CC struggles, Yanks lose opener 8-2

photo courtesy of NY Daily News

After losing over 100 home runs in the offseason, and having stars such as Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodiriguez on the disabled list, pitching was supposed to be the strong suit for the Yankees this season.

That was not the case on Monday, as the Yankees fell on opening day to the Red Sox, 8-2 in front of 49,514 at Yankee stadium.

Yankees starter C.C. Sabathia had another poor outing on opening day, giving up 4 runs on 8 hits, and 4 walks in just 5 innings.

In 5 opening day starts for the Yanks, Sabathia has yet to come away victorious. He is 0-2 in his 5 starts, with a whopping 7.43 era.

Sabathia has started slow in the past, and usually doesn't reach his full potential until mid season, but his lack of velocity has some cause for concern. Sabathia, who had offseason surgery to remove a bone spur in his elbow, failed to reach his average midseason velocity of 95 mph in Mondays start. His fastball ranged from 89.9 to 91.7 mph, and he relied heavily on his off-speed pitches as he threw 33 changeups compared to 35 fastballs.

C. C. didn't seem worried about his velocity, stating that his elbow and shoulder feel fine. He has been a workhorse since he entered the league with Cleveland, and has pitched four straight 200 plus inning seasons for the Yankees.

His age, 32 years old, and his 2,569 career innings, indicate that eventually his production will decline. Of course it's just one game, and being a notorious slow starter could have something to do with it, but the question is a valid one. Was Monday the start of that decline? We'll have to wait and see.

Say it ain't so, Mo: Is Mariano Rivera on the Decline?

How does a guy have a 17+ year Hall of Fame career by throwing only one pitch? Easy. That pitch has to be really, really, really good.

New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera has been terrifying hitters throughout his whole career with his magnificent cut fastball. Mariano consistently throws the pitch in the low 90 mph range, usually 89-92 mph.

Now there are many big leaguers who throw in the mid to high 90's, who have had no where near the success that Mo has had (see Kyle Farnsworth). But it's not the velocity that makes Mo's cutter so special, it's that late movement and the consistent pin point accuracy that he has shown throughout his career. Wherever the catcher puts the target, that's where his pitch goes.

Mariano's lack of consistent accuracy is what has had him struggling in recent outings. Now every time he has a couple of bad outings, critics want to announce that he is on the decline (rightfully so, considering he is 41 years old and has to come back down to earth at some time).   He'll usually bounce back and have some crazy scoreless inning streak or a long stretch where he doesn't blow a save. The streaks usually shut everyone up for a little while, until he blows a save against the rival Red Sox in a late season situation.

Rivera has struggled in his last two outings, in which he blew a save against the Red Sox on Sunday Night Baseball, and gave up a two run home  run (his second of the year) to former Yankee Bobby Abreu in the top of the 9th inning in a tie game against the Angels. When interviewed after the Angels game, Rivera said the pitch he threw to Abreu "just didn't cut."

Rivera's cutter hasn't been as sharp as it has been in previous seasons. Just look at the batting average for left handed batters in the past 4 seasons. In 2008, LHB were hitting .147. In 2009, they were hitting .182. In 2010, the number increased again to .214. This season, left handed batters are hitting .267 including last night (2-3).

Rivera also has been struggling putting away batters with 2 strikes on them. He already has given up almost double the amount of hits in favorable two-strike counts (0-2, 1-2, 2-2) this season, 16 hits, as he did last season,  9 hits.

Mariano, at 41 years of age, is still considered one of the best closers in baseball, but his numbers have slowly declined in recent years, showing his human side. It will be a sad sight in New York when Mariano has to step down. The Yankees are going to have some HUGE shoes to fill when that day comes.  Of course no one expects him to pitch forever, but lets hope he can find his accuracy and finish his career with the precision and perfection that he has shown throughout his storied career. Until that day, enjoy watching one of the greatest pitchers of all time.

A Tale Of Two Injuries

The Yankees and Mets have absolutely nothing in common except for the city they share, until now. As of this past weekend both teams have starters that have been placed on the DL, not aces but starters that could make a difference for their respective clubs. In case you've been living under a rock or need a refresher allow me to break it down. For the pinstripes Phil Hughes was spot on in last years ALDS giving up 4 hits in 7 scoreless innings helping the Yankees sweep the Minnesota Twins and the bronx bombers hoped they'd see more of that this season...we'll they haven't. In 3 games started this year Hughes posted a record of 0-1 with a 13.94 ERA while allowing 16 earned runs. Critics have blamed the velocity or lack there of on Hughes pitches and has elected to head to the DL rather than be demoted to Scranton.

On the other side of town Chris Young is headed to the DL with right bicep tendinitis, arguably the Mets best pitcher this season. In 2 starts he's given up 2 runs on 6 hits in 12 innings (note: I chose not to post Youngs W-L due to the lack of support the rest of the team has given him in his starts, go figure). Now which one of these teams need their injured starter worse? I think this ones cut and dry: the Metropolitans.

The Yankees needed a solid start until Freddy Garcia came to the rescue on saturday pitching an absolute gem in what was a breath of fresh air, not that the starting rotation has been horrible but nobody has showed the domination that Garcia did to this point in the season for the bombers. A.J. Burnett has won all three of his starts this season and although CC's record hasnt show it, he has held down his side of the deal thus far. With Bartolo Colon making his first start since the 09' season in place of Hughes, the Yankees should be alright without him but the Mets have bigger issues.

