Game 22: Yankees vs White Sox

Yankeees

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Brett Gardner LF

LHP Andy Pettitte

White Sox

Alexei Ramirez SS

Gordon Beckham 2B

Andruw Jones RF

Paul Konerko 1B

Alex Rios CF

Carlos Quentin DH

Mark Teahen 3B

Donny Lucy C

Juan Pierre LF

RHP Freddy Garcia

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Cano and Co.

We apologize for not getting a post game post last night...it's finals time so it makes us kind of busy. But as you've probably heard, Robinson Cano and A.J. Burnett led the Yankees over the Orioles in a 4-0 win yesterday. Cano had three hits, including two home runs to provide the offense for the Yankees, while Burnett threw eight scoreless innings and struck out four.

Marcus Thames, the man who couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat during spring training, had three hits and an RBI yesterday. That gives him 10 hits in 17 at bats (.588) for the season.

I still can't get over how good Cano has been. Historically, he's a slow starter that doesn't start finding his groove until June, but the fact that he has eight home runs and is hitting a league-leading .407 in April has me all giddy for the rest of the season. I know it's early, and A-Rod and Tex haven't done jack**** but Cano has been the team MVP of April, and I wouldn't be surprised if you hear his name and MVP in the same sentence come September. Hopefully he doesn't cool off and continues to have what is looking like a great season.

Oh, and how about A.J. Burnett? Just another day at work, throwing 8 innings of shutout ball, improving to 3-0, and bringing the ERA down to 2.43. I know the Orioles suck, but when he is on, he's as good as any other pitcher in the league.

Today

Yankees vs White Sox (finally a home game)

Pettitte (2-0) vs Garcia (0-2)

Photo from NJ.com

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Game 21: Yankees at Orioles

Lineups via Chd Jennings:

Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Marcus Thames DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Brett Gardner LF
RHP A.J. Burnett

Orioles
Adam Jones CF
Nick Markakis RF
Matt Wieters C
Miguel Tejeda 3
BLuke Scott DH
Ty Wigginton 2B
Rhyne Hughes 1B
Nolan Reimold LF
Cesar Izturis SS
LHP Brian Matusz

League Leader: Cano has been on an absolute tear to start the season. He leads the league in hitting with a .390 batting average and hit his sixth home run of the season last night.
Rubber Game: The Yanks are going out against the Orioles best pitcher (Matusz) to try and avoid their second consecutive series loss.
Jorge Update: Posada is available as only a pinch-hitter for tonight.

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Swish and Hits

NYY 8 15 0
BAL 3 11 1

WP: Sabathia (3-1)
LP: Guthrie (0-3)

Player of the Game: Nick Swisher. Swisher had 3 hits and drove in 3 runs, including a 2-run triple in the second and scored 2 runs as well.

Play of the Game: Robinson Cano's home run. I was skeptical of him entering the season as the 5 hitter. But man, it seems like every at bat he's hitting the ball hard. That was his sixth home run of the season.

Turning Point of the Game: Swisher's triple in the second inning. It made it 4-0 and a 4-run lead with CC Sabathia on the mound that early is enough to put any team out of the game. It was Swisher's second triple of the season. He had two all of last year.

Notes:

• Jorge Posada left the game in the second inning after getting hit by a pitch in the back of the knee. Cervelli replaced him but Posada said he just needs to ice it and will be fine.
• CC Sabathia is 10-1 with a 2.62 ERA in 15 career starts against the Orioles.
• Curtis Granderson broke out of an 0-for-17 slump with a single in the second. Mark Teixeira went 1-for-5 and is hitting .133 on the season...yikes!
• Jeter's double tied him on the all-time Yankees list with Don Mattingly for third with 442.

Tomorrow

Yankees at Orioles 7:05 p.m.

Burnett (2-0) vs Matusz (2-0)

See Ya!

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Game 20 Yankees at Orioles

Lineups via Chad Jennings

Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher RF
Brett Gardner LF
LHP CC Sabathia

Orioles
Adam Jones CF
Nick Markakis RF
Ty Wigginton 2B
Miguel Tejeda 3B
Matt Wieters C
Garrett Atkins 1B
Nolan Reimold DH
Lou Montanez LF
Cesar Izturis SS

Four out of Five: That's how many losses the Yankees have had in as many games. Yes, they are struggling right now and are 1.5 back of the first place Rays.
Not So Grand: Curtis Granderson is stuck in the middle of an 0-for-17 slide. Girardi is keeping him in the lineup and Granderson thinks he will snap out of it.
SI Cover Jinx? In case you don't get Sports Illustrated, the core four (Jeter, Posada, Rivera, Pettitte) were featured on the cover this week. So far the Yankees have lost 4 of 5 and Jeter and Posada each made errors last night. But get this, Jeter's never heard of the jinx.

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Yanks hated less than the Red Sox

A story in the Wall Street Journal this morning discussed a Nielsen report that uses some crazy math that I will never understand to figure out who the most hated team in baseball is. It measures positive and negative reaction on the internet. Here's the top 10 most hated teams.

1. Cleveland Indians
2. Boston Red Sox
3. Cincinnati Reds
4. Houston Astros
5. New York Yankees
6. Washington Nationals
7. Chicago White Sox
8. Baltimore Orioles
9. New York Mets
10. Los Angeles Dodgers

Now most of these teams have not been doing well lately, so their own fans are probably the ones bringing them down in these ranking. But the Red Sox and Yankees are the teams that you either love or hate.

I could look at this two ways. The first is that I could say that, since people hate the Red Sox more, this "Red Sox Nation" stuff is crap. But, I personally would have liked the "most-hated" title, because the reason people hate the Yankees is because they are so good. I'm conflicted, but the stats are what they are.

What do you think? Leave us a comment or send us an email (michaelkayssuccessors@yahoo.com).

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Too Little Too Late

NYY 4 9 2

BAL 5 9 2



WP: Castillo (1-0)
LP: Robertson (0-1)
S: Simon (1)


Player of the Game: Cesar Izturis. Despite almost blowing the game for the Orioles with an error in the ninth, Izturis drove in 3 runs and singled twice in the win.



Play of the Game: Curtis Granderson made an outstanding play in the first inning robbing Miguel Tejada of a base hit by diving forward to make the catch.


Turning Point of the Game: When David Robertson hit Ty Wiggington in the seventh inning. It set up a 2-out, 3 run rally for the Orioles and Robertson just didn't have his stuff tonight.


Notes:

• The Yankees made an effort to comeback in the ninth, scoring 2 runs off Alfredo Simon on an error by Cesar Izturis and RBI single by Teixeira. But it was too little too late (hence the headline) as A-Rod made the last out grounding into a fielder's choice at second.
• Jorge Posada hit his fifth home run of the year which gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead at the time.
• Curtis Granderson is looking awful at the plate. He is hitless in his last 16 at bats and could use a day off. Meanwhile Cano looks hot as he went 3-for-4 today, however, he couldn't capitalize on a bases loaded opportunity in the third.
• Boone Logan was unable to get the job done as he allowed the tying run to reach base.
• The Yankees have now lost 4 of their last 5 games...it's official, first slump of the season.

Tomorrow

Yankees at Orioles 7:05 p.m.
Sabathia vs Guthrie

See Ya!

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Game 19: Yankees at Orioles

Lineups via Chad Jennings

Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Brett Gardner LF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher DH
Randy Winn RF
RHP Phil Hughes

Orioles
Adam "Don't Call Me Pac-Man" Jones CF
Nick Markakis RF
Matt Wieters C
Miguel Tejeda 3B
Luke Scott DH
Ty Wigginton 2B
Rhyne Hughes 1B
Nolan Reimold LF
Cesar Izturis SS
RHP Kevin Millwood

Philthy: Phil Hughes looks to follow an outing where he came within 6 outs of a no-hitter before an Eric Chavez line drive went off his glove in the 8th. He allowed 1 hit, 1 run and struck out a career-high 10 batters.
O Brother: The Orioles come in to face the Yankees as the team with the worst record in the MLB at 3-16. Girardi said he's not overlooking them and "struggling teams can get hot too."
Winn vs Mill: Randy Winn is 11-for-18 (6.11) and has 2 HR against Orioles starter Kevin Millwood in his career.
Injury Report: Nick Johnson still isn't in the lineup but is expected to be back in it tomorrow. Chan Ho Park, however, continued to feel tightness in his hamstring and will be reevaluated in Tampa tomorrow.

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Maybe Gregg Zaun Should Try Reading Playboy

Speaking of the Major League movies, Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker, who played the team's radio voice in the movie, will be undergoing heart surgery later this week, so best wishes to him.

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New Jersey Courts to Michael Kay's Successors: You're Not Journalists

A recent appeals court decision in the great state of New Jersey, our home state, has decided that bloggers are not considered journalists in the eyes of the law. A blogger was asked to reveal a source for a story she had posted on her blog, and tried to evoke the Shield Law, which is to protect journalists. The court turned down the appeal, saying that the writings "amount to no more than a letter to the editor comment on an article published by the 'newspaper.'"

This has absolutely nothing to do with the Yankees or sports, but this is a blog, so it is an interesting story to note. But as long as John and I don't become Woodward and Bernstein meeting with Deep Throat, we should be ok.

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Shut Up Curt

Earlier today, former Red Sox Idiot and current ESPN Idiot Curt Schilling said that Javier Vazquez won't thrive in the AL on his ESPN Radio show. It hasn't looked good for Vazquez, who is off to a poor start but for Schilling to go out and say he won't thrive in the AL is a bit premature. Keep in mind Vazquez was an All-Star his first time out in the AL with the Yankees in 2004 before his season went downhill. The Yankees have said that Vazquez has some mechanical issues they are working on and once they fix that they will most certainly be the most unbeatable team in the majors. I'll admit I'm no Javy Vazquez fan but I'll get his back when someone like Schilling starts talking out of his ass.

As a matter of fact, I hope Schilling's comments fire Vazquez up and make him go out there and prove him wrong and shut that fat piece of crap up. I know it has me fired up. But I've hated Curt Schilling since 2001, and hate him more than Pedro, Manny, Kevin Millar, Kevin Youkillis, Papelbum, Varitek, and David Ortiz combined. So I doubt Vazquez has that kind of feelings toward this guy.

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Yanks Meet the Pres

Today the Yankee made their visit to the White House to meet President Barack Obama for a ceremony on winning their 27th World Series title. Obama gave a six and a half minute speech, and mentioned Jeter, Rivera, Teixeira, and Posada specifically in his speech, including that Jeter "epitomizes the beat of the Yankees tradition."

In other baseball news, Ryan Howard signed a monster contract extension for 5 years and $125 million. The only player who will be making a larger annual salary is Alex Rodriguez, who is making $27.5 mil a year in a 10 year contract. Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols must have immediately called their agents after this news broke.

No game today, if any big news breaks we'll have it as soon as we can. Otherwise, we'll be back at it tomorrow when the Yanks host the lowly Orioles who are making our preseason predictions look abysmal right now. Only a matter of time before Dave Trembley loses his job.

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Game 18: Yankees at Angels

YANKEES (12-5)
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Marcus Thames LF
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C

RHP Javier Vazquez (1-2, 8.27)

ANGELS (9-10)
Maicer Izturis SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Torii Hunter CF
Hideki Matsui DH
Kendry Morales 1B
Juan Rivera LF
Howie Kendrick 2B
Mike Napoli C
Brandon Wood 3B

LHP Scott Kazmir (1-1, 7.45)


Johnson Out: Nick Johnson has a stiff lower back, but it is minor, so he's expected to be back in the lineup on Tuesday. Nick Swisher slides in to the 2-hole in the lineup.

Cervelli gets the nod: Francisco Cervelli gets his second straight start behind the plate as Jorge Posada DH's today. With an off-day tomorrow, it will give Posada three days off from behind the plate.

Six Straight?: With a win today, the Yankees would win their sixth straight series to start off the season.

First Pitch 3:35 PM

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Perfect Pettitte

Yankees 7 14 0

Image via Wikipedia

Angels 1 7 0

WP: Pettitte (3-0)
LP: Pineiro (2-2)

Player of the Game: Andy Pettitte was brilliant on the mound today. One run and six hits over eight innings will stop any team in any division.

Play/Turning Point of the Game: Francisco Cervelli continues to come up with key hits including today's 2-run single to give Pettitte a 3-0 lead.

• Today's win prevents the Yankees first back-to-back losses of the season, and keeps the hopes of winning a sixth straight series alive.
• After today's win, Pettitte leads the team in wins and ERA. Not bad for a 37-year old who considered retirement in the offseason.
  

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Game 17: Yankees at Angels

YANKEES (11-5)
Derek Jeter SS
Brett Gardner LF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Curtis Granderson CF
Ramiro Pena 3B
Francisco Cervelli C

LHP Andy Pettitte (2-0, 1.35)

ANGELS (9-9)
Erick Aybar SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Torii Hunter CF
Hideki Matsui DH
Kendry Morales 1B
Juan Rivera LF
Howie Kendrick 2B
Mike Napoli 2B
Brandon Wood 3B

Joel Pineiro (2-1, 1.77)

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Game 16: Yankees at Angels

YANKEES (11-4)
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher RF
Brett Gardner LF

RHP A.J. Burnett (2-0, 2.37)

ANGELS (8-9)
Erick Aybar SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Torii Hunter CF
Hideki Matsui DH
Kendry Morales 1B
Juan Rivera LF
Maicer Izturis 3B
Howie Kendrick 2B
Bobby Wilson C

RHP Ervin Santana (1-2, 4.35)

Keeping it going: Despite the loss yesterday, the Yankees have won every series so far this year. If they can win another one on the road against a good team like the Angels, that will be a good sign for the rest of the season.

Double Up: Derek Jeter needs two doubles to tie Don Mattingly for third on the Yankees All-Time list.

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Code Breaker

During the game last night, Alex Rodriguez apparently crossed the pitcher's mound on his way back to first after a foul ball. A's pitcher Dallas Braden took offense to A-Rod breaking one of the unwritten rules of baseball, and let the slugger know about it when it happened. After Cano

Image via Wikipedia

grounded into the double play to end the inning, Braden flipped out and started kicking and screaming. A-Rod just waved him off as Braden went to knock stuff over in the A's dugout.

Sure, A-Rod broke the "code" of baseball and I get why Braden would be like, "Hey! Get off my mound!" At least the first time, but I don't really understand the temper tantrum he threw after the inning. I could see Braden doing something like that if A-Rod was stealing signs, but this was a little over the top for something like this. And especially a guy with, as Rodriguez says, "a handful of wins."

On the A-Rod side, people really need to start writing stuff down for him because he's not very good with the "unwritten rule" thing. He slapped the ball from Bronson Arroyo's glove in 2004, did steroids before the official testing, called off the Blue Jays infielder while running the bases in Toronto, and now this. I can see why other people in baseball don't like the guy.

Some other quick things:

• The Yanks turned their first triple play since 1968 in 5-4-3 fashion during the 6th inning of yesterday's game. If you take a look at the video they have on Yankees.com, they have all the different radio and TV calls of the play. I'm not sure if there was editing, but the fact that John Sterling automatically knew it was the first triple play in 40 years was impressive.
• With the team's trip to visit President Barrack Obama at the White House next week, the Yankees released a schedule of events in and around Washington, D.C.
  
• In Fantasy Baseball, my team, A Deuce for the Cuse, is in 6th place out of 12 teams, 137.33 points out of first place. John's team, SwishHawk, is in last place, 196 points behind me. John, however, has channeled his inner Brian Cashman and pulled off 3 trades this week to acquire 7 new players, including Grady Sizemore, John Lackey, Rajai Davis, and Lance Berkman. My team is being powered by Matt Kemp, currently the position player with the most points, and Roy Halladay, currently the pitcher with the most points. Paul Konerko continues to rack up the points and was an absolute steal in the 20th round. Shane Victorino and Chirs Carpenter are holding down the fort for John right now. We should have put a wager on who finishes higher, but I think I'm going to have a tough time talking John into that now.
  

Game vs. Angels starts at 10:05 PM EST with AJ Burnett facing Ervin Santana. Check back for the lineups then.

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Game 15: Yankees at A's

Lineups via Chad Jennings

Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson 1B
Mark Teixeira DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Marcus Thames LF
Francisco Cervelli C
Brett Gardner CF
LHP CC Sabathia

Athletics
Rajai Davis CF
Daric Barton 1B
Ryan Sweeney RF
Kurt Suzuki C
Jake Fox DH
Kevin Kouzmanoff 3B
Adam Rosales 2B
Matt Carson LF
Cliff Pennington SS
LHP Dallas Braden

Going for 7: The Yankees have won every single series so far this season and are aiming for their seventh straight win today. CC Sabathia will follow Phil Hughes's bid for a no-hitter last night by taking the mound this afternoon.
Nick at First: Nick Johnson will be playing first base while Mark Teixeira gets the day at DH. Girardi said this is just to mix things up. Also, Curtis Granderson gets the day off and Brett Gardner will be in centerfield.
Pitching and Defense: The Yankees have not committed an error in their last 12 games and their ERA over the six game winning streak is 2.12.

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Phucking Philthy

Yankees 3 8 0

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

A's 1 3 0

WP: Hughes (2-0)
LP: Sheets (1-1)
S: Rivera (6)

Player of the Game: Phil Hughes. That has to be one of the easier decisions ever. 7.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 10 K's? I'd take that from CC, but from the 5th starter that's just icing on the cake. This was the second time in three years Hughes has taken a no-hitter deep into a game. So I guess it's third time's a charm next time.

Play/Turning Point of the Game: Robinson Cano's RBI triple in the fourth inning. Cano is obviously loving hitting in the five-hole, and he just keeps driving in runs, giving Hughes the little support he needed.

Notes:

• One of the big "debates" before the season was which team had a better rotation. Well, let's see. After tonight, Hughes has a better ERA than Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and John Lackey. You tell me who has a better rotation.
• With the win tonight, the Yanks win their 5th straight series to start the season. And they go for the sweep tomorrow (actually today at this point.)

SEE YA!

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Game 14: Yankees at A's

YANKEES
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Randy Winn RF
Brett Gardner LF

RHP Phil Hughes (1-0, 3.60)

ATHLETICS
Cliff Pennington SS
Daric Barton 1B
Ryan Sweeney RF
Kurt Suzuki C
Eric Chavez DH
Kevin Kouzmanoff 3B
Gabe Gross CF
Adam Rosales 2B
Eric Patterson LF

RHP Ben Sheets (1-0, 2.65)

Round 2 for Hughes: Hughes takes the mound for the second time this season, and hopes to build off his first start.

Sturdy Bridge: The Yankees are 8-0 this season leading after 6 innings.

Weather in Oakland: Apparently there is a 50 % chance of rain in Oakland tonight, so that will be something to keep an eye on.

I don't even get the post up, and Jeter hits the first pitch. Good omen.

Update 11:40: John here. Guess everyone wont going to bed early tonight. Call your friends and get them up Hughes working on something good here. Nine strikeouts too. He's filthy tonight.

Update 11:54: He's good through 7 if you catch my drift. Wake your friends up Hughes is six outs away from something big.

Update 12:08: Line drive right back at Hughes, hit his glove and he didn't know where it was. Infield single breaks up the no no. However, Hughes just struck out his 10th batter, a new career high.

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Game 13: Yankees at A's

YANKEES
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Nick Swisher RF
Curtis Granderson CF
Brett Gardner LF

RHP Javier Vazquez (0-2, 9.82)

ATHLETICS
Rajai Davis CF
Daric Barton 1B
Ryan Sweeney RF
Kevin Kouzmanoff 3B
Kurt Suzuki C
Eric Chavez DH
Mark Ellis 2B
Travis Buck LF
Cliff Pennington SS

LHP Gio Gonzalez (1-0, 3.38)

Yankees already off to a fast start with a 3-0 lead in the 1st.

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Burnett Blanks Rangers

TEX 3 8 1
NYY 7 13 0

WP: Burnett (2-0)
LP: Feldman (1-1)

Player of the Game: A.J. Burnett. Burnett threw 7 scoreless innings giving up six hits and striking out seven. Burnett now has two wins after a mediocre outing against Boston to start the season.

Play of the Game: I'll give this one to A-Rod's home run, which put him ahead of Mark McGwire on the all-time home run list.

Turning Point of the Game: Derek Jeter's third inning home run. The two-run shot put the Yankees up 6-0 and there was no way the Rangers were getting back in the game after that.

Notes:

• Alfredo Aceves gave up a three-run home run to AL home run leader Nelson Cruz.
• Mark Teixeira finally did something with a broken bat RBI single in the second inning. It amazed me how people really thought A-Rod's return made Teixeira better last year. He's historically a slow starter. Also, once A-Rod starts heating up Tex will too.
• Jorge Posada got his 1,500th hit in the third inning.
• The Yankees have won their first four series this season. They only other team to have done that at this point (5:13 on April 17) are the Minnesota Twins. I know it's early, but this team really looks like it can be an unstoppable machine. Just think...A-Rod and Tex haven't even started heating up yet.

Tomorrow

Yankees vs Rangers

Pettitte vs Harden

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Game 10: Yankees vs. Rangers

YANKEES
Jeter SS
Johnson DH
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Thames LF
Granderson CF
Cervelli C

LHP CC Sabathia (1-0, 3.46)

RANGERS
Borbon CF
Young 3B
Hamilton LF
Guerrero DH
Cruz RF
Davis 1B
Arias 2B
Teagarden C
Andrus SS

LHP C.J. Wilson (0-0, 0.00)

Personal Catcher?: After CC almost threw a no-hitter last time out, Francisco Cervelli is back behind the plate. I don't think Girardi will continue to do this throughout the season, but it is something to watch.

Are they even going to play?: The weather is a little iffy, but hopefully they'll be able to get the game in.

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Jay-Z sues Big Papi

Jay-Z is suing the Red Sox's David Ortiz over the name of a nightclub Ortiz opened in the Dominican Republic.

Jay-Z has a chain of clubs called 40/40, after the accomplishment of hitting 40 homers and stealing 40 bases in a season. Apparently, Ortiz named his Dominican club Forty-Forty. I'm not sure what Jay-Z's deal is, those names are completely different.

The lawsuit is seeking $5 million in damages (which I think is too much, seeing how Ortiz is going to be out of a job after this season). It's pretty obvious that Jay-Z will win. What is Ortiz going to say? "I have the ability to hit 40 homers and steal 40 bases." Yeah, at this point, it's more likely that I hit 40 homers and steal 40 bases in a season than Ortiz does.

This will make some interesting camera shots the first time the Red Sox play at Yankee Stadium on May 17. Every time Ortiz comes to bat, YES cuts to Jay-Z in the stands staring angrily at Lil Pop-Up. It will be great.

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Was Melky Getting Traded The Best Thing To Happen To Cano?

As we all know by now, Robinson Cano had a big game last night. But I think there may have been something more important than the two home runs. It's easy to see that Cano has the talent; it was his maturity that was the question. He may have answered that question yesterday.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Right after the game yesterday, instead of heading to his locker for the post-game interview, he hit the weight room for a workout.

Cano had always been seen as lazy or lackadaisical, not running out grounders, failing to make plays in the field that he should have, but that seems to have changed. Up until this past offseason, Cano and former teammate Melky Cabrera were inseparable. They lived together, hung out together, did everything together. Now, I can't even imagine what it's like being a professional baseball player in your 20's in New York City, but I have to believe that there minds weren't always focused on baseball.

When the Melky-Vazquez trade happened, after getting over the fact that it was steal, (despite how Vazquez has pitched the first two times out) my second thought was how it would affect Cano.There were two ways he could go: 1) he could come in sulking about his best friend was traded or 2) he could focus more on baseball and looking up to veterans like Jeter and Posada.

For now, it seems like he has chosen option number 2. Currently, he's on a nine-game hitting streak to start the season, so let's see if he can keep hitting, and keep maturing as a player.

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The Cano Show

LAA 2 5 0
NYY 6 9 0

WP Hughes (1-0)
LP: Kazmir (0-1)

Player of the Game: Robinson Cano. On Jackie Robinson Day, Cano, who was named after him, hit two home runs to lead the Yankees to a 6-2 win.

Play of the Game: Granderson's triples. To get two triples hit to right field in Yankee Stadium is pretty darn impressive.

Turning Point in the Game: Robinson Cano's second home run. It pretty much put the Angels out of the game.

Notes:

• Phil Hughes looked good early, but labored over the last three innings. What I don't understand is why Girardi left him in to start the sixth. Hughes was at 94 pitches after 5, he's young, why push it with him? Hughes walked the two guys he faced in the sixth and didn't have to pitch it. I'm sure Girardi will address that in the postgame.
• Hideki Matsui hit a solo home run in the second inning, and received some cheers for it. Obviously it was a class move for the fans to honor Matsui, but it kind of bothered me because it was a home run to take the lead. The last time a visitor got cheered for a home run was when Tino Martinez returned to Yankee Stadium as a Cardinal.
• Derek Jeter hit his second home run of the season to put the Yankees up 2-1 in the third.
• The Yankees have taken 2 out of 3 in each series so far this season.

Tomorrow

Yankees (6-4) vs Rangers (5-4) (weather pending)

CC Sabathia (1-0) vs CJ Wilson (0-0)

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Game 9: Yankees vs. Angels

YANKEES
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Marcus Thames DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Randy Winn LF

RHP Phil Hughes (first start)

ANGELS
Erick Aybar SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Torii Hunter CF
Hideki Matsui DH
Kendry Morales 1B
Howie Kendrick 2B
Mike Napoli 2B
Brandon Wood 3B
Reggie Willits LF

LHP Scott Kazmir (first start)

Time to earn it: Phil Hughes makes his first start of the season after winning the number 5 starter spot out of Spring Training.

Off the bench: Randy Winn will make his first start as a Yankee today, as Nick Johnson and Brett Gardner get the day off against the lefty.

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Game 9: Yankees vs Angels

Lineups via Chad Jennings

YANKEES
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Marcus Thames DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Randy Winn LF
RHP Phil Hughes

ANGELS
Erick Aybar SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Torii Hunter CF
Hideki Matsui DH
Kendry Morales 1B
Howie Kendrick 2B
Mike Napoli 2B
Brandon Wood 3B
Reggie Willits LF
LHP Scott Kazmir

Hughes Debut: Phil Hughes will make his much anticipated 2010 debut tonight. Hughes went 8-3 with a 3.03 ERA combined as a starter and reliever.
Jackie Robinson Day: All players on the field will be wearing #42 commemorating Jackie Robinson.
Welcome back Scottie: Scott Kazmir is also making his 2010 debut. His last two appearances last season were the ALCS against the Yankees. He went 0-1 with a 7.71 ERA in 4.2 innings pitched.

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Game 8: Yankees vs. Angels

YANKEES
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher RF
Brett Gardner LF

RHP Javier Vazquez

ANGELS
Erick Aybar SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Torii Hunter CF
Hideki Matsui DH
Kendry Morales 1B
Juan Rivera RF
Maicer Izturis 2B
Jeff Mathis C
Brandon Wood 3B

RHP Joel Pineiro

Sorry for the late post, these afternoon games are killing me.

Let's hope Javy's start goes better this time around.

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Ringing in the new season

Angels 5 11 0
Yankees 7 13 0

WP: Pettitte (1-0)
LP: Santana (0-2)
S: Rivera (3)

Player of the Game: Nick Johnson. Despite the fact that he has the Stadium crew play Miley Cyrus as he walks to the plate (apparently it's his daughter's favorite song), the new DH went 2-3 with a homer and three runs scored.

Play of the Game: The Jeterian home run to right center field by the Captain in the third inning.

Turning Point of the Game: The infield single by Derek Jeter with the bases loaded in the fourth inning. The ball bounced off Ervin Santana's hip and a run scored to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead.

Notes

• The Yankees received their World Series rings prior to the game today. It was an emotional moment all around when Head Trainer Gene Monahan, who is currently away from the team to undergo treatment for cancer, came out of the dugout to get his ring. World Series MVP Hideki Matsui, now a member of the Angels was on hand, as was current Padres Jerry Harriston Jr, who flew cross country on a red eye.
  
• Prior to the ceremony, Derek Jeter and Joe Girardi presented the Boss, George Steinbrenner, with his World Series Ring. They continue to maintain the curtain of secrecy around the Boss, because as far as I know, they didn't show him on TV.
• Derek Jeter played a prank on his old buddy Matsui. Apparently, the gave a way fake rings to fans, so Jeter put a fake one in Matsui's box, because Hideki wouldn't have anyone to compare it to and wouldn't realize until afterward. Girardi gave Matsui the real ring when the teams came on the foul lines for pre-game introductions.
• And Chan Ho Park pitched out of the bullpen, and was able to control all of his bodily functions.

TOMORROW:
Yankees vs. Angels, 1:05 PM
Vazquez vs. Pineiro

SEE YA!

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Opening Day: Yankees vs Angels

Lineups via Chad Jennings

Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher RF
Brett Gardner LF
LHP Andy Pettitte

Angels
Erick Aybar SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Torii Hunter CF
Hideki Matsui DH
Kendry Morales 1B
Juan Rivera RF
Howie Kendrick 2B
Jeff Mathis C
Brandon Wood 3B
RHP Ervin Santana

Home of Champions: The Yankees will receive their rings and raise their 27th World Championship flag during the pre-game ceremonies today. Opening Day is always a special game at Yankee Stadium, and opening it up celebrating a World Series Championship should be a great sight.
He's Been Here Before: Andy Pettitte has pitched on Opening Day at Yankee Stadium three times. He is 3-0 with a 3.00 ERA, so he's had success in this position before and shouldn't be overwhelmed by the ceremonies.
Welcoming Back the Sayanora Kid: World Series MVP Hideki Matsui returns to Yankee Stadium today wearing the Angels gray and red. Matsui established himself as a postseason hero last year and my prediction is he receives one of the biggest ovations of the day.

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Hitler upset the Twins resign Mauer

For any of you who had hopes that the Yankees were going to sign Joe Mauer when he hit free

Image via Wikipedia

agency only to have them crushed when it was announced he signed an 8 year deal during spring training can relate to this baseball version of the Downfall/Hitler video meme. (I especially liked the part when Hitler says he will call in to Mike Francesa and call for Cashman's job.)

Also in the video meme category, you may have seen the little kid doing the speech from the movie Miracle. I didn't know this had happened until yesterday, but the Red Sox brought him out before the first game of the season to do a baseball version before the game on Opening Night.



A few observations:

• Thank God/Yahweh/Allah YouTube wasn't around when I was a kid, because I couldn't handle all the stupid stuff I did back then ending up on the internet.
• That first point leads me to my second. This kid's parents have now stuck this kid with the
  "Herb Brooks Speech kid" label for life. Not only does the YouTube video have almost 3 million hits, but he's been on talk shows and now in front of baseball stadiums and he's only 5. But you know, got to get your 15 minutes, right?
• What is Hideki Okajima laughing at? Does Okajima even speak English? How does he know what's going on?
• This isn't even one of the better internet memes out there. I personally think the Leeroy Jenkins and Numa Numa kid are funny, if for no other reason than that it proves that there are people out there who waste more time on the internet than I do.
  

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Rays Burned by AJ

Yankees 7 9 0

Image via Wikipedia

Rays 3 9 0

WP: Burnett (1-0)
LP: Choate (0-1)

Player of the Game: AJ Burnett. In his second outing of the season, A.J goes 7 innings and holds the Rays to 2 runs. On back-to-back (belly-to-belly) days, the top two pitchers in the rotation shut down the Rays and win their second consecutive series to start the season.

Play of the Game: The Curtis Granderson double play. The sliding catch and then throwing behind Pat Burell to get the out was very impressive.

Turning Point of the Game: Jorge Posada's go-ahead home run in the 6th inning off of former Yankee great Randy Choate. The catcher's homer got the Yanks offense going and Granderson, A-Rod, and Swisher helped tack on insurance runs.

• While you never want to lose a game, it does happen, so teams focus on winning series. The Yankees have done that so far this season, taking both series on the road against AL East rivals. And the fact that they did it after losing the first game of both series is even more impressive.
• With weird off-days and a 10-0 win yesterday, Mariano Rivera came in today despite the fact that it wasn't a save situation. Mo just needed to get some work in, and there's an off-day tomorrow, so it was the perfect situation to let him just throw.
  
• Joba came out of the 'pen as well today for the 8th inning and surrendered a RBI triple to Carl Crawford. Maybe it was because it's been 5 days since the electric performance in Boston or maybe it was because it wasn't as "exciting" a situation. If it was the latter, the Yanks might want to watch that because they don't need Joba making a guaranteed victory a close game with a poor outing.
  
• Curtis Granderson has made a good first impression with Yankee fans, so he should get a warm welcome at the Stadium on Tuesday.
  

Off-day tomorrow, but be sure to check in because we always have something to say.

SEE YA!

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Game 6: Yankees at Rays

Well I guess neither me nor Jim was able to get to a computer yesterday afternoon during CC's bid for a no-hitter. According to Joe Girardi and Dave Eiland Sabathia was leaving the game no-hitter or not. Yeah, right. Anyway here are the lineups for today's game via Chad Jennings.

YANKEES
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher RF
Brett Gardner LF
RHP A.J. Burnett

RAYS
Jason Bartlett SS
Carl Crawford LF
Ben Zobrist RF
Evan Longoria 3B
Carlos Pena 1B
B.J. Upton CF
Pat Burrell DH
Dioner Navarro C
Sean Rodriguez 2B
RHP James Shields

Rubber Game: The Yankess look to win their second consecutive series today after losing Friday night and winning yesterday afternoon.
Robbie Cano, don't ya know?: James Shields sure does. Cano is off to a hot start already and is 11-for-23 (.478) against Shields with 2 home runs and 6 RBI.

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Moving On

Not a good first start by Javy Vazquez. One game, nothing to worry about.

Not going to even bother writing a recap about this one. Enjoy you're Friday night.

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Game 4: Yankees at Rays

Yankees

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Nick Swisher RF
Marcus Thames LF
Curtis Granderson CF

RHP Javier Vazquez

Rays

Jason Bartlett SS
Carl Crawford LF
Ben Zobrist RF
Evan Longoria 3B
Carlos Pena 1B
B.J. Upton CF
Willy Aybar DH
Dioner Navarro C
Sean Rodriguez 2B

LHP David Price

Welcome back, Javy: This is Vazquez's first start in his second stint with the Yankees. While everyone remembers how his Yankee career ended, it did start well in 2004.

The Price is Lefty?: David Price enters his first full season as a member of the Rays rotation, and starts his first game tonight. He went 10-7 with a 4.42 ERA last season, but finished with a record of 4-1 with an ERA of 3.45 in his last 7 starts.

Winn will they play?: While Randy Winn has come in the past two games as a defensive replacement in right field, he still doesn't have an at-bat. Ramiro Pena and Francisco Cervelli have not made it off the bench yet, but Girardi did say that Cervelli will play this weekend.

Right into the fire: The Champs didn't get any breaks with the schedule this year did they? After starting with three games in Boston, they have to play the Rays in Tampa in another three-game set.

John's traveling today and tomorrow, so you're stuck with me: @jgeant

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Mo Fires Back at Joe West

Okay, I don't want to make a third post about this, but when Mariano Rivera is firing back at an umpire, it can't be ignored. Today in the NY Post, Rivera responded to Joe Wests' comments about the pace of the Yankees-Red Sox game. Here is what Rivera said:

"It's incredible," Rivera told The Post. "If he has places to go, let him do something else. What does he want us to do, swing at balls? He has a job to do. He should do his job," Rivera said. "We don't want to play four-hour games, but that's what it takes. We respect and love the fans and do what we have to do, and that's play our game."

Good for Mo. He is one of the most respected pitchers in the game, and to basically tell the umpire to shut and do his job while we do ours shut put this to an end. However, it should be interesting to see West's strike zone next time he's behind the plate when Mo pitches. As if his strike zone can't get any smaller.

On an unrelated note...bear with us as we are doing our best to make changes to the layout of our blog. As you may have noticed we have gone through a number of different styles over the last few days and are trying to find something that can fit well for the rest of the season.

Photo found in Google Images

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Really Joe West?

So, as John told you earlier, Cowboy Joe West called the Yankees and Red Sox games a "disgrace to baseball" because of how long they take. I just wanted to give you my take.

Image by Keith Allison via Flickr

Really Joe West? Are you kidding me?

So games between baseball's biggest rivals is a disgrace to the game? Well there's a couple million people who disagree with you, since that's how many people watched the game on Sunday night. So the Commissioner wants to speed up the games? Okay, I buy that. But, to go so far as call it a disgrace to baseball is ridiculous. A four-hour game between the Nationals and Pirates is a disgrace to baseball. (Actually, any game between the Nationals and Pirates could be considered a disgrace to baseball.)

Yesterday, the Yankees and Sawks play 10 innings, with the Yanks pulling out a 3-1 win. The game lasted an unmanageable (as Michael Kay used to say) three hours and 21 minutes. You know what I call that? A GREAT BASEBALL GAME!

Now, I am a huge baseball fan, so I could sit there and watch a five-hour game and be satisfied, so I'm not your average fan. Even if you agree with what he said, it was extremely hypocritical. How do you think Joe West would react if say Derek Jeter called the umpires embarrassing and pathetic? First of all, Jeter wouldn't do that, because he has class. But West, and the rest of the umpires, would go ballistic. The umpires would probably hold it against Jeter for the rest of his career. But West gets a free pass because he has all the power during a game. But he should be fined by Major League Baseball or who ever is in charge of fining umpires for saying stupid things.

Sorry I ranted a little bit. You can tell I don't like umpires too much, right? You're talking to a kid who almost got thrown out of a Little League game for arguing with an umpire.

Just a few more links on an off-day

• David Wright doing some GTL with The Situation for a Vitamin Water commercial.
• The Yankees Organization is worth $1.6 billion, according to Forbes. $1.6 BILLION! That's twice as much as the second-highest team, the Red Sox, and about the same as the Mets and the Red Sox combined. Those guys in the Front Office obviously know what they're doing.
  

That might be it for today, but the Yanks head to Tampa to take on David Price and the Rays tomorrow night.

SEE YA!

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Umpire Calls Yanks/Sox A "Disgrace"

Check out this interesting story I just saw on the LoHud Blog. Joe West, one of MLB's crew chief umpires, commented on the pace of the Yankees-Red Sox games saying it is, "embarassing and a disgrace to baseball." He continued by saying the Yankees and Red Sox are, "pathetic and embarassing. They take too long to play."

It is true that they take very long to play. Most games are closer to 4 hours rather than the normal 3. In fact, the quickest game of the series was yesterday, which was 3 hours and 20 minutes and it took 10 innings.

But can you blame them? These teams have two of the most patient lineups in the majors. The games are always close, which causes many late-inning pitching changes during the course of the game. It's the nature of the game and neither teams are going to change their style of play because an umpire says they take too long. Sure, the MLB can enforce pitchers to take less time walking around the mound, get batters to the box quickly,etc. But how much time will that actually save?

Another problem I have with West's comments is the "embarassing and pathetic" part. There's nothing embarassing or pathetic about it all. They just take long. What's embarassing and pathetic is a professional MLB umpire complaining that these teams take too long to play.

So Joe West, the next time you criticize the team's you officiate in public, try not to look "pathetic" while doing it.

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Grandy Dandy

NYY 3 6 0

BOS 1 7 0

WP: Park (1-1)

LP: Papelbon (0-1)

S: Rivera (2)

Player/ Play/ Turning Point of the Game: None other than Curtis Granderson. The newest Yankees hit the go-ahead home run in the top of the tenth off Jonathan Papelbon, which proved to be the game-winner and give the Yankees all they needed to win. I'm really impressed with Granderson already. Usually it takes time for new players to settle in, but he's off to a great start, and the way he's handled himself with the media proves to be he's a good fit for New York. He seems to have the persona of Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and Mark Teixeira.

Honorable Mention: Chan Ho Park. After Park blew the game Sunday, he came back and gave the Yanks three scoreless innings late in the game when the Yankees needed him most. As much as I hated him after Sunday, he's earned some respect the way he bounced back.

Other Notes:

Andy Pettitte hit Kevin Youkilis in the helmet in the bottom of the fifth. John Lackey hit Derek Jeter in the top of the sixth. Pettitte's never been a guy to throw at anyone and I doubt Lackey wants to put the leadoff man on late in a 1-0 game. I say it was a coincidence, or just stupid baseball on the Red Sox for actually hitting Jeter instead of just brushing him back.

Andy Pettitte had an effective first start of the season. He went six innings, giving up six hits and striking out 4.

Tomorrow
OFF DAY

We'll find something to post about tomorrow...until then See Ya!

Photo from NY Daily News

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Game 3: Yankees at Red Sox

Lineups via Chad Jennings

YANKEES
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher RF
Brett Gardner LF

LHP Andy Pettitte

RED SOX
Jacoby Ellsbury LF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Victor Martinez C
Kevin Youkilis 1B
David Ortiz DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
J.D. Drew RF
Mike Cameron CF
Marco Scutaro SS

RHP John Lackey

RUBBER MATCH: Tonight someone will walk out with a 2-1 lead in the season series, before the Yanks return to Boston May 7 for the second series.

ALL BECAUSE OF U2: Looking at the Yanks-Sox schedule this year, the teams play 6 straight times at Fenway to start the season. Then their next 9 match-ups are at Yankee Stadium, and then its back to Boston for the last 3 games of the season. Apparently it's Bono's fault. It's similar to the long road trip the Yanks took in 2008 because of the Pope giving Mass at the old Stadium. Just another reason the Yanks are better than the Sox, the Yankees don't move their schedule around for anyone less than the Pope.

SOME RELIEF FOR THE RELIEVERS: After throwing 30 pitches Sunday night, and then coming back with a brilliant performance last night, Joba is not likely to pitch tonight. Chan Ho Park is ready to go after sitting out last night with the flu. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? We'll find out tonight, I guess.

ROID RAGE?: David Ortiz lashed out at reporters after last night's game, dropping a plethora of expletives about his hitless beginning of the season compared to his slow start last year. If you, as a professional baseball player, are already cursing out reporters after the SECOND game of the season, they obviously hit a sore spot with the question they asked.

CASHMAN IN MIDSEASON FORM: The Yankees claimed Padres OF prospect Chad Huffman off waivers. Apparently Huffman is ranked the 21st best prospect in the Padres organization, and was optioned to AAA Scranton.

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Bullpen Bounces Back

Yankees 6 9 3

Image via Wikipedia

Red Sox 4 9 1

W: Aceves (1-0)
L: Okajima (1-1)
S: Rivera (1)

Player of the Game: The Bullpen. After a poor outing from the relievers on Sunday, the 'pen held the Sox to 2 hits, 0 walks, and 0 runs over 4 innings. Aceves picked up the win out of relief, Joba looked like the Joba of old, and Mo just did what he always does.

Play of the Game: Robinson Cano's home run to put the Yanks up 6-4 in the 9th inning.

Turning point of the Game: Nick Johnson's bases-loaded, go-ahead walk in the top of the 8th. Johnson doesn't have a hit yet this season, but has a .500 OBP.

• Joe Girardi might be over-managing again. He started the 8th inning with Robertson, and then decided to mix and match by bringing in Marte to face Ortiz.
• Cano was my 2nd choice for player of the game, but I wanted to give props to the bullpen after Sunday's debacle. Cano went 2-3 with a homer and 2 RBI. He's gonna have a good season in the five hole.
  
• It's the first win of the season, so there's a little bit to celebrate, but there's still work to be done. And now the Red Sox will be relatively quiet for a little while.
  

Tomorrow:
Yankees at Red Sox
Pettitte vs Lackey

SEE YA!

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Game 2: Yankees at Red Sox

Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Nick Swisher RF
Marcus Thames LF
Curtis Granderson CF
RHP A.J. Burnett

Boston
Ellsbury LF
Pedroia 2B
Martinez C
Youkilis 1B
Ortiz DH
Beltre 3B
Drew RF
Cameron CF
Scutaro SS
LHP Jon Lester

Lineups via Chad Jennings and former Yankee beat writer PeteAbe

A.J. the first: Last season A.J. Burnett delivered the Yankees first win of the season with a strong performance against the Orioles. He was the winning pitcher for their first World Series win last season too. He'll take the mound tonight at Fenway to try and give them their first regular season win of 2010
Thames is In: Marcus Thames will be playing leftfield tonight over Brett Gardner. With the left Lester on the mound, Thames has good numbers against lefties.
Who's Available?: The Yankees used four pitchers Sunday out of the bullpen, including a 30-pitch performance by Joba Chamberlain. However, all are expected to be available tonight, including Joba and Damaso Marte, who had been battling shoulder issues during spring training.

UPDATE 9:20: Jim: How many times do you think Brett Gardner has pinch-hit in his life?

UPDATE 9:41: Jim: Nick Johnson is doing everything they said he would do so far.

UPDATE 9:43: Jim: Nice play by Ellsbury. Info on Johnson via Sweeney Murti: Wondering how long Nick Johnson can go without a hit before people notice. 9 PAs, OBP=.444, but BA=.000.

UPDATE 9:46: Jim: It's okay, A-Rod is saving his clutchness for the postseason.

UPDATE 9:53: It's Jim the rest of the way unless we say otherwise: The new YES graphics are nice, but I think Kay likes them a bit too much.

UPDATE 9:57: Aceves does a great job out of the 'pen. He's the modern version of Ramiro Medoza.

UPDATE 10:02: That man was extremely happy to catch that ground rule double.

UPDATE 10:26: Very interesting that Girardi brings in Robertson in the 8th inning against the middle of the order. But Joba is warming up.

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Hughes Strikes out 12 in Extended Spring Training Game

As the Yankees and their fans cope with losing the first game of the season to their hated rivals, the Boston Red Sox, there was some good new that came out today. Hughes struck out 12 and gave up 3 hits over the equivalent of 8 and 1/3 scoreless innings of an extended spring training game. He threw 70 of his 100 pitches for strikes.

Now, to this day I still don't quite understand the differences or importance of an extended spring if he only threw an equivalent of 8 1/3 innings. However, 70 of 100 pitches for strikes is a good sign and striking out 12 is obviosuly a good sign as well. It actually has gotten me quite excited for when he makes his first start of the season next week against the Angels.

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Bullpen Blues

First game, first loss, first chance to second guess what went wrong. It's also our first post game recap of the 2010 season.

NYY 7 12 1
BOS 9 12 0

WP: Okajima (1-0)
LP: Park (0-1)
S: Papelbum (1)

Player of the Game: Kevin Youkillis. The third baseman went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and 3 runs scored. He brought the Red Sox back into the game when things looked bleak with a two-run triple (on a poor route to the ball by Nick Swisher). He also scored the runs to tie the game at 5 and take the lead 8-7.

Play of the Game: Dustin Pedroia's two-run home run in the seventh inning. It was just simply a clutch hit by Pedroia.

Turning Point: Top of the sixth inning. After this inning the momentum swung completely in the Red Sox favor. Sabathia was starting to get rattled and the Red Sox chipped their way back into the game. David Robertson couldn't hold the lead at the end of the inning as Adrian Beltre knocked in Youkillis to tie the game at 5.

Thoughts:
This one was on the bullpen. After the game was tied at 5-5 and both starters out of the game, it came down to whose bullpen was going to be most effective. Robertson couldn't hold the lead when he came in, Chan Ho Park was a complete disaster, Damaso Marte threw a wild pitch and crossed up with Posada which led to the go-ahead run, and Joba Chamberlain allowed an insurance run.

Brett Gardner also made some horrendous throws in left field. It actually made me wish Johnny Damon was throwing the ball in. Overall, it's only the first game, but these are some things that the Yankees will have to keep an eye on.

On a positive note, the offense is there. Jorge Posada is defying his age as he went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and a home run. Curtis Granderson homered in his first at bat in his Yankee debut, so he immediately became a fan favorite.

As Jim wrote on facebook or twitter: the Yankees started off just like last year, now let's see if they finish just like last year.

The Yankees are off tomorrow but square off against Boston Tuesday at 7 p.m. as A.J. Burnett takes the mound against John Lester.

EDIT: Posada said that the passed ball 'was not a cross up.' I guess Marte is just that wild.

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Game 1: Yankees at Red Sox

Image via Wikipedia

YANKEES
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher RF
Brett Gardner LF

CC Sabathia P

RED SOX
Jacoby Ellsbury LF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Victor Martinez C
Kevin Youkilis 1B
David Ortiz DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
J.D. Drew RF
Mike Cameron CF
Marco Scutaro SS

Josh Beckett



Defending the Crown: The Yanks start the defense of the title with a heavyweight fight against the rival BoSox.

Welcome to the Jungle: This is the first Yankees-Red Sox experience for players like Curtis Granderson, Adrian Beltre, Mike Cameron, Randy Winn, and Marco Scuturo. They're in for one hell of a ride.

Aces Wild: Both teams start the season with the pitcher they hope to depend on all season to win big games.

The ballots are in: We had 12 votes for our poll. 10 of you think that the Yanks will repeat as the World Series Champions. 1 person thinks the Yanks will win the AL East, but lose in the playoffs. 1 person (and I'm pretty sure that's my Mass-hole of a roommate) says the Yankees will fail to make the playoffs. But this is America, so majority rules.

We won't be updating the blog itself during the game, but stay here as we'll have our Twitter updates coming into the box below. It will get going around at about 8.



Enjoy the game everyone!

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It's finally here...

People are going to church, praising the Lord, visiting family and friends, and celebrating this joyous day. What day is that, you ask?

Opening Day

It's been 6 months since we've had the opportunity to watch live, competitive baseball that actually mattered, but that all changes tonight.

I'll post the lineups later tonight before the game but I wanted to get some stuff out of the way first.

First off, you may have noticed the layout's changed. We just wanted to make it look a little fresh as we head into a new season. We are working on a banner with a nice picture, but we haven't quite got it perfect yet, but it will be up soon.

This is just your periodic reminder to become a fan of us on Facebook. If you're on Twitter, you can follow the blog @KaysSuccessors to get a link to new posts. We also both have our own personal pages @jphealy and @jgeant. We'll be Tweeting during the game tonight, but we have discovered a way for our Tweets to show up on the blog, so stay tuned for that.

I have a few things to do before the game tonight, so I'll be back with the lineups as soon as I can.

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Yanks Announce Final Roster

Nothing shocking, the only thing worth noting is that the Yankees will take Chan Ho Park instead of a second lefty Boone Logan. Otherwise, there's nothing to really question. Chad Jennings has the roster:

Lineup
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher RF
Brett Gardner LF

Bench
Francisco Cervelli C
Ramiro Pena INF
Marcus Thames OF
Randy Winn OF

Rotation
CC Sabathia LHP
A.J. Burnett RHP
Andy Pettitte LHP
Javier Vazquez RHP
Phil Hughes RHP

Bullpen
Mariano Rivera RHP
Joba Chamberlain RHP
Dave Robertson RHP
Damaso Marte LHP
Chan Ho Park RHP
Alfredo Aceves RHP
Sergio Mitre RHP

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Who Will Be the Best in 2010?

We are a day away from the Yankees and Red Sox squaring off at Fenway Park to open the 2010 season. Throughout the week we have been giving you our projections of the Yankees lineup and predictions of teams throughout the league, including our playoff predictions. Today we will conclude our season preview with our award predictions. We've made some bold predictions, some safe predictions, and some biased predictions (hey, what do you expect?). Here are our regular season award predictions:


AL MVP
Mark Teixeira NYY

NL MVP
Albert Pujols STL(it's his to lose)

AL CY Young

Felix Hernandez SEA

NL CY Young

Roy Halladay PHI

AL Rookie of the Year

Austin Jackson DET

NL Rookie of the Year

Jason Heyward ATL

AL Manager of the Year

Don Wakamatsu SEA

NL Manager of the Year

Bruce Bochy SFG


If I get just one of these predictions right I'll be happy. The 2010 season is now upon us, hopefully it ends the same way as 2009...enjoy.

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