunately the second inning went the other way for the Big Fella.

Rob Barajas led off with a double but Sabathia got two easy strikeouts from Jeff Francoeur and Johan Santana. After giving up a single to Jose Reyes, CC got ahead of Alex Cora 0-2 and threw a perfect pitch, just over the black on the inside corner but home plate umpire Marvin Hudson called it a ball and gave Cora a second life. Cora fouled off a couple pitches and took a slider in the dirt before punching a single to center, driving in Barajas and Reyes. Dave Eiland came out to talk to Sabathia but whatever he said didn't help out all that much as Jason Bay whacked a changeup from CC over the left field fence for just his second homer of the year and put the Mets up 4-0.

2. The Yankees led off each of the first three innings with a single but had nothing to show for it. In the first and second, one hit was all they could muster but in the third, Jeter followed Sabathia's broken bat flare with a sharp single of his own. However, Brett Garnder grounded into a double play (only his 6th in 594 MLB plate appearances) and destroyed any momentum the Yanks had built up.

3. Bay struck again in the 5th, leading off the frame with another longball, this time to right field. We might have witnessed Bay finally finding his power stroke.

The Mets added another run in the inning when Ike Davis singled, advanced on a past ball and scored on a double by David Wright. 6-0 Mets.

4. The Yanks finally got on the board in the seventh inning. Nick Swisher worked a two out walk and Francisco Cervelli ripped a line drive towards the left foul pole. The ball hit right on the orange line and Frankie was so sure it was gone, he put his head down and went into a jog rounding first base. Since the ball bounced right back to Bay, he gunned it back in and held Cisco to a single, but Nick Swisher scored easily to make it 6-1 Mets. The umpires looked at the replays but upheld the original call.

5. The Yanks tried to pull together a rally in the 8th. Marcus Thames had walked to lead off the inning and A-Rod and Mark Teixeira both reached base with two outs to load the bases. A-Rod's walk chased Santana from the game and Pedro Feliciano came in to face Cano. Robbie took two strikes before hitting a high pop up to first to end the inning.

They again showed life in the ninth inning. Leading off, Nick Swisher worked a walk and Cervelli singled behind him. Kevin Russo grounded into a fielder's choice but Juan Miranda knocked in Swish with a base hit to right to make it 6-2.

Jerry Manuel then brought in K-Rod to face Jeter and the Captain ripped a double down the line and brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Brett Gardner. Gardner tapped a soft chopper towards third base and David Wright gunned it across the diamond to get the out by just a few inches, if at all. Both Garnder and Girardi were livid and the latter was extra demonstrative when he came out to argue the call but didn't get tossed. That drove in a run and got the Yanks within 3. Mark Teixeira then hit a high chopper to second and cut the margin to two runs: 6-4 Mets.

A-Rod came to the plate as the go-ahead run and battled with K-Rod through an eight pitch at bat, taking three balls and fouling off four pitches before striking out on a 3-2 change up.

Another day, another blue balls, too-little-too-late, close-but-no-cigar rally in the 9th.

IFs, ANDs & BUTs

• Santana was really impressive tonight, cruising through 7 2/3 innings of one run ball and at one point retired 13 Yankees in a row.
  
  
• Sabathia lasted five innings and gave up six runs, five of them earned. He allowed two walks and ten hits and although he got kind of screwed by that call in the second inning he just generally just didn't have it going. It happens.
  
  
• Sergio Mitre and Boone Logan both pitched well in relief. Mitre threw two innings and the only batter than reached base against him was Jason Bay, who he hit with a breaking pitch. Logan gave up just one hit in his scoreless frame.
  
  
• For some dumb reason, the benches were warned when Bay was hit, despite the fact that the pitch was a 75mph curve.
  
  
• This game was pretty tough to watch and it was made worse by Joe Morgan, naturally. "Uppercut" was the word of the night in the booth. Morgan used it in his trademark brand of simpleton analysis about 50 fucking times and added a grand total of nothing to the broadcast in the process. Thanks Joe.
  
