Is the End Near?

Since it is my constitutional right as a Red Sox fan to rub salt into Yankee wounds, I think it is fair to say that the Evil Empire is worried. The tension in Manhattan is palatable today and things could become tragic tonight.

Though many pundits have been praising Cliff Lee (who was terrific in Game 3) as the savior who has single-handedly beaten the Yankees; the reality is that the Chuck Norris All-Stars (Walker Texas Rangers) have outplayed the Yanks for four games. I know I may be tempting fate, but I don't see the Yankees pulling a Red Soxeque comeback circa 2007. Cliff Lee will make at least one more appearance, Mark Teixiera is out for the rest of the series if not the remainder of the playoffs, and two of the final three games are back in Arlington. The Yankee bats have become dormant and the bullpen has imploded.

Though it would be nice for the bombers to win the World Series in Memoriam of "The Boss" it doesn't seem likely. I, personally, am pulling for the Giants.

Pettitte Feeling Strong

Good news coming out of Yankee camp for the first time in a while. The word coming from Chad Jennings is that Pettitte felt strong after his bullpen and even dialed it up for the last 20 pitches with no adverse effects.

A healthy Pettitte would be huge for the Yankees. Like Sabathia, Pettitte knows how to battle through starts and give his team a chance to win. Having him in the fold would stabilize the front end of the rotation and eliminate some of the uncertainty that follows around either Dustin Moseley or Ivan Nova.

Plus Teixeira is back in the lineup after being pulled with a a bruised right thumb. That makes sense against the right-hander. It problem only bothers him when he hits from the right side.

Yanks Play in the Shadow of Strasburg and Get the Win

It was the first time that both the Orioles and Nationals were at home at the same time and the Nationals, with the aid of the second most hyped prospect ever, most definitely stole the show from the hapless O's.

Stephen Strasburg some how surpassed the expectations for his first start in the big leagues, which is ridiculous in itself. 14Ks? Could you tell he was pitching against the Pirates?

Not to say that he wouldn't have shut down a better lineup with that stuff, but sending him up against the Pirates is like bumping him up to AAAA, not the big leagues. Pittsburgh has maybe two or three hitters who should be getting at bats at the major league level and the rest of them are filler.

Still I'm interested to watch Strasburg and I hope he does well. I only hope that Washington changes their team name like Tampa Bay did before they got better. The Nats. Its just so stupid.

Anyway back to the Yanks. Phil Hughes pitched well enough to get the win last night, but that's it. Hughes has never really pitched well in Baltimore. He had his worst start of his career there last year when he gave up eight runs in just 1.2 IP and overall for his career he has an ERA of 7.65.

Even this season when Hughes has posted a 1-0 record and a 3.09 ERA in the tiny confines of Camden Yards, his performances there have not been good. In his first start there he couldn't find the strike zone and while he only gave up one run, he walked four and only struck out two.

Last night Hughes didn't walk anyone for the first time this season, but he gave up a season high nine hits and if you saw his body language, you could tell he wasn't putting the ball anywhere he wanted to.

It doesn't matter until Hughes goes back to Baltimore, but it is nice to see Hughes battle through starts where he doesn't have his best stuff.

And while Baltimore might be Hughes' krptonite, it certainly rejuvanates any hitters who walk in and get to face Oriole pitching.

Nick Swisher loves Camden yards and blasted a first pitch fastball over 400ft to dead center field for a two-run jack. Curtis Granderson added a grand slam and Mark Teixeira went 3 for 4 with a home run and two walks.

Granderson has been great since coming off the DL and its good to see him keep going. Teixeira is the one who hopefully uses this game to go on a hot streak. He hasn't been horrible since April, but he can definitely improve on his .267 average since May 1.

Next up is game two in Baltimore with CC Sabathia taking on Chris Tillman it what, on paper, should be another Yankee blow out.

Weekend Miscellany

As I watch Josh Beckett get pounded by the Blue Jays and give away a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the third, a few thoughts are running through my head.

