Bumps and Kicks

Ordinarily, taking 2 of 3 on the road, especially against a good team like the Tampa Bay Rays, would be considered a good thing.

But things happened in this weekend's series that draw concern.

Friday night was a mostly encouraging night. David Phelps started, and took a perfect game into the bottom of the 5th inning before James Loney doubled.

The Yankees led 8-0 at that point. In the top of the 2nd, Travis Hafner stroked a ground-rule double. Curtis Granderson struck out, but David Adams beat out a grounder for an infield single. Lyle Overbay doubled them both home. Jayson Nix singled Overbay home.

In the 4th, with 2 outs, Chris Stewart singled to left, and Brett Gardner hit a home run, his 4th of the season. (The season is about 1/3 over, so at that pace, he'd hit 12 homers. Good for a leadoff man.) In the 5th, Curtis Granderson was hit by a pitch, Adams singled, Overbay singled to load the bases, and Nix drew a walk to send Grandy home. Stewart singled home Adams. Robinson Cano was hit with a pitch -- I'm presuming, for the time being, that both HBPs were accidental, especially the 2nd, since it forced home Overbay.

Phelps got into the 8th, but ended up allowing 4 runs. He's really not ready to go more than 7 yet. Fortunately, Boone Logan (incredibly) got the last out in the 8th, and Shawn Kelley got the last out in the 9th. The Yankees picked up another run in the 7th, when Nix hit a triple to left, and scored on a wild pitch.

Yankees 9, Rays 4. WP: Phelps (3-2). No save. LP: Roberto Hernandez (2-5).

The worrying part, aside from Phelps proving he wasn't ready to go 8 innings, was that Granderson eventually had to leave the game. Getting hit broke the pinky on his left hand. It was just his 8th game of the season, after starting on the Disabled List, and now he'll be out for another month. Brennan Boesch has been called up from Scranton to replace him.

*

Saturday's game was a big test. Vidal Nuno pitched for the 1st time since giving up a walkoff homer in Baltimore. He showed no ill effects, going 6 innings, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits and just 1 walk. But he would not figure in the decision, as he was taken out after 1 batter in the 7th. Nor would Kelley, who also pitched to just 1 batter in the 7th. Nor would Logan, who pitched to 2 batters in the 7th -- that's 4 batters in the 7th, and no outs. Preston Claiborne came in, and put out the fire, and pitched a scoreless 8th, too. David Robertson pitched a scoreless 9th. But they wouldn't factor in the decision, either.

The Yankees got a run in the top of the 1st, on a Hafner single driving in Gardner. But they didn't score again until the 9th, trailing 3-1. They were down to their last out.

But Overbay worked a walk. Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you. Joe Girardi sent Boesch up to pinch-hit for Austin Romine. It worked: Following a balk that moved Overbay to 2nd, Boesch doubled him home, and then Gardner singled Boesch home to tie the game. But Gardner tried to put the potential winning run in scoring position by stealing 2nd, and was caught.

The Yankees got nothing in the top of the 10th. In the bottom of the inning, we saw the return of Ivan Nova. And he allowed a leadoff single to Ryan Roberts. Uh-oh. He struck out Luke Scott, but then he allowed a single to Evan Longoria and a walk to Ben Zobrist. Bases loaded, 1 out, the winning run can score without a hit. And Loney was up, and he usually hits the Yankees well. Oy vey...

Nova showed us what he was showing us before he tailed off last season: He struck out Loney, and got Matt Joyce to ground out. Whew.

In the 11th, Overbay again came through with 2 outs, hitting one out to right field. Thanks a lot, Nova, now sit down and let Mariano Rivera do his job. He did: One, two, three.

Yankees 4, Rays 3. WP: Nova (2-1). SV: Rivera (18 for 18). LP: Josh Lueke (0-2).

*

Yesterday's game had CC Sabathia on the mound. With the ace on the mound, I was figuring the sweep was in the bag. But, ever since taking a no-hitter into the 8th inning a few years back, CC has had trouble at Tropicana Field, and he did again. He allowed 2 runs in the 2nd, 2 more in the 3rd, and 3 more in the 6th.

This is the most worrying thing for the weekend's series: CC has not pitched well lately, and is now 4-4. Although the Yankees scored 3 in the 9th, including Gardner's 5th homer, it wasn't enough. The Rays won, 8-3. WP: Alex Cobb (6-2).

*

On the other hand, the Yankees are in good shape. Technically, they and the Boston Red Sox are tied for 1st in the AL east, but the Sox trail by 1 game in the loss column. The Baltimore Orioles are 3 1/2 back (4 in the loss column), the Rays 5 back, and the Toronto Blue Jays 9 1/2 (10) back.

New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica, one of the biggest Yankee Haters in the media, said in his column yesterday, "I will tell you something right now: If the Yankees get a couple of more injuries, the rest of the American League is going to be in real trouble."

*

There was action at Yankee Stadium on Saturday: English Premier League teams Chelsea of West London and Manchester City completed a 2-game "friendly" series. The 1st game was at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on Thursday night. Chelsea jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but Man City came back to win 4-3. In The Bronx, Man City won, 5-3.

Former Arsenal player Samir Nasri, the selfish turncoat known as "The Lesbian" for his striking resemblance to TV journalist Rachel Maddow (if only he had her honesty), scored twice for Man City in Yankee Stadium. So I'm glad I didn't see it. Former Gunners Gael Clichy (Man City) and Ashley Cole (Chelsea) did not play. Eight days earlier, to promote the game, Man City executive and Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira had thrown out the first ball before a Yankee game.

Saturday was also the UEFA Champions League Final. Bayern Munich won the tournament, formerly known as the European Cup, for the 5th time. They previously won in 2001, and 3 straight, 1974-75-76, led by Franz Beckenbauer, who then moved here to play for the New York Cosmos.

Like the Super Bowl, the site of the CL Final is chosen years in advance, and this year's was at Wembley Stadium in London. But both teams were German: Bayern beat Borussia Dortmund, in a thriller with Dutch striker Arjen Robben hitting a late goal to win it, 2-1.

On Sunday, the New York Red Bulls avoided an embarrassing defeat away to the Columbus Crew, when Jamison Olave scored in injury time (or "stoppage time," if you prefer).

Also in Major League Soccer action, Robbie Rogers, recently signed by the Los Angeles Galaxy, took the pitch and got a huge cheer. This made him the first openly gay male athlete in North American sports, as he had not played since publicly coming out. Nor has basketball player Jason Collins, although he will most likely be signed by someone before the next NBA season starts in November.

Robert Hampton Rogers, a 26-year-old winger from Los Angeles County, who has played most of his career for the Crew, but has played in Europe for Heerenveen in the Netherlands, and Leeds United and Stevenage in England, came on for his hometown team as a substitute in the 77th minute, in a 4-0 Galaxy win over the Seattle Sounders, at the Home Depot Center in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California.

Rogers came on for Vitor Gomez Pereira Junior, a Brazilian player known as Juninho (which means "Little Junior"). Not to be confused with Antonio Augusto Ribeiro Reis Junior of the Red Bulls, or Osvaldo Giroldo Junior of Brazil's 2002 World Cup team, both of whom are also known by the single name Juninho.

People who don't like the Galaxy have nicknamed them the Gals -- and having had "metrosexual" David Beckham for a while didn't help. I guess, by adding Rogers, they wanted to get more masculine.

L.A. won the game thanks to a hat trick from Robbie Keane, the Ireland star who used to play for Tottenham. The Galaxy have won the last 2 MLS Cups, meaning that Keane has won as many league titles in the last 2 seasons as Tottenham have won in their entire 131-year history.

I support gay rights, but, as an Arsenal fan, I have say that supporting Tottenham is a deviant, repulsive lifestyle.

I'm a Game Behind, and an Awkward Moment

Do to circumstances beyond my control, I was unable to post yesterday, and thus we now have the same effect we used to have in the Pre-Internet Era, when it was possible to look in the newspaper for the previous night's score, and you remember the Yankees are on the West Coast, and instead of looking at the list of yesterday's scores and seeing...

Yankees 5, Oakland 4

...you see...

Yankees at Oakland, n.

Personally, I think the West Coast Score Effect is the reason the Internet was created.

Well, that, and men would rather look at naked women in the privacy of their own home rather than go out to a store and be seen buying X-rated movies.

*

So I'm a game behind. Including 1 in the All-Important Loss Column. (See what I did there?)

The Yankees did not play yesterday, so their last game was Wednesday night, the finale of their 3-game set in Baltimore against the Orioles. Hiroki Kuroda started, but he didn't last long. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, he was hit on the calf by a line drive from Manny Machado. Even before that, he allowed home runs to Nick Markakis (who usually hits well against the Yankees) and Chris Davis, plus a double to Matt Wieters before getting out of the 1st inning.

The liner from Machado came in the 2nd. Kuroda got 2 batters into the 3rd inning, a double by Adam Jones and a single by Davis, before Joe Girardi decided he'd seen enough, and that he didn't want to risk Kuroda any further. He pitched 2 innings, 5 runs, 8 hits. (But no walks, so his control wasn't the issue. He falls to 6-3.)

This was the right move: With Kuroda having been the club's most consistent starter since April 2012, we can't afford to lose him for an extended period. With all the injuries coming into this season, and since it started, we've been lucky that the only pitcher added to that list has been Ivan Nova, who wasn't getting the job done anyway, and that David Phelps has stepped into Nova's spot in the rotation and done well.

Preston Claiborne, for the 1st time in his major league career, gave up a homer, a 3-run shot to Wieters. Since Kuroda had let the 1st 2 runners on, only the last run was charged to Claiborne. He pitched 2 innings, and his career ERA went from 0.00 to 0.82. But he still hasn't walked a batter. Adam Warren pitched the last 4 innings, giving up 5 hits, but no walks, and no runs.

Curtis Granderson has come back hard from the Disabled List. He went 3-for-3 with a solo homer, a double and a walk. But the rest of the Yankees combined only got 4 hits: A homer by David Adams, and singles by Robinson Cano, Vernon Wells and Ichiro Suzuki. Jason Hammel (6-2) pretty much handcuffed the Yankees otherwise.

Orioles 6, Yankees 3.

