Late inning Yankee heroics are not your imagination.

Since last night's seven run ninth-inning brings the issue up, check this out:

In innings 7-9 the Yankees are batting .297/.383/.517/.900 as a team. It's more drastic if you look at innings seven and nine individually: in the seventh the Yankees are batting .314/.403/.528/.930 as a team.

That's right, in the seventh inning, the Yankees as a team are batting .314 (guys that bat .314 generally contend for the All Star team) and OPSing .930. To compare, Mark Teixeira is OPSing .920 for the year.

The ninth inning numbers are similar: .311/.399/.528/.927.

The difference here, however, is that while the Yankees always play a seventh inning, they don't always play the ninth (if they're winning and at home). So that makes the seventh inning numbers all that more insane.

The Yankees have scored 271 runs in the 7th-9th innings; they have not scored 250 in either the 1st-3rd or 4th-6th.


We knew the Yankee offense was good...really good...but their numbers in the latter innings are kind of insane.

Maybe this is why the Yankees have 12 walk off wins and g-d-knows-how-many come-from-behind wins. It's the mark of a team that keeps fighting.

Boy, is it fun to watch...

Bombs and Bullpen back Burnett (postgame notes 1 September (!!) 2009)

For a full recap, please check out my post on The Yankee Universe any time after midnight.

Notes:

• Handed leads of 3-1 and then 5-3, Burnett could maintain neither, and while he only walked two, he did surrender eleven hits.

• The offense was Bronx Bombing at its best: five home runs, from Robinson Canó (who's hitting somewhere around .480 against Baltimore), Jorge Posada (who hit two, including one after he forgot the count and thought he had struck out!), Nick Swisher (whose home/road splits in the words of Girardi are "mind-boggling"), and Eric Hinske.

• Damaso Marte, David Robertson, Phil Coke and Mariano Rivera combined to hold the Orioles scoreless for 3.2 innings.

• The Orioles have been mathematically eliminated from AL East contention tonight.
  

Super Smash Party (Postgame Notes 21 August 2009)

Everyone on the Yankees tonight except for Johnny Damon and Robinson Canó had multi-hit games tonight--and Johnny Damon left in the first inning after getting hit by a pitch.

If, uh, you can remember that far back.

Every one on the Yankees who started except for Johnny Damon had an RBI--and even Damon's replacement, Eric Hinske got in on the act.

Hideki Matsui had seven of them himself.

So forget the fact that Andy Pettitte, Brian Bruney and Sergio Mitre more or less crapped the bed pitching wise--tonight was a night for the offense.

The Yankees came to Boston with only the requirement that they did not get swept.

They didn't.

Life, for Yankee fans, is pretty good.

The Most Important Hits in The Yankees 2009 Season So Far

Timely hitting can do so much.

That said, the hits that end up really mattering are often the ones that are important only in hindsight--they aren't, necessarily, the walk-off hits, but ones that allowed the rally to keep going, ones that grabbed the lead or even tied the game, etc.

In no particular order I would include:

Alex Rodriguez's first swing home run against the Orioles in his first game back
Francisco Cervelli legging out a two-out infield hit that allowed Johnny Damon to hit a 3-run HR on Mother's Day
Brett Gardner's inside-the-park Home Run against the Twins
Francisco Cervelli's game-tying Home Run in Atlanta

And now:

Melky Cabrera's three run Home Run against the Red Sox.

What about you?

Which hits, walk-off hits or not, do you consider to be seminal moments in the season?

"An Offensive Orgy" to win an ugly game (Postgame Notes 06 August 2009)

I should explain here that the term "offensive orgy" comes not from me but from Michael Kay.

Aha!, you say, as you make your way through this post.

Basically, it's like this:

If you're going to walk twelve (yes, twelve) batters for the other team, you'd better show up to hit yourselves, and that's exactly what happened.

Every Yankee starter had a hit and only three (Jeter, A-Rod and Matsui, and yes, you read that right, too) did not have multiple hit games. Four Yankees--Jorge Posada, Johnny Damon, Melky Cabrera and Mark Teixeira--hit home runs.

The funny thing here is that going into the bottom of the fourth innning, this game looked much like its 09 Yankees-Sox predecessors: poor pitching, bad baserunning, and timely hits by the opposition.

In fact, everyone--and I mean everyone was killing Jorge Posada for refusing to slide when attempting to score. to be fair, the criticism was warranted, but as so often the case, Posada would more than make up for his blunder, ending up falling "just" a triple shy of the cycle.

In the bottom of the fourth, Posada doubled, Canó reached, and then with one out, Melky Cabrera hit an absolute bomb to right field--out in any ballpark.

That one home run may have been the defining moment that changes the Yankees fortunes against Boston this season.

The Yankees took the 5-3 lead on that home run, and that proved to be the start of an eight-run onslaught in the fourth inning. The Yankees, as you might expect, never looked back. Okay, so that's not entirely true--while the score never got to within four runs from that point, the Yankees did end up walking twelve. Boston had runners reach ever single inning.

To be fair, only Chamberlain and Anthony Claggett gave up runs, and despite the number of pitchers used today, Aceves, Hughes, Bruney, Rivera and probably Coke should all be available tomorrow.

