All hail King Millwood

            With the weak-hitting Seattle Mariners nice enough to spend a few days in New York and the scheduled return of Andy Pettitte on the way, this was drumming up to be fun weekend. Fresh off from taking two out of three against the Rays, the Yanks were looking to stay par by taking two out of three from Seattle as well, accepting the one loss as a result of having to face King Felix in the Friday night opener. Felix Hernandez entered the game 3-0 in his last three Yankee Stadium starts, so things weren't looking good for the bombers.

   

              Daring to battle King Felix was the courageous Hiroki Kuroda, who has been the recipient of only 2 runs of support per game in his last three starts, and was looking at the same fate against the 2010 Cy Young award winner. Seattle jumped out to a 1-0 lead when the very first hitter of the game, Dustin Ackley, took a Kuroda pitch over the left field wall for an opposite field homerun. In the bottom of the frame the Yanks answered back when Cano, who's back in full hitting force, singled in Granderson to tie it 1-1. The Yankees blew a golden opportunity to knock the king off his throne when Mark Teixeira got a single which would've loaded the bases, instead (a theme which would ruin Mother's Day for the Yankees) it all turn out to be waste and zero runs scored. A-Rod tried to score from second on the Teixeira hit and was slowed down by judging if the ball was going to fall in or not. Although he had no shot at scoring, A-Rod ran past third base and headed for home in which he was gunned down by a mile.



             Swisher and Ibanez made outs after that, and a sure bases loaded no out situation was erased in a split second. Seattle blew their own chances for a big inning as they loaded the bases in the 5th inning, only to have Kuroda escape the jam by striking out Brendan Ryan and getting Ichiro to ground out. What Kuroda wasn't able to escape was the solo homerun the next inning he gave up to former Yankee star prospect Jesus Montero, who was traded in the winter along with Hector Noesi, in the deal which brought Micheal Pineda here to have his shoulder blow out for 2012.



             The same as earlier in the game, as soon as the Mariners took the lead, the Yankees answered back, and in a big way. With runners on the corners and one out, Nick Swisher just needed a fly ball to the outfield to tie the score, but instead he struck out. It looked like another wasted opportunity with runners left on the bags, but next stepped in Raul Ibanez, who took the first pitch he saw from King Felix and lined it over the generous right field wall for a huge 3-run homer which gave the Yankees the 4-2 lead. In addition to Ibanez, another Cashman cog, Andrew Jones, added a towering homer of his own later on in a pinch-hitting appearance to seal the Yankees 6-2 win. Winning the game they were expected to lose, the Yanks had to be thinking sweep with the next two scheduled starters for Seattle being Noesi and Kevin Millwood.



            Phil Hughes took the ball for the Yanks in the next game and was looking to build off his impressive start last Sunday against the Royals. Facing an even weaker hitting club than this time, Hughes was even better. Shockingly, he took the ball into the 8th with his 7.2 innings of work only giving up one earned run from a homer. Seattle starter and former Yankee Hector Noesi was slapped around for 5 runs, including yet another homerun from the 39 year-old slugger Raul Ibanez., his 7th of the season. The score was the same as the night before, 6-2 Yankees. With the final game on Mother's Day also the day Andy Pettitte was going to officially return to the team since he retired after 2010, only having to face the supposed washed-up Kevin Millwood, it was looking like a sure sweep was in the Yanks' cards.

 

             Once Pettitte took the mound he looked like he had never left at all. He was good, as in no-hit good through his first three innings of work. Unfortunately for the Yanks, Kevin Millwood, another blast from the past, was equally as effective and held the Yanks hitless through his first three innings as well. Pettitte blinked first as he gave up a 2-run homer to Justin Smoak which put the Yanks in a 2-0 hole. The Bombers loaded the bases in the bottom of the 5th inning and cut the lead in half when Millwood walked in the Yanks first run of the game. Then the next hitter, Derek Jeter, grounded into a doubleplay. Pettitte served up another 2-run shot which barely hit the foul pole to increase Seattle's lead to 4-1. Kevin Millwood, who was an absolute joke in Baltimore two seasons ago and sported a 0-4 record coming into this game, stifled the Yankees in his 7 innings of work and ruined Pettitte's coming home party. Mark Teixeira had a two-out bases loaded chance of his own to at least tie the game or give the Yanks the lead, but he too made sure to do nothing with it and struck out. The bullpen for the Yankees let two more runs score and Seattle gave the Yanks their own '6-2' medicine with a 6-2 win of their own.



              Going into this weekend with King Felix as one of the starters, the Yanks had to be content with taking two out of three. Plus, even the most die-hard Yankee fan had to be curious on how Pettitte's stuff would be after not had thrown a pitch in the majors since the 2010 playoffs, and it was all there, except a few location mistakes. Next the Yanks visit their home away from home to face the first place (yes, true) Baltimore Orioles.

              With Pettitte back and Hughes finally looking like a starting pitcher, the Yankees at 19-15 can say they have a rotation for 2012........

Life without Mo, Part I

             The Yankees returned home with a large part of their soul torn out with the season ending loss of Mariano Rivera (think "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" when the Enterprise returns to base after the death of Spock).



              It was on with the show as the Tampa Bay Rays came to town, looking to add onto their six game regular season win streak against the Yankees. "Big Game" James Shields (with no rings but is still "Big Game"...?....) opposed the Yanks number two guy, Ivan Nova. Bouncing back from his previous bad start against the Orioles, Nova went 7 strong innings with 8 strikeout and only gave up 2 earned runs to pick up the win. Raul Ibanez, making Brian Cashman look wiser by the week, whacked two homers, on off of Shields. The Grandy Man added a homer of his own as well. The big moment came in the top of the 9th when a save opportunity was there to be had, and there was no Mo to be called on. Girardi went with David Robertson and although he loaded the bases for the dangerous Carlos Pena, Robertson was able to get Pena to look at a called third strike to end the threat, as well as the game. The Yanks snapped the Rays streak with a 5-3 victory.



           The second game was even more of a nail bitter as the Yanks spent the bulk of the game clinging onto a 1-0 lead. David Phelps made his second start of the season and gave a decent 4.2 innings of work, needing Boone Logan to bail him out of a bases loaded jam in the 5th inning. The Yanks lone run occurred in their first at bat as Cano doubled in Jeter to take the early lead. Jeff Niemann for the Rays kept the Yanks at bay and it all came down again to the top of the 9th when there was another save opportunity to be had. Even though he threw 25 pitches the night before, Girardi went with Robertson again for the save, and again Robertson made it dicey with a bases loaded situation. Unfortunately for the Yankees, this time Robertson wasn't able to escape this water-tank trick and ended up surrendering 4 runs to the Rays, highlighted by a 3-run homer by Matt Joyce. The Yanks couldn't answer back and took the painful 4-1 loss.



             Licking their wounds from a bad loss the night before, the Yanks had to look down the barrel of facing tough lefty-pitcher David Price.



             The good news for the Yankees was that they had their own powerhouse lefty on the mound to combat Price. CC Sabathia fell behind early 2-0 thanks to two errors gift wrapped by Eduardo Nunez's continued feeble attempts to play defense. The offense chipped back, starting with a Curtis Granderson solo homer, who continues to haunt Price with the deep ball.



              CC Sabathia breezed through the weak-hitting Rays lineup going 8 innings and only giving up those two unearned runs. Robinson Cano finally resembled a number three hitter this season by getting three hits, including a mammoth homerun which went over the Yankees bullpen and into the right field bleachers. With David Robertson shut down for the night after pitching the two previous nights, Rafael Soriano and his $14 million a year as a set-up man contract was given the mission to save the game. Sory was up to the task and smoothly saved the 5-3 win for the Yankees. Tampa did plate a run in the 9th inning, but it was originally caused by an infield single which Jeter momentarily bobbled. Other than that, Soriano went off without a hitch.


               At 17-14 and 2.5 games out of first place, the question for Joe Girardi becomes; next save situation, who gets the ball, Robertson or Soriano?....

A disaster of Royal proportions

            Short of the entire Yankees team plane crashing and the whole squad getting wiped out, the team suffered a major blow before a pitch was even thrown as closer Mariano Rivera tore his ACL during batting practice trying to catch a fly ball. Rivera, although a pitcher, likes to shag fly balls in the outfield as part as his normal pregame ritual. As he went to track down a ball hit by newly acquired outfielder (who the fans are just going to adore) Jayson Nix, his right foot seemed to have gotten caught on the lip of the grass near the warning track and he tore his right knee.



            Rivera provided some encouraging news the next day by proclaiming he will return and not let that be the way his Hall of Fame career ends, but for now the Yanks will have to face the rest of 2012 most likely without their clutch closer, and the chances of them winning the World Series this year dropped.



           The Royals hadn't won a home game up to this point in the season and the Yankees pathetic bats from the Orioles series was the perfect cure. Royals starter Danny Duffy blistered through the Yankees lineup with 99 mph and 97 mph fastballs while Yankees starter David Phelps, making his first career start in place of the disastrous Freddy Garcia, struggled through 4 innings by giving up 4 runs. The Yanks chipped away at the score to make it 4-3 Royals in the top of the 9th with their closer Jonathan Broxton on the hill. Broxton, back in 2010 as a member of the Dodgers, blew a big lead to the Yanks during an interleague game and it must have still been in the back of his mind.



              Derek Jeter led off the inning with a double on a 0-2 pitch which was followed by a walk by Granderson. With two runners on and no outs, the Yanks looked primed to at least tie the score at 4-4, but unfortunately Mark Teixeira had other plans. The Yankees first baseman grounded into a doubleplay which left Jeter at third and A-Rod at the plate to possibly drive him in. To Rodriguez's credit, the ump blew the call on the second pitch which was way inside, that put the batter in a 0-2 hole against a pitcher who can also throw 99 mph. A-Rod worked the count to 3-2 before hitting a tapper which Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas made a barehanded throw to first to nick A-Rod before he hit the bag. A half a second later the play would've been safe and Jeter would've tied the score, instead the Royals had their first home win of the season.



             Losers of three straight, the Yanks sent their 3-0 ace CC Sabathia to the hill to stop the bleeding. The atmosphere around the team lightened up a little compared to the night before as Rivera told the media he would return, even though it seems that would have to wait till next season. Teixeira got the Yanks on the board early with a 2-run homer (couldn't do that in the 9th inning in the first game?) off of Bruce Chen, but CC gave it right back to the Royals as they tied the score 2-2 in the bottom of the 1st. Both starters locked in at that point and the game remained 2-2 until the top of the 7th when the Yanks scored 4 runs, capped off by a 2-run homer by Jeter, who continues his scorching start of the season. Joe Girardi didn't officially name a closer at this point, but on the of candidates, David Robertson, game on in the 9th to strike out the side to seal the victory.



           With the offense showing life and the Royals already with their expected one measly victory, the Yanks might've thought it was going to be smooth sailing from their, but it wasn't. This time Royals starter Felipe Paulino stymied the Yanks in his 6 innings of work, only facing on tough situation; a bases loaded scenario which he got Jeter to ground out. Hiroki Kuroda was yet again provided with no offensive support and took the hard luck loss in the Royals 5-1 victory, their second home victory of the 2012 season.



           Facing the complete embarrassment of dropping 3 out of 4 to the Kansas City Royals to compound with the devastating blow of losing Rivera for the year, the Yanks sent struggling starter Phil Hughes to the mound. The team received some good news for once in as many weeks as Nick Swisher returned to the lineup after his hamstring injury. Swisher's return must have sparked the team as they actually resembled the Yankees. The slumping Robinson Cano broke a 1-1 tie in the 3rd by blasting a grand slam as part of a 6-run inning. The 2 runs came from a Nick Swisher homer of his own. Later in the game, A-Rod added another bomb to make it 10-3 Yankees, and the final was 10-4. Hughes had his first clean start of the season going 6.2 IP with 7 strikeouts and giving up just 3 runs. The Yanks return home at 15-13 without Mariano Rivera to play host to the Tampa Bay Rays.



             Everyone knew the day would come of life without Mo, now we'll get a sample for the rest of this season.....

For the birds

            The Baltimore Orioles came to Yankees Stadium looking for revenge after getting swept in Camden Yards a few weeks ago and made the Yanks look like a feeble group of old ladies.



             Monday night's first game was the only bright spot for the Yankees as they inched out a 2-1 victory thanks to a number of highlight reel plays on defense and a solid 7 innings of pitching from Hiroki Kuroda. After being down 1-0, Eric Chavez sent a 2-run homer deep into the Yankees bullpen which took care of all the scoring for the night. Plenty of leather was flashed by the Yanks defense; including diving plays in left field from Eduardo Nunez, line drives snagged by Jeter and Teixeira, and a nifty doubleplay turned by Jeter to end the game. With Mariano Rivera on to close it out, it was a rarity to see a hard enough hit ball that could be used to turn two with. With Nick Swisher out from a hamstring pull and Brett Gardner still not back from the DL, manager Joe Girardi was forced to play Nunez in left; a move that would come back to haunt him the next night.



            To say Phil Hughes hasn't had a good start to the 2012 season is an understatement, so before entering his next start he reviewed film of himself from 2009 when he came out of the bullpen and was considered the best set-up man in baseball.




          For the first time in a long time Hughes looked 2009-ish as he reached upwards to 95 mph with his fastball and looked crisp early on. Curtis Granderson hit an absolute bomb off of Orioles starter Brian Matusz to give Hughes a 1-0 lead, but Hughes later gave up a homer of his own to Chris Davis to tie the score. Later on, Hughes gave up a 2-run shot to J.J. Hardy to put the Yanks in a 3-1 hole. All in all, without those two homers, Hughes was semi-decent for a change. With runner of base and having to face Chris Davis again, who homered earlier, Girardi opted to bring in Boone Logan who surrendered a hit to make it 4-1, and then for the cherry on top Eduardo Nunez (playing an unfamiliar position due to the injuries and current lack of roster depth) misplayed a routine fly ball to make it 6-1 in favor of the O's.



            The Yankees bats were pathetic, especially with runners in scoring position and the heart of the order, alla Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano, swinging at first pitches and doing absolutely nothing with it. A usual laughing stock, Brian Matusz earned his first major league win since the Stone Age in a 7-1 victory.



            The final game of the set was no better for the Yankee offense as Orioles starter Jake Arrieta was untouchable. Ivan Nova had his streak of being undefeated in his last 15 regular season starts ended with no help from the bats in a 5-0 loss. Both Matt Wieters and Nick Markakis went deep on Nova, who left in the 7th inning. The most bizarre occurrence of the night was Eric Chavez who had to be taken out of the game due to a whip-lash he felt in the middle of an at-bat. Earlier in the game, Chavez made a diving attempt at a line drive hit by J.J Hardy which caused the sensation.



             Now with another injured Yankee player (who was actually hitting), the team limps into Kansas City with a 13-11 record....