Vintage Vazquez and a Breath of Fresh Air

On a gorgeous Friday night in Queens, with the Yankees scuffling from injuries and a certain degree of recent ineptitude, Javier Vazquez delivered his best start as a Yankee since the coaching staff comprised Joe Torre, Willie Randolph, Don Mattingly, Luis Sojo, and Mel Stottlemyre. Bubba Crosby was on that team. And Kenny Lofton. John Flaherty was backing-up Posada behind home plate, not in the YES Network booth and the bullpen was made up of the likes of Felix Heredia, Paul Quantrill, and Bret Prinz. In other words, it's been a long time.

Cruising through six one-hit innings, Vazquez was forced out of the game after bruising his finger in a successful bunt attempt. A trio of relievers, Robertson (coming off his best outing of the 2010 campaign), Marte, and Chamberlain combined for two scoreless innings and got the ball into Rivera's hands with the 2-0 lead (courtesy of rookie Kevin Russo's two-run double in the 7th) still intact. Things got a bit dicey with Mo in the 9th after back-to-back doubles by Bay and Davis, but he induced a ground ball to second to secure his 8th save of the season and a satisfying Yankee win that snapped a three game losing streak and left them four games back of the first-place Rays.

 

On Saturday, two young right-handers face off at Citi Field, with Phil Hughes (5-0, 2.25) taking on Mike Pelfrey (5-1, 3.02) in the second game of the three-game set.

Photos courtesy of Yahoo! Sports

Second-Half Sweep

The Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the first place Detroit Tigers on Sunday afternoon, pulling to within one game of Boston and starting off the second half strong.

All three victories came in tight ballgames and featured strong starting pitching, timely hitting, and a Mariano Rivera save.


Sunday's strong start by Joba Chamberlain was very encouraging, and Phil Hughes continued his lights-out dominance out of the bullpen. The hitting heroes were Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, who each provided a solo home run en route to the 2-1 victory.


Sunday was also Old Timers' Day, and marked the first Old Timers' appearances by a number of Yankees, including the recently retired Mike Mussina, who got a nice hand from the Stadium crowd. Don Zimmer also returned and got emotional as he stood along the first base line and listened to his ovation. Yankee newcomers A.J. Burnett and Nick Swisher seemed to particularly enjoy the festivities.

On Monday, the Orioles come to town as the Yankees look to keep the ball rolling and catch the first place Boston Red Sox.

Washed Away

After a two hour rain delay, the Yankees dropped the first game of their two-game set against the rival Red Sox.

Phil Hughes labored through four innings, allowing 3 earned runs, including a long homerun by Yankee-killer, Mike Lowell.


The Yankees fought back against Jon Lester, cutting the lead to 4-3 thanks to a two-run shot by Johnny Damon and a solo shot from Teixeira.


Alfredo Aceves, just called up, relieved Hughes and pitched very effectively. Unfortunately, he made one mistake, and it ended up being the Red Sox margin of victory. Jason Bay clanked a two-run shot off the left field foul pole in the 7th inning and the Red Sox took a 6-3 lead.

Mark Teixeira delivered a second solo homerun in the 8th, prompting Terry Francona to go to his closer for a rare 5-out save. Jonathan Papelbon came in and made things interesting, loading the bases in the bottom of the 9th before striking out Robinson Cano and securing the 6-4 Boston victory.

The Yankees are 0-4 against the Red Sox thus far. What is even more alarming is that Jorge Posada left the game with a tight hamstring. Last season provided the Yankees with their first bitter taste of life without Posada; let's hope this is just a minor setback and that Jorge will be back behind the plate within a few days.



Josh Beckett and Joba Chamberlain finish up the series tonight at the Stadium.

Quick Hits

Sorry for the lack of updates lately- Final exams have kept me busy recently.

Since my last update:

- The Yankees were swept by the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

- Chien-Ming Wang, Brian Bruney, Cody Ransom, AND Damaso Marte were all placed on the disabled list.

- Mark Melancon made his highly-anticipated M.L. debut.

- The Yankees reduced ticket prices at the new Stadium.

- The Bronx Bombers played a three game series in Detroit, winning 2 out of 3.

- Phil Hughes was called-up from the minors and pitched beautifully, tossing six scoreless innings and notching his first big league victory since the 2007 postseason.


- Melky Cabrera officially (for the time being, at least) regained the starting center field role, pushing Brett Gardner to the bench. Melky has come up huge recently. As of today, Cabrera is batting .321 to Gardner's .222. He's got 4 homeruns (0 for Gardner), 10 RBI (versus Brett's 4), and Melky has even managed 2 stolen bases.