When all said and done, the Yankees win tonight might be the most important win of the season thus far:

1) They get the 0-8 monkey off their back.
2) There's less pressure on AJ Burnett to outpitch Josh Beckett. Of course, that's not saying a whole lot, but it counts.
3) It assures the Yankees, now 3.5 in first, that whatever happens the rest of this series they will still wake up on Monday morning in first place.
4) If the Yankees can, however, they now have an opportunity to go 4.5 up tomorrow. Which could then become...you know...


So sit back, and for all of tonight's ugliness, enjoy it.

This win means just that little bit more.

Cabrera Hits for Cycle and Yanks Avoid Sweep (Postgame Notes 2 August 2009)

After sliding into third and being called safe, Melky Cabrera leaped up, punched his fist in the air and shouted a Spanish phrase I won't repeat here.

He had just completed the cycle, saving the hardest hit to get--the triple--for the last.

It was the first cycle for a member of the Yankees since Tony Fernandez in 1995.

So if you got caught up in the remarkable-baseball-feat-hoopla, you can perhaps be forgiven if you forget the largest context in which the cycle was hit.

The 8-5 final score is not really indicative of a well pitched game, but it's a bit misleading--while the Chicago White Sox scored four of their five runs in one inning, the Yankees scored in four different innings.

Aside from the bottom of the third, CC Sabathia was just fine, but blowing the original 3-0 lead is a little, as Michael Kay says, disconcerting. While it's great to see a pitcher get it together after struggling early, Sabathia isn't being paid to just give the Yankees a chance to win; he's being paid to pitch quality starts.

Still, the Yankees get to leave Chicago with a win heading into a very much needed off day. They come back to face Halladay, have Mitre pitch on turf in Toronto, and then have four with the Red Sox.


Good thing the Yanks are in first, eh?


Oh, and for what it's worth, Jerry Hairston Jr. has been great so far. Not great as in Albert Pujols, but great as in, Brian Cashman still knows what he's doing and he's a major upgrade over Cody Ransom.

They Don't Need No Stinkin' Homers (Postgame notes 07 July 2009)

They were playing in the Metrodome, aka the Homerdome, but the Yankees won 10-1 tonight without the aid of a single home run.

Unless, of course, you count the grand slam that A-Rod hit that Carlos Gomez just happened to time perfectly, jump up and steal.

At any rate, the 10 Yankee runs came on singles, bloops, walks, a triple (Gardner)--perhaps none more important than a 2-out bases loaded hit from Robinson Canó (yes, THAT Canó) that turned a 5-1 game into a 7-1 not-tie-able-by-a-grand-slam lead.

In other words, while CC Sabathia was excellent, which is great considering his poor start against Seattle, the real star of this game was the Yankee offense.

The offense proved tonight it doesn't have to hit home runs to win ball games, it can do plenty of other things, too.

Mark Teixeira perhaps best exemplifies this--he had four hits tonight, and they were all singles.

In fact, thirteen of the sixteen Yankee hits tonight were singles.

Against a starting pitcher that had been untouchable over his past four starts, the Yankees thrived.

The best part is that they get to throw AJ Burnett at 'em tomorrow and have an excellent chance to win the series.

Looking at the Yankees on an Off Day

The Yankees have not only picked up the pace in the last few weeks; they've moved into a tie for first in the AL East.

Let's take a look at how they got there.

Starting Pitching

This has probably been the greatest improvement. The Yankees are 12-4 in their last sixteen games; in only two of the losses did they allow more than five runs. In six games, the opposition has been held to two runs or less and in 12 games the opposition has been held to four runs or less.

It's a far cry from the 15-5 and 22-4 blowouts of April.

Let's take a closer look.

• CC Sabathia: Has turned it on. He lost his last start, to Philadelphia, but this has more to do with Hamels pitching well than him pitching poorly. He beat Baltimore and Toronto, allowing a grand total of three runs in those games, and perhaps most importantly, win or loose he always seems good to throw eight innings, which helps to save a really taxed bullpen.

• Phil Hughes: Has decided he really wants to stay in the rotation, apparently. he had a couple rough starts, but got better and in his last start against Texas was fantastic. With the exception of the one start in Baltimore where everything came undone in the second, the most notable accomplishment for him has been the way he's bent, but not broken, with men on base. last season all of those men score. This season they don't. Phil's growing up.

• Joba Chamberlain: Seems to have figured out the first inning woes by throwing a simulated inning before the start of the game, but needs to work on efficiency. Not sure if Joba's last start was a result of his poor numbers against Texas or some leftover weakness from getting hit in the leg with a line drive; probably a combination of both. I am wholeheartedly against moving him to the bullpen since i think it would kill his arm, but he does need to become more efficient.

• AJ Burnett: Had a couple tough luck outings, with a loss against Halladay and then a no decision against Minnesota; gave up absolute bombs to Philadelphia, but yesterday, thank your deity(ies), was very good against the Rangers. 118 pitches in six innings is too many; but six shutout innings a team will take every time.

• Andy Pettitte: He's been Andy Pettitte-ish. He'll give up hits and occasional runs, but somehow, as if by magic, always keeps the team in the game. He's been perfectly cast as the team's fifth starter; not quite his role in Yankee teams of yesteryear, but he's doing exactly as the Yankees needed him to do, and he's still historically a better second half pitcher.

• Chien Ming Wang: Now pitching out of the bullpen despite not being a bullpen arm. The trouble is, if Hughes keeps pitching well Girardi will be in no hurry to remove him from the rotation. It's an odd problem to have: too much starting pitching and not enough bullpen.

The Offense

Let's see here.

Since the last off day, the Yankees have scored at least three runs every game but one--and that was Halladay's start. In their wins, the Yankees have scored five or more runs ten times.

Even while missing Nady and Posada, and for most intents and purposes, Swisher, the offense is working like a $200 million team.

• Derek Jeter: Seems to have slowed his decline just enough. He's never hit for a whole ton of power, but seems much improved in that department over last season. He's still, perhaps, not entirely suited for the lead off role, but it's drastially reducing the team's GIDP that makes it all worthwhile.

• Johnny Damon: Has cooled off a little bit, but since he had basically been carrying the team for a while now, he's allowed. The right porch at the Stadium suits him perfectly and has turned him into a legitimate power threat at home.

• Mark Teixeira: There aren't really words to describe how awesome he's been since A-Rod has come back and, well, offered him protection in the line up. He's got twelve home runs already in May and is now in the league lead in that department. We knew he'd heat up in May with the warmer weather...but I'm not sure anyone expected this.

• Alex Rodriguez: Still has more home runs than singles and the scary thing (for other teams) is that his timing, while better, is still not all the way there. Now, if he had some serious protection in the line up--Matsui and Canó can be too streaky--there is no limit to the damage he could do.

• Robinson Canó: Was insanely hot, then cooled off, and now is pretty warm again. He is night and day with himself last year, and the Yanks are probably pretty happy they got the 'day' version this year.

• Melky Cabrera: Already has three walk off hits this season. It's not just that he's taking better ABs (and he is), it's that he's making them count. The shoulder injury looked painful on TV, but if what we're hearing is right than the injury should not be too devastating. At the very least, nothing is broken or dislocated and small mercies though they be, they still count.

• Nick Swisher: has cooled off something awful. He needs a day off (or three), but until Nady is back and with Melky hurt it won't happen any time soon. He's still managed to keep a very good attitude about the whole thing, but you can see he's pressing. Every hitter slumps; it's not the slump that matters so much as whether or not you can get yourself out of it.

• Hideki Matsui: Had also been slumping awful and then he hit two home runs last night Maybe the change of scenery was what he needed; at any rate, he needs a few more games before we can call the slump over.

• Brett Gardner: Seems to have his bwest games when coming in off the bench for someone that's been injured or tossed. Melky's getting the better swings; but Gardner doesn't look as lost as he did earlier in the season. Plenty of players--ie, Miguel Cairo--have fashioned lengthy careers off the bench.

• Ramiro Peña: Also been slumping, but the difference is he was never supposed to hit in the first place. His defense makes up for it, though. So the Yankees will take it.

• Francisco Cervelli: I thought this kid was a Mendoza line hitter at AA? He's still got virtually no power, but the fact that he's not an automatic out--and, in fact, has come up big in a few clutch situations--is not really going to upset anyone, either. He continues to do all the little things right and now there's debate if the Yannkees should keep him or Molina on the roster when Molina comes back.

• Kevin Cash: Has likely seen his last game action, which is okay, because he was pretty painful to watch with the bat.

• Angel Berroa: Who?
  

• Jorge Posada, José Molina and Xavier Nady have not played since the last off day.

The Bullpen

Oh, that bullpen. It's been better, but better does not necessarily mean good.

• José Veras: I loved him last year I do not love him this year. i don't know where that control went but it doesn't look like it's going to come back.

• Phil Coke: He's been okay. If you can find it, his postgame comments after his first (and probably only) career save are well worth a listen. It's hard not to like a pitcher who is so candid with the media, but asking the 8th inning of him may be a little too much.

• Alfredo Aceves: Alfredo Mendoza. Seriously, there's nothing else to say. Dude is great. Not perfect, but the best Mendoza-like guy we've hand in ates. If only Girardi would stop trying to proctor him...

• Brett Tomko: Has been kind of what we expected. Okay in low leverage situations; hold your breath in a tie game.

• Mariano Rivera: Between the walk offs and the blow outs he's not gotten a whole lot of pitching opportunities. Still, having seemed to have overcome his dead arm, Mo's the most reliable thing the Yankees have outside of, well anything. For what it's worth, it's Mo that's done and told AJ to "get the pie ready" during the walk offs, and Mo that sat as judge during the kangaroo court.

The Yankees are 3-3 in their last six but 12-4 in their last 16. The most impressive thing here is that they've followed each loss with a win, as if to say that they can't wait for their next nine game winning streak.

Yankees Ride Back to Back to Back Home Runs to 8th Straight Victory (Postgame Notes 20 May 2009)

When things go right, they really go right.

For instance, today was likely Phil Hughes' last start before Chien Ming Wang comes back to the rotation. He needed to impress.

So he struck out nine in five innings while only walking one.


Nick Swisher had been slumping something awful at the Stadium.

