The Price Was Right For Small Ball

The master of small ball

There are plenty of people out there, their own fans included, waiting for the Yankees to completely collapse. An 11-8 start and 10 wins in the past 14 games seems to be an aberration. How could a team with so many past their prime players being doing so well and how are they staying healthy?

Outside of Kevin Youkilis, who has had a bad back flare up, it's really too early in the season to be concerned with wear and tear. The Yankees are finding ways to win, and that's what good ball clubs do.  Tuesday night they went up against the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner in David Price.

First and foremost that meant the Yankees starter, Phil Hughes, had to pitch well enough to keep his team in the ball game. He did just that with two runs allowed in seven solid innings of work and as a bonus he did not allow a home run, which has been one of his biggest problems. Next, the Yankees needed to score some runs; that did not come so easily.

Though Price entered the game with a 6.26 ERA, he had thrown a pair of good games and was knocked around in another two, so his ERA was misleading. He also dominated the Yankees last year when they still had a lineup of big bangers.

Down 1-0 in the 4th inning, Eduardo Nunez reached when he struck out on a wild pitch and raced safely to first base. Robinson Cano and Vernon Wells followed with singles to tie the game. One of the most watched reclamation projects, Wells has posted a nifty .975 OPS against left-handers.

The Rays took the lead back on an RBI single by former Yankee Jose Molina, but right fielder Ichiro Suzuki stopped the inning from being bigger when he threw out James Loney trying to reach third base. The Yankees got the run right back on back to back one out singles by Ichiro and Jayson Nix and a ground out to the right side by Brett Gardner.

David Robertson kept the Rays in check to set up the heart of the Yankees order against Price to start the 9th. Cano entered the game just 11-47 (.234) against the 6'6" left-hander, but led off the final frame with his second base hit of the game.

Rays manager Joe Maddon brought in his closer Fernando Rodney to face Vernon Wells. Rodney dominated AL hitters last year en route to 48 saves and struck out Wells, but Cano swiped second base in the process.  Pinch-hitter Travis Hafner was intentionally walked and Lyle Overbay got an unintentional free pass when a 3-2 pitch just missed the strike zone. The Yankees then got extremely lucky.

Joe Girardi let Chris Stewart hit for himself with the bases loaded instead of going to a pinch-hitter such as Brennan Boesch. Stewart fouled out, with the ball only going what seemed like about 10 feet in the air and 10 feet from home plate. It was better than a double play though and gave Ichiro, the master of small ball, a chance to do some damage. With just two multi-hit games thus far, Ichiro added a third when he popped a 99-mph fastball in front of center fielder Desmond Jennings to plate a pair of runs.

Evan Longoria crushed his fifth home run of the season to start the bottom of the 9th inning against Mariano Rivera, but the Yankees' closer picked up his sixth save when he retired the next three hitters.

Notes

Remarkably, the Rays are 0-5 in Price's 5 starts.

The Yankees expect a visit from Derek Jeter tonight, with his left foot back in a boot.

Mark Teixeira has eliminated May 1 as a target date for his return after his wrist stiffened up from taking dry swings.

Yankees Fall To O's,but Gardner Impresses

The New York Yankees already knew their game plan was going to be a little different this year. The big home run hitting machine is no more. It's time to get back to the basics - moving runners, stealing bases, putting on the hit and run, etc. The ability to play small ball will be even more important with the loss of Curtis Granderson for a minimum of 10 weeks due to the broken right arm he suffered on Sunday.

One of the Yankees that Joe Girardi will be counting on the most is center fielder Brett Gardner. Girardi was hoping to give Granderson a look in left and move Gardner back to center where it is felt he is the superior defensive player of the two. With Granderson's injury Gardner gets center field back by default. Now they need his bat and speed to pick up some of the slack with Granderson's home run power out of the lineup.

Gardner missed all but 16 games of the 2012 regular season after he injured his right elbow in April and had to have it surgically repaired. This afternoon against the Baltimore Orioles, Gardner led off, played center field, and was 3-3 at the plate. Speed played a factor in two of the three hits as Gardner beat out an infield grounder (and dove into first base much to the dismay of everyone on the Yankees side of the field) and later bunted his way on.

 It's that speed that the Yankees will count on to help produce runs. In a healthy 2011 season, Gardner swiped 49 bases in 62 attempts. In 2010 he was even better with 47 steals in just 53 tries. Gardner knows though that he has to be more aggressive when the game is on the line and not be worried about being thrown out. It's something that even the casual observer has noticed during Gardner's career.

The Yankees fell 5-1 to the Orioles Monday afternoon, breaking up the shutout in the 9th on a Walter Ibarra RBI. The Yankees had eight hits with Jayson Nix picking up a pair. Vidal Nuno started for the Yankees, who threw all minor leaguers on Monday. Brian Matusz started for the Orioles and tossed a pair of scoreless innings as he attempts to make it back to the rotation after a successful second half stint in the O's 2012 bullpen.

The Yankees play the Phllies in Clearwater on Tuesday at 1. The game will be televised live on the MLB Network.