Dear Octavio,

Did you watch the game last night?

How's the elbow?

Are you feeling pitbull nasty?

YanksBlog.com reader Christopher Pesce is our winner. Congratulations to him. He will receive a copy of Birth of a Dynasty by Joel Sherman. Thank you to everyone who entered.

The following is just a simple before and after of what each batter has done before and after Matsui's injury (5/11/06). I'll be the first to say that this means very little. It's only been a 2 weeks worth of games and everyone goes through their slumps during the season but I thought I'd throw it out there as an illustration of who's been picking up the slack. I gave Damon & Sheffield passes because of the injuries but I'll include them when I revisit this again in a couple of weeks or so. In any case, make of the following whatever you will.

Jeter: Before: .349/.450/.524/.973 with 3 HRs, 27 Runs and 24 RBIs (32 GS and 126 ABs).
After: .348/.388/.522/.909 with 2 HRs, 7 Runs and 8 RBI (11 GS and 46 ABs).

Giambi: Before: .297/.511/.736/1.248 with 12 HRs, 21 Ks and 34 RBIs (31 GS and 91 ABs).
After: .129/.317/.161/.478 with no HRs, 12Ks and 1 RBI (10 GS and 31 ABs).

A-Rod: Before: .269/.389/.479/.868 with 7 HRs and 25 RBIs (32 GS and 119 ABs).
After: .295/.367/.545/.913 with 3 HRs and 7 RBI (11 GS and 44 ABs).

Posada: Before: .286/.402/.449/.851 with 4 HRs and 18 RBIs (26 GS and 98 ABs).
After: .381/.464/.857/1.321 with 3 HRs and 9 RBIs (8 GS and 21 ABs).

Cano: Before: .319/.342/.431/.773 with 2 HRs and 12 RBIs (29 GS and 116 ABs)
After: .279/.319/.326/.645 with no HRs and 6 RBIs (11 GS and 43 ABs)

Bernie: Before: .264/.303/.330/.633 with 1 HR and 12 RBIs (22 GS and 91 ABs).
After: .270/.341/.486/.828 with 1 HR and 6 RBIs (10 GS and 37 ABs).

Thanks to David Pinto's DbD Database for making this information easily accessible.

Hughes pitched the Thunder to a win last night but didn't perform exceptionally well, going 6 innings while giving up 5 hits and 3 earned runs. He walked 2 and struck out 5. He's still learning as he goes and I'm generally happy with the slow and steady way that the Yankees have treated him so far.

Also, if you want to see the kid sit down and be interviewed, there's a link up at the MiLB site (in the videos section). I was interested to see how he comes across to the media and I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised. While young, he certainly seems to be poised, focused on pitching and intelligent. I especially liked his answer to the point that a lot of Yankees (including Joe Torre) have said that he has the goods, "They're great compliments. It feels good to hear those things but at the same time, I've done nothing at the major-league level."

Also, Sheffield is back and will be in the line-up tonight if his left wrist continues to show no ill effects. Of note in the article is that Sheffield recieved something other than cortisone to reduce the swelling in his wrist. Finally, if you'd like to see how Sheff looked in his rehab start last night, David Pinto over at Baseball Musings has the video.

Chapter One: Innings 1-2: A tight, well pitched affair highlighted by John driving Melky in from 2nd base. (IMO, Melky's walk last Saturday against Wagner was a massive step in his maturation and portends a very good season. Please give him more at bats Joe.)

Chapter Two: Innings 3-8: Wang's troubling inconsistency swerved from inning to inning last night as the Red Sox created an insurmountable lead. The most concerning moment was in the 3rd on an 0-2 count against Ramirez. Jorge wanted a "waste" pitch letter high or higher. Wang threw a meat pitch approx. 18-24 inches lower than Jorge's target, which ended up in the centerfield seats for a 4-1 Red Sox lead. Three innings later, (bottom 6) Wang appeared to toy with Ortiz and Ramirez before putting them away. Puzzling.

Wang and Colter Bean combined to surrender 5 more runs for a 9-1 Sox lead going into:

Chapter Three: The Cruel Tease. I quickly switched back from Jack Bauer being chloroformed by Chinese intelligence and missed Alex's shot fly into the seats by about 15 seconds. Sadly, the remainder of the Yankees offensive output was:

"A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." -Macbeth.

24 wins, 19 losses.

Do not worry excessively over this team. A big offensive weapon will return soon in Sheffield, and I believe that an Aaron Small circa 2005 performance is around the corner from Jaret Wright, who has been solid in his last 3 starts.

Time is not yet short for this season...Cashman's restructuring of the Yankees senior hierarchy (and reduction of backchannels to Mr. S) was widely reported in the offseason. I believe he forced those changes to have better control in a situation like this. In 30-45 days, we'll know if it was effective.

For all intensive purposes, the 2005-2006 Interviewing the Yankees Blogosphere interview series has come to an end (unless the 2 or 3 other people that didn't get back to me happen to get back to me). So, with that in mind, I just wanted to take a quick look back at all of the people that we interviewed this time around, for your enjoyment (right?):

Alex Belth, Bronx Banter
Steve Lombardi, WasWatching.com
Patrick O'Keefe, YanksBlog.com
Cliff Corcoran, Bronx Banter
Michael Black, YanksBlog.com
SG, Replacement Level Yankees Weblog
Jennifer Muller, NoSenseWorrying.com
Seamus Molloy, YanksBlog.com
Dave Nekoukar, Pride of the Yankees
Sensei John Kreese, noMaas.org
Brian MacMillan, Off the Facade

I just wanted to mention that the entry deadline for our giveaway is tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1:00 PM Eastern. Get those last minute entries in!

Notes: Chacon heads to 15-day DL:


Not good news for my fantasy teams, but I'm glad it's not too long. So many people injured...

The Yankees had twenty-one baserunners including twelve hits, a few hit batters some walks mixed in but could only manage three runs and lost to the Mets on Sunday night 4-3. They ended up leaving fifteen runners on base and were the victim of three double plays turned by the Mets.

The Yankees took an early 2-0 lead when David Wright could not field a sharp grounder off the bat of Derek Jeter and two runs scored. However, the very next inning the Mets got to Aaron Small and scored four runs on a three run homer from Carlos Delgado and a mammoth solo shot from David Wright.

In the eighth inning the Yankees got the bases loaded with no one out when Miguel Cairo led off and worked a walk, Damon followed with a single and Jeter reached when his bunt attempt was trapped by a diving effort from the Mets pitcher. Jason Giambi hit a sacrifice fly to make it 4-3 but A-Rod who is not good in the clutch, hit into an inning ending double play.

In the ninth Robinson Cano struck out to lead off the inning, Bernie followed with a bloop single to right and Melky Cabrera bounced one through the hole on the left side to put the tying run in scoring position. Kelly Stinnett struck out for the second out and Miguel Cairo grounded out to end the game.

With all the injuries the Yankees have, A-Rod has to start producing in the clutch, the Yankees really need him. Jeter has been awesome for the whole year. Gary Sheffield took batting practice last night and looked good. He should be sent down for a rehab assignment as early as today and could be back as early as this weekend which is good news for the Yankees lineup.

Tonight the Yankees go on the road to Beantown for a three game stint with the first place Red Sox. Chien Ming-Wang takes the hill against Curt Schilling in the series opener.

According to Rotoword, the Yankees have signed Erubiel Durazo. So far, I haven't found a second outlet for verification (never mind - it's all over the web this morning) but if this is the case, I think that this is a pretty astute move. The guy can definitely hit and he is only about 2 years removed from some nice seasons for the A's. Basically, doesn't hit for a high average but gets on base and when he hits it, he hits it hard. Think Giambi-Lite with more injuries...and even worse in the field.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out between Phillips, Durazo & Carlos Pena who has really started hitting down in AAA.

Update: The NYT is now reporting that the Yankees will probably offer contracts outfielder Richard Hidalgo and infielder-outfielder Jason Romano, who are both working out in Tampa. (What is it with Texas Rangers castoff?) Interesting move with Hidalgo who hits for power when he can actually make contact. Still, historically, he's provided very good outfield defense and has a very good arm. I'd be far more excited to see him than Terrence Long who offers nothing on both offense or defense.

It was nice to see Colter Bean get called up and get in an inning. He can now be sent down or be buried in the pen by Joe. ;)