Bronx, N.Y., May 31, 20013 — If you didn’t already believe that baseball is a bottom line game, a look at Yankee Stadium in Friday night’s fifth inning might have convinced you. Following two home losses to the Mets, the first by five runs and the next by two, here Kevin Youkilis strode to the plate with two down, and the Yanks were still looking for a fourth hit, a figure they had reached in the fourth, then third innings the two nights before. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., May 17, 2013 — On Friday night, Hiroki Kuroda put a stop to that seemingly rarest of 2013 Yankee experiences, a two-game losing streak, and even rarer, a loss in a one-run game. Hiroki was willing (and obviously able) to win a one-run game himself, something it seemed he might have to do given the unexpected trouble the Yanks were having with Mark Buehrle’s slow and slower stuff. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., May 15, 2013 — Well, it was bound to happen, though perhaps not as dramatically as the ugly Wednesday Yankee 12-2 loss to Seattle in the Bronx proved to be. Enigmatic Yankee righthander Phil Hughes had his worst start in … well, forever, failing to survive the game’s first inning, and putting his teammates in a 7-0 hole. Phil garnered his first out in two pitches, then recorded his next 32 tosses later. CC Sabathia was striking out Robert Andino to end the top of the second at 7:29 Tuesday night; 24 hours later, Preston Claiborne, in already for Hughes, put an end to the top of the first with a called third strike at the same moment. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., May 14, 2013 — First base was a place of some strange doings in Yankee Stadium Tuesday night. In the top of the second, Lyle Overbay’s decision to toss ex-Yank Raul Ibanez’s weak ground ball to a tardy CC Sabathia at the bag got the Seattle DH a cheap hit and pushed Michael Morse to third. The Mariners did not score due to one of Sabathia’s 10 strike outs then, but they would take a 1-0 lead the following inning when Overbay booted a Michael Saunders one out before Kyle Seager’s rbi double to right. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., May 4, 2013 — Some expressed concern, given the meager results against a good, but not great pitcher, in the 2-0 loss to A.J. Griffin and the Oakland A’s Friday night, that this Yankee team just doesn’t have the offense to compete in 2013. After all, had you been able to see three hours into the future once A’s shortstop Adam Rosales lifted CC Sabathia’s first-pitch 90-mph fastball over the wall in left, the game was over one pitch in. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., April 27, 20113 — Despite being confronted with their third straight lefty-throwing starter — against whom the much-injured 2013 Yankee squad have struggled mightily — Saturday afternoon, the Bombers came away with a closely battled come-from-behind victory, for a 3-0 mark on their homestand. Staff ace CC Sabathia surrendered two booming home runs after allowing three in a 5-1 loss his last time out, but he prevailed through eight gutsy, gritty innings to earn the 5-4 win. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., April 25, 2013 — Something was amiss at game time in the Bronx Thursday night, as the Yanks prepared to start a homestand vs. the Blue Jays. Returning home from a 3-3 road trip playing on concrete, the Bombers were greeted by a relatively meager crowd, on what in 2013 served as a pretty nice evening for baseball. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., April 18, 2013 —The Yankees dropped the final game of their homestand, 6-2, to the Arizona Diamondbacks, seemingly because the visitors were more determined to not leave town without a victory than the Bombers were to deny them one. In a game with weird twists and turns on a few rallies that came up short, the teams were tied 2-2 after 11 on the results of just four pitches, resulting in two singleton homers apiece. Continue reading →