Things That Make Me Sick

The following things makes me instantly want to hurl:

1. Jonathan Albaladejo
2. Mark Melancon (they're called strikes Mark. Try throwing some!)
3. Joe Girardi's management of the Yankee bullpen
4. The inconsistency of the Yankee bullpen
5. Drew Barrymore
6. Mark Teixeira hitting below 200 (he struck out 23 times in 193 ABs with the Angels, he's struck out 17 times in 86 ABs with the Yankees)
7. Selena Roberts
8. Losing to the Red Sox (again and again and again)

Aargh!!

J-Boogie

Thoughts On Yanks/Sox Game

I didn't see much of last night's Yankees/Sox game. I was dead tired as the little ones have been running me ragged. Our older so has been waking up throughout the night and has been waking up earlier and earlier each morning. Couple that with a 2 hour plus rain delay and you know why I couldn't stay up for the whole game. I think I made it through 4 innings. I remember seeing Phil Hughes give up 4 runs. i don't remember seeing Alfredo Aceves pitch. I don't have a lot of thoughts on the game, but I have a few.

I was a little disappointed in Phil's outing. I don't think he pitched poorly, but he definitely could have been better. It seemed like he was always behind in the counts, which is never a good thing. He walked 4 and only lasted 4 innings, throwing 94 pitches, 56 for strikes. The strike-to-ball ratio was so-so, and it looked like the home plate ump had a hitter-friendly strike zone on a few of his pitches. Phil is going to run into problems when he faces a patient lineup. He needs to be more economical with his pitches and throw more strikes, especially strike 1 on the first pitch. I didn't see that from him yesterday which is the main reason why he was chased after 4 IPs.

I fell asleep with the Yankees down 4-0. I didn't think they had a shot as Jon Lester was dealing. They couldn't touch him in the 4 innings I saw. I was really surprised to see that Mark Teixeira went yard twice. Maybe that will break him out of his season-long funk. Hopefully it's not just a Yankee Stadium thing. He's doing much better at home than he is on the road, hitting 78 percentage points higher with an OPS on the road of .618 and an OPS at home of .949. So yeah, maybe it is a Yankee Stadium thing. Hopefully he can build on last night's performance over this homestand and maybe that will boost his confidence. He needs to be better, a lot better.

I saw on Pete Abraham's blog that Jorge Posada suffered a hamstring strain. Oh joy. That's just what this team needs. The offense suffered a great deal last year without Posada's bat in the lineup. Losing Jorge for an extended period of time would not be good. If he goes down, Teixeira really needs to kick up his game. I know A-Rod is coming back real soon, and that will help, but it might not be enough. I think the pitching staff may have to carry this team if they're going to play baseball in October. The rotation is more than capable of doing it. It's the bullpen that worries me.

Beckett vs. Chamberlain tonight. I was awake last night to see Girardi yammering with the Red Sox first base coach. It would not surprise me in the least if somebody got plunked tonight. Hopefully, the rain stays away. According to weather.com, there's an 80% chance of rain with accumulation up to a 1/2 inch. That can't be good.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

My Obligatory Post About A-Rod

The game today absolutely sucked and I don't really want to write about it. So I figured what better time that now to write about the leaks from Selena Roberts upcoming book about A-Rod. It's not really something I wanted to write about but it's hard not to have an opinion on the matter. So here goes:

1. A-Rod reportedly tipped a Hooters waitress the standard 15%. Really? And we should care about this why? Is there a law out there that says the wealthy should tip more than 15%? Is there a law out there that says anyone has to leave any kind of a tip. It's a standard, not a law. And how do we know that the service didn't suck? How many of us can honestly say that they've never tipped below 15%. If this doesn't lay out Roberts' motives to totally blast A-Rod, I don't know what does.
2. A-Rod reportedly tipped pitches to opposing players in exchange for the same in return, so he could pad his stats. This seems like a wild accusation. I'm not even sure how this is possible and can even be kept a secret. I'd have to think that more people would be in on this than just Alex. I read that Alex used to call pitches when he was with Texas which would give him the opportunity. But to do something like this would be premeditated and the arrangement to do something like this would have to be made before the game. It seems like it would be hard to pull off. If MLB wants to investigate and reprimand Alex for this, I think they're stupid. I'm inclined to believe that things along this line happen in the game today. I'm sure that a pitcher has thrown an intentional meatball to someone. I'm sure that a catcher has probably told a hitter what pitch is coming. What I'm saying is that people are foolish if they think that the game is 100% played on the level by everyone involved. I'm not naive, I'm sure it goes down. How come nobody cared when Brett Favre stood there and let Michael Strahan sack him to break the sack record in the NFL? Isn't that kind of along the same lines? I don't recall there being a huge uproar over that?
3. A-Rod reportedly used steroids in high school and HGH while a member of the Yankees. We already know that Alex used steroids and quite frankly I don't care when he did. There are a lot of things in this world worse than someone using steroids. I don't really care.
4. A-Rod cheated on his wife. Again, who cares? I'm sure that a lot of married ballplayers cheat on their wives, probably more than those that don't. I wouldn't be surprised if they have arrangements along the lines of "I don't care what you do as long as I don't hear about it, and you don't bring home any diseases. As long as I've got this fancy house and car, do what you want." The problem here is that Alex's escapades become public knowledge and his wife probably had little choice but to divorce him. She was made a fool of in the public eye and standing by her man was no longer an option. Why doesn't anyone care about Kobe Bryant like they do about A-Rod? Kobe allegedly raped a girl and that story was over and done with rather quickly.

The real problem that I have with Roberts' book is that it only paints one side of the story. There have been multiple people coming out in recent days saying that these things didn't happen. Doug Mientkiewicz came out and said that he was 99.9% sure that Alex didn't use 'roids in high school. Buck Showalter and Michael Young came out and said that there was no way he was tipping pitches to opposing ballplayers. Yet their accounts are left out of the book. I think it's ridiculous that people are allowed to write things like this without providing both sides. I know that's how it goes, but it's ridiculous. Her claims are obviously unfounded and I think it's irresponsible for her to write them when there are people out there who are refuting her allegations. Maybe if she included that I'd respect her a little more. It's painfully obvious that Roberts' is setting out to do 2 things: 1)Paint A-Rod in the most negative light she can and 2)make a lot of money. I question her motivations and it makes me dislike her even more. I know she was right about Alex in her SI story, but I have my doubts about what I'm hearing now. Especially with guys like Mientkiewicz, Showalter, and Young adding in their 2 cents.

I really hope that no one out there buys her book. I don't really care what's in there and if it's true or not. It doesn't and wouldn't change my feelings about Alex as a ballplayer. I also don't know why anyone really cares that he's allegedly a bad person. Not tipping more than 15%. Cheating on his wife. Making a clubhouse kid put toothpaste on his toothbrush. Why should any of us really care? It's really sad that people out there, namely Selena Roberts, actually try to seek these things out.

How sad does one's life have to be to write a book like this? I hope it bombs and it all blows up in her face. Boycott the book folks. Boycott the book.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Win Is A Little Undeserved, But I'll Take It

I have mixed emotions right now. I am totally stoked that the Yankees pulled off a great come from behind victory tonight, battering the Angels bullpen for 6 runs on 7 hits over the final 2 innings. It was great to see them win that game, but had they played any other team, they probably would have lost. The Angels have the worst bullpen in all of baseball, entering tonight's game with a league worst bullpen ERA of 7.07. After tonight's debacle, it's up to 7.70. The Yanks definitely should have lost this game tonight. But they didn't, and that's all that matters. The winning streak is now at 4 games, which coincidentally is the exact # of days my newborn son Griffin has been home.

The offense came through again tonight. As a team they went 6-10 with RISP. That's 4 straight games where they've come through when they needed to. I love the fact that they're not doing it with the longball. The 8th inning saw a double, a walk, and 3 singles. The 9th inning saw a walk and 3 singles. I hope they're seeing what's happening out there. Keep the line moving with singles and doubles and the runs will pile up. I like what I'm seeing. I hope they keep it up.

The game tonight was definitely won by the bottom of the order. Hitters 1-4 went 2-for-16. Hitters 5-9 went 10-19 w/ 8 RBI. Robbie Cano is on absolute fire, going 3-5 tonight and raising that average to .378. Cano has really surprised me this year. He's locked in. I wish I could say the same for Mark Teixeira. Sorry Tex, but it's now May, the .189 average doesn't cut it. The game tonight was definitely won by the bottom of the order. Ramiro Pena has been a pleasant surprise. Since becoming the everyday third baseman, he's gone 8-for-17 with 4 RBI, 4 clutch RBI if you will. Suck on that Cody Ransom. Your days in pinstripes may be done.

I thought the Yankees' pitching staff was supposed to be leaps and bounds better than it has been in previous years. I thought the Yankees' pitching staff was supposed to be the team's biggest strength. They've shown brilliance at times but for the most part, they've been awful, especially the bullpen. It's absolutely atrocious. Unless your name is Brian Bruney, Mariano Rivera, and maybe Phil Coke, I don't trust you and I expect that you're going to tank more often than you won't. The pitching staff needs to be better. A lot better.

Andy Pettitte did not have it today. He pretty much struggled from the get go. I'm kind of surprised he only allowed runs in one inning. He allowed 2 baserunners to reach in the 1st, getting out of the inning on a classic Andy Pettitte pickoff. He allowed a baserunner in the 2nd and got out of the inning on a DP. He allowed 2 baserunners in the 3rd, another in the 4th, and another in the 5th. He pretty much grinded his way through the first 5 innings. He wasn't good but he got the job done. Then the wheels fell off and he imploded in the 6th. Overall, it wasn't a good day for AP. He struggled with his control, walking 4 and throwing only 61 of his 108 pitches for strikes. It was his first poor outing of the season and I'll let it slide. A pitcher isn't going to be lights out every time he starts. As long as it doesn't become a habit, I'm cool with it.

Today's relievers that crapped the bed were Jose Veras and Mark Melancon. Melancon came on in a big spot in the 6th. It was his 1st real test at the big league level and he failed miserably, allowing a 3-run triple. I like what I've seen from Melancon, but then again, every other reliever has looked good at one point. Jose Veras sucked tonight, but has looked good about half the time. This was his 10th appearance and for my money he's done alright in 5 of them. Thankfully for the Yanks, Edwar Ramirez and Jonathan Albaladejo didn't suck tonight. Albie pitched well, but is coming off 2 really bad outings. Same goes for Edwar. My point is you never know what you're going to get with these guys. The bullpen ERA is now 6.66, which is the 29th worst bullpen ERA in all of MLB. Like I said above, unless your last name is Rivera or Bruney, and maybe Coke, I don't trust you. I'm scared every time I see everyone else warming up, and that's not good.

The Yanks look to keep things rolling tomorrow afternoon when CC Sabathia makes start #6. CC, like the rest of the pitching staff, has been inconsistent this year as well. I really don't have any idea what to expect. Good things I hope. I'll make sure Griffin is around to try and keep the streak going.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Hitting With RISP Pays Off

See what happens when you hit with runners in scoring position? You win ball games! The Yanks went 5-for-11 with RISP tonight. They've been hitting pretty well with RISP over these last 3 games, going 12-for-27, scoring 25 runs and winning all 3 games. Prior to this little winning streak, the Yankees were dead last in average with RISP in the AL. Coming into tonight's game they were ranked 12th out of 14. Hopefully this is the start of something good and they keep climbing that ladder and winning ball games.

I can't believe it took so long for me to see A.J. Burnett pitch a regular season game. While it wasn't the dominant outing I was hoping for, he definitely delivered. He battled tonight, keeping the team in the game and allowing them to pull it out when the game went to the pens. His strike-to-ball ratio was very much to my liking, 66 strikes to 42 balls. Anything close to a 2:1 ratio works for me. Typically when a guy can hit a 2:1 ratio they don't allow a lot of free passes. The Angels are a pretty fast team and the last thing you want to do is give them extra baserunners. A.J. did a great job keeping them off the basepaths. Overall, I think A.J. did a job well done.

It's hard to believe that there is a bullpen out there that is worse than the Yankees. The Angels rank dead last in all of MLB in reliever's ERA. The Yankees barely edge them out. Coming into tonight's game, the Yankees' bullpen ERA was 6.65. The Angels was 6.82. The Yankees definitely took advantage of that tonight, rocking the Angels' relievers for 4 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks. Thankfully for the Yankees, Burnett went a full 7 and the Yankees didn't have to run out more relievers. I almost threw up in my mouth when I saw Albaladejo warming up in the 8th. Phil Coke had a great inning and Mo was vintage Mo, getting 2 Ks and a comebacker. How many times have we seen that? Here's hoping the Yankee starters can keep throwing 7+ innings. They've thrown at least 7 in 3 of the last 4 games. The only one who didn't was Phil Hughes and that's only because the Yankees had a 10-run lead. The starting pitching is picking up.

So the first month of the season is in the books. The team is 12-10 and only 2 games back of first. A-Rod hasn't played yet. Chien-Ming Wang has been absolutely awful and is hurt. Brian Bruney, one of the more reliable relievers, is hurt. Mark Teixeira is hitting a whopping .200. CC hasn't exactly been lights out. Things could be a lot worse.

All things considered, there isn't much to complain about.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Joba-mania Is Running Wild, Bullpen Still Sucking

Joba Chamberlain picked up his 1st win this season pitching a gem of a ball game. They referred to his outing as "strong" on the YES broadcast. I agree with that, but at the same time I don't. His pitching line suggests a really strong outing. 7 innings, 3 hits, 3 walks, 6 Ks, and 1 earned run. His velocity was better and his strike-to-ball ratio was good, 50 strikes to 38 balls. The only reason I'm not overly sold on the outing was how he pitched before being staked to a 6-run lead. Having a lead like that allows the pitcher to be more aggressive. A pitcher with a lead like that should attack the strike zone and that's pretty much what Joba did. Thru the 1st 3 innings, before the lead, Joba threw 47 pitches, 21 for strikes and 26 for balls. Joba in his next 4 innings threw 41 pitches, 29 for strikes and 12 for balls. I can't help but wonder how he would have done had the lead not been as large. Either way, he still had to make pitches that would likely result in an out. If only A.J. Burnett could have done that last weekend in Boston. But overall, a strong outing by Joba. I just want to see him throw less balls and more strikes.

The offense had another great night, exploding for 7 runs in the 4th. That's 2 straight games where they've had a really big inning. Nick Swisher had a huge night at the plate, going yard twice and knocking in 4. How can you not love Nicky Swish? Xavier Nady can pretty much forget about playing when he comes back, eh? Mark Teixeira went oh-fer-3 and his average is now below .200. I know he starts slow but come on Mark, you need to start hitting the ball! You're the 3-hitter for the New York Yankees. Get with the program.

Thank God the Yankees had such a big inning. The bullpen certainly made things exciting there in the 9th inning. I kind of expect outings like that from Jonathan Albaladejo but not Mariano Rivera. Should we be worried about Mo? He's given up dingers now to 2 of the last 5 hitters he's faced. Mo typically doesn't give up a lot of longballs. He gave up 4 all of last year. Not counting the 1st year of his career, Mo has allowed more than 4 HRs only twice. I checked out some game logs and Mo last gave up HRs in back-to-back appearances in August of 2003. He finished that season with an ERA of 1.66. Mo is Mo. He'll be fine.

Winning 2 straight behind 2 solid outings by the SPs and a nice outburst by the offense is a pretty nice way to finish the road trip. A.J. Burnett opens up the series tomorrow night against the Angels. Hopefully, I'll get to watch the game. Believe it or not, I haven't gotten to see any of A.J.'s starts this year. I'm kind of looking forward to it.

And I guess, congrats to Joe Girardi on win #100 as the Yankee skipper. Yay, you made it into your second year. Good for you little buddy.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Hughes Impressive In Return To The Majors

Boy am I exhausted. I forgot how much work a newborn baby is. Very tiring. Everyone is doing well. The little guy got to "watch" his 1st Yankees game tonight. I'm glad the boys put on a good showing.

I didn't get to see any of Monday night's game. I left the hospital a little before 9:30 and the game was in the bottom of the 8th. I turn it on and John Sterling is telling me that this is the outing that Yankee fans have been expecting from CC Sabathia. So I'm thinking to myself, sweet, they must be winning. Then the inning ends and they say it's 4-zip Tigers. Talk about a surprise. By the time I got home, the game was over. Jorge Posada killed the late rally with a DP. My father-in law told me that Posada must be the slowest guy on Earth since he couldn't beat that out. The radio call had me thinking the same thing.

How good did Phil Hughes look tonight? I was really impressed with his outing. His curve wasn't the greatest but it was good enough. He had a decent strike-to-ball ratio (58 strikes-41 balls) and his velocity was up there. I liked what I saw. It was awesome to see him do so well in his return. I'm so glad that the Yankees didn't give up on him after his rough start last season. Phil is so much better than that. For my money, he's better than Joba. Once their careers are all said-and-done, I think Phil will be the better of the two. If you can't tell, I'm a big Hughes guy, always have been. He was on tonight. I'm really glad the team broke through with some runs their in the 7th and got Phil the win.

I wish the Yankees would have more innings like they had tonight there in the 7th. They scored 10 runs on 6 hits, 5 of which were singles. I think one of the Yankees biggest problems in recent years is their penchant to try and hit a 5-run homer. Just keep the line moving with base hits and the runs will pile up. There's a reason why they've been so bad when it comes to hitting with RISP. Coming in to tonight's game the Yankees were dead last in the AL in batting average with RISP. Last year, the Yankees were 10th in the AL. My theory is that too many guys are looking longball. Just rip a single. That's all you gotta do. The rest will fall into place.

Hopefully, this win kind of rights the ship. An 11-0 shutout can do that to a ballclub.

Man, I'm tired. I'll be sleeping before my head hits the pillow.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

A Crazy Game, A Crazy Day

We were at our friend's house yesterday for their son's 3rd birthday. It was such a beautiful day that the party was outside. My plan was to go in the house to check out the game here and there, but the NFL draft took precedent over the Yankees/Sox game and there was always someone checking that out. I occasionally walked to our car to check out the radio broadcast. Here's how the day went:

1. 1st check - Yanks up 2-0, we're off to a good start
2. 2nd check - Yanks up 4-0, cruising right along
3. 3rd check - Cano hammers one off the wall and it's 6-0 Yanks, suck it Beckett
4. 4th check - WTF? It's 6-5? How'd the hell that happen?
5. 5th check - Johnny Damon goes yard to tie things? Damn you Yankee pitching.
6. 6th check - Ortiz sac flies home a run and the Sox go back ahead. Aargh. Somebody stop them.

And that's where things got blurry because I hear, "Honey, I think my water broke." Showtime! Long story short, my wife's water broke at about 6:40pm and roughly 10 hours later, at 4:38 in the morning, our son, Griffin Cole Davis, was born, weighing in at 20.5 inches tall and 8.4 ounces. Everyone is doing great. I wish I could say the same for the Yankees.

I got the last inning in the delivery room as we waited for labor to really kick in. I saw Marte and Robertson put the game out of reach. Hopefully today is a better day. Regardless of how the game goes, it will be for me!

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Choke Away Win And It's All Your Fault YES Network

Curse you YES Network! The brain trust at the network decided that 1 out in the bottom of the 9th was a good time to award the player of the game award to the Yankee bullpen. A few batters later Jason Bay takes Mo deep to tie the game. Can you say jinx? How do you give an award to the bullpen before the game is over? A little premature don't you think? As soon as I saw that I knew we were done. I hope they learned your lesson. Friggin' jerks. There goes my pre-season prediction that Mo would have a perfect season and not blow any save opportunities. Aargh. Up until that point the bullpen was having a great night. Phil Coke was awesome. Johnny Albaladejo was awesome. They both had great games. But then those a-holes had to open their yaps and award the pen the POGA and here we are, on the wrong side of a 5-4 score. This one hurts. Way to go YES. Stupid effers.

Now the real reason the Yankees didn't win tonight was because of the offense. The Yankees offense had a lot of chances tonight to blow the game wide open. They stranded 2 in the 2nd. They stranded 2 in the 3rd. Bases loaded one out in the 7th and they mustered one run. Bases loaded no outs in the 9th and they failed to score. They stranded guys on 2nd and 3rd in the 10th. They had 2 guys on in the 11th with 1 out and Melky grounded into a DP. Melky had an awful night at the plate when it counted. With guys on 1st and 2nd in the 7th, he grounded out to end the inning. With runners on 2nd and 3rd in the 9th, he fouled out to end the inning. With runners on 1st and 2nd in the 11th, he grounds into an inning-ending DP. That pretty much makes me forget all about that walk off HR.

I was really disappointed that the Yankees didn't score in the 9th. It would have been nice to have picked up an insurance run or two. Then Bay's HR is meaningless, Mariano probably gets the save, and I'm writing a totally different post. As a team the Yankees were 4 for 19 with RISP and they left 14 guys on base. The Yankees had 22 baserunners and only managed 4 runs. They've got to start knocking those guys in. Aarghhhhh.

Joba wasn't terribly impressive tonight. He was OK, not bad, not good, just OK. I can't believe he only gave up 2 runs. It could have been only 1 if not for that BS balk in the 1st. That was ridiculous. Joba's ball-to-strike ratio was horrible. He threw 91 pitches, 49 for strikes. I'm also disappointed with Joba's lack of velocity. I made mention of that in spring training and it still hasn't come around. I know he's not going to breaking off 98 mph heaters regularly, but he should be able to at least 95 consistently. I know building arm strength takes time but come on, shouldn't we be seeing some gains? I wonder if something is wrong? His night would have been a lot worse if not for getting 4 double plays. But credit to Joba for getting those when he needed to. That's what good pitchers do. Joba is a good pitcher but he needs to start pitching a little more efficiently. Maybe I'm being too critical. He did after all only give up 1 earned run.

It's always interesting when Joba Chamberlain faces the Red Sox. You just never know when he's going to bust somebody, namely Kevin Youkilis, up and in with some high heat. I was really interested to see if anything went down tonight considering David Ortiz made some comments the other day about Joba throwing inside. If you ask me that whole article was pretty stupid. I would normally link to it but I have no desire to. Just another stupid writer making a story out of nothing.

I'm a little puzzled by Girardi's management of the bullpen. Where was Brian Bruney? He's the 8th inning guy, right? Well where was he? Why did he let Albaladejo throw a pitch to Ellsbury? I seldom agree with Michael Kay, but why not just have him throw to 1st? I'm also a little surprised that after Albaladejo had Ellsbury down 0-1, Girardi went to Mo instead of Damaso Marte. Don't get me wrong, the last guy I wanted to see coming into the game was Marte, but I thought for sure Girardi was going to go with the lefty-lefty matchup. Had this not been game 1 of the series, he probably would have. Joe must have really wanted to win this one considering Joe went to Mo to try for the 4-out save. Too bad it didn't work out. Friggin' YES Network. Anyway, I hope there's nothing wrong with Brian Bruney. Even though I'm cursing the jerks at YES and want to turn the TV off, I'm definitely watching the post game show. update - Bruney has a sore elbow and was sent back to NY to get checked out. I hope all is good. The 8th inning needs him.