  
• Morgan also took time to congratulate his daughter and her new husband on getting married and later to say hello to the Mets bullpen coaches' mom. Listen Casey Kasem, no one fucking knows or cares about this shit. Do your job and talk about the game. Actually, better yet, just shut up.
  
  
• During the disputed home run call, the ESPN production crew called over to the Mets PR office to check on the ground rules and were given incorrect information. They originally claimed that if the ball hit the line it was considered a home run, which of course is wrong. Hell of an organization they've got over there.

After taking the first game of the series, the Yanks end up dropping the final two. Tomorrow is an off day before the Yanks head to Target to face the Twins for the first time in their new park on Tuesday.

Game 43: Strangers In The Night

The first round of the Subway Series wraps tonight with a showdown of superior southpaws. CC Sabathia and Johan Santana locked horns several times during their years together in the AL Central. But Subway commercials notwithstanding, this will be their first meeting in the Big Apple.

Despite that, at least in the eyes of Yankee fans, the two are already firmly linked. The story is well known. Santana's Twins were shopping him following the 2007 season. The Yankees, in desperate need of a front line starter, balked at the asking price, which at various times included some combination of Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, Chien-Ming Wang, and Melky Cabrera. Brian Cashman, not wanting to pay twice for Santana in surrendering the necessary pieces to acquire him and committing the necessary dollars to extend him, chose not to make the deal. Instead, Cashman gambled that the equally talented Sabathia, slated to be a free agent following the 2008 season, wouldn't sign an extension and would be there for the taking a year later.

Cashman's decision was heavily criticized in many circles, and by Hank Steinbrenner as well. Things didn't get any better when the Mets landed Santana for a song - four fringe prospects, only one of whom remains property of Minnesota - while the Yankees missed the playoffs in 2008. More than two years later though, I doubt anyone would say Cashman made the wrong decision. After an outstanding 2008. Santana dealt with elbow issues last year, required surgery, and appears to be a bit diminished compared to his former self. Meanwhile, Cashman managed to land Sabathia as hoped, and the Big Fella led the Yankees staff to a World Series title in his first year in the Bronx.

The Yankees have hit a rough patch over the past week, going just 2-5, alternately betrayed by their starting pitching, bullpen, and offense. The Subway Series isn't nearly as important as it's hyped up to be, but given the state of the Mets in recent years and the way the past week has played out for the Yankees, dropping tonight's game would further raise the already ratcheted up panic level in Yankeedom. A win on the other hand would soothe the nerves heading into tomorrow's off day.

Last year we often turned to Old Blue Eyes in big spots. I don't think tonight's game is quite that important, but in an effort to change the Yankees recent fortunes and in hopes of making tomorrow's off day alarm free, we're going with Sinatra. CC Sabathia and Johan Santana haven't crossed paths in more than two years. Much has changed for both of them in that time. But whether they realize it or not as they square off tonight, they've both had a profound influence upon the direction of both clubs over the past two plus seasons.

Strangers in the night, exchanging glances
Wondering in the night, what were the chances?

-Lineups-

Yankees:

Jeter SS
Gardner CF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Cervelli C
Russo LF
Sabathia P

Mets:

Reyes SS
Castillo 2B
Bay LF
Davis 1B
Wright 3B
Pagan CF
Barajas C
Francoeur RF
Santana P

Game 42 Win Expectancy Chart

Game 42: Another Saturday Night

Neither the Yankees nor the Met have many Saturday night home games. The only one the Yankees played in the New York area last year was against the Mets at Citi Field, with current farmhand Tim Redding getting the start for our crosstown rivals.

For the most part, the lack of these night games are a good thing. For one, this tilt will be televised on FOX and that of course means that Joe Buck and Tim McCarver will invade out ears with their smarmy declarations and/or nonsensical ramblings.

More relevant to the teams, however, Saturday afternoons tend to draw the biggest crowds in the New York area as many people find it more convenient to spend part of their day going out to the ballpark as opposed to burning most of the useful hours of their evening in the Bronx or Queens.

A few of my buddies and I used to have a Saturday package in Section 7, Row M of the Old Stadium and we quite literally never had a game scheduled later for later than 4:10pm. If we had to wait until 7pm the game to jump off, things might have gotten awfully ugly.

It was just a quick subway ride up to the Bronx from the Upper West Side, so even for the 1:00pm starts, we used to drink a few beers before we left, in an effort to dodge the excessively priced stadium concessions. For the one or two games per season that started at four o'clock, we couldn't resist mixing up a batch of margaritas and kicking on the terrace to pregame. There were three of us with the package, and since we basically never had anything better to do on a Saturday afternoon stuck in a small apartment, it's safe to assume that we would have taken in too far with our preparations for an evening game.

Of course the concept of pregaming is a flawed one. The money-saving aspect of it is debatable at best (do you really drink less when you show up all locked and loaded, or are you actually prone to spend more?) and beyond that, it increases the odds of you getting too drunk exponentially.

At a certain point not too long ago I realized that, despite what you are led to believe in college, drinking isn't a race and there is no prize given out to the person who consumes the most alcohol at the end of the night. Most of the time, it's the person who starts drinking later and takes it somewhat easier than everyone else who has the best time (and the most tolerable morning after).

Anyway, when the Yankees moved over to the new Stadium we got pushed out of our Saturday package by all the people who got priced out of their full season packages and had to step back to partial plans. I live Upstate now anyhow and probably wouldn't have bought into one this year anyway, but one of the things I miss dearly about having a place in the city was that bundle of 13 games a season. I hardly go to games anymore because I have a sweet ass TV and don't want to drive three hours both ways and pay for parking at the Stadium, but having that Saturday blocked off to go to a game with my buddies roughly every other weekend was one of the pillars of my summers in the city.

Oh yeah, the game...

Phil Hughes, fresh of his worst start of the season (which wasn't bad until J.D. Drew had to rain on the party with a three run homer) goes for the Yanks. For the Mets, Mike Pelfrey, who has cooled off considerably after a scorching hot start gets the ball.

Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody,
I've got some money 'cause I just got paid,
Now, how I wish I had someone to talk to,
I'm in an awful way.

-Lineups-

Yankees:

Jeter SS
Gardner CF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Cervelli C
Winn LF
Hughes P

Mets:

Reyes SS
Castillo 2B
Bay LF
Davis 1B
Wright 3B
Pagan CF
Barajas C
Francoeur RF
Pelfrey P

Game 41 Recap

It wasn't perfect, but the Yankees took care of business tonight. Like they did against Tampa, they continued to leave runners on base and suffered yet another injury, but wriggled out of the 9th inning with a narrow victory over the Mets.

They squandered an excellent chance to score in the third. Francisco Cervelli worked a walk to lead off the inning and then advanced third base when Kevin Russo lifted a soft single off the end of the bat to left field. Javy Vazquez bunted Russo over to second, setting up Derek Jeter for an RBI opportunity, but he struck out on three fastballs, all called strikes. Brett Gardner followed with a slap towards third that David Wright fielded and put out easily to end the inning.

A similar situation arose in the fourth when Alex Rodriguez knocked a one out base hit and Robinson Cano slashed double off the wall in left field, putting runners on second and third. This gave Nick Swisher an easy chance for at least one RBI but Hisanori Takahasi threw him five straight balls away and out of the zone and Swish swung and missed at three of them. Cervelli followed with deep fly to center which would have been good for a sacrifice, but by then there were already two outs.

The third time was a charm as the Yanks finally broke through in the seventh. This time Swisher began the rally with a single to center. Cervelli then grounded a ball to Alex Cora at second base which should have been good for at least a force out, but Cora fired it into center field which was scored an error and allowed the runners to advance to second and third. Kevin Russo paired his second Major League hit with his first two runs driven in when he sliced a hanging 0-1 slider into the right field corner. He might have been able to stretch it into a triple but instead left he ended up standing on second base, having just given the Yankees a 2-0 lead.

Had he gone for third, whether reaching safely or not, Javier Vazquez probably wouldn't have been bunting and the biggest and most unfortunate story of the game for the Yanks might have never have been. Instead, in the process of bunting a first pitch changeup off the plate, Javy let his right index finger creep around to the front of the bat. The ball hit hit his digit squarely and he responded with a noticable wince. He stayed in for another pitch and completed a successful sacrifice, but he was pulled from the game immediately after running to first base. Thankfully X-rays were negative, but his finger is bruised above the nail and it seems a safe bet that he's going to miss at least some time as a result of it.

It's too bad because Vazquez was pitching beautifully. He needed only 70 pitches to complete six shutout innings and strike out six. Along the way he allowed just one hit and two walks and neither of those batters reached second base (thanks in part to Cervelli, who gunned down Alex Cora trying to steal to end the fourth inning). It took Vazquez a while to find his velocity and command, throwing a few fading 85mph fastballs in the early going and walking the second batter he faced, but found his grove as the innings wore on.

After Vazquez was pulled, Joe Girardi treated this game like one he was desperate to win. He brought in David Robertson to being the 7th. Alex Cora led off the inning with a single and D-Rob retired Jason Bay but Girardi called on Damaso Marte so he could match up with Ike Davis. The much-hyped rookie hit a swinging bunt up the right foul line that Marte probably could have fielded, but he pulled up on it too early, forcing Cervelli to scramble to make the throw. Frankie rushed it, hit Davis in the back and allowed him to reach. Girardi promptly made yet another change and brought in Joba Chamberlain. Joba stepped it up and struck out David Wright and Angel Pagan to end the inning. He threw a perfect frame in the eighth and passed the baton to Mariano Rivera.

Rivera retired Jose Reyes and Alex Cora with ease to begin the home half of the ninth. He ran into some trouble with the middle of the lineup, however. Jason Bay ripped a ball that hit the top of the 16' wall in left field and went for a double. Ike Davis then pulled a cutter inside into the gap in right center that scored Bay easily and left him - the tying run - on second. Wright then swung at the first pitch and grounded out to Cano, wh0 made a three quarter spin and fired to first to end the game.

The Yanks won 2-1 and snapped their three game losing streak, but amazingly, the game still took 3:19.

Tomorrow's game won't be on until 7:00pm so enjoy your Saturday.

Game 41: Don't Tell Me Your Troubles

The Yankees are embarking on a road trip tonight, but only by the strictest baseball definition of the term. They'll be sleeping in their own beds this weekend but showing up to play over in Queens against the Metropolitans.

Javy Vazquez again gets a road start in a spacious ballpark, circumstances under which he has posted his two best performances of the year. His seven inning, two run effort against the Tigers was especially encouraging despite the fact that he was tagged with a loss. That part wasn't his fault as the Yankees got shut out by Rick Porcello and two Detroit relievers. In the meantime though, enabled by the fact that he was again skipped in the rotation, he evened things out by picking up a cheap win in relief after facing just one batter in Monday's game against the Red Sox. While he did pick up a victory, he had another extra long layoff. It didn't seem to bother him last time and hopefully that will be the case again tonight.

It seems like every start has been a big one for Vazquez this year, but tonight feels like an important game for the team as well. Given the skid they've found themselves sliding in, the Yanks could really use a win to right the ship.

The trouble the Yankees are having pales in comparison to what the Mets are going through, however. The Yanks might have lost eight of their last twelve but the Mets have dropped nine over that same span and are now two games under .500 and six behind the Phillies.

Rumors are flying about Jerry Manuel after he removed John Maine from last night's game against his will after just five pitches and the feeling is that he could be axed as early as this weekend if things don't go well against the Yankees. The Mets won last night, despite leaning on their bullpen for all nine innings, and just in case the 'pen wasn't depleted enough after that, they are pushing one of the relievers who has done a good job for them this year into starting duty.

Because of the injury to Jon Niese last Sunday, Hisanori Takahashi will be making a spot start tonight. Although he hasn't been stretched out yet, he is apparently good for 100 pitches. Since being acquired in February, the Japanese import has filled the role of long man if necessary, pitching up to three innings at a time, with seven appearances of two innings or longer. He's been effective over that span as well and given up just nine runs in 26 innings (3.12 ERA) while striking out 33. The left hander only throws about 88mph, but employs four pitches (fastball, curve, slider & change) and has a bit of a hitch in his delivery, which hitters say throws off their timing.

Although this is his first start in the Major Leagues Takahashi has actually faced the Yankees before. Back in 2004, he started an exhibition game between the Bombers and Yomiuri Giants in Tokyo, a contest that the Yankees went on to win 6-2.

Both teams are currently going through their own struggles and you can't expect one team to have much sympathy for the other. Thankfully for one the teams, somebody has to win tonight.

Leave me alone,
Go on home,
Tell it to a friend,
I got troubles of my own,
Troubles of my own.

It happens to the best of us,
That's a what they always say,
Take it baby like a man,
Don't throw it away.

[Song Notes: Since you can't tell the title by this video, this is Don't Tell Me Your Troubles by Ronnie Hawkins with Duane Allman sitting in and playing some nasty slide guitar. It's on The Duane Allman Anthology (which is incredibly awesome) but was originally recorded for Hawkins creatively titled album The Hawk.]

-Lineups-

Yankees:
Matt here with the lineups. Kevin Russo gets his first Major League start and it doesn't come at his primary position of second base, his secondary position of third base, or even at shortstop. He'll be in left field tonight, where he's made seven minor league appearances, but just one this year. Upon his demotion just over a week ago the organization said he'd be getting the Jerry Hairston Jr super utility treatment and it appears that's what they're doing. Two things of note: first it'll be interesting to see how the inexperienced Russo handles the spacious Citi Field outfield. And secondly, I would have figured that the start still would have gone to Randy Winn with the versatile and speedy Russo held in reserve as a weapon off the bench in an NL park.

Francisco Cervelli gets his fifth straight start behind the plate. Just for the hell of it, Javier Vazquez is a career .207/.238/.247 hitter in 620 PA, which is halfway decent for a pitcher.

Derek Jeter SS
Brett Gardner CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Francisco Cervelli C
Kevin Russo LF
Javier Vazquez P

Mets:
If the Yankees are going to win the Subway Series opener on dropped pop up, like they did last year, they're going to have a bit of a tougher go of it this time around. Mets second baseman Luis Castillo, who had the infamous error last year, has been scratched with a sore foot. He's replaced by super-overpaid-but-really-friendly utility guy Alex Cora. During Cora's final season in Boston, he happened to enter the bar I was in, the same night the Red Sox clinched the Wild Card and officially eliminated the Yankees from playoff contention. I found him to be quite obnoxious. But that's a story for another time.

Jose Reyes SS
Alex Cora 2B
Jason Bay LF
Ike Davis 1B
David Wright 3B
Angel Pagan CF
Rod Barajas C
Jeff Francoeur RF
Hisanori Takahashi P

Minor League News And Notes

Here are some minor league notes as the Subway Series hype and Yankee paranoia machines steam towards game time:

Yesterday, the Yankees extended their playing development contract with Scranton through 2014; it was set to expire at the end of this season. This seemed less likely last year, when a rainy summer and drainage problems at PNC Field combined to cause a large amount of delays and postponements. As part of the press release announcing the extension, the Yankees pledged their support to help improve or replace the existing complex.

In extending their agreement with Scranton, the Yankees ensure that they keep their top two farm clubs relatively local, with their third club being located at their Tampa headquarters, and their short-season A team being owned by the franchise and located just over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. This seems to have been a concerted effort over the past decade, relocating affiliates to be closer to the home club. It's beneficial to the Yankees in that replacement and rehabbing players are relatively close at hand, and it's beneficial to the affiliates in that there's already a local fanbase.

It's a day late now, but yesterday Donnie Collins had an outstanding and in depth look at all the cons, and the few pros, that would come with promoting Jesus Montero in the wake of Jorge Posada's injury.

All the injuries at the Big League level are having a trickle down effect as the minor league clubs shuffle players around to fill the holes. To that end, the Yankees made two minor league signings yesterday, inking utility guy Jeff Natale and catcher Rene Rivera. Chances are these guys are around only as long as the injuries persist. The Rivera signing is a bit puzzling. It would appear P.J. Pilittere has fallen down some sort of rabbit hole.

In his pre-game media session yesterday, Brian Cashman said that were he not injured, outfielder Colin Curtis would have been considered for a recall. Loyal commenter Jimmy speculated as much yesterday. Curtis is not currently on the 40 man roster and has been out of action with a high ankle sprain since April 28th. Curtis was considered a middling prospect as recently as last year, but a torrid stay in the Arizona Fall League, an impressive Spring Training, and a hot start to the AAA season had his stock rising. We may see him before 2010 is out.

This is one specifically Yankee related, but Times of Trenton writer John Nalbone has a great interview with Chris Pittaro, Oakland's Director of Professional Scouting. Pittaro had a brief cameo in Moneyball and his role in the Oakland front office has grown in the years since. Check out the interview both at the Times and at Nalbone's BareBones blog.

We're a couple days late on this one, but Trenton has placed starting pitcher and 2008 supplemental first round pick Jeremy Bleich on the DL with a shoulder problem. His has returned to the Yankee complex in Tampa. His start in New Britain last week notwithstanding, Bleich has struggled over the past year. Whether the shoulder issue is the cause or whether it's an excuse to give him some downtime and try to get him back on track in Extended Spring Training, it's not a good sign.

Lastly, and not minor league related at all, but if you're near a TV right now turn on the MLB Network. My buddy Gripp informs me their currently showing this game from the Yankees' disastrous 1990 season, featuring Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, and the notorious Andy Hawkins. I won't spoil the surprise, but this was an outstanding game, featuring some rare and impressive feats. Plus, it'll remind you that the events of this past week are nothing compared to what the Yankees suffered through twenty years ago.

The Dirty Dozen

Good morning, Fackers. The Yankees have lost eight of their last twelve games. They started out this homestand with two wins but finished it just 3-4. They are only one game ahead of the Blue Jays.

Things are looking bleak heading into the Subway Series and the Yanks have, at one time or another during the last two weeks, been sabotaged by a lack of offense, poor starting pitching, bullpen implosions, defensive blunders, bad luck or any combination of the above. But, on the other hand, they've had all of those things working for them at one point or another over the last 12 games too.

Over the first five games of the skid, the Yanks' offense couldn't seem to get it going, averaging three runs per contest (including their only two scoreless efforts of the year) from the last game they played at Fenway on May 9th through the four game set in Detroit. Since then, though, the offense has scored 47 runs in seven games, just in time for their pitching staff to let them down. In the last five games, the Yanks have allowed 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 runs (although not in that order) due in part to poor starts by Andy Pettitte, A.J. Burnett and Phil Hughes but mostly to a series of meltdowns by the bullpen.

Add that all up and the Yankees have scored 62 runs while allowing 67 but have dropped 66% of their games during that span. Is that glass a third full or two thirds empty? I tend to think it's not quite as miserable as it has seemed.

Yes, the last four losses have been particularly painful. The Yanks finally let the Twins up off the mat at The Stadium. They blew two 5-0 leads against the Red Sox. They were out-pitched, out-slugged and out-defended and abused on the basepaths by the Rays. There's no hiding the fact that they are now five games back in the division and closer to the Red Sox than they are to Tampa.

