Yankees fans came into this game tonight expecting to watch an all out pitcher’s deul.  However, this is not what happened in a Yankees 8-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.  Both CC Sabathia and Roy Halladay didn’t show up with their best stuff, but it was the Phillies ace who had more woes.

Halladay lasted six innings, the second shortest outing of the season for him.  He gave up eight hits and six runs, four of which were off homers.  He only struck out five and gave up three homeruns, tying a career high.  The last two times Doc gave up three homeruns in a single game were also against the Yankees.

“He’s been one of the good pitchers.  He’s always pitched well against us,” says CC Sabathia.  “You never know what’s going to happen.”

“He doesn’t give up too many runs, but today we got him,” says manager Joe Girardi.  “I talked about it before the game.  He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes, and if he makes a mistake you better not miss it because you may not get another one in that at-bat.  Our guys put some good swings on some balls where he might not have wanted them.”

Brett Gardner started the Yankees offense in the second inning.  He hit a two run stand up triple scoring Nick Swisher and Jorge Posada.  I thought Gardner had a great shot at getting an inside the park home run, but he was probably held up to play it safe.  The Yankees had one out on that hit.

In the third inning, Curtis Granderson lead off with a solo shot to right.  Two batters later Robinson Cano hit a double to right center and then Swisher blasted a two run home run, breaking his bat in the process.  I quote Paul O’Neil in that moment when he said, “That bat died a hero.”

“He’s been huge for us,” says Sabathia of Swisher.  “We’ve had a lot of guys gone down and he’s definitly picked up the slack.”

In the fifth inning, Mark Teixeira hit a homerun that just made it over the right field wall, hitting the camera man in the back.  Finally in the seventh inning, Francisco Cervelli gave us some of his hitting with RISP magic by knocking in two runs with a single to left while the bases were loaded.

CC Sabathia looked very dominate starting this game off striking out six in three innings and not allowing any hits.  After the Yankees were leading 5-0 going into the fourth inning, CC loaded the bases with no one out and gave up three runs.  One of those runs came off a play where CC forgot to cover.  Mark Teixeira collected a ground ball and threw to Derek Jeter to try for the double play.  But CC must have fallen asleep because he didn’t cover first base.  Luckily Jeter looks before he throws and realized CC was not there.

“That was my fault.  Just a mental error,” says CC.  “I apologized to Tex after that.”

Jorge Posada made Yankees history yesterday.  He hit two grand slams in back-to-back games against the Astros.  He was the first Yankee to do that since 1937 when catcher Bill Dickey did the same.

“To be in a situation to hit two grand slams is amazing,” said Posada.  “It doesn’t happen often.  You can tell it’s been a while so I’m happy.  It’s really important to get some runs for the pitchers.”

When asked about Bill Dickey being the last Yankee to reach this feat, Posada said, “Bill Dickey, another catcher.  It’s amazing how baseball, out of all those people, it was another catcher, hitting two grand slams.  That’s pretty special.”

Posada did leave early in the game with soreness in his right foot; the foot that landed him on the disabled list in May.  Despite the soreness, Posada is optimistic.

“It’s probably just tired,” said Posada.  “I haven’t caught in a while.  We’ll just have to keep an eye on it.”  When asked if he thought he’d be able to catch on Tuesday, Posada said, “We’ll see how it feels tomorrow.”  Joe Girardi, however is concerned.

“I wasn’t sure how many innings I was going to play him today going into the game,” says manager Joe Girardi.  “I’m not really surprised he’s sore.  But I think it’s more important how he feels Tuesday and even [today], even though we’re not playing.  But there’s always going to be a level of concern until it’s completely gone.”

Girardi did stress that the soreness was not in the same spot as the foot fracture.  He said the soreness was more on the side of the foot and was probably caused by some fatigue.

Joe was asked about an age factor with Posada and the rest of the core four after playing so well in the series.  He replied, “Old just means that they have a lot of experience.  They know how to play the game and they do a lot of things right.  We’ve had some players with some age on them, but they still have a lot of good baseball left.  We tease them a little bit about being older but that’s the fun part of it.”

For years, especially in the last decade, baseball has been all about the hitting.  Whether or not it was because of PED’s, most of the popular baseball players were hitters.  This year, however, things are starting to change.  It’s obvious that 2010 is all about pitching.  Pitchers so far this season have been the most successful players in Major League Baseball.  It all started very early in the season.

On April 17, 26-year-old Ubaldo Jimenez made Colorado Rockies history by pitching the first no-hitter in franchise history against the Atlanta Braves.  This was only the beginning of what may be considered one of the best season starts for a pitcher of all time.  So far this season in 12 starts, Jimenez is 11-1 with a 0.93 ERA.  In 87.1 innings pitched, he has only given up 52 hits, 9 runs, and 29 walks.  He also has 78 strike outs.  Hitters have an average of .176 against Jimenez.

On Mother’s Day, Dallas Braden of the Oakland A’s pitched a perfect game retiring all 27 of the Tampa Bay Rays hitters.  Then just two weeks later on May 29th, Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched a perfect game.  The last time two pitchers pitched perfect games in the same season was before modern baseball in 1880 with Lee Richmond and John Montgomery Ward.  History was almost made once again on June 2 when Armando Galarraga pitched a perfect game…..or so we thought.  First base umpire Jim Joyce made an unfortunate miscall on the what should have been the final out of the game and called Jason Donald safe.  Even so, Galarraga still got the next batter Trevor Crowe out.

Aside from the perfect game, Roy Halladay is having a pretty remarkable season.  In 13 starts, he is 8-4 with a 1.96 ERA and has 5 completed games.  In 101 innings pitched, he has given up 89 hits, 26 runs, and 14 walks and has struck out 85.

Two pitchers from the New York Yankees have really emerged this season.  Always dandy Andy Pettitte is probably having the best start to a season in his career.  In 11 starts, Pettitte is 7-1 with a 2.47 ERA.  In 73 innings pitched he has given up 62 hits, 21 runs (20 earned) and has struck out 51. 

The biggest surprise among the Yankees pitchers, and possibly among baseball, is Phil Hughes.  In 11 starts, Hughes is 8-1 (second in the American League in wins) with a 2.71 ERA.  In 69.2 innings pitched, Hughes has given up 56 hits, 21 runs and has struck out 68.  Hughes flirted with a no-hitter in Oakland on April 21.  Hughes had the no-no through seven innings.  The only hit he gave up came in the 8th inning.  Hughes struck out 10 batters in that game; a season and career high.

Starting pitching from the Tampa Bay Rays has also been very dominate.  Two Rays pitchers in particular are David Price and Jeff Niemann.  In 12 starts this season David Price is 9-2 (leading the American League in wins) with a 2.23 ERA and has completed one game.  In 80.2 innings pitched, Price has given up just 62 hits and 25 runs and has struck out 57.  In 12 starts Jeff Niemann is 6-0 with a 2.48 ERA and has one complete game.  In 80 innings pitched he has given up 59 hits, 22 runs and has struck out 51.

The most recent emergence in pitching came this past Tuesday, June 8.  Stephen Strasburg made his major league debut for the Washinton Nationals.  His coming start was very hyped up and he certainly lived up to it.  He pitched seven innings and gave up four hits and two runs.  Strasburg struck out a wopping 14 batters and threw fastballs that reached 98-100 MPH.

What’s amazing about all of these stats is that it’s only June.  We still have 100 more baseball games to go.  It makes everyone, including myself, to not want to miss any games this season because of how superb the pitching has been.  Is there another no-hitter or perfect game in the near future of this season?   We’ll just have to wait and see.

The Yankees took another game away from the Baltimore Orioles winning 4-2.  CC Sabathia (6-3) gained his sixth win of the season and fourth in a row against the O’s.  Like Phil Hughes the night before, Sabathia did not have his best stuff.  In seven innings he gave up nine hits, two runs, and struck out eight.  Also like Hughes, Sabathia struggled in the beginning and came back to his form toward the end.

“CC battled through the first three innings and didn’t seem to find it until the fourth, but then he pitched a lot better,”  says manager Joe Girardi.  “It’s important to fight through it when you don’t have your best stuff.  He found a way to get it done.”

The star of this game was once again Robinson Cano both in offense and defense.  Cano went 3-for-4 with an RBI single scoring Mark Teixeira to tie the game at 2.  He also made a huge defensive play by making a diving stop to keep Nick Markakis to a single instead of an RBI single.

“I didn’t want the ball to go to right field because I know he would have scored,” says Cano.  “I was just trying to stop it so he can stay at third.”

Another Yankee that made a huge defensive play was the rookie Kevin Russo.  With Joba Chamberlain on the mound, Kevin Russo made a long diving catch to keep Adam Jones off the bases.  “That was a big cach, that changed the game,” says Girardi.  With this play Russo continues to show the Yankees that he’s worth keeping around.

The O’s starter Christ Tillman (0-2) gave the Yankees a challege throughout the game.  He pitched six innings and gave up 8 hits and three runs.  He only struck out one, but Tillman was able to prevent the Yankees from scoring a lot of early runs.

Some more positive news came for Jorge Posada Tuesday night.  For the first time since May 16, Posada and Tony Pena worked on catching drills.  Posada hasn’t sqatted in the catcher position since fracturing his foot.  These are drills you usually see in spring training so, in a sense, Posada was restarting his season as a catcher.  The Yankees are still unsure of when he will be able to catch regularly.

“It’s about the foot,” says Posada.  “We want to see how the foot reacts.  It feels fine right now.  I just want to see if the foot can take it.”

Posada caught a bullpen session with Andy Pettitte.  He also worked on throwing balls to second base and blocking drills.  Posada plans on taking Wednesday night off from catching drills and resuming them on Thursday.  He could run more drills, but Joe Girardi wants to make sure Posada will be able to continue to be the DH in games.

“The one thing I told him is how I don’t want to beat him up too much to where he’s too physically fatigued to do what he needs to do right now,” says Girardi.  “We’re on the right track.  I’m excited about that.”

Giardi is not sure when Posada could possibly start catching again and are now deciding whether or not to carry three catchers.  Francisco Cervelli has been starting everyday and Chad Moeller has been the backup in Posada’s absence.  Moeller remains on the bench for the time being.

Brett Gardner was removed early in Tuesday’s game against the Orioles.  We soon learned after the game that Gardner was suffereing from a sore left thumb.  This was the thumb he broke last season in July when sliding into second base.  After a check swing and the AB that followed, Gardner said he felt a twinge.

“It’s just sore,” says Gardner.  “They said it wouldn’t feel right for close to a year and it’s been like 11 months.  Occasionally I feel it every now and then, and it’s not that bad.  It was a little worse today, so I mentioned something to them.  Better to be safe than sorry.”

Depending on how it feels, Gardner feels positive about playing on Wednesday.

This is the first game in a while that was not about the pitching.  Phil Hughes (8-1) got his eighth win (tied-1st with David Price and Clay Buchholz) of the season in a rocky start.  He went 6 innings and gave up 9 hits and 3 runs.  The numbers aren’t terrible, but most of them came early in the game.  Hughes came to his normal form toward the end of his outing.  He only struck out four on the night.

“The stuff wasn’t great, my command was off,” said Hughes.  “You are going to have those days.  You hope you score some runs.  They were more aggressive and didn’t get too deep.  I made decent pitches when I had to and got a little help from the umpire, too.”

Kevin Millwood pitched for Baltimore.  He entered this game 0-6 with a 4.29 ERA and was looking for his first win of the season.  The Yankees made sure to prevent that and attacked Millwood early.  Derek Jeter got on base with a walk to start the game and Nick Swisher connected with the first pitch he saw and hit it out of the park in center field.  Swisher had a big night at the plate going 3-for-6 with 5 RBI.  Three of those RBI came off a bases clearing double in the seventh inning to make the score 10-3.

“It was a total team effort,” says Swisher.  “It’s nice to get back on track, especially after that Toronto series.”

Curtis Granderson broke the game open in the third inning when the score was just 2-0 Yankees.  He hit a grand slam into right field to make the game 6-0. 

“I was trying to battle with two outs and it paid off,” says Granderson.  “I got good wood on it and it went out of the ballpark.”

Mark Teixeira had a huge night coming out of an 0-for-12 slump.  In his first AB he connected for a single.  In his second AB he hustled after hitting a ball into the teeth of the shift and beat out the throw to first for another single.  He walked two times after that and then in the 7th inning he connected with a two run shot to make the score 12-3 Yankees.

“It was a good game as a team.  Curtis’ (Granderson) big home run got us all going,” says Teixeira.  When asked about himself, Tex said, “Any time you help the team win, it feels good.  It’s all about winning games here.”

“Getting away from it for a day, just being able to relax your mind, I think it helps players a lot,” says Joe Girardi of Teixeira.  “Tex is a professional, but as a player you still want to have those bounce back games.”

“He got a couple of bleeders, man, and that’s what gets you going,” Swisher said of Tex.  “He got the big home run in the game; it’s coming, boys.  It’s coming.”

The only Yankee that seemed to really struggle in this game was Chad Gaudin.  He pitched two innings and gave up five hits and four runs.  He turned a 12-3 lead into a 12-7 one.  He raised his ERA to a 8.53.  If Gaudin keeps these performances up, I would not be surprised if he is DFAed for the second time this season.

Mark Teixeira is notorious for having slow starts to every season, especially in the month of April.  There is not arguement to the fact that this season has so far been his slowest start of his career.  Last year around this time, Teix was hitting .284.  Right now Teixeira is hitting .215 with eight homeruns, 47 hits, 34 RBI, 33 walks, and 45 strikeouts.  Yesterday was his worst game so far this season where he struck out five times in a row.

“I’ve done it before.  Strikouts are part of the game,” says Teix.

I’ve noticed a lot after yesterday’s game that fans and media were suggesting the idea of moving Teixeira down in the lineup from the number three hole.  There is no reason to do this.  Moving Teixeira down in the lineup will not help him or the rest of the team.  You are going to have periods where you’re mentally exhausted as you’re trying to find your swing.  It’s obvoius Teix is going through that right now and moving him will not make it any better.

If you look closer at his numbers, he is really not doing terrible.  His walk rate is higher and strikeout rate is lower than it was at this point just a year ago.  This was a year where he led the American League in homeruns and RBI.  Because of the walks, Teix’s batting average is not where Yankee fans would like to see it.  If Teix moves past the five strikeout game against the Jays and keeps up with the walks, he will find more ball dropping in the strike zone for hits.

I’ve been a Yankee fan my entire life.  I’ll be the first to admit that we are spoiled.  Mark Teixeira has been my favorite player in baseball since 2005 and I felt like I won the lottery when he signed with the Yankees.  I like many Yankee fans welcomed him to the our team with open arms.  Fans love what Teixeira did for our team last season that’s why they are finding it easy to be frustrated with his abnormally slow start this season.  It is frustrating, especially for Teix.  THERE IS NO NEED TO PANIC.

Andy Pettitte and Ricky Romero put on a classic pitchers deul today in Toronto.  Pettitte pitched a solid 7.2 innings, struck out ten, and gave up five hits.  The only two mistakes he made in his whole outing were two homeruns to Vernon Wells in the second inning and Alex Gonzalez in the seventh.  Pettitte also was able to strike out Aaron Hill and Adam Lind three times a piece.  Andy was taken out of the game in the eight inning and was not too pleased with the decision, but did admit however that he was getting tired.

“I definitly didn’t want to come out.  I wanted a chance to stay in there,” says Pettitte.  “I was feeling good.  I felt like I got a little tired in the sixth or seventh.  They were running me back out there real quick in the middle innings, but I guess at my age you need a little bit of a recovery.  I did get a little bit of a breather between one of the last innings and I felt pretty good toward the end.”

Ricky Romero pitched just as well has Pettitte did by pitching eight innings and striking out seven.  Like Andy, Romero also gave up five hits and two runs.

Five relief pitchers were used for the Yankees in this afternoon’s four hour game.  Joba Chamerblain came in the eight inning to get the final out.  He did that by striking out Jose Bautista.  Overall Joba gave up two hits and struck out three.  Damaso Marte pitched two thirds of the tenth inning.  He walked just one and recorded two outs.  David Robertson relieved Marte in the tenth and with one pitch he got one out.  D-Rob also pitched the eleventh inning and gave up just one hit overall.  It’s nice to see Robertson in good health.  Chan Ho Park pitched the 12th and 13th innings and did a fantastic job.  He gave up just one hit, two walks, and struck out three all without giving up a run.  Chad Gaudin pitched the 14th inning and was not so lucky.  He gave up a walk and the Aaron Hill hit that won the game for the Blue Jays.

The pitching was very stellar throughout the entire game as well as some great defensive plays.  In the 5th inning, Mark Teixeira caught a line drive off of Fred Lewis and was able to double up Edwin Encarnacion to save some runs.  The star of the Yankees defense today was Nick Swisher.  In the 3rd inning Swisher caught a long drive to right field.  Swish had to jump on the wall with one foot to collect the catch and prevent a double.  Swisher left his mark on the wall on that play.  The other play Swisher made was in the 10th inning.  A long drive was hit to right center and Swish had to make a leaping catch infront of the Yankee bullpen to get it.  That play kept the game alive for a few more innings.

What didn’t happen for the Yankees today was the offense.  The two runs the Yankees gained in this long game came off of a two run homerun by Derek Jeter in the fifth inning.  Our 3, 4, 5, and 6 hitters, the heart of the lineup, had a lot of issues at the plate.

