Will Joe Girardi be the Yankees manager next season?

So as many of you know by now, Lou Piniella, manager of the Chicago Cubs, stepped down after yesterday's game. The Cubs are pretty much out of the race, so it doesn't affect this season so much as it affects next season. The search for his replacement will begin and the Cubbies might be looking in the Bronx for their next skipper.

Joe Girardi, before, and after, his stint with the Yankees, played for the Cubs. He's actually from Illinois and went to Northwestern University. Girardi is always portrayed as a family man, and if all these factors (plus, of course, the money) combine to pull Girardi to Chicago, the Yankees will be without a manager once again. I'm obviously hoping the Yankees win the World Series again, and resign Girardi, but it is something to be watchful of when the off season comes around.

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Horrible Day All Around

The Yankees got blown out, despite the fact that is was 10-6. It looked like they had a chance with a ridiculous come back, but they didn't. But it's just one game and considering the other news, it's not that big a deal.

• Marcus Thames got a single and then did one of the stupidest things I've seen in a while and threw the bat down the first base line. He stepped on it and was taken out of the game after rolling his ankle.
  
• The big news though is that Jorge Posada has a hairline fracture in his foot and will be out 3-4 weeks. That's a big blow to the Yanks, despite how well Cervelli has been playing. Plus, the Yankees don't have another catcher on the 40-man roster, so someone will have to be Designated For Assignment or placed on the 60-Day DL to bring on up to the Majors. This may lead to the Major League debut of either Jesus Montero or Austin Romine. More likely, we'll get (have) to watch Chad Moeller.
  
• Swisher didn't play again today, and I guess he couldn't pinch hit based on the fact that Juan Miranda was up there at the end.
  

So this injury thing is getting a little like the Mets last year. The only difference is that the Yanks are still winning, so let's hope it stays that way.

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Game 39....maybe?

It doesn't look good right now as it's been raining all day and looks to continue to rain off and on the rest of the night. But if they do play, here's the lineups.

Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Brett Gardner LF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Francisco Cervelli C
Marcus Thames RF
Juan Miranda DH
Randy Winn LF

LHP CC Sabathia

Red Sox
Scutaro SS
Pedroia 2B
Drew RF
Youkilis 1B
Martinez C
Ortiz DH
Beltre 3B
Hall LF
McDonald CF

RHP Beckett

That's Why It's the Greatest Rivalry: So yesterday I made a post about how I wasn't as excited for this Yankees-Red Sox matchup and that I thought it was losing its luster. Well that didn't take long to prove me wrong. Yesterday's game is one example of why these two teams are the greatest rivalry in sports. It doesn't matter where they are in the standings, these two teams desperately want to beat each other no matter how they do it and yesterday's game was the exact definition of a Yankees-Red Sox game. You just don't know what you're going to get when they face each other.
Battle of Aces?: CC Sabathia has done a very good job at continuing to be the Yankees ace this season. Josh Beckett for the Red Sox....not so much. Beckett has struggled this season with a 1-1 record and 7.46 ERA.
Make Joe West Proud: With rain in the forecast, the Yankees and Red Sox should make Joe West proud and get this game in as quick as possible (if there's a window to play) so they don't have to make it up later in the season.


UPDATE 7:42: Jim here. the tarp is apparently off the field and first pitch is scheduled for 8 PM. Outfielder Greg Golsen was optioned to AAA and Mark Melancon was recalled to help the depleted bullpen.

As usual, we'll be on the Twitter accounts: @jgeant and @jphealy.

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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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5 days until Opening Day

The Yanks are just fine tuning some things before Sunday's opener, and here's some links to some interesting stories out of the Grapefruit League as camp winds down.

• CC Sabathia made his final spring training start today against the Braves, but it didn't go well. But he feels ready to go for the Opener at Boston.
  
• Switch-pitcher Pat Venditte pitched in his first Major League Spring Training game today. He threw 1 1/3 innings, giving up one run on two hits. And the Yankees liked what they saw.
• Big Tex's elbow is feeling better after treatment.
• For our readers in Central New York, the YES Network signed a live-streaming agreement with Time Warner Cable.
• Gold-Medal Winner Michael Johnson talked to the team today, saying, "You have to try to keep that hunger," Johnson said. "That's the most important challenge facing the entire team. How do you stay hungry and go out there this year with the same type of drive, determination and motivation last year that helped them be successful?"

Make sure you check back tomorrow for our projections on the Infielders and Catchers.

And make sure you vote on our poll on the right before the game on Sunday.

SEE YA!

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How do you think the Yankees will do in 2010?

Buster Olney has the Yankees facing off with the Colorado Rockies in the World Series this year - and losing.

I'm sure I don't have to tell you that I respectfully disagree with his opinion. (Translation: That's a load of crap, Buster!)

What do you think? Take a look at our poll on the right and tell us how you think the Bronx Bombers will fair this season.

The poll will close at 8 pm on April 4, so get your votes in before the first game!

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Hughes gets the nod; what to do with Joba?

So, as John reported earlier, this morning Joe Girardi announced that Phil Hughes is the fifth starter.

Image by alexabboud via Flickr

According to Joel Sherman, this was Hughes's job to lose since February and he didn't lose it. This ends the spring of speculation about who will take the mound on April 17, the first time the Yankees need a fifth starter.

The next thing that gets talked about any time you mention Hughes or Joba Chamberlain (more on him later) is the innings limit.

Since Hughes has thrown more innings over the course of his career, he will have a higher innings limit than Joba did last year. Initial estimates put that limit at around 170 innings. Girardi said that they have not come up with the plan on how to work around that, but expressed that he would like to do it at the beginning of the season and not the end.

Hopefully Hughes can stay healthy and put up the kind of season we've all expected since that would-be no-hitter in Texas a few years ago. He's going to have a little less pressure on him as the number 5 starter in what is one of the best (and, in my humble opinion the absolute best) rotations in baseball.

Giving Hughes the chance to start this season is not only because the team thinks he gives them the best chance to win this season, but because he could very well slide into the number 3 spot in the rotation next year. Javier Vazquez and Andy Pettitte are free agents after the season so it is unclear whether they will be back. If they do not come back, Hughes will be ready, and without an innings limit.

Now, what does this mean for Joba Chamberlain? When asked if this meant Joba would go to the 8th inning, Girardi said "If he earns it." Ok Joe, say Joba earns it. Then he goes to the bullpen and pitches 80 innings, at the most. Then when Andy and Javy leave, you need two more starters but one of them can only pitch 130. So there's only a couple of options here with Joba.

1. The Yanks do what a lot of people (including the extremely loud guy on WFAN in the afternoons) want and say the Joba will be in the bullpen and is the successor to Mariano Rivera at closer. I've never been a B-Jobber, but it is an option.
2. They put him in the bullpen this year, and then stretch him out and go through the Joba Rules all over again next year. I really hope this isn't an option, because I don't know if I can go another 3 years listening about the Joba Rules.
3. This is the most jarring, but I think it's the best option: Girardi, Cashman, and the rest of the Yankee brain trust goes to Joba and says, "Look Joba, we want you to be a starter, but there isn't the room in the rotation this year. We're going to send you down to AAA so you can throw a lot of innings and work on a few things so you can be ready for next year. And after the minor league season is over, you can come back up here and help us win a World Series out of the bullpen." This has to be the best option. This is the first year Joba has no innings limit, and you're going to waste that in the bullpen? Do I think the Yankees have the cojones to do it? I don't know, only time will tell.
   

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We're going back to NY

Yankees 6 10 0
Phillies 8 9 0

WP: Lee
LP: Burnett
S: Madson

Ok, I need to figure out my class schedule for next semester, so I'm going to make this quick. Lee wasn't good today, but Burnett was absolutely horrible. Despite that, the Yankees still had a chance to win, but Phil Coke took care of that by serving up meatballs to Utley and Ibanez. I say it all the time, but it's part of the bullpen's job to keep the game close, and Coke failed. Jeter's double play in the ninth was a killer, but he can't be clutch all the time. It is also interesting to note that Lidge was not summoned to close the game out even though it was save situation. Most of the time, after a game like last night, a manager will send a closer right back out there. When Charlie Manuel didn't do that with Lidge, you might believe that it could be the last time we see Lidge in this series, because he now doesn't have confidence in himself, and doesn't have the confidence of his manager.

Game 6 starters have not been announced. But it will probably be Pedro vs Pettitte.

SEE YA!

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Can we please win a game in LA. PLEASE!

YANKEES (95-56)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Gardner CF

Pitching: RHP Chad Gaudin (1-0 3.68).

ANGELS (90-60)
Figgins 3B
Izturis 2B
Abreu RF
Guerrero DH
Hunter CF
Morales 1B
Rivera LF
Aybar SS
Mathis C

Pitching: vs. RHP Ervin Santana (7-8, 5.43).

TIME/TV: 10:05, MY9/MLB Network.

Do you believe in magic, in Greinke's heart?: Zach Greinke is currently shutting down the Red Sox as the Royals are ahead 5-0 in the 5th inning. If the Red Sox lose, the Yankees magic number will drop to 7.

Maybe it's the time difference: The Yankees are 0-4 in Angel Stadium of this season. This is the main reason why the Yankees need to secure home-field advantage.

UPDATE 10:12: So Syracuse doesn't have MY9, it has MY43. While I have an MLB.TV subscription, it says I can't watch because I'm in the Yankees home television market, despite the fact that the game isn't on TV here. So right now I'm listening to a stream of John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman from the Lowe's Broadcast booth. ( I just increased the value of Lowe's sponsorship by 0.000001% by mentioning it on the blog.)

The Yankees can clinch a playoff spot with a win or a Texas loss. Texas is tied 0-0 with Oakland in the 1st inning.

UPDATE 10:30: I am now updated on the personal lives of a couple of members of the Yankees family, thanks to Jon and Suzyn. Hunter Gardner, the son of Brett, enjoys the swimming pool and Ken Singelton is now a grandfather.

And I give Michael Kay crap for going off topic this early in the game? My apologies, Michael.

UPDATE 10:34: A picture says a thousand words.

UPDATE 10:50: IT IS HIGH, IT IS FAR...... IT IS GONE. It's an Arodian home run.

Ok, that makes Jetarian sound good.

UPDATE 11:14: So apparently there is some gimmick where the Yankees and Red Sox radio announcers switch for an inning in one of the upcoming games.

I can only imagine the possibilities for this with TV.

And leave it to Jeter to steal second after picking up his 200th hit of the season.

UPDATE 11:50: Here we go again. Can Mo go 4 tonight?

UPDATE 11:57: So Sterling takes the place of Kay with the broadcaster jinx. They were just talking about how Gaudin deserved to be the 4th starter in the playoffs before this inning unfolded.

And he's also picking up in the "beating the dead horse" department, as he keeps mentioning how Swisher went to the wrong side of the foul pole on Figgins's home run.

I might just see the Yankees through this inning and then head off to bed, cause sleep is at a premium these days.

UPDATE 12:19: Having not been able to watch this inning, I haven't had a complete nervous breakdown yet. But I'm getting close.

UPDATE 12:25: THANK YOU A-ROD!

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Game 142: Orioles at Yankees

YANKEES (91-50)
Jeter SS
Swisher RF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Cabrera LF
Gardner CF

Pitching: LHP Andy Pettitte (13-6, 4.10).

ORIOLES (56-83)
Roberts 2B
Izturis SS
Markakis RF
Reimold LF
Mora 3B
Scott 1B
Wieters DH
Pie CF
Moeller C

Pitching: RHP Chris Tillman (1-3, 4.66)

TIME/TV: FIRST PITCH SCHEDULED FOR 8:20, YES

As I'm sure you all already know, Derek Jeter needs just one hit to pass Lou Gehrig for 1st on the All-time list.

Right now, I'm waiting to watch Michael Jordan's Hall of Fame induction speech. The ceremony is on ESPN. I lived just outside of Chicago at the end of the Jordan-era, so I enjoyed watching the '97 and '98 championship teams.

UPDATE 12:35 AM: Jeter finally did it, congratulations. The rain put a damper on things, that's for sure. I cannot believe they are going to restart this game. I think the MLB needs to review its rain-delay policies. This is ridiculous, and it's not the first time its happened this season. Enjoy the game if you're staying up to watch.

UPDATE 12:37: ALL THE STARTERS ARE OUT OF THE GAME? And they're going home? This is more ridiculous than the pine tar game where Billy Martin put Ron Guidry in centerfield and Don Mattingly at second. This is by far the weirdest thing I've ever seen.

UPDATE 12:42: After years of listening to Kay, he finally made me laugh. He used his "If you're keeping score..." line before telling people to just stop. He's by no means a standup comedian, but he actually told a somewhat joke.

Or maybe it's just cause it's almost 1 AM.

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