So he hit a home run, which was only the first of three back-to-back-to-back home runs that the Yankees hit in the second inning, each getting progressively bomb-ier.


After Hughes' short outing the Yankees needed a good performance from the middle relievers.

So Alfredo Aceves and Phil Coke combined to throw two and two-thirds scoreless innings (with some help from Johnny Damon).


After Mariano Rivera got the last out in the eighth, Yankees fans were praying for an insurance run or two so that Mo didn't have to sweat the ninth.

So the Yankees scored six runs in the bottom of the inning--and every runner to reach scoring position in the inning scored.

And then Mo pitched the ninth, anyway, saving Albaldejo, Bruney, Tomko and Veras for another day.



Add it all together and the Yankees have won eight straight, with the guarantee that they will gain on somebody as Toronto and Boston are also doing battle (and it looks like Boston will win).

The Yankees have guaranteed themselves a winning record on the homestand, which could be important as Philadelphia, which comes to town on Friday, is not exactly a pushover.

CC Dealing, Teixeira and A-Rod Smashing, Yankees Winning (Postgame Notes 19 May 2009)

A Yankees fan could get used to this.

For his third start in a row, CC Sabathia was great--tonight going seven innings giving up just three hits and one earned run; two of the hits and the one run in the first inning.

For the second game in a row, both Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez homered, and for Alex, it was his fourth game in a row with a home run.

The two sluggers are getting it done--while Alex hasn't been getting the singles or the doubles that Teixeira is, he's making up for them with home runs, most of them no doubters in any stadium.

While this game turned into a laugher, for most of the game, it was a tight 2-1 score.

Sabathia's dominant performance might not seem so important, but at the time it was. Baltimore scored one run in the top of the first; the Yankees responded with two via an A-Rod jack in the bottom of the inning, and then neither team did much of anything.

At one point Sabathia retired 12 straight birds while the O's starter Bergesen retired 13 straight Yankees, and it seemed the game would end up a good, old fashioned pitcher's duel.

That, however, did not count on Baltimore's bullpen.

After the first two Yankee baserunners reached in the seventh, O's manager called upon once-highly-touted-closing-prospect Chris Ray. A single, error, double and home run later, he was unable to record a single out, and the score had gone from 2-1 to 9-1.

The good news continued for the Yankees, as Brian Bruney was able to enter in the eighth inning for his first appearance since going on the DL and pitched a one-two-three inning.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what the $200 million team looks like.

A starting pitcher that keeps the team in the game (or, in CC's case, is utterly dealing), an offense that does enough against good pitching and crushes bad, and a bullpen that comes in and does it's job so proficiently that you don't notice.

The Yankees have now won seven straight, and are five games over .500 for the first time this season.

Yanks Ground Jays with Five Run 2nd (Postgame Notes 13 May 2008)

Double. Home Run. Triple. So on and on went the extra base hits in the second inning.

At one point there were two doubles, two triples and a home run...and not a single or a walk.

It was some good, old fashioned Bronx Bombing, and it sparked the Yankees to an 8-2 victory.

The surprise here, though, was that it was all the result of the bottom of the line up. In the second, when the Yanks sent ten men to the plate, everyone reached base except for Nick Swisher and Francisco Cervelli.

Whatever the cause for the bottom of the line up suddenly producing, the Yanks certainly appreciate it.

One night after the Yankees got, well, owned by Roy Halladay, they erupted for eight runs, including Brett Gardner's first career home run.


Andy Pettitte, pitching for the Yanks, started out very shaky. He walked three in the first inning, and with the aid of an error, the Jays actually took a 1-0 lead. However, he settled down after that, going six innings and allowing only one ER, and, had he not walked so many, would have likely pitched the seventh.


Alfredo Aceves was again great from the bullpen, allowing one hit over two innings, but Albaladejo struggled with his control to the point that Mariano Rivera began to throw in an 8-2 game. He was able, however, to get a game-ending double play that kept Mo from working too long.


All in all, tonight's game was quite the change from last night. It's perhaps the perfect exhibition of why baseball players, even with such a long season, need to have a short memory.


The Yanks will have a chance to take the series with a win tomorrow.

Looking at the Yankees on an Off Day

Now that the season is over a month old, there are some judgments that can be made. Although it's too early to know for sure what will hold out and what won't, there are some general trends:

• Whatever the team's problem, it's not the offense.
• The starting pitching can show flashes of brilliance, but has mostly been pretty average.
• The bullpen has two reliable pitchers and the rest are firestarters.

Let's take a more in-depth look, shall we?

The Starting Pitching

Joba strikes out 12. CC pitches a four-hit complete game. Yankee pitching of late has shown flashes of brilliance. Yet, for ever four hit complete game shutout, there's a pitcher that can't get out of the second inning.

The starting pitching was supposed to be the Yankees' strong suit, but it's been mediocre for the most part. While CC looks like all it took was a flip of the calendar page, others in the rotation look decidedly human.

• CC Sabathia: Yankee fans hope the four-hit complete game shut out of the Orioles is a sign of better things to come. That stopper performance is what the Yankees paid to get. Don't pay too much attention to CC's record here; the bullpen has been more than responsible for keeping CC from some more wins.

• AJ Burnett: Started off as the Yankees' stopper, but has faltered a bit since then. The match up on Tuesday against Halladay should be telling. His ERA is skewed because of the eight runs allowed in the one Boston start; other than that he's allowed, going backwards 3, 4, 3, 2 and 2--certainly enough to give his team a chance to win. The Yankees are 4-2 in his starts.

• Andy Pettitte: The Yankees are 4-2 in his starts as well, but his ER total has gone up: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 5. Not entirely surprisingly, the Yanks are 1-2 in his last three starts. Granted, Pettitte is supposed to be the fifth starter, so the Yanks aren't quite looking for utter domination here, but the rising ER totals are not a trend the Yankees would like to see continue.

• Joba Chamberlain: Opponents hit .480 off of him in the first inning, but after that, they're lucky if they reach base. The Yanks are only 3-3 in his starts, but this may perhaps be more the fault of a lack of run support (and, uh, that bullpen) than it is Joba's--he has not allowed more than five runs in a game, and when he did, the Yankees won that game. In the future, he'll probably be the pitcher more like the pitcher that pitched innings two through six against Boston as opposed to the first inning.

• Phil Hughes: Holy small sample size, Batman! Phil Hughes has looked progressively worse each start. It's only three starts, so you can't make much of it, but it's probably not much of a coincidence that Chien Ming Wang will make a rehab start for Scranton tomorrow.

• Chien Ming Wang: Told you it was the foot.

The Starting Line Up

The offense has been working quite nicely here. They've been held to less than four runs no more than five times over the course of nearly thirty games and have not yet been shut out. What's interesting here, though, is while guys like Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira are struggling, others such as Johnny Damon and Melky Cabrera have picked up the slack.

• Derek Jeter: Only hitting in the .270s, and this is a little concerning. His OBP is helped by his walks, but his OPS is nearly a hundred points lower than his career average. It's still early in the season, and Jeter struggled early last year, but it's getting to a point where Jeter's offense can no longer mask his not-very-good defense. If this was anyone else, you'd probably see a team trying to trade him while he still has residual value, but this is Derek Jeter. And you don't trade Derek Jeter.

• Johnny Damon: En Fuego. Not only does this guy have a hitting streak, but he has an extra base hit in seven straight games. Yesterday, it won the Yankees the game. Yes, there's a caveat that it's a contract year and he's playing for a contract, but if it helps the Yankees win, how much of a caveat can it be? I'm not sure we'll see 40 home runs from him, but whatever he's eating for breakfast, it's working.
  

• Mark Teixeira: Struggling as all struggling has ever struggled before. Hovering around the Mendoza line is not how he wanted to start out in pinstripes, but perhaps he's beginning to come out of it. The double in the rain to tie the game against Tampa would have been a seminal moment had the Yankees found a way to win the game.

• Alex Rodriguez: One pitch, one home run, and Alex Rodriguez has more home runs than David Ortiz, who did not miss the first 28 games of the season. Alex only has one other hit and has swung at a bunch of pitches out of the strike zone, but no matter how much you rehab, there's nothing quite the same as facing ML starters who have already had a few weeks in real game situations to practice. He might not run well, but he should hit just fine once he's had a few more games.

• Hideki Matsui: Was the Yankees' hottest hitter while A-Rod was still rehabbing. He's cooled down some, but he no longer looks awkward and lost like he did at the beginning of the season. Godzilla's always been fairly streaky; when he's right and protecting Teixeira and A-Rod, there should be some interesting offensive games.

• Nick Swisher: Doesn't like hitting at the New Yankee Stadium. His numbers overall have come way down, more in line with his career numbers as opposed to deity-like. He still seems to work the count every at bat, and guess what? On this team, working the count seems to be contangious. And as long as he keeps being a bon vivant, campaigns such as VoteSwisher.com will continue to have an actual shot at working.

• Robinson Canó: Has cooled off after a torrid April. As per most of his career thus far, he's hitting much better on the road than at home, which may partly be why the Yankees don't seem to have much luck at the new Stadium. Still, if your number 7 hitter hits .300 or better for the most part of the season, you can't find too much to complain about.

• Melky Cabrera: It's too early to call this a breakout season, but it seems to be how this is shaping up. Melky was given a second chance when Gardner couldn't, well, hack it, and he's taken every advantage. It's a small sample size galore thing here, but if he keeps taking pitches like he's taking, the likelihood he'll regress will grow slimmer and slimmer.

• Francisco Cervelli: He's not in there for his bat, and yet, if he doesn't beat out an infield hit yesterday, the Yankees don't win that game. Every time he's interviewed in the clubhouse, he is positively beaming. If only he hadn't missed so much of last season with that wrist injury...

• José Molina: Has a grand slam. Which is cool. And a strained quad. Which is not.

• Jorge Posada: Never injured before the big, bad contract of doom, and now injured twice in two years. At least this is his hamstring and not his shoulder, so he should not be gone for too long. When the Yanks get his bat back, with A-Rod, it's going to be one heck of a line up.

• Brett Gardner: Seems to have gone MIA except for late inning defense. That's what happens when you are given a chance and you can't take advantage. It's also why spring training stats mean nothing.

• Ramiro Peña: Was good enough as a fill in for A-Rod to still be on the ML roster. Didn't hit much but wasn't necessarily an automatic out, and played doable defense. Wouldn't be surprised to see him spell A-Rod or perhaps even Jeter every once in a while.

• Angel Berroa: He's on the Yankees? Since when?

• Xavier Nady: Will attempt some light throwing to see if he can start rehab or if he will need a second Tommy John surgery. The injury didn't seem like a big blow to the Yankees at the time, but depth is only nice when you don't have to use it.

• Kevin Cash: Has yet to make appearance as a Yankee.

The Blow Bullpen

Somehow, someone in the bullpen thought it was a good idea to watch footage of the 2008 Mets and try to emulate them as best as possible. Mariano Rivera and Phil Coke decided that wasn't for them, but they haven't been spotless, either.

• Mariano Rivera: Gave up back to back HRs for the first time in his career to Tampa Bay. He's not injured, apparently, since his command's okay, but his velocity's a bit down. This is probably a repercussion of the shoulder surgery and he should be okay, but it doesn't help that he was, well, so darned good last year.

• Phil Coke: The only other reliable reliever. He's not flashy and he struggled in the beginning of the year, but he has calmed down a lot since then and (generally) gets the job done. In the absence of Bruney, the 8th inning is his.

• Jonathan Albaledejo: Occasionally pitches a bunch of scoreless innings, and occasionally gets tagged. Flip a coin; that's basically what it comes down to.

• Edwar Ramirez: See above.

• José Veras: Last year's seventh inning guy has utterly no command this year. Aside from one good performance against Oakland, has shown absolutley nothing to suggest he can get batters out. What's even more frustrating is that he's out of options, so the Yankees are basically stuck.

• Dámaso Marte: Why did the Yanks wait so long before DLing him? Such things continue to blow my mind.

• David Robertson: Good when throwing strikes. Doesn't always throw them, however.

• Mark Melancon: Needs more time at AAA, believe it or not. Kid's still young and coming off of TJ surgery. He'll be fine, but just not yet. Right now, it's about building the confidence so he's not afraid to throw strikes.

• Brett Tomko: Heard the debut didn't go so well, but was dealing with an awful migraine at the time so I missed it.

• Alfredo Aceves: the Mexican Gangsta may yet save the bullpen. The reason he didn't pitch in Hughes' debacle was because the Yanks weren't sure if Joba could start. Since Joba could and did start, Aceves should be raring to go the next time a starter fails.

• Bruney, Bruney, o where art thou Brian Bruney?
  

Yanks Blow Big Lead; Boston set for Possible Sweep (Postgame Notes 25 April 2009)

The hits keep coming.

Literally and figuratively.

AJ Burnett started today's game, way back when, and through the first three innings was magnificent as Robinson Canó almost single-handedly staked the Yankees out to a 6-0 lead.

Alas, someone in the Bronx must have burned a stack of 20 bibles or something because there's nothing else that could describe what happened afterwards except pure, unadulterated bad karma.

A 6-0 game was then 6-6, 6-8, 8-8, 8-9, 10-9, 10-12, 11-12, and finally 11-16.

Burnett fell apart in the fourth and was done by the fifth; and the Yankee bullpen, beat up after two consecutive extra innings games and without Brian Bruney, could not support the offense, which did it's best. Most of the time. Except when they had second and third in the eighth with one out and couldn't bring home the tying run.

There really isn't much else to be said. After last night's heartbreaker the Yankees really needed a win today, and for the most part, the offense, at least, certainly tried. It just wasn't enough.

I don't know if it's that the Yankees are momentarily cursed or that the Red Sox just can't lose a game (they've won nine straight now), but the result is the same: another in the loss column.

Not much you can do about that except to etch-a-sketch it away, and try again tomorrow.

The difference between this year and last year

Through April 15, 2008 the Yankees scored 56 runs.

Through April 15, 2009, the Yankees scored 51 runs.

The caveat: In 2008, the season started April 1. In 2009, it started April 6.

Thus, last year, in five more games played, for a total of fifteen games, the Yankees scored only four more runs than they have this year, through nine games.

The offensive explosion isn't limited to the Yanks-check out the Jays-but if this is what the Yanks are doing now--and they have yet to score fewer than four runs in a game, what happens when A-Rod comes back?

Who's got the better line up--Yankees, Sox or Rays?

Yesterday both Pete Abraham and River Ave Blues did a great job comparing the Yankees-Red Sox and Yankees-Red Sox-Rays rotations if the season was to start today.

So today, I thought I'd do a little line up comparison.

To note: the line ups are based on current rosters; I have no idea if this is where these players would hit, nor am I advocating it...Also, here I am comparing offenses, not defenses.

Anyway, to start with, you have the New York Yankees:

1) Johnny Damon
2) Derek Jeter
3) Mark Teixiera
4) Alex Rodriguez
5) Xavier Nady
6) Hideki Matsui
7) Jorge Posada
8) Robinson Canò
9) Brett Gardner


Any time you've got a line up where Robinson Canò hits eighth, you've got a really potent line up out there. That said, everyone listed here except for Teixiera and Nady underachieved last year, and Nady wasn't on the team for half the year--and Teixiera at all!

