The Ying Yang Returns

             Ask any Yankee fan when the season started and all the key players went down in Spring Training - what would they settle for: The answer would be stay around .500 and wait for the reinforcements to get back. More or less the team has done that, but the only tease was they were a whole thirteen games over .500 at one point, and with no bonefide powerhouse in the AL East, greed took over and Yankee fans expected more!

            At the All-Star break they find themselves seven games over at 51-44, but it was a crummy end to the first half due to their latest homestand. They went 2-1 against the Orioles (good), 2-2 against the Royals (poor) and 1-2 against the Twins who they always beat up (disgraceful). Worse yet, the team received an unexpected shot in the arm when Derek Jeter returned one day sooner than expected, but then in that game he pulled his quad muscle was shut down till this coming Friday against Boston. He probably could've played during the weekend against the Twins, but Cashman and Girardi used caution with their elder shortstop.

            One interesting revelation Jeter gave was that during that time he broke his ankle in last season's playoffs against Detroit, he shouldn't have been playing on that leg to begin with. It must have been cracked for a while before it finally gave out. That's why he's the Captain!

            And the snag with the "reinforcements" part is that Teixeira, and for the most part, Kevin Youkilis are out of the equation for 2013, but miraculously Lyle Overbay has soften a majority of that blow. 

            There's still no clear schedule for Curtis Granderson, although he can't be too far away, but one certainly is Alex Rodriguez has been announced to be coming back Monday against Texas. His name is still being flung around with the Florida Biogenesis scandal and supposedly A-Rod gave his statement to MLB investigators last Friday. Leaks from MLB is that they're looking to suspend him, but their star witness from the Biogenesis lab has a sterling reputation from trying to blackmail these alleged players before going public with his information, and overall, anything dealing with Florida and legality has been bumpy lately. 

             A-Rod continues to prepare for his return because he knows MLB can't lay a finger on him, and its hypercritical for Commissioner Bud Selig to say anything about it because he was enjoying the steroid cash McGwire, Sosa, Bonds and friends were generating for baseball after the 94' strike without asking how they were breaking Roger Maris' record over and over. 

             The never-ending doping scandals and injuries aside, there was a great moment for baseball at the 2013 All-Star game when Mariano Rivera was given a warm sendoff in his final appearance at the Mid-Summer Classic. With a 3-0 lead, Manager Jim Leyland decided to let Rivera work the 8th inning to guarantee him time on the field to get his dues. It would have been nice if Rivera came into the 9th to get a save, but Leyland was worried if another reliever blew the 3-0 lead and the NL went ahead in the score, then there would be 9th inning and Rivera couldn't come out. Other than that it was a perfect night for Rivera as he worked a 1-2-3 inning and took home the Game MVP honors. 

Position:

51-44 (4th Place AL East - 6 games behind 1st Place Boston Red Sox)

Homeruns: 

- Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez are both about back in action, completely by Monday. Nix, Nunez, and newcomer Ivan Cruz have been good fill-in's, but it makes a world of difference to see those two penciled in. 

- Ivan Nova finally found his command and has turned in two consecutive dominant starts!! This is key with Sabathia and Pettitte being less than their usual selves lately. 

- Ichiro has life in his bat compared to when he started this season, and even Vernon Wells has been getting some hits again. 

Foul Tips:

- Robinson Cano (about the only Yankee who hasn't suffered an injury this season) took a nasty Matt Harvey fastball off his knee in the All-Star game. X-rays were negative and he's expected to re-start the season on Friday, but he's really someone the Yankees can't afford to go down. 

- Sabathia had a horrible start to end the first half and his 9-7 record looks very mediocre to what has been a mediocre season for him. Will he ever get on a hot streak in 2013? 

- David Phelps experienced some back issues and was skipped for his last start, hopefully the break gave him time to rest and get back on the good track he was on. 

Strikeouts:

- Travis Hafner has become too much of an automatic out and now he's making Cashman look bad with Raul Ibanez tearing the cover off the ball in Seattle, although it was later revealed Ibanez wanted to be closer to home in the Emerald City (of course a few extra million could've changed that). 

             The Yankees are always in the ying-yang situation of having someone like Jeter or Rivera, who are viewed as baseball royalty and do everything the right way, and then further down the bench there's Alex Rodriguez and his latest PED or celebrity girlfriend news floating about. The good-tidings from Rivera's All-Star finale, and the returns of Jeter and A-Rod will be needed to speak the club as the Yanks start a tough stretch of games against Boston, Texas, and the hot Tampa Bay Rays. A-Rod can do himself a big favor and get off to a good start. He doesn't need to mash homers every at bat, but if he's helping the team win then the fans and the front office will look the other way, as they usually do.

             Everybody just wants the victories........

