The battle of the Marks

             Returning from the All-Star break in Kansas City where Robinson Cano was soundly booed for not including future Hall of Famer Billy Butler on the AL Homerun Derby team, the Yankees played host to their ol' thorn in the side, the Angels.



             Hiroki Kuroda was given the ball to begin the second half of the season, looking to bounce back after his sub par outing in Fenway. Kuroda fell behind 1-0 in the 3rd inning thanks to a solo shot by Erick Aybar, but in the bottom of the frame, batting right-handed against the $70 million dollar lefty C.J. Wilson, Mark Teixeira poked a 2-run homer that barely went over the leftfield wall. From there Kuroda went on a roll and was working into the 7th inning on a low pitch count when things started to fall apart. The $250 million dollar man Albert Pujols singled to start the inning, Kendrys Morales was plunked in the back on a 1-2 pitch, and then Mark Trumbo, who bombarded the Yanks in Los Angeles a few months back with four homers, crushed a 3-run homer deep into the left field bleachers, where no balls ever go, to give the Angles a 4-2 lead. Pujols would get up in the 8th inning and hit a high popper to the right field foul line than dunked in for an RBI double as a result of Swisher shifted too far left against for the pull hitter. Swisher made amends soon after by leaping up at the wall and robbing Mark Trumbo of what would be another homerun. The Angles still had the 5-2 lead and it looked like another painful loss against the Angels was in the Yanks future with the untouchable Scott Downs coming out to start the 8th.



             Coming into the game, Downs was sporting a microscopic ERA and had been a constant Yankee-rally killer in the past for the Angels and Toronto Blue Jays. Shockingly enough, Derek Jeter started the bottom of the 8th inning with a hard double to right field to get things cooking. Curtis Granderson worked a tough at-bat and squeaked a walk on a 3-2 pitch. This set the table for two on and nobody out, with Mark Teixeira, who already homered in the game, to come to the plate still hitting right-handed against the lefty Downs. This was indeed going to be Teixeira's night as he found himself a hanging curveball with no bite and launched it deep to left that tied the game at 5-5 for his second homer of the game.



             The Yankees weren't done quite yet. They had the tie, now they needed one more run for the win. Raul Ibanez was in to pinch hit for Andruw Jones and he drew a walk. Joe Girardi inserted the valuable Dewayne Wise to pinch-run and he promptly stole second. With the struggling Russell Martin up sporting a batting average under .200 against the hard-throwing Kevin Jepsen, one would think Wise would be left stranded at second. Instead, Martin lined a double past first base which barely made it in fair territory and Wise came in to give the Yanks the 6-5 lead. Rafael Soriano picked up where he left off an converted his 21st save of the season, the last out coming from Martin throwing out Kendrick trying to steal second when it looked like Martin was going to let a pitch get away from him. Chad Qualls picked up his first win in pinstripes by mopping up the 8th inning, which turned out to be the Yankees most exciting victory of the season against the menacing Angels.



             With no trades or call-ups to say otherwise, Freddy Garcia's previous good two outings earned him another start in Pettitte's empty slot, and he contributed positively again with five decent innings in which he only surrendered 3 runs. Luckily for Garcia, he was facing a mediocre pitcher who was coming off the DL in Jerome Williams. The Angels managed 2 runs in the 1st from a bases loaded double by Alberto Callaspo, but the Yanks erased that immediately in the bottom of the frame with an opposite field 2-run homer from Kansas City fan-favorite Robinson Cano. Curtis Granderson jumped into the 2nd half homer fun with a 2-run shot of his own in the 3rd to give the Yanks a 4-2 lead at that point. With Garcia only able to go five innings, Girardi had to pull out his usual bullpen speed rack and put together four scoreless innings from Eppley, Robertson, and finally Soriano who closed out the 5-3 win that gave Garcia his 4th win as well as Soriano's 22nd save this season in place of Mariano Rivera. If the Yankees bullpen hadn't been good enough, news was getting better concerning the return of Joba Chamberlain while he rehabs, that the fireballer could be back by August sometime. If that isn't intriguing enough, there's other whispers that Rivera himself be have a small window to return this season from his surgery, but the latter seems quite unlikely according to Girardi.



