OK, so the outing to Baltimore wasn’t what I expected or hoped for. Heading into the games against the Orioles I was looking for New York to put on their big boy shoes and gain some ground against the AL East leading Orioles. Well it didn’t happen as the Yankees went 1-1 down there. At least they kept pace and haven’t fallen further behind.
In the meantime though, the Tampa Bay rays did gain gain ground, pulling into a dead even heat with Baltimore. So now new York is 3 1/2 games behind both of their division opponents after a loss in Toronto. A loss in Toronto? Are you kidding me? You can play .500 ball against the Orioles but get beat by the Blue Jays?
Let’s remember something here. You’re the New York Yankees. Get off your butts and make a run at it. That’s what you do.
OK, I’m finished venting. The New York Yankees get another shot at Toronto before returning home for a three-game series with the Cincinnati Reds beginning on Friday night. Maybe they can sweep this thing. I hope so.

The last time we were here we were hoping the New York Yankees could go into Tampa Bay and come out of there with a series win. While a sweep would have been nice we have to be happy with a 2-1 run that helped New York gain at least a little traction against the Rays, who’re running just a game and a half ahead of new York right now. It’s also come to pass that our Yankees gained a little on the Baltimore Orioles.
And guess who’s going to be playing a pair of games beginning tonight in Baltimore? You got it. The Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees will be squaring off and this is an opportunity that New York simply has to capitalize on. Tonight’s game has the 4-1 Ivan Nova on the mound going head to head with Jason Hammel. Tomorrow is even bigger as we see a 5-0 Sabathia take on a 5-0 Chen.
The New York Yankees have been clawing their way back up the ladder since the opening of the season. Baseball has a long season and if the Yankees can get stronger as they go we could find ourselves right back in the thick of things. Not that we’re that far out but a strong performance in Tampa, backed by an even better performance in Baltimore, could put the New York Yankees on a much needed winning spree.

It’s been a pretty brutal span for the Yankees, these last two weeks. 4 losses in their last six games have the pinstripe crew looking for answers. A 2-1 series loss in Yankees Stadium to the Orioles followed by a 2-2 series l against the Kansas City Royals certainly wasn’t what we expected. But the past is the past and there’s salvation to be found down in Tampa Bay where the Yankees will be looking to get an edge up on the Tampa Bay Rays.
Realistically the New York Yankees aren’t too far behind in the race for the AL east and it’s still early in the season. Certainly the loss to the East-leading Orioles doesn’t help, but being a game behind the Blue Jays, and four games behind both the Orioles and Rays means this series down in Tampa Bay is an opportunity to put themselves back within striking distance of the top.
At least New York left the Royals series with a win in Game 4. That’s something to build on for the challenge ahead. Robinson Cano may have ignited something in the Yankees with his grand slam keying the win against the Royals. They’ll need that kind of firepower down in Tampa where the Rays will be unleashing the 5-0 James Shields against the Yankees lineup on Tuesday night.
here’s to a fine series down in Tampa Bay. We can use it right now.

The Yankees Mariano Rivera is out after an ACL tear suffered in Kansas City.

The New York Yankees may have lost one of the most reliable closers in the game yesterday as Mariano Rivera went down in the outfield where he was shagging fly balls before the game with the Royals.
Chasing a fly ball close to the wall Rivera went down and grasped his right knee. He was then carted off and examined by Royals trainers and Yankees personnel before eventually being sent to a medical facility. Reports are coming out that it may be a torn ACL, an injury that would put him out for the season.
At 42 years old Rivera has hinted that he’s thinking about retiring but his performance hasn’t slacked. After an opening day loss, he’s gone on to add 5 saves to his 608, making him baseball’s leader in that category.
The loss of Rivera would be a blow to the New York Yankees, who’ve made a surge in the AL East over the last few weeks.
New York lost the first of a four-game series with the Royals on Thursday and post-game Rivera confirmed an ACL tear but has not made a decision on his future.

CC Sabathia put on a strong performance on Sunday, helping the New York Yankees to a 6-2 win over the Detroit Tigers.

The New York Yankees needed some good news and got it. Locked in 1-1 battle for a three-games series with the Detroit Tigers, New York turned to their ace C.C. Sabathia and he delivered, helping the Yankees to a 6-2 won over the Tigers in Yankee Stadium.

Sabathia went eight innings and though he sometimes got into a jam he managed to get himself out time and time again. By the end of his outing the Tigers had stranded 14 men and the Yankees offense managed to light up the Tigers Max Scherzer enough to get him pulled by the fifth inning. Overall, the Yankees were lucky enough to get some timely hits from A-Rod and the rest of the lineup as they left 15 men on base themselves.

New York redeemed themselves in front of the home crowd after a miserable performance from Freedy Garcia on Saturday, bad enough to have him removed from the pitching rotation. The Yankees, thought to be pretty well set in the pre-season, have been having a few problems with their starters and have turned to the bullpen often enough this season to have some concerned. It was good to see Sabathia come through but at 12-9 it’s obvious New York will need to improve to make any headway in the AL East.

As it stands now New York is benefiting from the agony of the 10-11 Boston Red Sox and have a mere 1/2 game edge over Toronto. In fact, a mere 4 games separate the AL East leading Baltimore Orioles from the cellar dwelling Red Sox. The bad part is that a handful of games could put the New York Yankees behind the eight-ball early in the season. The good part is that a winning streak could vault them to the top just as easily.

Monday night begins a three-games series with those AL East leading Orioles that could turn this division on it’s head. A series win, or better yet a sweep, would put the Yankees in the cat-bird seat.

