Comeback Kids

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What was looking like an apparent loss for the Yankees and CC Sabathia last night, turned into their first great comeback of the season. With a little help from Brett Gardner and a major blast from Travis Hafner, the Yankees were able to overcome a 3-0 deficit in the seventh inning to beat the Diamondbacks, 4-3.

This was one of those nights where CC did not have his best stuff, yet was still brilliant. After giving up a two-run homerun to Paul Goldschmidt in the first inning, he settled in, using a variety of different pitches and speeds to keep the game within reach. Following the Goldschmidt home run and a single to Cody Ross, CC would retire his next 10 batters and would not give up another run until the fifth inning, when AJ Pollock hit a sacfly to score Josh Wilson who tripled on a line drive. He continued through the next two innings getting groundball outs and strikeouts with a bevy of pitches ranging anywhere from 74-90 mph.

Then, in the seventh inning, the Yankees' offense came through. Ben Francisco, who got his first hit of the season, singled on a grounder to left. Brennan Boesch followed with a double on a fly ball which moved Francisco to third. Eduardo Nunez walked on a groundball in the dirt from Diamondbacks starter Wade Miley to load the bases. Miley then walked Jayson Nix, scoring Francisco, and gave up a line-drive single to Gardner which brought in Boesch and Nunez, and tied the game at 3.

CC would return for the 8th and pitch a 1-2-3 inning, giving the Yankees another opportunity to take the lead. And on his first swing, Hafner nailed a 96 mph fastball from David Hernandez to right center field. Mariano Rivera closed out the ninth inning, getting his fourth save in 4 opportunities.

AP Photo / Kathy Willens

The Yankees appear to be on a nice roll now. The pitching staff has really settled in and the offense is coming through in key spots.What has to happen now is figuring out what adjustments need to made with Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova. It's been the veterans carrying the load while the young arms are continuing to struggle. Tonight, as Hughes pitches for the sweep, the key for him will be to get good movement and location on his changeup for strikeouts, and to keep his pitch count within reason. So far this season, when the starters have pitched beyond 5 innings, the Yankees have won. Hughes has yet to get into the fifth; hopefully tonight he will give this team length and secure his first win.

Hughes goes up against Patrick Corbin whose 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA. Game time is 7:05 pm.

Follow Rasheeda Cooper on twitter: @ra_cooper

Kuroda Sparkles; Yankees Take Series Against Baltimore

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Hiroki Kuroda was at his best last night, limiting the Baltimore Orioles to 5 hits but no runs as he pitched a complete game shutout in the Yankees 3-0 series win.

You would think during a shutout game that a starting pitcher would have to mix in a bevy of different pitches going through a lineup several times. But Kuroda managed to shut down Baltimore throwing nothing but splitters and sinkers. There may have been a few times he threw a curveball and he only threw one fastball the entire night to Adam Jones. The result was the Orioles being mainly limited to hitting ground balls.

In the end, Kuroda would allow 5 hits, no walks, and would strikeout 5 over 113 pitches.

I don't think anyone believed that Joe Girardi would keep Kuroda in the game for the ninth inning. With the Yankees leading by three, it would have been a save opportunity for Mariano Rivera. Also, considering how important pitching is to the Yankees right now, it would have been the right move for Girardi to rest Kuroda for the last frame. But Kuroda showed no signs of fatigue, and would have pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 9th, if not for Jayson Nix's fielding error that allowed Nick Markakis to reach first base.

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And while the loud bats of Robinson Cano and Kevin Youkilis were silenced last night, the Yankees got all the offense they needed in the fifth inning from Brett Gardner. After Brennan Boesch scored on a sacfly from Nix, Gardner hit a two run home run to right field scoring Francisco Cervelli, who had previously singled to left field.

Alex Rodriguez was with the team in the dugout for the second game in a row last night. Looks like Alex is re-acclimating himself to the fans and the media following all the drama of the Biogenesis scandal. I like that he's supporting the team this way and besides, no need to stay "underground" if you're not guilty, right?

The Yankees get the night off tonight but will begin interleague play against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday. Ivan Nova will get the start--and a chance to keep his spot in the rotation--against RHP Brandon McCarthy. Andy Pettitte's start has been pushed back to Friday, as the Yankees want to proceed with caution and give him more time to rest his back. Game time is 7:05 pm.

Follow Rasheeda Cooper on twitter: @ra_cooper

Triple Play, You Say?

If you were looking for early signs that the Yankees could maintain their "awesomeness" in the absence of some of their superstars, last night's game against the Orioles was a clear indication that the Yankees, no matter who is in their lineup, just know how to ball.

In one of the rarest plays you will and may have ever seen, the Yankees made a 4-6-5-6-5-3-4 triple play in the 8th inning of last night's 5-2 win over The Birds. This was the first triple play of it's kind in Major League History.



With Nick Markakis and Alexi Casilla on first and second, respectively, batter Manny Machado who represented the tying run, hit a bouncer to Robinson Cano who flipped the ball to SS Jayson Nix to get Markakis for the first out. Nix then threw the ball to Kevin Youkilis at third, catching Casilla in a rundown. They would exchange tosses until Youkilis eventually tagged Casilla out.

Then, with Machado rounding first attempting to take second base, Youkilis threw the ball to Lyle Overbay, now catching Machado in a rundown. When Machado finally made the dash for second, Overbay threw the ball back to Cano who was able to get the tag on Machado and complete the triple play.

"That was awesome," CC Sabathia told the media after the game. "Any time you get a triple play, you're fired up."

CC would know. This was only the second triple play that the Yankees started in 45 years and CC.

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was the pitcher on the mound for both. The last was in 2010 against the Oakland A's, a 5-4-3 play started by Alex Rodriguez.

And speaking of fired up, CC was back in ace-like form, pitching 8 innings allowing only two runs (one earned) with no walks and 9 strikeouts. Mariano Rivera closed the game getting his second save.

There were also some not so good moments in the game last night. Eduardo Nunez was hit again, this time on his  right wrist, on a changeup by Orioles starter Miguel Gonzalez. Nunez initially stayed in the game to run the bases, but realized on a practice throw to first that he would not be able to field at SS. Also, Michael Kay announced during the game that Andy Pettitte's start, slated for today, would be pushed back until tomorrow after suffering from back spasms.

Phil Hughes gets the start today against RHP Jason Hammel. Game time is 4:05 pm.

Follow Rasheeda Cooper on twitter: @ra_cooper

Formula Works Against Verlander In Yanks Win

AP Photo / Carlos Osorio

It would take solid pitching and early runs to keep Detroit's Justin Verlander from dominating today's game. Fortunately, the Yankees were able to do both and secure their second win of the season, shutting out the Tigers 7-0.

CC Sabathia was not entirely on top of his game this afternoon, but he he gave the Yankees a strong outing, giving up only 4 hits and walking three in 7 shutout innings. CC mixed up his pitches today throwing more changeups than usual and putting more velocity on his fastball. He was only able to induce 4 strikeouts which is a low mark for him, but he managed to keep the bats of Detroit's lineup to grounders and fly balls; it proved to be enough to prevent the Tigers from scoring any runs.

But most notably, CC completely shut down the "meat" of the Tigers' lineup. Two of his 4 strikeouts came against Prince Fielder who struck out swinging in the first and fourth innings. All three of Miguel Cabrera's at-bats against CC ended in groundball plays. For the afternoon, Cabrera would never get on base.

David Robertson came in to pitch the 8th inning and would pick up where CC left off. Although he gave up singles to Torii Hunter and Fielder for his first hit of the afternoon, he struck out Cabrera and Matt Tuiasosopo swinging and induced a pop-up from Victor Martinez.

And although it was not a save situation, Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth inning. He too gave up 2 singles to Omar Infante and Ramon Santiago, but induced a groundout and flyout from Brayan Pena and Austin Jackson, respectively. He closed the game with a strikeout that caught Hunter swinging.

The offense got to work right away against Verlander. Although there were no runs produced in the first inning, Kevin Youkilis doubled on a fly ball to center field. In the second, Francisco Cervelli doubled on a flyball to left scoring Ichiro Suzuki, who was on first base after a force out. After Lyle Overbay flied out to left, Jayson Nix hit a monster home run to left. The Yankees were up 3-0 and never looked back.



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Two more runs came in the third as Eduardo Nunez scored on a sacfly from Ichiro, and Vernon Wells scored on single from Cervelli. Nunez came in to pinch run for Travis Hafner on third base. Before the game, Nunez told Girardi that he could not go, as the pain and inflammation in his bicep muscle continues to prevent him from swinging a bat. He is however, available to pinch run.

In the ninth, after singles to centerfield, both Nix and Brett Gardner scored on another single from Youkilis.

And the Yankees are getting all that they've needed from Youkilis, Hafner and Wells. In place of Alex Rodriguez at third, Youkilis is batting .409 with 9 hits, 4 runs and 4 RBIs in his first 22 at-bats. Hafner is hitting to a .350 clip, having gotten a hit in all 6 games thus far. Wells is hitting .294 with 5 hits and 4 RBIs on two solo home runs.

Tomorrow, Hiroki Kuroda will keep his place in the lineup following his fnger injury, to face the Cleveland Indians against former phenom Ubaldo Jimenez. What I'm looking forward to, as I'm sure many of you are, is to see what Nick Swisher will do against his former team. Needless to say I'm hoping this won't be a good series for him. Game time is 4 pm.

Follow Rasheeda Cooper on twitter: @ra_cooper

No Structural Damage to Tex's Wrist

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So if you're like me, you've been holding your breathe since Mark Teixeira left last night's game with a wrist "injury." At this point, it seems as though a new injury seems to "pop up" within the Yankee roster every week now. If Tex has seriously injured his wrist, what would this mean for an already compromised team that's been making it more of a habit of losing lately than winning? Well, Nick Swisher and Eric Chavez would platoon first base for Tex. On the days that Swish is at first, Ichiro would remain in right field. When Chavez plays first, Jayson Nix and Ramiro Pena would platoon third base. And while Swish and Ichy play first and right, respectively, Andrew Jones and Raul Ibanez would continue to platoon left. Whenever Swish moves back to right and Ichy is placed in left, Ibanez and Jones could take their turns as the DH. Confusing enough for ya?

Well thankfully, we may not have to worry about Joe Girardi re-shuffling the contents of his binder to consider such moves. Yankees.com reported today that an MRI on Tex's hand showed no structural damage, only inflammation. So while he'll most like be out for another game or so, we shouldn't expect to see Tex placed on the DL. Good thing, because another one of our superstars being forced to watch the game from home, would have been more than I could bear. And I'm sure that Girardi is happy to not have to face the "How are you going to manage?," or "How bad is this for the team?" questions by the media once again.

On another note, the Yankees have been on a terrible run since being swept by the Oakland A's two weeks ago (although, they shouldn't feel too bad because Oakland is beating EVERYBODY!). They've lost eight of their last eleven games; the majority of which were decided by a run. Yes, the team remains atop all of baseball, but with the injuries mounting, this no time for our boys to fall backward. I'm expecting a strong start tonight from Ivan Nova, who bodes very well against the Orioles. He goes up against Chris Tillman tonight. Game time is 7:05 pm.

Follow Rasheeda Cooper on twitter: @ra_cooper