Cliff Lee Went To Philly, B.F.D.

Greetings everyone. Long time, no talk. I have no good reason to explain my absence. I've just been super-busy with work, life, and all that jazz. I've been meaning to blog an entry here and there but it's been hard to find the time. I told myself I would when the whole Cliff Lee drama resolved itself. So here I am.

I can sum up my feelings about Cliff Lee signing with the Phillies in 2 simple words: don't care. Would it have been nice if Cliff Lee signed with the Yankees? Abso-freaking-loutely. But is it the end of the world that he didn't? Not even close. Adding Lee to the Yankees rotation would have been a huge improvement to the team. No doubt about that. But they're still fine without him, as long as one thing happens, and that is Andy Pettitte returning to the Yankees.

Had Lee signed with the Yankees it would have made losing Pettitte not such a big deal. Lee would have been like a super-awesome insurance policy. The fact of the matter is that last year's Yankee rotation, which included a horrible A.J. Burnett and a revolving door of 5th SPs, won 95 games and made the playoffs. If Pettitte resigns, the rotation, is for all intents and purposes, the same as it was last year. Sure the 5th spot is open but let's face it, anybody could step into that spot and do as well as Vazquez, Moseley, Mitre & Nova. A rotation of Sabathia, Hughes, Pettitte, Burnett and Lee would have been awesome. A rotation of Sabathia, Hughes, Pettitte, Burnett, and ?? would still be pretty damn good. Again, that tandem won 95 games last year. They'd be formidable enough to win that many again. Right now, Pettitte is the key to that happening. If he retires, then we have a problem.

It seems pretty clear to me that Lee never wanted to be a Yankee. If anybody out there is blaming Brian Cashman for messing things up, and there are people saying he did, they need to stop. Silly irrational fans. There isn't anything he could have done, except for mortgaging the entire future of the franchise, to sign Lee. He was never coming here. I can understand why he went to Philly. I think it gives him the best chance to win. The NL East pales in comparison to the AL East. The Phillies should pretty much roll over that division with ease. Their rotation is pretty sick and is arguably the best in MLB. I'd give that nod to the Giants. They did after all beat Halladay, Oswalt, Hamels and Lee in last year's playoffs. If Lee comes out and says he chose Philly because it gives him the best chance to win, I can kind of respect that. But, it's kind of a wuss move. The AL East is without question the toughest division in baseball. Maybe Cliff was afraid of a little tough competition? Everybody knows NL pitchers have better numbers. I can't blame him for not wanting to face the teams in the AL East 19 times each per season. That's my slightly-irrational view on that. I can admit it.

I also get that Lee loves the city of Philly. I know he has a child with cancer and the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, aka the CHOP, is one of, if not the, best cancer center for children in the country. Makes sense that he'd want to be close to that. Signing with Philly was a good move for Lee. Even at what could be $40-50 million less in guaranteed money.

And those are my thoughts on Lee. Again, not a big deal to me. Assuming of course that Andy Pettitte comes back. I'm inclined to think he will but who knows. The Yankees have been down this road with him before. He'll be back. I hope.

Tomorrow, I'll have up a post about the Red Sox and their fans' misguided confidence about next season. I'm going to write it now and have it come up about this time tomorrow. I also hope to blog more regularly but I make no promises.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Cashman & Girardi Drop Bombs On Ya Moms When They Met The Media

Still reeling from the Rangers beating the Yankees in the ALCS? Yeah, me too. I was planning in blogging about the series but I decided not to. Instead, I'll wrap that up in one short sentence: The Rangers were/are the better team and deserved to go to the World Series. OK, maybe not a short sentence. I think the Yankees were better than they played in those 6 games but looking back on the final month or so of the season, I'm not so sure. September was a struggle and in hindsight I think they team ran out of gas. I'll probably blog about the season at some point this offseason, but not today. As for the World Series, go Giants! I have no real vested interest in who wins and don't really care either way. I'd just like to see the "claws and antlers" go away. I think those are highly absurd. And at least it's not Philly. I think we can all agree we're happy about that.

Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi met the media today and answered a bunch of questions and dropped a bomb or two on everyone. I was following along with some of the beat writer's accounts on Twitter while it was happening. Fun stuff. The LoHud Yankees Blog has a bunch of tidbits on the meeting. Here are my thoughts on the major stuff:

• The biggest bombshell dropped today was that the Yankees have fired Dave Eiland. It was Cashman's decision and he described the reasoning as "private." He also said it had nothing to do with performance. Interesting. Something seems a little off on this, don't you think? Bottom line for me is that Eiland just didn't get the job done. Too many struggles from too many pitchers. But wouldn't that be performance based? Yeah, I don't get it either. After I read about Eiland's dismissal, a thought popped into my head: What if Dave Eiland gave A.J. Burnett his black eye? Yeah, I'm reaching, I know. But then again who really knows? I'm sure it has to do something with the personal leave Eiland took in June. You'd think Cashman's decision would be related to that, right? Almost has to be? I know there were rumors that Eiland was in rehab on his LOA and I don't want to get into that. Bottom line, regardless of the "private" reason is that he's out as pitching coach. No big loss. Again as I mentioned, too many pitchers had too many struggles, namely A.J. Burnett and Joba Chamberlain. I have no problem with the Yankees bringing in somebody else to take on that role.
• Cashman plans to talk with Joe Girardi's agent ASAP to try and lock Girardi into another contract. Both sides want the deal to happen which means that it will. It'll probably happen soon. I'd expect it to be signed, sealed and delivered by the end of the week. Hiring a manager should be and is Cashman's top priority. You can't really move on without one. I have no issue with the Yankees bringing Girardi back. He does make some boneheaded moves but by and large he's doing a decent job. Then again, it's the Yankees. I could guide that team to 90+ wins.
• The team views Joba Chamberlain as a back-of-the-bullpen pitcher and not as a starter. That should forever put to rest that debate as it sounds like Joba will always be a reliever as long as he's a Yankee. Works for me. Yeah, I'm not a Joba guy. Never really have been. He's had flashes of brilliance but for the most part I think he's a middle-of-the-pack pitcher. I wouldn't be surprised if he's traded before Spring Training.
• Andy Pettitte pitched hurt during the playoffs. During the ALDS Andy felt tightness in both his back and his hamstrings. Pettitte's injuries were the driving factor in the Yankees' decision to pitch him in games 3 and 7 of the ALCS. I can respect that and have no problem with their decision to do so. The part of have minor issue with is people, mainly certain media members, hammered Girardi for not disclosing that info. C'mon now. If Girardi dropped that on everyone that could change everything. You don't want your opponent knowing your weaknesses. Why would any logical mind think that he should have to disclose that? Oh yeah, we're talking about the media, and again, it's only certain ones.
• The Yankees don't plan on picking up any player options, of which there are only 3. Kerry Wood @ $11 million, Lance Berkman @ $15 million. Nick Johnson @ $5.75 million. Yeah, I'm with the team on that. There's no need to drop that much coin on any of those guys. I like Wood, but who needs an $11mm set-up guy. $15 million for a part-time DH? No thanks. Nick Johnson? We won't go there.
• Cashman admitted he had a bad offseason. Nick Johnson was apparently plan C, behind Johnny Damon @ plan A and Hideki Matsui @ plan B. Yeah, Cashman blew that one. Trading for Javy Vazquez was almost as bad. The big plus in that deal was that they got rid of Melky Cabrera, which I think made Robinson Cano a better player.

That's the main stuff. There were some other nuggets dropped but nothing major. This should be a very interesting offseason. Cashman has a lot of work to do and he's already attacking it. I don't think it will take long to re-hire Girardi and then re-sign Mariano Rivera & Derek Jeter. I would expect the Yankees to move pretty quick on bringing back those guys. The Hot Stove is heating up. Won't be long before it's raging.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Announce ALDS Roster & Rotation, No Real Surprises

A little behind on this as the update came down earlier this morning, but better late than never, right. I really wish I could post things right after they happen. Sucks to have real things to do. The Yankees really should rule all things in the universe.

No major shocks to me on the ALDS roster. A little surprised Javy Vazquez got left off and by little I mean very little. But really, what role would he fill. I'm also a little surprised Dustin Moseley made the roster over Ivan Nova but I can see that going either way. Not at all surprised and I'm rather thankful that Chad Gaudin isn't on the roster. I'd be happy if he didn't throw in another game this year. Sergio Mitre on the roster. Like Gaudin, I hope he doesn't pitch either. You could make a case for keeping Nova on the roster over Mitre and I'd think prefer that but whatever.

Offensively, no big shocks. I probably would have kept Eduardo Nunez over Greg Golson but again, I could go either way on that. Outside of that, I'm cool.

The only real area where I would consider making a change is with the rotation. And like with the roster, I can live with and understand behind doing it how they're doing it. The only thing I'd do differently, and I've mentioned this in my last few blogs, is I'd flip-flop Phil Hughes and Andy Pettitte. As I wrote the other day Phil's #s are much better on the road then they are at home. I think it's also better to pitch the 2 LHPs in back-to-back games in Yankee Stadium. But on the flip-side, we are talking about Andy Pettitte, one of the best postseason pitchers there is. I'd prefer Andy on the mound in a game 5 (if necessary) than Phil Hughes. I thought yesterday that the game 2 SP would be starting game 5 on short rest but I was wrong. I have a problem counting to 5 I guess. I'm also skeptical on Andy being 100%. All things considered I'd like to see Hughes in games 2 and 5 but again, no problem with the decision to go with Andy.

It also appears the Yankees are going with a 3-man rotation for the ALDS. I'm a big fan of that. The only SP that could possibly go on short rest is CC (games 1 and 4) and let's face it, if there is any guy that can go on short rest, it's CC Sabathia. That makes A.J. Burnett the odd man out. I think Yankee fans everywhere are rejoicing over that one. I only saw them using A.J. in game 4 if they had a 2 games to 1 lead. As I think more about it, what would be the point when CC is the horse that he is. I like A.J. being in the pen rather than being left off the roster altogether. He does have some value, albeit it's not a lot.

To sum up all that drivel, I have no major problems with how the Yankees are going after the Twins. I might have done a thing or two differently, but I can totally see why the roster and rotation are the way they are. To me, it's all good.

Less than 24 hours til first pitch. Excitement is building!

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Run Season High Win Streak To 8 With 7-5 Win Over Jays

Let the good times roll, right? The Yankees have won 8 straight and are rapidly moving toward officially clinching a playoff spot. With the win today and the Red Sox loss (nice!) the magic number to clinch is 18. Running that down to zero is just a formality. The Red Sox are 9 back in the loss column with 26 to play (could possibly be 10 back by end of night). If the Yankees slump and play .500 the rest of the way (13-13) the Red Sox would have to go 23-4. Excuse me a moment. I have to call 911 because I think I just busted my gut. No chance the Red Sox go 23-4 the rest of the way. I think at best the Red Sox could go 18-9 and that's being very generous. Assuming they do, the wheels would totally have to fall off and the Yankees would have to finish 9-17. Sorry, need another moment. This time I think I split my side. Ouch.

The last 2 Yankee wins have been pretty similar. Mainly because neither starter could make it through 5 (both lasted 4.2) and the bullpen had to step up to lock the win down. And boy did they step it up. Friday the pen combined to pitch 4.1 hitless/scoreless innings. Logan to Robertson to Wood to Rivera. Game over. Today the pen pitched 4.1 IP, allowing 2 inherited runners to score on 3 total hits. Moseley to Logan to Chamberlain to Wood to Rivera. Game over. The runs allowed today could have been avoided if Joe Girardi didn't mishandle the last out of the 5th. With the lefty Lyle Overbay up the correct move would have been to go to Boone Logan as opposed to Dustin Moseley. What made the move even more puzzling is that Girardi used Logan immediately after Moseley. Logan should have been in to face Overbay. Joe's lucky the team picked him up.

The Kerry Wood trade looks like a winner, eh? He's now appeared in 14 games as a Yankee. He's thrown 16 innings, allowing only 1 run on 10 hits. The run he allowed came in his 2nd appearance. Since then he's been lights out. Except for the walks. Girardi has used him as the 8th inning guy two games in a row in games that featured both Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson. Pretty obvious that Wood is the chosen one for the 8th inning. I've got no problem with that choice.

I didn't get to see any of Friday's game. I tried to listen to it on the radio while at work but it didn't go so well. I didn't catch much of Nova's start. I saw all of Vazquez's outing and it wasn't hard to tell that he didn't have anything. It's amazing he lasted as long as he did. I'll give him credit for battling through it and only giving up 3 runs. The big question with Javy is what's up with his velocity, or better yet, lack thereof? He was topping out just below 90 and was averaging around 87. That'll work if you can locate your pitches and have good control and offspeed stuff, a la Mike Mussina. But when you don't, like Javy, you're treading water. I read that he's staying in the rotation so hopefully they can figure out what's wrong before his next turn comes up.

Marcus Thames had the big hit today with what turned out to be a 2-run game winning HR. MT's average has dipped a little but he's got a nice power stroke. He's gone deep in 6 of his last 10 games. He's been quite the surprise this year. Didn't expect him to step up the way he has. Another thing I didn't expect was Brett Gardner to play so well. Honestly, I never saw Gardner as more than a 4th OF. Same as Melky Cabrera. I think I need to re-think that position. I'm most impressed by BG's ability to get on base. He was rocking a .390 OBP coming into today's game and reached another 3 times. He tied a Yankees record by picking up a walk in his 9th straight game (tying Jason Giambi). OBP + speed = a dangerous combination.

Both the Rays and Sox are currently losing their games. Tonight could be a good good night.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Beat A's To Keep Pace With Rays

The Yanks and A's are currently in the bottom of the 7th. The game is pretty much in hand (knock on wood) as the Yanks are up 11-4. I'm jumping the gun hear because my goal tonight is to go to bed by 10pm. That's 6 minutes from now so it's not looking like I'll make that goal. I don't want to slack on the blogging either.

I was giving my kids a bath during the start of the game. I thought we were in for a rough night as I listened to Dustin Moseley allow what seemed like everyone and their brother to reach base. I'll admit my confidence for a Yankee win was pretty low at that point. What was I thinking? This is the New York Yankees were talking about here. The Bronx Bombers. No deficit, especially 3 runs, in the 1st inning no less, can't be overcome. It didn't take long for the tide to turn.

Not Moseley's best outing as a Yankee, eh? 5 hits and 4 walks. I think Girardi made the right call to lift him when he did. It's nice to have ex-starters in the bullpen to eat up a lot of innings. Javy Vazquez pitched had a rock-solid outing. That's 2 not-so bad relief outings for JV. He keeps that up he'll probably pitch his way back into the rotation. That's a nice luxury for the Yankees to have. It's good to have options. Too funny. I write that Javy has a rock-solid outing and he just gives up an RBI double. Funny how that goes.

Great night offensively, through the 7 innings I saw anyway. Well, great night for the 3-4-5 hitters. As I write this, Swisher, Teixeira and Cano each have 3 hits a-piece. The trio is currently 9-11 with 3 2B, 2 HR, and 7 RBI. Nice job by the middle of the order. Am I the only one who can't believe Swisher is hitting just under .300. Assuming he doesn't get another AB, he'll end the night at .298. What a year he's having! I guess I can no longer call him "The Rally Killer." I'm so happy not to have to do that anymore.

Derek Jeter went 0-4. Sigh.

Another HR for Marcus Thames. I can't help myself. Anytime he steps up to the plate I yell, "MAH-CUS!" It's fun. You should try it.

Well, they're headed to the 9th. The game is still safely in hand as the Yanks are up 11-5. I don't see the A's scoring 6 times this inning. It looks like the Yanks will keep pace with the Rays, who also won. The Red Sox were off so we couldn't benefit from a Red Sox loss. The win drops the Yankees magic # to clinch a playoff spot to 25. 7 games with 31 to play. The fat lady is tuning up.

There's now 1 out in the 9th. I might as well stay up for the finish. Javy just whiffed Carson for his 5th K. Just closed it out with his 6 K. Great job by Javy. Too bad he can't do that every time out. Yankees win. Thuhh Yankees win. Off to bed. 21 minutes behind schedule.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Super Nova Leads Yankees To 2-1 Victory Over White Sox

I haven't checked out any other Yankees sites yet but I'll bet that I'm not the only one who's going with "Super Nova." I don't really want to but it's been a long week and the brain is running on empty. But let's face it, he has been a little "super" in hist 1st 2 starts. So it works.

The name of the game today was pitching and the charge was led by Nova. He looked pretty sharp in my book. 66% of his pitches were strikes. Great K/BB ratio @ 7:1. Well done rook. Congrats on your 1st big league win. There's been some chatter in the last few days about the Yankees possibly changing up the rotation based on the sub-par performances of certain pitchers (talking 'bout you A.J.). It looks like they're staying with the current rotation but they could very easily switch things up. Personally, I wouldn't move A.J. out just yet. The guy has good stuff. I think his problem is more mental than anything else. I'd like to think he'll figure it out. Anyway, it's a little crazy to think that we're headed into September and the Yankees rotation features guys named Nova and Moseley. What's crazier is that right now they're 2 of their better starters. I hope they keep it going.

Major props to the bullpen for shutting things down. Nice little rebound from last night. The pen really has been pitching rather well in recent weeks. I'm going with Saturday's meltdown as an anomaly and not reality. They got it done today. Even with his nice string of games I still get crazy nervous whenever Joba takes the hill. I don't think I'll ever shake that feeling. He's got a lot of work to do to earn my faith in him back. He's on the right track but he's got a ways to go. Something hit me about Joba today and tell me if you agree or think I'm totally wrong. Doesn't he kind of look like the Hideki "The Fat Toad" Irabu? I think they could pass for half-brothers of something. Again, brain is fried from a long week so maybe I'm wrong.

Not a lot of offense today. Crazy that Francisco Cervelli went 4-4. Never thought I'd see that happen. Cisco has had some ups and downs this year but I do think he's suitable as a backup catcher. Problem is that because of Jorge Posada he's a little more than a backup. I think I expect more from him since he sees more action than the average backup but he really does have some value. If he played less I don't think people would be as critical of him.

What has gotten into Marcus Thames? He had one hell of a road trip. He saw action in 5 games, had 8 hits in 17 AB (.471), hit 1 2B, 4 HRs and knocked in 8. To be honest I'm surprised he's still with the team. I thought for sure the Yankees would have released him back in May or so. So glad he's proved me wrong. He's been rather productive in a limited role.

I'm really surprised at Jeter's numbers. I would have thought they'd be much higher especially in a "walk year." His .270/.336/.384 are well behind his career averages of .315/.385/.454. Not counting 1995 when he appeared in 15 games, they're the lowest averages of his career by far. He's never hit below .291, never had an OBP below .352, and never had a SLG below .408. Very un-Jeterlike. I'm not sure what to make it of it. I wouldn't think his skills would drop off that much from last season. Here's hoping he has a great September.

The win today was nice because it means that they'll either keep pace with Tampa for the division and have 7 losses at hand on the Red Sox for the wild card, or they'll be 1 up on Tampa and 6 losses up on the Red Sox. Quite frankly either outcome works for me but I'd prefer that Tampa win. I'll take the playoff spot ASAP. A Red Sox loss would put the Yankees 7 up in the loss column with 32 to play. Same distance the Sox were back 19 games ago. 19 games have rolled off the schedule and the Sox at best will have gained one game on the Yanks. That wont get it done. Making up that ground could be done but let's face it the Sox would have to go one a historic September run and the Yankees would have to have a historic September collapse. You don't need a magic 8-ball to tell you that outcome is unlikely. It's currently 10:10pm and a check of the scoreboard says that the Rays are ahead 4-3 at the 7th inning stretch. That works. Hope to see that outcome hold true when I check in the morning. For now, it's off to bed.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Back To Business

My how time flies. It's hard to believe that it's been 2 weeks since I've been able to blog. I've got so much going on. For starters, the wife and I welcomed a new addition to the family. Just over 2 weeks ago the wife gave birth to our 3rd child, a daughter named Bailey. Thanks again to everyone on Twitter who sent well wishes my way. I appreciate it. Our oldest just turned 3 last Sunday so as you can imagine when you have 3 kids at home aged 3 and under, you don't have a lot of free time. On top of all that we closed on our brand new home about a week after the baby was born. It took about 3 days to move everything in and another 3 days to put it all where it needs to go. I did have time at night to watch the Yankees but we didn't get our cable hooked up until this past Tuesday. I caught a little of the last few games but as you can expect I haven't had time to blog about it. Here's my attempt at catching up a little:

The Yankees are 9-6 since I blogged last. Could be better, could be worse. I'll take it. At the close of the last Boston series the Yankees were 7 up on the Sox in the loss column with 51 to play. 16 games have been played in that span and the Sox are 6 back in the loss column. 6 games back with 35 to play. Yeah, not going to happen. If the Yankees go 17-18 the rest of the way, the Sox would have to go 22-12 (.648) just to tie. Yeah, not going to happen.

A-Rod and Lance Berkman landed on the DL. Andy Pettitte is still on it. Bummer. But I've been so far removed from Yankees news I'm not even sure what's up with them.

CC is the man. He's gone 3-0 while I've been away. He's won his last 4 and has been rather impressive. As the weather heats up, so does CC. Over those 4 starts, he's 4-0, 29.2 IP, 24 hits, 6 walks, 24 K, and has allowed 7 ER for an ERA of 2.12. He's sitting on a record of 17-5 and an ERA of 3.02. Amazing. He's got 5-6 starts left. I don't want to jump the gun but I'd have to put the odds of CC picking up 20 wins at least at 75%. He leads the league in wins. Has the 5th best ERA in the AL. Can you say Cy Young?

Johnny Damon is still the man. I love how he basically gave the middle finger to the Red Sox by deciding to stay with the Tigers. Ha ha ha. I love it.

Phil Hughes was not at all impressive in his last outing but it's nothing I'm concerned about.

I was bummed about not being able to make it to Toronto for the series (1st time in like 4 years) but I suppose a new house and new baby is as good a reason as any to miss out. I plan to be back for the September set.

Javy Vazquez is in the bullpen. Anybody care?

Best Yankees spot starter in recent memory has to be Dustin Moseley.

What's gotten into Boone Logan? 15 straight appearances without allowing a run. 10.2 IP, 4 hits, 2 walks, 11 K, and no runs! Who would have thunk it? Not me. That's for sure.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something but my brain is a little fried. 35 games left. They've rounded 3rd and their heading for home. Will they have to slide or can they cross the plate standing up? Will there be a play at the plate? My gut and head are both telling me that October baseball will be played in the Bronx yet again. But it's baseball. Anything can happen.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Robinson Cano Is The Man, Yankees Clip Rays 5-4

I called it before the season started and I'm sticking with it: Robinson Cano will be the 2010 AL MVP. If the season ended now, would he be? Probably not. But there's a lot of season left and when the dust settles, Robbie will be the MVP. Monster night at the plate tonight for Robbie. 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and the game winning HR off Rafael Soriano in the 9th. Tonight's game ball goes to Robbie. No doubt about it. Cano is on a little mini-tear. He's homered in 3 of the last 4 games and he's 9 for 21 (.429) over the last 5. 7 of his 9 hits have gone for extra bases. Mark my words folks, Robbie will be the MVP.

Not a lot of hits tonight by the Yankees offense but what they did hit they hit hard. 6 hits in total, 3 doubles and 3 HRs. The balls were flying tonight and they were flying far. Joyce's HR was a blast. Teixiera hit a bomb of his own. The chicks tonight must have been going bonkers. Swisher's HR now gives him 20 on the year. The updated pledge amount for Nick's charity, Swish's Wishes, is $808. New to the blog and wondering what I'm talking about? A couple of us Yankee bloggers have gotten together to donate to Nick's charity. Every time Nick goes deep we pledge to donate $38. Want more info? Care to join us? Feel free to drop me a line and I'll give you the info.

Not the best debut for Lance Berkman. My buddy tweeted to me before the game, "F**k Lance Berkman." Not sure what that's all about. As for his debut, it's one game. I'm not going to put much stock in it.

Not Javy Vazquez's best outing of the season but he wasn't bad. David Robertson is making a serious push to be the setup man. He looked impressive tonight. Real impressive. Mariano, as expected, was awesome. He's having arguably the best season of his career. Like a fine wine he's getting better with age. Give that man a multi-year deal already. I have no doubt in my mind that Mo could pitch well into his 50s. He's the G.O.A.T. and he's only getting better.

Big win tonight. The win puts the lead in the East back to 2 and it guarantees that the Yankees leave Tampa in 1st place. The big man goes tomorrow. The odds of a Yankee win are very high when CC gets the ball. A win tomorrow would be mighty nice. So would an A-Rod HR for that matter. I thought for use he'd hit one while they were in Tampa. Alex always seems to hit the ball well when they play in the Trop. I'm calling #600 tomorrow. Hope it happens.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh Berkman!

Just got the text alert and the deal is official. Welcome to the New York Yankees, Lance Berkman! For those wondering what the title of the blog is all about, all of those nuh-nuh-nuh-nuhs are meant to be the Batman theme song. Bonus points to anyone who picked that up.

The deal breaks down as follows: Yankees acquired Berkman and cash from the Astros in exchange for Mark Melancon and Jimmy Paredes. Works for me. I've never been fully sold on Mark Melancon. I always thought of him as an over-hyped Yankee prospect. Admittedly, I don't have a heck of a lot of exposure to him but from what I've seen I'm not overly impressed. Berkman brings a solid veteran bat to an already potent Yankee lineup. He may be on the decline and not having a typical Lance Berkman type of year, but I think he fits better in the lineup than who the Yankees have now, or could have when and if Nick Johnson ever gets off the disabled list. I think it's safe to admit that nobody cares if that day ever comes.

If I were in charge of filling out the Yankee lineup I'm not sure where I'd slot LB on the lineup card. The choices as I see them are having Berkman hit 2nd, 7th or 8th. I don't see him as a #2 hole hitter but is OBP is decent enough to pull it off. I'd prefer though that they leave Swisher there. Batting him 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 9th are definitely out. I wouldn't hit him 6th unless maybe Posada wasn't in the lineup. I also wouldn't bat Granderson and Gardner back-to-back so to break up the lefties, I'd probably put Berkman in the 8-hole. Lance Berkman hitting 8th? Only in NY. I'm assuming he'll be in tonight's lineup. The game is tonight at 7pm so there's still a few hours before the lineup goes public.

I did get to see most of last night's game though it didn't get my full attention. We had our 7th annual family Pai-gow card game so I was focused more on that. Did have the game on the big screen but with the sound off. Saw Hughes give up the 3-run bomb. Even with a giant buttload of cash in front of me (mainly $1 bills- won $141 altogether) it still bummed me out. I have no complaints about Phil's outing. You have to be pretty near perfect when your team only gives you 2 runs of support. One bad pitch spoiled what could have been a great outing. His pitching line is nothing to balk at. It's one of the better outings Phil's put up recently. It was good to see him bring his game. If only the offense brought theirs.

Game time tonight is 7:10pm. It's a pretty big game. A win puts the Yankees back up by 2. A loss and they'll be tied with the Rays. Javy Vazquez has been pitching pretty well over the last several months. He'll need to bring it tonight as the Rays are throwing out the most recent member of the no-hit club, Matt Garza. Go Javy go.

Almost forgot. The Yanks also made a deal yesterday with the Indians. They get Austin Kearns for the infamous PTBNL. Not blown away by the deal but then again not everybody they deal for needs to be a big named superstar. I really have no feelings about the deal. I have no problems with it. It'll probably end up costing them very little as I'm sure the PTBNL will be some minor-league chump. It's also nice having an extra veteran bat in the lineup. I guess I just talked myself into liking the acquisition. Still though, I shrug a little at it. Have to see how it plays out.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Pitching Leads Yanks To 3-2 Victory Over Indians

I got to catch the last 3.2 innings of tonight's Yankees game. By the time I put the kids to bed the game was pretty much over. Who knew an MLB game could be 2/3 of the way done in 1.5 hours? I almost turned the game off within minutes of turning it on. I didn't even have it on 3 minutes before the Indians took a 2-1 lead. I'm a firm believer in jinxes and was thinking i might be causing some bad mojo. Since tomorrow night's game is on My9, which Verizon FiOS doesn't carry, I stuck with it. Thanks to Curtis Granderson for getting me off the hook.

