Boone second guessed no matter what

In his first game as a postseason manager, Aaron Boone opened himself up to second-guessing with his choice of starting pitcher.

It didn't matter who of the three contenders he picked to start the AL Wild Card game. If the Yankees don't win Wednesday night, Boone will be second-guessed unless it's the bullpen and/or offense that underwhelms.

Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, and J.A. Happ all have positive attributes and negative marks as to whether or not they should start.

Severino came into the season as the team's bonafide ace and held that position for the first half. He struggled in the second half but has pitched better of late.

He certainly is motivated to make up for his terrible Wild Card performance against the Minnesota Twins last year.

Tanaka is a dynamite pitcher but he serves home runs at Yankee Stadium like he's going to win a free car for each home run allowed.

Happ has been great for the Yankees since his acquisition from Toronto at the non-waiver trade deadline and has solid numbers against most of the A's lineup. His "stuff" is not as dominating as Severino's and perhaps Boone is thinking ahead that left-handers fare better against the Red Sox.

Of course, you first have to get the Division Series, but one would imagine that Boone will have a quick hook if Sevy struggles early. And, Boone will use Green, Betances, Robertson, and Chapman in any way he can.

Sorry, it's been so long since I posted here. My Pinstripes is coming up on its 13th anniversary in December!

D4Assignment: Big Names, Big Games in AL Wild Card Contest

James Shields and Jon Lester, dueling aces

It has been 29 years since the Kansas City Royals reached the postseason. 1985 saw the Royals win their one and only World Series Championship. (With a little help from umpire Don Denkinger.) Tuesday night, the Royals will host the Oakland A’s in a one game showdown between the two AL Wild Card winners. To the victor go the spoils and a divisional round match up with the Los Angeles Angels. You know where the losers go.

The A’s have been to the playoffs 11 times during the Royals drought, but haven’t been to the World Series since 1990. Their last World Series title, the ninth in franchise history (The first five were won when they called Philadelphia home), came in the “Earthquake series” with the San Francisco Giants.

The Royals were an expansion team in 1969, two years after the A’s departed Kansas City after a 13-season run. The only prior postseason meeting between the two squads came after the strike-shortened 1981 regular season. The Billy Martin-managed A’s swept KC in three straight games before they were swept in three games by the New York Yankees in the ALCS. It was a disappointing end of the season for Kansas City, which lost the World Series to the Philadelphia Phillies one year earlier.

Read the rest of the article for free (as always)at Designated For Assignment.

RIP, Bob Welch

I was stunned by the news I heard earlier Tuesday evening that former Major Leaguer Bob Welch had died of a heart attack on Monday. Welch was just 57 years of age. One moment and one season will always stand out in my mind about Welch.

The moment I am referring to is, of course, his one on one battle with Reggie Jackson in Game 2 of the 1978 World Series. The LA Dodgers had already won Game 1 and led Game 2 4-3 in the top of the 9th inning. Bucky Dent led off the inning with a single off of Terry Forster and Paul Blair drew a one-out walk.

Dodgers' manager Tommy Lasorda sent for Welch, a rookie at the time, with Thurman Munson and Jackson due up. Munson flew out to right on an 0-1 count, but Jackson and Welch battled through a nine-pitch at-bat. With the count 1-1, Mr. October fouled off three straight pitches before the count evened at 2-2. After another foul ball, Jackson worked the count full. Finally, Welch, the 20th overall pick just a year prior, blew a fastball past Jackson to put the Dodgers up two games to none.

I can see it as if it were yesterday. Jackson's body language expressed his frustration as Welch and his teammates celebrated. (The Yankees would go on to win the next four and in a small measure of revenge, Jackson hit a tape measure home run off of Welch in the finale.)

Welch's 1990 campaign with the Oakland A's was one of the best in baseball history. He finished 27-6 with a 2.95 ERA. It was the most wins since Steve Carlton won 27 for the 1972 St. Louis Cardinals. After he started the season 3-2, Welch reeled off 10 straight wins. He also had five-game and four-game winning streaks later in the season.

Welch won the Cy Young Award and was named to the second of his two All-Star teams. He also finished ninth in the AL MVP voting. He won two World Series rings (1981 Dodgers, 1989 A's) and won 211 career games over a 17-year career (10 in LA, 7 in Oakland). Welch earned a third ring as pitching coach for the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks.

After his retirement in 1994, Welch wrote about a book, with George Vecsey, "Five O'Clock Comes Early: A Cy Young Award-Winner Recounts His Greatest Victory". The tome discussed Welch's battle with alcoholism. He is survived by former wife, Mary Ellen, and three children.

Yankees Play Two to Lose One and the Pattern Continues: Time For a Shake Up Part I

It took 18 innings and overs 5 1/2 hrs, but the Yankees completed an embarrassing three game sweep at the hands of the Oakland A's Thursday, 3-2. Now, don't get me wrong, losing to the A's is not embarrassing. in itself. They're a good ball club and are red hot, winners of 9 of 12 and 41-27 overall.

The inconsistency of the Yankees performance is what is troubling. We all knew that eventually the talent level on the roster would catch up to the standings.  It's been a topsy turvy season due to all the injuries, the reliance on players that aren't used to playing every day, are past their prime, or are injury prone or any combination of the aforementioned.

The starting pitching, once a strength, has struggled outside of Hiroki Kuroda. Kuroda was on the hill in Thursday's finale with the A's and completely dominated the Oakland lineup over eight innings. He allowed two hits and two earned runs and had nothing to show for it in the box score.  The Yankees offense  sputtered as it did the entire three game series in Oakland.