However, this streak has come while the roster has been in a state of total disarray and the Yankees have been without, to varying extents, important contributors like Curtis Granderson, Nick Johnson, Jorge Posada and Alfredo Aceves. You could say that Curtis Granderson wasn't hitting well anyway, Nick Johnson isn't coming back, Frankie Cervelli has been filling in admirably and Alfredo Aceves wouldn't have stopped the bleeding out of the bullpen, but the Yankees will be stronger and more complete as the season moves on and those players return.

The Yankees were vulnerable during a tough stretch and paid the price. They played 12 games against what are likely four out of the five or six best teams in the American League without 25 players available on most nights, let alone their 25 best. It's tough to watch your team lose eight of of twelve regardless of the circumstances, but the Yankees were weak at the wrong time and got worked by some very good squads.

If you want to, you can see a team that has a terrible bullpen and isn't as good as their 25-14 record indicates. If you change your perspective a bit, however, you might see a club that is a little black and blue and just went through a brief stretch in the red.

Game 40 Recap

[Slight change of format for the recap for tonight. Because there is no way I'm doing a full blow-by-blow synopsis of this shitshow, the numbers within the chart represent the score at that point, with the Yankees total listed first.]

The first game of this series may have been the worst loss of the year, but this one wasn't too far behind. It had the triumvirate of suck, as the Yanks 1) fell behind early, 2) squandered a great chance to take the lead in the third inning and 3) captured our attention just long enough to let us down in the ninth.

Let's start with the good stuff.

• David Robertson pitched a fantastic two innings, striking out four without allowing a baserunner.
  
  
• Derek Jeter had three hits and drove in two runs.
  
  
• Juan Miranda had a homer and a triple in his first two at bats, but the triple was on a high fly ball that B.J. Upton lost in the lights would have been easily caught otherwise.
  
  
• I didn't see the first inning because I was doing yardwork. (Does that count?)
  
  
• Seriously, that's it.

And now for the bad:

• Just like last night, the Yankees gave up a run before recording an out. This time it was actually three runs, plunging their WPA to 24.8% before the offense had a chance to take a hack.
  
  
• The Yanks tied this game twice - at 3-3 and 4-4 - only to give the lead back to the Rays in the next half inning.
  
  
• Entering the third inning, the Yanks were trailing 3-2. Randy Winn led of with a base hit and Derek Jeter dropped one down for a bunt single. Brett Gardner followed with a bunt that he probably would have beat out but James Sheilds did the Yanks a favor by throwing it over Carlos Pena's head at first base, allowing Winn to score and the runners to advance to second and third with the heart of the lineup coming up. However, Mark Teixeira bounced one back to the pitcher and A-Rod and Cano both struck out swinging, leaving the runners stranded and the game tied.
  

• The Rays hit four home runs, two by Pena, who was six for his last sixty with two extra base hits heading into this game, and one by Ben Zobrist - his first of the year.
  
  
• Despite the fact that Andy Pettitte had thrown 101 pitches and allowed six runs through 5 innings, Joe Girardi let him come out for the sixth, apparently to match up with lefty Pena. And of course, Pettite promptly gave up Pena's first homer in 78 plate appearances.
  
  
• Chan Ho Park entered this game with a 30.8% HR/FB rate actually increased it in his first inning of work. After allowing two deep fly balls to Zobrist and Evan Longoria that necessitated pretty good defensive plays to stop them, Park grooved a changeup to Pena, who smacked his second longball of the evening.
  
  
• The Yanks showed some life in the 9th inning, but it was only a tease. Derek Jeter knocked in two runs with a double, bringing the tying run to the plate, but Brett Gardner grounded out to end the game. On a night like this, if you knew they weren't going to win, you might just wish they had went down in order and got it over with instead of getting our collective hopes up again, only to crush them for the third straight game.

The Yanks have now lost three in a row (all to divisional rivals) and four of their last five (all at home). They travel crosstown to face the Mets at Citi Field tomorrow night, but not before everyone in the New York media proceeds to jump to conclusions and start writing stories about how these two games prove how much better the Rays are than the Yankees. Can't wait.