Welcomed With Open Arms

             With the Yankees riding high to the peak of being twelve games over .500, while receiving contributions from youngsters such as David Adams and crafty veterans like Lyle Overbay, many were wondering if the 'Re-Enforcements' would hurt the good chemistry that had developed in 2013. Well, a nightmarish four-game sweep at the hand of the lowly Mets and a de-moralizing weekend series loss to Boston has left the team begging for any shred of offense as they fall down to 3rd Place in the AL East.



              Before any of the 'Re-Enforcements' came back, one needed to be added to the ever-growing list. Andy Pettitte tweaked a trapezoid muscle, or something, in his back and needed a 15-Day DL stint. He's scheduled to be back today, thankfully.



             The first big name to return was Curtis Granderson, who broke his forearm during the opening Spring Training game this season by an errand pitch. After a week back in the "Bigs", Granderson was sent back down, thanks to another hit-by-pitch at Tropicana Field that broke a bone in his pinkie finger. This break isn't listed as severe as before and will only require five weeks before he can return. Some rotten season so far for a player in his contract year who needs to put up big numbers to get a nice new juicy deal.



             After a great weekend against the Rays (despite the Granderson injury) which included an amazing comeback against Fernando Rodney, the Yanks were geared up for the 2013 Subway Series which had been designed differently this year. Instead of the two weekend series showdowns, this time it would be four games during the week, with two in Flushing and two in the Bronx. The Mets had been reeling badly coming in and this was shaping up to be a shellacking at the hands of the Yanks, or three out of four games at the very least, knowing Mets pitching phenom Matt Harvey was starting one of them. This series would turn out to be the beginning of the bump in the road everyone had been anticipating with this surprisingly successful undermanned Yankee squad.



            The Mets took all four games!!



            This included two-walk off wins at CitiField, smacking David Robertson around one night and causing Mariano Rivera to blow his first save opportunity of the season. Then at Yankee Stadium, the Mets totally pounded David Phelps one night and got a great pitching performance from Dillon Gee the next as he struck out twelve Yankee batters. Other than the bad Phelps start, Yankee starting pitching did their best to keep their team in the games, but the offense completely hit a wall and getting Kevin Youkilis and Mark Teixeira back for the Boston series was at an opportune time.



           Things looked promising the first game against the long-time rivals. CC Sabathia turned in his best performance of the season going 7.1 innings and holding the Sox to one lone run. Both Teixeira and Youkilis were instrumental in Yankee rallies that lead to a 4-1 Yankee win. Any thoughts the Yanks had snapped out of their offensive woes were washed out over the next two games. The Sox battered the Yankees 11-1 the following night and shut down the Yanks the next night 3-0. Although, the finale was called by the 6th inning due to rain, but it didn't seem like it would've made a difference anyways. They can't find their hitting!!



Position:
31-25 (3rd Place AL East - 3 Games behind 1st Place Boston Red Sox)

Homeruns:
-Hiroki Kuroda has transformed into the team's most reliable starter (which has been the case since 2012).
-Ivan Nova has life on his pitches again since he's returned from the DL, but for now he's being used solely as long relief. It looks like its David Phelps' starting job to lose.
-Vidal Nuno looks like a keeper!! Even if he's sent back down to the minors, the lefty starter has shown alot of poise and maturity during his first major league stint. Hopefully he'll be a regular in the rotation in the future.
-Lyle Overbay seems to have a knack of getting clutch hits late in ballgames.
-Brett Gardner made some unbelievable catches at CitiField and has been very good as the Yanks lead-off hitter.

Foul Tips:
-Taking away the good start recently against Boston, CC Sabathia has been struggling to keep the other teams off the scoreboard and posts a mediocre 5-4 season record.
-Chris Stewart needed to stay out a few games to rest his groin, but now he left a game to deal with dizziness. Austin Romine seems to be the only healthy catcher.
-After a good start with the bat, David Adams has stopped hitting. Perhaps scouts have figured out something with Adams that Adams doesn't know about.
-Travis Hafner never needed a DL stint for his sore shoulder, but aside from one tremendous homerun in Camden Yards, his power has taken a major vacation.
-No word yet on returns for Nunez, Jeter, and A-Rod.

Strikeouts:
-Ichiro has looked horrible all season long at the plate, thankfully he hasn't carried it into the field.
-After the hot start from Vernon Wells, he's now looking like the Wells the Anaheim Angels wanted to get rid of in the worst way.



              With the return of Teixeira of Youkilis, pending they too don't get a case of the 'Curtis Granderson' Curse, the lineup will be deeper and that takes the pressure off the likes of Ichiro, Wells, and even Cano. The team had smooth sailing all season long up to this point, they had to struggle eventually.

               It happens to every team every season, and at multiple times.....