Yankees Pitching To Blame In 10-7 Loss To Tigers

Well, you can't win them all. Today's loss was all about the pitching. When you score 7 runs, rack up 12 hits and 3 walks, and hit 4 HRs, you should win. The trio of Yankee pitchers today did not do anyone any favors. Whenever the Yankees would score a few runs the pitchers would give them right back. It was so frustrating to watch them go from down 2-0, to tied 2-2, to down 5-2, to down 5-4, to down 7-4, to down 7-6, to down 9-6, to down 9-7, to finishing down 10-7. Every time the Yankees scored they gave the runs right back. That won't win you games.

Phil Hughes was not terribly impressive today. He wasn't even close to impressive. His velocity was down and he had no out pitch. I don't have the exact count on how many batters he got 2 strikes on but he just couldn't put anybody away. He finished the game with only one strikeout. There wasn't a lot of swinging and missing with Phil's pitches. His decreased velocity didn't help any. I think he topped out at 91 MPH and was regularly hitting 89-90. A few extra miles on the fastball and his pitching line might have been drastically different. I didn't pay a lot of attention to Spring Training. Apparently, Phil's velocity has been down all spring. Last year he was steady rocking at 93-94 MPH. I would have thought he'd be at that level at this point. Not sure why he's not there and it doesn't sound like anyone knows. At this point all one can do is play the waiting game. I expect that he'll get those MPHs back in the next few starts. If he doesn't, time to worry.

Bartolo Colon made his regular season debut today and like Hughes he wasn't terribly impressive. Unlike Phil's outing, Bartolo was impressive at times. It was like I was watching A.J. Burnett pitch an entire season in a matter of 4 innings. Bartolo was either lights out or God awful. No idea what to make of his outing. It's early and you can't put a lot of stock into one bad outing, especially when it's the first outing of the year. I don't see Bartolo pitching when the Yankees have a lead so I'm not as concerned with how he did (yet). Then again, if he pitched a little better today the Yankees might have won. I hope he figure out how to consistently pitch well. I'm not sure he will.

Ugh. Joba Chamberlain. Here we go again. Are we going to do this again this year? Good outing, bad outing, good outing, bad outing. Get your act together please.

The Yankees offense had another big day and did everything they could to win this game. Stupid pitching. They took Tigers' pitchers deep 4 times. The Bronx Bombers are living up to that moniker. Through 3 games they've hit 9 HRs, which is a franchise record. Mark Teixeira stayed hot with his 3rd HR of the season. All signs point to no April slump for Teix. That would be a welcomed sight. Teix hitting will make the lineup a heck of a lot better.

How about Jorge Posada going deep twice? I don't know about you but I really think Jorge is going to have a great season at the plate. I think being a full-time DH is going to be the best thing to happen to Jorge. He swings a good stick and I think the wear and tear of catching had an impact on Jorge reaching peak performance. Now that he's not catching I think we'll see a significant uptick in Jorge's typical production. I think you can take that to the bank.

I continue to be impressed with the play of Russell Martin. Right now he's doing it all. I know it's early but me likey. Me likey a lot.

So the first series of the season is in the books. The Tigers are thought to be a pretty good team and you can't be unhappy about the Yankees taking two of three from them. If you are, well, I don't know what to tell you. You should always be happy with a series win. You win enough of those and you're golden. Next up they've got a 4 game set with the Twins. The Twins are another AL Central favorite. It shouldn't be an easy series but winning three of four is doable. I'm very interested to see the next two games. Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia will be making their 1st starts. I hope they bring it.

I'm so glad baseball is back.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie