Looking To Kuroda Takes The Sting Out Of Last Night's Yankees Loss

Ah, what a comfort it is to know that, after a tough extra inning walk-off loss last night in Baltimore, the Yankees have their ace pitching in the rubber game tonight.

But wait, you might be saying, CC Sabathia pitched in the first game of the series, right?

Yes, but who said CC was the ace of the pitching staff? If you really think CC Sabathia is the Yankees ace, you've been asleep since the season began. The real ace of the Yankees pitching staff is Hiroki Kuroda. 

As he proved last season, making the transition from pitching in the NL West to pitching in the AL East doesn't have to be as hard as everyone says it is. Since he began his Yankee career he has put up better numbers than he did with the Los Angeles Dodgers.  His record after four years with LA was 41-46 with a 3.45 ERA. Since last season with the Yankees, he is 22-13 with a 3.04 ERA. Really, it's supposed to be the other way around, but Kuroda has bucked that trend.

When Kuroda  arrived for his first Yankee Spring Training last year, I remember raising my eyebrows when I heard he requested to wear number 18, a number reserved for staff aces in Japan. However, he lived up to that number last year and is well on his way to doing so again this year.

So everyone relax and chill. The ace is pitching tonight, which means there is a good chance that the Yankees will win.

Lyle Overbay: The Biggest Yankees Surprise To Date

On Friday night, while Hiroki Kuroda was shutting down the Toronto Blue Jays, I had the opportunity to be the guest on Sportswire Entertainment's live broadcast. Vinnie Apicella, the show's host, started in with a couple routine questions-- "How did you get started?" "How about those Yankees?" Then he asked a question I had to think about, "Which Yankee player has been the biggest surprise for you?" I gave it some thought. Hasn't the entire team been a surprise? They're in first place without their star players! Though I would have liked my answer to have been Francisco Cervelli, he hasn't been in the running for much of anything since his injury at the end of April. Before I knew it, the name Lyle Overbay slipped out.

There is not much that is memorable about Lyle Overbay's career. He's not a physical stand out and, for a fan base that's used to seeing Mark Teixeira's web gems, Overbay's defense seems average at best. He spent time with three Major League clubs before landing with the Yankees. Since his best offensive year in 2006, his performance has been a bit of a roller coaster. Decent offensive seasons have been followed by duds, and while parts of any particular season have showed a glimmer of talent, the other parts were forgettable.

Now with the Yankees, Overbay finds himself well liked by fans known for not warming up to new guys too quickly. With a .259 BA, how is he doing it? Just check the Yankees' RBI stats. Take a look at who's second only to the beloved Robinson Cano. Compared to other American League first basemen, Overbay's 24 RBI is not a grand statistic, but taken in the context of it being the second most RBI on the AL East's first place team, those 24 RBI bump Overbay up to being a pretty significant player. When the crowd's on their feet waiting for the magic, Overbay has come through with whatever hit or sacrifice out gets the team to score, or at least, closer to scoring.

Let's be honest: no one expected Lyle Overbay to be a significant player. For that, he is the sweet, pleasant surprise, so far, of the 2013 New York Yankees, and I'm not ready to spoil it by wondering what will happen when Teixeira comes back. Not yet.

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Podcast Update: Due to computer issues, this month's podcast will not take place. Look for the next one sometime during the middle of next month.
--BP

Yankees Lose A Series And Potentially Two More Players

The Yankees lost Thursday's rubber game against the Seattle Mariners (just the second series loss of the month) and potentially lost much more. Andy Pettitte left after just 4.2 innings with a tweaked trapezius muscle and Chris Stewart, forced into starting catcher duties after an injury to Francisco Cervelli, limped off the field with a left groin strain. While the severity of Stewart's injury is unknown, Pettitte's was deemed not too serious. 

To a weary Yankees team and fan base this injury refrain is all too familiar. At some point, these injuries will stop. It can't continue at this ludicrous pace because not even the baseball fates can still be enjoying this stream of injured Yankee after injured Yankee.

The pre-season injuries were bad enough as they spurred questions of how the Yankees would survive the first month of the season in a loaded A.L. East without Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and Michael Pineda.  After opening the season losing four of their first five, the patchwork Yankees responded in surprising and gratifying fashion with steady and workman like play propelling them into first place.  Therefore the questions subsided albeit briefly.

