Nobody To Blame But Himself

Worst Haircut Ever!

I know I am a couple days late on this topic, but I have to weigh in on a few things after Saturday night’s game.  To begin, AJ stunk up Target field.  He was absolutely terrible and took the Yankees right out of the game within the first two innings.  There is no way to defend AJ’s pitching performance in this game, and the Yankees will need to make a big decision after this weekend as to who will remain in the starting rotation.  That’s for another post.

That all being said, I think the media did a terrible job handling this whole debacle between AJ and Girardi.  I watched the game and as I watched Burnett struggle in the 2^nd inning, I was surprised to see Girardi restrain himself long enough before pulling AJ.  Once Girardi got to the mound, we all saw Burnett speak his mind but the media really took it to a new level.  I know it’s the Yankees who have the limelight on them all the time and AJ is the biggest lightning rod on the team besides Arod, but it wasn’t a huge story to begin with.

Girardi and Burnett both said after the game that AJ wasn’t angry with Girardi but rather was angry with the home plate umpire for calling ball four to Joe Mauer.  Burnett thought the pitch was a strike along with Russell Martin who claimed the home plate umpire called that same pitch a strike all night long.  Burnett walked off the mound and cursed.  There was no real indication that AJ was cursing at Girardi and Girardi never got heated about it until after the game with the media.  AJ then went into the clubhouse and Girardi soon followed.  After the game, both AJ and Girardi said they were looking at the video.  There was never any indication the pitcher and manager were fighting with each other and based upon the totality of the situation, there was no reason for AJ to be upset with Girardi.

AJ allowed 2 runs in the first inning and 5 runs in the second inning.  Any pitcher knows there is a strong chance they will be pulled for allowing 7 runs over 2 innings.  Moreover, AJ had pitched a total of 40 pitches in the 2^nd inning when he allowed a walk (his 3^rd) to Mauer.  40 pitches is a dangerous threshold for a pitcher in one inning and AJ knew he would be pulled solely based upon fatigue issues.  This wasn’t a situation where it could go either way and the pitcher was upset for the manager not having confidence in him.  This was a situation that was necessary and if any decision was incorrect by Girardi, it was keeping AJ in the game as long as he did.

It also makes no sense that AJ would be fighting with Girardi as Girardi and Cashman are the biggest supporters of Burnett.  Both Cash and Girardi defend AJ to the media more than any other GM/Manager combo I have ever seen.  They protect AJ and always try to instill confidence in him.

But obviously the media wanted a good story with the way AJ has been playing lately and rather than report one, they created one.  They created the drama and spun the non-story the most dramatic way possible. I get it… it sells papers, but the story was F***ing Bull**** as AJ would say. 

Yankees & Twins Preview

The Yankees are in Minnesota for a 4 game weekend series which begins Thursday night with a battle of the lefties, CC Sabathia vs. Brain Duensing.  With the Twins having a bad season, the Yankees should be able to get some wins this weekend and maybe even take a bigger lead over Boston for 1^st place in the AL East.  Right now the Yankees are only a half game up on the Red Sox, but Big Papi hasn’t been playing the last few games and the Red Sox haven’t been scoring during these games, so the Yankees have an opportunity to claim the lead.  The Yankees just took two of three from the Royals during this road trip and following this series against the Twins will return back home to face the A’s, before hitting the road again against Baltimore and Boston.  It’s time to beat up on the weaker teams!

The Twins are not having a good season and currently have the 3^rd worst record in the American League.  They did just take 2 of three from Detroit which was their first series win since early July, but prior to that series they lost 11 of 13 games.  They are currently 10.5 games and in 4^th place in the AL central.  The last time the Twins met the Yankees was in the Bronx during the first two weeks of the season and the Yankees took 2 of 3.  The one win was due to Soriano who blew the lead in the 8^th inning.

YANKEES NOTES

Arod will return to the Yankees Thursday night in Minnesota but it doesn’t seem as though he will be activated for the game.  From the interviews he has given, it seems like he is still a little weak with his knee while fielding and running and needs a bit more time.  This will allow the Yankees to hold off on any decisions to drop a pitcher back to the minors.  I have a feeling by the end of the weekend Arod will be activated, and playing DH while Hector Noesi gets sent to Scranton as the odd man out in the bullpen.  This would allow the Yankees to continue holding Cory Wade since he has been excellent at working out of jams, and Luis Ayala who has earned his spot in the bullpen the whole season.

There is still no word yet from Girardi as to how long the 6 man rotation will be used.  This is partly due to Freddy Garcia’s injured finger.  Although it was a minor cut to his finger, he has trouble gripping the ball when throwing a splitter which is his signature pitch.  Garcia was skipped last time through the rotation, which helped push the rotation decision off, but a decision will be made shortly.  Garcia will throw a bullpen session Thursday night and if he can throw the splitter, he will start this weekend.

I think Jeter will have a big series against the Twins as they are starting two lefties this series and Jeter has been destroying lefties the whole season.  Not only has he been hitting the ball hard against lefties, but since coming back from the DL he is hitting .336 with a .861 OPS. He’s hitting for average and power now.  I think the Twins could be in trouble especially with his strong numbers against their two righties, Slowey and Blackburn.

TWINS NOTES

Michael Cuddyer may be placed on the DL Thursday as he’s been out of the lineup with a neck problem for the last week.  This may be a big problem for the Twins as he leads the team in basically every offensive category from Batting average at .295 to Home runs with 18 and 61 RBI’s.  He’s the big bat in their lineup. (along with Mr. 600, Jim Thome)

There is a chance that Cuddyer’s neck may not be that injured and he could play during this series.  If he isn’t put on the DL, the Twins will likely place Denard Span on the DL as he has been suffering from lingering concussion symptoms.  With Span and Cuddyer injured, the Twins will be calling up infielder Luke Hughes to provide an extra bat for their sluggish offense.

There is also a chance that Jason Kubel may not play in Thursday night’s game as he is only recently healed from an ankle injury that kept him on the DL.  This would be another big loss for the Twins as Kubel is hitting .294.

Congratulations are in order for Jim Thome who just hit his 600^th home run this past week.  As always, Thome is a threat at the plate as he has a .513 slugging percentage and .878 OPS.  And just for the record, I think he is a first ballot hall of famer.

STARTING PITCHING

Thursday: CC Sabathia (16-7, 2.93 ERA) vs. Brian Duensing (8-11, 4.53 ERA)

-CC has struggled with his fastball commands in his last two starts against the Rays and Red Sox allowing12 runs over 14 innings.  Opponents in these last two games are hitting .333 against Sabathia with 19 hits and 6 home runs.  This game against the Twins may be just what CC needs to get himself back in the groove.

-Prior to these two bad outings, CC pitched on July 26 and had a perfect game interrupted by the rain.  Over his last 3 starts, Sabathia is 1-2 with a 5.73 ERA and 19 strikeouts.

-Joe Mauer is the only player on the Twins with more than 3 plate appearances who has anything close to respectable numbers against CC as he is hitting .267.

-Brian Duensing is coming off a strong start against the Indians last weekend, but took the loss after allowing 3 runs over 6 2/3 innings.  He struck out a career high 9 batters during the game though.  Duensing has the second highest strikeouts on the Twins with 101 behind Scott Baker with 120.

-Over his last three starts, Duensing is 0-3 with a 5.68 ERA and 16 strikeouts.

-Duensing is basically a fastball pitcher who only hits the low 90’s.  He has been relying on his 2 seam fastball all season and uses it more than any other pitch, although he does use his 4 seamer frequently as well.  He also throws a changeup, slider and curve.

Friday: Phil Hughes (3-4, 6.55 ERA) vs. Kevin Slowey (0-0, 4.91 ERA)

-Hughes is coming off a big win in his last game allowing only 2 runs over 6 innings pitched.  Hughes has his velocity back and looks like the pitcher we saw last year, although maybe not quite as dynamic as the first half of 2010.

-Since returning from the DL, Hughes is 3-3 with a 4.28 ERA over 7 starts, and is 2-1 with a 2.19 ERA  and 10 striekouts over his last three games.

-Hughes better watch out for Justin Morneau, who is 2 for 3 against Hughes with both hits being home runs.

-Slowey has been back and forth between the bullpen and the minor leagues this season and only recently came back to make his first start with the Twins. Unfortunately, his first start was cut short by the rain this past weekend and he was only able to pitch two innings before the game was called.

-Slowey’s problems stem from his lack of control with his fastball, which cause too many walks and too many fly balls.  He relies on his 2 seam fastball similar to Duensing, but also throws a slider and curveball. If his fastball isn’t working, it will likely turn into an ugly game for Duensing quickly.

-Slowey needs to be very careful with Granderson and Jeter as they are hitting .357 and .333 against him respectively.

Saturday: AJ Burnett (9-9, 4.61 ERA) vs. Francisco Liriano (8-9, 5.12 ERA)

-The Yankees rotation isn’t set in stone just yet for this weekend, but if Freddy Garcia’s bullpen goes well tonight, I think we can expect to see AJ Saturday and Garcia Sunday.

-I don’t even know what to say about Burnett anymore.  He’s a complete enigma to me.  Just when I think he is done and the Yankees should skip a start or two with him, he goes out and pitches a decent game reclaiming a place in the rotation for me.  In AJ’s last start he went 5.2 innings and allowed only3 runs but he still did allow 10 hits.  Somehow this performance was actually the best of all the Yankees starters who faced the Royals this past week… go figure!

-Liriano who had a very good 2010 season, has been hit or miss this year.  He is coming off a win against the Tigers this past week after allowing 5 runs on 9 hits over 6 innings.  Not great by any stretch of the imagination, but it was enough for the win and he leads all Twins pitchers with 8 wins.

-Liriano will throw a 4 seamer and 2 seamer mixed with his big slider.  He also uses a changeup but mostly to neutralize righty batters.

-The Yankees have some good numbers against Liriano as Jeter is hitting .385 off him with 1 home run; Swisher is hitting .357 and Gardner is hitting .333 off him.

Sunday: Freddy Garcia (10-7, 3.16 ERA) vs. Nick Blackburn (7-10, 4.53 ERA)

-Like I previously said this weekend’s rotation is still ‘TBA’ for the Yankees as it depends on Garcia’s injury to his pitching finger.  Assuming all goes well in the bullpen session Thursday night, I think he will pitch Sunday’s game.

-Garcia hasn’t pitched since early August up in Fenway when he held the Red Sox to 1 run on 5 hits over 5 innings.  He took the loss that day, but pitched well against a hard hitting lineup.  Prior to the Red Sox game, Garcia won his previous 3 games allowing only 5 runs over 20 innings.

-Blackburn had a tough outing in his last game this past Tuesday against the Tigers allowing 5 runs on 11 hits over 4 2/3 innings.  It was the 7^th time this season that Blackburn allowed 10 hits or more which is the highest in MLB.

-Blackburn is 0-2, with a 4.86 ERA and 6 strikeouts over his last 3 starts.

-I think it’s fair to assume that we will see a lot of groundballs against Blackburn due to him relying on his signature sinker.  His sinkerball doesn’t even hit low 90’s but used together with his cutter and changeup, he induces lots of swings that get on top of the ball for lots of infield ground outs.

-Jeter is hitting .400 off Blackburn and Texeira is hitting .769 with 1 home run and 6 RBI’s against him.

That’s Just What the Captain Does

The beginning of the season seems like only yesterday watching Jeter hit weak ground balls to the infield for easy outs.  Even when he would get a hit, it wasn’t much to write home about.  Jeter wasn’t driving the ball and most hits came from squeakers that managed to get through the infield.

Things certainly have changed since Jeter got back from the DL with that calf injury right before the All Star Break.  Since coming off the DL, Jeter is hitting .319 with a .373 on base percentage.  Numbers aside, Jeter looks like a different player than he did in April when he was hitting .250 with a .300 OBP.  Now, he’s driving the ball for solid line drives and his swing looks like old Jeter.  Although Kevin Long had tweaked Jeter’s swing during spring training, it looks as though Jeter has reverted to his old ways of taking a stride before swinging.  Although the stride isn’t as dramatic as it was at the end of last season, it’s larger than it was during the month of April/May.  The biggest difference with Jeter at bat is his approach.  It seems like he is holding back longer which enables him to get his power behind the swing.  Jeter’s power is still there as his slugging percentage since coming off the DL would indicate, up at .449%.

As with any discussion of Jeter, it’s not just his numbers – it’s the intangibles and last night was a perfect example of how he contributes to the team.  In the 6^th inning, the Yankees were down by a run since AJ had a problem holding the lead.  Jeter came to the plate and hit a triple, driving in two RBI’s so the Yanks could take the lead.  This triple allowed AJ to bounce back for one more inning and get his first win in August since George W Bush was president.

Last week, Jeter came up big in another game for AJ although the end result was the same.  In the first game against the Angels, AJ ran into some trouble and allowed the Angels to take the lead.  Jeter came to bat in the 7^th inning and hit a RBI single which tied the game.  The Yankees eventually scored another run to take the lead before Mariano came in and blew the save. Ultimately the yanks lost that first game, but Jeter came up with another big RBI to bail out Burnett and keep hope alive. 

That’s what the Captain does time and time again.  Whether you love Jeter or hate him, he comes up big!

It Could Be Worse

I think it’s fair to assume that most Yankee fans are a bit frustrated with AJ Burnett as he has never really panned out as the #2 starter that we anticipated.  When he was signed in 2009, I think everyone envisioned him to be at least a capable starter who could keep the Yankees in the game.  Ultimately, It seems that AJ may be one of the worst signings for the Yanks in recent memories.  I’m sure everyone will get on Cashman for this signing, but Cashman isn’t the only GM out there making bad signings.  It’s just the nature of the beast.

By all accounts, Theo Epstein is a great GM up in Boston and has delivered two World Series for Boston fans.  It seems like anytime these two teams play on national television, Epstein gets thrown on TV from his luxury box and the ESPN announcers kiss his butt about what an incredible job he is doing in structuring this team.  But Epstein made a signing very similar to the Burnett signing, which may actually be worse yet he doens't seem to take the heat, the way Cashman does.  I’m talking about signing John Lackey to a 5 year deal, which is possibly the worst signing Epstein made since becoming the GM.

Prior to the 2010 season, the Red Sox signed Lackey to a 5 year deal worth 82.5 million dollars.  A year before that, the Yankees signed Burnett for the same amount of 82.5 million over 5 years as well.  Their contracts are nearly identical, as far as money goes, except Lackey actually got a 3.5 million dollar signing bonus on top of the crazy money they pay him over the next 5 years.  I actually wonder whether Boston signed Lackey in response to the Yankees winning the World Series – A Reaction signing to which Yankee fans are all too familiar. 

Since coming to the Red Sox, Lackey has been a failure.  In his first season with the Sox in 2010, he went 14-11 with a 4.40 ERA and 1.41 WHIP.  Anytime he faced a strong offensive lineup he struggled and anytime there seemed to be a high-pressure situation, he crumbled.  2011 has actually fared worse for Lackey as he is 9-8 with a 6.23 ERA and 1.55 WHIP. 

From the moment that he arrived in Boston all his numbers dropped including his strikeouts.  In 2005 Lackey had a 8.6K/9IP strikeout ratio which was the best of his career, followed by several years that were around 7K’s/9IP.  Since coming to the Red Sox, Lackey’s strikeout ratio dove down to 6.5K/9IP in 2010 and sunk again in 2011 to 6.1K/9IP.  If you take a look at his ERA, Lackey’s best season was 2007 with 3.00, but then it went downhill with 3.75 in 2008 and 3.83 in 2009 before coming to Boston.  Once in Boston those numbers became inflated to 4.40 and 6.23.  Even his WHIP has jumped from 1.2 (and change) in 2006 – 2009 up to 1.55 this season.  With his numbers slipping gradually each year, I don’t see any indication these numbers will ever get better and he is signed through 2014.

It looks like all GM’s make some bad signings every now and then.  I’m not ready to just give up on AJ yet (as I would if Lackey was with the Yanks) but I am certainly not happy when I watch him start to give up a 13-1 lead against the White Sox and have to be pulled in the 5^th inning.  It’s somewhat embarrassing to have a #2 starter on the New York Yankees who has a losing record of 8-9 and hasn’t won a game since June when the team is 25 games above the .500 mark.  That being said, it’s still better than Lackey! 

Here's another Look At Theo Epstein & How He Built Up The Red Sox Bullpen

Check Out The Yankees & Red Sox Series Preview Here

Yankees vs White Sox Preview

The Yankees are off to Chicago today for the start of a 4 game set against the White Sox.  This begins the start of a 7 game road trip for the Yankees who will actually play 21 of 30 games on the road during the month of August.  This season the Yankees are only 27-20 on the road compared to 37-22 at home.  The Yankees just took 3 of 4 games from the Orioles this past weekend in the Bronx, and are looking to try and gain some momentum before they travel to Boston for this weekend’s series in Fenway. 

Although it looks like the White Sox have given up for the post-season as they recently traded starter Edwin Jackson, they are not an easy opponent and at the very least will give the Yankees a challenge.  They are only 4 games behind Detroit for the AL Central but they are 2 games under .500 although they have won 4 of the last 6 series they have played.  This past weekend Boston took 2 of 3 from Chicago in Fenway as the White Sox offense came up short in Sunday’s matchup ultimately leaving 12 men on base for the loss. 

The White Sox are 4-10 against the Yankees in their last 14 games but the last time these two teams met was back in late April when they split a 4 game series in the Bronx.  The Yankees came into that series as an explosive offense but their offense was shut down for the first three games.  The Yanks lost the first two games to the Sox then came back to win the next two.  Phil Humber pitched game two for the Sox in this series and nearly no-hit the Yankees.You Can Read All About Philip Humber HERE for a scouting report.  Although the White Sox were outscored in that series 17 to 9, they out-hit the Yanks 31 to 26.

PITCHING MATCHUPS

Monday:  CC Sabathia (15-5, 2.56 ERA) vs Jake Peavy (4-4, 5.27 ERA)

-CC is coming off a really impressive start that I still believe would have been a no-hitter or even possibly a perfect game had there not been two rain delays.  He allowed 3 unearned runs over 7 innings and finished the game with a season high 14 strikeouts for his 15th win.  In general, CC has been amazing this season and defines what makes a true ace.  You can read more about CC’s success lately RIGHT HERE

-Sabathia is 2-1 with a 1.57 ERA and 30 strikeouts in his last three starts

-CC is 17-4 with a 3.68 ERA against the White Sox in his career over 30 starts

-Sabathia has only allowed 5 earned runs over his last 58 2/3 innings he’s pitched

-Over his last 7 games, CC is 6-1 with a .82 ERA

-Alexei Ramirez is batting .400 against CC in his career

-Peavy had a tough month of July going 0-3 with a 6.67 ERA over his last five starts. 

-In Peavy’s last start he took a no decision against Detroit after allowing 4 runs on 10 hits over 6 innings.

-Peavy is 0-2 with a 3.60 ERA against the Yankees in his career

-Scouting Report on Peavy is that he uses a mix of 6 pitches.  His 2 and 4 seamers are used in tandem very effectively while he also uses his cutter & slider fairly often as his secondary pitches.  He also uses a curve and changeup to keep the batters guessing.

-Peavy has not faced the Yankees since coming to the White Sox and the last time he faced the Yankees was while he was with the Padres in 2008 allowing 4 runs over 4 innings.

Tuesday: Phil Hughes (1-3, 8.24 ERA) vs. John Danks (4-8, 3.79 ERA)

-Hughes is coming off a no decision against the Mariners last week but it was a less than stellar performance which seemed to indicate that his arm is still not back to 100% as his velocity dies down after the 1^st/2^nd innings and he has trouble putting batters away after getting ahead in the count.  You can read all about Phil Hughes’ last start HERE in greater depth.  Although the Yankees have been tight lipped about Hughes, this could be very well be his last start this season as Nova has proven himself more worthy.

-Hughes is 1-1 with a 6.06 ERA over his last 3 starts with 11 strikeouts

-Danks is 4-0 with a .98 ERA since June 1st

-Danks is going to come into this game throwing lots of changeups to righties as he typically does. 

-Danks has not allowed more than 2 runs in his past 5 starts

-The last time that Danks started against the Yanikees was August 28 of last season when he allowed 8 runs over 4 innings.

-Cano is batting .500 against Danks and Swisher is hitting .400 against him.

Wednesday: AJ Burnett (8-9, 4.23 ERA ) vs. Gavin Floyd (9-9, 3.96 ERA)

-AJ is coming off one of the more unusual games I have seen him pitch this past Friday night.  He struck out 10 batters over 8 innings but gave up 4 runs on 4 hits to take the loss.  Overall he pitched great and I think that he improved as the game continued but just made a few mistakes which he paid for.

-AJ has pitched at least 5 innings in all his starts this season and has only allowed more than 4 runs twice.

-Floyd is coming off his 3^rd straight win against the Red Sox this past Friday night allowing only 1 run on 3 hits over 7 innings. In his last 3 starts he is 3-0 with a .81 ERA and 16 strikeouts.

-Although he has been getting more strikeouts lately, Floyd's strikeout rate is fairly low at 6.4/9IP which is down nearly 1 strikeout per nine than last year.

-The last time Floyd pitched against the Yankees was in April when he took the win after throwing 8 innings of 2 run ball.  He used his cutter fairly often that day to shut down the Yanks.

Thursday:  Ivan Nova (9-4, 4.01 ERA ) vs. Philip Humber (8-7, 3.44 ERA)

-As of today the Yankees are still listing Bartolo Colon as Thursday’s starter but from what I have seen during the postgame and interviews in the last two days, it seems like the yanks will be using a 6 man rotation over the next week in order to allow Colon to pitch against the Red Sox this weekend.  I think it’s the smart move at this point since Colon is likely shaping up to be a #2 starter in the postseason if he continues his dominance and a start against Boston will really put him to the test.  In turn, Nova will pitch Thursday as it is his regularly scheduled start and Colon will get bumped and work around CC’s 5 day schedule

-Nova had a strong start on Saturday night against the O’s pitching 7 full innings and allowing only 2 runs on 6 hits and striking out 6.

-Nova pitched against the White Sox in late April taking the loss to Gavin Floyd after pitching 6.1 innings and only allowing 1 run.

-Humber had a tough time against Boston this past weekend and was unable to make it out of the 5^th inning after allowing 4 runs.

-Over his past 3 starts, Humber is 0-3 with a 9.00 ERA

-Humber nearly pitched a no hitter against the Yankees in April allowing no runs on 1 hit over 7 innings.

-Humber has the best ERA on the White Sox this season.

-Humber’s strikeout ratio is very low at 5.9/9IP.  Looks like he is having trouble putting batters away.

-Read a full breakdown on Philip Humber HERE

YANKEES NOTES

-Derek Jeter is Day to Day due to a bruised middle finger.  The X Rays were negative but Jeter is having problems holding the bat tight so its likely the Yanks could give him a few days off.  There has also been some rumblings that Jesus Montero may join the Yankees very soon and with Jeter out of the lineup, this could be a big opportunity for Montero even if he just DH’s.

-Texeira is on a hot streak lately and went 13-39 with 4 homeruns during this past homestand in the Bronx.

-Swisher is still hot as well going 15-36 in the homestand with 3 homeruns.

-Gardner had some trouble during the past homestand going a mere 7-28, but I think it’s fair to give him a pass as he delivered the decisive bases clearing triple on Sunday against the Orioles.

WHITE SOX NOTES

-Paul Konerko is day to day after getting hit with a pitch Sunday by the Red Sox.  Konerko pulled himself out of the game after being hit in the calf.  If Konerko does not play during this series it would be a big loss for the White Sox as he leads the team with a .305 average, 25 home runs and 76 RBI’s.  Konerko has some big numbers against the Yankees as well so his injury couldn’t have come at a better time for the Yanks. (.315, 20 HR’s in his career vs Yankees)

-Juan Pierre is on a heater over the last month hitting .345 in his last 28 games

-Brent Morel has gotten hot lately with 5 hits in his last 10 at bats

-Alex Rios hit a little slump recently and has only 3 hits in his last 23 at bats

-Carlos Quentin is only 4 for his last 22 at bats.

-I’m not sure what happened to Adam Dunn since coming to the White Sox but he is only hitting .195 this season.

A's And Yankees Preview

The Yankees return home today for a ten game homestand starting with the Oakland A’s.  After the last 8 games on the road playing on astroturf, I’m sure the Yankees are looking forward to a long homestand to get back on track.  The road trip following the All Star Break hasn’t been great for the Yankees as they have split two 4 game series with Toronto & Tampa.  There have been some highlights during these games, but there has also been a number of games where sloppy defense has cost them games. 

Looking ahead, the Yanks play the A’s and the Mariners over the next week which should bring them some wins.  The A’s who are 17-33 on the road, come to the Bronx tonight in hopes of getting a win in Yankee stadium for the first time since July 25, 2009.  They have lost the last 12 of 13 games against the Yankees in Yankee stadium, and the last time these two teams met the Yankees swept three games in Oakland.  Since then, the A's have fired their manager due to poor performance. 

Right now, the Yankees have a 10 game winning streak against Oakland.  The A’s had an off day Thursday following a series against Detroit where they split two games & prior to the Detroit series, the A’s swept the Angels outscoring them 20 to 11 over the 4 game set, showing a little offensive life.

STARTING PITCHERS

Friday: Trevor Cahill (8-8, 3.16 ERA) vs. Phil Hughes (1-2, 8.44 ERA)

-Hughes comes into the game following a big win against the Blue Jays earlier this week.  He pitched 6 innings allowing only 2 runs and striking out 5 for the win, and used a new type of curve ball in the process.  Overall he looked sharp compared to his previous start.  Although his first start back from the DL had similar numbers (5IP, 2 runs), this week’s performance showed more control and consistency along with velocity that is considered ‘healthy’ for Hughes.

-Hughes is 2-0 against the A’s with a 1.62 ERA all-time.

-Trevor Cahill is looking to get his first career win against the Yankees as he is 0-3 against them in 3 starts.  In those three starts he has allowed 18 earned runs over 16 2/3 innings pitched. Last season, Cahill pitched against the Yanks in Yankee stadium in the first game of a 4 game sweep by the Yankees, allowing 8 runs over 4 innings

-Texeira is 4 – 8 against Cahill with 2 Home Runs

-Cano is 4 – 9 against Cahill with 1 Home Run

Saturday: Rich Harden (1-1, 5.00 ERA) vs. AJ Burnett (8-7, 4.19 ERA)

-AJ had a rough start in his last outing allowing 3 runs over the first 2 innings but settled in after that a bit to keep the Yankees in the game.  Burnett allowed a season high 6 walks in the start.

-Burnett is 0-1 over his last 3 starts with a 5.00 ERA and 19 strikeouts

-Harden is coming off his first start for Oakland in three years following his reinstatement from the 60 day DL.  He pitched six strong innings, allowing two runs and four hits while striking out six batters.  Overall it was a good return from Harden who used a strong fastball to retired the first 16 of 18 batters he faced.

-Harden has not pitched a complete season since 2004 due to injuries and has been on the DL 10 times over his career.

Sunday: Gio Gonzalez (9-6, 2.33 ERA) vs. Bartolo Colon (6-6, 3,34 ERA)

-Colon quieted the critics in his last start showing that he is not injured and looking ahead to the second half.  In his start against Tampa he threw 6 shutout innings with a season high 9 Strikeouts.  Read more about that Start HERE

-Colon is 0-3 over his last three starts with a 6.39 ERA, but it looks as though Colon is back on track following the DL stint.

-David Dejesus is batting .545 against Colon with 2 Home Runs.

-Gio Gonzalez is coming off a strong start against the Angels of 7 innings of shutout ball.  Gonzalez allowed only 4 hits and struck out 8.

-Gonzalez is one of the few bright spots for this Oakland team as he boasts the 5^th best ERA in the AL and was named to the All Star Team.  He uses a combination of fastballs, curveballs and changeups relying most heavily on the fastball.

-Gonzalez has lost his last three starts against the Yankees, allowing 14 earned runs with 14 walks over 14 2/3 innings pitched

YANKEES NOTES

-Jeter has been slumping lately and over the last seven games Jeter is hitting .200.  Girardi has considered bumping him from lead off when facing righties as he did last night.  Against lefties though, Jeter is hitting .325 with a .419 on base percentage so I would guess that Jeter would remain as leadoff batter against lefties.

-Soriano pitched against Thursday in a rehab game for Class-A Tampa allowing one run on 2 hits over a single inning.  Soriano had also pitched Wednesday, as the Yankees want him to be durable enough to pitch back to back days.  It’s likely he could be activated by the middle of next week

-Chavez played third-base for the first time in Class-A Tampa Thursday, and went 1-3 on the day with an RBI Double. 

A’S NOTES

-The Yankees welcome back Hideki Matsui tonight into Yankee stadium. Matsui just hit his 500^th career home run!  (including home runs in Japanese league)

Yankees... By The Numbers

So the Yankees have played 84 games this season which is just slightly more than the halfway through the season.  Lets look at some of the team leaders and see where they stand compared to years past

HOME RUN LEADERS

Granderson – 25 Home Runs.  The Grandy Man only had 24 home runs for the entire season in 2010 and he already hit that mark last night with his 2 home runs.  His career high is 30 back in 2009, and I think it’s fair to say that he is on pace to break his own record, but could he possibly he 50 Homers this year?

Texeira – 25 Home Runs.  Tex has been keeping up with Granderson despite a slower start to the season and already has the same amount of homers as last season already.  Tex’s career high home runs was 39 back in 2009, and looks like he could break his own record.  Hopefully he can crush 50 for the year if he keeps this up.

RBI LEADERS

Texeira – Tex leads the Yanks with 65 RBI’s.  Last season Texeira only had 108, but 2010 was not a great year for him.  He should be able to hit more than 108 this year, but I doubt he can break his own record of 144 back in 2005.

Granderson – He is on fire this year, and I don’t think anybody would have predicted that Granderson would have more RBI’s that Arod with 62.  The Grandy Man is on pace to easily beat his career high RBI’s with 74 back in 2007.  He only needs 12 more to do it and we are only halfway!

Rodriguez- Arod isn’t far behind Granderson with 52 RBI’s.  He is on pace to have less than his 125 RBI’s in 2010, and I think it’s fair to say his best RBI years are behind him.  Arod had 156 RBI’s back in 2007 which I find highly unlikely that he will reach again.  On the bright side, Arod has 19 doubles already this season and only hit 29 all of last year.  Seems like he lost some power (surprise, surprise) but is still getting the base hits.

TRIPLES

Granderson – Once again Granderson is topping the charts with 7 triples on the season, which is already as many as he hit for the entire 2010 season.  His career high was 23 back in 2007 and I doubt he will that that many this season, but Granderson has been a pleasant surprise this year.

Gardner- Gardner is having another speedy season and has hit 5 triples so far this year.  He is on pace to break his record of 7 that he set in 2010.

JOSE REYES- I have to mention him here as he already has 15 Triples on the season.  Extremely impressive! 

STOLEN BASES

Gardner- The speedy Gardner leads the team with 22 stolen bases, and that is following a rough start to the season where he was being criticized for not stealing enough and getting caught stealing too often.  Gardner has found his groove, but is slightly off pace from his 47 stolen bases in 2010.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see Gardner get 50 this year though as his baserunner has drastically improved throughout the season and he is getting more at bats than he was in April/May.

Granderson- Granderson is among the leaders in every offensive category and stolen bases is no different.  He has 15 for the season already and is on pace to break his own record of 26 back in 2007.

Nunez- Although Nunez is not an everyday player, he still has 10 stolen bases.  If this kid continues to work on his defense, he has the potential to be a great player on the Yankees and a decent offensive infielder who poses a threat on the bases.

STRIKEOUTS

Granderson-  With the good comes the bad.  Although Granderson leads the Yanks in most categories, he strikes out quite often.  This season he leads the Yanks with 86 strikeouts.  He is on pace to break his own record of 116 from last season.

Rodriguez- Arod comes in 2^nd place with 65 K’s.  I doubt he will break his record of 139 for 2005 & 2006, but he will come close.

FOR THE PITCHERS

WINS

Sabathia- CC just won his 12^th game of the season last night and leads all pitchers in MLB for Wins.  Last season he won 21 games for the first time with the Yankees and he is on pace to have another 20+ win season, especially if he continues pitching like last night!

SAVES

Rivera- Mo has 21 saves on the season already.  His career high is 53 back in 2004.  It’s difficult to gauge whether he can achieve 53 again since the score of the game factors into how many appearances that he will make, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him hit 53 again.  Maybe not this season, but he is still the best closer of all time.

STRIKEOUTS

Sabathia- CC’s 11 strikeouts last night and 33 over the past 3 games have brought him to a total of 117 on the season.  He is on pace to beat the 197 K’s in 2010.

Burnett- AJ already has 91 strikeouts on the season and is having a considerably better season than in 2010.  He should be able to get more than 145 K’s that he had in 2010 but I doubt he will reach his career high of 231 back in 2008 with the Jay’s.

Yankees & Rockies Series Preview

THE STATE OF THE YANKEES

The Yankees just finished their Midwest road trip going 4-2 in Interleague play.  They took 2 out of 3 from both the Cubs and the Reds, and are now coming home for their final stretch of interleague play against the Rockies and Brewers before they head cross town for the final three games of the Subway Series.  Overall the Yankees are on a roll since being swept by the Red Sox in the first week of June.  Since that series the Yankees are 10-3 and have won every series since, including a sweep over the Rangers.  Things should only be getting better for the Yankees beginning this week as their injured players will be coming back to the team slowly. 

Jeter is due back this coming Wednesday and Phil Hughes isn’t terribly far behind.  Hughes could be back with the team by early July if his progress continues – He hit 95mph on the radar gun last weekend and was averaging 93mph in that game.  Eric Chavez is slowly recovering as well and we could likely see him back with the team in Mid July, which can help bolster the bench.  Even Bartolo Colon shouldn’t be out terribly long and could rejoin the team in Mid July as well.  Colon was put on the 15 day DL, but it seems he may need a bit longer.  Let Colon take his rest now rather than pushing him back into the rotation which could cause an injury to worsen for an older player, plus Colon was going to need rest throughout the season for stamina purposes since he hasn’t pitched much since 2005.  Even just getting back these four players (forget about Marte, Feliciano & Soriano) will take the pressure of the rest of the team.

Even the guys who had previously started the season poorly have been heating up.  Jorge Posada, who was previously hitting only .183, has brought his average up to .225 and had a game winning home run against the Reds on Wednesday.  Although .225 isn’t a great average, his numbers for June are impressive : .391/.431/.543 with one home run.  I’m not sure what he is doing different, but it could be just as simple as getting acquainted to the DH role.

Brett Gardner had a terrible month of April, but has become the player he was in 2010 again.  In the month of April he hit a mere .188 and didn’t look sharp.  In fact, Girardi started platooning him due to his poor performance.  Gardner then worked with Kevin Long on his swing and received immediate results.  In the month of May his average climbed to .301 with a .379 on base percentage, and so far in June his average is up to .377 on the month with a .441 on base percentage and an extremely impressive .999 OPS.

Nick Swisher has been gaining some momentum as well but it took a little longer for him.  Swish had two bad months in April and May batting .226 and .200 respectively.  June has treated Swisher better and his average is up to .292 on the month with a .435 on base percentage.  His OPS is even higher than Gardner’s for the month of June with a 1.035!  In the last two weeks alone his average is .310 and between Gardner and Swish sharing the leadoff spot, they share a combined .316 average.  Although both Swisher and Gardner are thriving as the #1 batter, once Jeter gets healthy again he will continue to bat leadoff.

Nova had become a pitcher that only a few weeks ago that many critics were claiming he was fighting for a job to stay in the starting rotation, but since his start in Seattle he has been impressive.  He pitched on Monday against the Reds and had a dominant outing, proving to everyone that he needs to stay in the rotation.  Nova also picked up his seventh win on the season which is the second most only to CC with 9.  You can read all about Nova’s performance RIGHT HERE. 

Even Boone Logan had a good outing in Cincinatti.  Logan can’t get a lefty out if they were swinging with one hand, but he was called in against the Reds on Wednesday night following Gordon’s mediocre performance and struck out NL MVP Joey Votto and cleanup hitter Jay Bruce.  It doesn’t’ change the fact that lefties are still hitting .286 against the left handed specialist, but it could be a step in the right direction for Logan.  Last year he had a tough May and June, but came back an ended the season strong.  In July and August he pitched a total of 13 innings and only allowed 1 run, 8 hits and struck out 13. 

The Yankees will welcome Jason Giambi back to the stadium this weekend as the Rockies come to town.  (I still will never forget his Grand Slam against the Twins in extra innings)  The yanks will luck out and not face the Rockies ace this season, Chacin who is 8-4 on the year.  In his last three games alone, he has pitched 22 innings allowing only 10 hits and 2 runs.  The Rockies will have Ubaldo Jimenez pitching the first game which doesn’t fair well for the Yankees, but Jimenez has not been the pitcher he was in the first part of 2010 when his ERA was a miniscule .88 on June 1 with a .95 WHIP.

The Rockies had a great start to the season going 11-3 to kick off April, but have since dropped into third place in the NL West with a .500 record.  May was not a good month for the Rockies as they lost 20 of the 28 games they played.  They have been doing better in June going 12-8 so far and interleague play has worked out well for them lately as they took 2 out of 3 from both the Tigers and the Indians.  The Rockies aren’t a great team but they do boast some big bats in their lineup like their #3 ,4 & 5 hitters, Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki and Todd Helton.  Their team ranks in the top 6 in average, on base percentage and slugging percentage for all teams in the NL but are in the bottom 6 for ERA and WHIP.  As long as the Yankee pitchers can keep their bats in check, they should be able to score some runs and win the series.

PITCHING MATCHUPS

Ubaldo Jimenez (2-7, 4.68 ERA) vs. AJ Burnett (7-5, 4.05 ERA)

-Jimenez is coming off a win against the Tigers last week, but was pulled freom the game in the 6^th inning due to a calf injury he suffered while running the bases.  He is certainly not the same pitcher he was in early 2010.  He is 1-2 over his last three starts with a 3.63 ERA, so he has been improving this season, but who knows whether he has gotten through his control issue yet.

-For more information on Ubaldo, read about him RIGHT HERE

-In 25 at bats against Jimenez, Russell Martin is hitting .320

-AJ is having a much better June than he did last season when he went 0-5 with a 11.35 ERA.  This June he is 2-2 with a 4.21 ERA.  He got the win last weekend against the Cubs but only pitched 5 1/3 innings and used 104 pitches before getting pulled.  He hasn’t been the model of consistency, but seems to be persevering through tough outings with the help of Russell Martin.  In his last three starts he has 19 strikeouts.

Aaron Cook (0-2, 4.67 ERA) vs. CC Sabathia (9-4, 3.39 ERA)

-Cook only recently came off the 60 day DL on June 8, and has not done much.  He has lost both his starts since coming back.  In his last start against the Tigers he pitched 6 innings and gave up four runs to take the loss.

-CC is going for his 10^th win of the season, and attempting to be the first pitcher to get 10 wins this season.  He didn’t have a great start last weekend against the Cubs as he ran into some control issues, but was able to get the win, as the Yankees gave him some run support.  This season he has averaged 8.68 runs per game to support his winning record.

Juan Nicasio (2-1, 4.71 ERA) vs Ivan Nova (7-4, 4.13 ERA)

-Nicasio is a rookie right hander for the Rockies this season. He is coming off a tough no decision to the Indians this week when he gave up 6 runs.  He is 1-0 with a 6.89 ERA over his past three starts, but has struck out 19 in the process.

-Nova is coming off his best start of the season where he pitched 8 strong innings against the Reds.  You can read all about Nova’s improved season right HERE.

Newbies Behind the Plate for the Yankees & Red Sox

This past offseason, the Yankees made a decision that Jorge Posada could no longer be the starting catcher.  This was partly due to his aging skills, along with a severe concussion he suffered last season.  Posada was reluctant at first, but once he realized the severity of last season's concussion and the potential long-term problems, he reluctantly accepted his role as the designated hitter.   You can read more about Jorge’s dilemma HERE

The Yankees decided to gamble and picked up Russell Martin, who a few years ago was the Dodgers rookie phenom catcher.  Since 2007 though, Martin has suffered his share of injuries and has not lived up to his expectations especially offensively.  Defensively though, he's a stud.  Last year Martin only hit .248, but he threw out 30.6% of base stealers, which was the 7th best in the majors!  The Yankees had a 88.8% stolen base success rate against Yankee catchers in 2010, which was the highest in the majors and 5^th highest in the Wild Card Era.  The numbers don’t lie, and Martin is getting the job done.  Martin has turned out to be an exceptional off-season pickup, even if only for his defensive capabilities.

Offensively, Martin started out the season strong.  Throughout the month of April he was hitting .293 with a .376 on base percentage and a .587 slugging percentage.  Martin played every game in the first month of the season as Cervelli was on the DL.  The month of May wasn’t quite as good for Martin and his numbers significantly declined.  In May he hit only .200 with a .333 on base percentage.  Martin seems to have hit a bit of a slump starting in May and continuing through this last Angels series.  Over the last 14 days, he is hitting only .042 and has gone 1 for his past 24.  Prior to the Angels series, Martin was 0-16.  So far on the season he is hitting .236 with a .342 on base percentage, .441 slugging percentage, combined with 9 home runs and 6 stolen bases.    I wouldn’t be surprised to see him end this slump during the homestand  though and begin to pick those numbers back up.  He was given an extra day off on Sunday against the Angels in order to give him two full days off in a row before coming back home, and if he works with Kevin Long a bit on his plate approach he should be fine.  Time will tell.

Although these offensive numbers are definitely lower than the Yankees expected, Martin has been doing well defensively. If there is one intangible about Martin, it would be his ability to work with AJ Burnett.  I don’t think any Yankee fan has forgotten AJ’s terrible 2010 season, but hopefully by the end of the season AJ will have proven his worth again.  I attribute it to pitching coach Larry Rothschild, but just as much to his catcher, Russell Martin.  Martin has provided AJ with enough confidence to using his curve ball and changeup in tight spots such as 3-2 counts.  More importantly, Martin is diving on those curve balls that fall a foot before reaching the plate (60 footers).  Posada was never able to manage AJ well, and never dove on those 60 footers the way Martin does.  Now that AJ has a catcher willing to put his body on the line to smother the curve, he is more willing to use it in pressure situations.  I have no doubt there was an issue between Posada and AJ, specifically with the use of his curve ball.  There is nothing worse than a pitcher who can’t use his best weapons, and AJ’s curve can be amazing but even when it’s not spot on, he needs that encouragement to continue throwing it.  That’s what Martin brings to the table, and that is a significant aspect of AJ’s improved 2011 season.  Keep an eye on how often AJ uses his offspeed and breaking balls compared to last year.

An unusual statistic for Martin is the lack of runners caught stealing.  He has 0 runners caught stealing this season, but the flip-side to that stat is only 6 runners have stolen bases off Martin.  Fine, he’s 0-6, but we are more than a third of the way through the season and only 6 runners have stolen a base!  I will take that any day of the week.

This year the Red Sox have a newbie behind the plate as well. after letting Victor Martinez slip away in free agency. They named Jarrod Saltalamacchia as the starting catching for the Red Sox.  Salty, as they call him, started off the season very poorly and was unable to handle the pitchers during the first month and a half.  It came to the point that Varitek is being used just as regularly as Salty is now.  It seems that all the young catcher needed though was a little bit of work with Varitek and hitting coach Dave Magadan.  Since sharing time behind the plate with Varitek, Salty’s numbers have improved.

It seems that mid May was the turning point for Saltalamacchia.  Prior to May 13, he was only hitting .203 with no home runs.  At this point, the Boston pitchers were struggling and their ERA’s were skyrocketing.  Following this may 13 turning point, Salty has turned it on.  He has gone 15-50 and is batting .300 with 5 home runs and 10 RBI’s.  Since that May 13 date, the Red Sox are 10-3 in games Salty started.  Although he isn’t playing the everyday role any longer, he is making his at bats count more.  Last weekend he went 5 for 11 against the A’s in the Red Sox weekend sweep.  Fortunately for the Yankees this week, Saltalamacchia is only hitting .179 on the road (versus .290 at Home). 

Defensively he is making strides and working with Varitek but not as quickly as anybody would like, yet in all fairness he has never been known for his defensive skills.  In 2010 he only had a 17% caught stealing percentage. Over the past few seasons, he has been on the leader board for errors as well.  In 2009 he committed 7 errors and tied for 5th highest in the AL and in 2008 tied for 2nd most in AL with 9.  In 2008 he also played first base, and had the most errors of any first basemen in the AL with 9.  Right now, he tops the AL leader board with 4 passed balls (3^rd in AL) and has allowed a whopping 38 Stolen Bases (2^nd highest in AL).  In fact, last week he almost blew a game against the Angels with a passed ball by Bobby Jenks, allowing Abreu to score which brought the score to 4-3 in the 8^th inning.  The Sox hung on to win the game, but his defensive skills are lacking and other teams are noticing. 

I supposed both Martin and Saltalamacchia are going through their ups and downs, but both players have a significant effect on their respective teams.  Both players could be a pivotal player in their teams playoff hopes.  This will definitely be something we will keep an eye on throughout the season!

Part I of this series is located HERE

The Update to Part I is located HERE