Kuzul

In the midst of their worst offensive slump of the season and having loss four of five, the Yankees return home to open up a seven-game, three-team homestand against the American League Central-leading Minnesota Twins.

The Yanks and Twins enter their three-game set with identical 22-12 records, good for second best in the Majors behind the Rays and tied with the Padres.

Like New York, Minnesota has done it with a mix of good hitting and solid pitching. The Twins lead the AL with a .277 batting average and are second with a 3.51 ERA.

But the Bombers have dominated the Twins of late, winning all 10 meetings last year, including a three-game sweep in the AL Division Series, and Minnesota has dropped eight straight in the Bronx.

Let’s take a look at the pitching matchups.

Friday, May 14—A.J. Burnett (4-1, 3.40) vs. Scott Baker (4-2, 4.57)

Burnett allowed almost as many earned runs in his last start against the Red Sox (eight) as he did in his first six games combined (nine).

After his worst appearance of the season, the right-hander will look to bounce versus the Twins, a team against which he is 2-1 with a 3.72 ERA in six career starts.

Jim Thome (7-for-30, .233, 11 K’s), Michael Cuddyer (2-for-13, .154, 6 K’s), Brendan Harris (2-for-12, .167) and Nick Punto (1-for-11, .091) all struggle when facing Burnett.

Not surprisingly, Joe Mauer (5-for-13, .385) does not.

Baker is coming off back-to-back wins over the Tigers and Orioles, and while he is 2-1 with a 4.20 ERA in three lifetime starts against the Yankees (1-0, 1.80 in the Bronx), the current Bombers lineup hits .319 and slugs .623 off him.

Marcus Thames is batting just .231 against righties this year, but he has to be in the lineup on Friday because he’s 8-for-26 (.308) with four homers and six RBIs versus Baker.

Mark Teixeira is also 4-for-7 (.571) with a homer, but Alex Rodriguez is 0-for-7 with four strikeouts.

Saturday, May 15—Andy Pettitte (4-0, 2.08) vs. Francisco Liriano (4-1, 2.36)

Pettitte returns from his overly-cautious, one-start removal from the rotation and hopefully the long layoff won’t affect the great start he’s had.

The veteran southpaw is 9-5 with a 3.70 ERA in 19 career starts against Minnesota, but the current Twins roster hits .358 off him.

Brendan Harris is 8-for-17 (.471), Cuddyer is 5-for-14 (.357) with a homer, Delmon Young is a ridiculous 9-for-14 (.643), and Mauer and Justin Morneau are each 4-for-10 (.400). Thome, however, is 6-for-28 (.214) with 10 K’s.

Liriano suffered his first loss of the season on Saturday, surrendering five runs on 10 hits over six innings versus Baltimore.

The left-hander is 0-1 with a 2.77 ERA in three games (two starts) against New York, and he gave up one run in six frames in his only appearance at Yankee Stadium.

Facing Liriano, Teixeira is 1-for-9 (.111) with an incredible seven strikeouts, but that one hit was a home run.

Thames is an easy start in this one as he is 4-for-9 with three homers against the southpaw.

Sunday, May 16—Sergio Mitre (0-1, 3.86) vs. Nick Blackburn (3-1, 4.76)

As of Friday afternoon, the Yankees haven’t announced a starter for Sunday, but it will probably be Mitre thanks to a rainout-induced doubleheader on Wednesday that would force either Javier Vazquez or Phil Hughes to work on short rest if they were to start on Sunday.

I’d prefer Hughes on three-days’ rest over Mitre on steroids, but Joe Girardi probably isn’t going to want to push the young right-hander too hard in his first full season as a starter.

As expected, Mitre lasted just 4 1/3 innings and gave up four runs in a loss at Detroit on Monday.

He has never faced the Twins, but four men on their roster have batted against him. Orlando Hudson is 3-for-9 (.333) with a home run and Thome is 3-for-4 (.750) with a double, but Harris and Young are a combined 0-for-6.

After a rocky first four starts, Blackburn earned a complete-game win over the Tigers and followed that up with seven scoreless innings against the Orioles in another victory on Sunday.

The right-hander is 0-1 with a 5.89 ERA in four starts versus the Bombers, and he allowed four earned runs in 7 2/3 innings in his only start at the new Yankee Stadium last year.

A-Rod is 3-for-9 (.333) and a homer off Blackburn, Derek Jeter is 3-for-7 (.429) with a blast and Teixeira is a remarkable 6-for-6 with five RBIs and a walk. Robinson Cano, however, is 0-for-8.

Follow me on Twitter at JordanHarrison .

Jordan Schwartz is one of Bleacher Report’s New York Yankees and College Basketball Featured Columnists. His book Memoirs of the Unaccomplished Man is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and authorhouse.com.

Jordan can be reached at jordanschwartz2003@yahoo.com

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

On a windy day in Detroit, the Yankees were shut out for the second time in the past three games as Justin Verlander dominated them in a 6-0 loss on Thursday.

The Tigers ace allowed just four hits and struck out four in 6.2 scoreless innings as he outdueled CC Sabathia, who was touched up for six runs on nine hits in six frames.

New York’s offense has gone silent over the past week. Outside of a six-run ninth on Wednesday, the Bombers have scored just nine runs in their last five games, losing four of them.

Is it injuries, an expected slump, or the wrong people being slotted in the lineup?

Let’s take a look at the grades from the series finale at Comerica Park.

Joe Girardi, Manager: (C-) The bottom third of the Yanks’ order on Thursday resembled a Spring Training lineup. Juan Miranda, who was making his season debut after 19 career at-bats the previous two years, hit seventh; Randy Winn, who entered the game batting .219, hit eighth; and Greg Golson, who picked up his first big league hit on Wednesday, hit ninth.

Part of the problem is injuries: Curtis Granderson and Nick Johnson are both on the disabled list (although neither of them were exactly tearing the cover off the ball when they were healthy). And Nick Swisher sat out due to soreness in his bicep.

I don’t have a huge problem giving Swisher a day to rest because he’s 7-for-38 (.184) with 14 strikeouts in his career against Verlander anyway, but starting Miranda, Winn and Golson on the same day against the Tigers’ best pitcher gave the Yanks very little chance to score runs.

I thought Francisco Cervelli (.408 average, .276 vs. RHP), Marcus Thames (.341 average, although he does hit only .231 vs. RHP) or Ramiro Pena (2-for-3 vs. Verlander) would’ve all been better starts than Miranda and Golson.

Most importantly, the Yankees need to figure out a way to get Cervelli into the lineup more, especially with Granderson and Johnson out. They should call up a third catcher, so Cervelli and Posada can DH when they are not catching and there’s no risk to running out of catchers in case one of them gets hurt. This is a more valuable position to have on the roster than a fifth outfielder (Golson) or a sixth infielder (Miranda).

Derek Jeter, SS: (C-) The captain continued his recent slide by going 1-for-4 with a strikeout. He is now 8-for-51 (.157) in May, or as I like to call it, the anti-Teixeira.

Brett Gardner, CF: (D) I love Gardner in the No. 2 hole and hope he remains there even after Johnson returns, but the center fielder had a rough game on Thursday, going 1-for-5 to drop to 5 for his last 20 (.250).

Mark Teixeira, DH: (D+) A lifetime .366 hitter as a DH, Teixeira went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.

Alex Rodriguez, 3B: (D) A-Rod wasn’t very patient at the plate, seeing just eight pitches en route to an 0-for-4 performance, but he did make a nice spinning play on a Magglio Ordonez grounder in the first.

Robinson Cano, 2B: (D+) Cano was 0-for-3 with a walk to drop to 5-for-28 (.179) since May 5.

Jorge Posada, DH: (A-) Posada was the only Yankees batter to pick up two hits or an extra-base knock, but in typical Posada fashion, he had a passed ball and let another pitch bounce off his glove when no one was on base.

Sabathia has a 2.50 ERA in 36 innings pitching to Cervelli. He has a 6.23 ERA in 17 1/3 innings with Posada.

New York would be best served with Cervelli catching three out of every five games, and Posada catching the other two, with both of them in the lineup at least as the DH every day.

Juan Miranda, 1B: (D+) Miranda was 0-for-3 with a walk.

Randy Winn, LF-RF: (C) I’ll give credit to Winn for fouling off a lot of pitches against Verlander and working up his pitch count, so that he had to exit in the seventh. However, the Yankees couldn’t do anything against the Tigers’ bullpen either. Winn saw 28 pitches in four plate appearances.

Greg Golson, RF: (F) I imagine I’d look exactly the same as Golson did facing those first two breaking balls from Verlander in the second inning. Then again, I’m not a Major Leaguer.

Marcus Thames, PH-LF: (C+) Despite his poor batting average against right-handers, Thames did work a walk against Verlander in the seventh before striking out against Joel Zumaya in the ninth.

CC Sabathia, SP: (F) The big lefty turned in his worst start of the season and was really done in by back-to-back homers by Miguel Cabrera and Brennan Boesch in the fourth.

Ivan Nova, RP: (A) The one bright spot in this game was the Major League debut of Nova, who struck out one and allowed just two hits in a pair of scoreless innings. But much like Romulo Sanchez, who pitched a solid 3.2 innings the other day, Nova should be headed back to Triple-A shortly.

Yankees Overall Grade: (F) The Bombers managed just four hits, going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranding 11 baserunners. It was only their second lost series of the season, though, and those have both come on the road against teams that will be in the hunt for the playoffs. The Yankees face four different teams over the next eight days, all without leaving New York City.

Follow me on Twitter at JordanHarrison .

Jordan Schwartz is one of Bleacher Report’s New York Yankees and College Basketball Featured Columnists. His book Memoirs of the Unaccomplished Man is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and authorhouse.com.

Jordan can be reached at jordanschwartz2003@yahoo.com

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Yankees had their six-game winning streak snapped in Boston on Sunday, but the Bombers still stand just a half-game back of Tampa Bay and the best record in baseball as they visit the Tigers and two familiar faces.

Johnny Damon landed in Detroit this past offseason after the Yanks opted not to re-sign him, and he’s off to a great start, batting .294 with a .409 on-base percentage and 14 RBIs.

Brian Cashman isn’t completely regretting his decision, however, because Brett Gardner (.344 average) has been a more-than-satisfactory replacement in left field.

Austin Jackson, on the other hand, is a different story. The rookie was traded on Dec. 9 in a three-team deal that brought Curtis Granderson to the Bronx, and while Granderson is currently on the disabled list following a slow start, Jackson is leading the league with a .371 batting average.

The Tigers as a team are second in the AL with a .278 average, but their pitching (4.36 ERA, ninth in league) has been mediocre.

However, this may be the first series the Yankees aren’t favored to win due to the fact they have Sergio Mitre starting Game 1 in place of Andy Pettitte and the struggling Javier Vazquez going in Game 2.

Let’s take a look at the pitching matchups for the four-game set.

Monday, May 10 – Sergio Mitre (0-0, 2.79) vs. Brad Thomas (1-0, 5.40)

Pettitte wasn’t too pleased when he heard he was going to miss a turn in the rotation thanks to some minor elbow issues, and most Yankees fans can’t be thrilled either that Mitre will be taking his place.

The right-hander has pitched pretty well in five relief appearances this season, but he’s 13-23 with a 5.47 ERA in 61 career starts, and will probably only be allowed to throw 65 to 75 pitches, which should put a heavy load on a bullpen that is just beginning a stretch of 17 consecutive games without a day off.

Mitre has never pitched against the Tigers and therefore, only two players on their current roster have ever faced him. Adam Everett is 2-for-5 with a double and two strikeouts, while Miguel Cabrera is 1-for-5 with an RBI and two K’s.

Willis was scratched from his scheduled start Monday with an unspecified illness, according to MLB.com. Lefty reliever Thomas will start in his place, so this game should wind up becoming a battle of the bullpens.

Tuesday, May 11 – Javier Vazquez (1-3, 9.78) vs. Rick Porcello (2-3, 7.50)

It was wise to push back Vazquez’s start so that he wouldn’t have to face the Red Sox, but it would be wiser to yank him from the starting rotation altogether and replace him with Joba Chamberlain.

The right-hander, who was promised to eat up innings for the Yankees this season, hasn’t pitched more than 5 2/3 frames in any of his five starts, failing to escape the fourth in his past two, so we could see New York relievers taxed quite a bit over the first two games of this series.

Vazquez is 6-7 with a 4.50 ERA in 13 career starts against the Tigers, including a stellar 2-5 record and 6.09 ERA at Comerica Park.

For some reason, Magglio Ordonez (7-for-36, .194) and Brandon Inge (7-for-31, .226, 13 K’s) have struggled when facing the 33-year-old, but Cabrera (9-for-23, .391, 3 HRs), Damon (7-for-21, .333, 2 HRs), and Everett (5-for-13, .385, 2 doubles) have not.

Another bullpen battle could be on tap because Porcello hasn’t lasted more than six innings all season. He faced the Yankees once during his rookie campaign last year, getting knocked around for six runs in 3 2/3 innings. Nick Swisher had a three-run homer.

Wednesday, May 12 – Phil Hughes (4-0, 1.69) vs. Jeremy Bonderman (1-1, 5.74)

Hughes may have taken a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the A’s and held the White Sox scoreless over seven, but his best start of the year came on Friday, when he gave up just two runs and struck out seven in seven frames against the Red Sox.

The questions about his durability will come when he eclipses his career-high 86 innings in one season, but as of now, the right-hander looks like the real deal.

Hughes is 2-2 with a 5.30 ERA in five games (three starts) versus the Tigers, and he’s 1-1 with a 3.75 in Detroit.

Against him, Ordonez is 1-for-8 (.125) and Laird, Inge, Everett and Ramon Santiago are a combined 0-for-12 with seven strikeouts, but Cabrera is 3-for-6.

Bonderman was pleased to see his stats washed away in a postponed game against the Indians on Friday. The right-hander had allowed six runs in 2 1/3 innings when the rains came.

Bonderman is 3-7 with a 5.55 ERA in 12 appearances (11 starts) versus the Yankees, but most of the players he had trouble with are gone as the current Bombers’ roster hits just .214 off him.

Derek Jeter is 8-for-33 (.242), Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano are both 5-for-22 (.227) and Mark Teixeira is an astounding 0-for-12 with three strikeouts.

Alex Rodriguez (8-for-26, .308, 2 HRs) is the only one with success against Bonderman.

Thursday, May 13 – CC Sabathia (4-1, 3.04) vs. Justin Verlander (3-2, 4.50)

Sabathia has a 7.20 ERA against the Red Sox, but a 1.93 mark versus everyone else this season. That’s not a good sign for the Tigers.

The big lefty was one strike away from earning the victory in Boston on Saturday before rain delayed the game for more than an hour and he was relieved.

The 2007 AL Cy Young Award winner with the Indians is 14-10 with a 4.50 ERA against his old Central rival, including a 7-3 record and 3.87 mark in 12 starts at Comerica Park.

Inge (7-for-47, .149, 14 K’s), Damon (4-for-18, .222), Ryan Raburn (3-for-15, .200, 5 K’s), and Everett (0-for-6) have all struggled when facing Sabathia.

However, Santiago is 7-for-21 with a double, Laird is 5-for-12 (.417) with a homer and Cabrera is 5-for-8 (.625) with six RBIs.

Ordonez has the most experience against Sabathia, going 16-for-61 (.262) with 17 RBIs and eight strikeouts.

This figures to be the best pitching matchup of the series because Verlander has won his last two starts and has surrendered only four earned runs over his past 20 innings.

The former Rookie of the Year is 3-2 with a 4.36 ERA in six career starts against the Yankees. He’s dominated Swisher (7-for-38, .184, 14 K’s), Teixeira (1-for-12, .083, 5 Ks), and Posada (1-for-10).

But Jeter (6-for-15, .400) and A-Rod (3-for-10, .300, HR) have had success, and maybe Ramiro Pena (2-for-3) could even find his way into the lineup.

Follow me on Twitter at JordanHarrison .

Jordan Schwartz is one of Bleacher Report’s New York Yankees and College Basketball Featured Columnists. His book Memoirs of the Unaccomplished Man is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and authorhouse.com.

Jordan can be reached at jordanschwartz2003@yahoo.com

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

WhatIfSports.com utilizes its award-winning baseball simulation engine to present the most comprehensive and unbiased ranking possible of all 30 teams in baseball each Monday during the regular season. To come up with the rankings, using only their statistical performance to date this season, each team is simulated against every other team 100 times (50 at home and 50 away) so that all five pitchers in the current rotation start ten times at each location.

(Note: If a pitcher who was in the rotation was recently put on the DL, he will not be included in the simulations.

Teams Ranked by Winning Percentage
(everyone plays everyone 100 times)

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

I can’t believe it has already been a full month of baseball. Here are the guys who knocked the cover off the baseball this past week.

1)      3B David Freese, STL

St. Louis third baseman had a solid week. He had twelve hits, 11 RBI, three home runs and had a .462 AVG.

2)      2B Robinson Cano, NYY

New York couldn’t ask for more from the young second baseman. Cano had eleven hits, seven RBI, rocked four into the stands, and finished the week with a .440 AVG.

Cano’s RBI rate would be even higher if Teixeira made it on the bag once in a while. Cano’s last two homers have been solo shots.

3)      OF Andre Ethier LAD

Hollywood has a new producer and his name is Andre Ethier. The Dodgers outfielder blasted four home runs this week. He had 10 hits, 10 RBI, and a .385 AVG after a week of nice production.

4)      SS Hanley Ramirez FLA

Fantasy baseball’s number two overall draft pick paid off this week. Ramirez hit four homeruns, had nine hits, eight RBI, and ended the week with a .409 AVG.

5)      OF Austin Jackson DET

The Detroit outfielder had a perfectly average week, but in baseball, that means greatness. Jackson ended the week with a .500 AVG while crossing the dish eight times, himself.

6)      3B Evan Longoria TB

Longoria had a nice week after hitting three homeruns, five RBI, stealing two bases, posting a .417 AVG, and touching home plate seven times.

7)      OF Tori Hunter LAA

The Angels outfielder had nine hits, six RBI, two home runs, and topped off the week with a .450 AVG.

8)      OF Alfonso Soriano ChC

Soriano had a stellar week of baseball. He sent four over the outfield wall, posted ten RBI, seven runs, and a .400 AVG was simply the cherry on top.

Soriano’s bat is burning, so he will likely see more time on the field despite his less than spectacular defense. Tyler Colvin will be riding the pine until Soriano’s broomstick cools off.

9)      1B Paul Konerko CWS

The Chicago White Sox first baseman hit home runs like first basemen are supposed to. Konerko hit four dingers and knocked in 10 teammates across the plate. He finished the week with a .316 AVG.

10)   OF Austin Kearns CLE

Kearns had eleven hits, two home runs, eight RBI, one stolen base, and a .393 AVG for the week.

Follow my blog:

http://boxscoreaddict.blogspot.com/

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

My Double G Sports fantasy baseball team which is competing in the Battle of the Blogs continues to struggle and has hit a new low. I am now officially in last place in the Willie Mays Division and am ranked 13 out of 20 teams.

This past week I lost to Babes Love Baseball by a score of 13-6-1. It was a team wide struggle as my team had a combined .268 average for the week and my pitching staff worked to a horrific 5.31 ERA. On the other hand, Babes Love Baseball had a weekly batting average of .291 and its pitching staff was 7-0 with a 3.16 ERA.

Babes got good weeks from players like Adrian Beltre and Johnny Damon, but the biggest star of the week for her team was rookie Jason Heyward. Thinking back to the draft, Babes Love Baseball took Heyward right before I was going to. It came back to haunt me this week as Heyward batted .350, scored five runs, hit a double, and three home runs while driving in seven runs. Barry Zito , Dan Haren, and Tommy Hanson all pitched very well for Babes Love Baseball last week.

My team was once again led by the red hot Robinson Cano. The second baseman batted .440 this week with two doubles and four home runs. He also drove in seven runs while scoring six times himself.

Marlon Byrd also had a nice week, batting .393 with three doubles and two home runs. He drove in five. J.D. Drew made the most of his 12 at bats for my team as he has started to heat up a little bit. Drew scored four runs while batting .417 including a double and three home runs.  The success of these three was not enough, however, as key players like Jose Reyes, Hideki Matsui, and Franklin Guttierrez all had bad weeks. None of the three batted over .200 this past week.

Read more about this past week as well as a preview of this week at Double G Sports .

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

This is an All-Star starting lineup, as would be voted by the fans (if the fans actually knew what they were doing), plus a starting rotation and one relief pitcher.

But this is one fan’s opinion: mine. It was an easy exercise. There were several somewhat close calls, but nothing which I had to wring my hands over.

All numbers displayed are from the month of April only, and nothing these players did in the first couple of games in May had any impact.

One thing I wanted to do was to actually have a real, live designated hitter (DH) as the team’s DH, not just put any hitter who didn’t make the cut at this position.

While most positions had dominating first months, the DH position did not.
Adam Lind of the Toronto Blue Jays and Vladimir Guerrero of the Texas Rangers are having decent, but not great starts.

So I chose one of the “losers” from the other positions, as there were many deserving players from that second status list, and with better productivity than the real, live DH’s.

If this team played in the real, live 2010 All-Star game, the manager would be Joe Girardi, last season’s World Series manager. But for a couple of reasons, I am picking Joe Maddon of the Tampa Bay Rays as my American League manager.

First, his 2010 team has the major league’s best overall record, and second, he and I shared a drink and half hour conversation during the 2008 Winter Meetings in Las Vegas.

He also coaches his players to play the game hard all the time, even in Spring Training.

I like the guy.

He was funny, direct and open to every part of the conversation, even about the recently completed World Series.

Maddon is my manager…and now for the team.

Begin Slideshow

We will be closing in on the thirty game mark in the 2010 Major League Baseball season, and we still have players continuing to surprise, and star players that are struggling. This weekly list does not take the top five best statistical players, because it would virtually be the same people every week. This list focuses on some stars, but also on the underdogs who are having a good week.

Robinson Cano

The New York Yankees’ homegrown second baseman has been nothing but a stud so far this season. He is currently ranked number one overall in offense, according to Yahoo, and owns a league best .387 batting average while hitting in a loaded lineup. He has also shown great power, hitting nine home runs and his defense has been superb as well, committing only one error so far this season.”It’s a ribbee…for Robbie!”

Paul Konerko

After struggling the last two seasons, Konerko looks to be back on the right track this season as his twelve home runs leads the majors. Fantasy owners are still not sold though, because the numbers on him show him only be owned by 79 percent of managers, a number that was in the 90′s two seasons ago. Konerko has also been good in the field, with his one error, and if he keeps up this pace, he could very well have a forty home run season. And don’t forget, “You can put it on the boooooooooooard! Yes!”

Kelly Johnson

Here is another hidden gem making his way onto the list, a player Yahoo ranked 889. He currently finds himself sitting in eighteenth, but offensively is the third best second baseman behind on Robinson Cano and Chase Utley. He deserves a mention because he does not play in a stacked lineup like the other two. He is currently tied for second in the league with nine home runs, and has eighteen RBI’s with a .310 batting average. [Keep with trend and insert Braves announcer call here.]

Barry Zito

The last edition featured Tim Lincecum, but this time another Giant will get a chance. Could it be that Barry is back? The one time ace and Cy Young winner who has had three miserable seasons in San Francisco has finally found his game. He is currently 4-0 in five starts, and the one start the team lost, Zito gave up only one run. The plague with his tenure with the Giants has been run support, but they have been much better at it this season. His ERA is now an incredible 1.53. He started the season at less than 10 percent owned by fantasy managers, and he now sits at 83 percent. Don’t let us down, Barry!

Ubaldo Jimenez

Fellow NL West counterpart gets the nod as the other hot pitcher in the majors right now. Two weeks ago he tossed the first no-hitter in Rockies history, and he still has not looked back. He currently has a 5-0 record with a league best 0.79 ERA. He has become the ace that the Rockies have sorely lacked throughout their franchise history. Only question is, will the thin Colorado air allow him to stay this successful?

