9-14: What has to be done?

Another rivalry matchup, another Yankees loss, this time 7-4. The Yankees have lost 8 of 9 games, and 5 of their first 6 to the Red Sox. They have the worst starting pitching in baseball and one of the worst bullpens. Since April 20th, they have been outscored 62-40, leaving them having scored 14 runs more than their opponents all season. Chien-Ming Wang, the Yankees ace starter lost to Boston’s five starter, whom soon will become a reliever. The Bombers have lost high scoring, low scoring and normal scoring games. Their starters, relievers and offense have all blown games. Their coaches have made questionable decisions and their players have had questionable desire to win. Their pitchers have been injured and their batters have slumped at the worst times, mainly when it comes to hitting with runners in scoring position. They have been bludgeoned by their rivals, and owned by their division. New York is the second worst team in the American League and third worst in all of baseball. They are 3-8 on the road.

Any other team, any other city, any other payroll and this team is a foregone conclusion on April 29th. They are the Kansas City Royals with a kick. But this is the Yankees, the team is New York and the payroll, though becoming more and more conservative, is limitless. Chien-Ming Wang is a sinkerballer, known for having poor Aprils and yet he is 2-2 for pitching at least six innings while still on a pitch count. Andy Pettitte has had one bad start, Mike Mussina joins the team this week and the boys in the Bronx have added arguably the top prospect in baseball into their rotation to fill a hole. They move onto Arlington to face a team with one win more than them and the same amount of losses for a three game set in a stadium that they notoriously play well in. After that, it’s onto a seven game homestand with Seattle and Texas. The Yankees do not play a winning team again until May 15th in Chicago.

It is best to forget this month ever happened, unless you’re really into Alex Rodriguez. All is not lost but the outlook must be for the long haul and not the right now. Joe Torre doesn’t play 25 roster spots, and though his bullpen decisions seem disorganized, these are not the terms to consider his job security. The Yankees cannot play another 9-14 month and expect to realistically have a shot at the division and with all the depth in the American League probably the wildcard as well. 18-28 is not insurmountable, but that is a time to start changing future outlook. Not now. We are yet to see the real Johnny Damon, Bobby Abreu, Doug Mientkiewicz, Hideki Matsui, Mike Mussina, Chien-Ming Wang, or Phil Hughes on an extended basis. Though I am against developing a prospect in the majors, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Hughes is the best solution for a 5th starter right now. Especially with Jeff Karstens out for at least two months. Hughes can become a decent pitcher THIS year and provided they stick to his tight leash, will become a dominant one as early as next year. His problem was location and pitch management, not stuff and overhype.

Now, I realize banking on three solid pitchers and an early emergence of Hughes is not going to heal the bullpen or make Kei Igawa consistantly good. But with more solid efforts (which almost has to happen after this month of starts) and less work, the bullpen will slowly fall back into effectiveness. With less fluke scores, guys like Rivera and Farnsworth work more, and guys like Proctor and Vizcaino work less. Which brings me to my next point. I received an email earlier today about possible trade scenarios and here are my thoughts:

Melky Cabrera was a near untouchable in the offseason, but this year has left an uncomfortable taste in many fans’ mouths. With Kevin Thompson showing promise nearly everytime he is called up and outfielders in general being a lot easier to find, I consider Cabrera expendable. This is of course, a thought for early to mid June if the starting pitching is still struggling. The only man on the 25 man roster with a value right now is Kyle Farnsworth.And there is nobody out there that the team can probably get at face value that will help them now anyway. The guy simply is not the right fit for a Torre bullpen and his numbers can be matched by a lesser priced reliever. What if Cabrera, Farnsworth and a few lesser prospects (not Ohlendorf, Sanchez, Hughes, etc.) are involved in a trade for a future catcher and middle of the pack, but inning-eating starting pitcher? You aren’t mortgaging much future and at the same time you fix both current and future problems. What are your thoughts? All I know right now is with a soft and favorable patch in the schedule and the team playing like they are mediocre, this opportunity over the next two weeks will go a long way towards showing the real talent in New York.

