Introducing your American League East Division Champions: New York Yankees!

And what a suprise it is! The Yankees weren't supposed to win anything in 2011. This was the off season when the rival Red Sox started spending like the Yakees and making all of the important aquisitions (Adrian Gonzales and Carl Crawford for $296 million). This was the off season where the Yankees failed to sign front line starting pitcher Cliff Lee despite throwing ridicuous money at him and also lost veteran Andy Pettitte to retirement. This was the off season in which the Yankees most important signings were Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia. The Yankees had alot of blanks to fill and their biggest signing was someone who the General Manager didn't even want to sign ($36 million for Rafael

1. The announcement was made official today that Javy Vasquez is going to be skipped for his start on Friday night in Boston. This move really is troublesome to me. In my opinion 3 to 4 days off is not what ails Vasquez at this point. Not to mention, the Yankees are off to a blistering start and can afford to trot him out there every 5 days. Your paying this guy $11.5 million so obviously it is in the Yankees best interest to make this work and get Vasquez turned around. Is he really gonna get turned around by missing a start against Boston on the road than facing a better hitting team in Detroit? His best chance of getting it going is on the road anyhow so why not let him throw in Boston?

2. The offense is playing very well through the first week of May. Jeter and Cano (.321 and.371

Yankees Notes through 8 Games:

I spent an early season moment in thought today. It was completely unfamiliar territory but I wanted to mention some things I've noticed through 8 games. The Yankees so far, while playing to a 5-3 record, have hardly played their best baseball. The starting pitching has been hit or miss and half the line up isn't hitting yet.

CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett and Andy Pettitte have all pitched well in their first 2 outings. Together they've won 5 out of their 6 starts. Javier Vazquez has pitched poorly in both of his starts but it's really too soon to make any conclusions about him. Although watching today's game, you could hear some boos. Not a good sign! The bullpen has also pitched well for the most part and kept the Yankees in some close games.

Robinson Cano,

Just a few things I picked up on from the first series of the season:

1. As I've been saying since the end of last season "Brett Gardner should be the everyday left fielder!" He showed why in this series by going 3 for 9 with 2 stolen bases (including one of home on a double steal)! Even in the third game, where he went 0 for 3, he showed his value by drawing a walk in the 10th inning, stealing second base after seeing about 8 throw overs and a pitch out! And predictably he scored an insurance run for the Yankees.

2. Joba belongs in the bullpen after all. This wasn't a difficult concept to pick up on. He has the mindset of a reliever, not to mention it suits his stuff better. His velocity picked up into the mid 90's with regularity. Chan Ho Park and Alfredo Aceves both showed the difference