            Playing with house money by guaranteeing themselves two out of three against the tough Angels, the Yanks set out for the sweep, but it wouldn't seem easy against their ace, the 10-1 Jarred Weaver. The Yanks sent their own 10-game winner, Ivan Nova, to the mound, and instead of a pitching clinic, the game turned out to be a slugfest. By the top of the 6th, the Yankees were leading 3-2, highlighted by a 2-run shot from Alex Rodriguez, who woke up from his slumber and had been hearing the boos lately. Nova started to flatten out and let in three Angels runs, including an unforgiving act of giving Maicer Izturis his first homerun of the season. Chad Qualls had to come in to relieve Nova in the 7th after letting a couple on, one of which scored which made the score 6-4 after Granderson had brought the team back closer with a solo homer. Eric Chavez also chipped in with a solo homer which made the game 6-5, but in the 8th, Qualls would be responsible for another string of three Angels runs which put the game out of reach at 9-5. Mark Trumbo managed to hit another homerun before leaving New York in the 9th that made the score 10-5 as fans headed for the exits. You should never leave early with the Yankees offense because they can always make a game out of it. Mark Teixeira hit a 2-run homerun in the 9th, his third of the weekend, that pulled the score to 10-7. Scott Downs was called upon to close it out for Mike Scioscia, but he struggled again to walk in a run at 10-8 and left the bases loaded for Alex Rodriguez to be the big hero and make the fans forget about the terrible hitting with RISP during the first half (and most his Yankee career). Kevin Jepsen came on for the righty-on-righty match-up and instead of a fairytale ending for the Yankees, it would be yet another A-Rod weak pop-up near the infield to kill the comeback.



             Despite A-Rod making more fans happy, the homer-swinging team can walk proudly being twenty games over .500 with taking 2 out of 3 from the Angels, and knowing the fact the crosstown Mets got swept in Atlanta to begin their second half. Next up, Scott Downs' former team, the Blue Jays come pay a visit to the Bronx....

The saving grace

             Whereas Oakland is a west coast destination the Yankees thrive in, Anaheim has been a place where they go to be massacred. Since 1996 overall, and specifically starting in 2002, Mike Scioscia and his Angels club have been slaughtering the Yanks on both coasts.



             Although the Yanks took 2 out of 3 earlier in the season with the Stadium home opener, the weather is warmer now, Pujols has started hitting finally, and the Angels were throwing their top three starters: Jared Weaver, Dan Haren, and Ervin Santana. With Jared Weaver already had tossed a no-hitter this season and is one who usually shuts the Yankees down, things weren't looking too good with the onset. That is, of course, until the Yankees caught a break. Weaver injured his back while on the mound and had to be removed from the game. Then with the help a number of unlikely errors by the Angels, the Yanks were able to grab an early 3-0 lead in the 1st and things were really looking up!!



             Unfortunately for the Yankees, Phil Hughes wasn't able to grasp hold of the gift he was given and managed to flush the lead down the toilet by surrendering 4 runs in the bottom of the 1st to swing it in favor of the Angels 4-3. Hughes was atrocious and was charged with 7 earned runs in 5.1 innings of work. With his past few starts being more productive against weaker-hitting teams, the up and down of Hughes is turning him into the team's next A.J. Burnett.



             To the offense's credit, the Yankee bats battled back all night and even tied the score 8-8 thanks to a huge hit by Russell Martin. In the top of the 9th, Derek Jeter had a chance to put the Yanks ahead with the bases loaded and 2 outs, but anytime the bases are loaded this season, the Yanks can't get a hit, and this night was no different as Jeter grounded out. Cory Wade was inserted in the bottom of the 9th and he served up the 9-8 game-winning homer to Mark Trumbo, who would go on to kill the Yankees all series with homers in each game.



             Trying to bounce back after a tough loss, the Yankees sent their crafty veteran Andy Pettitte to the mound against Angels hard-thrower Dan Haren. Pettitte had been marvelous in his return in 2012, but on this night he had the worst performance of all his starts. Both Trumbo and Pujols went deep on Pettitte as he was responsible for 5 runs in his 7 innings of work. Dan Haren was untouchable with only giving up one measly run in 7 innings while striking out 7 Yankees. In the top of the 9th, the Yanks did load the bases with a 5-1 deficit and Cano at the plate to be able to tie the game with one swing, but Cano struck out pathetically on just three pitches to end the game.



               Look at another miserable stay in Anaheim and the prospect of getting swept by the Angels, the Yankees turned to the young man who had been winning important games for the past two seasons, Ivan Nova. Just like the first game, the Yankees grabbed a 5-1 lead thanks to huge blasts by Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano off of Ervin Santana, who had lost his 5 previous starts against the bombers. But then just like Hughes in the first game, Nova blew the lead immediately after and the Angels had tied the game at 5-5 (highlighted by yet another Mark Trumbo homer). One of the biggest unsung heroes of 2012 for the Yankees, lefthanded hitting Raul Ibanez, managed a triple off the wall in center off lefty-reliever Hisanori Takahashi. With Ibanez at 3rd with only one out, amazingly, the Yankees executed a sacrifice fly at the hands of Nick Swisher to take the 6-5 lead.