Javy Vazquez is putting together a nice little season. He's been pretty good in his last 10 starts. JV is 6-2 in those starts with an ERA of 3.05. That's pretty darn good if you ask me. I never would have guessed that he would have bounced back as well as he has. Great outing tonight.

I'm not sure how you felt about the 8th inning but I was very happy not to see Joba Chamberlain in the game. He's way too unreliable and it's evident that the Yankees think so too. David Robertson came up big getting the DP. D-Rob hasn't exactly been awesome this season but he's on a nice roll. He hasn't allowed a run in his last 8 outings. He's got a pretty nice line in those games too: 8.1 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 11 K. Pretty sweet. He's definitely the most reliable RP right now, outside of Mariano that is. Mo is just awesome, isn't he? I had no idea his ERA is as low as it is. His scoreless inning tonight dropped it to a microscopic 0.96. Wow. He's the greatest closer of all-time hands down. They should change the name of the "save" to the "mariano." I think I'm going to start a campaign for MLB to do that. Mo now has 21 marianos on the season. I like the sound of that.

Not much offense tonight but what they got came in a big way. Nick Swisher went deep for HR #18. That HR added another $38 to the Swish's Wishes pledge drive. We're up to $732 raised for Nick's charity. Want more info on what I'm talking about? Click here. The deathblow tonight came from Curtis Granderson. Curtis has found a little power stroke. 3 HRs in the last 2 games for CG. Hopefully that's a sign of more to come from the Grandyman. His overall numbers leave a lot to be desired.

A-Rod is still stuck on 599 HRs. I predict he'll hit #600 tomorrow. Namely because I won't be watching thanks to My9 and Verizon FiOS. Things like that always happen when I can't watch so I fully expect it to happen tomorrow night. If I'm lucky maybe ESPN or the MLB Network will have live cut-ins. I can only be so lucky. If they happen to then I'm sure the HR will come before I get the kids to bed. That's just how it goes.

Another no-no tonight. Unreal. Congrats to Matt Garza.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

We Now Return You To Your Regularly Scheduled Programming

Greetings friends and fellow Yankees fans. Long time no talk. I hope you've all been well. I've been doing much better. Life is still crazy, and is about to get crazier, but I'm managing. The reason it's getting crazier is because in a few short weeks, the wife and I will be having our 3rd child (it's a girl) and we'll also be moving into our new home (building new). Both are scheduled to "arrive" within a day of each other. Tack onto that a 3-year old and a 16-month old and you've got sheer pandemonium. I love it.

I must apologize for the extended absence. I really needed the downtime. I did a little blog maintenance here and there. Namely I updated the Swish's Wishes donation total. See upper left. The pledge drive is up to $618. For those new to the site or if you just plum forgot, a couple of us Yankee fans got together and are donating money to Nick Swisher's charity. In a nutshell, for every HR Swisher hits, we're donating $38 to his charity, Swish's Wishes. Want more info? Click here and you'll find it. If you're interested in donating along with us you're more than welcome.

The other big thing I've been doing, and this has been a giant pain in the rump, is I've been deleting all of the spam comments being left by our "friends" in the Far East. It go so bad I had to pseudo-moderate the comments. Any comments left on posts older than 7 days get moderated. I may have to shorten that now that I'm going to be more active. Message to you a-holes: don't waste your time posting spam links in the comments. They'll be deleted pretty quickly. Take that shizzle somewhere else.

I've got a lot of catching up to do as it relates to the Yankees. I've been paying attention but not as closely as I'd like to be. I did post a few blogs recently. I talked about the busted Cliff Lee trade and about the untimely passing of the great George Steinbrenner. Man that still kind of stings. The Boss will certainly be missed. As will Bob Sheppard. RIP.

I'm going to rush through the rest of the catching-up and start fresh tomorrow. Here goes:

• The team is 56-32 and has the best record in all of baseball. They're 8-2 over their last 10, 2 games up on the Rays and 5.5 up on the Red Sox. Not a bad way to come out of the All-star break.
• The starting rotation has for the most part been outstanding this season. They're the biggest reason they're doing so well in my opinion. Hughes, Pettitte and Sabathia could all possibly win 20 games. How nutty would that be? All 3 have exceeded my expectations, especially Phil Hughes. Err, I mean Huuuuuuuuuuughes! Why did I use the letter U 11 times, you ask? He gets 1 U for every W. 11 wins equals 11 Us. I did the same thing for Mike Mussina when he won 20. I've always been a big Hughes guy and figured I'd carry on the tradition. It's insane how good that trio of pitchers has been this year. I'll expand more on them I'm sure as they make their next starts.
• Javy Vazquez is hitting his stride. Finally!
• Robinson Cano (my pre-season MVP pick) has cooled down a little but still kicking some ass.
• Mark Teixeira is finally coming around. His streak happened to start right after I traded him in a computer baseball league I'm in. You're welcome.
• A-Rod may not be hitting it out of the park at his normal rate but he;s driving people in. He'll still finish with 30 HR.
• Nick Swisher is not the rally killer he used to be.
• Joba Chamberlain sucks.
• Mariano Rivera is super-human. He has to be, right?
• The rest of the bullpen needs work and upgrading it should be the main focus at the trade deadline.

And there you have it. It's not as in-depth and as detailed as I'd like it to be, but at least it's something. The plan is to ramp up the blog again. I'm going to do my best to post daily but I make no promises. I may miss something here or there but there definitely won't be any long layoffs. At least that's not the plan. When baby #3 shows up I may be singing a different tune. What did I get myself into?

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Javy Vazquez Pitches 6 Shutout Innings In 2-1 Yankees Victory

Greetings friends. It's been a while since I've blogged. It seems like it's been forever. I've been so far removed from the Yankees it's not even funny. I pretty much missed 95% of the last 4 games. I caught a little of the action but not enough. My wife and I were watching a little bit of the Yankees/Mets game tonight and she was asking me questions about Yankee-related things. Usually I'm quick with the answers. Tonight I found myself not having a clue. Things should get a little better next week. I foresee myself having the opportunity to watch many of the games and blogging afterwards. At least I'm going to try. It's tough to blog that late when I have to get up at 5am.

What happened to the Yankees pitching? They've allowed 40 runs in their last 5 games. It's hard to believe that the Yanks scored 6 runs in each of their last 3 games and lost them all. That's not very Yankee-like. Both Joba and Mariano had meltdowns. As I'm typing this, Mo is having another meltdown. Back-to-back doubles by Bay and Davis and it's now a 2-1 game. David Wright just grounded out to end it. Thank God Wright is scuffling. The Yanks may have picked up the W and snapped the little 3 game slide but it was definitely a shaky outing for Mo. I did hear that his meltdown against Boston had a little to do with some shoddy defense. But still, Mo usually picks the guys up. The pitching has been a little suspect lately. Except of course for Javy Vazquez if you can believe that.

Javy looked pretty good tonight. I'm cautiously optimistic about his start though. My buddy Don sent me a text during the game and the text read, "of course he has a no hitter, he's an NL pitcher facing an NL team!" It's definitely food for thought. Vazquez hasn't exactly done anything to earn anyone's respect this year. I'm not putting a lot of stock in this outing, even with it being a 1-hitter over 6 innings. He did look pretty good though. I'm hoping it's a sign of things to come. Again, I'm cautiously optimistic.

