Upsetting

I am starting to get a little tired of the crap that Phil Hughes is putting over the plate this year. The now 0-and-4 starter allowed 6 runs over 3 -2/3 innings. I don't want to hear about how young he is. I don't want to hear any excuses. This guy is in the number 3 spot. He NEEDS to do better and that's all there is to say. There is no room for a 7.85 ERA in the Yankees starting lineup. I would almost rather see Kei Igawa on the mound.

Seeing Chris Stewart behind the dish made me realize just how important Posada and Molina are to the team. Stewart had very little control over him domain last night and didn't help Hughes out in the least.

As nice as it was to see Cano hit one to the stands in the 2nd inning and Giambi had a nice hit in the 9th, but we didn't really get to see much else. Another bases-loaded opportunity gone bad (make that TWO bases-loaded opportunities gone bad); too many players left on base.

This game was against Detroit for Christsake! Final Score: Tigers 6 and Yankees 4.

No, I don't know why I am so aggressively depressing in this entry. Perhaps it had to do with the Yankees releasing All-Star Game info today. Tier Box tickets selling for $50 for a regular season game are selling for $770 per seat for the All-Star Game and other required events. Prices range from $300 for the bleachers to $1,600 for field level... and these are just the face value amounts. StubHub is already marketing tickets up to $25,000. This is so completely outrageous that it actually angers me. I didn't really ever think I would have a chance at securing any tickets to the game but now I have put it out of my mind entirely.

Three things...

Three things became clear to me after last night's game 4 against Cleveland that the Yankees won by a score of 5-to-3, splitting the series 2-2 with the Indians. First is that everything that I have said about Mike Mussina still stands. While every other blogger was all but begging for his dismissal after the two Boston games, I kept saying... "He has value.." If you take Boston out of the picture, he is 3-and-1; and consider that the Boston loses were mainly a result of mistakes in dealing with Manny. Keep watching Yankee fans, the Moose might surprise you this season. He has been working on his delivery, throwing first-pitch strikes, and starting to dabble with "inside". In the 32.1 innings he has pitched so far this season, he has only walked 5 batters. No too bad, I say.

The second thing has to do with hitting... this team is capable of maneuvering some crafty hits and anyone who watched last night's game should agree. The sixth inning brought us infield singles by Cabrera, Jeter, and (my favorite of the night) Ensberg. Throw in an A-Rod hit-by-pitch and a few sacrifice plays and you have 5 runs on the board. Yankees baseball is not all about driving balls out of the park. Home runs are nice but I would much rather watch some crafty ball. These were not manufactured runs last night, they were the result of legitimate hits.

Finally, the bull pen can be effective. Not to keep repeating myself but keep an eye on Albaladejo. I think you may find him going places this year. With Bruney out and plans to move Joba, there are some seats open in the pen. I say Albaladejo gets one of them on a more permanent basis.

The Yankees are going to be just fine. Last night was a big win for them, even if only in a psychological way. It put the team 5-5 for this last road trip and one game over .500 for the season. They now have a 9-game home stand to look forward to and should be in a good position to face Detroit, Seattle, and Cleveland once again in a week on their own turf.

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.

Standings

I am not quite sure that I understand Girardi's thinking these days. Going into yesterday's game 2 of 4 against Cleveland, after having lost the day before (and the last two games), why would you decide to rest half of your starters? If you look at the box score, you will see what I mean. Oh, and Joe, this was also a wonderful game to sit out Joba.

The Yankees were 2 and 13 last night with runners in scoring position. Not good.

Fortunately, the team's 3 game losing streak is topped by Boston's 4 game losing streak. Tampa Bay seems to be the only team in the division doing anything lately as they gain ground on Baltimore and Boston.

Here are the end-of-the-week standings:

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.

Comments and Concerns

Yes, I am a little cranky from staying up late last night, hanging on through the rain delays, and ultimately losing the third game to Chicago by only one run. It would have been nice to sweep the series before heading over to Cleveland, but overall, I have been pleased by the way that the Yankees have performed this week. The team is starting to show momentum at the plate and seem to be re-focusing their abilities. To me, that is what is important... not the fact that Joba let us down. Because, you know what, he didn't let us down. I really enjoyed reading Wolf Williams' blog this morning. I won't recap it all here. Just go and read it for yourself.

There are some concerns that I have looking out to this weekend... our bullpen. Ohlendorf threw 49 pitches last night. I wish those pitches would have led to more outs than runs but I also recognize the factors faced (replacing Hughes, rain delay, etc). Fartsworth suffered an elbow injury last night. Bruney is wearing a protective boot for his sprained foot and will likely go on the DL. The Yankees are running low on options and if their starters get into trouble early in the game, we could be in for some disappointment. Girardi has said that their will likely be some shifts and transactions today. Hopefully we can get a decent plan put together.

It is like I said before...

Less than one week ago, the internet was scattered with blog entries about how Mussina is a washed-up pitcher. Hank Steinbrenner was being quoted and misquoted. Last Friday, here is what I had to say:

Although I haven't yet read all the blog feeds this morning, I can almost predict what they are going to say... "The Moose has got to go". Now I don't agree with this statement and I do think that Mike Mussina brings value to the team but not matched up against Josh Beckett.

Now, for those of you who watched the Moose pitch last night, don't you agree that he can bring value to the Yankees this season? Mussina gave his team a quality start by going 7 innings and only giving up 2 runs (both solo HRs). He worked incrediably well with Posada and placed his pitches with precision. I am not trying to "sell" Mussina on anyone. He definately comes with his baggage. But when used correctly, he can be effective to the point of at least giving the team a chance, assuming that the offense is hitting. I still believe that the rotation needs to be tweaked and I was happy to see that Pettitte has been moved up one notch to the 4 spot to seperate the two kids.

As long as I am quoting myself, let's talk about LaTroy Hawkins. I remember it like it was last Thursday when I said, "I think he going to put the Yankees in some tough (negative) situations this year." Fortunately, Girardi stepped in before he gave up all of the lead. Perhaps Joe should have listened to Posada a little more carefully. I am no expert in lip reading but I could have sworn that Jorge said something like "Please Joe, don't even think of bringing that jackass into the game".

Speaking about that little confusion at the mound when Girardi raised his arm to signal for the bullpen and take out Moose but quickly did a double-take after something Posada said... I like it that Girardi listens to his players. They may not always be right (i.e. Mussina's "I can get this guy" comment that convinced Girardi to let him pitch to Manny instead of walking him to the open base) but it shows me that he has an open mind. Sometimes, of course, you need a manager to "step up to the plate", so to speak, and hand down a definitive, inarguable decision. My hope is that when that time comes, Joe won't disappoint us.

P.S. Three doubles from Posada last night... man, it is great to have him back!