Igawa snaps losing streak at 7

Kei Igawa, who earlier this week was removed from the Yankees rotation, found his calling – facing the Boston Red Sox. The Japanese import entered with an 8-plus ERA and threw 6 scoreless innings, striking out six and surrendering just two hits and four walks. Brian Bruney, Kyle Farnsworth, and to all Yankees fans relief, Mariano Rivera, combined to finish off the 3-1 victory. The win snaps a 7-game losing streak and a 4-game skid against the archrival Sox to start the season. Igawa was at his absolute best and he had to be as Tim Wakefield yielded just a two-run homer and ground rule double for the three runs of damage. All of a sudden the 4 million-a-year contract seemed worth it solely for this one start, which was technically a relief appearence with Jeff Karstens getting injured on the first pitch of the game.

Things are not perfect in New York by any stretch of the imagination, but this win certainly points the Bombers in right direction. Hopefully tomorrow, Yankees ace Chien-Ming Wang can finish off the series. With a 7-game homestand following a short road trip to Texas, where the Yankees play well, New York can turn its season around right now. The win came while multiple sources proclaimed Torre’s job on the line and with the rotation in the worst condition I’ve ever seen. It occured to me earlier in the week, I would not know how to recognize a bad Yankees team because I vaguely remember the 1993 Yankees and other than that, every team has been playoff caliber. While I don’t think the 2007 version is a bad team, it certainly may prove to be a more difficult road than any Yankees fans under 20 years of age have become accustomed to. The Bombers have now scored three runs or more against all five Red Sox starters to take the mound against them this season. In a time of 9-13 starts, you have to look a little harder for the positives. A review of the 1977 World Series champion team and an hour recap of the first six games between the rivalry await shortly, until then enjoy the weekend. Mail is apparently slow here at Quinnipiac and as I mentioned earlier, I have been battling some sickness. Perhaps this win will put me at some ease.

Losing streak hits six for Bombers

The Yankees lost their 12th game last night, but only their second loss of more than two runs this season. A.J. Burnett had his secondary pitching working and despite bouts of being wild, shut down the most vaunted lineup in baseball en route to a 6-0 win.

Phil Hughes also happened to make his major league debut and although his line was unimpressive, the potential was undoubtedly there. Hughes finished with 4.1 IP, 7 H, 4ER, 1BB and 5 K. If you look at those statistics, he is as good as Jeff Karstens. However, if you watched the game  you noticed a few things. Hughes threw nearly 30 pitches in the first inning of his major league career, giving up two runs in the process on clutch hits by Vernon Wells and Frank Thomas, two of the best hitters in the current era. The next three innings he surrendered just one hit and one walk, striking out three. The 5th was another painful inning and he was removed after 91 pitches. By no means was the debut impressive, but it wasn’t meant to be. The Yankees top prospect was rushed from Triple-A, and as I have said numerous times, this move should be temporary until Mussina returns.

The team looked flat last night, which annoyed me greatly. It is one thing to be in a tough spot and on a losing streak, it’s another when you look like you’re going through the motions. Thankfully, the Sox are coming to town tonight and that should light a giant spark under their….well, you know, the body part that’s getting kicked right now. Yankees take two out of three this weekend, but I don’t believe both Andy Pettitte tonight and Chien-Ming Wang on Sunday win. There will be unexpected scores this weekend. More to come as the game approaches.

Welcoming the wood

According to an article on ESPN.com, New York City high school games will ban aluminum bats from their games. Starting this September, wooden bats, (previously seen in such leagues as the  majors) will be used as a result of “safety reasons”. The City Council feels aluminum bats cause balls to travel faster and harder and kids have less reaction time and thus are more injury proned, though there is no scientific evidence or research to back that up. Mayor Bloomberg, among others, feels the decision should be up to the Little League organizations, but he was overruled overwhelmingly by a 41-4 decision.

