Wang and Posada

There wasn't a whole lot of hitting in yesterday afternoon's 3rd match up with the Cleveland Indians. Much of this had to do with who was on the mound. Sabathia, who limited the Yankees to only one run is surprisingly 1-4 this season. But let's talk about Wang... 9 strikeouts over 7 innings is what the Yankees needed to give their bullpen a rest. This win brings Wang to a 5-0 record... not too shabby. JoMo came in to seal the deal and New York was able to return to .500 baseball with a current 13-13 record. Mariano picked up his seventh save and has been looking incredibly on the mark this year.

Sadly, Posada needed to be placed on the DL for the first time in his Yankee career yesterday, suffering from more right shoulder pain. It is a hard break but something that we can't be too surprised by. Posada is getting up there in age and catching is a hard position to play. Jorge puts everything he has into every play, every game. Injury happens and there's not much that can be done about it. The Yankees will be absolutely fine with Molina behind the plate but need to make sure that another backup is in place. Moeller was already designated on Friday and it will be a few days before anything can be done with him. There is speculation about acquiring Chris Stewart from Scranton but we will have to wait until tonight to see what Girardi decides to do.

Some go down and some come up...

I believe there are good things in store for Jonathan Albaladejo. I have been meaning to write this several times but it seemed like every time the Yankees brought him up from Triple-A, I would blink one too many times and he would be back down there. Albaladejo was brought up again yesterday as Brian Bruney was placed on the disabled list with an injury to the Lisfranc joint of his right foot that is likely to require surgery. The Bruney incident was a big blow to the bombers as Bruney was proving himself as an effective inning-eater and a tremendous asset to a starting rotation that has been having trouble getting to the 4th and 5th innings. My prediction is that we won't see Brian until late in the summer, many weeks after the all-star break. But back to Albaladejo... originally from the Washington Nationals, he came into last night's game and pitched two very respectable innings. This was his third game coming to the mound for New York and each time I have seen him pitch I have been impressed. Keep an eye on this guy!

Girardi made some additional space for pitching by getting rid of third string catcher Chad Moeller. Moeller, who came in when both Posada and Molina were injured, did a commendable job behind the plate for the Yankees. Thank you Chad but right now the team really needs pitching so they brought up Chris Britton, who had made 11 appearances in 2007 for New York.

I think we will be seeing a few other pitching transactions during this 4 game set in Cleveland. I would be surprised if we don't see Duncan coming back soon too. This is a rough time for the team right now and adjustments need to me made. The bats are coming alive and I am getting excited for some May baseball.

Mixed Emotions

Wow. Last night's game against Tampa Bay was certainly an unusual one. Firstly, something must have been pumped into that dome air to cause all those home runs! Damon, Rodriguez, Ensberg and Cano (finally) all knocked one out of the park for the Yankees. Unfortunately, Yankee pitchers also let three go for the Rays.

We got to see some variety of talent on the field last night and I was pleasantly surprised by what they brought to the table. Moeller did fine catching for Bombers, and that is a good considering he is third-string. The Gonzalez at 2nd and Ensberg at 1st duo worked well and I think it made sense to sit Cano out for most of the game (more on that in a minute). Kennedy certainly pitched a whole lot better than his last outing and more importantly, it seemed that he made corrections and targeted improvements from his last start against Tampa.

I would have liked to have seen Albaladejo come in to the game for some relief. I think at one point he was in the pen but Joe opted for Traber and Bruney. Both were a disappointment but I think (hope) it was just a case of them having a bad night. I do like Bruney alot and think he will help in those middle innings but Joe needs to be sure not to over use him like Torre did with Proctor. Traber also has a targeted purpose and the Yankees need to be mindful of that. Clearly Joba was missed last night.

Back to Cano... I think Girardi took a risk by bringing him in the pinch hit and I think that risk paid off. Joe got lucky. Nothing more... nothing less. I was at my chiropractor last night and he asked me what I thought of Joe's decision to have Mussina pitch to Manny in last Saturday's game against Boston as opposed to walking him to an open first base. I told him that I think Girardi made a decision (took a risk) and it turned out to be a bad one. No, not really a bad one... just one that didn't work in his favor. Had Cano struck out last night, every paper in the city would be chanting "Clueless Joe".

So why mixed emotions? I am elated that the Yankees hit well last night, putting a season-high 15 hits on the board. I am especially pleased with ARod's 4-fo-5 performance at the plate. But I am concerned about bringing a 7-2 lead in the seventh to such a close game. If the hitting we saw last night continues throughout the entire season (and it should) then there really is no concern I guess. I just want to know that we didn't just get lucky last night (and I am not just referring to Cano).