That said, I think there's an argument to be made for hitting Teixiera fifth--to me, at least, he'd offer better protection for A-Rod than Nady. However, Nady's not really a three hitter and until Canò gets his act together, he's also a risky proposition for that spot.

Here I like Gardner over Melky-he might not have Melky's power, but you're not looking for power in a nine spot, and Gardner offers a better eye and better speed on the bases. If he can find just a little bit of power, having him and Damon as nine/one would mean a circular line up with no real landing spot for the other pitcher.



Next, let's look at the Boston Red Sox:

1) Jacoby Ellsbury
2) Dustin Pedroia
3) David Ortiz
4) Kevin Youkilis
5) Jason Bay
6) JD Drew
7) Jed Lowrie
8) Mark Kotsay
9) Josh Bard

Now, if we ignore the fact that I haven't the slightest idea in hell if this is how the Red Sox would really structure their line up, Boston's got a couple guys in Ortiz Bay, and in a good year, JD Drew that can mash, but their better strength is the speedy guys at the top of the line up that wreak havoc when they get on base, and the fact that Ortiz, Youkilis and Bay all have a very good eye.

The Sox have a weaker bottom of the line up, in part because they've had no real solution to the departure of Jason Varitek, and even if Varitek returns, he's not really a much better hitter than Josh Bard-last season, Varitek was even more of an automatic out than Melky Cabrera, and that's saying something.


Last, we have the Tampa Rays:

1) Akinori Iwamura
2) Carl Crawford
3) BJ Upton
4) Evan Longoria
5) Pat Burrell
6) Carlos Peña
7) Dionerr Navarro
8) Matt Joyce
9) Jason Bartlett

The Rays, like the Red Sox, make good use of speed at the top of their line up, and the addition of the power of Pat Burrell is an excellent offseason move, as it means other teams will now have to navigate through Longoria-Burrell-Peña in some order. Given that Upton and Longoria are still incredibly young, it's a line up that will likely only get more powerful as the season progresses.


If we are to compare all three line ups, my results look something like this:


Jacoby Ellsbury > Johnny Damon > Akinori Iwamura
Derek Jeter > Dustin Pedroia > Carl Crawford
Mark Teixiera > BJ Upton > David Ortiz with a bum wrist
Alex Rodriguez > Evan Longoria > Kevin Youkilis
Pat Burrell > Jason Bay > Xavier Nady
Carlos Peña > JD Drew > Hideki Matsui
Jorge Posada > Jed Lowrie > Dionerr Navarro
Robinson Canò > Mark Kotsay > Matt Joyce
Jason Bartlett > Brett Gardner > Josh Bard.

If we are to assign a point scale, with three for first place, two for second and one for third, we get:

Yankees: 21
Rays: 17
Red Sox: 15

Of course, the above doesn't take into account Posada's bad shoulder, Matsui's bad knees or anyone underachieving, like Canò, Drew and others have all done. Nor do we know if these are what the opening day line ups will look like.

That said, if the Yankees are healthy and not underachieving, they clearly have the most potent offense in the AL East. As to who is second, the Rays or the Red Sox, it's a closer call. Right now I would have to say that the addition of Burrell for the Rays coupled with Ortiz's less-than-Ortiz-like numbers last year would make the Rays a favorite over the Red Sox.

Feel free, of course, to disagree. Having a potent line up does not automatically make the Yankees a favorite to win the AL East-all three teams have excellent pitching, and both the Red Sox and the Rays are better defensively. However, the Yankees are known as the Bronx Bombers for a reason...

Ponsanity (Postgame Notes 6 September 2007)

Wait for it...wait for it...

Sidney Ponson pitched well.

He made one bad pitch and got burned for it, but he pitched well and, at least against the Mariners, the Yankees were able to take advantage of the weaker team.

The offense wasn't great, especially in the early innings, but they took advantage of a bad Seattle bullpen and was able to put enough distance between them and the Mariners that even when Joba struggled, their lead was still fairly comfortable.

Now, with Mike Mussina on the mound tomorrow the Yankees have a legitimate shot at leaving Seattle with a 5-2 record on the road trip so far, which is already a lot better than 3-7 and would guarantee at least a .500 record on the trip.

While at this point it might be considered too late to do anything other than hope for the Yankees, there are still intriguing storylines: Mussina's quest for 20 wins is alive and well, Jeter is thisclose to being the Yankees' hits leader (at least at Yankee Stadium), and every home run Alex hits now seems historic.

***

In other news, I would pay Syracuse good money to get rid of Greg Robinson, and I am very much looking forward to the first Jets game of the season tomorrow.

Instant Replay, Instant Home Run (Postgame Notes 3 September 2008)

Alex Rodriguez is always at the center of everything.

Therefore, it's not much of a surprise that Alex was involved in the very first use of instant replay.

Lucky for him, the call went his way and he passed Michael Schmidt for 12th on the all time home run list, and broke open a 6-3 ball game.

For the first time since then end of July, the Yankees have won a series against a team with a record better than .500, and in doing so against Tampa, they may very possibly set some interesting things in motion, and Boston is now just three games behind Tampa.

Carl Pavano was not great, but the Yankees won the game and there is not much more one can ask for at this point.

