Yankees Ace Set to Return

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Yankees will be getting their ace C.C Sabathia back from his groin injury next week and is expected to start Tuesday July 17^th against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Sabathia has missed his last two starts heading into the All-Star break after feeling discomfort in the final game of the series with the Mets.

Sabathia is no question the best pitcher on the Yankees staff and one of the best in all of the Majors as he made the All-Star team and is 9-3 with 3.45 ERA and 105 strikeouts this season. The Yankees will need a healthy Sabathia for the second half of the season with Andy Pettitte out until September.

Yankees Suffer Two Big Injuries

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Yankees Suffer Two Big Injuries

Yankees got bad news before Wednesdays game as it was found out C.C Sabathia suffered a strained adductor muscle which is near the groin and it will force Sabathia to miss his next two starts. Sabathia was 9-3 on the season with 105 strikeouts and a 3.45 ERA. Sabathia first felt the injury against the Mets in the 4th inning. If the Yankees were in the stretch run, he would be pitching through it but they don’t want to risk a major injury. They would rather him miss two starts.

The Yankees will be bringing up Adam Warren from Triple A to take Sabathia's start on Friday against the White Sox. Adam Warren is 5-5 in the minors with a 3.86 ERA and will get a crack at the majors with at least one start.

The big injury blow for the Yankees was suffered in the 5th inning of the game against the Indians when Andy Pettitte took a line drive off the ankle, fracturing it on his left leg. Pettitte threw a couple pitches and gave it a go, throwing one game pitch but was clearly in to much pain as Girardi then pulled him. The injury put Pettitte in a walking boot but they said he wont need surgery. He is expected to miss at least six weeks as most people are figuring for a late August, early September return. Pettitte was 3-3 with a 3.22 ERA as he was pitching great in his comeback season.

Freddy Garcia, who was originally going to be taking Sabathia's start on Friday, was needed to pitch in Wednesday's game and pitched well. Garcia went 2.1 innings, not allowing a run and picked up the win in relief.  Garcia, who had an awful start to the season in the rotation, has been better in the bullpen. He is 2-2 on the season with a 6.39 ERA. Garcia was in the Yankees rotation last year and was 12-8 with a 3.62 ERA which lead to him being re-signed and Yankees will hope he can pitch like last year to fill in for Pettitte.

If Garcia and or Warren struggle, David Phelps seems like the logical choice to get the next crack at the rotation as he was sent back to the minors to stretch his arm out more. Phelps had two spot starts already for the Yankees this year and also pitched in the bullpen, giving him 33.2 innings pitched in the majors this year with a 1-2 record and 2.94 ERA.

The A.L East is one of, if not the best division in baseball with all teams over the .500 mark. The Yankees will need to get C.C back soon and have someone step in for Pettitte, who has been pitching great, or it might force Brian Cashman to make a trade before the deadline in July.

Yankees Post Game Recap 6/27

Yankees vs. Indians Post Game Recap 6/27

The New York Yankees took down the Indians 5-4 on Wednesday, and completed a three game sweep Cleveland at Yankee Stadium.

Andy Pettitte was forced to leave the game early after taking a line drive off his ankle in the 5th inning. This injury to Pettitte coming the same day C.C Sabathia was placed on the DL with a groin strain that he suffered against the Mets. Pettitte went 4 innings allowing 3 hits 1 walk 2 runs only 1 of which was earned due to a Alex Rodriguez throwing error and struck out 7 batters.

Cody Eppley and Clay Rapada struggled to finish the fifth inning as they gave up a combined 3 hits before Freddy Garcia came in to finish the fifth by striking out Jose Lopez. Garcia would go 2 1/3 scoreless innings without allowing a base runner and picking up 2 strike outs while picking up his 2nd win of the season.

David Robertson was able to cruise through the 8th inning getting 2 strikeouts setting up for Soriano. Things got very interesting for Soriano in the ninth inning as Soriano didn’t have his good stuff allowing 2 hits 2 walks and 1 run, but was able to get Asdrubal Cabrera to fly out and leave the bases loaded and picked up his 17th save of the season.

Eric Chavez was able to bust out of his funk with RISP as he was 1 for 22 coming into Wednesday afternoon. Chavez laced a two out two-run double in fourth inning scoring Cano and Ibanez. Chavez was able to get another 2 out RBI in the 8th giving the Yankees a insurance run which ended up being very important by hitting a base hit and scoring Mark Teixeira.

Robinson Cano belted his seventh homerun in the last 10 games and 18th of the year at a perfect time in the 6th inning taking Ubaldo Jimenez the other way scoring Alex Rodriguez and giving the Yankees a 4-3 lead at the time. Cano also had two base hits going a nice 3 for 4 on the day.

Russell Martin who missed the last few games with a back injury was back in the lineup but went 0-4 with 2 strikeouts as his average is now .193 for the season.

Yankees will be starting a 4 game series against the A.L Central leading Chicago White Sox at home as Ivan Nova (9-2 4.25) will face Dylan Axelrod (0-1, 4.85).

Yankees vs Mets Post Game Recap 6/22

Yankees vs. Mets Post Game Recap 6/22

Yankees fell to the Mets 6-4 in the first game of the series at Citi Field as a rough 1st inning for Andy Pettitte put the Yankees in a hole that they couldn’t climb out of as the Bronx Bombers are now on a 3 game losing streak.

Andy Pettitte's first start as a 40 year old didn’t treat him well, as he got rocked in the 1st inning giving up five runs on five hits and two walks in the 1st inning with Ike Davis providing the big blow with a 3-run shot that hit off a leaping Nick Swisher's glove helping it over the wall. Andy was able to settle down afterwards only giving up two hits in the next five innings.

Cory Wade's struggles continue as he gave up two hits and one earned run in 7th inning as that is now three straight appearances allowing a run.

Yankees offense took a while to score but Alex Rodriguez was able to hit a solo homerun, his 12th of the season in the 6th inning for the Yankees first run of the game.

Andruw Jones followed in the 7th inning hitting a solo homerun of his own his, 7th of the season, and tied Mets great Mike Pizza for 43rd on the all time homerun list. Jones also showed off some of his old fielding abilities making a diving catch in the bottom half of the 7th robbing Scott Hairston of a hit and making the throw to 2nd base to double off David Wright.

Robinson Cano was able to get the Yankees closer in the 8th inning with a monstrous two run homerun into right field scoring Mark Teixeira for his 15th of the season.

Yankees and Mets will play the second game of the series Saturday night as Ivan Nova (9-2, 4.32) will face Chris Young (1-1, 3.06).

Hughes Pitching Himself Out of the Rotation

Phil Hughes entered the 2012 season as a question mark for the Yankees. Since his 18-8 season of 2010, Phil Hughes has struggled to become the top flight pitcher the Yankees were hoping he could become.

The Yankees pitching rotation took a hit when Michael Pineda went down with a season ending injury. The team decided to bring back fan favorite Andy Pettitte to help their rotation. With the return of Pettitte, one pitcher would be the odd man out, and be sent to the bullpen. The Yankees had to decide between Freddy Garcia and Phil Hughes on who they would send to the pen. They choose to send Garcia, who has had a season to forget, to figure out his troubles in the bullpen.

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Hughes has not given the Yankees a reason to keep him in the rotation, but the Yankees have given Hughes a second chance. Hughes is 4-5 this season with 49 strikeouts, 13 walks, and a 5.64 ERA. In his last start against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Angels tattooed Hughes for 11 hits, and 7 runs, both season highs, in 5.1 innings of work.

Hughes has made it passed the sixth inning just three times this season, and has pitched into the eighth inning once. With a depleted bullpen, the Yankees need quality starts out of their starting rotation, and Hughes has not delivered so far this season.

Now the question must be asked, what will the Yankees do with Phil Hughes? The bullpen seems like the easy choice, and could fix Hughes' problems, but his past bullpen performances are nothing to be excited about. During the 2009 championship run, Hughes came out of the bullpen for the Yankees. In 6.1 innings during the postseason, Hughes gave up 11 hits and 6 runs.

If the Yankees were to put Hughes on the trade block, it is unclear what they could get for him. He has not helped his value with his starts this season, and teams may be turned off by the number of home runs given up by Hughes already this season.

The Yankees have options as to what they want to do with Hughes, but what is going to help Hughes get his "mojo" back? It will be interesting to see what they decide to to with Hughes, if he cannot pick up his game and start giving the Yankees the kind of starts they expect.