*

Kuroda is expected to be fine, and make his next start. In further good injury news, Mark Teixeira seems to be making progress. Michael Pineda, who still hasn't thrown an official pitch for the Yankees, went 5 innings in an "extended spring training" game  He will have one more such session, and will then begin minor-league rehab. We could see him on the mound in The Bronx (or on the road) in mid-June.

Tomrrow night, English soccer teams Chelsea and Manchester City will play each other at Yankee Stadium. I will not be going. Those same teams played last night at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, and Chelsea blew a 3-0 2nd-half lead, and lost 4-3. It's just a "preseason friendly" (or postseason, depending on how you look at it), so it's not as embarrassing as it would have been had it been a Premier League game or an FA Cup tie.

The Yankees and Man City (which, I must admit, sounds like the name of a West Village bar, if ya know what I mean) have teamed up to form New York City Football Club (NYC FC), which will begin play in Major League Soccer in 2015, playing at least their first season in Yankee Stadium, before a new stadium can open.

This throws a monkey wrench into the plans of both the New York Red Bulls, who will now have competition for the Tri-State Area's soccer-fan dollar; and the revived version of the New York Cosmos, who are now stuck on the outside looking in, with the name of the greatest team in the history of U.S.-based soccer and no place in MLS. (They are currently in the North American Soccer League, another revived name, but, effectively, North America's 2nd division.)

However, these 2 sports franchises known for their free-spending ways will be at a disadvantage, as MLS has something neither Major League Baseball nor the Premier League has: A salary cap. True, it's a "soft cap," meaning up to 3 "designated players" can make whatever you think you can afford to pay them; but you can't buy the title in MLS, the way Man City did in 2012, and Chelsea did in 2005, '06 and '10.

(As opposed to the way Manchester United bought the title in 1993, '94, '96, '97, '99, 2000, '01, '03, '07, '08, '09, '11 and '13: Bribing and intimidating the officials.)

The Red Bulls, as an organization if not always as a competitive team, have been good to me. So, in the spring of 2015, when "Metro" and NYC FC first play each other in The Bronx, for the first time ever, we will have...

The Awkward Moment when I walk into Yankee Stadium and boo the home team.

Ambivalence: Yankees Lose in 10, Rangers Get Embarrassed

The classic definition of "ambivalence" is the feeling you get when you see your mother-in-law drive off a cliff... in your new Cadillac.

The bad news: The Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles in 10 innings, 3-2. Nate McLouth hit a walkoff home run off Vidal Nuno.

I can forgive Vidal Nuno for allowing a walkoff home run, especially in the Harbor Bandbox. Rookies should be cut some slack. As NCIS' Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) taught us, "Never kick a probie when he's down." Whereas, if it was that other lefty reliever who'd done it, Boone Logan, I'd have Gibbs-slapped him so hard his grandchildren would feel it in 2050.

To make matters worse, McLouth got hit in the face with a cream pie during his postgame interview. That's our thing, you dirty Birds!

However, other than Nuno's 1 pitch (3, actually, but he made a mistake with 1, it was actually a good night for Yankee pitching. Phil Hughes went 6 innings, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks, striking out 5. Between them, Logan and Shawn Kelley pitched a scoreless 7th, David Robertson struck out the side in a perfect 8th, and then Joe Girardi put in Preston Claiborne.

With a name like a 19th Century Senator, Claiborne was trusted to protect a 2-2 tie against a Playoff team in a hitter's park. He got Matt Wieters and J.J. Hardy to ground out, before allowing a single to ex-Yankee Chris Dickerson. Then he went to a full count on Yamaico Navarro. Gut-check time. Claiborne had the guts: He struck Navarro out swinging.

The Yankees have spent the last few years looking for the successor to Mariano Rivera. It can no longer be Brian Bruney. It can no longer be Rafael Soriano. It won't be Joba Chamberlain. It may not be Robertson. I say, see what Claiborne can do. The 25-year-old righthander from Dallas has now pitched 9 innings in the major leagues without allowing a run, or even a walk. He has allowed 8 hits. His WHIP is 0.889.  His ERA is 0.00. Which means his ERA+ is infinite.  (Allowing 1 earned run in that time would have given him an ERA of 1.00, although I'm not sure what his ERA+ would be.)

Nuno, a righthander from the San Diego area who will turn 26 in July, had gone 8 innings without allowing a run, until that McLouth walkoff. His ERA is now a sensational (even for a reliever) 1.13, his ERA+ a shocking 386, his WHIP a somewhat unsettling 1.375. He's earned a pass on last night.

The Yankee runs both came at the hands of Travis Hafner, a single after Brett Gardner doubled in the 1st, and a single after Vernon Wells doubled in the 4th.

The series concludes tonight, with Hiroki Kuroda starting against Jason Hammel.

*

The good news: The Rangers lost 2-1 to the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden. They now trail the Beantown Brats 3 games to 0. Bye, bye, Scum.

The NFL, having already awarded Super Bowl XLVIII (48) to the Meadowlands, and XLIX (49) to Phoenix, awarded L (50) to the new San Francisco 49ers stadium (which will open as Levi's Stadium in September 2014 in Santa Clara) and LI (51) to Houston.

