Scout.com reports that T.J. Beam has been called back up to the big league team. The article doesn't say for sure but it seems like a given that the player dropped will be Kris Wilson.


Well, that's one down. Let's get rid of Ponson while we're at it and perhaps even think about replacing Bubba. That would certainly make my week.

Hat Tip to WasWatching for the news.

ESPN Radio is reporting that Alfonso Soriano will be moved soon. They have Soriano going to the White Sox in exchange for Brandon McCarthy (though I doubt it's just McCarthy). The White Sox are also apparently acquiring pitcher Mike MacDougal from the Royals in exchange for minor leaguer Tyler Lumsden (who is actually a pretty good pitcher). It's just a rumour as of right now but I expect it will get finalized soon.

Still, as long as he's not back in pinstripes, I for one will be happy. I know a lot of people will disagree with me but I really believe that any trade for Soriano is an out-and-out mistake. He's just not worth what the Nationals will ask for especially if he's just a rental for a couple of months.

...just like they were also content with Bubba Crosby as the regular CF??...

Why is this kid not in AAA yet? (No, I'm being serious. If anyone out there has an idea, please let me know.)

Cox could have been promoted there a month ago. That way, who knows, if he had performed well in AAA, we could have a choice of Matt Smith, T.J. Beam or J.B. Cox chomping at the bit to help the big club's bullpen. Instead, he's been dominating AA all season long to the tune of a 1.39 ERA and 41 H, 21 BB and 50 Ks in 64.2 IP. In 33 appearances, he has had six in which he has given up an earned run.

He's been even better recently and hasn't given up a run since the 4th of JUNE! In that time, here's his line: 26 IP, 9 H, 9 BB and 20 Ks. All I can say to that is wow. Keep up the good work J.B., you'll be up in NY hanging out with Mo before you know it.

Sidney Ponson gave up two gopher balls in less than three innings but the Yankees bullpen was even worse surrendering three more homers as the Blue Jays beat up the Yankees 13-5 on Sunday afternoon in Toronto. With the win the Blue Jays take the series 3 to 1 against New York and gain two games on them via this series.

In the first inning Vernon Wells hit one to deep center off the restaurant glass to help Toronto move out to a 2-0 lead. The Yankees temporarily took the lead back as Jorge Posada hit a three run homer off of Toronto starter Shawn Marcum. Posada's homer came after A-Rod struck out again with two runners on base. Except for the three run homer in the series he was simply awful both at bat and in the field.

In the third Ponson gave up the lead when Troy Glaus touched him up for a two run shot at the Jays took the lead at 4-3 and never looked back. Kris Wilson followed and brought the kerosene can with him. He gave up a three run shot to Eric Hinske and another three run shot to Reed Johnson. In all the Blue Jays had an eight run inning with three home runs.

Shawn Chacon followed Wilson and was touched for Veron Wells' second homer of the day. The Jays added a couple more runs and the Yankees added two more later in the game after the outcome had already been decided.

Simply put the Yankees need more starting pitching and a long reliever. Ponson is awful, Jaret Wright had been awful the last two starts and Kris Wilson should be released immediately. As for the bats, we can't continue to throw out guys like Nick Green, Aaron Guiel and Bubba Crosby and expect to compete against AL powerhouse teams. Cashman must pull the trigger quickly with only a week to go until the trade deadline. We probably can't get Soriano but guys like Shawn Green, Bobby Abreu or Kevin Mench are probably realistic without giving up too much in return.

We also need another starter. The Mets are making a play for Barry Zito and it would be awful if he landed in New York but wasn't on the Yankees. Perhaps someone like Jason Schmidt or even Cory Lidle would be a step up from what we have now. The Big Unit goes tomorrow night in Texas vs. Kevin Millwood. He has pitched very well lately. Hopefully he can put up a W against a very potent Rangers lineup.

The Yankees put an end to their 3-game losing streak yesterday with a 5-4 win over the Blue Jays. The game featured a few blunders by Toronto after two days of the Jays feasting on Yankee mistakes. Chien-Ming Wang was not quite as good as in his previous performances, but was good enough nevertheless as he gave up 4 runs on 10 hits to improve his record to 11-4. The Yankees remain 2.5 behind Boston and have pulled to within a game and a half of the White Sox for the wild card. The win is also significant because with a loss the Blue Jays would've pulled to within a game of the Yanks for second place.

The Yankees struck first in the 2nd inning when Bernie Williams hit a two run shot following a triple by Jorge Posada (<--not a typo). Toronto answered with a run in the 3rd and tied the score on a home run by Eric Hinske. The Blue Jays took the lead in the 5th via a two-run double by Lyle Overbay. The Yankees cut the lead to 4-3 on a balk by Ted Lilly in the 6th. The Yanks went ahead in the next inning as Jason Giambi doubled in Bernie to tie the game (and then was pinch run for by... Jaret Wright?) and Jeter walked in the go-ahead run. The bullpen was solid from there with three scoreless innings. Scott Proctor and Kyle Farnsworth both struck out the side and Farnsworth was throwing his best heat of the season as one of his pitches was clocked at 101mph. Mariano Rivera worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his 23rd save.

Also of note is that Joe Torre decided to use A-Rod as the designated hitter yesterday and started Nick Green at 3B (if you're wondering why Jaret Wright was used as a pinch runner, it's because Aaron Guiel was the only remaining player on the Yankee bench as Green was replaced by Andy Phillips and then Rodriguez at 3B). He proceeded to go 0-4, striking out all four times he came up. It was his first golden sombrero since 1995 when he was a backup SS for Luis Sojo. I know Rodriguez has struggled lately at 3B, but when you're going through as tough a mental slump as he is, I don't really see the point of DH'ing him so that when he strikes out, he gets a full hour to think about it before he comes up to bat again. I kind of think that's why Jason Giambi hit so much better last year as a first baseman than he did as a DH.

Well, in any case, between A-Rod striking out four times, Jaret Wright being used as a pinch runner and Jorge Posada recording a triple, we might be seeing some signs of the apocolypse. Come to think of it, it was unseasonably chilly in my house when I woke up this morning... ah, nevermind, turns out I just had the AC temperature set too low. Anyway, the Yankees will look to leave Toronto with a split as Sidney Ponson will get his second Yankee start against Shaun Marcum, who will be making the second start of his career. Marcum has pitched out of the bullpen a bit for the Jays over the course of the last two seasons. Game starts at 1 ET.

Thanks for the help today. You really did us a solid...and whew, did we need that!

It's not easy over here in the Big Apple these days...but Felix, my man - where has that stuff been all season? Sowers, dude - way to go on the shut-out. Keep up the good work (just not against us). Finally, Mike, way to come through and get your team the win in the ninth against big boy Jenks. Hope that felt good for you.

Anyway, just wanted to take a sec and send you guys a thank-you note since Big George has always stressed the importance of proper manners. Oh, and by the way, if you could, no obligation or anything, maybe you could do the same thing tomorrow as well? We'd really appreciate it guys. Thanks.

All the best,
The Yankees

I didn't realize this until it was right in front of me:

The Yankees put on a lackluster performance on Friday night in Toronto going down to the Blue Jays for their third consecutive loss. Jaret Wright could not get out of the third inning and gave up a four spot in the first.

A-Rod brought the Yankees to within a run in the third when he connected for a three run shot off of Toronto starter A.J. Burnett. It was his 450th career homer and the 2000th hit of his career. However, the milestones were overshadowed by the Yankees loss and A-Rod commiting another throwing error, his 18th of the season. He is throwing the ball sidearm and it causes the ball to sail off to the right.

Shawn Chacon relieved Wright and was okay but struggled with his control most of the night. It was his first appearance since July 4th. Villone followed Chacon and pitched well before giving way to Kris Wilson. Wilson was touched by Troy Glaus for a home run in the eighth inning which finished the scoring at 7-3.

With the injuries to Sheffield, Matsui and Cano, the futility of the Yankees lineup in starting to really show. The bottom of the lineup with Phillips, Guiel, Cabrera and Cairo have done little or nothing recently. Even Jason Giambi in the third hole in down to about .250.

Even before the game started, the Red Sox had already won and the White Sox had already lost so the Yanks needed to win to stay 1.5 games back of Boston and move to 1.5 games back of Chicago. For a wild-card spot that was more or less conceded to a team from the AL Central earlier on this season, it's looking more and more as if that race will also be very close.

As for the game itself, the marquee pitching match-up of Mussina vs. Doc Halladay was progressing exactly as the Yanks would have hoped as the Yanks scratched their way to a 3-0 lead through 5 innings and Mussina was cruising. It would have been nice if the game ended that way - no such luck. In the bottom of the sixth, with a man on third (Aaron Hill), Reed Johnson grounded to third. A-Rod fielded the ball and instead of taking the sure out at first, he went home to try to get the runner. His throw was wild and to their credit, the Blue Jays took advantage and ended up taking the lead in the inning.

The score remained 4-3 until the 8th when the Blue Jays brought in their closer B.J. Ryan to get a 2 inning save. Keep in mind that prior to this appearance, B.J. Ryan had a 0.96 ERA (that's not a typo) and was limiting hitters to a .154/.204/.186 line while giving up 4.63 H per 9 while striking out 11. Okay, enough numbers...he's good. However, with two outs, they were able to put together a nice little rally that consisted of a Giambi single (weak single to the left side - the shift was on so no one was there), an A-Rod walk (the first walk of the game!) and a bloop single by Jorge which tied the game up and tagged Ryan with his third blown save of the season. The bloop only scored the run because Joe Torre had subbed Bubba into the game to run for Giambi so props to Joe for that decision (yes, I know he usually does it but it worked so I'll give him credit for it).

Scott Proctor came on to pitch 2 solid innings of work and was followed by Rivera who got three quick outs in the 10th. Toronto countered with another inning from Ryan and scoreless innings from Justin Speier and Brian Tallet. Rivera came back out for the 11th and after getting one out (Frank Catalanotto singled but was erased on a CS at 2nd), he served up a home run to Vernon Wells, who is having a heck of a year and continues to kill the Yankees. It wasn't a good pitch by Rivera and Wells really got into it. Still, the NY Times headline pretty much summed it up: "Loss Goes to Rivera, Blame Goes to Rodriguez."

Certainly a disappointing loss for the Yanks and more ammo for those who are questioning A-Rod (both the extreme bashers as well as those who are genuinely curious as to what's going on with him). The road ahead isn't easy either as Toronto has their pitching set up well against the Yankees. The Jays start Burnett tonight and follow him up with former Yank Ted Lilly who has been pitching quite well this season. It'll be a tough task but the Yanks have to, at the very least, split this series.