MY BASEBALL BIAS

N.Y. Yankees (17-18) vs. Cleveland (16-17)
1:05 PM ET
CLE: Byrd (1-2, 3.74)
NYY: Mussina (4-3, 4.23)

Game Notes:

• The Yankees need a win in the worst way. That’s the only game note.

Back with a wrap when this one is finished.

Giambi’s AB’s:

• DID NOT PLAY

Cano’s AB’s:

• 2nd: Groundout: 2B-1B (2B-1B). 0-1 (1 pitch)
• 5th: Single to RF (Fly Ball to Short CF-RF). 1-2 (6 pitches)
• 7th: Groundout: 1B-P (2B-1B). 1-3 (4 pitches)
• 8th: Flyball: LF. 1-4 (8 pitches)

Today’s match-up: Paul Byrd, RHP (1-2, 3.74)

Giambi (career) vs. Byrd: 5-16 (.313) | 0 2B | 3 HR | 4 RBI | 2 BB | 3 SO
Cano (career) vs. Byrd: 2-10 (.200) | 1 2B | 1HR | 1 RBI | 1 SO

W: C Lee (6-0), L: C Wang (6-1), S: R Betancourt (4)

Cliff Lee dominated on Wednesday night in the Bronx. He was a strike throwing machine with pinpoint control. Chien-Ming Wang didn’t pitch all that badly, but he obviously had some control problems with three free passes. But the story was Lee who gave up 6 hits over seven innings while striking out seven batters. He was simply stellar.

The Yankees couldn’t get anything going offensively and only Bobby Abreu managed a multi-hit game with a single and a double. The Yankees pushed only one runner to third base the whole night. Clearly they are missing Posada and A-Rod having not scored a single run in their last fourteen innings.

The early part of this season is becoming very reminiscent of last season when the Yankees got off to a horrendous start due to injuries in the pitching staff. This time, two of their offensive powerhouses are on the bench and you can obviously see that they’re a different team without them in the lineup.

Game Notes:

• Hideki Matsui extended his hit streak to 16 games.
• Kyle Farnsworth pitched another scoerless inning on Tuesday night.

Today’s matchup:

Yankee Stadium | 1:05 PM ET
Mike Mussina, RHP (4-3, 4.23) vs. Paul Byrd, RHP (1-2, 3.74)

Game Notes:

• No Jason Giambi tonight. Girardi wants the righty Shelley Duncan facing the lefty Cliff Lee. Giambi is 3-10 with a homer and a double against Lee.
• According to PeteAbe, A-Rod has a plan in place for his rehab. If all goes well, he should be back with the team next Wednesday in Tampa.
• Great pitching match-up tonight as Chien-Ming Wang, RHP (6-0, 3.00) opposes Cliff Lee, LHP (5-0, 0.96) at the stadium. Should be a great game.

Back later with a round-up of tonight’s game and a Race for the Mendoza Line update on Cano and Giambi.

Tune in tonight as bloggers Anthony of the Oriole Post and Ian of Sox and Dawgs join me for the very popular hour long baseball show called, “The Hits Keep Coming” brought to you by MLBFrontOffice.com on Blog Talk Radio. Every week at 7PM Eastern Time (6PM Central/ 5PM Mountain/ 4PM Western/Pacific) we chat, analyze and comment about the world of Major League Baseball.

This week: A look back at the month of April in Major League Baseball

If you’d like to call in, the phone number is 718-664-6564 or you can send us an instant message if you use AOL IM at hitskeepcoming20.

Please join us at : http://blogtalkradio.com/oriolepost - 7 PM Eastern Time tonight!

Topics to be discussed this evening:

• A look back at the month of April
• Who’s hot, who’s not
• Big names on the disabled list

You can listen to last week’s show by going over to the sidebar on the left and look for the MLB Front Office section.

Saw this little tidbit over Chad Jennings’s blog on pitcher Humberto Sanchez who continues to work his way back from Tommy John surgery. He asked minor league pitching coordinator Nardi Contreras about his progress -

Throwing bullpen sessions, but Contreras said he’s not at 45 pitches yet. Forty five is an important number because if the Yankees are going to use Sanchez as a starter, they want him throwing at least 45 pitches before they let him pitch to hitters. If he’s a reliever, he can start at 35 pitches. It has been my understanding that Sanchez will work as a reliever, at least that’s what I was told this spring, but Contreras made it sound as though that’s not set in stone. He obviously didn’t go into specifics — to be expected because the Yankees rarely go into specifics with this kind of thing — but it sounds like Sanchez could be — could be — fairly close to pitching in games.

I would like to see the Yankees develop him as a starter because of the depth the system has in relievers. Not sure if they’ll do this, but it seems like the organization is still taking a wait and see approach on the power righty who came over from Detroit in the Gary Sheffield deal.

There are also updates on Erik Hacker, Jeff Karstens, Zach McAllister, Chris Garcia, Mark Melancon, Chase Wright, Daniel McCutchen and Sean Henn.

Lots of talk today about Ian Kennedy’s start last night in Scranton. If you want an inning by inning breakdown of his outing, go no further than Chad Jennings. He also has a post-wrap on Kennedy with some quotes.

Here are a few interesting things Kennedy had to say last night about his start -

“I’m trying to say it humbly, but it doesn’t matter what I say, it’s going to come out cocky,” he said. “You just know. I woke up today and told my wife, I just have a feeling I’m going to make these guys look stupid.”

“It felt like it was getting better and better the last two outings, and then I got called into the office and told I was coming here,” Kennedy said. “I knew it was time, one of these times it was going to come out and I was going to have an outing like this, because I know it’s in me.”

“I just felt like I could do no wrong,” Kennedy said. “Whether it was 2-0, I didn’t care, I could place a fastball away. I’ve been working on it every start, getting my mind set in the big leagues. I felt like I was getting better and better every time. It just led up to this. It was inevitable for me to do well. It was just a matter of time.”

“It’s not so much here, it’s that I know what I can do,” he said. “That was the main thing I was battling with (in New York). It goes back to trying to be too perfect. You’re giving them too much credit in the big leagues. These guys in Triple-A aren’t much different. They could be big leaguers tomorrow, and some of them have played in the big leagues. It’s not so much the hitters, it’s myself.”

I guess Kennedy doesn’t believe there’s much of a difference between Major League hitters and AAA hitters. I happen to think he’s wrong, but at least he’s gaining some confidence back.

Brian Cashman, who was in attendance, had some words on Kennedy -

“He was terrific, and he was going in the right direction his last start especially, against the Tigers. To mentally regroup, come down here and take care of his business like he knows he can, and like he has the ability to do, was also a great sign. He knows he’s got to work through it and we’re going to wait for him in New York. He’s going to have to get the job done to get there, but we’re waiting on that. We know what he’s capable of doing. It’s just a matter of getting all his pitches going in the right direction and pounding the zone with them, and letting the rest take care of itself. And he did that tonight.”

Sounds like Cash-money wants him to get at least one or two more starts at Scranton before they call him back up. Joe Girardi mentioned last Friday that the plan is for Kennedy to get at least two starts. I think it’s a good idea. If they can get through another week with giving Kei Igawa only one start and then bringing Kennedy back up, I think a storm has been weathered. Of course Darrell Rasner has to continue to pitch effectively as well.

W: R Perez (1-1), L: J Chamberlain (1-2), S: R Betancourt (3)

With the Yankees holding on to a 3-2 lead in the eighth inning, it looked like they were headed to their fourth straight win after a sweep of Seattle this past weekend. Not so fast. Joba Chamberlain entered the game in a situation that he’s succeeded in time and time again. On this night however, he couldn’t get it done.

It all began with a leadoff walk to Sizemore on six pitches. Jamey Carroll bunted Sizemore over to second, but Joba once again walked another Indian to put two on with one out. After getting Ryan Garko to fly out to right, Eric Wedge called upon David Dellucci - he of the nine career pinch-hit homers - to face Chaberlain with two on and two out. He turned on an inside fast ball and hit it out to right. 5-2 Indians just like that. Mo, you may sit down now.

Everyone was saying it was bound to happen seeing that Chamberlain had never given up a run at Yankee Stadium. Joe Girardi even mentioned that in the long run it would make him a better pitcher. That may be true, but this loss hurt really bad. The Yankees had a chance to climb two games over .500 for only the second time this season. Instead, they find themselves 4.5 games back of a surging Red Sox club that can do no wrong at the moment.

Joba knows better than to give up two walks in an inning. Sometimes you just don’t have your best stuff, I understand that. But he shook off Jose Molina’s signs in every at-bat and it cost him. Instead of attacking hitters, he tried to get them to chase his off-speed stuff and it cost him and the Yankees the game.

GAME NOTES

• I thought Andy Pettitte pitched extremely well last night. He went 6.1 innings (104 pitches), walked one and struck out six. He continues to battle on the mound every time out and you can see the determination to pitch deep into games. If only the Yankees could score a few more runs.
• Hideki Matsui was 3-3 with a walk and rasied his season average to .342. He’s doing a nice job in the cleanup role for the team while A-Rod is out. He also has a 15 game hitting streak going.

Tonight’s matchup:

Yankee Stadium |7:05 PM ET
Chien-Ming Wang, RHP (6-0, 3.00) vs. Cliff Lee, LHP (5-0, 0.96)

Giambi’s AB’s:

• 1st: Grounded into fielder’s choice to first, Jeter scored, Matsui out at second, Abreu to third. 0-1
• 4th: Doubled to deep left, Matsui scored. 1-2
• 5th: Walk. 1-2
• 7th: Struck out. 1-3

Cano’s AB’s:

• 2nd: Grounded out to pitcher. 0-1
• 4th: Singled to shallow left, Giambi scored. 1-2
  
• 6th: Flied out to left. 1-3
• 8th: Grounded out to first. 1-4

Tommorrow’s match-up: Cliff Lee, LHP (5-0, 0.96)

Giambi (career) vs. Lee: 3-10 (.300) | 1 2B | 1 HR | 5 RBI | 1 BB | 3 SO
Cano (career) vs. Lee: 1-10 (.100) | 1 RBI | 2 SO

2008 New York Yankees 25-Man Roster
Updated every Monday Tuesday

WEEK #5: Monday, April 28 - Sunday, May 4

KEY:

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