Yankees in Cellar's Market

1966 was a horrible year for New York Yankees baseball. Their stars either retired early or had stayed too long. The Yankees finished 70-89 that year and in 10th place...which was out of 10 teams.

No one is saying 2012 holds the same fate for the Yankees, but the last time the Yankees and Boston Red Sox (who blew two final inning leads on Sunday) started the season with an identical 0-3 record was in that horrid 1966 season.

The Yankees pitching staff only allowed three runs on Sunday, but their bats were put to sleep by a near complete game shutout by Jeremy Hellickson. Only a two out walk to Nick Swisher in the 9th prevented the second year right-hander from finishing off a 3-0 Tampa Bay Rays win.

Phil Hughes made his first start of the season and took the loss. While he had effective stuff, he burned out early and was pulled after 99 pitches and 4.2 innings. Stuff will only get you so far, just ask A.J. Burnett.

The Yankees continued to make the mistake of pitching to Carlos Pena. Already leading 1-0 on a Matt Joyce 1st inning RBI triple, Pena double the score with his second home run and 7th RBI of the series. He later had a near home run turn into a ground rule double due to fan interference.

But the story of this game was Hellickson, who walked four batters, but limited the Yankees to just three hits. All three were doubles (Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Swisher), but the Yankees bats failed in the clutch, much as they did in the entire three game series. Pena's 24 home runs against the Yankees are his second highest total against any one team.

Series Notes

It's only the first series of the season, but a team should be embarrassed when Fernando Rodney saves two games against you.

The Yankees three starters in the series, CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, and Hughes, combined to allow 11 earned runs in 16.1 innings pitched. Mariano Rivera, Clay Rapada, and Boone Logan gave up a combined five additional runs out of the pen.

Eduardo Nunez' season got off to a rocky start in the field Saturday evening. After making an error on the very first ball hit to him in this year's Spring Training debut, Nunez repeated the feat when he started at shortstop behind Kuroda. Unfortunately for Nunez, Kuroda didn't pick him up and gave up a 2-run single to Luke Scott.

Kuroda fooled no one, except maybe his catcher Russell Martin, in his AL debut. The former Japanese star and LA Dodger mainstay, allowed six runs, four of them earned, eight hits, and walked four in just 5.2 innings.

Joe Girardi has fans and media scratching their heads already. He left southpaw Clay Rapada in to face right-handed hitters in Saturday's game despite the fact Rapada cannot get righties out. The result was a pair of extra runs that proved to be the difference in the ball game.

The Yankees had managed just one run off of starter David Price through 6-plus innings, but rallied against the Rays pen in the 9th. Swisher had the big blow with a 3-run home run to pull the Yankees to within two. But after a Robinson Cano walk, Rodney retired Rodriguez, who represented the tying run, with a bounce out to second to end the game.

The Week Ahead

The Yankees move on to Baltimore for a three game set with the Orioles before returning home for Friday's home opener with the LA Angels.

Yankees Give Rays The 'G' Treatment

It's not quite the same as the M & M boys of Mantle and Maris, but the Tampa Bay Rays got a double dose of the letter 'G' on Wednesday night. Curtis Granderson homered, made a marvelous catch in centerfield, and shook off a mid-90s David Price fastball to his back to help Freddy Garcia and the Yankees to a 4-0 win.

Garcia was every bit as good as he was bad against the Blue Jays last week. He would have pitched seven full innings if not for an Eduardo Nunez error that kept the inning alive. Garcia was on target all night, 66 of his 93 pitches were for strikes, as he struck out seven and did not walk a batter.

Granderson gave him a good head start when he followed Derek Jeter's lead off walk in the 1st inning with his 26th home run of the season into the right field seats. It was just the fourth home run a lefty batter had hit against the left-handed Price in his career (the second by Granderson). The Yankees added some insurance in the 9th on a two out, two run single by Nunez for a 4-0 final. Until then the game was a nail biter. Garcia struck out Matt Joyce with two runners aboard to end the bottom of the 1st and did the same to Evan Longoria in the 3rd.

Sam Fuld doubled with two away in the 4th and moved to third on a wild pitch, but Garcia K'ed Sean Rodriguez to strand another Rays' runner in scoring position. Casey Kotchman's two out double in the 5th put two runners in scoring position for Longoria, who hit a deep drive to center field. Granderson, who lost a crucial fly ball in the ceiling Tuesday night, this time had the ball all the way and tracked it down just before crashing into the center field wall.

The Yankees bullpen was dominant in the game as well. Boone Logan came on in the 7th to strike out Casey Kotchman to strand a pair, and David Robertson and Mariano Rivera struck out two of the three batters they each faced.

Notes

Tampa Bay's Matt Joyce earned the "Golden Sombrero" with a four strike out night.

Eric Chavez went 4-5 as a DH for the Single-A Tampa Yankees on Wednesday. He'll play the field on Thursday.

Rafael Soriano, who pitched 1.1 innings in a rehab appearance for Tampa on Tuesday, will make another appearance on Thursday.

Ivan Nova was placed on Scranton's disabled list with a sore ankle.

Yankees Go Big Game Hunting

Entering tonight's play, "Big Game" James Shields had a 2.51 ERA in five starts against the Yankees this season and a 5.35 ERA against the rest of the American League. Tonight, the Yankees finally caught up to the Tampa Bay Rays starter.

Nick Swisher's 1st inning home run ignited a 5-run inning and the Yankees went on to an 8-3 victory. Phil Hughes picked up his 17th win as he battled his way through six plus innings (He probably should have been out after six innings.)

The game started much the same way it did when Shields faced Hughes in Tampa Bay a week ago. Then it was Alex Rodriguez who hit an early home run and the Yankees followed with a rally. But on that night Shields riggled his way out of trouble. Not this time around.

Mark Teixeira followed Swisher's 27th home run with a walk and Rodriguez followed with a single. Shields looked like he might escape again when he struck out Robinson Cano, but Jorge Posada singled to center for a 2-0 lead. Lance Berkman drilled a 2-run double to the wall in centerfield and Curtis Granderson followed with an RBI single for a 5-0 advantage.

The Rays chipped away with the aid of a Matt Joyce home run to cut the lead to 5-3 in the 7th, but the Yankees put things away in their half of the inning when Cano delivered a bloop 2-run double.

Notes

Joba Chamberlain threw a solid 1.2 innings to earn his 3rd save of the season.

Derek Jeter extended his hitting streak to 10 games, during which he's hitting .311 (14-45).

Cano And Away We Go

Rafael Soriano throws hard. Robinson Cano swings smooth. Sometimes when the two forces meet, magic happens. It did tonight at the Trop in Tampa when Cano smashed a tape measure home run off Soriano (2-1) in the top of the 9th for a 5-4 Yankees win.

The victory pushed the Yankees lead over the Rays back to two games in the AL East and kept Boston, which had topped Detroit earlier, eight back.

It was a game in which the Yankees battled throughout, coming back from 1-0, 3-1, and 4-3 deficits. It was a game won despite managing just six hits off of starter Matt Garza and the Rays' pen. It was a game won despite a mediocre outing from Yankees starter Javier Vazquez.

It was a game won due to the long ball and a strong performance from the Yankees bullpen. Mark Teixeira hit a monster 2-run home run in the 6th to tie the game at 3-3. Then after Vazquez surrendered a solo home run to Friday's hero Matt Joyce, Nick Swisher tied things back up with a solo shot off Garza in the 7th.

Boone Logan and David Robertson (2-3) retired all five men they faced to set up Cano's heroics in the 9th. Soriano had retired Alex Rodriguez, who was 0-3 with a walk in his quest for #600, on a pop up to start the inning, but there would be no denying Cano.

The 2nd baseman had three hits on the night to raise his average to .334 and sent Soriano's fastball to the back of the right field seats. That left things up to Mariano Rivera. The Yankees closer picked up his 22nd save, allowing just a 2-out bloop single before retiring Jason Bartlett on a game ending force out.

Notes

Lance Berkman, wearing his customary #17, went 0-4 as the DH. He batted in the 2nd spot in the lineup. Austin Kearns donned #26, but did not enter the game.

Rays ReJoyce

Phil Hughes was cruising along, mixing a mid-90s fastball with a great curve. Then the 6th inning came along and all of that hard work changed in the blink of the eye. Matt Joyce belted a Hughes cutter into the right field seats with two aboard and the Tampa Rays went on to a 3-2 victory. The win moved the Rays to within one game of the Yankees in the AL East.

Hughes had allowed just two hits through the first five innings before John Jaso started the 6th off with a single. A one out walk to Evan Longoria brought the go ahead run to the plate in the person of Yankee killer Carlos Pena. The Rays 1st baseman bounced into a force out, but Joyce connected on a 2-2 pitch well out of the reach of a climbing Nick Swisher in right.

Rafael Soriano recorded his 29th save when he retired the Yankees in order in the 9th. It included getting Alex Rodriguez, who went 0-4, to pop up for the first out of the frame.

The Yankees took the lead off Wade Davis in the 1st when Derek Jeter led off the game with a single and Swisher followed with his 19th home run of the year. But that was all the offense the Yankees could put up on the board as they had just two more hits the rest of the evening.

It was only the 4th home run of the year for Joyce, but his second big one within a week. His home run broke up the duel no-hitter between Detroit's Max Scherzer and Tampa's Matt Garza on Monday. Garza would go on to complete the no-no.

Joba Chamberlain made a good appearance, retiring all six men he faced. Half of them were by strikeout.