That Was a Little Too Interesting at the End

I don't want to talk about Arsenal, unless you tell me that Stan Kroenke is going to fire Unai Emery and hire a manager with a damn clue.

So let's talk about the Yankees. J.A. Happ started against the San Francisco Giants at newly-renamed Oracle Park yesterday, and he was terrific: 7 innings, no runs, 5 hits, no walks, 2 strikeouts. I'll take a start like that any day.

The start was so good (How good was it?), he probably should have been left in to pitch the 8th inning. He'd only thrown 95 pitches, but that seems to be Brian Cashman's magic number for a pitch limit.

Anyway, the Yankees did hit for him. And walk for him. Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. New acquisition Cameron Maybin led off the top of the 3rd by drawing a walk off Giant starter Derek Holland. Happ, batting because it was an Interleague game in a National League team's ballpark, bunted him over. And DJ LeMahieu singled him home. One-nil to the Pinstripe Boys.

The 5th inning was the decisive one. Maybin led off with a single, Thairo Estrada followed with another, Happ sacrificed again, and LeMahieu walked to load the bases. Then Holland hit Luke Voit with a pitch. Not the best way to get an RBI.

Then Holland pitched like his name should have been Derek Italy, or maybe Derek Sweden, because he served an absolute meatball to Gary Sanchez. It was right in his kitchen, and he cooked it. I thought it was going to go into that giant glove behind the left-center field bleachers. Good way to break out of a slump. 6-0 Yankees.

It was still 6-0 when Aaron Boone sent Luis Cessa out to pitch the 8th. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning. Not wanting to exhaust the bullpen, Boone sent Cessa back out to pitch the 9th. It became clear that he should have let Happ keep going through the 8th, and then maybe let Cessa pitch only the 9th.

Cessa gave up singles to Brandon Belt and Buster Posey. He got Evan Longoria, a pain in the Yankees' necks when he played for the Tampa Bay Rays, to ground into a force play at 2nd, making it 1st and 3rd with 1 out. Then he gave up a home run to Yangervis Solarte. Remember him? He got off to a great start as a rookie with the 2014 Yankees, and then Cashman traded him for Chase Headley.

It was 6-3, and the game had suddenly become interesting. Brandon Crawford came up, and hit a long fly out to left. Then came Erik Kratz, and he hit an even longer fly to left. Home run. Now it's 6-4. This game had gotten a little too interesting. Or, as the great comedian Arte Johnson would have said on the late 1960s variety show Laugh-In, "Verrrry intereshting... but shtupid!"

Boone decided his best chance at the game not getting any more interesting was to bring in his closer, Aroldis Chapman. We've seen Chapman fool around in the 9th inning, before getting down to business and finishing it off. This time, he got right down to business, and fanned Pablo Sandoval to end it.

Yankees 6, Giants 4. WP: Happ (1-2). SV: Chapman (5). LP: Holland (1-4).

The series concludes this afternoon. Domingo German starts against Dereck Rodriguez.

Girardi Throws Away Game, Cashman Throws Away Solarte for WHO?!?

I was supposed to go to last night's Yankee game. A friend won 4 tickets, but has no interest in baseball, and was willing to let me have them, provided I could give the other 3 away.

Would you believe, no takers? My brother-in-law was going to be one of them, and it would have been fairly easy for him to give the other 2. But he had to work late, so he couldn't go, and I couldn't find takers for the tickets.

And then he found out his meeting was canceled. So he, and thus I, could have gone after all.

It's just as well that we didn't go. I would have wanted Joe Girardi fired. I still might.

*

The Yankees opened a 4-game home series with the Texas Rangers last night. The Rangers have gone into an unbelievable tailspin, while the Houston Astros seem to have found their footing. Not only do the Astros no longer have the worst record in baseball, they're ahead of the Rangers in the AL West. Worst team in baseball? The Astros aren't even the worst team in Texas anymore.

Carlos Beltran opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the 1st inning. The Rangers tied it up in the 3rd, but Jacoby Ellsbury made it 2-1 in the 4th with a home run, his 8th of the season.

Going into the 6th inning, Shane Greene was doing well in his 1st Yankee Stadium start. And he got the 1st 2 outs. Things were looking good.

Then he allowed a single, and then a walk, and then an RBI single.

At this moment, the right thing to do would have been to get somebody warmed up in the bullpen.

The problem was, Girardi had already done that, and he pulled Greene. And brought in Matt Thornton.

Why Girardi pulled Greene, I understand. He might have been tiring. I didn't agree with the decision, but I understand it.

But Thornton? Thornton has not gotten the job done all year. Yes, the next batter up was a lefthanded hitter, but how many times did the lefty-on-lefty matchup burn Girardi when it was Boone Logan who was the lefty out of the pen?

And that next batter? Rougned Odor. No, that's not a misprint: It's pronounced "ROOG-ned OH-dore" -- not "OH-der" like a smell. He's 20 years old, a 2nd baseman from Venezuela, who until last night had 195 major league plate appearances. Any righthanded pitcher should have been able to get himself out.

But Girardi's Binder told him, "Bring in Logan Thornton, or I let general manager Brian Cashman release those embarrassing pictures of you."

Girardi brought in Thornton. Odor singled to left, bringing home the go-ahead run. Thornton allowed another RBI single to Shin-Soo Choo, before Girardi realized, "Holy cow, bringing in Thornton was a mistake. What does my Binder say now?" It said, "Bring in Adam Warren," and Warren stopped the bleeding by striking out Elvis Andrus.

But, speaking of guys named Elvis, we can't go on together with either suspicious minds or Girardi's Binder. Joe, don't be cruel. Mariano Rivera, you were always on my mind.

Rangers 4, Yankees 2. WP: Miles Mikolas (1-2 -- no, I'd never heard of him before, either.) SV: Joakim Soria (17). LP: Greene (2-1, and this loss was very much undeserved, but you can't charge a loss to the manager).

*

But as the old saying goes, it can always get worse. You know what damn fool thing Cashman did today?

He traded Yangervis Solarte! Solarte had gotten off to a great start this season, but stopped hitting, went down to the minors, and was called back up, but then Girardi traded him to the San Diego Padres before he could re-prove himself.

Who did the Yankees get from the Padres for Solarte? Chase Headley.

Who? Chase Headley? Isn't that the actress who plays Cersei Lannister on Game of Thrones? No, that's Lena Headey. Isn't Chase Headley a pitcher we already have? No, that's Chase Whitley. I know, he's the villain from Blazing Saddles! No, that's Hedy Lamarr. "That's Hedley!"

Headley is 30 years old, from Colorado, a switch-hitting 3rd baseman who can also play the outfield. Until now, he's played his entire career in San Diego, since 2007. In 2012, he won a Gold Glove, and led the National League with 112 RBIs -- but talk about an outlier, his next-highest total is 64. He hit 31 home runs that year, otherwise his peak year is 13. And he strikes out more than Mickey Mantle or Reggie Jackson ever did: 73 times already this season, 142 last year.

Seriously: Cashman thought this was a good trade.

His reasoning is that Headley is a defensive upgrade on Solarte. Funny, but he wasn't all that interested in defensive upgrades when he had Eduardo NunE5!

Now, Headley is supposed to be the everyday 3rd baseman -- even though the recently-arrived Zelous Wheeler is doing the business both at bat and in the field.

What the hell is wrong with Cashman? At least with Girardi, we know what the hell is wrong with him: He's too "by the book"!

These guys may both have to go.

Anyway, good luck in San Diego, Yangervis. Chase Headley, I hope you can win games for us, but the way the manager and the GM are going, who knows.

UPDATE: It turned out to be a decent trade. Solarte didn't do much for the Padres, while Headley was rather inconsistent for the Yankees, looking good one game and terrible the next.

Tanaka Time Is Party Time In The Bronx

For nearly 20 years, we Yankee Fans have been spoiled: We've nearly always had a starting rotation full of guys who would be aces or #2 starters on any staff.

Now that we've been hit by the injury bug -- CC Sabathia out until July, Ivan Nova out for the season, and today we found out Michael Pineda has had a setback, and we don't know when he's coming back -- we are realizing, possibly for the first time since Ron Guidry was dealing in the mid-1980s, just how valuable an ace can be.

Today, Masahiro Tanaka is that man. He has made a grand total of 11 major league appearances since signing with the Pinstripes, and we've gone 9-2 in those games.

In the 2 losses, we've scored a total of 5 runs, so the losses are hardly all his fault. Then again, in 2 of the wins, we only scored 3 runs each. A lesser pitcher would have had us not nearly as well off.

Today, Tanaka started for the Yankees against the Minnesota Twins. He allowed a run in the 1st inning, but cruised after that: 8 innings, 1 run, 4 hits, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts. Again: The strikeouts are exciting, but they don't mean any more than any other kind of out.

In the bottom of the 4th, Yangervis Solarte hit a home run to tie the game. It was his 6th of the season -- or 3 times as many as Robinson Cano has hit for the Seattle Mariners. (Cano does have more RBIs, but not by much: 31 to 26. Also, his direct replacement at 2nd base, Brian Roberts, while only having 11 RBIs, also has 2 homers.)

With 1 out in the bottom of the 8th, Jacoby Ellsbury singled, stole 2nd, and advanced to 3rd on a bad throw by Twins catcher Josmil Pinto. (Joe Mauer is recovering from an injury, and was their designated hitter.) Roberts drew a walk. Brian McCann sent a rocket to right field, scoring Ellsbury easily. Roberts got to 3rd, McCann to 2nd. Alfonso Soriano was intentionally walked to load the bases. The Twins made a pitching change.

And then there was a rain delay. If the game was then called, under the rules, the score would revert to what it was at the start of the inning: 1-1. Meaning the game would have to be replayed in its entirety.

Fortunately, play resumed. Solarte popped up for the 2nd out. But Kelly Johnson beat out an infield single, and Roberts scored to make it 3-1.

Solarte made an error in the 9th, but, other than that, David Robertson channeled his inner Goose Gossage and struck out the side.

WP: Tanaka (8-1). SV: Robertson (12). LP: Brian Duensing (1-2).

The series concludes tomorrow afternoon. Rookie Chase Whitley goes for the Yankees. And who goes for the Twins? Why none other than the man we refused to trade, 6 years ago, for The Great Johan Santana, a man who helped us reach the Playoffs 5 times, including the 2009 World Championship: Phil Hughes.

How is Hughes doing in Minnesota? Pretty good, actually: He's 5-1 with a 3.23 ERA, and a 1.19 WHIP. Think we could use him now? Well, there's not a whole lot of pressure in Minnesota (it's a hockey State first, a football State second), so we don't know how well he'd be faring in New York now.

I'm happy for him. I just don't want him to do well tomorrow.

Pirates' Raid In New York Yields Only 1 of 3

So the Pittsburgh Pirates -- a National League Central Division team, and thus not normally on the Yankee schedule -- came to town this weekend. The Friday night game was pushed back to Sunday, as part of a doubleheader.

Michael Pineda is out until June, CC Sabathia possibly until July, and Ivan Nova for at least the rest of this season due to Tommy John surgery; he might be out until next May. So the Yankees' starting rotation now consists of the spectacular young Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, the steady older Japanese pitcher Hiroki Kuroda, and whoever else we can find.

Not "Spahn and Sain and two days of rain," like the 1948 Boston Braves: It's 'Hiro and 'Roki and three days of lucky.

On Saturday afternoon, David Phelps (pictured above) was sent out to start, filling exactly no people with confidence. Surprise: Phelps was fine. Joe Girardi left him out there for only 5 innings, but he didn't allow a run, with 5 hits and 3 walks.

Dellin Betances may have to be to 2014 what Mariano Rivera was to 1996: The guy who picks up from sometimes-shaky starters and forms an amazing bridge to the closer. (Remember, in 1995 and '96, the closer was John Wetteland; Mariano didn't get that role until '97.) Betances allowed a run over his 2 innings, but at that point, the bats made sure it didn't matter. Adam Warren pitched a scoreless 8th, and Matt Daley pitched a perfect 9th.

As for those bats: Mark Teixeira took Edinson Volquez deep in the 1st, his 9th "Teix Message" of the season. His typical (for a Yankee 1st baseman, anyway) slow start is well over. In the 3rd, Zoilo Almonte,  newly called up in place of the injured Carlos Beltran, and Brett Gardner, not guys from whom you would expect power -- say it, John Sterling -- went "back-to-back-and-a-belly-to-belly!" Obviously, Almonte's 1st home run of the season, Gardner's 3rd.

That was all Phelps and the bullpen would need, but Alfonso Soriano added a dinger in the 7th, and Brian McCann one in the 8th. (In case, case, his 6th of the season.)

Yankees 7, Pirates 1. WP: Phelps (1-0). No Save. LP: Volquez (1-4).

*

Kuroda took the mound for the Sunday opener. He allowed a run in the top of the 1st, a home run by Neil Walker. But he then settled down, going 6 strong, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks.

The Yankees came right back in the bottom of the 1st. Gardner led off with a walk, Derek Jeter singled, and Pirate starter Charlie Morton hit Jacoby Ellsbury with a pitch to load the bases with nobody out. Teix singled home Gardner and Jeter. McCann singled home Ellsbury. 3-1 Yanks.

Kelly Johnson singled to lead off the 2nd. Almonte struck out, but his protection of the runner forced a throwing error from catcher Tony Sanchez -- filling in for our old friend Russell Martin, who is injured -- enabling Johnson to get all the way to 3rd. Not that the extra bases were necessary, as Gardner doubled, and Johnson probably would have scored from 1st anyway. 4-1 Yanks.

