Yanks Snatch Game 1 in Texas

I heard commentators talking earlier in the season about how the Yankees didn't have as many walk-off wins as last year. While that is true, the general attitude of that statement was to imply that the Yankees didn't come back on teams like they had the year before.

If anything this one thoroughly proves that the Yankees are never out of a game. The Rangers blew a 5-0 lead and New York survived a CC Sabathia implosion to take Game 1 of the ALCS 6-5.

The Rangers really have to be hurting in the locker room after this one. They had beat on the Yankee ace and had forced the Yankees into using Dustin Moseley. Yet they failed to tack on runs against the mop up man and when Brett Gardner sparked a rally with a huge hustle play to start the eighth, you could see things start to slide downhill for the Rangers and their bullpen.

Ron Washington brought in Darren Oliver and the veteran walked two straight Yankees to load the bases. That forced the Texas manager to go to his second Darren, Darren O'Day. O'Day fluttered one of his side arm offerings down the inner third of the plate and Alex Rodriguez destroyed the ball past Michael Young at third to score tow more and pull the Yanks to within 5-4.

So, after one pitch Washington decided to bring in another lefty, this one being Clay Rapada. Rapada only threw nine innings in the majors this year and really Washington should have taken his chances with a hard thrower like Alexi Ogando, because Cano doesn't care who is throwing the ball, he will destroy it.

Cano led the AL with 13 homer against lefty pitching this season and had just homered off of C.J. Wilson who hadn't allowed a dinger to a same-sided batter all year. Rapada stood no chance and Cano tied the game with a hard single up the middle on the first pitch he saw.

After another pitching change Marcus Thames continued to be an unsung hero for New York this year and gave the Yanks the lead with a broken bat single.

The win is big for New York. Strike that, it's HUGE. They could have found themselves in a bad spot if they didn't rally to save Sabathia's bacon. Texas would have been rolling and licking their chops at the prospect of being up 1-0 in the series with Phil Hughes on the mound versus Colby Lewis and Cliff Lee still lurking in the shadows of Game 3. Now the Yankees have to be feeling like they are never out of the game, even on e where their ace is inept and teh opposing pitch is dealing deep into the game.

Tomorrow brings the previously mentioned match up of Phil Hughes vs. Colby Lewis. Hughes has been great in Texas for his career, throwing 15.1 scoreless innings over four seasons, including his aborted no-hitter in 2007. Plus Hughes has been better on the road in general this season.

Lewis has been solid since returning to the Majors from Japan. Lewis strikes out a lot of guys, but can also have bouts of wildness. The Yankees haven't seen Lewis this year, which usually is a bad omen for them. In this case though, they can probably at least elevate Lewis's pitch count and get into that Rangers bullpen early, much like the Rays did in Game 3 of the ALDS.

Back at it tomorrow at 4 p.m.

Cano Joining the Home Run Derby

It looks like Robinson Cano is going to be the first Yankee to participate in the All-Star Game Home Run Derby. Cano is the first Yankee in the Derby since Jason Giambi failed to defend his crown in 2003.

The Home run Derby is pretty pointless and most of the time it disappoints, but Cano in the derby will be pretty entertaining. The guy has a great swing and the clips the YES Network shows of his batting practice bombs are pretty impressive.

I actually hope that this starts a trend and perhaps MLB will stop asking just sluggers to participate. They should try thinking outside the box for once. I think a player like Ichiro would be great to watch in the Derby as well since he is also known for hitting bombs in batting practice whenever he feels like it.

Sure he might so no in order to protect his swing, but what's the harm in asking?

Update: Oh and by the way, who else saw that sick goal by Giovanni Van Bronckhorst for the Dutch against Uruguay in the World Cup semis? Are you kidding me?!?! That was just plain ridiculous. I can't even do that in FIFA '10.

Here's hoping Germany vs. Spain is just as exciting.

Yanks vs. Sox: Round 2

Well yesterday's game was a tough one to watch from both sides. What was promoted as a pitchers dual between two former teammates ended as a slug fest with both pitchers imploding for eight earned runs in five innings. Though both pitchers ended with a similiar line, it is obvious that Burnett is the guy who lost the game.

Handed a 6-0 lead Burnett gave up a grand slam to the geriatric Jason Varitek and a solo shot to light hitting Jacoby Ellsbury. This is more likely what Burnett will be all season long. Having spurts of true dominance before regressing into a walk and home run machine. The hope is that he has more of those 10 k two-hit performances than these eight run debacles.

The one positive that we can take from this series is that the Yanks are still putting up a pretty good fight against the Sox despite having the mass defection of their 25 man roster to the disabled list.

Also, I think we can officially say that Robinson Cano is back. The adjustments he made at the end of last season seem to have had a real effect on him and he is simply destroying the ball. Its also a great sign for Cano to be mashing in April since his early season struggles are well documented.

For his career Cano has managed only a .264/.310/.391 line for April. But after April his numbers jump to .311/.338/.488. Its very possible that last season was the aberration for Cano and not the years prior. The guy can hit the ball, and this year he has been more discerning at the plate. If he develops just a little more patience then he will be the force everyone expected him to be after 2006.

Tonight it's Pettitte vs. Masterson. Pettitte has looked good in his three starts, but Masterson was solid his last time out. My hope for this game is that it ends before midnight, but that's wishful thinking. Get some rest this afternoon... it's probably gonna be a long night.

Burnett saves season

Well we Yankee fans can all breath easier now. The Great A.J. Burnett put us on his back and carried us to our first victory of the year. Now we can begin our road to 160 straight victories. Anything less it would be a failure.

But seriously, it's good to finally put one in the one column and at least shut up the naysayers until the Yanks drop another one. Burnett was solid but not dominant. At this point that's all the Yanks needed. He struck six which were the first strikeouts for Yankee starters all season. Aside from the good signs from Burnett the Yanks also had some promising results from several other players.

Mark Teixeira started to find his grove a little and jacked one out for the first time as a pinstriper. Robbie Cano continued to show that his new and improved stance is for real and that he intends to be a force in the lineup again. Just an aside on him, he took his third walk of the season this year. He only had 26 all of last year. Now if that is a signal that something will be different for him this year I don't know what is. But the biggest story of all today was the stellar play of Nick Swisher. Swisher had three hits including a double and homer and tied a career high with five RBI.

I have to say that I loved the Swisher pick up this off season by Cashman. He bought low on a guy that the White Sox had no use for and had just had the worst year of his career. All he gave up was Wilson Betemit and a throw away minor leaguer. Yea he'll never come close to hitting .300, but if his OBP is near his career mark of .355 then does it really matter? His versatility will be useful this year off the bench and when 2010 rolls around he will give the Yanks a man to step into one of the corner outfield spots. Girardi is good at getting people in games that have earned time, he's shown that in his bullpen management, hopefully he keeps Swish happy and gets him plenty of at bats.

The Yanks move on to KC now and we get our first looks at Andy Pettitte and Joba Chamberlain while CC Sabathia gets a shot at redemption.

Oh and of note: Carl Pavano still sucks. Couldn't be happier to see him fail. Check that, I'm angrier at the Indians for being dumb enough to give him that much money after what he's done these past four years. Should have read the warning label Shapiro, would have saved you some coin.

Countdown to gameday

Only one day remaining until the new season is upon us and though some on this blog find it hard to be enticed by April baseball, I just can't resist. I actually get upset that there are so many days off during April and that rain is always pushing games around.

Anyway the Yankees will open up tomorrow in Baltimore after stomping the Cubs again in the new stadium. Its good to see the Yanks hitting on all cylinders heading into the season, but of course there is always the worry that they wont be able to carry the momentum up from Florida to the Bronx.

That's why it was good to see Cano hitting in cold and damp weather and that Teixeira, who is a notoriously slow starter, was also raking in the rain. Both of those players will be important for the Yankees this season. The loss of Matsui and Posada to injury really hurt the Yankee offense last season, but it was Cano's huge step back that made the biggest dent in the lineup.

The Yanks put a lot of faith in Cano and his smooth swing. Four years and $30 million to be exact and so far he hasn't justified that faith. Here's hoping that he starts taking a few more pitches and driving the rest to the gaps this summer.

Cano looking good

There has been a lot of talk lately about what the Yankees are to do with Robinson Cano after such a down year. Many thinking trading the slumping second baseman is the best way to deal with the problem and they would be wrong.

What the Yankees need to do is what they have down. The sat Cano when he didn't hustle to send him a message. They reworked his stance to give him a more balanced and consistent approach. And I think the results have become evident in the few weeks since then.

I know that much of what Cano has done has been against team that are in the playoffs already or haven't had a prayer since May, but that doesn't matter to me.

To me what is important is the games don't matter to Cano and he is still working hard to make himself better. That says something about a player that most people thought was lazy and unmotivated. Now he has a nine game hitting streak and he has even walked a couple of times during the streak which is just as many times as he has struck out.

Cano was a big reason the Yankee offense was as flat as it was. When you combine his off-year with the injuries to Matsui, Posada, plus the minor ailments to Jeter and Rodriguez, the Yankee offense loses quite a bit of potency.

Thanks in-part to Cano's hot play and that of the recently hot Brett Gardner, the Yanks crushed the Red Sox last night. It was their second to last meaningful game of the season as their victory eliminated the Sox from the divisional race. It's a bitter sweet victory but it does make me feel a little better that the Rays are division champs.

Today's game is a no show for the Yanks as they are sending Sidney Ponson to the mound. Hopefully he doesn't last to long on the mound. Nobody wants to watch him anymore. Sunday will have some meaning and hopefully the Yanks get it done for Mussina. It will be nice to finally give him something he can he did, rather than something he has almost done.