           Nova was able to settle down and paced his way through 6.2 innings of work and witnessed Cory Wade making amends for the other night by striking out Howie Kendrick in a huge spot with the tying run on 3rd. Wade came back in the 8th to breeze through the next three hitters, which set up the drama in the 9th. Rafael Soriano, in his biggest save situation of the season so far since taking the job, was up against (of course) Yankee-killing Mark Trumbo with the tying run at 2nd base and two outs. Luckily, Soriano was able to break Trumbo's bat which cased a weak flyout to left, giving Soriano the green-light to untuck his shirt for the 6-5 victory.



          With a 4-2 west coast swing under their belt and on their way to Detroit with a 27-23 record, the flight couldn't have been all that good as news of reliever David Robertson's return has been pushed back to mid-June the earliest thanks to a new rib cage injury. To combat this unfortunate development, Brian Cashman picked up a real nobody off the scrap heap in Ryota Igarashi, because the Yankees always have success with Japanese pitchers.....

I wish I could get $250 million to do nothing

            The Yankees finally opened up at their own ballpark this past weekend and played host to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, not to be confused with the Los Angeles Angels of Beverly Hills or the Los Angeles Angels of Compton.



            Not only was this weekend big for the Yankees' home opener as well recognizing the contributions of Jackie Robinson, but this was also the unveiling of the Angels' new $250 million slugger Albert Pujols in front of an audience consisting more than ten people. After 11 seasons and 2 World Series championships for the St. Louis Cardinals without any steroid allegations, Pujols signed a 10-year deal for $254 million to move to the AL west and play with the Angels. Always reliable birth certificates from the Dominican Republic has him at 32 years of age, so the 35 year old will be playing out this contract till he's 45.

            The Angels must have read Hank Steinbrenner's book on how to run a front office.

 

            In the first game after the humongous flag in centerfield and the fighter jets flying overhead crap was done, Yankee new-comer pitcher Hiroki Kuroda shocked the entire sold out stadium crowd by throwing 8 innings of shutout baseball. Kei Igawa he was not.



            The Yankees own mega-millions winner Alex Rodriguez and his $275 million-dollar contract out-shined Pujols with 3 hits including a mammoth homerun out towards monument park in centerfield. Curtis Granderson also lined a homer into the right field stands for his second of the young season. The game was basically over the the 1st inning when Nick Swisher's bases clearing double put the Yanks ahead 3-0 and Kuroda just mowed the Angels down from there.



            Unlike Kuroda, Phil Hughes wasn't able to bounce back from his first mediocre start in Tampa and he was tagged for 6 runs in the Yankees' 7-1 loss in the second game. Hughes was slapped around for 8 hits including 2 homeruns in 3.1 innings while the offense had no answer for Angels starter C.J. Wilson, another part of the Angels spending spree this offseason. Although Hughes was able to throw with velocity, he seems prime to be sent back to the kid's table once Pettitte returns in May.



            The rubbermatch of the series came down the first ESPN Sunday Night Baseball appearance for the Yankees this season and a 11-5 victory over the Angels. In honor of Jackie Robinson, aka MLB PR ploy to try to snare future black athletes from the assumption of basketball and football as the only meal tickets, players from all teams wore number 42 this day. The Yankees offense knocked out Angels starter, a journeyman pitcher, something Williams out rather early, taking a 5-1 lead. Derek Jeter added a cheap 3-run homer to the generous right field of Yankee Stadium to increase the lead to 8-1 as his hot hitting continues. Ivan Nova wasn't all that sharp as he gave up a few homers of his own, but was able to hold the Angels to 4 runs over his 6 innings of work.



             To the Angels credit they scratched and clawed their way to stay in the game and things got real dicey in the seventh inning when they had bases loaded and the winning run standing at the plate. Of course, when there's a bases loaded situation, Yankees reliever David Robertson gets out of it automatically.



             After tacking on another run to make it 9-5 Yankees, Raul Ibanez put the game away for good with a 2-run homer into the upperdeck that made it 11-5. The shot was only the third time in the stadium's brief history a homerun ball reached up there. The Yankees at 5-4 will roll out the red carpet for the usual-walkover Minnesota Twins who come into town next.

             As for Albert Pujols; his weekend series added up to 4 hits and 2 RBIs, but still without a homerun for 2012.



             Had he been hitting like this for the Yankees, the media and the fans would be burning him at the stake by now.....