Tex Back In The Lineup

With Ivan Nova out indefinitely, the Yankees got some good news today with the return of Mark Teixeira. Activated from the disabled list, the first baseman will bat fifth in today's lineup against the Tampa Bay Rays.

The YES Network's Meredith Marakovits reported Sunday that pitchers Preston Claiborne and Bryan Mitchell have been recalled from Scranton and Trenton, respectively. Scott Sizemore and Matt Daley appear to be the two that have taken a hit, though there's been no official announcement as of this writing.

Teixeira in the lineup playing 1B batting 5th #Yankees
— Meredith Marakovits (@M_Marakovits) April 20, 2014

Daley was called up for Saturday's game and got hammered. Sizemore is a bit of a surprise since he's hit well on a limited basis (.308/.308/.462 in 13 ABs with 4 RBI).

Salty Slams Yankees to the Mat

One might think the game was over Friday night after the Red Sox scored four runs in the 1st inning off of Hiroki Kuroda. But just as they had last week in New York, the Yankees rallied to tie the game at four apiece. Unfortunately, just like three of last week's games with Boston, the Yankees lost anyway.

The Red Sox have hit eight grand slams on the year, with Jarrod Saltalamacchia being the latest batter to go deep with the bases loaded. The catcher's slam came off of Preston Claiborne and turned the aforementioned 4-4 tie into an 8-4 Red Sox lead. That turned out to be the final score as the Red Sox won their 90th game and the Yankees fell two games behind Tampa Bay for the number two wild card spot.

Kuroda has been the Yankees ace since last year, but he's been extremely fatigued of late. Since he tossed eight innings of shutout ball against the Los Angeles Angels on August 12, Kuroda has not gone past 6.1 innings in any start. In fact, he recorded an out in the 7th inning only once and hasn't won since the game against the Angels. (In fairness, he was the pitcher of record in last Sunday's game against Boston, but Mariano Rivera blew the lead. The Yankees won in the bototom of the 9th on a wild pitch.)

Kuroda got into immediate trouble Friday night with a 33 pitch 1st inning. He gave up a lead off single to Dustin Pedroia, a 1-out double to David Ortiz, and an RBI ground out to Mike Carp that gave Boston a 1-0 lead. Given the opportunity to escape with a single run allowed, Kuroda got touched up for three more runs on a Daniel Nava single and a 2-run double by Stephen Drew.

The Yankees slowly chipped away against Sox starter John Lackey with an unexpected solo home run from Brendan Ryan in the 3rd inning. Lyle Overbay cut the lead in half in the 6th with a sacrifice fly as Kuroda hung tough and shut down the Red Sox red hot lineup.

The Yankees pulled even in the 7th with Ryan and Chris Stewart reaching on back-to-back singles to start the rally. With Curtis Granderson, Alex Rodriguez, and Robinson Cano due up, John Farrell sent for left-hander Craig Breslow. Breslow K'ed Granderson, but walked A-Rod to load the bases for Cano. The second baseman came through with a game tying 2-run double. Alfonso Soriano had a chance to put the Bombers ahead, but Brandon Workman induced an inning ending ground out.

The good times didn't last long- Joe Girardi sent Kuroda back out to start the 7th, but he gave up a single to Shane Victorino and departed. Lefty Cesar Cabral came on, but hit Ortiz. Claiborne, this year's Cody Eppley, wore down quicker than his predecessor after a surprisingly effective first half of the season. He was next to enter the fray Friday night and walked pinch-hitter Jonny Gomes to load the bases.

Claiborne struck out Nava, but Saltalamacchia deposited grand slam number eight over the right field fence to essentially end the Yankees night.

Oh yes, the Yankees Season Can Get Worse

Read 'em and weep

You couldn't blame Andy Pettitte's teammates if they shackled Joe Girardi to the dugout bench the next time the 41-year old takes the mound for the Yankees. The bullpen blew up two potential Petttitte winning efforts in a six day span. In each case Girardi may have been premature when he yanked his longest tenured starting Yankees pitcher.

This past Sunday the Yankees were nine outs from beating Baltimore when the Orioles hammered the Yankees pen for seven runs in the 7th inning. Pettitte departed Friday night's contest with the Boston Red Sox after six innings and 100 pitches only to see his 8-3 lead turn in a disgusting 12-8 loss. To make matters worse it came on the heels of the blown comeback effort the night before.

Things started out well Friday night, as opposed to the first game of the series on Thursday. Alfonso Soriano smacked a 2-run home run off starter Felix Doubront in the 1st inning. Vernon Wells contributed an RBI and a pair of runs scored, Brett Gardner knocked in two, and Eduardo Nunez had a pair of hits with a ribbie and a run scored.