Two runs in 18 innings Thursday and eight total runs in the series' 36 innings; that was the entire Yankees output in the series. Robinson Cano's 16th home run of the season accounted for all of the Yankees runs in the finale and that occurred in the 1st inning. The rest of the day was one wasted opportunity after another or no opportunities at all.

The Yankees finished with 10 hits on the day with 80% of the production from Cano (3), Ichiro Suzuki (3), and Brett Gardner (2).  The pen did a fantastic job to keep the game even, particularly Adam Warren, who tossed six scoreless innings. The A's finally pulled things out with a run off of Preston Claiborne and an ineffective Mariano Rivera. Remarkably the team remained just three games behind first place Boston in the AL East and just two games back in the loss column.

That's why the Yankees need to shake things up before things get worse, especially when it comes to the replacement players that were brought in.

The culprits: Let's start with Vernon Wells. The Yankees primary left fielder started out like a house afire - a .911 OPS in the month of April with six home runs and 13 RBI. Since then Wells is 27-146 (.185) and just 4-42 in the month of June. Wells' main accomplishment has been to stay healthy, which is no small feat for him.

Kevin Youkilis seemed like a good stop gap measure with no Alex Rodriguez around, but after an adequate .769 OPS in 17 games, he missed all but one game in May due to a bad back and is 5-37 (.135) in June.

Travis Hafner appeared to be completely rejuvenated in April - a 1.104 OPS with six home runs and 17 RBI in 22 games. MVP type numbers, but "Pronk" is 16-102 (.157) since then with four home runs and 12 RBI.

Lyle Overbay's playing time has been cut down considerably since the return of Mark Teixeira, but up until then Overbay played well over his head and produced a number of clutch moments for the team. Less play means less effectiveness and on top of that Overbay is trying to learn a new position (RF). He's had just six hits in his last 31 at-bats. (.194)

The Yankees hoped that the return of Teixeira would infuse more offense, but so far he is still looking to get his groove back. Tex is 8-49 since he returned from the DL, and thought he has managed seven walks, three home runs, and 12 RBI in 13 games, a .367 slugging percentage is nothing to brag about.

I have already speculated that Ichiro Suzuki's days in the Bronx could be numbered. A .644 OPS in April was followed by a .631 OPS in May. About halfway through June and there's no sign of things getting better, evidenced by Ichiro's .634 OPS. A .293 average for the month is an improvement, but all 12 of his hits are singles and he's attempted to steal a base just (successfully) once.

The Yankees announced on Friday that David Adams was sent down to Triple-A to play regularly. Adams did a nice job at first as one of the fill-ins for Youkilis, but owned a .587 OPS when he departed. The Yankees called up outfielder Thomas Neal, a 25-year old with 23 Major League at-bats (With Cleveland). Neal signed prior to the season as a minor league free agent and had a robust .339 average for the Scranton RailRiders. Add on a .426 on-base percentage and a .446 slugging pct. (12 doubles, 2 HR) and you can see why the Yankees feel his right-handed bat might help against left-handed pitching.

Catcher Francisco Cervelli will likely be back before the All-Star break, though no one knows if he'll hit like before he was hurt. Curtis Granderson has an outside chance of being back before the break, but is likely to be back afterwards. Derek Jeter just got the clearance to resume baseball activities and Alex Rodriguez, well, there's no real idea when and if "Mr. Makes His Own Trouble" will suit up in a Major League uniform again.

In the meantime, the Yankees may have to dip back into Scranton for players like Ronnier Mustelier or Zoilo Almonte to jump start the offense.

Stay tuned for Part II: Time for the Yankees to Cut Hughes and Joba Loose

Angel Hernandez Gives MLB a Black Eye and MLB Says "Thank you"

Toss the manager when you blow the call.

The first I heard of the controversial ending in Wednesday night's Oakland A's-Cleveland Indians game was while I listened to Mike and Mike on ESPN radio this morning.

Right off the bat - appropriate baseball phrase in this case - I had a problem with the fact that Angel Hernandez was the crew chief of the umpires in the game. In case you haven't heard about it, the A's trailed by one in the 9th when Adam Rosales hit a Chris Perez pitch high off the wall in left field.

A's manager Bob Melvin immediately came out to question the call. He felt that the ball landed up the yellow line, which would indicate a home run. Any ball hitting the line would be in play and that's how the umpires interpreted it. However, Melvin was right, the ball hit the railing past the wall and bounced back on to the field.

If you look at the three image captures below you can clearly (okay it's from a slow motion replay - you can "blurrily") see the ball is above the wall, descends and then passes the yellow line as it moves towards the field of play. Meaning it had to have hit behind the wall and ricocheted back on the field. It was clear as a bell. Apparently that bell was missing from the replay room.

Ball descends  and is about to hit the stair railing

The ball ricochets off the stair rail and caroms towards the field.

The ball begins to clear the yellow line on  its way to the  outfield grass.

Hernandez and the three other umpires came back out and ruled that there was no substantial proof that the ball was a home run. Melvin immediately got in Hernandez's face and was ejected. Hernandez is one of the most obstinate, the "game is about me" umpires in all of Major League Baseball. I could easily see him deciding that the crew was not going to be overruled by some piece of technology.

Yes, I am questioning the integrity of Hernandez and not just because of this one incident. And for anyone who thinks the integrity of officials should not be brought into question, remember the name Tim Donaghy. I agree with the two Mikes that the league should overrule the umpires and pick up play from the point of it being a 4-4 ball game. (This is not a safe/out call like the one that took away Armando Galarraga's perfect game.) I also agree that commissioner Bud Selig will never do it.

The mantra of "Getting the call right." is clearly just a suggestion and not a mandate. Major League Baseball, especially under Selig, has always been reactive rather than proactive in the way they deal with things that happen between or outside the lines.

Despite having suspicions for years, Selig and company ignored the use of steroids, HGH, and other performance enhancing drugs. Attendance was up and the game was recovering nicely from the work stoppage in 1994. (Yes, this is also the man who canceled the World Series.) Selig has tried to convince everyone that he and other executives in the commissioner's office were in the dark and had no idea how bad things were when it came to PEDs. But as stories unfolded and tests get released, it is obvious PED use was rampant in baseball. There's no way the extent of it could be unknown. Then Selig conducted his ridiculous witch hunt with the Mitchell Report that only concentrated on a small segment of baseball.

One of the new problems arose when it was decided that interleague play would be played all year long. So instead of taking enough time and planning things out, MLB threw together an awful schedule for the 2012 season with a plethora of two and four game series, ridiculous travel schedules, and forced rivalries. "Don't worry it will all be better next year", was the basic statement from Selig's office.

A situation that did not have a major impact was the league's failure to prepare for a tie in the All-Star game. Sure enough, the two leagues played to a tie in the 2002 All-Star game. The reactive commissioner added more players to the roster and pitched the motto, "Now it counts" since the All-Star league winner would get home field in the World Series.

MLB not only did not change the attitude of fans towards the game, but potentially screwed over the team with the best record by taking away home field advantage. Of course this is also the sport that alternated home field advantages in prior World Series and still has pitchers bat in half of the World Series games, which gives the National League representative a clear edge.

Enough with Selig and back to the bigger problem of leaving the decision in the umpires' hands. MLB needs to put into place the same set up that the National Hockey League uses- a media center where plays are instantly reviewed even if there is no call for one from the head coaches or referees.

A call is placed from the command center into Toronto to an official at rinkside. That person than contacts the referee, who will come over and get on a communicator (phone or headset) with the people looking at the replays in real time. While they may ask for input from the referee it is the officials in the situation room that uphold or overrule a call. This is what MLB needs to take the the umpires' egos out of the circumstances.

Alas, MLB won't do this until there's a World Series game decided in the wrong favor because the umpires didn't change or uphold a call. It would be nice to get a look at the replay facilities the umpires use. I get the feeling they're watching on an old Emerson eight-inch black & white TV.

MLB Responds - No surprise here:

President for Baseball Operations Joe Torre issued the following statement, which basically said it was a mistake, but we're not going to do anything about it.

“By rule, the decision to reverse a call by use of instant replay is at the sole discretion of the crew chief. In the opinion of Angel Hernandez, who was last night’s crew chief, there was not clear and convincing evidence to overturn the decision on the field. It was a judgment call, and as such, it stands as final.

“Home and away broadcast feeds are available for all uses of instant replay, and they were available to the crew last night. Given what we saw, we recognize that an improper call was made. Perfection is an impossible standard in any endeavor, but our goal is always to get the calls right. Earlier this morning, we began the process of speaking with the crew to thoroughly review all the circumstances surrounding last night’s decision.”

Case closed...until MLB does the right thing too late.

Phil'ed With Good Feelings

A tip of the cap right back at ya.

Phil Hughes has been a conundrum throughout his entire New York Yankees. From can't miss prospect to comparisons to Roger Clemens to injury plagued season to inconsistent to good to bad to good to bad, and so on.

Hughes' year started with a bad omen, a bulging disc in his back that landed him on the 15-day DL. Then his first two starts of the regular season were downright awful. (8 ER, 17 hits in 7 IP) It was especially disappointing considering the improvement Hughes showed in the second half in 2012. Since then, however, Hughes has gotten his game together.

He didn't have a win to show for it, but Hughes kept the Yankees in the game when they faced last season's two Cy Young Award winners, David Price and R.A. Dickey in Hughes' last two starts prior to Saturday. The Yankees rallied to win both games against Tampa Bay and Toronto thanks to Hughes' and the bullpen keeping the games close.

Saturday was all about Hughes in the Yankees 4-2 win against the Oakland A's. The right-hander, who doesn't turn 27 for another month, had his best game of the season. Eight innings of shutout ball and 118 pitches. Hughes' has a bad tendency to usually hit the 100 pitch mark in the 5th or 6th inning. That wasn't the case against the A's as Hughes allowed four hits, walked two, and struck out nine batters for the second straight start.

He got early run support from a pair of unlikely sources - Chris Stewart and Lyle Overbay - who both homered against Hughes' ex-teammate Bartolo Colon. The California native allowed just two runners to reach second base and retired the last 10 men he faced.

Hughes relied heavily on his four-seam fastball, especially in the early going and late in the ball game. 80 of his 118 pitches were fastballs with sliders (16 pitches) and curveballs (13) mixed into the middle innings. He threw just four changeups on the day. Hughes hit 92-95 mph on the radar gun in the early innings and still rang up 91-92 consistently in his final two innings.  According to the Elias Sports Bureau the 19 swings and misses he produced matched Hughes' career high.

Now if only Hughes could bottle up this performance and bring it out to the mound 90% of the time.

Notes

The sky is falling - Mariano Rivera allowed an inherited runner to score and gave up a run himself! The Yankees magic man was in a non-save situation since the Yankees had a 4-0 lead and he entered after Shawn Kelley allowed a lead off single to the first batter in the 9th. (Why did Joe Girardi bother to even have Kelley pitch if he was going to pull him for one base runner?) Rivera's ERA jumped to 2.19 after he allowed his third earned run of the season in 12.1 innings pitched.

