Yankees lose another one

The opening game on this homestand, against Detroit, was full of hope and promise. Hughes was on the mound against a struggling Kenny Rogers. Looking to build on the 2 game winning streak, I was looking forward to a hitting explosion. Instead, Hughes got knocked out in the 4th inning, and the Yankees left 18 men on base, wasting 8 hits and 8 free passes from Tiger pitchers.
Today, Pettitte (3-2) takes the hill against Bonderman (1-2.)

A-Rod and Posada are out.

Game time is 7:05 on YES


Go Yankees

Yankees Vs Tigers

Tonight on YES at 7:00 in NY area.

Hughes (0-3) goes for his first win against a struggling Kenny Rogers (1-3)

Hughes pitched well in his last rain-shortened start.

Go Yankees

Yankees Earn Split

It may not be what I expected, but the Yankees earned a split with the Indians last night, 5-2. The offense, despite their 5 runs, was somewhat lethargic, managing only a double and 4 singles. The mighty offense did manage to score as they used 3 infield singles, a walk, and some ground outs to push acrosss 4 runs in the 6th inning.
But on the bright side, the Yankees got the nwin as Mussina pitched well, throwing 5 innings of 2-run ball. The pen came through with 4 shutout innings and Mo notched his 8th save of the young season.

Looking around the league, The Rays and the O's are atop the AL East,m while Florida leads the NL East. Have I entered Bizarro World? It's probably just early season craziness, happens every year, it seems. It may have been Bill White, when he was Yankees announcer who explained it as the bad teams just don't realize yet that they stink. Though, I will say, the Rays are pretty impressive. Between Crawford, Upton, and a decent young staff, they may just be around for a while.

Go Yankees

90's Braves Staff --Best Ever?

John Smoltz has been in the news lately as he recently passed the 3000 strikeout mark. He is almost a certain first round Hall of Famer. That got me to thinking about the Braves staff of the 1990's. They featured a Big 3 of Smoltz, Glavine, and Maddox. That is 2 300 game winners, and Smoltz, who without his seasons lost to injuries and his nearly 3 seasons as one of the top relievers in the game, he would be right near that same mark. I wondered if this may have been one of the greatest staffs ever assembled, with 3 HOF starting pitchers. Thinking back to some of the great staffs that I have witnessed, and all I could come up with was the '69 Mets, and the Orioles of the 70's who had 4 20 game winners in one year. Palmer was the only HOF Oriole, and the Mets had Seaver and Ryan. But neither team had the longevity of those Braves squads. For 10 years they stayed together, which is a feat in itself in the day of free agency. Can anyone remember a better staff, even for one year?

Go Yankees

Lights out pitching finally produces a win

Wang pitched a masterful game to go to 5-0. He scattered 4 hits over 7 innings while striking out 9. Joba was back and on fire, whiffing 2 of the 3 he faced. Mo, brilliant as usual, did the same and pitched a hitless 2 K inning to notch his 7th save.

Yankee offense was again pretty pathetic, only managing to slap 2 singles and a double to go along with Melky’s game winning HR. Sure, they were facing the ‘07 Cy Young winner, but ithas been a trend of late. Jeter had a one out double, and they didn’t bring him in and wound up leaving 9 on base.

I’m waiting to hear more about Posada. It was a big blow losing Bruney possibly for the season, and now Jorge is facing the DL for the first time in his career.

Clemens is back in the news. More to come, I'm sure.
I never did like him.

Moose (2-3) takes the mound tonight vs the Indians at 7:05 on Yes and ESPN.

This just in

Jorge Posada has an appointment with Dr. Andrews.

This is usually not good news. The New York Times reports that he faces the disabled list for the first time in his career with a shoulder tear.

This Is Getting Old

It was in the Star-Ledger this morning that Joba Chamberlain is hurt and was unavailable. While this may have contributed to yesterday's 4-3 loss to the Cleveland Indians, the bottom line is this: The Yankees are built to score, and they haven't been. 3 runs in a game doesn't cut it. Leaving 9 men on base leads to losses. The 5 through 9 spots in the lineup totalled 2 hits and a walk. The names read like an all-start team, Giambi, Cano, Ensberg, yet they can't push across a run or two. Hell, they couldn't even get a hit. Today, Wang (4-0) takes the Hill against C.C. Sabathia. It should be a good game. C.C. is coming off a great game, and Wang is coming off a disaster, yet I look for him to right the Yankees ship today.

Quick look around the majors, I noticed that Ryan Howard, Phillies slugger, has 37 strikeouts in April.

Just for a little perspective on how great Joe DiMaggio was, his worst strikeout totals for a year were 39 (once) and 37 (once.) And he did his while belting an average of 30 HR (in a 154 game season) and hitting .325. And back then, Yankees Stadium left field was called Death Valley. The CF fence was 461 feet away from the plate. And deepest left center was 457 when Joe played.