Cervelli Made A Game of It, But...

In the 9th inning of last night's game against the Diamondbacks, Francisco Cervelli gave the Yankees and the home crowd a reason to believe that, once again, a late-inning rally would precede another comeback win. But in extra innings, the Yankees would fall to Arizona and lose the game, 6-2.

Diamondbacks starter Patrick Corbin pitched a brilliant game, tagging the Yankees lineup with fast ball after fastball. He would pitch only one mistake--a 78 mph slider--to Robinson Cano who launched it into right center field on a line drive. he would keep the Yankees at bay from there until the 7th inning.

Then with JJ. Putz in for Arizona to close in the 9th, Cervelli launched a monster home run to left field, tying the game at 2-2. Brennan Boesch had already committed an out, so groundouts by Ichiro and Lyle Overbay sent the game into overtime.

And it would be all Arizona from there. David Robertson and David Phelps were able to keep the D-backs of the board through the 10th and 11th innings. But Phelps got touched up in the 12th. His first batter, Gerardo Parra, smacked a double to left. Two walks came from Paul Goldschmidt and Miguel Montero, on an interference call and hit by pitch, respectively. Then, Cody Ross singled to left scoring Parra. And finally, Eric Chavez, who I felt the whole series would get a big hit in somewhere, launched a double to center clearing the bases. Overbay, Brett Gardner and Vernon Wells would go down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning.

But one bright spot to last night's game was the pitching performance of Phil Hughes. Although he

Getty Images / Elsa

gave up two home runs last in the 3rd and 6th innings, Hughes pitched a good game, getting his fastball up to 93 mph and having good location on both his fastball and changeup. His demeanor on the mound was also markedly different from his last start when he got hammered in Baltimore. Hughes pitched with an intensity suggesting that his first two starts were needed warm-ups following his injury, and that perhaps he's good to go now. He couldn't get the win, but he didn't lose either. And being able to stay in the game and pitch 7 innings was key in the Yankees having a chance to comeback and win the game.

Tonight, Andy Pettitte is back on the mound to open the series against Toronto. He faces RHP Brandon Morrow. I'll be paying close to attention to Andy's face looking for any signs of a grimace, possibly indicating tightness in his back. Game time is 7:07 pm.

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Clock Is Ticking On Phil Hughes

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There's really no way to say this except to be brutally honest: if Phil Hughes does not find a way to win games, he's going to find himself working out of the bullpen.

I could be way off about that, but it's what I believe to be true. Hughes laid another goose egg yesterday afternoon to the Orioles, helping the Yankees to a 5-3 loss. He gave up 3 home runs, 2 walks and 9 hits pitching in only 3 innings. In his two combined starts this sesson, Hughes has allowed 17 hits and 8 earned runs in a measly 7 innings.

Granted, Hughes is coming off of a back injury that had him sidelined during Spring Training. And he did pitch earlier than expected following the Yankees' horrific 1-3 start, so perhaps he simply needs more time to get his pitching groove back. But the Yankees may not be willing to show much more patience for Phil when they are relying on pitching to win games, and when they have David Phelps waiting in the wings.

Phelps was originally slated for last Saturday's start against Detroit which was eventually given to Hughes. Today, Phelps came in in relief and pitched brilliantly, allowing only one hit and striking out 6 in 4 innings. This was the kind of pitching performance that helped him earn in a spot in the rotation out of Spring Training. This will be the kind of pitching performance that will earn him a spot back on to the rotation in replacement of Hughes.

There is another variable to this situation, however. Ivan Nova was horrible in his first outing against Detroit and the Yankees appear to have a short leash on him also. If he bombs out in his second start, whenever that is, Phelps could replace him giving Hughes a reprieve. But if Nova bounces back with a solid win, the pressure will be on Hughes to make a decent game of it in his next outing.

And the Yankees offense wasn't great today, as the bats were cooled by Orioles pitcher, Jason Hammel. Only Travis Hafner, Vernon Wells and Francisco Cervelli were able to get hits, with Hafner and Wells both hitting solo home runs.

Hiroki Kuroda will get the start in Sunday night's game against LHP Wei-Yin Chen. Game time is 8:05 pm.

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Yankees Lineup for 4/10/13

Ichiro will get a day of rest while Brennan Boesch gets the start in right field. Here is tonight's lineup:

Brett Gardner CF - .257/.333/.400
Robinson Cano 2B - .303/.361/.667
Kevin Youkilis 3B - .367/.441/.700
Travis Hafner DH - .333/.419/.556
Vernon Wells LF - .360/.467/.720
Brennan Boesch RF - .250/.250/.667
Eduardo Nunez SS - .250/.304/.300
Lyle Overbay 1B - .250/.276/.429
Chris Stewart C - .200/.200/.200

Ivan Nova RHP - 0-1, 7.71 ERA

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Noteworthy News

Much has been written about the Yankees mash-up of Cleveland last night. But other stories made for some interesting headlines as well. Here's some noteworthy news from around Yankeeland:

• Joel Sherman of The NY Post discusses how Curtis Granderson's return will force changes in the outfield.

• Dan Martin, also of The Post reports on Derek Jeter's progress and how Joe Girardi is seeing improvement.

• The NY Daily News' Mark Feinsand reports that Cleveland's Carlos Carrasco's drilling of Kevin Youkilis comes after a 6-game suspension for a similar incident last August.

• Stefan Bondy of the Daily News also reports that Jay-Z will sell his shares in the Brooklyn Nets franchise, a condition necessary to take on his new venture as a sports agent.

• ESPN New York's Wallace Matthews discusses how Vernon Wells is proving the naysayers wrong.

• Mike Oz of Yahoo! Sports' Big League Stew bids a fond, pictorial farewell to Joba Chamberlain's mustache.

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Yanks "Hot In Cleveland"

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There must be something in the air in Cleveland, because the Yankees have flat-out assaulted the Indians in the first two games of their 4-game series. Their 14-1 romp makes 25 runs that they've scored in the past two meetings. It also marks their first time with a .500 record since Opening Day. The Yankees are now in second place in the AL East at 4-4.

The big bats had a huge night again, led by Robinson Cano whose home run in the fourth inning and two doubles in the second and eighth innings put 5 runs on the board. Ichiro started the 5 home run barrage, however, slapping a line drive into the visitor bullpen in right. More home runs would come from Kevin Youkilis, Lyle Overbay and Brennan Boesch. Brett Gardner broke out of his slump last night, going 4-for-5 on 2 singles and 2 doubles with 2 RBIs. Overbay also had a good night offensively, going 3-for-5.

Last week Yankee fans were frustrated with Cano's production and rightfully so. We all expect a slow start from Robbie; that's his signature. But with so many of the Yankees power hitters missing from the lineup, it was important for Cano to show that he could step up and be a major offensive threat. In these last two outings, Robbie is reassuring fans that he can put this team on his shoulders until reinforcements arrive.

But Cano is not without help. The production of Youkilis and Vernon Wells has been outstanding. They've given this ball club everything they need to survive all the injuries. Wells, who went 1-for-4 last night, has had 9 hits in these first 8 games; Youkilis has 11, and has a hit in every game played.



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And, it would be Youkilis to be in the middle of the first controversial call of the Yankees' season. In the fourth inning, following Cano's homer, Cleveland's Carlos Carrasco took his frustration out on Youk, throwing a pitch up and in and hitting him near his left shoulder blade. You could see the anger in Youk's face after the pitch, and the home plate umpire tossed Carrasco from the game with no warning.

Andy Pettitte had another excellent pitching performance. He would throw 97 pitches over 7 solid
innings, allowing the one run--a homer by Asdrubal Cabrera--and striking out 4. Andy's record stands at 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA.

Tonight, Ivan Nova gets his second start and a chance to prove that he still belongs in the rotation. No pitcher for Cleveland has yet been announced. Game time is 7:05 pm.

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Yankees Lineup for 4/9/13

Francisco Cervelli will catch Andy Pettitte tonight. Here is the lineup:

Brett Gardner CF - .167/.242/.267
Robinson Cano 2B - .222/.300/.481
Kevin Youkilis 3B - .370/.433/.630
Travis Hafner DH - .391/.481/.652
Vernon Wells LF - .381/.500/.762
Ichiro Suzuki RF - .182/.240/.182
Eduardo Nunez SS - .267/.333/.333
Lyle Overbay 1B - .174/.208/.217
Francisco Cervelli C - .308/.438/.615

Andy Pettitte LHP - 1-0, 1.13 ERA

The Big Bats Come Alive In Cleveland

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Last night was a big night for Travis Hafner, who was visiting Cleveland for the first time since signing with the Yankees during the offseason. Hafner spent 10 years with the Indians, and the home crowd showed their appreciation with a standing ovation when he was introduced during their Opening Day ceremony.

Then, Hafner went to work in the first inning, hitting a 3-run home run off of Ubaldo Jimenez to give the Yankees an early 3-0 lead. The home crowd then serenaded him with boos.

It was the first hit of Hafner's 2-for-3 night in the Yankees 11-6 beating of the Indians. It also marked his 100th home run at Progressive Field. Hafner would go on to single in the third inning and take two walks; both leading to runs scored.

Robinson Cano finally broke through his slump. He put four runs on the board for the Yankees, two of which came off of solo homeruns. Cano would go 3-for-4 for the night complementing his homers with a double to left field.

And Vernon Wells had yet another stellar offensive outing, going 3-for-4 with 2 singles and a double.

Hiroki Kuroda came into the game with a 3-0 lead but gave it up in the first inning. He walked his

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first batter Michael Bourn, then gave up a single to Asdrubal Cabrera. Jason Kipnis would follow with a sacfly to right scoring Bourn. Singles to Nick Swisher and Michael Brantley, and another sacfly to Mark Reynolds would lead to 2 more runs scored.

But Kuroda managed to hold the Indians to 3 runs into the 6th inning. In the end, he gave up 5 hits, 3 runs, walked 4 and struck out 6. After the game Kuroda reaffirmed to the media that there was nothing wrong with the right finger that was injured in his first outing against Boston.

Tonight, Andy Pettitte gets his second start against RHP Carlos Carrasco. Game time is 7:05 pm.

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Yankees Lineup for 4/8/13

Eduardo Nunez rejoins the lineup. Here are this afternoon's starters:

Brett Gardner CF - .160/.250/.280
Robinson Cano 2B - .130/.200/.130
Kevin Youkilis 3B - .409/.480/.727
Travis Hafner DH - .350/.409/.500
Vernon Wells LF - .294/.429/.706
Ichiro Suzuki RF - .111/.190/.111
Eduardo Nunez SS - .364/.462/.455
Lyle Overbay 1B - .211/.250/.263
Chris Stewart C - .167/.167/.167

Hiroki Kuroda RHP - 0-1, 13.50 ERA

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Noteworthy News

Good morning fanatics!!! While the Yankees managed to wrap-up their series in Detroit with a win, there was other noteworthy news from Yankeeland that made headlines over the weekend. Here are some stories you might want to check out:

• Wallace Matthews of ESPN New York discusses how the Yankees may have made a mistake in letting go of Nick Swisher.

• The NY Daily News' Bill Madden reports that Robinson Cano has admitted that contract pressure is affecting his game.

• Zack Meisel of MLB.com discusses the reunion of the Yankees with Nick Swisher and Travis Hafner with Cleveland. He also reports on Jason Giambi's return as the Indians' DH.

• Rant Sports' Thom Tsang discusses how Vernon Wells turned back the clock during Opening Week.

• Paul Hoynes of The Plain Dealer provides pitching matchups, team updates and injury updates for the Yankees vs Indians series.

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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.



AP Photo

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.

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Welcome Sights in Yankee Loss

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Hiroki Kuroda was forced to leave tonight's game against the Red Sox in the second inning after suffering an apparent contusion to the middle finger of his right hand. The blow was inflicted by a "comebacker" from Shane Victorino who, thus far, has hit nothing short of fantastic against Yankee pitching.

Seeing Kuroda walk off the field stung like the most painful bee sting you could ever experience. With the majority of the Yankees' regular starters in the lineup down with injuries, it will take stellar pitching to keep this team in contention, so seeing one of the best pitchers in their rotation go down does nothing to reassure fanatics that this team can stay afloat; I'm sure what it did was cause an already panicked fan base to dub the 2013 campaign as the Season of Murphy's Law. In the short term, you believed that the Yankees would probably lose their second game of the season which they did, 7-4. Cody Eppley provided little in relief of Kuroda, giving up 4 runs in the third to give Boston a 6-0 lead. The inning was all Boston needed to secure their second win and the series.

But from every negative comes a positive, and tonight, hope came from the bats of Travis Hafner and Vernon Wells.

In the 4th inning, Hafner knocked a blazing line-drive single into the Yankees bullpen; his first of the

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season and the first for the team. Wells, who went 3-for-4 tonight, crushed a 3-run home run to left field off of Alfredo Aceves. The homerun was also his first of the season.

Both homers are a welcome sight for a team that, in missing it's 3 top home run producers--Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira--will lose a bounty of homers that have been their bread and butter for the last few seasons.

Even more important, this is what the Yankees were hoping to get in signing Wells and Hafner; particularly Hafner as he will be the team's DH for the majority of the season. As for Wells, all 3 hits tonight came on fastballs; the first from starting pitcher Clay Buccholz at 93 mph. He looks like the Wells from a few years back when he was the star of the Toronto Blue Jays lineup. Wells was always an excellent fastball hitter, but his production had gone down in recent seasons as he's been plagued with injuries. Seemingly healthy, the Yankees are hoping that he's regained some of his bat speed and can provide much needed offense in the middle of the lineup. If tonight is any indication, the team will get from Wells exactly what they signed him for.

Tomorrow, our beloved Andy Pettitte will try to avoid a sweep against righty Ryan Dempster. Game time is 7:05 pm.

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Yankees Lose Opener to Red Sox

Today was a "rainy" day for the New York Yankees two-fold. While what started as a sunny, warm afternoon turned into a stark evening of rain, the Yankees also got "rained" on by the Boston Red Sox, losing their home opener 8-2. No offense and subpar pitching conspired to turn the excitement of Opening Day into feelings of "concern" as to whether this game foreshadows what may be to come while many of the superstars are on the disabled list.

I threw that last line in there just to stoke the nervous Yankee fans that are already crying armageddon after today's loss. It's just the first game of the season, yet while I point that out, many fans are anticipating nothing but hard times for this team until the return of the bredwinners. Make no mistake, today's game did expose some problems that the Yankees need to work on--some in a hurry--but I have no doubt that this team will be okay.

AP Photo

One thing that needs to change is whatever goes on in CC Sabathia's head on Opening Day. While his role as the ace seemingly gets him the automatic start, he has yet to win a home opener for the Yankees. Today, mustering no better than 5 innings and giving up 4 runs in the second, doesn't do much to breed confidence in CC's ability to start this team's season on the plus side. He is now 0-2 in 5 Opening Day starts with an ERA over 7.

In that second inning, CC gave up a single to Jonny Gomes and walked Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Boston's new kid, Jackie Bradley, Jr. to load the bases. He then gave up singles to Jose Iglesias, Shane Victorino (for two runs) and Dustin Pedroia. The inning proved to be all Boston needed.

Some pluses for CC however were that he showed good movement on his changeup and slider. The fastball was not working well for him today, as he didn't have much speed on it and struggled to locate it.

AP Photo

And while CC did manage to hold the Red Sox at 4 runs until his departure after the 5th, the Yankees Kevin Youkilis double, Vernon Wells walk and Ichiro single. After Jayson Nix went down on strikes, Francisco Cervelli scored Youkilis and Wells on a line-drive single to right field. Boston starter Jon Lester held them at bay for one more inning, and Boston's next 4 relievers took over the rest. Boston would go on to score 4 more runs, one in the seventh inning and 3 in the ninth, to put the game away.
offense did little to nothing to back him up. Their only 2 runs came in the 4th after they loaded the bases on a

Other changes that need to happen now are hitters showing more patience at the plate; most notably Brett Gardner and Eduardo Nunez. Maybe the excitement of Opening Day made them take swings that they shouldn't have, but we've seen this in these two before and it's a big problem now. With so much offense now missing from the lineup, these two are the fastest and most explosive base runners the Yankees have. With the team needing to resort to small ball to get runs, these two have to get on. Speed and base stealing is what is going to propel this lineup until the home run hitters--Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson--return. I will say that Nunez did a very good job defensively today, making good throws and stops when he needed to.

Elsa / Getty Images

And speaking of A-Rod, seeing him in uniform in the dugout for the game today was a welcome sight. He was not introduced with the rest of the team, however, and I think that was right move. He would have surely been booed, and why /kill the excitement of Opening Day with that negativity. He did speak to the media briefly before the game, and as expected, would not answer any questions involving the Biogenesis investigation. He did tell the media that he was not worried, and that he felt everything would be good.

Game 2 resumes Wednesday at 7 pm. Hiroki Kuroda gets the start against Clay Buccholz,

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