Apparently, Miami, which has hosted 10 times, a total matched only by New Orleans, was hosed by the selection committee, because they were unhappy about how the Dolphins' stadium (whatever official name it's using this year) wasn't getting the demanded upgrades. It wasn't getting the upgrades because the local taxpayers refused to fund them, because they were hosed over the building of Marlins Ballpark (on the site of the Orange Bowl, no less, a 5-time host of the Super Bowl). So the Dolphins' stadium, which last hosted in February 2010 (New Orleans Saints over Indianapolis Colts), won't be hosting again until at least February 2018.

Presumably, Super Bowl L was awarded to the San Francisco Bay Area because they built a new stadium and the Los Angeles area, which hosted Super Bowl I, did not. Hopefully, some of the surviving Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs who played in Super Bowl I will be there as honored guests.  Certainly, by that point (3 full seasons from now), the Packers should still be a good enough team that they will be a contender for it. The Chiefs? They were awful last year, but a lot can change in 3 NFL seasons.

*

Days until the Red Bulls play again: 4, this Sunday afternoon, home to the Columbus Crew.  Their last 2 wins have been late wins over the New England Revolution (with a Thierry Henry bicycle-kick goal) and the Los Angeles Galaxy (with a Tim Cahill goal in stoppage time).

Days until the U.S. National Soccer Team plays again: 7, a week from tonight, in a friendly against Belgium, featuring Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen. Under 3 weeks. That game will be played at FirstEnergy Stadium, formerly Cleveland Browns Stadium. It, and the subsequent Sunday afternoon game against Germany at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington, will be warmups for our next game in the last, "Hexagonal" round of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers, for the region that encompasses North America, Central America, and the Caribbean nations.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 9, a week from next Friday, at home.  The 1st Yanks-Sox series of the year at Fenway Park won't begin until Friday, July 19. Then another series begins at Fenway on Friday, August 16. Then another in The Bronx on Thursday, September 5, and another at Fenway on Friday, September 13. Oh yeah, if you're a Red Sox fan, that's a day you want to play the Yankees: Friday the 13th!

Days until the Red Bulls next play a "derby," against either the New England Revolution, the Philadelphia Union or D.C. United: 32, on Sunday, June 23, away to the Philadelphia Union, at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. A shade over a month.

Days until Arsenal play another competitive match: 97, on Saturday, August 17. They beat Newcastle 1-0 this past Sunday, to clinch 4th place in the Premier League and a berth in next season's UEFA Champions League. This also enabled them to finish ahead of their North London arch-rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, who finished 5th and are stuck in Europe's second-tier tournament, the Europa League, which was just won by West London's Chelsea. (The Champions League Final is this Saturday, at London's Wembley Stadium, but it will be the top 2 finishers in Germany's Bundesliga playing for it, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. Chelsea beat Bayern in last year's CL Final.) The Sunday results also made the day "St. Totteringham's Day." I'll have a piece on that phenomenon in the near future.

Days until the next North London Derby: Unknown, since next season's schedule won't be released until June 19. It's been a long time since Arsenal vs. Tottenham was an early game (possibly 1988-89). Usually, they wait until November for the first meeting of the season between the teams.

Days until Rutgers plays football again: 99, on Thursday night, August 29, away to Fresno State University in California. The 1st home game of the 2013 season will be on Saturday, September 7, vs. Norfolk State. The schedule is now complete, with all opponents and locations set in this, Rutgers' last season in the Big East, before starting Big Ten play in 2014. The only thing that hasn't been set is the kickoff times, with TV in mind.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: 103, on September 12 -- on a Thursday due to Rosh Hoshanah, the Jewish New Year, falling on a weekend. It's away to South Brunswick. Under 4 months. It will be the 1st game they play without Marcus Borden as head coach since Thanksgiving Day 1982 (a loss to Colonia High of Woodbridge), as he has left the program. (Did he jump, or was he pushed? I don't know.) A new coach has been named: Bob Molarz, who turned nearby Carteret High School, which couldn't buy a win while I was at EBHS, into a team that made the Playoffs 9 seasons in a row and won 3 Central Jersey Group II Championships. He comes to us from the head job at one of our rivals, St. Joseph's of Metuchen, where he coached their 1st 2 seasons of varsity ball. A great hire.

Days until the Devils play again: Unknown, as the 2013-14 NHL schedule has yet to be released. Most likely, the new season will begin on the 1st Friday of October. If so, and the Devils debut on opening night (rather than the next night, Saturday), that's 125 days. A little over 4 months.

Days until the Devils play another local rival: See the previous answer.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving clash: 180. About 6 months.

Days until Super Bowl XLVIII at the Meadowlands: 243 (February 2, 2014). A little over 8 months. Of course, we have no idea who the opposing teams will be. The possibility exists that either the Giants or the Jets could be in it -- or both. To this day, no team has ever played a Super Bowl in its own stadium -- in spite of multiple hostings by Miami, New Orleans and various California teams. Only 2 have done so in their home metro area: The 1979-80 Los Angeles Rams, whose home field was then the L.A. Coliseum, and they lost to Pittsburgh at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena; and the 1984-85 San Francisco 49ers, whose home field, then as now, was Candlestick Park, and they beat Miami at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, which had a much larger capacity than Candlestick.

Days until the next Winter Olympics, in Sochi, Russia: 251 (February 7, 2014).

Days until the next World Cup, in Brazil: 376 (June 12, 2014). Under 13 months.

Days until the next Summer Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 1,161 (August 5, 2016). Under 3 1/2 years.

Oklahoma's Trail of Tears

The State of Oklahoma has produced some great athletes. Jim Thorpe. Johnny Bench. Heisman Trophy winners galore. And Yankee Legends Mickey Mantle, Allie Reynolds and Bobby Murcer.

They've also had a lot of trouble. The "Trail of Tears" of Native Americans in the 1830s. The Dust Bowl in the 1930s. Grinding rural poverty even in times of plenty for the rest of the country. The federal building bombing in 1995. And the State was called Tornado Alley long before yesterday's disaster. The State's history is one long trail of tears.

Jeremy Hefner may be having the worst season any baseball player has ever had, without being injured or killed himself. The Met pitcher is 0-5, his ERA is 5.00, the Mets have lost all 8 games he has started, and he's from Oklahoma. I had heard that he was from Moore, the town struck by that horrible tornado yesterday. Actually, he's from Perkins, 65 miles to the northeast. Maybe someone got the story wrong, and he's got family there.  Either way, he doesn't deserve any of this.

In spite of the thrill of Cashman's Crushers getting the job done again last night, the Yankees' 6-4, 10-inning win in the opener of a series in Baltimore against the Orioles doesn't seem so important.

The Yanks got home runs in the 1st from Robinson Cano (his 13th) to take a 1-0 lead, in the 7th from Cashman acquisition Lyle Overbay (his 7th) to tie it 3-3, and in the 9th from Cashman acquisition Travis Hafner (his 8th) to tie it 4-4 to send it to extra innings.

In the 10th, last year's Cashman acquisition, Ichiro Suzuki, led off with a double. Cashman acquisition Vernon Wells followed it up with another double to score Ichiro. Austin Romine bunted Wells over to 3rd, and Hafner singled Wells home to provide the final score.

WP: David Robertson (3-0, in relief of a somewhat shaky CC Sabathia). SV: Mariano Rivera (now 17-for-17). LP: Pedro Strop (0-1).

The series continues tonight, Phil Hughes against Miguel Gonzalez.

How Did Cashman Know, and Those Pesky Blue Jays Not Know?

After dropping 2 of 3 at home to the Seattle Mariners -- who are now, as Bob Uecker might say, juuuust a bit below where they were from 1995 to 2001 -- the Yankees needed to announce their freakin' presence with authority this weekend against those pesky Toronto Blue Jays.

(See? Even in this blog, Major League can't get away from comparisons to Bull Durham.)

On Friday night, Hiroki Kuroda started against Mark Buehrle, the former Chicago White Sox pitcher, one of those big new pitching acquisitions that led a lot of people to think the Jays were going to contend for the American League Eastern Division title, and the only one of those with significant AL pitching experience. But it hasn't worked out for them.

Buehrle gave the Jays 6 solid innings, but Kuroda was masterful, and the Yankees led 2-0 going into the bottom of the 7th. Trailing by only 2 runs, with your starter pitching well, you don't take him out unless he tells you he's tired or hurt.

(Unless, of course, you're Joe Girardi, and you do whatever your Binder tells you to do.)

And the Yankees got to Buehrle in the 7th.  Rookie outfielder David Adams led off with a ground-rule double. Ichiro Suzuki bunted him over to 3rd and beat it out, still fast at age 40. Austin Romine, who should be the Yankees' 3rd-string catcher, came through with a double to score Adams. A pitching change didn't help, as Brett Gardner singled to left to drive in Ichiro. And Jayson Nixon hit a sacrifice fly to get Romine home.

That made it 5-0 Yankees, and Kuroda in the 8th and Preston Claiborne in the 9th made it stand up. Claiborne looks like a keeper. (UPDATE: He wasn't.) But Kuroda was the story. He went 8, allowed no runs on 2 hits and just 1 walk, striking out 5. He's now 6-2 on the season, and his ERA is down to 1.99. In the American League. In the American League East.

Yeah, there should be a New York pitcher starting the All-Star Game -- but it should be Kuroda, not Matt Harvey of the Mutts.

Buehrle fell to 1-3, and his ERA is 6.33 -- and, remember, he's the one with AL pitching experience.

*

On Saturday afternoon, the Yankees sent David Phelps to the mound, hoping he'd continue to do well in the rotation spot of the injured Ivan Nova. At this rate, the spot may not be open to Nova when he returns. They say an athlete should never lose his job due to injury, but Nova wasn't getting the job done before, and Phelps is. 

Phelps (2-2) sure got the job done on Saturday, going 7, allowing just 1 run on 6 hits and 3 walks. His ERA is now 3.83, which, by AL East standards, is good. David Robertson allowed a run in the 8th, but at that point it didn't matter, as the Yanks again had a 5-run lead. Which even Boone Logan couldn't blow, as he pitched a perfect 9th. (Sure, with no pressure on him... )

The Yankee bats got what Phelps needed. Nix opened the 3rd with a single to center. Adams grounded out but moved him over. Romine lined out, but Gardner singled Nix home. And then Robinson Cano, don't ya know, hit one out off Brandon Morrow (1-3). 3-0 Yankees.

The Jays pulled a run back in the 4th, but in the 5th, with 1 out, Romine singled. Gardner flew to left, but Cano launched a 2nd homer. (He now has 12 on the season.) 5-0 Yankees.

The Jays got a homer from Edwin Encarnacion in the top of the 8th, but in the bottom of the inning, with 1 out, Vernon Wells reached on an error, and Travis Hafner knocked one out of the park. (His 7th homer.) That made it 7-2 Yankees, and that was the final.

*

Yesterday's game was rained out, which is probably the best thing for the Jays. I can say that, because look at the AL East standings, with 7 of the season's 26 weeks gone -- that's 27 percent, more than 1/4 of the season:

New York Yankees 27-16
Boston Red Sox 27-17, 1/2 a game back, 1 in the loss column
Baltimore Orioles 23-20, 4 back
Tampa Bay Rays 23-20, 4 back
Toronto Blue Jays 17-26, 10 back

Now, this doesn't mean the Jays will end up 40 back, or 38, or whatever it prorates to. It does mean that they really blew it in the off-season, and the Yankees did what they have, so far, needed to do -- instead of the other way around, as was widely predicted.

General manager Brian Cashman really brought in the right newcomers. Batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage/OPS, home runs, RBIs. Let's start, appropriately enough, with the two ex-Blue Jays:

* Vernon Wells. .286/.343/.506/.850, 10, 23. Also, 4 stolen bases. Remember, the season is only 1/4 over.

* Lyle Overbay. .259/.297/.475/.772, 6, 24.

* Travis Hafner. .260/.378/.530/.908, 7, 20.

* Kevin Youkilis. Injured at the moment, no surprise there. But look at what he did before he got hurt: .266/.347/.422/.769, 2, 7.

* Brennan Boesch. .209/.244/.419/.663 doesn't look that good, but in just 43 at-bats he's got 2 homers and 5 RBIs. Prorate that to something close to a full season, 430 at-bats, and it's 20 homers and 50 RBIs. Not bad for an emergency fill-in.

* Francisco Cervelli. A backup the last 2 seasons, had to be the starter this season. Until he got hurt, .269/.377/.500/.877, 3, 8. That's in 52 at-bats. Prorate that to a full season, 520 at-bats, and that's 30 homers and 80 RBIs. That's more than Russell Martin gave us: In his 2 seasons, he hit 18 and 21 homers, with 65 and 53 RBIs. Certainly worth having, but Cervelli was on a pace to do better.

* Chris Stewart. This season, he was only meant to be the backup catcher, and is now injured himself, but he was getting the job done, too: .265/.307/.397/.704, 3, 6.

* Throw in last season's late emergency pickup, Ichiro Suzuki, and here's what he's done so far in 2013: .241/.281/.328/.609 doesn't look too good, but he's contributed 4 doubles, 2 homers, 8 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. He's still plenty capable, as seen with what was supposed to be a sacrifice bunt that he managed to beat out.

* Pitching. Look, out of Preston Claiborne, Vidal Nuno and Adam Warren, none of them may develop into a long-term Yankee success.(UPDATE: None did.) But here's their short-term performance so far: Between them, 33 1/3 innings, 3 runs, 0.81 ERA, 1.050 WHIP, 25 strikeouts against 9 walks, 2-0 record.

Not too shabby.

Contrast that with the Jays' starting rotation, including 4 new acquisitions. Record, ERA, WHIP:

* R.A. Dickey, new. 3-5, 4.83, 1.35.

* J.A. Happ, already there. 2-2, 4.91, 1.55.

* Brandon Morrow, already there. 1-3, 5.16, 1.46.

* Mark Buehrle, new. 1-3, 6.33, 1.48.

* Josh Johnson, new, now injured. 0-1, 6.86, 1.88. His spot in the rotation has been, well, rotated among the following:

* Aaron Laffey, new, although he had previously pitched for them -- and for the Yankees, and for the Mets. 0-0, 6.75, 2.63, left his only start due to injury.

* Ramon Ortiz, a 40-year-old emergency pickup, roughly equivalent to what Cashman didn't have much choice but to do, who didn't pitch at all in 2012: 1-1, 2.35, 1.43 -- easily the best of the bunch.

* Chad Jenkins, already there  1-0, 3.60, 1.60. Not a bad ERA, but a very high WHIP.

* Ricky Romero, already there. 0-2, 12.46, 2.77. Atrocious.

* So the Johnson spot in the rotation, overall: 2-4, 47 innings, 5.55 ERA, 1.85 WHIP.

And remember: As bad as the Blue Jays' defense is, that doesn't affect either the the ERA or the WHIP. None of that counts unearned runs. Although the Jays' D has been an F (or whatever Canadian schools call a failing grade), the only way it contributes to bad ERAs and WHIPs is if it rattles the pitchers involved. And if that's the case, then these were rattleable pitchers who should never have been brought in.

So Yankee GM Brian Cashman got it right, and Blue Jay GM Alex Anthopoulos got it wrong. Really, really wrong.

Maybe it's time to give Cashman a break. And stop acting like other GMs -- Anthopoulos, Billy Beane in Oakland, Theo Epstein of the Red Sox and now the Cubs -- are all that smart.

Look, I'm not saying Cashman is a good guy, or that all of his acquisitions have worked out -- although, that sure seems to be the case lately. I am saying, as those old ads for the New York Times sports section said, "Give the kid a break!"

(UPDATE: By the end of the season, he was considerably less deserving of a break.)

*

As for the rest of baseball, after 7 out of 26 weeks:

The AL Central is led by the Cleveland Indians. The Detroit Tigers are 2 games back, the Kansas City Royals 4, the Chicago White Sox 6, and the Minnesota Twins also 6 (5 in the loss column, but in last place by .002 behind the ChiSox).

The AL West is led by the Texas Rangers. The Oakland Athletics are 6 1/2 back (7), the Seattle Mariners 9, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 12, and the Houston Astros a whopping 17.

The National League East is led by the Atlanta Braves. The Washington Nationals are 2 1/2 back (3), the Philadelphia Phillies 4 1/2 (5), the Mets 7 (6), and the Miami Marlins 13 1/2 (14).

The NL Central is led by the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cincinnati Reds are 2 1/2 back (3), the Pittsburgh Pirates the same, the Chicago Cubs 10, and the Milwaukee Brewers 10 1/2 (10).

The NL West is led by the Arizona Dimaondbacks. The Colorado Rockies and the defending World Champion San Francisco Giants both trail by 1, the San Diego Padres by 4 1/2 (4), and the Los Angeles Dodgers, for all their payroll, by 7 (6). The talk that Don Mattingly's job as manager is in danger continues -- as if he had been the one making the high-priced acquisitions.

If the current standings hold until the end of the season, the AL's Wild Card entries will be the Red Sox and the Tigers loser.  he NL's will be the Reds and the Pirates.

The Yanks are now in Baltimore to start a 3-game series against the Orioles.

Scandal Finale vs. Mariners

Last night was the finale of a 3-game series at home to the Seattle Mariners.

It was also the season finale of American Idol. Not to many idols in this game, American or otherwise.

It was also the season finale of Scandal. The Yankees played 3 games in this series, against the Seattle Mariners, and scored a total of 8 runs. Now that is a scandal finale.

It was also the season finale of Grey's Anatomy, which is set in Seattle. And, again, the Yankees resembled a medical drama.

In the top of the 5th, the Yankees were trailing 2-1, and Andy Pettitte started grimacing. Joe Girardi didn't like that, so he consulted his Binder.  Under, "Pitcher, starting, grimace" it read: "Go to mound, talk to him, see how he feels. * " He did not check the asterisk, which read, "A pitcher is usually going to tell you he's all right, even if his arm feels like Jell-O." (Major League reference.)

Girardi pulled Pettitte, and the Yankees went on to lose, 3-2. But we can't really blame the bullpen. Shawn Kelly allowed 1 run in 2 innings, 2 hits and no walks. Boone Logan actually managed to pitch an inning and a 3rd without setting the Stadium on fire. And Adam Warren threw a scoreless 9th.

The Yankee pitchers allowed 3 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks. That should have been enough to win.

The Yankees got 8 hits. Three of them came from Curtis Granderson. Oddly, none of those hits drove in a run, although he did score 1 of them. The Yankee runs came on rookie David Adams doubling Grandy home in the 2nd, and Robinson Cano singling home Ichiro Suzuki in the 7th. Other than that, there were singles by Ichiro, Brett Gardner and Chris Stewart -- more on that in a moment.

Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay, who've been lovely surprises thus far, went a combined 0-for-6 with 3 strikeouts. And Jayson Nix, starting at shortstop in place of the still-injured Derek Jeter, went 0-for-5, with 2 strikeouts and 5 men left on base. That's right, 5 LOB.

That is a scandal.

WP: Oliver Perez -- yes, ex-Met Ollie Perez, alive and well in the Pacific Northwest. SV: Tom Wilhelmsen (11). LP: Pettitte (4-3).

*

Pettitte has a tight left trapezius muscle: That's the neck, shoulders and upper back. Girardi thinks Pettitte will not miss his next start, which should be next Tuesday in Baltimore, although I wouldn't be surprised if Joe's Binder says, under "Pitcher, starting, muscle, tight, throwing side," "Hold him back another day."

But Stewart, who is already the Yankees' backup catcher, and is only starting because Francisco Cervelli is on the 60-Day Disabled List, pulled his groin in running out his hit in the 7th. He could be headed for the DL as well.

Which means Austin Romine and his 37 career major league plate appearances and his -34 OPS+ this season will be starting. (1-for-16, albeit the 1 hit is an RBI double. And a hit-by-pitch. So, BA .063, OBP .118, slugging .125, .243 OPS.) Romine is 24, from Orange County, California. He should be better than this by now.

In case you're wondering: The starting catcher for the last 2 years, Russell Martin, has a sizzling 154 OPS+ for the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, Jesus Montero, whom the Yankees traded to the Mariners along with Hector Noesi for Michael Pineda -- who is apparently almost ready to throw rehab games and could reach the majors in June -- is batting a mere .204 with an OPS+ of 68. Stewart's is 89, and before he got hurt Cervelli's was 136. Montero's season, so far, would be an improvement on Romine's, but not Stewart's, and not by a long shot on Cervelli's, although Martin's would be.

