While you were away...

Hey. Remember me? I used to write stuff once upon a yesterweek. That was before I was stricken with a deadly illness commonly referred to as "finalitis." It was a long, rough road to recovery, but I am pleased to inform all three of my fans that I am back, and this time I am here to say. With a new summer comes a new Bullfrog, an excuse-free, responsible, on-top-of-matters Bullfrog who will not let you down. And you can take that one to the bank. Yep. I went there.


SO...with that said, it's time to play catch up. Since my last game/series-related post about the White Sox series, the pinstripes have swept the O's in three at home, took 2 of 3 from the Red Sox in Fenway, dropped 3 of 4 against the Tigers in Detroit, nabbed 2 of 3 off the Twins at the Stadium, split a 2-game series with Boston, were swept by the Rays in another random 2-game series, lost 2 of 3 to the Mets at Citi, and repeated a 2-of-3 series victory at the brand new Target Field in Minnesota. Granderson went down on May 1st with a groin injury, Johnson exited the stage on May 8th with a sore wrist, Posada broke a foot and was disabled on May 17th, Swisher missed a couple of games around the same time, and Pettitte and Mo have even been hampered with pesky ailments this past month that can only be attributed to old age. Yet despite these injuries and some woeful fill-in performances by the likes of Marcus Thames (save his one game-winning homer) and Randy Winn (who was recently cut from the squad), the Yanks stood at 13-12 in the month of May coming into this weekend's home series against Cleveland. Shall we?



GAME 1: Indians 2, Yankees 8

Box Score



Let's face it kids. If it weren't for the offensive efforts of Robinson Cano, this club would be in a lot worse shape than they are right now. He's the only Yankee currently leading the All-Star voting who actually deserves to be there, as he stands atop all second baseman with a .359 batting average (2nd in the bigs), 66 hits (also 2nd in bigs), 34 RBIs, 112 total bases (3rd in the majors), a slugging percentage of .604, and is tied for the lead in on-base percentage with Chase Utley at .403. Damn. Indeed, it was Robby's grand slam in the seventh inning of this game of Tony Sipp that proved to be the deal sealer. Cano did his best to wreck my never-swing-at-the-first-pitch-with-the-bases-loaded theory by homering on Sipp's first offering, a fat, flat, hanging curve ball that ended up in the mezzanine section of right field. Hey, with results like that, I don't mind being wrong. A-Rod was given the day off, so Girardi decided to bump Cano into the clean-up spot for the first time in his career. A smart choice by Joe, although with Robby hitting the way he has been, it was pretty much a no-brainer.



The bombers lit up the scoreboard early off Nick Swisher's towering drive to right field, a second-inning blast that banked off the top of the foul pole to give New York a 2-0 edge over starter Fausto Carmona and the last-place Tribe. Apparently, he, Cano, and hitting coach Kevin Long had been working on quickness inside, and it certainly showed in that at-bat. After the Indians countered with a run off Johnny Peralta's two-out double in the fourth, the Cano/Swish combo answered in the sixth with back-to-back singles to load the bases. Random call-up/DH Juan Miranda's walk and Brett Gardner's sacrifice fly plated two more to stretch the lead to three. Slugger Russell Branyon always seems to find a way to tag Yankee pitching at least once, and he did so off Hughes in the seventh with a solo homer to make it 4-2. But Cano worked his grand-slam magic in the bottom end of the frame and that was all she wrote.



This was a big game for the young Phil Hughes. The power righty made it look easy in his first six starts this season, allowing just 6 runs on 22 hits and 1 home run. However, in his previous two coming into Friday's contest, letting up 5 runs in 5.0 innings to the Red Sox and 4 runs in 5.2 innings to the Mets. Hughes admitted that he was struggling to put batters away in those starts when he had two strikes on them, as well as to end innings where he had two outs. To be sure, if there is one weakness in his game, it is his lack of a consistent out pitch. He has a great get-ahead pitch in the fastball, which has had tremendous late life through the zone all year. But he has been erractic at times with the command of his curve ball and very reluctant to use the change, a pitch that he had supposedly worked on over the off-season.



As it turns out, he didn't really need the curve or the change-up in this outing. His rising four-seamer and a surprisingly effective cut-fastball were enough to get the job done. After striking out the first five Cleveland batters he faced, Phil went on to post a 7.0-inning, 5-hit, 2-run line en route to his 6th win of 2010. He did an outstanding job of working the fastball in all areas of the zone, chaning eye levels and throwing hard inside when necessary. The cutter boring into the hands of lefties was a valuable weapon, and if he can get that pitch going, we could be witnessing the birth of a Yankee legend this year. Too soon? Sue me. Phil did look like he was laboring around pitch 95 in the seventh, but he battled through the Branyon homer to finish the inning. And that is exactly what great pitchers do.



In other notable news, Curtis Granderson returned to the line-up from that nasty groin pull and contributed a double and walk in his first game since May 1st. It's good to see him back in action, especially when you consider the lack of offensive and defensive production the Yanks have been getting from his replacements. Plus Gardner is starting to revert back to his usual, I'm-a-fly-ball-hitter-despite-my-tremendous-speed ways, so they're really in need of some pop from the back end of the lineup. Grandy is gonna have to find a way to hit left-handed pitching though (batting in the .160 range so far this year), else that trade might go down as the worst one Cashman and the front office have made in a long time. For those who don't know, Grandy was acquired from the Tigers in a deal that sent prospect Austin Jackson (hitting .328) and Phil Coke (3-0 with a 3.22 ERA and 2 holds) to Detroit. Time will tell I suppose, but for now, let's hope the double off of southpaw Sipp is a sign of good things to come. Lord knows Tex and A-Rod ain't doing squat.



Game MVP: Robinson Cano

Honorable Mention: Phil Hughes





GAME 2: Indians 13, Yankees 11

Box Score

WOOOOOWWW. My whole game 2 post got deleted. Thanks Blogger. I'm way to pissed off to write it again. Guess I'll have a go at it tomorrow....