As for the bullpen, Edwar Ramirez got lucky, Phil Coke apparently should have been called up earlier, Brian Bruney was excellent and Jose Veras was shaky, but they got the job done.

Of late the Yankee offense seems to have finally woken up a little bit, having scored 8, 7, 13 and 6 in four of their last five, but they will have to keep this up pretty much the entire month if they are going to have a legitimate shot at the playoffs.

****

Today marks the one year anniversary of PBP. Thank you to everyone that's kept reading over the year--this has become so much more than I ever thought it would.

It's a Hitting Holiday (Postgame Notes 1 September 2008)

There's that old saying again--they don't have to be pretty, they just have to be wins.

Such was the case today.

Unfortunately, while the good ole' slugfest was fun to watch, for a while, it may be a case of too little, too late.

Losing two out of three to Boston was bad enough, but two out of three to Toronto as well was a dagger--and I had the honor of seeing the 7-6 loss on Saturday in person.

As far as today's game went, however, one has to wonder where this offense has been the entire season. Games like today were games the Yankees were supposed to have in spades this year, and they simply have not.

This game would have fit in nicely last year, with the Yankees winning in spite of their pitching staff, and not because of it (okay, Phil Coke had a very nice debut, but that was about it in terms of pitching).

The Yankees now head to Tampa for three before heading out to Seattle and Los Angeles.

X-Men Cometh (Postgame Notes 03 August 2008)

Down 5-0 in the fourth inning, Yankees fans were just praying the deficit wouldn't get any larger.

Maybe, just maybe the Yankees would be able to chip away and make the game close, and maybe, just maybe, there would be that little glimmer of hope that the Yankees could end the series on a positive note.

When a base-running error with one out in the fourth inning by Bobby Abreu kept the Yankees from scoring on a sacrifice fly from Xavier Nady, you could hear the collective groaning from Yankee fans everywhere: that was our inning, and we missed it.

Guess everyone forgot that 27 outs are a lot of outs.

From the fifth inning on, the Yankees scored at least one run every inning--one in the fifth, three in the sixth, four in the seventh and then six in a wild eighth inning.

Xavier Nady had a career high 6 RBI, including a home run in the seventh to put the Yankees ahead 8-5. As a Yankee he is hitting .385 with three doubles, three home runs, and ten RBI in eight games--and that's despite a very slow start in Boston.

Boston can keep their Jason Bay; the Yankees like the X Man just fine.

In terms of pitching...well, there wasn't much of it unless you count what John Lackey did in the first three innings, and what Dan Giese did in the middle innings.

If anything, Giese made a case for him to start next Friday night against Lackey in Anaheim in place of Darrell Rasner, who did not have a good performance.

Edwar Ramirez was overdue for a couple of baserunners, but the grand slam he gave up to Mark Teixiera was a crushing blow after the Yankees had just taken a three run lead. Had the Angels played something remotely resembling defense in the eighth inning, it would have been a crushing loss for the Yankees.

As luck would have it, however, the ghosts seemed to be out today, and the Yankees, seemingly sparked by Justin Christian's double steal in the eighth, would not lose the game, and battled themselves to a split with the league's best team.

A word of caution: Apparently Mariano Rivera was unavailable to pitch today due to back spasms.

Sidney Ponson on the mound, Win in the column (Postgame Notes 21 July 2008)

Somewhere, in Yankeeland, apparently, there is a switch.

It's just like a light switch, with an on-off choice, and underneath the switch there is a label that reads:

New York Yankees

Underneath the label, there is a sign that reads:

PLEASE TURN ON SWITCH AFTER THE ALL STAR GAME AND LEAVE ON FOR REMAINDER OF CALENDAR YEAR

Someone turned that switch on, again.


Sidney Ponson was not great--5.2 innings, nine hits, two walks, two strikeouts and three earned runs--but he was able to Houdini himself out of a couple of tight spots and after the Yankees re-took the lead in the bottom of the second, he never looked back.

It's almost as if on the days that Ponson starts, the Yankees get an extra urge to win--of the four games he has started so far, the Yankees have scored at least nine runs, and in the one they didn't, they still won the game, anyway.

The Yankee offense was, simply, on fire tonight.

Every Yankee hitter except for Jason Giambi (who needs to dye the 'stache again) had a hit; even late inning replacements Wilson Betemit, Justin Christian and Richie Sexson reached base.

Alex Rodriguez had a two run home run with two out in the first; Robinson Canò and Derek Jeter each had solo shots as well, but perhaps what is more impressive is that eight of the Yankees' 12 runs were scored on hits that were not home runs.

The Yankees bullpen continued their stellar season--allowing just one run in 3.1 innings pitched. Even LaTroy Hawkins had a 1-2-3 eighth inning--as if to put a stamp on how well the bullpen is pitching.

One has to wonder if they add something to the water in New York in July--the Yankees have won four in a row now, eight straight at home, seven of nine, and eight of ten. Even in their last two losses--against Toronto--only one of the losses was really a "bad loss".

It happened last year: the Yankees went on an utter tear to come from 7.5 games out of a playofff spot to take the wild card. They're chasing more teams right now, but if they keep playing like this, it's not a question of if they'll make the playoffs, but when.