Kuzul

Derek Jeter’s poor start has been a hot topic lately. Today, on ESPN’s 1st and 10, they even asked if this is the beginning of the end for the Yankees shortstop.

I think it’s way too early to turn a simple slump into evidence that Jeter is done. If he’s hitting .276 in July, then let’s start with this stuff, but until then it’s just a slump, one that could soon be coming to an end.

Let’s look at how his season has gone so far: Jeter hit a very respectable .321/.354/.491 over the first 24 games of the season. Then, over the next 16 games he hit .169/.234/.211. But over his last four games he’s hitting .368/.400/.474 with two doubles and four RBI.  A more important sign that things are turning for Jeet is that he’s start to hit more balls to right field.

Also, his BABIP, which currently sits at .302, is 56 points below his career mark, which should go up at least a little as the season goes on.

So is a rough 16-game stretch really worth all this speculation?

I don’t think so.

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The Yankees just finished off a terrible week that saw them go 2-5 against the Red Sox, Rays, and Mets. Here’s a breakdown of what went wrong.

• Split with Boston—lucky not to get swept and blew two 5-0 leads at home.
• Swept and embarrassed by Tampa.
• Lost two of three to the Mets.

And some stats:

• Team ERA: 6.05
• Opponents hit .311 against Yankees pitching
• Team w/RISP: 19-for-76 (.250)
• Men Left on Base: 64
• They hit just five HR.
• Stole just one base in seven games

The Yankees are now six games behind the Rays for first place in the division and just one game ahead of the Blue Jays for second place. They now head to Minnesota before coming home to play Cleveland and Baltimore.

Hopefully this week is better than the last, because that sucked.

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According to Tim Bontemps (hat-tip to RAB ), Trenton lefty Jeremy Bleich appears to be headed for shoulder surgery.

Bleich has been meeting with doctors this week, and surgery seems like the most likely outcome. Mark Newman, the Yankees ‘ senior vice president of baseball operations, was downcast when asked about the issues with Bleich’s shoulder yesterday.

“I don’t know,” he said when asked about Bleich’s return. “We’re (still) getting some information back from the doctors … he had more tests (yesterday).”

Tough break for the 22-year-old. This season the Yankees 2008 first-round pick was 3-2, with a 4.79 ERA in eight starts for Double-A Trenton. In 41.1 innings pitched he allowed 22 earned runs on 35 hits, walked 28, and struck out 26.

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I briefly mentioned this in last night’s game thread but here’s some more info on Granderson’s return via Pete Caldera :

Curtis Granderson is targeting Friday at Yankee Stadium for his return to Joe Girardi’s lineup. “That’s what I’m hoping for,” said Granderson, after taking batting practice with the Yankees at Citi Field. Sidelined since May 2 because of a left groin strain, Granderson was headed to Louisville on Friday night to join Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on a week-long rehab assignment.

“Hopefully, we’ll get him sometime at the end of next week,” Girardi said. Granderson is expected to serve as Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s DH today. He’ll play center field Sunday, and might DH a second time for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, which also has an off-day next week.

Granderson extensively worked in the outfield before Friday’s Subway Series opener. “Considering nothing was negative, that speeded up the process for me a little bit,” Granderson said. Under game conditions, he’ll exert himself “as much as we can push it.”

He may have been struggling prior to his injury, but getting him back in the lineup will be huge for this team.

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Yesterday, Major League Baseball denied the Yankees protest regarding their game against the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday. Here’s a quote from Brian Cashman that pretty much sums up my opinion on the subject:

“Surprise, surprise,” Brian Cashman said. “I don’t remember any protests outside of the George Brett one ever working. It doesn’t mean you don’t go through the procedure. We weren’t protesting that Beckett wasn’t injured, we were protesting the procedure on how Beckett was pulled. Denied.”

Why does baseball even have the option to protest a game if they never hold up any of the protests? Although I have to wonder what the league would do if the Yankees were on the other side of this.

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WP: J. Shields (5-1) LP: A. Pettitte (5-1)
SV: R. Soriano (11)

Tampa finished off their mini two-game sweep of the Yanks last night in the Bronx, beating the Yankees 8-6. Yankees starter Andy Pettitte had started off slow, allowing the Rays to jump on him for three runs in the top of the first. The big blow of the inning was a two-run homer off the bat of Ben Zobrist , his first of the season.

The Yanks would get back in the game. Juan Miranda hit his second homer of the season, a two-run shot off James Shields in the second to cut the Rays lead to one. They would then tie it in the bottom of the third, but the story of that inning was the runners they left on base, not the one that scored.

Randy Winn singled to start the inning and Derek Jeter reached on a bunt single to put two on with nobody out. Brett Gardner followed with a bunt single of his own, and on the play Shields threw the ball past first baseman Carlos Pena and into right field allowing a run to score and Gardner and Jeter to move up to second and third.

The Yanks had two runners in scoring position with nobody out for their 3-4-5 hitters.

Since this team is struggling, they were going to need guys like Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira to step up and carry the load. Well, tonight they came up short.

Tex grounded back to the mound for the first out, then Shields struck out A-Rod and Robinson Cano to end the inning and strand the runners.

I know Tampa would go on to score eight runs in the game, but to me this is where the Yankees lost the game.

While the Yankees were clawing their way back into the game, Pettitte settled down and held the Rays off the scoreboard in the second and third.

But in the fourth, he allowed a solo homer to B.J. Upton and the Rays had regained the lead.

Thanks to a little bit of luck, the Yanks would tie it in the bottom half of the inning. With one out Miranda hit a fly ball to center, normally nothing more than a routine flyout. But Upton lost the ball off the bat, and it would fall in for a triple. He would then score on a Francisco Cervelli sac fly.

Tampa broke the tie for good with two more runs in the fifth and another in the sixth to extend their lead to 7-4.

One thing that bothered me tonight was Joe Girardi sending Pettitte out for the sixth. Pettitte was already at 101 pitches, and had struggled for pretty much the entire night. I know the Yankees bullpen has been awful lately, but Pettitte was clearly done.

The first batter he faced in the inning was Carlos Pena , who took the second pitch he saw and sent it into the seats in right for the Rays third homer of the night of Pettitte.

On the night, Pettitte allowed seven runs (six earned) on nine hits, walked two, and struck out three in his first loss of the year.

After the homer Girardi finally went to the bullpen and called on David Robertson .

Robertson, along with Miranda and Jeter’s three hits, was one of the bright spots of the game. In two perfect innings he struck out four and looked better than he has all year.

Let’s all hope this is a sign that he’s regaining his 2009 form, because that would be just the sort of boost this bullpen needs.

On the other hand, Chan Ho Park continued to struggle. He allowed a run in the eighth, when Pena smacked his second solo homer of the game.

The Yankees scored a couple runs in the ninth to make it interesting, but fell two runs short. Jeter hit a two-run double with two out, bringing the tying run to the plate, but Gardner grounded out to third and the game was over.

Is it time to panic? The Yankees are now five games out and if it wasn’t for a miracle comeback against Jonathan Papelbon, the Yankees would have lost all four to the Red Sox and Rays.

Even more unsettling is that the Toronto Blue Jays are just a game behind the Yanks for second place in the division, and Boston is just 3.5 back. In this division the Yankees cannot afford to lose games like this, and must turn things around quickly.

Hopefully the turnaround starts against the last-place Mets as they head to Citi Field to begin Interleague play. Javier Vazquez will start the opener for the Yanks, with knuckleballer Hisanori Takahashi starting for the Mets. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. and the game will be on YES.

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Here are the lineups:

YANKEES (24-13)
Derek Jeter SS
Brett Gardner CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Francisco Cervelli C
Marcus Thames RF
Randy Winn LF
Ramiro Pena 3B

Pitching: RHP Phil Hughes (5-0, 1.38 ERA)

RED SOX (19-19)
Marco Scutaro SS
Dustin Pedroia 2B
J.D. Drew RF
Kevin Youkilis 1B
Victor Martinez C
David Ortiz DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Jeremy Hermida LF
Darnell McDonald CF

Pitching: RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka (2-1, 6.35 ERA)

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This tweet comes from Ken Rosenthal :

“Sources: Yankees’ Nick Johnson to undergo surgery on right wrist Tuesday. Likely out until July.”

Here’s a little more from Ben Shpigel :

“This is not a quick fix,” Manager Joe Girardi said. “This is going to be a while.”

 

Johnson said he would have the surgery “probably tomorrow.” He has been told that he will need four to six weeks of rest before he can swing a bat again. Johnson elected to have surgery after an injection of anti-inflammatory medication did not help, and after he reported no improvement from the exercises and treatment he was doing with the training staff.

“I’d rather not keep waiting and take care of it,” Johnson said.

…

“We’ve done all the treatments we can do,” said Johnson…

This is obviously bad news for the Yankees, who now are without a DH for the next 6-8 weeks. Juan Miranda is probably not the long-term answer, although I’m sure the Yankees will see what they can get from him over the next few weeks when they face right-handed pitching. Expect to see a lot of Marcus Thames against lefties, and Randy Winn will also get some more at-bats while Johnson is out.

Like I’ve said a few times over the last few days, I’d like to see the Yankees give Jorge Posada a few more games at DH while Johnson is out. Mainly because it will give Francisco Cervelli more playing time. So that’s another option.

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WP: A. Pettitte (5-0) LP: F. Liriano (4-2)

After missing a start due to inflammation in his left elbow, Andy Pettitte returned to the mound Saturday and shut down the Twins for his fifth win of the season. Andy held the Twins to just two hits and three walks while striking out two over six and a third scoreless inning.

The Twins did have a chance to get to Andy early, when Justin Morneau singled and Michael Cuddyer walked to start the second. But Pettitte got Delmon Young to ground into a 6-4-3 double play, and Bendan Harris to line back to the box to end the inning. It looked ticketed for center field off the bat, but Andy put his glove down and there was the ball. That would be the last runner to get past first base while Pettitte was in the game.

While Pettitte was out there, the Yankees offense was only able to put three runs on the board with single runs in the first, second and sixth. Alex Rodriguez drove in the Yankees first run with an RBI single scoring Derek Jeter , who had led off the game with a single of his own. In the second the Yankees play some small ball. Marcus Thames was hit by a pitch. He moved to second on a sac bunt by Francisco Cervelli , and then scored on a Jeter RBI single. For the third run, Jorge Posada started off the sixth with a ground-rule double and then scored on a Thames single.

After striking out Morneau for the first out of seventh, Pettitte was replaced by David Robertson . He was only at 95 pitches (53 strikes), and probably could have stayed in the game, but Joe Girardi probably didn’t want to push the veteran lefty too far. With his efforts, Pettitte lowered his ERA for the season to 1.79.

D-Rob retired Cuddyer before he walked Young and gave up a single to Harris put the tying run on base for Jim Thome . That would be it for D-Rob, as Girardi went with his stuggling lefty, Damaso Marte . This time Marte did the job, striking out Thome on a 2-2 slider that snuck across the inside corner.

The Yankees offense would put the game away with four runs in the bottom half of the inning on a couple of two-run homers. Mark Teixeira hit his seventh of the season, a long homer just short of the upper deck in right. Tex is now hitting .321/.400/.604 in May. Later in the inning, Jorge Posada launched his sixth homer of the year. For Posada, it was his third hit of the day to raise his average to .314.

Boone Logan allowed a run on four hits as he finished off the final two inning to preserve the Yankees 24th win of the season.

The Yankees go for the sweep today with Sergio Mitre on the mound. Right-hander Nick Blackburn will get the start for the Twins. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m. and the game will be on YES .

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(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

WP: J. Chamberlain (1-1) LP: S. Baker (4-3)

Nice win for the Yankees in the Bronx last night as they came back to beat the Twins 8-4. Including last year’s ALDS, the win was the Yankees 11th in a row over the Twins, and one of many of the comeback variety.

It was a battle for Yankees’ starter A.J. Burnett, who clearly didn’t have his best stuff tonight. He struggled with command, walking four, and throwing only 51 of his 100 pitches for strikes, but found a way to put together a decent start. In six and two-thirds innings, the right-hander allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits, walked four, and struck out four.

Minnesota got on the board in the second when Burnett walked Nick Punto with bases loaded to force in a run. Prior to the walk, Alex Rodriguez committed a throwing error on a bunt by Alexi Casilla, which allowed the Twins to load the bases…He’d make up for it later in the game.

Twins starter Scott Baker retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced until the Yankees were able to put two on the board in the bottom of the fourth. Brett Gardner hit a long home run into the right field bleacher to tie it at one. Later in the inning, Robinson Cano hit a ground-rule double, scoring Mark Teixeira, and giving the Yanks a 2-1 lead.

In the next inning, Joe Mauer hit his second homer of the season to tie the game at two.

The Yankees came right back with a mini two-out rally in the bottom half of the inning. Gardner singled, and that was followed by a Teixeira double, scoring Gardner and making it 3-2 Yankees. That’s how the score would stay until the seventh.

With a man on second, two out, and left-handed hitting Joe Mauer coming to the plate, Joe Girardi decided Burnett’s night was over and replaced him with the struggling Damaso Marte. Burnett was at 100 pitches and battled the whole way, so the move did make sense, but again, like most of the calls to Marte this season, this one didn’t work out. Mauer singled to tie the game at three, and on the play also was allowed to reach second when Gardner tried to throw out Denard Span at home plate. With Span’s speed, the attempt was pointless, and the most important thing was keeping that runner out of scoring position. Justin Morneau was now batting, and with the way Marte has been throwing Girardi could have walked him. Probably the right move to make, but he decided to let Marte go after him, and he made Girardi pay by doubling in Mauer to give the Twins a 4-3 lead.

But this see-saw battle in the Bronx wasn’t over yet. Francisco Cervelli, who had another nice game, hit a grounder towards the middle. Orlando Hudson showed some nice range to field the ball, but his throw was late and Cervelli was on with an infield single. Derek Jeter then hit a line drive off Baker’s knee and into the shallow left field for what turned into a double to put runners on second and third. Baker would then leave the game and lefty reliever Brian Duensing came in to face Gardner. After getting the speeder to fly out to left, Ron Gardenhire decided he wanted to walk Teixeira to load the bases and setup the double-play for A-Rod. Surprisingly, he decided to bring in right-hander Matt Guerrier, and guy A-Rod was 4-for-6 with three HR and four RBI against coming into the at-bat, and those numbers were about to get even better.

Guerrier started A-Rod off with a 90 mph fastball on the inner half that A-Rod hit on the ground just foul of third base. He went back to the well on the next pitch, throwing a 91 mph fastball. This one got a little too much of the plate and Alex mashed it, sending it deep to left field and into the seats for a grand slam home run…Was that the loudest the stadium has gotten so far this year? It sounded that way on TV...The Yankees now led 7-4 and the Yankees had Joba and Mo waiting in the pen.

Joba Chamberlain‘s velocity tonight might not have been as high as it was in Detroit -averaged 94.79 and topped out at 96.1 – but the results were just as good as he struck out the side in order.

The Yanks added one more run in the bottom half of the inning. Juan Miranda doubled with one out, and Francisco Cervelli drove him in with a triple. Cervelli is now a ridiculous 10-for-13 with runners in scoring position this year. With Nick Swisher still suffering from his strained biceps, the Yankees should probably consider a lineup with Cervelli behind the plate and Jorge Posada at DH until Swish is 100 percent. Not only does it keep Cervelli’s hot bat in the lineup, but it will allow Posada to rest a bit, which is always good for a 38-year-old catcher.

In the ninth, Mariano Rivera needed just 11 pitches (nine strikes) to set the Twins down in order and finish up the Yankees 23rd win of the season.

It was a great night for the Yankees 3-4 hitters, who combined to go 4-for-6 with five RBI and three runs scored. Tex was on base all night, and A-Rod showed the power that’s been missing over the first six weeks of the season. Hopefully, this is a sign they’re both starting to swing the bats well, which would obviously be great news for the Yankees and us fans, and really bad news for the rest of the American League.

The Yankees look to make it 12 in a row over the Twins when they send Andy Pettitte to the mound tomorrow afternoon. Another lefty, Francisco Liriano, will get the ball for the Twins. First pitch is 1:05 p.m. and the game will be on YES.

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