Game 47. Yanks win 9-4, but Grandy breaks a bone… again

Are you kidding me? Curtis Granderson must feel jinxed. On his first at bat of a spring training game, he is hit by a pitch, breaks a bone, and misses the first 38 games of this season.

Now, in Game #47, he gets hit by a pitch again, and this time breaks a finger.

Another 4 weeks or more on the DL.

Like I mentioned, are you kidding me?

The Yanks did win 9-4 as David Phelps was brilliant for five innings before faltering.

Even he almost went on the DL. A liner caught Phelps on the forearm in the eighth inning, but fortunately it was just a bruise.

It looks like Boesch will be back to replace Granderson (they should also bring up Neal to replace Francisco while they are at it).

Meanwhile, Teix could be back in a week (what that does for Overbay is anyone’s guess. It’s hard to have Teix, Overbay AND Hafner all on the same team. One could DH, one could play 1B, but as for #3? And Hafner is NOT going to play the field).

It seems like Youk could be back soon too. Since Youk plays 1B and 3B, you also wonder about Overbay (27 RBI) (and for that matter, David Adams, who has been great since his callup, .323).

Nova has been activated but will be in relief until further notice. Betances (who didn’t get into a MLB game) was sent down.

Also, Nunez and Joba are about ready.

There will be VERY interesting roster decisions to be made in the next two weeks or so.

I do hope Phil Hughes was closely observing Phelps tonight. For often, Hughes, who most likely has better stuff, gets less out of an outing than Phelps does.

Phelps retired the first thirteen men he faced.

He went 7 2/3, 4 R, 6 H, 0 walks, 3 K. (W, 3-2, 3.96).

Logan 1/3, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks and 1 K, 1.88.

Kelley finished up. 1 R, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks and 0 K. 5.03.

The Yanks jumped out in front with 3 in the 2nd. Overbay doubled in two and Nix singled in Overbay.

Brett Gardner HR’d (4, surprising) in the 4th to make it 5-0.

In the fifth, Granderson got his injury on the HBP, and Adams and Overbay singled. A walk to Nix forced home a run, Stewart singled in another. Even CANO was plunked, forcing in another run. Thank goodness Robbie was OK.

Phelps struggled after the five and the 8-0 lead, but the Yanks did a run in the 7th on a triple by Nix and a WP.

 

Game 34. Overbay leads Yanks to 11-6 win.

I’ll defend Phil Hughes, who had four great outings before tonight but even though he got the win tonight, I won’t defend him tonight.

The Yanks did win, though, 11-6.

In the top of the second, the Yanks went up 4-0 on 2-Run HRs by Ichiro  (2) and Overbay (6).

Hughes then pissed me off. 4-0 lead. He gave up a walk and a single. He then struck out the next two batters and had an 0-2 count on the next hitter, the #9 hitter. A fat fastball becomes a 3-run HR.

Phil, I defend you but there is NO DEFENSE FOR THAT. NONE.

Overbay’s double in the 4th made in 5-3 Yanks. Phil gives up two in the bottom of the fifth to tie it up.

The Yanks come back with five in the top of the sixth to make it 10-5 Yanks. Overbay doubled in a run, and Chris Nelson singled in two. After a forceout, Gardner tripled in a run and Cano singled in another. 10-5 Yankees.

Whereupon Hughes gave up a HR to cut it to 10-6. Hey Phil. You blew a 4-0 lead and now you give up a HR when they restored your lead to 10-5. Unacceptable. You must protect leads.

Hughes got an ugly win. 5 2/3 IP, 6 R, 7 H, 2 walks and 3 K. 2 HR. He goes to 2-2, 4.43.

Shawn Kelley 2 1/3, 0 R, o H, 0 walks and 6 K. 6 K out of 7 outs and clearly his best outing as a Yankee. ERA to 6.14.

Boone Logan the scoreless 9th with 2 K. ERA to 2.70.

Gardner and Cano each with 2 H, RBI. Ichiro 3 h, 2 RBI.

Overbay with 4 hits, HR, 2 doubles, & 5 RBI tonight.

2 H, 2 RBI for Chris Nelson.

Somehow, this cast of no-names is getting it done.

Game 29. Hughes gets his first win of the season, 4-2.

Phil Hughes pitched eight shutout innings and notched his first win of the year as the Yanks beat Oakland 4-2.

After two tough starts to open the season, one of which was supposed to be a minor league rehab start, Hughes has pitched four good games, with his ERA being 1.93 in those four games.

And to think, some people wanted to ditch Hughes after his second start of this year. Hughes won 16 (tying for the team lead) last year and 18 in 2010. There aren’t too many pitchers out there that could say that they won 16 or more in two of the last three seasons. Yes, he gives up homers and his ERA isn’t the greatest, but he did win 16 last year, 18 in 2010 and still hasn’t turned 27.

For the season, Hughes is now 1-2, 3.60. We hope this roll continues.

The Yanks went up 1-0 in the third when Chris Stewart homered off of Bartolo Colon. Stewart’s HR (2) was only the sixth of his career.

Lyle Overbay made it 2-0 in the fifth with his fifth HR of the season. A double by Cano and single by Hafner, who prior to the single was 0 for 17 off of Colon, made it 3-0 in the sixth.

A triple by Nunez and single by Gardner made it 4-0 in the seventh.

Shawn Kelley started the ninth, gave up a hit and was pulled for Mo. Mo wasn’t his best, but got the outs to end the game. It wasn’t a save situation.

Kelley 0 IP, 1 batter, 1 R, 1 H, no walks or K. ERA to 8.71. Ugh.

Mariano 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 walk, 0 K.    ERA to 2.19.

 

Gm 28. Yanks shut out 2-0.

CC basically lost this game on his very first pitch, which was hit for a HR, for the Yanks scored nothing tonight.

How banged up are the Yankees? Consider this. The Yanks batted Ichiro fifth tonight. Fifth. When I think of fifth I think of Tino, Moose, Bob Meusel, Chambliss …. guys that have power. No offense to Ichiro, but not a guy like him.

The Yanks lost 2-0. CC went six, 2 R, 8 H, 2 walks and 6 K. He falls to 4-3, 3.31.

Adam Warren finished up with 3 scoreless IP. ERA to 2.08.

Gardner & Nix had two hits each.

Gm 22. Costly victory for Yanks, 6-4.

The Yanks won 6-4 tonight, but it was a costly victory.

On the very first batter of the game, Francisco Cervelli took a foul off his hand. X-rays revealed a broken hand and he’ll be out six weeks. Figure on (with rehab) 8 weeks, meaning the end of June. Austin Romine was called up from SWB to replace Cervelli.

Cervelli has to be heartbroken. He was off to a good start, seemed to finally be the #1 catcher, and had 3 HR already. I expected 3 HR all year from him, not 3 in the first 21 games of the season.

Not only that, Ivan Nova had to leave after just 2+ innings due to an elbow injury. He’ll have an MRI tomorrow. The Yanks can 1) move Phelps (more on him in a bit) into the rotation and bring up someone or 2) leave Phelps where he is in long relief and bring up Wang or Vidal Nuno. Me, I’d leave Phelps where he is and bring up Nuno, who was great in S.T., won the best rookie in camp award and who has started out 2-0, 1.54 in 4 starts this year at AAA (23 1/3 IP, 26 K, just 2 walks. Besides, having three lefties in the rotation [CC, Andy and Nuno] doesn’t seem too bad).

Juan Encarnacion hit two HR off the Yanks tonight, one in the 2nd off Nova. The Yanks tied it in the bottom of the inning on a bases loaded forceout by Nunez, who is down to .164.

Nova gave up a HBP and a single to start the third, then was pulled because of his injury. Phelps (W, 1-1, 5.29) replaced Nova and gave up a single for a run, but he was great tonight.

Nova 2+ IP, 2 R, 4 H, 0 walks and 2 K, ERA to (ugh) 6.48. You don’t want anyone to get hurt, but, and I hate to say this, maybe this can be a blessing in disguise. I mean, 6.48 is 6.48.

Phelps went 4, 1 R, 2 H, 2 walks and NINE strikeouts. His only blemishes were the single that let in Nova’s run (inherited) and giving up Encarnacion’s 2nd HR of the game to cut the Yanks lead to 4-3.

Meanwhile, after the single that Phelps gave up made it 2-1, the Yanks tied it in the bottom of the third on a Vernon Wells SF.

The Yanks went up 4-2 in the fifth on an RBI triple by Lyle Overbay, then Overbay scored on a WP. Toronto is killing itself defensively so far this season. Consider this. The Yanks won 6-4 tonight. One Yankees run scored on a WP. Another on a PB.

Encarnacion’s 2nd HR of the game made it 4-3 in the sixth, but Toronto gave the Yanks a gift run in the 7th. Cano doubled, was moved to third by Wells and scored on that PB I mentioned. Give Wells credit for going the other way to advance Cano to third. 5-3 Yanks.

Joe went formula for the last 3 innings. Joba D-Rob and Mo.

Joba pitched a scoreless 7th.  1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks and 0 K.  4.32.

Juan Batista homered off  D-Rob (1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 walks, 0 K, 3.12)  in the 8th to cut it to 5-4, but Brett Gardner HR’d (3) in the bottom of the 8th to put the Yanks up 6-4.

Can you believe Brett the Jet has 3 HR? (or that Cervelli has 3?)

Save #8 on the season and #616 of his career wasn’t easy. Toronto loaded the bases on Mo before he got a K for the final out.  1 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 walks and 2 K. 2.00.

Gm 13. Pronk! Hafner’s PH HR wins it, 4-3.

The Yanks entered the bottom of the 7th down 3-0, but came back for a 4-3 win.

CC went 8, 3 R, 6 H, 1 walk and 6 K. He improves to 3-1, 2.57.

Mo got career save #612 with a 1-2-3 9th. Save #4 for the year brings his 2013 ERA to 1.80. Typical Mo.

The Yanks were down 3-0 going into the bottom of the 7th, but Francisco singled with one out (his first hit of the year), and with two out, Boesch doubled. Nunez walked to load the bases and Nix walked to force in a run. Gardner then hit a 2-run single to tie the game.

In the 8th, with two out, Hafner hit a PH HR for the game-winner.

The Yanks are now 8-5 after a 1-4 start.

Game 11. Kuroda dominates in Yankees 3-0 win.

Hiroki Kuroda pitched a complete-game 5-hit shutout and Brett Gardner hit a 2-run HR (2) as the Yanks beat the Orioles tonight, 3-0.

The Yanks scored all their runs in the fifth. Boesch singled, Cervelli singled and Overbay’s flyout moved Boesch to third. Nix hit a SF to make it 1-0. Gardner then hit one high off the foul screen to make it 3-0.

The Yanks are off tomorrow. Pettitte is pushed back to Friday. The next three games (Tue-Thu) will be Nova, CC and Hughes.

 

Gm 8; Yanks blast their way back to .500, 14-1

You watch Andy Pettitte, the major’s oldest starter pitch, and you ask yourself, “this is a guy who retired and didn’t pitch at all in 2011?”

He looks as good as ever. Better even.

Andy won tonight to go to 2-0 on the season. In 15 IP, he’s given up just two runs. This is a guy who’ll be 41 in June.

Career win #247 tied him with Jack Quinn on the all-time list. Remember that Andy’s 19 postseason wins are the most postseason wins ever (in fairness to Whitey Ford, Whitey only had the WS, no other rounds. Whitey’s 10 are the most in WS play).

Andy got lots of support as the Yanks bombed out 5 HR in the 14-1 win. Pettitte went 7, 1 R, 5 H, 3 walks and 4 K. Adam Warren finished up, 2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 walks and 1 K.

The HR were by Ichiro, Cano (his 3rd in 2 games), Youkilis, Overbay and Boesch.

Gardner was 4 for 5, scored 3 and drove in 2. Cano drove in 5 and was 4 for 6. Overbay had 3 hits.

Overall the Yanks had 18 hits as their 3rd straight win put them back at .500 at 4-4.

Gm 5. Yanks drop to 1-4 with 8-4 loss.

Phil Hughes was OK for 4 innings but ran out of gas in the fifth, and the Yanks’ bullpen once again didn’t shut down the opposition as the Yanks lost to Detroit today 8-4 to fall to 1-4 for the season.

Hughes went 4, and gave up 4 R, 3 ER. Boone Logan gave up 1 unearned run in 1/3 IP and David Phelps 2 R in 2 2/3. Joba Chamberlain gave up 1 R in 1 IP.

The Yankees pitching, supposed to be a strength this year, has given up 8, 7, 8 and 8 runs in their four losses. That won’t get it done. Detroit got 17 hits today.

Meanwhile, the Yanks haven’t scored more than four runs in any of their five games so far this year. They haven’t had a game yet in which the team got 10 or more hits.

The Yanks have to get their top two hitters in the lineup going. Brett Gardner got a HR the other day, but he went 0 for 5 today and is hitting .150. Robbie Cano went 0 for 3 and is at .111. Meanwhile Ichiro got today off but did strike out PH-ing late in the game. He is 1 for 14 (.071) for the year so far. Jayson Nix doesn’t have a hit yet.

Lyle Overbay had 2 RBI today, and Vernon Wells hit HR #2, a solo shot.

 

 

Gm 3. Leave it to “Old Reliable,” Andy. Yankees win 4-2.

No other combination of wins/saves in baseball history is more prolific than that of Andy Pettitte getting the W with Mo picking up the save.

That combo got it done again tonight, even though Mo wasn’t vintage Mo. Not bad for a 40 (41 in June) starter and a 43 yr. old closer.

Andy went 8 brilliant innings, and the majors oldest starter showed that he still knows how to get it done. Watching him pitch, it’s hard to believe he took all of 2011 off.

He gave up just 1 run in those 8 IP. 8 H, 1 walk and 3 K. Win #246 of his career enabled him to pass Dennis Martinez and Jack Powell on the all-time list and tie him with Amos Rusie and “Iron Man” Joe McGinnity.

Mo gave up a run in the 9th (not a vintage 1-2-3 Mo performance) but that was to be expected. After all, Mo didn’t give up a run in spring training and you knew he would soon. Better to do it in a game where he came in with a 3-run lead than a 1-run lead. Anyway, career #609 for Mo.

The Yanks got two in the second when Travis Hafner (Pronk) singled and with two out, Eduardo Nunez doubled and Lyle Overbay singled in both of them.

Power came from unexpected sources tonight. In the third, Brett Gardner homered to make it 3-0.

It was a bit of a funky lineup tonight. Gardner led off, Cano batted 2d. After that, it was R/L for the rest of the way. Youk 3d. Hafner, then Wells, then Ichiro, Nunez, Overbay and Cervelli. It was probably the 1st time ever that Cano batted #2 and Ichiro #6.

Boston touched Andy for a run in the 7th, but the Yanks came right back when Cervelli crushed a HR in the bottom of the 7th to make it 4-1.

Mo uncharacteristically gave up a run in the 9th, but closed it out.

On to Detroit, Nova on the mound, for a Friday afternoon game.