The "Ace" (and I use that term loosely) for the Mets Mike Pelfrey has averaged 4 innings per start and has given up 18 earned runs this season. Even though the Chris Youngs injury is short term as tendinitis if treated properly is not serious, it could not have come at a worse time. The Mets are losers of 7 of their last 8 games and need a rock in the rotation. Every game started has Mets fans holding their breath and without Young to provide some relief (no pun intended) even more pressure falls on the shoulders of R.A. Dickey who hasn't pitched bad but unless Dickey is going to start 5 days a week for your club, it might be time to start exploring some options with the status of Johan Santanas return changing on a week to week basis.

Hughes put on 15-day DL with dead arm

In response to my story from yesterday, the Yankees have placed Phil Hughes on the 15 day disabled list with what they're calling a "dead arm." Obviously there was something wrong after his last start on Thursday. Hughes will continue to long toss to try and strengthen his arm and hopes to be ready to pitch when he comes off the DL.

Taking Hughes' place in the starting rotation will be Bartolo Colon. Colon has pitched well out of the bullpen, and hopes to take advantage of the opportunity to presented to show he is still a viable starting pitcher. Colon lost out to Freddy Garcia in the battle for the Yankees 5th rotation spot during the spring.

Lance Pendleton was promoted from Triple A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to take Hughes' roster spot and will take Colon's spot in the bullpen as the long man. Pendleton retired all 9 batters he faced in 3 innings of work on Friday night in his first appearance in the big leagues.

Hughes Continues to Struggle as Yanks Win

Phil Hughes struggled again last night, only lasting 4 and 1/3 innings and giving up 5 runs. He has given up 5 runs in his first 3 starts.  His consistently touched 90mph on the gun, which means his velocity is back, but he still struggled with location and with finishing guys off. Hughes only has 3 strikeouts this season in 3 starts.

Originally, his velocity was deemed to be the problem, as he had trouble reaching the 90mph mark. After last night in which he did get the gun up in the low 90’s and still struggled, there is a cause for concern as to what else is wrong. Maybe he was rearing back yesterday, trying to show his critics that he could get back into the low 90’s, and in turn making his control and location suffer. If it was just 3 starts, people wouldn’t be so worried, but Hughes struggled for the second half of the season last year after getting off to a tremendous start.

Bartolo Colon again had a solid outing coming out of the bullpen last night, as he pitched 3 scoreless innings, keeping the game close, and allowing the Yankees to stage a comeback. People are quick to name Colon as the replacement for Hughes in the starting rotation, but coming into a game down 5-0 comes with a lot less pressure than starting a game. Colon did pitch well, throwing strikes and allowing 3 hits while striking out 3, but at 38 years old, I believe he is best suited in the role that he is in now. An innings eater that can help you stay in the game if your starter struggles. Hughes should get at least one to two more starts, and if he has the same problems, than the talk of replacing him will be justifiable. Yankee fans are always quick to judge, as Hughes received some boos while walking off the mound, but the kid deserves some more chances to work out the kinks.

As for the rest of the game, the Yankee bats took until the 5^th inning to get a hit, and they continued to chip away at the 5-0 deficit, leading to a Jorge Posada HR in the bottom of the 9^th inning to tie the game at 5. The game went into extra innings and Mark Teixeira led off the 10^th inning with a walk. After  a double by Alex Rodriguez and a line out by Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher came up to the plate needing just a sacrifice fly to get the run in. Swisher hit a fairly deep pop to right, giving Teixeira ample time to make it home on the tag up to win the game. Swisher got the post game ritual pie to the face, and all was well in Yankee land after struggling for most of the game.

Now most would call Posada’s game tying Hr or Swisher’s walk off sacrifice fly as the play of the game, but the real play of the game came from Joba Chamberlain. Joba entered the game replacing Bartolo Colon in the 8^th inning with men on first and third and one out. Joba proceeded to throw one of his nasty sliders that got away from catcher Russell Martin, and speedy Felix Pie broke for the plate. Chamberlain sprinted home to cover for Martin, who chased after the ball, as Pie sprinted down the line and was on the verge of touching home plate. Joba made a phenomenally smart baseball play, a fundamental that we are all taught as youngsters,  but most players rarely carry out, he used his leg and foot to block off home plate from Pie, giving Martin more time to get him the ball. Joba then applied the tag on Pie as Felix tried to get around Joba’s big frame. Most of the fans in the stadium thought he was safe at first glance, because Pie beat the ball by at least a step. When fans saw the umpire signal that Pie was out, the Stadium was first perplexed, and then erupted in cheers. Only after seeing the slow motion replay did the fans see what an exceptional play that Joba made, and then gave him a standing ovation. Now for a catcher, that is a routine play, but for a pitcher running full speed from the mound to have the wherewithal to block the plate, that is rarely witnessed. Without that play, the Yanks would have been down 2 runs, and who knows what the outcome could’ve been. But if it would’ve played out the same way, Posada’s HR would’ve been meaningless, and the Orioles would’ve come away with the victory.

If the bullpen continues to pitch well and make plays, the Yanks should be able to stay afloat until the starting pitching comes around. The 7^th, 8^th 9^th inning combo of JoSoMo ( Joba, Soriano, Mariano) is one if not the best in baseball. This shortens the game to 6 innings as these guys are almost guaranteed to have a solid outing. If the starters can get you 6 quality innings every outing, the Yanks will be in good shape for the rest of the season.