If you’re going to stage a historic comeback to win a baseball game it’s always nice to do it against your most hated rival, and even nicer to do it in their stadium. The New York Yankees did exactly that Saturday as they came back from a 9-0 deficit to beat the Boston Red Sox 15-9. Trailing 9-0 in the sixth inning Mark Teixeira got things going with a solo home run. Nice but nobody expected to see what unfolded over the next few innings. A Nick Swisher Grand Slam in the seventh inning was the highlight, coupled with his two run hit in the eighth to give New York the lead.

All told, the Yankees came back with a pair of seven-run innings that pretty much put the icing on the cake of a miserable series by the Red Sox. All the sweeter for New York Yankees fans. The day before the Yankees knocked around Clay Bucholz with five home runs and they got even meaner against Freddy Garcia and Alfredo Aceves.

While Yankees fans were obviously concerned when their heroes got off to an 0-3 start, New York has now won 9 of their last 12. The Red Sox are sitting at 4-10 and the Beantown crowd isn’t too happy. Bobby Valentine is a goat to the folks in Boston but he’s being described in New York as “the greatest manager in Red Sox history.” I guess everything depends on your perspective.

The New York Yankees are gaining some traction. After an 0-3 start New York has now won 5 of 7, including a three-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles and a 2-1 series win over the LA Angels, a welcome sight to New York Yankees fans. Though the game Monday against the Minnesota Twins wasn’t a real pretty sight, the Yankees are at 5-5 and could begin to claw their way up the division standings from their current 3rd place spot.

Tonight’s game against the Twins we’ll see C.C. Sabathia on the mound. Hopefully he’ll do a better job against the Twins line up than Garcia did. What kind of hurt last night was that Carl Pavano was on the mound, appearing against the Yankees, his former team. Pavano kep the Yankees pretty much in check with seven hits and three runs, with six strikeouts and a walk. Meanwhile, the Twins were teeing off on Garcia, who gave up nine hits and five runs.

Sabathia will be facing off with Liriano, who is winless this season, and has given up six runs in five innings of work. So tonight may be the New York Yankees turns to put the hammer down. If not, Yankees tickets give you two more chances against the Twins in this series, on Wednesday and Thursday night before the Yankees head to Boston for a three-game series with the Red Sox.

Yankees ticket holders can console themselves with this thought: The Red Sox are also 0-3. In beginning what could be a painful season for New York, the Yankees have been drubbed three straight games down in Florida. The Tampa Bay Rays have pulled off the dream start to a season while New York must now did down deep and prove their mettle.

Beginning with a 7-6 loss in Game 1, capped off with a Carlos Pena shot out of the park, the Yankees came out looking a little off. C.C. Sabathia gave up the hit and though he pitched fairly well, we’ve come to expect more from Sabathia at the end of the game. And throw in the fact that Pena also hit a grand slam and it all adds up to a sub-par outing on his part.

So, on to Game 2. It looks like the addition of Pena and Luke Scott is adding much needed power to the Rays lineup and the Yankees are just finding it out. That power turned into an 8-6 win over the Yankees and what can you do but admire the way Tampa Bay seems to have put themselves in the drivers seat.

Game 3 was a showcase for Jeremy Hellickson, who held the Yankees to three hits and no runs in almost nine complete innings.

This is the first time the New York Yankees have been 0-3 in over a decade, hardly what was anticipated after all the additions in the off-season. Still, it very very early and the Yankees have been here before. If you’re a Yankees fan you know that when the dust settles, your Yankees tickets will have you in the running. So relax, buck up, and get ready for the Baltimore Orioles on Monday.

We’ve already discussed the injury problem of Michael Pineda so without going too much into it we’ll just mention that he hurt himself in a game against the Phillies, which the Yankees won 13-9 down in Tampa. As far as big news, there isn’t any other than Pineda. But I do find it interesting to speculate on whether this scoring out put is a sign of things to come from the New York Yankees lineup.

Here’s the quick rundown. Curtis Granderson hit a two-run homer in the third, maybe the best hit of the day. Jeter had two hits and scored two runs while Martin also had a pair of hits. Before we get too excited let’s understand that this is spring training. I haven’t seen any real indications that the Yankees are going to be any scoring powerhouse. Expect this team to be strong on defense, meaning plenty of good pitching, and maybe a little above average in the runs department.

OK, getting back to Pineda which is all anyone is really interested in, the guy allowed six runs and seven hits in less than 3 innings so it’s obvious he’s hurting. How badly and for how long remains to be seen. But the Yankees are pretty well fixed on the mound and should be able to hold up their end of the deal while Pineda heals, no matter how long that takes.

The New York Yankees spent the offseason beefing up their pitching rotation, producing what is probably the strongest group that they’ve had in years. Through trades and promotion the Yankees headed into spring training knowing they were going to have some hard choices when it came to choosing starters and that some good pitchers wouldn’t hit the mound very often. Well, it’s a good New York stocked up.

Last night Michael Pineda, a highly publicized pickup, pulled himself from the game with pain in his shoulder. It was a big blow to the organization, who had high hopes obviously, but with such a deep rotation things could still work out very well for the Yankees. The loss of Pineda to injury opens the door for promising young pitcher Freddy Garcia who’s been the odd man out for awhile now.

Garcia has been on a tear in spring training and by all right would have earned a starting spot in the rotation of just about any other team in Major League Baseball. But when you’re in a rotation with C.C. Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, and Michael Pineda, things are a little tougher. Toss out Pineda and the Yankees have a starting rotation that looks like Sabathia, Kuroda, Hughes, Nova, and ……Garcia, the pitcher who just can’t be tossed aside.