Then came the fateful 7th inning yet again. This time Girardi didn't allow Pettitte to start the inning as he had on Sunday. Instead he brought in Phil Hughes, who was making his first appearance since he was shifted/demoted to the bullpen.  Hughes managed to retire one batter, but was charged with four runs, three hits and a walk.

Boone Logan replaced Hughes and struck out David Ortiz for the second out, but the bases remained loaded. With little option, Girardi stuck with Logan against Yankees killer Mike Napoli. Big Mistake. Napoli fouled off a couple of 3-2 pitches before he delivered a grand slam to tie the game at eight apiece. Logan then departed with a sore elbow that he said bothered him during Napoli's at-bat.

Preston Claiborne continued his disappearing act an inning later with some help from the guy who somehow passes himself off as a competent pitcher, Joba Chamberlain. Four runs later the Red Sox were ahead 12-8 and the Yankees were done.

Remarkably, the Yankees are STILL 2.5 behind the Tampa Bay Rays, who lost once again, but have been passed by Baltimore and Cleveland in the standings. Both teams and the Rays have a game in hand to the Yankees and the Indians have the easiest schedule the rest of the way.

Girardi talks about his ramshackle bullpen

Notes

David Robertson woke up with a cranky shoulder Friday morning and went for an MRI. Tendinitis was found and D-Rob will be out for a number of days. Logan will go for an MRI as well. Shawn Kelley hasn't pitched since September 1, but might be available on Sunday.

Andy Pettitte talks about his start

Yankees First Half Report Card: The Bullpen

Valedictorian of his class.

The Yankees and the Boston Red Sox are in the midst of the rubber game of a three game series Sunday night to kick off the post All-Star break portion of the season. Remarkably, this is the first time that the Yankees have visited Fenway Park this season.  It's also the first time in a long time that neither Derek Jeter nor Alex Rodriguez have been in the Yankees lineup for a game against the old town team.

Both starters were roughed up, especially the Yankees CC Sabathia, who saw a 3-0 lead go bye bye. So what better night is there to post the first half grades for the Yankees bullpen.

(Note - statistics are as of the All-Star break)

Mariano Rivera - I might as well start right at the top. There's no reason to go into a lot of detail here; it's been talked about, written about, gifts, videos, the greatest retirement tour ever. Mariano is human, believe or not, as evidenced by the two blown saves in 32 chances. Has anyone ever had a quieter 30 saves, even with the hoopla surrounding his retirement tour? And 30 saves by a 43-year old at the All-Star break? 

It's hard to believe, but just how outstanding he has been seems to have been a bit overlooked by the media. "He's the same old Mariano" doesn't quite cut it.

Grade: A+

David Robertson - DRob's off the field endeavors (High Socks for Hope) get a bit lost among the stars in the Yankees clubhouse, and his on the field performance tend to as well. While he may never be the Yankees regular closer, he's one helluva set up man.

Robertson was selected to the AL All-Star game two years ago when he finished 4-0, 1.08 ERA, 1.125 WHIP, and 13.5 strikeouts per nine innings pitched. After scuffling at times last year (still averaged 12 K's per nine IP) with his performance and health, DRob has improved on some areas of his 2011 performance. He's still averages 12 K's per nine IP and has put up a WHIP under 1.0 in 41 relief appearances.

Grade: A

Joba Chamberlain - Has there been a Yankees relief pitcher in recent history that has created more headaches than Joba Chamberlain? I'm not going to go in summarizing the rise and fall of Joba, but we know that some past issues are due to injuries, the"Joba Rules" and other nonsense the Yankees front office created.

But just like someone who has a bad beginning in life, sometimes you have to pull yourself up by your cleat laces and get things done. Such is not the case with Joba, who comes off very down to earth one minute and then undeservedly arrogant the next. He has not been the type of pitcher that has earned the level of respect he believes he has coming to him.

Is there any situation in a game that you trust Joba in at this point?  He allows inherited runners to score, he lets the opponents lead get bigger, and the Yankees lead get smaller. It's time for Joba to try to find success somewhere else.

Grade: F

Boone Logan - The tall left-hander is a bit of enigma, he looks incredibly solid one second (strikes out Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau with the bases loaded) and very ordinary the next. Joe Girardi has been very careful with not overworking his bullpen like his predecessor Joe Torre did, but Logan is the exception. He appeared in 64 games in 2011 and 80 last year, and that's not counting how many times he got warmed up and didn't enter the game.

It was no surprise that he reported to camp with a cranky elbow this year. It carried over to the start of the season with a shaky April, but Logan bounced back strong in May. In fact, he struck out 25 batters and walked just two in 15.1 innings over May and June combined. In July, opponents have just a .111 Batting Average on balls in play (BAbip). All that said, I still have difficulty trusting him in big spots...or small ones.

Grade: B

Shawn Kelley - Was a surprise pick up this past off-season. With the Mariners trying to improve you would think they would have held on to Kelley, who made only $600K last year and had a solid season. On top of that they dealt him to the Yankees for Abe Almonte, a non-prospect.

Kelley has been a strikeout machine in pinstripes with an average of 13.2 per 9 innings. He quickly gained Girardi’s trust and has become invaluable in high leverage situations. If David Robertson gets the closer's role next season, Kelley is the likely replacement as the 8th inning guy. Then again, he could fill the closer role instead of Robertson.

Grade: B+

Preston Claiborne - The 25-year old came out of nowhere to be an integral part of the bullpen early on. The bloom has come off the rose a bit over the last month, but it doesn't take away what Claiborne did in May and the first half of June. Namely, he gave up just one run in 15 appearances.

For now Claiborne will likely be doing mop up and non-crucial work until if and when he gets back on track.

Grade: B- (very close to being a C+)

Adam Warren - I have to admit I never saw this one coming. Warren looked horrible in his debut last year and looked like he was the target in a game of whack-a-mole in spring training. But since the regular season began it has been Warren doing the whacking of opponents in the long man role.

Warren has amassed 43.2 innings in 16 appearances, half of which he has finished, and has compiled a nearly 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio. It's doubtful he'll be a starter again (if he remains in the organization), but he can certainly fill a valuable role in the bullpen.

Grade: A-

Betances Joins Bullpen Shuffle

Yankees fans have heard about Dellin Betances' potential ever since the 6'8" hard throwing right-hander was selected in the 8th round of the 2006 MLB amateur draft. Unfortunately, he has struggled to meet the expectations and was recently converted from a starting pitcher to a full-time reliever. Despite pitching just twice in the pen this season, Betances has been recalled by the Yankees to join their bullpen.

The Yankees needed another reliever after Brett Marshall threw 108 pitches and Preston Claiborne pitched 2.1 innings in mopping up the mess Phil Hughes created against Seattle on Wednesday night. The Yankees were hopeful that Joba Chamberlain would be ready to come off the DL, but his oblique injury is apparently still an issue.

The decision to move Betances to the bullpen for good came after the 25-year old allowed 16 earned runs and walked 16 batters in 24 innings (six starts) at Triple-A Scranton. In his two relief appearances since then Betances has allowed one run in 4.1 innings pitched, walked just one batter and struck out four.

Despite his control issues, Betances worked his way up the minor league chain. I was at his Double-A debut for Trenton in 2010 and saw the good and the bad of his game. I recall him missing the catcher's target, his ability to blow his fastball by batters, an awkardness that led to two throwing errors on pickoff attempts, and an intimidating presence on the mound. But his ability and the sound of his pitches popping in catcher Austin Romine's glove sent an electricity through the crowd, quite a few of whom were friends and family of the Big Apple native.

Betances got a late September call up in 2011 and made a less than an impresssive debut against Tampa Bay. He allowed a pair of runs and walked four in just two-thirds of an inning. Six days later he faced the Rays again and pitched two scoreless innings with a walk and a hit allowed and struck out two.

Yankees Get a Dose of the Green Wave

His name sounds more like a character from an old southern novel, but Preston Claiborne is indeed a pitcher. Make that, Major League pitcher. The 25-year old will be donning the pinstripes of the New York Yankees this evening (Friday).

Claiborne's call up came when Joba Chamberlain was placed on the 15-day DL with a strained oblique. I'm sure Cody Eppley was getting ready for the Scranton-Bronx shuttle, but instead Eppley was designated for assignment so Claiborne could be added to the 40-man roster.

The native of Dallas, Texas was drafted in the 23rd round of the 2006 MLB amateur draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but turned them down to attend Tulane University. The Yankees selected Claiborne in the 17th round in 2010 and the reliever put pen to paper on a deal.

Claiborne overwhelmed younger hitters in rookie ball (Staten Island) to the tune of 10.4 K/per 9 innings. That earned him a promotion to Tampa where he spent the entire 2011 season.  After he posted a 2.22 ERA and struck out better than nine batters per nine innings in 498 games at Double-A Trenton, Claiborne got finished up the 2012 season at Triple-A Scranton. That's who he was playing for this season when he got the call.

In 10.1 innings pitched, Claiborne had struck 10 hitters and walked just one. That new found control may have been the ticket to his promotion. Claiborne had previously walked three or four batters per nine innings. He's likely to be used in mop and long man roles, and it should inherit the job of carrying the pink backpack of supplies from fellow rookie Vidal Nuno.