Not much offense for the Yanks tonight. But they did after score 47 runs over their last 7 games so no worries. Mark Teixeira though? Dude, when you going to start hitting? Tex is hitting .209 after tonight's ohfer. It looks like he had a nice little run a few games back. He had 4 multi-hit games in a 5 game span which rose his average from .195 to .224. But he's 1-16 over the last 4 games. I'm kind of shocked that his average is as low as it is considering they're a quarter of the way through the season. I knew he'd start slow, but thought for sure he'd be around .250.260 by now. I just took a look at his stats from last year at this time. Tes was hitting .250 on 5/21/09 and was up to .281 by the end of May. He was only hitting .203 on 5/14 last year which was actually 6 percentage points behind his average this year on 5/14. Hopefully history repeats itself and a Tex hit-streak starts soon.

Not sure how much of this weekend's action I'll get to see. It's tough to bail on my little ones for the Yanks when I barely see them during the week. But it is a night game so I should be able to catch most of it. I really want to see tomorrow's game. Hughes vs. Pelfrey. That has the makings of a great game. Hopefully Hughes will run the record to 6-0, and "Huuuuughes" will add another U to the name.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

CC Sabathia + A.J. Burnett + Andy Pettitte + Phil Hughes - Javy Vazquez = Yankee Awesomeness

Finally, I have some time to sit down and write a blog. Unfortunately, I don't have much to say. I feel so far removed from the Yankees right now. I don't know the last full game I watched. I've seen all of about 1 pitch in the last 2 games. Life is just getting in the way. Still working crazy hours at work. I'm up at 4:30am and back around 7pm or so. On top of that crazy schedule, we're moving out of our house and the scheduled closing is this Tuesday. It's definitely a busy time in my life. Arguably the busiest it's ever been. Not sure how much more I can take.

I paid as much attention as I could to the Orioles series. Again, I caught very little of the action. All I really know is that the Yankees swept them and are currently riding a 4 game winning streak and have a 19-8 record, 1 game behind the Rays. That's a much better start than I envisioned. Anybody think they'd get off to that kind of a start. For my money they still are atop the power rankings. They did after all take 2 of 3 from the Rays in Tampa. To be the man you've got to beat the man.

The Yankees SPs have pretty much dominated these last 4 games. Hughes, CC, A.J., and Andy are a combined 4-0. The foursome collectively pitched 27.1 IP, allowing just 3 runs (2 earned) on 21 hits and 7 walks, whiffing 18. For those of you without a handy-dandy calculator around, that's an ERA of 0.66. I say hot damn. If only Javy Vazquez would get with the program. It's hard to believe that the Yankee SPs have a combined ERA of 3.17 considering how God-awful Vazquez has been. The 5 SPs are a combined 16-4 with that 3.17 ERA I just mentioned. Remove Vazquez from that mix and the SPs are 15-1 with an ERA of 2.14. Wow those guys are good. The Yankees are 100% right to skip Vazquez's next turn. He needs to work out some issues and on the mound in Fenway isn't the place to do it. As I mentioned after his last start, Javy knows how to pitch. He's succeeded before. He's got it in him to do it again. Hope he figures it out soon.

I have a little more to write about (Pettitte's injury, a little Yankee offense) but the missus needs the computer. Happy wife. Happy life. Even when one works all day long.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Hey, Ho, Javy Got To Go (And Some Other Random Stuff)

If you're sick and tired of Javy Vazquez raise your hand! This act is getting very tired. He's now made 5 starts this season and he's thrown a grand total of 23 innings. He's bad, very very bad. I didn't get to see much of the game today. It's been a very busy time here. On top of working 11-12 hours per day, we're in the middle of moving out of our house. I spent all day packing and moving stuff. I didn't experience any of the good today for the Yankees, only the bad. I saw Vazquez give up his 5 runs and I heard Robertson and Marte give up the other 2 as I was in the car. All I saw/heard of the Yankees was the first run they scored. Considering all of the bad and none of the good happened on my watch, maybe it was my fault?

I'd have to think that Vazquez will get better. He does know how to pitch. He's proved that in the past. Maybe pitching in NY is a different animal and he just won't cut it. Whatever it is, he and Eiland need to figure it out and they need to do it fast. He could have really used a good start in front of the home crowd today. Instead he sucked major balls. I didn't get to see his exit. I'm assuming the fans gave him the proper sendoff. But again, Javy has shown he knows how to pitch. He has it in him. I just hope he finds that pitcher sooner rather than later.

The Yankees bullpen is turning out to be one of their biggest weaknesses. It would have been nice if Robertson and Marte would have done their jobs. Nothing irritates me more than seeing the "lefty specialist" come in with one specific job to do and then not do it. Friggin' Marte.

I saw a replay of Curtis Granderson hurting his groin while running the bases. That looked painful. As expected he's been placed on the DL. Something tells me Curtis is going to miss some time. I think he'll definitely be out more than 15 days but I'm hoping I'm wrong. I'll play armchair manager for a second here. If I'm Girardi, Gardner becomes my everyday CF and I platoon Winn and Thames. I really like having BG at the bottom of the order. I've said that before. I think having him turn the lineup over is perfect.

Congrats to Nick Swisher for hitting his 3rd HR of the season. The HR added $37 to our fundraiser. For those not in the know, a bunch of us Yankee fans have gotten together to donate money to Nick's charity, Swish's Wishes. We're basically donating $37 for every HR he hits. The total is now up to $151. I know, $37*3 is not $151. Someone ponied up a flat donation of $40. If you're interested in donating along with us, let me know and I'll add you to the tally (see upper left). Keep it going Swish. We want you to take our money.

Sorry for not blogging after Friday's victory. Truth of the matter is I was asleep before 9pm. Yeah, it's sad. I know. But getting up at 5 all week really took it's toll on me. I did have the fortune of seeing Jeter tie the game with a HR. I must have fallen asleep with the game on because Michael Kay's call of his triple woke me up. It was a nice way to cap off the month of April. Jeter finished the month with 4 HRs, the same number that A-Rod and Teixeira combined to hit. He finished the month with 18 RBI, 5 less than Teixeira and A-Rod combined for. He had 31 hits and a .330 average. He had 1 less hit than A-Rod and Tex combined. That's amazing to me. The RBI stat is staggering considering Jeter hits leadoff. Unreal.

Not sure how much of the game I'll get to catch tomorrow. More packing is on the docket. There's always something else to move. If I didn't have to work such ridiculous hours during the week it'd be a little easier, but what can you do? Gotta pay the bills.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Javy Vazquez + Joe Girardi = Loss To Anaheim

Had another rough day at work today. Out the door at 7am and in the door at 6:45pm. Tomorrow I'm out at 5am and who knows when I'll get back home. Yay me. I don't have much time because the missus wants me to help her pack, so I'm going to try and make this quick. Here goes nothing.

Javy Vazquez needs to get better and fast. He can't keep going out there and pitching the way he is. He looks like he has no confidence. It's getting to the point where I get knots in my stomach whenever his turn in the rotation comes up. I'd be really irked if the Yankees had traded someone worth of value for him. Melky Cabrera isn't exactly a superstar. I'm especially curious to see what kind of reception he gets when he pitches during this homestand. Warm up the Bronx cheers.

