Bad News All Around

The Yankees lost Tuesday's ballgame to the Red Sox.

They are 0-5 versus Boston this season.

They are 13-13, back to the .500 mark.

Jorge Posada was placed on the 15-day DL and is expected to miss at least three weeks.

As of right now, the Yankees disabled list reads like an All Star roster (+ Cody Ransom).

Alex Rodriguez. Xavier Nady. Damaso Marte.











Jorge Posada. Brian Bruney. Chien-Ming Wang.








Mark Teixeira is batting .198.

Injured set-up man Brian Bruney has as many wins (2) as starters CC Sabathia and Joba Chamberlain COMBINED.

Of the six Yankee relievers used in Tuesday night's ballgame, only one had an ERA under 4.00 (Phil Coke).

The good news for the Yanks?

Umm...

No swine flu outbreak?

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!

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The Good: Game 5

WP: CC Sabathia (1-1)
LP: Horacio Ramirez (0-1)

CC Sabathia took the mound Saturday afternoon looking to rebound from a rough Opening Day outing in Baltimore. Any panic over Sabathia's first start was quickly abated, as CC pitched 7 2/3 shutout innings, racking up 6 strikeouts and dominating the Royals. Nick Swisher had another big day, scoring 3 runs and driving in 3 with the help of a triple and a long 5th inning homerun. Jorge Posada drove in 3 runs thanks to two consecutive doubles and Xavier Nady also had a multi-hit ballgame to propel the Yankees to a 6-1 win.

The Bad: Game 6

WP: Juan Cruz (1-0)
LP: Phil Coke (0-1)
S: Joakim Soria (3)

Joba Chamberlain made his first start of the season in the series finale at the revamped Kauffman Stadium. Despite a rough 4th inning (made rougher by a Nick Swisher fielding error), Joba showed flashes of dominance and ended up striking out 5 over 6 innings while allowing only one earned run. Chamberlain left the game with the Yankees trailing, but the offense came back against Gil Meche in the 7th thanks to an RBI double by Nady and a Mike Jacobs error. The Yankees were winning 4-3 with no one on and two outs in the 8th when Joe Girardi pulled Damaso Marte in favor of Jose Veras. Veras came in and promptly walked one batter before yielding to Phil Coke. Coke then allowed three consecutive base hits and the Yankees found themselves trailing once again. Joakim Soria came in to pitch the 9th and dominated, striking out the side and securing a 6-4 Royals victory.

The Ugly: Game 7

WP: Scott Kazmir (2-0)
LP: Chien-Ming Wang (0-2)


Chien-Ming Wang allowed 8 earned runs and could not get an out in the 2nd. Jonathan Albaladejo entered with the bases loaded and allowed all of Wang's baserunners to score on a Carlos Pena grand slam. Tampa Bay scored 15 runs off the combination of Wang, Albaladejo, Edwar Ramirez, and Phil Coke. Just to further exemplify how ugly this game was, the most successful Yankee pitcher Monday night started the game as the first baseman and hit a solo homerun in the 4th- Nick Swisher.


Swisher, who apparently can do everything, pitched a scoreless 8th, even striking out Tanyon Sturtze's best friend, former Red Sox Gabe Kapler. Swisher kept the ball from his first (and hopefully last) Major League strikeout. It was obvious that Tampa Bay's season opener at Tropicana Field would not go the Yankees way right from the start. Trailing 4-0 in the top of the 2nd, Xavier Nady smoked a ball 400+ feet to dead center that B.J. Upton effortlessly tracked down at the wall with an over-the-shoulder basket catch that would make Willie Mays proud. On the night they raised their very first American League Championship banner, the Tampa Bay Rays crushed the Yankees, 15-5.

Moose Dominates Again, Yankees Win Despite Nightmarish 8th Inning

Mike Mussina went 7 strong innings, allowing only 3 hits and 2 earned runs while striking out 5 and walking none. Moose threw 86 pitches and *62* of them were strikes!

Leaving the game one batter into the eighth with an 8-1 lead, I doubt anyone expected the Yankees to use three pitchers and see Mariano Rivera in the game with an opportunity to earn a save. But after an unbelievable inning, during which both Small and Farnsworth allowed 2 and 3 runs respectively while combining for only 1/3 of an inning each, that is exactly what happened. Rivera was shaky to say the least, hitting a batter and loading the bases while allowing 3 hits, but he eventually stopped the bleeding and the Yanks were out of the nightmare inning at last.

Anyone else have heart palpitations while watching that eighth inning? My Lord...

When it was all said and done, the Yankees won 8-7 over the Texas Rangers to remain in a first-place tie with the Red Sox. At 16-11, they are 5 games over .500 for the first time this season.

Friday night's game was the 450th start of Mike Mussina's career. Interestingly enough, only 7 pitchers in the history of baseball had amassed more wins at this point in their career than Moose. The pitchers? Tom Seaver, Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, Jim Palmer, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, and Greg Maddux- Ever heard of any of those guys? Yeah, me neither (Insert sarcasm here).

Mussina is now 5-1. Giving up 2 ER in 7 innings, his ERA actually went up to 2.35. The Moose is tied for 1st place in the A.L. with his 5 victories, he is 2nd only to Curt Schilling in strikeouts, and 3rd in the league in ERA. Kind of unbelievable, really, how well the veteran pitchers in the game are doing at the minute. And Moose is certainly one of the guys leading the pack.