- Who's hot? Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera, Hideki Matsui, Jorge Posada, Nick Swisher
- Who's not? Mark Teixeira, Brett Gardner, Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez

- The Yankees finished-up a rain-shortened series against the pesky Angels, taking 2 of 3 at the Stadium. I was at the series opener and am happy to say that the new place finally sounded like Yankee Stadium ought to. That might have something to do with my location; it was my first game in the grandstand seats with the real fans. May rolled around and with it came an exciting walk-off victory. Behind by 5 runs in the 8th, the Yankees rallied and won the game with a walk-off, two-run single courtesy of Jorge Posada. The Yanks lost the final game of the series.


- The bullpen remains a serious concern.

- Xavier Nady hopes to be back by the end of the month thanks to an innovative procedure, detailed here by Peter Abraham of The Journal News.

- Alex Rodriguez is progressing with his rehab and could be back with the team by the end of the week. Of course, no A-Rod update is complete without some controversy. Selena Roberts' "A-Rod" expose is hitting bookshelves today after a number of excerpts were leaked. I, for one, am sick of this story already, and it's only just begun.

- And as if all that weren't enough, the Red Sox are in town for their first taste of the New Yankee Stadium. Let's just hope the weather holds up and the Yankees have a sweep of their own in them!

2008 Season Preview

With the commencement of the 2008 Yankees season just a week away, I thought now would be a good time to resurface and give my thoughts on another year of Yankee baseball.

With only three games remaining, Spring Training has gone incredibly well for the New York Yankees (knock on wood). About this time last season, it was announced that Carl Pavano, of all people, would be the Opening Day starter, thanks to the plethora of injuries that befell the pitching staff before the games even counted.

Fast forward one year, and the staff, as well as the entire roster, is not only intact, but in excellent shape, thanks to Joe Girardi's renewed emphasis on conditioning and the Yankees' desire to avoid 2007's disastrous, injury-plagued beginning. Andy Pettitte is the only concern at this point, as he continues to deal with the back spasms that caused him to miss his last start.

Given that the biggest question mark going into the 2008 season surrounds the pitching staff, I figured today we'd take a look at the starting rotation.

With the most wins of any Major League starter over the past two seasons, Chien-Ming Wang will start the season opener on March 31st, and the Yankees hope to see more of the same from their ace. Wang is a steady presence on the mound, and equipped with his devastating sinker, should have yet another successful campaign.
Andy Pettitte is slated to be the No. 2 starter, although the longer he is hampered by a sore back, the less likely he is to be ready to go on April 2nd. Pettitte is essential to the Yankees' success this season. If they hope to make the playoffs, the always consistent Pettitte will need to make about 35 starts and throw 200+ innings because the back end of the rotation have innings-limits and there is only so much of a burden Girardi can put on his bullpen. Pettitte also has to continue to contend with the fallout from the Mitchell Report and the Roger Clemens saga, but I honestly don't see that being an issue that will manifest itself on the playing field.
Veteran Mike Mussina is the No. 3 starter, and he looks to rebound from an injury-filled 2007 in which his season ERA ballooned to over 5.00 thanks, in large part, to an abysmal August. Mussina has had a very good spring and is about as intelligent a pitcher as you'll find in the game, so I look for a bounce back season for Moose, so long as he stays healthy and gets a little bit of luck (I don't know about anyone else, but it seems to me that Mussina is incredibly unlucky. Either he gets no run support, the bullpen blows a lead, or his fielders- especially A-Rod- fail him and make a ton of errors).
At the back end of the rotation, the Yankees are counting on a 21 and a 23-year-old with less than a full year of Major League service between them.

Phil Hughes is coming into his first full M.L. season after an up-and-down rookie campaign. While he may not always have looked like the highly-touted phenom that all the hype had suggested, there were flashes of brilliance from Hughes, especially his relief appearance and victory in the ALDS and, of course, the 6 1/3 no-hit bid in only his second big league start. A pulled hamstring forced him out of that game and onto the D.L., and he suffered a setback with an ankle injury while rehabbing. Coming into the 2008 season, Hughes is back to 100% and knows now what to expect at the big league level. He's gotten knocked around a bit in Spring Training, but that doesn't concern me in the least. I've loved what I've seen from him; he has command of all his pitches, he's poised on the mound, and he seems remarkably mature for a 21-year-old whose been called "Baby Rocket." I think we'll soon believe the hype surrounding Phil Hughes.

Ian Kennedy is the final pitcher in the Yankees' starting formula. There is nowhere near as much publicity for him as there is for Hughes and Chamberlain, but Kennedy will play an equally important role in the pitching staff. He may not throw as hard as Hughes or intimidate batters the way Joba can, but he is arguably the most polished of the three, and showed last September that he absolutely belongs in the same company. Kennedy has impeccable control and can throw all of his wide assortment of pitches for strikes. He has already been compared to teammate Mike Mussina (who has taken him under his wing this spring) and Greg Maddux. Kennedy won't overpower you, but like the cerebral Mussina, he can outthink you. And the Yankees are banking on that.

(All photos, with the exception of my own Stadium shot, from Yahoo! Sports , Yankee Kids, and Getty Images)