The minors today.

AAA: SWB lost 5-1. Wang (L, 2-4, 3.07) 1 R in 5 2/3. Cody Eppley 3 R in 1 IP (5.06 and what a difference a year makes). SWB got only 1 run despite 11 hits. CF Melky Mesa and LF Zoilo Almonte 2 h each. 3B Ronnier Mustelier with 3 hits. Thomas (I should be replacing Ben Francisco) Neal 1 H, 2 walks, .323.

AA: Trenton won 3-0. Matt Tracy 6 IP 2 H 7 K. CF Slade Heathcott w/2rbi.

High A: Tampa won 7-0. Sean Black 5 1/3 scoreless. LF Ben Gamel 3 doubles and 3 RBI.

Low A: Charleston won 2-0. Rafael De Paula 6 scoreless.

The minors today.

How can a catcher never receive more than 150 AB in a minor league season, but continue to climb up the minor league ladder each year? Don’t ask me, but Jeff Farnham has done it in the Yanks’ minor league system. 140 G., 510 minor league AB. .235-4-43. Nothing to write home about. Most AB in a season 142 for Low A Charleston in 2011. But here he is as a backup for AAA SWB. Go figure.

AAA: SWB lost 4-1. Wang went 6 2/3, 4 R, 12H. 2-3, 3.29. Ronnier Mustelier 2 H (3B, .211).

AA: Trenton got only two hits in a 6-2 loss. Both hits were solo HR (Cf Slade Heathcott & LF Neil Medchill).

High A: 9-4 loss for Tampa. 3 h, 2 doubles, 2B Angelo Gumbs. 2 H, double, 2 RBI for C Gary Sanchez.

Low A: 6-3 Charleston win. Rafael De Paula 6 IP, 2 R, 3 H and 11 K. DH Greg Bird 2 H, triple, Hr, 2 RBI. 2 H, HR, 2 RBI for 3B Dante Bichette, Jr.

The Minors Today.

AAA: SWB won 4-3. Wang 3 R in 7 2/3. ND, ERA 2.84. Our old buddies Cody Eppley 2/3 (W, 2-1, 2.13) and Clay Rapada (S #1, 2/3 Ip, 0.00) finished up. Granderson 2-4, RBI. He DH’d today. 2B Corban Joseph 2 hits. 2 doubles, RBI for CF Melky Mesa. C Bobby Wilson 2 H, RBI.

AA:  Trenton won 6-2. Jeremy Bleich 3 scoreless IP. Matt Tracy 2 R in 5 2/3 IP. DH Kyle Roller 2 H, solo HR. 2 H, RBI LF Ramon Flores.

High A: Tampa PPD.

Low A: Charleston won 8-0. Gabe Encinas, Brett Gerritse and Alex Smith combined for 14K. 3 H, HR, 4 rbi for 1B Rey Nunez.  2 H, rbi for both DH Greg Bird and LF Kelvin De Leon.

The minors today.

AAA: Chien Ming Wang had an off night and SWB lost 5-0. They only got 4 hits. Wang: 5 IP, 5 R, 8 H, 0 walks, 5 K, 1 HR given up. He is now 2-2, 2.63 at AAA. David Adams (1b) had two doubles. (.325)

AA:  Trenton won 5-0 on a two-hitter. Matt Tracy 6 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 3 walks and 9 K. Good to see, since he’s still 3-2, 8.31. 2 RBI each for CF Slade Heathcott and 3B Reegie Corona. C J.R. Murphy 2 hits, .318.

High A: Tampa got shut out 7-0. Bryan Mitchell 7 R, 6 ER in 4 IP. 2B Rob Refsnyder 2 of the 4 hits. (.370 Low A, .385 High A since the callup).

Low A: Charleston won 10-4. Jose Campos (acquired in the Montero deal) 3 2/3, 0 R, 2 H, 1 walk and 5 K. Evan Rutckyj (if he ever makes the majors, I’d love to hear Sterling try to pronounce that last name) 4 unearned runs in 5 1/3. 2 H, 2 RBI 3B Dante Bichette, Jr. (.195).  2 RBI C Pete O’Brien (.313).  3 RBI RF Yeicok Calderon.  SS Cito Culver 3 h, rbi.

Joba to the DL

Cervelli, Teix, Youk, A-Rod, Jeter, Granderson, Pineda, Cesar Cabral, Nova,

…now add Joba. He goes on the 15-day DL with an oblique strain.

No replacement yet.

Gee, I’m wondering if I missed someone. The way things are, I may have.

A M*A*S*H* unit.

And from the LOHUD blog:

Michael Pineda pitched in extended spring training today and was at 93, up to 95 mph. Cashman sounds encouraged.

Chien-Ming Wang is not a candidate to replace Chamberlain.

Corban Joseph has been optioned to Triple-A to make room for Chris Nelson.

The minors today. Wang great again.

AAA: DH. SWB won both games.

Gm. 1: SWB wins 5-3. Five pitchers combined to go the seven innings (minor league DH— games 7 innings each). OF Zoilo Almonte 2 h, solo HR. 1B Dan Johnson 2 H, HR, 2 RBI. C Jeff Farnham 2 RBI.

Gm. 2:  3-1 win as Wang was superb again.  7 IP, 1 R, 6 H, 1 walk and 2 K. AAA so far: 2-1, 0.95. 2 H, HR, 2 RBI 3B Dave Adams.

AA: Trenton had a DH also. They also swept both games.

Gm. 1: 2-1 win in 8. Caleb Cotham 1 R in 6 IP, 3H. SS Ali Castillo 3 H, GW RBI.

Gm 2: 6-4 win. Matt Tracy 4 R in 6 IP. CF Slade Heathcott 2 H, HR, 3 RBI. 1B Kyle Roller 2 RBI.

High A: Tampa suspended, up 1-0 in the 2nd, lightning.

Low A: Charleston off.

The minors today. Wang good again.

AAA: 4-1 loss. Wang pitched well again. Between him and Nuno, Nova better watch out. Wang went 6 2/3, 3 R, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 w and 2 K. HR by C Austin Romine for the Railriders’ only run. 3B Dave Adams 2 H (.333).

AA and High A: both off.

Low A:  Charleston lost 7-0, getting just 5 hits. SS Cito Culver had two of those hits.

The minors today.

If Hughes or Nova don’t pick it up, the Yanks may have options. Wang went 5 1/3 scoreless for AAA yesterday, Nuno continues to impress, and Pineda should be pitching again soon.

AAA: Vidal Nuno gave up 1 R on 3 H in 5 2/3 as SWB won 5-1. He’s 2-0, 1.54 on the young season. You may remember that he won best rookie in camp. In 2011 he was 9-4, 1.95 (Ind/Low A and Short season). Last year, A+/AA, 10-6, 2.54. He’s coming out of nowhere.  2b Corban Joseph and RF Thomas Neal each had 2 H, rbi.

AA: Trenton won 10-6. Zach Nuding, ND, 1 R in 6 IP. 1B Kyle Roller 3 H, HR 2 RBI. DH Neil Medchill 2 H 2 RBI and SS Ali Castillo 2 H, 3 RBI. 3 H, RBI for LF Ramon Flores. Solo HR 2B Jose Pirela.

High A: Tampa lost 8-3. Corey Black, 7 r, 4 er in 4 2/3.

Low A: Charleston lost both games of a DH.

Gm 1: 10-2. , Gm 2: 1-0. They only got 3 hits in each game. Game 2: Rafael De Paula 10 K in 5 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 3 walks. De Paula, Taylor Garrison and Alex Smith (L) gave up just 3 h in 9 IP and struck out 16 in the loss.

 

Gm 17. Yanks lose 8-4, drop to 10-7.

Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova should look over their shoulders. Chien Ming Wang had a good outing yesterday for SWB, and Vidal Nuno did today (see the minors report, to come).

Hughes is 0-2, 6.43 after three starts, and Nova is 1-1, 6.14. It’s still too early to make a move (after all, it’s just April 21) but not too early to suggest that they have to step it up or they could be replaced come mid-May.

Nova struggled today, going 5+, 4 R, 7 H, 4 walks, 5 K in getting a ND. Since his good rookie year of 2011 (16-4, 3.70), he’s gone 13-9, 5.11. Very Burnett-like. A.J. like also in that he has stuff, but the results have you scratching your head. You think it’s not the arm (like A.J.) but what’s between the ears.

Still, Nova had a 4-2 lead going into the bottom of the sixth. I thought he threw enough pitches and would not have brought him out for the sixth. A walk and a double later, my fears were justified, that Nova should have been pulled. He threw 101 pitches in those 5+ innings.

But the bullpen didn’t help. Boone Logan faced one batter. RBI single.

0 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 walks or K, ERA to 3.38.

Phelps came in and didn’t have it. He had a bad outing against Arizona on the 18th and another one today. 3 IP, 3 R, 3 H, 2 walks and 3 K. I was surprised Girardi left him out there for more than one inning (it was obvious he didn’t have it) but I guess Girardi wanted to save his bullpen.

So Phelps will be unavailable for a while. Meanwhile, Adam Warren has pitched in just two games this year, and none since April 9th.

But Nova has to step it up. 13-9, 5.11 in his last 31 starts isn’t cutting it. If, say, Nuno (now 2-0, 1.54) or Wang (1 start, 5 1/3 scoreless) is doing well in four weeks and Nova continues to struggle, … then there are replacements.

That goes for the bullpen, too. Mark Montgomery (0-1, 1.12) at AAA entered today with 15 K in 8 IP at SWB. (He didn’t pitch today).

Chris Stewart had a solo HR for the Yanks in the 3rd. Bases loaded walks to Overbay and Nunez brought in two runs in the 5th and Gardner had a SF in the 6th.

Hopefully Nova does better next time. If not, …

The Minors Today: Wang back in pinstripes.

AAA: Chien Ming Wang is back in Pinstripes, even if it is only AAA. SWB had a DH.

In the reg. sched. game (7 inn. In AAA, DHs are 7 innings each), Wang went 5 1/3 scoreless, and SWB won 5-3. 2B Corban Joseph 2 h, solo HR. 2 H, HR, 2 RBI for C Bobby Wilson.

In the other game, SWB lost 4-3. Brett Marshall 4 R in 5 IP. 2B Joseph had 2 H and an HR in this game also.

AA: Trenton won 3-1. Nik Turley 1 R in 5 2/3. 2 H, CF Ramon Flores (RBI). 2 for RF Tyler Austin. 3 for 1B Kyle Roller (RBI) & a solo HR for LF Casey Stevenson.  2 H for DH Neil Medchill.

High A: 6-4 Tampa win. Bryan Mitchell 5 IP, 1 R. 2B Rob Refsnyder 2 h, 2 RBI. SS Jose Toussen 3 h. 2 RBI LF Ben Gamel.

Low A: Charleston lost 10-9. 2 H, HR, 2 RBI LF Kelvin De Leon.