I was eating dinner last night when Damaso Marte served up the longball to Kendy Morales. I was halfy paying attention. I saw the HR but not what led up to it. I had no idea that Girardi originally called for an intentional walk and then changed his mind. When I saw that in the postgame highlights I was a little irked by that. Not so much by him changing his mind, but because he didn't change it back after the count went to 3-0. Now I'm not a major league manager. Sure sometimes I pretend to be. Who doesn't? But even I know you call for ball four there. Or at least call for a pitch out of the zone that you hope he chases. It's on Marte too for throwing a meatball, but he never should have thrown a strike. Horrible call by the skip.

Gotta bolt. Wife is getting agitated that she's packing up the house and I'm blogging. We sold the house and closing is coming up. Busy times here. I really need it to cool down a little. My stress level is probably at an all-time high.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Stay Hot With Victory Over A's

I stayed up for about half the game last night. I actually fell asleep right before the A's pulled Gonzalez and woke up when A-Rod went deep to make it a 6-0 game. Then I turned it off and went to bed. I woke up today and saw the team held on for a 7-3 win to push their record to 10-4. I didn't get a chance to do a deep dive on the game but here are some things I noticed and/or have questions on.

Robbie Cano walked 3 times??

What happend to Javy? I thought he was cruising (I was half-awake) and noticed that he only lasted 5.1 IPs and threw 107 or so pitches? He run out of gas or something? At least he one his first game?

Jeter's hit streak was snapped. Bummer.

7 runs on 5 hits and 10 walks. That's timely hitting. Big up to Nick Swisher for his 2-out bases loaded two-run single. He wasn't a rally killer.

That's it for now. Gotta date. Can't be late. Hey, the girl's..oops, forgot where I was. BBD forever!

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Too Little Too Late For Yankees Offense In 5-3 Loss To Angels

I didn't get to see the game today. Correction. I got to see the 9th inning. I was hoping to see some pie, but instead I saw the Yankees go down 1-2-3. Next to games on My9, afternoon games are my least favorite type of Yankee games. I listen along at work but it's really tough to focus on and follow. Not to mention I can't really tweet about it. I had to leave a little early today to meet up with our realtor, so I did hear the 8th inning rally, which was as the title of this log suggests, too little too late.

The Yanks had their shot there in the 8th. Tying runs on base and the two hottest hitters coming up in Cano and Posada. Based on their hot starts I thought for sure one would come through. I was really hoping it'd be Cano because I thought it would signal the end of his troubles of hitting with RISP. Grounding into a fielder's choice? Not the way to get things done. Robbie still appears to be having trouble hitting in key situations this year. After today's game I think his average with RISP dropped to .222 and his average with runners on dropped to .231. It's hard to believe a guy hitting .382 would be that bad with runners on. I may have to start calling him Robbie The Rally Killer if he keeps it up. It's such a small sample size. I hope he turns it around.

It sounded like Joel Pineiro really dominated the Yankee hitters today. He allowed 5 hits and no walks while striking out 7. I'd call that a pretty good day. I don't really have any critique of his counterparts performance. Without seeing much of the game it's hard to really tell how Javy Vazquez did. It's really easy to go by a guy's pitching line when he dominates. Not so easy when it's a sub-par start. If anyone who saw the game wants to breakdown his performance for me I'd appreciate it. I'll hit up some of my favorite blogs to see what the general consensus but the more opinions the better, so feel free to lay it on me. All I can say is it's not good to have two of your team's three losses and have a 9.82 ERA to boot. I hope he turns it around.

Do I come off as disliking Nick Swisher? I know I call him the "Rally Killer" and all, but I really am rooting for him. I think my buddy Don disagrees. We had a little back and forth today via text messaging about Nick and I think he thinks I can't stand the guy, and that couldn't be further from the truth. The last thing I am going to do is root for a Yankee to fail. I've broken down Swish's numbers a few times on this site, justifying the moniker I've bestowed upon him. I haven't run into anyone yet that disagrees with the name, except for my buddy. I'm curious if there's anybody else out there. Now before anybody jumps all over me (I'm talking to you Don), let me say that I do like what Nick brings to the table. He's a great clubhouse guy. He's a great teammate. He helps the lineup by seeing a lot of pitches. I see great value in all of those things. But I also see value though in being able to bring runners home and Swish, as I've detailed many a time, doesn't do well in that aspect. Believe you me, I wish that wasn't the case. I really am pulling for him. I really do hope he does better in that area. I'm probably a little hypocritical for not jumping all over Cano like I do with Swish. I wonder why that is. I need to see a shrink I guess. Any theories from the armchair shrinks out there?

Tomorrow is a big day for me as I'm a really big Phil Hughes guy and he makes his first start of the season tomorrow night. I'm glad the Yankees named him the 5th starter. I see great things in his future. A good outing tomorrow would be a step in that direction. It would be nice to win another series and be 6-3 after facing arguably the 3 best teams in the American League. That's a start I can get behind.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Open Things Up In Style With A Ring Ceremony And A 7-5 Win

What a day for the entire Yankees Universe! It was awesome to see the boys get their World Series rings today. It was awesome to see them cap it off with a win. It was a perfect day all around.

I am glad I took the day off so I could watch it live and not on tape. The pre-game show kicked off on YES at 11:30 and the opening highlight package gave me goosebumps. That didn't compare to the feelings I got from watching the Ring Ceremony. I had tears in my eyes by the end of it. It was awesome to see Hideki Matsui get his ring last and I thought it was very classy of the Yankees to run up to him and show him some love. I love too how they gave Matsui and Swisher bogus rings. Classic and very funny.

I said earlier in the week that it would have been better had the Red Sox been in town for this. Nothing beats showing the Sox up. I definitely don't feel that way now. I don't think the ceremony could have been any more perfect. Having Matsui there had a lot to do with it. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Andy Pettitte was awesome today. Vintage Pettitte. Andy looks to be in mid-season form already. He allowed his fair share of baserunners but kept them all from scoring. I wish I remembered this stat I heard the other day, but it went something like this: Pettitte had the highest WHIP (or maybe 3rd highest) of all SPs that won at least 14 games last year. You would think a guy that allows as many baserunners as Andy would have a higher ERA. But he doesn't and it's a testament to how good Andy really is. He got some pretty big outs today when he needed to. The bigget were his 5th inning popout of Abreu and the 6th inning DP of Kendrick. The game could have been a lot closer with another pitcher on the hill. Andy has been solid now thru his 1st 2 starts. 12 IP, 11 H, 6 BB, 10 K, 1 ER, 0.75 ERA. Not too shabby.

The game was great until the 9th inning. David Robertson imploded and made the game a lot closer than it was. That was ugly. But as we Yankees fans all know, it's hard to worry when you enter the 9th with a lead and Mariano is in the bullpen. Have no fear, Mighty Mo(use) is here. Mo came in and did what Mo does best. He K'd Torri Hunter and got Matsui to end the game on a pop out to Cano. Thank God for Marinao Rivera. He's the man.