Am I the only one that thinks Jeter and Cano need to work on turning two and flipping balls to second? They totally botched one and a couple of the others looked a little questionable. I was nervous every time a grounder was hit to the middle infielders with a runner on 1st.

There's been no additional movement on the baby front. There's been a contraction here and there, but nothing serious. The latest the little one will arrive will be Saturday May 2, a week from tomorrow. We're hoping that's when it happens though I'm not so sure we're going to make it. Hopefully, he stays in there thru the weekend so I can fit in the whole Yankees/Sox series. Even though I think the rivalry isn't what it used to be, it's definitely something I want to be tuned in for. I was so happy tonight's game wasn't on MY9. Apparently, nobody in Buffalo has the channel that the MY9 games are on. Sucks to be us.

Hopefully the Yanks fare better tomorrow. It should be a good one. Josh Beckett vs. A.J. Burnett on Fox. Hopefully they have the good sense to wait until the final out before they give out a POGA.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Win In Extras, Bring On The BoSox

I'm glad the game ran long today. I haven't seen the Yankees play since Sunday and even that wasn't a full game. It was nice to catch a few innings on the tube. I think I joined the game for the bottom of the 13th. I caught the rest of it on XM Radio and on the Yahoo gamecast. I had a light schedule at work so I was able to follow along with most of it. I heard some things I like. I heard some things I didn't.

The bad: CC Sabathia. Not a fan of the strike-to-ball ratio. CC threw 112 pitches, 66 for strikes, 56 for balls. He walked way too many people. 3 of the guys he walked came around to score. Last year, in 35 regular season starts, CC walked 5 guys twice and 4 guys once. He's equaled that in his 4 starts this year. The silver lining is that he started out pretty slow last year. His ERA didn't dip below 5 until his 11th start. He finished the season with a 2.70 ERA. As the weather heats up, so will CC.

The bad: failing to score in the 7th inning. The Yanks had the bases juiced with nobody out and couldn't push a run across. Melky struck out. Gardner popped out. Jeter popped out. I was expecting Jeter to come through like he usually does. But even a guy who hits .400 fails to deliver 6 out of 10 times. He's still clutch. But in that spot, none of them were. The team left 13 runners on base. They had ample opportunity to score but didn't. It's a problem we know all too well.

The good: The bullpen kicked some major ass. 6 RPs combined for 7.1 scoreless innings. They gave up three hits, 3 walks, and whiffed 6. Jose Veras definitely gets the game ball. He was awesome. 3.1 hitless innings, allowing only 1 walk. Veras was on today. I wasn't feeling good about the Yankees chances to win this game once it went to extras. I'm not overly confident in Damaso Marte, Edwar Ramirez, and Jose Veras. Let's face it, they've pretty much sh*t the bed all year. Today they were lights out. Build on that.

The good: Melky Cabrera. I'm still not crazy about the Melk Man but if he continues to hit dingers like he is, he'll win me over. But, he started out this hot last season and he ended up getting sent down to Triple-A. Through 13 games this year, Melky is hitting .304 with 4 HR. Through 13 games last year, Melky was hitting .300 and had 2 HRs. If my memory serves me correctly, Melky was leading the team in HRs at one point last April. He has a long way to go before I get back on the Melk-wagon.

The good: 24 baserunners. The bad: only 9 runs. They should score way more than 9 runs of they have that many baserunners.

The Yankees have a well-deserved off-day tomorrow. Then it's off to Boston. It'll be their first meeting with the rival Red Sox. Is it me or is the rivalry kind of stale? It's been pretty tame over the last few years. Joba gets the start in the series opener, matching up against Jon Lester. It has the makings of a pretty good game. My only question is will I get to see any of the series. The wife's due date is tomorrow and she's experiencing a few contractions. Things are happening. Wish us luck.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie