Series Wrap - vs. Angels 4/13 - 4/15

Game One
The season officially began Friday afternoon, as the Yankees played their first game at Yankee Stadium in 2012. Erick Aybar led off the game with a single on Kuroda's 2nd pitch, and a loud moan could be heard eminating from the Bronx, as fans thought they could be in for another tough outing from one of the newest Yankees. Fortunately Bobby Abreu and Albert Pujols followed that up with a couple fly balls, and Kendry Morales strike out, to end the early threat. After that Hiro looked really good, as he only needed 109 pitches to get through 8+ innings, giving up 5 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 6. After a bitch hit by Abreu (a slow ground ball to Jeter), Robertson came into the game to get Pujols to ground sharply into a DP, followed by a strikeout to Kendry Morales, to look down the 4th win in a row.

As for the bats things also started shaky, but turned out okay soon afterwards. Back to back strikeouts from Jeter and Granderson had me thinking we could be in for a tough one, as Ervin Santana looked to be dealing. But a single by ARod, back to back walks to Cano and Teixeira, and a bases-clearing double by Swisher made that thought go away. The following inning looked to be another good one for Yankee fans, as Martin was at 3rd and Gardner at 1st with 0 outs. Unfortunately Brett was picked off of 1B, in what may have been the first time I've seen the "fake to 3rd and throw to 1st" move work for a pitcher. The Yanks ended up with nothing after that, when Jeter grounded out and Granderson kKd. ARod tagged one over the CF wall for his 1st homer of the year, and Granderson delivered a Yankee Stadium special with a ball over the short porch in RF. Not much happened offensively after that, but as you saw in the previous paragraph, it was more than enough for the Yankees to move to 4-3.

Game Two
Phil Hughes started Game 2, trying to bounce-back from a poor performance against the Rays last Sunday, when he put up a line of 4.2IP, 2R (both earned), 2BB, 5K, and 1HR. Not horrible, but the fact he needed 99 pitches to get there was the biggest issue. Could he be more effecient this this time around? Well, he started off the game getting Erick Aybar to fly out to Granderson in CF, but that was followed up by back-to-back singles by Howard Kendrick and Albert Pujols. Not a good start for Hughes and the Yankees, however fans felt better after Phil struck out Kendrys Morales and Torii Hunter to end the early threat. Unfortunately it was the 25 pitches thrown that worried me, as it looked like the bullpen was going to be treated line a greenhorn aboard one of the boats on the Deadliest Catch. It was 2-0 after Chris Iannetta hit a Yankee Stadium special about 315 feet, which was preceded by a single off the bat of Vernon Wells. The good news was that Hughes struck out two more batters this inning, but besides the 2 runs scored, the bad news was that Phil needed to throw another 21 pitches. The 3rd inning didn't go well either, as Kendrick singled, then scored on a Pujols double. Again, Hughes did strikeout another hitter, but needed 22 pitches to get through that inning. Phil threw 16 more pitches in the 4th, which sounds good, except for the fact he walked Iannetta, Bourjos singled, and Kendrick hit a 3 run bomb to put the Angels up 6-0. A strikeout was in there, but Girardi called up on David Phelps. David ended up pitching beautifully, allowing only 1 hit (a solo HR by Wells), 2 walks, and striking out 4 (the lone hit/run was a solo-HR by Wells in the 5th).

Not much to talk about when it came to the offense on Saturday, as the team could only put one run on the board, thanks to three singles by Nunez, Jeter, and Cano in the 5th. After that RBI by Cano the Yankees had ARod and Teixeira coming up with only 1 out, but another #RISPFAIL by both of them left the Yankee faithful wanting (imagine Count Adhemar smirking at the Yankee bats). The only good news came from an unsurprising name... Derek Jeter. On top of his single in the 5th, The Captain led off his 5th game with a base hit. At that point Jeter was hitting .361 in 2012, but 6 of his 11 hits this season have come off lefties (only 10 at bats), and unfortunately the Yankees will likely see many more RHPs than LHPs from here on out. So his .238 batting average so far this season vs. RHPs is sure to hurt him.

Game Three
Although this wasn't the most impressive start we've seen from Ivan "Super" Nova, this game was further proof of what I said last week regarding Ivan being the "rock" of the Yankees' starting rotation [link]. A triple by Howie Kendrick (who went 6/10 in the two games he played in the series) didn't rattle Nova at all, as Pujols lined out followed by Torii Hunter striking out. Even after getting into trouble in the 2nd inning, where he gave up a HR to Mark Trumbo, which was followed up with singles by Maicer Izturis and Chris Iannetta. Nova was able to get Erick Aybar to ground out to end the threat. And in the 3rd inning Ivan struck out the side. The Angels were able to score two more runs in the 5th, thanks to a two-run Yankee Stadium Special by Chris Iannetta (again), then one run in each of the 6th and 7th innings. But honestly, there wasn't a time where I felt uneasy with Nova out there. Of course, the 8 runs scored by the Yankee offense surely helped me feel that way, but it's rare that I'd feel good about a final line of 6 IP, 8 H, 4 R (all earned), 2 BB, 8 K, and 2 HR, from a Yankee starter.

I'll tell you what did bug me though... 2 hits, 1 earned run, and 2 walks given up by Rafael Soriano in only .2 innings (he can thank David Robertson for bailing him out). Thankfully D-Rob went 1.1 innings, giving up only 1 hit (but no strikeouts... wow), while Boone Logan came into the 9th and only allowed a walk, striking out 3. I have to take a minute to point out that the Yankee bullpen has started off this season in really impressive fashion. In 31 innings pitched, the 'pen has put up an ERA of only 2.03, along with a WHIP of 1.13, giving up an OPS of only .566, while striking out 41 batters. Although it's not like the bullpen was bad at all last season, when it finished with the best ERA in the American League (3.12), but fans should not look beyond the work our relievers are doing.

Seeing as how the team scored 11 runs in the game, it shouldn't surprise anybody that every hitter for the Bombers reached base. In fact, Russell Martin was the only Yankee not to get a hit, but he did walk twice in the game, raising his OBP so far this season to .455 (that's the only batting stat you want to see when it comes to Martin, though). Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, Mark Teixeira, and Raul Ibanez each had two hits. Jeter and Ibanez homered for the good guys... Raul's being a rare upper deck shot to RF, which even made my roommate (who's not a baseball fan) say "wow". My favorite hitting stat from this game deals with hitting with runners in scoring position, where the team has struggled, in which they were 5-for-13. If only the team could bat .385 the whole season with RISP.


Series Awards

Jake Taylor Award*
Derek Jeter - 5/14, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 2B, 1 HR

Gentry Award*
Russell Martin - 1/7, 1 R, 3 BB (has not had an extra base hit yet this season)

Rick Vaughn Award*
Hiroki Kuroda - Game 1: 8+ IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K

Kelner Award*
Phil Hughes - Game 2: 3.1 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 6 K, 2 HR


Next Series
vs. Twins 4/16 - 4/19
Click here to talk about the series at the Daily Sports Pages Yankees forum.
--------------------
*The awards are named after one of the best baseball movies of all time... Major League.

Jake Taylor Award - Awarded to the most valuable position player. Named after the hard-nose veteran catcher that, despite making the league minimum, was the heart and soul of the 1989 American League East winning Cleveland Indians.

Gentry Award - Awarded to the least valuable position player. Named after the very first man cut from the 1989 Cleveland Indians, #47 Gentry. A man so insignificant he wasn't even given a first name.

Rick Vaughn - Awarded to the best pitcher in the series. This one is, of course, named after the "Wild Thing". The man that made Clu Haywood look silly in the division deciding game.

Kelner Award - Awarded to the worst pitcher in the series. Named after the Opening Day starter for the '89 Indians. Not a good game for Mr. Kelner, as Indians' announcer Harry Doyle famously quipped "thank God" after Kelner left the game. And yet another bad player without a first name.