What do you think? Personally for me, this reminds me of my Little League baseball experience. I became a pitcher when I was 11 and was successful enough to earn trust in pitching in the Little League championship game. Though I lost the game, I was poised to pitch again when I turned 12, my final year before I was Babe Ruth League eligible. Over the offseason the league decided 12 year olds would not be allowed to pitch because it was a risk to the younger players. To me, this was completely unfair. First of all, some of the younger players were bigger than I was and secondly, I threw changeups. I was successful because I usually threw strikes, not because I was overpowering, so to ban  me from pitching made no sense. But it was an example of a blanket rule backed by nothing and yet still used to “protect” people. Which to me, is exactly what this is an example of.

Edit: BREAKING NEWS: The Yankees have announced that Phil Hughes will be the starting pitcher on Thursday to push Jeff Karstens into the Friday game against the Red Sox. Chase Wright was optioned back to AAA for the activation of Hideki Matsui. Jorge Posada will start tonight but Johnny Damon will sit with the same problems he had on Saturday. I hope for everybodies sake that this is a short term solution just to get Hughes’ feet wet and see what happens. If you throw the gem of your future into a rotation when he has three career starts at AAA and has never thrown more than 152 innings just because you’re 8-9, your jumping the gun. Bringing up a fragile arm is not going to create an innings eater. More to come as soon as I find out, but right now that makes this weekend’s rematch Karstens, Igawa and Wang.

A-Rod did what?!

What a series. What an ending. What a hero!

Yesterday: Kei Igawa continued his march towards improvement, contributing a line of: 6IP, 2ER, 5H, 1BB and 5K in a 9-2 victory and his first win in the major leagues. Not quite Mark Buehrle, but a quality start nonetheless. The “better suited for middle relief” starter, has improved now in each start on the season and this was by far his hardest offensive challenge. In an interview following the game, Igawa said this was the “minimum” of what to expect from him this year. Encouraging stuff. We have confirmed he will not be Matsuzaka, and for an 80 million dollar discount, he shouldn’t have to be, but if you still don’t think he can and will cut it as a back of the rotation starter, you’re fooling yourself at this point. He will probably be Jaret Wright against patient teams like the Red Sox or Athletics, and a major improvement over the less patient like the Tigers and Devil Rays.

The real story was the offense, however, as it continued to steam roll pitchers. Indians young phenom, Jeremy Sowers looked like a kid again giving up six runs in 2.2 IP. The Indians bullpen didn’t catch a break either, surrendering an additional three runs over the final five and a third innings. The Yankees bullpen was once again dominating, delivering three no-hit innings thanks to Proctor, Henn and recent callup, Chris Britton for the second day in a row. Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi both homered, but their shots did not nearly compare to-

Today: What an unbelievable, “play ’till the final out”, “it ain’t over ’till it’s over”, magical comeback victory to watch. This is exactly what the Yankees needed headed into Fenway….Minus the whole bullpen grind. Thanks to a mind blowing six run ninth inning (all base runners with two outs), the Yankees finished a sweep of the Indians with an 8-6 victory that yours truly predicted about an hour before gametime. The following are predictions I made about today’s game and when they happened:

1. 12:00PM, I predict a high scoring affair between a former reliever and Darrell Rasner, “8-6″ to be exact.

2. Jason Giambi stepped into the box in the 6th inning with the game tied at 1-1. Things weren’t looking up for my first prediction, but Giambi looked confident so I said he was going to hit a homerun during the at bat. The next pitch, 2-1 Yankees.

3. Remember when I mentioned how much confidence I had in Joe Borowski and how he would not be the closer of a division winner this year? When he entered the game he looked solid enough, but once Phelps homered and Posada singled, I had my reservations about the final out. The game started to remind me of a late 90’s matchup between the Yankees and Phillies in interleague play, when the Yankees came into the 9th down three runs. After two unsuccessful at bats, they ended up getting two men on base and tying it on a Tino Martinez homerun. The Yankees would win in extra innings. I figured it was not out of the question for something crazy to happen at this point. When Damon walked, I thought it would come down to Alex Rodriguez. It’s not rocket science, but excuse me while I toot my own horn.

4. Two batters later it was indeed A-Rod’s turn and while I did not predict a homerun, I knew he was going to win it. There is only so much one pitcher can take in an outing and Borowski was past the limit where he could possibly pull this one off. Two pitches later, I was 4-4 and the Yankees were on a three game winning streak.

Anyway, Darrell Rasner simply will not hold a spot as anything but a long man once Karstens officially comes back this weekend. He has just been unimpressive and even in the bullpen, I would prefer Henn instead. Rasner only gave up one run, but left after 81 pitches, possibly so he would be fresh at some point over the weekend for relief. The bullpen was not as steller as usual as Luis Vizcaino gave up four earned runs, the big blow being a three run, go-ahead homer by Victor Martinez. Brian Bruney was impressive after a leadoff single, retiring the next three batters with the bases loaded and not allowing either of the two inherited runners from Mike Myers to score.

If the Yankees want a legitimate shot to take the least important of the series matchups with the Red Sox this weekend, they will need Andy Pettitte to pitch at least six, if not seven innings tomorrow night. If the Bombers can get by using Rivera and Proctor, (or Britton and Henn in a blowout), Pettitte will have done his job.

Additional notes:

• Myers and Vizcaino entered the game retiring a combined 55 batters (23 by Vizcaino, 22 by Myers) in a row. Myers allowed a hit and a walk and Vizcaino allowed four earned runs in an inning each.
• The Yankees bullpen came in with 8.2 consecutive scoreless innings pitched. They gave five runs up today. In both circumstances, there is nothing to worry about.
• Alex Rodriguez is the fastest American League player to hit 10 homeruns to begin a season. He has two walkoffs and the Yankees have six comebacks already this year. They had 45 last season. If anybody boo’s our third baseman for the rest of the schedule, I will personally redefine the term “bat boy”.
• The Yankees outscored the Indians 27-11 in the series. Does this make up for that 22-0 game a few years ago?
• The offense came in averaging just under 6.5 runs per game. That number has now gone up.
• New York has scored less than four runs once this season (against the Twins), while the Red Sox have failed to reach four runs on five occasions.
• The Yanks have held opponents to less than four runs five times this year (5-0) while the Sox have done it 12 times (9-3). Something has to give this weekend.
• Run differential- Yankees: 91-59 (+32). Red Sox: 68-36 (+32). Would you expect it any other way? This is the first year I can honestly say the two teams are playing two very different brands of baseball. Unfortunately for Sox fans, this is the worst the Yankees should play this year. When Wang, Mussina, Karstens, Matsui, and maybe, one day, Carl Pavano returns, the pitching will be much improved and the offense should be helped by a possible 100 RBI bat too. Pretty scary stuff. Hopefully it all comes together before Torre needs to get another seven solid relievers.

You can find a video of the walk-off, here.

Now, it’s time to remember some of what makes this rivalry so great. Enjoy the brawl, sorry for the quality, it’s the best I can legally find.

 

Wright off on right foot

Chase Wright made his major league debut from AA Trenton and pitched his way into a 10-3 victory. Wright went 5.1 innings, giving up 5 hits, 3 BB and surrendering 3 runs. He looked understandably nervous for the first two innings, but settled down nicely to qualify for the win. Of course, even if Hideki Irabu was called back the Yankees probably would have won tonight, scoring 10 runs, helped by homeruns from Alex Rodriguez, Doug Mientkiewicz and Jorge Posada. In other words, homeruns from the two guys you would expect this season and one from the last man on the earth you would imagine. All three came during a six run second inning that knocked opposing pitcher Jake Westbrook out of the game after just five outs.

A few additional notes:

• I would not mind calling Wright up for another spot start at some point in the season, but not in Fenway park. The Sox seem to save all of their offense for home games and throwing the kid into the rivalry this quickly may serve no positive purpose. It was also nice to see his father taking pictures as his son walked off the field qualifying for the victory. Whenever sports transcend into human emotion, it is a heartwarming sight.
• I don’t care if Doug Mientkiewicz bats .240 with 3 HRs and negative RBI’s, with that glove, he improves the team. There is no value on a first baseman that can scoop a third baseman throw on a tough hop to his side with the runner coming towards him and still keep enough concentration to tag the runner from his knees for the out. His 400 foot high bomb didn’t hurt my feelings towards him, either.
• Brian Bruney should be the setup man and everyday he is used out of that role I die a little on the inside.
• Mike Myers may have to ask for a pay raise this season. He threw 30.2 IP last year and has already thrown 7 on his 2007 campaign. Even if he doesn’t throw for the next two weeks he is still on pace for 40+ frames.
• Chris Britton, who has had the pitching career of a bipolar politician, threw well tonight. Hopefully this game, along with last season with the Orioles, will be the norm instead of his spring training and start to the minors this year.
• Alex Rodriguez is having some sort of start to the season that has rendered me giddy and speechless. He added three more RBI’s and another homerun tonight. Can the Yankees sign him to one year contracts every season until about 2013 if he is going to perform like this?
• Seeing Matsuzaka pitch and seeing this offense hit everytime so far this year, I will make one definite prediction for this weekend right now. On Sunday, Matsuzaka throws 5-6 solid innings and then the Yankees take the lead in the 6th or 7th. It may be all the strikeouts, or the fact he goes deep into counts, or his random, short lived bouts of low composure, but I don’t think he will pitch deep into a game against the Yankees offense.
• It is almost unfair that the Yankees do not have a “throw away” reliever. If this keeps up, Joe Torre’s head might explode or he will systematically throw one guy for three weeks straight until each pitcher burns out one by one.
• Good to see the three errors on the other side for a change. This team’s defense is about as consistant as the Red Sox offense. Just like weather is not a long term excuse, neither is claiming every pitcher the Sox struggle against as being either a “phenom” or “elite” pitcher. Either way, sometimes they have to get hit too.
• As far as the current injuries, my bet is Wang and Karstens come back soon completely healthy, while Pavano and Matsui take awhile. Mussina might be the starter that comes back quickly, but struggles to find his form until mid-May. Ten runs a game puts me at ease about that for some reason.

Also, The Rangers look unstoppable right now (NHL….It’s still a sport). They just mopped the floor with the 3 seeded Thrashers. The series is now 3-0.

Recovering from Rivera

I know, I know, everybody is waiting for the Rivera entry. Well sorry, after a radio show last night I had to watch soaps, eat buckets of ice cream and listen to “Maggie May” on loop. In all seriousness, the game was a heartbreaker to watch but there were a lot of positives involved as well. Here are some mental notes I made up to the 5-4 final score.

• Andy Pettitte still thrives as a Yankees’ pitcher. His ERA matches Josh Beckett at 1.50 after three starts and the defense behind the ground ball pitcher has been a lot worse.
• It was impressive to watch the Yankees wear Rich Harden down until he eventually left with an injury. Even if Harden did not get injured, I think he would have been pulled in the 7th anyway since he was starting to get hit.
• So far, no sign of any pitcher dominating the offense. Even Ramon Ortiz gave up a run and it’s encouraging to see the less common pitchers still getting tagged at some point, unlike last year. Up until the final out, the clawing and fundamentals of the offense stood out.
• The series was an amazing one in general. Thirty three innings, two extra inning games, two walkoffs, two game winning homeruns. One by an italian, former Athletic from California, the other by an italian, Brooklyn native against New York.
• Derek Jeter needs to spend extra time fielding until he has his little problems sorted out. The team cannot afford an unearned run in the first inning every game.
• Alex Rodriguez seems to have improved every aspect of his game from last year and has the complete package for the first time in pinstripes. In 2004 he had the defense and lacked the offense. In 2005 He had the offense and lacked the defense. In 2006 he lacked the offense and the defense. Now he not only has the power numbers and batting average to go along with a spectacular start defensively (one error and it was questionable), but he is also making more contact than usual and getting the sac flies and fundamental hits.
• We have not seen the best of this offense yet. Cano, Jeter, Damon and especially A Rod and Posada are all doing well, but Giambi, and Mientkiewicz will improve dramatically. Plus there is no Matsui in the lineup.
• Scott Proctor may finally be in regular season form. Is Kyle Farnsworth expendable for a backend starter? Even if the bullpen were Henn as the long man, Proctor, Bruney and Rivera for the 7th-9th, they still have Vizcaino and Myers. If Chris Britton, Darrell Rasner or Jeff Karstens can pan out Why not make Henn this year’s Villone and try to trade Farnsworth for a team with an excess of starters and no bullpen (IE the Phillies)? I’d rather have a rookie in the pen than in the rotation unless it is a high prospect like Hughes.

Tomorrow the Yankees hand the ball to Trenton Thunder pitcher Chase Wright in his major league debut as he will take on Cleveland’s Jake Westbrook. Heck of a lineup to get your debut against. No reason to fret, Chase, your next start would be against a hot Red Sox lineup at home. Talk about a friendly welcome.  Speaking of that series, it appears Pettitte, Wright and either Karstens or Rasner will get the ball against Boston’s big three. If the Yankees win one game in that series, Boston should be very frightened. I personally believe between that series and the one less than two weeks later, the two teams split. Gutsy prediction, I know.

Again, I know it is easy for spoiled Yankees fans or worse, inept opposing fans to want to bury the Yankees right now (N-Espn has already tried) but keep in mind, Before May 1st, Wang, Karstens and Mussina should all be back and healthy. That would make the rotation something along the lines of: Wang, Pettitte, Mussina, Igawa and Karstens. Look familiar? This same thing happened in 2005 and it produced our current ace. I wouldn’t underestimate the power of Trenton, this could turn into a blessing in disguise.

Oh, and please, lay off of Mo. He is entitled to 1-2 blown saves in April and one more throughout the rest of the season. The guy was flawless since August, no reason to bring the whole “is this the year”? flawed and consistantly denied argument into this so quickly. Wait until August 1st and if Rivera has an ERA above 3, than he’s finally human. Until then, it’s a fluke.

Just to bond a little bit, here are my favorite teams.

MLB: Yankees (my favorite team by far. This is the only team I would jump into the creek on campus over provided they win a championship)

NBA: Knicks, but recently Miami Heat

College Basketball and football: Florida and Michigan…and Florida. Gator basketball is my favorite and Michigan for football. Though the Gators are my second favorite here, it is still nice when my top two teams can gang up to beat OSU.

NHL: Rangers (half way towards something the few and proud haven’t seen since ‘97. A playoff series win.

College hockey: Quinnipiac (watch for a top 10 ranking by 2009)

NFL: Giants (when Coughlin is gone, they get a runningback, their QB has reconstructive surgery and names himself “Peyton” and the offensive line stays healthy, look for the G Men to make the NFC championship game.

Not for anything, but remember when Peyton whipped the Pats en route to finally winning an important game and we all jokingly said A Rod would follow suit? Umm, anybody see his numbers so far?

Giambi repays Oakland

Jason Giambi delivered his biggest hit against his former team last night, a 13th inning homerun to seal a 4-3 Yankees victory over the Athletics. Darrell Rasner made an emergency start for Carl Pavano and pitched well despite fatigue: 5.1IP, 5H, 3 R (unearned), and 1 K. His ERA is now a respectable 4.66 for a soon to be 6th starter. Once again defense bit the Yankees early and often as they committed four errors, two of which came from Derek Jeter. The errors come after four relatively brilliant defensive efforts from the Pinstripers. If this were the middle of the year, Rasner probably could have gone 7 innings, having thrown just 78 pitches, but the Yankees will take a starter keeping them in it for more than half a game right now with their injuries.

The bullpen returned to flawlessness, throwing 7.2 scoreless innings and giving up just 2 hits. Henn, Myers, Vizcaino, Rivera and Bruney all have ERA’s of under 1.30. Red Sox castoff, Lenny Dinardo pitched well in 3 innings of relief for Oakland, but was the victim of the Giambi long ball to give him his first loss this season. Brian Bruney picked up the Yankees win one night after he lost a game, and he was more than a little excited to have it come against Travis Buck.

In other news, Kyle Farnsworth seems to have figured out his early season problems. While this is obviously good news, I still think he would be better served as a 7th inning type of guy with either Bruney (preferably) or Vizcaino (probably) being the setup man. Why? If Farnsworth is the 7th inning guy it does not directly play a hand on Mariano Rivera, plus he throws gas. Farnsy, Bruney and Rivera consecutively to end a game may be better than the end of the ‘96 Yankees bullpen. Plus, now you have Proctor to rotate in when Farnsworth inevitably can’t pitch a second day in a row and we know Proctor is a 7th inning guy. That would make the assignments in relief: Henn the long man (or Karstens when he returns, or even Rasner), Myers the specialist, Farnsworth and Proctor the 6th and 7th inning guys, Bruney the setup and Rivera the closer. If there are lefties in the 7th inning, they may consider Vizcaino. Hopefully now everybody else will realize just how deep this bullpen is.

This afternoon Andy Pettitte opposes Rich Harden in the rubber match of the three game series at 4:05 ET. After a day off tomorrow, the Yankees return home to face the much improved Cleveland Indians. Hopefully Eric Wedge throws a few of his patented bone-headed decisions our way. I don’t know who can manage themselves out of a paper bag quicker, Eric Wedge or Toronto’s John Gibbons, but it would certainly take a while.

Finally, in case your counting, The Trenton Thunder have thrown 46 consecutive scoreless innings. Try to absorb that for a few moments. The Yankees have pitchers for the next decade if Cashman handles these moves correctly. Judging by last season when he traded Sheffield (4-32 with one XBH), Randy Johnson (yet to pitch in ‘07) and Jaret Wright (already on the DL) for a total of eight prosects (seven pitchers), I think we will be ok.

Enjoy this YouTube special, an introduction to the 2007 Yankees. I especially like Mike Myers’ picture.

Updates all around

While Mike Mussina remains optimistic about making his start in Boston, Darrell Rasner pitches near his hometown for Carl Pavano tonight. Also included in the notes are the status of Chien-Ming Wang and Jeff Karstens, who will both pitch this week and then be re-evaluated. Next week will be important for New York, when Wang, Pavano, Karstens and Mussina all get evaluated and could similarly return to health by May 1st. I wouldn’t worry unless one or more of these guys is out for an extended period of time. The Yankees have won divisions with guys like Darrell May and Donovan Osbourne on the mound during stretch runs. This is only April.

Elsewhere Kei Igawa, “best suited for middle relief” predictably was a lot more solid in his second start with the Yankees. He left lined up with the win, leading 4-3 in the 6th before Kyle Farnsworth continued to struggle by giving up a game tying homerun to my own fantasy player, Nick Swisher. Oakland would later win on an infield single off of gas pitcher, Brian Bruney, in the 11th inning. Igawa, tossed 5.1IP, giving up 2 ER on just 3 hits and 2 walks. All I have to say is it is extremely frustrating seeing everybody on the Yankees staff seemingly putting it together just to have Kyle Farnsworth struggle. The Yankees could have easily won their last four games.

Over in Scranton,  comeback story Matt Desalvo dominated Pawtucket as the AAA affiliate won 5-1. Desalvo threw 6 innings on just 1 hit, striking out 8 in the process. He’s an interesting prospect because he was once highly regarded but has flown under the radar due to numerous injuries. He seems healthy sporting a 2.00 ERA to start the year. Big Ben Kozlowski gave up an unearned run in two innings in relief and Justin Pope closed the door with a scoreless 9th. The aforementioned two relievers have 1.08 and 0.00 ERA’s respectively and are a few more names to look forward to in the future; there is an abundance of arms teetering towards the majors right now. Shelley Duncan, most known for having the same last name as Eric and striking out consistantly, homered for the 4th time to start the year and currently bats .375.

And in AA, the Trenton Thunder won 2-0 last night, extending their winning streak to seven games after dropping opening day. They have a legit shot at winning their division and possibly the championship this season as the Yankees mid to high level prospects continue to thrive. For consistant reports on the Thunder, you can click this blog, also located on our homepage. Jeff Marquez continues to be solid with a 1.64 ERA. Here was his line last night: 6IP, 4H, 0ER, 1BB, 3K. Speed merchant Justin Christian stole his 5th base of the young season, now he just needs to work on his .172 average.

These are the reasons why it is not panic time for the Yankees in the present or the future. They have worked for two years and counting to rebuild the farm and have exceeded everybodies expectations so far.

Tonight’s game is a rare 9:05 PM start as Darrell Rasner faces off against Joe Blanton. A hunch tells me either both pitcher’s struggle or Rasner does well and the Yankees squeak this one out. Though, if I’m wrong it wouldn’t be the first time Oakland dominated the Bombers early in the year. The same thing happened last season.

Yankees punish Carl Pohlad

Let me start off by saying of any owner in baseball, I hate Carl Pohlad the most. Say what you want about George Steinbrenner and whether it is fair that he puts revenue back into his team and fields the “best team money can buy” year after year (which he rightfully should), but Carl Pohlad is the complete opposite. The man is worth 2.7 billion dollars, yet fields the smallest payroll in all of Major League Baseball. It is owners like this, not like Steinbrenner, that sicken and enrage me. He could easily throw money into the holes of his already competitive team, but chooses to profit off of the luxery tax and revenue sharing that is designed to make all teams financially competitive and then whine about things like not being able to afford a retractable roof. Try not buying countries and a 40th Yacht, instead of throwing verbal venom towards New York.

Every single year around September when the Yankees are all but insured a playoff spot and the Twins are making their usual run, Pohlad seems to use the Yankee’s payroll as a rally cry for his own team. The 91 year-old himself, along with his own players like Torii Hunter and even manager Ron Gardenhire on a couple of occasions have expressed how unfair it is to have such high salaries on one team. To that I say, suck it up Torii, you choose to play in Minnesota at this point in your career and Pohlad chooses to underpay everybody on his team and then rather than show loyalty, let them go in free agency when their paychecks become too many digits. Nobody should feel bad for Minnesota, they should feel anger for their neglectful owner.

That being said, it brings me great satisfaction when the Yankees seemingly manhandle the Twinkies every season. They can’t defeat the Bombers in the playoffs and they generally struggle in the regular season as well. Rick Reed, a former Twins pitcher was once so angry that he dared a reporter to “put a glove on and try and pitch against those guys”. The Yanks did not disappoint tonight, winning 10-1 fueled by yet another homerun by Alex Rodriguez and an additional shot by Johnny Damon. They also added timely hitting from Melky Cabrera and AAA callup Kevin Thompson, who drilled a 2 run double in the 9th. In the first two games of this series, New York has outscored Minnesota 18-3. Don’t worry though, again, in case you didn’t realize, weather and health had nothing to do with the Yankees struggling against subpar offense. These two games against a solid offense that destroyed Baltimore pitching where the Yankees starters have given up two runs in 13 innings is obviously a fluke and not a sign of things to come when the Yankees have baseball weather and health back in the rotation.

Boof Bonser simply looked silly, as opposed to one of the top three starting pitching prospects in the extremely deep Minnesota farm system, giving up 7 runs in less than 5 innings. Pettitte countered with 6 shutout innings on just 4 hits and 96 pitches. As I implied earlier, when you have a rotation of five touch and feel pitchers, weather has a lot bigger impact on them than say, power pitchers in Boston. I’m not saying the Yankees have an elite starting rotation, but with an elite offense and bullpen, it won’t matter much. Not to mention, the defense has just two errors the last five games, since committing six in the first two games of the season.

Meanwhile, props to Pete Abraham for posting two great posts during the game tonight. One in regards to Alex Rodriguez and his start to the season and the other about Yankees that actually manage to remain healthy.

In parting, enjoy this video of Twins hall of famer and broadcaster Bert Blyleven dropping some four letter words in a former pregame with the Yankees in town last year.