Mark Teixeira had the biggest struggles of the four.  He hit a fly ball in his first AB and struck out in each of his next five.  He said he just had a tough day at the plate.  It happens.  Teix has struck out five times in a row before.

“It’s just a tough day,” says Joe Girardi.  “It is going to click, and when it does it’s going to be fun.”  Of Teixeira, Rodriguez, Cano, and Posada, they combined going 2-for-24, struck out ten times, and eight LOB. 

One hitter that did makes some noise besides Jeter was Brett Gardner.  He went 2-for-4, walked twice, and scored on the Jeter homerun.  Gardner also stole his 20th base of the season.

“It was long.  I think that’s the best way to describe it,” says Derek Jeter on the game and the pitching.  “It was a well pitched game on both sides.  Unfortunately for us they got the last run.”  When asked about Gaudin’s claim of letting the team down in the last inning Jeter replied, “He can’t blame himself.  We had plenty of opportunities.”

After last postseason and now last night’s what should have been a perfect game for Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers, fans are now asking for more instant replays.  I could not agree more.  I think replays should be used for outs, homeruns, and whether or not a ball stays fair.  Replays should not be used on balls or strikes because no camera angle is accurate enough to see on video tape.

There have been many plays in MLB history that have been questioned, but the rise of miscalls recently are now stirring up an outrage from MLB fans and teams.  A lot of this started in last year’s postseason.

In game 2 of the ALDS (Twins at Yankees), in the top of the 11th inning, I believe it was Joe Mauer who hit a fly ball down the left field line.  It bounced on the ground out of Melky Cabrera’s reach and into the stands.  The umpire working the line called the ball foul.  However, if you look at the replay, the ball was a good 2-3 ft. fair and should have been a ground-rule double.

Some of the most memorable miscalls in the ALCS (Yankees at Angels) came in game 4.  It all started at second base where Nick Swisher was almost picked off and had to scurry back to second base.  When looking at the replay, Swisher was clearly tagged out about a foot away from the bag, but he was called safe.  After Swisher was moved to third base, a Yankee (can’t remember who) hit a fly ball into centerfield.  Swisher tagged and scored at the plate.  Torii Hunter tried to argue that Swisher left the bag too early and Tim McClelland called Swisher out.  If you look at the replay, Swisher did wait for the ball to be caught and Tim McClelland was not even facing Swisher to see if he tagged properly.  Swisher gained momentum to run home before the ball was caught, but his foot left the bag in perfect timing.  Swisher should have been safe and should have had a run in his stats.

The most memorable ALCS moment last year was the bizzare calls at third base with Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano.  Posada was at third trying to score, but got caught up and tried to run back to third base.  However, Cano had already made his way to third and they were both standing there.  Angels’ catcher Mike Napoli tagged both of the runners out.  After Cano was tagged, he quickly put his foot on the base and Tim McClelland called Cano safe and Posada out.  It was clear, however, that Cano was also out.  McClelland claims Posada was in his way and could not see around him if Cano’s foot was on the bag or not.  I think McClelland just was not paying attention to Cano.

There was a play earlier this season where Curtis Granderson went to make a diving catch in centerfield.  The second base umpire said that the ball hit the ground before it went into Curtis’ glove.  However, if you look at the replay, it is clear that the ball landed directly into Granderson’s glove.

And finally, we go to last night’s heartbreaking sight of what to me is a perfect game.  Armando Galarraga was about to make history by becoming the 21st pitcher in MLB history to pitch a perfect game.  With two outs in the bottom of the 9th, Jason Donald ground to second.  Miguel Cabrera collected to ball and threw it to Galarraga who was covering the bag.  Donald was out by a foot, but Jim Joyce called him safe.  This is an event that is tragically taken away.  Galarraga will most likely never have an opportunity to pitch another perfect game and to have this one taken away is just heartbreaking.  Because there are no instant replays, the call could not be overturned then and there.

A lot of people have feared, however, that by allowing more instant replays will “open pandora’s box.”  I do not think that this will be the case.  MLB allows replays on homeruns and managers can’t demand them like football coaches can have challenges.  Managers can ask for the umpires to look at the replay.  I think this rule should stay in effect and allow managers to also ask for replays on outs and fair balls.  If you want to give managers an opportunity to demand it, they should be allowed two challeges.  I’m not trying to make baseball sound like football now, but these things might be taken into effect.