Not Quite As Bad As The Numbers May Indicate

Colon’s line last night could have looked like this: 6 innings pitched, 3 runs, 6 hits & 5 strikeouts.  Instead, he went back out for the 7^th inning and finished the night with 6.1 Innings pitched, 5 runs, 8 hits & 6 strikeouts.  If Colon had not gone back out for the 7^th there wouldn’t be any scrutiny today as his numbers would indicate a strong outing.  Instead he is the story of the day since his inevitable decline has begun.

I got to be honest here and say that I doubted that Colon was going to make it out of spring training, then I doubted he would make it to the All Star Break but somewhere around the midpoint of the season I have been sold on Colon.  I don’t think he’s in any danger of losing steam even though he has already pitched more innings this year than he has in the past 3.  His velocity is still high and he looks generally in control on the mound.

His numbers on the other hand seem to reflect that Colon is not as dominant as he was in the first half.  Since coming back from the DL with his hamstring injury, he is 3-5 with a 4.61 ERA. Compare that to his ERA in the first half at 3.20 and there is a noticeable decline.  I don’t necessarily attribute it to him running out of steam though.  Colon hasn’t actually shown anything to indicate he lost his stamina. Instead, it seems that the league may have caught up with him a bit. 

Colon relies upon four pitches: His 2 seam fastball, 4 seam fastball, slider and the occasional changeup.  What this really means is that he is mainly a fastball pitcher and fangraphs.com has him using a fastball at 82.5%. Colon mixes the fastball with a slider used about 12% of the time and the changeup at 4% of the time.  What this means to me as a batter is:  Wait for the fastball!  He’s going to throw it often and hopefully you can get a good swing on the pitch.  Don’t waste your time looking for the slider or change as he doesn’t use them often.  Last night was even more noticeable as Colon wasn’t using his 2 seamer at all.  It was the 4 seamer all night with the occasional slider and change mixed in.  Although his fastball has movement to it, the batter knows it’s coming so they can prepare accordingly.  Basically the league has caught up with Colon.

Last night wasn’t Colon’s best night by any means but it still wasn’t as bad as many would make you think.  Like I had said, if he finished after 6 innings, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.  Colon actually finished the 6^th inning with a strikeout on his fastball in the mid 90’s.  He even came back out for the 7^th inning and started off with another strikeout.  Ultimately he allowed a single and a double during the 7^th before he was pulled for Boone Logan.  Logan came in to face Sizemore who hit the ball up the first base line.  It wasn’t a quality hit from Sizemore as he hit it with the very end of the bat, but it got the job done and Colon finished the night with 5 earned runs.

Colon may not be the same pitcher he was back in May and June, but he is still an efficient starting pitcher who keeps the Yankees in the game. Before the Yankees return to the 5 man rotation, it wouldn’t be the worst thing for Colon to sit out a game or two following this weekends series in Baltimore.  Unfortunately that means AJ will get another start or two. If Colon can get a little rest now and retool his pitches slightly by working on his control again, it will give him an edge that should last into the postseason.

A's vs Yankees Preview

The Yankees are facing off against the Athletics this week who begin their 10 game road trip with 3 games in the Bronx.  The A’s are on a bit of a hot streak lately as they have won 4 of their last 6 games against the Orioles and Blue Jays and will need that hot streak to continue this week as the Yankees own them.  This season alone the Yankees are 5-1 against the A’s, and have won 26 of the past 31 games these two teams have played.  These games seem somewhat meaningless as Oakland is not in contention for the postseason, but if the Yankees can continue to beat up on the easy teams they may just win the Division to secure home field advantage during the post season. 

One thing that I do find worthwhile to watch about these games is the Oakland pitching.  There has been some talks that the Yankees have some interest in Rich Harden and may try to acquire him at some point in the offseason.  Also, Tuesday’s starter Brendan McCarthy will be a free agent at the end of this season and I have a feeling the Yankees may keep an eye on him as well.  Both Harden and McCarthy could be a good fit with the Yankees… for the right price.

A LOOK AT THE A'S

-The Yankees need to pitch around Matsui as much as possible.  Last time these teams met, Matsui went 7-13 with a home run and two doubles.  Since the All Star Break, he is hitting .372 with a .434 on base percentage.

-Josh Willingham is the A’s offensive powerhouse and leads the team in most offenseive categories.  He’s also on a hot streak as he has hit 9 home runs over his last 22 games.  Willingham is tied with Jacoby Ellsbury for the most home runs in the AL since the All Star Break with 11.

-Jemile Weeks & Coco Crisp are the speedy duo stealing bases for the A’s.  Crisp has 37 steals and Weeks has 14.  Although Weeks only has 14, he has only played in 64 games this year.  Weeks would be a good Rookie of the Year candidate as he is batting .289 with a .319 on base percentage, but he hasn’t played in enough games.

-The A’s bullpen is solidified with a mix of 3 solid pitchers shutting down the last few innings.  Andrew Bailey is their close and he has converted his last 8 saves.  Grant Balfour and Brian Fuentes are used in tandem to set up Bailey. 

STARTING PITCHERS

Brendan McCarthy (6-6, 3.74 ERA) vs. Bartolo Colon (8-7, 3.54 ERA)

-Colon is coming off his first loss since July 19 but the loss wasn’t entirely his fault as this was the blown home run call game against Kansas City.  The blown call allowed the Royals to win the game 5-4.  Although the Billy Butler home run contributed to the loss, Colon wasn’t at his sharpest and has caused many to be concerned with his stamina during the second half.  In his last 3 games, Colon is 0-1 with a 5.17 ERA and only 9 strikeouts.

-McCarthy is a big pitcher at 6’ 7’’ and will be using that size to throw fastballs at the Yankees.  He uses both a 2 and 4 seamer that sit in the low 90’s and has been using them with his Cutter to force ground balls.  McCarthy also will throw his curveball often which has been effective for him.  He does have a slider and changeup as well, but doesn’t throw them very frequently as they aren’t terribly effective pitches for him

-McCarthy is 2-1 with a 4.67 ERA and 8 strikeouts in his last 3 games and is coming off a win against Baltimore after allowing 8 hits and 4 runs over 6 innings.  Although not a dominant performance, he gave the A’s a chance to win the game.

-Watch out for Tex and Swish against McCarthy as they are hitting .600 and .429 against him respectively, and each have a home run against him.

Trevor Cahill (9-12, 4.17 ERA) vs. CC Sabathia (17-7, 2.96 ERA)

-CC just got his 17^th win of the season against the Twins this past weekend allowing only 3 earned runs in the process.  He seems to be getting through his little second half slump and with a struggling A’s offense, he could find his stride again Wednesday.

-CC is 1-2 with a 6.43 ERA and 22 strikeouts over his last 3 starts.

-Cahill is coming off a tough loss against Toronto last week after allowing 7 runs on 5 hits while striking out only 2 over 5 1/3 innings.  His numbers against the Yankees aren’t much better as he is 0-4 and has allowed 28 runs in 18 innings pitched.

-Cahill basically uses a mix of a sinker and fastball, although he throws in a changeup mixed in as well.  Used effectively they will induce a lot of ground balls. Used ineffectively, the Yankees will hit him all night long.  Cahill will also throw a slider, but not too often.

-Watch out for the middle of the order against Cahill as Tex is hitting .600 against him with 1 homer, Arod is hitting .667 off him with 2 homers and Cano is hitting .500 off him with one home run.  Posada is also a .500 hitter against Cahill.

Rich Harden (4-2, 3.91 ERA) vs. Phil Hughes (4-4, 5.75 ERA)

-Hughes looked incredible during his last start and is making a strong case to become the #2 starter for the Yankees in the postseason.  He only allowed 1 run over 7 2/3 innings against the Twins this past Friday night.  The Twins were only able to get two hits off Hughes the whole night, one of which was a early home run. Hughes settled down and retired the last 22 of 27 batters he faced to get the win.

-Hughes has been getting stronger and strong since coming back from the DL.  Over his last three games he is 2-1 with a 2.57 ERA and 8 strikeouts.

-Harden is coming off a very strong start against Toronto after striking out a career high 11 batters and allowing only 2 hits.  His last three games have actually all been strong and he is 2-1 with a 2.50 ERA and 23 strikeouts over these last three games. 

-Harden pitched well against the Yankees during their last series and allowed 2 runs over 5.2 innings, but threw too many pitches and had to be pulled early.

-Harden relies on his fastball mains throwing it more than 50% of the time and mixes it with his changeup.  He has also been using a splitter lately with success, and although he throws a slider, its not used often

-Watch out for the #2 - #4 batters as Granderson is hitting .333 against harden with 1 home run, Texeira is hitting .444 off him with a home run and Arod is hitting .556 off Harden.

Yankees vs Red Sox Preview

Here we are in August and both the Yankees and Red Sox are tied for 1^st place with records 68-42.  One of these teams will come out of this weekend in first place and looking for home field advantage in the playoffs as the division winner.  The Yankees come into this series red hot with a 7 game winning streak where they outscored their opponents 63-19.  They have also won 8 of their last 10 games. The Red Sox come into this series after splitting a 4 game set with Cleveland and taking 2 of 3 in Chicago.  Boston has won 10 of the last 15 games they played and 6 of their last 10.

The last time these two teams played was back on June 9^th in the Bronx and the Yankees were swept. Now it’s time for some vindication and they Yankees are looking to keep their offensive numbers going and hopefully walk out of this series claiming 1^st place.  Although it’s only August and they will meet twice more, these games are very important and that is why Colon was bumped to start Friday’s game. 

I think the keys for the Yankees to win this series are to score runs early as Boston’s bullpen has been shut down in the final three innings.  If the Yankees can manufacture some early runs similar to what they have been doing over the last 30 games or so, they can take 2 of 3.  The Yankees pitchers will need to be careful with the Boston batters as their lineup is tough and will make them pay for any mistake.  

Here's an in depth look at the Red Sox Bullpen Situation

PITCHING MATCHUPS

FRI: Bartolo Colon (8-6, 3.30 ERA) vs. John Lester (11-4, 3.17 ERA)

-Colon pitched last Saturday against the Orioles and struggled a bit with his command but was able to pitch well enough for the win.  He allowed only 2 runs on 5 hits, but used 105 pitches so he was pulled from the game following the 5^th innings.

-Colon is 2-1 with a 2.45 ERA over his last 3 starts with 19 strikeouts

-Colon is 3-3 on the road in the 10 games he started this season.  His road ERA is 2.83 with 55 strikeouts and 1 complete game shutout against the A’s.

-Colon has faced the Red Sox twice this season and allowed only 3 runs over 10 1/3 innings with 9 strikeouts, but allowed 10 hits.  Colon wasn’t at his best against the Red Sox and had to be pulled early from each game.

-Marco Scutaro is hitting .571 against Colon

-Lester is coming off a strong start against the White Sox last weekend after he pitched a solid 8 innings allowing only 2 runs and 4 hits.

-Opponents are hitting .245 off Lester this season

-Lester is 3-3 with a 3.86 ERA in 8 starts at Fenway park this season

-Lester is 1-0 with a 1.56 ERA and 19 strikeouts over his last three starts

-Lester is 8-1 against the Yankees in his young career with a 3.56 ERA.  He has pitched a total of 86 innings and struck out 92 yankee batters.

SAT: CC Sabathia (16-5, 2.55 ERA) vs. John Lackey (9-8, 6.23 ERA)

-CC wasn’t his sharpest in his last outing against the White Sox this past week but managed to get the win after pitching 8 full innings.  He did allow 10 hits as he labored through the start but allowed the White Sox to score only 2 runs.  Even when CC doesn’t have his A-Game, he still finds a way to get the win.

-CC is 2-1 with a 1.96 ERA and 28 strikeouts over his last 3 games

-CC is 9-1 since June 14^th with a 1.01 ERA over his previous 8 games

-CC has 3 of his 5 losses this season against the Red Sox.  In those 3 games, he’s allowed 24 hits, 9 walks, 13 runs in 19 innings with only 15 strikeouts.  Clearly, he hasn’t pitched his best against Boston…. Yet!

-Carl Crawford is hitting .325 against CC

-Marco Scutaro is hitting .318 against CC

-Youk is hitting .409 against CC

-John Lackey is having another poor season for the Red Sox and had another subpar outing this past week against the Indians allowing 5 runs on 8 hits over 6 2/3 innings.  Although many Boston fans thought this was a step in the right direction for Lackey as he lasted into the 7^th inning, he still made errors  & allowed back to back home runs.  You can read more about Lackey’s Dissapointing season HERE

-Lackey pitched against the Yankees once this season and allowed 7 hits and 6 runs over 5 innings.

-Lackey is 2-0 with a 4.19 ERA and 12 strikeouts over his last 3 games

-Chavez is hitting .300 against Lackey

-Jeter is hitting .343 against lackey

-Posada is hitting .556 against Lackey

Sun: Freddy Garcia (10-7, 3.22 ERA) vs Josh Beckett (9-4, 2.20 ERA)

-Garcia has now won his past three starts and in those starts he has a 2.21 ERA with 18 strikeouts.  This game against Boston should prove more difficult for him as they are a hard hitting offensive team. It will be a big test for the Big Chief to see how his soft throws will hold up against this offense

-Garcia is 0-2 against the Red Sox this season

-Garcia has a 2.88 ERA on the road this season with 43 strikeouts in 53 innings pitched

-Beckett shut down the Yankees in the last Sunday night game they played allowing only 2 hits over 8 shutout innings with 10 strikeouts.  Beckett looked solid on the mound against the Yankees in every game he’s pitched against the Yankees this season.  In the 21 innings pitched versus the yanks, Beckett has allowed only 10 hits and 2 earned runs over 21 innings while striking out 23!

-Beckett is 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA and 22 strikeouts over his last three starts

-Beckett has started 21 games this season for the Red Sox and they have only lost 5 of those games

-Beckett’s ERA is 2.20 which is second best in the AL.  His WHIP is .92 which is 2^nd in the AL.  He has allowed only 91 hits which is the lowest for the AL.

-Cano is hitting .339 against Beckett with 12 RBI’s

-Jeter is hitting .200 against Beckett with 9 RBI’s

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)

Ready For The Second Half

Although the Yankees lost last night, there was a big bright spot for the Yankees as Bartolo Colon pitched into the 7^th inning and looked like his old self again becoming more dominant as the game progressed.  Coming off two terrible outings where he allowed 13 runs over 6 innings, Colon needed to show the team that he still had his mojo and that is exactly what he did. 

Colon allowed only 5 hits over the 6.1 innings he pitched last night.  More impressive was his season high 9 strikeouts! Colon used more of a mix of pitches than he has in the past.  Last night he relied more on his 4 seam fastball which was topping out at 94 mph.  Colon also mixed more changeups and sliders than we have seen before, but his 2 seamer was again a great weapon against the Tampa lineup as the movement befuddled most hitters limiting them to 5 hits.  He was pulled in the 7^th inning when Boone Logan came into the game.  Although Logan pitched well, the Yankees defense and some bizarre errors caused mainly by a crappy Tropicana Field allowed the Rays to claim the lead in the 7^th for the win.

Even with the loss, the Yankees should be happy as Bartolo Colon showed his worth.  I think we can look back at Colon’s past two starts as unfortunate consequences from an injury rather than a systematic problem with the rotation.  Colon showed absolutely no issues with his hamstring and didn’t require any treatment on his legs following the game.  He seems to have gotten the injury issues out of his head, and is ready for the second half.  The Yankees will still have to monitor his progress in the future as he is pitching more innings than he has in the past 5 years and will have to monitor his defense as he was not tested by Tampa yesterday, but I think it’s fair to say the Yankees can count on Colon.

You can read more about Colon's innings issue from yesterday's blog post  HERE

You can read more about Colon's poor start following his return from the DL HERE

All Eyes On Colon

Tonight’s start for Bartolo Colon should prove very important for not only Colon, but also the state of the Yankees rotation.  His past two starts have been awful as Colon has given up a total of 13 runs and 16 hits over a mere 6 1/3 innings.  More importantly, we are at the point in the season where Colon’s effectiveness can be a serious issue.

Colon has pitched 90.2 innings so far this season.  Although he started in the bullpen for most of April, he was soon promoted as a starter when Phil Hughes hit the DL with his dead arm issue.  Since then, Colon has pitched more innings than he has since 2005.  We could be at a point of the season that the Yankees need to re-assess Colon.  Last year Colon didn’t pitch at all, and in 2009 he only pitched 62 innings.  From 2006 through 2009 Colon pitched a total of 257 innings which breaks down to about 64 innings a year.  This was no surprise to the Yankees as he was a clear risk when they signed him, but he has already surpassed 2009’s innings this season. If the Yankees use him as much as they have the first half, Colon could possibly pitch 200 innings.  Although the Verducci rules of innings limits doesn’t apply to veterans, it is likely this pressure on his arm will cause some problems – or has already caused some problems.

Colon is coming off two bad starts.  The first was before the All-Star Break against the Rays.  He allowed 5 runs on 10 hits, and issued 4 walks.  He didn’t have his two seamer and his location was terrible from the start.  This was only his first start since coming off the DL with a hamstring injury so everyone gave him a pass.  He even made a comment that he was concerned with his hamstring following the short stint on the DL.  You can read more about this start in my blog post HERE

Unfortunately Colon didn’t make any progress in his second start back this past Thursday in Toronto.  He was pulled after 2/3 of an inning.  There was no doubt that in this start the Yankees defense was horrendous but Colon wasn’t able to battle through it.  He allowed 8 runs in the first inning before getting pulled.  (Although 5 of the 8 runs were unearned) Colon just couldn’t push through and get himself out of the jams and even allowed another 2 walks.  More concerning was his two seam fastball which didn’t have his usual velocity.  Since he was pulled so early, nobody really got a chance to see whether his hamstring was causing any nagging issues.

Tonight Colon will face off against the Rays again and hopefully have a better outing that he did on July 7 against them.  I think it’s fair to say that all eyes will be on Colon tonight to determine the future of the rotation.  If Colon can’t pitch the full season, the Yankees may need to make a big trade (I would love to see Jimenez!) but they still have the option of bringing Nova back up and putting Colon back in the pen. 

However, it’s not out of the question to see Colon get back out there tonight and kick some butt.  He has been extremely impressive this season and might be the biggest surprise in MLB this year.  Nobody, including myself, thought that Colon could come back this season and be effective but he has proven everyone wrong and pitched some real gems.

Colon's Tough Night & Some Other Stuff Too

Last night the Yankees dropped their opening game to the Rays with Bartolo Colon taking the loss.  Although the Yanks have lost 4 of their last 5, I don’t think it’s time to get in a panic but rather just finish this last series before the All-Star break strong. 

You could tell right from the top of the first inning last night that Colon was missing something and it could be a tough night for the Yankees.  Colon got himself in trouble early because of problems finding the location on his pitches.  The problem with his control was so bad that he actually walked a season high 4 batters.  Even when he wasn’t walking batters, he was having problems with his fastballs which didn’t have any movement.  This in turn, caused Colon to give up 10 hits and 5 runs over 5 2/3 innings.  If you have watched Colon pitched this year, you would have noticed his 2 seamer has been incredible and fooling batters with rapid movement.  Even his 4 seamer had some movement to it in the past.  Last night though, all his pitches were flat and sitting right in the zone ideal for batters to hit.

Hopefully Colon got a bad start out of his system and can get back to pitching as usual.  I doubt the bad start had anything to do with his hamstring injury which sent him to the DL a few weeks back and it didn’t seem like Colon was having stamina issues, so I think we can just chalk it up to a bad day. 

It wasn’t all Colon’s fault either last night as the Yankees offense didn’t produce against Niemann who cruised through 7 1/3 innings.  Although Cano had a home run to continue his hitting streak to 11 games, the power hitters in their lineup had an awful night.  Between Granderson, Texeira and Arod, they went 0-10!

Galea is the weasley looking fellow on the left

Speaking of Arod… the steroids issues never seem to go away.  Yesterday Arods doctor Anthony Galea took a plea deal with the Federal Government for smuggling HGH.  Rumors around MLB are swirling that part of the deal for Galea is to meet with MLB investigators and name names.  It would be similar to what happened with Kirk Radomski a few years back.  Galea was rumored to have worked with Arod, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and Tiger Woods just to name a few.  Hopefully any investigation with MLB can take place after the season and Arod can focus on the game.

On the other side of the diamond, it was like the Rays were a totally different team from last season.  Well, that’s exactly what they are.  The Rays have lost considerable talent from last season but have done a pretty good job of staying in the pennant race.  They lost Soriano, Pena, Crawford, Bartlett, Balfour, Garza, Wheeler and Benoit.  Although some of these guys didn’t have great numbers last season, each one of their names are fairly recognizable as they all were contributors to the Rays.  I got to hand it to Joe Maddon as he really knows what he’s doing.  It’s too bad the Rays are in the AL East otherwise I would have to root for them.

Rays vs. Yankees Preview

The Rays come to the Bronx for the final four games before the All-Star Break.  Although the Rays are 4 games out of first place in the AL East, they have potential to make some headway over their next few series'.  They have these four games against the Yankees, then following the All-Star break they host the Red Sox followed by another series against the Yankees. If they can split these games, they will be right back in the fight for the AL East title.  This might be easier said than done though, as the Rays aren’t playing their best ball.  They lost two of three to the reds a week ago, then won two of three from the Cardinals before returning to the AL, where they lost two of three from the ailing Twins.  They barely escaped a sweep in Minnesota but not for a total breakdown in the Twins bullpen yesterday. Overall, they are about a .500 team.

The Yankees have been hot lately although they did drop 2 of 3 to the Indians in Cleveland this week.  Although they lost 2 of 3, they still played good ball and could have won all the games had AJ not collapsed following 6 scoreless innings, and Mitre not allowed any runs in last night’s loss.  The Yankees are 7-3 in their last ten games and are 28-18 at home.  This should be a good series as the Rays haven’t come to the Bronx this season yet, and have a good record on the road at 27-18 compared to their 21-21 record in Tampa. 

PITCHING MATCHUPS

Thursday: Jeff Niemann (3-4, 5.05) vs Bartolo Colon (6-3, 2.88)

-Colon is seeking his 5^th straight win.  He came off the DL prior to his last start against the Mets where he pitched 6 shutout innings while striking out 6. 

-Colon has the lowest ERA for a Yankees starter

-Over his past three starts, Colon is 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA and 16 strikeouts

-Niemann pitched this past Saturday against the Cardinals allowing only 1 run and struck out 5.  He will be making his 4^th start since coming off the DL, and is 2-0 with a 3.60 ERA over his last three games with 12 strikeouts

-Niemann was the pitcher to give up hit # 2721 to Derek Jeter, when Jeter tied Lou Gehrig for the most hits in pinstripes.  During that game, Jeter had 3 hits against Niemann.  Jeter is 5-9 with 2 doubles off Niemann.

Friday: Jeremy Hellickson (8-7, 3.21) vs Freddy Garcia (7-6, 3.13)

-Garcia pitched a strong 7 innings in his last outing on Sunday against the Mets allowing only one run.  Mo ultimately blew the save before the yanks lost in extra innings.

-Garcia is 2-0 over his last three starts with a 1.35 ERA, but only 6 strikeouts over those three games

-Johnny Damon has some good numbers against Garcia, as he is hitting .316 over 19 at bats.  Unfortunately for Damon, it looks like he won’t be playing after being hit by two pitches yesterday and being removed from the game.  He is day to day.

-Hellickson has never started against the Yankees, although he has appeared in relief against them last season.  If this is anything like other young pitchers facing the Yankees for the first time, it could be a long day for the Yanks!

-Hellickson last pitched against the Cardinals this past weekend allowing 3 runs on 6 hits to get the win.  This win snapped his 4 game losing streak.

-Hellickson has allowed 7 home runs over his past 5 starts.  He also has some control issues as his BB/9IP ratio is 3.39/9IP.  The yanks need to stay patient, and hopefully drill a few balls over the fence.

-Hellickson is 1-2 with a 3.72 ERA over his last three starts, with 14 strikeouts.

Saturday: David Price (8-7, 3.56) vs AJ Burnett (8-7, 4.12)

-AJ totally fell apart in his last start during the 7^th inning following 6 shutout innings.  In the 7^th, AJ allowed 4 runs and took the loss to the Indians

-Burnett is 1-2 with a 4.43 ERA and 15 strikeouts over his last 3 starts.

-Longoria is hitting .375 off Burnett over 32 at bats

-David Price took his first loss on the road since May 21 this past week against the Twins.  In that start Price allowed 4 runs on 5 hits.

-Price is 1-1 with a 3.32 ERA and a whopping 28 strikeouts in his last 3 games!

-On the bright side of things, Nick Swisher is hitting .357 off Price over 14 at bats.

Sunday: James Shields (8-6, 2.47) vs. CC Sabathia (12-4, 2.90)

-This should be a great matchup and is a great way to end regular season play before the All-Star Break! 

-CC has been absolutely dominant lately and just got his 12^th win of the season, being the first pitcher to get 12 wins in MLB this season.  In his last start he struck out 11 batters over 7 innings of shutout baseball.

-CC is 3-0 with a .40 ERA and an amazing 33 strikeouts over his past three games.

-Longoria bats .316 off CC over 19 at bats with 2 Home Runs

-BJ Upton is batting .300 against CC over 30 at bats with 2 Home Runs

-Johnny Damon is hitting .333 over 9 at bats against Sabathia

-Ben Zobrist is batting .320 off CC in 25 at bats

-Shields is coming off a subpar start where he lasted only 6 innings and giving up 3 runs on 6 hits.

-Shields is 1-2 with a 2.86 ERA and 24 strikeouts over his past three games

-Cano is hitting .390 off Shields in 41 at bats with 3 Homers

-Jeter is hitting .340 off Shields in 50 at bats.

-Jorge Posada is hitting .296 off Shields in 27 at bats.

SIDE NOTES:  In case you have been living under a rock… Jeter is 3 hits shy of 3000 and has 4 games at home to try and hit the milestone.

Arod is batting .397 over his past 15 games with 10 RBI’s

Wade Davis was placed on the DL today and the Rays called up Gomes as a reliever in his place in order to bolster their bullpen against the Yankees.

Longoria is questionable to play during this series due to a nerve issue in his foot

Matt Joyce has slowed down considerably since his early tear.  Since June 1 he is batting .160 with a .219 on base percentage.

You Can Read All About CC Sabathia RIGHT HERE

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.