Even when Jeter suffered a major setback and Teixeira's return was pushed back from sometime in May to early June (if all went well) things seemed to be okay because the fill-ins were holding their own. Then even they began to fall to the injury bug: Cervelli, in the midst of an extremely productive season as the de-facto starting catcher, broke his hand. Eduardo Nunez, the fill-in shortstop, went down with a sore ribcage. Kevin Youkilis, the fill-in at 3B, battled unsuccessfully through a lumbar spine sprain before succumbing to the discomfort. Ivan Nova, the inconsistent but promising fifth starter, strained his triceps and reliever Joba Chamberlain went down with a right oblique strain, which unfortunately, left his mouth just fine. All five are currently on the disabled list.

Even with Granderson making his return earlier this week, there are ten members of the Yankees 40 Man Roster on either the 15-Day or the 60-Day DL. The New York Times keeps a running tally of the value of all the players each Major League team currently has on the DL. The Yankees are easily leading the pack with $85.6MM, or 37.5% of their payroll, on the DL. A distant second on the list are the Los Angeles Dodgers with $67.2MM.

Despite those losses, somehow the Yankees kept rolling using timely hits and stellar pitching to continue winning series. At some point, however, all these injuries just might catch up to them. The team has been hanging on for dear life, just waiting for the injured players to come riding in for some relief but at this rate it might not be in time.

Joe Girardi toed the expected line after the game, telling the YES Network, "You've [got to] move forward. That's the bottom line...No excuses, you've [got to] get it done" but what else can a major league manager say, especially one at the helm of the team with the highest payroll in the majors? Not too many will sympathize.

With 10 of the 14 remaining May games against division rivals, these next 15 days will be very important. It would be nice to have a healthy team ready for that gauntlet but that's not the reality and won't be for quite some time. The baseball fates aren't done laughing quite yet.

In Yankees Latest Loss, The Woeful, The Wonderful & The Weird

As baseball games go, Wednesday night's Yankees game against the Seattle Mariners was a disaster, at least for the Yankees and their fans. With a final score of 12-2 in favor of Seattle, it's clear that things didn't go according to the Yankees plan. It was a tough loss but there were still some positives.

The Woeful

Just over 15 minutes after the game started, before most viewers, and those with Yankees tickets, had even settled into their seats, Seattle had batted around, the score was 7-0 in their favor and New York Yankees starter Phil Hughes was sitting in the dugout after recording only two outs. With a game ERA of 94.50, a WHIP of 12.00 and another loss, Wednesday's game was just another example of the sometimes maddening inconsistency of the Yankees homegrown starter. Hughes did nothing to silence his legion of doubters or answer the question of whether the Yankees should offer him the sizable contract he's likely to pursue this offseason.

Yankees fans now know precisely how Baltimore and Detroit fans felt watching Raul Ibanez, the Yankees erstwhile postseason hero, slug homeruns out of Yankee stadium with his unconventional swing. Watching his first inning grand slam soar off to right field was painful and he added another one before the night was complete giving him three in the first two games of the series. It's safe to say that the love affair is over and the Yankees won't be sorry to send Ibanez on his way after tonight's game.

The Wonderful

A player making his major league debut is always a special thing. Certainly David Adams, called up earlier in the day to play 3B after Chris Nelson was released, would have preferred a different outcome for the team but, from a personal perspective, it was a good experience. He went 1 for 3, getting his first major league hit (a single) on his 26th birthday and played representative defense at the hot corner. Good day for the rookie.

He wasn't alone as Brett Marshall also made his major league debut. He gave up five earned runs, including the second Ibanez homerun, showing some control issues and only striking out one but the 23 year old righty reliever threw 108 pitches in 5.2 innings and saved the Yankees bullpen on a night when their starter went only 0.2 innings. He did the job asked of him, something that is often easier said than done for a rookie, and the remaining Yankee faithful gave him a nice hand as he exited the game.

The Weird

By the top of the ninth inning even the most optimistic fan had to concede that a comeback was likely out of the question. With Marshall having delivered all a manager could ask, Girardi needed just one more out. A glance over to the bullpen showed that it was quiet, and it was clear Girardi didn't want to waste an arm. So it was that the defensive alignment for that final out included Alberto Gonzalez, the light hitting shortstop, on the mound featuring a high 70s - low 80s fastball, Vernon Wells once again playing an unfamiliar position in the infield at 2B and Jayson Nix slotting in at shortstop. Gonzalez got Robert Andino to pop up to Ichiro Suzuki in right field, and walked off the mound with a slight smile.

