ON THE ROAD AGAIN.....

The Yankees are starting a 9 game road trip tonight in Seattle.  Although they have played the fewest road game of any team, the road has treated the Yankees well this season as they are 10-8 which is the second best record in the league behind Tampa.  The Yanks have been in and out of first place over the last few days and would like to win some games against the struggling Mariners.  Lucky for the Yanks pitching staff, the Mariners are in the bottom 5 of teams in the AL for runs, home runs, and slugging.

Although the Mariners are playing sub-.500 ball, the Yankees will see the Mariners toughest pitchers, and this series will be a serious challenge for both teams.  The Mariners pitching staff is 8-2 with a 1.50 ERA over their last 10 games and the Yankees will face Pineda & Hernandez in the first two games.  This is going to be a tough road series for the Yankees.  If the Yankees want 1^st place, they will have to earn it this week on the road.

Starting Pitchers

FRIDAY: A.J. Burnett (5-3, 4.02 ERA) vs. Michael Pineda (6-2, 2.16 ERA)

Pineda is the hottest rookie in the AL right now, with the most wins and strikeouts (61)

-Over his last 2 starts he has thrown 14 scoreless innings allowing only 5 hits and 1 walk- while striking out 16 in those two games.

Pineda is a Big Dude: 22 year old 6 foot 7” right hander weighing in at 260lbs!

Worth Noting:  Pineda was the 2008 Mariners Minor League Pitcher of the Year, pitching 138 innings while keeping a 1.95 ERA with 128 strikeouts.  If his numbers tell us anything – we will see a lot of Yankee strikeouts tonight.

Burnett is coming off a good win against the Mets last weekend, after struggling in the first inning.

I’m really looking forward to tonight’s game as I have seen Pineda’s highlights all year long on sportscenter and baseball tonight, but haven’t actually seen a full game he pitched.  Always cool to see a young pitcher dominating.  Good baseball is Good baseball.

SATURDAY: Ivan Nova (4-3, 4.29 ERA) vs. “King” Felix Hernandez (5-4, 3.01 ERA)

Hernandez  vs. Nova should be another good game of pitching with Nova coming off a good win last weekend against the Mets allowing only 3 runs in nearly 7 innings, while Hernandez is coming off a dominating start against the Padres with 13 strikeouts.

King Felix has struck out 26 batters in the last 3 games, but the silver lining for the Yankees is Granderson hits .324 against him all-time.

SUNDAY CC Sabathia (5-3, 3.17 ERA) vs Jason Vargas (3-2, 3.86 ERA)

Sabathia is just getting warmed up this season and pitched his first complete game on Tuesday for the win.  While Vargas is 2-0 in his last 4 starts with a 1.91 ERA.  Although Vargas’ last game was a tough loss to Minnesota; prior to that game he had allowed 1 run in 23 innings.

Yankees Notes

-Granderson is still smacking the hell out of the ball.  Since Batting #2 in the Yankee lineup he is batting .304 with 8 HR’s.

-Arod is beginning to heat back up again - He has hit in 14 of his last 17 games.

-Rafiel Soriano Who? – He’s out until July at the earliest.  This is looking like a bad signing more and more every day.

-A Tex Message:  Tex has 4 home runs in his last 7 games.

*The Yankees have scored 250 runs this season & are tied with the Cardinals in the MLB for most runs scored

Mariners Notes

Keep an eye on him:  Justin Smoak is the young player the Mariners picked up in that Cliff Lee trade last season that sent Lee to the Rangers.  He is leading the team with 6 home runs and 26 RBI’s this season while batting .263 with a .363 OBP & .461 slugging %.

Countdown to 3000

Derek Jeter is at 2,976 hits

Looking Back at the Granderson Trade, Part III (with updates)

THE GRANDY MAN CAN!

I waited to write “Part III” of this series as long as I could to see if Curtis Granderson could continue his strong start to the season.  We are now past a quarter of the way of the season and Granderson is still on fire!  In fact, Granderson is off to such a strong start that he has the highest slugging percentage of any member of the power hitting New York Yankees at .625%!  (I never would have imagined that when the Yanks traded for him)  So far this season, he is Mr. Consistent and he has yet to get into a slump and has dominated the American League offensive charts.

Looking back at this trade, the Yankees scored a great deal for themselves, although Granderson’s 2010 numbers left something to be desired.  The Grandy man only hit .247 in 2010 with a .324 on base percentage.  Once known for his speed and ability to hit triples, Granderson only hit 7 triples and stole 12 bases.  It was not until August that he worked with Kevin Long to improve his swing that everything has seemed to fall into place.  As much confidence I have in Kevin Long, I also believe that playing for the Yankees in New York takes some getting used to, and that is why his 2011 numbers have skyrocketed.  It’s kind of like a one year curve before a player can become a star in New York.  It takes some players even longer!

Nowadays, Granderson is topping the Yankees and the AL East with his production.  His batting average is .280 which is 2^nd highest on the Yanks. (Arod has the highest with .287)  Granderson’s on base percentage has improved to .353 and as I previously said, his slugging percentage is the 3^rd highest in the American League at .625%  He already has 16 home runs on the season which is nearly as many as he hit in 2010 with 24.  Even the rate he is walking has improved as he already has 20 walks on the season.  His highest was 72 in 2009.  He is tied with Cano for the most hits on the Yankees with 51.  Granderson has improved in nearly every hitting category including triples as he hit 4 triples on the season already. 

Once known for his problems against lefties, Granderson’s ability to hit lefties has dramatically improved since that day in August he worked with Kevin Long.  Last year he hit a mere .231 against lefties and that takes into account his impressive September.  This season he is 16 for 54 against lefty pitching, bringing his average to lefties at .296.  He has even hit half of his total home runs against lefties this season.  (8)

The only areas he could use a little work would be the rate of strikeouts.  Right now Granderson leads the team with 45 strikeouts.  It’s obvious that since he is hot that he swings at a lot of bad pitches just to make contact.  It’s not the worst thing in the world as he is destroying opposing pitchers, but it could catch up to him later in the season.  I would also like to see him use his speed a bit more, although he does have 6 steals on the season which is the second highest on the Yankees to Gardner’s 8.  That being said, he is still a force to be reckoned with at the plate.

If you had told me that Curtis Granderson would be the Yankee slugger when the Yanks traded for him, I would have thought you were crazy, but this trade worked out tremendously well for the Yankees.  Looking back at what we had given up to get Granderson I think Cashman made the right decision. 

YOU CAN READ PART I OF THIS GRANDERSON TRADE SERIES HERE

PART II OF THIS SERIES IS HERE

Just as an update to the first and second installment of this post, I have done a little follow up on the other 6 players involved with the trade.

2011 Numbers

Austin Jackson- Jackson is only batting .225, with a .278 on base percentage.  Even with his impressive speed, he has only stolen 6 bases.  His strikeouts are among the highest in the AL again at 59!  He showed a lot of potential in the minors, but may be sputtering out now.

Phil Coke- Coke was just placed on the DL with a bone bruise in his foot, but has been doing OK with Detroit this year.  He has only pitched in 11 games, but has pitched 52 innings allowing 48 hits and 30 strikeouts, leaving him with a 3.81 ERA.

Max Scherzer- Scherzer has been doing great for the Tigers this season and has the 2^nd highest win total in the American League.  He is 6-1 with a 2.98 ERA over his 10 starts.  Scherzer has pitched 63 innings, striking out 60 batters.  His strikeout ratio is a whopping 8.5K/9Inn.  In case you don’t remember him, he pitched against the Yankees a couple weeks back and went 8 solid innings shutting out the Yankees and striking out 9!  This was a big acquisition by the Tigers and tremendous loss for the D-Backs

Daniel Schlereth- Schlereth was the 4^th player the Tigers received and he has been doing a so-so job for them in the bullpen.  So far he has pitched 16.1 innings in 19 games and has a 2.76 ERA with 9 strikeouts. 

Ian Kennedy- Kennedy was a rising prospect for the Yankees, but for some reason nobody thought he was going to be bigger than a #3 starter for the Yanks.  The Diamondbacks obviously have seen something different in him as he is their #1 starter and having a great season.  Kennedy is 6-1 with a 3.00 ERA (11^th in NL) over 11 games.  He has even thrown one full game shutout.  Over the 74 innings pitched he has struck out 59 batters and has an impressive WHIP of 1.045.  Kennedy was the biggest loss for the Yankees in the trade, but they had to give up something worthwhile for the Grandy Man.  Hindsight is 20-20 but the Yankees though Hughes was the biggest treasure of those 2007 pitchers, but now Kennedy is killing it and Hughes’ arm is dead.

Edwin Jackson – Jackson is struggling this season as he is 4-5 with a 4.26 ERA over 10 starts.  He has only pitched 60 innings but allowed 70 hits and 24 walks.  On the bright side he has a 7.6K/9in ratio with 52 strikeouts on the season.  Although he is starting out slow, he has big potential and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a better second half from Jackson.

Subway Series Preview

It’s time for the Subway Series!  The Yankees are now 23-19 on the season and although they have lost 6 of their past 9 games, they have gotten their stride back during the past three game winning streak.  They are still in second place for the AL East , but only back by one game on the Rays. They have not won 4 in a row yet this year, and are hoping to work their way back into first place this weekend.

The Mets seem to be doing pretty well for themselves despite the Madoff money troubles, injuries and all that bad luck associated with the Mets.  They have won 9 of their last 13 games, and won 2 in a row, yet are still one game under .500.  Although they are under .500, they are still only 5 games out of first place in the NL East.  They are just a small winning streak away from being a threat in their division.

STARTING PITCHERS

FRIDAY:  R.A. Dickey (1-5, 5.08 ERA) vs. Freddy Garcia (2-3, 3.22 ERA)

-Dickey has not won a game since his first start

-Dickey is 0-5 with a 5.76 ERA in his last 8 games

-Silver lining for Dickey: he has a 1.29 ERA during his last three starts in interleague play

-The only Yankee with 10 plate appearances against Dickey is Curtis Granderson who is hitting .300 against him

-Garcia has lost 3 of his last 4 starts with a 4.63 ERA

-The last time Garcia faced the Mets was on April 17, 2007 when he was with the Phillies

-Garcia is 21-8 with a 2.92 ERA in Interleague play, all-time

-Nobody on the Mets has more at bats against Garcia than Jason Bay with 7, He is batting 0.00 in those 7

SATURDAY: Chris Capuano (3-4, 4.78 ERA)  vs A.J. Burnett (4-3, 3.99 ERA)

-The last time Burnett faced the Mets was in 2009 where he pitched 2 games, not allowing a run into the 7^th inning of either game

-Burnett is 0-2 with a 4.12 ERA over his last 3 starts

-Jason Bay is hitting .375 off Burnett over 16 plate appearances

-Capuano has only allowed 3 runs in each of his last 3 starts

-Capuano has not faced the Yankees since 2005

-Russell Martin is batting .636 over 11 at bats against Capuano

SUNDAY: Mike Pelfrey (3-3, 5.11 ERA) vs Ivan Nova (4-3, 3.33 ERA)

-Pelfrey is 2-2 with a 4.35 ERA against the Yankees all-time

-Pelfrey is 2-0 with a 2.11 ERA over his last three starts

-Brett Gardner is hitting .400 against Pelfrey in 10 at bats

-Arod is hitting .300 against Pelfrey in 10 at bats

-Ivan Nova is 3-1 with a 2.54 ERA over his last 5 games

-Nova snapped the Yankees 6 game losing streak this week

-Nova held the Rays to 1 run over 5 & 1/3 innings in his last start

-Nova has not faced any of the Mets batters before

Yankees Notes

The Yankees are 45-33 against the Mets, all-time

The Yankees are 7-10 in the Month of May

Arod is 0-15 in his last 4 games against the Mets

Derek Jeter has a 22 game hitting streak at home against the Mets

Nobody on the Yankees is hitting .300

Mets Notes

The Mets actually have a better record in Road games going 11-10 compared to 10-12 at home.

The Mets have not allowed a run in the last two games.  Even though it was the Nationals, that is still impressive.

The Mets ERA for their pitching staff is 2.77

K-Rod has converted 14 out of 15 save attempts this season

Jose Reyes is hitting .319 with 16 stolen bases

Justin Turner, the third baseman filling in for Wright is batting .333 over his 18 games and is batting .400 over his last 6 games

Your 4th & 5th Starters.... Part II

Freddy Garcia was name the 5^th starter out of spring training after he beat out Colon for the job, and Mitre was traded to the Brewers.  At the time it made sense as Colon who had looked sharp in spring training had a innings with the amount of innings he can pitch this season.  Garcia didn’t actually get an opportunity to pitch a game as a starter until April 16, but since then has started 6 games.

In those 6 games he started he is 2-3 with a 3.22 ERA.  Not too shabby for a 5^th starter.  So far he has thrown 36 innings and struck out 30 batters.  Unfortunately he has allowed nearly as many hits as innings pitched, with 34.  He still manages to have a 1.31 WHIP though, and has a 7.4k/9ip ratio.  His last start against the Red Sox looked like he was throwing batting practice and he allowed 5 runs over 5 innings.  Prior to his last start, Garcia’s ERA was an above average 2.40.

By no means is Garcia an Ace but he is battling through his starts.  Even if he can’t throw over 90 MPH any longer, he is still a viable pitcher who was stretched out to 157 innings last year and should be able to throw for the full season this year.  Garcia will keep the Yankees in the game for most of his starts and as long as the Yankees offense can get out of this funk, they have a solid 5^th starter.

If the Yankees 4^th and 5^th starters have a 3.16 and 3.22 ERA’s respectively, I think we should be happy.  The league ERA average is 3.82.  Both the 4^th and 5^th starters have better than average ERA, and that is more than enough to keep this team going through the season.

Who Is Chris Dickerson

You may have seen a new right fielder this past week as the Yankees played down in Tampa against the Orioles.  Chris Dickerson was called up by the Yankees from Triple-A when Rafael Soriano was placed on the DL with elbow soreness.

Besides being the guy who was hit in the face by Mike Gonzalez on Wednesday night and is now suffering from a mild concussion, Dickerson was the guy who we traded for Sergio Mitre during spring training.  You can read my post about that trade HERE.   On a side note, After watching that pitch hit Dickerson the other night, he should be very thankful that he only received a mild concussion.  While watching that game, it looked like he could have died!

Prior to this season, Dickerson has been bouncing around in the National League since 2008 with Cincinnati & Milwaukee.  He wasn’t going to make the Brewers major league team out of spring training and rather than being sent back down to the minors, they traded him.  During the spring he had some decent numbers, hitting .278.  Those numbers were good enough to make an impression and he started this year in Triple-A Scranton.

Before getting called up by the Yanks, Dickerson was playing the outfield in Triple-A and batting only .248.  Although that seems like a low batting average to get a major league call-up, he does have a .370 on base percentage.  It’s not great by any means, but it still is better than Swisher who is batting a mere .163.  He also provides some versatility in the outfield as he plays both the corners and center.

Dickerson also has some pretty good numbers against righties over his career.  He has a career .273 batting average against righties with a .363 on base percentage and .420 slugging percentage.  Logic tells us that Dickerson will be used against righties and Andruw Jones will be used against lefties.   That is assuming this concussion is as “mild” as they claim.

So far Dickerson has been limited to two games for the Yankees and has gone 2 for 5 with 1 RBI and 2 strikeouts.  Hopefully he can battle this concussion and get back on the field while Swisher tries to figure out how to swing a bat!

Your 4th & 5th Starters... I'll Take it PART I

Honestly, would it kill him to drop a few pounds?
The Double Chin looks terrible.

During this past offseason, Cashman made two low-risk signings that have paid exponential dividends so far.  Bartolo Colon was signed to a minor league deal worth less than a million dollars, and Freddy Garcia was signed to a deal just over a million dollars.  Both signings at the time didn’t show much potential, but since the season has started have worked out tremendously.  I don’t think anybody, including myself, would ever have predicted to Colon to pitch like he has so far.

After last night’s win, CC Sabathia is 4-3 with a 3.06 ERA over 67 innings.  He is far and away considered to be the Yankees “Ace” and if this year plays out like any other, he hasn’t even gotten started yet. Just wait until August & September when he is lights out!

Surprisingly enough, Colon isn’t far behind the Ace, as far as the numbers go.  Colon doesn’t have the best win-loss record, going only 2-2 so far, but his ERA is only slightly higher than CC’s at 3.16. (Compared to 3.06)  Although Colon has only pitched 51 innings compared to Sabathia’s 67, Colon is not far behind him with 48 strikeouts compared to CC’s 59.  Needless to say, I think all Yankees fans can agree that Colon has been a great surprise acquisition.

If you look deeper into Colon’s numbers you will see that he has only allowed 47 hits over those 51 innings and struck out 48 batters.  If you have been watching any of Colon’s starts you understand why his strikeout ratio is 8.4k/9in.  The late movement on his fastball is incredible, and his speed has been registered as high as 95-96 mph as late in the game as the 8^th inning.  His last start on Wednesday (which Girardi totally blew) was an amazing display of what Colon is capable of.  He went 8 strong innings while only throwing 87 pitches, 61 of them for strikes.  He looked absolutely dominant against the Orioles with 7 strikeouts and great late action on that fastball. You can argue that Mo gives you the best “odds” to win a 1 run game, but Colon was unstoppable Wednesday and Girardi should have looked away from his trusty binder, and flown by the seat of his pants instead. At the same time, Colon said all the right things in the post-game show and didn't throw his manager or team under the bus. (Like Soriano!)

The only concern about Colon is his innings at this point in the season.  As I previously mentioned, Colon has pitched 51 innings, but we are only a quarter of the way through this season.  He is on pace to pitch over 200 innings, especially since he was in the bullpen until Hughes went down with his dead arm injury in late April.  This can be problematic and Girardi must give him days off throughout the season to ensure his arm strength.  Colon didn’t pitch last year and in 2009 he only pitched a total of 62 innings. He is nearly at this point already!  Obviously he is not a young guy and the “Verducci Rules” don’t apply to him, but there must be some cause for concern as Colon has not pitched over 100 innings since 2005 when he pitched 222. 

This begs the question of how many innings can he throw this season?  It’s great to have a veteran pitcher throwing nearly complete games, but at some point it will catch up to the Yanks.  Obviously we need the wins right now, but we need a plan for the second half of the season.  Hopefully one of the Triple –A pitchers will start impressing everyone or Cash-Money makes a big deal at the trade deadline!

Yankees vs Orioles Preview

The Yankees have finally won a game and broke their 6 game losing streak.  They are now 1 game over .500, at 21-19 going into this Orioles Series.  The Yanks are currently in 2^nd place in the AL East behind the Rays.  The last time the Orioles and the Yankees played, the Yankees won 2 games in a rain shortened 3 game series.  The Yankees are 4-0 against the Orioles this season.

The Orioles were rained out last night at Boston.  They are currently 19-21 and ranked last in the AL East.  They are 5-5 in their last ten games and are not playing .500 ball at home.  Hopefully the Yankees may be able to get a couple wins down in Baltimore before the Mets limp into Yankee stadium.

The starting time for these games are both 7:05, as opposed to 6:40 for the past two games down in Tampa.  I wouldn’t mind seeing more of those 6:40 start times, especially in some of the Yankees-Red Sox Series where the games go on forever!

PITCHING MATCHUPS

Wed:  Bartolo Colon (2-2, 3.74 ERA) vs. Zach Britton (5-2, 2.42 ERA)

-Colon’s last appearance was against the Red Sox on Friday night.  He didn’t pitch bad but did take the loss allowing 2 Earned Runs over 6 innings.  The Yankees were in this game, but ultimately couldn’t give Colon the run support he deserved.

-Colon ‘s fastball hit 95.6 MPH against the Red Sox.

-Colon is 0-1 in his last three starts with a 5.19 ERA and 15 Strikeouts

-Colon is 10-7 with a 3.50 ERA in his career against the Orioles

-Colon pitched 3 scoreless innings in relief against the Orioles on April 14

-Luke Scott is hitting .600 against Colon in 10 plate appearances with 2 Home Runs

-Britton has the lowest ERA of any Baltimore starter at 2.42.

-Britton is 1-1 with a 1.77 ERA over his last three starts

-Britton pitched 9 innings in his last start allowing only 3 hits, but didn’t get a decision.  He retired the final 13 batters he faced.  The Orioles went on to sweep the Mariners that series with a walk off RBI in the bottom of the 12^th. Britton relied heavily on his fastball during this start.  I would expect him to do the same tonight.

-Britton has yielded one run or fewer in 5 of his 8 starts

-Britton has never faced the Yankees.  In fact, Britton wasn’t even supposed to be on the roster if it wasn’t for Matusz going on the DL…. Worked out pretty well for the O’s!

Thurs: CC Sabathia (3-3, 3,47 ERA) vs. Jeremy Guthrie (1-6, 3.98 ERA)

-CC allowed 6 runs over 6 2/3 innings against the Red Sox on Saturday.  Prior to allowing the 6 runs, CC had retired 12 straight batters.

-CC is 1-2 with a 5.95 ERA over his last three starts

-CC is 15-2 in his career against the Orioles with a  2.89 ERA

-Adam Jones is hitting .333 against CC  over his past 27 at bats

-Guthrie pitched 8 innings in his last start allowing only 3 earned runs on 2 home runs.  He took the loss as the Orioles were shut out by the Rays.

-Guthrie is 0-3 in his last three starts with a 6.30 ERA.

-Nick Swisher is hitting .481 against Guthrie over 27 at bats with 2 Home Runs and 9 RBI’s

Yankees Notes

-Brett Gardner is batting .400 in his last 70 at bats

-Soriano has been placed on the 15 game DL with soreness in his elbow.  The Yankees called up Chris Dickerson.

-Highly doubtful Joba Chamberlain will pitch Wednesday night as he pitched the last three nights in a row.

-No word yet on whether Swisher is feeling better and will be in the lineup tonight after missing last night’s game against the Rays

-In Robinson Cano’s last 15 games at Camden Yards he has hit safely and is batting .531

-Curtis Granderson  is batting .315 at Camden Yards over the past 33 games since 2008, with 6 home runs and 24 RBI’s.

-Arod is batting .538 against the Orioles this season with 2 home runs & 11 RBI’s over 4 games

Orioles Notes

-Derek Lee is day to day with a strained oblique, and likely to be placed on the DL

-Shortstop Cesar Izturis is likely headed for the DL as well with a nerve irritation in his elbow

-The Orioles are 6-2 with Britton on the mound as compared to 13-9 in starts by other Baltimore pitchers.

-Vlad Guerrero is 11 for his last 25, and batting .295

-Mark Reynolds is having a tough start to the season batting only .191 … maybe he can DH for the yanks?

-Hardy is the only player on the Orioles batting over .300, with a  .302 batting average

Side Note

A worthwhile game to watch tonight is the Rangers vs. Royals as the Royals will be starting Danny Duffy.  Duffy is a highly touted starting pitcher prospect who was just called up from Triple-A.  Down in Triple-A Duffy pitched 36 innings with a 10.75 K/9.  Duffy throws a fastball at 92-94 with some action to it, as well as a curve and changeup.  His major league debut may be worthwhile to check out.

Yankees & Rays Preview

I thought yesterday’s game was a “must-win” but unfortunately the Yankees lost.  Now the pressure has grown and they need a win to prevent a 6 game losing streak.  Things are not looking good for the Yanks who just got swept by the Red Sox up in the Bronx.  Of course that was not even the story of the weekend, as the Posada drama kept everyone distracted.   The Yankees have now lost 9 of their last 12 games and are two games over .500, barely holding on to second place in the AL East.

With a record of 23-17 the Rays are in first place in the AL East.  They are coming off a tough series against the Orioles where they dropped 2 out of 3.  It’s going to be a tough series with Tampa throwing their aces against the offensively struggling Yankees

PITCHING MATCHUPS

Monday:  AJ Burnett (4-2, 3.38 ERA) vs. David Price (5-3, 3.12 ERA)

-Burnett had a big game against the Royals last week allowing only 1 run over 7 innings. 

-Burnett is 1-1 with a 3.15 ERA in his last three starts

-Burnett has a 12-7 record in 25 career starts at Tampa, with a 3.15 ERA.

-Evan Longoria is hitting .375 off Burnett in 32 plate appearances

-Price got the win in his last start against the Indians, allowing only 2 runs over 8 innings, while striking out 7

-Swisher is hitting .357 off Price in 14 at bats

-Price is 19-7 in 32 appearances at Tropicana Field with a 2.40 ERA

-Price is 3-1 with a 3.38 ERA against the Yankees, all time.

-Highly unlikely that Posada will start tonight’s game as he is 0-24 against lefties this year and 1-18 against Price in his career.  That’s OK as Andruw Jones is hitting .300 off Price in 10 at bats with 2 home runs.

Tuesday:  Ivan Nova (3-3, 4.70 ERA) vs. James Shields (4-1, 2.08 ERA)

-Nova allowed 8 runs (4 ER) and 10 hits in his last appearance against the Royals last Thursday.

-Nobody on the Rays has more than 5 at bats against Ivan Nova

-Shields is 1-1 with a 1.72 ERA in 4 starts at the Trop this year

-Shields has gone 7 innings in his past 6 starts.

-Shields allowed only 2 runs on 7 hits over 7 innings against the Indians last Thursday.

-Shields is 2-0 over his last three starts with 1.61 ERA and 24 Strikeouts.

-Shields is 3-8 with a 4.91 ERA against the Yankees, all time.

-Cano is hitting .390 over 41 at bats against Shields

-Jeter is hitting .340 over 50 at bats against Shields

-Posada is hitting .296 over 27 at bats against Shields

YANKEES NOTES

-Rafael Soriano was not available to pitch this weekend due to an elbow issue.  Everyone is claiming it isn’t serious but Soriano won’t be available this series against the Rays.  He will throw a bullpen tonight and if all goes well, he could be available by Wednesday.

-The Yankees have not been swept by Boston in the Bronx since 2004 & have not lost a series against Kansas City in the Bronx since 1999!

-The Yankees are only 7 for their last 44 with Runners In Scoring Position.

-In case you haven’t heard, Posada is 0-24 against lefties this season.

-Brett Gardner is batting .377 in his last 18 games with 11 walks!

-Curtis Granderson now leads the Yankees with 13 home runs.  He has the 2^nd most homers behind Jose Bautista. 

-Granderson has hit 5 home runs in the last 9 games.

-Ken Singleton will be back in the broadcast booth tonight after an extended hiatus for a death in the family.  Hoping all is well for Kenny and his family!

RAYS NOTES

-Rays closer, Kyle Farsnworth will not pitch in this series due to injury.  Farnsy has received a save in 7 of the 8 attempts he had this season, only allowing 1 walk in 13 innings… yes this is the same Farsnworth in case you were wondering.

-The Rays are only 7 for their last 35 with Runners in Scoring Position.

-The Rays have scored 2 runs or fewer in 10 of the 22 home games they have played this season.

-The Rays are only 10-12 at home this season

-The Rays have scored 50 more runs on the road than at home this season

COUNTDOWN TO 3000

-Jeter only needs 35 more hits to become the 28^th player to hit 3000 career hits

POSADA NOTES (Don't forget what Jorge has done for this team)

-5 All Star Game appearances

-5 Silver Slugger awards

-2 Top-10 MVP Finishes

-Career .277/.380/.479 hitter

"Players Go Through Difficult Times"

 “Players go through difficult times in this game,”  “We all do. Sometimes we need days to clear our head and just to take a deep breath. I’ve been there. I’ve been through struggles. And this season has been a struggle for Jorge. It has been. He has tried to fight through it and today he just felt like he needed a day.” - Joe Girardi

The whole story begins with Jorge Posada batting .165 on the season.  This is the lowest batting average in all 172 players in Major League Baseball.  In case you haven’t been watching the season, Posada is struggling.  He looks terrible at the plate and is striking out like crazy.  In the 32 games he has played, Posada has 30 strikeouts.

Posada has been batting 6^th or 7^th in the lineup, but yesterday Girardi bumped Posada down to 9^th in the order.   I couldn’t agree more with bumping Posada to the 9^th hole.  The Yankees offense is struggling to drive in runs and Posada has been given a fair chance to swing the bat.  Normally I would say Girardi should wait until 150 at bats before making changes in the lineup, but Posada has 125 at bats, and with the way the Yanks are leaving men on base, it was the right decision.  Something needed to be done!

When Posada gets bumped to the 9^th spot in a Yankees-Red Sox game, it obviously created a media buzz.  Posada then met with the media and claims he is OK with the lineup change.  He even says that he deserves it because of the way he has been hitting.

Posada then has a change of heart and meets with Girardi before the game.  He tells him that he needs a day off.  According to Girardi, it was a short conversation where Posada just indicated that he needed a day off to “clear his head.”  There was no mention of any injury or a back issue.

Cashman was then called in to intervene and spoke with Posada about reconsidering.  Unfortunately, Cashman couldn’t persuade Posada to stay in the lineup. This is where the drama is created.  Neither Cashman nor Posada has said what happened during this meeting, but Cashman was clearly not happy.  Girardi then pulls Posada from the batting order and Andruw Jones replaces Posada as the DH. 

During the second inning of the game, Brian Cashman met with reporters in the press box and gave a statement.

“At 6 o’clock Posada came into Joe’s office and asked him to remove him from the DH slot in the ninth hole. There is no injury and it’s my understanding, I think he plans on talking to you guys after the game.  Obviously I’ve talked to Jorge. I’m not going to comment on my conversation with Jorge on it. That’s really all I’ve got to tell you.”

Shortly after Cashmans comment, Posada’s wife tweeted that Jorge pulled himself from the lineup due to a back issue.  It seemed like this was a shot back at Cashman.  I don’t know whether this tweet was prompted by Jorge or if it was just done by a loving wife trying to protect her husband, but it was a dumb move.  MLB is not OK with tweets during the game by anybody, as was shown by  a two game suspension of Ozzie Guillen after tweeting from the clubhouse a few weeks ago. 

I am not sure why Cashman discussed anything with the media during the game, but it only helped create more problems for everyone.  Girardi had to answer questions about this mess after the game and Posada had to address the media as well.  The post game interviews had nothing to do with the Yankees loss and only dealt with the clubhouse drama.  (There was literally only 1 question to Girardi about the game during the post game interview.)

So after the game ends, Posada meets with the media.  Posada was obviously angered with Cashman  He repeatedly stated that Cashman shouldn’t be discussing these things during a game, and said “that’s just how Cashman works now.”  Posada also said he felt a bit disrespected by being dropped in the lineup by Girardi.  He then went on to discuss his back injury, and how the injury is the reason he pulled himself from the lineup.

After Posada’s meeting at his locker, Girardi has to go to the press room for the post game interview.  Since Girardi was ejected late in the game, he was able to watch the game on TV from the clubhouse.  While watching the game, he was informed that Posada has a back injury.  This was the first time Girardi heard anything about an injury.  

Girardi did a pretty good job of dealing with a tough situation.  The interview was very tense, but Girardi kept it simple.  He told the media that he met with Jorge briefly before the game and there was no indication of an injury.  Girardi was under the impression it was a mental issue, and Jorge was frustrated with his offense.  He said the meeting was very short and Posada never mentioned “being insulted.”  It seemed like Girardi was bothered with Posada coming to him so close to game time and requesting to be pulled from the game.  Girardi was forced to make some last minute changes, which seemed to bother him.  

Now the Yankees are facing off against John Lester today.  Lester is a lefty and Posada has yet to get a hit against a lefty.  He is 0-24 against lefties this season.  I don’t know how Girardi could actually putsolely based on the numbers.  Unfortuinatly it doesn’t end there.  According to all the reports, the Yankees are discussing the entire situation with Major League Baseball.  It seemswant to punish Posada for his conduct and want to ensure they are not going to get into a dog fight with the players union for suspending or fining Posada.  Its very possible, the Yankees will suspend Posada for either “insubordination” or for refusing to play by pulling himself from the lineup with a reported injury.  Posada is a bit of a hot-head and this won’t go over well.  

We will find out how this plays out throughout the day as the media will be buzzing about this story.  It doesn’t help that tonight’s game is the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball game of the week. story.  It’s upGirardi to put out all the fires and keep the clubhouse in order. 

I must say that Girardi did the right thing yesterday.  He had to bump Posada down to 9^th in the order as Posada is the worst batter on the team right now.  Once he was told by Posada that he wanted out of the game, he dealt with the situation correctly.  He made the changes to the order, but also called Cashman to deal with the situation.  Finally, after the game, Girardi kept it simple and didn’t throw Posada under the bus (which he could have!).  

Everyone besides Girardi handled this situation poorly.  Cashman shouldn't have said anything to reporters during the game, and Jorge shouldn't have pulled himself from the game.  Problems like this have the potential to snowball into bigger issues for the team.  If the Yankees don't fix this problem now, we can be discussing this in September as the reason the Yankees didn't make the postseason.  

PUT YOUR EGO'S BEHIND YOU AND DO WHAT IS RIGHT FOR THE TEAM!!!! 

Sunday Morning Videos

In case you haven't seen the Yankees & Red Sox minor league brawl, check out this video.  Slade Heathcott (Yanks 1st round draft pick) was hit by a pitch and started a bench clearing brawl.  Check it out.

Possibly the highlight of last night's Yankee game was the commercial with Alec Baldwin and John Krasinski.  This is the second commercial in their series of commercials.  Pretty funny stuff.  Hopefully they continue to make these throughout the whole season!

Yankees & Royals Preview

The Yankees are coming off a 7 game road trip and 16 consecutive games without getting a day off until yesterday.  Their road trip didn’t go as well as planned in Detroit as they dropped 3 out of 4 to the Tigers, but then took 2 out of 3 from the Rangers in Arlington.  The Yankees are now 5-5 in their last ten games, but are currently in first place in the AL East!

The Royals who are in second place in the AL Central, have won 6 of their last 10 games.  They actually have a record over .500, at 18-16. (I honestly can’t remember the last time this team had such a good record)  This is attributed to their MLB High, “Home Wins” at 15.  Lucky for the Yankees, the Royals also boast the MLB Low, “Road Wins” at 3!  Even with this drastic split between home and away games, this isn’t the same Royals of the past as they have made some pretty good signings like Melky Cabrera and Jeff Francoeur, and have some good young players they have been developing in their system like first baseman Eric Hosmer, and set-up man Aaron Crow.   Although they have lost Zach Greinke, they still have one of the best closers, Joakim Soria.  Don’t underestimate this Royals team!

STARTING PITCHERS

Tues May 10:  Kyle Davies (1-4, 7.32 ERA) vs.  Freddy Garcia (1-2, 2.88 ERA)

-Davies is coming off three consecutive losses which has contributed to his inflated ERA

-Davies has pitched 4 games on the road this season lasting only 18 total innings with a 10.00 ERA, and allowing 29 hits.

-Davies allowed Arod’s 500^th Home Run.

-Garcia had a tough outing last week against the Tigers allowing 4 runs on 10 hits over 7 innings

-Garcia has 21 strikeouts in his last 3 games

BIG BATS AGAINST DAVIES

-In 11 at bats, Cano is hitting .364 off Davies

-In 21 at bats, Granderson is hitting .333 against Davies with 2 Home Runs

-In 10 at bats, Arod is batting .500 with 1 Home Run

BIG BATS AGAINST GARCIA

-In 9 at bats, Mike Aviles is hitting .667 off Garcia

-In 11 at bats, Billy Butler is batting .455 off Garcia

Wed May 11:  Bruce Chen (4-1, 3.59 ERA) vs.  A.J. Burnett (4-2, 3.71 ERA)

-Chen is coming off a strong start against the Orioles where he received a win after pitching 7 innings

-Chen only has 8 Strikeouts in his last three starts

-Burnett is 1-2 in his last three starts with a 3.00 ERA

-Burnett’s last start he allowed 5 runs, but only 2 were earned runs

BIG BATS AGAINST CHEN

-In 11 at bats, Texeira is hitting .545 off Chen with 4 home runs

-In 13 at bats, Jeter is hitting .385 off Chen

-In 9 at bats, Granderson is hitting .444 off Chen

BIG BATS AGAINST AJ

-Nobody with over 5 plate appearances against AJ is hitting higher than .300 against him.

THURS MAY 12: Sean O’Sullivan (1-2, 3.41 ERA) vs. Ivan Nova (3-2 4.08 ERA)

-O’Sullivan took the loss against the A’s last week after pitching 8 innings with 89 pitches and allowing 3 runs

-In his previous start, O’Sullivan walked 7 batters

-Nobody on the Yankees has more than 9 plate appearances against O’Sullivan

-Nova pitched into the 8^th inning for his first time, in his last start against the Rangers allowing only one unearned run.

-Nova is 2-0 in his last three starts with a 1.35 ERA

-Nova has never faced the Royals

YANKEES NOTES

-Following this series, the Red Sox are coming to the Bronx for the weekend! ... and just for the record, the Red Sux are still not playing .500 ball

-On this previous road trip, Jeter was hitting .393 with a .452 on base percentage.  By the looks of his swing, Jeter’s back!

-During the road trip, Granderson was hitting .292 with a .452 on base percentage and a whopping .667 slugging percentage.

-Gardner was also hot during the road trip batting .350 with a .458 on base percentage

-Cano couldn’t be happier to be home after he was hitting only .167 on the road trip.

-Martin had a tough road trip as well, hitting only .125

-Granderson leads the league with 11 Home Runs

ROYALS NOTES

Welcome Bank Melky Cabrera who is now with the Royals and on quite a hot streak.  Melky is 7 for his last 18 over his last 4 games…. The Melk Man Delivers!  In case you don’t remember, Melky was traded after the 2009 World Series to Atlanta for Javier Vazquez.

-Kansas City’s starting pitching has the fewest strikeouts in major league baseball.

Kansas City's Billy Butler has hit safely in 114 consecutive series, currently the second longest active streak in the Majors

-Kansas City has called up first baseman Eric Hosmer, who is one of the most highly touted prospects in the minor league system.  Hosmer was the 3rd overall pick in the 2008 draft, and drafted over Buster Posney on the Giants and Justin Smoak on the Mariners.

-The Royals have a 5.93 ERA on the road compared to only 3.51 at home

Bring On the Lefties

Girardi has put together two different lineups when the Yankees are facing a righty pitcher versus a lefty pitcher.  When facing off against a lefty Andruw Jones starts over either Gardner who has been struggling or Posada who can’t hit a lefty (Lefty Lineup) and when they face off against a righty, Posada starts as DH (Righty Lineup).  Much of the lineup remains the same although Girardi has been giving some of the guys random days off for rest.  

The Rule

Looking at these two lineups, the Yankees have been very successful against lefties.  They have only faced 9 lefty starters throughout the first month of the season, but they have faced quite a few lefty relief pitchers.  The results are impressive as the team’s “Lefty Lineup” batting average against lefty’s is .270 while the “Righty Lineup” has a .239 batting average.  A 40 point jump can be dramatic when the team has been struggling offensively as of late.  Even more impressive is a few guys’ batting average increases.

The Most dramatic jump is for Nick Swisher who is hitting a mere .141 against righties, but when he faces off against a lefty, he hits .400!  Swish’s on base percentage jumps to .444 when facing against a lefty.  That means when he goes to the plate against a lefty, there is nearly a 50% chance he will reach base!  Girardi may want to consider bumping Swisher to the top of the lineup against lefties if he can keep up these numbers.

Jeter is another player whose numbers jump when facing a lefty pitcher.    Surprising enough, even with Jeter’s sub par first month, he is actually batting .313 against lefties, with a .405 on base percentage.  He only bats .235 against righties. That is over a 75 point jump in his numbers when facing lefties.  I suppose that is why Girardi has been batting him leadoff against lefties.

Brett Gardner has been off to a slow start in the first month and is hitting a meager .197 against righties, but when he faces lefties, his average jumps to .286.  That is nearly 100 points added to his average!  Texeira has about a 100 point jump when facing a lefty as well.  Tex’s average against lefties is .333 compared to only .219 against righties.  Of course Andruw Jones has better numbers against lefties, and that is why he starts games against lefties.  Jones’ average against lefties is .231 compared to .200 against righties.

Exception to the Rule

Of course there are a few exceptions to the rule and of course, Arod is on that list.  Arod bats .286 against righties while only .200 against lefties.  This stays consistent to his career average against lefties coming in higher at .289 compared to .307 against righties.  This does seem unusual though as Arod bats righty, and should theoretically have a higher average against lefty.   Cano joins Arod as the exception to the rule as he is batting .313 against righties and .270 against lefties.  No different than Arod, Cano’s career splits are better when facing off against lefties.  He hits .296 against lefties compared to .314 against righties.  

Granderson had started off very hot against lefties after working with Kevin Long last August but in the last week, his average against lefties dropped from .318 to .258.  Granderson went 0-2 against Holland on Friday, which attributed to the drop in average.  He is batting .269 against righty’s.  Granderson has always been known to have problems when facing lefties, but he has made significant strides since coming to the Yankees.

AND THE CATCHERS

One of the bigger surprises was Russell Martin who seems to struggle against lefties and is only hitting .136 against them, compared to .304 against righties.  In fact, Martin has hit 6 of his 7 homers off righties.  This issue (if it is actually an issue) can be tinkered with by substituting Martin with Cervelli when they are facing lefties.  Although Cervelli has only played one game so far so we don’t have a sample for 2011, his career splits against lefties is higher than righties.  Cervelli hits .328 against lefties compared to .247 against righties.  His 2010 numbers were similar as well since he hit only .246 against righties and .322 against lefties.  It’s obviously much easier said than done, to replace Martin when facing a lefty, as there are more variables involved with a catcher such as the Yankees starting pitcher, but it could lead to better offensive production.

Although he has not caught a game, Posada is still considered a catcher by me.  Posada is batting .192 against righties and is batting 0 against lefties.  In his 29 plate appearances against lefties, he has yet to get one hit.  His numbers are the biggest cause for concern on the team in my opinion.

I wonder if we could see some changes to the lineup throughout the season if these lefty trends continue.  If Swish continues his .444 on base percentage it would be crazy to not keep him in the top of the order so Tex, Arod or Cano could drive him home.