• The Red Sox finish their home stand by going 4-2 in the final six games after folding like a cheap suite in a four game sweep by the Rays. Sounds like a nice recovery, but Boston had to work their asses off to get those four wins against two pretty decrepit teams, teams that are supposedly vastly inferior.
• Boston desperately needs to take care of business against Toronto and Baltimore on this road trip. They will have the Angels and Yankees waiting for them when they return to Fenway.
• Off the topic of the Red Sox, what does everyone make of Mark Teixeira crushing Bobby Wilson over the weekend? Clearly it's a legal play. But everyone is debating as to whether it is "necessary." Baseball is weird. In no other sport would anyone care about the necessity of the act. There doesn't exist the same unwritten rules or protocol. Also, baseball is 99% of the time a non-contact sport (unless you count contact with a baseball). I think when contact happens, however legal, no one is really sure what to do or how to react. Players are unaccustomed to contact and often get hurt as a result.

The Sox just tied the game on a wild pitch with bases loaded. It's the top of the fourth. This is gonna be a long one...

Some Parade Photos

So here are a couple of shots I took while taking in the ticker-tape parade down Broadway. I might have gotten more except it is difficult to take a good shot when you are only 5'5" tall and in a sea of three million people. Here are some of the better ones including some of what might be the overzealous moron who actually tossed real documents and paperwork out of his office window when he ran out of shredded paper.

2-1 is the Magic Score

For the third consecutive game the Yankees won by a score of 2-1. It has never happened in the history of the New York Yankees and I would imagine that the fact that the last two games all three runs were scored via the solo home run.

Aside from the jacks by both Eric Hinske (who has turned into a beast for the Yankees with four jacks in five games, hopefully that shuts up anyone who thought this a throw away deal) and Hideki Matsui, the Yankees won this game on stellar pitching and even more exceptional defense. Mark Teixeira is proving that the Yankees were more than justified in paying him the $180 million. The guy is slick with the glove and has the arm of a shortstop, as shown by his throw to nail Cesar Izturis at the plate and keep the game tied. It's not hard to envision a season ago when Jason Giambi would throw that ball into the concourse behind the third base line allowing both runs to score.

Beside being bailed out by the defense, the pitching was solid yet again. Andy Pettitte bounced back after several dismal starts before the break, much like Joba Chamberlain, and Phil Coke and Alfredo Aceves did a good job of giving the offense the time it needed to win the game.

These games illustrate the difference between last season and the present. Last year these four games could all have been lost and the Yankees would have fallen back further from the Rays and Red Sox. Tonight we see the debut of Sergio Mitre in pinstripes. Mitre doesn't have to be great, just effective. That's asking a lot for a guy with a career record of 10-23, but with Wang possibly laid up for the rest of the season, he is the best option that the Yankees have. This is what Phil Hughes was going to prevent at the beginning of the season, but Cashman and Girardi put too much faith in Wang coming back to full strength before his rehab was complete.

I was hoping the Yankees would send Hughes down over the All-Star to begin stretching him out, but alas the Yankees believe he is more valuable in the pen. We'll see if they still feel that way if Mitre fails and the next best option for the Yanks is Kei Igawa. I don't think we'll have to wait long to see Hughes stretched out in the same fashion as Joba was a year ago.

Teixeira's Monster Month of May

Mark Teixeira's monster May has been chronicled ad nauseum and it should be. His return to form, along with the return of Alex Rodriguez, led to a significant turnaround for this Yankee team. Since A-Rod's return in Baltimore, Teixeira has hit at a .371 clip with 11 dingers and 29 RBI in just 22 games. Not coincidentally the Yankees are 16-6 in those games and are currently sitting atop the AL East.

Teixeira's return didn't necessarily lead to the Yankees scoring more runs, but it led to the Yankees playing with more confidence offensively. This could be in part why they were able to rally late in numerous May victories.

Teixeira deserves to win a Player of the Month award for May, but will likely fall short to Joe Mauer's absurd month that saw him hit .414 and get on base half the times he came to the plate, not to mention the 11 homers he hit. But this is the Mark Teixeira every Yankee fan was dreaming of when they stole him from the Sox.

Matsui on the Rise

Well A.J. Burnett got his first win last night since April 14 (that's a 3-5 count against Pavano now) and the Yankees moved into a tie with the Sox for first after Boston pitchers forgot they to throw the ball to their catcher. But I think the biggest thing to come out Texas for the Yanks is Hideki Matsui finding his stroke again.

As he gets older, Matsui has become much more streaky at the plate. There are times when he is the most dangerous hitter on the Yankees and others when he just looks completely done. He had been pretty spotty for about a week, but after a RBI double that hit the top of the wall on Tuesday, and a two-home run night yesterday, he is starting to look a little like his old self.

Matsui needs to find his stroke if he plans on getting continued at bats. With Posada coming back at on Friday and Xavier Nady looking to rejoin the team soon, the DH spot will need to get spread around for other players who are just as incapable of contributing on the field.

With a healthy Matsui swinging the bat well though, the Yankees will be able to put together what is likely to be their best lineup this season when they arrive in Cleveland, and with Xavier Nady coming back soon as well, they will have a strong bench as well.

Now if only they would finally cut Jose Veras and Angel Berroa...

Lucky Number Seven

Well it looks like Sabathia is fully past his early season woes and is ready to be the ace the Yanks need him to be the rest of the season. Another start where he goes seven and gives up fewer than two runs spells his third consecutive victory in the month of May. The continued revival of Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez meant that Sabathia got all the run support he needed and the Yankees walk away with their seventh consecutive victory.

This was supposed to be the strength of the Yankees coming into the season. The rotation was going to keep the Yankees in every game and give the offense time to explode. That's exactly what happened last night.

There isn't much to say about the offense. Mark Teixeira has gone crazy since A-Rod took the weight of the offense off of his back and all the role players are contributing at a level that is probably a little over their heads.

A-Rod is jacking out home runs and that's nice to see, but he isn't fully back yet. He is still pulling everything and you can definitely see that on a few swings where he rolls over a soft grounder to the left side or a lazy fly to center when he would normally shoot that ball into the right-center field gap.

Tonight they look to Phil Hughes. In all likelihood this is Hughes final start before he heads back to Scranton to make room for Chien-Ming Wang. His return is inevitable, but it would do good for Hughes' confidence to give the Yankees pause when filling out the paperwork. He faces an O's offense that demolished him in Baltimore the last time they met.

Hopefully the kid has watched some tape and taken a lesson or two into today.

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.

Odds and Ends

It has been awhile since we have mentioned any baseball news on the site and I think enough things have happened that we should catch up a bit.

First thing first, Mark Teixeira was a officially made a Yankee on Tuesday. The Yankees had to revamp their pitching but Teixeira fills a gap that has been vacant since the days of Tino Martinez. His glove is probably more important for the Yankees than his bat ever could be.

The Yankees former first baseman, Jason Giambi also has a job again. The Giambino will be traveling back to his original franchise the Oakland A's. I give all my best to Giambi. Though he was a steriod user, he is one of the few who actually manned up and admitted that what he did was wrong.

Speaking off former Yankees, Carl Pavano actually convinced another major league team to give him a contract. What possessed Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro to sign that train wreck of humanity I don't know.

What I do know is that I can't stand the fact that every time his bio is given they say he is from New Britain, Conn. Since all three authors on this blog are originally from New Britain, I would like to set the record straight: the man was only born in New Britain and did not have the privilege of actually living in Hard Hittin' New Britain. He grew up a couple of towns over Southington, Conn. We of New Britain lament his association with the city and would like you to look at our more upstanding athletes like Tebucky Jones of the New England Patriots, Ricky Bottalico of the Philadelphia Phillies or even Walter Camp the inventor of modern day football.

Another piece of news belongs to the Minnesota Twins. Their owner Carl Pohlad passed away on Monday at the age of 93. Pohlad saw the Twins win two championships in his day, the first in 1987 and the second in 1991. Most recently his ownership came under fire for what many deemed as a lack of desire to spend parts of his own billionaire fortune to retain some of baseball's best players. It's easy to bash Pohlad for being cheap, but the twins were mostly successful under his ownership and those two championships are a lot more than a lot of teams have seen in the past 25 years.

One other thing I would like to say is kudos to Boston College. If you don't pay attention to college football I can't blame you, I don't pay it much mind either. But I will say that over the years I have been disgusted with easy and frequency collegiate coaches have bailed out of million dollar contracts to go coach at another school or even professionally. I'm all for people getting paid, hell I am a Yankee fan after all, but the schools that sign these large contracts withe the coaches have to fulfill their end of the bargain if they fire the coach so why shouldn't the coaches be held to the same standard?

When BC fired head coach Jeff Jagodzinski for interviewing with the Jets after they explicitly warned him not too, they sent a clear and resounding message that I hope the rest of college sports heard.

Also Adam "Pacman" Jones was released by the Cowboys today. One word for that: Awesome.

Teixeira to the Yanks

This one hurts. I didn't care that they got the 300 LB Lefty. I didn't care when they got the second coming of Carl Pavano. Now, they have Teixeira and I am worried. No, they Yankees aren't ruining baseball by spending more money then everyone, but, this blow definitely will make the tough AL East even tougher. It should come to no surprise Teixeira went to the Yankees they had the most money and a need at 1st base, I hate myself for being so foolish.

My next question, what is Theo's next move?

The rich get richer

I didn't see this coming but it looks like the Yanks have swept in and stolen Mark Teixeira from the Red Sox and the Nationals. Jon Heyman is saying the deal is sitting in the range of $180 million over 8 years. I don't know where the Yankees are pulling all this money from but I can't really believe they actually can afford all of these huge contracts. Maybe they have some old couch in Old Yankee Stadium that they haven't cleaned out since Mickey Mantle retired. There is a ton of money coming off the books in a couple of seasons, but the Steinbrenner accountants most be livid right now.

I think Teixeira is a good player and of course he is going to be overpaid. He was going to be overpaid no matter which team signed him, but I am happier that the Sox didn't get him than I am the Yankees getting him. They haven't had a first baseman of this quality since the Tino days of the late '90s. A guy who can pick it at first and swing the bat.

It will take a lot for this team to gel, but if the Yanks haven't beaten the Sox on the field since '03 they have certainly won the spending wars during the off-season. Cashman couldn't have done it better really as he got everything the Yanks needed this off-season (except a centerfielder though, Swisher could fill that role) and I don't believe that any Yankee fan should feel bad that they have spent so much. It's not our money and the Yanks are just playing by the rules.

Believe it or not this trade probably helps them shave money from the payroll over the next couple of years. Now they don't really have to worry about Matsui, Damon and Nady walking next season as Swisher can move to a corner spot and Austin Jackson should be ready to take over centerfield by then (hopefully).

I'm sure Teixeira to the Yanks will create an uproar throughout baseball. Whether happy or mad everyone is going to have something to say. I'm sure most of it will be negative but hey, the Yankees know how to deliver a Christmas miracle to their fans.

Sox out on Teixeira

Well word has come from the top that the Sox are no longer in on Mark Teixeira. Can't say I'm surprised. I don't trust any rumor I hear about the Red Sox being in on a big time free agent or some kind of big time trade. It seems that Theo Epstein has thoroughly proven that his M.O. is to try and drive up the price on other competitors and then bail out as soon as the other side comes to the table for real.

In all honesty I never thought he would fit into their plans anyway. They have a stud first baseman in the system in Lars Anderson and there is no way they would have been able to trade Mike Lowell, unless they gave him away for free. Sure he would have made their lineup great again, but you don't need a ridiculous lineup to win. You just need pitching to keep the hitters down while you put up three or four runs. Everyone would want a lineup of all-stars but it just doesn't work. The Yankees have proven that.

Anyway, this just proves that Theo is a shadowy guy and you can't really trust any rumors you hear about who the Red Sox are in on. The only time they actually ended up being a high bidder trying to acquire a big name was the Matsuzaka Sweepstakes. The Santana deal was a myth and now, so is the Teixeira contract.