Kick em' while they're down

             The Detroit Tigers were one of the most talked about teams of this offseason with their addition of Prince Fielder to their already dangerous lineup and the fact they have 2011 AL MVP and Cy Young winner Justin Verlander as their ace. For 2012, things haven't been so peachy as the Tigers strolled into Yankee Stadium with only a .500 record at 10-10 after starting the season 3-0. Things got off on the wrong foot before any games were played as the night before at his midtown hotel, Tigers outfielder Delmon Young was arrested for hurling anti-Semitic slurs at a Jewish panhandler, which drew the ire of a group of tourists from Chicago.



             The Yanks were treated to Justin Verlander immediately as he took the mound on a chilly Bronx night against the Yankees' most consistent pitcher over the past year, Ivan Nova. Both looked human, especially Verlander who served up two homeruns to Alex Rodriguez and another to Russell Martin. Nova was touched up for 6 runs in his 5.1 innings of work, although to his credit some of those early runs were off of seeing-eye-singles which found holes in the infield. Tied at 6-6 in the bottom of the 9th, Derek Jeter scored the winning run from third just in time for the 7-6 victory.

              Freddy Garcia continued his magical 2012 with another awful performance as he was racked for 6 runs without even being able to get out of the 2nd inning. David Phelps, who has had the job of cleaning up Hughes and Garcia's messes so far this season, was able to steady the ship with three scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Nick Swisher provided two homeruns, including one in the 9th inning to help jump start a possible comeback as the Yanks scored 3 runs, but it was too little too late as the Yanks lost 7-5. Drew Smyly, in addition to having a weird name, held the Yankees to 1 run over 6 innings, and combined with Garcia's bad start put the Yanks in too deep a whole. After the game Garcia was sent to the bullpen having lost his job to Phelps. The honeymoon on Garcia's 2011 season seems to be on its way out the window. 

             With the pitching rotation looking real scary over the past week, Yanks ace CC Sabathia took the hill in the rubber game against the Tiger lineup which was still without the bigotry of Delmon Young. Sabathia followed up his strong 8-inning performance in Texas with another strong 8 innings in the Yanks 6-2 win to take the weekend series. Max Scherzer was shaky for the Tigers and wasn't able to get out of the 5th inning as his pitch count went well over a hundred. Other than a massive Fielder bomb given up by Sabathia, the big guy scattered four hits with eight strikeouts in his eight frames of work. Both Granderson and Andrew Jones went deep for the Yanks as they improved to 12-9 while the Tigers stayed at the same .500 they came in with at 11-11. Nick Swisher left the game early with a tight hamstring which could be a cause for concern with Brett Gardner still on the DL and the fact Swisher suffered leg problems most of spring training. Meanwhile Stockburn, that is Jim Leyland, tries to figure out how to get his team on track. 

              Next up the AL East leading Baltimore Orioles come to the Stadium in which YES announcer and former Orioles star Ken Singleton is sure to be calling the games....