Somebody Call The Baltimore Police Because The Yankees Just Murdered The Orioles

Somebody needs to call the Baltimore cops because a crime was just committed in Camden Yards. Wow. Talk about a massacre.

CC Sabathia was on cruise control tonight. Despite scoring 3 runs the Orioles couldn't really touch him. It was a very free and easy outing for CC. Had the Yankees not tore the roof of the mother in the late innings he probably would have gone the distance. It pretty much was a lights out performance. Exactly what you'd expect from the ace. Apparently, when you go winless thru your 1st 4 starts the only way to guarantee yourself the win is to take care of it yourself. CC was a man on a mission tonight. He pitched most of the game with a pitch count well below 10 pitchers per inning. His control was excellent. He threw 73.8% of his pitches for strikes, walking one and whiffing 7. Great job by the big man.

You could slice this 2 ways but you could make a case that CC is off to his best start as a Yankee. It's a close call between this year and last. Thru his 1st 5 starts this year, CC has pitched 33 IPs to a tune of a 2.73 ERA. He's allowed 31 hits and 10 walks (1.24 @WHIP), while striking out 30 and allowing 2 longballs. Last year in his 1st 5 starts, he threw 34.2 IPs with a 3.12 ERA. His WHIP was better at 1.07 (25 hits and 12 walks). He struck out 28 and allowed the same number of HRs. I know it's not a true comparison due to the many different factors between the seasons, but either way you go, he's off to a good start. It's probably a little behind last year but not by much.

The entire offense, with one exception (Nick Swisher) had at least one hit tonight. The biggest blasts came off the bats of Russell Martin (what's new?), Alex Rodriguez (what's new?), and Brett Gardner (say what?). Yeah, that last name is a surprise. BG chipped in with a double and a 2-run HR. His HR was surprising but it came at the perfect time. The O's had just intentionally plunked Martin. And I say intentionally because you don't just happen to hit 2 HRs and get hit right near the head on accident. Gardner avenged that HBP by going yard. Nothing beats that kind of retaliation. Suck on that Showalter.

What is going on with the power surge, right? The 2011 Yankees are definitely Bronx Bombers. They belted another 5, count 'em 5, HRs tonight. They've now hit 35 on the season which is a team record thru their 1st 17 games. They have 4 guys with 6 HRs a-piece (Posada, Martin, Teixeira, Granderson). The biggest surprise though is that Nick Swisher hasn't hit any. It's probably because I'm not dropping $$ to his charity this year. Granderson is getting that love and he's earning it. I was anticipating donating like $300 or so. He's on pace to take about $850 from me. Yikes. Don't quote me on this stat because I'm sure I don't have it right but Granderson has hit the 3rd most HRs in all of MLB going back to some point in August 2010. Wow. Props to Kevin Long. And not just for working his mojo on Curtis but on all of the guys. Now if only he could fix Derek Jeter. That should be his priority numero uno.

Great win tonight. The Yankees handles things on both sides of the field. They came. They saw. They murdered the Orioles. The Yankees don't have an off day until May 9th. They play 15 straight days, get an off day, and then play another 16. Baseball is in full swing. I love that.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie