Yankees-White Sox Game Has Rain Delay Without Rain

Phil Hughes was ready to make his most important start of the season when officials at U.S. Cellular Field delayed the start of the game due to rain--only problem was, it wasn't raining.  The New York Yankees pitcher was warming up to face the Chicago White Sox when the grounds crew started rolling out the tarps and it was announced that the start of the game would be evaluated 45 minutes later because radar showed rain.  The sky was dark but the only moisture was the sweat on the players and fans in the sweltering humidity.

It was unusual, even by baseball standards, to delay a game before even one single raindrop fell or a pitch was thrown.

The game finally started at 7:55 CST, with nary a drop of moisture, and the skies looked a lot more threatening while the tarps were being rolled up, then when they were laid out earlier.  The temperature dropped 9-degrees in that hour of time.

Broadcasters speculated that the delay was a way to keep a storm-break in that hour from affecting the pitchers once they started throwing.  A long break in the action could stiffen their loose arms.  Look what happened to CC Sabathia the other day--twice.

Hughes might even be most grateful for prolonging the start of tonight's game.  The struggling righthander has a lot to lose with a bad outing and a real rain delay, after he threw, could hinder his motion and, more importantly, his comeback. He comes into the game with a 1-3 record and 8.24 ERA and is competing with Ivan Nova for the fifth spot in the starting rotation.

Nova (9-4, 4.01 ERA) is coming off a fine performance against the Baltimore Orioles (7 innings, 2 earned runs) in his first game back with the Yankees after coming off the DL.  He faces the same White Sox team on Thursday.  It's fair to say the pitcher who fares the worst in this series will be demoted--even though manager Joe Girardi won't say so.

"Let's [Hughes] just pitch well tonight," said Girardi.  "And [I] have a tough decision later."

Tonight Hughes' fastball was hitting 94 mph with good control and the Yankees hitters staked him to a 6-0 lead.  Then the skies opened up.

In the middle of the seventh inning, a second rain delay was called--with real rain this time.  By then, Hughes went six strong innings and gave up three hits and no runs.

Ironically, if the first faux-rain delay wasn't called, the whole game would have been over.

Next time screw the radar and just stick your head out the window.

Former Yankee Paul O'Neill Shows Off His Mythical 'Rabbit Ears'

Former New York Yankees right-fielder and "Seinfeld" actor, Paul O'Neill, finally proved to the world the existence of a piece of Little League equipment called "rabbit ears" used during his youth.  After a friend sent over one of the beat-up head protectors, O'Neill sported the unusual leather ear flaps on air.

A couple of weeks ago, while doing his broadcasting gig on the YES Network during a Yankees game, the talk turned to batting helmets and how they have evolved over the years.  O'Neill casually mentioned wearing the rabbit ears during his Little League years in Columbus, Ohio.  O'Neill's co-caster, Michael Kay, did a double take and, like a million other listeners, and said he never heard of the such a piece of equipment when he played baseball while growing up in New York.

Was it myth or reality?  Some people thought O'Neill was living in some fantasy land and was, himself, probably beaned in the head too many times.

O'Neill insisted it was regulation gear for protecting a kid rounding the bases and thought he might have one lying around somewhere.  O'Neill was occasionally ribbed after he could not find or produce the legendary head gear.

In a time long before video and phone cameras,  O'Neill was unable to document or produce evidence to back his fabulous tale; so rabbit ears were as real as Nessie and Bigfoot.

Finally, during today's game against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium, a weathered pair of blue rabbit ears made it to the broadcast booth, verifying the existence of the funny-looking head protectors.

The odd looking gadget fits over your head and looks like a hybrid of a wrestler's ear protector and the bottom-half of a football helmet worn during the Bronco Nagurski era.  There is no protection on top and has no visor.  It looks the players cap is worn under the top straps.

I still don't understand why you needed one to run the bases.

So, Paul O'Neill, you are vindicated for what was once thought to be a too vivid imagination.  Now find the Fountain of Youth that has revived Bartolo Colon's career.

Right Place & Best Cure For Yankee Blues: Camden Yards & Boog's BBQ

The New York Yankees took the first step to overcoming a tumultuous week by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays last night, 6-2.  Now the New York Grandersons take a two-day jaunt to their home-away-from-home--Oriole Park at Camden Yards. 

The remedy to any Yankees slump seems to be a series against the Baltimore Orioles.  It's take two and call me on Friday.

The confines of the Baltimore stadium seem to be as inviting to the Yankees and their fans as one of those Boog Powell pulled BBQ sandwiches.



When the Yankees visit the Yard, you can usually spot more pinstripes than orange and black birds in the stands.  If anything can help the Yankees get on a roll and win back-to-back games after a six-loss skid, it's the sight of the fragrant BBQ smoke wafting in front of the  Baltimore & Ohio Warehouse in right field.

The Yankees are in a lot of trouble.  Issues with Core Four members Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada in the clubhouse and front office, an aging starting rotation, a fragile bullpen and soft hitting.  Not to mention Hal Steinbrenner lurking in his luxury box last night.  Manager Joe Girardi is getting to know how Billy Martin felt during his five terms as manager under George's constant glare.

Besides Curtis Granderson (.270, 14 HR's, 31 RBI's) having an All-Star caliber start, most of the other Yankees make Abe Vigoda like spry.

A.J Burnett has reverted back to his bi-polar swings on the mound and the $30 million set-up man, Rafael Soriano, was just put on the 15-day DL.

There were a lot of high-fives going around after Alex Rodriguez busted out of his weeks-long slump by going yard twice last night.  Maybe his hip is okay.  There were even banner headlines in the tabloids after the DH Posada raised his average to a whopping .179 after getting two hits in the #7 spot.  I guess he showed Girardi who is boss.

One other bright spot is Brett Gardner who went 3-for-4 last night and is batting .397 over his last 22 games. 

The Yankees are 4-0 against the O's this season and will roll out Bartolo Colon (2-2,3.74) to battle the Oriole's Zach Britton (5-2, 2.42).  It won't be easy for Colon, who has a lifetime 10-7, 3.50 record against Baltimore, because  Britton is having the kind of season any of the Yankees starters could only wish for.

Let's see if Girardi has forgiven Posada for pulling out on Saturday night.  If he lets Posada (0-for-24 against lefties) start against the southpaw Britton, I'd say the manager is showing a lot of love.  Don't count on it.

The Yankees pulled out all the stops to beat the Rays last night.  They had Mariano Rivera come out in the ninth to protect a four-run lead.  That's how much Girardi thought his team needed a victory.

"We needed to win that game," said Girardi.  "I wouldn't say it was a must-win, but it was as close to a must-win is in May."

Yankees/Orioles Rainout Benefits Sick CC

Last night's washout of the Yankees/Orioles may have been a blessing in disguise for CC Sabathia.  The big righthander, who was slated to start, was battling flu-like symptoms and got an extra day to recover.  Sabathia is still looking for his first win in four starts despite having an ERA of 2.52.

Sabathia may be the best pitcher in the league without a win under his ample belt.  Tonight, he will attempt to get that elusive first W.

The Yankees ace said he would have taken the mound last night even if chills, a scratchy throat and stomach pains told him not to.

"It's the stomach and the throat and I'm freezing right now," Sabathia said last night.  "This [the postponement] definitely helps."

Sabathia is off to one of his best starts as a Yankee despite having a goose egg in the win column.  He has pitched 25 innings and allowed 7 runs with 23 strikeouts.  Manager Joe Girardi is surprised by Sabathia's  streak of bad luck.

"It's pretty hard to believe; the way he's pitched in his four starts, not to have a win is very unusual,"  said Girardi.  "I wouldn't say he's frustrated by it , but it's unusual for CC to go four starts without having a win."

The confines of Camden Yards have been pretty friendly to Sabathia.  He is 8-1 with an ERA of 2.97 in 10 starts in what is typically known as a hitter's ballpark.   In 20 career starts against the O's, Sabathia is 14-2 with a 2.86 ERA.  Last season he beat the Orioles five times.

For Sabathia, pitching against the Baltimore Orioles might be the best remedy for anything that ails him.

Yankees Granderson Picks Up Slack For Slumping Gardner

No one would have doubted that a New York Yankees player would be tied for the AL home-run lead at this point of the season, but nobody would have ever predicted his name would be Curtis Granderson.  The Yankees center-fielder is on fire over the last five games.  He is batting .421 (8-for-19) with four home-runs and six RBI's over that span.

The Yankees head into Baltimore for a scheduled three-game set against the Orioles--tonight's game has been called due to rain--as the AL East leaders and Granderson is the biggest SCUD on the Bronx Bombers.

Nine games into the season, Granderson was hitting .156 at the back of the order.  Since then, the 27 year-old has gone from batting ninth, then eighth and now second.  He has lifted his average to .273.

"I talked to [hitting coach] Kevin Long and he liked my at-bats and my swing," the rejuvenated player said.  "I wasn't really out of whack and there was no need to change.  It was a matter of an inch and being late."

Granderson always had a little pop in his bat, but heading to Camden Yards this weekend, he has homered in three straight games and, after struggling against lefthanders (.218 lifetime), is also taking them yard this year, hitting .353 (6-for-17), with three HR's and five RBI's.

Gardner, meanwhile, is stuck in a rut.  He has as many hits (six) as Granderson has home-runs and is carrying a minuscule .128 average and .196 OBP to the plate.

The 27 year-old right-fielder finally won the lead-off spot this season but, after his pitiful start, has been bumped down to batting ninth and watching lefties from the bench.

Two years ago, a slump like this cost Gardner his starting job to Melky Cabrera, but don't expect manager Joe Girardi to replace his speedster at one time.  Just expect to see Andruw Jones in the line-up against lefthanders.  Jones, another one of the Yankees scrap-heap pick-ups, has seen limited play and is hitting .250 with one homer.

Gardner knows he is rooted in a bad slump is hoping he can turn it around; much like Granderson has done over the last seven games.

"I feel like every day is an opportunity to come out here and turn it around," said Gardner.  "I don't think about too much long-term stuff right now."

The Yankees have been shuffling the struggling Gardner and inconsistent Derek Jeter at the number one and two spots all season and felt they had to pull Gardner after a horrible game against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday.  The speedy Gardner blew a sac-bunt and was thrown out stealing--his third time in six attempts this season.  Speed is considered Gardner's saving grace.

"The last thing you want to do when you're not swinging the bat well is to get the most at-bats on the team," hitting coach Kevin Long said.  "It's a smart move.  He a smart kid, so he gets it.  He doesn't have to be happy about it, but at this point in time, it's the best thing to do."

Gardner has been hitting the video rewind button pretty hard lately; while trying to find out where he is failing at the plate. 

"If you can be successful for a couple of months, there's no reason that I shouldn't be able to find that and get back in that groove again," he reasoned.

Yankees Rivera Still 'Mo'ing Down Opposition

Is there anything in spring so sweet to the ears of New York Yankees fans than the bells of an ice cream truck or, even better,  Metallica's "Enter Sandman"baring over the Yankee Stadium P.A. system.  The two sounds are a prelude to a couple of sweet sights--ice cream and Mariano Rivera's trot out of the bullpen to the pitcher's mound.

Rivera continues to defy time as he marches towards his quest of becoming the all-time saves leader.  The "Sandman" is now at an an AL record 566 and closing in on Trevor Hoffman's MLB record of 601 saves.

For the 2011 season, Rivera has been almost untouchable.  He has had a hand in eight of the Yankees nine victories so far.  He picked up save No. 7 after throwing a scoreless ninth against the Texas Ranger, in a come-from-behind victory, last night.

It's amazing how the 41 year-old defies nature.  It seems like he is the only member of the original Core Four who isn't showing signs of aging.  The other members, Derek Jeter hit 30 points below his average last season, Jorge Posada is struggling as DH and Andy Pettite is already enjoying retirement.  Rivera keeps plugging away--and better than ever.

The righthander and his deadly cutter have gone nine innings in 2011, allowing 4 hits and zero runs.  He is 1-0, has seven saves in as many chances and giant goose eggs for an ERA.

Rivera's cutter still baffles hitters.  Last night, the powerful Ranger batters could only toss their bats at the darting balls.  As predictable as Rivera's repertoire of pitches is, it is pretty amazing that opponents still can't touch him.

Since 1996,  Rivera has always answered the call.  Mo's body still looks freakishly as young as any twenty-something.  In his 15th season in pinstripes last year, Rivera had 33 saves and was selected to the All-Star game. 

This season he has reached seven saves in the fastest time ever and Rivera is on pace to equal his age in saves plus some.

Rivera has recently stated that 2012 could possibly be his last year.  If that's the case, it's unfathomable to think that a 41 year-old  leaving the game could be considered an athlete retiring in his prime.  With Rivera, that would be the case.

Springtime brings a lot of perennials like the inevitable Baltimore Oriole's flop and European tourists in sandals and black socks, but there is nothing as dramatic as Mariano Rivera running across the Yankee Stadium outfield as the thumping chords from Metallica fill the air.

Ahhh...springtime in the Bronx.






 

N.Y. Yankees Put Hughes on DL with Case of "Dead Arm"

Today, Phil Hughes desire to be a season-long starter took another detour after the New York Yankees put the 24 year-old pitcher on the disabled list with a case of what they are calling "dead arm."  The team is blaming the nasty sounding ailment for the cause of the right-hander's bloated 13.94 ERA.

Bartolo Colon, who was edged out of the fifth spot in the rotation in spring training by Freddy Garcia, will replace Hughes.

Hughes (0-1) has been roughed up in all three starts this season and his struggles came to a boil after giving up five runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings against the Baltimore Orioles last night.  The Yankees came back to win in the 10th-inning after Hughes staked the O's to a 5-0 lead.  Amazingly, Hughes' old ERA (16.50) dropped almost three runs after the beating.

After last night's blown outing, the Yankees took a hard look at Hughes' situation, decided to pull him from the rotation and put his arm on a slab.

"We just feel like he's going through a dead arm period," said manager Joe Girardi.  "We don't feel that he's hurt."

Hurt or not, there is no arguing something is wrong with Hughes' right arm.  The former flamethrower has seen his fastball turn into an 80 mph changeup.   Now, his bread-and-butter pitch, which was once clocked in the mid-90's,  has a hard time reaching the mid-80's.

After last night's game, Hughes stoically attempted to explain the unexplainable.

"I don't have a magic potion," the glum Hughes said.  "I feel like I'm bringing nothing to the team.  My fastball had a decent life after the first inning and then it just disappeared.  I tried to balance it with cutters, but made some mistakes.  Same old story, I guess."

While Hughes gets 15 days to revive his corpse of an arm, Colon will get to start.  Fans had been calling for the hefty righthander to replace Hughes for the past few days after he had a couple of good  outings while Hughes struggled.

Colon brings a respectable 3.97 ERA into the mix.  In three relief appearances, he has struck out 16 batters in 11.1 innings.

Girardi must be wringing his hands over where he went wrong with his No. 3 starter.  The manager had babied Hughes by limiting the number of innings he could through in a season (The Hughes Rules) and shuffling him between the starting rotation and the bullpen throughout his Yankee career.

The manager's hands-on approach seemed to work last year after Hughes went 18-8 with a 4.18 ERA and was selected to the All-Star team.  Although Hughes faded down the stretch and got rocked in two playoff appearances against the Texas Rangers, the team believed this was going to be their young pitcher's first full season as a starter.

While Hughes attempts to regain the zip in his arm, his roster spot will be filled by right-handed pitcher Lance Pendleton from the Yankees Scranton affiliate.  Pendleton is 1-1 with a 1.59 ERA for the Triple-A club.

Just yesterday Girardi said, "It's our job to get him [Hughes] right.  We got to have him pitch.  He can't just go on a sabbatical.  We need to get this kid right."

Sabbatical?  No.  Morgue?  Maybe.

A.J. Burnett Is Ready To Keep Perfect April Record Intact

You have to look pretty hard to find highlights of A.J. Burnett's career as a New York Yankee, but the amazing fact is that the much-maligned right-hander is 7-0 in pinstripes during the month of April.  The lanky starter is 2-0 this year and off to another to another quick start.

Tonight Burnett tries to extend his undefeated April record as a Yankee against the Baltimore Orioles to 8-0.

Burnett, who entered this season as the teeth-gnawing piece of the Yankees rotation, has now been replaced by Phil Hughes as the big question mark.  Maybe, by turning the manager's glare from Burnett to Hughes, will help Burnett regain the confidence he lost a season-and-a-half ago?

Hughes has replaced the 34 year-old Burnett as the team's biggest concern with his 0-1 record and sky-high 16.50 ERA as Hughes, the No. 3 starter, continues to search for his fastball.

Burnett, the shaving-cream-pie-throwing, mystery-on-the-mound has looked good so far.  He is coming off a economical 6-inning, 5-hit win against the Minnesota Twins--while battling a nasty cold-- and has 11 strikeouts to go with his 4.09 ERA for the season.

Yankee fans shouldn't get too excited.  Last year Burnett started the season with a 4-0 record and then spiraled out of control the rest of the season.  He finished with a inconsistent 10-15 record and a bloated 5.26 ERA.  He was about as predictable as a Charlie Sheen show--unless you call it bad.

So far, as a Yankee, Burnett has blossomed in April.  He has a 3.91 ERA in 12 starts to go with his unblemished record, but those April showers seem to bring May sours.

If you take away the seven April wins, Burnett's record as a Yankee is a dismal 18-24, but the tattooed hurler says things feel a little different this year.

Burnett says new pitching coach Larry Rothschild altered his delivery during spring training and, more importantly, he has found a battery soul-mate with new catcher Russell Martin.

It was no secret that Burnett and catcher Jorge Posada clashed over the last two seasons and now that Posada has been assigned to a DH position, their days together are limited to high-fives in the dugout.

During his win against the Twins, Burnett showed he can once again wiggle out of trouble and after wards, he sounded like he prefers throwing to Russell.

"I shook [Martin] off today and he put the same sign back down," said Burnett.  "He's got me believing."

The Yankees have to encouraged by Burnett's first two outings--lord knows they have very little else to be happy about--but tonight he will be facing a division-leading Orioles team.

"I've said it before, it's absolutely about  consistency and doing my work in between (starts) with Larry and keeping it rolling," said Burnett.  "Not thinking about it, just go out and pitch."