So again citing the lousy trade of Montero for Pineda is pointless -- since, thus far, it's been a wash, and reversing it wouldn't be helping the Yankees much.

The Toronto Blue Jays come in for a weekend series. Here's the pitching matchups for Pinstripes vs. Peskies:

Tonight, 7:00: Hiroki Kuroda vs. Mark Buehrle. Could be a great pitchers' duel. (But then, as John Sterling reminds us, "You know, Suzyn, you just can't predict baseball," so expect a slugfest.)

Tomorrow afternoon, 1:00: David Phelps vs. Brandon Morrow.

Sunday afternoon, 1:00: CC Sabathia vs. R.A. Dickey. Battle of the initials, the Yankee ace vs. the Cy Young winner the Mets let get away (in this decade). So far, Dickey's found that pitching against American League teams is hard.  Let's show him just how hard it is.

Phil Hughes Compwetewy Impwoded

There was an early episode of The West Wing where White House Press Secretary C.J. Cregg, played by Allison Janney returns from a dental appointment and can't do the afternoon press briefing because she has a mouth full of novocaine. Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman, played by Bradley Whitford, volunteers to do it. C.J. tries to stop him, to no avail. The briefing is a disaster, and he walks away knowing it. C.J. yells at him, "You completely imploded!" Except it came out, "You compwetewy impwoded!"

A season later, we found out that Josh, a native of Westport, Connecticut, is a Met fan. Served him right.

Last night, at Yankee Stadium, in the middle game of a 3-game series against the Seattle Mariners, whom the Yankees had beaten the night before, Phil Hughes compwetewy impwoded.

He'd been doing so well lately, but he didn't even get out of the 1st inning. Ironically, he got the 1st batter of the game out, a fly to left by Michael Saunders. But then...

* Dusty Ackley drew a walk.

* Kyle Seager singled to center.

* Kendrys Morales singled to left. 1-0 Seattle.

* Michael Morse singled to right. 2-0 Seattle.

* Justin Smoak drew a walk.  Bases loaded.

* Our old friend Raul Ibanez, now with the Mariners, hit one out to right-center field, a grand slam. 6-0 Seattle.

* Our old friend Jesus Montero singled to center.

* Brendan Ryan grounded into a force play. At last, the 2nd out of the inning.

* Michael Saunders ripped a double to right. 7-0 Seattle.

Joe Girardi consulted his binder, which said, "In this rare situation, declare that you've had enough, and pull the poor guy before he's scarred for life." He brought in rookie Preston Claiborne, who struck Ackley out to end it.

Somebody went on Twitter yesterday and said it was the 4th-worst start in Yankee history. I don't know if that meant all the way back to the beginning of the team, 1903, 110 years; or if he meant modern history, whenever he defines that as having begun (1923 opening of the original Stadium, 1976 reopening after the renovation, 1996 start of the Jeter-Rivera Era, etc.).

And then, in the bottom of the 1st, Vernon Wells got the Yankees on the board with his 10th home run of the season. (And we're only 1/4 of the way through.) 7-1. Is this the beginning of a big comeback?

No. Claiborne pitched all right in the 2nd and 3rd, but, making his major league debut, Brett Marshall wasn't much better than Hughes. He pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing 5 runs on 9 hits and 5 walks. After 1 major league game, his career ERA is 7.94.

(UPDATE: The uniform Number 70 should have been a hint. He only made 2 more appearances for the Yankees, both later in the season, for a major league ERA of 4.50, and then bounced around the minors. He pitched the 2018 season in the Atlantic League.)

It got so bad, Girardi did something that couldn't possibly have been in his binder: He brought in Alberto Gonzalez -- not the torture-loving idiot who was George W. Bush's 2nd Attorney General -- from shortstop to pitch. Hey, it's not like losing the DH and the pitcher having to bat was going to be an issue. Gonzalez got Robert Andino to fly to right.

Mariners 12, Yankees 2. WP: Hisashi Iwakuma (5-1). No save. (As NCIS' Leroy Jethro Gibbs, played by Mark Harmon, would say, "Ya think, DiNozzo?") LP: Hughes (2-3).

The series concludes tonight, weather permitting. (It's raining in Central Jersey as I type this.) Andy Pettitte takes the hill against Aaron Harang.

Cheer up, Phil Hughes: You're still a Yankee, and you've still got a World Series ring. How many active Mets can say that? Exactly none. (They just picked up Rick Ankiel, who was in the St. Louis Cardinals' organization in 2006, but was injured and didn't make an appearance that year, not even in the minors.) How many active Red Sox can say it? Six: David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz remain from their 2007 team (and only the big fat lying cheating Ortiz remains from 2004), while new acquisition Shane Victorino got one with the 2008 Phillies.

Still, he compwetewy impwoded. And, unlike White House Communications Director Toby Ziegler, a Brooklyn native and a Yankee Fan (also true of his portrayer, Richard Schiff), who leaked classified national-security information in the last season of The West Wing, there's no chance of a Presidential pardon.