With the way the Yankees' bats looked the previous night, and considering that Jason Giambi, Hideki Matsui, and Gary Sheffield were out of the lineup, a 9-run defecit seemed a bit out of reach. But the Yanks were not giving up that early, as they inched (ok, I don't know if that's the word) their way back and matched the largest comeback in team history with a 14-13 victory over Texas.

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That's probably one of the best home runs that I've seen Jorge hit. There's a reason he's on the banner up top. :)

With tonight's win, the Yankees have overcome a 9 run deficit for only the fourth time in their illustrious history.

This would have been a heartbreaker of a loss but now, this can hopefully be the foundation of some good things to come. Thanks for the turnaround Jorgie. Get that ghetto booty around the bases! I've got no real insight right now and a fellow blogger will have the recap up soon but I couldn't help myself... what a game!

We're giving away a copy of Birth of a Dynasty by Joel Sherman. If you'd like to win, check the rules and put your name in! As simple as that. Good luck.

Just don't expect to win and then be asked to be a blogger here, like James did. hehe. ;)

We randomly gave away a copy of Birth of a Dynasty by Joel Sherman to YanksBlog.com reader Christopher Pesce.

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Phil Hughes' third start for Trenton was somewhat inconsistent. He pitched 5 innings and ended up walking 4 men. Prior to this start, he had only walked three in total in his previous 2 starts and 2 in total in his 5 starts at Tampa. He also gave up a solo home run, only the third that he's given up in his professional career (he gave up the second in his last start).

There are still some postives there. Outside of the homerun, Hughes only gave up 2 other hits and did strike out 5 while lowering his AA ERA to 3.71. It'll be interesting to see how he does in his next couple of starts at AA as he continues to make adjustments. Naturally, Yankees fans everywhere watch with baited breath as we would love to see our own version of Francisco Liriano/Cole Hamels/Matt Cain/etc.

T.J. Beam then came in for 4 shutout innings and continued his dominating work so far this year. He hasn't given up a run since his first appearance of the year on April 7th. If you add in J.B. Cox's relief work this year (1 ER, 10 H, 5 BB, 14 K in his last 17.3 innings), Trenton has had one heck of a 1-2 punch in the bullpen this year and a promotion to AAA shouldn't be too far off for either player.

Last night's game featured questionable lineup and player moves, offensive atrophy and a superior performance by Rangers pitcher Kevin Millwood, who looked for my money like the best pitcher the Yankees have faced this year.

The highlights:

1) Bottom 2: Cano, (on third after a single and a strange baserunning play that took him from 1st to 3rd on a fielder's choice) is driven home by Bubba Crosby's single.

2) Bottom 4: Alex hits a 2B that could have been a 3B due to CF Gary Mathews Jr.'s speed. Cano drives him home with a single.

3) Mussina: Ceteris paribus, Mike pitched well enough to win. However, a mini-breakdown in the 5th began with Wilkerson's close eyes/swing bat opposite corner HR. The Rangers tied it 2-2 on a sac fly to Bubba, who made a jumping, turning, spectacular catch.

4) Jim Kaat/Ken Singleton: I understand the announcing weaknesses of these guys and that they are purveyors of the Joe Morgan school of conventional baseball wisdom (manufacturing runs and all that). However, I like them a lot. Kaat's style and pitching insights are great and I would like to play a round of golf with Singleton, because he would likely be relaxed and in good spirits for the entire round...I can't stand uptight people who swear, throw clubs, et al.

5) The irony of my place filled with layers of cigar smoke while the "stop smoking" promos run on YES.

Lowlights (an abridged version):

1) Bernie and Bubba in the lineup? That's an obstacle to the offense.

2) Rangers score 2 to take the lead 4-2, top 8. Jim Kaat (correctly, in my view) sees Guidry's frustration with Farnsworth's pitch selection, i.e., becoming too cute with the slider when his primary weapon is overwhelming gasoline.

3) The Phillips for Giambi substitution is being called "neck stiffness." This is worrisome in that we can't afford 3 sluggers to go on the DL in a 7 day span.

4) Millwood: Excellent performance. Baffled the Yankees most of the night with clinical pitch location.

That's it...21-15.

(Given the cogent analysis below by my YanksBlog.com colleagues since Thursday's events, please bear with this emotional appeal).

Dear Alex,

The following was written about 2,050 years ago by the Roman orator and statesman Cicero:

Cura nihil aliud nisi ut valeas
-Pay attention to nothing except that you do well.

After your performance on Friday and Saturday, this quote applies to you.

Disregard the media. Forget the vulgar, fickle crowds.
The last 72 hours has given you the opportunity to do what you do well.

All that is required is to let your immense talent take over.

Chien Ming-Wang and Barry Zito were both pitching great, however Chien Ming-Wang was a little better and was helped by four double play balls during the time he was in. He left after eight with the Yankees leading 1-0 due to an A-Rod homer off of Zito. Bernie Williams connected in the bottom of the eighth off former Yankee Randy Keisler to put the Bombers ahead 2-0.

Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth and held on without giving up a run. He got Dan Johnson on a ground ball for the first out, but then walked Scutaro and Ellis followed with a single to right to put runners on first and third with only one out. Mo beared down and got Nick Swisher to bounce to Andy Phillips at first which he turned into a slick game ending double play.

Wang was very impressive from the start, getting most of the outs on the ground and using only 85 pitches in eight innings. The Yankees lineup is not quite as potent with Sheffield and Matsui being absent. They were replaced by Bernie Williams in right and Melky Cabrera in left. However, I look upon this as an opportunity for the Yankees not to have to rely on the home run. They will now have to hit and run, steal bases and move baserunners along with productive outs.

The series resumes tomorrow afternoon with Jaret Wright facing another ex-Yankee in Brad Halsey. Halsey had replaced injured A's pitcher Rich Harden in the rotation. On Sunday afternoon Randy Johnson goes to the mound in a much anticipated start to see if he can straighten himself out after the disastrous outing on Tuesday against Boston.

Patrick made a comment on the earlier post that "any assemblance of players on the roster is not really going to cause me to bat an eyelash, with near certainty" and I tend to agree with him, to a certain extent. I believe that there is enough on the Yankees 40-man to weather a short-term (month or so) lull in outfield production from two outfielders. If Sheff comes back and plays to his ability, then this becomes less of an issue because nearly all the options (save for Bernie) could probably provide good defense and some could added adequate performances with the bat.

Keep in mind that to this point in the season, Hideki Matsui has only put up an .261/.353/.454/.807 and the Yankees have still won at a .600 clip (they have played better than that recently if you discount the initial 1-4 start) so hopefully, his bat won't be missed as much as most of the the main-stream seem to be insinuating. Also, there are quite a few names on the Yankees staff (Mussina, Proctor, Chacon, Farnsworth, Villone, etc.) who have been flyball pitchers this season and a better, faster outfield defense would certainly help them (I was tempted to throw stronger in there just for the $6 Million Dollar Man reference).

However, it is when you combine the Matsui loss with the Randy Johnson issues, the continued (and absurd) use of Tanyon Sturtze in high-leverage situations (or any situations for that matter) and other questions about the pitching staff that the real problems appear. With Matsui in the lineup, there is always a chance that the Yankees can simply bludgeon their opponents with offense. With him out, the chances of that (as well as 1,000 runs) diminish and the Yankees are forced to rely a little more on their pitching to stay strong and win some games outright. Will that happen? I'm not sure but I think that this will be much more important than the question of how to and who will replace Hideki. Mussina has to remain as good as he's been, Randy Johnson has to revert back to form (or at the very least, be an above average pitcher), Wang has to get some defensive help behind him, etc. etc. In addition, the Yankees can no longer waste roster spots on pitchers who give them negative returns because night after night, the offense simply won't be there to bail them out (I'm looking at you Tanyon - Small and Wright are next on the list).

Winning ballgames will be harder but is certainly doable for a team with the sheer amount of talent that the Yankees have. It will just take a somewhat different approach and hopefully some shrewd maneuvering of the roster by both Torre and Cashman.

With Damon banged up as well, Steve L. over at WasWatching suggests the following,


Now, the Yankees have already brought up Kevin Reese so working with what the Yankees have, swap Reese into Bubba's backup spot and play Crosby instead of Thompson so that you go Damon, Crosby, Cabrera across the outfield. Now, this makes a ton of sense to me as it would mitigate the amount of ground that Damon would have to cover which could perhaps help him to heal faster. It would also be a pretty fine defensive outfield, right? Here's a question though, would he be in more of a injury risk playing out of position? (I'm asking for opinions here - I'm not sure how this would play out) Personally, while not ecstatic about that outfield (I'd still like to see Thompson), it does keep Bernie off the field and they wouldn't completely embarass themselves at the plate (esp. if Bubba can show a little flash like last year).

Finally, how long before the old G.O.A.T. Rickey Henderson volunteers to join the Yankees and help out?