The Yankees offense had a pretty good day. Any time you collectively pick up 13 hits and 9 walks it's a good day. Everyone who had a hit had more than one. Of the 3 guys that didn't have a hit, Swisher walked 3 times and Teixeira walked twice. If a walk is as good as a hit, big-up to those guys. Tex is really struggling. His oh-fer today dropped his average to .111 and he's now hitless in 6 of the Yankees 7 games. He'll be fine though. He struggles early every season and his stats always fill in line with what's on the back of his bubble gum card.

Posada, Granderson, and Cano are continuing to rake. Posada has been the biggest surprise to me. He's 3 hits today bumped his average up to .429. Jorge has 9 hits so far, 6 of which have been for extra bases (4 doubles and 2 HRs). He's also walked 6 times. He has to be seeing the ball really well.

Nick Johnson hit the Stadium's first HR this year. Nicky had a great day at the dish. NJ went 2-3 with 2 walks. Hopefully it's a sign of what to expect from Nick when he hits at home.

The only negative I can think of about the offense today is that they should have scored a few more runs. The offense is good enough that if they have 20+ guys reach base they should score more than 7 runs. They hit 5-16 with RISP today which isn't bad, but the outs definitely hurt. They ended up leaving 12 men on base and everybody came up empty at least once. It's not a big issue. It's more of a small critique.

You still have to be very pleased right now if you're a Yankee fan. The win moves the Yanks to 5-2 and that's impressive considering who they've played (Red Sox, Rays, and Angels). Javy Vazquez makes his 2nd start tomorrow and I really hope it's better than his first start. It's a 1:05pm start which means I'm going to miss the game. Stupid work. It's always getting in the way of the Yankees. Work also means no Twitter. Bummer. I'm not sure if I'm going to DVR the game or just follow along on Gamecast, or both. We'll see. I'm glad Thursday's game is a night game. Day games and I don't get along. Enjoy it.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Get Stymied By David Price, Lose 9-3

Well that wasn't pretty. The Yankees just didn't have it tonight. Hat tip to David Price for that. Price looked really good until he ran out of gas in the 8th. Not sure what Joe Maddon was thinking leaving him out there once the trouble started. I thought Dusty Baker was managing the Rays there for a second. The Rays have to be really happy with Price's outing. Wait, why I am writing about Price? This is a Yankees blog last time I checked. But seriously, Price pitched really well.

On the flipside, Javier Vazquez didn't pitch well at all. Scratch that. Javy started out pretty well. He looked solid for the first 3 innings. I was really excited when the Yankees went up 2-0 in the 4th. I thought it would be enough based on how he was throwing. But then the wheels fell off and things got bad real quick. I'm sure there are a lot of Yankee fans out there already dumping on Vazquez. Message to them: stop! There is absolutely no reason to think that Vazquez is going to suck this year. It's one start and it's the first start. He'll be fine.

Things might have been a little different for Javy and the Yanks had Girardi started Brett Gardner. There was a liner into LF that Marcus Thames dived for and missed. I'm not saying Gardner would have caught it but he's a lot faster than Thames so it was possible. Had the ball been caught, the inning would have ended and the Yanks would have been down 3-2. It could have been an entirely different story.

Not real much to discuss about the offense. They didn't do much against Price. Mark Teixeria is still oh-fer-April. For the life of me I don't understand how a hitter like Tex, who has a career .289 average, struggles so badly at the start of every season. It's mind-boggling. It really is. He's now 0-16 thru the 1st 4 games. He's due. Now if anybody out there is worried about Tex, don't be. It happens every year. He'll finish the year with a .290+ average. He'll have at least 30 hrs and 100 RBI. He won the MVP last year after his terrible start. History can easily repeat itself with Tex.

Nick Swisher is not doing anything to get me to stop calling him "The Rally Killer." Nick is picking up right where he left off last year. For those new to the blog, I started calling Nick "The Rally Killer" last season. He was absolutely horrible with runners in scoring position. Last year he hit .227 with RISP, .163 with RISP and 2 outs, and .158 with the bases loaded. He lived up to the moniker again tonight when he whiffed with the bases juiced in the 8th. I was definitely hoping for a different outcome. I'm still dying to drop my first 10 spot to his charity. There are a few of us who are down to donate (see upper left). An HR in the 8th would have been huge tonight. Heck, a hit would have been nice. I don't have much faith in Nick in a big spot. I love him at the start of a rally but not at the end of one.

The loss drops the Yankees to 2-2. I know some people out there are already hitting the panic button. It's the 4th game of the season guys. There is no cause for alarm. The big man gets the ball tomorrow. Game is at 3:10pm and is on FOX. That means Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. Ugh.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Reportedly Acquire Javier Vazquez From Atlanta

The Yankees have reportedly acquired Javier Vazquez from the Atlanta Braves. The pieces reportedly being sent to Atlanta are Melky Cabrera, Mike Dunn, and Arodys Vizcaino. The Yanks will also reportedly get Boone Logan. When I heard the rumors this morning that the Yankees were close to landing a starter, Vazquez wasn't who I was hoping for (Josh Johnson) but he'll do. The Yankees didn't really give up much so for me the deal is a win. And at least it's not Derek Lowe or Aaron Harang. I was really hoping they weren't the target.

I have no problem whatsoever with the Yankees dealing Melky Cabrera. I've always maintained that he's nothing more than a 4th OF. I like him, sure, but I've never been high on him. His career OPS is .716. I'm definitely not a fan of that. He has a great arm, which will be missed, but losing that isn't the end of the world. I think Cashman was smart to deal him now because his value is as high as it's going to get. Cash was smart to deal him now.

Trading Melky now opens up a hole in the OF. The OF as it stands now is Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher, and Brett Gardner. There is no chance whatsoever that the Yankees will run those 3 out there on opening day. The door for Johnny Damon's return has been reopened. Or perhaps the Yanks will go big and go after Matt Holliday or Jason Bay. I think it's a safe bet that the Opening Day LF will be one of those three.

Mike Dunn was a promising young left-handed RP, but that's easily replaceable. I'm fine with him being dealt. And I'm not real familiar with Vizcaino. No loss there. I have no problem with dealing prospects. You never know what you're going to get from them. They could easily bust.

Speaking of not knowing what you'll get, I wonder what Javier Vazquez the Yanks just got. The bum that was traded after 1 season or the guy who's excelled in recent years? I hope it's the latter. As I said above, he's not the guy I preferred, but acquiring him definitely upgrades the rotation. We're now looking at a rotation of CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte, Javier Vazquez, Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain. That's definitely better than it was yesterday. It looks like one of those last 2 is definitely pitching out of the pen in 2010. I hope it's Joba. I think Hughes is the better pitcher and has the tools to succeed as a SP. I think Joba is better suited for the bullpen. Something tells me though that Joba-mania will be the 5th SP coming out of Spring Training. Unless of course, Cashman has plans to deal one of the two. I don't think it's wise to do that at this point. In all likelihood this is Pettitte's last year. Whoever isn't in the rotation this year should be able to fill that role. We'll see.

Next up: signing a LF. I'd expect this to happen next and happen soon. If it doesn't happen today, I think it will happen by Christmas. I'm predicting they'll resign Johnny Damon. I wouldn't mind seeing Holliday come to town, but I think for payroll reasons, it'll be Damon.

Thoughts anyone? Good deal for the Yanks? Bad deal? What do you want to happen next? Lay it on me.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie