Home

Once upon a time, Andy Pettitte‘s return to the Yankees almost seemed like a problem. The Yankees already had one man too many for their starting rotation, and with Freddy Garcia and Phil Hughes pitching well in the spring, it was hard to see how an even bigger bottleneck would be sorted out by adding Pettitte to the mix as well. Oh what a difference a month makes. These days, of course, Hughes and Garcia have been terrible in the regular season while Michael Pineda is officially out for the season without throwing a single pitch in a game that counted and, suddenly, Pettitte’s return feels like less of a heartwarming human interest story and more like a crucial piece of the Yankees’ 2012 season.

>>>>READ MORE

Phil Hughes is not a starting pitcher. He just isn’t, not right now. He doesn’t have a single quality secondary pitch in his arsenal right now, nor does he have the sort of fastball command you need to turn a lineup over consistently without breaking balls or off speed pitches to keep hitters off balance. That was on full display last night, when the Rangers’ lineup was all over him the second time they saw him. Hughes faced six batters twice, and the only one who made an out was Elvis Andrus, who tapped a curveball that should have been in the dirt to Alex Rodriguez to bring home a run. The other five batters accounted for two doubles, a single, and two hit batters before Joe Girardi decided he’d seen enough of Hughes for one day.

>>>>READ MORE

The news on Michael Pineda‘s shoulder is in and it is not good. According to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News, Pineda has a “discreet tear of his labrum and surgery is scheduled for Thursday. READ MORE

If you look simply at C.C. Sabathia‘s record against the Texas Rangers for his career, his 10-3 mark might make you think he loves pitching against them. His 5-2 record in Texas also might provoke the same feelings. The standard line of thinking is that Sabathia is best when the weather is warm. And it does not get much warmer than pitching in Texas. But despite the overall record, the news is not all rosy. Texas is a tough place for the big left-hander. READ MORE

SEE THE VIDEO

Whether it be a scheduling accident or by some grand design, what other team should help the Boston Red Sox celebrate the 100th birthday of Fenway Park than the New York Yankees? And today’s three o’clock game and the festivities before should be fun to watch. There will be special uniforms and caps. There will be all sorts of things going on. But most of all, the century of Fenway baseball has the Yankees and Red Sox written all over it. What has always been fascinating is how different Fenway is from whatever version of Yankee Stadium we’ve had. Both teams have always been assembled in part to take advantage of their home parks which means a polar opposite for both teams.
--------READ MORE

Yanks manager Joe Girardi discusses the Sawx…

SEE THE VIDEO

READ MORE

The Yankees recalled right handed pitcher Cody Eppley to take Brett Gardner‘s place on the active roster after the speedy outfielder was placed on the 15 day disabled list, meaning that, in the near term, the Yankees will be carrying 13 pitchers with a three man bench. In general I’m not a fan of that alignment, but at the moment I can certainly see the logic behind it. The Yankees’ bullpen has been getting a lot of work in over the team’s first 12 games, especially the front end guys like Cory Wade, Clay Rapada, and David Phelps, and with 9 games in 10 days against the Red Sox, Rangers, and Tigers after the Yankees finish up with the Twins tonight, things don’t figure to get any easier on the pitching staff before the end of the month. Under those circumstances, adding an arm to the bullpen is certainly a logical choice.

READ MORE