As John Sterling is fond of telling his broadcast partner Suzyn Waldman, "You can't predict baseball." Wednesday's game was a great example of the truth in that statement. In the end there will be some justifiable concern over Phil Hughes as well as fears of a carryover to Thursday from the deflating loss. However, two well performing rookies and an unexpected pitching performance should serve to mitigate the loss.

11 Comeback Wins & Counting, Plus A Word About Melky

After the Yankees secured their 11th comeback win last night, a feeling came over me that I haven't had since the 2009 season. You remember 2009, right? That was the season the Yankees had 15 walk-off wins. During that season it seemed as if they were capable of winning every single game they played. I hardly ever got down when they were trailing in a 2009 game because they were, most likely, going to come back and win it end the end.

Though the Yankees have yet to record a walk-off win, this season is shaping up to be just like 2009. Why did I only just start feeling that way last night? Because it was King Felix Hernandez they faced, and because the Mariners have a great bullpen. The odds were stacked against them but, they prevailed nonetheless. Final score: Yankees 4, Mariners 3.

A little more about that thrilling 2009 season: A man who was right in the middle of a few of those 15 walk-off wins is now with the Toronto Blue Jays. Yes, I'm talking about Melky Cabrera. The Melkman Delivers. That phrase was uttered dozens of times by Yankees Universe in 2009, and dozens more times in 2012 by fans of the San Francisco Giants. However, after he fell from grace, the Giants and their fans seemed to have forgotten him. He wasn't allowed back on the roster after his suspension and he took himself out of the running for the batting title. So, you would think that his ties with the Giants were completely severed. Then comes the news yesterday that Melky received a World Series ring from the team. What? They banish him from the team, keep him from participating in their playoff and World Series run, then give him a ring?  How in the world does that make sense?

It doesn't, apparently. The fact that the ring was presented to him "in private," and that he didn't even open the package in front of his presenters is proof positive that this is the one of the stupidest moves in baseball this year. I couldn't believe it when I read about it.

I can believe in the Yankees this year, however, and I'm looking forward to more wins. Go Yankees.

3:00 PM: Go Yankees, indeed. I am pleased to announce that Lady At The Bat has embarked on a new partnership. We have teamed up with TiqIQ to bring you the best deals on the market.  They aggregate sellers from across the primary and secondary market, and for Yankees tickets, they recommend the official Yankees Ticket Exchange. So, if you want to see some of those comeback wins in person, get on it!

Book Review: New York Yankees Then and Now

Larry Rossman's New York Yankees Then and Now, a pictorial depiction of Yankee history, presents itself similar to a set of baseball cards made of highlights and short prints, without the "commons" that usually ended up in bicycle spokes. This is not surprising since Rossman, a self proclaimed Yankee fan since childhood, has enjoyed every nostalgic proclivity that comes along with rooting for the most successful team in sports history. In my own Yankee fandom there has never been anything ordinary about the Yankees--even now as the superstars are gone and the commons have put the team in first place. Rossman's record of Yankee history manages to touch on all the extraordinary facets of the organization. The book is a timeline covering the team's most significant and memorable elements from the birth of the Yankees to the latest events of the 21st century.

Every piece of Yankee history is assigned to one of the book's four heading toppers: The Yankee Decades, Game Changers, Yankees Then and Now, and Yankee Legends. Each topic is presented as a two page snapshot of history with a casual balance of photos and text. The Yankee Decades pages help carry the linear chronology of the information. Any combination of Game Changers, Yankees Then and Now, and Yankee Legends headed pages follow to give quick bits of information covering well known history as well as not so well known within the corresponding decades.

For example, the Game Changers: Key Moments in Yankee History pages include such events as key player acquisitions, pivotal games, and managerial changes. Some of the same content is then mentioned in the Then and Now and Yankee Legends sections. Reading straight through tended to become repetitive, as much of the content overlapped throughout the different sections. For example, as I read through the Yankee Legend Babe Ruth section, I found that much of the information was covered in the preceding Game Changers and Then and Now sections--a persistent pattern throughout the book.

As long as you enjoy the book as a casual read and not as a history lesson to be read for hours at once, you can overlook the books repetitive nature. This book will serve best as a thumb through with a cup of coffee (or beer) and laid to rest for the next baseball fan to come along and enjoy. Every piece of the Yankee story can be enjoyed on its own while still hanging on the overall theme of the book; feel free to start on page 114 to read about the last days of the Old Yankee Stadium and then skip back to page 12 and read about Hilltop Park with a whole new appreciation of what carried the organization from "then" to "now".

New York Yankees Then and Now is available now in bookstores and on Amazon.