Bats Come Back to Life

(image courtesy of pinstripedbible.com)

After scoring a paltry 5 runs on 13 hits over the span of three games, the Yankee bats exploded for 12 runs on 13 hits tonight. They were held hitless over the first four innings by White Sox hurler Edwin Jackson (although they managed two runs thanks to four consecutive walks and a sac fly by Robinson Cano) before bombarding Jackson with four consecutive hits to open the fifth. The Bombers managed to hit for the cycle in those four at-bats (a home run for Brett Gardner, a double for Eduardo Nunez, a triple for Curtis Granderson, and a single for Nick Swisher), which chased the shell-shocked Jackson from the ballgame and opened the floodgates. By the end of the frame, the Bombers had an 8-0 lead on the strength of 7 hits.

The 12-run outburst was a true team effort. Of the starting nine, only Eric Chavez and Jorge Posada failed to record a hit, while four separate Yankees had multi-hit efforts. Everyone other than Nunez (who had two hits and scored three runs) managed to get an RBI. Perhaps most importantly, two of the Yankee hitters who had been struggling the most, Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner, had the two best performances. Swisher got off the snide by going 3-4 with a walk, 3 runs, and 4 RBIs. He capped his night off by finally hitting his elusive first home run of the season. Gardner got in on the power action as well, starting that massive fifth inning rally off with a solo homer. He also recorded a double, walk, stolen base, and scored three runs. Obviously, it’s only one game, but the Yankee lineup can be awfully scary if they can get these two key contributors from last season back on track.

Thanks to the outpouring of offense, it’s easy to look CC Sabathia’s fantastic outing since, for once, it wasn’t actually necessary. The Big Man went 7 innings and gave up 3 runs, all of which were unearned do to some exceptionally shoddy fielding behind him in his final inning of work. After having two on with no outs in each of the first two innings, Sabathia settled in and clamped down on the scuffling Chicago offense, allowing only one hit from the third through the sixth innings while recording six strikeouts over the course of his performance.

Sabathia’s work provided the Yankees with their 7th straight quality start. Over the last five games, each Yankee pitcher has allowed one earned run or fewer (good for a microscopic 0.72 ERA over that span), a feat the team had not accomplished since 2002. Despite tallying only his second win of the season, Sabathia is off to his best start over his first six appearances since 2006 thanks to a 2.27 ERA.

CC was followed by the surprisingly effective Lance Pendleton who went two scoreless innings to finish the game and, despite very unimpressive stuff, has yet to give up a run in his 5 1/3 Big League innings.

With the pitching on a roll and the bats having awakened from their slumber, the Yankees could be poised to go on a tear.

Colon Cleanses Yankees’ Losing Ways

Last night’s game was pretty much par for the course for the Yankees: Limited hitting and great starting pitching. Thankfully, this time the hitting was just competent enough to get the Bombers through the game with their 13th win of the season and not waste Bartolo Colon’s second phenomenal start.

The hitting got off to a promising enough start as Robbie Cano launched a three run bomb in the bottom of the first inning. That’s all Colon would need on this night, which is a good thing since the Yankee lineup was shut down in their final 7 at-bats. Over that span, they only managed three more hits and a walk; the exact same total that they put together in that opening frame.

The Yankees still rank near the top of the league in offense and they have so many good hitters that it’s hard to imagine the team-wide slump will continue too much longer, but these last three games have been pretty abysmal from an offensive standpoint. Brett Gardner, Derek Jeter, and Jorge Posada have all been mostly inept for the entire season, begging the questions of whether Gardner was a flash in the pan and if Father Time may have finally caught up to the previously ageless superstars. Nick Swisher has also struggled mightily in the early goings of the 2011 campaign, but he’s young enough and had enough success over the course of his career that there’s no real reason to worry about him going forward. He will, in all likelihood, snap out of it at some point but, for the time being, the Yankees’ affable rightfielder looks lost.

As bad as the offense looked, Bartolo Colon was positively masterful. He was hitting 96 MPH on the radar gone in his 8th inning of work and continued throwing his devastating two-seamer. In the midst of this “33 games in 34 days” stretch, Colon was able to do something the Yankee rotation has been excelling at in the past week: allowing the bullpen to rest. It marked the 6th straight quality start by the Bombers (beginning with Colon’s last start) and was the third time during that span that the Yankkes were given 8 innings by the starter. The bullpen, which had been taxed so heavily in the first 15 games has had a chance to recuperate and, hopefully, will make them more effective going forward.

The most important thing I can take from this game is the brilliance of Colon. I know that a sample size of two starts plus a few lengthy bullpen stints isn’t an awful lot to go on, but Colon has been dominant. He looks a great deal like the Cy Young caliber pitcher he was in Anaheim and Cleveland all those years ago. His stuff has been, possibly, the best on the entire staff and his control has been great. A guy who was considered an extreme long-shot to make the team out of spring training; Colon has made the most of his opportunity and given Yankee fans a lot to be excited about.

Nobody is more surprised about this turn of events than I am. I expected very little, if anything out of the hefty hurler, but maybe a year off has allowed his arm to recover a bit from whatever injuries had piled up over the years. I’m still skeptical that he will be able to remain healthy through an entire season, but I believe that as long as the Yankees manage his pitches and give him an extra day off here and there, he could provide many more innings than initially expected. Despite those concerns, this first month has come with the shockingly wonderful realization that, until (if?) Colon breaks down, the Yankees could actually have a top of the rotation starter on their hands. I’m certainly not about to complain about that.

Yankees Fall to ChiSox in a Clint Eastwood Loss

(image courtesy of youpolonia.com)

The Yankees were mere inches away from capping the night off with some sweet, savory pie. That’s when Brent Lillibridge snatched it away and forced a big heaping helping of cauliflower down their throats instead. The 27-year old, who is a middle infielder by trade, ended the contest on not one, but two outstanding, game-saving catches. The absolute ropes hit by A-Rod and Cano would have, at the very least, each tied the game and, in all likelihood, would have sent the Bombers home winners.

While the drama in the bottom of the 9th was certainly exciting/excruciating, the real storyline of the game came in the 8 innings prior. It was truly a Clint Eastwood performance from the Yankees, featuring a whole lot of good, bad, and ugly.

The Good
The starting pitching, which was rightfully looked at as the largest weakness of this Yankees ball club heading into the season, had been nothing short of phenomenal over the past four games heading into tonight’s contest. Since Nova’s cringe inducing relief outing in Toronto, Yankee starters had tossed 28 2/3 innings, allowing only 6 runs on 16 hits while striking out 23 and only issuing 7 free passes. Nova kept the train rolling tonight as he put forth his best effort of the season.

The youngster went 6 1/3 innings, giving up only one run on five hits. That one run was aided by some shoddy defense. Curtis Granderson was unable to hold on to a sinking liner by Alex Rios, resulting in a single. It was a tough play, but one Granderson probably should have made. Rios then took off for second on a stolen base attempt. Gustavo Molina had him dead-to-rights, but Robinson Cano dropped the perfect throw, putting Rios in scoring position where he was brought home on Gordon Beckham’s RBI single.

As always, Nova’s stuff was excellent, but there were two key differences that set this apart from his other more disappointing starts. First was his control. Nova only walked two hitters, which was a much needed change after he had struggled to throw strikes this season. Additionally, Nova has typically had trouble getting through the opposing lineup the second and third times, but he was just as strong in the later innings tonight as he was at the start. Unfortunately, his great effort was wasted due to:

The Bad
Aside from a couple of solo home runs by Cano and Gardner, the offense was once again stymied. Over the last two games, the Bombers allowed Chicago starters to go 15 innings while only surrendering a measly 2 runs on five hits. Even with the struggles of Jeter, Gardner, and Swisher, the Yankees have had one of the most potent offenses in the game, so it’s hard to get overly concerned based on two bad games, but the team’s inability to perform at the plate in this series has cost them the last two games and wasted some brilliant starting pitching. They continue to slug home runs at a record pace, but they’ve been otherwise inept against the White Sox. Granted, Phil Humber and Gavin Floyd pitched a couple of fantastic games, but it hasn’t been pretty. With that being said, the two runs the Yankees managed to score would have been enough to win if it weren’t for:

The Ugly
There’s really no way to describe Rafael Soriano’s performance tonight (and to this point in the season, for that matter) other than ugly. I figured we were in for a quick inning when Soriano took the mound throwing 97 MPH gas. He hasn’t thrown that hard all season, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him doing so. Unfortunately, the inning was anything but quick. The mopey righty struck out the first hitter he faced before plunking Carlos Quentin. He then promptly gave up a two-run bomb that ended up losing the game for the Yankees. Soriano’s demeanor on the mound is also concerning. He seems to visibly lose his edge when he begins to struggle and never regains his composure once it leaves. After his disappearing act in the clubhouse after blowing a 4 run lead earlier in the season, his attitude is definitely something that bears watching.

The crowd at Yankee Stadium doesn’t seem to have taken too kindly to Soriano’s poor performance and surly disposition, either, which could be even more cause for concern. Yankee fans famously have the ability to make things very difficult on their own players and, given what we have already seen of Soriano’s personality, things could turn very ugly if his struggles persist. What was once billed as a shut-down bridge to Mariano has been a disaster to the tune of a 7.84 ERA, 1.94 WHIP, and 0.88 K/BB ratio. If the Yankees are to go far, they will need Soriano to right the ship and fast.

Captain Qdoba to the Rescue

(image courtesy of nydailynews.com)

When Brian Cashman went dumpster diving this offseason, performances like the one Bartolo Colon delivered last night were about as unexpected as hearing a tolerable Nickleback song. That being said, Colon was nothing short of brilliant in his first start since 2009. In his 6 2/3 innings of work, Captain Qdoba shut down a dangerous Blue Jays lineup to the tune of 2 runs on 5 hits with 7 strikeouts and only 2 walks.

One of the runs and three of the base-runners came in the 7th inning after Colon started to tire. The other run came early on a second inning home run from JP Arencibia, after which Bartolo retired the next 12 hitters. His velocity remained in an impressive 92-94 MPH range all through his outing and the movement on his sinker was consistently outstanding. Even after his pleasantly surprising performances out of the pen, there remained a good deal of doubt as to whether Colon would be able to sustain his stuff in a starting role. Last night that question was answered in the affirmative.

Between Colon and Freddy Garcia, who pitched even better over the weekend, the Bombers are hoping to catch a little lighting in a bottle a la Shawn Chacon and Aaron Small back in 2005. From watching the two, I think Colon has a much better chance of sustaining success thanks to his significantly more impressive stuff. Garcia was getting by with smoke and mirrors, throwing an assortment of junk at his opponents and keeping them off-balance. Unfortunately, I fear that once the league has seen a bit more of this incarnation of Garcia, he will get hit and hit hard. Colon, on the other hand, looks like his old self. The rotund righthander may not throw 98 MPH anymore, but his fastball is still a force to be reckoned with and, if he is able to stay healthy and maintain his stuff over the course of the season, the Yankees may have found themselves a diamond in the rough. That being said, many people, the team’s front office included, are skeptical of his ability to do so. As with all bargain-basement reclamations, the odds are against him, but the early returns are giving plenty of reason for hope. The only real option is to take the ride as far as it will go and enjoy it while you can.

Almost as important as the quality of Colon’s and Garcia’s starts are the lengths of them. The Bomber bullpen has been severely taxed by a bevvy of close games and insufficient innings from the starters. Mariano Rivera’s blown save came on his 5th game in 8 days and his 10th appearance in only 15 games. Joba Chamberlain has also pitched in 10 games while Rafael Soriano has appeared in 9 and David Robertson in 8. With the Pinstripes about to embark on a stretch where they will play 33 games in 34 days, getting length from their starters is going to be vital. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the team’s success over the next month or so is going to hinge on getting a predominance of 6 and 7 inning starts out of the rotation (with some 8 inning affairs thrown in by CC Sabathia along the way). They simply can’t keep trotting their relief corp out there to save the game night after night. So far, they have been bailed out by a couple of rain-outs and an abundance of off-days, but it’s not a trend that can continue as the season moves along. Colon and Garcia are going to be a key part of that and, thanks to pitching clinics like the one Colon put on while turning the Blue Jays into his own personal highlight reel, there is cause to legitimately believe it can be done.

Mariano Is Actually Human: A Yankee Fan’s Dilemma

(image courtesy of nydailynews.com)

As a fan, losses are always a difficult pill to swallow, but none require a larger spoonful of sugar to get down than games blown by the great Mariano Rivera. It’s a bizarre feeling, perhaps because it happens so infrequently. If any other pitcher in the game blew a two-run lead in the ninth, fans, myself included, would be up in arms. They would descend upon him like the mob upon Frankenstein (figuratively, in most cases). Mariano is different, though.

No matter how egregious the blown save is (and given the fact that he’s been closing for 15 years now, there have been a few), it’s virtually impossible to generate any animosity towards Mo. It’s actually hard to know how to feel. We’ve become so spoiled by and accustomed to Rivera’s greatness that it’s nothing short of a shock when he doesn’t come through. You stare at the screen, unable to process what has just happened. It hurts more than a normal loss, but rather than being mad that the Yankees lost, you are saddened by the fact that Mariano’s the one who lost it.

It’s a dynamic that’s almost unheard of, particularly amongst Yankees fans. Even the slightest failure generally draws the ire of the masses. Pages upon pages of angry posts flood the message boards if Girardi has too slow of a hook or if Posada pops up with runners on the corners in the third inning. As it is with everything else, though, Mariano is different. He’s come through so many times and in so many unbelievably crucial situations, that there’s really nothing to say about the situation.

We’ve been lucky to watch, hands down, the best relief pitcher in the history of the game over more than a decade and a half. What is so frequently a tumultuous position full of turnover around the MLB, has been nothing short of a rock for the New York Yankees. Closer is a role that, even for successful pitchers, generally has a very short shelf life. Look at top notch closers like Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon, and Francisco Rodriguez. They all have had wild amounts of success and have, at one point or another, been dubbed “the next Rivera”, but all have faded to lesser levels since. None have been able to produce at Rivera-like levels for more than a few years. The 41-year old Mariano is still putting up numbers that are just as phenomenal as ever. Since Rivera took over the reigns in 1997, the other 29 clubs have combined to have 229 different saves leaders (there’s some overlap amongst closers who have changed teams, but the number is still absurdly high), with the Chicago Cubs actually having used 11 different closers during the Rivera Dynasty. Take a look at this chart the Washington Post released right before the season started. It’s astounding to look at the pitchers who have come and gone while Rivera remains the lone constant.

Over the course of his career, Mariano has a cartoonish 205 ERA+ (league average is 100), which is the best in the history of the sport. Since becoming a relief pitcher in 1996, his numbers have been even better. In 1109 1/3 innings he’s dominated the best baseball players on earth to the tune of a 2.06 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, .205 Batting Average against and, of course, 566 saves. If he keeps performing like he has in the early goings of this season (last night excluded, of course) he will break Trevor Hoffman’s career saves record of 601 by the time the season ends. His failed rookie season as a starter excluded, Rivera has had a grand total of one season with an ERA above 3 (3.15 in 2007). He has posted a mind-boggling 10 sub-2 ERA seasons, including each of the last three seasons. Over the course of his career, he has come through with WHIPs below 1.00 on 8 separate occasions, including five of the last six years. At the age of 41, he’s showing no real sign of slowing down.

Hoffman is the only other pitcher who has been able to sustain success out of the bullpen like Mariano has, although not at quite as high of a level, but unlike the notoriously big game-adverse Hoffman, Rivera has made his biggest mark on the game’s biggest stage. in 139 2/3 postseason innings (basically the equivalent of two full seasons for a reliever) he has been nothing short of mythical. He has a 0.71 ERA (no, not a typo) with a 0.766 WHIP and an absurd 5.19 K/BB ratio, often pitching two-innings at a time. He has 42 postseason saves and has been on the mound to close out four separate championships. Those are the numbers that tall tales are made from. Centuries from now, kids will hear stories of Paul Bunyan, John Henry, and Mariano Rivera.

All of this has been done with more grace, dignity, and class than any athlete in recent memory. In an era full of ego-maniacal stars with attitude problems, the best of them all has remained as down to earth and classy as they come. He is soft-spoken, good-natured and modest in an environment when all of those traits are rare. There has never been another player in the long, storied tradition of the franchise who has made be prouder to be a Yankees fan than Mariano Rivera. We have been unbelievably lucky to watch this man pitch for over a decade and a half and, if the way he’s still going is any indication, we’re going to remain unbelievably lucky to watch him pitch for another decade and a half (okay, maybe not quite that long, but we can hope, can’t we?)

You Just Can’t Predict Baseball, Suzyn

(image courtesy of chicagobreakingsports.com)

As John Sterling is famously and laughably fond of saying, “You just can’t predict baseball.” Yesterday’s Yankee game was a perfect example of this. Of all people, Freddy Garcia turn in the winner of “Best Performance by a Pitcher in a Non-Sabathia Role” for the Bombers on the young season. Following a couple disastrous starts by the much more highly-touted and much younger duo of Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova, the 34-year old reclamation project shut down one of the most dynamic offenses in baseball.

Garcia went an impressive 6 shutout innings of two hit ball, walking only one batter. Following Nova’s cringe-inducing 5 walk performance on Saturday, Garcia’s control was a sight for sore eyes. The crafty veteran threw nearly 2/3 of his pitches for strikes, a feat made only more impressive when you consider that it was his first start since March 29 during Spring Training. For someone so reliant on feel, to have that type of command with such a long layoff is eye opening, to say the least.

I will admit, this is not an outcome I thought was even a remote possibility. Garcia looked awful all spring, following a pretty dismal 2010 with the White Sox. He didn’t look like he had the stuff to get big league hitters out anymore. Yesterday, however, he did a masterful job of keeping the Texas hitters off-balance. The Chief was able to overcome a sluggish 85 MPH fastball by consistently hitting spots and mixing his pitches with great effectiveness. 58% of his 84 pitches yesterday were either off-speed or breaking pitches, which helped keep batters from sitting on his very hittable fastball.

It would be foolish to expect this type of performance every time out. Garcia just doesn’t have the stuff at this point in his career to consistently shut down opponents like he once could, but he may be able to keep the Yankees in games enough to give the offense a chance to win games and, perhaps eat enough innings to keep the bullpen from getting worn out. I don’t expect much from the Chief, but yesterday was a real pitching clinic and gives me a little hope that he can at least be serviceable in the back end of the rotation.

There is also plenty of news today regarding Garcia’s fellow reclamation project brethren. It was announced that Bartolo Colon, who is replacing Phil Hughes in the rotation for the time being, will be making his first start since ’09 against the Blue Jays on Wednesday. Colon has been nothing short of impressive in his role as a long reliever in the Bronx, demonstrating excellent control and surprising stuff in his first three appearances. It will be interesting to see how that translates to a starting role; to see if he can sustain his performance over a longer outing. I have my doubts, but, then again, I had my doubts about him being able to pitch at all, so I’ll give him a chance before rushing to any judgements. He’s been such a pleasant surprise and it would be great to see his resurgence continue.

While we’re on the topic of pitchers from the scrap heap, Kevin “I’m good once every three years” Millwood had a terrific start today in a rehab start for AA Trenton in which he allowed only one hit in seven shutout innings. Millwood’s stuff has supposedly looked terrible in extended spring training, so today may have been a fluke, but it’s certainly a positive sign and something worth paying attention to. According to Millwood’s contract, he has to be called up to the Bronx by the end of the month or he can opt for free-agency, so the veteran righty bears watching. My guess would be, if Colon struggles with the transition back to the rotation, we will be seeing Millwood with the big club within two weeks.

On a note unrelated to the Yankees, please sit back, relax, and enjoy this bizarre and hilarious baseball moment, courtesy of Tigers’ ace Justin Verlander:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=13867701

Note: Pay attention to catcher Victor Martinez’s reaction. It might be the best part of the whole video.

Record Performance By Yankees

Today was just one of those days. Absolutely nothing went right for the boys in pinstripes, yet they were somehow in the game until the very end. In what amounted to a very frustrating game filled with missed opportunities, the Yankees tied an AL record by grounding into a double-take inducing six double plays. While it’s more a statistical oddity than something to be worried about, the constant twin killings provided an awful lot of chances to yell at the TV screen.

Matt Harrison has been excellent in the early goings this season, so it’s no real surprise that he posed a challenge. This was his third straight start allowing only 1 earned run in 7 or more innings. As irritating as it was, I think it was more a result of Harrison’s stellar pitching than it was Yankee ineptitude. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to an opponent for doing their job.

Unfortunately, Ivan Nova didn’t perform anywhere near the level that Harrison did. The young righty struggled through horrendous control. He walked five batters, hit another, and threw a wild pitch in only 4 1/3 innings of work. Combined with David Robertson, Nova provided a horror of a fifth inning that featured three runs, three walks, three wild pitches, a hit batter, and only one hit. It turned the game from a tightly contested 2-1 bout into an uphill climb that proved to be just a bit too steep.

Particularly with Hughes on the shelf and Freddy Garcia being a complete unknown, the Yankees are going to need Nova to step up. They cannot live with continued performances like this. He is going to need to stay away from giving free passes and will have to find a way to give the Bombers more innings. Sabathia is the only starter who the Yankees can rely on to consistently give them 7+ innings, so starts of less than 5 are going to take their toll. I have confidence that Nova will improve and at least be a serviceable starter in the back end of the rotation, but the question is: how long will it take and how much will he burn out the bullpen before he does so?

The lone bright spot was Lance Pendleton’s outstanding Major League debut. Pendleton was called up earlier in the day when Phil Hughes was placed on the DL. The 27-year old organizational righty featured a pretty unimpressive arsenal and is unlikely to have a great deal of success in the big leagues going forward, but he provided valuable innings for the Yankees in this game, shutting down the high-powered Ranger offense over three perfect frames. Not only did he keep the team in the game (allowing them to get into a position where they had the tying run on-base in the 9th inning), but, with Freddy Garcia making his less-than-hotly anticipated first start of the season tomorrow, saved the bullpen. More likely than not, they will be needed.

Breaking News: Hughes to DL

Well, piggybacking off of my last post, it’s being reported all over the Twitterverse that the Yankees have placed Phil Hughes on the disabled list with a “dead arm”. They are essentially doing what I suggested earlier (although without giving him one more start like I thought they might), just under the guise of a DL trip instead of directly optioning him. He’ll likely start making rehab starts in Scranton before too long in order to build up arm strength and, hopefully, regain his missing velocity. If all goes well, Phil will be up and back to what we’ve come to expect in the next few weeks.

Only time will tell, but I think the Yankees did the right thing for both Hughes and for the team. This allows Hughes to get his work in and build up arm strength in an evironment where winning is not critical. Because the team wants to win, Phil has only thrown 90, 47, and 70 pitches in each of his first three starts, respectively. That certainly isn’t going to help him build up any strength. He needs to be in a situation where he can throw 100+ pitches every time out, regardless of how much he’s getting shelled. Unless there’s something even further wrong with him than we are being led to believe, it should only be a matter of time before he is throwing 92-94 MPH again.

There hasn’t been any official word yet, but I would have to assume that Bartolo Colon will take his spot in the rotation for the time being.

Another Flop From Hughes Overshadows Comeback

(image courtesy of martelli.mlblogs.com)

Last night’s win was probably the most exciting of the year thus far. Unfortunately, Phil Hughes’ third straight dreadful performance casts a large shadow over the first whipped-cream pie of the season. I’ll start with the positive, since the Bombers did come out victorious, after all, but it’s clear that the bad outweighs the good in this one, regardless of the final score.

The bullpen, led by the rejuvenated Bartolo Colon, bailed Hughes out and gave the offense the opportunity to make their comeback. Captain Qdoba was phenomenal, going three shutout innings before handing the ball off to Joba. While many, myself included, championed Bartolo as the fifth starter out of Spring Training, it’s interesting to note that Colon has been a major factor out of the bullpen, while Freddy Garcia won’t get his first start until Saturday. Maybe Girardi had a crystal ball when he made that somewhat baffling choice for the final rotation spot.

Colon’s stuff was, to my eye, the best it’s been all season. I’ve been really impressed with the movement on his fastball, in particular, and the 91 -93 MPH velocity with excellent control has been a welcome surprise. Speaking of stuff, Joba looked pretty darn good in his 1 2/3 innings of work, as well. After a miserable performance on Sunday in Fenway, Chamberlain was throwing gas. His fastball was as hard as it’s been this season and he was showing off his sharp, biting slider. While still not as devastating as when he first took New York by storm in ’07, this was the best his slider has looked in quite some time. As an added bonus, if Rex Ryan was watching, Joba may have a spot as a fullback on the Jets’ roster after doing a dead-on impression of a brick wall while blocking the plate on a near wild-pitch.

The offense, after a sluggish start where they were held hitless for the first four innings, began clicking in the bottom of the fifth and didn’t relent until Teixeira crossed the plate with the winning run in the tenth. A-Rod and Cano continued their absurdly hot hitting and catalyzed a rally in which the Bombers scored in five of their final six frames. After a 3-hit performance, Rodriguez is now batting a mind-boggling .412 and Cano is currently sporting a .927 OPS. The two sluggers are propping up an otherwise under-performing lineup, supplemented by a Dave Kingman-esque Jorge Posada, who now has 5 home runs (including the game-tyer off of Kevin Gregg in the 9^th, last night) despite only 7 hits on the season.

 Now, it’s time to turn our attention back to the reason why the boys from the Bronx were in a five run hole to begin with: Phil Hughes. As you may remember, prior to the season starting, I predicted that Phil was poised for a breakout season. Sadly, after his first three starts, that hasn’t been even remotely accurate. Each game has been an abject disaster for the young right-hander, as he’s been pummeled for 16 runs in just 10 1/3 innings so far. As awful as he was again last night, the 5 runs in 4 1/3 innings actually made it his best performance of the young season.

The big cause for concern with Hughes isn’t the results he’s getting (although that’s obviously a huge problem), but rather the complete and utter lack of stuff. If he looked like the same pitcher as last year, but was simply getting lit up in a few terrible starts, I certainly wouldn’t be happy, but I wouldn’t be concerned, either. I would figure that he’s just going through a rough patch and things would even out eventually. However, that’s simply not the case thus far. In the first two starts, Hughes’ fastball was sitting between 88-90 MPH (down significantly from the 93-94 he was throwing in 2010) and, after hitting 91 on the gun a couple times in the first inning, last night was more of the same.

The point some have made is that many pitchers are successful in that velocity range, so we shouldn’t be overly concerned. Unfortunately, I don’t think Hughes can be one of those pitchers. His command isn’t quite sharp enough (it’s actually been pretty terrible in the early goings, which is only compounding his problems) and he doesn’t have a changeup or a consistent breaking ball, all of which are essential factors for success as a finesse pitcher.

On top of that, Hughes is 24. Non-injured pitchers should not be losing 5 or so miles per hour off of their fastball at such a young age. Was it concerning when Mike Mussina began throwing in the 80’s after spending much of his career in the 92-93 MPH range? No, because Moose was in his late-30’s. That’s to be expected. You lose velocity with age and injury and you are able to adjust to it because you have years of experience and pitching knowledge to fall back on. It’s not something that you expect to go through when you’re young enough to still get carded at the liquor store.

I believed Hughes was poised for a big season this year because, last year, he was able to put up slightly above-average numbers in the AL East at such a young age. In such a talent-laden division, that’s no easy task. I expected that, building on the experience he gained in 2010, he would be able to continue to develop as he moved closer to his prime years. Last season, he relied largely on a good, hard fastball and an above-average cutter, but needed to improve his curve and also had to find a way to work a changeup into his repertoire to take that next, logical step to be a front of the rotation guy. What makes this season’s baffling struggles so problematic (apart from the obvious) is that, while Hughes focuses on trying to regain his velocity and trying to get through a start without getting hammered, he isn’t able to work on developing any of the tools he needs to become the pitcher we all thought he could be. He’s taking a step back and stunting his development all around, so even when (if?) he does regain his stuff, he’s still going to be behind where he should be. At this point, I think the best case scenario for Phil in 2011 is to re-establish himself as a pitcher on the level he was at last season.

On the topic of getting him to the point where he is back at that level, I think the Yankees are running out of options. I know there are those who say they should let him work it out on the big league level, but I’m not so sure I agree with this. Again, if he were getting hit around, but his stuff was in-tact, I would say that the only way to fix him is to let him continue to try and get big league hitters out. But that’s not the case. For whatever reason, his velocity has been abysmal. While we don’t know the cause (arm strength, injury, mechanics, etc.), we do know that it’s not as simple as “figuring it out”. He isn’t simply pitching poorly, he currently lacks the physical ability to pitch well. Because of this, there’s no benefit to having him get smacked around by Major Leaguers. His velocity will either come back or stay away regardless of what level of competition he is playing against, so it behooves the Yankees to have Phil cause as little damage as possible to the squad while he is finding himself.

As early as it is, right now is a crucial time for the Yankees season. The Red Sox are struggling mightily and, as much fun as it is to needle their fans about it, I think it’s fair to say that Boston is still a very dangerous team and will probably be in the thick of things come season’s end. It is imperative to take advantage of their slow start and for the Yankees to put as much distance between them and their rivals in the standings as possible before the Sox figure it out. As such, I would give Hughes one more start to see if he can regain what, up until now, has been so hopelessly lost and, if he’s still throwing in the same velocity range and giving up run after run, I think the Bombers’ best option is to get him sorted out in Scranton. I certainly haven’t given up on Hughes in the long term, but he is really hurting the team right now and they need to fix the problem in the least painful way possible.

Burnett Out-Pitches His Stats

(image courtesy of nydailynews.com)

A.J. Burnett pitched much better than his line tonight. In 6 1/3 innings of work, the Yankee hurler gave up 4 runs on 7 hits while striking out 5 and walking 2. Just from looking at the box score, you would think we were treated to a rather mediocre performance by Mr. Burnett, but that really couldn’t be further from the truth.

The game started out looking a little iffy for Burnett as he tallied an unsightly 53 pitches over the first 2 innings, surrendering 2 hits and a walk. However, he managed to avoid allowing any Orioles to cross the plate and for the next 4 frames, A.J. was absolutely dealing. From the third inning (in which he tossed an impressive total of 6 pitches) through the sixth, Burnett needed only 43 pitches to set down 12 of 14 Baltimore hitters.

With one batter down in the 7th, Burnett tired in the blink of an eye, surrendering 3 hits (a booming double and two long home runs) and a walk, leading to 4 quick runs and the uglification of his numbers for the day. (On a side note: wow! Uglification is a real word. That makes me really happy) Some people are complaining about Girardi’s slow hook, but I have to say that I really don’t have much of a problem with it. You could make the argument that, with a 7-0 lead, Burnett should never have even taken the mound in the seventh inning, and I could definitely understand that line of thinking. However, it really could go one way or the other and it’s hard to call that a terrible move.

Once Burnett’s implosion began, it was really a matter of falling apart so quickly that David Robertson really couldn’t have gotten ready to come in any earlier. Burnett was cruising and there was a big lead, so there wasn’t any reason to have someone already warming. If you were going to do that, you may as well have had them come in to start the inning. After the quick first out and going 1-1 on Mark Reynolds, Burnett then surrendered 2 runs within the span of 4 pitches. At that point, Robertson began warming and two batters (and two runs) later, he came into the game.

Even when looking at the final line, one major positive that definitely jumps off the page is the walk total. Infamous for giving batters the gift of the free pass over the course of his career, Burnett has only issued five bases on balls in the 17 1/3 innings he has pitched thus far and never more than two in a single start. Coupled with his still excellent strikeout numbers, Burnett currently boasts a 3.2 K/BB ratio. For reference, last year he managed a paltry 1.86 K/BB ratio (2.01 in 2009). Now, obviously this is an incredibly small sample size (less than 10% of the innings you’re expecting from Burnett), but it’s certainly a good sign. Based purely on observation, Burnett’s pitching motion looks much more in control and repeatable than it has in the past. It seems as if Larry Rothschild may have discovered something with his enigmatic hurler that could possibly stick.

This is not the first time Burnett has given fans reason for optimism, so it’s hard to get overly excited about the permanence of any breakthrough. At his age, it’s more likely that he is what he is: a very talented, but maddeningly inconsistent pitcher. That being said, if Rothschild is able to get Good A.J. to show up more frequently than Bad A.J., the Yankees have to be thrilled. It would put them in a tremendous position to win this year. The most important thing is that he is able to eradicate the newly spawned Horrific A.J. from last season.

Of course, one day’s question mark pitcher leads to another, as Phil Hughes takes the mound tomorrow following his two disturbingly awful starts to open the season. I’m not one to overreact to early struggles, but Phil’s lack of velocity and lack of bit on any of his pitches is highly disturbing. Tomorrow’s outing bears watching and could be crucial to the Bombers’ chances over the course of this season.