Overbay's five home runs are his highest total since he hit eight in 2011. The last time he had 500+ at-bats (2010), the first baseman hit 20 home runs for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Stewart has two home runs in 14 games after he just one in 55 games last year.

Morse Headed to Mariners in 3 Team Deal

I was hoping the Yankees could work out a deal for power hitting outfielder/first baseman Michael Morse, but the 6'5" slugger will call Seattle his new home in 2013.

The Mariners acquired Morse from the Washington Nationals in a deal that also involved the Oakland A's. Mariners catcher John Jaso will be headed to Oakland, while the A's sent A.J. Cole and Blake Treinen to the Nationals. A player to be named later will also be sent from the A's to the Nationals.

Morse was a light hitting utility infielder when he played for the Mariners from 2005-2008. Morse began to show some pop with his bat in his first year in Washington (2009) and followed it up with a break out season a year later when he hit 31 home runs and drove in 95 runs. Injuries limited Morse to 102 games in 2012, but he managed to hit 18 HR and knocked in 62.

Morse and Kendrys Morales, acquired earlier this off-season from the Angels, are expected to help bolster a Mariners lineup that was dead last in runs scored (619) last season. He became expendable in Washington when the Nationals re-signed first baseman Adam LaRoche.

Jaso split his time between catcher and DH last season and set career highs in home runs (10), RBI (50), and OPS (.850).

Cole was drafted by the Nationals in the fourth round of the 2010 amateur draft and dealt to Oakland as part of the package that brought 21-game winner Gio Gonzalez to DC prior to last season. He stood out at Double-A Burlington last year with a 2.07 ERA and struck out 102 in 95.2 innings before a promotion to Triple-A.  .

Treinen was selected by the A's in the 7th round of the 2011 draft and spent last season at high Class 'A' Stockton.

Tejada Returns to AL With Royals

After sitting out the 2012 season, 38-year old Miguel Tejada has decided to try another comeback and has reportedly signed a deal with the Kansas City Royals.

Tejada says he will earn $1.1MM with the change to win another $400K with incentives. The native of the Dominican Republic played in 91 games in the 2011 season for the San Francisco Giants, but was released in September aftering compiling a .596 OPS. Tejada signed a minor league deal with the Baltimore Orioles this past May and hoped to play with the them at the big league level for the third time in his career. But after 36 games in the minors, Tejada had no home runs, 18 RBI, and hit just .259. The Orioles released him in late June.

Tejada won the American League MVP Award while a member of the Oakland A's in 2002. He hit 34 HR, drove in 131 runs, scored 108, and batted .308 while playing in all 162 regular season games. Tejada drove in 100 runs or better in five straight seasons between Oakland and Baltimore. He finished two RBI shy of 100 in 2005 or the streak would have been seven straight seasons.

The reputation of the shortstop/third baseman took a hit in 2009 when he admitted to lying to Congress about HGH and steroid use. Tejada had been mentioned in the Mitchell Report and was named as a suspect steroid user  by Jose Canseco in his 2005 book, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big".

Martin's Big Bang Theory Gets Soriano Off The Hook

Russell Martin game winner (courtesy of Yahoo Sports)

CC Sathabia was doing what everyone is accustomed to CC Sabathia doing, mowing down hitters. It had been a while since anyone had seen the big man pitch like he always did prior to this season. One Oakland Athletic went down on strikes after another, 11 in all. Unfortunately, the Yankees couldn't do much against Oakland starter Jarrod Parker, and had just a 1-0 lead when Sabathia exited after 113 pitches and eight innings.

Good news, bad news...Rafael Soriano came on in the 9th inning for the save, but surrendered a mile high home run to Brandon Moss to tie the game at one apiece. Wait, that's actually bad news, good news. Though Sabathia didn't get to enjoy the fruits of his labor, the Yankees won the game in 10 innings when Russell Martin turned on a Sean Dolittle fastball and hit it into the left field seats for a 2-1 game winning, walk off home run. Sean do little, but Russell did lots.

Martin's best month has been September; he's matched his season high for home runs in a month (4), has produced his top RBI total (12), best batting average (.255, still not so hot) and OPS (.896, nice). David Robertson was the recipient of Martin's big hit after he pitched a scoreless 10th inning to improve to 2-7.

Though he didn't figure in the decision, it was encouraging to see Sabathia complete eight full innings for the first time since August 3. I was upset that Joe Girardi didn't let him start the 9th, especially after Soriano served up his gopher ball, but reconsidered after I learned  Sabathia had thrown 113 pitches to that point. In the past I would have thought, 'no big deal', but there was no reason to tax Sabathia's questionable elbow.

The victory kept the Yankees a game ahead of Baltimore, which defeated Boston 4-2.

Notes

Ichiro Suzuki had hits his first two times up (he finished 2-3) to give him 11 hits in his last 15 at-bats.

Derek Jeter was 1-4 to extend his hitting streak to 15 games.

A's Flunk Yankees - How Low Can You Go?

Coco Crisp ruins my afternoon - courtesy of sfgate.com

It appeared the Yankees would salvage the finale of the four game set in Oakland with the Athletics after losing to the A's kiddie corp three straight nights. After all, the Yankees had built a 4-0 against ex-teammate Bartolo Colon and had their ace, CC Sabathia, on the hill.

But after Curtis Granderson gave the Yankees a 4-0 lead with his 26th home run in the 4th inning, the Yankees offense went to sleep. Meanwhile the A's chipped away on solo home runs by Saturday's hero Brandon Inge, and catcher Kurt Suzuki and trailed 4-3 when Sabathia departed after seven innings.

David Robertson escaped a jam in the 8th, but closer Rafael Soriano was not so lucky. Soriano, who has been so good in place of the injured Mariano Rivera, served up a gopher ball to Seth Smith in the 9th to tie the game 4-4 for just his second blown save of the season.

It would stay that way until the 12th inning when Coco Crisp singled off Cody Eppley to bring home Derek Norris with the winning run. It completed the first ever four game sweep of Yankees by the A's in their home ball park. Each game was decided by one run, three of them in Oakland's final at-bat.

The afternoon started out as nicely as the 70 degree, sunny weather in Oakland. Mark Teixeira smacked the Yankees' fourth straight single to start the 3rd inning to put the Bombers on the board. Alex Rodriguez followed with a 2-run double for a 3-0 advantage.

Sabathia was sharp at the start, but was victimized in the 5th by Inge and Suzuki, who both pulled home runs into the left field seats. Colon, on the other hand, settled down and allowed just three more hits after the 3rd inning. Granderson's solo shot seemed to seal the deal, but the A's never-say-die attitude caught up with the Sabathia and the Yankees' pen.

Notes


Robinson Cano had his 23 game hitting streak snapped on Saturday, but had two hits on Sunday.

Derek Jeter didn't start the game, but came in as a late game defensive replacement.

Baltimore's victory moved them to within six games of the Yankees, but both Boston and Tampa Bay lost.

Girardi: You Kids Get Off My Lawn

Oakland A's starters Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin

I can picture Joe Girardi in a Scooby Doo scene,  a mask pulled off him as the gang, in unison, said "Mr Girardi!"  Girardi's response, of course, would have been, "That's right and I would have gotten away it too if you not for your snooping kids). When Bartolo Colon steps on the mound this afternoon (Sunday) in Oakland, you couldn't blame the Yankees if they gave their ex-teammate a standing ovation.

It wouldn't be for anything Colon has done other being born in the 1970's, well before teammates A.J. Griffin, Tom Milone, and Jarrod Parker. Colon has pitched in 375 games; that's 329 appearances more than Griffin (5), Milone (24), and Parker (17) combined.

Colon will be looking to join his young teammates in the winner's column as Oakland tries to complete a four game sweep of the Yankees on Sunday afternoon.  The series began Thursday night when Griffin, a 13th round draft choice by the A's in 2010, limited the Yankees to two runs over six innings in the A's 4-3 victory. The win improved the 24-year old's record to 2-0, 2.70.

The bullpen prevented the 25-year old Milone from earning his 10th win, but the left-hander shut the Yankees out over seven innings. Milone and the pen's performance snapped the Yankees streak of scoring three or more runs in a game at 43. Milone (9-6, 3.34) was acquired in the Gio Gonzalez deal with Washington this past off-season. Ryan Cook, the team's young closer, blew the save, but got the win when the A's scored in the bottom of the 9th for a 2-1 victory. Cook was picked up from Arizona for Trevor Cahill last December.

Parker, the team's top rated prospect coming into the season (acquired along with Cook in the Cahill deal), matched up in an old fashioned pitcher's duel with Phil Hughes on Saturday night. Hughes had allowed just two hits through seven innings, but Brandon Inge's opposite field home run gave the A's a 2-1 win.

The Yankees had one last chance in the 9th inning against left-hander Sean Dolittle, the team's 1st round pick in 2007. Dolittle was a power hitting 1st basemen/outfielder back then- he'd produced a 22 HR, 91 RBI season in 2008, but a knee injury contributed to Dolittle's decision to go back to pitching. Dolittle had excelled on the mound for the University of Virginia. One look at Dolittle and you would think he played violin from the way he tucks his glove under his chin as he waits for his catcher's signs, but he showed last night that he can definitely pitch.

After Alex Rodriguez reached on an infield single, Dolittle dominated the teeth of the Yankees lineup. He blew a high fastball past Robinson Cano for a swinging third strike. As Rodriguez stole second base, Dolittle caught Mark Teixeira looking on a called third strike on the outside corner. Finally, Dolittle completed the strikeout hat trick when he blew a third strike past Andruw Jones.

Notes

Robinson Cano's 23 game hitting streak came to end on Saturday.

Nick Swisher will sit out again on Sunday with a strained hip flexor tendon. It's up in the air whether he'll play in the next series in Seattle or not.

Hurricane Martin Slams A's

The Oakland A's had already won the first two games of a three game series with the Yankees and had lambasted Phil Hughes to take a 7-1 lead Thursday afternoon. No one could have blamed Oakland for thinking they had a three game sweep wrapped up. But that was before Russell Martin and the Yankees had more grand slams than Denny's serves for Sunday morning breakfast.

Martin, who earlier hit a solo home run, added a grand slam to put the Yankees on top for good 10-7 en route to a 22-9 victory. Robinson Cano's grand slam had cut the A's lead to 7-6 and Curtis Granderson later added some extra icing on the cake with a Major League record third grand slam. Boone Logan struck out all four batters he faced for a well deserved win.

It was Martin though that ignited the Yankees with a 5-5, 6 RBI day. Unfortunately, his battery mate could match his success. Hughes gave up single runs in each of the first two innings and then was hammered and knocked from the game in the 3rd. The right-hander, who came in to the game with a 2.08 ERA in his last five starts, left the game down 4-1 and with two men aboard. Corey Wade then served up a gopher ball to Cliff Pennington for his sixth home run of the season.

Martin hit his solo shot off of A's starter Rich Harden in the 4th and the veteran right-hander would be deprived of a chance to win the game when he couldn't make it out of the 5th inning. Derek Jeter reached on a lead off single and Curtis Granderson followed with a walk. Harden struck out Mark Teixeira, but gave up a single to Alex Rodriguez to load the bases. Cano, who entered the game with a 1.221 OPS this season with ducks on the pond, crushed his second grand slam of the season to cut the A's lead to a single run. When Nick Swisher doubled, A's manager Bob Melvin had no choice to go to his bullpen. It wouldn't help.

Craig Breslow hit Granderson to start the 6th and out later Fautino De Los Santos walked Rodriguez. De Los Santos managed to strike out Cano, but after a wild pitch had moved both runners up, Melvin decided to intentionally walk Swisher to face Martin. The catcher went the opposite way for his third career grand slam to give the Yankees their first lead of the day.

The Yankees offense wasn't done though; they added six more runs in both the 7th and 8th innings, including Granderson's record settting slam and a long solo blast by Andruw Jones. A's rookie pitcher Bruce Billings took the brunt of the damage with seven runs allowed in just 1.1 innings pitched.

Notes

Granderson's home run pushed him over the decade mark in RBI (103) for the first time in his career. The home run (#36) also moved him one behind league leader Jose Bautista. The centerfielder also scored four more times to give him a Major League best 119 runs scored.

Derek Jeter was 3-6 and temporarily reached the .300 mark before making an out his final time up to drop him back to .299. He's had multiple hit performances in nine of his last 11 games.

Robinson Cano extended his hitting streak to 16 games.

Mark Teixeira was 0-4, but had 2 RBI to give him 98 on the season.

Jorge Posada finally made his big league debut at the position he was originally drafted at, second base. The final out of the game was a grounder to Posada, who wound up and fired a bullet in the dirt. Luckily, Nick Swisher made a terrific scoop to save Posada from an error on his one and only chance.

The start of the game was delayed nearly 1 and 1/2 hours by rain.

It was the first multi-grand slam day by the Yankees since Paul O'Neill and Bernie Williams both connected on Sept. 14, 1999 against Toronto.

The 22 runs were the most allowed by the A's since they gave up 29 in a game in 1955.

Yankees Get Burnt To A Crisp

The first rule of Baseball Club is that you DO discuss Baseball Club. The second rule is you don't give up home runs to Coco Crisp. The Yankees didn't abide by the latter and it cost them dearly in a 6-4 loss to the Oakland A's Wednesday night.

Crisp had already hit a solo home run off starter CC Sabathia when he unloaded a 3-run monster off of Rafael Soriano in the 10th inning to snap a 3-3 tie. Crisp entered the game with just three home runs in 469 plate appearances this season, but looked like the second coming of Babe Ruth (if Babe Ruth had a piercing in the side of his neck) in the Bronx.

The Yankees failed big time with runners in scoring position for the second straight night, had a rare bad night from the bullpen, and have allowed 12 runs in 19 innings of the series thus far to the normally anemic hitting A's. Despite the Yankees' failure in the clutch, thanks to a Nick Swisher home run and a Derek Jeter RBI single, they still maintained a 2-1 lead entering the 8th inning. But Kurt Suzuki led off the frame with a single, moved to second on a sac bunt, and scored the tying run on a Scott Sizemore double. That would be the last batter Sabathia would face. 8th inning man David Robertson came on and walked Jemile Weeks and then gave up a go ahead single to Crisp.

The lead was short lived as Mark Teixeira evened things up in the bottom of the inning with his 35th home run of the season, off of reliever Grant Balfour. Soriano who has been so good since coming off the DL, gave up back to back one out singles in the 10th before striking out Weeks. That brought up Crisp, who hit a no doubt about it shot to right to put a damper on the Yankees' night.

Swisher his his second home run of the game with two out in the 10th off of Andrew Bailey, but the A's closer picked up the save when he struck out Andruw Jones for the game's final out.

Notes

The Yankees were reportedly awarded a claim on Cubs' first baseman Carlos Pena, but Chicago is not expected to move him. GM Brian Cashman would not comment on the situation.

The A's won a series with the Yankees for the first time since 2007.

The Yankees had owned Trevor Cahill prior to last night. The right-hander was 0-4, 13.50 ERA in his previous starts. But the Yankees, who were 2-20 with RISP Tuesday night, were 1-8 last night. The worst failure came in the 7th inning when the Eduardo Nunez doubled and Francisco Cervelli followed with a bunt single. Reliever Brian Fuentes retired Brett Gardner on a pop up, Derek Jeter on a line out, and Curtis Granderson on a fly ball.

Missed It By That Much

No one appreciates the post walk-off pie in the face more the Yankees' Nick Swisher. The Yankees entertaining right fielder stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the 9th last night with a chance to get a special delivery from A.J. Burnett.

It was Swisher's 8th inning 3-run home run that had cut the Oakland A's 6-0 lead in half. The Yankees had already scored a pair of runs in their last at-bat against A's closer Andrew Bailey and had the bases loaded witht two down. Bailey quickly fell behind 2-0 and had to come in with a strike. Swisher knew it, the crowd knew it, heck, even Michael Kay knew it. Swisher jumped all over Bailey's pitch and the ball soared into the night sky towards right-center.

A roar quickly went up from the crowd, but just as quickly died as centerfielder Coco Crisp settled under the ball, just shy of the wall, and closed his glove around it for the final out. There was no pie celebration.

The loss combined with the Red Sox win over the Rangers put the two teams back in a tie atop the AL East, though technically the Yankees are ahead by .002. Bartolo Colon struggled and appears to be tiring down the stretch. It wouldn't be surprising to see Colon find his way to the DL when Freddy Garcia returns. One guy who wasn't tired last night was rookie Brad Allen, who hit a pair of tape measure shot to ignite the A's offense. His 2nd inning blast reached the third deck in right and his 8th inning monster off of Hector Noesi proved to be the difference in the ball game. Fellow rookie Eric Sogard also hit his first Major League home run against Colon.

The story of the game though was A's starter Brandon McCarthy, who is enjoying his best season in the Major Leagues. The win matched McCarthy's previous career high of seven and it was his sixth victory in his last eight starts. The Yankees had at least one base runner on in all but one of McCarthy's 7.2 IP, but couldn't come up with a clutch hit. That included the 5th inning when Jorge Posada reached on a lead off double and was stranded there. Posada also ignited the 9th inning rally with a solo home run and Robinson Cano picked up an RBI when he walked with the bases loaded. But there was no joy in Pieville.

Notes

Derek Jeter enjoyed a perfect night, going 3 for 3 with a walk and a sacrifice bunt, and raised hit batting average to .295. Though Jeter has a tendency to hit into double plays, it was a curious decision by Joe Girardi to bunt his hottest hitter in the 9th with two on and none out.

Alex Rodriguez had his hand taped/bandaged up after jamming his left thumb in Minnesota on Sunday. X-Rays were negative and A-Rod is listed as day-to-day.

A's Melt, Yankees Win

On a sweltering night in the Bronx, a night that Phil Hughes would just as soon forget, the Yankees bats picked up the slack and then some and smashed the Oakland Athletics 17-7.

Hughes wasn't around long enough to get the win, but Nick Swisher tied a career high with 5 RBI and Mark Teixeira belted a grand slam as the Yankees had their biggest offensive output since scoring 15 runs against the Orioles back on April 23. A's starter Trevor Cahill is a very good pitcher, but not when he faces the Yankees. He entered the game with an 0 and 3 won-loss record and a 9.72 ERA against the Bronx Bombers. He won't want to look at those numbers tomorrow. The Yankees tagged him for 10 earned runs in just two innings pitched.

His counterpart, Hughes, didn't fare much better. Hoping to built off his solid start against Toronto five days ago, Hughes was bad from the start, and was unable to locate his pitches. He had a 14-2 lead at one point, but with the score 14-5 in the 5th, Hughes loaded the bases with just one out. Having seen his pitcher labor through 98 pitchers already, manager Joe Girardi said enough is enough and went to the bullpen. Hughes was charged with seven runs on his record after Hector Noesi allowed two inherited runners to score. Noesi settled down after that to earn the win (2-0) with 3.2 scoreless innings.

The game was all about offense though. Down 2-0 in the 2nd inning, the Yankees bats took over and battered Cahill. Eduardo Nunez and Brett Gardner reached on RBI singles to tie the game and Derek Jeter put the Yankees ahead for good with a 2-run single off first baseman Conor Jackson's glove. Curtis Granderson's sac fly brought in the fifth and final run of the inning.

The Yankees topped the 2nd inning with a nine run 3rd inning. Nick Swisher smashed a 3-run home run, reliever Michael Wuertz walked in two runs and then allowed Teixeira's slam. It was the first home run for the Yankees; first baseman (playing DH on Friday) since June 30, a span of 78 plate appearances. Swisher added a 2-run single in the 7th to complete his big ribbie night.

Yankees third baseman Brandon Laird made his Major League debut and achieved a bunch of firsts. To begin with, he got to pinch-hit for Derek Jeter. The first pitch to him from Joey Devine went behind his back. He ended up with a walk on a pitch that Harry Doyle would have said was "Jusssssssst outside". Laird scored on Swisher's 7th inning single and one inning later it was Laird with an RBI as he went back up the middle for his first Major League hit.

Notes

A's hitting coach Gerald Perry was ejected in the 4th inning after a horrible strike three call by home plate ump Marty Foster on outfielder Coco Crisp.

To honor Hideki Matsui's 500th home run, the Yankees showed a video of Matsui home runs over the years.

FullCountPitch - The Full Count: Susan Slusser

Susan Slusser talks about the stumbling A's

Susan Slusser has been on the Oakland A’s beat for 13 years for the San Francisco Chronicle. Who better to talk to about Bob Geren’s firing, Brett Anderson’s clipped wing, and more? You can also follow Susan and the A’s on Twitter.

FCP: With Bob Geren fired, are there any names being mentioned to take over in 2012 and does Bob Melvin have a legitimate shot to get the full time job?

Susan Slusser: I believe the A’s would give Melvin every opportunity to show he’s the man for the job; indications were that this was the guy they wanted and the front office believes Melvin to be a good fit. He’d probably have to really fall flat on his face not to come back, especially considering how well the players speak of him. Player relations and communications seemed to drive some of the managerial switch, and Melvin’s reputatution as a players’ manager was mentioned numerous times.

Don Wakamatsu was very highly regarded when he was Oakland’s bench coach, so I’d have to think in the unlikely chance that the A’s don’t retain Melvin that he’d be among those considered. Like Melvin, he’s a former Seattle manager and a Bay Area native; Wakamatsu is from Hayward and Melvin from Menlo Park. But I’m fairly certain the A’s have their man.

Read the rest of this free article at FullCountPitch.com

David DeJesus Brett Anderson Trevor Cahill Andrew Bailey Hideki Matsui Cliff Pennington Kurt Suzuki

Kings, Princes, and Other Road Obstacles

The Yankees open a tough, nine game road trip tonight in pitcher friendly Safeco Field in Seattle. While most people point at Saturday's quest against Felix "The King" Hernandez as the toughest game on the road trip, things won't be much easier tonight for the Yankees when they face rookie Michael Pineda.

The native of the Dominican Republic, given the moniker "Prince", made the Mariners out of spring training this season after going 11-4, 3.36 (with 154 strikeouts in 139.1 innings pitched) between Double-A and Triple-A last season.

At 6'7", 255 lbs, Pineda is an opposing figure to deal with as is his mid to upper 90's fastball. Through nine starts, Pineda has compiled a 6-2 record, a 2.16 ERA (1.65 at home) and has struck out better than nine batters per nine innings (9.4). He's allowed just 41 hits hits and issued a mere 14 walks in 58.1 innings pitched, has allowed just three home runs, and limited opponents to a .194 average. For more on Pineda's outstanding control, check out this piece by ESPN's Lee Singer.

A.J. Burnett has the task of out dueling Pineda, while Ivan Nova must take on Hernandez tomorrow. The Yankees do, however, have several players with pretty good numbers against Hernandez.

Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Russell Martin, Brett Gardner, and Jorge Posada are all near or over .300 against the reigning AL CY Young winner. On the flip side, Nick Swisher, struggling already this year, is just 8-34 against Hernandez and could very well have a seat on the pines come Saturday night.

The Yankees most favorable match up comes on Sunday when CC Sabathia squares off with Jason Vargas. After the Seattle series, the Yankees move on to Oakland to face a pitching staff that leads the Major Leagues with a 2.87 ERA. The series opens Monday with Bartolo Colon facing Trevor Cahill and his 2.02 ERA. Tuesday's Yankees starter has not yet been announced, but the A's go with sharp left-hander Brett Anderson (2.84). No starters have been announced for Wednesday's finale as of yet, but's likely Freddy Garcia will get one of the two games. Remarkably, the weak hitting A's have scored just one less run than the Yankees (413-412), though NY does have three games in hand.

The trip concludes in Anaheim, the site of many of the Yankees in-season and post-season horrors. Who'll take a 6-3 road trip right now? A lot of hands.

Requiem For A Heavyweight

The Oakland A's Eric Chavez had established himself as one of the best players in baseball during the period of 2000-2006. He was good for 25-30 home runs and 90-100 RBI nearly year in and year out. His defense was stellar and led him to six straight Gold Gloves (2001-2006) and helped lead the A's to five playoff appearances.

Chavez was as the top of his game until everything fell apart, literally. Chavez began having serious shoulder, back and other injuries (a broken right hand in 2004) that led to more time on the DL than in the field. Chavez had played in just 90 games in 2007 when he was DL'ed in July due to a lower back strain. A little more than a month later he underwent season ending surgery...on the torn labrum in his right shoulder that had bothered him since 2005. In October, Chavez went under the knife again to repair a bulging disk in his back. But wait, Chavez would undergo yet another surgery in November to remove "non-living" tissue that accumulated in his left shoulder as well as repair a tear that had caused pain during off-season workouts. Mr. Durable had become Mr. Hospital Gown.

Chavez reported to spring training to ready himself for the 2008 season, but lower back inflammation required two epidurals (in Feb., Apr.), and the 3rd baseman started the season on the DL. Chavez missed nearly two months of the season before he returned in late May. He played in 23 games, but had trouble finding his stroke (.688 OPS, two home runs). After going 0-3 on July 1, Chavez was placed on the disabled list once more. In mid-August his season ended prematurely again after he underwent surgery on his right shoulder. The face of the franchise was becoming a footnote.

Spring training was slow going in 2009, but Chavez was in the Opening Day lineup on April 6. He played in nine games over a 2 1/2 week span and had just three hits in 30 at-bats before the disabled list came calling again on May 1. This time his right elbow was sore and he was diagnosed with a forearm strain. Less than two weeks after being shelved Chavez started experiencing back spasms and was found to have a pair of bulging disks. In June he underwent season ending and a second career threatening back surgery. Chavez was down, but not out.

The long-time 3rd baseman saw some time across the infield to 1st base in the hopes that it would relieve some of the stress on his 32-yr old back. As it turned out he played just one game at 1st base, but DH'ed for 29 games. Then came May and the end of Chavez's season. Bulging disks in his neck were the cause this time. For the first time Chavez openly wondered if his career was over.

Each spring training is a time of renewal; the weather gets warmer, the birds come back north, and the sound of bat hitting ball can be heard throughout Florida and Arizona. With Opening Day just around the corner, Eric Chavez has once again made the journey through spring training. His facial hair is gone, he's not donning green and gold any more, but Eric Chavez's name will be announced on Opening Day. This time it will be in the Bronx and Chavez will be wearing the pinstripes of the New York Yankees when they take the field to play the Detroit Tigers.

The Yankees took a chance this past winter in the hopes Chavez could spell Alex Rodriguez at 3rd base and Mark Teixeira across the diamond. After endless hours of surgery, therapy, and doctor's visits, Chavez hoped that a change of scenery would also mean a change of luck. It's already gained him a $1.5MM contract and another opportunity to play Major League baseball.

Chavez made the team by being healthy and hitting the cover off the ball (.421). He put a cherry on the top of his spring training sundae with a home run, fittingly, on Sunday. He may not play in a large number of games this season, but if Eric Chavez gets to wear his uniform for 162 games he will be more than happy.