Again, the Yankees got the runs they needed early. The Bucs scored 2 in the 6th, but, between them, Daley and Matt Thornton in the 7th, Warren in the 8th, and David Robinson in the 9th stopped them.

Yankees 4, Pirates 3. WP: Kuroda (3-3). SV: Robertson (8). LP: Morton (0-6 -- no, that's not a typo: Zero wins and six losses. Though he didn't pitch badly yesterday, and was kind of undone by his backup catcher.)

*

With Vidal Nuno starting the nightcap, I expect it to not go so well. Don't blame him: He brought his A game, which is a C+ game by anyone else's standards, but was fine: 6 innings, 3 runs (only 2 earned), 6 hits, just 1 walk.

The Yankees took a 2-1 lead in the 2nd, then fell behind 3-2 in the top of the 6th as Nuno clearly tired. But Yangervis Solarte tied the game in the bottom of the 6th with his 5th homer of the season. Amazing: We thought 3rd base was going to be a big hole in the order with Ol' What's His Name suspended for the season, and whatever our problems, that position hasn't been one of them. On offense and defense, Yangervis provides service.

This time, however, for the 1st time in the series, and hopefully for the last time in any series, Girardi trusted Alfredo Aceves. Aceves was so good for us in the 2009 World Championship season, but now, he's had it. He allowed the go-ahead run in the 7th, and Thornton allowed another in the 9th. Girardi brought Preston Claiborne in to stop the bleeding, and he did all right as the last Yankee pitcher, but it was too late.

Pirates 5, Yankees 3. WP: Gerrit Cole. SV: Mark Melancon (the 6th of the season for the former Yankee -- and I'm not sure having him now, to set up for Robertson, would help much). LP: Aceves (0-2 -- let him go, Brian Cashman, he's not helping).

*

So here we are, with 7 of the season's 26 weeks gone, a little more than one-quarter of the season. How do things look in the American League Eastern Division?

The Yankees are 23-20, in 1st place by a slim margin. The Baltimore Orioles are half a game back, even in the loss column, 1 win behind us, as they have a game in hand: Were they to win it, they would be exactly tied with us. The Toronto Blue Jays are 1 back, 2 in the loss column. The Boston Red Sox are 3 back, and the Tampa Bay Rays 5 back, 6 in the loss column. (The Yanks and Sox have 2 games in hand on the Jays and Rays, and the O's have 3 games in hand on them.)

The elimination numbers that would give the Yankees the AL East title: The Rays 113, the Sox and Jays 117, the O's 121: Any number of Yankee wins and Oriole losses the rest of the way, adding up to 121, and the Yankees win the Division. If, the rest of the way, the Yankees take 2 out of 3 at home, and split on the road, that would give them 94 wins. That's usually enough to win the AL East, and would surely be enough to at least make the Playoffs.

Of course, that comes with some big ifs:

* If Tanaka can keep pitching like an ace, especially when teams face him a second or third time.
* If Kuroda, who's 39, can hold out for the rest of the season as a solid starter.
* If they can find 3 warm bodies to take the places of Pineda until June, CC until July, and Nova the rest of the way.
* If Pineda and CC do come back and can contribute in the 2nd half.
* If Robertson continues to do fine as the successor to Mariano.
* If Solarte continues to do fine as the successor to A-Rod.
* If Beltran comes back fine from injury.
* If Teixeira stays healthy and continues his power renaissance.
* If Jeter continues to play as though he's 36, rather than 40. (I suppose wanting him to play like he did in 2009, when he was 35 and playing like he was 27, is out of the question.)
* If nobody else suffers a long-term injury.
* If Girardi uses his eyes and his brain to manage, and not his dreaded binder.
* And If none of the other AL East teams catches lightning in a bottle and goes on a .600-or-better tear the rest of the way.

That's a lot of ifs. But you know what? There's only a 5-game difference, right now, between the 1st-place Yanks and the last-place Rays. Which means all the AL East teams have their share of ifs. Which means that it's anybody's Division -- including ours.

*

The Yankees are off today, a travel day. Tomorrow night, they begin a 9-game, every-day roadtrip: First, a run that may be (I'm not sure) unprecedented in baseball history, playing both Chicago teams away, first 2 against the Cubs, then 4 against the White Sox. Then they go down Interstate 55 to visit the St. Louis Cardinals.

The White Sox are 21-24, not looking good, and have had pathetic attendance, ranking 29th out of 30 in the major leagues, ahead of only fellow AL Central team Cleveland. The Cubs are even worse, 15-27. But the Cardinals are looking good at the moment, 23-21.

Stay tuned, my honorary nieces & nephews.

Aaaaaaaand... It Got Worse

Me, yesterday:

As Bill Cosby taught us, Don't ever say, "It can't get any worse." It can always get worse.

But I wish it wouldn't. A Yankee win tonight, considering how many factors are against us, could be the spark that lights the season. It could also be a shock to the Mets' system, sending them back into the abyss, which would be a nice bonus for us.

But we can't consider what it would do to the Mets. We have to be concerned with our own team.

Considering that egg it laid last night, very concerned.

Me, today:

It got worse.

If you score 14 runs in 2 home games against the Mets, you should expect to win twice -- not lose twice.

*

As expected, Vidal Nuno did not have it last night. He allowed 4 runs in the 1st inning, 7 total, and didn't get out of the 4th. Alfredo Aceves, now in full "What's the use?" mode at this point, allowed 4 more.

Matt Daley -- a former Colorado Rockies pitcher who was born in Flushing itself grew up as a Met fan in Garden City, Long Island -- pitched 3 innings, allowing just 1 baserunner, a walk. (This was only his 16th major league appearance in the last 4 seasons, which is telling in and of itself.) But Preston Claiborne added a run in the 9th to take away any momentum the Yankees had.

The Yankees closed to within 4-3 after 1 inning, thanks to Brian McCann's 5th home run of the season. He's becoming the catching equivalent of Alfonso Soriano: It's a home run or a strikeout with him.

But despite knocking the Mets' alleged as d'an (Ace of the Year) Zach Wheeler out in the 5th, aside from the homers by McCann and by Yangervis Solarte in the 8th (his 3rd), the runs the Yankees put up were not noteworthy, and they were hardly enough.

Mets 12, Yankees 7. WP: Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-0). That's right, Dice-K. No save. LP: Nuno (1-1).

*

7 runs last night. 7 runs the night before. Neither was enough against a Met team that couldn't hit water if it fell out of a boat until that night before.

The City Series (or "Citi Series," but not a "Subway Series," get that into your heads, people) moves over to Citi Field tonight. Masahiro Tanaka, playing the role that Ron Guidry played in 1978, that of arch-stopper of losing streaks, starts for the Yankees.

Rafael Montero starts for the Mets. Who? He's a 23-year-old righthander from the Dominican Republic, who's made 8 career appearances in the major leagues, only 3 as a starter, all for the Mets.

Also, for tomorrow night's start, the Yankees have called up Chase Whitley. He's a righthander from Ranburne, Alabama, who will turn 25 next month. In 7 appearances at Scranton so far, he's 3-2 with a 2.39 ERA and a 1.025 WHIP. Very good against Triple-A hitting -- meaning he should be ready to face the Mets, if the Mets bat like they did before Monday night. He takes the injured CC Sabathia's place both on the roster and, for the moment, in the starting rotation.

Hopefully Tanaka and Whitley will prevent things from getting any worse.

It can always get worse. Met fans know that, from long experience. Yankee Fans know it, but unlike Met fans, we're not used to it, and we do not accept it. Also unlike Met fans, we expect our management to do something about it.

We've got to not just hit the ball and score lots of runs, but get good pitching, too. Right now, the Yankees and the Small Club in Flushing have the same record: 19-19.

Met fans are, naturally, ecstatic over that -- even if they can't spell "ecstatic." For the Yankees, the emphasis is on the "static."

To paraphrase the immortal Samuel L. Jackson, "Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherfucking Mets in these motherfucking games!"

Everybody strap in. We about to throw some fucking strikes. And score some fucking runs.

Should We Be Concerned About CC?

The Yankees always seemed to have trouble against the Milwaukee Brewers, especially in Milwaukee, when the Brew Crew were in the American League. Their shift to the National League in 1998 removed that particular obstacle.

But, this season, the vicissitudes of Interleague play have put a trip to Beer City back on the agenda. And the Brewers had gotten off to a fantastic start, leaving them with the 2nd-best record in the majors. (Ironically, the one team ahead of them was the Detroit Tigers, who moved over from the AL East and took their place in the AL Central, as the expansion Tampa Bay Rays took the Tigers' place.)

A big reason for this is that Francisco Rodriguez, who bedeviled the Yankees in the 2002 and 2005 Playoffs, helped the Angels win the 2002 World Series, and set the current major league record for saves in a season before melting down with the Mets, has found his form. K-Rod has been brilliant these 1st 6 weeks of the season, doing for the Brewers what he once did for the Angels, what Mariano Rivera did for us for so long.

The series opened on Friday night, with Masahiro Tanaka starting for the Yankees, and more than anyone else, he has been the biggest boost of the season for the Yankees.

A close second is Yangervis Solarte, who hit his 2nd home run of the season as the replacement for Ol' What's His Name at 3rd base. He took Yovani Gallardo, the supposed Brewer ace, deep. It was a 3-run homer, in a 4-run inning that also included an RBI double by Brian Roberts, who replaced Robinson Can-u-pay-me at 2nd base.

Tanaka cruised through the 1st 5 innings, but ran into a little trouble in the 6th. But he settled down, and got into the 7th. He allowed 2 runs on 7 hits and just 1 walk -- the only walk given up by Yankee pitching that night. Adam Warren finished the 7th, and got through the 8th, facing 5 batters and getting them all out.

The Yankees picked up an insurance run in the top of the 8th, making it 5-2. At the time, it didn't look like a big deal.

But David Robertson faltered a little in the 9th, giving up a home run to Mark Reynolds, one of the few players the Yankees had last season who was actually a bright spot -- and was now playing for the enemy. (Not to be confused with The Enemy, namely that team in Boston, whom Yu Darvish of the Texas Rangers had a no-hitter going. With 1 out to go, he faced David Ortiz, and the big fat lying cheating bastard ruined it by cheating his way to a single. The Rangers still beat the Red Sox 8-0.)

But D-Rob settled down, and nailed down the 5-3 win. WP: Tanaka (5-0). SV: Roberts (6). LP: Gallardo (2-2).

*

But last night's game was started by CC Sabathia, and the Big Fella hasn't done too well the last year or so. I saw somebody on Twitter say the ace isn't even a 4th starter anymore.

That may be a bit harsh, based on last night's start: CC only allowed 1 earned run in 5 1/3 innings. He only walked 1 batter. But he also allowed 8 hits, and an error led to 3 Brewer runs in the bottom of the 3rd.

The error was by Brendan Ryan, a former Seattle Mariner shortstop, who had 1 game this season to his credit going into last night. His lifetime batting average is .237. His career OPS+ is 72. Last season, divided between LoDo and the South Bronx, he batted .197. The year before, .194. He was in the game to give Derek Jeter a day off, since today's game is the dreaded D-GANG: Day Game After a Night Game. He was in the game for his defense.

He made an error, and went 2-for-2, before Joe Girardi pinch-hit Kevin Johnson for him, put him at 3rd base, and moved Solarte over to shortstop.

This is where John Sterling turns to Suzyn Waldman and says, "You know Suzyn, you just can't predict baseball."

That made it 4-2 Brewers after 3. But the Yankees came back. In the 6th, Mark Teixeira hit a home run off Brewer starter Kyle Lohse (whom you might remember from the Minnesota Twins' Playoff teams of the 2000s), 1 of 2 hits he got on the night, getting his batting average up to .253. (Chalk it up to the 30th annual "slow start by a Yankee 1st baseman," I suppose, but he may have turned the corner.) And the Yankees tied the game in the top of the 7th, on an RBI single by Alfonso Soriano, to get CC off the hook.

But getting CC off the hook didn't lead to a Yankee win. The returned Alfredo Aceves, ol' Number 91 himself, blew it in the bottom of the 7th. With 1 out, he allowed a double, then got another out, but advanced the runner to 3rd on a balk, and then allowed a single to get the run home (which probably would have happened even without the balk). After the Soriano single, the Yankees never got another baserunner, as the Milwaukee bullpen did the job.

Brewers 5, Yankees 4. WP: Zach Duke (3-0). SV: K-Rod (15). LP: Aceves (0-1).

*

In spite of CC not getting stuck with last night's loss I'm thinking we should be concerned about him. The man has averaged 213 innings pitched per season since he was 20 years old, and 230 innings over the last 7 seasons. That's not much by the standards of even the 1980s, but in the 5-man rotation era, it's a lot. Especially considering that he did start that average of 213 a season at age 20 (in 2001).

Having 37 career complete games wouldn't sound like much in the old era, but in the new era, he is the current active leader. He is also the current active leader in strikeouts, with 2,433. His ERA+ over the last 4 seasons -- including this one, only 6 weeks old -- has gone from 143 to 125 to 85 to 71.

In 2013 and '14 combined thus far, he's made 33 starts, of which only 19 (including 3 that he lost anyway) have produced games in which he's deserved to win. (Based on performance -- based on personality and the fact that he's a Yankee, he deserves to win every game.) In those 33 starts, he's 17-17, with an ERA of 4.94.

Last season, he led the AL in earned runs with 112. Up until then, for his career, he was 191-102 with an ERA of 3.50 -- but that 4.94 has jacked it up to 3.63 (to go with his record now being 208-119). Meaning that, in the last season and a quarter of baseball, his career ERA has gone up 0.13.

His next start will most likely be on this coming Thursday, against the Mets, at Citi Field, a pitcher's park. If he does well there, we can relax a little. But if the Mets, who've tremendously struggled (to put it politely) at the plate this season, can beat him, then we can be very concerned that CC isn't the pitcher he was from 2001 to 2012, and may never be again.

He'll be 34 in a little over 2 months. A little soon to be burned out. He's not injured -- indeed, he's never failed to make at least 28 starts in a season -- but for him to lose his effectiveness due to overuse would be a shame.

The series concludes this afternoon, a 2:10 PM start (1:10 local time). David Phelps is scheduled to start for the Yankees, Matt Garza for the Brewers.

Come on you Bombers!

UPDATE: CC has been placed on the 15-day Disabled List, due to inflammation in his knee. So he won't be pitching against The Other Team on Thursday. He'll be eligible to come off on May 26, while the Yankees are in St. Louis.

Triple Your Pleasure, Triple Your Fun

The Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays last night, in the opener of a 4-game series at the White Elephant. That's the important thing.

That a triple play was turned, and that Yangervis Solarte hit his 1st major league home run, are nice bonuses, but hardly necessary.

It doesn't matter how the game is won, as long as it is -- within the rules of the game, of course. After all, we don't want to be so desperate for victory that we'll cheat like that lot up I-95.

*

The joke is that CC Sabathia pitches better when he's fat than when he seems to have lost weight. Well, he must've eaten some Cuban-style sandwiches down in Tampa, because he was pitching like the CC of 2007-09 -- 2007 in Cleveland, 2008 in Milwaukee, and 2009 in The Bronx. He went 7 innings, allowed 2 runs, only 1 earned, on 7 hits and 2 walks, with 6 strikeouts.

Let the Big Dog eat!

And the Yankees broke out the lumber. In addition to Solarte opening his account (as they would say if he were a soccer player scoring his first goal for the club), Alfonso Soriano hit his 4th home run of the season, and Brian McCann, an injury concern going in, hit his 3rd.

Sadly, John Sterling muffed the call. Instead of saying, "Yangervis provides service!" Or "He's Solar-te powered!" he went with "Never nervous, Yangervis!"

"Never Nervous" was a nickname bestowed upon basketball center Pervis Ellison, the freshman who led the University of Louisville to the National Championship in 1986. But injuries plagued his pro career, and Danny Ainge nicknamed him "Out of Service Pervis." (The native of Savannah, Georgia is now 47, and coaches basketball in South Jersey.)

Then, Sterling made it even worse. Perhaps not knowing that Domenico Modugno's 1958 worldwide smash "Volare" has been appropriated for songs about soccer players, he sang, "Solarte, whoa-oh! Solarte, whoa-oh-oh-oh!"

Johnny Sterling, he's a dork!
Worst broadcaster in New York!
Da-dah, da-dah! Da-dah, da-dah!

At any rate, the most talked-about play of the evening came in the bottom of the 2nd. Evan Longoria led off with a double to center. Then Wil Myers worked CC for a walk. So, 1st and 2nd, nobody out. The Yankees were leading 4-0, but CC has already had a couple of starts blighted by the dreaded onebadinningitis, and there was concern that this might be another. One bad inning can ruin your whole day.

The batter was Sean Rodriguez. He hit a line shot to Solarte, who ran over to tag 3rd base for a force play. One out. Solarte threw to Brian Roberts, who stepped on 2nd for another force. Two out. Roberts then threw to Scott Sizemore, covering 1st. Three out. Triple play.

The final was Yankees 10, Rays 2. WP: Sabathia (2-2). No save, although Dellin Betances pitched 2 scoreless innings in relief of CC. LP: Rays ace David Price (2-1).

Oh yeah, the Rays got over 28,000 fans last night. I'm guessing the 20,000 were rooting for the Yankees, and the 8,000 were rooting for the Rays.

The series continues tonight, with Hiroki Kuroda pitching against former Baltimore ace Erik Bedard. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM.

7:10? Which means the game will end around quarter after 10? No wonder nobody goes to Rays' games: For all those retirees, it's past their bedtime!

Bats Wake Up, and Welcome to the Yankees, Yangervis Solarte

See what happens when you wake up the bats? Sometimes, it doesn't have to be a 14-2 demolition. Sometimes, 4-2 is enough.

Indeed, the Yankees scored more runs against the Houston Astros tonight (4) than in their 1st 2 games combined (3).

The surprise of the night was Yangervis Solarte, a 26-year-old switch-hitting infielder from Venezuela, who made his major league debut as the Yankees' 3rd baseman. He's wearing Number 26, worn the last couple of seasons by Eduardo Nunez, who, thankfully, has been designated for assignment, and won't be screwing up anymore -- not for the Yankees, anyway.

With Ivan Nova repeating the 1st 2 games' pattern of allowing a run in the 1st inning (although it was only 1, like Hiroki Kuroda last night, not 4, like CC Sabathia the night before), the top of the 3rd inning was the key one.

With 1 out, Ichiro Suzuki singled, and in his first big-league at-bat, Solarte singled him over to 3rd. Then Brett Gardner singled home Ichiro to tie it. Derek Jeter, who came to bat with 3,317 big-league hits, drew a walk to load the bases. Carlos Beltran hit a sacrifice fly to give the Yanks a 2-1 lead, their first lead of the season.

Nova settled down after that, and in the top of the 5th, Solarte picked up his first big-league extra-base hit, a double to center field. After Gardner took a called 3rd strike, Jeter singled Solarte home -- his 3,318th hit, and his 1,262nd RBI. 3-1 Yankees.

The Astros got a run back in the bottom of the 5th, but in the top of the 7th, with 2 out, Ichiro singled, and Solarte doubled him home. So he was involved in all 4 Yankee runs.

Nova went 5 2/3rds innings. Adam Warren got the last out in the 6th, and pitched a perfect 7th; Shawn Kelley pitched a perfect 8th, and David Robertson got the first post-Mariano Rivera save for the Yankees, pitching a perfect 9th. The Yankee bullpen faced 10 batters, and retired all of them.

Yankees 4, Astros 2. For the 1st time since September 29, 2013 -- say it, John Sterling: "Ballgame over! Yankees win! Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeees Yankees win!"

WP: Nova (1-0). SV: Robertson (1). LP: Brett Oberholtzer (0-1).

The Yankees now leave Texas (thank God, for many reasons), and head to that other foreign country, Canada, to face those pesky Toronto Blue Jays.

Tomorrow night, Masahiro Tanaka makes his North American debut, and Dustin McGowan starts for the Jays.

Saturday afternoon, Michael Pineda makes his long-awaited Yankee debut, and former Met "ace" R.A. Dickey knuckles down for Toronto.

Sunday, Sabathia makes his 2nd start of the season, and Drew Hutchison starts for the Jays.

*

Speaking of the Jays, tonight they finished a series in St. Petersburg against the Tampa Bay Rays, losing 7-2. Evan Longoria hit his 163rd home run for the Rays, tying the franchise record previously held by Carlos Pena.

Attendance tonight: 9,571. No, that's not a misprint: Nine thousand, five hundred and seventy-one. It's a regular-season game. It's a perennial Playoff team. It's a night game. There's no excuse, people.

The game last night had 10,808. The night before, 11,113. The opener had 31,042.

That's a total of 62,534. Take out the opener, and it's 31,492. That combined crowd for Games 2, 3 and 4 would not sell out any current MLB stadium -- except for The Trop, when certain seats, over 11,000 of them, are tarped over because they know they can't sell them.

Indeed, here's a list of cities whose ballparks could hold tonight's Rays' attendance with room to spare. Note that these are all minor-league cities, not major-league ones:

* Birmingham (actually Hoover) and Huntsville, Alabama.
* Scottsdale and Tucson, Arizona.
* Fayetteville, Arkansas.
* Fresno and Sacramento (actually West Sacramento), California.
* Grand Junction, Colorado.
* Jacksonville, Florida.
* Lawrenceville, Georgia (suburb of Atlanta).
* Indianapolis, Indiana.
* Des Moines, Iowa.
* Louisville, Kentucky.
* New Orleans (actually Metairie), Louisiana.
* Bowie, Maryland (between Baltimore and Washington).
* Albuquerque, New Mexico.
* Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, New York.
* Charlotte and Durham, North Carolina.
* Columbus and Toledo, Ohio.
* Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
* Scranton (actually Moosic), Pennsylvania.
* Providence (actually Pawtucket), Rhode Island.
* Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee.
* Frisco, Texas (suburb of Dallas).
* Salt Lake City, Utah.
* Norfolk and Richmond, Virginia.
* And Tacoma, Washington.
* And, uh, George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida.

Move the Rays. Tampa Bay won't support a winning team, so they don't deserve any team.