Also of note: Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay have shown no signs of slowing down. It’s fun to do a comparison of the two, but even more fun to combine their numbers. The pair has a 9-1 record with an ERA of 1.37 and 82 strikeouts in 84 innings. Just give them a share of the Cy Young already.

And what’s up with Javier Vazquez? The ace of the Braves last season is struggling mightily with the New York Yankees, having a 1-3 record with a bloated ERA of 9.78. Fans are quick to overreact, saying that he cannot pitch in New York, even if he was 14-10 with them in his first stint.

It could be nerves, it could be a hidden injury; no one really knows. But one thing is for sure, it cannot get any worse. This could be a good time to buy low on him in fantasy leagues, if dealing with an impatient owner. His ERA won’t stay at ten all season.

Please visit my sports blog, “From New York to San Francisco” .

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Robinson Cano finally gets it, and now he is assaulting opposing pitchers.

The immensely talented second baseman has been beset by immaturity and lackadaisical play at times in the past, but if his torrid start is any indication, those days are over.

Hitting a scalding .407 with eight homers and 17 RBI, Cano leads the AL batting race by a mile, ranks second in the league in home runs, and is tied for fifth in RBI. Although he receives acclaim for his potent bat, often overlooked is his defensive acumen.

Thursday night in Baltimore, Cano made a spectacular play to rob Nolan Reimold in the third inning of a clear base hit up the middle by ranging far to his right to secure the sharp grounder and with his momentum carrying him further away from first base, threw out the struggling outfielder on a fly. The arm strength he displayed on that play, and continues to exhibit on a routine basis, is unrivaled at his position.

You would be hard pressed to find another second baseman in baseball capable of making the same play, especially without at least bouncing the throw. Sadly, the play will be overshadowed by Cano’s exceptional night with the bat (3-4 with two homers, a double, and three runs), but it was the highlight of the night.

As a vocal critic of Cano in the past , I assure you that this is not a puff piece. Cano has had limitations in years gone by, which I have been quick to indicate, that have hindered him from reaching his potential.

He’s always been a free-swinger and that’s never going to be completely reigned in. However, Cano is becoming more disciplined at the plate as is evidenced by the fact that he’s on pace to break his career-high walk total. He’s drawn six free passes in 81 at bats which puts him on pace to draw close to 50 walks over the full season. His previous career-high is 39 in 2007.

With regard to his maturity level, Cano was frequently seen clowning around with his inseparable pal Melky Cabrera in recent years. Since Cabrera was shipped out of town, Cano is more about business. Meanwhile, Cabrera isn’t exactly raking in Atlanta as the Braves have discovered the hard way that he is merely a fourth outfielder.

New responsibility delegated to Cano also has expedited his growth. He is now the unquestioned fifth hitter in the batting order.

The Yankees have attempted to slot Cano into the fifth spot in the lineup before, though he’s never been able to justify sticking there because of his poor situational hitting. Jorge Posada is certainly worthy of protecting Alex Rodriguez but even with Posada’s excellent start, Cano is entrenched in the five hole.

In 2009, Cano hit a feeble .207 with runners in scoring position. Thus far, albeit in a small sample size of 20 at bats, Cano is showing marked improvement batting an even .300. 

Cano cites the work he does with hitting coach Kevin Long in the cages about as much as he says hello. His performance corroborates the time he has committed and it may be a stretch to say he has been as diligent and dedicated previously.

Larry Bowa, Yankees’ third base coach for two seasons under Joe Torre, was vital to Cano’s development because he constantly demanded nothing short of the Dominican’s best. Bowa’s boisterous and fiery personality kept Cano in line so it is no coincidence that the second baseman had by far his worst year in the majors in 2008 (.274, 14 homers, 72 RBI, .305 OBP) the year his mentor defected to Los Angeles with Torre.

Bowa’s absence left a void in Cano’s professional life. Cano lacked guidance, wasn’t necessarily interested in becoming a dominant player, and didn’t put in the effort required to excel.

At 27, Cano is growing up and his newfound work ethic is a testament to that.

Rededicated and entering his prime, there’s reason to believe Cano has arrived as not only an elite player at his position, but as a bonafide MLB star.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com